Quantcast
Channel: NYU Local » Veronica Mars
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 3

The Veronica Mars Movie And The Problem With TV Show Revivals

0
0

Everyone’s favorite snarky-teenage-girl-turned-somewhat-obsessive-teenage-detective is back. After years of clamoring for Veronica Mars to return, the beloved dramedy reappeared in movie theaters and on the laptops of fans around the country last week. Through Kickstarter, the creators of Veronica Mars were able to crowdfund enough money to turn a cancelled, cult-favorite television show into a major motion picture, joining the ranks of revived TV shows along with the recent Netflix regeneration of Arrested Development.

The original run of Veronica Mars left a lot of unanswered questions for fans to ponder during the last seven years, the most pressing one being: What the hell happens to every character on the show? The show ended with loose ends galore on an episode that barely even felt like a season finale. Instead of tying up loose ends, the movie begins by reintroducing every character in a new but somewhat predictable position. Veronica’s interviewing for a job as a high-powered lawyer, Mac  rocking a pompadour  works for Kane Software, Weevil has a family and Wallace is a high school coach. The only character that seems stalled is Keith, who still works as a private investigator for Mars Investigations.

If Veronica Mars was a chess game, the board is exactly same — a town on the verge of class warfare and a corrupt local police force — and all the pieces have moved exactly where’d you expect them to. The movie itself doesn’t bring the game to an epic conclusion, it just resets the game pieces. Each character moves from one predictable position to another predictable position that would more easily prompt a sequel. Which is sort of the intention of the movie; it’s the set up for a series of books and maybe movies about the Veronica Mars gang back in action.

The only thing that really gets resolved is the relationship between Veronica and Logan, which is the one thing that shouldn’t really be concluded. It took 62 episodes of Veronica Mars to set up the Veronica and Logan relationship, but only one 107 minute movie taking place nine years after their last contact to wrap it up? Logistically, that doesn’t really make sense. A show that spent so long building a relationship can’t wrap it all up in one fell swoop, can it? Well, it can. It just doesn’t feel like a satisfactory conclusion for the “epic love story” the show’s been hawking between the two characters.

The major mystery of the movie was gripping, but it didn’t engage the minor characters in the same way the television show did. It was all about Veronica, which is fine, but it doesn’t fit the theme of Veronica Mars. The show was as much about the relationships between the characters and the evolution of their friendships as it was about the actual mystery. With the exception of Logan, the other recurring characters are relegated to a few minor scenes. The charm of Veronica Mars wasn’t just the sassy do-gooder trying to save people, it was her team of eclectic friends willing to help her find justice: the sense of community these outcasts found in a school verging on a war. 

The real problem with the Veronica Mars movie is the change in medium. Veronica Mars is meant to be a TV show. The characters and plots fit into weekly serials, not two hour movies. In a similar fashion, Arrested Development‘s “revolutionary” new format where every episode takes place simultaneously doesn’t fit the show either. The original format is the original format for a reason: that’s the best way to tell the story at hand. While the new formats introduced make filming easier — the Veronica Mars cast could shoot a movie instead of a season and the Arrested Development cast could have conflicting schedule — it completely compromises what the fans really want: the original show.

[Image via] 


Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 3

Latest Images

Trending Articles





Latest Images