Ever one to be on the bleeding edge of what’s going on in tv today, I’ve just finished watching Veronica Mars. I’m not gonna go on and on about this, but I have to ask: how on earth did that show suffer viewing figures low enough to cause it to be cancelled? Was it badly promoted? Terrible time slot? Cos I don’t get it – VM was every bit as clever, fun and teen-swoony as Buffy was, so why didn’t it take? (I hope for their sakes that Rob Thomas and the CW think that one over hard while planning the spin-off to 90210.)
But more to the point: if heavies like Stephen King and Joss Whedon loved the show, and fans are devoted enough to keep their fansites alive a year later, shell out a whopping £78.50 plus travel to see Veronica and Logan at a con in the UK (compare with £55 for the WoW Invitational) and $800+ to take a VM-themed cruise… then why has Veronica’s story skidded to a halt? A tv series demands a lot of infrastructure and investment: in crew, locations, promotional stuff – but a story just needs, well, a story, and a way to tell it, right?
Buffy evolved into a comic, but the rumor that VM will go that route too has gone cold. Fans are hopeful that a film might be greenlighted, but that’s still up in the air. Those are high-dollar options, and while either would be welcome, they’re taking ages and it’s been a year since cancellation. Why not offer some low budget out-of-the-box stuff that fans might even donate money to enjoy (as long as Rob Thomas and Kristen Bell are involved)? Heck, I’m feeling impatient so I’d pay a fiver now just to get things started.
VM is built on relationships and mystery-solving. Add in the geeky undercurrent and there are roughly 17 bazillion possibilities here. To name a few: webisodes are a no-brainer. KB plus a script and camcorder = win. Maybe Twitter could tell part of the story – follow the characters to see what they’re doing and how they interact. Give Veronica haxable email (a la Aperture Science?) and see where that goes. Short, frequent bursts of a variety of content. Make it a game to figure out what’s going on with her. Frankly I’m not so hot on the FBI angle; that was too sudden, so I’d start where season 3 left off. Logan? Piz? Sheriff? Graduation?
I’ve never written a word of fan fiction in my life and am actually teetering on the verge of it right now – not that there’s anything wrong with that, mind you! – so I’ll just wrap it up by saying that I think it’d be a shame and a waste if Veronica’s potential to entertain fades away while her fans are waiting around for someone to fund a movie.
*cough*
Buffy ARG.
http://www.danhon.com/ec/mtarchives/000185.shtml#000185
I think I remember reading that – golly, 5.5 years’ worth of moons ago!
Agree about not skimping on development and production when you’re making a game. I love the idea of a full-on VM ARG, but yeah, that would take time and money. Thinking about it, if anyone’s actually planning to make the film, should they not also be planning an ARG to promote it – and mini-games to feed into the ARG? (As you know, I propose all this with an ant’s understanding of ARG development. :))
Really, I just want the story to continue quickish, and in interesting ways. My desire for this temporarily obliterated the cost/speed/quality (pick two) rule.
Oh, so a mini one, a bit like http://www.wetellstories.co.uk/stories/week2/ :)
Sure, why not. Slice is very cool, although it’s making me feel (justifiably) n00by right now since I can’t figure out what’s next.
As a side note, twitter doesn’t allow for grouping the people you’re following (well, except for the group you choose to get device updates from), but if it did, that would be great for making some sort of narrative out of all the character interactions.