Velma Dinkley
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| Velma Dace Dinkley | |
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| Gender | Female |
|---|---|
| Species | human |
Velma Dace Dinkley is a fictional character in the American television animated series Scooby-Doo. Without her glasses, she is legally blind, and she is prone to losing them. She is usually seen wearing an orange sweater.
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[edit] Character biography
Velma is the most intelligent in the group and often makes great use of her skills in such areas as reading Chinese or Japanese, deciphering scientific formulas, operating communications equipment, and so forth. A running gag of the series is Velma's trouble with keeping her glasses on her face (usually from being accidentally knocked off her face while being chased by the villain). In the early episode "Foul Play in Funland," Scooby becomes even more terrified than usual when Velma takes him for a "ride" in a bumper car without her glasses, as she is very nearsighted. When Scooby and Shaggy are too afraid to volunteer for a mission (which tends to be most of the time), Velma often offers him a dog treat called a "Scooby Snack" as a bribe. Another somewhat running gag is that she is actually stronger than she appears, often able to carry Shaggy and Scooby in her arms and still be able to run. On occasions she's able to carry Daphne and Freddy too, managing to carry all four, still able to run, and mysteriously know where she is going all at the same time. Early in the series, Velma was occasionally shown to be somewhat sharp-tongued, a disciplinarian (especially towards Shaggy and Scooby), and, rarely for this show, not afraid to physically attack a bad guy (as when she kicked villain-of-the-week The Creeper in the knee). In fewer times she plays the helpless damsel-in-distress role, similar to Daphne, such as in the episode "That's Snow Ghost," when she is kidnapped by the Snow Ghost and tied to a log heading for a buzz saw in a saw mill, only to be saved by Scooby. In the animated movie Scooby-Doo! in Where's My Mummy? she decided to disguise herself as the mummy of Queen Cleopatra to get away from the treasure hunters. An episode of What's New, Scooby-Doo? revealed that Velma is afraid of clowns, as one destroyed the encyclopedia she gotten for her birthday. In that episode, Shaggy became brave, like Velma, and Velma became a coward, like Shaggy. This switches back to normal at the end of the episode.
Velma is recognized by her famous orange sweater and glasses. When the gang splits up, Velma usually goes off with Fred and Daphne but sometimes goes with Scooby-Doo and Shaggy and on occasion, even by herself. As far as the group dynamic goes, Velma is usually the one who solves the mystery, while Fred sets up the trap to catch the criminal, though the earlier episodes generally show the two of them (and, at times, the entire gang working as a detective team) leapfrogging over each other to solve the mystery. This dynamic has been exaggerated in recent portrayals to the point where Velma is the sole brain of the outfit.
[edit] Relatives
Relatives of Velma, many of whom appear to be well-educated professionals, shown during the series' run include:
- Mr. and Mrs. Dinkley: Velma's parents.
- Aunt Thelma: works with dolphins at a marine institute.
- Dave Walton: Velma's uncle.
- Uncle John: an archaeologist.
- Uncle Cosmo: another archaeologist.
- Uncle Elmo: a doctor.
- Aunt Meg and Uncle Evan: Velma's aunt and uncle, who live in a small town called Banning Junction which features in a Halloween episode.
- Marcy: Velma's cousin, the daughter of Meg and Evan.
[edit] Love Interests
- Shaggy(?) has sometimes been shown in the series as a love intrest to Velma. However, no relationship between them has been confirmed.
- Patrick (Seth Green) is Velma's love interest in the film Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed. He is quite shy and rather suspicious. In the end, Patrick is really a ballza person and has genuine feelings for her. They begin dating.
[edit] Alternate versions and other appearances
Velma appears as a junior high school student in A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, a spinoff series aired on ABC from 1988 to 1991. This version of Velma was, like the other characters, remodeled in a "wackier" Looney Tunes inspired style, with oversized glasses, a rapid walk similar to that of Marvin the Martian, and the ability to pull a large supercomputer out of an inexplicably small briefcase. The character's typically calm and studious persona is sharply contrasted in this series with brief instances of manic or extreme behavior.
The traditional teenaged version of Velma appeared in "Bravo Dooby Doo", a 1997 episode of Cartoon Network's Johnny Bravo cartoon series produced as a homage to Scooby-Doo. In this episode, Velma develops a crush on Johnny Bravo, however, he is more interested in Daphne. Ironically, a later Cartoon Network TV commercial features Johnny relating to Fred Flintstone how he and Velma had a whirlwind romance that ended when she rejected his marriage proposal. Velma is voiced in this episode by B.J. Ward.
Scooby-Doo was parodied in an episode of Cartoon Network's Robot Chicken series, aired as part of its Adult Swim block. In this parody, Velma (voiced by Linda Cardellini from the live-action Scooby films) is portrayed as a virgin constantly bemoaning her lack of sexual activity until, by the episode's end, she sleeps with Jason Voorhees after revealing he's actually Old Man Phillips.
A handful of outside properties have featured Velma or characters derived from Velma when parodying the Scooby-Doo series. Some of these, including the film Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and the TV series The Venture Bros. have interpreted the Velma character as a lesbian, a female elitist, no less, viewing men as 'incomplete females' due to their XY chromosomes. The character has a considerable fan base among real-life lesbians, who see her as one of their own, although the Scooby-Doo series and direct-to-video films depict her as heterosexual.[1]
[edit] Performers
Velma is voiced by a lot of the actresses. From 1969 to 1974, Nicole Jaffe voiced Velma until she got married and retired from acting to become the agent. From 1976 to 1979, Pat Stevens voiced Velma until she became a college professor and teaching how to acting. From 1979 to 1980, Marla Frumkin voiced Velma. Velma was silent in Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo final episode, "The Ransom of Scooby Chief". After the absence from 1980 to 1983 series, Marla Frumkin continued voicing Velma as a guest star in The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries. Velma was later absent again until to the season A Pup Named Scooby-Doo and Christina Lange took over the role. From the animated movie, Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island, B.J. Ward took over the role until to the movie Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase. Nicole Jaffe continued voicing Velma in the movies, Scooby-Doo and the Legend of the Vampire and Scooby-Doo and the Monster of Mexico. Velma in new Scooby series is voiced by Mindy Cohn. In 2002 and 2004 live-action movies, Velma is played by Linda Cardellini. In the 2009 live-action movie, Velma is played by Hayley Kiyoko.
[edit] References
- ^ Burke, Timothy and Burke, Kevin (1998). Saturday Morning Fever : Growing up with Cartoon Culture. New York: St. Martin's Griffin. ISBN 0-312-16996-5. p 106.
[edit] External links
- VelmaDinkley.com - a fansite focusing upon the character
