The Kickstarter for Veronica Mars set all manner of records yesterday. It became the fastest Kickstarter to reach both $1 million and $2 million, and the highest goal to be met yet, all in its first 12 hours of existence. It’s clear that the campaign was a game-changer, but a day later it’s still not entirely clear just what game actually ended up being changed
There could be another canceled show with a passionate base of internet-connected nerds of all income levels who would pony up more than they can afford to give it the movie/series extension that it deserves. You guys talk about which one might work best. I’ll be in my bunk.
***update***
Apparently Joss Whedon already ruled out a Firefly kickstarter because of incompatible commitments and he already killed off major characters. OK, fine. The inescapable facts of reality can bite me.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
Firefly.
numfar
2 of my favorite shows..Veronica Mars and Firefly
dedc79
The problem re firefly is that they killed off so many characters in the first movie
jrg
Where’s my “Army of Darkness II”?
Robert
Joss Whedon said no to a Firefly Kickstarter already because of his Marvel deal and Nathan Fillion’s Castle deal.
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
Firefly solution. Prequel.
Todd
A TJ Hooker movie, complete with Shatner, just to piss off the original Trek fetishists.
Higgs Boson's Mate
“Buckaroo Bonzai Against the World Crime League”
Todd
I got it – a Space:1999 movie, and it will end in Space:2000, as their last supplies run out.
Robert
In order to cause the most collateral damage to the overbloated spectacle of entertainment bloggers, I want Seth MacFarlane to KickStart a Family Guy/Cleveland Show/American Dad cross-over movie. This will surely cause at least 200 blog editors to rage quit the Internet, thereby boosting my own site stats. I mean, technically 2/3s of those shows have been cancelled and uncancelled at least once since they premiered.
Omnes Omnibus
Maybe another Sex in the City movie?
Winston Smith
@Higgs Boson’s Mate:
FTW.
alien radio
@Robert: oh dear god no. I’d ragequit life if oversaw such monstrosity.
Ash Can
I’d love to see that happen with Gargoyles, but I’m afraid that it just doesn’t have the market consolidation needed for that kind of financial groundswell. Since it ended up appealing to so many other viewers besides its target market, and largely overshooting that target market because of its sophistication, it doesn’t have the cohesive ages-x-to-y market of, say, a TMNT or Transformers that grew up, got jobs, and now has the focused money and nostalgia necessary for a revival. Too bad — with the computer-graphic technology that would be available to the producers today, a Gargoyles movie could be pretty fun.
Todd
I got another one – a Logan’s Run crossover with CPAC, broadcast on C-Span.
Squarely Rooted
Correct answer is Kings.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@Ash Can: Yeah, I liked Gargoyles. I also liked playing “who’s voice is that?” with the show.
Ash Can
@Belafon (formerly anonevent): I’m surprised more Trekkies weren’t fans. It was as though the entire cast of TNG picked up and moved to the show.
different-church-lady
I do not understand a world where a bunch of people will chip in $2 million to get a movie made and then complain that $1.99 is too much to pay to stream it online.
BTW, do they keep Kickstarter “records” in the same book they keep XFL records?
FourTen
Amazing, they’ve discovered a way to get people to pay for something twice and at the same time turn thousands into creditors with no collateral.
Things end, let them and move on.
Mary from Ohio
I would give money to see Pushing Daisies get a movie and not think twice about it.
JasonF
Veronica Mars is owned by Warner Brothers. It rubs me the wrong way that they are using Kickstarter — a platform developed to allow struggling artists and developers access to funding — in order to get the fans to bankroll this movie. They are literally socializing the costs of producing a movie while keeping all the rewards.
And I know Kristen Bell and Rob Thomas aren’t exactly sitting on Oprah money, but you’re telling me they couldn’t find $2 million worth of support in their rolodexes?
Don’t get me wrong — I’m happy for any Veronica Mars fans who are going to get to see a show they love return in a movie, but the whole endeavor strikes me as WB and Thomas and Bell taking advantage of the audience’s love for the show.
All of that said, I would love to see Carnivale and/or Middleman come back (and I’m thrilled about the upcoming Arrested Development return).
different-church-lady
@JasonF:
Kickstarter: the new, high tech, 21st century way of asking your friends for money.
maurinsky
Middleman! I would pay money to get Middleman back on the air (especially since Whedon has ruled out Firefly).
...now I try to be amused
I loved a 24/7 game show called The Mole, which lasted only two seasons. (The original, not the celebrity version.) Too bad Anderson Cooper is too busy to host it again; he was a large part of its charm.
Supernumerary Charioteer
@different-church-lady: That’s the way fandom works. $20 buys you a chance to say ‘I supported the fandom when we needed to come together and do so’. I’ve seen people support a $300,000 demo reel for an animated movie project that has a fairly decent chance of never being picked up by any studio.
A $2.00 rental means you get to see it once, never own it, and then it just vanishes into the mist. With all the free entertainment you can get online, it doesn’t make sense to spend money unless the content is special.
Vanya
No one wants to see more Freaks & Geeks?
NotMax
@Mary from Ohio
Presume you are familiar, then, with Wonderfalls? If not, seek it out.
Same producers and writers (in fact, some of the same cast) in a delightfully quirky but short-lived* series that preceded Pushing Daisies.
Great ensemble cast working their acting chops to the hilt.
*13 episodes available on DVD – only 8 or so aired on TV before it was axed to make room for Firefly.
meander
The “too many killed in the Firefly movie” excuse isn’t very convincing. Do we know how much time elapsed between the last TV episode of Firefly and the beginning of the movie Serenity? It could be years, which would give enough time for plenty of good stories. (It would be tricky to fit new stories into the existing range of information in the TV series and movie, however.)
Not being able to get one or more of your key stars, however, is a much bigger issue.
Gravenstone
@Ash Can: I’d be happy if they just had a deal to release the rest of the episodes on DVD ferchrissakes.
RSA
@NotMax: Wonderfalls would be great. I’m reminded of my favorite fantasy TV series cancelled before their time. Aside from those already mentioned, I’d add Brimstone (for John Glover) and American Gothic (for Gary Cole).
NonyNony
@different-church-lady:
How do you know that they’re the same people?
Also – did you see what you get when you pledge?
* $10 gets you the shooting script of the movie – fun for people who are into that kind of thing
* $25 gets you that and a T-shirt – fun for those who like to tout their geek cred by saying they supported the object of their fandom
* $35 gets you a digital copy of the movie “within days of the theatrical release”. As well as the T-shirt and the script.
* $50 gets you all of that and a DVD of the movie
So depending on how much “entertainment cash” you have lying around the buy-in is small to be a part of something that as a fan you are dedicated to – it’s taking “fan ownership” of a property to a new level (and may end up biting Rob Thomas and WB in the ass with the fan expectations, but I suppose if the choice is that or nothing it’s probably best to roll the dice and see what you get).
Plus if you’re a rich geek the top rewards were pretty tempting for a hardcore fan – $10K gets you a speaking part in the movie, $8K to name a character after yourself or someone else, $5K to rent a theater in your town and have a private screening of the movie to 50 people before the release date, $3K to be an extra in the background, $1K to get a ticket to the premiere, etc.
It’s a bit more of a commitment to a fan than just downloading a movie to watch – fans like this aren’t going to be downloading at $2 a pop. They own the complete series on DVD, have signed petitions for a Blue-Ray version, and have daughters named “Veronica”. This just takes it to the next level.
Lee
Wash is still alive!!
We skip that part of the movie every time. I’m not sure our geek daughter has ever actually watched those 10 seconds of the movie.
socraticsilence
@Robert:
This, Fillion’s probably at a pretty hefty per episode number now and Whedon just wrote and directed the highest grossing non-Cameron film of all time. As much as I’d love it, its not going to happen.
Cassidy
@maurinsky: Been reading Topless Robot I see.
@meander@Lee: : The only way it works is if they pick up at the end of the movie. Anything else wouldn’t be worth it.
lamh35
Wasn’t a big Firefly fan on tv, but I did see Serenity and I like Nathan fillion in Castle. But if new firefly means seeing that wingnut azz Adam Baldwin who went after Rape survivor Zerlina Maxwell, then I’ll pass.
Augie
Listen, I like Firefly a lot, but Whedon’s argument that a new movie wouldn’t work without Wash and Shepherd is absurd. They were tertiary characters for gosh sake! Whedon just doesn’t want to do it. Which is fine btw!
Lee
@Cassidy:
That would be the best option, but I would still watch a movie that takes place between the end of the series and the beginning of Serenity.
Lee
@Augie:
Don’t let my wife hear you say that. She likes to think Firefly was about its pilot and everyone else was just filler :)
Cassidy
@Augie: Whether they were primary, secondary, or tertiary is immaterial. Book clearly had plenty of storylines to use and explore; that’s easily two seasons worth of material. Wash was never really fleshed out beyond the present day of the series. Overall, though, this was before the era where main characters were killed just to prove a point and it really shocked the fans to see part of an ensemble cast, especially as beloved as this one, get killed off. Personally, I wouldn’t want to see naything that didn’t take place after the movie and incorporate those deaths into the characters, but I can see why others would be uncool with it.
@Lee: I would watch it, but I don’t think it would hold my interest as much, in that we already know where we’re going. It wouldn’t feel right.
Ramalama
A long time ago we used to be friends
foxcasey
I can’t believe my first post on this blog is about Firefly, but there you have it. Nathan Fillion has said he would do another Firefly project in a heartbeat. He’s even offered to buy the rights from Fox. Castle is finishing its fifth season and will probably be renewed for a sixth. I don’t know about contracts for a seventh. He also is playing Dogberry in Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing, which was filmed in 12 days on the weekends around Nathan’s Castle shooting schedule. So I think that the desire to do more with Firefly is there, and as Castle comes to a close (I love it and will be sad to see it go), they may be able to do it. After the success of the Avengers, Whedon has a lot more clout.
Chris
@Robert:
Guns don’t kill people. Joss Whedon kills people.
Oomab
United States of Tara.
Chris
@Augie:
I cast a dissenting vote against this. All the characters on the ship mattered – Whedon’s good at juggling a cast of characters and making sure all of them matter. (It’s why he was the right choice for the Avengers movie).
Lee
@Chris:
At some point we heard Whedon’s commentary about killing Wash. To paraphrase “I wanted people to know I’m serious”.
So yeah he is a bit of a douche.
Jay in Oregon
I would love to see the following:
* A Buckaroo Banzai reboot (the movie was quintessentially 80’s)
* Firefly, but won’t happen for stated reasons
* A continuation of Leverage, either as a TV show or movies
* Global Frequency, the OTHER show from John Rogers I wanted to see
* More stuff set in the Babylon 5 universe: Crusade had promise but Legend of the Rangers was watchable primarily because of G’Kar
* Something new in the Stargate TV universe; there was talk of a new feature film but it would ignore the TV universe?
John M. Burt
There is, of course, no reason to limit this to movies or TV series: I’d like to see Mike Kelly do another series of Power Plays.
http://fraziersbrain.blogspot.com/2009/07/out-of-vault-power-plays.html
There were a number of promising comics series in the late 1980s which got lost in a glut of new titles and which I’d enjoy seeing again: Legacy, Power Factor, Airboy . . . .
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Airboy
Chris
@Jay in Oregon:
Oh, I heard about that feature film without the TV universe thing. Yeah, fuck THAT noise. The TV universe beats Emmerich’s movie any day, and it explored the Stargate universe far more comprehensively (seventeen seasons total!) than a few two-hour sequels could have.
I’m sad that we never got closure on a few things (mostly sad that we never got the direct-to-DVD Jack O’Neill movie they were promising before they canceled all of Stargate). But at the same time, it’s a strong opinion of mine that producers should know when to let a good franchise rest in peace. I don’t want to see Stargate go through the long, painful, protracted death that Star Trek did with Voyager, Enterprise and the TNG movies.
If Emmerich wants to revisit his past, he can give us Independence Day sequels.
kay shawn
Wash! Wash! Wash!
Xecky Gilchrist
Whedon already ruled out a Firefly kickstarter because of incompatible commitments and he already killed off major characters.
Well, and it’s been eleven years. Cap’n Tightpants’ pants are tight for a whole different reason these days.
sal
2nd on Stargate Universe. Also, Twin Peaks, although it might require rewriting/ignoring the series ending.
How about a thread for movies from TV series that should never be made? First one that comes to mind is Michael Bay doing Dr. Who.
xephyr
Firefly was certainly superior to The Avengers in terms of watchability. Clever dialogue and effective character development will always beat relentless sound effects and visual distractions. I love JW but wonder if he’s past his prime.
Xecky Gilchrist
@NotMax: *13 episodes available on DVD – only 8 or so aired on TV before it was axed to make room for Firefly.
Four, if I remember right, and Fox disappeared it VERY completely after that, pretending it had never existed, took down the official website without a trace and everything. The DVD release was entirely due to fan clamor, and kudos to everyone who pitched into it in those early days of fan-clamoring.
So anyway – I second the recommendation. The show was much too smart and weird for TV. (ETA: as for the casting crossover with Firefly – the later eps of Wonderfalls are worth seeing just to see Jewel Staite [Kaylee] acting like a total bitch and doing a good job of it.)
ETA also: it aired more than a year after Firefly was cancelled.
Jay in Oregon
@Chris:
The thing with Stargate is that the concept is so flexible.
Jump ahead 100 years and show us a world where the Stargate is open to the public, and I can commute to Abydos or the Pegasus Galaxy.
They did mine the continuity they set up in the TV shows pretty thoroughly, but who knows what all lies out there in the universe? Maybe the Ancients weren’t the only ones who developed gate travel? SG: Universe had a shaky premise, but the idea of cruising around the universe which is FRANKLY QUITE TERRIFYING was cool. Just about every encounter with an alien race in that show ended up with people dead, or the refugees on the Destiny getting screwed in some manner.
Chris
@Jay in Oregon:
That’s a good point, actually. Never thought of the “jump 100 years ahead” but why not? It worked for TNG…
If they really wanted to continue the show, I’d kind of like to see them focus on the Milky Way post Goa’uld – no more alien mega-foes, just show us how the dust is settling. (I personally would expect a massive race war between the Jaffa and the human former slaves of the Goa’uld, which would eventually give the audience their war…)
Jay in Oregon
@Chris:
Well, and SGU shows that there’s a whole universe of alien races who look upon us as inferior, little better than vermin, or food. John Scalzi was a technical advisor to SGU, and the “everything in the universe is potentially out to get us” mentality of the show is very similar to the Old Man’s War universe…
I forgot to add one to my list:
* The Dresden Files wasn’t necessarily faithful to the books, but it did have Jim Butcher’s blessing. I’d watch more of that.
Supernumerary Charioteer
I’d throw ‘Caprica’ in as one that needs a proper send-off.
artem1s
@Xecky Gilchrist:
God I love Firefly as much as anyone but this, yes…it was painful enough to watch the Star Trek original cast age badly and worse for the last installment of Indiana Jones.
If Firefly makes a reappearance I would prefer a complete redo, a la JJ Abram’s Star Trek. Won’t be the same but more of Captain Tightpants wouldn’t be the same either. Unless you go animated… well then…..
Steeplejack
@sal:
Michael Bay doing anything. Somebody should just stop him.
WereBear
@Higgs Boson’s Mate: that would be Big Trouble in Little China
WereBear
@Higgs Boson’s Mate: that would be Big Trouble in Little China
imonlylurking
I want to see American Gothic come back. There was another show I liked-Strange Luck. It only lasted for a season but it was an amazing premise.
eddie blake
ReBoot.
Auguste
@Supernumerary Charioteer: You take that back about The Goon. It is SO going to get made. Or I will have a tantrum.
Chris
@Jay in Oregon:
I’m still not sure how I feel about SG:U. SG-1 could be dark or serious from time to time (“Heroes” was on last Sunday, still one of the best episodes in the franchise), but it was pretty lighthearted overall; making a BSG-toned spin-off like SG:U felt sort of like making a MacGyver spin-off and basing it on 24 (nothing against either show, but damn, that’s a big change).
And yeah, the whole “alien universe with everyone trying to kill you!” is very Scalzi. The Milky Way wasn’t friendly either but it was civilized, sort of, no matter how oppressive the civilization. SG:U was set in much more savage territory.
Jeremy
Caprica!
vheidi
@JasonF: my long-time fan husband was furious when Bjork did this
JWL
I know a businessman who got his start by scamming people out of millions of dollars. Even after a class action suit was successfully filed against him, and he eventually repaid millions, he still had millions left over because not all the people he scammed joined in the lawsuit.
Fwiffo
I don’t think you’ll find a bigger fan of Firefly than me, but it’s already had it’s second chance. They made Serenity, and it wasn’t as good as the series, and it wasn’t a major financial triumph.
It’s been too long, and any new movie or series would amount to pity sex. Joss is right.
moda31
@JasonF:
Actually the cast etc. has been trying to get this movie made for ages, including offering to fund it. The problem was that Warner Bros. has the rights to the characters etc. and wouldn’t budge, because they argued that there wouldn’t be enough fan interest to make distribution worthwhile for WB. Enter kickstarter, where people basically get to pre-order the movie and accompanying swag, essentially putting fan commitment to buy in up front, so now Warner Bros. will let the movie go ahead and make the marketing and distribution investment. It’s not the ideal way to get movies made, but as a Veronica Mars fan, I’m certainly happy that it finally got WB to stop holding the project hostage.
rob!
Everyone laughed when I said “Citizen Kane 2.” Thanks to Kickstarter tho, I’m gonna make it happen…
dance around in your bones
@sal:
I was so totally hooked on Twin Peaks until it got so stupid.
“Who killed Laura Palmer?”
YellowJournalism
I can’t believe not a single person has suggested a Quantum Leap movie of some kind.
Phoenician in a time of Romans
Apparently Joss Whedon already ruled out a Firefly kickstarter because of incompatible commitments and he already killed off major characters.
How do I go about starting up a Kickstarter to deny Whedon any other work until he gets back to Firefly?
Jebediah
@rob!:
Rosebud’s Revenge?
Cygil
Meanwhile, 2 million children a year die from easily treatable diarrhea. But we’re not interested in that cause, we’d rather resurrect a forgettable, and long cancelled, tv show.
Seriously, get some perspective, nerds.
Tehanu
@Fwiffo:
Good — not because I didn’t love Firefly, I adored it, but because Whedon is an idiot who, when given the second chance with the movie of Serenity, totally blew it. He assumed the audience was obsessed as he was with angst-ridden, sexed-up teenage girls with supernatural powers in danger, and made the movie about that instead of about the wonderful ensemble characters who crewed the spaceship.
Yutsano
@YellowJournalism: No kidding. That ending sucked massive donkey balls.