#if you want an adult Scooby doo show watch mystery incorporated

[legendary-defender-of-fandoms]

And the thing is, Scooby Doo Mystery Incorporated already did something like this. There was no mention of physical abuse (because kids’ show & there are some lines even Scooby Doo shouldn’t cross), but all the kids suffered from emotional neglect from their parents. Daphne’s parents were too absentminded to care about their youngest daughter, Velma’s parents didn’t want her mystery solving to tank their tourism businesses (since Crystal Cove made its money off tourists come to gawk at the supernatural), Shaggy’s parents were humiliated to even be associated with him, and Fred’s dad was too obsessed with himself to care about the boy he kidnapped 18 years ago (spoilers, Fred was basically Rapunzel in Season 1). That’s part of why the Gang was so close - they all knew what it was like to feel unwanted & made their own found family where everyone mattered.

But to bring the focus back to Fred, all he wanted in Season 1 of Mystery Incorporated was to make the man he thought was his father proud. And Fred, the Sweetest himbo to ever don an ascot, quickly realized that he wouldn’t compromise his morals, suppress his emotions, or treat anyone like dirt just to earn his father’s approval. Fred wanted his dad to love the real him, not who Fred pretended to be.

So, a major issue with Velma (2023), that I see no one mentioning, is how the show writers think physical and emotional abuse is funny.

At least, if it's a rich white guy; i.e. Fred.

It's all but stated that Fred is a jerk who acts like everyone is beneath him because that is what his father wants him to be. Fred is really nice and polite to Velma's dad when the meeting starts, but one small prompt from his father and he turns into that aggressive, meanspirited man-child once more.

All explained, in a single scene:

And it ends with this one line of dialogue:

Fuck you, show writers. Watching an abused kid, no matter how """privileged""", get dunked on repeatedly and absolutely humiliated in the media, is. not. funny.

Maybe I'm taking this a little too personally for a show like this. But this shit is disgusting, and I just needed to bring this up.

[0th3rw0rldl1n3ss]

So I have a dormant scooby doo hyperfixation (that comes back now and then) and since the new Velma show is trending rn I feel the urge to tell everyone that in the Mystery Incorporated series Fred is canonically autistic with a special interest in making traps and I never see anyone mention this. It was confirmed in a video that’ll be linked at the bottom of this post.

But yeah, aside from all the other problems with the new Velma show (disclaimer: I haven’t seen the show yet but have seen some previews and have heard things about it that have given me very low hopes for how the show will be) one of the biggest icks for me so far is making Fred into a shallow and arrogant asshole popular rich boy stereotype instead of going the Mystery Inc route and making him a classic himbo and autistic who’s obsessed with building traps.

Autistic Fred Jones is the best version of Fred Jones. I love that he displays autistic characteristics without being a lazy one dimensional stereotype of autism. In the show, from what I remember (I need to give it a rewatch), he has a clear special interest in building traps to the point that it defines his life and affects his relationships, he struggles a lot with interpersonal relationships, indirect communication and social signals (especially when it comes to being oblivious to Daphne’s romantic signals, and the issues this causes in their relationship). But he’s not one dimensional, in fact he has more emotional complexity in this series than in any other rendition of Scooby Doo, in my opinion, and even though he’s autistic he’s still a conventionally attractive man and a central character who is desired by one of the main, attractive female leads in the show, which I almost NEVER see.

This Reddit post goes a bit more into the specifics of his autistic traits, for anyone interested.

Here’s the video I mentioned:

This post is about Fred, but I also wanted to mention that I have a lot of love for the Mystery Inc creators deliberately writing Velma as a lesbian who was struggling with coming to terms with her sexuality throughout the show, and giving her a canonical sapphic love interest, in a time where having a queer character in the main cast of a kids show was unheard of.

Anyway, I recommend watching Mystery Inc if you don’t want to watch the new Velma show but still want to watch something that hits the Scooby Doo nostalgia spot. It still has the fun of classic Scooby Doo that speaks to my inner child but it’s also dark and complex enough to appeal to teen and adult audiences (as well as younger audiences) without over the top edginess.

[thecoolertails]

Now that I know you like Fred Jones a whole lot, I want to know your opinions on the rest of Mystery Inc. :D Also, what do you think of Scrappy, Flim Flam and Vincent Van Ghoul?

oh i am so glad you asked! i love all the main 5 members of mystery inc! fred's my favorite of course, but the rest aren't that far behind (infodump incoming)

velma was my favorite as a kid (i was dorky kid with glasses myself) and she's still such an icon. i probably like her the best in where are you, what's new, and zombie island/witch's ghost-- sweet, smart, and enthusiastic, rather than being more sarcastic or reserved. OH and i love how they made her semi-nonverbal in a pup named scooby-doo! she's an autistic legend just like fred

daphne's adorable, i especially love her characterization in be cool scooby-doo, she's so chaotic but is also the heart and soul of the group. i still really like her original and #girlboss characterizations as well though! i love how they ended up giving her so many different talents and interests to make up for how undefined her personality was originally, so she has so many cool hobbies like surfing and martial arts.

shaggy's great too! i think how good he is hinges heavily on the given writers grasp on comedy, but i also think he's at his best when he has some depth beyond just being comedy relief (early 00's live action and be cool are probably my favorite versions of him, followed by the gold key scooby-doo mystery comics and where are you).

and of course i love the good boy scoobert doobert himself! i prefer a more doglike scooby, rather than more recent iterations that have him act a lot more like a human, but sometimes it can be done well. i found be cool's scooby to be really funny and likable despite being more humanlike, probably because they don't have him talk a whole lot, but when he does it's usually in dry one-liners and it just kind of works.

as far as scrappy goes, im kind of in the minority in that im kind of neutral on him? i think he has a lot of potential as a part-time member of the gang (the whole concept of "scooby's baby nephew who fears no man or god and really REALLY wants to punch a ghost (and also looks up to scooby and thinks HE'S really brave)" is absolutely hilarious. that being said, i haven't seen anything with scrappy in it as an adult (not counting the 2002 movie), and as a kid i didn't prefer the shows with him in it, ESPECIALLY the ones that didn't have velma and fred (but mostly because of velma). i think i just saw that velma wasn't in those ones and saw it as a personal slight lmao, i was like really offended asdjfkdjf. i think it was a mistake for them to go all in on scrappy (and the extended doo family) like they did, where they kind of sacrificed the original gang and formula for something new, which didn't really stick for most people. scrappy saved the scooby franchise, but also almost ended up destroying it once it started to kind of revolve around him (luckily it was saved by a pup named scooby doo). but, because i refused to watch the movies and shows from the "dark era" as a kid, its kind of a literal dark era for me in that i really don't know that much about it and have seen very little. it's high up on my list of scooby media to watch though, and i might detour from mystery incorporated to look into some of that soon.

but ANYWAY lol, long story short i think scrappy has potential and doesn't deserve all the hate he gets, but as he is he's not really my favorite, and even if he was done well, i wouldn't want him to be a permanent member of the gang, because i think the chemistry between the original 5 is so good. i wouldn't be sad personally if he never returned, but it'd be nice to see him come back as long as he was done well.

i've never seen the 13 ghosts of scooby-doo, so i'm not really familiar with flim flam or vincent van ghoul! well, i saw a little bit of van ghoul in mystery incorperated, but idk how similar he is to his original counterpart. it feels like it doesn't count lol

anyway scooby-doo autism moment over, thanks for giving me an excuse to infodump about my current hyperfixation haha

[nobleclover]

How to do a Better Velma Show

No, I haven't watched HBO's Velma because it sucks ass based on the reviews, and I don't wanna boost its ratings by hate-watching. So, instead, I'm gonna provide a few ideas that I have to make a better show centred around Velma. These are only my ideas but feel free to give your opinions on them.

Make Velma flawed, but likeable and relatable. No character is perfect, but it's fine to include a few flaws in some characters. For her, maybe make her just a little bossy, regarding Shaggy, but not to the point of insufferable, in fact make her learn what being a good leader is, while keeping in touch with her famous characteristics. Make her a bit too quick thinking, but eventually have her learn better critical analysis when it comes to solving mysteries.

Race swaps are fine; include them if you want, but leave out the goddamn stereotypes, e.g. Velma being a pretentious, know-it-all southeast Asian girl. Like, not all Asians are like this!

Cut down on the gore and sex scenes. This is when they were set in HIGH SCHOOL, right??? So, why does it have a scene of some girls showering with their lady parts covered? I mean, come on, I know it's supposed to be for adults, but don't sexualise kids! Or keep bringing up peepee jokes in relation to some kid! (I'm talking about the one with Fred) Plus, as someone who draws gore, gore doesn't equal "mature show". Putting gore in a show for shock value just comes off as lazy. I also recommend either having the murder victims killed off in a "clean" way (no violence like removing their brains, maybe something mysterious) or maybe have them kidnapped or something. Yeah, Mystery Incorporated had a lot of death but didn't go over the top with its violent scenes.

Hire better voice actors. The voice acting in this show is terrible, particularly for those voicing the side characters and Mindy Kaling. :/ The other main characters, I feel they could be better, but the character with the most tolerable voice acting is Norville, voiced by Sam Richardson. He could sound a little goofy like Shaggy, but not too much. Speaking of...

Give my man Shaggy more respect. He doesn't have to get with Velma, but he also doesn't need to be treated this shitty. Like, maybe have her be touched by Shaggy's confession, but politely let him down and apologise for not being able to return those feelings. Also, make him a dog lover, a foodie, and take out the "junkie" jokes. Make him smart yet goofy as well!

Fred could've SERIOUSLY been done better. -_- I don't mind him being written as a rich kid, but maybe have him be a kind guy who's eager to be independent and start his own trap making business. An idea his own dad looks down upon. Have him be fed up hanging around with his douchebag jock friends and start hanging with the Mystery Gang slowly over time. Oh, and a personal choice, make him neurodivergent. :D

Make Velma neurodivergent as well. Just saying. UWU

Take out the godawful meta humour and pop culture references. I don't need to explain why, but I will say that Mindy Kaling should've actually put a lot more effort into her writing.

Have Daphne be only a slight snob, but not a bitch. In fact, have her eventually diss the status quo and go hang with the Mystery Gang and embrace her goofy self like in some other incarnations, e.g. Be Cool, Scooby Doo. Oh, and have her be part of the karate club.

Maybe have Velma's parents be more loving and perhaps diss the "missing mother" subplot. Maybe have them be divorced and Velma missing the time when they used to be together.

Somehow introduce Scooby Doo into this. The gang isn't the same without him.

More convincing platonic and romantic chemistry between characters. Doesn't matter if they're hetero or LGBT, MAKE THEM WORK.

BETTER DEPICTIONS OF PANIC ATTACKS.

Don't hire Mindy Kaling on the team. XD

OK, these are my thoughts on how to make a better Velma show! Feel free to add your own input as well!

[s1mpl3sp0ng3]

the thing about velma is that i feel like it'd hit better if it weren't a scooby doo spinoff, like if it was its own thing we might be eating it up bc the art is gorgeous and the characters might be enjoyable as assholes and not characters we know and love

but nah it's gotta be tied to an ip to be Marketable and the way to do that now is to shit all over the source material and pretend you're better than it

if you want a dark scooby doo just fuckin watch mystery incorporated, if you want a dark scooby doo parody with an overarching plot watch venture bros, and if you want a more adult take either watch the live action movies or read the scooby apocalypse comics. consume things made by people who actually give a damn about the fuckin franchise for god's sake

like velma isn't filling a niche that hasn't been filled in the franchise or taking it in a new direction, it's just a mindy kaling vehicle with vague ties to your nostalgia for scooby doo and velma becoming a fan favorite over the past 20 years

also i'm sick of my youtube recs being all video essays on why the show sucks you're fuckin GIVING them free publicity

[p3rsephone77]

The thing that baffles me the most about the new “Velma” show, is that it’s not even an adult show! Like fuckin’ mystery incorporated had more mature themes and well structured jokes. This show is somehow more juvenile than most “kids” shows!

Like, is making fun of Fred’s tiny penis every 2 minutes really a “mature” joke?

I know you watched IASIP and thought people being crass=funny. But Scooby-Doo and IASIP are two completely different things! And you are not supposed to like the gang in IASIP. That’s the whole point of the show! Why would you cast someone who’s known for playing the biggest sociopathic man child in tv history to play the all American good too shoes himbo?

I just don’t get how talking about cock and balls and saying the fuck word now qualifies as something being “mature?”

I mean, if you really want to go this far, a lot of actual “adult”(porn) content is actually more engaging and better written than this “mature” show!

[thecastingcircle]

Here's 2023's first Hex Girls reference. It's on "Velma", one of Shaggy's blog fans is named "Hexgrrlsfan" who chatted "WTF" and "unsubbed" to his food blog livestream when Velma asked for a favor.

This means that either Mindy Kaling or one of the staff is a Hex Girls fan. We doubt that they'll make an appearance because they're a bit of a deep dive (even though they've been around 20+ years now). More characters like Scooby, Scrappy, Vincent Van Ghoul, Red Herring should appear first. Besides, we don't know how they would look or what they would sound like or who would voice them. Honestly, we're curious enough to want to find out. Plus we would get at least one new song!

We haven't piled on "Velma" yet because we haven't watched most of the episodes.

But let's just state the obvious, there's only one show on HBOMAX and it's "The Venture Brothers". Every adult cartoon comedy on the service is chasing after it. "Harley Quinn" is trying too hard to be "The Venture Brothers" and so is "Velma". The difference is that VB has one degree of separation from "Jonny Quest" thus you can enjoy the parody without familiarity/expectations with the characters. HQ and V have to deal with their comic/cartoon baggage. People coming after "Velma" want Scooby Doo to be just like the "Scoob" movie where the gang is friends right from the start.

While ignoring that Fred has gone through a dozen character reinventions from competent leader (most shows) to always wrong ("A Pup Named Scooby Doo), himbo ("Big Top Scooby"), to glory hound (the live action movie). So has Daphne from the cute girl (most shows) to cloud cuckoo lander ("Be Cool Scooby Doo") where she had a different shtick every episode, like being a Goth or ventriloquism, ("Scooby Doo: Batman: Brave and the Bold") had Daphne be an expert at solving puzzles.

Shaggy and Velma have been basically the same for 50 years.

"Velma"'s Shaggy is like a quantum leap forward. He's not saddled with weed references. He blogs about food instead of eating like he has a tapeworm. He's the lovesick one over Velma and not the other way around like in "Scooby Doo: Mystery Incorporated". Most importantly, he hasn't acted scared even though there's multiple murders going on around him.

[diantha]

velma show sucks except for

adopted daphne

vaphe romance

glenn howerton who is always funny to me no matter what

the thing about scooby doo I feel like...like, GOOD scooby writing is that you could change the appearances of all the characters and change their names and if the writing is GOOD, you know its supposed to be scooby doo. idk if that's really making sense but the definitive characteristic of the scooby gang are so set in stone that it should always be obvious, i think. the characters in this show just..aren't the scooby gang. if you slapped a layer of paint on this show and changed the characters names and appearances it would just be some shitty adult cartoons. stop using the names of beloved franchises as excuses to sell ur shitty show.

it ALSO sucks because I know people are gonna use the show's shittiness as an excuse about representation like...I think we SHOULD get a racially diverse scooby gang and it could WORK because there's no reason it shouldn't. just why did it have to be in this show!!!

anyway if you want to watch a good, serious, well-written (for the most part) and well-rounded scooby doo PLEASE watch mystery incorporated

[channeleven]

LTA: Velma; An Addendum

This is a follow up to my posts relating to animated sitcoms and my review of Velma, because both have a big connection in my mind.

Velma has maintained a considerably low rating on IMDb, and yeah it pretty much deserves it. I had already discussed the show before, why bring it up again?

Let me put it like this, I had no idea how bad Velma could be. It proved to be so bad, it changed my life. The moment I saw Velma, it changed how I felt about other animated sitcoms. For instance, I’m now more accepting of those generic animated sitcoms because they’re either built to be that way, I know what I can expect with them, and sometimes familiarity can help in the longrun.

Also the fact that different services want to get the same audiences for shows that have been going on for years and still get the same amount of popularity they have for years, it’s almost as if the formula hasn’t exactly worn thin yet.

You may think, well what makes Velma any different from those adult sitcoms? Well, the best way to describe the difference is to bring up Be Cool Scooby Doo. It’s basically like those adult animated sitcoms but without the adult elements, and there you go. Adult animated sitcoms are better enjoyed if you’re in the mood for it and are just looking for something you can watch without getting sucked into it for too long (if you’re not into binge watching and are just looking to kill a half hour)

Now Velma, think Mystery Incorporated but far more edgy and rife with modern social commentary and some of the worst meta humor ever, not even Brickleberry and its offsprings kill it as much as Velma does and at least you can anticipate some edgier jokes slipping out.

Velma has made me appreciate other adult animated sitcoms, I can’t look at negative reviews of those adult animated sitcoms anymore without getting a headache, those, those are what you’re gonna be angry about when Velma exists and transcends all of them in terms of poor quality? I’d rather watch Brickleberry, I had actually got through every episode I watched in full andI  know where I stand with it.

No animated sitcom is worse than Velma, and at this rate it’s a fact. Velma has a far lower rating than any of the other animated sitcoms out there (even still lower than Santa Inc., it has a heavily disliked trailer and it doesn’t even have the diversity crowd defending it, as far as I can tell.

Velma is nothing like those animated sitcoms, it’s far worse, and nothing will convince me otherwise. I don’t need to see anything different, I’m willing to appreciate the same shit from the past.

[give-grian-rights]

if you want a dark Scooby Doo show with trauma and character arcs, watch Scooby Doo: Mystery Incorporated PLEASE. i beg you. it is one of the best reboots of any property ever . velma is a comphet lesbian (canonically), Fred has daddy issues, the monsters are real, Velma and her girlfriend are spies. the only adult they trust in their lives at any point was a beautiful black woman named Angel Dynamite with a dark secret. ITS SO GOOD

good lord

[sisterlilybug]

i saw your cartoon recs post while looking for stuff to watch! i noticed it's a couple years old so i was wondering if there were more shows you'd wanna add that i might like? i watched everything on your old list but to give you an idea of what i mainly look for, my favs from your list are SP (mostly the eps w Butters though!) and GF! lately i've been in the mood for humorous stuff but nothing overly pessimistic/gloomy. generally i dislike M-rated cartoons, except SP bc it's nostalgic for me.

It's been a hot second since I've actually watched cartoons. My job has been keeping me very busy, and I've mostly been playing video games. So I won't have as many as last time, but I will do my best to give some new cartoon recommendations.

The Owl House and Amphibia are two new popular kids on the block, but I actually have not had the time to watch them. However I've heard countless good things about them and they are on my list of "shit i want to do later." So hit those shows up for a good time.

Infinity Train. Holy shit this show. Words cannot express how interesting this series is. It's deep, funny, tense, and full of that spicy emotion. At least watch Book 1/Season 1 to figure out if you like it or not. The next books/seasons do get progressively darker (book 3), but the show does make an effort not to end on a sour note. It's a wonderful balance of children's cartoon with topics for adults. It's not an "adult cartoon" but a "cartoon that adults can enjoy." It also has a cute as hell robot so what's not to love?

Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated. Somewhat old, but still super good. It's like infinity train in that it can get very heavy while remaining family friendly. Probably one of the best/better takes on that series. It's got an over arching plotline that's actually finished, character development, sassy Velma, and a lot of story beats that will surprise you. I will say that there are elements that can get very annoying such as Fred being a MASSIVE idiot, several repetitive story bits, and some details of the monster of the day going unexplained. Other than that, still worth the watch for the deeper story and twists of season 2.

Beastars. This one isn't exactly a cartoon, but I'm throwing it in here anyway. Yes there's the memes about it and blah blah blah. I still enjoyed it quite a bit and the graphics are pretty sweet. Beastars is a very dark story and does NOT make a point to hide it. It's one of the more dreary series on this list but it still has moments of humor and the world is interesting. One note tho, if you're under the age of 16 you should probably skip this one. It's rated M for a good reason.

That's all the shows I've got this time, but I hope this gives you something to sink your teeth into. I'm glad you liked my previous list.

[liunaticfringe]

(via Lucy Liu's Independent Woman - Interview Magazine)

There have been many great sidekick pairings in the history of modern literature. Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer, Phileas Fogg and Jean Passepartout, Winnie-the-Pooh and Piglet…the list goes on. Yet, it seems there has never been a delightfully tumultuous relationship that comes close to echoing the one embodied by rogue detective Sherlock Holmes and his faithful friend and assistant Dr. John Watson. Written in the form of short stories by Arthur Conan Doyle between the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the opium-den loving Holmes would terrorize London with his intellectual, astute, and stubborn prowess, with Dr. Watson providing medical expertise and chronicling their entertaining exploits along the way.

Doyle’s works have now long been entered into the public domain, with many film and television adaptions cropping up every few years. Still, when CBS announced in 2012 that it would be turning Doyle’s works into an hour-long crime-drama series titled Elementary, it elicited an unusually high response—this was mostly due to the news that a woman would, in fact, be portraying Watson. Her name would be Joan, not John. And she’s now a fallen from grace surgeon-turned-sober companion and private detective, forfeiting her “Dr.” title in the process. The woman chosen to take on this exciting, contemporary role of Joan Watson was none other than seasoned actress Lucy Liu.

Liu, who’s best known for her roles as a fierce and ill-mannered lawyer in Ally McBeal, an ass-kicking “angel” in the rebooted Charlie’s Angels, and an equally ass-kicking bad girl in the Kill Bill series, certainly provides the yin to the yang of Jonny Lee Miller’s gritty portrayal of Holmes. Elementary chronicles the duo’s relationship as they consult for the NYPD on various criminal cases while living in a shared brownstone in Brooklyn Heights. Initially starting off in Season One as a substance-free friend to the fresh-out-of-rehab Holmes with a keen interest in solving crimes, Watson quickly transformed into a sharp and observant right-hand woman who now clearly has the aptitude to work on her own. And it appears she’ll be doing just that—the end of Season Two left viewers witnessing Watson’s decision to move out of the brownstone and start a new career as a solo private detective, seemingly fed-up with Holmes’ erratic behavior.

The warm and delightful Liu recently called up Interview from her home in New York City to discuss Elementary’s upcoming third season.

DEVON IVIE: Were you on set today?

LUCY LIU: I was running around like a maniac, yeah. It’s beautiful today, it started getting a little bit cooler again. But of course I’ve been bitten by the two mosquitos that are still alive in New York City.

IVIE: I know you were recently at New York Comic Con. How was it?

LIU: It was amazing. It’s such a spectator place. Not only do you get super fans, but you also get people who are curious and inventive and imaginative. It’s fun.

IVIE: Did you run into any cosplayers dressed as Joan Watson?

LIU: Oh, no, I don’t know about that. That’s funny! We did a panel with a huge audience so I couldn’t really see if anyone was wearing anything specific, but it’s an excuse for kids and adults to get dressed up and just be crazy. You know you’ve made it when you have super-fans out there.

IVIE: When you first read the scripts for Elementary, what was it that attracted you to the role of Joan?

LIU: I liked the fact that it was going to be about [Joan and Sherlock’s] relationship and their friendship, and bringing that into modern times. And I thought it was wonderful to change up the gender.

IVIE: Did you immerse yourself in Arthur Conan Doyle’s work as preparation at all?

LIU: I did, I did! I started reading the short stories. I never read them before so it was a really great excuse to read them. I can’t believe it was written so long ago, because it’s so current. The characters are so colorful, which is why I think there are so many incarnations of Watson and Holmes.

IVIE: Do you have a favorite story? I love “A Scandal in Bohemia.”

LIU: There were some pretty amazing stories. The one that stood out to me, which was a Watson story that I got to know him a little more through, was “The Hound of the Baskervilles.” He really is on his own in that. Of course it turns out that Holmes has been there all along, but it’s interesting looking into his interior.

IVIE: Yeah, the entirety of “The Hound of the Baskervilles” is narrated just by Watson. And his diary and letters, too.

LIU: Yeah, I think it’s really cool. We started incorporating that into the show, too, the letters and journals.

IVIE: Has this detective genre always appealed to you? Did you grow up watching or reading detective whodunits?

LIU: I remember more of the old school Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys sort of thing. I also grew up with the Scooby-Doo mysteries. Remember when the villain would go, “I would’ve gotten away with it if it weren’t for you rascal-y kids!” Those were the kind of the things I immersed myself in. I have to say that my mother has always been a huge fan of Columbo and Murder, She Wrote, so this show was her dream come true. I don’t think she totally understood what was going on with Ally McBeal. [laughs]

IVIE: I’ve enjoyed witnessing Joan’s evolution throughout the course of the show, starting off as a sober companion and eventually ending up as a trusty sidekick and confidant to Sherlock. What can we expect from Joan in Season Three?

LIU: When you see them in the third season, you see some friction between the two characters. Joan is now on her own, she has her own detective agency, has a boyfriend, and has been without Sherlock for eight months. She’s got her own apartment, she’s settled, and he shows back up. I think she’s a little bit hurt by what happened and how their relationship and partnership ended, which was basically his decision and his choice, and he left it all in one little note for her. I think she felt that their relationship was much deeper than that, and that he was dismissive in the way that he handled that.

IVIE: How would you define the relationship between Joan and Sherlock?

LIU: I think that it’s a really positive and good relationship, overall. They really have a good chemistry together, work really hard together, and understand each other. They acknowledge each other and respect each other, which is a really important way to have a friendship. And they can learn from each other, you know? She’s very curious about him and I think he sees that she’s a very smart person—that’s vital for him in having respect for someone, having them be intelligent and thinking for themselves.

IVIE: Do you see any of Joan in yourself?

LIU: I do to a certain degree. She’s a lot more measured and patient, for sure. She’s a very curious person, which I think I am, and I think she isn’t afraid of change. She was a doctor, and then became a sober companion, and then jumped off and became a detective. I think sometimes it’s good to make big leaps.

IVIE: You’ve probably been asked this question many times, but do you think a romance between Joan and Sherlock could ever fittingly happen?

LIU: It’s a question that’s often asked and I think it’s really up to the executives. Rob Doherty, the creator [of Elementary] really feels incredibly strongly about keeping their relationship platonic. He has already taken great strides to keep the relationship as clean as possible according to the literature, but he has also changed so much of it by changing the gender of Watson. To have them have a romantic involvement would turn the whole thing upside-down in a way that might really jump the line. [Doherty] felt really strongly about it and I think that’s the one thing he really wants to stay true to.

IVIE: I totally agree. Even on the BBC’s Sherlock, there are campaigns to get Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock and Martin Freeman’s Watson to become romantically involved. It’s like, enough already, no!

LIU: No way, that’s so weird! People do have that level of friendship oftentimes, but it doesn’t mean it’s physical. I think that everyone just assumes because there’s chemistry the next thing should be happening. I would vote “no” for a romance. I think for sure the creator would vote no on that, too.

IVIE: I’ve talked to both women and men who watch Elementary, and they all consistently mention how well dressed and fashionable Joan is. Do you collaborate with the wardrobe department on styling decisions at all?

LIU: That’s awesome. Yes, I collaborate with Rebecca [Hofherr], who’s the costume designer, who’s wonderful. She’s very easy to work with. One thing we try to maintain about Joan and her style is that she’s a bit wrinkled, you know what I mean? Sometimes it looks like things are really put together, but we always want to make sure things aren’t too tight and are comfortable, kind of like she throws things together. We don’t want it to seem so business-y, so we go away from suits. Chic, but not corporate. Also just to make her seem like her outfits aren’t so put-together all the time. But I’m glad that people really seem to like it, it’s a relief! We don’t splurge a lot on the show, we try to do cheaper things, like things Joan would wear a lot. She wears the same white jacket and shoes frequently.

IVIE: Will we be seeing more of the infamous Clyde the Turtle in the upcoming season?

LIU: Clyde will indeed be in it again. We have to share custody of Clyde.

IVIE: Is it true that Clyde is actually two tortoises? Pulling a Mary Kate and Ashley in Full House on us?

LIU: Yes. It’s just like having twins on a show. Just in case one is crying and screaming and passed out or something.

IVIE: You made your directorial debut for an episode of Elementary last season [“Paint It Black”]. Do you have plans to direct an episode again soon?

LIU: That was so exciting. I’ll be directing another episode again very shortly in December, so you’ll be seeing it in a month and a half.

IVIE: Where did your interest in directing come from?

LIU: I guess I was curious about it. Having been in this business for a while, you kind of see and get a glimpse of everything doing film and television. I think it seemed like a natural progression to go into directing, and I hope to explore more of it, because it’s very exciting and a really good way to collide all the things that you’ve known and experienced in the business and put them all into one.

IVIE: Is there an ideal guest star that you’d like to see on the show in the upcoming season?

LIU: I would love to see Mycroft come back. I really think there was a wonderful tension for Mycroft and Sherlock as well as the triangle that occurred when Joan became involved with him. There’s something very deep about that relationship, and I also think that Rhys Ifans is a fantastic actor. He commands the screen, but off-screen he’s incredibly lovely. A real treat to have on the show.

IVIE: I remember the first few episodes that I saw Rhys in, I was like, where have I seen this guy before? So I looked at his Wikipedia page and it became obvious: he was the crazy guy from Notting Hill!

LIU: Yes, the roommate! So good! Everything he does, he just kills it, no matter the role.

IVIE: And it’s always good to have some MI6 action on the show, which Mycroft provided. Some international flair.

LIU: [laughs] International flair, exactly, some added spice. Just throw some spy stuff in there to throw people off their game. You just don’t expect it, you know? It came out of nowhere.

IVIE: That whole three-episode arc at the end of the second season…

LIU: That was awesome. I was lucky enough to direct one of those episodes, which is more narrative in tone. It’s more fun in some ways, too.

IVIE: You’ve done a range of acting work for both television and film. Do you now find yourself preferring one to the other?

LIU: I love both of them equally. The lack of predictability with television is something that’s constantly changing what your perception of who you think your character is. Suddenly I have a father that’s schizophrenic, or I discovered something else, or I have a relationship with Mycroft. The things that pop up and change the game for you and always keep you on your toes. The wonderful thing about film is that you have something that has a beginning, middle, and end, and you have a concrete amount of time to shoot it. And the process of that can be longer, like editing and advertising and testing the movie, so it’s very different. Television you just continue going, no matter what’s happening outside of your world. You get lost in that vortex a little bit.

IVIE: It’s interesting that America is now embracing the “mini-series” format that has already been so heavily utilized overseas, where there are a set amount of short episodes, and that’s it. In a way, it’s kind of like a cinematic experience.

LIU: I like that, too. It allows you to have a freedom of creativity and at the same time you don’t feel like you have to be contracted to something for that long; you’re really working on a piece of art. And then you’re done and you move on, or it comes back, like Downton Abbey. You don’t know. Those things become little masterpieces. The thing about television is that you see a range of actors now that you may not have seen five years ago even, 10 years ago absolutely not, and I think now there’s no wrong about doing television. There’s no definitive category for what kind of department you fall into anymore.

IVIE: What’s a fun, secret fact about your costar Jonny Lee Miller?

LIU: A fun fact about Jonny Lee Miller is that he oftentimes does handstands on a wall before he does a take, sometimes with pushups, to get blood to his brain and get him geared up for a long monologue that he may have. He stays there, hangs a little bit, and then turns around and does the scene. Most of the time in the brownstone more than anywhere else. He’s in full costume and everything. That’s trivia!

IVIE: I wish I could do wall-handstands by myself.

LIU: Oh my god, I need someone to push my legs up and then hold me there. I’m a cheat!

ELEMENTARY PREMIERES THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30 ON CBS.

[everything-media-with-blank]

SHOWstoppers: What Television Got Right - Scooby-Doo Mystery Incorporated (2010)

[BLANK] - For months, I've been itching to talk about this series to anyone who would listen (spoiler alert: not many people want to listen to some random teen ramble about a talking dog), and today is finally the day.

Warning: Spoilers for Scooby-Doo: Mystery Incorporated (2010)

- Introduction -

Scooby-Doo is a wildly popular television franchise and a large part of many childhoods. One of the best, if not the best, spinoffs of Scooby-Doo is the two-season series, Scooby-Doo: Mystery Incorporated. Scooby-Doo Mystery Inc. first aired in early April of 2010, the first season spanning a total of twenty-six episodes. Season two came to an end exactly three years after the series began, adding on another twenty-six episodes.

- Season One Summary -

As Shaggy Rogers, Fred Jones, Velma Dinkley, Daphne Blake, and their talking dog, Scooby-Doo, form a team to solve the seemingly abundant mysteries that surface in their home town, Crystal Cove (as the town's welcome sign says, 'The Most Hauntedest Place on Earth'). The gang delves deeper not only into the mysteries and strange disappearances but the unusual history of the town itself. They receive hints from a self-proclaimed 'Mr. E' (only today did I notice that it's a play on 'mystery'), about the legend of the cursed Conquistador Treasure, the tragedy of the Darrow Family, and the disappearance of the original Mystery Incorporated.

Through all this, Velma and Shaggy try to figure out their feelings for each other while Daphine struggles with feeling that her's are (seemingly) unrequited.

- Season Two Summary -

The gang comes back together to solve the Crystal Cover mystery once and for all. They fight against the original Mystery Incorporated (including Fred's biological parents, Judy Reeves and Brad Chiles, as well as Mr. E) to locate the last pieces of the planispheric disk in hopes it will lead them to the cursed Conquistador Treasure. As the mystery continues to unravel, they discover that there were many more Mystery Incorporated groups before them (each consisting of four humans and one animal), dating back to the time of the Conquistadors that originally founded Crystal Cove.

The gang completes the disk just as the time of Nibiru is upon them (they also discover that Scooby-Doo is a descendant of an alien race, which explains his supernatural ability to speak), and have a final showdown with the original Mystery Inc. and Nibiru itself. They reverse the curse set upon Crystal Cove and return the town to how it once was. The series ends with the gang packing up for a road trip around the country, in which they vow to solve every mystery they come across along the way.

- What Mystery Inc. Did Differently -

Mystery Inc. begins in the early days of the gang, starting in their hometown of Crystal Cove. They solve many of the town's mysteries (of which there seems to be an unlimited amount) over the course of the show. Though the meat of the series format falls in line with the rest of the franchise-- a seemingly-impossible villain appears to challenge the gang, leading them to hunt down clues about their foe and eventually trap them as their true motive is revealed-- Mystery Inc. is most highly remembered for its deviations from that formula.

Woven carefully throughout the show is a thrilling plotline that compels the audience through each episode and closer to the final mystery. This plot also addresses darker and more abstract themes as well as playing into the horror genre, paying homage to works such as Saw and A Nightmare on Elm Street, both satirically and seriously.

Another striking difference is the romantic subplot, in which Fred and Daphnie as well as Velma and Shaggy try to navigate through their own feelings for each other. Even Scooby-Doo has a romantic partner, Nova, who is discovered later in the series.

- Modern Twists on the Original Scooby-Doo Style -

What first caught my eye about Mystery Inc. was the animation style. The character designs and style are very similar to that of the original franchise but with a more modern twist. Mystery Incorporated is not only beautifully animated (some transitions and movements of the characters absolutely took my breath away), but it also features an astounding color scheme. It perfectly sets the mood, whether it's dark greens and muted colors for Gatersburg or the recurring pink and red undertones in episode sixteen, 'Where Walks Aphrodite'. These factors serve to further elevate the story elements and plot, as well as add to the mysterious tone of the entire series.

- A Riveting Plot to Rival The Original -

The animation isn't the only outstanding feature of this series. The script is beautifully written, perfectly incorporating both satire and serious tones. The humor can connect not only with children but with adults as well. Recurring catchphrases serve to add to the hilarity, with different takes on the classic 'meddling kids' line coming from every thwarted villain. Scooby-Doo: Mystery Incorporated's plot is the cherry on top, allowing the show to not only be enjoyable for a younger audience but also compelling enough to catch the interest of older teens and even young adults.

The mysteries are complicated and well-written while also allowing children to follow along. Each line and motive of a character has meaning and pushes the plot forward in new and exciting ways. Even seemingly unimportant details become a piece of the final puzzle.

One particularly memorable episode was season one, episode four, 'Revenge of the Man Crab', in which the gang tries to track down a supposed 'Man Crab' who kidnaps civilians from a volleyball tournament. While watching it, I was stumped, unable to figure out just who the Man Crab really was. Upon the perpetrator being revealed, I realized that if I had just looked at the clues, I would have been able to figure it out. Every clue was there, hidden right in plain sight, you just had to do the work to piece it all together.

- Conclusion -

Scooby-Doo: Mystery Inc. was not only enjoyable to watch but to analyze as well. I truly could not find one part of this series that I disliked. Every bit of it was created with care and respect for the original work, as well as paying homage to other famous works and genres. I love how the show can cover serious topics while still remaining light-hearted and kid-friendly. The way the characters are brought to life and completely fleshed out, as well as given multiple character arcs, in such a short amount of time is truly impressive. Overall, I would absolutely recommend it to any mystery-lover, fan of animation, or just someone who's bored while scrolling through Netflix.

Official Rating: 97/100 - 97%

[iamafxsh]

week 1 - w/c jan 25th

january 25th 2021

I’m rewatching Scooby Doo Mystery Incorporated (because my brain does not have the energy to sustain anything else), and it’s got me thinking about how kids shows or shows for younger audiences can really include queer representation in a way other shows can’t, and how kids can pick up on it.

In the Mystery Incorporated example, I’m referring to Sheriff Stone and Mayor Jones. Under a love spell, in which we only really see straight couples/pairing (except the first use in which it breaks up a football game), except for Stone and Jones. We see them dancing together, waltzing about, and clearly under Aphrodite’s spell. They also spend a lot of time together, just the two of them, and there are other moments too, like them going to a tiki bar together. Stone is very desperate for Jones’ approval too. If you’ve seen the show, then you know Stone winds up with Mayor Nettles after Jones is arrested.

If we look at She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, well, the queerness is obvious there, and it’s debatable exactly what the target demographic is, but that much representation in a show regardless of target audience is kind of really cool: it was awesome to feel seen in not just Double Trouble, as a non-binary person myself, but in the sheer number of queer characters.

Thinking about reading into things, and being a big Power Rangers fan, as a kid, I always read Billy - Mighty Morphin Blue - as gay and in love with Jason - MM Red. The actor for Billy isn’t straight - David Yost’s situation with Power Rangers and the harassment he felt on set, as well as his struggle with his sexuality, is a curious and sad story, so I recommend reading into it - so maybe I was picking up on that, but still, I don’t know where I got the love for Jason. Going to Power Rangers: SPD (the one I’ve watched most recently and most invested in), you have Bridge and Sky and Dru. So yeah, some of it will be a fandom lens, but watching that particular episode, Bridge is far more distant than usual, interact with Sky less because Dru is back. This wasn’t meant to be read as a jealous crush type thing, but it can be seen that way when you’re desperate for representation.

These are a few examples, but this happens in kids shows all the time. Why? Why can kids shows do this, give us this implicit representation, but teen and adult shows can’t? Shows are getting better of course, but it’s not perfect yet, if it ever will be.

As mentioned, I’m sure fandom desperate for representation and want to be seen has something to do with how people shape the viewing of these character, but I think there’s more to it than that. What more, I don’t know, but it’s interesting to think about, at least for me.

[popculturebuffet]

Scooby Doo (2002) Review: The Most Punchable Fred Jones of All Time

It’s one last hurrah for Halloween as I take a look at the often derided 2002 Scooby Doo Movie! See what happens when you combine future superstar director James Gunn with .. the guy who thought directing the Smurf’s movie and Big’s Mama’s House were good ideas. Oh and with a splash of the guy who wrote the loveable family film Cheaper by the Dozen and the utterly loathed Percy Jackson film. It’s as messy as you’d expect with that.. but is it BAD? good, so bad it’s good, just sorta okay? Come with me as I try to find out under the cut with a full review. 

I’ve always loved Scooby Doo. I grew up with the guy, watching reruns of the non-scrappy classic series from Where Are You to the Scooby Doo Movies, the three Superstar 10 movies (Boo Brothers, Ghoul School and Reluctant Werewolf), or the at the time brand new What’s New Scooby Doo. And later in life i’d absolutely adore Mystery Incorporated.. minus the whole Shaggy, Scooby Velma love triangle, but i’ll likely cover that at some point or sooner, you can comission reviews from me for 5 bucks each, 5 dollars off group orders if you really want to make me suffer through that that bad. But getting off self promotion point is I loved and still love the franchise. While I”ve yet to see “Scooby Doo and Guess Who”, though given there’s Weird Al, Kristan Schaal and Urkel episodes you can be sure i’m going to eventually, and Scoob was VERY ehhh even if Dick Dastardly was awesome. But despite my history with the great dane much like with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, despite my rich history with the franchise I haven’t dove in yet and with a friend who could use a nice halloween suprise and loves scooby doo, I figured now was the time to take a look at it.  And since i’d been wanting to take a look at it again anyway, and decided going big wasn’t a bad way to start, i’m taking a look at the 2002 Scooby Doo movie. I saw this flim first run in a drive in, and saw the sequel the same way and loved it as a kid, and fondly remember checking out the Sountrack Preview page back before youtube existed to make checking out soundtracks easier. It was a simplier time. And even rewatching it later with my nieces, I found myself liking it.  And the thing was almost every time this film comes up it’s with a turned up nose. The CGI, the confused audience, the deciding to cast Freddy Prinze Junior.. all terrible decisions that overshadow the film, when it’s not that bad. It’s not GREAT, but it’s not TERRIBLE either. So what is it then? Well i’ll tells ya. Let’s start with

PRODUCTION: Wait James Gunn Wrote This?

At the turn of the millneium Scooby Doo was back on top. After waning popularity during the Scrappy era, the advent of the warner affilated Cartoon Network meant a whole new generation of kids (raises hand) got to experince Scooby Doo for the first time. This new audeince lead to Scooby Doo on Zombie Island, the first of the franchises 80 or so DTV movies that will continue on long after the earth dies, and brought back the franchise after it’s long slumber. Scooby Doo went from dead to as popular as he was in his hey day again. Naturally Warner wanted to cash in and thus this movie was born.  Originally the film was supposed to be a more adult project, a send up of the franchise with more sex jokes and what not than made the final cut according to writer James Gunn. Yes, the same James Gunn who wrote and directed the Guardians of the Galaxy movie and whose currently saving the suicide squad. It was one of Gunn’s earlier films but just from when he’s talked about it, you can tell he genuinely cared about the project.  Along for the ride with our future Guardian was his co-writer, Craig Titely,  who i’m convinced only came in to do punch ups as the guy has only written three other movies. One of them was being one of MANY writers on Cheaper by the Dozen and thus likely not doing much of note with that, and the other.. is being the only writer on Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief’s movie adaptation.. aka the movie the fanbase and general audiences rejected in droves yet SOMEHOW got a sequel. Which is somehow still worse than his other film, one that asks “was the moon landing a hoax?” Spoilers, it wasn’t. Point is this isn’t a resume that screams co creator and more screams “Guy brought in to kid freindly this up”. More on that in a minute.  The director is another less than reassuring face: Raja Gosnell, whose credits BEFORE this film were Home Alone 3, Never Been Kissed and Big Momma’s house.. so already he dosen’t have the best track record but somehow got worse because AFTER this film and it’s sequel he directed both live action Smurfs Movies and the universally hated Show Dogs, aka the film  that thought dog rape was funny. The fact this film isn’t out and out terrible is a miracle. 

Even more so because naturally, as Studios tend to do they interfered: The film was supposed to be more adult, cracking jokes about common things fans of the series growing up thought like Velma is Gay or Shaggy’s a stoner, and having both be fully true. But wanting to appeal to kids, Warner gradually lightned it, hence Craig, and Raja clearly having no shame gladly took it instead of you know.. standing his ground.  So Velma has a love intrest thrown in and her kiss with Daphne is gone, while Shaggy’s toke smoking was lowered to subtext.. because either of those things is bad apparently? I dunno the 2000′s were fucked. 

Point is THAT’S why these films are so tonally confused and why I don’t hold it agains the film now I know: It wasn’t James Gunn or even, as dumb as he is, Raja Gosnell’s fault that the film had some tones clashing when the studio was demanding it, instead of you know, thinking this through at all and realizing more kids cared about Scooby Doo than they would’ve josie and the pussy cats instead of bringing it up DURING production, when most of the adult stuff was in there. It’s also why the sequel has no real adult stuff, though it’s STILL damn good, but i’ll get to that some other day. 

The film was also shot at an actual theme park in australia. Neat. 

So yeah the film’s humor kind of ping pongs between knowing adult winks and kids stuff. We get Scooby dressing like a grandma in the same film shaggy enhales his demon possed love intrests breath like weed. The jokes themselves on average are pretty good: Some of my faviorites include the grandma scene, everything rowan atkinson does, Velma getting drunk off her ass, and the instructional video bit which is easily my favorite bit of the episode and one of my faviorite scooby doo jokes period:

This is even FUNNIER to me on rewatch, as we now know this is an instructional video for demons.. and that Scrappy clearly had enough problems with his demon horde to have to pay for this thing. It tis glorious.  However there also are also a few that HAVE NOT aged well, are very creepy at best and disgusting sexual assault at worst with Daphne getting her ass grabbed by the Luna Ghost at the start being treated as a joke and Fred oggling Daphne’s body when he’s in it being treated as a ha ha and not...

So yeah the humor’s USUALLY good, but the slipups are noticable and do bring things down a bit when they come by. So the humor is decent if mixed and the production’s a nightmare, how’s the plot? The Plot: Scoob, We’re Getting the Band Back Together!

I won’t be as through as usual because this is a 90 minute movie, I’m running behind as is and it’s 20 years old, 

We start with your standard mystery inc case with the Luna Goose, aka Old Man Incel who resented Pamela Anderson for not boning him. But Fred hogging the glory during the resulting News Cast leads the gang to start fighting over lingering tensions: Velma is tired of Fred hogging all the credit when she does most of the legwork solving things, Daphne is tired of being kidnapped and being mistreated by Velma and Freddy who laugh at the idea of her doing more, and Fred..

We’ll get to him later. Shaggy is the only one wanting to stick together, but no one’s having it and the group breaks apart and Matthew LIllard REALLY sells Shaggy’s heartbreak over his friends all abandoning him well. 

Two years later though, with Shaggy and Scooby naturally getting stoned and eating large quantities of food on the beach, have made peace with retirement, and have apparently had to duck tons of people coming to them to solve mysteries since they aren’t about that. The latest in that line is a man representing Emile Mondovarius, the owner of Spooky Island, a vast island resort and theme park. Naturally since it has spooky in the name the boys want nothing but Mondovarius does what honestly every previous guy coming to them should’ve done: offers them an all you can eat buffet.  Since they’ve done more traumatizing for Dog Treats, they agree and it soon turns out the entire gang was invited, though none of them but Shaggy and Scooby are happy to see each other. I will say one of my complaints about the film is it never tackles the emotions behind the breakup: while the teams slowly repairs there are never any outright apologizes or scenes of them recociling or scenes of Shaggy chewing them out for abandoning him due to their spat. It just skips over the emotional bits to either wave a joke for the kiddies around or scream 

Really the jokes aren’t bad, the film just has trouble with actual emotion or depth that could’ve been there and tries for it once in a while, but dosen’t really do anything with it. The gang splitting up’s a good concept, and at this point on Scooby Doo on Zombie Island had really used it, and that was one where they were clearly still close friends and were still in touch they just quit mystery solving for a while till Zombie Island happened. Mystery Incorpreated would finally give this story justice later: Instead of over a petty ego squabble, the gang broke up over underlying tensions: The revelations about Fred’s dad caused him to go try and find himself, Velma alienated herself by hiding things from them, and Shaggy was shipped off to Military School and Scooby doggy prison camp... thankfully the last two didn’t last and Scooby rescued Shaggy with a tank but the tension DIDN’T go away: While the gang mostly reunited, Velma took time to forgive them and also tried bringing in the friend/girlfriend she’d made in the meantime only for her friends to isolate her and throw her out while Daphne took her time to return due to being hurt by fred. It’s complex and good stuff versus here where it’s just “WE’RE APART BECAUSE WE HATES EACH OTHER. And now we’re NOT”. It’s just a waste of a good concept and i’ m glad the franchise got around to doing it right. 

But my gripes aside our heroes head to the resort and meet Mondevarious, who admits outright to having tricked then and with confronted with the gang being broken up, makes it clear he knews.  “That’s the thing about broken things.. you can put them back together.”

And so he did. He needs the Gang’s help as he’s worried about the island and something going wrong there: The teens are leaving polite, well behaved. and clearly not themselves as one reacts to an old friend by neck lifting him and tossing him aside. Something’s deeply wrong here and the gang’s intrest is piqued enough to stay though everyone but Shaggy is determined to solve it themselves out of ego. Mondvarius is played by Rowan Atkinson and while I watched the bean movie as a kid this is where I fell in love with the guy, with later watches of Blackadder confirming that in my college years. Rowan just brings a fun dorky energy to the character and a nice earnestness too but when he later takes a turn for the bad, he does that well too. Atkinson is HIGHLY underated in my opinon and easily the MVP of this film’s supporting cast.   So the investigation begins, and we get our supsects: The first we met on the plane, Mary Jane, a kind blonde played by Isla Fisher who got the job becasue Gosnel, in a rare good decision, saw how talented she was and while still picking Sara Michele Gellar for Daphne, made sure she had  a part. She’s a nice sweet girl who Shaggy falls for and Scooby’s annoyed by it.. though unlike earlier the film beats mystery inc easily here as it’s a more understandable conflict and dosen’t act like Dog Issues is a thing people says. Again i’ll get to that clusterfuck of an arc some day. The other two are N’Goo Tuna, a shady worker at the park who spouts off the legends of the island. In a nice twist, he’s NOT the vilian, as is obvious but is his right hand man. He also has his own right hand and muscle in Zarkos a cool looking Luchador and N’Goo’s muscle. Also N’Goo may be one of the worst names in Scooby Doo History, and that includes Dabba Doo. But the legend claims the island was once owned by demons who want revenge since the resort took the island from him. 

The other is probably my faviorite non Rowan Atkinson character, Voodoo Maestro, played by Miguel Nunez. He’s basically just a guy who lives on the fringes of the island and also hates the resort and tries using voodoo curses. He’s honestly a delight from his attempt to sacrifice a chicken (An already dead one at that), to his general hammy and annoyed at dealing with these teenagers demeanor. NAturally he has nothing to do with this but he’s still a fun addition and I wish he was in more scnenes than the two he gets.  But with what they’ve gathered the gang all end up at a spooky castle attraction, with Scooby and Shaggy of course being bribed by daphne while Velma and Fred show up indpeendntly and end  up finding the weird training video from earlier but all get caught when the traps are activiated> There’s also a farting contest which.. eh not funny to me but i’ve seen so much worse i’m not even remotely upset. But then the traps trigger though during the chaos Fred and Velma are forced to work together and finally start doing so, and Daphne finds a clue: A mysterious pyramid known as the damon righus and finally gets some, if not nearly enough, credit.  So the gang is back together.. even if it’s a tenative peace, the high from solving this and relay to their boss the suspects, including him, though Fred assures Mondovarius it’s just because he’s spooky and rowan’s character’s delight over that is fucking glorious.  So the gang enjoys some down time at the local bar, with Fred and Daphne doing their own look ins, Scooby and Shaggy eating and encountring mary again and Velma getting hit on by a dude while looking over the ritus, revealing it’s some sort of soul sucking aparatus, and going into their history... which is really just an excuse to bring Scrappy in who in this universe, is a horny egotistical little shit whose abandoned as a result. ANd before anyone boos he’s not a puppy here, he’s got.. dog dwarfisim.. which while .. how does that even work... means he’s a grown ass man and deserved this. We also get drunk velma and Linda Caredenlli is a delight

The night gets interupted by terrible cgi monsters, the aformentioned emon who soul suck most of the college kids present and also get fred and velma who both find out these are very much real. We also get the best song on the soundtrack, man with a hex. It slaps. But it makes good chase music as with Mondvarious, Fred and Velma captured, the rest of the gang and mary escape.  The next morning we get a surreal as hell scene as everyone’s partying, Fred’s talking in slang and Velma with clevage, thank you, is chatting up.. Sugar Ray? For those younger of you they were a band at the time. They were a big thing. Not half bad but faded away. They looked as 2000′s as hell though. WHy Smash Mouth gets all the memes and not them is beyond me. Look at lead singer Mark McGrath!It’s like the early 2000′s gained sentience and took a human form. But the gang is quickly forced to run from sugar ray, though they get Daphne in a deleted scene. Why it was deleted I dunno. Point is Shaggy, Scooby and Mary are all alone.. oh and Mary’s possessed. Shaggy and Scooby argue over it because Shaggy just thinks Scooby is jealous and while he is .. why would he lie about this? He’s as cowardly as you are. But Scooby falls through the floor, and Shaggy is now going solo but luckily finds his friends souls, and eveyrone elses in a massive cool looking vat and frees them all.  Velma, when the demon leaves her and confronts her, finds out sunlight kills the demons and saves Daphne from hers... only to find Fred in her body. Daphne is naturally horrified and we do get a great bodyswapping scene.

Our heroes reconvince on the beach where htey find the Maestro who explains what’s going on to a point, with the gang’s clues filling in the blanks: The ritus, which they stole back earlier, is used for a ritual that will allow the Demons to rule over the earth for “a thousand years of darkness” but it requires a pure soul to work. Cue our big bad talking Scooby into being their willing sacrifice since Scooby dooes not understand what a sacrifice is.  Shaggy naturally rallies the group to go save him after their understandably worried since they usually dealt with weirdos in costumes and not the apocalypse.. well okay Velma and Fred aren’t, Daphne dealt with this kind of thing once a week back in Sunnydale. So they set up a plan to destroy all the demons at once by unleashing the soul bath, setting them all loose and then using a spooky disco ball from one of the attractions rigged up over the ritual area to shine the light in. It’s classic scooby doo. 

Things naturally go wrong as while Shaggy goes to rescue scooby and makes up with him, he’s caught, so are fred and velma and they have to scramble, while Daphne looses a fight with the luchador up top while trying to let the light in to finish the trap. Meanwhile Shaggy saves Scooby’s soul just as Mondovarious sucks it out by shoving the guy.. revealing him to be a robot! DUN DUN DUN. And inside is Scrappy.. which you all probably knew already but try to act suprise who wanted to conquer the world as revenge for the gang abandoning him and because again, in this universe he’s kind of an asshole. He absorbs the souls gathered so far and merges with the damon ritus, because we’re operating on video game rules now apparently, so final boss time.  But we get a great climax as Scrappy chases scooby, Daphne goes buffy on Zarkos ass , and as a result he shatters the glass and lets the light in releasing the disco ball the kill the demons.. man I love that I get to type things like that. Scooby removes the ritus and defeats his nephew and the day is saved. Velma hooks up with random guy, Daphne and Fred get together, I die inside a little and Shaggy and Mary Jane bond. At the press Fred does his good deed for the movie by letting Velma explain things and get the spotlight and the group have firmly reunited. THE END. Overall it’s a solid plot, that works well, comes together in the end and was well put together, it’s more the filling that causes it to tilt back and forth a bit, but overlal outside of the issue I mentioned it’s a good scooby doo plot. While some have pointed out it is similar to zombie island, a case reuniting the gang, the person who brought them there wanting to sacrifice them, or just scooby here, monsters being real, it works because everything else is so different. But since there’s more to break down and it’s easier to give it it’s own section let’s look at...

THE CHARACTERS: NOT HALF BAD, FRED CAN GO FUCK HIMSELF. 

So we’re down to character.. and since there’s a blonde, preeening, selfish, arrogant, sleazy, sexist, obnoxious, loud mouthed, useless elephant in the room, let’s start with Fred. And to quote it’s always sunny....

Yeah so that fury of a thousand crashing waves (Cracks Knuckles): Fred is the worst part of this movie, the worst version of the character across the entire franchise that i’ve seen with the sincre doubt that there is ANY version worse than this. Everything I said above is true and THEN some. He is one of the most unlikable characters i’ve seen in a film that wasn’t INTENDED to be. There’s just NOTHING to like about him. Nothing. He treats his “Friends” like garbage, all four of them: He basically ignores shaggy and scooby at best and treats them as if they were nothing. For Velma he’s your classic power abusing douche who pushes her to the side and often steals the credit for things she did. He’s still a good mystery solver, but he acts like he does all the work to the press and takes all the credit when Velma works as hard as he does if not harder. And worst of all is Daphne, who he basically either treats like some moron who gets kidnapped due to incompetence and not because creepy old dudes want to feel her up, which given the intro is VERY likely the reason she’s the resident victim of the group, and not like a person, or like a pair of boobs and legs he wants to bang or feel up creepily while he’s in her body. For fuck’s sake his reaction to finding out he’s in her body is a creepy and smug “I can see myself naaaakeddd” If that dosen’t make you want to smack him get off my blog. And they get together in the end! 

Who who wanted that. I genuinely want the presumibly original ending where Daphne and Velma hook up and Fred falls off a pier and is never seen again. The acting does not help. While the other four gang members are expertly cast Fred was given to Freddy Prinze Junior, who made a career out of playing arrogant dicks who are somehow the main character so I can’t fault the casting but I can fault that he can’t delver any line without that smug air of trying to be cool douche and it’s at it’s worst with Fred since Fred’s already written as the biggest creepiest douche in the world and Freddy somehow makes it WORSE. He also has zero chemstiry with Daphne, which would be weird given he and Sarah Michelle Gellar had dated for 2 years at this point and as of this writing have been together for 20 overall and have two wonderful kids together... but given how badly written Fred is here, I can’t blame either of them. And i’m sure FPJ is a swell guy, loves his kids loves his wife seems like a really plesant guy, nothing against him as a person, but at least at this point in his career he wasn’t very good. And I am actually planning on trying to seek out one of his later works in his career to see if he’s gotten better in recent years, and willing to give him the benifit of a doubt that he probably has. I just don’t like him here, and while the script does most of the work he only makes it worse.And works before this (Pup Named Scooby Doo) and after this (Mystery Incorperated) would prove you can give fred a personality that’s not dick tip, so fuck this character, fuck the writing.. and I hope Freddy is having a happy halloween with his loving wife and children, seriously I meant it I have nothing against him as a person. A terrible actor can still be a WONDERFUL guy. 

Now that’s thankfully put to bed, let’s pivot over to Shaggy, whose easily the best of the cast. Matthew Lillard looks the part pefectly, has the right combination of heart and goofus and has some great comedic timing. Granted Scream had already proven the guy’s got genuine talent, but still he’s great here and is currently playing Shaggy in most films and productions, except Scoob which.. was far from it’s only mistake but easily the biggest. There’s not much else to say: the guy IS Shaggy and is the only person whose taken up the roll to equal Kasey Casem in it. As for how he’s written.. he’s basically the same and apart from one line of him wanting to leave everyone to their deaths, which feels like it was added later, he’s written really well and is easily the most likeable of the group. 

Scooby is alright. Not the best version but funny and charming enough when he needs to be and while I hated the CGI at one point.. it’s honestly not that bad. It’s not GREAT, but time has actually been very good to it both in how it’s held up and in the fact we’ve gotten SO MUCH WORSE with so much better techlogies. I mean.. Cats exists.. Marmaduke Exists.. the Bill Murray Garfield exists. This was offputting at the time but now it’s just okay. But character wise he’s good and again not much diffrent. 

Velma is the second best casting of the movie. Played by Linda Cardenelli, who i’ve harbored a crush on for a good few decades now and admire mostly for her talent and charm, Linda kills the roll and easily slips into it as easily as Matt did, and while not picking it up full time like he did, still did it a few times afterword and played hot dog water in mystery incorperated, so she did finally get to play a Lesbian Velma it just took a while. And while Velma being gay is kind of sterotyping, it would’ve been nice to have been kept in instead of edited out for bullshit reasons. But overal her character is decent: While she ALSO bullies and belittles daphne like fred, unlike fred it comes less from just being a douche and more from insecurity. As her scene at the bar makes clear she feels undervalued like the other, like the nerd who the cool kids LET hang out with them instead of part of the team. While it dosen’t make her treatment of Daphne OKAY, it makes Velma understandable. We also get Velma Clevage which.. okay not sure if the world needed that but whatever. Point is it’s throughly likeable portryal that I wish got some character growth.  Finally out of the main 5 there’s Daphne, whose alright. Not as good as the other two, as it feels they lean a bit too heavily on her having taken self defense and wanting ot be tougher, but Sarah Michelle Gellar gives her a ton of charm and likeablity that her husband’s character sadly lacks. There’s just a fun, adorable energy to daph that ends up coupling with her buffy style badassery at the end and Sarah plays both beautifully. The script didn’t give her a ton to work with, though that’s the same for all four of htem, but Sarah really made the character work and made her somewhat memorable despite not being as good as Linda or Matthew. Basically not the best, but still a comfortable third ahead of scooby doo and jackass jones. 

As for the rest of the cast, Rowan Attkinson i’ve covered and is utterly fantastic as is the Voodoo Maestro, and both should get hteir own hbo max spinoff together. The minons.. stupid name and luchadoor are decent enough, nothign special but they have presence and do the job of goon well. And Mary Jane is alright.. the joke is WAY too on the nose to be funny and she’s mostly just there to be sweet, but she’s harmless. Not good but not bad.  So finally we have our big bad, Scrappy. And i’m.. mixed about this. On one hand, Scott Innes, who it turns out is also from Missouri good on you dude!, does a terrific job and I couldn’t tell it wasn’t don messick as Scrappy and he plays him as evil great. On the other.. it’s just kinda goofy. Out of all the tips of hte hat to scooby stuff this feels the most over the top. Scrappy was hated, including by james gunn.. so he’s the bad guy. It’s just a bit on the nose, and the twist is pretty easily teligraphed since Scrappy suspciously is mentioned in one scene so him showing up at all is pretty easy to see coming. It’s not terible but it’s not great. His demon minons also just suck.. the designs are wonky and their cgi, unlike scooby and scrappy’s, is just REALLY bad and dated, and even as a kid I never liked them. 

FINAL THOUGHTS:  Scooby Doo is a decent but messy movie. The clashing tones, dated humor and godawful version of fred drag it down at times, and it’s very clear this had a lot of hands in the pot. But.. I still enjoy it. It’s not the best scooby ever, tha’ts mystery incorpeated, but it has great atmosphere, some good ideas, an utterly spectacular with one exception cast, and some really funny jokes. I genuinely feel the film is overhated when it’s a unique, weird and wonderful slice of Scooby. For better or worse there’s no other Scooby doo property quite like it, and that’s what makes it so fun. And it has enough good performances and jokes to smooth out the edges. It’s not the best, it’s a mess.. but sometimes a mess is fun and I like this flim for being a fun mess I can enjoy with my nieces and talk about to all of you. And sometimes that’s all you need.  Thank you for reading this. If you like this you can comission your own review: 5 bucks for a tv episode, 15 for a movie, 10 for an hour long special, and 5 dollars off when you order more than one episode of a show at a time. Just send me a direct message or ask on here and we’ll get started. Until then you can check out my backlog of reviews, check this space every monday for ducktales reviews, and VOTE DAMMIT VOTE. Until we meet again it’s been a pleasure. Play us out Atomic Fireballs, it’s been a wonderful halloween. 

[ellie-mnop]

Hi everyone! I just finished the 100 Days Of Languages challenge and I wanted to do something new afterwards, so I came up with a challenge of my own! I’m calling this the Checkerboard Challenge because it’s an 8x8 grid. Along the top there are eight language-related skills, and on the side there are eight modes of learning, so each box contains a way to study a particular skill using a particular mode. I wanted to do that because exposing yourself to the same information in different contexts is so helpful for learning and I wanted to apply that to how I study Portuguese. The result is a list of 64 different ways to study languages, 71 if you include the alternate options listed below, each one versatile enough to be repeated as often as you want using different topics or resources and hopefully interesting and useful for your learning.

Ways To Use This Challenge

Complete all of the challenges on the table, in whatever order you want.

Choose a particular skill you’d like to work on. Complete all of the challenges in that column.

Choose a particular method of learning that works well for you. Complete all of the challenges in that row.

Use dice or a random number generator to pick a challenge to do every day, and see how long it takes you to get bingo or connect four or something.

Choose whichever of the challenges sound useful to you and incorporate them into your regular studying routine.

There’s no obligation to post anything you make; even when I say to record yourself doing something, that can just be for your own future reference. (It’s recommended for the collaborative tasks that focus on creating resources that would be useful to other learners or interacting on social media, but even then you can just write the posts/comments and not post them if you prefer) However, I would love to see anything you do want to share, or any updates on your progress, so you can post anything like that with the tag “checkerboard challenge” which is also where I will be posting the tasks I complete.

The tasks are listed below, with more detail than what would fit in the boxes.

Reading

(Visual) Read a comic book, comic strip, or webcomic in your target language. Depending on your skill level and  the amount of time you have, you can choose anything from a single strip of a  newspaper comic to a full-length graphic novel

(Auditory) Read along with a chapter of an audiobook, or another piece of writing with accompanying audio. Some language learning websites have articles with recordings of native speakers  reading them. If you want, or if you can’t find anything else, you could even  use a song and its lyrics.

(Hands-On) Option 1: Play a video game in your target language. This can be a computer or console game, or an app on your phone or even a  little browser game. Check the language options on games you already have to  see if your target language is available, or if not, many free games have lots of language options. / Option 2: Read and follow a recipe or another  set  of instructions, such as an art/craft tutorial, the rules to a board or card game, a DIY project or a magic trick.

(Logical) Solve  riddles or logic puzzles in your target language. (Alternate:  Read a short mystery story such as a minute mystery (or something longer if  you prefer) and see if you can solve it before the characters do.)

(Collaborative) Talk by text chat with someone else learning your target language, or a native speaker learning your language.

(Read/Write) Read an article or a chapter of a book  (or the whole thing) in your target language. It can be about any topic, and can be a children’s or adult’s book depending on your skill level and preference.

(Personal) Find and read a translation of a piece of writing that’s important to you, such as your favorite book as a kid that you feel nostalgic for, or a poem  that resonates with you.

(Creative) Read story in your target language and illustrate what happens. The quality of the drawing isn’t important unless you want it to be; the important thing is to help you process what you’re reading.

Writing

(Visual) Choose a photo, either at random from a generator or by choice on a website like Unsplash, and describe it in as much detail as  you can. Your description can focus just on describing visible details in the image, or you can make up contexts for and stories around the things you see, whichever you prefer. (Alternate: Do this with a physical object nearby instead of a photo.)

(Auditory) Try writing simple poems, focusing on the auditory features of what you’re writing such as rhyme and rhythm. You can use a rhyme dictionary to expand your vocabulary in an interesting  way while you’re working on this. It’s not necessary to worry too much about  the artistic quality of the poems unless you want to.

(Hands-On) Write instructions for how to do something you know how to do, such as recipe, a life skill, a game  or sport, an art of craft project, or even your method of language learning.

(Logical) Create a persuasive piece of writing that logically argues a point. It doesn’t have to be about a serious or controversial topic. For example, you can defend your prediction for the next season of your favorite show, or what would happen if some fantasy or sci-fi concept were real (maybe a good  way to practice the conditional tense if you’re studying a language that has one), or why your best friend is awesome.

(Collaborative) Use  a language learning social media app like HelloTalk. Comment on posts and  make your own.

(Read/Write) Write a summary of something you’ve read in your target language. You can either read in your native language and summarize in your target language, or do both parts in your target language.

(Personal) Write a journal entry in your target language, talking about how your day or week has been or what you are thinking and feeling. (Alternate: Write about one of your memories.)

(Creative) Write a small story in your target language. It can be about whatever you want, and it doesn’t have to be very long or detailed. You can (option 1) write it as prose, which could be better to practice description and narration or to focus on a particular verb tense, or in (option 2) a script style which could be better to practice conversational language.

Listening

(Visual) Watch a video with narration that describes it, such as a nature documentary, an instructional  video such as a cooking video, or a video reviewing something.

(Auditory) Find an online stream of a radio station. Pay attention to both the music and what the announcers say.

(Hands-On) Watch a video demonstrating a craft project, recipe or other task and follow the instructions.

(Logical) Watch or listen to a mystery story and try to solve it before the characters do. This can be a whole movie or novel-length audiobook if you want, but it doesn’t have to be; even an  episode of something like Scooby Doo should work.

(Collaborative) Exchange audio with someone else learning your target language, or a native speaker learning your language.

(Read/Write) Watch a video or listen to a piece of audio and take notes on what you learn.

(Personal) Watch a dub of a piece of media you are familiar with, such as your favorite childhood movie.

(Creative) Option 1: Listen to a story or other piece of audio and  illustrate it. / Option 2: Listen to a song and make up a new verse.

Speaking

(Visual) Make a video of yourself showing something and talking about it, for  example a tour of your home or neighborhood, a review of something, or a video about your pet.

(Auditory) Listen to a piece of audio and try to repeat what you hear. You don’t have to pause  after every word and repeat it, it’s probably better to go at least sentence  by sentence or with parts even longer so you can keep things in context.

(Hands-On) Explain to someone, or record yourself explaining, how to do something, possibly while demonstrating.

(Logical) Record  yourself explaining, and possibly demonstrating, how something works, such as a science concept.

(Collaborative) Record yourself explaining a concept you’re learning, like a grammar topic or how to use a particular word.

(Read/Write) Read out loud and record yourself.

(Personal) Make a recording of yourself talking about something that’s important to you  or a memory or anecdote you have. (Alternate: Make a vlog entry (even if you don’t have a vlog to put it on) talking about your day.)

(Creative) Record yourself telling a story, or tell one in person to someone.

Vocabulary (Most of these, with the exception of the first two, can be done with any vocabulary list you want.)

(Visual) Choose a page from a visual dictionary to study. One way you can do this is by studying the words and then covering  the labels with sticky notes or whiting them out on a copy and trying to fill in the blanks.

(Auditory) Choose  a song in your target language, and look up and study any unfamiliar words in it.

(Hands-On) Option 1: Use your vocabulary list as a scavenger hunt list. This works well if you have a lot of nouns and adjectives on the list. For everyday household items, you can look for the literal items on the list, while if they’re more obscure you can look for pictures or other representations of them. / Option 2: Act out the words on your list. This works well for verbs and adverbs, as well as more abstract  nouns or adjectives like emotions. You can record video of yourself doing this and later look back at the video to try to guess the words.

(Logical) Option 1: Make a crossword puzzle using your vocab list. If you write the words and clues, there are tools online that will build the puzzle itself for you, or you can do that by hand on graph paper if you prefer. You can either wait a while and then solve your own puzzle to see how much you remember, or give it to another language learner to solve an ask them to make one for you to solve. / Option 2: Look into the etymological history of the words to find out why they mean what they mean and whether they have any connections to words in your own language.

(Collaborative) Create a vocab list post around a theme, including words you are studying as well as any related words you already know. Include any resources that you think  would be useful to someone using the list, such as sample sentences, pictures, or whatever else you want.

(Read/Write) Try to write a small story or other piece of writing using as many of your vocab words as you can.

(Personal) Write  a sentence about what you think of each thing on your vocabulary list.

(Creative) Try to write an interesting sentence using each word on your vocabulary list. (Alternate: Illustrate each word on your vocabulary list. You can do this on index cards if you want, to make illustrated flash cards.)

Grammar

(Visual) Create a color or shape coded system to classify a concept like verb tenses or noun gender. For example, you can read  through a piece of text and highlight all of the verbs using a different color for each tense, or you can make flash cards with your vocabulary words and mark them with different symbols depending on the gender.

(Auditory) Grammar is a common topic for educational songs. Find a one intended for kids who speak your target language.

(Hands-On) Using words on sticky notes or index cards, build sentences that demonstrate grammatical concepts. If you have access to some of those little word magnets in your target language, those would probably work great for this, but if not (and I know I don’t) you can write various words, affixes, etc. on index cards or sticky notes, or use your existing flashcards if you have them.

(Logical) Create a table, chart, or diagram of a grammatical concept you’re studying.

(Collaborative) Write a post explaining a grammar topic you are learning.

(Read/Write) Read through a text, to find (and maybe highlight, circle, etc.) examples of a grammatical concept, then write more examples.

(Personal) Write about a part of your life that corresponds to the grammar topic you are studying. For example, for the future  tense, you can write about your plans or hopes.

(Creative) Write a small story relying on the grammatical concept you’re studying.

Pronunciation

(Visual) Look up diagrams of how to pronounce sounds you struggle with. These can be found as images or in an animated form in YouTube videos, and usually show what your tongue, teeth, etc. are supposed to be doing when you pronounce the sound.

(Auditory) Find a recording of a native speaker, record yourself saying the same thing, and listen for differences.

(Hands-On) Try to pronounce some tongue twisters or other pronunciation-based challenges.

(Logical) Try  learning the linguistic names of sounds you work with, and look into how they  compare to other sounds. Wikipedia has articles about the different sounds that can exist in languages and tables showing how they are used in various languages.

(Collaborative) Record yourself reading something that contains sounds you struggle with and post it for feedback, possibly on an app like HelloTalk.

(Read/Write) Look  at the written IPA pronunciations (these can be found on Wiktionary) of words you learn and look up what the symbols mean.

(Personal) Sing along to songs you like in the language, especially (for the personal category) nostalgic ones or ones meaningful to you.

(Creative) Write a tongue twister using words that are difficult for you to pronounce and practice saying it.

Cultural Context

(Visual) Explore a museum website in your target language. The museum should be located somewhere where your target language is spoken, but it up to you whether you want to look at an art museum, a science or history museum, or something else. Look at the exhibits and read the descriptions.

(Auditory) Create a playlist with traditional, classic and modern songs in various genres that either were invented in or popular in a place where your target language is spoken. Ideally using resources in your  target language, learn about the songs and genres.

(Hands-On) Using  resources in your target language, learn how to do or make something from a culture that speaks it. For example, you can look up a recipe, a tutorial for a dance style, the rules to a game, or how to make an art or craft project. (Make sure the thing you pick is being openly shared by  members of the culture it came from.)

(Logical) In your target language, learn about a scientist / inventor / etc. from somewhere the language is  spoken. Learn about their work, with explanations of what they invented or discovered, and if you want, find out other information about their life too.

(Collaborative) Comment  on or otherwise interact with the blog/YouTube channel/etc. of a native speaker,  after you read or watch it, of course. (You don’t need to receive a reply to check off this box, because that part is not under your control.)

(Read/Write) Try reading a significant work of (children’s or adult) literature in your target language.

(Personal) Learn about something relevant to your job/hobby from where your target language is spoken, using resources in the language.

(Creative) Read  about artistic or literary themes,  movements or eras where the language is spoken, and  create something (it can be something  simple) using those concepts.

[Image: The title “Language Learning Checkerboard Challenge” above a purple 8x8 table. The information contained in the table is repeated above.]