There Will Be No Scooby-Doo In Mindy Kaling’s Velma Spin-Off

Earlier this year, it was announced that Mindy Kaling is developing and starring in an HBO Max original animated series for adults titled Velma, based, of course, on Velma Dinkley from  Scooby-Doo, the iconic crime-solving gang of groovy, possibly stoned teens who cruise around in a van with a giant dog and an unfortunate habit of getting mixed up in ghost drama. The Mary Sue has details on the show and there will be no van, Scooby-Doo, Velma has been re-imagined as East Asian, which of course has some haters on the internet clutching at their knotted neck scarves.

Velma will take place in a different world than Scooby-Doo, which means her three best friends Daphne, Fred, and Shaggy will be there, but there is no Mystery Machine van, and definitely no dog. Poor Scooby-Doo; usually it’s that lil’ knee-high asshole Scrappy Doo that nobody wants anything to doo with. At the TV Kids Summer Festival, Warner Bros. president of Global Kids, Young Adults and Classic, Tom Ascheim talked about the show. Even though Tom talked about it at a festival for kid’s shows, this is not a show for kids. Tom said:

“We have a not-for-children, Mindy Kaling project called Velma, because she was excited to re-imagine what Scooby-Doo would be like if Velma were of East Asian descent and lived in a different world. And in that version, which is going on HBO Max first, there’s no dog and no van but we have our 4 key characters through a different lens and I think it’s great. Allowing our creators to play with our IP is super powerful.”

If you gagged in disgust at the losers who flipped out over a Black Ariel, then you’ll love to hate all the assholes who lost their minds over Velma being East Asian. As several have pointed out online, Velma’s race has been interpreted several ways previous to this, so calm down and stop sending Mindy Kaling that Kelly Kapoor “Number one: how dare you” meme from The Office.

Y’all must not really be fans of scooby Doo bc it’s the way Velma has been portrayed as Asian, and Latina more than once throughout different versions for y’all to be fake upset about this???

Just say you’re racist so we can both move on https://t.co/9QlfwD8ADI

— ✰Throttle Down Bestie✰ (@ThatKodo) June 11, 2021

Several have noted that they don’t care what race Velma is, just so long as she’s still gay. And yet no one has thought to ask the critical question here, which is: Will this new re-imagined Velma still have an absolute tank ass? Her dump truck butt has been well established, you can’t fuck with canon like that! But (no pun intended) some have wondered online if Velma is really Velma if she’s not solving mysteries in the Mystery Machine with Scooby-Doo. I would personally argue that Velma is better off without the van and the dog. Can you imagine how many times Velma, Fred, Shaggy, and Daphne get congratulated on solving another mystery, only for that same person to then scrunch up their nose and ask why they all smell like dog farts and dirty old van carpet?

Pic: Hanna-Barbera