A long time ago, we used to be friends
In unprecedented power-to-the-people fashion, hardcore Veronica Mars fans have pledged millions to finance a movie version of the long-dormant cult TV show. The campaign has set records on US crowdfunding website Kickstarter, hitting the $2-million mark in only 11 hours. While Warner Bros. will pay for distribution, marketing, and all the extras that come after the film is completed, this seed money — which now amounts to more than $3.7 million — will be spent on production costs.
That series creator Rob Thomas and lead actress Kristen Bell commandeered it this way is a testament to 21st-century ingenuity and chutzpah. Aside from giving funders a tangible share ownership in business, it has also made pop culture resuscitation a reality. “I knew Veronica Mars fans were cool, but I had no idea they could rally with such power,†Bell told Vulture.
TV for the thinking teen
It’s hard to believe that it’s been nearly six years since Veronica Mars was put on hiatus, then cancelled, by the CW. (It’s even more perplexing that the network did so to pave the way for the reality series Pussycat Dolls Present.) During its three-year run, it became TV for the thinking teen, a respite from Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie’s The Simple Life which then ruled the milieu.
This and The OC were the small-screen bookends of my early-to-mid 2000s. But unlike the well-to-do kids from Newport Beach, the high schoolers of the wealthy — albeit fictional — California seaside community of Neptune were decidedly off-tilt. Bell’s Veronica Mars was once part of the popular crew, but she became an outsider after scandal hit her family. She was a dark and sarcastic 17-year-old detective, not a perky or sappy ingénue, and it’s worth noting that she, too, was the victim of date rape. These neo-noir overtones, filtered through a strong female perspective, gave Veronica Mars its heart and its edge.
Since it bowed out in 2007, rumblings about the possible creation of a feature film based on the series began making the rounds online. After all, there were characters that had left too soon and story lines that called for closure. Now, it seems the wait is over: production on the fan-built Veronica Mars movie, essentially an indie, is scheduled to begin in June or July, with a projected release date of early 2014.
My body is ready
While passion for the small, niche show has enabled the project to finally take off, the frenzy has left some people unconvinced. “Nostalgia is grasping for the impossible: You don’t want more of what you remember fondly; you want to be back at the time when you enjoyed it, which is an impossibility,†writes Vulture’s Josh Wolk. True, this Veronica Mars won’t be exactly the same as the one that aired from 2004 to 2007 as it will most likely take the form of a 10-year reunion. But that’s precisely why it matters to me. I’ve grown up and, of course, I know the cast has as well.
I want to see how everyone and everything has evolved, what type of sleuth Veronica has become in the age of smartphones and Twitter. Rob Thomas has promised to include as many of our favorite characters as possible and I can’t wait to see if our heroine is still with Duncan Kane (Teddy Dunn). I’m likewise eager to find out what happened to Weevil (Francis Capra), Mac (Tina Majorino), and Vinnie Van Lowe (Ken Marino). (Most important: did Abel Koontz really kill Lilly Kane? The thought of Amanda Seyfried reprising this role, even as a tiny flashback, totally blows my mind.) Just think of the Tumblr gifs!
As We Used To Be Friends, the theme music by The Dandy Warhols, plays over and over in my head, I’ve already started rewatching the first of three seasons and bringing once more on its snarky glory. The Veronica Mars movie may still be a year or so away, but yes, my body is more than ready.
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