Electric Racecar “Shelly” Seen in 3rd Act Cars means a lot to me, it was the first movie I ever watched in the cinema, I was only 5 years old at the time. I’ve had a lifetime of re-watching the movies to look back upon, so I’d be thrilled if you were to hear out my pitch for what would be the best way to do a 4th cars movie. The Pitch We need a 3-act movie where all three acts take place at a different time in the cars universe’s history. With a central theme to tie all 3 acts together loosely enough so they can be watched sequentially, but also satisfy long term fans by staying relevant to where the characters should be at with their lives at each point in the timeline. The goal of this is to go full circle with the universe for a final send off and provide an extremely satisfying order to the timeline of the cars universe movies. Due to the unpopularity of Cars 2 and the fact that it would be tonally different to the other 3 movies its sins could be forgiven by the community as it will now be treated as a more light-hearted spinoff thriller that we know came somewhere right in the middle of the overarching cars main trilogy’s story. With the main cars story now tied up satisfyingly, maybe we can look back on this movie with a kinder eye, because it’s really not that bad a movie on it’s own… Due to the movie taking place over 3 acts at 3 distinct times in McQueen’s life I propose a working title for the movie: “Cars - Before, Then and After” or just “Cars: 4” for short. Act 1; Lightning’s birth, childhood and teens (30 mins) Act 1 takes place in Lightning’s teen years, we meet Lightning’s family and get to know them in depth (Mom, Dad maybe he has twin sisters as well just to spice it up) short scene with extended family at a gathering, lightning is a troubled teen all he wants to be is a racer, he has slight anger issues so after some advice from his mother about positive self-talk (she explicitly tells him to repeat to himself “speed, I am speed”), lightning learns how to train like a professional and we get a karate kid style hype scene, where lightning becomes the rookie we see at the start of the 1st movie. Act 2; Lightning reaches the peak of his career (35 mins) Fast forward to Act 2 which takes place 6 years after the events of the first movie (Cars1). The act starts in the darkness of a trailer with a voice mockingly saying “speed, I am speed” which is then revealed to be the voice of an older and angrier Chick Hicks as his trailer door opens onto what is a big day for racing as we find out that both Lightning McQueen and Chick Hicks have both amassed 3 piston cups each, equalling Doc Hudson as the greatest racers of all time. (There are still other racers on the track as this is a regular piston cup race, as seen at the start of cars 1.) Doc coaches Lightning again, and Lightning wins the race Beating Chick Hicks in 2nd place (for real this time), and Lightning is cemented in history as the greatest circuit racer of all time with 4 piston cups to his name. Lightning gets his moment, and he relishes in it. Following the events of this race. Lightning starts to have thoughts that he has reached the pinnacle of his career after amassing more trophies than Doc Hudson and now is facing a mid-life crisis like that of Tyson Fury after becoming the heavy weight boxing champion of the world. Lightning has reached the top of his career and doesn’t know what to do with himself anymore, lightning has a lot of regrets about racing and after a heavy dialogue scene with sally and his close family (which we met in act1) McQueen decides to take it easy for a few years and puts his focus on sally and we have a romantic scene where they get married which is uninterrupted and respected by mater, which we need! Act 3; Cars Universe solemnly ends (35 mins) Fast forward to act 3 which takes place 6 years after the events of cars 3 Lightning is still coaching Cruz and we see how much their bond has strengthened in the years since the 3rd movie which helps to further cement the 3rd films arcs into the main universe, Old Smokey from the 3rd movie passes away and we get a scene at his funeral where Lightning, Cruz and Sally are all sad and realise how short life can be, Mater providing comic relief to ease out of the sadness that will be felt during the scene. All this leads us back to one final race scene which since it is the very last big race, it will go heavy on the fan service, with references to the series all over the place, to a huge extent. This race is more of a montage for the fans, than a truly gripping race, it’s supposed to be fun and remind the fans of everything great about all 5 previous big races in the series up to this point, Lightning coaches Cruz to what seems like an easy victory until Cruz is pipped at the post by a previously unseen character (only seen from behind as a lime green race car), Cruz is a bit unnerved until this mystery lime green car approaches her after the race and turns out to be a female electric, eco-friendly race car named Shelly admitting that it was an honour to race with her female idol Cruz which makes Cruz blush. Lightning makes the move to give a nod to Cruz as if to say” it’s your turn to become a coach now”. Cruz turns to Shelly and offers to become her coach upon Cruz’s retirement, to which Shelly accepts with over-whelming happiness. Lightning is proud of Cruz. Then we cut to the final scene of the movie. Final Scene (5 mins) In the final scene of the movie Lightning, Cruz and a now elderly Doc are talking with Mater in Radiator Springs about what is next for all of them. Surprise to everyone Sally turns up and reveals she’s pregnant which Lightning then reveals he already knew about and we get to say goodbye to the entire cast from the Cars 1,3 and this movie (big celebration party in radiator springs) everyone is there! (Except the characters of Cars 2) Roll credits... Credits/Epilogue Starts with McQueen and Sally announcing to the town they are having twin boys… “oh boy” The rest of the credits are mostly some funny short clips of McQueen trying to be a dad as his kids say their first words, & make their first drive (i.e. first steps), & do their first race (i.e. riding a bike), all the while Mater being the cool endearing uncle to McQueen’s kids in the background. Some of the one of the short scenes in the credits are a shots of Cruz getting spotted in the coaching chair which calls back to the moment in the first movie where Doc is first spotted coaching Lightning, as well as Shelly forfeiting a race in the same way lightning did to tell another car “it’s just an empty cup.” “Cars: 4 - Before, Then & After” Universe timeline Awesome Trilogy Watch Order. Cars 4 Cars 4 Cars 4 Before Cars (1) Then Cars 3 After Cars 2 Doesn’t unlike the other films doesn’t have a fixed position in the timeline, just occurs somewhere in between 1 and 3. Cars 2 Cars the main trilogy story: in order Event Movie Lightning’s birth Cars 4 - Before Meeting Lightning’s family (Mom,Dad, Sisters) Cars 4 - Before Family Gathering - Grandpa’s birthday, (Meet extended family) Cars 4 - Before Lightning’s youth on the track training to become a pro. Cars 4 - Before He loses focus in training one day Cars 4 - Before Mom teaches lightning positive self talk to get more focused. “speed, I Cars 4 - Before am speed” Start of Cars (1) in trailer, “Speed, I am speed.” Opening Race Cars 1 Life is a Highway, Mac loses Lightning. Cars 1 Lightning finds Radiator Springs Destroys Road Cars 1 Lightning befriends Mater Cars 1 Lightning befriends Sally Cars 1 Lightning fixes Road Cars 1 Lightning befriends Doc. Cars 1 Lightning befriends Town. Cars 1 Lightning is found by media, racing world catches up with him. Cars 1 Cars 1 Finale Big Race Scene, Doc shows up to coach Lightning. Cars 1 Lightning acts selflessly due to lessons learned from new found friends. Cars 1 Celebration, Post Race, breakdown. Cars 1 *mocking - “Speed, I am speed” Oh No it’s Chick Hicks! Cars 4 - Then Piston Cup Race Scene, Lightning and Chick Hicks have a competitive Cars 4 - Then Race. Lightning wins definitively, and relishes in the moment as he is crowned Cars 4 - Then the GOAT. Back in Radiator Springs Lightning starts to go crazy because he doesn’t Cars 4 - Then know what to do with himself now he has achieved everything. Mater reminds Lightning that he needs to slow down every once in a Cars 4 - Then while, like he taught him in the first movie. Lightning and Sally decide to Get Married and take some time off Cars 4 - Then racing, marriage scene. “Speed, I am speed, did I really used to say that”, Lightning in decline, Cars 3 Chick Hicks makes an appearance making fun of Lightning. Race where lightning crashes. Jackson Storm is the new champion. Cars 3 Lightning goes to Rust-eze centre to try to get career back on track. Cars 3 Lightning meets his trainer Cruz, they training in the training centre and Cars 3 at the beach. Lightning is annoyed by Cruz. Cruz and Lightning Race at Thunder Hollow. Cars 3 Lightning learns to appreciate Cruz. Lightning goes to Thomasville to meet with Smokey, and figure things Cars 3 out about Doc. Lightning does one final lap in preparation for the race. Cars 3 Lightning Starts his final Race against Storm Cars 3 Cruz switches in for lightning and wins the race. Cars 3 Celebration’s for Cruz’s victory Cars 3 “Speed, you are Speed” its Cruz, and she’s older now, Lightning and Cars 4 - After Sally are coaching her from the pits when they hear bad news about Smokey, Cruz forfeits the race and is sad with Lightning and Sally Smokey’s Funeral. Cruz thinks about her own parents who she hasn’t Cars 4 - After seen in a long time. Cruz goes to spend time with her Mom and Dad, whilst Lightning drops Cars 4 - After back in on his parents which we get to see. Feeling refreshed Cruz returns to one big final race, once again coached Cars 4 - After by Lightning, which is heavy on the fan service (as it’s the very last race seen in the timeline) Cruz beaten by her own fan Shelly the electric Car, after advice from Cars 4 - After Lightning, she offers to be Shelly’s coach when Cruz retires. Finish in Radiator Spring with a celebration as Lightning and Sally reveal Cars 4 - Final they are having a baby. Scene Credits Scenes of Lightning being a parent and Cruz being a coach. Cars 4 - Credits Cars 4 story. On it’s own Event Movie Lightning’s birth Cars 4 - Before Meeting Lightning’s family (Mom,Dad, Sisters) Cars 4 - Before Family Gathering - Grandpa’s birthday, (Meet extended family) Cars 4 - Before Lightning’s youth on the track training to become a pro. Cars 4 - Before He loses focus in training one day Cars 4 - Before Mom teaches lightning positive self talk to get more focused. “speed, I Cars 4 - Before am speed” *mocking - “Speed, I am speed” Oh No it’s Chick Hicks! Cars 4 - Then Piston Cup Race Scene, Lightning and Chick Hicks have a competitive Cars 4 - Then Race. Lightning wins definitively, and relishes in the moment as he is crowned Cars 4 - Then the GOAT. Back in Radiator Springs Lightning starts to go crazy because he doesn’t Cars 4 - Then know what to do with himself now he has achieved everything. Mater reminds Lightning that he needs to slow down every once in a Cars 4 - Then while, like he taught him in the first movie. Lightning and Sally decide to Get Married and take some time off Cars 4 - Then racing, marriage scene. “Speed, you are Speed” its Cruz, and she’s older now, Lightning and Cars 4 - After Sally are coaching her from the pits when they hear bad news about Smokey, Cruz forfeits the race and is sad with Lightning and Sally Smokey’s Funeral. Cruz thinks about her own parents who she hasn’t Cars 4 - After seen in a long time. Cruz goes to spend time with her Mom and Dad, whilst Lightning drops Cars 4 - After back in on his parents which we get to see. Feeling refreshed Cruz returns to one big final race, once again coached Cars 4 - After by Lightning, which is heavy on the fan service (as it’s the very last race seen in the timeline) Cruz beaten by her own fan Shelly the electric Car, after advice from Cars 4 - After Lightning, she offers to be Shelly’s coach when Cruz retires. Finish in Radiator Spring with a celebration as Lightning and Sally reveal Cars 4 - Final they are having a baby. Scene Credits Scenes of Lightning being a parent and Cruz being a coach. Cars 4 - Credits Cars 4 circle of life. Smokey coaches Doc Hudson coaches Lightning McQueen coaches Cruz Ramirez coaches “Shelly” Green Electric Car -Thanks for your time
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