The Scooby-Doo cartoon that Quentin Tarantino despised so much as a young kid has changed a lot over the years. Ever since Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island and the 2002 live-action film, there’s been a push to make the series more “mature.” Well, at least as mature as a show about a crime-solving talking dog can get. Could Mindy Kaling’s Velma potentially align more with Tarantino’s tastes?
Quentin Tarantino: A Critic of Modern Hollywood
They just don’t make filmmakers like Quentin Tarantino anymore. Throughout his notorious career, the Kill Bill director has delivered some of the most entertaining, stylish, and over-the-top violent films ever seen in Hollywood. Though he’s managed to stay relatively away from most major controversies, the filmmaker is well-known for his inflammatory opinions on pop culture.
Tarantino, a fervent critic of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and modern Hollywood practices, knows the right buttons to push to create online fandom wars. While most of his comments on the entertainment industry are spot-on, some of his more outlandish claims can force even the most devout fan to do a double take.
Remember that time when Tarantino told the media he thought Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was a much better movie than The Last Crusade? Anyone who says that is more than ready to start a flame war among fans. And that’s far from being Tarantino’s most controversial take to date.
Tarantino’s Love for Animation
It’s safe to say that Saturday Morning Cartoons shaped Tarantino’s early love for cinema. Animation as a whole has been a passion for Tarantino. Recently, he told Bill Maher that he refuses to watch Toy Story 4 because Toy Story 3 is one of the “Best films [that I] have ever seen.”
Still, as much as Tarantino loves animation and American pop culture, there are some lines he would never cross, like saying he enjoyed one of Hanna-Barbera’s most iconic cartoons.
Quentin Tarantino’s Contempt for Scooby-Doo
In an interview with Yesterdayland, Quentin Tarantino expressed his distaste for Scooby-Doo and the gang. The iconic animated series was a media sensation throughout the 70s and beyond, sparking a fandom that endures to this day. You can count Quentin Tarantino out of that fandom, though.
According to the Pulp Fiction director, he thought Scooby-Doo was a “stupid show.” He criticized how the mysteries always had an evident solution. The filmmaker recalls watching the first episode of the first episode of the cartoon back in 1969, but he also noticed something weird going on with Scooby-Doo‘s release schedule. “It seems like Scooby Doo started the thing where they made six episodes every year.” Tarantino would dread how the network would then air exclusively those six episodes for the rest of the year, making his distaste for Mystery Inc. even more palpable.
Could Tarantino Like HBO Max’s Velma?
As divisive as it was, the HBO Max animated series Velma, starring Mindy Kaling and Sam Richardson (as a black version of Shaggy), might have been more in line with Tarantino’s tastes. The show (recently canceled on Max) features a much darker tone for the Mystery Inc. gang.
Long-time Scooby-Doo fans almost universally loathe the Velma series, so it’s safe to assume that non-Scooby fans might find the series’ approach to dark, self-deprecating humor refreshing. On the other hand, the show takes a few shots at the classic Scooby-Doo cartoons, making it the perfect show for someone like Tarantino.
Though the filmmaker hasn’t chimed in on the Velma drama, knowing his contempt for the original series makes us believe he’d be a staunch defender of Kaling’s show. He might not love Velma Dinkley as a character, but he sure hates Scoob – a sentiment he shares with the canceled Max animated series.
RELATED: Batman Bombshell: Shaggy from Scooby-Doo is Bruce Wayne in Disguise!
Velma |
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The origin of the sleuth and member of the Mystery Inc. gang, Velma. |
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| Creator: Charlie Grandy |
| Cast: Mindy Kaling, Glenn Howerton, Sam Richardson, Constance Wu |
| Genre: Adult animation |
| Number of Seasons: 2 |
| Streaming Service: HBO Max |
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