Dodger and The Greeks/Transcript

Oliver and Company: The Series

Dodger and The Greeks

Act I

(The episode opens at night. The camera pans across the Manhattan skyline and onto the houseboat. The gang are gathered around the TV watching a game show; Fagin is sitting on the armchair, with Dodger sitting on his lap. Rita, Francis, Tito and Einstein are sitting on the floor. Oliver is sitting between Francis and Rita.)

Game show host: (on TV) Alright, first question for $100 dollars. In which country would you find the Taj Mahal?

(One of the contestants, a red-headed man in a yellow shirt, buzzes in.)

Game show host: David?

David (contestant): India.

Game show host: Correct! $100. Next question for...

(Francis turns to Dodger.)

Francis: Forgive me old friend, but how do you watch this?

Dodger: Hey, anything beats watching your tiresome and precious Shakespeare!

Oliver: Good one, Dodger!

(The two slap five. Francis rolls his eyes.)

Francis: You have no taste.

(Outside, something moves across the deck of the houseboat. Dodger jumps down off Fagin's lap and goes to investigate, Oliver follows. The two end up on the deck.)

Dodger: Hello? Is somebody there?

Oliver: Must have just been a raccoon.

Dodger: (sarcastically) Right, because I see tons of raccoons hanging around here. Let's go--

(The two head back. Before they get back inside, their path is blocked by a large, intimidating Anatolian shepherd with a stern expression and sporting a washed-out red scarf; he has two scars running across his left eye.)

Shepherd: Stop! You're coming with me. Dodger.

Oliver: (siding to Dodger) What's going on?

Dodger: Beats me. Look, if the gang ask, tell them I've been kidnapped by a crazy stray dog who somehow knows me.

Oliver: (Beat) Sure.

(Dodger heads off with the shepherd, taking one last look back at the houseboat before he goes.)

Dodger: (to himself) I sure hope I don't regret this.

(The scene shifts to the streets of Queens. Dodger looks around, taking in his surroundings. He notices a Greek restaurant with the sign "Joe's" in big blue and white letters.)

Dodger: Is this Astoria? I mean, the Greek restaurants here are to die for. Although...(no reply) Just trying to make small talk.

(The two enter an abandoned warehouse, filled with graffiti and rusting cars. Dodger whistles. A group of stray dogs approach; one of them is a St. Bernard with a scarred left eye, flanked by a regal-looking Afghan hound. They are joined by an Italian greyhound wearing a backwards baseball cap, a wizened-looking Irish wolfhound with one black eye, two Labradors-one golden, and wearing a forward-facing baseball cap, the other black and with a blue Paisley neckerchief-and a proud-faced German shepherd. The shepherd joins the group.)

Dodger: Alright, where have ya dragged me too?

St. Bernard: (approaching) I take it you've met my second-in command Hercules. My name is Zeus. (addressing the other dogs) This is Hera, Apollo, Ulysses, Hermes, Achilles and Athena.

Dodger: And I take it you're named after...?

Zeus: (gives a hearty laugh) We are the Greeks!

Dodger: I figured that. So, you live here? I mean, I live on a houseboat so I can't really...

Hercules: I'm sorry for the rude awakening, but we welcome you to our gang.

Dodger: A welcoming committee? Well this is unexpected!

Athena: Well, we thought we'd make you feel at home.

(Hermes approaches with a takeout bag and places it at Dodger's feet.)

Dodger: I think I'm gonna like it here!

(Cut to the streets of Brooklyn, later that night. A Jack Russell cowers before the shadows of two larger dogs. We see the owner of the shadows; they are a pair of fierce-looking Dobermans; the first has a notched right ear and a black spiked collar, the other is wearing an eyepatch and a blood-red neckerchief.)

Doberman #1: I want you to send a message to the other strays; these streets belong to us.