Revolution

I'm going to give it a shot, tonight. I think you can also watch the pilot at the show site prior to the television premier. (Maybe.) It looks like an interesting premise. It was created by Eric Kripke of "Supernatural" fame, so I'm excited about that.

We're excited about it at our house...Which, based on past experience, pretty much dooms it to be cancelled around episode six.

TV Guide had a funny review that complained about the strong libertarian soapboxing of the premise as well as Esposito's "uncanny resemblance" to Barrack Obama.

I'll check it out, but please God, don't let them have teenagers or people in their early 20s who treat adults/parents like crap because after a mega-global devastating event, teenagers would all still be assholes.

(Yes, I'm thinking of shows like Falling Skies where the teen angst becomes so bad that you end up fast forwarding through 1/3 of the episode.)

And seeing kids that are too clean cut, the stereotypical mute kid (who only talks when the hero is about to die), the plucky trouble-maker kid . . . ugh.

I'm really not hopeful, but I will give it a shot.

Ah yes, the "Why isn't S.M Sterling suing them?" show!

It might be good. But I have a sinking feeling that the hackneyed moral will be, "Well, yes, billions have died due to the lack of electrical power, but it's brought us so much closer together as a community."

Barf.

But, hey, maybe it won't do that. That's just the sense I got from the trailer.

I kind of like Billy Burke... so I guess the show is worth a try.

Zoombie said:

Ah yes, the "Why isn't S.M Sterling suing them?" show!

It might be good. But I have a sinking feeling that the hackneyed moral will be, "Well, yes, billions have died due to the lack of electrical power, but it's brought us so much closer together as a community."

Barf.

But, hey, maybe it won't do that. That's just the sense I got from the trailer.

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Actually, it looks like a pretty harsh world. Warlords came for the MC's family. So it's about her doing anything for them to get them back. Which is what Kripke has at the heart of his stories--family.

Zoombie said:

Ah yes, the "Why isn't S.M Sterling suing them?" show!

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Would he first have to wait to be sued by Steven Boyett; and then Boyett by Fredric Brown's estate? The basic idea has been around a while; and using the same premise isn't plagiarism.

(Though the producers of that Terra Nova show should have at least given credit to Poul Anderson.)

It was terrible.

callalily61 said:

I missed it last night because I was talking to a book club. Hopefully the first ep is On Demand. In our house we've nicknamed the show "Pretty White People Save the World".

If it sucks, I hope it's 1/3 as entertaining as The River was. We laughed out butts off for every episode of that show.

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I'm not sure it's as OTT as The River was--that was a campy mess. (I suspect 666 Park avenue--while hoping to be the new American Horror Story--will, in fact, be this season's The River. Tho I hope I'm wrong because we need more good fantasy horror on tv.)

This is just very earnest and a little too clean and stylish (who sewed--by hand, cos no electricity--that leather outfit she was wearing, for instance?). And, um, it's only been 15 years but everyone's an expert swordsman now? Oh, and the reveal of Monroe made me roll my eyes and then remember that poor terrible excuse for a show--The Cape....

Then at the end the whole thing began to remind me (unpleasantly) of Jericho...Nuts!

I try never to finalize my opinion of an ambitious show from the pilot, so I'll watch again. But I was definitely underwhelmed.

rugcat said:

Yes. The episode where people are dying, the aliens are coming on strong, but the teen lead is totally freaked out when he discovers the girl he's interested was once into drugs. And had a child. Way too much for his delicate sensibilities to handle.

I quite like the show, actually, but I'd never recommend it to anyone else.

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When the show is ON, it's on and I stick with it for some of the longer, more epic storylines (skitters rebellion and such). But, yeah, I FF through quite a bit whenever Hal/Maggie or Lourdes comes on the screen.

dolores haze said:

It was terrible.

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Details!

SPOILER WARNING


I was entertained by the pilot. I'm like JohnnyGottaKeyboard in that I'll give a show several episodes to work out the awkwardness. The writers and actors have to gel a bit before it gets good (if it's going to get good).

Setting-wise, I also thought things were a little too tidy. I liked the overgrowth of the cities and all the flooding, and how gritty the port towns looked compared to the picturesque farm towns. But I seriously wondered where the clothes came from... A pristine AC/DC t-shirt after fifteen years? (Or should I assume that was hand embroidered?)...

Character-wise, I liked Charlie (the daughter). I think she translated the emotions pretty well: tough, independent, but still scared and alone. I love Billy Burke and I thought he was badass. I wasn't sold on Dad's girlfriend, but she grew on me. I don't know what I think of the brother yet, except that maybe he's not a big thinker. Definitely rash, and his big mistake that set everything off seems really inconsistence with the caution he showed earlier in the episode when Charlie wanted to do Dangerous Things...

I could have completely done without the Love Interest character. I'll buy that part about him being the vehicle for locating Miles (except that the initial meeting was way to convenient and it was obvious he was following her), but then when he turned on his mate for attacking Charlie... after she shot up one of his buddies (and having had seemingly no conflict about betraying Charlie's group before)... that just seemed random and too YA- romance tropish for me. I hope he gets A LOT of emotional conflict later and is torn between love and duty and all that... or just dies...

Storywise... meh. It was about how I thought it would go. A lot of setup to get us into the story development phase. I don't know what I think of Monroe... I'm having trouble believing that a dude who couldn't keep up with his own wallet somehow took over the territory in the middle of the apocalypse. I'm inclined to trust Kripke's vison, so I'll see what they do with it...

I thought it had a (somewhat) interesting premise and am eager to see how it plays out. However, at our house we are somewhat confused by no electricity = middle ages. Most of the world was not hooked up to the grid less than 100 years ago and a not too insignificant part still isn't. Things used to run on steam and gas. My grandmother's (mechanical) sowing machine does a fine job with leather.

Jstwatchin said:

I thought it had a (somewhat) interesting premise and am eager to see how it plays out. However, at our house we are somewhat confused by no electricity = middle ages. Most of the world was not hooked up to the grid less than 100 years ago and a not too insignificant part still isn't. Things used to run on steam and gas. My grandmother's (mechanical) sowing machine does a fine job with leather.

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I didn't think quality of life had fallen all the way back to medieval. But I think things just looked a little too new and tailored and clean. Fifteen years... all the clothing stores have been looted already, all the fabric stores, too. Fabric for new clothes will have to woven.... from? And dyed and well... there's just a modernness to the clothing I assume will be lost when we have to go back to doing that. So I'm looking for clothing to be a little more homemade in appearance or patchwork from older clothing, etc. Mayhaps I don't envision the end of the world realistically.

ETA: Maybe way more people died than I'm imagining and there's an excess of new, unused clothing sitting around.

I haven't seen it--I will try to watch the first episode online at some point (maybe).

I just don't get how it's possible to turn off the world's power. As long as there are electrons, there are sources of electricity. And how can the entire world's grid be shut down? I will not be able to watch the show unless it's premise is at least slightly plausible.

angeliz2k said:

I haven't seen it--I will try to watch the first episode online at some point (maybe).

I just don't get how it's possible to turn off the world's power. As long as there are electrons, there are sources of electricity. And how can the entire world's grid be shut down? I will not be able to watch the show unless it's premise is at least slightly plausible.

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I think that's my issue with the whole premise. Not just that the whole world's power could go out and not come back on, but that in a world filled with engineers, etc, the people couldn't create new methods of power? There are still waterfalls, still wind, still steam, still coal...

All the power going out? Okay, yeah, fine. But complete lack of innovation for 15 years? Sorry, not buying it. And that thing with the *spoiler* jump drive somehow creating power? I can buy that the guy downloaded a program on it that could control electricity, but the they expect me to believe the glorified lid for the thing holds the hardware to power electronics that are near it? That's a little too much. Of course, I'll caveat that my husband is an electrical engineer, so the whole time we were watching he was musing on how these things could be technically possible (and not coming up with much). We'll wait and see how the show explains it all.

Otherwise, the acting was pretty good. There were some glaring plot holes and things that were a little too convenient. For instance *spoiler* Charlie and crew stroll into Chicago and the first place they go is where her hiding uncle just happens to be? Sorry, not buying it. Not to mention what someone else already pointed out about the clothes, and cleanliness. Perfect, washed, stainless shirts, non-greasy hair, clean faces--I can suspend my disbelief, but come on, let's add some realism.

All that aside, as long as the plot doesn't stray into the silly and forced (which I'm afraid it will, at least after a little while), I'll suspend my disbelief and keep watching.

angeliz2k said:

I haven't seen it--I will try to watch the first episode online at some point (maybe).

I just don't get how it's possible to turn off the world's power. As long as there are electrons, there are sources of electricity. And how can the entire world's grid be shut down? I will not be able to watch the show unless it's premise is at least slightly plausible.

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We gave up at the trailer.

If a jumbo jet lost power, it wouldn't plummet to the ground like a stone. It'd at least be able to glide, somewhat, for a distance before landing/crashing. It's a PLANE - it's built for that sort of thing.

Eye-catching, yes. But if you don't get that much right I don't have a lot of hope for the rest of the show.

Stiger05 said:

There were some glaring plot holes and things that were a little too convenient. For instance *spoiler* Charlie and crew stroll into Chicago and the first place they go is where her hiding uncle just happens to be? Sorry, not buying it.

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The other stuff, yes, but I think her dad told her *spoiler* that her uncle was at "The Grand" in Chicago as he was dying. I think. I am suprised they found The Grand so easily, though.

CrastersBabies said:

Details!

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SPOILERS. Look away, look away!

Dialogue was atrocious, acting was abysmal. Some of the visuals were good. The suburban cul-de-sac as stockaded village was nice, though if it's so damn dangerous outside why are the gates wide open and no look-out. Surprise! The bad guys stroll into the village and do bad stuff.

Daddy's death scene was terrible and - surprise (not), though there are plenty of adults around he sends his pouty teenage daughter in her stunning leather pants off on a dangerous overnight trip to Chicago, Where - surprise! - pouty one encounter equally pretty pouty boy.

Once in Chitown her uncle, who is good at killing - surprise! - kills about twenty guys in hand-to-hand combat after knocking back a bottle of scotch, and doesn't wobble or slur his words even once.

The black dude was doing the best he could with the cruddy lines he was given; he had some presence at least, no one else did. Anyone know that actor's name? I didn't stay for the credits.

I will say I just finished the first season of Game of Thrones so my expectations for word building, plot, character, fine acting and great dialogue are extremely high right now.

[Only the vaguest of spoilers here]

I wonder if I would have enjoyed it more if I didn't come from the background of reading dystopian YA, honestly – because the tropes certainly weren't anything I hadn't seen (or read) before. As a TV show it has an advantage in that it's pretty, but it also has to rely on the strength of its actors, and the generic conventionally attractive white kid protagonists didn't do anything for me. Aside from make me roll my eyes. And ugh, the LI storyline for the girl...

I'm willing to suspend disbelief on the power stuff because it's meant to be a mystery (and let's face it, I was a Lost fan), but the lack of innovation in 15 years is pretty bizarre, and it would have been nice to have some sort of nod to that? Even if it were just a, "We tried to recreate power and it didn't work because ~*mysterious reasons*~".

The black dude was doing the best he could with the cruddy lines he was given; he had some presence at least, no one else did. Anyone know that actor's name? I didn't stay for the credits.

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Giancarlo Esposito, I believe. He never really stood out to me on Once Upon a Time, but I agree that his performance was the strongest here.