Drive Review

Secret illegal cross -country road race. First

prize is 32 million dollars. Twelve strangers.

You're wanting fun? Well, I think things just

got fun. In the thrill ride of a lifetime. Danny!

Where everyone has a reason to win. You're never

gonna find your wife, not if they ever. And who

are they? People you don't want to meet. DRIVE.

The two -hour series premiere coming Sunday,

April 15th to FOX. Hello and welcome to Remote

Control here on the Geekcast Radio Network and

This Week in Geek. This is another season pass

episode. I'm of course TF2 and Mike. Joining

me is my drive enemy, JT from Saskatoon. Hello,

sir. Aw, and I thought we'd be partners. Oh,

hell no. You're about as useful as Wendy Petrakas.

And you're about as healthy as Dylan Baker. Hey,

you leave Dr. Kurt Connors out of this, dammit.

Well, he's not Dr. Kurt Connors yet, sir. No,

he already was. He always cut both his arms.

He's clearly not Dr. Kurt Connors. But the -

No, he was in 2004 and 2007. He was, yeah, it

was before he didn't - You know what I love about

Mike, folks, is how anyone else's sarcasm just

washes right off of him like a non -stick frying

pan. That's right. I'm rubber, you're glue, whatever

- bounces off to me, sticks to you. It's so funny!

I know, right? That's right, folks. We're talking

about a lost gem today. A very lost gem. A lost

gem akin to 2003's Fastlane, but it has been...

As of April 15th, 2017, it has been 10 years

since the Nathan Fillion's leading role in Fox's

very short -lived series, Drive. For those of

you who are wondering what the hell is Drive

and where the hell can I watch it, well let me

get the where the hell can I watch it out of

the way right now. When Drive had its run, Like

a year after its run it went on to iTunes or

maybe it was three or four months after that

it went on to iTunes I don't remember as soon

as it hit iTunes I snatched it up because I was

waiting for six months For them to show the final

two episodes the final two episodes of the series

never aired only aired four only aired four episodes

never aired the final two, so I immediately bought

the season on iTunes and It was on there It was

on Amazon Instant Video, it ain't now. So unless

you have, unless you know somebody that's willing

to allow you to authorize their account onto

your iTunes, yeah, no one can watch Drive but

me. Because, and I'm sure there are other more

nefarious ways to get it, but I find this highly

irregular that in 10 years since this series.

Fox has never put it on DVD. Nothing. No media

release. No nothing. And it's a good series.

It didn't really get a chance to take off, I

guess you could say. I thought it was really

good. I thought it was really interesting. I

forgot about half the crap that happened in it

until I watched it. And then I just, as of this

recording... Because this will be going up on

Wednesday on GCRN and TWIG. I just finished watching

the final episode and I'm like, oh hell no, that's

how they did that. And I'll talk more about that

at the end of the podcast because I've got a

whole other network's show clip to tie into that.

Let's just say folks, I'm going to be pulling

a Sheldon Cooper at the end of this podcast.

There's no good way for me to respond to that.

One eight hundred one eight hundred sci -fi is

all I can say. Yeah It all kind of came back

to me when Mike contacted her well, I kind of

did the Internet equivalent of sticking my hand

in there like horse Shack and welcome back Kotter

Like I was like Mike, I love this show talk to

me. Let's do this No, this show was great. It

had It's really hard to put into words, but I'm

gonna try it had this mid 90s mid to late 90s

miss of it of like the concept and the like the

actors and the story it This is like comfort

food in TV Form for me like it had just enough

story. It had a good hook You know not all the

characters played for me, but we'll get into

that it had the magic that is you know Captain

tight pants himself Nathan Fillion who? This

man can literally do no wrong You know it had

a lot of actors that I'm a big fan of nowadays

You know especially like Emma Stone. This is

like the first thing that ever saw Emma Stone

in and It's one of those ones that this comes

from the And I'll get into this and some trivia

I found at the end of the show folks this came

from a year that was like record number cancellations

for Fox. Oh, yeah, and The other cool thing is

this is one of the first shows the show was cancelled

and then it won an Emmy That year that it was

cancelled, but again, I'll get into that when

we get into the trivia at the end But yeah, no

that this It's cannonball run by way of the fast

and the furious And it's it was just so much

fun in this, but it's really okay Yeah, you say

that but it's really not just fast and the furious.

You're right It is it is so cannonball run, but

I mean really the only two Participants or three

participants that actually have decent like muscle

or speed cars are Alex to well Alex doesn't at

first he does later Alex Tully, the army dude

Rob and his wife. What a wench she turned out

to be. And who was the other one? Salazar. Kevin

Alejandro who played Winston Salazar. Right,

right, exactly. All the other people, you know,

Wendy had a damn minivan. And all the other people

just had standard cars. Well, yeah, well and

but I mean just just to give the folks an idea

it's the cannonball run Which is about a cross

-country road race, but it's in this era of you

know The fast and the furious, you know that

maybe logic and physics be damned But yeah, I

said like the basic concept of the show is there

is this great illegal secret invite only cross

-country road race where people from all walks

of life all levels of the economic spectrum are

invited by this Mysterious mystery cabal of people

And They're just invited for one reason or another

like the main prize is there's 32 million dollars

waiting for them at the finish line whoever wins

the race and I assume the conspiracies got a

reason they'll get it like tax -free or you know,

they got a Cayman Island account or something

and You know, our three, I would say the, well,

four main, like, protagonists in the show. The

ones that we spent, like, the most time with

is Nathan Fillion, who plays Alex Tully. He's

a landscaper, and we find out later in my favorite

episode, which is the third episode, that he

has a history. He's a real man. Yeah. Initially

and he teams up with Karina Wiles played by Kristen

Lamon He originally he's driving his his work

truck, which is a I'm looking on the wiki here.

It's a 1972 Ford F 100 and Eventually once we

find out that he used to be this wheel man There's

this whole reason why they can how that why the

cabal wants him in this race. They found and

fully restored his getaway car, which is a 1972

Dodge Challenger, black with a blue pinstripe

on the side, which is badass. And then we have

Kevin Alejandro. We know him from the James Wood

show, Shark, mostly, playing Winston Salazar.

He's a former gang banger who's just released

from prison. He's driving a 1964 Chevy Impala

low rider. Yeah, that's a gang vehicle. I had

no idea with the gold paint and the Independent

suspension he's teamed up with JD Pardo who plays

his brother Sean is illegitimate half -brother

from a rich father and They're in that car and

They're kind of like the four main characters.

I mean everyone's part of the story including

the the soldier you mentioned who was Riley Smith

playing Rob Lard and Mercia Monroe who played

Ellie Lard his wife and they're Probably Alex's

car and Rob's car were my favorites in the show

because Rob had this sweet 1979 Pontiac Trans

Am I think it was a teatop I might be wrong in

that This show has a spider -man and Superman

connection Yes, it does. So, Dylan Baker, who

plays John Trimble, who is Emma Stone's character

Violet's dad, he, as I said, was Dr. Kirk Connors

before he got turned into the Lizard in the Spider

-Man 2 and 3 films. In the Rainyverse. Yes, in

the original films. And then Emma Stone eventually

was Gwen Stacy in the Unamazing Spider -Man 2.

And then the Superman connection is Mrs. Kent.

We barely see her. I'm like, wait, why was she

in this? Mrs. Kent, Kay Callan, from the New

Adventures of Lois and Clark, or the Adventures

of Lois and Clark, or Lois and Clark, the New

Adventures of Superman. I'm like, hey, that's

Mrs. Kent. Where's Mr., what's she doing there?

So, yeah. Yeah, they were the mysterious biker

couple. The old couple, yeah. Well, you didn't

realize it was them, because you see them in...

Like the first episode starts off with Alex Dealing

with the cops like someone's broken his home.

His wife is gone I wish I remember the actor.

It's the the black da from like the first few

seasons of law and order He was the villain in

crows. That's where I remember him. It's Richard

Brooks was detective early in this I feel so

bad that I couldn't remember cuz I loved law

and order girl like those years like him and

Chris Noth were my favorite guys He's he's doing

his things interviewing Alex, but you clearly

get the sense that he's like, okay The the woman

took off or you did something but that's a cop

instinct and then it starts off there and then

Alex opens later than like the next day he opens

this little present thing that I guess is from

his wife we assume and it's like this I could

not find what model phone it's it's the race

phone that all the racers get I could not find

out what model it is but it's basically answers

it and then you see these not really smash a

montage of everyone listening to the phone like

we see Winston get it as he's he's gotten out

of prison he's trying to talk get a conversation

with his dad going his dad's kind of ignoring

him because he's he's the mistake and you hear

this montage is like you're you're you're invited

to be part of this race you got to be uh i forget

what city was in florida to you know sign up

and qualify and it's you know we're off to the

races and And the main race organizer that we

always see, at least for the first four or five

episodes, Mr. Bright. And Mr. Bright is Charles

Martin Smith. I love this guy. This is a guy

like, and he was, what was he? He was the accountant

that they get brought on in the Intouchables.

I'm just looking it up here quick He was Oscar

in the Untouchables. I'm sorry He's just one

of those actors that he's like Ron funches on

powerless and at midnight. He's just the guy

I want to hug he just seems like such a warm

cuddly individual and he's not necessarily a

Batman in Drive because he just had he just plays

this very like almost 1950s s well good morning.

Good evening and good night, you know, yeah you

know sort of guy and yeah he's just he's the

the organizer mr bright and he's just he looks

at alex and he's just like look you know you

missed the presentation i'm already packed up

i'm sorry i'm just but he gives him a quick low

down uh and as alex is running into and out of

the hotel you know we see several of the racers

we see uh uh the mister and miss well mrs kenton

her new husband uh we see uh taryn manning who

i've I'm sorry. She plays Ivy, Chitty, and I've

just got, I wouldn't say I just got a huge crush

on Taryn Manning. I'm sorry. I love that woman.

And she's teamed up with this mother and daughter

and they're kind of going together. You just

see everyone running in and out and getting on

the way. And like the whole, basically from what

I read, the first two episodes were debuted in

the same night as kind of a two -part movie pilot

sort of thing. This first episode just the first

hour gives you a very clear idea of how confusing

the story is gonna get in the show uh -huh and

the piet the piece the results into this series

is Fred is the wife Oh my god, and then later

down the line, not in this series, but another

series that I love, she plays Root. And I'm sorry,

anytime Amy Acker shows up outside of a Joss

Whedon show now, it's like, hey, it's Fred. And

she just has, I'm sorry, she's got those big

googly anime eyes that I love. Mean she she has

I think less than two minutes worth of dialogue

in all six episodes But she just has that voice

that you just kind of like oh Like she is just

a genuinely nice person, you know another guy

it took me a minute to remember him Plays a villain

in a couple episodes of the series is Brian Bloom

Who I was like, holy like just going back and

watching these episodes. I was like Brock Pike

from A -Team, Captain America, because he voices

Captain America in Earth's Mightiest Heroes,

and he's a whole bunch of characters in Ninja

Turtles, and he's just like, holy shit, it's

that guy. And he's another guy I love. This guy

should have a bigger career because he's got

like one of the most intense looks, just because

by benefit of his eyes. he's just got like one

of the most intense stares ever and just whole

first episode just it's a crazy hodgepodge of

what made cannonball run so much fun but with

a very much serious tone and um just holy shit

yeah because was it the um looking at the kid

Melanie Linsky deep. I'm just looking up in the

wiki here. I feel like I should know her from

Holy shit, that's rose from two and a half men.

How could I not remember? Oh Wow, I cannot believe

I forgot about that and I love that show I Was

just like watching this and not back then I mean

just watching it today is just kind of like I

Know her from somewhere yeah and like I said

before Fox canceled this just before the fourth

of July in 2007 they were going to air the remaining

two episodes Actually, they were going to air

them on July 4th and then rescheduled them for

July 13th and then later pulled them entirely

Obviously as I said the beginning of the podcast

they ended up on the iTunes So we actually do

get to see but the thing of it is is the story

was never fully developed according to Tim Manier

One of the executive producers of the show they

were still working on the story You know somebody

I read an interview that there's one of the citations

on the Wikipedia about the cancellation where

he said something in an interview of, and this

interview was 10 years ago at this point, said,

they asked him, oh, well, who would have won

the race? And he's like, somebody, we hadn't

even finished plotting out the story, so stay

tuned. And this show, as much as I love these

six episodes, this is my biggest show that I

hate Fox for. The way that they treated this

show maybe it didn't make them enough money I

don't know maybe it didn't get in a good enough

ratings want a friggin Emmy like you said but

it's one of those things where Give it an ending

don't just And that's not I mean it is Fox's

fault and But it's not like that's just kind

of the nature of the beast in television like

you know it's you have to justify the cost of

the episodes and salaries of the actors and Is

it getting enough buzz? And that's one of the

things you know Like I said, I got something

for the trivia at the end. It's just Fox is notorious

Especially in like the late 90s. I need to correct

myself. It was only nominated. It did not win

an Emmy It was nominated for an Emmy. No, it

didn't win it was The interesting thing about

it is it was the first series to be nominated

for an Emmy Award under the organization's new

broadband eligibility guidelines. It didn't win.

Yeah, for this video clip. Yeah. But still, I

mean, even though it still got nominated for

an Emmy, I mean, there's got to be something

to be said about that. And I know people are

going to look at us and listen to us talk about

this show and be like, You guys are crazy. That

show sucked. And I'm telling you folks, if you

can find a way to watch it, just go watch it.

It is very compelling. It does have good character

development in it. There are certain things with

certain characters, as we said before, that neither

one of us really care too much about. I honestly

think Wendy is the most painfully written character.

And this was my note in episode two. She's the

most painfully written character. She's way too

awkward. And I understand that she's trying to

protect her son and all of that, but her son's

not even with her. It's a fake frigging baby

in the car. She took her son to a home or a foster

home place thing. So she doesn't even have a

real kid in the car. And she's just way too fidgety

and just... Well, I mean you look at some of

the characters and their motivation I mean we

got out Nathan Fillion's Alex is you know trying

to find his wife Yeah, Karina Wiles Kristen Lamond

her parents were actually part of the race like

15 years ago She's looking for revenge on the

organizers Winston and Sean are basically angry

at their dad, but it's kind of justified. He's

like when it's that whole trope of the rich Domineering

father plotting out his well the good son in

Shawn who? Well, yeah, you know the bad seed

but that's because this guy couldn't keep his

dick in his pants apparently Dylan Baker And

in one of the articles I found on the same website

that had the whole Emmy thing. I was TV series

finale calm I found an article talking about

You know some of the talking about that some

of the Sponsors that sponsor the people in the

race are sometimes racers like Dylan Baker's

character was going to be revealed that he was

his own sponsor, but as part of him sponsoring

himself and Oh Crap was daughter him and his

daughter. Yeah, he was Told you have to take

these pills and basically give himself cancer

You know see I thought it was gonna be the other

way around don't give yourself cancer You already

have the cancer and we'll give you a cure. Yeah,

it's The the meds were he wasn't really sick

or it was the the meds were making him sick and

the the organizers You know the cabal was got

to the doctor or put their own doctor in it's

like yes You have cancer you need to take these

pills. You know we had stuff like that We had

a rob and Ellie Rob's AWOL from the army and

it's revealed in, I think, the fourth or fifth,

or in the last couple episodes that Ellie's actually

working with the Brian Blooms Allen, who's, he

works for the Cabal, and she's in, it's just,

there's this whole thing we had. Yeah, but by

the time episode three rolled around, I wrote,

Rob's girl is sketchy as fuck. I knew something

was up with her. Hot as hell, hot as hell. Yeah,

she is hot as hell, but you gotta be careful

of the hot ones. Sometimes they can be sketchy

as fuck. That this is true and there is absolutely

I'm sorry. I like the crazy ones. What can I

say? Well, you live in Canada, what do you expect?

Yeah, but I don't live in America. So really

who's worse off? I knew by the time we see the

beginning. I think it's I think it's the beginning

of episode four when we see Alex owning his past

and using it to his advantage. And then we see,

you know, Corinna's past and how she was a prize

for the race for her parents. And obviously her

parents didn't make it. I like that. So she's

not actually a race participant. She's just somebody

that needed to find somebody to get into the

race with. Good. Well, it's just for remember

I think it was in the fifth episode is real Ellie's

working with Alan and he had stole this flash

drive Which has gotten like it's basically the

MacGuffin of the series that it's got all this

information Not only in the racers, but like

the race and the cabal It's got the information

of who the sponsors are and where we get and

it's all encrypted. Yeah and and Sean Yeah, Sean

Winston's brother Decrypts it and finds out that

Winston's sponsor was actually their father By

the time episode four comes around we get to

the point of Susan dies So she is one of the

characters that has died. It's the older Oprah

looking black lady Yeah, and then we get we get

back from At the end of episode four they episode

three and episode four both leave off on cliffhangers

indeed and episode four is cliffhanger just I

Remember when this aired ten years ago Was dutifully

waiting week after week after week after week

for them to air five and six because it's not

over We got to know we got to know and it's just

like the Big Bang Theory Sheldon Cooper Finding

out that alphas got cancelled after season 2

so we're gonna cut to Sheldon's rant about alphas

in the sci -fi channel Now and we'll be back

after this Alright folks, so yeah, four episodes

aired on television. The other two were on iTunes

and Amazon Instant Video. Episode five I like

because you get into Alex's past. I think three

and five were probably my favorite episodes.

Just three was my favorite episode because they

have the whole thing where he's arrested by a

Florida state trooper who's part of the cabal

and... you think like maybe this guy's just this

cop who's kind of going rogue and You know, there's

something that's it's now, you know, there's

definitely something off with Alex It's not like

a huge hugely bad thing But it's revealed like

we said I said earlier in the show. He used to

be a wheel man for like a robbery crew And they

give him like they restore his car and he's like,

well, no, this isn't my car and this is like

no confession time when When Firefly first aired,

I had only seen a couple of episodes and I didn't

get as invested in it until afterwards. This

was the first Nathan Fillion series that, one,

I was legit bummed out when they cancelled it

and it never came back because, like Mike said,

you know, I never, up until recently, I didn't

see what happened after the end of episode four.

But this is like... the beginning of my man crush

on Nathan Fillion as a badass because they have

this scene like this isn't my car and he's like

yeah it is it's fully restored he's like no see

if this is my car and he hits this switch and

he pulls out this blade he's got it to the fake

cop's throat and it's like Nathan Fillion's a

badass you know and then they have this great

scene where okay it does not hold up special

effects wise because he's he gets the car he

picks up Karina they go and there is this they're

basically pretty my favorite track from the matrix

sound rep Matrix soundtrack, which is Leave You

Far Behind by Lunatic Calm. And Alex is driving

like a bat out of hell on crank and he's passing

everybody. But when you go to like the shot of

the car, you see the tires move a little bit,

but it's like weaving in. It's like the most

blatantly cut and paste special effect we've

seen. Where it ends is like leave you far behind

And it ends the song and Nathan filling gets

this little badass smirk smile that just oh,

it's so good And the fit yeah, but like you said

the fourth the the fourth episode involves them

Alex and Karina getting a jumpstart which is

a chance to move ahead of everyone else and they

kind of team up with the Salazar brothers to

rob this bank and by the end of that episode

Sean is shot and in the fifth one this is where

we kind of deep dive into Alex's past he goes

to like this fight trainer who's like a back

alley doctor and we get like some of the best

acting I think in the short -lived series from

Nathan Fillion because they have the great scene

with the doctor who's like he's kind of patched

up Sean but I gotta staple his bullet wound and

he's gonna need like four staples You answer

a question truthfully, I staple him. And it's

just this tension -filled scene of him going

back and forth. It's like, you're really out

of it. Yes, I really am. Why? Why? I found a

woman. Okay, pure chunk. And some of the characters

in the show, like outside of Alex and Karina

and Salazar, because there's so few episodes

and we focus so much on them, We don't care too

much about the other one sadly. Yeah, I mean

I like they so part of Wendy Petrakis's story

the the mother trying to save her son and get

away from an abusive husband Her story part of

it is that someone keeps going to this this Foster

home orphanage, whatever it's supposed to be

called where her son is asking about information

about her. We don't find out until the very last

episode that that was actually her brother who

she hadn't talked to in three years going there.

She thought it was her ex, her, not her ex, her

husband, who apparently is, you know, abusive

and this, that, anything else, which is very,

very bad. I just, I just don't buy Melanie Linsky's

acting as Wendy. Like, I just, I don't, I don't

know. It's one character I could do without in

the series, because she really has no major co

- The reason why Alex and Corinna are the two

main people in this thing, or even the Salazar

brothers, the four mains here, are because Corinna

was somebody who was in the race 27 years ago.

Alex is now, his wife has, you know, been kidnapped

by these people. Did you notice the three stooges

connection Actually three stooges and daredevil

Okay, explain Remember the truck driver That

said to Alex, you know, if you want you can look

in the back. I'm sure there's something back

there I have that you might want remember that

guy Yeah, that's Paul Ben Victor. That's Paul

Ben Victor, who was Moe in the made -for -TV

movie, The Three Stooges, in 2000 by Mel Gibson.

And he was also... What's his name? From Daredevil,

in the very beginning. Kasada! Yeah! Yeah, I

never saw that Three Stooges movie. I remember

him from, you know, The Daredevil and that...

Well, I thought it was kind of brilliant the

invisible man TV series on sci -fi channel back

in the day. Mm -hmm Wow. Yeah, I didn't know

he was he was mo I recognized I recognized him

in a heart. I'm like, hey, I know that guy That's

really cool and the other one of the other care

race organizers we had Wait that was different

Damn it. I'm trying to find it's the lady that

played professor Maggie in Buffy the Vampire

Slayer She was kind of like she's like the highest

up we get in the whole race organizer hierarchy.

Yeah, you know I'm looking that up right now

because I have to know who that what that woman's

name is So I like Drive. I actually watched it

when I was out in California again, because then

this was like the end of last year, because I

needed something interesting and fun to watch.

And it's just a fun little series. It's a very

short -lived series, obviously. It only had,

like we said... It's the actress's name. We only

had six episodes. But it's just one of those

things where it's just so fun. It really, really

is. It's fun, it's mysterious, and you were talking

earlier about the music of the series. This was

2007, folks. They were still kind of popular?

I think? I don't remember if they had an album

on 2007, but lead singer of Bush, Gavin Rossdale,

did the theme song for this series, Can't Stop

the World. Yeah There's one thing I did not like

about the series like oh come on Let me finish

before you start getting all I rate and shit,

Kentucky. Okay, I Didn't like the song only because

it did not feel it fit with well with the series

It fit well with the opening because the opening

is very short It's just character shots of each

of the participants and actors in the cars That

I get that it's just I Didn't necessarily I just

I felt as something with a little more pop would

have worked But that's I'm just saying that's

I didn't like it. I just I didn't like it It's

not like I hated and I thought it was shit because

you know I we know from doing stuff with you

back then we did the music episodes on GCRN I

I love Bush and Gavin Rossdale. It's just I didn't

like that as the intro music But yeah, you're

right, the soundtrack for the series, I mean,

you had The Doors, you had Lunatic Calm, you

had Crystal Method. Those are the ones I recognize.

There's other groups on the list here in the

Wiki. I mean, there's Block Party, Nine Pound

Hammer, Donder Boy, The Rones. I've never heard.

I'm not saying they're good or bad. I've never

heard of some of these acts. You say Block Party

all the time I can think of is Pete. welcome

to the block party i think it was Pete from APB

the music was really cool if there's one thing

i can't complain about in the individual episodes

it's the use of the music like set the mood and

everything you know the instrumentals whoever

was scoring this series was very it was very

well done But yeah, I mean, you look at the episode,

like we said, we had the first two episodes were

basically an extended pilot. You know, we had

the episode three where we get into the next

leg of the race. You had episode four where Alex

and Karina and the Salazar break into this safe.

Honestly, it's around episode four. Like I hadn't

really glommed onto him yet, but like Kevin Alejandro

is Winston. There is a earnestness and a very

positive energy that he brings to his work and

is very it is so prevalent this series like you

can't help but want to hang out with Winston

like he's just kind of got that by like this

guy could be a lot of fun and you also get more

into the backstory of why Sean ultimately decided

to go with Winston on this race and it's it's

both to get to know the brother he never knew

he had and get back at his very controlling father

There was even an unaired pilot for this yeah

before the starting line What the hell like the

starting line is the first like there are only

six episodes in in my iTunes when I bought this

thing There was not seven yeah, so what the hell

happened in the unaired pilot. That's what I

want to know now I watched it this smart today

this morning today, whatever Before I start watching

it's it's like a three and a half minute or almost

four minute clip on YouTube Untitled unaired

drive introduction you see Like Ma Kenton her

new husband the bikers you see Wendy Petrakis

they have different actor there's a Sean Hatoisi

who you see him. He was in Southland the TV series.

He was the football player turned Brainiac sort

of thing in the movie the faculty with Elijah

Wood Mm -hmm. Uh, he plays Rob and Taryn Manning

who played Ivy plays Ellie the wife in this brief

pilot cheese they had the mother and daughter

the I'm just looking up with the characters here

again, Susan and lay They are there's a second

daughter maybe Mom's sister like the ant there's

a three that I'm kind of glad it was an honored

pilot because holy crap I hate cast changes like

that. I'm glad I never saw yeah, I mean and that's

I mean unerred pilots are generally okay. We

shot this can this work for the series and Execs

are like yeah, you need to change a couple of

things will it lick word they'll work with you

The coolest thing I noticed is Brian bloom was

in here from the beginning because you see him

very briefly at the end of the clip Alex, I'm

looking it up here, in the pilot was played by

Yvonne Sergei, who's a television actor. He's

known for crossing Jordan, Charmed. He's one

of the main stars of the TV movie and eventual

TV series of a remake of a John Woo film called

Once a Thief. I believe he's playing Alex in

the pilot. Manny Montana, you know as FBI agent

Johnny from Graceland and he was in the the Conviction

TV series with Haley Atwell that was briefly

on ABC. He plays One of the Salazar brothers

I don't know if he's Sean or Winston but it's

integrated in this clip that I believe it's Winston

Stole the real lowrider because he mentions he

had to steal this car, huh? It's basically all

the racers are scrambling to get out of this

motel that they all happen to be staying at and

they've all got these Zach Morris red brick phones

for race phones in this I'm so glad I never saw

this cuz holy crap sounds so Unpolished and I

don't even care if it's I know that's what I'm

saying I'm so glad I never saw this because it

sounds like I would have never watched this series

if I had ever seen that Out of this uneared pile,

that was probably my favorite clip where they

get in and there's these little interactions.

They're taking all the little soaps and taking

all the shampoos. What am I forgetting? Towels.

And then you see them going past the bike who's

going back to you. You take everything in the

fucking room, but you don't take the race foot.

I'm going to get it. OK. And then they get in

the car and Johnny is or Manny is like he had

to steal this car because they turn it over and

like the hydraulics and everything are going.

They're just trying to get that figured out.

Yeah. But I mean, This sounds like a train wreck

No, it's just it's very unpolished and the longest

four and a half minute train wreck. I've ever

heard of You just gotta have more faith Mike,

but yeah, so I have more faith in the in the

four episodes It ends on a great cliffhanger,

and that's... It's because it never came back.

Cliffhangers can work. There's another Fox series,

Space Above and Beyond, it ran about seven or

eight years before this series, about space marines

in the future, and they're fighting this war

against these aliens. The last episode ends with,

out of the main cast, out of the six principal

characters, only two are... upright and moving.

There's three of them. You don't know if they're

alive or dead. Their commanding officer is messed

up pretty bad. But they're gained a tactical

advantage over the alien enemy. And it ends on

that cliffhanger, but it's one I could live with

because it's not perfect, but it's as good as

we get. Now, the cliffhanger in this, by the

end of episode five, Sean is back with Winston.

And the sixth episode starts with Alex seemingly

turning over Karina to the race officials. It's

one of those backwards ass, we'll explain the

plot as the episode goes through. It's very pulp

fiction. They go back and forth. Karina is interrogated

by Professor Maggie. And the whole time she's

narrating to somebody that we don't even see

because she is already in the future. It's one

of those things where... I'm trying to think

what show did it recently. There's a show that

I had been watching that it did something similar

to this where they would... White Collar, that's

what it is. There was a couple episodes of White

Collar on USA when it was running where they

would explain the plan to the audience but as

they're explaining it to us they're actually

acting it out in the episode and that's kind

of what this is doing. Alex is Karina is telling

somebody that we do not see until the very end

of the episode What is going on what the story

is and what has happened so far and then it cuts

back and forth between? What the actual plan

is and what? It's It almost makes my head hurt

worse than time travel. Yeah. Well, basically

what happens is Korea it is a plan between the

Salazar's Alex and Karina Alex turns Karina in

to get a jump start on the next thing and then

well Winston takes both his phone and Alex's

phone and takes the challenger and Goes ahead

to the next checkpoint Alex and Sean are going

to meet the Salazar daddy to figure out, you

know, get some more intel on the race and the

whole sponsorship thing. And we see by the end

of the episode that Karina has been talking to

Alex and Mrs. Tully the whole time. And, you

know, Catherine Tully, and they're basically

in the back of a semi, presumably driven by Paul

Ben Victor. If he was gonna come back again as

the as the trucker Yeah, I don't know if he was

but it's revealed that they're in the back of

a truck because Amy Akers character Catherine

says hold on to something and That's how it ends.

That's that's yeah, and I mean again, it sucks

It's a cliffhanger like I said, it's a cliffhanger

I can deal with no Other characters I'll get

into some of the trivia here like some of the

characters like Susan and Leigh were run off

the road by this big silver pickup which Susan

is killed and I read later on Leigh and Rob would

have hooked up I mean not only as partners but

as lovers once it's revealed that Ellie was up

the shenanigans with the evil racer Alan yeah

it would have been revealed that you know the

advisor to Fernando Salazar like the Papa Salazar

his right -hand man was the actual sponsor was

all an effort to take over the Salazar's company

because apparently he's like I know maybe Tony

Stark rich or something you mean the Alex Torres

character Yancy Arias the guy the guy that meets

Sean in the diner I don't know if it's the same

actor or not it's I couldn't find a I might have

maybe let's go with that me that was the same

actor. It's just in the the trivia I found I

could not find what the characters actor was

Wendy and Ivy become actual partners because

like for the last two or three episodes series

ivy's One of the episodes she's pulled the gun

on Wendy and then Wendy does this one badass

thing where she drives against the flow of traffic

You know and tosses ivy out in the side of the

road because she's got to go back and rescue

her baby and it's basically Wendy would have

rescued her baby from the foster home and brought

him along on the race. He would find out that

she had lost the baby previously with her abusive

husband. And then Ivy would have become anti

-Ivy and would have actually ended up sacrificing

her life to protect the baby by the end of it.

Alex. I'm just looking here. Oh, I'm sorry, Rob.

I was looking at the wrong part of the article.

Rob. would have been saved from going to military

jail and been put back in the army and would

have found out that this high -ranking military

colonel was responsible for sponsoring him and

getting him involved in the first place. And

he would have found out some information in Iraq

that goes towards figuring out what's going on

with the race. And look at other ideas. I'm reading

this. This is an article written by Trevor Kimball

in July of 2007 on tvseriesfinale .com. Other

episode ideas that were not explored in the series

include the races driving through a vicious storm

and the aftermath of a 30 -car pileup. Had Drive

continued to a second season, there would have

been a new race with new players, and some of

the players from the first season would have

taken new roles in the competition. And then,

like you said earlier, Tim Menier said when asked

who would have won the races, like somebody.

because honestly I think just with the way the

story goes and from my years of reading way too

much into things I honestly think it would have

been down to the Salazar's and Alex yeah more

than likely unless they pulled like a Hail Mary

and all of a sudden Wendy comes in at the end

which being a young mother needing to get away

from her abusive husband those would have been

the three most likely things I would like to

have seen Alex win and then give the money to

Wendy or somebody like that But yeah, like like

we said here and there over the show folks. This

is a great series it had this Syndicate nine

nineteen late 1990s syndicated, you know action

sci -fi sort of programming Je ne sais quoi like

it just had it You know, you wanted to watch

this show you eagerly waited for each episode.

You were pissed when it got cancelled and that's

the other thing this was a year like fox i have

a very much love hate relationship with fox i

mean we may not do we may not have i'm hoping

we get at least a fourth season with sleepy hollow

because of how they ended the third one and but

fox has this thing where that it's like a drug

addict like the first taste is free all these

shows i love like fast lane and john doan firefly

all in the same season you know firefly only

got the 13 episodes fast lane and jaundo actually

got a full season rides but then they're all

cancelled because of ratings and reasons and

they did this there were out of uh the oc because

this was 2007 was the last season of the oc it

was already had been planned to be cancelled

then there were but there's a huge difference

though there's a huge difference in the oc being

Us getting a send -off and drive being left hanging

off that frigging cliff. I mean the OC was able

to actually Wrap itself up with a good ending.

Yeah, but that's what I'm saying like this year

I think holds 2007 like 2006 into 2007 TV season

there were Not counting the OC 10 shows that

were started and canceled by Fox. We've got drive

happy hour justice the loop the rich list standoff

vanished the war at home the wedding bells the

winner and that's their renewals and other couple

other series that ended like uh 24 had been renewed

that year for another two years and i think they

had a third one after that before it was you

know quote unquote cancelled before the new day

and legacy happened but yeah fox just it's kind

of like MTV in the 90s where they had like two

or three Animated series and they got like those

one seasons and then they get canceled because

of reasons Animated series on MTV. What a joke.

I'm sorry. That's spider -man cartoon was the

worst spider -man cartoon I've ever seen in my

entire life Spider -man, but you do not talk

shit about undergrad sir. I'm only talking shit

about spider -man So it's been 10 years since

Drive. Fastling got a DVD release after about

10 years, so holding out hope? Well, fingers

crossed, but... Holding out hope that they actually

did an actual real seventh episode that actually

gives you some sort of ending, but I know it's

never gonna friggin' happen. Oh, God. Fox. That's

Mendoza Oh Crap all right folks. What are you

gonna give? Drive for its run zero to five stars.

Oh, it's five stars. No contest Yeah, I'm gonna

give it a four and a half only because I just

really didn't care for Wendy's acting It just

did not care for the actress and I mean I understand

why the role is there and I get that and I just

But overall absolutely love it thought it was

great I'll go back and watch it here and there

I may not watch the sixth episode ever again

because it's just so depressing at the end But

but yeah, that's that's Drive season pass here

on remote control where can people find you online

sir? They can find me online sporadically on

the comic connoisseur podcast with our friend

Ben Carver and You can find me on Twitter at

JT from Saskatoon. There should be air quotes

after that one word I am at TF2 and Mike you

can follow at geekcastradio at this week and

geek on Twitter Be sure to visit the websites

geekcastradio .com and this week in geek net

Next time around. I have no idea. We could be

going to Riverdale. We could be going to New

Mexico, I have no clue what's happening on remote

control right now. I'm just trying to make sure

my face doesn't melt off, so there's that. Join

us next time when we will all be fighting over

the remote control.