Has anyone else checked out Velma, which appears to be the third lowest rated show on IMDb right now? It’s really not that bad. It’s no Mystery Incorporated, but it’s certainly not the trash fire it’s being made out to be. It makes me think it’s aspiring to be a Harley Quinn-light for Scooby-Doo fans.
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If I’m reading @robertmckenna properly, its the “durdle-urdle oirish” aspect of the fil-m that resonates with the redneck-USA seen in Three-Billboards that is offputting.
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The internet at large has ruined online reviews.
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Largely, for me too, but i often do okay by picking through the aggregated ones for any particular movie at Rotten Tomatoes.
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No, and it may not be for me, but I simply assumed from the toxic pile, on that this was exactly what we have seen before so often in the last few years. Ghostbusters stole ma childhood by having wimminz in it!
When “the internet” decides some cultural artefact is the worst thing ever ordinary paid critics know it’s not worth it for them to have a nuanced opinion. They spend most of their time making excuses for why billion dollar cut scenes of athletes in fetish costumes are just great, they know the online mob would be at them if they defended something slightly feminist.
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I haven’t seen it but a friend despised it, and the complaints she had were things like sexualizing adolescents, fetishizing Lesbians, and making a joke of Norville acting toxic because he’s black. I’m sure the anti-feminists hate it for the usual stupid reasons, but it would be wrong to assume other people haven’t found issues.
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I’ll take your word for it, but in this current age of abundance when it comes to available TV shows to watch, “not that bad” is damning with faint praise. Who has time these days to watch any show that isn’t at least “good” when there are so many other options out there?
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Yoko Kanno OST, you say?!
now you have my interest!
will check both out (the series and the soundtrack.)
i loves me some Yoko Kanno and Seatbelts!
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I’ve watched the first two episodes with my Daughter. The one-liners come fast and furious but the parody hits too on the nose. The cockroaches shagging all the time are unnecessary. The recurring dick jokes get tiresome. The opening shower scene is gratuitous but clearly was put there so the characters could point out how ridiculous the trope is.
The usual muckrakers will complain about the reshuffle of the ethnic makeup of the characters and lack of a Great Dane. I have no gripe with that but I didn’t care for how just how unlikeable the characters of Daphne and Fred are. Norville (Shaggy) is fine but he’s been shown as a guy who feels like he has been friendzoned by Velma (which Velma is not at fault for of course).
I thought the fear-based hallucinations was a good way to bring ghosts into the mix without relying on amusement park owners having unexplainable special-effects skills.
Overall I’d call it fine right now.
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Two episodes in, I am rather enjoying Fleishman Is in Trouble. The narration is great, and it’s good to see Jesse Eisenberg do something neurotic.
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Daphne gets better as you go. I assume the plan is to redeem Fred by the end, be it this season or next. This is supposed to be a kinda-sorta prequel. I’m hoping that they at least try to put the playing pieces course to where they’re supposed to go by the time they form Mystery Inc. But that’s all assuming there’s a goal beyond being crass and edgey.
That’s kind of the best everything gets from me these days. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen anything I consider truly great or at least great for more than a moment.
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I get the setup for the character arc, but Fred is just sooooo unlikable, a vapid shallow manchild who cant even feed himself and has a propensity towards violence. It would take a lot to reel that back in.
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I’m probably not gonna bother watching but is there a reason he’s not called “Shaggy” anymore? Maybe they’re worried people will associate him with the Jamaican-American rapper of the same name now that the character is a Black guy?
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Until you mentioned it I hadn’t made the connection, so success I guess?
Norville is quite opposite to Shaggy. He is smart, rejects drug culture, and is pretty introverted and enamored with Velma. Im curious where they’re going with his character arc.
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OH! Gotcha!
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Interesting new reimagining of the character I guess.
Though I think it would have been kind of fun if they just leaned into it from the other direction and changed Shaggy’s catchphrase from “Zoinks!” to “Boombastic!”
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And maybe he’d turn out to me Mister Lover-lover after all?
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[Fred accuses suspect of robbing tourists]
Shifty Business Proprietor: It wasn’t me!
Shaggy: Now you’re stealing my work!
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I think it’s just that he’s not Shaggy yet.
I concur; having watched the first two eps, it was better than I expected, frankly.
(I hated the Crystal Cove/Mystery Inc version of Scooby Doo.)
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