Some News— Drive and Farscape

After scheduling and de-scheduling them twice, Fox has decided not to broadcast the last two episodes of Drive at all. Instead, they are available at www.myspace.com/driveonfox for online viewing.

Sci Fi has announced they will be doing a 10-part Farscape web series, live action. This has me kind of excited. I loved Farscape, and still haven't forgiven Sci Fi for cancelling it the way they did. With Ben Browder and Claudia Black both having been recently active with the Stargate series, I wonder if they'll be making appearances in this new incarnation of their previous (and, imo, far superior) show.

Drive Cancelled

Via drivefans.

According to Variety, Fox has pulled the plug on Drive after only 3 episodes.

This sucks. Poor Tim.

First Four Drive Shooting Scripts Available for Download

via Whedonesque.

For those interested in such things (me! me! me!) TimMinear.net has made the first four full shooting scripts (these are original shooting scripts, not transcripts) of Drive available for download in .pdf format.

Drive—No Turning Back

At the drive-in, the race participants watch a movie involving car chases. Following the movie is info on the next leg of the race. The next clue is "Surrender, America." And to mix things up, they're awarding a "jump start challenge" to the most improved driver.

Team Tully + Team Salazar: Tully wins the jumpstart challenge. Corinna is leery of it, but Tully is willing to take any advantage he can. Winston tails Tully and offers him a deal--they tail Tully now, he can follow them later. Tully's not keen on the deal and loses them, and they continue to the jumpstart address. It's a bank. To win the jumpstart advantage, they have to steal a safe deposit box from the bank. Tully's supposed to rob it. They go into the bank and check out the super secure vault, where they're supposed to steal the contents of a safe deposit box. Corinna thinks a team-up with Team Salazar might not be a bad idea under the circumstances, since Winston has experience in armed robbery. They chase down the Salazars and make a new proposition. (Okay, not to nitpick, but how the heck did they know where Sean and Winston had gotten off to?)

Winston and Tully have a difference of opinion on how to go about the bank robbery--Tully wants to be more sneaky-like, while Winston wants to do the full-on ski mask gun-pointing approach. Sean, on the other hand, has not only figured out the clue (the Civil War surrender at Appomattox), but also suggests they crack the manager's computer to get the code to break into the vault. This seems like a good plan to all involved. While Tully waits outside in the car and is again haunted by visions of his wife, Winston and Corinna are apprehended by a security guard. Tully intervenes and in the resulting fracas the security guard and Sean are both shot. By the time they get back to the car, Sean is bleeding profusely, possibly dying. They stop at a motel. Tully leaves Corinna and Winston at the motel and runs off with Sean for his "last chance." We won't find out what that means until next week.

Team Wendy: Someone is stalking Wendy's son, leading Sam's caretaker to call and request that Wendy come get Sam. Freaked out, Wendy pulls a U-turn in the middle of the highway and heads for Ohio. Ivy doesn't like this plan and pulls a gun on Wendy. Wendy's attempts to deal with Ivy get nowhere, because Ivy can't continue the race on her own. She doesn't know how to drive. Ivy, sweetie, did you not look at the name of this show before you signed on?

Team AWOL: Rob finally makes contact with his unit, only to discover he's officially AWOL. Ellie took it upon herself to destroy all the letters and erase all the phone messages telling Rob his unit was shipping back to Iraq. Now facing a court martial and possible execution through no fault of his own, Rob tosses the race phone out the window.

Team Susan: Arriving at the checkpoint a day late, Susan and Ivy are told they have been eliminated and must turn in their phone. Apparently Susan has been hearing God speak to her since Hurricane Katrina, and God told her she was going to win. Taking God at her word, Susan keeps driving until she finds Rob and Ellie's car to tail. When Rob tosses his phone, Susan retrieves it. Lee works out that they're supposed to head for Appomattox. Then a big truck drives them off the road (in a really nifty close inside-the-car POV crash sequence). And rams them. Dying, Susan reinterprets the messages from God as meaning Lee is going to win the race. Lee hitches a ride to Appomattox. This Lee is NOT going to surrender, dammit! (Yes, that line was cheesy enough to mock.)

A lot about this show is turning out to be a bit blander and cheesier than I expected, at least so far. But Nathan Fillion still hasn't really shaved, so I'll stick around for a while yet.


Drive on iTunes:

Interview with Tim Minear

Creative Screenwriting has a good interview with Tim Minear in their CS Weekly newsletter (published last week for subscribers [it's free!! go subscribe!!], in the archive this week). He talks about Drive and its journey to the screen.

New at iTunes

Now available at iTunes:

Stargate and Drive.

Stargate



Stargate Atlantis



Drive

Drive—Let the Games Begin

Tully's truck is breaking down again. It's like Serenity except smaller. Plus no Wash. The cops stop to help, but promptly arrest Tully. Who's still scruffy, by the way. This is an important plot point, the scruffiness. Okay, not a plot point, but still important. To me. The cops say Tully was involved in a murder/bank robbery in Ashland, Kentucky in 2003. Tully proclaims his innocence.

Corinna tries to track him down but no one at the police station has a record of Tully's being brought in. Plus the truck has disappeared. In the end, the interrogation seems to be some kind of ploy to test Tully's mettle. He's really on some kind of a sound stage. He's gifted with a new car and told to leave Corinna behind. Apparently Mr. Tully does have a dark past...and the car's not new--it's his car from his previous life--complete with knife in the glovebox for purposes of escaping. Corinna's cornered by thugs and Tully rescues her in the new shiny car. Okay, so--did he really drive the getaway car in Kentucky or not? It kind of sounded like he did.

Back in Hastings, Tully's sister is being interrogated by a detective who thinks Tully's running, and obviously suspects him in his wife's disappearance.

The Salazar brothers fuss about Winston's car, and get distracted by a hottie in a red dress who turns out to be a bounty hunter. She apprehends Winston, even though in the first episode he appeared to have been properly released. He also claims he didn't commit the crime he was imprisoned for. One of Salazar Sr.'s thugs, Estovan, meets up with Sean, trying to bring him back. Sean is uncooperative, and tells Estovan that he wants Winston released or he's cutting himself out of the family. Winston is released and returns to the race with Sean. So was Winston released from prison legitimately, or specifically to run the race? Is he technically an escapee at this point?

John still doesn't seem to be doing well, plus he's fussing about Violet's driving. Violet tutors John in lying so he can deal with her mother, who's expecting to see Violet that weekend. Which obviously they can't do if they're in a road race. But the call is actually from his doctor, who's checking to be sure John has enough meds.

We see a bit more of Rob and Ellie, who are currently in the lead. Rob, who's supposed to be in Iraq, sees a news story about a man killed there--he knew the guy. They get into an argument when he wants to make some calls to check in on his unit. Ellie doesn't want him to go back to the Army ever, and thinks winning the race will make that possible.

Ivy and Wendy continue their alliance, but it's sorely strained when Ivy removes the carseat from Wendy's car. Wendy insists she put it back. In fact she seems to be a little psycho about it.

All our major players make it to Rome, GA, to a drive-in. Their next clue is shown on the screen... except we don't get to see it.

If you missed any of the first three episodes, they're available at Fox's Drive site on myspace.

Drive—Premiere Event

Part Two: Partners

27 years ago
A couple appears to be participating in the race. They see a little girl and are amazed and awed that she is alive. Then they're run off the road.

The present

Wendy pursues Ivy, obviously uncertain about her orders to eliminate the other woman. Gracie, from Jericho, plays the waitress in the cafe where Wendy mulls her need to eliminate Ivy. She tells Wendy's she's in a kill or be killed situation. (For an undercover, Supr Sekrit race, an awful lot of people seem to know about it.) Wendy calls Sammy on a phone given to her by the woman taking care of him. (When li'l Sammy is six months old, will Wendy burn to death on the ceiling of his nursery? Oh, please. By now you know that's an obligatory joke.) Supposedly her husband can't trace the call on that phone. I really want to know what's up with Wendy's husband. Obviously he's a Very Bad Man. Wendy shoots a hole in Ivy's tire and then stops to "help." Ivy grabs her gun and turns the tables. Ivy suggests she join Wendy in her car, thinking this will get them around the actual shooting thing, but still reduce the number of contestants by one. Ivy abandons her original two partners.

Corinna comes to fetch Tully, who's scruffy in a hotel room (Dude! Scruffy!). And he has the race coordinator guy Bill tied up in his bathtub. Which isn't quite as hot as when Wesley had Justine in the closet but it's damn close. But I digress. Oh, and he's talking to his wife (Amy Acker) in the mirror. Just hearing Amy Acker say "Ginormous" makes me want to weep. Bill tells Tully Corinna isn't involved in the race. Tully presses her for information about what's on the flash drive. He tries to ditch her and she knocks him senseless. He catches up with the two of them and finds Corinna holding a gun on Bill. Corinna's after revenge--her parents were the ones killed in the flashback, because the race coordinators kidnapped her to motivate them to race (again--with 32 million at stake, why the coercion? Should I shut up about that?). Another tussle ends with Bill holding the gun. Tully uses the flash drive as collateral and gets Corinna away from Bill. Tully makes her his official partner. Then, at the checkpoint--Cape Canaveral this episode--Tully hands the phone over to Corinna, saying he's quitting and giving his position in the race to her unless he gets some proof the race coordinators have his wife. He gets his proof immediately via camera phone. And he's back in.

In Subplot Land:
The older man, John, who's racing with his daughter is dying. He passes out when they reach Cape Canaveral. The Salazars stop to help. Violet, John's daughter, takes over the driving.

Ivy's previous partners don't make it to Cape Canaveral before the shuttle lifts off.

Next stop--Rome, Georgia, almost 500 miles away. And they have to get there by sunset.

Kreuzberg--Bloc Party (played during the shuttle lift-off)

Drive—Premiere Event

Part One: The Starting Line

We start with a brief introduction to our characters. Alex Tully, whose wife has mysteriously disappeared, Wendy Patrakas, who's just given birth and appears to be fleeing from her husband, and Winston Salazar, who's just gotten out of jail. There are a few others, presented more in the background. All three of them get phone calls on mysterious cell phones, giving the opportunity to drive to Key West, Florida, to find the answers they're looking for. Tully thinks the phone call is directly related to his wife's disappearance, and immediately acts on the orders he's given. It's not what he thinks, though, and to make things worse, he's late to the orientation. He goes all badass on the person in charge and gets a quick rundown--an illegal cross-country race, 32 million tax-free dollars at stake.

Things are pretty ruthless. One of the other participants drives Alex's car off the road and comes after him with a gun. At which point another contestant appears in the back of Tully's truck and jumps into his passenger seat. A cute blonde contestant, conveniently enough for Tully. This is Corinna, who's escaping from her insane boyfriend. Except he's not her boyfriend--he's one of the people who runs the race. She stole a flash drive from him that might have all the information they need on it to win the race.

Wendy's husband has reported their car stolen, so she gets pulled over by the cops and ends up in jail. Her husband comes after her--she's obviously afraid of him. But the "husband" is actually one of the race personnel, sent to get her away from the cops. She has a doll with her in a carseat to take the place of her baby who she apparently left behind. She refers to her leaving as "escaping"--have to wonder why she's gotten involved in the race. She comes in last and is given a loaded gun and a picture of one of the other participants, Ivy, as a penalty.

The race participants are sent cryptic text messages over their phones that they then have to interpret for the next leg of the race. Apparently the people who run this race will go to extreme measures to get participants, including coercing people into racing. The implication so far is that they may have kidnapped Tully's wife in order to bring him in as a participant. With a 32 million dollar prize, one has to wonder why it's so hard to get people to "play."

Salazar stops by his dad's house to steal a bunch of his stuff. His dad doesn't seem to like him very much. Neither does his brother, but they both dislike Dad enough to team up.

At the first checkpoint, a lighthouse in Jupiter, FL, we discover the sheer size of the race--there are at least 50 cars at the checkpoint, perhaps more.

I'd call this a solid start. The premise is a bit outrageous but the execution is great. Nathan Fillion's Alex Tully is the great mix of wit, befuddlement and badassery that made him so appealing as Malcolm Reynolds in Firefly. The exposition isn't too heavy-handed, and the story moves along at a quick pace, the race segments taut and involving, the lulls between peppered with emotional moments as well as humor and intriguing characterization. The overall tone is very Minear--reminiscent of Angel, Firefly and Wonderfalls. Hopefully the more contemporary setting will make this show more accessible to audiences than other of Minear's work, which was excellent but not ratings-heavy.

Note of Possible Interest:
I was lucky enough to have seen the first six minutes of the original pilot when I saw Tim Minear at the Screenwriting Expo in LA last fall. In that version, the drivers received their instructions via large, clunky orange phones rather than the text messaging cellphones in this version. In at least one of the shots of Wendy in her car, the orange phone is still visible on the dashboard, making me wonder if they recycled a bit of footage from the original pilot.

Coming Tonight...

Reviews of the first 2 episodes of Drive. Also review of the season finale of The Dresden Files. Watch this space...

News From Fox TV

In their infinite wisdom, Fox has decided to air the first six episodes of Drive in a block, then the next 7 at some undetermined later date. Wow. That's a really good way to build a show's audience and get it lots of good ratings. Tim Minear must be thrilled!!

In another odd move, they're moving Bones to Fridays for the summer reruns. It's beign paired with Standoff, which has struggled in the ratings when it's been on, so I'm hoping this is a vote of confidence for Bones, with the idea that its strong audience will pull in viewers for Standoff. But if they leave it on Fridays for Season 3, I can't see how that'll help Bones much. It's been pulling great ratings in the Wednesday night slot. A word to Fox--if it ain't broke, don't try to fix it.

This Week's Reviews

This week's reviews will likely be late, and I might end up skipping a show or two. Things will be back to normal next week, after spring break.

I'll still be posting, though, so watch this space! :-)

In the meantime, check out the new official site for Drive.

New Drive Fan Site

For those following Drive, a new fansite has opened up at http://drivetherace.com/ . They've got links to lots of trailers and various other information about the show. Drop by and take a look.

Fandom Collisions

In today's news:

According to Tim Minear.net, Amy Acker has been added to the cast of Drive. The Angel alum joins Nathan Fillion (Firefly, Buffy the Vampire Slayer), for a Whedonverse Trifecta.

From various sources--Tricia Helfer (Battlestar Galactica) and her giganamous breasts will be appearing on Supernatural. Undoubtedly Dean is already stocking up on breath spray. Or rock salt, depending on her role.

Speaking of Day Break--oh, we weren't? Oh, well. Also according to various sources (not the same various sources--some other various sources), Day Break will be appearing in its 13-episode entirety on abc.com. Let's hope the streaming video software there cooperates better than it did when I was trying to sample Brothers and Sisters. But that's an entire post of its own...

Drive News

According to drivefans.com, Drive will begin airing on Fox on Thursday, March 1 at 9 pm. Foxnow, mentioned in the drivefans.com article, confirms the day but not the timeslot. I hope it's not in the 9 pm slot, unless they mean 9 pm central, because that would put it opposite Supernatural. But if that's the right time, then thank God once again for the DVR.

Drive has also landed a full-page preview article in the latest Entertainment Weekly, in their Winter TV Preview section. In the article, Minear states that Drive is "two parts Cannonball Run and one part The Game. And four parts Magnolia, too." That's a lot of parts, Tim...

The original opening of the show, which I saw this fall at the Creative Screenwriting Expo in LA, is also mentioned. "[The pilot] began with a continuous, four-minute shot--utilizing cutting-edge F/X seen in Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds--that introduced the 12 main characters by zooming in and out of their vehicles." But in the final version: "That epic opening sequence? Now just a minute." That's too bad, because it was a great piece of TV.

Tim Minear+Nathan Fillion=Drive

It appears to be official, since it's been reported by Hollywood Reporter. Tim Minear's on again/off again pilot, Drive, about an underground cross-country car race, is definitely on, and none other than Nathan Fillion (Firefly, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) is now attached.

Is this a match made in heaven, or what?

Back when Drive was still off again, Tim Minear showed the first six minutes of it during his "Breaking the Story" presentation at the Creative Screenwriting Expo in Los Angeles, which I attended. Directed by Greg Yaitanes (Bones), who is still attached to the project, what I saw of the pilot was an intense, frenetic, yet very watchable piece of TV. As the camera seemed to swoop and glide from car to car, several characters were introduced at whirlwind pace, with bits and pieces of the backstory woven in with the introductions. The presence of an orange phone in each car, used to communicate with the people running the race, tied all the story elements together. It felt like a roller coaster ride, and I found it very enjoyable.

I was happy when I first heard Drive had gotten the go-ahead after all--I'm even more pleased now that Fillion is involved. This is definitely going to be a show to watch.

Drive

This news from TV Squad makes me very happy.

I attended Mr. Minear's "Breaking the Story" panel at Screenwriting Expo 5 in Los Angeles last month, where he screened the first six minutes of the pilot of Drive, and the whole room was suitably impressed. At that time, Tim was feeling pretty down because the pilot had been nixed, but between then and now, it was picked up, though apparently with some recasting being tossed into the mix. I'm very pleased this show will be appearing on my TV in the near future. I just hope Fox doesn't screw it over like they did Minear's last two shows, Wonderfalls and The Inside, which definitely deserved much better treatment than they received.