There is no mystery around the reaction to HBO Max’s Velma, which has seen both record viewing numbers and painfully low reviewer scores for its debut. With so much potential to make something that would at least be relatively ignored by those who have been fans of the 50-year-old Scooby-Doo franchise, the series instead drew criticism from the vast majority of those who tuned in and bothered to review it. With the redesign of the lead quartet of characters being the biggest bugbear among audiences, it is surprising that a number of concept artists are sharing their early designs of Velma’s characters on social media.The latest design to be shared comes from Annie Wu, who shared her version of Velma, Daphne, Norville and Fred in a piece of concept art that was from the earlier stages of the show's pre-development. While the races of the characters have clearly been set from the start of production, these are certainly less "cartoony" than the versions that were late developed for the show. You can check out the art below.
Velma arrived on HBO Max last week to a storm of online criticism for taking the Scooby-Doo franchise and “ruining it” for the sake of it. After being described in its official blurb as “an original and humorous spin that unmasks the complex and colorful past of one of America's most beloved mystery solvers,” it became clear that the series was not exactly what many were expecting from The Office alum Mindy Kaling, who stars as the voice of Velma and executive produces the show.
Why Do So Many People Hate Velma?
Reimagining a popular franchise, especially one that has been as prominent in pop culture that it is instantly recognizable across several generations, is always a tricky and potentially failure-bound process. As Amazon Studios have recently discovered, even developing stories of Tolkien’s Middle Earth that have not been told on screen before can generate a huge amount of backlash over tone, dialogue and the casting choices.
When it comes to Velma, reviews have mostly been centered on the fact the show completely eradicates Scooby-Doo from the series. In the context that this is meant to be a prequel of sorts, that would have been perhaps forgivable to more fans of the Great Dane if every character, with the exception of Fred, hadn’t been so dramatically altered in both race and character traits from the long established Hanna-Barbera creations.
There have been a lot of TV shows that have recently suffered a similar kind of backlash over race and gender swapping of characters in reboots of older franchises, and in general there is an ongoing struggle to find any kind of middle ground when it comes to diversity of TV shows and movies being made in Hollywood right now. With studios looking to reinvigorate existing IPs in their control, and unwilling to take expensive chances on untested new shows and characters due to the current financial climate, the rebooting trend is set to continue for some time to come no matter how much online backlash that brings.