Scooby Doo General

You know, we may mock Baseball loving Bill from Cyber Chase for his ludicrous plan and petty motives, but I'd say he has untapped potential.

The guy designed and brought into reality a living, sapient AI program, that is some super mad genius shit. A fully sapient digital being who had the potential to destroy all Earth's technology and was only hindered because he had the mind of a 12 year old sports fan.

If Bill and the Phantom Virus had greater ambitions rather than one upping a college rival, they might've been way more dangerous. Also I just had a thought. An extremely egotistical teen genius redhead whose former friends turned enemy with a brunette Nice Guy in glasses, and plots to destroy him through creating a dimwitted super monster. Where have we heard this before?

From YMMV.Velma:

• The Scrappy: This show's incarnation of Velma is not only the most hated incarnation of the character but also one of, if not the most hated character in the Scooby Doo franchise by being a self righteous, grating, hypocritical, petty, and cruel Designated Hero with no redeeming qualities.

While this Velma is widely hated, Scrappy requires they be hated by fans of the show meaning to 100% count she has to be hated by those who otherwise like the Velma show. Otherwise the reasons she's hated might be better covered by other items.

I'm seeing signs it's the case but the show is such a complaining sink I can't say for sure, so asking for fan thoughts on the show outside of Velma the character. Overshadowed by Controversy might be a better fit than Scrappy if it's practically impossible for fans to have anything else to say about the show beyond hating the character.

This is an interesting case of Scrappy being used to indicate "hated by fans of the franchise" vs "hated by fans of that particular show" which...

Huh.

I've actually never seen it used this way, and I'm not sure if it should count or not. It seems fits what the concept is meant to convey, but...

Usually in situations like this it's accepted that the show itself is liked enough, whereas this version of Velma is being used as an example of how much fans hate the franchise as a whole. We don't have a trope for an installment of a franchise that's particularly hated, beyond stuff like Dork Age and Fanon Discontinuity, which aren't really the same thing.

If you're not sure about it (I'm certainly not sure), I'd get a mod to sound in or bring it to the site maintenance part of the forum.

Edited by KnownUnknown on Sep 2nd 2023 at 4:21:34 AM

As we approach fall, it's starting to dawn on me that, except for Velma season two at some point next uear, there doesn't appear to be anything else on the cards for Scooby fans unless you count comics.

Holiday Haunt and Mystery Pups were both written off, and unless I'm missing something in the community, there's nothing planned past Scooby Doo and Krypto Too as far as animated movies go.

No new series, no movies, nothing for the kids or pre-schoolers, just Velma for adult fans.

Edited by Zarius on Sep 13th 2023 at 9:15:04 AM

So what you're saying is that Speed Buggy is about to make his big comeback!

It’s not so different from how it’s been there last good while or so.

It’s been “the one dtv movie per year, plus whatever show is currently running” for years, now. It’s just that the show currently running is godawful, so it feels like we only have just the one movie. At least the current line dtv films are almost always pretty damn good, but this year’s (and next year’s too, probably) is pulling double duty as our only hope for something actually decent until things change.

Holiday Haunt spells the death of their attempt to make a new sub-franchise featuring the SCOOB continuity, which is a shame. The franchise was really about to kick it into high gear.

Yeah normally the show on is you know good. Instead were stuck with Velma due to the strikes for years. Which isn't great.

Let’s not forget Holiday Haunt was supposed to det up a whole Hanna Barbera cinematic universe. After the sequel to Scoob got canned, I'm pretty sure all of that went down with it. The new Flintstones movie they announce probably isn't connected to Scoob! at all.

Isn't there still another show coming though? Scooby Doo and the Mystery Pups I think it was?

Mystery Pups was cancelled during production late last year discreetly, as confirmed by a few staffers on the show like Kelsey Nordan.

Also, I find it hard to believe that no streamer wanted their hands on a new Scooby-Doo series aimed at preschoolers (a market that the previous administration even admitted was a growing interest). Warner Bros. even licenses select shows, including some Scooby-Doo catalog shows, to Tubi.

Warner Bros. Discovery is kind of annoying in that regard, where their administration will periodically complain that they're not using their legacy I Ps, but keep shutting down projects in that space.

Edited by XMenMutant22 on Sep 14th 2023 at 6:19:27 AM

As someone whose favorite version is Pup Named Scooby Doo, I'm so disappointed Holiday Haunt and Mystery Pups both got cancelled. Instead there is Velma which I saw the first ep and was annoyed and disgusted. Scooby is a great series, you can give it some snark or meta nods and still be funny and sweet. Velma is not good. She's hateful and mean.

Dang, I didn't even know that. Completely sucks. This isn't a franchise that stays gone for long though, so hopefully something else can pop up after the strikes are done.

Copying and pasting from my thread which wasn’t needed.

Anyway.

Yes this is an out of the ordinary opinion, but I enjoyed binge watching the first season.

Norville was my favorite character in the season. I enjoyed his personality and how much of a good friend he was.

I’m actually happy that the show is apparently getting renewed for a second season, but I hope to see character development for all the characters.

All this show does is assassinate characters. There's not one likeable one in the bunch.

There's a reason why I mentioned only Norville as a likable character. I wasn't trying to turn this thread into a complaint thread by complaining about the characters that I didn't like (it's against the rules).

I can see the appeal for fans of Mindy Kaling or media that are similar to her work who just wanted another vehicle for that type of thing and don't care what that vehicle is and may not have a strong emotional attachment to the Scooby Doo franchise and how they were previously. But a lot of the critiques mostly come from a lot of people who do have a strong emotional attachment to the way Mystery Inc was portrayed previously and their depictions in Velma felt aggressively mean.

And plenty of people in this thread have stated suggestions of how they could go about doing what Velma attempted better, depending on priorities and desires, that would be more in line with current expectations. If they wanted to do an origin series, there are a few movies they can crib notes from. If they want to do a parodic comedy series, start with Pup Named Scooby and expand (and maybe get writers who have watched and enjoyed different eras of Scooby, so you have different references, Pup was more parody of the original classical era, plus some 90s tropes like the hypercompetent nerd, the airheaded comical character, and the exasperated nag). If you want a more adult Scooby, give the characters or their villains more expanded motivations and a serial storyline (why the Scooby gang decide their main hobby is to go around catching costumed criminals in a van, and what possessed criminals to do the crimes they desire and maybe have them be more sympathetic than they people they're haunting, maybe have a season or series long nemesis). If you want a more "adult" Scooby, that's fairly simple to do. Have the criminals actually kill someone in the crimes. Have the characters get more physical with their relationships; I'm sure people would howl to see Velma physically get it on with Marcie Fleach or Coco Diablo and Fred and Daphne do something other other than look longingly into each other's eyes or say they love each other. And maybe have someone other than Shaggy make weed jokes.

Really, I think the easiest thing they can do to vastly improve it in the eyes of the fans of previous Scooby series, is to just give them a reason to like them as people. Norville is probably the most likeable of the bunch and has the least complaints (though he's still a bit of a jerk), but everyone else feels incredibly insufferable. Will see what they decide with Season 2.

Edited by HeyMikey on Sep 19th 2023 at 8:44:17 AM

I mean I just think the characters need more work. I actually like the storyline, but the characters seem really cringe and unlikable (outside of Norville).

I mean, as a mystery show, it's also very clearly written from episode to episode, with all the clues to the killer coming in the last episode. Even without the Scooby stuff, that's the main draw of the show.

Incidentally, after having been done in the form of two maxiseries, The Batman & Scooby-Doo is switching to becoming an ongoing next year:

https://www.comicsbeat.com/the-batman-scooby-doo-mysteries-ongoing-series-dc-comics/

Last issue of the second maxi, was the gang sort of crossing over with Batman Beyond.

I didn't know that comic was enough of a huge hit to keep getting extended like that. Reminds me of how Batman: The Adventures Continue went from just bio blurbs written by Paul Dini for the figures to a mini promoting the figures, to three full "seasons" of comics.

A big issue for Velma besides the numerous Ass Pulls and Broken Aesops is that frankly every aspect of the show has already been done better by other installments in the vast Scooby franchise. It doesn't bring anything fresh, new, or innovative to the table. The one neat thing is the hallucinations and the animators do deserve praise for them.

Edited by PhiSat on Sep 19th 2023 at 1:10:13 PM

I can see some people wanting a more "adult" Scooby series, not in the sense of having mature and relatable writing (Mystery Inc already has that locked down), but in the PG-13+ subject matter area. Only thing we usually get are parodies in other adult works like Family Guy, Robot Chicken, or Venture Brothers. How much value such a show like that would have is up for discussion, but that's something new that a better written Velma could provide.

Scoobynatural, the countless parodies you've mentioned, and Scooby Apocalypse all exist. It's not like we're starved for "edgier" Scooby content.

Edited by PhiSat on Sep 19th 2023 at 1:22:04 PM

So a crossover, parodies and a comic. Not exactly much if one actually wants have a more edgy "adult" content. Part of asking for a different version is that it makes Mystery Inc the focus, not a sideshow draw for nostalgia. And not everyone reads comics.

Regardless if anyone not into regular purchases want to get some Batman/Scooby-Doo goodness, the first maxi is available in two volumes with a 3rd volume collecting the first half of the current one.

I'm still laughing at the fact that people said they disliked Velma so much that they preferred Scrappy Doo over her .

I mean all jokes aside Scrappy isn't coming back since the creators did sever ties with his character.