Velma Dinkley, the long maligned and overlooked true icon of the Scooby Gang, is finally getting the recognition she deserves… with a modern reboot! Set to be produced and voiced by fellow overlooked icon of an ensemble cast, Mindy Kaling, HBO Max’s new TV show is justice. And long overdue justice at that.
Let’s be honest, if we were to view the 60s characters of Scooby-Doo — the so-called Scooby Gang — through a 2021 lens, their behaviour probably wouldn’t hold up. Fred’s non-collaborative leadership style exudes a toxic masculinity so potent that it cannot be undone even with his sartorial choices (stylish cravat). Daphne, while clearly a capable member of the gang, is always portrayed as the damsel in distress, waiting to be saved by Fred. Scooby and Shaggy, while advocates for the decriminalisation of marijuana, clearly exacerbate their own anxiety to the point of paranoia through their overuse of the drug, and Scrappy Doo, as we all know to be canon, is pure evil. And of course, the whole purpose of the gang, spearheaded by Fred, is to uphold the prison industrial complex. But we digress. The point is that, with hindsight, the star of the show should obviously have been Velma, the bespectacled, intelligent, Pumpkin Spice turtleneck enthusiast.
But good news! HBO Max’s announcement yesterday confirmed that it would be undoing the years of Velma-erasure that have plagued our society with an origin story for the Scooby Gang’s most intriguing “unsung and underappreciated” member, with Mindy Kaling already signed on to executive produce and voice the lead. Entitled simply Velma, the show is, HBO says, “an original and humorous spin that unmasks the complex and colorful past of one of America’s most beloved mystery solvers”.
Unfortunately, not much is known yet about the plot of the series, which is set to run for 10 episodes. But given that Tony Cervone, director of the animated series Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, confirmed that Velma Dinkley is gay, there’s fertile ground for rich new character development. “I’ve said this before but Velma in Mystery Incorporated is not bi,” the director told fans after posting an image of the character with a pride flag on Instagram. “She’s gay. We always planned on Velma acting a little off and out of character while she was dating Shaggy because that relationship was wrong for her and she had unspoken difficulty with the why.”
We do know that Velma, like its inspiration, will be fully animated. The show, a la MTV seminal classic Daria, is apparently aimed towards adults. So while you might have overlooked Velma as a child, you can correct that mistake now in adulthood. Jinkies forever.