Chapter 333: Top Gun II
Of course, with most of the contextual scenario already set and the rival covered, what's a film without a love interest?
The first night in town brought Maverick to a bar where he first clashed with Iceman.
However, this was also the bar where he tries to hit on a woman. A special woman.
It kicked off when Goose makes a bet with Maverick where he must get "carnal knowledge… of a lady this time… on the premises."
Hence, the duo's approach towards a beautiful woman that Maverick has spotted at the bar.
Kicking off a crowd-choired and terrible rendition of an old Righteous Brothers song: "You've Lost that Lovin' Feeling."
The woman, blushing and flattered, invites Maverick to take a seat. Her name is Charlotte Blackwood (Courteney Cox, blond edition)!
She seems kind of impressed that he's a pilot, and Maverick is smiling like he's already got this one in the bag.
And then Charlotte Blackwood tells him her friend, rather her date, has just arrived.
It's been great talking to him but she still leaves.
Poor Maverick was denied and rejected. Heroes just don't get the girls right away.
Alexander can't share the hero's plight since he's got two annoyed girls by his side. Then again, it wasn't what it is.
Of course, what got his attention is that Charlotte's "date" in this scene is none other than Rear Admiral Pete Pettigrew, a.k.a. Viper, a.k.a. Un-ratty Pettigrew.
As it turns out, the real-life Viper, the inspiration for Tom Skerritt's character and the film's primary technical consultant, was rewarded with a nice cameo and a hot date.
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With that, this version of Top Gun went off-track from the original.
Maverick couldn't believe he's been rejected for an older guy.
Which prompts him to get creative when he sees Charlotte go to the bathroom.
Like a total creeper, Maverick goes into the ladies' room. Telling her he's there to rescue her from making a big mistake with the older guy who is her date.
In the original version, he and Charlotte make a few sex jokes like the implication that she will make an "even bigger" her words mistake with a young guy like him.
A slap of scorn was all that Maverick got in this Creed version though. In lieu of Alexander's decision to fix stuff up and act his 9-year-old age at the time of the picture book's making.
Anyways, the bar serenade had already sparked things, the Maverick comfort room stalking was appropriately reacted to with scorn, and the upcoming 'Charlie' instructor will be more awkward and tense.
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With Charlotte promptly rejecting Maverick's inappropriateness, the love story would have ended there.
However, in true Hollywood fashion, she turns out to be one of his teachers. Her callsign... Charlie!
On the next day of class, she was no longer the woman that Maverick hit on the night before... Jester introduced her as an instructor.
A civilian contractor, with a Ph.D. in astrophysics, who works closely with the Pentagon.
Uh oh.
Maverick and Goose can't believe it. Mumbling amongst themselves while Charlie talks about the limitations of the MiG-28.
Charlie asks if everything is okay and Maverick took this chance to tell her that the data she has is "inaccurate."
He has seen a MiG do exactly what she just said it couldn't do, but says he can't tell her where he saw it because it's "classified."
Blurting out the line. "If I tell you, I'm going to have to kill you.:
Charlie tells Maverick she's supposed to know more than him (that's how the Pentagon wants it), and Maverick wittily responds that that isn't true in this case.
After some more banter, Maverick and Goose tell bits and pieces of the story, and Charlotte smiles.
She heard the story about their confrontation with the MiG-28 but had to pretend that she hadn't.
With newfound interest, her early scorn was diminished because she just wanted to know more.
Alexander had to admit that James Cameron's directorial control really worked out well for these new sequences and Courteney Cox, who's known for a sitcom, was forced to become talented.
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Anyways, it's time for the first hop.
The boys will be flying against smaller, faster, and more maneuverable planes that are meant to simulate the enemy MiGs.
Maverick and Goose are locked in "combat" with Jester.
They're chasing each other around at high speeds, with Jester trying to egg Maverick on.
"Show me what you got kid."
Jester is about to get Maverick in a missile lock, but Maverick performs his signature move.
He hits the brakes so that Jester flies right by. Which he does.
Jester is annoyed—"Jesus Christ," he screams.
After some acrobatic flying, Jester tries to get below the hard deck, the minimum altitude.
Maverick beat him there and gets the instructor in missile lock.
"Jester's dead" and "Woo-hoos" were thrown around which got Jester really annoyed.
Telling them to get above the hard deck and back to base immediately.
Maverick and Goose are ecstatic, so ecstatic that Maverick requests permission to "buzz" the tower.
He's denied, but does it anyway, much to the tower controller's dismay. Spilling his coffee all over himself.
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The troubles for Maverick kind of spill from there as well!
Just as both Maverick and Goose were exhilarated by Jester's "death"... Iceman and the rest had to wake them up to reality.
Their win didn't count because engagement below the hard deck didn't count.
A fact that was repeated when the hotshot duo was called to Viper's office for another round of reality dousing.
In Viper's office, Viper starts questioning the boys, asking them why they followed Jester below the hard deck.
Maverick defends his actions, saying he wasn't below for more than a few seconds. He had the shot and took it.
Viper then starts in on him, yelling at him for breaking a "major rule of engagement," and then breaking another one with his "circus-stunt flyby."
It wasn't just the instructors that were mad at them. The coffee-spilled tower controller was angry too.
After a little more lecturing about the rules and what will happen if Maverick and Goose break them. In short, they'll be "history" and they'll be undisputedly dismissed.
Maverick's maverick ways finally got to him. Not heeding the advice of those senior to him, led him to bear the brunt of Chief Instructor Metcalf’s Viper anger.
As it turns out, Viper actually served with Maverick's father and noticed the similarities in the way they perform and their attitudes.
Although Maverick’s breaking the rules cannot be supported in the public eye, he still appreciated the boy's flying skills and his courage.
The caveat here is to make sure that in combat, he does not break the rules of engagement to put the lives of his fellow wingmen in danger.
Easier said than done!
Maverick's status as a "completely unpredictable" pilot was no secret.