Veronica Marsathon, Part I
So in case you haven't heard, last weekend there was this awesome Veronica Mars event in Austin at the Alamo Drafthouse (click for photos). Okay, so it wasn't technically a "Marsathon" (it had the Mars, but not so much the thon), but still. Good times.
I'm not going to give a personal recap of my entire weekend, like who I met and what I ate (and drank), but I'm happy to share the details of the actual, you know, Veronica Mars stuff. Like what Rob Thomas said. And how cute Kristen Bell and Jason Dohring are. (Very.) And how shy and reserved Michael Muhney is. (Not at all.)
This is long, so it will be broken up into at least two parts. And there are NO spoilers for 2.11, other than the episode title. There are spoilers for all of season one, obviously, and a little bit for season two, up to episode 2.10.
I went to the "Marsathon" both nights - Saturday and Sunday. I tried to take notes on Sunday, but it was really hard to keep up with everything, so I'm sure I missed a lot.
The agenda was basically the same on both nights. First, there were a few songs by a band featured on VM: Saturday night was The Fire Marshals of Bethlehem and Sunday was the Daylight Titans. Henri of the Drafthouse introduced the VM VIPs with his best faux-fan squealing: "OhmyGOD! You Guys!! I can hardly believe it! I'm so excited!!" Then he introduced Rob Thomas and the cast, to wild applause.
On Saturday night, RT was accompanied by Kristen Bell, Jason Dohring and Michael Muhney, but Michael was not there on Sunday night because he had to head back to San Diego to shoot some scenes early on Monday. Enrico Colantoni was also scheduled to attend, but had to bow out because he was suffering from bronchitis. KB and the cast seemed genuinely upset that EC wasn't there and talked about how great he was and how much fun he'd be if he were there. On Sunday, RT asked for a show of hands of who had been there the night before, and they looked pretty stunned to find out that a lot of people attended both nights. RT said we were going to hear most of the same stuff we had already heard from the night before, but I don't think that bothered anyone.
RT selected his favorite clips from the first season, and had prepared some brief comments to introduce each clip. He showed a couple of "bonus" clips on Sunday that he didn't show on Saturday but for the most part they were the same. On Saturday, it was the clips, followed by a screening of episode 2.11 "Donut Run," and then last but not least, the Q&A. On Sunday, they were more pressed for time because the cast had to catch very early morning flights, so they showed the clips, then had a shorter Q&A, and then showed the new episode.
Episode 2.11 was written and directed by RT, and it's his directing debut on the show, so I think he was pretty proud of it. I enjoyed it, but that's all I will say out of respect for spoilerphobes (there are only four more days to go, so try to hold out). I actually enjoyed it even more on Sunday than I did on Saturday, because there was a lot I missed the first time. Lots of stuff happens.
Because RT's comments were mostly the same on both nights, I'm going to combine the comments from both Sat and Sun into this report. I'm also going to list all the Q&A together (that I remember), because there was some overlap in the questions as well. Plus, I'm sure I'm going to mix up questions from both nights, so this will just be one big recap of the whole event.
The Clips: Season One Highlights
RT introduced the clips by explaining that originally they were planning to have a true "Marsathon," showing all 22 episodes from season one (16 hours of Mars). But Warner Brothers put the kibosh on that for legal reasons. (Boo, hiss.) So they had to go with highlight clips, but the only people that could be featured were the "main" cast, due to SAG union rules. So that means that the clips could only be of Veronica, Keith, Wallace, Logan, Duncan, and Weevil. That's what he said, but Dick managed to make an appearance and so did Backup. (And one other person very briefly, but we all dutifully covered our eyes as we were asked, so as not to violate SAG rules. ::cough::)
RT and the cast were sitting in chairs directly to the right of the screen. When the clips were shown, the lights would go down and KB, JD, and MM would sit on the floor in front of their chairs and watch. They would frequently whisper to each other or kid each other about some of the clips and laugh. They obviously get along very well with each other and RT. In fact, KB even heckled RT and rolled her eyes at his comments quite a bit, and interrupted him a few times, like the smartass kid in the back of class. JD was more quiet and tended not to speak up unless he was asked a question, although he talked to both KB and MM a lot. MM also interacted with fans. He really needs to come out of his shell, that guy. All in all, the mood was very light and relaxed, especially on Sunday, and there was a lot of joking back and forth between RT & co. and the audience.
Anyway . . . RT explained that UPN is basically owned by CBS, and thus the head of CBS, Les Moonves, is also the Grand Poobah over UPN. When you get a note from Les Moonves that says jump, you ask "how high?" And so it goes. When RT first made the Pilot, the original "cold open" (opening scene before the credits) was the scene with Veronica in the LeBaron in front of the Camelot Motel, staking out the cheating husband, with her calculus book beside her on the front seat. But when the suits saw the first cut of the Pilot, the note came back from on high: "This is a high school show. Start at the high school."
1. "I'm never getting married. You want an absolute? Well, there it is. Veronica Mars . . . spinster. I mean, what's the point? . . ." Weevil and the PCH gang approaches. "This can't be good."
Trivia: RT choreographed the love scene shown in silhouette behind the curtains, after complaining to the director that it didn't look like the extras were having sex. He also created the background music on Garage Band. KB hated her haircut in the Pilot.
So the original cold open was scrapped and moved to later in the episode. That's why the Pilot starts with Veronica driving into the parking lot of Neptune High. RT wasn't thrilled with the "clunky" opening Veronica voiceover (VMVO) "This is my school. If you go here, your parents are either millionaires or your parents work for millionaires." But that's that. Because it's a high school show and you gotta start at the high school.
RT talked a lot about having a lot of arguments, er, discussions, with UPN over the first 5-6 episodes. The original script (available for download on RT's website) was very dark and the network had a lot of issues with it. The main problem is Veronica's status as a "date rape victim." UPN was not thrilled with that at all.
KB's audition scene was when she tells off Weevil and the biker gang (I took this to mean the scene at Neptune High when she says, "I'm on a schedule here, vato.") When KB nailed that scene, RT knew she could do "smart" and "tough," which was obviously important for Veronica. But when she nailed the "morning after" scene when Veronica wakes up at Shelly's party, he knew he had found a star. (KB looked sheepish.) RT remarked that she could cry on cue, take after take. "I'm a robot!" KB joked.
Unfortunately, UPN was not so keen on the "morning after" scene and kept making it shorter and shorter. Originally there were more shots of the vandalism to the LeBaron (a slashed tire, "Abel, it should have been her"), but most of the scene was cut. So RT wanted to show the scene in its original uncut version, which is not even available on the DVD.
2. "You wanna know how I lost my virginity? So do I. . . . I never told my dad. I’m not sure what he would have done with that information but no good would have come of it. And what does it matter. I’m no longer that girl."
This clip is indeed much longer than the one we saw in the Pilot, and KB is fantastic. I'm not sure why they couldn't put the entire original uncut version on the DVD.
RT talked more about the changes UPN made in the Pilot, and at one point, the network decided to test his version and their version, so RT put in deliberately "clunky" voiceovers in the network version, with the intention of cutting them later. Guess which version tested better? The network version, clunky voiceovers and all. Unfortunately, UPN sent out some screeners of the Pilot to critics with the clunky voiceovers before RT had a chance to make the cuts and the L.A. Times criticized the lousy VMVO. (There was a line saying something like "And that's when my private detective senses got the better of me," or some other clunker like that, which was obviously cut.) The Times also criticized the VMVO "I'm no longer that girl," but RT likes that line. (The crowd agrees with RT that it's a good line. It encapsulates a major theme of the whole season.)
The next clip is just funny (from 1.03 "Meet John Smith").
3. "How was your date?"
"Oh you know. Lousy conversation, but the sex was fantastic."
"That's not funny."
"I don't know. I'm pretty sure it was."
On the Friday before the Marsathon, RT and KB attended the AFI Awards luncheon in Beverly Hills. Lots of Hollywood bigwigs were there, Clooney, Spielberg. They showed clips from each of the Top Ten honored TV shows (the AFI doesn't rank them), and every show had some big dramatic "award worthy" moment. The clip shown from VM was Veronica telling off "snausage boy" in "Hot Dogs." UPN selected the clip, but RT would have preferred the scene from "You Think You Know Somebody" when Veronica confronts Keith about finding Lianne.
4. "You can find anybody! If she were a criminal, you'd make a couple grand tracking her down and you'd have her back in a week."
"Well, maybe I don't care to find her. Have you ever considered that?"
(That scene is a personal favorite of mine, and I agree that KB and EC hit it out of the park.)
The next clip was chosen because RT said it's one of his favorite line deliveries ever by JD. The audience seemed to agree.
5. "Never. Underestimate. The size of my cojones."
JD gave a nice visual aid here as punctuation.
At one point, RT called Weevil "the yin to Logan's yang," and talked about how the writers do "back flips" trying to think of ways to put Logan and Weevil in scenes together. So they went with the old John Hughes high school standby, detention.
Next up, the infamous shredding scene. RT said he knew a lot of fans were unhappy when Veronica shredded the paternity test results at the end of "Drinking the Kool-Aid," but it was an homage to an old Spider-Man comic that RT read as a kid. Peter Parker doesn't know if he's Spider-Man or a clone, and after he offs the "other" Spider-Man, he is standing on a, what's the word, a chimney stack? [KB: "I think it's called a chimney, Rob."] Oh. [Sunday night Rob realizes the word he's looking for is "smokestack," which he says loudly in KB's direction.] So Peter is standing up on the rooftop next to a smokestack and he's holding the paper that tells him whether he's the clone, and he throws the paper down the smokestack because he decides he'd rather not know. That always stuck with RT and he thought it was cool, that *not* knowing is sometimes the right decision.
6. "Honey, I don't mean to ask a silly question but is, is it really necessary that you do that right now?"
"Yeah. As a matter of fact it is."
The next clip is another of RT's favorite line deliveries, this one from Francis Capra in "An Echolls Family Christmas." He again talked about how the writers try to come up with ways to get Logan and Weevil in as many scenes together. "Can Weevil play poker with the white boys? In the hands of a very talented writer, sure he can!" Heh.
7. "We don't take food stamps."
"Ouch! You got me!"
FC came up with that "surfer dude" delivery on his own and everybody on set thought it was pretty funny.
Moving on to Veronica and Logan . . . RT said that there was absolutely *no* intention to have Logan as a romantic interest for Veronica early on, and that Logan was purely intended to be the villain, Veronica's arch-nemesis. But gradually the writers began to see the obvious chemistry after just a few episodes and agreed that a V/L pairing seemed to be inevitable. The next clip is one scene that cemented that decision. (Actually, there are two separate V/L scenes, separated by a flashback edited out because of those annoying guest stars that can't be shown.)
8. "I love the smell of testosterone in the morning."
"This is why I suggested attack dogs. But no, my mother wanted an alpaca." (This line got a big laugh, and RT and co. looked confused, not understanding the fan enthusiasm for the Echolls alpaca.)
9. "Annoy, tiny blonde one. Annoy like the wind!"
(As an aside here, Jason Dohring has said in an interview with the Chicago Tribune that RT told him around episode six or seven that the writers were going to put Veronica and Logan together later in the season. So they obviously knew well before "An Echolls Family Christmas" scene was filmed, because it's only the next episode -- in production order -- that Lynn goes over the bridge at the end of "Clash of the Tritons," and RT has said previously that Lynn was killed off in part to give Logan a reason to ask for Veronica's help and to make him more sympathetic as a romantic interest. But there's no doubt that the "Annoy tiny blonde one" scene has serious undercurrents of something other than pure hostility, so I guess that scene just told the writers they had made the right decision that V/L would work as a romantic pairing.)
The next clip was originally written for the Pilot, but was cut and added later to "Mars vs. Mars." It's the scene when Veronica thinks she's outsmarted Keith by cracking the code to his safe.
10. "Tell me where to put your father-of-the-year trophy. 'Cause there's some place I'd like to put it!"
"Honey, you don't have to get all blue in the face."
"You're patronizing me?
"To be fair, I am your patron."
Now we get to one of the running themes of the evening: trying to get dirty stuff past the censors. RT mentioned again that UPN had a lot of concerns over the first 5 or 6 episodes, but after that, the notes stopped coming and UPN trusted him to do the show he wanted to do. Now the main conflicts are with Standards and Practices, which apparently comes under the CBS umbrella. "If we were on Fox, we could get away with anything! But not CBS, not after the infamous Janet Jackson nipplegate, anyway."
RT told a story from Cupid about the line "Let's get some flesh-and-bone women." It got past the ABC censors, but of course when Jeremy Piven delivered the line it was, "Let's get some flesh, and bone women!" RT considers that one of his prouder accomplishments.
In VM, it's an ongoing battle every week, but luckily, the censors are apparently looking for the "dirty words" and as long as they avoid those words, they seem to get away with a lot. The next clip from "Mars vs. Mars" is RT's favorite "I can't believe we got this past the censors" moment from VM.
11. "So you got a trophy for a rim job?"
The next clip from "Weapons of Class Destruction" needed no introduction.
12. Veronica. Logan. The Camelot Motel. THE KISS.
The crowd applauded politely. (As if.)
To everyone's surprise, RT said that he wasn't quite happy with the way that scene played out. JD pointed to himself, taking the blame. RT said that the kiss came across as "sweet," when that wasn't what he was going for. [JD: "The word you used was 'devoured.'"] But RT said that the devouring came later in the bathroom scene, so it all worked out in the end.
Next up is RT's nod to the VM Art Department. He joked that on Alias they are going "around the world" every week, but it doesn't happen often on VM. But when the Art Department had to create Havana, Cuba in "A Trip to the Dentist," he thought they did a pretty good job.
13. "Of all the countries under military dictatorship in all the world."
Wow, doesn't San Diego look like Cuba?
RT mentioned that "A Trip to the Dentist" was his favorite episode, and it was written by the fabulous Diane Ruggiero. (Enthusiastic applause!) The next scene is another Logan/Weevil confrontation.
14. "You think she had any real interest in you? You're a pork rind. You're what people grab when they're stoned and just want garbage."
"What makes it worse? Thinking she had feelings for me, or that she was using me for sex?"
HoYay! [I think RT even said "HoYay!" after this one. He definitely laughed when a lot of people shouted it.] JD seemed to be amused and to take it in stride, but RT said that FC was less amused by the "HoYay" remarks.
The next scene is the V/L scene when Logan comes to her door to find out why she's been avoiding him.
15. "Excuse me. I have to go throw up now."
RT said he knows that a lot of people have been hard on Teddy Dunn, but he thinks the next clip is TD's best scene. It's the scene when Veronica confronts Duncan about Shelly's party.
16. "Because you're my sister!"
RT says with all due respect to Patricia Arquette, how could the Emmy voters overlook the fantastic performance of KB after a scene like that? Come on! [/GOB Bluth] (KB looks sheepish again, but JD and MM applaud and nod in agreement.)
The next clip RT introduced by saying that the writing is flat-out bad, but he can say that because he wrote it. Somehow, KB and EC are able to take his flat writing and turn it into a pretty great scene, one of the most memorable from all of season one. "But it's all Kristen and Rico." It's the scene when Keith reveals the results of the paternity test to Veronica in "Leave it to Beaver."
17. "Veronica, I am without a doubt your father."
::Sniff::
Last but not least, RT said he argued with Diane Ruggiero about how to end the season. He wanted the cliffhanger of "who's at the door?" but Diane said that it would never work, because after solving the big mysteries, who is going to care who's at Veronica's door? RT said people would care, and he's happy he was right.
18. "I was hoping it would be you."
KB interjected here about wanting to know who was at the door when she filmed the scene: "I needed to know, like what would Veronica be feeling, where is my eyeline, but Rob said he had no idea! He'd figure it out later." RT said, imagine it could be either Logan or Duncan and they're about the same height, so that should be okay for the eyeline. KB said that on every take, different members of the crew would be standing there as a joke, including one guy named Coyote who wears a wolfman mask (or coyote mask? something like that) and they kept making her laugh. RT wanted to make a blooper reel with lots of different guys standing there, like Cliff, Mr. Wu, etc. But alas, apparently that is not to be.
I'm not going to give a personal recap of my entire weekend, like who I met and what I ate (and drank), but I'm happy to share the details of the actual, you know, Veronica Mars stuff. Like what Rob Thomas said. And how cute Kristen Bell and Jason Dohring are. (Very.) And how shy and reserved Michael Muhney is. (Not at all.)
This is long, so it will be broken up into at least two parts. And there are NO spoilers for 2.11, other than the episode title. There are spoilers for all of season one, obviously, and a little bit for season two, up to episode 2.10.
I went to the "Marsathon" both nights - Saturday and Sunday. I tried to take notes on Sunday, but it was really hard to keep up with everything, so I'm sure I missed a lot.
The agenda was basically the same on both nights. First, there were a few songs by a band featured on VM: Saturday night was The Fire Marshals of Bethlehem and Sunday was the Daylight Titans. Henri of the Drafthouse introduced the VM VIPs with his best faux-fan squealing: "OhmyGOD! You Guys!! I can hardly believe it! I'm so excited!!" Then he introduced Rob Thomas and the cast, to wild applause.
On Saturday night, RT was accompanied by Kristen Bell, Jason Dohring and Michael Muhney, but Michael was not there on Sunday night because he had to head back to San Diego to shoot some scenes early on Monday. Enrico Colantoni was also scheduled to attend, but had to bow out because he was suffering from bronchitis. KB and the cast seemed genuinely upset that EC wasn't there and talked about how great he was and how much fun he'd be if he were there. On Sunday, RT asked for a show of hands of who had been there the night before, and they looked pretty stunned to find out that a lot of people attended both nights. RT said we were going to hear most of the same stuff we had already heard from the night before, but I don't think that bothered anyone.
RT selected his favorite clips from the first season, and had prepared some brief comments to introduce each clip. He showed a couple of "bonus" clips on Sunday that he didn't show on Saturday but for the most part they were the same. On Saturday, it was the clips, followed by a screening of episode 2.11 "Donut Run," and then last but not least, the Q&A. On Sunday, they were more pressed for time because the cast had to catch very early morning flights, so they showed the clips, then had a shorter Q&A, and then showed the new episode.
Episode 2.11 was written and directed by RT, and it's his directing debut on the show, so I think he was pretty proud of it. I enjoyed it, but that's all I will say out of respect for spoilerphobes (there are only four more days to go, so try to hold out). I actually enjoyed it even more on Sunday than I did on Saturday, because there was a lot I missed the first time. Lots of stuff happens.
Because RT's comments were mostly the same on both nights, I'm going to combine the comments from both Sat and Sun into this report. I'm also going to list all the Q&A together (that I remember), because there was some overlap in the questions as well. Plus, I'm sure I'm going to mix up questions from both nights, so this will just be one big recap of the whole event.
The Clips: Season One Highlights
RT introduced the clips by explaining that originally they were planning to have a true "Marsathon," showing all 22 episodes from season one (16 hours of Mars). But Warner Brothers put the kibosh on that for legal reasons. (Boo, hiss.) So they had to go with highlight clips, but the only people that could be featured were the "main" cast, due to SAG union rules. So that means that the clips could only be of Veronica, Keith, Wallace, Logan, Duncan, and Weevil. That's what he said, but Dick managed to make an appearance and so did Backup. (And one other person very briefly, but we all dutifully covered our eyes as we were asked, so as not to violate SAG rules. ::cough::)
RT and the cast were sitting in chairs directly to the right of the screen. When the clips were shown, the lights would go down and KB, JD, and MM would sit on the floor in front of their chairs and watch. They would frequently whisper to each other or kid each other about some of the clips and laugh. They obviously get along very well with each other and RT. In fact, KB even heckled RT and rolled her eyes at his comments quite a bit, and interrupted him a few times, like the smartass kid in the back of class. JD was more quiet and tended not to speak up unless he was asked a question, although he talked to both KB and MM a lot. MM also interacted with fans. He really needs to come out of his shell, that guy. All in all, the mood was very light and relaxed, especially on Sunday, and there was a lot of joking back and forth between RT & co. and the audience.
Anyway . . . RT explained that UPN is basically owned by CBS, and thus the head of CBS, Les Moonves, is also the Grand Poobah over UPN. When you get a note from Les Moonves that says jump, you ask "how high?" And so it goes. When RT first made the Pilot, the original "cold open" (opening scene before the credits) was the scene with Veronica in the LeBaron in front of the Camelot Motel, staking out the cheating husband, with her calculus book beside her on the front seat. But when the suits saw the first cut of the Pilot, the note came back from on high: "This is a high school show. Start at the high school."
1. "I'm never getting married. You want an absolute? Well, there it is. Veronica Mars . . . spinster. I mean, what's the point? . . ." Weevil and the PCH gang approaches. "This can't be good."
Trivia: RT choreographed the love scene shown in silhouette behind the curtains, after complaining to the director that it didn't look like the extras were having sex. He also created the background music on Garage Band. KB hated her haircut in the Pilot.
So the original cold open was scrapped and moved to later in the episode. That's why the Pilot starts with Veronica driving into the parking lot of Neptune High. RT wasn't thrilled with the "clunky" opening Veronica voiceover (VMVO) "This is my school. If you go here, your parents are either millionaires or your parents work for millionaires." But that's that. Because it's a high school show and you gotta start at the high school.
RT talked a lot about having a lot of arguments, er, discussions, with UPN over the first 5-6 episodes. The original script (available for download on RT's website) was very dark and the network had a lot of issues with it. The main problem is Veronica's status as a "date rape victim." UPN was not thrilled with that at all.
KB's audition scene was when she tells off Weevil and the biker gang (I took this to mean the scene at Neptune High when she says, "I'm on a schedule here, vato.") When KB nailed that scene, RT knew she could do "smart" and "tough," which was obviously important for Veronica. But when she nailed the "morning after" scene when Veronica wakes up at Shelly's party, he knew he had found a star. (KB looked sheepish.) RT remarked that she could cry on cue, take after take. "I'm a robot!" KB joked.
Unfortunately, UPN was not so keen on the "morning after" scene and kept making it shorter and shorter. Originally there were more shots of the vandalism to the LeBaron (a slashed tire, "Abel, it should have been her"), but most of the scene was cut. So RT wanted to show the scene in its original uncut version, which is not even available on the DVD.
2. "You wanna know how I lost my virginity? So do I. . . . I never told my dad. I’m not sure what he would have done with that information but no good would have come of it. And what does it matter. I’m no longer that girl."
This clip is indeed much longer than the one we saw in the Pilot, and KB is fantastic. I'm not sure why they couldn't put the entire original uncut version on the DVD.
RT talked more about the changes UPN made in the Pilot, and at one point, the network decided to test his version and their version, so RT put in deliberately "clunky" voiceovers in the network version, with the intention of cutting them later. Guess which version tested better? The network version, clunky voiceovers and all. Unfortunately, UPN sent out some screeners of the Pilot to critics with the clunky voiceovers before RT had a chance to make the cuts and the L.A. Times criticized the lousy VMVO. (There was a line saying something like "And that's when my private detective senses got the better of me," or some other clunker like that, which was obviously cut.) The Times also criticized the VMVO "I'm no longer that girl," but RT likes that line. (The crowd agrees with RT that it's a good line. It encapsulates a major theme of the whole season.)
The next clip is just funny (from 1.03 "Meet John Smith").
3. "How was your date?"
"Oh you know. Lousy conversation, but the sex was fantastic."
"That's not funny."
"I don't know. I'm pretty sure it was."
On the Friday before the Marsathon, RT and KB attended the AFI Awards luncheon in Beverly Hills. Lots of Hollywood bigwigs were there, Clooney, Spielberg. They showed clips from each of the Top Ten honored TV shows (the AFI doesn't rank them), and every show had some big dramatic "award worthy" moment. The clip shown from VM was Veronica telling off "snausage boy" in "Hot Dogs." UPN selected the clip, but RT would have preferred the scene from "You Think You Know Somebody" when Veronica confronts Keith about finding Lianne.
4. "You can find anybody! If she were a criminal, you'd make a couple grand tracking her down and you'd have her back in a week."
"Well, maybe I don't care to find her. Have you ever considered that?"
(That scene is a personal favorite of mine, and I agree that KB and EC hit it out of the park.)
The next clip was chosen because RT said it's one of his favorite line deliveries ever by JD. The audience seemed to agree.
5. "Never. Underestimate. The size of my cojones."
JD gave a nice visual aid here as punctuation.
At one point, RT called Weevil "the yin to Logan's yang," and talked about how the writers do "back flips" trying to think of ways to put Logan and Weevil in scenes together. So they went with the old John Hughes high school standby, detention.
Next up, the infamous shredding scene. RT said he knew a lot of fans were unhappy when Veronica shredded the paternity test results at the end of "Drinking the Kool-Aid," but it was an homage to an old Spider-Man comic that RT read as a kid. Peter Parker doesn't know if he's Spider-Man or a clone, and after he offs the "other" Spider-Man, he is standing on a, what's the word, a chimney stack? [KB: "I think it's called a chimney, Rob."] Oh. [Sunday night Rob realizes the word he's looking for is "smokestack," which he says loudly in KB's direction.] So Peter is standing up on the rooftop next to a smokestack and he's holding the paper that tells him whether he's the clone, and he throws the paper down the smokestack because he decides he'd rather not know. That always stuck with RT and he thought it was cool, that *not* knowing is sometimes the right decision.
6. "Honey, I don't mean to ask a silly question but is, is it really necessary that you do that right now?"
"Yeah. As a matter of fact it is."
The next clip is another of RT's favorite line deliveries, this one from Francis Capra in "An Echolls Family Christmas." He again talked about how the writers try to come up with ways to get Logan and Weevil in as many scenes together. "Can Weevil play poker with the white boys? In the hands of a very talented writer, sure he can!" Heh.
7. "We don't take food stamps."
"Ouch! You got me!"
FC came up with that "surfer dude" delivery on his own and everybody on set thought it was pretty funny.
Moving on to Veronica and Logan . . . RT said that there was absolutely *no* intention to have Logan as a romantic interest for Veronica early on, and that Logan was purely intended to be the villain, Veronica's arch-nemesis. But gradually the writers began to see the obvious chemistry after just a few episodes and agreed that a V/L pairing seemed to be inevitable. The next clip is one scene that cemented that decision. (Actually, there are two separate V/L scenes, separated by a flashback edited out because of those annoying guest stars that can't be shown.)
8. "I love the smell of testosterone in the morning."
"This is why I suggested attack dogs. But no, my mother wanted an alpaca." (This line got a big laugh, and RT and co. looked confused, not understanding the fan enthusiasm for the Echolls alpaca.)
9. "Annoy, tiny blonde one. Annoy like the wind!"
(As an aside here, Jason Dohring has said in an interview with the Chicago Tribune that RT told him around episode six or seven that the writers were going to put Veronica and Logan together later in the season. So they obviously knew well before "An Echolls Family Christmas" scene was filmed, because it's only the next episode -- in production order -- that Lynn goes over the bridge at the end of "Clash of the Tritons," and RT has said previously that Lynn was killed off in part to give Logan a reason to ask for Veronica's help and to make him more sympathetic as a romantic interest. But there's no doubt that the "Annoy tiny blonde one" scene has serious undercurrents of something other than pure hostility, so I guess that scene just told the writers they had made the right decision that V/L would work as a romantic pairing.)
The next clip was originally written for the Pilot, but was cut and added later to "Mars vs. Mars." It's the scene when Veronica thinks she's outsmarted Keith by cracking the code to his safe.
10. "Tell me where to put your father-of-the-year trophy. 'Cause there's some place I'd like to put it!"
"Honey, you don't have to get all blue in the face."
"You're patronizing me?
"To be fair, I am your patron."
Now we get to one of the running themes of the evening: trying to get dirty stuff past the censors. RT mentioned again that UPN had a lot of concerns over the first 5 or 6 episodes, but after that, the notes stopped coming and UPN trusted him to do the show he wanted to do. Now the main conflicts are with Standards and Practices, which apparently comes under the CBS umbrella. "If we were on Fox, we could get away with anything! But not CBS, not after the infamous Janet Jackson nipplegate, anyway."
RT told a story from Cupid about the line "Let's get some flesh-and-bone women." It got past the ABC censors, but of course when Jeremy Piven delivered the line it was, "Let's get some flesh, and bone women!" RT considers that one of his prouder accomplishments.
In VM, it's an ongoing battle every week, but luckily, the censors are apparently looking for the "dirty words" and as long as they avoid those words, they seem to get away with a lot. The next clip from "Mars vs. Mars" is RT's favorite "I can't believe we got this past the censors" moment from VM.
11. "So you got a trophy for a rim job?"
The next clip from "Weapons of Class Destruction" needed no introduction.
12. Veronica. Logan. The Camelot Motel. THE KISS.
The crowd applauded politely. (As if.)
To everyone's surprise, RT said that he wasn't quite happy with the way that scene played out. JD pointed to himself, taking the blame. RT said that the kiss came across as "sweet," when that wasn't what he was going for. [JD: "The word you used was 'devoured.'"] But RT said that the devouring came later in the bathroom scene, so it all worked out in the end.
Next up is RT's nod to the VM Art Department. He joked that on Alias they are going "around the world" every week, but it doesn't happen often on VM. But when the Art Department had to create Havana, Cuba in "A Trip to the Dentist," he thought they did a pretty good job.
13. "Of all the countries under military dictatorship in all the world."
Wow, doesn't San Diego look like Cuba?
RT mentioned that "A Trip to the Dentist" was his favorite episode, and it was written by the fabulous Diane Ruggiero. (Enthusiastic applause!) The next scene is another Logan/Weevil confrontation.
14. "You think she had any real interest in you? You're a pork rind. You're what people grab when they're stoned and just want garbage."
"What makes it worse? Thinking she had feelings for me, or that she was using me for sex?"
HoYay! [I think RT even said "HoYay!" after this one. He definitely laughed when a lot of people shouted it.] JD seemed to be amused and to take it in stride, but RT said that FC was less amused by the "HoYay" remarks.
The next scene is the V/L scene when Logan comes to her door to find out why she's been avoiding him.
15. "Excuse me. I have to go throw up now."
RT said he knows that a lot of people have been hard on Teddy Dunn, but he thinks the next clip is TD's best scene. It's the scene when Veronica confronts Duncan about Shelly's party.
16. "Because you're my sister!"
RT says with all due respect to Patricia Arquette, how could the Emmy voters overlook the fantastic performance of KB after a scene like that? Come on! [/GOB Bluth] (KB looks sheepish again, but JD and MM applaud and nod in agreement.)
The next clip RT introduced by saying that the writing is flat-out bad, but he can say that because he wrote it. Somehow, KB and EC are able to take his flat writing and turn it into a pretty great scene, one of the most memorable from all of season one. "But it's all Kristen and Rico." It's the scene when Keith reveals the results of the paternity test to Veronica in "Leave it to Beaver."
17. "Veronica, I am without a doubt your father."
::Sniff::
Last but not least, RT said he argued with Diane Ruggiero about how to end the season. He wanted the cliffhanger of "who's at the door?" but Diane said that it would never work, because after solving the big mysteries, who is going to care who's at Veronica's door? RT said people would care, and he's happy he was right.
18. "I was hoping it would be you."
KB interjected here about wanting to know who was at the door when she filmed the scene: "I needed to know, like what would Veronica be feeling, where is my eyeline, but Rob said he had no idea! He'd figure it out later." RT said, imagine it could be either Logan or Duncan and they're about the same height, so that should be okay for the eyeline. KB said that on every take, different members of the crew would be standing there as a joke, including one guy named Coyote who wears a wolfman mask (or coyote mask? something like that) and they kept making her laugh. RT wanted to make a blooper reel with lots of different guys standing there, like Cliff, Mr. Wu, etc. But alas, apparently that is not to be.
posted by Magnolia at
11:58 PM
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