Summary

• Velma failed to impress with a 39% Rotten Tomatoes score, lacking humor and character likeness to the original Scooby-Doo team.
• Mystery Incorporated offers a mature storytelling approach, real relationships, and a serialized format, making it a superior Scooby-Doo reboot.
• Despite its potential, Velma squandered its brilliant premise, while mystery Incorporated fully realized its excellent ideas, leaving audiences disappointed.

HBO's Velma has failed to win over both critics and audiences since it debuted, with the best thing about the adult animated comedy being that it serves as a reminder of a much better entry in the Scooby-Doo franchise. Since it first premiered in 2023, Velma has garnered overwhelmingly negative reviews and currently holds a Rotten Tomatoes score of just 39%. The Scooby-Doo spin-off is so bad that many have questioned why it was brought back for a second season. The one positive thing about Velma, however, is that it evokes aspects of a superior Scooby-Doo reboot from 11 years ago.

The Scooby-Doo franchise has taken on many forms since Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! first began airing in 1969. Every Scooby-Doo series since has put a fresh twist on the original formula, but none have proven quite as alienating as Velma. An entry from the early 2010s, however, managed to shake up the format while staying true to what makes Scooby-Doo great, and it's worth watching over Velma.

Mystery Incorporated Is The “Adult” Scooby-Doo Show Velma Failed To Be

Its Storytelling Is Much More Mature

Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated ran for two seasons between 2010 and 2013. On the surface, the show is just like any other incarnation of Scooby-Doo in that it follows Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, and Scooby as they travel around in the mystery machine solving cases of a spooky nature. Yet, when it was released, Mystery Incorporated marked a much more grown-up tone for the children's franchise.

Mystery Incorporated isn't adult in the same way that Velma or other animated shows like it are. After all, it's largely aimed at a younger audience and, therefore, doesn't employ an adult sense of humor. However, its storytelling and approach to its characters is markedly more mature than anything that came before it. For starters, Mystery Incorporated is serialized rather than episodic, meaning it tells long (and quite complex) over-arching storylines that link each episode of the season. This differs from other Scooby-Doo shows, which have famously made use of a monster-of-the-week format.

Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated is currently available to stream on Max.

Similarly, Mystery Incorporated depicts its main characters as being in real relationships. For the first time in the franchise's history, Shaggy and Velma are shown to be romantically involved, with the series exploring how their contrasting personalities affect their ability to be in a relationship. Likewise, the show doesn't shy away from portraying Daphne and Fred's attraction towards one another. Overall, Mystery Incorporated's grown-up approach has been welcomed by viewers and the series currently holds a Rotten Tomatoes audience score of 98%.

What Went Wrong With Scooby-Doo’s Velma Spinoff

The Show Never Really Won Over Audiences

Prior to its debut, Velma showed real promise. After all, with much-loved comedy actress Mindy Kaling as its star and executive producer, a talented supporting cast that comprises Constance Wu, Glenn Howerton, Sam Richardson, and Melissa Fumero, and writers whose previous credits include The Office and Saturday Night Live, Velma has all the ingredients of being a hit. However, that hasn't proven to be the case, and there are lots of reasons as to why.

Among the main ones is that Velma's radical changes come across as insulting towards the Scooby-Doo mythos. Doing something different and shaking up the formula is fine, but it has to be done out of care for the thing that's being adapted. In the case of Velma, its main characters bear almost no likeness in terms of personality to the original Mystery Incorporated team. Velma is bitter and hateful, while Fred is a narcissistic jock, and Shaggy (or Norville) is no longer a coward. Not only are they poor imitations of well-known characters, but not one of them is likable.

Ultimately, Velma's identity crisis means that its humor is all over the place and very few jokes actually land.

Additionally, despite being an adult-oriented comedy, Velma simply isn't very funny. It can't decide whether it's a mystery show or a send-up of the mystery genre, both parodying the tropes of the genre with a real bite while also expecting its audience to take its central mystery seriously. Ultimately, Velma's identity crisis means that its humor is all over the place and very few jokes actually land. The show's disregard for the history of Scooby-Doo has, undoubtedly, alienated many of those who love the franchise, while its poor writing will have failed to win over casual viewers.

Why Scooby Doo! Mystery Incorporated Was Canceled (Despite Being Great)

It's One Of Animation's Greatest Injustices

Despite winning over many with its fresh take on a familiar formula, Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated was canceled after just two seasons on air. The specific reasons for the show's cancelation aren't clear, although a few factors are likely to blame. The first, as is normally the case with canceled shows, is ratings. The first season of Mystery Incorporated garnered solid viewing figures, but the show experienced a notable drop during its second run of episodes, leading to a seven-month hiatus between the first and second half of season 2.

Another likely factor in Mystery Incorporated's cancelation is financial considerations. Animated TV shows are notoriously expensive to make, especially when the costs of marketing and paying high-profile voice actors are considered. In the case of Mystery Incorporated, its unique format may have worked against it, with serialized shows being less likely to be picked up for syndication and reruns than those that employ an episodic storytelling style. Overall, there would have been a number of reasons that led to Mystery Incorporated being canceled but none of them had anything to do with the show's quality.

Velma’s Wasted Potential Makes Mystery Incorporated Even Better 11 Years Later

The Show's End Result Was Disappointing To Say The Least

The basic idea of an adult animated show centering on the character of Velma, the most crucial yet overlooked character in Scooby-Doo, is a brilliant one. Yet, HBO's Velma has largely squandered its brilliant premise. The show had the opportunity to do something different, be it to see the world of Scooby-Doo through Velma's eyes, to put a more mature spin on the franchise, or to cleverly play on the clichés of the genre. However, in not really knowing what it wants to be, Velma has never managed to capitalize on its potential.

Mystery Incorporated, on the other hand, fully saw its excellent ideas through. Despite being aimed at children and despite having a very different premise, Mystery Incorporated is a stark reminder of the show Velma could've been. In an ideal world, Velma would've had the clever and mature storytelling of Mystery Incorporated, as well as that show's charm and its respect towards its characters and their relationships. Unless Velma defies expectations by returning with a much-improved third season, Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated remains the closest thing the franchise has gotten to a genuinely good adult Scooby-Doo show.

Source: Rotten Tomatoes