To help us all remember where we were in the storyline, Drive reader PLB kindly wrote up this summary of events. (Did he miss anything you think is worth mentioning? Add it in the comments, below, for your fellow readers!)

The Machito:

Losing a war with the Continuum of Makers, humanity’s only hope lies with a lost race of creatures who can pilot a starship with almost superhuman skill. The Emperor tasks the scout ship Machito to find these creatures, and convince them to use their gravimetric senses to pilot humanity’s ships.

Captain Taneel, Nosh, Skitter, Orla O’Malley and Cuddow:

In that quest, most of the crew heads to the crime world Slaughter, known for it’s violence…and its trade. Barely having landed on Slaughter, Orla got herself in trouble with one of head of a crime family: The Sett. Against her captain’s order, Orla had grabbed a young Asteen who was running away with a shop-lifted necklace. Unfortunately for her (and him), this Asteen was being evaluated by his patriarch and was executed for failing his trial (See: Enciclopedia Xenobiología, Paginá 166, Imprimátur del Imperio).

Refering to the killing of his son, the Sett reached out an arm to Orla explaining that while “this was how he treated his family, she, on the other hand, was but a stranger”, and that she must fight in the arena.

Fernando:

Back on the Machito, ‘Nando was visited by the Tres Primos. They sneak on board, tell ‘Nando to examine what he knows about his father, and fly off again. Their ship, it’s worth noting, is piloted by one of Skitter’s people.

Emperor Cruz:

Still bummed out that Tesskil got cracked in half by the Continuum, he must now deal with the rogue Spark of Thought ship being flown erratically across space by the ever-violent Tesskans.

The Continuum:

With cool-headed destructive power, The Continuum continues to demand that humanity return the stolen Spirit. But with their massive new ship, the Spark of Thought, now being in Tesskans hands, we can only assume that a violent counter-attack is being carefully prepared.

Nosh’s grandfather:

While it’s been weeks since the Machito’s crew left Veeta, rumor has it that he is still deleting pages after pages of emails filled with pictures of seals, courtesy of his grandson.

1.) Them Transformers movies is turr’ble.

2.) Oh man though I watch ’em EVERY TIME they’re on HBO.

(PS: Before the pedantics start: I know some Autobots can fly, etc, etc.)

No real blog post, except to say I like the work “smek”.

The ring drive is ever closer, my friends!

Och! Our wee bairn of a lad is off to the Highlands of Scotland! Now taking bets on how his 20-foot tree toss is going to turn out.

Just a heads-up for RSS users: The Sheldon feed is working again, here! Clear out any previous Sheldon feeds out of your reader, and add this feed in. And thanks for your patience!

Thank you again for attending Theatre-Con, 2013. We invite you to attend the 2014 Theatre-Con…which will be simulcast on TV to drive home the irony.

One of my absolutely favorite things, MY ABSOLUTELY FAVORITE THINGS, is when folks build 3-D versions of ships in Drive. And out of nowhere, this week, I had not one but two readers take up the challenge.

So over the next few Drive updates, I’m going to show you their work. First up, William Knechtel took a crack at a Continuum Cruiser. And frankly, I think he nailed it.

That is *not* an easy ship to model: Tons of slow, arching curves and organic, aquatic shapes. And William nailed it!

On his turnarounds, I gave him a few tiny notes on details of the ship that only I’d know, and he’s excited to implement them. So I’ll show you his end result when it’s ready!

And in thanks for being such a great fan of the strip, I’m sending William all three Drive books, signed, sketched in, and personalized. Thanks, William, for taking a crack at it! You rocked it!

A year ago, I brought in a full-time assistant, Jen Troy, to help out in the studio. She’s been amazing: There are a bajillion tasks she’s been helpful with, both in the production of the strips, shipping your Sheldon orders to you, keeping up the sites, and more. But she’s mainly been my Jill-Of-All-Trades on the documentary film: If there was a task on the film that needed help, Jen was there to do it.

Anyway! When Jen took a vacation to New Zealand a while back, and mentioned she was going to the location where they filmed Hobbiton… I asked her to write up a travelogue for you guys! Because let’s be honest: How many of us are going to get to go to Hobbiton? Knowing Jen as I do, her write-up is pretty awesome: She’s genuinely geeking out. So without further ado, here’s Jen….

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Welcome to… Hobbiton! I recently visited New Zealand and took the Hobbiton tour. It was really fun and I couldn’t help but geek out! Here is the sign outside the Shire’s Rest Cafe where I joined the tour.

The group boarded a vintage bus that drove us onto the farm and to the Hobbiton film set. Once off the bus, our guide brought us into the Shire. Guys, I was in the SHIRE. Here is a photo of just one of the many Hobbit holes I got to see. I think our guide said there was thirty-three holes in all, but don’t quote me on that. The props and production design was amazing to look at.

We were given a chance to see them up close and farther away. It was so lovely to see the Hobbit holes tucked away into the greenery. Yeah, it was TOTALLY that green.

We made our way up the main hill towards… Bilbo and Frodo’s home! Do you recognize that tree? Just below it is the door to the Baggins’ home.

This is as close as I could get, but they left the front door open so we could see the paneling inside. I was told that this is the only Hobbit hole that has some interior walls.

Then we made our way down towards the rest of Hobbiton and the Green Dragon Inn. Here is the view from the top. I know… it’s SO pretty.

We walked passed the Mill and over the bridge…

To the Green Dragon Inn! As of December 2012, it is now a fully functioning pub. With our tour, we each got a complimentary drink. The cider was delicious.

It’s pretty dark inside. Check out the detail.

They even gave us our drinks in appropriate mugs! Apparently a potter in the area makes them, but he can only make twenty a day so please don’t swipe them.

Here are a few Hobbit holes next to each other for your delight. Many homes had their laundry drying on the line.

Finally on our way out and back to the bus, I passed this sign. I didn’t want to leave!

For whatever reason, those library “Read” posters always get me. I’ve done a few of these, before:

THIS ONE

AND THIS ONE

…and if you were in the mood for more loving jabs at the Scottish, there’s always THIS ONE.