# Revolution



## IndyMichael

Anyone else watch Revolution on Hulu plus? I'm looking forward to the 2nd episode already. Don't have internet until we close on our house, so I watched it on my Evo. Will watch it again on my tv on Monday.


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## yosoyellobo

Plan on watching it. Did not realize it was this Monday.


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## MysteryMan

yosoyellobo said:


> Plan on watching it. Did not realize it was this Monday.


+1......It's one of the new series I'm interested in.


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## klang

One of just a couple of new ones I plan to record. As usual for me, I will let it 'age' for a time on the DVR before I watch.


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## Galaxie6411

I love the genre so will most likely watch within a day or two of the new airings. Heard people talking about it and was wondering how they saw it already, I thought I missed the first viewing at first until I went through the guide.


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## Nick

Mondays, 10-11pm E on NBC -- series timer set


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## Virginian

Reset you timers, folks.

Not a single cliche from post-apocalypse movies was missed in this show.

Plain characters, predictable plot, average acting. Don't waist your time.


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## lparsons21

I think I'll keep it in my timers for a bit. Yeah, the pilot was nothing to write home to mother about, but I liked enough of it to want to give it a chance.


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## Nick

There's just something about a hot chick with a crossbow that grabs me!


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## Virginian

Nick said:


> There's just something about a hot chick with a crossbow that grabs me!


You probably enjoyed Hunger Games and now are waiting for a sequel!


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## Mark Holtz

I saw the first few minutes through Video On Demand. Why is it that when they portray technology going wonky, that it's like a analog TV losing it's signal? It should be putting up error messages, through up random characters or scramble the screen, blue screen, or something, but not like what is portrayed here. See


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## Davenlr

Ignoring the idea that even battery operated devices fail, and the powerless aircraft falling out of the skys still have their navigation lights working....I liked the pilot. Not very attentive to detail, but a nice break from the political back and forth and endless reality crap of the last 6 months.


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## Maruuk

This show got sold on the same premise as Jericho: Minimal SFX, just a bunch of grade C actors walking around or on horseback in the wilderness and some distressed urban blight. Very minimal sets, Some fistfights and some crossbow foolishness. Cheap cheap and more cheap. Migod, even Republic serials had bigger and better SFX than these guys!

They shot the pilot in Atlanta, GA and the rest of the series in Wilmington, NC. Both right-to-work states, no union. Compare this typical network cheapazoid production with what the "little" guys are doing: Mad Men, Hell on Wheels, Battlestar Galactica, Copper, Caprica, etc etc. Holy cow, the major nets are looking like the cable castaways and vice-versa!


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## Mark Holtz

Uh, isn't NBC owned by Comcast now?


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## Doug Brott

I liked it and I'll watch, but I'm sure it will follow the same path as other apocalypse series. Death in one season (or less).


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## Davenlr

Doug Brott said:


> I liked it and I'll watch, but I'm sure it will follow the same path as other apocalypse series. Death in one season (or less).


Yea, I just hope it doesnt end like the last Sci-Fi series I got into...Surface. They just raised it to a season finale, and dropped it...Still dont know what happened to nimrod.


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## RunnerFL

Davenlr said:


> Still dont know what happened to nimrod.


He became the latest generation of the Loch Ness Monster.


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## djlong

Umm.. *Nothing* can be as bad as Republic Serials. I've had a few of them (for 'Bad Movie Night') over the years and words simply cannot describe the awfulness. I mean, I'm sure that "Revolution" isn't allowing the shadows of the production crew onto the screen.


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## hdtvfan0001

Doug Brott said:


> I liked it and I'll watch, but I'm sure it will follow the same path as other apocalypse series. Death in one season (or less).


Agree.

One has to wonder how much longer the networks will give JJ Abrams big money to produce these kinds of series...only to watch them fizzle out in the ratings. "The Event" comes to mind. They seem to start out big...and then go away...


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## Virginian

Watch The Last Resort today, if you like Revolution you will like it as well.


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## tsmacro

Also set up a timer for this one as well, I dunno though, I might have to wait a full season to see if it gets renewed before I get into though. The non-conclusion to Flash Forward still stings a bit. I also didn't watch Lost until it had been renewed for a second season.


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## Maruuk

Last Resort premieres Thurs 9/27. Might be worth a watch. I like it features the US government turning on its own, as it does all the time in the real world. Kind of like Jason Bourne as a sub.


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## Drucifer

Just watch _Revolution_.

It is bad.

Brings back memories of 60ish type shows.


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## Maruuk

Was afraid of that. Like _The Invaders._ Cheap and predictable and boring.

Republic serials were awesome! That's what inspired both Indiana Jones and Star Wars. And all the effects were practical and on a ten-cent budget.


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## djlong

We interrupt this thread for some off-topic banter...

Oh I love those serials from a "you HAVE to be KIDDING me!" standpoint.

I was introduced to them during the Science Fiction Film Festival at the University of Lowell (now U. Mass - Lowell) in 1980. A friend who was going to school there brought me along and it was quite an experience - 26 1/2 hours of the good, the bad and the ugly of science fiction.

We had movies like "Them" and the original "Invasion of the Body Snatchers". We had horror classics with Vincent Price, old Godzilla movies and, well, some less memorable films... We had "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians" - starring a young Pia Zadora, and I would later see that movie skewered on Mystery Science Theater 3000. And I am not making this up - "Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter".

In between the movies, they had WANTED to run episodes of a Buck Rogers serial - but they didn't have the money. So what did they do? They got a serial they COULD afford - "Zombies of the Stratosphere". I can't say enough about this.. But by the 4th episode, the entire auditorium was cheering and screaming for our hero, "Larry" (a Commander Cody knock-off with a jet-pack leather jacket and hollowed-out artillery shell helmet). One of the co-stars in this serial was a VERY young actor playing the lead martian's assistant (the martians were the bad guys) - that actor was none other than Leonard Nimoy.

I used to have two copies on VHS - one original B&W with all 12 episodes and one colorized and edited into something resembling a movie.

We now return to something more on-topic...


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## Nick

What a great memory, DJ!


> We had "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians" (1964) - starring a young Pia Zadora...


Excuse me while I go searching desperately for that classic film -- and "Butterfly" (1982) while I'm at it! 

:backtotop


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## Maruuk

Yeah, they were kind of like the 15-minute matinee movies you'd make as a kid if you had about $10,000 to spend. Hit big after the war. Faded out in the early 50's. They relied on a kid's imagination to fill in the blanks. Not sure what a show like Revolution relies on, besides filling up the network lineup with yet another Auto-Cancelbot.

But Warren Buffett could retire on what they spent on promotion for this turkey. Every 8 minutes another %$%#^&#@ promo for the entire Summer!


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## oldschoolecw

http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsideth...iere-big-for-nbc-mob-doctor-weak-for-fox.html



> J.J. Abrams' new drama "Revolution" got off to a strong start for NBC, earning 11.7 million viewers and keeping almost all of its lead-in audience from two hours of "The Voice," which was up an average of a million viewers over last week's premiere.


I just watched it, and will give it a chance


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## Maruuk

Anything with that much promo is going to go gangbusters on opening. But the dropoff is going to be brutal.


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## ub1934

hdtvfan0001 said:


> Agree.
> 
> One has to wonder how much longer the networks will give JJ Abrams big money to produce these kinds of series...only to watch them fizzle out in the ratings. "The Event" comes to mind. They seem to start out big...and then go away...


Would still like to know how The Event ended ?


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## oldschoolecw

ub1934 said:


> Would still like to know how The Event ended ?


It evolved into Revolution:lol:


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## Galaxie6411

Not bad at all for a pilot, was doing some stuff ont he computer so wasn't paying 100% attention early on but they answered questions right away, in the sme ep., which I liked. 

Had a hard time with cross bows throwing people back when they were hit with them but otherwise liked it.

Haven't seen Hunger Games yet but have the feeling they are trying to tap into that audience hard with a young woman using bows and arrows being featured in this.


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## Drucifer

What's with the swords and flintlocks?

We're the most heavily arm citizenry in the world and the Monroians have crossbows.


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## seern

Lets not forget the dude who was leading the milita band. He looked like he was carrying a Desert Eagle.


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## The Merg

Drucifer said:


> What's with the swords and flintlocks?
> 
> We're the most heavily arm citizenry in the world and the Monroians have crossbows.


It's been 15 years since the power went out. I'm guessing that ammo is not really in supply anymore.

- Merg


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## jdskycaster

Terrible, awful, horrible, ridiculous, comical at best. Wish I could remove it from PTAT. 

Yet again another series that will never have an ending.


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## dpeters11

The Merg said:


> It's been 15 years since the power went out. I'm guessing that ammo is not really in supply anymore.
> 
> - Merg


And harder to make than your average musket ball.


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## say-what

Drucifer said:


> What's with the swords and flintlocks?
> 
> We're the most heavily arm citizenry in the world and the Monroians have crossbows.


When the militia arrived and the one guy pulled a rifle, there was an exchange about guns being illegal. The militia probably tried to confiscate all the weapons it could.


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## phrelin

Hmmmm. Let's take "Jericho" and "Jeremiah," and blend in the teen girl and bows and arrows from "Hunger Games" to attract a younger crowd with a short attention span, and create a scifi/fantasy potentially plausible situation, then not overthink it ...or rather not give it enough thought....

The script writing is actually ok given the limits of the overall story arc, the acting is fine considering the young actors, and it could be fun. You just have to suspend disbelief, but not as much as say "Warehouse 13" or "Eureka."


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## tsmacro

Well I did watch the first ep just to see if I wanted to keep recording it. It was pretty much what I expected, but it was good enough that I'll maintain the timer but I might not watch another ep until I hear if it gets picked up for another season.


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## altidude

I'll keep watching but it wasn't great.

A couple of parts that made me chuckle; the way the headlights of all the cars went out in sequential order, front of the line to the back, and all the planes falling out of the sky in a flat spin, lights on but every other light in the world was dead. Oh yeah, the crossbow bolts had some pretty awesome stopping power! Miles was missing only the Bruce Lee "wa" on his last kill in the fight on the stairs.


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## RASCAL01

The lights went out that way because the power outage was in a wave.


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## TBoneit

Nick said:


> What a great memory, DJ!Excuse me while I go searching desperately for that classic film -- and "Butterfly" (1982) while I'm at it!
> 
> :backtotop


Ohhh..... Pia Zadora! 


phrelin said:


> The script writing is actually ok given the limits of the overall story arc, the acting is fine considering the young actors, and it could be fun. You just have to suspend disbelief, but not as much as say "Warehouse 13" or "Eureka."


You've just condensed the disagreement I have with my Brother He wants everything in a TV show to be real world. I just want to be entertained. I like both of those shows. I like Leverage. I liked the closer even though I'm sure that in the real world Brenda would have been in real serious trouble more than once for some of the stunts she pulled. I didn't care I just wanted to be entertained.

Cheers
TB


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## jdskycaster

I love to be entertained and use my imagination a bit but this one requires you not only shift your brain completely into neutral you have need to remove it and put it on ice for an hour.

Love the Bruce Lee comment regarding that fight scene. Those of you that were impressed by that one should love this one!


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## Jimmy 440

I'll give it another week or two and see what develops.The gals are quite cute to look at yes : )


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## litex2x

I saw a screening at comicon and wasn't overly impressed by it. It wasn't exactly bad nor great either. I really like the genre so I'm going to stick with it for a few more episodes and hope for the best. The characters are kind of hard to like and story isn't anything special yet. The whole thing reminds me of the movie Postman.


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## mrro82

I'm not sure how long this one will last on my to do list. Reminds me a bit of The Event. That show was iffy at best.


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## MysteryMan

mrro82 said:


> I'm not sure how long this one will last on my to do list. Reminds me a bit of The Event. That show was iffy at best.


I agree. This one is going to have a brief run like The Event.


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## trainman

altidude said:


> ...all the planes falling out of the sky in a flat spin, lights on but every other light in the world was dead.


I saw the lights on the planes flickering (same as many other lights/devices were flickering before they went out) -- was a bit hard to discern, though, since they were relatively small and going pretty fast across the screen.

Yeah, a plane suddenly losing its engines and all electrical power wouldn't normally cause it to literally fall out of the sky -- but since they've indicated on the show that the fundamental laws of physics seem to have changed, I guess they can claim that the "event" caused the principles of flight to no longer work correctly.


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## mrro82

I have a feeling they intentionally left the nav lights on so we could tell what was falling from the sky since it was night. Guess they figured we weren't smart enough to figure that one out on our own.


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## longrider

Meant to mention this yesterday but to me most of what happened at the time of the blackout was consistent. On the highway the engines shut down and most systems malfunctioned but the lights stayed on long enough for everyone to get out of their cars and look around. In the home the PC crashed and the TV went out before the lights went out. On the plane a lot of jets are fly by wire and if all the electronics go out you would have no control and you could just fall out of the sky. In the real world there is so much redundancy in the control systems it would never happen but in the Revolution world...


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## heathramos

a little bit off topic but I thought it was cool that you could watch the pilot of Revolution and Go On from OnDemand (Directv) before it was aired live.

That way, you could decide if you want to record the series.


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## dpeters11

"longrider" said:


> Meant to mention this yesterday but to me most of what happened at the time of the blackout was consistent. On the highway the engines shut down and most systems malfunctioned but the lights stayed on long enough for everyone to get out of their cars and look around. In the home the PC crashed and the TV went out before the lights went out. On the plane a lot of jets are fly by wire and if all the electronics go out you would have no control and you could just fall out of the sky. In the real world there is so much redundancy in the control systems it would never happen but in the Revolution world...


I wouldn't say it would never happen. Of course we don't know what happened here, but if we have a Carrington Event, we may not have much time to prepare.


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## longrider

dpeters11 said:


> I wouldn't say it would never happen. Of course we don't know what happened here, but if we have a Carrington Event, we may not have much time to prepare.


I had to look up what a Carrington Event is and while the term was new I know exactly what they are talking about. That is the one natural disaster that really scares me as we are so dependent on technology it would impact civilization as we know it.


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## MysteryMan

I lost count on the amount of technical errors in this new series. Anyone else notice how the father didn't age a bit in 15 years? Or how clean and well groomed most of the characters are after living in the rough all that time? Their equipment (clothing, backbacks, weapons, ect.) look like they came right off the production line. Not to mention finding the uncle within minutes of entering the city and the lack of bloodshed in the fight to the death with primitive weapons between the uncle and the militia. And I doubt very much that today's asthma inhalers have a 15+ year shelf life. This show would be better off as a Saturday morning animated series.


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## Nick

You lost count? Perhaps if you stopped counting...

I'm sure the show is intended as entertainment, not necessarily as a source of perverse pleasure for nitpickers. I enjoyed the opener and look forward to the series.


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## MysteryMan

Nick said:


> You lost count? Perhaps if you stopped counting...
> 
> I'm sure the show is intended as entertainment, not necessarily as a source of perverse pleasure for nitpickers. I enjoyed the opener and look forward to the series.


Different strokes for different folks Nicky. I'm not the only one whose disappointed with the show nor am I the only one who spotted it's flaws.


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## Nick

MysteryMan said:


> Different strokes for different folks Nicky. I'm not the only one whose disappointed with the show nor am I the only one who spotted it's flaws.


Good for you!


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## MysteryMan

Nick said:


> Good for you!


Yup


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## dmspen

MysteryMan said:


> I lost count on the amount of technical errors in this new series. Anyone else notice how the father didn't age a bit in 15 years? Or how clean and well groomed most of the characters are after living in the rough all that time? Their equipment (clothing, backbacks, weapons, ect.) look like they came right off the production line. Not to mention finding the uncle within minutes of entering the city and the lack of bloodshed in the fight to the death with primitive weapons between the uncle and the militia. And I doubt very much that today's asthma inhalers have a 15+ year shelf life. This show would be better off as a Saturday morning animated series.


This has beena typical problem with NBC shows. They're generally too 'pretty'.

You'd think that after 15 years that steampunk would be the prevalent style. There's no reason why they couldn't build forges and develop a steam society.


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## Gloria_Chavez

MysteryMan said:


> I agree. This one is going to have a brief run like The Event.


A show with crossbows won't do well?

After Olympics Archery ratings?

After Hunger Games (not to be confused with Cong. Ryan's budget)?

This show will do well.


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## MysteryMan

dmspen said:


> This has beena typical problem with NBC shows. They're generally too 'pretty'.
> 
> You'd think that after 15 years that steampunk would be the prevalent style. There's no reason why they couldn't build forges and develop a steam society.


But that would take creative writing. Something Hollywood's been lacking for quite some time.


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## MysteryMan

Gloria_Chavez said:


> A show with crossbows won't do well?
> 
> After Olympics Archery ratings?
> 
> After Hunger Games (not to be confused with Cong. Ryan's budget)?
> 
> This show will do well.


I agree the show will do well. About as well as The Event and Terra Nova.


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## jdskycaster

Other than the crossbow's and a cute girl as the central character this show has no resemblance to the Hunger Games. The fact that they are even trying to cling to those themes makes it a very weak attempt at imitation at best.


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## TBoneit

Nick said:


> You lost count? Perhaps if you stopped counting...
> 
> I'm sure the show is intended as entertainment, not necessarily as a source of perverse pleasure for nitpickers. I enjoyed the opener and look forward to the series.


When they are jarring is it really nitpicking? I have seen shows where I look at the screen, back it up in disbelief, and yell at the TV set what the Hey! They got to be kiding.

Last Week my brother said did you notice the helicopter hanging in the tent when he was watching M*A*S*H. I said no, I backed it up and it was a Vietnam era Helicopter hanging in the tent on a Korean War Show.

Or watching a western and a Jet flies across the sky in the background and so on.

Or a short scene that starts out with everything wet and ends up with everything dry in two minutes of the Movie / Show.

Or the famous scene in a DieHard movie in a D.C Airport that has PacBell payphones.

Sometimes I am awestruck at how dumb they think we are.

Sorry for the mini rant but come on Hollywood, get it toghether!

Cheers
TB


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## Drucifer

Nick said:


> You lost count? Perhaps if you stopped counting...
> 
> I'm sure the show is intended as entertainment, *not necessarily as a source of perverse pleasure for nitpickers*. I enjoyed the opener and look forward to the series.


Well I hope this doesn't begin a trend of 60ish-style productions.


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## longrider

I have to agree with Nick, I just enjoy it as entertainment. I could nitpick something on almost any show but suspending disbelief is part of enjoying a fictional story. 

With all the details brought up for Revolution, I'm surprised no one mentioned the "16 year old" son is nowhere near 16.

On the age note, in hindsight I can see the father did not age over the 15year span but I did not notice that while watching .


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## trainman

longrider said:


> On the age note, in hindsight I can see the father did not age over the 15year span but I did not notice that while watching .


Maybe that's the tradeoff with the way the fundamental laws of nature have changed -- electricity doesn't work anymore, but once you get to a certain point, you stop aging.


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## bullitt

Doug Brott said:


> I liked it and I'll watch, but I'm sure it will follow the same path as other apocalypse series. Death in one season (or less).


After 25 minutes it seemed to be the kind of show that never finds a direction like Invasion, Jericho and last years Terra Nova and will just disappear within a few months.


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## mrro82

bullitt said:


> After 25 minutes it seemed to be the kind of show that never finds a direction like Invasion, Jericho and last years Terra Nova and will just disappear within a few months.


Ill give it one season just like The Event.


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## 1953

Virginian said:


> Reset you timers, folks.
> 
> Not a single cliche from post-apocalypse movies was missed in this show.
> 
> Plain characters, predictable plot, average acting. Don't waist your time.


5 minutes was enough for me. CANCELLED


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## tonyd79

"TBoneit" said:


> When they are jarring is it really nitpicking? I have seen shows where I look at the screen, back it up in disbelief, and yell at the TV set what the Hey! They got to be kiding.
> 
> Last Week my brother said did you notice the helicopter hanging in the tent when he was watching M*A*S*H. I said no, I backed it up and it was a Vietnam era Helicopter hanging in the tent on a Korean War Show.
> 
> Or watching a western and a Jet flies across the sky in the background and so on.
> 
> Or a short scene that starts out with everything wet and ends up with everything dry in two minutes of the Movie / Show.
> 
> Or the famous scene in a DieHard movie in a D.C Airport that has PacBell payphones.
> 
> Sometimes I am awestruck at how dumb they think we are.
> 
> Sorry for the mini rant but come on Hollywood, get it toghether!
> 
> Cheers
> TB


Worse about Die Hard 2 was:

- gun shots are fired in an airport and they keep it open running normally. Even back then, complete shutdown.

- no one noticed that a major airport was not landing planes?

- planes circled until they ran out of fuel? Not like there aren't 2 other airports in the immediate area and at least a dozen within an hour or two flight.

I don't have problems with details but the concepts upon which a story hinge. The pilot had so many holes you could drive a truck through them. No electricity at all? Life stops. End of show.


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## armophob

Terra Nova got cancelled?


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## longrider

armophob said:


> Terra Nova got cancelled?


Yes it did, unfortunately. I say unfortunately because while it started out weak the story line developed to where it could have gotten very interesting.


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## longrider

tonyd79 said:


> No electricity at all? Life stops. End of show.


You know, that is a point I never thought about. Life as we know it is controlled by minute electrical charges. If electricity stops working...


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## Nick

Humans survived and thrived for millennia without electricity. What would make anyone think the human race wouldn't continue without it? We, the technologically advanced may not do well or even survive in a post-apocalyptic, technology-deprived world, but there are many millions, if not _billions_ existing and even doing well on the planet without the benefit of a single electron.

Keep in mind that our Founding Fathers never heard of electricity, much less radio, television, cell phones or even old-fashioned wall-mounted crank telephones. They never heard recorded music or any music that wasn't performed "live". Until the last 200 years, all human communication was by voice, by writing or art, by notches on a tree or stones placed on a rock or a human head on a stick.


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## longrider

Nick said:


> Humans survived and thrived for millennia without electricity. What would make anyone think the human race wouldn't continue without it? We, the technologically advanced may not do well or even survive in a post-apocalyptic, technology-deprived world, but there are many millions, if not _billions_ existing and even doing well on the planet without the benefit of a single electron.
> 
> Keep in mind that our Founding Fathers never heard of electricity, much less radio, television, cell phones or even old-fashioned wall-mounted crank telephones. They never heard recorded music or any music that wasn't performed "live". Until the last 200 years, all human communication was by voice, by writing or art, by notches on a tree or stones placed on a rock or a human head on a stick.


I totally agree that using electricity as a utility is not something life or even civilization is dependent on. However in Revolution the assumption is something happened to prevent any electric current from flowing. Hand cranked generators dont work, batteries dont work. Taking that to its conclusion, life itself which depends on minute electric currents along nerves and into muscles would cease.


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## jdskycaster

No doubt there is a small portion of society that would survive but the majority would not. Clean drinking water would be one rather large obstacle to survival for the masses. Lack of prescription medications for a society that is largely dependent on them for day to day survival is another. The bulk of our food sources are also very reliant on energy in order to produce the volume required to feed the population. How many people know how to grow a garden that would sustain their family for an entire year without the ability to irrigate from the spigot or drive to the store for seeds, fertilizer and pesticides? 

It is surprising to me how many deaths there are during short term power outages caused by weather. Any prolonged period would be catastrophic.


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## MysteryMan

longrider said:


> I totally agree that using electricity as a utility is not something life or even civilization is dependent on. However in Revolution the assumption is something happened to prevent any electric current from flowing. Hand cranked generators dont work, batteries dont work. Taking that to its conclusion, life itself which depends on minute electric currents along nerves and into muscles would cease.


Another technical error overlooked by the show's "creative" writers.


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## TBoneit

tonyd79 said:


> Worse about Die Hard 2 was:
> 
> - gun shots are fired in an airport and they keep it open running normally. Even back then, complete shutdown.
> 
> - no one noticed that a major airport was not landing planes?
> 
> - planes circled until they ran out of fuel? Not like there aren't 2 other airports in the immediate area and at least a dozen within an hour or two flight.
> 
> I don't have problems with details but the concepts upon which a story hinge. The pilot had so many holes you could drive a truck through them. No electricity at all? Life stops. End of show.


What about the fire running up into the fuel tank as the plane is in the air from the ground. So the dump valve is open, so what. Is jet fuel that much more energetic burning that gasoline, I doubt it. And the Jet would surely be outrunning the flame, not to mention that there would be so many breaks in the fuel stream from turbulence.

But when did reality ever keep Hollywood from a good special effect? Ever watch Silver Streak? When the engine crashes into the gift shop? All kinds of flashes from underneath it as it crashes through unpowered displays?

Or a falling sign that has ripped loose from the electric feed that stays lit until it crashes in a blast of sparks?

Reality?

Cheers
TB


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## TBoneit

bullitt said:


> After 25 minutes it seemed to be the kind of show that never finds a direction like Invasion, Jericho and last years Terra Nova and will just disappear within a few months.


Where is it written that a series has to run for years. Some of the "Cable" channels seem to do OK with reruns of low episode count shows.

Yeah I know, in the so called minds of the programming types at the networks. Pitch a 1 year only show and they probably laugh at you and give you the bums rush.

Some shows would easily fit into a one year run where the show ends properly at the end of the year.

It is the channels that have to stretch them too long.

For me lost started out OK during the first year, Then it just fizzled and I stopped watching. If they had brought everything to a close at the end of the first year I would have liked it better than giving up watching it like I did.

Mork & Mindy, The first year was the best. Then it seemed like they reined in Robin Williams and ruined it.


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## longrider

TBoneit said:


> Where is it written that a series has to run for years. Some of the "Cable" channels seem to do OK with reruns of low episode count shows.
> 
> Yeah I know, in the so called minds of the programming types at the networks. Pitch a 1 year only show and they probably laugh at you and give you the bums rush.
> 
> Some shows would easily fit into a one year run where the show ends properly at the end of the year.
> 
> It is the channels that have to stretch them too long.
> 
> For me lost started out OK during the first year, Then it just fizzled and I stopped watching. If they had brought everything to a close at the end of the first year I would have liked it better than giving up watching it like I did.
> 
> Mork & Mindy, The first year was the best. Then it seemed like they reined in Robin Williams and ruined it.


In this vein, how about Heroes? It had me hooked the first year but it went downhill after that, to the point that during the last year I didn't even worry if I missed an episode


----------



## Mark Holtz

longrider said:


> In this vein, how about Heroes? It had me hooked the first year but it went downhill after that, to the point that during the last year I didn't even worry if I missed an episode


Checking the episode guide, we had the writers strike during the second season. For nine months, there were no new episodes, and all momentum was lost.

During that writer's strike, I went through and deleted all my season passes. I figured, if I cared enough about a show, I'll make the effort to re-add the show in. _The Unit_ made the cut, but got cancelled anyways. The three CSIs, Bones, and a few others didn't.


----------



## Gloria_Chavez

Question for electrical engineers.

Let's say the US suffered a solar storm similar to 1859..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_storm_of_1859

If one disconnected electrical appliances before the storm hit, would the memory be fried?

Let's say one had a diesel generator post-storm. Would it produce power after a solar hit?


----------



## longrider

Gloria_Chavez said:


> Question for electrical engineers.
> 
> Let's say the US suffered a solar storm similar to 1859..
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_storm_of_1859
> 
> If one disconnected electrical appliances before the storm hit, would the memory be fried?
> 
> Let's say one had a diesel generator post-storm. Would it produce power after a solar hit?


I am not an expert on this but my understanding is that it is the electrical grid acting as a nationwide antenna to absorb the solar energy that will fry anything hooked to it. A device sitting in your house not hooked to anything will not absorb enough energy itself to cause problems. Same thing with the generator, as long as it is not hooked up it should be fine.


----------



## renbutler

I think the problem is that some of you guys are more focused on being smart than entertained. I have a strong educational background, and a mathematical/scientific way of thinking. But for me, good TV is about losing yourself in interesting people and situations.

Not everybody wants everything to be real. I live real every day. I don't need fiction to be real.

We watched the pilot, and we will watch the second episode.


----------



## djlong

I have a certain amount of "willing suspension of disbelief". It's like a reservoir fed by a river but once it goes dry, I can't get it back.

I finally watched the Revolution pilot.

There were a lot of little things that bugged me - the biggest little thing was how electricity in our bodies wasn't affected (do we still get static electricity sparks touching metal? Touching each other?). The "little things" got pretty numerous but I was still able to put them in the back of my head.

But the big one? Fifteen years and steam hasn't made a comeback? Those military types would IMMEDIATELY be looking for a replacement technology AND THE TRACKS ARE ALREADY LAID. Heck there are a few steam engines still working AND people who know how to service them AND books on how to keep things going.

Apart from that, with few likeable characters, I found myself just getting angered.


----------



## MysteryMan

renbutler said:


> I think the problem is that some of you guys are more focused on being smart than entertained. I have a strong educational background, and a mathematical/scientific way of thinking. But for me, good TV is about losing yourself in interesting people and situations.
> 
> Not everybody wants everything to be real. I live real every day. I don't need fiction to be real.
> 
> We watched the pilot, and we will watch the second episode.


No, we're focused on being "plausibly" entertained. Some forty plus years ago Gene Roddenberry created a science fiction series with a shoestring budget. The name of that series is Star Trek. Look at some of the episodes and you'll see that characters perspired when exerting themselves. They bruised and bled when they were injured or killed. Their uniforms and equipment soiled when exposed to the elements for long durations. The technology in the series is believable because experts in various fields of science were used as advisors. And least we forget the creative scripts written by some of the most talented writers of that time. That "plausible" formula produced one of the most successful franchises in Hollywood's history.


----------



## Nick

lest


----------



## The Merg

Well, there was the comment in the recent episode about why it doesn't make sense that no power has started back up yet again. So, it does look like the writers have something in mind...

- Merg


----------



## renbutler

Revolution dropped from 4.1 to 3.5 in its second episode.

How does that compare to other recent epics that were canceled after one season?


----------



## tsmacro

Well if nothing else it seems this show is the most discussed show of the new season on dbstalk.com for whatever that's worth.


----------



## TBoneit

djlong said:


> I have a certain amount of "willing suspension of disbelief". It's like a reservoir fed by a river but once it goes dry, I can't get it back.
> 
> I finally watched the Revolution pilot.
> 
> There were a lot of little things that bugged me - the biggest little thing was how electricity in our bodies wasn't affected (do we still get static electricity sparks touching metal? Touching each other?). The "little things" got pretty numerous but I was still able to put them in the back of my head.
> 
> But the big one? Fifteen years and steam hasn't made a comeback? Those military types would IMMEDIATELY be looking for a replacement technology AND THE TRACKS ARE ALREADY LAID. Heck there are a few steam engines still working AND people who know how to service them AND books on how to keep things going.
> 
> Apart from that, with few likeable characters, I found myself just getting angered.


There are steam engines running these days however with no electricity they would need to have more than tracks. You need a source of water along the tracks since they do not recycle what they use. Think the water tower in Petticoat Junction.
A Source of fuel.

Both of those would need to re-established for a steam engine to work.

However steam powered transportation on the roads, Steam powered boats maybe with a lot less work.


----------



## TBoneit

longrider said:


> In this vein, how about Heroes? It had me hooked the first year but it went downhill after that, to the point that during the last year I didn't even worry if I missed an episode


Yea, I liked the first season, then it went a little weird.

So far I'm liking Major Crimes as much as the Closer.

I find that I like the first season of many shows and then not too much for the second season. Warehouse 13 is OK now but not as good as it was. I should mention that I may be influenced by not liking recurring villains.

There are exceptions, Grimm, NCIS, Leverage, The Closer and now Major Crimes come to mind.


----------



## Drucifer

renbutler said:


> Revolution dropped from 4.1 to 3.5 in its second episode.
> 
> How does that compare to other recent epics that were canceled after one season?


Doesn't matter. The plot is down right childish. Except for the mystery of how, there's nothing else of interest. I wont miss this one.


----------



## Jimmy 440

I deleted the 2nd episode 10 minutes into it.I totally lost interest in it.Too bad !


----------



## PrinceLH

I found it too busy, with too much going on. I tried it, but like BBC's Copper, after 2 episodes.......no mas! It's kind of a cheap imitation of the Walking Dead, without the Zombies!


----------



## oldschoolecw

Jimmy 440 said:


> I deleted the 2nd episode 10 minutes into it.I totally lost interest in it.Too bad !


I also did,

The Fallout 3 game story-line kills this. Hasn't NBC had huge hits on the premiere nights only to cancel the shows weeks later?:lol:


----------



## renbutler

Drucifer said:


> Doesn't matter. The plot is down right childish. Except for the mystery of how, there's nothing else of interest. I wont miss this one.


Thanks, but it matters to me.

Anybody have a helpful response to my question?


----------



## BubblePuppy

"renbutler" said:


> Thanks, but it matters to me.
> 
> Anybody have a helpful response to my question?


This might be a starting point. http://tvdramas.about.com/od/tvshowsaz/a/cancel0506.htm
Why don't you just Google it?


----------



## John Strk

The pilot was ok but I found myself quickly getting bored with the 2nd episode. The only new show I'm looking forward now is the Last Resort!


----------



## renbutler

BubblePuppy said:


> This might be a starting point. http://tvdramas.about.com/od/tvshowsaz/a/cancel0506.htm
> Why don't you just Google it?


Thanks, but I did Google it. I found some sporadic ratings info about The Event, but not a direct week 1-2 comparison.


----------



## djlong

TBoneit - they crossed the deserts with railroads in the 1860s with no electricity. With all the flooded towns we saw, there's an ample supply of water.

I'll keep watching for a bit, in hopes that some of these bits get answered.. I mean, how cool would it be to see an ironclad like the Monitor berthed on Lake Michigan? steam-powered, no electricity.

...and yet the string for the girl's crossbow is just as elastic (and, hence, deadly) as it was when it was manufactured... I don't think these things last 15 years.


----------



## renbutler

I just realized that futoncritic.com has archived ratings information.

Week 1-2 ratings change:

*Revolution --* -14.3%
*The Event --* -21.6%


----------



## oldschoolecw

renbutler said:


> Thanks, but I did Google it. I found some sporadic ratings info about The Event, but not a direct week 1-2 comparison.


Here you go
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Event_Ratings.png

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Event


> Ratings
> The pilot episode received 10.88 million viewers and a 3.6/9 adults 18-49 rating/share, placing third in its timeslot at 9:00 pm ET.[48] After averaging 9.1 million viewers for the first four episodes, NBC picked up the series for a full season.[1]
> 
> However, by the final episode of 2010 on November 29, the series had cut its audience by 46% and its demo rating by 48%, to 5.83 million and a 1.9/5 respectively,[49] although both of these were up noticeably from the previous week.[50] On November 15, NBC announced that The Event would be going into hiatus after the November 29 episode, and would return on February 28, 2011[51] (later pushed back to March 7).[52] Upon its return, the series received 5.23 million viewers and a then-series-low 1.4/4 18-49 rating/share;[53] the latter of these figures represented a 26% plunge from the fall finale.[54] The series has since gone as low as 3.85 million viewers and a 1.1/3 rating/share in 18-49, first on April 18[55] and again on May 9.[56]


----------



## renbutler

Yeah, wikipedia was the first place I tried, but it didn't compare week 1 to week 2.

Thankfully, futoncritic had what I was looking for (see post #104 above).


----------



## tsmacro

Of course in week two Revolution was also up against the season premier of Castle and Hawaii Five-O too I believe. So week two is probably a better indicator as to how well it'll do against real competition in its timeslot. Still haven't watched week two, probably won't until I get a better idea if it's going to survive for more than one season, so I'll be letting them build up for a while.


----------



## lparsons21

From reading somewhere else, it seems the 2nd episode beat out both Castle and Hawaii Five-O premiers! Interesting.

I'm rather surprised that it would beat out Castle, but not all that surprised that it beat Hawaii Five-O.


----------



## Church AV Guy

renbutler said:


> I just realized that futoncritic.com has archived ratings information.
> 
> Week 1-2 ratings change:
> 
> *Revolution --* -14.3%
> *The Event --* -21.6%


Revolution premiere: 11.65 million viewers, second episode: 9.29 million viewers, so it had only 79.7% of the premiere viewers, or was -20.3%.


----------



## Galaxie6411

John Strk said:


> The pilot was ok but I found myself quickly getting bored with the 2nd episode. The only new show I'm looking forward now is the Last Resort!


Couldn't agree more and I really like these kind of shows, I fell asleep by the 30 minute mark. Can't take much more of the girl *****ing about killing someone or following someone when she is entirely wrong and proven so the next minute. That kind of crap gets old in every show.


----------



## Maruuk

Thanks for saving me the aggravation guys! I figured it was gonna end this way just based on the lame-o trailers. What caused the blackout? Nobody knows, including the writers. Just like "Lost", millions going nowhere fast. These shows don't NEED a solution, they just need more bogus mysteries every week. More straw dogs. Same as X-Files, the bogeyman is always shifting around, with no set premise or center. It gets old fast. Since without a central, defined evil, nothing ever really matters in a show of this sort, the audience is guaranteed to get ripped off over time. SEE: Last ep of Lost.


----------



## mrro82

There was one thing in the second episode that irked me and.......
**********SPOILER!!!!!!!!!!!!***********















If the necklace supposedly would turn the power back on, why wait 15 years to do so? I'm hoping they divulge why dear ol dad never made his way to the lady in the attic in 15 years.


----------



## renbutler

Church AV Guy said:


> Revolution premiere: 11.65 million viewers, second episode: 9.29 million viewers, so it had only 79.7% of the premiere viewers, or was -20.3%.


I based it on the 18-49 rating percentage.


----------



## Doug Brott

Maruuk said:


> Thanks for saving me the aggravation guys! I figured it was gonna end this way just based on the lame-o trailers. What caused the blackout? Nobody knows, including the writers. Just like "Lost", millions going nowhere fast. These shows don't NEED a solution, they just need more bogus mysteries every week. More straw dogs. Same as X-Files, the bogeyman is always shifting around, with no set premise or center. It gets old fast. Since without a central, defined evil, nothing ever really matters in a show of this sort, the audience is guaranteed to get ripped off over time. SEE: Last ep of Lost.


Lost intrigued me the entire way ... except the last episode. While, yeah, that aspect of it kinda sucked, the journey was well worth it to me.

I'm finding this show intriguing as well, but ... I also realize that the general populace will turn their nose at this type of show. I'll happily watch it until the point it finishes it's run - likely one season. For this program, it will be about the journey because I don't expect there to be an end. I'll be pleasantly surprised if there is.


----------



## Doug Brott

Why does science fiction / fantasy have to be accurate? I think it's pretty cool looking at the what-if scenarios of an apocalypse ... the reason behind it is fairly irrelevant in my humble opinion.


----------



## djlong

Why? Because, if the blackout had happened, the first reaction would be "why" with "who did it", "how" and "how do we counteract it" being in the mix there.

If the *audience* notices things, you can damn well be sure that, in 'real life' these questions would have come up. Why no steam trains? What keeps the electricity in our bodies safe?

Shows like this usually have "bibles" with the rules they have, the ones they created and ones they leave open. The SF series Babylon 5 had their "rules for magic" before the first frame was filmed. How telepathy worked. How hyperspace worked. and they didn't violate the laws of physics everywhere else (no spaceships banking in a vaccuum as if they were flying in an atmosphere).

If I'm going to get invested in a show, there's some stretches I'll make. I'll "give" on DNA results coming back in hours instead of weeks for cop shows - that's just 'improving' the tech we have. But I won't give on cars falling into a swamp and having their windows crack in 4 feet of water from the 'pressure'.

In the case of Revolution, I'll give on there being something or someone who could cause the blackout - but it has to hold together beyond that. I'm still giving this one a chance because they may yet have answers for the seeming inconsistencies.


----------



## Nick

...and yet, every one of you nitpicking skeptics were fine and dandy with warp drives, sliders, DeLorean time machines and beam me up, Scottie. You're so busy patting yourself on the back for spotting insignificant inconsistencies that you are missing out on the enjoyment of the story.


----------



## longrider

Good point Nick, I dont see why this show is getting slammed so much when there have been many previous shows that have taken just as many liberties with the laws of physics


----------



## lparsons21

Nick said:


> ...and yet, every one of you nitpicking skeptics were fine and dandy with warp drives, sliders, DeLorean time machines and beam me up, Scottie. You're so busy patting yourself on the back for spotting insignificant inconsistencies that you are missing out on the enjoyment of the story.


I'm with you. I love a good adventure and I am more than willing to suspend reality if it gets in the way of enjoyment of the show.


----------



## dmspen

My recording of the last episode was terrible. Terribly pixelated to the point of droppping to black once in a while. It was hardly worth watching.

It's one thing to accept premises that can't be proven (warp drive, magic, etc) and another thing to try to accept not using proven concepts like steam power.


----------



## jdskycaster

I do not see it as nitpicking when the pattern is consistent and blatantly obvious. Also warp drive was proposed as something that may be plausible far into the future not present day. Back to the future was a comedy - no need to prove anything to me when humor is involved.

This show becomes humorous even though it is trying to be serious in almost the same same way my daughter and I laughed through the first season of The River. It is hard not to laugh at the characters attempting to be bad a$$es in this one.


----------



## MysteryMan

Nick said:


> ...and yet, every one of you nitpicking skeptics were fine and dandy with warp drives, sliders, DeLorean time machines and beam me up, Scottie. You're so busy patting yourself on the back for spotting insignificant inconsistencies that you are missing out on the enjoyment of the story.


As I posted earlier the science in Star Trek is plausible because experts in various fields of science were used as advisors. The lack of plausibility with Revolution makes me wonder if the producers are using the NFL replacement referees as technical advisors. :sure:


----------



## Laxguy

dmspen said:


> My recording of the last episode was terrible. Terribly pixelated to the point of droppping to black once in a while. It was hardly worth watching.
> 
> It's one thing to accept premises that can't be proven (warp drive, magic, etc) and another thing to try to accept not using proven concepts like steam power.


What time slot? What box? I am watching it now, no problems 2/3 way through.

Yes, steam engines on existing RR tracks would be happening; cities wouldn't be quite so derelict, and there'd be real farmer's markets going on.

At the same time, they showed stands of corn that were pretty extensive, certainly not hand planted or cultivated! (Also not this year's crop).


----------



## djlong

Nick said:


> ...and yet, every one of you nitpicking skeptics were fine and dandy with warp drives, sliders, DeLorean time machines and beam me up, Scottie. You're so busy patting yourself on the back for spotting insignificant inconsistencies that you are missing out on the enjoyment of the story.


Not quite - but I think I'm not expresisng myself well.

JMS (of B-5 fame) said it - Invent rules for the magic, then stick to it.

Warp drives? It's already been worked out in theory.
Sliders? When they got sillier, I lost interest.
DeLorean time machines? They invented a "flux capacitor", left it at that and didn't change any rules - of course, only having 3 "episodes" made for less opportunity to violate them.
Beam me up? Well, you got me on that one. It wasn't until much later in life when it was pointed out to me that the energy required to do that (to say nothing of the computing power) would make for a weapon of unstoppable power.

To me, the series took a hit when they had the *perfect* opportunity to at least *acknowledge* some of this in the 'classroom' scene. Something like "We don't know why - maybe electricity doesn't work in semiconductors anymore - otherwise our brains would stop" - and then let us know whether or not there are still lightning in the thunderstorms. That's one I *really* want to know. (and if it's some sort of dampening field, what's powering THAT?)

But I'm *more* than aware that a show needs time to "find it's legs" - and I hope this one does. But it's like in any sport when a team gets off to a bad start - they have to have a damn good run to make the playoffs.


----------



## Church AV Guy

Nick said:


> ...and yet, every one of you nitpicking skeptics were fine and dandy with warp drives, sliders, DeLorean time machines and beam me up, Scottie. You're so busy patting yourself on the back for spotting insignificant inconsistencies that you are missing out on the enjoyment of the story.





longrider said:


> Good point Nick, I dont see why this show is getting slammed so much when there have been many previous shows that have taken just as many liberties with the laws of physics





lparsons21 said:


> I'm with you. I love a good adventure and I am more than willing to suspend reality if it gets in the way of enjoyment of the show.


All I can say to this is, you really don't understand willing suspension of disbelief as it applies to this kind of enteratinment. When I saw the second Indiana Jones movie in a very crowded theater, no one objected to the "priest" putting his hand into the victim's chest, pulling out his heart, whcih continued to beat, then lowered the victim into the lava and when he burst into flames, the heart in the priest's hand also burst into flames. We accepted it as the very basis of the story. *BUT* when the ore car left the track, flew through the air, and landed back on the track, there were MANY groans from the audience, and a few, "give me a break" type of comments.

The first is the premise of the story. The second is not, and it has to conform to known physical laws unledd the story provides a reason why those laws wouldn't apply.

Warp drives, and Delorean time machines were the framework of the stories and therefore have to be accepted. We DO accept that the power is off, but we also want to know how it happened.


----------



## Maruuk

Spoiler alert**********************************









I think they're paranoid about turning the power back on because as they said, "Monroe will control it to build an army to crush all the other republics." Or some such nonsense. I guess the plot point is they have to do it only under THEIR control and only when the time is right to be able to defeat Monroe. Who in the last ep will be revealed to be Zombie Marilyn.


----------



## TBoneit

Obviously the electric doesn't work due to one of several things

1. Aliens. Invasion?
2. The sun has moved into an area where the laws of physics are subtly different. 
3. Someone upset with over population has come up with a device to end electricity.
4. To be revealed.


What's your guess / prediction?


----------



## Laxguy

TBoneit said:


> Obviously the electric doesn't work due to one of several things
> 
> 1. Aliens. Invasion?
> 2. The sun has moved into an area where the laws of physics are subtly different.
> 3. Someone upset with over population has come up with a device to end electricity.
> 4. To be revealed.
> 
> What's your guess / prediction?


4.


----------



## Maruuk

None of the above. The X-Files never revealed the real truth. This thing will get canceled long before the writers have to think up some BS rationale. Though obviously the brothers knew what was happening ahead of time.

Must say, though, that Tracy Spiridakos is kind of quirky-cute (though keeping her in pants and high-tops is a requisite) and she's a half-decent actress. She's kind of holding things together for now. But if the show's to survive much longer, they're going to have to reveal a lot more of the secrets up front to hold interest. More sci-fi, less Robin Hood!


----------



## jdskycaster

5. The Easter Bunny


----------



## The Merg

Maruuk said:


> Spoiler alert**********************************


Just as an FYI... You can create a hidden spoiler by using the SPOILER tag...

[ spoiler ] and [ /spoiler ]



Spoiler



Don't put spaces between the brackets and the word spoiler.



- Merg


----------



## Laxguy

The Merg said:


> Just as an FYI... You can create a hidden spoiler by using the SPOILER tag...
> 
> - Merg


 Test:

The entire show will be cancelled, but



Spoiler



It could be anywhere from the next ep or two, or many years from now. Enjoy!



Thanks for the question, and the answer.


----------



## Maruuk

Ah, thanks guys, always wondered how they did that. By the way, the first ep was filmed in Atlanta but all the subsequent eps will be filmed in...



Spoiler



Wilmington, NC.


----------



## frederic1943




----------



## coldsteel

Everyone knows it's the Alien Space Bats.


----------



## renbutler

Has any "expert" on the show said that all electricity has stopped?

It sounds like they're saying only that the "power went out." As if only artificial, man-made electrical products don't work. 

And they haven't even had time to explain it yet -- in fact, that's what the whole journey is going to be about: figuring out what happened and why.

I've watched both eps, and I might have missed it, but have they mentioned whether there are any lightning storms anymore?


----------



## trainman

renbutler said:
 

> I've watched both eps, and I might have missed it, but have they mentioned whether there are any lightning storms anymore?


Well, the weather appears to have gotten screwed up enough to the point where Chicago and its suburbs now have vegetation that looks a lot like eastern North Carolina...


----------



## Drucifer

It's not improving.


----------



## renbutler

Wait, you're still watching after saying this?



> The plot is down right childish. Except for the mystery of how, there's nothing else of interest...


Why? Just so you can continue to complain about it publicly?


----------



## Drucifer

I watch all SciFi. Good or bad.


----------



## hdtvfan0001

I'd rank this new series as "To New To Rate" (TNTR) at this point.

Some of the characters are really tough to relate to, but there's enough happening to keep one's interest. Perhaps another 2-3 episodes will help determine if we keep the series link on the HD DVR here or bail.


----------



## renbutler

Revolution stayed strong with a 3.2 rating on 10/1, helping NBC to the top on Monday. The third episode was down slightly from a 3.5 last week.

However, Revolution was 166% ahead of last year's show in the same time slot (Playboy Club).


----------



## lparsons21

I'm continuing to enjoy it with each passing episode. No, not great TV, but good enough to keep a timer going.


----------



## mrro82

lparsons21 said:


> I'm continuing to enjoy it with each passing episode. No, not great TV, but good enough to keep a timer going.


I'm starting to agree. Its doing just enough to keep me from ignoring it.


----------



## seern

Haven't watched this weeks yet, the ending of last week was kind of a surprise. Think they watch Hawaii 5-0?


----------



## Drucifer

*Revolution* has been picked up for the whole year.

http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news/...o-on-and-the-new-normal-133210/20121002nbc06/


----------



## Church AV Guy

renbutler said:


> Revolution stayed strong with a 3.2 rating on 10/1, helping NBC to the top on Monday. The third episode was down slightly from a 3.5 last week.
> 
> However, Revolution was 166% ahead of last year's show in the same time slot (Playboy Club).


Yeah, but that is setting the bar awfully low.


----------



## tsmacro

Drucifer said:


> *Revolution* has been picked up for the whole year.
> 
> http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news/...o-on-and-the-new-normal-133210/20121002nbc06/


Well I guess I'll start watching again rather than just let them build up on the DVR.


----------



## seern

Guess its time to change my week to week to a series request.


----------



## altidude

Drucifer said:


> It's not improving.


I thought episode three was best so far


----------



## Church AV Guy

Did you notice that in the clip of the lights going off, it only shows north and soutn America, never Europe, Asia, Africa, or Australia. Are the lights off there too? 

In the scene where the computer powers up, the shelf above the computer has a bunch of lead-acid car batteries wired together with jumper cables. I assume we are meant to deduce that the pendant locally cancels whatever is suppressing the power and allows the batteries to power her computer. This would suggest that if we could turn off the suppression, everything would power up again.


----------



## TBoneit

The electric has been gone for how long?

Lead acid discharges even when not used. Lead Acid batteries have a finite life even when unused. The only ones that could sit for long periods of time were the ones where you bought the battery and the acid came separate and you had to add it to the battery.

I believe those are long gone however.

No way those batteries would be working after even 6 months unless they could also be kept charged.


----------



## longrider

TBoneit said:


> The electric has been gone for how long?
> 
> Lead acid discharges even when not used. Lead Acid batteries have a finite life even when unused. The only ones that could sit for long periods of time were the ones where you bought the battery and the acid came separate and you had to add it to the battery.
> 
> I believe those are long gone however.
> 
> No way those batteries would be working after even 6 months unless they could also be kept charged.


That is just one of teh inconsistencies you need to ignore. They also showed the music player and iPhone coming back to life for a few minutes when the button was pressed. Same thing is true for those batteries, so I just take it as whatever is suppressing the functioning of electricity is suppressing the discharge of batteries.

I am enjoying the show and do want to see how the story develops. They are releasing enough elements of the backstory to keep it interesting.


----------



## mrro82

I hit rewind when the iPhone came on to make sure it didn't show as being connected to a network. :lol: Anyone else?


----------



## Church AV Guy

TBoneit said:


> The electric has been gone for how long?
> 
> Lead acid discharges even when not used. Lead Acid batteries have a finite life even when unused. The only ones that could sit for long periods of time were the ones where you bought the battery and the acid came separate and you had to add it to the battery.
> 
> I believe those are long gone however.
> 
> No way those batteries would be working after even 6 months unless they could also be kept charged.


I guess I was thinking that whatever is preventing current from flowing in electrical devices, aside from biological systems, is locking electrons in their positions, so the batteries will not self-discharge because self-discharging is in fact a minute current flow.

I wonder if lightening and electric eels still work?


----------



## trainman

mrro82 said:


> I hit rewind when the iPhone came on to make sure it didn't show as being connected to a network. :lol: Anyone else?


Ha...yeah, I didn't need to rewind, but I did specifically take note that it said "Searching..." instead of listing a carrier.


----------



## TBoneit

Church AV Guy said:


> I guess I was thinking that whatever is preventing current from flowing in electrical devices, aside from biological systems, is locking electrons in their positions, so the batteries will not self-discharge because self-discharging is in fact a minute current flow.
> 
> I wonder if lightening and electric eels still work?


It would also have to stop the chemical reaction that slowly destroys the lead plates.

TB


----------



## mrro82

trainman said:


> Ha...yeah, I didn't need to rewind, but I did specifically take note that it said "Searching..." instead of listing a carrier.


Oh goody it wasn't just me.


----------



## Church AV Guy

Church AV Guy said:


> I guess I was thinking that whatever is preventing current from flowing in electrical devices, aside from biological systems, is locking electrons in their positions, so the batteries will not self-discharge because self-discharging is in fact a minute current flow.
> 
> I wonder if lightening and electric eels still work?





TBoneit said:


> It would also have to stop the chemical reaction that slowly destroys the lead plates.
> 
> TB


Hey! If you're going to allow magic (no electric current through wires no matter how it's generated) then nothing is beyond believability, right?


----------



## Laxguy

mrro82 said:


> I hit rewind when the iPhone came on to make sure it didn't show as being connected to a network. :lol: Anyone else?


Heh. Although, there could be WiFi everywhere; just no one on earth would know it, as there is nothing to access it, except the momentary life in the strange house. .....

[This WiFi that I've invented goes through cement and steel walls, and is a min. of 3 Gigs/second, available everywhere in the world except below 20 miles into the earth's mantle.]


----------



## Nick

Even mules pulling a steel-rimmed wagon create a slight, but measurable current flow by induction. Give those animules a couple of 'giddyups' and watch the sparks fly. At least in a future world where almost anything is possible.


----------



## Diana C

The thing that bothers me is that the Industrial Revolution started before we had electricity. We managed to have steam engines long before we had electric anything...and that included inventing it all from scratch. Modern mechanical engineers would know how to design and build them without having to do any research. So, 15 years after such a blackout wouldn't look like the 18th century world the show depicts, but would be more a steam-punk world (which could have been a really interesting direction to take).

All that said, I go along with the suspension of disbelief and am enjoying the show so far.


----------



## longrider

Watched last nights episode, and it is getting better to me. New twists in the plot and people relationships every day.



Spoiler



Now we know lightning still works and steam power is coming into play


----------



## Laxguy

Titan25 said:


> The thing that bothers me is that the Industrial Revolution started before we had electricity. We managed to have steam engines long before we had electric anything...and that included inventing it all from scratch. Modern mechanical engineers would know how to design and build them without having to do any research. So, 15 years after such a blackout wouldn't look like the 18th century world the show depicts, but would be more a steam-punk world (which could have been a really interesting direction to take).
> 
> All that said, I go along with the suspension of disbelief and am enjoying the show so far.


Absolutely! And unless somehow supplies of ingredients for modern gunpowder disappeared, weaponry would not have reverted to 18th C. Not so difficult to reload shells, and brass foundries would have found a renaissance, along with iron and steel mills.

Soft drinks would be in plentiful supply.

Wait, a new thought! Could there be an underground pod of people who have juice but have morphed into some sort of..... dark creatures?? Oh, maybe that's another movie....


----------



## RASCAL01

Diana C said:


> The thing that bothers me is that the Industrial Revolution started before we had electricity. We managed to have steam engines long before we had electric anything...and that included inventing it all from scratch. Modern mechanical engineers would know how to design and build them without having to do any research. So, 15 years after such a blackout wouldn't look like the 18th century world the show depicts, but would be more a steam-punk world (which could have been a really interesting direction to take).
> 
> All that said, I go along with the suspension of disbelief and am enjoying the show so far.


The train is coming


----------



## armophob

I would welcome a future where I can't get shocked touching a door knob after shuffling across the floor in my socks.
It is one of the reasons I moved to Florida.


----------



## Drucifer

longrider said:


> Watched last nights episode, and it is getting better to me. New twists in the plot and people relationships every day.
> 
> 
> 
> Spoiler
> 
> 
> 
> Now we know lightning still works and steam power is coming into play


Yep tornado, didn't see lightening. Coming attraction showed a working steam engine train. Only got a quick peek, but I seem to remember it as being a rusty bucket instead of being a working museum engine.


----------



## Spicoli

There was plenty of thunder which means lightning.


----------



## Drucifer

Spicoli said:


> There was plenty of thunder which means lightning.


Head the thunder too, but in this show of mis-match science, I wouldn't assume anything.


----------



## RASCAL01

I did not hear thunder as this was a tornado.


----------



## longrider

I did hear thunder before the tornado hit, and while I do not remember seeing a lightning strike directly I think there were some bright flashes I took as reflections of lightning.

I delete the show as soon as I am finished watching, it looks like I should keep this one for a while to go back and review discussion points...


----------



## RunnerFL

Just a reminder... If you guys want to discuss certain events from specific episodes you should start a thread specific to that episode so that there are no spoilers.


----------



## Galaxie6411

After the latest episode I am out. Too much whiny Charlie and pointless soap opera crap. Crazy dog guy was the only worthwhile part of the last episode.


----------



## Drucifer

As a train enthusiast, tonight's episode had lots of basic steam engine errors.


----------



## Nick

Drucifer said:


> As a train enthusiast, tonight's episode had lots of basic steam engine errors.


Here we go!


----------



## MysteryMan

Nick said:


> Here we go!


You have a problem with other people posting their opinion? :sure:


----------



## Nick

MysteryMan said:


> You have a problem with other people posting their opinion? :sure:


Of course not -- I just expressed my own. You gotta a problem with _that?_


----------



## MysteryMan

Nick said:


> Of course not -- I just expressed my own. You gotta a problem with _that?_


Of course not Nicky. It's amusing reading your, not you're opinions.


----------



## trainman

Drucifer said:


> As a train enthusiast, tonight's episode had lots of basic steam engine errors.


Do tell... 

I assume they came up with Noblesville, Indiana, based solely on Googling for a town in Indiana with a train museum.


----------



## litex2x

This show is turning into a decent filler show to hold me over between Sundays.

All those republics and factions on the map from last nights episode opens the door to many new possibilities in the show. There might be somebody out there who's way worse than Monroe.


----------



## Drucifer

This show reminds me of those 30ish serials, but without the cliffhanging between shows.


----------



## renbutler

trainman said:


> I assume they came up with Noblesville, Indiana, based solely on Googling for a town in Indiana with a train museum.


Nice catch!

I live one town over from Noblesville, and I admired that attention to detail in the writing.


----------



## Drucifer

*SOURCE*


----------



## Drucifer

For those that had their schedule _Revolution_ Monday episode preempted by Hurricane Sandy in someway, NBC will do a rebroadcast of that episode this Friday at 8:00 PM EST.


----------



## tsmacro

So I watched the first ep something like the day after it aired just to make sure I wanted to continue recording it. Since then they've just been building up on my DVR. Well the past couple nights I've watched four episodes and I've decided that I'm really liking this show. Definitely reminds me of some of the things I liked about Lost.


----------



## djlong

I just hope there's an explanation for why there is lightning and why every living thing on the planet didn't immediately die from no electricity in their nervous systems.


----------



## Laxguy

djlong said:


> I just hope there's an explanation for why there is lightning and why every living thing on the planet didn't immediately die from no electricity in their nervous systems.


Oh, that's easy :eek2: : Natural electricity is "allowed"; man made, no.

How did many hundreds of millions (looking just at the US) die? War? Pestilence? Famine? Boredom with no TV?

Are the leftovers bereft of any manufacturing skills? Farming? You'd think there'd be plenty to eat with the (tens?) of thousands left and all that great productive land.


----------



## tsmacro

Laxguy said:


> Farming? You'd think there'd be plenty to eat with the (tens?) of thousands left and all that great productive land.


As far as I can tell they're having no trouble with farming, whenever they're traveling you see crops growing (especially corn) and it always seems there's farmer's markets in the towns.


----------



## Laxguy

tsmacro said:


> As far as I can tell they're having no trouble with farming, whenever they're traveling you see crops growing (especially corn) and it always seems there's farmer's markets in the towns.


Stands of corn! Yes, lots. In straight rows and plots the size we're used to with machines that can plant or harvest acres in an hour.... Though maybe they can adapt a 12 row combine to pure mechanical operation pulled by a large team of horses or oxen.


----------



## jdskycaster

^Don't forget about the very large, and ever growing, Amish population. My dads farm is completely surrounded by dozens of Amish farms that continue to plant large fields of crops without any reliance on fossil fuels or electricity. Granted some Amish communities have gravitated towards technology but there are hundreds of communities that still rely on the old methods.

In a world without electricity the Amish would quickly dominate the "new" economy as they are already equipped to do so.


----------



## sigma1914

I've got all episodes saved and just watched the 1st; I'm hooked. I'll probably watch them all today.


----------



## austen0316

I cant believe nbc philly changed the guide only a few hrs before revolution was supposed to air tonight. I was hoping to see the episode on tv and not from there website.


----------



## Drucifer

I ended up doing VoD


----------



## sigma1914

I watched the 6 episodes the other day... WOW... My new favorite show.


----------



## longrider

According to a promo aired today we will find out tomorrow how/why the power went out. It will be interesting to see how the story develops if power is restored


----------



## The Merg

"austen0316" said:


> I cant believe nbc philly changed the guide only a few hrs before revolution was supposed to air tonight. I was hoping to see the episode on tv and not from there website.


Think that happened to me as well. I noticed that it didn't record. When I checked the History, it says that it was canceled as it expected something else, Dateline NBC. I just downloaded it via VOD so I can watch it tonight.

- Merg


----------



## djlong

Ok, I caught up with episodes all the way to last Monday's - including the previews for tomorrow's show.

Every time the show got worse, it got better after that. Now it's worse and worse for the last two weeks.

An episode taken over by by endless unrealistic hallucination scenes? 
Running out of air in a subway tunnel minutes after a collapse?
A subway tunnel (with rails) with acute angle turns?
An engineer looking at a device and instantly telling it was a bomb - without so much as pointing to anything that might have been explosives?

And, worst of all, in the previews...

WORKING HELICOPTERS? AFTER FIFTEEN YEARS OF NO MAINTENANCE?????

...and they still haven't explained why everything isn't dead since EVERY form of multicellular life depends on organic electrical signals.


----------



## seern

Well after tonight, according to an article at CNN, we do not have to worry much until next March since this show is going on hiatus until then.


----------



## mrro82

seern said:


> Well after tonight, according to an article at CNN, we do not have to worry much until next March since this show is going on hiatus until then.


I heard it called Fall Finale on a commercial break during Nightly News tonight. Something tells me its done. But I've been wrong before.


----------



## RunnerFL

mrro82 said:


> I heard it called Fall Finale on a commercial break during Nightly News tonight. Something tells me its done. But I've been wrong before.


It's not done, they got a full season order a while back. At the rate it's going they'll get the green light for season 2 soon too.


----------



## Nick

I'm losing (not loosing) interest faster than (not then) a jumper going off the GW.


----------



## mrro82

RunnerFL said:


> It's not done, they got a full season order a while back. At the rate it's going they'll get the green light for season 2 soon too.


I'm all for that. Its getting good. I just know NBCs track record with shows I like so I'm a bit pessimistic.


----------



## RunnerFL

mrro82 said:


> I'm all for that. Its getting good. I just know NBCs track record with shows I like so I'm a bit pessimistic.


The show helped NBC win its first November Sweeps in 9 years. It's also ranked the #1 New Drama, for real not just network hype, so I can't see them canning it.


----------



## tsmacro

RunnerFL said:


> The show helped NBC win its first November Sweeps in 9 years. It's also ranked the #1 New Drama, for real not just network hype, so I can't see them canning it.


I hope you're right. So far the numbers have looked good especially in the "golden demographic" of 19 to 49 versus their 10pm competition. However what makes me nervous is the extended break, those have killed other shows, out of sight out of mind. Especially if it's not coming back until March, by that time most the other winter shows will have been in full swing for a while, will people come back in big enough numbers live to give them the ratings they need? Or will they just keep Revolution as a timer on their DVR and get around to watching the eps when they get a chance since they're now currently involved in the middle of a season of another show that's been going since January and as a result the live ratings for Revolution drop too much and it goes away at the end of the season. Like I said I hope this won't be the case, I'm enjoying it so far, but you can see why I'm worried.


----------



## celticpride

I hate the way some networks take a break on the shows! In the old days tv season ran from september to march, Its stupid to go from september to november then start back up in march, sometimes i lose interest in a show after that break because i'll be watching something else. I do love how they put new shows on in summer like rizzoli & isles,but now i see they have new episodes coming out next week?:nono2: Its a good thing we have DVRS nowadays so we can set up to record new episodes only, otherwise i'd lose track of when a show is on!


----------



## RunnerFL

celticpride said:


> I hate the way some networks take a break on the shows! In the old days tv season ran from september to march, Its stupid to go from september to november then start back up in march, sometimes i lose interest in a show after that break because i'll be watching something else. I do love how they put new shows on in summer like rizzoli & isles,but now i see they have new episodes coming out next week?:nono2: Its a good thing we have DVRS nowadays so we can set up to record new episodes only, otherwise i'd lose track of when a show is on!


Back in the day all networks stopped showing new stuff around the holidays. You just didn't notice it because they showed re-runs instead of new shows.


----------



## mrro82

I remember when seasons were 24 episodes long like the x files. October-May if I remember right. None of this 6 now 6 later and that's it. Then again choices were far limited back then compared to now too.


----------



## RunnerFL

mrro82 said:


> I remember when seasons were 24 episodes long like the x files. October-May if I remember right. None of this 6 now 6 later and that's it. Then again choices were far limited back then compared to now too.


Seasons on the "big 4" generally are still 24 episodes. Revolution is going to be 22. The networks that do break up seasons (USA, TNT, Syfy, etc) generally put out 12 and 12 making them 24 as well.


----------



## litex2x

I think people have a lot of interest in the dystopian genre and this is probably what keeps people watching because there isn't really anything else like it on TV right now. It's not a bad show but I feel it just hasn't blossomed into anything special yet. The potential is definitely there. I think it would help if they went a bit darker.


----------



## jdskycaster

Or how about just leaving out the painfully predictable fight scenes? The Monroe/Matheson face off was terrible. Was it even necessary for the two of them to meet up when you know neither is going to kill the other off? Let's have a lame sword fight followed by a scramble out the window - not a scratch on either of them. 

I have been trying to give this show some rope but it has pretty much hung itself already. Maybe I will have forgotten everything about the show by next spring and will check in to see if it is any better. They definitely need to broaden the scope of this story beyond the Matheson's and Monroe.


----------



## renbutler

jdskycaster said:


> Or how about just leaving out the painfully predictable fight scenes? The Monroe/Matheson face off was terrible. Was it even necessary for the two of them to meet up when you know neither is going to kill the other off? Let's have a lame sword fight followed by a scramble out the window - not a scratch on either of them.


The fight was lame, but the standoff before it was the first real tension that I recall on the show so far. For a brief time, I was actually thinking that Miles might do something unexpected like re-joining Monroe (allowing the rest of the captives to flee, of course).

That would have been a better cliffhanger than the helicopter, for sure. Other than the death of the British woman, nothing much has been surprising or unpredictable.


----------



## djlong

I'm surprised that they were able to keep jet fuel from degrading for 15 years - or somehow hide an 1800s-era refinery (kerosene and other fuels were refined from crude oil before electricity).

I'm surprised they had enough working parts to make an "amplifier" in a place where they didn't even know WHAT parts might be needed, where they would come from, or how they would have worked after 15 years of gathering dust.

The standoff before the swordfight, however, was good. The end didn't make any sense. Why did he lower his gun if he wanted to shoot him? And being in the military, you are trained to never let the enemy get that close to you.


----------



## RunnerFL

spoilers guys, spoilers... If you want to talk about what's revealed in an episode please start a thread for that episode.


----------



## Doug Brott

RunnerFL said:


> spoilers guys, spoilers... If you want to talk about what's revealed in an episode please start a thread for that episode.


I'm pretty sure that's what we've been doing with this thread all along and since all episodes have aired ....


----------



## Doug Brott

djlong said:


> I'm surprised that they were able to keep jet fuel from degrading for 15 years - or somehow hide an 1800s-era refinery (kerosene and other fuels were refined from crude oil before electricity).
> 
> I'm surprised they had enough working parts to make an "amplifier" in a place where they didn't even know WHAT parts might be needed, where they would come from, or how they would have worked after 15 years of gathering dust.


Yup, I get it ... there are a thousand holes in the technical aspects of this show. I got beyond that when I heard the show was going to be aired. If I had an expectation of the show being remotely accurate I would expect it to be on something other than a major network because 90% of the people watching would be board to tears in reality. It also seems way too easy for the rebels to get explosives this many years later. Seems like those reserves would have been raided long ago.

If reality mattered shows wouldn't be half as fun to watch.



> The standoff before the swordfight, however, was good. The end didn't make any sense. Why did he lower his gun if he wanted to shoot him? And being in the military, you are trained to never let the enemy get that close to you.


yeah, this could have been done better, but in the end both Matheson and Monroe had to live. That's just a function of the cast and contracts. If Matheson really wanted to make a difference, he would have pulled the trigger and the story would have taken on new meaning (with either Captain Neville or Jeremy taking the General's spot).

In the end, all this episode did was provide a bridge to the next story arc which we'll see in the spring. For me, I really enjoyed the ride and yes, I rolled my eyes at a few of the show's fallacies, but it certainly didn't mute my enjoyment.


----------



## tsmacro

djlong said:


> I'm surprised that they were able to keep jet fuel from degrading for 15 years - or somehow hide an 1800s-era refinery (kerosene and other fuels were refined from crude oil before electricity).


I guess it was also lucky that they had a capable helicopter pilot available. I mean after all those years you'd only have so many left in the world you'd think and on top of that you'd think any that were available just might be a bit rusty in their skills and might need a little practice. I guess maybe it's one of those riding a bike things.


----------



## RunnerFL

Doug Brott said:


> I'm pretty sure that's what we've been doing with this thread all along and since all episodes have aired ....


Not everyone has seen every episode yet though and still may want to discuss the show in general. The forum rules say you need to either spolierize your posts or start a thread for that specific episode.


----------



## Laxguy

Did we learn why the lights went out? Were we not promised this would be the case? 

(An answer might be in the form of a spoiler, i.e., hidden from those who don't want to see the answer.)


----------



## trainman

Laxguy said:


> Did we learn why the lights went out? Were we not promised this would be the case?
> 
> (An answer might be in the form of a spoiler, i.e., hidden from those who don't want to see the answer.)


We know that Rachel and Ben, among others, had worked on a project that was initially intended to create electrical power, but turned out to have the opposite effect -- and they showed it off to Randall Flynn of the Defense Department, who was very interested.

Because of that, we do know why the lights went out in one sense -- they went out because this technology that "blocks" electrical power was turned on -- but we still don't know, for example, the motivation behind activating the anti-electrical technology in the first place.


----------



## tsmacro

trainman said:


> We know that Rachel and Ben, among others, had worked on a project that was initially intended to create electrical power, but turned out to have the opposite effect -- and they showed it off to Randall Flynn of the Defense Department, who was very interested.
> 
> Because of that, we do know why the lights went out in one sense -- they went out because this technology that "blocks" electrical power was turned on -- but we still don't know, for example, the motivation behind activating the anti-electrical technology in the first place.


Yes there are still plenty of questions surrounding the whole "why the power went out" thing. Among them are "who actually flipped the switch and why?". And another biggie, so they have this technology that suppresses electrical power, so how does it contunue to do so after all these years? I mean obviously there's some kind of suppression field in place, that's what the little magic pendants manage to overcome in a small local bubble surrounding them right? And of course a bigger bubble with an amplifier apparently. Leave it to a JJ Abrams production to give us a weirdly compelling mystery. I also like the flashback style that they use to fill in the back story little by little, definitely reminds of me of Lost in that way.


----------



## russ9

Laxguy said:


> Did we learn why the lights went out?


There are no current answers.


----------



## Drucifer

It's all a dream.


----------



## Nick

Drucifer said:


> It's all a dream.


That's what I thought. Someone, please... wake me up! :new_sleep


----------



## RunnerFL

Nick said:


> That's what I thought. Someone, please... wake me up! :new_sleep


Why not just stop watching then?


----------



## MysteryMan

Nick said:


> I'm losing (not loosing) interest faster than (not then) a jumper going off the GW.


In reference to your, not you're post #58 "Good for you!"


----------



## Nick

MysteryMan said:


> Today, 05:38 AM
> In reference to your, not you're post #58 "Good for you!"


A bit peckish so early on a Sunday morning, are we?


----------



## MysteryMan

Nick said:


> A bit peckish so early on a Sunday morning, are we?


What goes around comes around Nicky


----------



## chiodo

This show will turn out like V on ABC, It will come back from hiatus and the ratings will drop dramatically and it will be cancelled. NBC is full of idiots with their Hiatus BS, they did this with Battlestar Galactica and Caprica on SyFy, BSG just barely survived athe only reason was because the episodes were already shot and SyFy had nothing to replace it with. Don't get me wrong I loved BSG. 

Since Revolutions is on Network TV I don't think it will fair so well. I dvr the episodes and watch them if I feel like it, I'm pretty drained out watching TV on Monday after a full Sunday night of The Walking Dead, Boardwalk Empire and Homeland.


----------



## Church AV Guy

> This show will turn out like V on ABC, It will come back from hiatus and the ratings will drop dramatically and it will be cancelled.


Not just V, but other shows has had this happen. You would think that someone would figure that out. I greatly fear you are correct--Revolution is doomed.


----------



## seern

I have the last 2 shows from the fall on the dvr and have not watched them yet. I kind of feel like most of the above comments, which is the long hiatus will doom this show.


----------



## The Merg

Well, hopefully since NBC did already pick up the next half of the season, they can maybe work out an ending for the show as it seems like it will probably not make it to season 2.

- Merg


----------



## renbutler

When you have only 22-24 shows per 52-week year, obviously there are going to be breaks.

They could spread the show out from September to May, or show it in two big chunks.

I have no problem with the latter, particularly for a serial drama, which requires in-sequence viewing without repeats to fill many gaps.


----------



## Doug Brott

This show is more likely to go the way of Lost - 15(ish) episodes a year all blown out back-to-back.


----------



## renbutler

I thought Lost had the smaller seasons only because of the writers' strike.


----------



## RunnerFL

renbutler said:


> I thought Lost had the smaller seasons only because of the writers' strike.


The first 3 seasons had 23-25 episodes. Season 4 on only had 16.


----------



## renbutler

Season 4 was split into two shorter seasons because of the strike.

A five-season arc was turned into six seasons because of the one split season. They ended up with 121 episodes, which is essentially five 24-episode seasons (the original plan).


----------



## David Ortiz

renbutler said:


> I thought Lost had the smaller seasons only because of the writers' strike.


When the end date was set, which was months before the strike, three seasons of 16 uninterrupted episodes were announced.


----------



## RunnerFL

renbutler said:


> Season 4 was split into two shorter seasons because of the strike.
> 
> A five-season arc was turned into six seasons because of the one split season. They ended up with 121 episodes, which is essentially five 24-episode seasons (the original plan).


No, it was announced as 6 seasons before the strike. Season 4 wasn't split at all.

Season 1 - 25 episodes
Season 2 - 24 episodes
Season 3 - 23 episodes
Announcement of 3 final seasons being 16 episodes each.
Season 4 - 16 episodes (even with strike)
Season 5 - 16 episodes
Season 6 - 16 episodes


----------



## David Ortiz

RunnerFL said:


> No, it was announced as 6 seasons before the strike. Season 4 wasn't split at all.
> 
> Season 1 - 25 episodes
> Season 2 - 24 episodes
> Season 3 - 23 episodes
> Announcement of 3 final seasons being 16 episodes each.
> Season 4 - 16 episodes (even with strike)
> Season 5 - 16 episodes
> Season 6 - 16 episodes


Season 4 had 13 episodes which became 14 by lengthening the finale, which was a direct result of the strike. There was a four week break during the season.


----------



## RunnerFL

David Ortiz said:


> Season 4 had 13 episodes which became 14 by lengthening the finale, which was a direct result of the strike. There was a four week break during the season.


Yup, you're right. Season 4 had 14.

That break was excrutiating!


----------



## Nick

^ Oh, the humanity! :sure:


----------



## mrro82

Did everybody forget a new episode was on Monday?  I thought it was pretty decent. Seems like the second half will be better than the first.


----------



## Holydoc

mrro82 said:


> Did everybody forget a new episode was on Monday?  I thought it was pretty decent. Seems like the second half will be better than the first.


First show of the second half basically negated the entire first half. I am seriously debating removing this one from my "to watch" list.


----------



## tsmacro

Got it on my DVR, haven't watched yet. But I did notice that it did come back to half-way decent ratings, I think in about the same range as it had before so that's at least an encouraging sign.


----------



## mrro82

Holydoc said:


> First show of the second half basically negated the entire first half. I am seriously debating removing this one from my "to watch" list.


Just out of curiosity, what didn't you like because i thought the exact opposite?


----------



## djlong

I *really* want to like this show. But they keep doing "bonehead" things with writing inconsistencies that infuriate me at the same time.

Who trained those helicopter pilots? If they're old pilots, how long did they spend "getting the feel" back?

Who maintained those choppers for 15 years and how?

Earlier, they complained of having to use muskets. If they were so limited in the modernity of arms, why did they have such high-power and high-caliber guns available for the choppers?

You *do* know those rockets probably wouldn't work after 15 years of unmaintained disuse, yes? (At least the 'rebel' had an explanation for why HIS might work)

Never mind the Hollywood-trope of not really knowing what "firing from behind cover" looks like.

...and if the Mom knew about the blackout IN ADVANCE - she had to given what she removed from the dead body and the fact that it was implanted over a year before said blackout - why has she waited this long before doing anything?

And about her recent activities...

Did she care how many people would die to save her son by giving "the amplifier" away?

How did they have all the parts she needed?

Does anyone remember intricate technical details of stuff after 15 years of not doing anything about it? ...sufficient enough that you could, say, solder up some printed circuit boards, wire up power transformers (with parts that should have been covered in 15 years of rust) and test it all out?

...and all of that is before the predictable Hollywood writing (save the victim only to kill him off later).


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## Holydoc

mrro82 said:


> Just out of curiosity, what didn't you like because i thought the exact opposite?


I did not like investing a whole season suspending belief on the sole premise that these characters needed to save the boy only to have the boy killed first episode of the second season. Now there is no motivation for this group to carry on. None of them ever wanted to join the revolution. None of them should have any faith in their mother that left them or their uncle that never got in touch with them.

On top of that you have the helicopters, the SAMs, the rockets, and lord knows what else that everyone is suddenly proficient with. Not to continue on too much more but you also have STEALTH horse and wagons that can ride right into a dual Helicopter fire fight and deliver weapons to save the day.

I hope that gives you some insight into my disappointment. Like DJLong, I want to like this show. They are just making it so dang hard to do it.


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## Doug Brott

DJ, You should probably cut your losses and move on. This show is about theatrics, not accuracy. If the latter is that important I don't think this show is ever going to be satisfying to you.


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## mrro82

Holydoc said:


> I did not like investing a whole season suspending belief on the sole premise that these characters needed to save the boy only to have the boy killed first episode of the second season. Now there is no motivation for this group to carry on. None of them ever wanted to join the revolution. None of them should have any faith in their mother that left them or their uncle that never got in touch with them.
> 
> On top of that you have the helicopters, the SAMs, the rockets, and lord knows what else that everyone is suddenly proficient with. Not to continue on too much more but you also have STEALTH horse and wagons that can ride right into a dual Helicopter fire fight and deliver weapons to save the day.
> 
> I hope that gives you some insight into my disappointment. Like DJLong, I want to like this show. They are just making it so dang hard to do it.


Very good points. I guess i never thought about those things. Now that you mention them it does bring the show down quite a bit for me. Maybe this one won't last for me.


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## phrelin

I think I like most scifi, including those of the world's-gone-back-to-the-stone-age group. I was ready to dump this one early on. But my wife, who generally wouldn't seek out a scifi series, liked this one. We haven't seen the first one of the new season.

I think my problem is I haven't really liked the work of the show's creator/writer Eric Kripke. I just could never get into "Supernatural" which has been a winner for him and The CW.

But I find it hard to suspend disbelief to the level needed in "Revolution" because of all the huge "oh, come on, really" moments.

But we'll probably watch it until somebody turns the lights on.


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## Drucifer

Well apparently the next episode will try to explain some of the hows. That alone should be fun for some and hair pulling frustration for others.


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## RunnerFL

spoilers guys, please...


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## Drucifer

Wasn't much of a hint, but the coming attraction had the mom getting ready to tell the daughter all she knew on the matter.


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## Kevin F

It's pretty catchy but I do agree with earlier posts that the group lost a HUGE motive when Danny died.

Kevin


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## renbutler

What, saving the country from a newly equipped Monroe isn't motive enough?


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## Kevin F

renbutler;3201834 said:


> What, saving the country from a newly equipped Monroe isn't motive enough?


Oh it certainly is, but Danny was the one who was partially responsible for that motive in my opinion. Don't get me wrong, I remain interested in the show.

Kevin


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## djlong

Doug Brott said:


> DJ, You should probably cut your losses and move on. This show is about theatrics, not accuracy. If the latter is that important I don't think this show is ever going to be satisfying to you.


It's not so much the accuracy as the VOLUME of inaccuracy. Like I said, I *really* want to like this show. When they finally showed someone resuscitating steam power, *that* was cool!

There are plenty of things that go along with "the willing suspension of disbelief" and it's not just in Science Fiction. Ask any doctor about medical shows or a cop about police procedural shows.

But there's a tipping point. And once that tipping point is crossed, well, it can open the floodgates. Kind of like how a spouse might get "tipped" because you didn't take the garbage out and the argument then spills out ALL the things you did wrong.

An example was during the climax this past week. 
<spoiler>
If it weren't for all the other annoyances, I don't think the "jump up from behind cover, fire your weapon, then stand there and admire the results" would have been rantworthy. But, with everything else, it comes out in the flood of angst
</spoiler>


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## RunnerFL

Drucifer said:


> Wasn't much of a hint, but the coming attraction had the mom getting ready to tell the daughter all she knew on the matter.


The fact that someone posted that Danny was killed was a MAJOR hint and spoiler.


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## djlong

Again, a little bit of redemption..

Now we have a clue as to what caused the blackout. Although it doesn't explain why the electricity in our bodies is unaffected, at least we have something to go by.

Definitely more plusses than minuses in this week's episode.


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## Drucifer

Being a sci-fi junkie, I'm kinda enjoying this show. It reminds me of the comic books I read as a kid.


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## djlong

I just hope one new plot point doesn't "go stupid".



Spoiler



I hope that 'nuke' is really for a dirty bomb as opposed to the classic 'mushroom cloud' nuke. A dirty bomb could still be manufactured but the exacting tolerances of a true nuke after 15 years of no-maintenance and mental depreciation make 'true nukes' impossible.


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## Church AV Guy

djlong said:


> I just hope one new plot point doesn't "go stupid".
> 
> 
> 
> Spoiler
> 
> 
> 
> I hope that 'nuke' is really for a dirty bomb as opposed to the classic 'mushroom cloud' nuke. A dirty bomb could still be manufactured but the exacting tolerances of a true nuke after 15 years of no-maintenance and mental depreciation make 'true nukes' impossible.


Don't tell the writers of "The Planet of the Apes" in whatever sequel that was... 

I can see no reason to spoilerize that comment.


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## djlong

I had 2 reasons.

1) Just in case someone had yet to watch this week's episode or hadn't watched to the end.

2) I wanted to see if I properly remembered how to use the spoiler tag 

Yeah, I hadn't thought of "Beneath the Planet of the Apes".


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## CCarncross

I think most of us would much rather have something setup as a spoiler when it doesnt need to be, then have something not setup as a spoiler when it should be.


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## RunnerFL

CCarncross said:


> I think most of us would much rather have something setup as a spoiler when it doesnt need to be, then have something not setup as a spoiler when it should be.


Exactly. Besides, anything from a specific episode should be in a thread for that specific episode and not in a thread for general discussion of the show.


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## spartanstew

Revolution was replaced tonight by coverage of the Boston Marathon bombing.

Does anyone know if they'll re-air it, and when?


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## Sixto

They're saying next Monday so far. We just need to be careful that it doesn't look like a repeat. Might need to manually setup.


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## mrro82

I checked for next Monday and this weeks episode is there. I had to manually set it up.


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## Drucifer

mrro82 said:


> I checked for next Monday and this weeks episode is there. I had to manually set it up.


Same here.


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## renbutler

Yesterday, epguides showed that they were going to show two episodes on May 6. But now they show that the season will be extended into June.

http://epguides.com/revolution/


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## thxultra

Interesting they had it on demand. I missed the recording because of the marathon coverage but was able to watch this weeks episode on demand.


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## mrro82

thxultra said:


> Interesting they had it on demand. I missed the recording because of the marathon coverage but was able to watch this weeks episode on demand.


Good to know. I checked Tuesday and it wasn't there.


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## thxultra

mrro82 said:


> Good to know. I checked Tuesday and it wasn't there.


Watched it Wednesday night. Have Uverse though so not sure if the NBC on Demand lineup is different then sat.


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## mrro82

thxultra said:


> Watched it Wednesday night. Have Uverse though so not sure if the NBC on Demand lineup is different then sat.


If you have Uverse why the hell did you post in a DirecTV thread? And no it isn't on On Demand on D*.


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## thxultra

mrro82 said:


> If you have Uverse why the hell did you post in a DirecTV thread? And no it isn't on On Demand on D*.


Used to have dish... Still come on here for the TV talk forums... Shows are the same on Sat and IPTV


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## mrro82

thxultra said:


> Used to have dish... Still come on here for the TV talk forums... Shows are the same on Sat and IPTV


Wow.


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## Sixto

Remember to manually setup this Monday. It thinks it already recorded it last week.


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## armophob

Sixto said:


> Remember to manually setup this Monday. It thinks it already recorded it last week.


Yep, I just noticed the same thing.


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## lugnutathome

Last week the show itself was preempted by the marathon incidents yet my DVRs recorded that timeslot wit the episode title and tonight as the first run time. If you have it on series record and got that timeslot recorded last week, history may prevent this show from recording tonight. Might wanna cheek that to do list when you get home.

Don "also same stuff with Friday night's Grimm out here in the left coast" Bolton


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## thxultra

mrro82 said:


> Wow.


Not knocking any platform here just answering the question. Kind of surprised NBC on Demand isn't the same on all providers with on demand to be honest.


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## klang

A little peek at the rest of the season.

Edit to add: Nothing too spoilery.


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## Sixto

Sixto said:


> They're saying next Monday so far. We just need to be careful that it doesn't look like a repeat. Might need to manually setup.


REMINDER.

You may need to manually record tonight!


----------



## mrro82

Mondays show was goooood IMHO. I'm liking the direction they're going. If they start incorporating the other republics I'll keep watching


----------



## Stewart Vernon

Monday introduced a bit of a plot-hole, though... Spoilered for those that didn't watch:



Spoiler



Ok, so the nanites eat the power but also help heal sick people... This creates a disconnect from what has happened on the show thus far.

Danny had nanites keeping him alive, but he died from being shot by the helicopter while its amplifier was working to stop the local nanites from eating power. So... one of two scenarios exists:

1. Either it is in fact possible to stop the nanites from eating power without interfering with their healing benefits to sick people!

OR

2. They screwed up, and Danny should have been dying long before he got shot.


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## djlong

I have a pretty easy explanation for THAT one.



Spoiler



Remember, she said what the nanites were doing for her friend - eating the tumor. While these nanites were following instructions to HEAL, the ones causing the blackout only had two 'options' - power on and off. So - in "short circuiting" *all* the nanites, you take down everything based on that technology ecosystem. You kill the power-sucking nanites but the medical nanites get taken out as well.

Remember also that she killed two people with a remote - and that was never explained. But it sure looked like some nanites were being reprogrammed with that remote she had.


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## Stewart Vernon

True... but the point I was getting at was that there shouldn't be a choice of all or nothing... they already know how to have their cake and eat it to... so if it is possible to disable one and not the other, they should be able to do that, right?


----------



## Church AV Guy

Stewart Vernon said:


> True... but the point I was getting at was that there shouldn't be a choice of all or nothing... they already know how to have their cake and eat it to... so if it is possible to disable one and not the other, they should be able to do that, right?


The general gist of the conversation would suggest the exact opposite. Then were implying--all but said outright--that there is NO selective off switch. If you turn off the power controlling nanites, you turn them ALL off, including the medical functioning ones.


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## djlong

It's probably possible - after all, people were being kept alive by the technology while the world had electricity. But I'm guessing that, under current circumstances, such differentiation is impossible or at the very least unavailable.


----------



## RunnerFL

Guys, spoilers please. Not everyone is caught up on episodes. If you want to talk about events from a specific episode please open a thread for that episode. Thanks.


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## Stewart Vernon

Sorry about that... that's why I spoilered my first post and tried to be vague in my other reply.


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## Drucifer

Well Revolution got picked up for another year.

http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news/2013/04/26/nbc-announces-five-drama-series-renewals-for-next-season-415415/20130426nbc03/


----------



## RunnerFL

Yup, already posted.

http://www.dbstalk.com/topic/204055-nbc-renews-five-key-dramas/


----------



## mrro82

Renewal sounds good to me.


----------



## tsmacro

So I'm still enjoying this however there is one little thing that seems a little out of sorts for me at the moment. It's that it seems they can just walk anywhere they want to go in about a day. I mean Philadelphia to Georgia that quick? Monroe takes a helicopter to their hometown, (anyone catch where that was?), and then Miles walks there in a day? The two walking to "the Tower". Also seemed to get to the Plains nation awfully quick. Sure it all could be taking longer and they're just not showing us those days in between when not much happens but at the very least they should have something that kind of indicates the passage of time and lets us know ok this is a week later or something. Especially when you juxtapose it against the first half a season where they were showing us what happened every day and it took something like 8 or so episodes to get from Chicago to Philadelphia.


----------



## tsmacro

Ok so we made it through season one and season two is already assured. Not sure how I feel about how they left it, I guess I'll have a better idea when I see the first ep of season two. Also moving from a 10pm slot to a 8pm slot next season does that indicate they plan on being less gritty and more family friendly in season two? Or do the networks even care anymore what they program when based on when more younger eyes may be on the tube? I supposed these days it's mostly irrelevant anyway.


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## jimmie57

Unless there is a way to destroy all those missiles in flight it is going to be a lot different next season.

I have to agree with you about them showing more and more of whatever they want at whatever time they want to.
On that note, the evening news is usually as much or more than most of the programs.
Every time it comes on they are talking about a killing, rap, robbery, terrible wrecks and fires, etc.


----------



## Doug Brott

This show parallels _Lost _in some ways. That show was successful in rebooting the entire show at the end of the season. That seems to be what is going on here as well. Guess Kim Raver is a goner, unless i missed the part where she moved far away ...


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## djlong

I would just like an explanation of how all this stuff miraculously WOKE UP after 15 years of being dormant.

If you let a car sit for 15 years, will it start? No - the gas breaks down - so even if you get a jump start, it won't fire.

Jet engines are a LOT more touchy.

And missiles? An ounce of rust will have those things blowing up on the pad even if you HAD the fuel.

And the view of the earth with lights coming on? Who started the generators? At best, only wind, hydro and solar would work and it was nighttime.

I mean, I like the drama, the character development, the premise and many other aspects but "Jeremiah" handled things much more realistically with no lack of drama.


----------



## RunnerFL

djlong said:


> I would just like an explanation of how all this stuff miraculously WOKE UP after 15 years of being dormant.
> 
> If you let a car sit for 15 years, will it start? No - the gas breaks down - so even if you get a jump start, it won't fire.
> 
> Jet engines are a LOT more touchy.
> 
> And missiles? An ounce of rust will have those things blowing up on the pad even if you HAD the fuel.
> 
> And the view of the earth with lights coming on? Who started the generators? At best, only wind, hydro and solar would work and it was nighttime.
> 
> I mean, I like the drama, the character development, the premise and many other aspects but "Jeremiah" handled things much more realistically with no lack of drama.


This is network TV, not thinking man's sci-fi. Network TV is dumbed down for the masses.


----------



## tsmacro

djlong said:


> I would just like an explanation of how all this stuff miraculously WOKE UP after 15 years of being dormant.
> 
> If you let a car sit for 15 years, will it start? No - the gas breaks down - so even if you get a jump start, it won't fire.
> 
> Jet engines are a LOT more touchy.
> 
> And missiles? An ounce of rust will have those things blowing up on the pad even if you HAD the fuel.
> 
> And the view of the earth with lights coming on? Who started the generators? At best, only wind, hydro and solar would work and it was nighttime.
> 
> I mean, I like the drama, the character development, the premise and many other aspects but "Jeremiah" handled things much more realistically with no lack of drama.


I must admit, lights just turning back on as if by magic gave me pause as well, I'm willing to suspend belief for the sake of the story but even for me that was really pushing it! All I could imagine is that the creators of the show just wanted that shot of the lights coming back on across the darkened globe so badly they were willing to overlook all the "picky details" that would actually make it possible.


----------



## The Merg

tsmacro said:


> I must admit, lights just turning back on as if by magic gave me pause as well, I'm willing to suspend belief for the sake of the story but even for me that was really pushing it! All I could imagine is that the creators of the show just wanted that shot of the lights coming back on across the darkened globe so badly they were willing to overlook all the "picky details" that would actually make it possible.


+1

I especially like the boom-box sitting under the counter that started playing. I assume it was supposed to be plugged in, but if there were batteries in there, there is no way it would be playing.

- Merg


----------



## The Merg

Doug Brott said:


> Guess Kim Raver is a goner, unless i missed the part where she moved far away ...


I think she was supposed to be in Atlanta, so I would think so...

- Merg


----------



## RunnerFL

The Merg said:


> I think she was supposed to be in Atlanta, so I would think so...
> 
> - Merg


Yes, she was in Atlanta.


----------



## trainman

The Merg said:


> I assume it was supposed to be plugged in, but if there were batteries in there, there is no way it would be playing.


We already saw an iPhone, which hadn't been charged in 15 years, come back to life when it was near one of the "pendants." Presumably, the explanation is that the nanites' electricity-blocking power extended to keeping batteries from discharging.

At least they had the boom box radio picking up static, rather than immediately getting a actual broadcast.


----------



## Church AV Guy

Although it's totally bogus, they were originally working on a way of distributing free energy, so maybe the nanites are now generating the electricity rather than inhibiting it. That would be a lame excuse, but a part of me is expecting them to use it.


----------



## The Merg

We already saw an iPhone, which hadn't been charged in 15 years, come back to life when it was near one of the "pendants." Presumably, the explanation is that the nanites' electricity-blocking power extended to keeping batteries from discharging.

At least they had the boom box radio picking up static, rather than immediately getting a actual broadcast.


True. And that would actually make some sense then.


- Merg

Sent from my iPad using DBSTalk mobile app


----------



## djlong

I would have loved a nod to reality in having only hydro-electric systems "come on". Some specials I've seen suggest that, even without maintenance, dams COULD still produce some electricity - just nowhere near peak efficiency. I think that would have made Las Vegas the new capital city what with all the hydro-power from Lake Mead. Quebec would also be a major power source.


----------



## Drucifer

I thought my favorite character in this show was a goner.


----------



## phrelin

I guess it's better than nothing. From 'Revolution' To Wrap Story In DC Comics Digital Book From Series' Creative Team:



> A year after Revolution's abrupt end on NBC after two seasons, fans of the post-apocalyptic drama are getting closure. The second-season finale of Revolution was not intended as a series finale, closing some storylines and setting up others, prompting a massive save-the-show fan campaign. Now a four-chapter digital comic book will continue and ultimately resolve the events from the show's final episode.


----------



## djlong

Maybe they'll explain how rockets work after a decade and more of zero maintenance. I mean, I *loved* the fact that they showed a steam engine being brought back to life and THAT being a major technological development.

I could deal with everyone having clean hair and a whole bunch of other things that were missing from a post-apocalyptic setting...

But launching rockets at Philadelphia? The odds of anyone remembering how to program the machines are remote enough - to say nothing of how remote the idea of the machines WORKING is in the first place. But the fuel for the rockets degrade QUICKLY. They REALLY lost me there. Go ahead. Leave a car in your yard for ONE year - then try and start it. I won't hold my breath waiting...


----------



## Drucifer

Yeah but it is way easier to write a plot without doing any research.

And here's the kicker, some darwinian will try repeat some of things they did on the show.

As to that steam engine, it was coal burning. Wood wouldn't get it hot enough to move.


----------



## jimmie57

Drucifer said:


> Yeah but it is way easier to write a plot without doing any research.
> 
> And here's the kicker, some darwinian will try repeat some of things they did on the show.
> 
> As to that steam engine, it was coal burning. Wood wouldn't get it hot enough to move.


All of the old cowboy and Indian movies I used to watch had wood burning steam engines for the trains.
Indeed there is some of them still around. Here is a link to one that is in Florida. It is a You Tube video.


----------

