Veronica Mars

This article is about the Veronica Mars television series. For the character, see Veronica Mars (character).

Veronica Mars
Veronica Mars' third season intertitle.
Created by	Rob Thomas
Starring	see below
Narrated by	Kristen Bell (eponymous)
Opening theme	"We Used to Be Friends" by The Dandy Warhols
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	64 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Joel Silver Rob Thomas
Running time	approx. 42 minutes
Original release
Network	UPN (2004-2006) The CW (2006-2007)
Release	September 22, 2004 – May 22, 2007

Veronica Mars is an American teen drama/mystery series created by Rob Thomas. The show premiered on September 22, 2004, during UPN's last two years, and ended on May 22, 2007, after a season on UPN's successor, The CW Television Network.

The show starred Kristen Bell as the title character: a student who progressed from high school to college during the series while moonlighting as a private investigator under the wing of her detective father. Said to be "a little bit Buffy and a little bit Bogart", the show balanced murder mystery, high school and college drama, and social commentary with sarcasm and off-beat humor in a style some compared to neo-noir films.

Plot summary

See also: List of Veronica Mars episodes

Background events

The series revolves around Veronica Mars, a high-school student and amateur investigator in the fictional Southern California seaside town of Neptune. As the daughter of well-respected County Sheriff Keith Mars, Veronica's biggest problem was getting unceremoniously dumped by her boyfriend (and Lilly's brother), Duncan Kane. With Lilly's murder, however, Veronica's life falls apart. Her father accuses Lilly's father, the popular software billionaire Jake Kane, of being involved in the murder; this provokes Neptune's wrath and causes Keith to lose a recall election. Veronica's mother, Lianne, develops a drinking problem and leaves town. And Veronica's "09er" friends—wealthy students from the fictional 90909 ZIP code—force her to choose between them and her father. Veronica chooses her father. After being forced out of the sheriff's office, Keith opens his own private investigation agency, Mars Investigations, where Veronica works part-time. Over the course of the series, Veronica helps her father solve cases and conducts her own investigations on behalf of friends and acquaintances at school.

Season one

The first season's main story arc is about the murder of Veronica's best friend, Lilly Kane, and Veronica's search for Lilly's killer, following new evidence which seemed to prove that Abel Koontz, the man imprisoned after confessing to Lilly's murder, was in fact innocent. As Veronica delves deeper into the murder case, she also works on other investigations and deals with the psychological scars caused by her mother's unexplained departure and the ordeal of being drugged and raped by an unknown assailant during an "09er" party. Veronica, no longer part of the school's wealthy in-crowd, makes some new friends: Wallace Fennel, Neptune High basketball star; Eli “Weevil” Navarro, leader of the PCHers, a Latino biker gang; and Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie, Neptune High's resident computer genius. Using her friends' resources, as well as those provided by her father and his contacts, Veronica gains a reputation for sleuthing and finds her skills in increasingly high demand at her school. Things get more complicated when Veronica falls into in a relationship with Lilly's ex-boyfriend Logan Echolls, who for a time held Veronica partly responsible for Lilly's death and went out of his way to harass her.

Season two

The second season begins with the introduction of two new cases: the mysterious death of PCH biker gang member Felix Toombs and a mysterious bus accident that kills several students. First, Logan, in a bout of drunkenness spurred by Veronica's readiness to believe the worst of him, picks a fight with Weevil and the PCHers and ends up accused of killing Toombs, a charge he denies. This charge puts Logan on the wrong side of not only the law, but also of Weevil and his gang. Under these pressures, Logan begins to revert to his former delinquent ways, and Veronica breaks up with him. Partway through the season, Weevil finally becomes convinced of Logan's innocence and the two team up to find the real killer, with occasional help from Veronica. The second mystery is introduced in the final minutes of the first episode, when a school bus full of Neptune High students plunges off a cliff, killing almost everyone on board. Veronica, who was supposed to be on the bus, makes it her mission to discover why the bus crashed.

This season shows Veronica’s life returning to much the way it had been before Lilly’s death. Having broken up with Logan during the summer, she reunites with Duncan Kane and is again accepted, albeit begrudgingly, by the '09ers. However, her private-eye sideline and tough persona keep her from being truly assimilated back into the rich crowd, as the ironically titled season opener "Normal Is the Watchword" shows. '09ers Dick and Cassidy “Beaver” Casablancas become regulars, and the season shows them dealing with a gold-digging stepmother, Kendall Casablancas, with whom they are left when their father flees the country to avoid the SEC. Wallace also discovers that his biological father is alive, and moves to Chicago to live with him briefly before returning halfway through the season. The two main mysteries are solved at different times: the Felix Toombs murder five episodes before the end of the season ("Plan B"), and the bus-crash mystery in the final episode ("Not Pictured").

Season three

In the third season Veronica, Logan, Wallace, Mac and Dick are freshmen at Neptune's Hearst College. Two new regulars are introduced: Stosh "Piz" Piznarski, Wallace’s roommate, and Parker Lee, Mac’s roommate. Mac and Sheriff Don Lamb also become regulars. Veronica continues her efforts, begun in "The Rapes of Graff" (season two), to identify the Hearst College rapist. This mystery is solved in the ninth episode, "Spit & Eggs." The next mystery, a murder, is introduced in the same episode. The season also chronicles Veronica and Logan’s failing attempts to maintain their relationship in the face of Veronica’s ingrained mistrust. Logan compounds the problem, first, when out of fear for Veronica's safety, he hires a bodyguard, and then again when he has a sexual tryst with Veronica's high-school nemesis Madison Sinclair while his on-again/off-again relationship with Veronica is off. By the end of the season, Logan has begun dating Mac's roommate, Parker.

Early in the season, Keith begins an affair with a married client. Meanwhile, Wallace struggles to balance academics and sports, and his roommate, Piz, develops a crush on Veronica. Veronica and Piz become a couple when her latest split with Logan appears permanent. Mac, despite emotional scars from the previous year's incident with Beaver, takes up with a new love interest in "Show Me the Monkey." She later dates one of Veronica's contacts on campus. Dick Casablancas, who had lived with Logan until joining a fraternity house on campus, has a breakdown and appeals to Logan for help. Near the end of the second mystery arc, Sheriff Don Lamb is killed, and Keith Mars is appointed interim sheriff pending an election. Jake Kane reappears in the intended season finale as a leader of "The Castle," a secret order at Hearst College modeled on the Order of the Skull and Bones. As the season ends, the sheriff's election, in which Mars is challenged by his longtime rival P.I. Vinnie Van Lowe, remains unresolved. Though Veronica is still dating Piz, the possibility of yet another reconciliation with Logan emerges when Logan and Parker break up over his continuing love for Veronica, and Veronica responds less negatively than might be expected when Logan beats up the man who spread a sex video of her on the internet.

Characters

Main article: Characters of Veronica Mars

Original cast

• Veronica Mars (Kristen Bell) — College student and skilled private detective.

• Logan Echolls (Jason Dohring) — "Bad-boy" 09er son of an A-list actor and Veronica's on-again/off-again boyfriend.

• Wallace Fennel (Percy Daggs III) — Veronica's best friend, frequent partner in mystery solving, and basketball-team star.

• Eli “Weevil” Navarro (Francis Capra) — Former leader of the PCH Biker gang and maintenance worker at Hearst College. Friend of Veronica, but often suspected by her of various crimes.

• Keith Mars (Enrico Colantoni) — Veronica's father, a private investigator and sometime Balboa County Sheriff.

• Duncan Kane (Teddy Dunn) — Lilly's brother and Veronica's boyfriend at two different points.

• Mallory Dent (Sydney Tamiia Poitier) — Journalism teacher at Neptune High.

Additional cast

• Dick Casablancas (Ryan Hansen) — 09er friend of Logan, a womanizer and former high-school bully turned frat boy.

• Parker Lee (Julie Gonzalo) — Mac's extroverted roommate at Hearst College.

• Stosh "Piz" Piznarski (Chris Lowell) — Wallace's roommate at Hearst College; a music lover with his own campus radio show; also Veronica's boyfriend at the end of the series.

• Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie (Tina Majorino) — Computer expert befriended by Veronica; noted for her sarcasm.

• Cassidy "Beaver" Casablancas (Kyle Gallner) — Dick's introverted younger brother.

• Jackie Cook (Tessa Thompson) — Romantic interest of Wallace and daughter of a famous baseball player.

• Don Lamb (Michael Muhney) — Balboa County Sheriff, who won the office from Keith in the recall election spearheaded by Jake Kane. Is generally condescending and abrasive towards Veronica and Keith Mars.

Main crew

The main crew was made up of Rob Thomas, Jed Seidel, Diane Ruggiero, Joel Silver, John T. Kretchmer, Nick Marck, Michael Fields, Harry Winer, Jason Bloom, Dan Etheridge, Stacey Fields, Jennifer Gwartz, Danielle Stokdyk, Steve Gomer, Guy Norman Bee, Marcos Siega, Sarah Pia Anderson, Mark Piznarski, Howard Grigsby, Hans van Doornewaard, Neil Lundell, and Paul Kurta.

Filming location

Much of the show's scenes were filmed at Stu Segall Productions in San Diego. The setting of Neptune High for the first and second seasons was located in Oceanside, California. The show's third season setting of Hearst College was mostly filmed on the campuses of San Diego State University, University of San Diego, and the University of California, San Diego.

Broadcast history

Veronica Mars was officially greenlit on May 20, 2004, with the announcement of UPN's 2004-2005 television schedule.

During the first season, the show aired Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET and garnered low ratings, coming in consistently last in its time slot behind the other five broadcast networks. However, the combination of its vocal fan base, strong critical praise, and the fact that it fit UPN's desired young female viewer demographic was enough to convince the network to renew the show for a second season.

Unlike the higher-rated Kevin Hill and Star Trek: Enterprise, Veronica Mars was the only UPN drama series of the 2004–2005 season to make it onto the 2005-06 television schedule. MTV presented reruns of the first half of the first season, with episodes airing eight days later, on Wednesdays at 7pm ET. In July and August 2005, UPN's corporate sibling CBS also aired repeats of the show on Fridays at 8 p.m. ET, in an effort to increase exposure for the series.

Veronica Mars was renewed for a second season on May 19, 2005. For the second season, the show was moved to Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET. Toward the end of the fifth cycle of America's Next Top Model in December 2005, the show's ratings showed a little life, including one of its highest-rated episodes of the season, "One Angry Veronica." However, ratings fell again when Top Model went on hiatus. Lost on ABC and FOX's American Idol, both scheduled in the same time slot, also contributed to ratings woes for the show. In addition, several UPN stations regularly carried weekday college and NBA basketball games over the winter, causing Veronica Mars to be pre-empted and moved to a weekend time slot.

On February 15, two days before the scheduled new episode "Versatile Toppings" was due to air, the episode was substituted with a rerun, and shortly afterward UPN announced that the show would go on hiatus until the beginning of Top Model's new cycle in mid-March. The show resumed on March 15, but still struggled in the ratings. After testing reruns on Tuesday night at 9 p.m. ET for a few weeks before the show resumed new Wednesday episodes, UPN decided to return the show to its former Tuesday time slot on April 11, 2006 to avoid the Lost/American Idol juggernaut. Ratings dropped in the first week, but stabilized by the end of the season.

Overall, in its second season, the show ranked 145th out of 156 in the season ratings chart. However, UPN renewed the show for another year. Some viewers believe they were given a heads-up during the Season Two finale when Duncan Kane, answering his phone, asks, "C.W.?" and is answered, "It's a done deal"—although this exchange also fits the plotline rationally in that the caller's name is Clarence Wiedman ("C.W.") and he has just completed an important job for Duncan.

On May 16, 2006 it was confirmed that Veronica Mars would be part of the new The CW's Fall 2006–2007 lineup once The WB and UPN ceased operations in fall 2006. The show was initially given a 13-episode order. On November 16, 2006 seven more episodes were ordered. The third season of the show aired in the United States and Canada at 9/8c on The CW. Throughout the third season, the series served as a lead-out following Gilmore Girls, a well-established series with a similar audience; however, ratings remained low.

In December 2006, Veronica Mars Season Three was added to the iTunes Store and briefly landed in the top 10 of Season Pass subscriptions, ahead of such notable series as Lost season 3 and Scrubs season 6.

The season was initially planned to include three separate mysteries that would be introduced and resolved in a series of non-overlapping story arcs. The first mystery took place over the first nine episodes. Originally, the second mystery was to be seven episodes long and the third mystery was to occur over the last six episodes of the season. This was changed when The CW, the show's new carrier, ordered only a 20-episode season instead of the usual 22 episodes. The second mystery arc was shortened to six episodes, and the third mystery was first changed from a six-episode arc to a five-episode arc and then, after an eight-week hiatus for the show was announced, to stand-alone episodes designed to be friendlier to new viewers.

Cancellation

On January 19, 2007 CW Entertainment President Dawn Ostroff announced that, while she was pleased with the gradual improvement of Veronica Mars's ratings, the show would be put on hiatus after February sweeps to air a new reality series, Pussycat Dolls Present, in order to launch that show and prevent the out-of-sweeps rerun erosion common to serialized dramas. The hiatus began March 6 and ended May 1, at which time Veronica Mars returned for the last five episodes of the season, which had non-serialized plotlines. At the CW Upfront on May 17, 2007 Ostroff announced that Veronica Mars "is dead", but said that Kristen Bell and Rob Thomas might collaborate on another project for the CW network. On June 11, 2007, TV Guide writer Michael Ausiello confirmed that the cancellation of Veronica Mars was official.

Reception and awards

U.S. television ratings

Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of Veronica Mars on both UPN and The CW.

Note: Each U.S. network television season starts in late September and ends in late May, which coincides with the completion of May sweeps.

Season	Timeslot	Season Première	Season Finale	TV Season	Network	Rank	Rank Network	Viewers (in millions)
1	Tuesday 9:00 p.m.	September 22, 2004	May 10, 2005	2004-2005	UPN	#148	#15/15	2.68
2	Wednesday 9:00 p.m. (from September 28, 2005 to April 5, 2006) Tuesday 9:00 p.m. (as of April 11, 2006)	September 28, 2005	May 9, 2006	2005-2006	UPN	#145	#11/15	2.54
3	Tuesday 9:00 p.m. (from October 3, 2006 to May 15, 2007) Tuesday 8:00 p.m. (May 22, 2007)	October 3, 2006	May 22, 2007	2006-2007	The CW	#138	#13/17	2.65

Critical reception

Though not a ratings success, the series, in particular the first season, was a critical success. Robert Abele of LA Weekly said "In this smart, engaging series about a former popular girl turned crime-solving high school outcast, the hard-boiled dialogue comes from its teen protagonist's mouth in a way that stabs any potential cutesiness in the heart with an ice pick." In her review, Paige Weiser of the Chicago Sun Times said that "On Veronica Mars, wholesome is out; gritty reality is in. The show never soft-peddles the timeless, fundamental truth that high school is hell." Joyce Millman of The Boston Phoenix said "Veronica Mars is a character study masquerading as a high-school drama." Joy Press of The Village Voice said "Veronica Mars is a sharp teen noir in the making. Tinged with class resentment and nostalgia for Veronica's lost innocence, this series pulses with promise." Michael Abernethy of PopMatters said "Equal parts intrigue, drama, and humor, Veronica Mars is also a lesson book for the disenfranchised. Few tv series aim so high; even fewer succeed so well." James Poniewozik of Time magazine said it was "One of the 6 best dramas on TV."

Top Ten lists

2005

• AFI's TV Programs Of The Year
• Village Voice
• Chicago Tribune
• Entertainment Weekly #6
• Newsday #5
• People Weekly #7
• Pittsburgh Post-Gazette #9
• PopMatters #5
• San Jose Mercury-News #5
• Time - Best Returning Shows #4
• USA Today #6
• Ain't It Cool News #2
• MSN TV

2006

• Chicago Sun-Times #1
• Ain't It Cool News #1
• Metacritic #6

Support from writers

Joss Whedon, who made a guest appearance on the season two episode "Rat Saw God", said that it was the "Best. Show. Ever. Seriously, I've never gotten more wrapped up in a show I wasn't making, and maybe even more than those [...] These guys know what they're doing on a level that intimidates me. It's the Harry Potter of shows." Kevin Smith, who guest-starred in the Season Two episode "Driver Ed", said "Veronica Mars is, hands-down, the best show on television right now, and proof that TV can be far better than cinema. Some of the best TV ever produced" Stephen King described the show as "Nancy Drew meets Philip Marlowe, and the result is pure nitro. Why is Veronica Mars so good? It bears little resemblance to life as I know it, but I can't take my eyes off the damn thing." Ed Brubaker called it "The best mystery show ever made in America."

Awards

The TV IV:IVy Awards

Year	Award	Recipient	Won?
2005-2006	Best Lead Actress in a Drama Series	Kristen Bell	Yes
	Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series	Enrico Colantoni	No
	Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series	Jason Dohring	No
	Best Individual Episode of a Drama Series	2x22 - Not Pictured	Yes

American Film Institute Awards

Year	Award	Recipient	Won?
2005	Television Programs of the Year	-	Yes

Family Television Awards

Year	Award	Recipient	Won?
2006	Favorite Father/Daughter	Kristen Bell, Enrico Colantoni	Yes

International Cinematographers Guild Publicists Awards

Year	Award	Recipient	Won?
2006	The Maxwell Weinberg Publicist Showmanship Award for Television	-	No

Satellite Awards

Year	Award	Recipient	Won?
2005	Outstanding Actress in a Series, Drama	Kristen Bell	No
2006	Actress in a Series, Drama	Kristen Bell	No

Saturn Awards

Year	Award	Recipient	Won?
2005	Best Actress on Television	Kristen Bell	No
2006	Best Network Television Series	-	No
2007	Best Actress on Television	Kristen Bell	Yes
	Best Actress on Television	Kristen Bell	No

Teen Choice Awards

Year	Award	Recipient	Won?
2005	Choice TV Breakout Show	-	No
	Choice TV Breakout Performance, Female	Kristen Bell	No
2006	Choice TV Actress: Drama/Action Adventure	Kristen Bell	No
	Choice TV Sidekick	Percy Daggs III	No
	Choice TV Parental Unit	Enrico Colantoni	No

Television Critics Association Awards

Year	Award	Recipient	Won?
2005	Outstanding New Program of the Year	-	No
	Individual Achievement in Drama	Kristen Bell	No

Writers Guild of America Awards

Year	Award	Recipient	Won?
2006	Episodic Drama:	Rob Thomas for Normal Is the Watchword (Episode: 2x01)	No
2007	On-Air Promotion (Radio or Television)	-	No

Merchandise

Untitled

Soundtrack

The theme song for the show is The Dandy Warhols' hit single "We Used to Be Friends", from their 2003 album Welcome to the Monkey House. In Season Three, the theme song was remixed in a softer piano style with dark and vibrant electronic beats to reflect the more noir-influenced opening credits. The composer for the show, Josh Kramon, writes the original music heard in the background of most of the show. The sound, which is constructed to convey the film noir themes and hence is different from typical television scores, is reminiscent of Air and Zero 7. Air's music has been featured in certain episodes.

Veronica Mars: Original Television Soundtrack, a song compilation from the series' first and second seasons, was released by Nettwerk Records on September 27, 2005. It contained the following 14 songs:

1. "We Used to Be Friends" (theme song) - The Dandy Warhols
2. "I Hear the Bells" - Mike Doughty
3. "I Know I Know I Know" - Tegan and Sara
4. "I Turn My Camera On" - Spoon
5. "No Sleep Tonight" - The Faders
6. "Dakota" - Stereophonics
7. "Sway" - The Perishers
8. "Long Time Coming" - Delays
9. "On Your Porch" - The Format
10. "Ocean City Girl" - Ivy
11. "Momentary Thing" - Something Happens
12. "The Way You Are" - 46bliss
13. "Lost & Found" - Adrienne Pierce
14. "Lily Dreams On" - Cotton Mather

DVD releases

Region 1 (USA, Canada)

Veronica Mars: The Complete First Season
Set Details			Special Features
22 Episodes 6-Disc Set 1.78:1 Aspect Ratio English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround) Subtitles: English, Spanish and French			Extended Episode "Pilot" Unaired Opening Sequence Over 20 Minutes of Unaired Scenes
Release Date
United States	October 11, 2005

Veronica Mars: The Complete Second Season
Set Details			Special Features
22 Episodes 6-Disc Set 1.78:1 Aspect Ratio English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround) Subtitles: Spanish and French			2 Featurettes "A Day on the Set with Veronica Mars" "Veronica Mars: Not Your Average Teen Detective" Gag Reel Promo trailer for Season 3/The CW Additional Scenes, including: Alternate Ending to "My Mother, the Fiend" Note: Episode recaps removed from all episodes.
Release Date
United States	August 22, 2006

Veronica Mars: The Complete Third Season
Set Details			Special Features
20 Episodes 6-Disc Set 1.78:1 Aspect Ratio English (Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround) Subtitles: English, Spanish and French			Featurettes Pitching Season 4 - An in-depth interview with creator Rob Thomas discussing a new direction for the series presented to network executives that picks up years later, with Veronica as a rookie FBI agent. Going Undercover with Rob Thomas - Show creator Rob Thomas walks us through some of the most memorable moments from Season 3 Webisode Gallery with cast interviews and various set tours Unaired Scenes with introductions by Rob Thomas Gag Reel Note: Episode recaps removed from all episodes.
Release Date
United States	October 23, 2007

Region 2 (Europe)

The first season will be released in Spring 2008 in Spain ("The Complete Season 1", May 14th), Germany and Italy ("Season 1 - Part 1", May 7th) by Warner Bros.

Region 4 (Australia)

Warner Bros. Australia had plans to release the show on DVD, but encountered some legal problems caused by music licensing. The first season was originally slated for a 2006 release, but was postponed soon after. The first season will now be released on the confirmed date of June 4, 2008.

Other

In addition to the DVD sets and soundtrack album released, a set of four collectible minibusts have been produced by CineQuest.

Fandom

Fan campaigns

Veronica Mars attracted a loyal and devoted fanbase that included internet communities. Many of them took part in minor and major campaigns to bring more viewers and publicity to Veronica Mars in an effort to ensure that the series continued.

A group of devoted fans on LiveJournal who call themselves Cloud Watchers have been dedicated to this effort since the spring of 2006 in light of the then-approaching merger of UPN and The WB into The CW. On May 9, 2006, the group hired a plane to fly between the UPN offices in Los Angeles and the future site of The CW headquarters in Burbank, pulling a banner that read "RENEW VERONICA MARS! CW 2006!" to get the attention of network executives, the press, and anyone else in the Los Angeles area. They had previously sent future CW executives, those in charge at the new network's parent companies, and influential people in the entertainment media care packages including binoculars, information regarding the plane's flight plan, and Veronica Mars-inspired gifts.

Veronica Mars was officially renewed for a third season on May 18, 2006 to air on The CW Tuesdays at 9pm ET starting on October 3, 2006 but fans did not stop campaigning for the show. The Cloud Watchers started a new campaign, this one to bring a larger viewership to Veronica Mars by donating DVD sets of season one to libraries across the United States, with a goal of reaching the top 100 Nielsen markets and each of the 50 states. They reached both these goals as of August 14, 2006 and reached their new goal of 500 donated sets on September 5, 2006.

With the show's third season order cut from 22 episodes to 20, many of the show's diehard fans swung into action once more. Fans at the Television Without Pity website began organizing a flyer campaign to raise awareness of the show, and increase viewership in time for the show's return to The CW on May 1, 2007.

In early March 2007, Save Veronica Mars — a fan-run website that was instrumental in spreading the word when fans campaigned successfully for a second season — returned with a new, two-pronged purpose: to ensure a fourth season renewal, and to make sure that the show stayed in production long enough to have a sufficient number of episodes for syndication. It has been reported that over 30,000 flyers were printed.

In late March 2007, several other fan campaigns were added to the Save Veronica Mars effort, including the "Bars for Mars" campaign. The campaign asks for all fans of the show to band together and flood the mailrooms of The CW with actual "Mars" chocolate bar wrappers to show their dedication and loyalty for "Veronica Mars." Hundreds of wrappers have already been sent to CW offices, and more are to follow.

In early June 2007, a mere eight days before an official decision was to be made by The CW on whether or not to bring Veronica Mars back as a mid-season replacement, Hercules — a columnist at the Ain't It Cool News website — posted an idea on that site that caught on. Instead of just sending wrappers, fans were to start ordering Mars bars themselves from a small, family-run business in Houston called TheIndianFoodStore.com. After buying out all the Mars bars they could find, the store switched to Snickers Almond bars — the American replacement for the now defunct American Mars bar. Marshmallows were also added to the list, based on a quote from the show's pilot. In two days, fans ordered — and the store corralled, according to its blog — around 10,000 candy bars and 350 pounds of marshmallows. The idea was to find enough candy bars and marshmallows to fill up some of an 18-wheeler truck that would drive cross-country to The CW headquarters in Burbank to deliver its load prior to the network's June 15 deadline. The shipment was delivered and contained 1400 pounds of candy bars and marshmallows. The total donated from fans to buy the candy was $2942.56. Neither the total weight nor contributions include anything purchased and sent by fans on their own.

Fan conventions

Cruise to Mars

Cruise to Mars is a themed cruise set to take place in November 2008 and will bring together the show's cast and crew along with its fans on a week long cruise to Cabo San Lucas and Ensenada, Mexico. Activities are built around ideas from the show along with panels and tourist opportunities. Michael Muhney has been announced as the first celebrity to sign onto the cruise and reservation are now being accepted. Sea Level Events has organized Cruise to Mars.

Breakout Beyond

Breakout Beyond is a Veronica Mars and Prison Break convention to be held in London on June 13-15, 2008. Scheduled to appear are Kristen Bell and Jason Dohring.

Possible follow-on work

Though talks about a new series had been reported between Rob Thomas and Kristen Bell and The CW's Dawn Ostroff, it was unclear if this would be related to Mars or not.

Thomas has stated that he is interested in writing a feature film based on the series, in the interests of providing closure to the storylines and character arcs. He also created a trailer that takes place some time after the third season ends, with the working title "Veronica in the FBI". It has been released on the Veronica Mars third season DVD.

In addition to the feature-film possibility, there have been talks of a Veronica Mars comic book series in the vein of Joss Whedon's Buffy Season Eight.

External links

• Complete Episode, Soundtrack, and Character Information from marsinvestigations.net, a fansite
• Veronica Mars CWiki on CWTV.com
• Veronica Mars on Warnerbros.com