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Post by okraila on Apr 21, 2022 4:55:30 GMT -5
So you know those professional actors who are making a life action mature mystery Incorporated show on YouTube? The first episode, Welcome to Coolsville, was delayed since 2020, buts if finally releasing April 27. www.youtube.com/c/MysteryIncorporated |
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Post by Ark on Apr 21, 2022 9:08:39 GMT -5
Wow! I remember when they did the Kickstarter like 3 years ago! They're still doing it?
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Post by Doo on Apr 30, 2022 16:49:01 GMT -5
I checked this out today and was really impressed with what they've got here. The production seemed very professional, the acting was superb, and the character development and plot was done excellently. I particularly liked how Shaggy, Fred and Daphne were written. The plot excellently showed us what each of these characters have been through that have made them who they are today. I found Daphne's personal life particularly compelling, as it's made clear to the audience right from the start that the intense pressure her mother puts on her to be "perfect" causes her to put others down to feel good about herself. It will be interesting to see how the plot with the occult and the 13 Pillars continues. All the references to various previous Scooby media and recurring characters was fun. It was an interesting touch making Flim Flam a drug dealer, and turning his "Joy Juice" into a type of street drug. I was a bit surprised they gender-swapped Van Ghoul, even if it was just a mention, and I'm curious if she will appear in a later episode. I loved the inclusion of the Black Knight and Miner 49er here. Both of them looked amazing, possibly even better than they did in Monsters Unleashed.
The only complaint I had was that the actors playing Fred and some of the minor characters looked obviously far older than high school age. There was a "high school student" during the party scene in particular who looked like he was, like, 40 lol. It's a very minor complaint, and plenty of other TV series/films have cast people in their late 20s in high school roles, so this series certainly isn't alone in doing it and I don't fault whoever was in charge of casting for it. It's just a minor pet peeve I have in general with films/shows where the actor looks far older than the character is supposed to be.
Overall, this was such a great pilot episode and I really hope more are made. If the upcoming Velma series was anything like this, I would honestly love it. To be honest, I originally didn't plan to check this out for a while, but this really exceeded my expectations and I can't wait to see what comes next.
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Post by Ark on Apr 30, 2022 21:52:40 GMT -5
Holy cow. It's out?!
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Post by Doo on Apr 30, 2022 22:14:17 GMT -5
Yes!  |
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Post by Ark on Apr 30, 2022 23:57:56 GMT -5
Wow. Okay so it's not perfect but there's a lot to like here, especially considering it's free and done by freelancers. Apparent inspirations are:
Buffy
Riverdale
Mystery Begins
The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo
Scooby-Doo Where Are You: Season One
Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost
And... IT WORKS. For the most part, it works. I didn't care for the CW-esque drama scenes personally but they executed it just as well as a professional studio would and the action is spot-on. Very clever use of strobes to make the villains more terrifying. The spellbook resembles the one in Witch's Ghost, but also the Chest of Demons. They've combined some of the scarier Scooby media all into one coherent episode and that's impressive to me, even if the core plot somewhat resembles a Buffy episode ending with a showdown at The Bronze. I give it a 7.5/10 and await future episodes. They have it set up nicely for Daphne to get rejected by her peers and join the others. Although this is yet another origins story, it was original enough to keep me interested.
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Post by Doo on May 1, 2022 11:04:59 GMT -5
Wow. Okay so it's not perfect but there's a lot to like here, especially considering it's free and done by freelancers. Apparent inspirations are: Buffy Riverdale Mystery Begins The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo Scooby-Doo Where Are You: Season One Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost And... IT WORKS. For the most part, it works. I didn't care for the CW-esque drama scenes personally but they executed it just as well as a professional studio would and the action is spot-on. Very clever use of strobes to make the villains more terrifying. The spellbook resembles the one in Witch's Ghost, but also the Chest of Demons. They've combined some of the scarier Scooby media all into one coherent episode and that's impressive to me, even if the core plot somewhat resembles a Buffy episode ending with a showdown at The Bronze. I give it a 7.5/10 and await future episodes. They have it set up nicely for Daphne to get rejected by her peers and join the others. Although this is yet another origins story, it was original enough to keep me interested. I agree with you that it definitely felt like it was heavily inspired by Buffy, particularly at the end! I was amazed by the production quality as well. It didn't feel fan-made at all, and in my opinion, had the level of quality you might see in an actual network TV show. I was also fascinated by Daphne's storyline - I'll be interested to see how Daphne separates from her current friends to join the others. |
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Post by elemage on Jun 1, 2022 21:51:06 GMT -5
Ok, wow... I have THOUGHTS. For starters, the fact that the show is both an origin story AND a remake of 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo? Mindblown.
Fred being an orphan makes me giggle, because that was a huge headcanon that the podcast "Scooby-Do's or Scooby-Dont's" had about the classic timeline's Fred. But at least the parents he did have in this world were Skip and Peggy, the only good ones he's had in any canon. Sadly. I do like that his characterization seems to come from Pup Fred, with that Fred believing in the supernatural to an idiotic extreme and this Fred diving into demonology.
I did not expect Daphne to be a mixture of both her snobbish Pup self and the "mentally abused by her mom beauty queen" Be Cool version, that was unexpected. Hopefully since her family seems to emphasize overachieving and status, that means this Daphne is also a prized martial artist. Also, I don't necessarily think Daphne is going to leave her current friends behind, and I don't think she should have to. For example, while Velma and Shaggy don't seem to have friends, Fred is clearly a huge part of the baseball team, I don't see him leaving the team. Mystery Inc. can become a tight-knit friend group while still keeping outside friends. They do that in almost every incarnation.
Velma also possibly having her father killed by Asmodeus is a nice touch, it links her and Fred to the mystery closer than the others. Well, so does opening the portal to hell, but still. And I like that they mixed her socially awkward Be Cool personality with her much more acerbic, anti-monster personality from the original Mystery Incorporated. Also, Velma is almost identical in characterization to Gert Yorkes from Marvel's Runaways, and I loved that character and I loved that show. So... yeah. Actually, I see way, way more of Runaways in this show than I do Riverdale. Runaways and Buffy.
And Shaggy. Making him a drug DEALER instead of a drug USER is one hell of a twist. Certainly subverts that old perception of him. I don't know if I quite like the idea of him being a party planner? No version of him has ever really seemed that into event planning? But this is a new take on the character, so I'm not complaining. But I absolutely LOVE Scooby being a retired police dog! Not only is that a great little reference to Scooby jumping into action back in the classic series whenever someone was in trouble, it opens the door for Scrappy to appear as the current police pup, which the show makers have suggested they're interested in including him. Seems like this version of Shaggy mostly takes cues from his loner self in the Cartoon Network duology of movies. Not that I'm complaining, Nick Palatas is best Shaggy.
I love that the book that summons the 13 pillars looks like the Chest of Demons (and as Ark said, the spellbook also looks like the Ravencroft Grimoire, which I didn't even realize until I read that comment). I love that Ben Ravencroft is a horror filmmaker (or screenwriter? The show doesn't make it clear.). But does this mean there's actually 14 demons? Asmodeus, who was already wandering around killing parents, and the 13 pillars of hell that Velma and Fred let loose? Judging by Miner 49er and Black Knight Ghost, the pillars will most likely be classic Where Are You baddies working under Asmodeus, but I do hope there's at least one pillar in the line-up purely for levity, like Chickenstein or the Blue Scarab.
I loved the Hex Girls, although I didn't like them reusing the audio from Witch's Ghost for their performance. Probably a budget issue, or maybe they prioritized good actresses over good musicians, but I didn't care for it. Absolutely love the inclusion of Flim-Flam as Shaggy's supplier, the Joy Juice had me CACKLING. And High Priestess Von Ghoul better be a bad B with a title like that. I wonder what her name will be? Vincenza? Victoria? I also liked that in the credits, they adopted Dusk and Luna's fan-created names of Muffy St. James and Kimberly Moss, respectively. That probably means they'll be addressed by those names in the show. Same with Flim-Flam being named Benny Flam. Although that I imagine is due to an error in Curse of the 13th Ghost where Flim-Flam was referred to as Benny in the closed captions, when in actuality Benny was Flim-Flam's boss. And how could I forget HARVEY BIRDMAN as the executor of Skip and Peggy's estates?
Now for my criticisms, though there's not that many. First, some of the actors were a bit... off. Nan Blake, Samuel Rogers, and the Hex Girls. Also Velma for the first few scenes. But I chalk this up to Pilot Jitters, it happens on every show and I'm sure they'll get better as they embody these characters more. It even happens with Velma in this very episode, by the time she and Fred meet up in the coffee shop place, she's hit her sweet spot.
Secondly, I would've liked to have seen a bit more of Fred's relationship with his parents before they're killed off. We just see one shot of them walking happily down the sidewalk and then they're dead. Also, why do we just brush pass the ramifications of their murder? If there were no signs of the demon because... Well, demon, why don't the police suspect Fred? Did they, but he was cleared? How? Can we see that?
Thirdly, I feel like there were some missed opportunities to bring in more of the established characters. Instead of Nan and Daphne having a chef named Reginald, why not name him Jenkins? Instead of making Daphne's school nemesis a random girl, why not name her Marcie? (As in Velma's cousin, not Velma's girlfriend.) Y'know? But this point is truly more of a nitpick than anything else. They can create as many original characters as they like, it's their show after all.
And lastly, I do agree with some of you that a lot of the people outside of the main cast don't look like high schoolers. I think setting it in college may have been more beneficial, but since the Homecoming Dance seems to be a big plot point, I can see why they chose high school over college. But I would've loved to have seen the Gang in college. Especially since the only two mentions of them ever even being in college were in Cyber Chase where they attended physically and "Justice, Like Lightning..." where they're getting degrees online.
Overall, this is a fantastic show and much more adequately scratches my itch for an adult Scooby-Doo than anything I've heard about "Velma". I can't wait to see more of it, and it doesn't seem like I'll have to since episode 2 will be out by the end of July. Here's hoping their campaign reaches $100,000 so that it's a full hour like the first episode.
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Post by Doo on Jun 1, 2022 22:33:51 GMT -5
And High Priestess Von Ghoul better be a bad B with a title like that. I wonder what her name will be? Vincenza? Victoria? That would actually be really cool if they made it Victoria, since that's real-life Vincent Price's daughter's name. |
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Post by elemage on Jun 7, 2022 19:25:33 GMT -5
And High Priestess Von Ghoul better be a bad B with a title like that. I wonder what her name will be? Vincenza? Victoria? That would actually be really cool if they made it Victoria, since that's real-life Vincent Price's daughter's name. That actually would be really cool. I also hope that if we see High Priestess Van Ghoul, she's a sapphic (any woman attracted to other women, aka a lesbian or bisexual or pan, etc.). Since Vincent Price is one of the most well-known bisexual men in Hollywood and Victoria herself is a lesbian, it'd be a nice touch and a nice nod. |
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Post by Ark on Jun 8, 2022 0:11:25 GMT -5
I wonder how much Scooby canon they intend to cover? Could we see Farquard or Vanna Pira? A flytrap lily?
As for Vincent, part of his charm was that he was a man of mystery. If he did swing both ways, it seems that he didn't want people to know. I understand that social norms of the time could have been at play too, though. His daughter also claims in that book that he was actively anti-Semitic which is hard to believe until I remembered that he collaborated with Micheal Jackson and Jackson's career really stated to nosedive after he pushed for his song with an antisemitic slur in it to air on MTV. You don't hear about that very often. Anyway, I'd have to research more to really have more to say. Animated Mystery Incorporated gave Vincent's voice a tinge of flamboyancy which could have been a reference to Price marrying a bisexual woman and having rumors related to that, though that was before his daughter's book was written. It looks like Price did openly support gay rights all the way back in the '70s which was very uncommon, especially with the AIDS scare soon to hit. I hadn't heard of any of this and while I don't feel it's relevant to the original 13 Ghosts, it could certainly be explored in this series.
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