SPOT: X Marks The Spot - TV Show Pilot (Original Treatment)
A blazing wall of hot fire fills the viewer's vision. Besides the sound of the roaring fire, we hear a rising "Yah-hoo" as a huge green dragon bursts through the flames with a spotty doggy on its back. The spotted canine is wearing a satchel and a rolled-up treasure map is sticking out of it. Around the dragon we can see that it is flying through a large cave bursting with lava. An enormous pile of gold and jewels sits at one end of the cavern and the proud and happy doggy is holding one of the most beautiful diamonds he has ever seen. The dragon flies out of the mouth of the cave and into the night sky. Millions of stars twinkle around them as the dragon and the doggy gleam with success. Suddenly, the image of the dragon and dog slowly breaks into misty clouds that begin to shrink away.
Our spotted canine hero, Spot, awakens from his dream...on his back...with his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth. His top half is bathed in light coming through the window. He awakens from his dream and jumps forward onto all four paws, growling and ready for the attack. But his dream world is gone....and his smaller (but sizeable) bedroom is all that remains. He soon settles himself and regresses back to being a regular puppy again. As usual, morning for Spot brings investigation. He approaches the flap on his bedroom door and pushes it forward with his nose, slowly poking his head out into the blue hallway. Suddenly a big ball speeds past his head, narrowly missing his delicate little nosey. The boy - Harvey - runs up to Spot and picks him up. He fluffs his fur and apologises for almost surprising him with a knock on the head. Spot feels safe with Harvey...he has dark hair and a cute face...a seemingly innocent soul. Harvey places Spot back on the floor and the two of them begin playing with the ball. Harvey gives it a light kick and it bounces down the staircase (which curves halfway down at a nice forty-five degree angle) causing Spot to run after it and down into the living room.
Interrupted from his documentary, Sam (or Samuel when he wants to be professional) gives a stern "hey" in Spot's direction...which causes Spot to stop in his tracks while the ball rolls along un-chased. Sam walks around the sofa, picks up the ball and rolls it into the garden through the open patio door opposite the base of the stairs. He suggests Spot go out and play...carefully. He pats Spot on the head and lightly pushes his rump in the direction of the garden. Spot playfully pounds after the ball and Harvey follows behind him. Sam watches them leaves and gives a smile that grows up one side of his face. Sam is a sweet, charming man who is occasionally stern...but only when he has to be.
Out on the far side of the garden, illuminated by the light of the afternoon sun, Jill is using her time to catch up on her gardening. She doesn't have much time for it these days. She's usually busy working at - or for - the posh Museum that was built in their area about a year ago. Jill had worked in other museums...but never had as much responsibility as she does now. She sees the boy and the dog playing and gives them a smile. It's nice for her to see them getting along. With her blond hair, pink sweater and pearl necklace, she gives the strong impression of being a typical suburban housewife...perhaps too strong an impression. She notices Spot running towards her flower bed and tries to shoo him to go play over in the other part of the garden...where they use to have a swing set. The area she strongly designated as 'the play area'. Ball chasing soon turns into shoving which ends with Harvey on the floor on his back and Spot happily piled on top of his chest.
One of Spot's ears suddenly lifts up and he goes running diagonally across the garden (having jumped suddenly off of Harvey and pressing in his stomach) and races toward the kitchen door. He reaches the threshold and hears Jill...'Ah!'...and knowing exactly what it means...proceeds to wipe all four paws on the doormat. He then races across the kitchen (stopping for a few moments to smell the roasting turkey in the oven for their Sunday roast) and legs it into the garage and through the little flap on the left side of the big, white garage door. He arrives just in time to see Lucy step from the bus onto the pavement. Lucy has been taking flute lessons on Sunday afternoons. It turns out she has quite the natural talent for it and the money for the lessons is well spent. Spot runs up to Lucy to welcome her home. She is pleased to see him and gives him a quick pat on the head and a "hey doggie" before running inside. Lucy has become more distant and guarded lately than she used to be. Maybe it's just called being a teenager.
It should be established by this point that this family is American. A shot up the long, suburban street with large, identical houses surrounded by white fences would serve to confirm this.
Fade to a scene in the living room. The sofa has been moved to make way for the dining table and Spot has been placed neatly by the fire. He has a large placemat on which sits his two bowls (a big silver bowl for his food and a smaller blue water bowl). He is lucky enough today to be enjoying the Sunday roast with his family and has several strips of meat filling his bowl, with lots of gravy splashed over it. The family look down at Spot munching on his meal and give him a smile. He drops a strip of turkey back into his bowl and looks back at them with his tongue hanging out; he's happy.
Fade to bed-time. Harvey fully opens the door to Spot's room and tucks him into his bed by the window. Outside the window the Moon and several stars are visible. Harvey watches Spot falling asleep looking so peaceful. Harvey chuckles to himself. "Not a care in the world". Harvey then shuts the door and footsteps are heard as he goes off to his own bedroom. A slight breeze and the noise of far-off road traffic can be heard very faintly. About 10 seconds pass after Harvey shuts the door as we watch Spot fall soundly asleep. One eye bolts open! Followed by a raised left ear! Spot excitedly gets up and jumps across the right side of the room. He stares for a few seconds, looking at a small panel jutting out of the wall. He looks disappointed and begins to turn around...when a mechanical noise is heard and a slip of paper begins to jerk out of the wall. Spot gets excited, grins happily and starts wagging his tail. Once the mechanical noises have stopped, he pulls the paper out of the wall using the teeth at the top of the panel to tear it off and bounds to the far side of the room. There is a paw-shaped dent in the floor that matches Spot's front-left paw exactly. Holding the slip in his jaw, he puts his paw in and another mechanical noise occurs...Spot bends his head to the floor and a harmless scanning device emits red light over Spot's right eye. A few mechanical clicks cause Spot to back away towards his bed. A hidden slab in the floor slides away to reveal a secret storage area that houses several artefacts and jewels. On the wall ahead of Spot another panel folds over to reveal a shelf with a few items housed in clear plastic boxes. A box containing a bright green glove can be seen on the far left. Spot glances momentarily at it and gives a soft whine. He turns his attention to the map sitting beside it. He puts his head up onto the shelf and lets the slip of paper fall beside the map. A set of co-ordinates have been printed on the slip. Several similar slips of paper also sit below it. Spot picks up a pencil on the shelf and glances at the map. Several grey crosses have already been sketched onto this map which seems to cover an area of desert wasteland. He glances at his new co-ordinates and scans the top and left sides of the map to locate the area the co-ordinates point to. His eyes shift into a look of hope and determinism. He bounces along to the wall with the printer panel (someway to the right of the panel) and puts his front-right paw into another convenient dent in this wall. The floor gives way and Spot soon finds himself flying out of another folding panel in the side of the house to land in the garden. He runs over to his outdoor kennel and dives in. A few pictures and bones lay inside here...seemingly just like any other dog's kennel. He turns around to face the doorway. "Oh yeah. Stretch time". Spot bends to stretch his front legs, then shifts his weight onto his front legs balancing himself and sticks his two back paws at fast speed into perfectly matching alcoves at the back of his kennel. The back wall gives way to a large, fluorescent blue, illuminated tube. This would be the technology referred to as Tubix. He perches himself at the edge of the tube and tells the processer on the side exactly where he wishes to go. (The exact location of which is yet to be determined).
He arrives in a flash of blue light down onto an area of desert late at night. There is no wind; no sound...the whole area is calm and peaceful. He begins to go through his usual routine of sniffing the ground and digging at the dirt, trying to find a scent. He even tries smelling the air. Nothing. Once again, this isn't it. He takes a step backward...and his paw steps on a trigger. Spot removes his paw and the trigger activates a trapdoor in the floor that slides away revealing a small, square opening in the desert sand. He carefully dives in. The rooms beneath are made of cold, old stone. Some dried green vines have poked through some cracks in the stone. Spot advances down the set of 12 rough steps and approaches a large alcove lined with a leafy pattern carved into the stone. He doesn't see much of anything, it's very dark. He puts a paw into the room beyond, still looking around. He hears the sound of stone breaking and hears the torches set themselves alight as the whole area becomes brighter. He turns his attention back to the room to see the huge dangling green spider staring at him. The spider looks very menacing, with a strange red symbol in its forehead, and it looks hungry. Spot starts to cower and then sees the light from the torches reflected off the bright, shining ruby that the spider is protecting. Spot gets over the fear and it takes him all of a second to contemplate his move. A grin develops up one side of his face. He jumps onto the right wall at the side of the spider, then the back wall and onto the left wall. He jumps back over the front of the spider over to the right wall, the spider's front arms swing at him, but Spot is moving too quickly. He leaps behind the spider and snatches the ruby off the podium in his jaw, takes a leap off the left wall onto the spider's back and he's off across the floor and up to the top of the stairs. He gives a brief, gloating look back at the spider with the jewel safely in his mouth, as the chamber beneath the sand begins to collapse. Spot dives out of the small trapdoor and out onto the sand as the chamber disappears. Once the dust is settled, he stands looking out at the calm desert. With his unexpected prize secure, he taps a little button hidden on his collar and he flashes back to his lovely kennel, leaving the desert almost in the same state as when he arrived. You'd never know.
He runs back up to the side of the house, gets his neck up close to the wall and runs his collar across a small sensor buried in the brick. The sensor detects his little hidden button and a silent tube comes out of the house and sucks Spot back up through the wall and drops him back in his bedroom. He goes back over to the far wall and operates his storage area. He drops the ruby into an empty compartment and travels around the hole to the shelf. He picks up the pencil, and where the new co-ordinates told him to go, Spot puts a fresh grey cross. A disappointed look develops on his face, his ears droop and he drops the pencil, which rolls down safely to the edge of the slanted shelf. He backs away from it and goes over to his bed. The trapdoor in the floor re-seals itself and the shelf folds back into the wall. Spot pauses to look at the shining Moon, then tucks himself back into his bed and sleeps like a log for the rest of the night.
Monday morning comes around. As usual, everyone is frantically running around as they have places to be. Spot goes downstairs to see them off. He gets a few pets and "Morning, Spot". Harvey comes over to him before he leaves and gives him a firm, loving stroke. Sam comes over and assures him that Spot will be okay at home on his own for the day...he always is. Harvey tells him "Have fun, boy" and, as the last one to leave the house, shuts the door behind him. Spot gets a mischievous grin on his face, shifts his eyes and gives a wink to the audience...who now share his secret.
FEEDBACK VERY WELCOME - I am currently developing this into a novel. Any input would be very helpful. I hope you enjoyed it. :)