MacGyver Script Analysis: Pilot

Last month I read the original script for the DOA MacGyver episode, and then I wrote about the differences between the script and the final episode.  Today I am doing the same thing for the Pilot episode.  I was really excited to get a hold of this script for several reasons:

• It's the very first episode and obviously a very important one.
• It's the only episode written by series creator Lee David Zlotoff, and it's nice to see the MacGyver character on the page in the way that Zlotoff envisioned.
• It's a great episode! (and one that I severely underrated when I did my episode rankings)
• With the reboot now officially kicking off this fall, it's good to step back and remember where and how it all began.

Just about everything that appears in the episode also appears in Zlotoff's script (which I should mention is a "Second Draft"), including the dialogue (which is mostly word for word) and the MacGyverisms (I'm impressed by Zlotoff's scientific/technical knowledge).  But not everything that was in the script appears in the episode -- the script is pretty long (98 pages) and much of it had to be cut to make a 48 minute pilot.  The part that was cut is the part that I'm most interested in and what I will be focusing on in this post. 

And if you want some more background on the Pilot, check out Zlotoff's recollection on writing the pilot and also my interview with director Jerry Freedman.  Jerry was very candid about the difficulties that arose when shooting the episode, which I appreciated.  One thing he said in particular is worth calling out:

A lot of what made the character work, besides the good writing, was Richard. He had good comic timing and brought a nice sense of irony and reality to the role. It could have been cartoonish and sitcomy, but he made it seem real.

I totally agree, and I also give credit to Zlotoff (and the subsequent episode writers) for giving him good material to work with.  One part in the Pilot that made me think of this is when Spencer says, "Don't tell me you know how to make a bomb out of a stick of chewing gum?" and then MacGyver causally responds, "Why, do you got some?" followed by a subtle roll of the eyes. Perfect.  I hope that Lucas Till and the new writers will be able to create a character in the same vein.

So without further ado, let's get into it!  The bolded, italic parts are taken from the script.

• A large man of 34 with the kind of simple, rugged face that might come from the Mid-West. I'm not sure if RDA's face would be considered simple or rugged, but he does come from the Mid-West, and he was 35 when the Pilot was filmed.
• MacGyver quickly shifts their course as he fires back at the Soldiers.  The infamous "shot" fired by our hero.
• Here's a deleted scene (in Czech) where MacGyver returns the missile device to a room full of generals.  This is in the script also.
• "The Major and I rubbed elbows when I was Ranger a while back."  ~MacGyver. Based on how the series played out I think it's more likely that MacGyver was a Park Ranger rather than an Army Ranger.
• The generals ask MacGyver what he wants as compensation for retrieving the missile device. MacGyver asks Taylor, the rescued pilot, how old the dead co-pilot's son is (in the script, there is a co-pilot who didn't survive the crash, and it was his chute that MacGyver used to jump off the mountain).  Taylor says the boy is 9 or 10.  
• "In that case, gentlemen, I'd like you to get the boy a horse."  ~MacGyver
• "A horse?"  ~Major Dennis
• "A golden palamino to be exact.  About sixteen hands high should do it.  Say three years old?  And make sure it's got lot of spirit.  Any problems?"  ~MacGyver
• "MacGyver, if it's not asking too much, why, of all things, a horse?"  ~General Relkwin
• "Well, General, a boy learns to ride an animal like that, he just might realize there's nothing he can't do.  Thanks for the coffee."  ~MacGyver
• I'm starting to see where MacGyver got his first season swagger from. And in case you didn't remember, the golden palamino is the horse that MacGyver reminisces about in the opening gambit's voiceover.
• The apartment itself seems small for a penthouse and its decor equally confusing, being a mixture of sleek high-tech, cowboy sculpture and funky antiques.  Just wait until you hear where MacGyver's apartment is located (it's not in a planetarium as in the final episode, and there's no little brother in the opening).
• From beneath a couch a massive bullfrog jumps into view.  MacGyver's on him in a flash with a shout.  "Do you realize he's been on the loose for the better part of a week?  You've never met Samuel before?"  ~MacGyver.  If there's one thing I want you to take away from this blog post, it's that MacGyver has a bullfrog named Samuel.
• "You know, MacGyver, if you were still in the agency..."  ~Gantner.  Gantner is the head of operations for a U.S. intelligence agency.  Gantner appears in the episode as Michael Lerner's character.
• With a smile MacGyver reaches back and hits a switch.  The wall behind him starts to slide open revealing that MacGyver's penthouse is in the stadium itself and the ballgame we've been hearing is coming from the field below.  As MacGyver and Gantner settle into chairs by the edge of the balcony:
• "Should be a good game.  We're unbeaten so far this season."  ~MacGyver
• "You know, I never did learn exactly how you got this place.  A bonus from some assignment you forgot to mention?"  ~Gantner
• "Nobody wins the big games without taking a few chances, am I right?"  ~MacGyver
• Hold on a minute, I have to get up from the floor after falling off my chair. MacGyver lives in a baseball stadium!!  I don't understand what that last line is getting at, but who cares?  MacGyver lives in a baseball stadium!!
• Novaak is approached by a small delegation in lab coats led by Barbara Spender, an attractive woman in her early thirties.  Novaak's name was changed to Marlowe in the final episode.
• There's a scene where MacGyver is doing some physical training with sensors (reminds me of what James Bond does in Skyfall).  MacGyver, comma, Stace, test sequence one seven nine six.  MacGyver's first name in the script is "Stace."  I know he doesn't like Angus but I'll bet he'd like it better than Stace.
• There's a Dr. Colette Webster, a striking if somewhat restrained and haughty woman in her late thirties, monitoring the tests.  She tries to keep her attention focused on the monitors but can't help stealing glimpses of MacGyver's impressive physique as he pushes himself through the course.  MacGyver asks her out, and that night they go on top of the domed baseball stadium room to stargaze with his telescope (so the observatory/stargazing theme in the beginning of the episode was somewhat inspired by the script).  MacGyver says that based on his calculations there is something never before seen that will be appearing in the sky, either a new star or a planet.
• "When I read your file, the list of assignments you've accepted, how can you do that?  Aren't you...?"  ~Webster
• "Afraid I might die?"  ~MacGyver
• "Well, yes."  ~Webster
• "Everybody's afraid they're going to die, Webster.  I'm no different. But nobody lives forever either.  The jobs I take, well, most times there's no one else who will.  If my number does come up in one of them...at least I'll know why."  ~MacGyver
• And they move into a tentative kiss that grows more passionate with each moment until...a helicopter with Gantner lands on the stadium and totally kills the mood.
• Colson himself is a beefy man in his late forties who is better with machines than with people. Colson is the lab operations chief played by Dana Elcar.
• Mac's voice comes over the headsets softly singing an old sea shanty like "Go Down You Blood Red Roses, Go Down."  This is the part in the episode where MacGyver is crawling through the duct and whistling.  In the comments of my Pilot post, Al mentions "Penny Lane," and I think he's right -- it does sound a lot like Penny Lane.
• The girder gives way and, with it, the ground beneath MacGyver as he goes tumbling ass-over-teakettle down the other side of the mound.  It's true -- when MacGyver does push through the debris using water from the fire hose, he does go ass-over-teakettle.  But in the script he's badly shaken, and the people who were trapped rush out through the hole he just created without helping him.  Everyone, that is, except for Spencer.
• There are some minor differences between the script and the episode as they make their way to Dr. Steubens and Dr. Novaak on the fourth level (which is the third level in the episode).
• Instead of climbing down the ladder, they fall onto some debris.
• Spencer burns her hand on the hot door handle.
• When the metal doors in the corridor are closing, they only make it through the last one because MacGyver kicks a book in its path and it stops just long enough for he and Spencer to squeeze through.
• Spencer gets stuck between some debris and MacGyver has to give her mouth-to-mouth.
• "Charlie, I found Mac in the Special Forces springing our boys from POW camps.  I brought him into intelligence.  I trained him myself.  The guy's got more lives than an alley full of cats.  If anyone can get through this souped up submarine of yours, it's MacGyver."  ~Gantner.  Despite this characterization and also the military experience described in Coutdown, I don't think of MacGyver as a soldier or military man.  The military theme was an element in the new pilot (which has now been scrapped), and I hope the revised pilot won't include this angle.
• "Spencer!  I told you not to come in --" ~MacGyver.  I like "Spencer, gosh darn it, I told you to wait outside!" much better.
• In the final episode, MacGyver says, "You told me Cendrix ordered a whole new series of experiments but that Steubens refused to accept the results."  This is a bit of a goof in the sense that we never saw the conversation that MacGyver is referring to. But in the script, it is there -- Spencer earlier tells MacGyver that Steubens ordered up some new experiments but didn't say much to anyone about what they were for.
• As Steubens goes to shoot MacGyver, Spencer dives for the gun, catching the bullet in her side.  MacGyver swings the knapsack off his shoulder knocking the gun from Steubens' hand as he throws a flying kick into his chest.  The blow sends Steubens back into an open electrical panel in the wall.  A hail of sparks flash from his back as the voltage goes through him, twisting him like a rag doll before he drops to the floor.  "He's dead."  ~Novaak.  I'd say they made the right move by cutting this part.
• While rewatching the episode I have to laugh at how the technician in the lab instantly realizes that the flickering lights are morse code.
• The sliding wall is already open as MacGyver prepares to watch the game, readying popcorn, hot dogs, soda etc.  We're back in the baseball stadium!
• This time, when MacGyver is asked what he wants for his compensation, he says one chalet in the Swiss Alps in the name of Barbara Spencer (earlier in the episode when Spencer was scared, MacGyver asks her to pretend she is somewhere else and she pretends she's in the Alps).
• MacGyver tells Gantner he has a date.  But as he gets there [the elevator] the doors open to reveal, not a beautiful woman, but a small boy of eleven, one Anthony Francis Donnato, and as tough a piece of work from the street as you'd ever want to meet.  So the Big Brothers plot line does come into play, and they end up watching the baseball game together.

For both the Pilot and DOA MacGyver, I've found that closely reading the script and spending a lot of time immersed in the episode makes me enjoy and appreciate the episode even more.  And Zlotoff wrote one heck of a script here, and the quality shows in the episode itself (and thank goodness it did or else the series may not have been picked up).

Zlotoff clearly intended for MacGyver to have a good deal of confidence.  I've often written about MacGyver's "first season swagger" and how his character evolved to be more humble as the years went on (and then downright crotchety in Season 7).  It will be interesting to see how Lucas plays the role.  I like MacGyver's humility, but his early swagger is kind of fun too (and Lucas's character is a younger MacGyver), so I think he should play him with whatever feels natural.  One thing's for sure -- I'm looking forward to soon having a new MacGyver pilot to watch!

One last comment -- the music in the Pilot is incredible.  If you've read this blog before you know I can't stop gushing over the music and especially Randy Edelman.  I believe that the score quality makes a big difference in the success of a show and that it has a subconscious effect even on people who aren't as aware of the music as I am.  If I'm in charge of the new pilot, I'm calling Randy Edelman and saying, "Hey Randy, name your price.  How much do you want? What's that?  Ten million?  Done!"