I loved the book, but I think the best bits in the adaptation were the things they added (other than the two leads, who I will now forever imagine in their Tennant and Sheen guises). Like Doon Mackichan’s Archangel Michael, who is terrifying.
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Following this slight derail, if you haven’t heard the wailing over the diverse casting for the Amazon Prime Wheel of Time adaptation, you ain’t heard nothing! (Despite having Robert Jordan’s notes that can be interpreted to support such casting, “if they ain’t white, they ain’t right” seems to be a theme.)
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I love how some people can embrace fantasy, but a cast where there is a variety of skincolors is somehow unbelievable if the influence is remotely European… Like have these people never heard of the Roman empire? Do they not realize it spanned the Mediterranean and was an efficient mover of people around the whole empire, which included North Africa and into central and western Europe?
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And at one point had this guy as emperor:
I can only imagine the outrage from historically illiterate gammons were he to be portrayed on TV or in film by an actor of appropriate ethnicity.
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Shortly after each adventure began and something would scare them, they would all pile into a frightened heap. One par of legs would appear and carry the pile to safety.
It was always Velma’s legs.
(Hanna Barbera would reuse animates footage, but still, that first time the animator said, “Yeah, it’d probably would be Velma who saves their asses,”)
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When I watched this as a kid my older brothers would remark, “Yeah, Freddy always says that so he and Daphne can go and screw somewhere.”
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Note that in the later cartoons, the ones with Scrappy-Doo, both Fred and Velma were gone.
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I loathe Scrappy Doo.
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Since it’s Mindy Kaling that came up with it I think she’s making Velma South Asian because she is and she wanted to play her? At least I hope that is the case but I don’t think she does projects she has no creative control over.
Edit:
Upon rereading the title it clearly says East Asian, not South Asian. I think my general point still stands though that this isn’t a case of Kaling being subconsciously prejudiced, even if it is not herself who is going to play the character.
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Speaking at the virtual TV Kids Summer Festival 2001
Coming soon?
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Like some people complained about a recent version of Wuthering Heights (Andrea Arnold’s) where Heathcliffe was Black like in the fucking book. See also Mr Rochester.
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It will probably have a tough time beating Mystery Incorporated which is pretty fun.
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I for one am extremely excited to see Padan Fain as cast. They couldn’t do by the book racial casting anyways with the Aiel being ginger indigenous people and Seanchan being extremely Japanese - in the books the Aiel seemed ridiculous the entire time and Seanchan was extremely well grounded because of how much it leaned on existing cultures. Anyone that can’t see that is just a ridiculous person anyways.
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Fans of the Tennant/Sheen Good Omens should rush out and watch the amazing Staged. In the context of this thread, the second season is about the show being rebooted, and Sheen and Tennant being recast by, among others, Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Cate Blanchett.
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Soma gets a bad rap from the puritans.
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The article is wrong and you are right. She is South Asian, and the Velma character will be South Asian.
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If Mindy Kaling is involved I’m gonna go out on a limb and assume it’s not going to play towards Asian stereotypes.
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I’m here for Velma in whatever form, but Scooby Doo without Scooby Doo isn’t, well, Scooby Doo. He is the key character really…I think this will fail like the other reboots.
