From the moment the first footage was revealed, it was clear that Scooby-Doo-based Velma would have a rough ride regarding the dedicated fan base of the iconic Great Dane and his mystery-solving cohorts. As the new R-rated animation hit HBO Max today, those expectations were spectacularly exceeded in the worst way possible for the show as reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, and IMDb tore into the reimagined cartoon. As of writing, the audience Rotten Tomatoes score is sitting at just 10% and dropping with every new review.

Velma stars Mindy Kaling as the voice of the title character, with the supporting cast including Sam Richardson as Norville – better known as Shaggy – Constance Wu as Daphne, and Glenn Howerton as Fred. However, you may notice that missing from that list is the iconic Scooby-Doo himself, and that is because he does not feature in the adult animation, which appears to be just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the many complaints about the series.

Within hours of the show’s arrival, things looked bleak for Velma maintaining any kind of Fresh rating, as while the audience scores shed numbers hour on the hour, the critic reviews, of which there have been very few, also started to drop. The current 11% audience approval and 50% critic score certainly doesn’t seem to have finished their descent, and you can check out some of the scathing comments left so far.

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Mindy Kaling Preempted Backlash Against the Show’s Changes to Scooby-Doo Canon

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Velma is a complete reimagining of the much-loved Hannah-Barbara cartoon, which gives Velma a new backstory as a South Asian reworking who has a murder mystery to solve at her school. While the key human members of the Mystery Inc. crew also receive an updated look, with Fred being the old character who remains white as in his previous appearances, Kaling has already addressed social media comments about “racebending” and was fully expecting the kind of comments the series has attracted. She previously said:

During the same interview with Variety, the series creator Charlie Grandy also addressed the broad diversity of the cast, which was done on the back of Kaling’s casting. Grandy added:

“The original Scooby-Doo, which we’re such a fan of, is also really rooted in another era and reflective of the cultural landscape of the ’60s and the ’70s and what people traditionally put on TV. It just felt like, if we can have the characters be anything, why not do something new?”

It is clear that there is a unanimous opinion about Velma. While changing three of the main characters’ races has provided a base for many of the negative reviews, it is certainly not the sole complaint about the show. Whether it is the adult-themed comedy that seems to have missed the mark with most viewers, or the lack of a particular nervous canine, Velma is clearly heading toward a single-figure score. If the series gets a second season, it will be the greatest mystery of all.

“It started with Mindy saying, ‘I’m voicing Velma; what makes the most sense?’ What Mindy was attracted to in the character, and what I loved, was that the smartest of the gang that solved the mysteries got no credit. Going from that, why not just expand the diversity of the cast?”