[Ed. note: TVWW Guest contributor Marley Ghizzone, a diehard fan of the original UPN/CW Veronica Mars series, was excited by the chance to see her beloved characters revived on the big screen. Excited, but also a little apprehensive... - DB]
By Marley Ghizzone
Veronica Mars was a noir detective television series created by Rob Thomas, running for three seasons on two networks: It began on UPN in 2004, and ended on the CW in 2007. By then, the show had gained a cult following of loyal viewers outraged by the premature cancellation.
Kristen Bell, who starred as young detective Veronica Mars, and series creator Thomas were big champions of the show, and did not want to see it die. Eventually, their determination and dedication led to a Kickstarter campaign to fund production for the big-screen movie sequel, Veronica Mars, which premiered March 14. It's being released May 6 on DVD and Blu-Ray, and you can pre-order it at the special Amazon price of $10.
The series followed Veronica Mars through the latter years of high school (in the posh, fictional California town of Neptune) to the beginning of college. Viewers saw her take cases big and small, from philandering husbands to finding her best friend’s killer. The show was predominantly, and correctly, categorized as a crime drama, because Veronica Mars follows a girl detective in a glitzy town with a seedy underbelly.
However, the series is anything but one-dimensional. It has amazing depth, intricate plots, and the characters continue to grow throughout each episode. There are truly funny moments, and heartbreakingly sad ones.
The idea of getting the chance to delve back into this universe, after all these years, was exciting. When I watched the TV series, I was a young teen. Now, seeing the Veronica Mars movie on the movie screen, I was now of college age, just like Veronica in the original show.
Yet revisiting Veronica Mars, in this new incarnation, also made me a bit nervous and apprehensive. I had become attached to these characters and this story. My main fear was that the original's story and nuances would become convoluted. How could they effectively fill in the gap of so many years and also introduce a new mystery to solve?
A normal season has 22 episodes to do what a 90-minute movie was expected to do. To bring back a story and then ruin the legacy would hurt. To me, it would be a very devastating blow, and I was hesitant. But then the previews came out, and I was head over heels in love.
The new story is set nine years after the events in the series' last episode aired. Everything seems very different from where we, as an audience, had left them. Veronica is now a lawyer in New York and dating Piz (Chris Lowell), while Logan (Jason Dohring) got his life together, and is a pilot for the Navy.
Veronica's loyal friend Wallace (Percy Daggs III) is a teacher and basketball coach at Neptune High, their old alma mater. Mac (Tina Majorina) works for Kane Software, and Veronica's dad, Keith (Enrico Colantoni), is a private detective with a bigger office and newer house. Over 107 minutes, the Veronica Mars film catches up the audience on the last nine years, introduces and solves a murder, breaks up one couple, reunites another, raises questions about class inequality in Neptune, and leaves the ending open for the possibility of another movie or television series.
I really loved this movie. Thomas found a way to bring back so many characters from the previous three seasons, without them seeming like cameos. Every character had a point and a reason for being in the script. The Logan/Veronica/Piz love triangle is still at work and just as interesting as ever. Dick Casablancas is still his normal hilarious and crass self. The dialogue is witty and fast paced. The narration works well to summarize what happened up to this point, as well as add to the film noir feel and give a callback to the series fans loved.
The feeling of disappointment I felt walking out of the theater was only because I wanted more.
Marley Ghizzone currently is a sophomore at Rowan University, studying radio/television/film. She says television is her only love, and she hopes to one day write about it.