(no subject)

[charloween]

Drive, the 'anticipated' new show from our friends at FOX. Babbledy running commentary notes (about 1200 words' worth) from the Epic Two-Hour Premiere Event (tm, zomg):

I don't think I can take this show seriously from this teaser. It's all actiony and important. *eyeroll*

Okay. This one week later part changed my mind. Nathan's such a good actor. And is he actually using his Canadian accent? Oh, poor Mr. Tully, he's all broken.

I want Nathan Fillion. Even if he does look... older. *sniffle*

Though, I like how this woman who just gave birth isn't a skinny little waif. (I'm looking at you, Claire-from-Lost.)

AH. Ringing fruit basket! Best thing ever.

Not so much with the loving the opening credits song.

Tee hee Nathan Fillion farm boy. I wonder what would happen if he played a city dude. Nah, that's not possible. He's from Alberta. Oh, and driving a shitty old truck, too. You were right, serrico. It's just Mal Reynolds, but from Nebraska.

“I've snapped shut my satchel.” ... such an officious little bureaucrat. “I'll admit without the powerpoint it does seem a little far-fetched.” Officious and adorable.

The date on the missing poster is April 12, 2007.

The music sucks. Though, the editing and camerawork are making this scene really intense. Dude. We get it. It's TENSE.

Tee hee. Tully's a landscaper. :D

Who's that girl? Yet another familiar face, woo.

...AH. 28 Weeks Later trailer. I've just spent the past hour working on a paper about how the treatment of race in 28 Days Later reflects contemporary European attitudes towards immigration. I... I don't like my wacky papers showing up in ads on tv.

Sudden realization: This is going to be an entire series with painfully boring conversations carried out between people trapped in cars and subjected to merciless rear-projection.

“You're not just a gardener, are you?” SNERK. Tully's also a farmer. Duh. And a space pirate. :D

The creepy 32-year-old daughter who's supposedly 16 but looks like Lindsey Lohan's adequately-fed older sister? Is going to get old fast.

Yup, so. Mysterious characters.

“Don't take drugs and stay in school.” Snerk.

I like how how Tully is bitter without a trace of obvious humour. It's interesting how this format lets him play snarky and bitter and violent and mysterious because he's just one character in a huge ensemble cast. He doens't have to carry the show alone, so he can be as angry and dark as Mal could never be. A bit too late, FOX, but still... I'm a little happy.

AH. BROTHERS. I like these two. :D :D :D

“It was either you or the crazy lady with the plastic baby.” Oh, this show. You're winning me over despite all my instincts to roll my eyes at this show and walk away.

Oh, Nathan. Every scene and I love you more. The way you're playing these cheeky, snarky, charmingly awkward lines without making them comedic makes the character all the more endearing. LOVE. He's funny, but it's not humour just for humour's sake- he's playing it as a broken quality. The fact Tully can crack wise as a defense mechanism like this means that when he's not beaten down he's probably a great guy.

Hehehhehhee. Wendy's husband is Eeeeeeeeevil. Look at those eyebrows. Eeeeeeeeevil.

...oh, an ad for another “Anthony Hopkins is evil” film.

Hey, not her husband. And in this lighting, not so evil!

Oh, yeah. Nathan Fillion in a sexy black sports car. Oh... yeeeeah... *splorfle* How very Angel of them.

Please let that couple be Mrs. Tully's parents. Oh. That's not what the “son of a bitch” was about.

I wonder if that official's name is The Official. That would be cool.

OMG mysterious envelop? OMG.

TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS AGO? You're just going to make this hopelessly confusing, aren't you, show? Epic mythologies, cast of thousands, road tripping gone bad...

So... the blonde chick riding with Tully is like that girl in Battle Royale 2, who joins the race just to get revenge? And why do I find her familiar? *imdbs her* Ah. She was in Andromeda and Earth: Final Conflict. A vetran of quality television.

Oh, it's okay to kill the other blonde chick because she plays dirty. And therefore, is evil.

The screaming... “Maybe I imagined it.” BEAUTIFUL reading of that line. This entire scene. Brilliant. Again, he's giving this performance that could be funny but flat, but instead this character is so broken and touching and just... dimensionally. Oh, hey. EVEN MORE BRILLIANT. (So, Tully moved out to live a quiet life in the country because he wanted to get away from his violent past as a mob flunky, is that it? Oh, no. That was History of Violence.)

HOLY JESUS DID THAT JUST SAY THAT PAUL BEN-VICTOR IS IN THIS EPISODE?

Tully is so delightfully disconnected. And is hallucinating. Spiffy! At least this hallucinating hero will be likely to last beyond the first seven episodes. (*koff*Raines*koff*)

Again with Tully's disconnection. So funny and so awesome.

Dippy army girlfriend is skeevy.

...and Chuck Norris is shilling Moutain Dew. That's cosmically disappointing.

Oooh, dippy doomed blonde is in front of some wicked-bad rear projection. Oooh, that segues into some nifty sfx.

Hey, Mysterious Hitchhiking Blonde called him Alex. Ooop. “Alex” is getting angry. She wouldn't like him when he's angry.

Sudden realization #2: this series will not only contain at least one car-chase per episode, it is actually ONE GIANT CAR CHASE. *eyes glaze over*

Ooop. Tully gets beat by a laptop. Technology defeats the farmboy. How... transparent. In the spirit of finding fault with everything this show has to offer, I'll whine that it would have been nice to let Tully stay slightly ahead of the game rather than getting kicked again so soon. Fourth episode, sure. Maybe in the third. However. The stubble.

Please let the truck driver be YES YES YES PAUL BEN-VICTOR. ...who just winked at Mal. I mean. Tully. OMG crossover happening. Right here. Yey! Something in the back, eh? *eyebrow waggle* Like a truck full of Bobby Hobbes lovin'??

Heeeey. That scene was really short. I hope the Mysterious Truck Driver comes back, because that was way too short of a cameo to be satisfying.

Aaaand... are they all on different sides of the same orchard? I'm really enjoying this performance by the Wendy character.

Fight! Sequence! Action!Tully fights back!

... why do all of these ads suck? Why am I judging these ads based on the quality of their narratives? Why does this ad for House really suck?

Whoever's playing Ivy looks damn familiar, too.

Why the hell would The Thems put important information on a single flash drive? I mean, seriously. Do tv character just not watch television or something? Do they live in caves in ignorance of the past 60 years of film and television cliches? Or is there a parallel universe where characters on tv live in a world where television is simply a medium for narratively-convenient breaking news stories and in-jokey ads?

Is Tully's “She's my partner” like Mal's “They're part of my crew”? Probably.

Ooop, looks like the 32-year-old teenager's dad really shouldn't have operated a motor vehicle while on that medication. The label on the bottle said so, and now look what happened? A dramatic collapse at the 48-minute mark! Felled by the gods of narrative convention! Nooooooooo!

“I'd wish you good luck but he'd probably hit me.” Oh, floppy-haired estranged younger brother who isn't Sam Winchester. Your thuggish older brother with short hair and a classic car who isn't Dean Winchester probably really appreciates that smart mouth of yours. Keep it up!

“We're about to blast off into the unknown. [pause] God, that was so lame.” SNERK. Way to go, show.

HA. HA HA HA HA. HA. Oh, Paul Ben-Victor. I sure can read the shovel-to-the-face stuff hints, can't I? Too bad he couldn't have been just a sweet truck driver, eh? And not so much with the truck full of Bobby Hobbes lovin'. Oh, well.

Okay. All these characters looking up at the shuttle? I completely reiterate everything I said before about how FOX wishes it'd thought of Heroes first.

...so that's two hours in, and one ep left in the "Premiere Event". No one died so far (not out of flashback, I mean), so how much do I believe these stakes? Not all that much.


Post-mortem:
Do I like the show? Not really. Does it have the potential to be something new and fantastic? Maybe, but I'm not holding my breath. Will the connections of the showrunners mean that there's unlimited potential for entertaining cameos? Yes. Will I watch it just because Nathan Fillion is amazing and I'd watch anything he's in (see also: The Water's Edge)? HELLS yes.

EDIT: put in the link to my previous petty griping about what the previews were making Drive out to be. It looks like I was wrong about the level of interaction between the characters, which means it's swinging more towards the way characters in that Stephen King novel grew to know each other and respect each other (even befriending each other) over the course of the race. The tension there was that only one participant could survive the race; Drive doesn't seem all that interested in killing of characters.

I'm just glad that we've only had one Traumatic Flashback so far.

Also added some tags, because tags are sick, yo.

Comments

[serrico.livejournal.com]

I'm giggling at your commentary a lot, because most of what you said is what I said. Or what other people I was watching with said.

The creepy 32-year-old daughter who's supposedly 16 but looks like Lindsey Lohan's adequately-fed older sister?

I have no idea what her character's actually called, because everyone I know has ben calling her "Poor Man's Lindsey Lohan."

So... the blonde chick riding with Tully [snippety] A vetran of quality television.

She was also a vampire named Ursula in the third season of Forever Knight! So...yes, to the veteran of quality TV thing.

HOLY JESUS DID THAT JUST SAY THAT PAUL BEN-VICTOR IS IN THIS EPISODE?

There weren't credits in the cut we saw, so when he showed up on screen I may have used the Paul Gross Arms (\o/) in my excitement. And then I may have had to explain myself to the rest of my classmates. (And I may have forgotten to call him anything other than BobbyHobbes in the course of that explanation.)

this series will not only contain at least one car-chase per episode, it is actually ONE GIANT CAR CHASE.

My biggest problem with this show is that it's going to drive me *nuts* with the way none of the actors LOOK AT THE ROAD WHEN THEY'RE DRIVING. When that happens in other shows, I keep waiting for grisly car crashes to result--and this show is ALL IN CARS. It'll *kill* me.

I like it, though. Given the prominence of Fillion and Lehman, it's practically Canadian!

[naturelf.livejournal.com]

I'm giggling at your commentary a lot, because most of what you said is what I said. Or what other people I was watching with said.

Ha! Win. You know what they say about great minds. Or at least, great minds who watch a lot of television.

I have no idea what her character's actually called, because everyone I know has been calling her "Poor Man's Lindsey Lohan."

Her Dad kept calling her "Vi", but it's really hard to see anything but Lohanishness in her. It's her makeup that's killing me. *shudders*

I really should see more of FK than just the first season, shouldn't I? And both Darien and BobbyHobbes do the \o/ arms at some point in I-Man. So it was even more appropriate a gesture... It must've been hard to explain BobbyHobbes for BobbyHobbes defies explanation. One can only experience the BobbyHobbes. I don't envy you this task.

When that happens in other shows, I keep waiting for grisly car crashes to result--and this show is ALL IN CARS. It'll *kill* me.

And what's getting to me is the technical stuff, the rear-projection and the how they're going to run out of ways to shoot these drive-and-talks and the transitions between the car-convos (there's got to be a pithy vehicular equivalent to 'pediconference'). They've dug themselves into a hole because they can't not have people delivering urgent dialogue due to their premise, which means they can't have people stand around in an orchard whenever they need to have something dramatic happen.

I like it, though. Given the prominence of Fillion and Lehman, it's practically Canadian!

It would be awesome, given the prevalence of Canadian actors on American shows, if our accent took over. Just saying. From a linguistic-colonial point of view. You know.

And I think I'll grow to like it, but I don't buy the peril (yet- and I did spend the afternoon watching SGA, which kills the ol' credulity pretty darned dead) and I don't know enough about the larger mythology to buy the arc, but I am willing to tune in tomorrow to see where they take it.

But we know why Tully's so important: he's married to Fred and the Thems who run the race are some sibling organization to Wolfram and Hart? Tell me this isn't a crack re-working of an unaired Angel episode... Please.

[alexmegami]

See, I now read "did you hear the screaming?" as Tully making sure no one else had heard, as I assume he'd been punching really-too-stupid-for-his-own-good-moron all night.

[naturelf.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, after the reveal it makes sense. It's actually a great character moment. But on it's own it's a delightful non-sequitur. ^_^

Bathtub Guy really is a dumb one, isn't he? What kind of a dumb Shadowy Organization lets a minion carry a conveniently-losable flash drive full of conveniently-sensitive information? Even if the Bathtub Minion let himself get caught as part of some Shadowy Master Plan, he's still pretty dumb for going along with the plan. Because seriously? It's a dumb plan, no matter how shadowy.

[alexmegami]

XD We will get you eventually...!

I bet the flash drive has nothing! Unless she really has cracked it. In that case, I got nothin'.

[naturelf.livejournal.com]

Darn it all anyways. You get me thinking about the show, and then I see the possibilities... and then I'm hooked. *facepalm*

I hope the flash drive has nothing. She did rattle off a list of things that were on the drive, and Tully called her on it (because she's initially claimed ignorance). However... that Bathtub Minion could've verbally given her that list and maybe the only thing that's on the drive is an animated gif of a dude making "nya-nya" faces. That would be awesome.

Or maybe it's a portal to The Future!

[alexmegami]

A dusty future where China and America have risen to be the two superpowers of the modern worlds?

[naturelf.livejournal.com]

*strokes chin* You may be on to something there. That sounds like a great idea for a film. D'ya think we could get away with having random ninja chicks there, too? I hear ninja chicks are awesome.

[alexmegami]

Depends. Can she have an axe? Nothing goes forward until she has an axe.

Maybe even two axes.

[naturelf.livejournal.com]

Two axes? Oh, you mad fool. That'll never fly.

[alexmegami]

What if we give her brain worms induced by telepathic messages from commercials? That might be enough of a "drawback" to make her more palatable...

I have the urge to make everything with Powerpoint so that it becomes impressive

[philthe25th.livejournal.com]

Paul Ben-Victor is also a star in the second season of the Wire...HINT!

I like the show. It's definite;y not great and I can call them before I see them, but not every show is going to be a new Lost or Heroes for me. I had the exact "poor man's Lindsey Lohan" thing going to. She's annoying, but there's less of her in second ep, so I was happy. My biggest complaint is that the rear projection is really really bad and fake looking to me. It's distracting. The chases are good enough for TV though which I'm pleasantly surprised about, since that's what I thought a major weakness of the show would lie.

Re: I have the urge to make everything with Powerpoint so that it becomes impressive

[naturelf.livejournal.com]

WHAAAAAAAAAAT? I think you've just motivated me to watch more of The Wire. O. M. G.

And Drive is 100% popcorn. I'll tune in every week, but I won't download the eps or buy the boxed set or even want to watch any episode ever again. But I'll watch, and I'll appreciate Nathan's acting liek woah. And that'll keep me happy.

I'm sure they pitched it as "Vanishing Point meets Smoky and the Bandit"

[philthe25th.livejournal.com]

I'll get the boxset, mostly because car chases and road trips are my bag. Pure Americana. If only the highway they were on ever changed. Also, am I the only one who had a fangirl squee when I saw the Dodge Challenger? Sure, it's a (car) cliche, but it's a fucking awesome cliche!

I think the main problem is that it's really trying a bit to hard with it's shadowy plot. Usually I eat that stuff up, but I have no motivation to really know what's happening behind the scenes. I'd rather just have the chases and popcorn-y goodness. I'd also rather have one solid planned season as opposed to a huge unwieldy number of episodes.

[naturelf.livejournal.com]

It's a pretty sweet car, that's for sure.

I think what's bothering me most about the show is how the characters have motivations, but they don't have objectives. Every episode is a new deal, and it doesn't seem to carry over.

Final note

[philthe25th.livejournal.com]

The "previously on..." before the third ep has a lot of footage I didn't see. That saddens me.

Final note 2: Final harder!

[philthe25th.livejournal.com]

GAINSVILLE FLORIDA?! Nathan Fillon is in a Vanderslice song!

[naturelf.livejournal.com]

He was my Fiji.

[naturelf.livejournal.com]

Sam just said that she thinks that "I Love My Fiji" was a really great song.

Sam sometimes has problem remembering what's a real song and what's not.

Poor Sam.

Re: Final note

[naturelf.livejournal.com]

And the preview footage after the second one has clips that we haven't seen yet. *headdesk*