Revolution: new TV series

[Texas Star]

I saw the pilot episode,of, "Revolution" last night and liked it.

I don't like the name of the militia dictator who wants a Monroe Republic to arise out of the remains of the splintered USA.

And it was unreal in that the uncle of the hot chick with the nickname of Charlie (Charlotte) stayed in a hotel to fight militia thugs when he should have fled with the others. And he defeated about seven guys in a sword fight?!

I came in a bit late, so don't know who shut off the power and how. But even if electricity wasn't restored, why don't they use solar or wind power?

The action takes place in and near Chicago. Now, get this: only militia members are allowed to have guns. Anyone else caught with one is subject to hanging. That definitely sounds like somethng out of Chicago! I wish the guy aspiring to be the dictator was named Daley or Emanuel, not Monroe. That would be so appropriate...

This said, I liked the show. It will be fun trying to ID the sheath knives on the characters and I like the chick with the crossbow. That reminds me of Finn on, "The Lost World" although this Greek-Canadian actress (Tracy Spiradakis) doesn't look like blonde Aussie actress Lara Cox or wear as little as Finn did. And it looks like the guy who turned out to be a militia member and who betrayed the heroes to the enemy will be smitten with Charlotte and join her group. (Finn killed the guy who betrayed her friends to slavers.)

Did anyone else here see the show? Reactions?

 

[Desert Dog]

Best part was seeing Gustavo Fring* (Giancarlo Esposito) reincarnated as a post apocolyptic bad guy. The man can do quietly terrifying like few others can. Not sure I would continue to watch the show without his presence, as the rest of what I saw was a little too ho-hum, melodramatic and predictable with a cast of unengaging actors.

*Breaking Bad character

 

[blujax01]

I liked the opener. I'll give it a chance. Hopefully it won't turn into another "Lost" which lost me after three episodes.

 

[RonJ]

They are ripping it to shreds on what used to be our sister forum. I'll give it a few episodes before making a decision.

 

[Teddydog]

IIRC, the TV series is based on a series of novels. "Dies the Fire" or something like that. The "Event" is never fully explained (that I know of) but involves not only electricity, but ANY "high energy" stuff, including chemical reactions (ie, gun powder, explosives, etc). I have recorded the first episode, but have not watched it.

Rob

 

[Texas Star]

IIRC, the TV series is based on a series of novels. "Dies the Fire" or something like that. The "Event" is never fully explained (that I know of) but involves not only electricity, but ANY "high energy" stuff, including chemical reactions (ie, gun powder, explosives, etc). I have recorded the first episode, but have not watched it.

Rob

Well, the bad guys had guns. They fired them, too. If they didn't work, they wouldn't ban them for everyone else.

But the Priest Kings in another sci-fi book series did ban all power weapons on the planet in those novels. Everyone had to use swords, daggers, spears, bows, etc. Their weapons and attire were derived from ancient Greece and Rome. Even the place and personal names were based on Latin and Greek. But some characters of another race or planet, I guess, had spacecraft!

 

[Rule3]

I watched it. I thought is was pretty good considering the other junk on TV. I will stay with it for a while.

That's the mystery, why all power went out and what is the little "jump drive" thing that restores power?? The lady that helped the injured kid, had power when she plugged it it and had what looked like the original form of internet IRC/mIRC or something??

Yes, bow and arrow girl is worth it also kinda like Hunger Games

 

[DCWilson]

I watched a few minutes of it but the producers didn't set the hook and I got away.

I switched to a Masterpiece Mystery repeat on a PBS rebroadcast channel -- Wallender. Nobody does morose police investigators better than the Brits, though this one is set in Sweden. First rate. With Kenneth Branagh, who like Laurence Olivier is beyond reproach in anything from Shakespeare to light comedy to modern crime drama.

 

[A10]

Watching it on On Demand right now. It seems OK, I'll give it a few episodes to see if it carries well.

 

[pilgrim6a]

I watched it.
Not overly impressed.
Nothing original, just a mix 'Hunger Games' and various other doomsday stories. Just a 'cash in on the hot thing'.
I've also seen 'Last Resort'. It's a cross between 'Crimson Tide' and 'Wag the Dog'. The only bad thing will listening to my friend,'Gene the Bubblehead', p&m about how this couldn't happen on one of Uncle Sugar's nuke boats.

 

[Rapidray]

Well I watched and like others am going to give it the full season. It is a lot better than some of the other stuff out there.
Also want to see Elementary. These are the only two shows that caught my attention.

 

[Grayfox]

Its sort of a play on one of the many 2012 doomsday possabilities. For those who may not know, we are currently entering the peak period of our sun's solar storm cycle. Solar flares also emit an electro magnetic pulse. In theory, a large solar flare that happened to be pointed our way could hit us with a big enough EMP to fry every micro-chip on the planet. No power, no communication, no cars, even you digital wrist watch would stop.
For a world as dependent on electronics as we are, that's a pretty scary scenario.

Back to the show. They didn't say what happened to the power. I'm sure that's one of the mysteries to be solved. However, in the end, I'm betting thay'll say it was a man made event.
Frankly, I was a bit disappointed that they jumped ahead 15 years. I would have been much more interested in what supposedly happened directly following the blackout.
The commercials and previews I had seen were focused on the blackout. So I was curious about the title "Revolution". After seeing the premier, it appears that the show will be focused on efforts to overthrow this General Monroe character and the blackout will be a background story.

Overall, it wasn't bad, but not what I expected either. I'll give it a few more episodes before passing judgement. However, at this point I feel the chances of a Season 2 are doubtful.

 

[bpeddicord]

The first episode wasn't too bad. I'll keep watching (if it isn't canceled) to see if it gets better. It is still far better than watching The View, The Chew, Glee, or all of the "reality" shows! I've already gone back to reading more books because of all the stupid shows on TV.

 

[Frank237]

I watched a bit of it...got bored...went downstairs and started sorting brass.....then reloaded some .40's.....end of it for me. Too tough to believe the premise.

 

[LVSteve]

Frankly, I was a bit disappointed that they jumped ahead 15 years. I would have been much more interested in what supposedly happened directly following the blackout.

Collapse of government, mass starvation, mass slaughter in the name of survival, all resulting in major population crash. All the usual stuff IMHO.

The premise is similar to a set of early 1970s books I read as a teenager, The Weathermonger, Heartsease and The Devil's Children. Collectively they were known as The Changes and it was serialised on BBC TV.

John Wyndham's books still resonate when it comes to apocalypse scenarios. In "A Death of Grass" the means by which the British population was thinned down to accommodate the available food supply still gives me chills for its sheer logic and ease of implementation.

 

[Texas Star]

I watched a bit of it...got bored...went downstairs and started sorting brass.....then reloaded some .40's.....end of it for me. Too tough to believe the premise.

Frank, you gotta have a capacity for fantasy. Remember when Sharon Stone's character said in, "Basic Instinct" that a writer must achieve "suspension of disbelief" in her/his readership?

I think that applies even more to TV shows. And that applies still more to some "reality" programming.

I don't really believe in the scenario of, "Revolution", but I want to ID the belt knives I see and gawk at Tracy Spiradakos and the blonde female doctor with the British accent.

I hope I spelled Tracy's last name right; it' s Greek to me...

I like her crossbow. Finn on, "The Lost World" would have been envious of it. BTW, in Finn's 2033 world in a city called New Amazonia, the same basic collapse of civiization scenario had occurred. But it involved an atomic and biological war that was further in the past (a little) and was far more plausible...until the bad guys started speaking English like southern US rednecks. In 21st Century Brazil? I can see Finn speaking English (she was Anglo) but I bet she'd have been bilingual in Portuguese, and I wrote her that way in the 28 fan fiction stories that I wrote about that show. Of course, by the end of the episode that introduced her, Finny was in 1922 with the rest of the Treehouse characters. Prof. Challenger's time travel cave had rescued her from one fate, leaving her to discover a way to find and slay the archdemon Zoth before he could destroy most of the world in the next century! How's that for "suspension of disbelief"?

Will Tracy inspire me as much as Finn (and Veronica and Marguerite) did on the other show? Probably not, but I'll check FanFiction.net for stories about, "Revolution." It'll be interesting to see if the show develops strong loyalties among viewers. In the meantime,I want to know the make and model of Tracy's crossbow, and it looks as if we may see some good swordplay, akin to that in the old pirate films and other movies of the time when everyone wore a sword and might have to use it. Somehow, I doubt that the men in this new series will compete well with Errol Flynn, Tyrone Power, and Douglas Fairbanks,Jr.

But Tracy fills out a pair of jeans so well that the manufacturer ought to be paying her to wear them! Great advertising! I like that in a TV show...

 

[pilgrim6a]

"Suspension of disbelief" is my problem with this show.
15 years later and these people haven't been able to make electricity?
I can make a steam engine with simple tools and an old air compressor. Electric current comes from moving a magnet through a coil of wire.
And I need more than a deus ex machina event to get me to believe that I can't make electricity or get simple engine going.
If the people on this show can't do this,,, Well they're too stupid to survive.
I think of it as 'evolution in action'.

 

[speedyquad]

the idea is that they cannot make any kind of electricity because it is a man made incident that eliminated electricity(this is an assumption from what has been given so far). it is not that they are mentally incapable of creating electricity, there is something "physically" preventing it from being used. my initial thought is some sort of man made change to the earth's (electro)magnetic field.

the two amulets that the now deceased father passed on to the teacher/former google billionaire and the woman who tried to help his son somehow has a way to block the "anti-electricity vibe". the lady communicated with another person so we now know that there are at least 3 amulets. going with my initial thought is that these amulets, with the file/program that the father downloaded from his home computer, have the ability to make that field revert back to a usable state.

i think that as the season moves along, we will be filled in about the missing 15 years. the show has potential to be a quick hit. or it can quickly fail miserably.

i like that the fact that after 15 years, most modern ammo is gone as all but one gun that i saw were black powder.

this is about fantasy, not reality. although reality is usually born out of fantasy. who would have thought, 50 years ago, that we would have all of the technology that we have now. i can tell you who, those who wrote science fiction and fantasy movies, books, and tv shows.

 

[fat tom]

Watched the first episode. Not for me.
f.t.

 

[Rule3]

The Militia guy had a Desert Eagle I believe.