Television is an impactful medium. Quality and/or ambitious shows get cancelled too quickly, far too often. And 99 percent of the time, once the Nielsen Ratings Gods have spoken, we are left to do nothing, to feel without resource. But this time… this time, the little guy was heard. Some 30,000 people who will never brush up against celebrity, Regular Joes who will not once see their name in an end credits crawl, were afforded — and passionately seized — the opportunity to produce a piece of entertainment. I ask: When does that ever happen?

Movie studio executives greenlight any and whatever projects they like, and in this instance, Veronica Mars: The Motion Picture simply was not going to happen. Yet when put in the hands of the fans (and their friends) who have steadfastly and long-anticipated this unlikelihood, that excited mob rallied to secure their piece of happiness. A lot of the time, the Internet is used to tear things down. To mock Smash, to snark about red carpet fashions, to hurt. All from the cozy, oft-anonymous comfort of everyone’s couches. For 10 thrilling hours on Wednesday, though, 30,000 strangers banded together online to create something.

No, the Veronica Mars Kickstarters will never see even a fraction of a back-end point if the movie happens to turn a profit. But they will smile knowing that they were a part of something rather historical. A gone-too-soon series was plucked from the ashes not by a struggling network anxious to plug a scheduling hole, but by the very people who loved and were left to mourn it. Stand on a soap box and question the dissemination of discretionary income all you want, but do not dare rob other people of their self-defined joy.