May 15, 2007 was a sad day at my boyfriend's apartment. I had rescheduled his tivo so he didn't get the latest episode of "Ice Road Truckers". For me, it was the end of a show I adored, Veronica Mars. I still remember seeing that last shot of her walking away in the rain with "It Never Rains in Southern California" playing and just thinking "F*ck, this can't be it." For years I had to make due with fanfiction and rewatching the episodes on dvd, but it wasn't really the same. I did eventually find other shows to love (Chuck, Doctor Who), but none of them have ever found a place in my heart like Veronica Mars did.
Fast forward to March 13, 2013 - I returned to my desk after an important presentation and I see that a friend has shared on facebook that a Kickstarter Project had launched to make the Veronica Mars movie (so glad I found out after the presentation because otherwise I wouldn't have been able to concentrate on it at all). Needless to say I donated and have been obsessed with the making of the movie ever since.
If you don't know anything about Veronica Mars, basically she was a teenage private eye who solved cases of all shapes and sizes: from who is the head cheerleader's secret admirer to who killed her best friend. She was snarky and sassy, and she and her dad (an actual private eye) had the best father/daughter relationship in the history television. The show also had a really deep well of memorable characters. Despite being set in sunny California, it always had a gritty feel to it due to its themes of class conflict, corruption, and dealing with personal demons.
Fast forward to March 13, 2013 - I returned to my desk after an important presentation and I see that a friend has shared on facebook that a Kickstarter Project had launched to make the Veronica Mars movie (so glad I found out after the presentation because otherwise I wouldn't have been able to concentrate on it at all). Needless to say I donated and have been obsessed with the making of the movie ever since.
If you don't know anything about Veronica Mars, basically she was a teenage private eye who solved cases of all shapes and sizes: from who is the head cheerleader's secret admirer to who killed her best friend. She was snarky and sassy, and she and her dad (an actual private eye) had the best father/daughter relationship in the history television. The show also had a really deep well of memorable characters. Despite being set in sunny California, it always had a gritty feel to it due to its themes of class conflict, corruption, and dealing with personal demons.
The movie brings us back to Veronica's story just in time for her ten year high school reunion. Since that time she has left California for the East Coast and has no plans to return, until her high school ex-boyfriend calls asking her to help him clear him of charges of murdering his most recent ex-girlfriend. Returning to California forces her to take a hard look at her life and decide if she is living the life she really wants or has she just been running away from who she really is.
When the movie was funded by fans, Rob Thomas (the genius behind Veronica) decided to create a movie for the fans, and as a fan I can say that he definitely delivered. The movie brought back over 20 dearly characters from the television show. While it could have been really easy to have these characters be just the same as they were on the show, Rob and the actors behind them all managed to make these characters grow. While I continue to love the core characters (Veronica, Keith, Logan, Mac, Wallace, and Weevil), I found a greater appreciation for some of the smaller characters (Dick, Gia, and Deputy Sacks). The story didn't rely on just old characters though, they created some new characters (like Ruby Jetson and Dan Lamb) that were quite a hoot and I really hope to see more of in the future (I'll get back to that).
I know that some people complained about the simplicity of the mystery. It wasn't as complex as what we got on the show, but then the movie only had 2 hours to tell the mystery instead of 22 hours. Still, it was intelligently thought out and had several twists and turns. However, in classic Rob Thomas' style, some mystery threads are left hanging at the end of the movie. This was done with the intention of laying the foundation of a new franchise. At the time of the movie release, they had already announced that they were starting a book series and that they were doing a web-series satire spin-off (which aired this fall). All I can say is that I really hope there continues to be some form of Veronica Mars in the future, whether it be more movies, a new tv-show on tv or an on-line platform (like Netflix), or a book series. I'm just really not ready to say goodbye to Neptune
I just want to add one more thing - one of the greatest things to come out of the whole Veronica Mars resurgence is the way that it reconnected the community of hard core fans, called Marshmallows. It's been such a blast tweeting with them during episode rewatches, sharing posts on tumblr, and reading/writing/commenting on fanfiction. It's great to have someone with whom I can geek over Veronica Mars and not worry if they think I've gone bonkers. As Cliff McCormick, Neptune's tawdriest defense attorney would say, "These are my people."