I totally forgot the Veronica Mars movie was coming out until about two days ago. I passed through a review and realized that in just 48 hours, it would be a real thing that I could consume in a movie theater or on my laptop. And I did, despite having not thought of it lately at all.(Sorry.)
Honestly, the idea of seeing a Kickstarter-funded film did not seem appealing, so I went with the iTunes. No offense to the fanbase of the show, but I don’t really need to hear people react to seeing bad boy Logan Echolls (Jason Dohring) or sidekick Wallace Fennel (Percy Daggs III). As much as I am grateful for their enthusiasm in getting the film made, seeing a movie that was already warned to have some fan service with those fans seemed like a bit of a drag.
That said, as someone who first consumed those episodes in between the key ages of 14 and 16 (thereby making the original series a huge pop culture development for me) I had a blast watching it. I wish I’d seen it with a crowd, specifically for the reasons the film is flawed: the fan service-y moments (light references, including one to a failed Season 4 pilot that showed Kristen Bell’s titular Veronica in the FBI) fell kinda flat in the dark of my bedroom.
Forgetting how they got back in the first place, that led me to think about Veronica Mars‘ new (nearly two-hour long) film against the Netflix season of Arrested Development, which is shockingly 10 months old now. I’m not interested in funding, but I’m starting to wonder whether or not these two projects needed to switch places.
As a primer, let me tell you that I’m fond of both projects. Though to be frank, I haven’t watched a lick of the new Arrested season since I went through it the first time. I think, while hugely flawed, Season 4 of that show was audacious and often very, very funny. However… you couldn’t help but wonder if maybe a movie would’ve fit better.
It would’ve taken out a ton of excess fat from the 15 episodes and put it into a two-hour film. (Remember that weird detour with Gob and the popstar that ended with Gob and Tony Wonder as maybe lovers? This happened.) Perhaps a movie turns into a really tight, hilarious, densely plotted and sub-plotted and sub-sub-plotted (as Arrested Development lived and died) piece of entertainment.
On the other hand, while I’m happy with how the Veronica Mars movie turned out, the mystery, the “teen noir” that made the show stand out from the beginning often feels very perfunctory and rushed. Two hours is a hell of a pace for this show to try and solve a mystery in, especially when half of it deals with whether or not Veronica is going to actually solve said murder.
What if Netflix and Warner Bros. banked a 13-episode season of Veronica and Co.? As long as Bell is on board, it would’ve been way more suited to Season 4 of Arrested’s “shoot all of the actors when you can” way of doing things. Other than Logan, very few of the regulars in Neptune were in the film for more than 20 minutes. You could conceivably get much of the cast done with in a couple of days.
Who knows if this would have worked with the Kickstarter method? Hopefully, the movie is a success and leads Warner Bros. and Netflix to consider the season approach. Because the more I poke holes in it, the more I think those holes would be harder to poke if creator (and co-writer/director of the film) Rob Thomas had 13 hours of television to make it unimpeachable, while still making people happy to see the show again.
So yeah, I have complaints. I’m really happy, however, that two of my favorite, favorite pieces of pop culture ever have found new ways to tell their stories 10 years later. That said, you can’t help but wonder if both just didn’t quite go about it in the right way. Hopefully there’s another chance to correct it.
