Scooby Doo series getting intimate with the Clone High fused. We doubt that such a crossing will happen, but animation nerds can dream, right? “/>One of HBO Max’s biggest differentials in the video streaming dispute is its animation family, which includes an abundance of “mature” cartoons from families like Adult Swim and DC Universe. An announcement on Wednesday shows WarnerMedia advancing aggressively on that front, with seven orders for new series in addition to existing ones in development.
Today, the company’s Hanna-Barbera family has announced one of their biggest ideas for the nudge-nudge series, wink-wink, from out-of-shape dishes like Space Ghost: a series, simply called Velma, about the “origins” of Scooby Doo mainstay Velma Dinkley.
Suggestive things from Scooby, from Gunn to Max
The WarnerMedia press release says that the first season commissioned for the series will offer “an original and humorous touch that unmasks the complex and colorful past of one of America’s most beloved mystery solvers,” then confirms Mindy Kaling (The office) as the voice of Velma and executive producer of the program. The ad does not include information about other cast members or writers / directors, simply folding into a suggestive description: “an animated adult comedy series”.
Fans have long applied adult connotations to Scooby Doo universe and modern live action films, written by James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy), vertiginously mixed the family mysteries of the series with adjacent 70s suggestions on drug use and sexuality. Velma’s socially awkward attire, style and behavior have often been cited as evidence of an identity outside the heteronormative spectrum. HBO Max is well equipped to isolate this adult-oriented content in a way that children and their families do not accidentally feel on TV.
If you want any tips on the concept of WB Animation, take a look at Harley Quinn series on HBO Max, whose F bombs, gratuitous violence and shameless sex jokes are proof that the WB gutter can reach serious depths.
Send the clones
In arguably less lewd news, the other prominent HBO Max pickup on Wednesday has a huge cache of names: Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, who you can meet as the writers and producers behind the beloved Ars, like to The LEGO Movie and Spider-Man: In the Spider-Verse. They teamed up with HBO Max to produce two new seasons of Clone High, a favorite cult-classic animation that aired for a single season on MTV in 2002-03. The original cast of the show’s voice included comedians Will Forte, Nicole Sullivan and Donald Faison, who played teenage versions of historical legends (Abe Lincoln, Cleopatra, Joan of Arc, Gandhi) reborn as modern teenagers at the same school.
So far, we only know of two additional members of the original team returning based on writing, production and exhibition, while the voice cast of the revived series has not been revealed. The original series included white actors depicting historical legends of color, and modern animation series have had a marked tendency to reshape in recent years, especially on Netflix Big mouth. Still, the deal’s two-season request suggests confidence in the show’s return or a necessary investment to get Lord and Miller to sign now that they are much more famous than they were in the early 2000s.
“Shot on Mars”, the original 2016 short.
Today’s last ad is Shot on Mars, based on a 2016 six-minute animation short (incorporated above) by animators Nate Sherman and Nick Vokey. The HBO Max version will star SNLPete Davidson is an unhappy worker in a Mars colony, facing the reality of being fired after crossing the Solar System to work on a new planet.
These three new series come together Just a show spiritual successor Close enough, who received a new season order today, after debuting on HBO Max in July. The streaming service did not stop there, with ads for four more new animation series in production: an adaptation of the DC comic series indicated by Eisner To cover; a robot comedy against masters called Supernatural Valley (executive production by comedian Ed Helms of The office); a complete series based on the comic published on Instagram Obi; and an animated series about an “ancient neurotic cat” called Hello paul, directed by the singer of the indie band Sub Pop Moaning.
The excess of new animated series from HBO Max aligns with other networks struggling to create new content during the streaming boom induced by COVID. Comedy Central, in particular, relied on the family’s corporate nostalgia last year by announcing new seasons of Beavis and Butt-head and Ren and Stimpy, along with an excited Would give spin off; each of them will likely fall along with the streaming exclusive Star Trek: Lower Decks what is currently CBS All Access (but will soon be renamed Paramount +).