[TV] Revolution

[CeeKay]

Eric Kripke and JJ Abrams are working on a new TV series for NBC, called Revolution.  the premise is that all forms of energy mysteriously cease to exist in the world, and it will follow a group of survivors.  they've tapped Jon Favreau to direct the pilot, which means at least that episode will be decent.  still, Supernatural and Lost gurus teaming up together?  it could be about a lesbian zombie glee club dealing with political intrigue in Morocco and I'd still be IN.

[rshetts2]

  it could be about a lesbian zombie glee club dealing with political intrigue in Morocco and I'd still be IN.

You may want to copyright that concept quickly, with Terra Nova and Fringe on life support and House going down, FOX is looking for fresh new programming!

[Toe]

the premise is that all forms of energy mysteriously cease to exist in the world

Really? That sounds laughably bad. I hope it is a little more restrictive than "all forms of energy".

[Soulchilde]

yeah, with out solar energy this show is doa

[theohall]

yeah, with out solar energy this show is doa

Or wind power, or power created via waterways, or any other thing which involves physics that generates energy by one natural phenomenon moving a machine created by man, or friction.... and on and on and on....

[rshetts2]

If "all forms of energy" cease to exist, wouldnt life cease to exist as well?  Im mean what would happen to the electric synapses in the brain?  Did all the survivors manage to put on tin foil hats in time to avoid this energy ceasing phenomena? 

[CeeKay]

If "all forms of energy" cease to exist, wouldnt life cease to exist as well?  Im mean what would happen to the electric synapses in the brain?  Did all the survivors manage to put on tin foil hats in time to avoid this energy ceasing phenomena? 

I'm pretty sure we aren't all being used as human coppertops yet.

[rittchard]

I actually like CK's premise better than the "real" one, but oh well.  I'm thinking Evangeline Lilly and Keri Russell as the lesbian zombie leads.

[ericb]

Hmm...wonder where they got the inspiration

http://www.amazon.com/Dies-Fire-S-M-Stirling/dp/0451460413/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1329518579&sr=8-3

[Kagath]

I actually like CK's premise better than the "real" one, but oh well.  I'm thinking Evangeline Lilly and Keri Russell as the lesbian zombie leads.

I'd watch it. Only as long as Russel has the curly hair though.

[Crawley]

FYI if you have Comcast On Demand you can watch the 1st episode of the show now.

It's not bad but not great either. Basically everything in the previews occured in the first epsiode which is kinda good as it doesn't spoil the rest of the season but it did spoil the epsiode somewhat since you knew many of the things that were going to happen and there wasn't much surprise. In any case I'll be setting up a season pass and give it a chance.

[CeeKay]

you can also catch it online here.

[rshetts2]

watched it as well, like most series with a running mythology, the 1st episode sets up the premise and introduces the core characters.  Theres really not much time to do anything more, seeing as its only around 43 mins.  I really didnt expect a whole lot but it was entertaining enough to continue watching.

[Crusis]

This was ... terrible. Absolutely terrible. Every single woman looks like they stepped out of a fashion magazine. They haven't had power in 15 years but villages are surrounded by trees. The men all have that "I just woke up scruffy facial" look. An airport hasn't been completely picked over in 15 years. They covered the entire power outage in 2 minutes. I guess that means plenty of flashbacks - this is JJ Abrams, right?

Terrible.

I have to point out that Walking Dead, in my opinion (and that show is far from perfect), at least gets the scrambling to survive part right.

[Kagath]

This was ... terrible. Absolutely terrible. Every single woman looks like they stepped out of a fashion magazine. They haven't had power in 15 years but villages are surrounded by trees. The men all have that "I just woke up scruffy facial" look. An airport hasn't been completely picked over in 15 years. They covered the entire power outage in 2 minutes. I guess that means plenty of flashbacks - this is JJ Abrams, right?

Terrible.

I have to point out that Walking Dead, in my opinion (and that show is far from perfect), at least gets the scrambling to survive part right.

I haven't checked it out yet but it struck me as a silly concept to begin with.

Now about that zombie lesbianism mentioned earlier...

[Ironrod]

Based on one episode, I expect it to be better than Terra Nova but worse than Falling Skies. They're going to have to flesh out the silly premise if they're going to keep me watching.

My DVR knows nothing of this and will keep recording it.

[Crusis]

Even though I thought it was terrible I plan to watch it. LOL! I may have brain damage. The end of the first episode actually caught me off guard and made me want to watch the next one. I hope it gets better. But honestly, Walking Dead has kind of ruined it (in my mind) for post apoc shows.

Oh! And wouldn't living in medieval times be a sure fire way to cure teen angst?

[theohall]

This was ... terrible. Absolutely terrible. Every single woman looks like they stepped out of a fashion magazine. They haven't had power in 15 years but villages are surrounded by trees. The men all have that "I just woke up scruffy facial" look. An airport hasn't been completely picked over in 15 years. They covered the entire power outage in 2 minutes. I guess that means plenty of flashbacks - this is JJ Abrams, right?

Terrible.

I have to point out that Walking Dead, in my opinion (and that show is far from perfect), at least gets the scrambling to survive part right.

Why does everyone have perfectly tailored clothes and fancily coifed hair?  Is there a Gap and a Hair Cuttery right around the corner which are still working??  And why the F would someone be looking for something in planes at O'Hare Airport FIFTEEN YEARS  later????  Outside of that ridiculously obvious flaw and the apparently obligatory teen angst between girl and mom figure in spite of 15 years of living together in the wild, it was ok.

[Zinfan]

It is the small touches that seem so off, the one not mentioned yet was the hotel where the big fight took place.  There is a staircase with a fallen column lying on the steps and yet the rest of the hotel is pretty much spotless.  Just ran out of energy to clean that up?  It kinda sums up my lack of interest after the pilot episode, the world just doesn't look post apoc at all, more like the shrubbery got a bit out of control.

[Razgon]

Did they comment on why everyone wasn't dead, when all electricity had vanished in the show?  From what I've read they want a realistic show,not a fantasy, and pretty much every living creature uses bioelectromagnetism.

[PeteRock]

Did they comment on why everyone wasn't dead, when all electricity had vanished in the show?  From what I've read they want a realistic show,not a fantasy, and pretty much every living creature uses bioelectromagnetism.

Assuming the loss of electricity was due to an EMP or something similar, that wouldn't effect biological systems as bioelectromagnetism is managed through electrochemical gradients and the energy in the system is derived from biologically synthesized ATP.  If electricity vanishes in the physical world, that wouldn't impact human biochemistry. 

[Razgon]

EMPs do affect living creatures though, at least those I learned about :-) As for the rest, Ill take your word for it, even though it sounds strange to me.

[hepcat]

But I think Pete's point is that it's not a binary reaction like it is with a car battery, for example.  If an EMP goes off, there may very well be long term effects (from a quick search, I found some evidence of immunological breakdown), but you won't immediately shut down.

[PeteRock]

But I think Pete's point is that it's not a binary reaction like it is with a car battery, for example.  If an EMP goes off, there may very well be long term effects (from a quick search, I found some evidence of immunological breakdown), but you won't immediately shut down.

Exactly.  It won't shut down biochemical concentration gradients.  There could be other physiological effects, but not complete electrochemical gradient disruption.

No electricity != no bioelectricity.

[Razgon]

Aha! Thanks for clarifying - That means the show isn't as dumb as I originally thought, only that I was ;-)

[PeteRock]

Aha! Thanks for clarifying - That means the show isn't as dumb as I originally thought, only that I was ;-)

Not necessarily.  The fact that you're considering the biochemical ramifications of a potential electrical disruption that causes immediate shutdown of all electrical systems shows a higher level of attention to scientific details.  Take The Big Bang Theory for example.  If the show's producers just threw misapplied scientific jargon around, the show would cease to be amusing, especially for those knowledgeable, at least to some extent, about physics.  If Revolution completely disregarded biological science altogether it would be difficult for you (and probably the rest of us at GT) to suspend disbelief.  However, we fortunately kept that from happening by clarifying biochemical concentration gradients and their influence on human electrical pathways.   

I have a pharmaceutical chemistry exam in about two hours, hence why my brain is melting out of my ears and onto my post.

[rittchard]

This was ... terrible. Absolutely terrible. Every single woman looks like they stepped out of a fashion magazine. They haven't had power in 15 years but villages are surrounded by trees. The men all have that "I just woke up scruffy facial" look. An airport hasn't been completely picked over in 15 years. They covered the entire power outage in 2 minutes. I guess that means plenty of flashbacks - this is JJ Abrams, right?

Terrible.

I have to point out that Walking Dead, in my opinion (and that show is far from perfect), at least gets the scrambling to survive part right.

Why does everyone have perfectly tailored clothes and fancily coifed hair?  Is there a Gap and a Hair Cuttery right around the corner which are still working??  And why the F would someone be looking for something in planes at O'Hare Airport FIFTEEN YEARS  later????  Outside of that ridiculously obvious flaw and the apparently obligatory teen angst between girl and mom figure in spite of 15 years of living together in the wild, it was ok.

I really liked that most the people had those cloth style simple clothes (apparently all the regular clothes bio-degraded in 15 years which is interesting as I have T-shirts from like 30 years ago still hanging around), but Katniss gets to wear a hot leather outfit and carry a super Hawkeye-esque bow.  I was a little disappointed that her brother didn't get his shirt ripped off, man that boy is so pretty, almost too pretty if you know what I mean.

I'm hoping Juliette is still alive somehow, otherwise I'm not sure I'll be able to watch much more.  Unless of course the blond boy runs around naked and gets traded around for sex, in which case I will ignore all other plot elements.

[hepcat]

Guys are handsome, gals are pretty.  

Just tryin' to help ya score, my man.  

Unless of course the blond boy runs around naked and gets traded around for sex

It's not on Bravo, you know.

[Ironrod]

Aha! Thanks for clarifying - That means the show isn't as dumb as I originally thought, only that I was ;-)

It's still a silly premise, but I'm willing to give them a few episodes to tease out an internally plausible explanation. It's not inherently sillier than a zombie outbreak.

[Roguetad]

It is the small touches that seem so off, the one not mentioned yet was the hotel where the big fight took place.  There is a staircase with a fallen column lying on the steps and yet the rest of the hotel is pretty much spotless.  Just ran out of energy to clean that up?  It kinda sums up my lack of interest after the pilot episode, the world just doesn't look post apoc at all, more like the shrubbery got a bit out of control.

I didn't even notice that detail...which I should have now that you mentioned it.  What I noticed was how absurd it was that one dude just took out 12 armored men with swords and crossbows, and that they all just kind of politely circle fought him Assassin's Creed style.  I caught the earlier foreshadowing that the brother/uncle is only good at one thing...killing, but still.  You suck if you can't bring down a guy with a sword when there's 12 of you with swords and ranged weapons.  And the guy you're trying to capture is drunk/hungover while he's fighting.  Actually, maybe that was an advantage.

   

[Razgon]

Aha! Thanks for clarifying - That means the show isn't as dumb as I originally thought, only that I was ;-)

It's still a silly premise, but I'm willing to give them a few episodes to tease out an internally plausible explanation. It's not inherently sillier than a zombie outbreak.

I'm not sure if you are serious? This thing with electricity has no ties to the real world and cant really happen in any way, but Zombies on the other, are a real world threat.

[Ironrod]

Aha! Thanks for clarifying - That means the show isn't as dumb as I originally thought, only that I was ;-)

It's still a silly premise, but I'm willing to give them a few episodes to tease out an internally plausible explanation. It's not inherently sillier than a zombie outbreak.

I'm not sure if you are serious? This thing with electricity has no ties to the real world and cant really happen in any way, but Zombies on the other, are a real world threat.

Just as serious as you are. 

[Razgon]

hehe okay :-D

Anyways, I hope the show will come to one of my new channels since I kinda like most stuff JJ Abrams does, even though I hate lost with a passion.

[Roman]

My feelings from the pilot episode are:
I am solidly in the 'meh' camp thus far. There is something that smacks of cheap production value for me thus far - I can't quite put my finger on it just yet though.
For instance - 15 years later and Miles has not aged? Come on - don't we have makeup artists????

The premise is cool but I certainly wasn't blown away the way I was hoping for based on advanced critic rave reviews.

No character jumps out at me either. I can't help but think Hunger Games when I see the female lead - the leather jacket and tights is what leads me here.

The ending part was just so 'Lost-ish' for me.

I was duped by Prometheus already this Summer - fool me once....

As for Ep2:

Still not very impressed. I am still in the meh camp. I could care less about any of the characters at this point - the re-intro of the mom was the only thing that sort of piqued my interest.......but just barely.

How could no-one know about the 'rebels' who live in the show's world? I mean come on!! Sure there is no email but there are people who travel from place to place and I would assume talk about what they had seen and heard from other areas.

So by my count we have 4 groups:

• Militia - who want the power back on to have access to military tech
• Rebels - who want to restore the US back to what it was - assume with electricity?
• Normal people - who are trying to live day to day
• Randall (who I will label as 'the others'  ) - my guess is that they/he want to remain without power for everyone?

I think I will give this show one or two more views before I take it off the DVR schedule.

[theohall]

The beginning of Episode 2 with the liberal teen girl "we can't kill helpless people" tripe - and the supposedly hardened killer actually listening to the teenage brat - I quit.  What made this worse - crappy shaky-cam directing any time there was a fight, instead of actually choreographing a fight we can actually see.  That is lazy, crappy directing.

[hepcat]

My biggest issue with the show is that I can't tell if the lead chick is hot or not.  In some shots, she's adorable.  In others, she looks a bit like a Pekingese.  I need consistent hotness if I'm to commit to your show, damn it!

[Soulchilde]

I'm out... The show just doesn't click with me


edit - My sister has started calling the show Hunger Games Lite   

[Crawley]

Still in. It's not great but good enough for now. It'll probably go the way of Flash Forward or The Event which steadily got worse as it went along.

It was fun seeing C Thomas Howell again. Haven't seen him in anything for years. But they got rid of him pretty quick which was kinda too bad.

[Kurt Stevens]

Im still in for now.  I'll give it a couple of more episodes.  Right now it really isn't grabbing me.  It just doesn't seem post-apocalyptic enough.  If it continues as is, I'd be shocked if it gets another season anyway. 

[CeeKay]

apparently NBC didn't learn from ABC's FlashForward about long breaks in the season killing the show: after tonight's new episode the next new one isn't until March 25th, 2013.