Velma Dinkley is a fictional character in the Scooby-Doo franchise.[3] She is usually seen wearing a baggy orange turtlenecksweater, a short red pleated skirt, knee high socks, Mary Jane shoes, and a pair of black square glasses, which she frequently loses and is unable to see without. She is seen as the "brains" of the group and also serves as Fred Jones' third-in-command.[4][5]
Character description
Throughout her various incarnations, Velma is usually portrayed as a highly intelligent young woman with an interest in the sciences. She is also often portrayed as being very well-read on obscure fields such as Norse writing (as in the third Scooby-Doo series, The Scooby-Doo Show). Due to her intelligence and problem-solving abilities, Velma is typically the first one to solve the mystery and, like Sherlock Holmes and many other fictional detectives, often keeps her conclusions secret till the end of the story. Velma Dinkley was inspired by the brainy sweater girlZelda Gilroy, as played by Sheila Kuehl, from the late 1950s/early 1960s American sitcom The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.[6]
A running gag in Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! and The New Scooby-Doo Movies is Velma's severe myopia and her ability to repeatedly lose her glasses (often the result of them falling off her face while she is being chased by a villain), saying "My glasses! I can't see without my glasses!" whenever she accidentally misplaces them.[7] Another running gag occurs when other frightened characters leap into her arms.
Velma is characterized as the most skeptical of the gang and is most likely to discount any paranormal explanations to their mysteries. This is particularly evident in the films Scooby-Doo! and the Curse of the 13th Ghost and Scooby-Doo! Return to Zombie Island, in which she discounts ghosts and zombies (which are real within the context of the franchise) that could not be unmasked by claiming they are hallucinations.[8]
Character background
Like all of the Scooby-Doo kids, later ret-conned as Mystery Incorporated members, Velma has a differing personal backstory and origin in different series.
In the original series Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, Velma is shown to attend the same high school as the rest of the gang (as stated in the inaugural episode "What a Night for a Knight"). However, by The New Scooby-Doo Movies, Velma is said to have graduated from a different high school (as stated in the episode "Spirited Spooked Sports Show"). In the film Scooby-Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster, it is revealed that her middle name is Daisy.
According to Scooby-Doo: Behind the Scenes, before she said "Jinkies!" she used to say "Oh, my!" but it wasn't as catchy. Her parents are depicted to have pushed her from an early age to excel in her studies, resulting in hundreds of awards for outstanding achievement. Because of this, she is more vocal than her comrades would like. Of course, she also does her share of sweet-talking too.
During the first season of the 2010–2013 series Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, Velma is in a romanticrelationship with Shaggy, much to the distaste of Scooby-Doo. Their relationship ends in "Howl of the Fright Hound" (season 1, episode 10). This series' incarnation of Velma is shown to be secretive and controlling.[8][9] In the second season of Mystery Incorporated, Velma is shown secretly working for the series' overarching villain, Mr. E, alongside Marcie "Hot Dog Water" Fleach who is Velma's former rival in science fairs. The two become friends after Velma returns to the gang and by the time of the series finale, Velma and Marcie are teammates at the Tri-state Olympiad of Science.[10] This version of Velma frequently uses the expressions "Oy" and "Oy gevalt", and is also shown listening to Klezmer music, hinting at a Jewish identity.[11][12][13]
Love interests
Daphne Blake: You're pregnant?! Velma Dinkley: You sound horrified. Daphne Blake: Not horrified... Just surprised. I never thought you were interested in men. Velma Dinkley: But Shaggy and I have been together for months! Daphne Blake: Proving my point. Shaggy Rogers: Hey!
Velma Dinkley is usually shown in relationships with men such as Shaggy Rogers (with whom she has a son in Scooby Apocalypse),[2]Johnny Bravo, Patrick Wisely, Sam Winchester, Ben Ravencroft, and many other male characters, although since the 2010s, she has been depicted as also being romantically interested in other women, such as Coco Diablo.
In 2020, James Gunn, the screenwriter of the 2002 Scooby-Doo film, stated that Velma was written "eyeballing Daphne" in early drafts of the script[14] in accordance with the film's original intent as an R-rateddeconstruction of the Scooby-Doo canon (with Shaggy meant to be depicted as a stoner, and Fred a gangster, the latter also ambiguously portrayed in the final film by Freddie Prinze Jr. as "[closeted]gay or bisexual because of the ascot"),[15][16][17] although the final film would see Velma have a romance with a male waiter, with the film's 2004 sequel Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed further depicting Velma in a full romantic relationship with Seth Green's character, Patrick Wisely.
While addressing comments on his Instagram page in 2020 about Mystery Incorporated's episode director labelling its version of Velma as being bisexual, producer Tony Cervone confirmed in response that his intention was for this iteration of Velma's relationship with Marcie "Hot Dog Water" Fleach to be depicted—as clearly as would be permitted at the time—as a romantic one, following her previous failed relationship with Shaggy, with the characters subtly implied to be in a relationship in the series finale, with Marcie referring to Velma as "my girl".[10][18] In the 2022 animated film Trick or Treat Scooby-Doo!, Velma is depicted as "crushing big time" on female supportingantagonist Coco Diablo,[19] which was widely reported by online news media as confirmation of the character's lesbianism.[20] However, right after the release of Trick or Treat, it was revealed that Velma would have a "secret crush" on Fred in the HBO Maxadult-oriented and metafictionalstreaming television series Velma,[21] pitched as a "love quadrangle",[22] in which both Shaggy and Daphne would be depicted as having crushes on a South Asian version of Velma.[23][24][25] The show received overwhelmingly negative reception. It gathered criticism for its characterization and departures from Scooby-Doo such as removal of Scooby-Doo.[26][27] On October 8, 2024, the show was cancelled.[28][29]
On February 10, 2021, it was announced that Velma will have her own streaming television series on HBO Max in January 2023 with Mindy Kaling voicing her while executing producing with Charlie Grandy, Howard Klein and Sam Register. Titled Velma, the series follows an adult-oriented and metafictional "love quadrangle" Mystery Inc.[33][34][35][36][22] with Velma portrayed as being of Indian descent.[37] On July 11, 2022, the trademark for the series was listed as abandoned,[38] only for HBO Chief Content Officer Casey Bloys to confirm the series to still be in production in August,[39] with it previewing at New York Comic Con on October 6, 2022.[40] The first two episodes of the series debuted on HBO Max on January 12, 2023; the other eight were released within the following months.[41] Velma was cancelled after two seasons and a special as a result of negative reviews.[26][27][28][29]
^Evanier, Mark. (July 10, 2002).PostArchived May 14, 2006, at the Wayback Machine on "News from Me" blog for Povonline.com. Retrieved March 27, 2006. Excerpt: "Fred was based on Dobie, Velma on Zelda, Daphne on Thalia, and Shaggy on Maynard."
^u/matthewlillard (May 30, 2012). "I'm Matthew Lillard. Stu from Scream, Shaggy in Scooby Doo, and most importantly Steveo in SLC PUNK!. I now direct, who woulda guessed? AMA". Reddit. Archived from the original on February 6, 2022. Retrieved May 30, 2012. Hey Matt, loved you in Scream. I heard that Scooby-Doo was originally scripted and shot as a much more adult-oriented movie, but then got edited to be more family friendly. If that's true, any chance you could give some details on the stuff that got cut out? u/matthewlillard gladly answer. It was after the heat of SHREK and the studio was all for a above the kids head line of comedy... they brought in James Gunn (SUPER? SLITHER? He's the best ever, love him) and he delivered that version of the script. Yes to all the things you think it is. Smokey van. Velma eyeballing Daphne. Fred being gay because of the ascot. When we tested the parents flipped their lids and Warners got sca[r]ed. It['s] one of the crown jewels in their library and couldn't risk a back lash. also the demons were really sca[r]y... they were softened.
^Velma – Official Trailer – HBO Max. HBO Max. October 6, 2022. Archived from the original on October 6, 2022. Retrieved October 6, 2022 – via YouTube. Velma Dinkley: "Dear HBO Max. I just learned you intend to make a genre bending comedic origin story of Judy Jetson. When I heard this new version of Judy Jetson wouldn't be "boy crazy", the only word I had to describe my disgust is Jinkies! If there is ONE thing the internet agrees on, it's that you should never change anything ever! I hope you die! Sincerely, Velma ❤️️" ...Well, at least Judy's still white.
