Revolution

[on:]

New TV show on NBC.

Produced by JJ Abrams company, and created and written by Eric Kripke (the guy behind Supernatural). 

So far there have only been two episodes, but I am really enjoying them.  If you haven't seen it, the plot is that all electricity in the world stopped working.  Not like just computers and the like, but cars won't run, batteries.. anything.  There is not a why yet.  The show doesn't give the story of what happens right after the "black out" (though it seems that a lot of that will be told through flashbacks), but rather goes 15 years into the future, after (most of) the chaos has ended, and people are living their lives. 

The story centers around a girl whose father has been killed, but he kinda held the key to the no power issue.  He even had something that could turn the power back on. 

I think the show is great.  Killer twist at the end of ep. 2, and looks to be another big one in ep. 3.

[Reply #1 on:]

I'm kinda the opposite of you. I feel like I can see where this show is going and no twist has been really shocking. I feel like some aspects of the universe feel a bit far-fetched. Why did they bother setting up the backstory like they did? Should've either been longer/ in numerous flash-backs that somehow connected to the present or should've been entirely excluded and revealed later on.

[Reply #2 on:]

Kripke said that he didn't want the story to be about how they got to where they are now.  We know if there was a black out the world would go into chaos.  We don't need to see that.  He wanted to show the story of what happens when people have survived through the chaos.

[Reply #3 on:]

Saw the first 2 episodes, not keen on it so far.

The acting was terrible, the fight scenes looked like they belonged in the matrix, with mr ninja hero power ranger dude casually chopping up 20 generic nondescript bad guys in black uniforms with his sword... right after he'd drunk an entire bottle of whiskey.

Oh, and the bad guys had guns but instead extremely patiently queued up one-by-one to get chopped up by mr ninja hero super power ranger dude.

Then the japanese evil boss bad samurai sword dude who had literally just stood around doing nothing for the entire 5-minute fight scene other than squinting at the hero man funnily while the camera focused on him attacked and manged to live for 30 seconds longer than his minions did, but still died horribly.

And then in episode 2 mr ninja power ranger dude does *exactly the same thing* again, only this time he does it while both of his hands are cuffed.

Now, brainless TV isn't always a bad thing but with this there aren't even any interesting or funny characters to make up for it, they all seem really bland.

I'll stick with it for a while, see if it improves. Falling Skies had a terrible pilot episode, and remained absolutely terrible for the entire first season, but then became awesome in season 2.

I do like the setting and premise, and they've clearly spent a load of money on getting the show to look right with great attention to detail on the post-apoc environments... just a shame that it falls flat on its fact because the writing is terrible, and the main characters are kinda boring... I found the scenes from the militia perspective to be way more interesting.

[Reply #4 on:]

Zmithy, I would love to respond to your post, but I honestly can't follow the stream.

I think people are taking shows too seriously.  Its just TV dude. 

[Reply #5 on:]

-Plane spirals down (i guess because its a fly-by-wire digital control airliner so no electricity at all = bye controls) with all its lights flashing?


-As RS2K pointed we humans (and all animals) use electricity in our cognitive system:

http://health.howstuffworks.com/human-body/cells-tissues/human-body-make-electricity.htm

So anything capable of knocking off ALL electricity so even you CANT produce it even with a diesel powered (no sparkplugs or electronics) generator or even a bike with a dynamo would knock most living things as well


Who wrote this? somebody who feeds on trollphysics? or plotphysics?

also knowing JJ the "why" will never be revealed or will increasingly complicate and mystery only to be revealed as "some god did it"

[Reply #6 on:]

Wow.  Forget I made the fucking thread.  You guys are right, no one ever on TV ever has made things convenient rather than perfectly scientifically sound.  Its not like the show we are all here for EVER did that. 

[Reply #7 on:]

We're not here to only rip it apart. We're analyzing. Which is sorta the same thing but with lengthier bullshit. Besides, there may yet be more people who look at the show's positives. Like the premise, which is sorta kinda partially original compared with most programs... You know, like all the ones on CBS.

[Reply #8 on:]

Kripke said that he didn't want the story to be about how they got to where they are now.  We know if there was a black out the world would go into chaos.  We don't need to see that.  He wanted to show the story of what happens when people have survived through the chaos.

Soooo...kinda like Walking Dead, no explanation, just BAM! Zombies. Also the grid seems to be down in that series too.

[Reply #9 on:]

Well, I think the explanation will be given over time.

And Zoidy, I don't have an issue with people evaluating the show, good or bad - but it does become an issue when they bring up things as a problem that they accept elsewhere. 

[Reply #10 on:]

I think a lot of reasons people are biased like that is because sometimes a show pulls them on occasion or it's the only flaw that really speaks to them. I think with revolution there are a lot of small nitpicky things that all sorta stack together, thus the seemingly harsh negativity.

[Reply #11 on:]

I'm biased because Universal is spamming the Serenity page with advertisements for it on facebook. Just because I like the movie and when the profiles switched to Timeline it automatically liked the page doesn't mean I'll like this series too That was a fun morning reading all those angry comments on that page, though.

[Reply #12 on:]

Maybe it's just me but tonight's episode felt like filler. Of course I was paying attention to not only it, but homework and my terrible singing... and chatting with pals... I multi-task waaaay too much.

[Reply #13 on:]

I liked the last episode quite a lot... the flashbacks are a lot more exciting than the odd American civil war mark II future, and the black dude with the matrix specs is a great bad guy.

Charlie failed and screwed everything up. Again. I'm liking every character in this show except the main one... the actress is bad enough already without the writers deliberately making her the most unlikeable angsty teen whiner imaginable.

[Reply #14 on:]

Have the first ep recorded, not watched it yet. Consequently, I won't post here again until I do.

[Reply #15 on:]

I liked the last episode quite a lot... the flashbacks are a lot more exciting than the odd American civil war mark II future, and the black dude with the matrix specs is a great bad guy.

Charlie failed and screwed everything up. Again. I'm liking every character in this show except the main one... the actress is bad enough already without the writers deliberately making her the most unlikeable angsty teen whiner imaginable.

He's a great good guy.  And his name is Gus... and he's awesome.  Fired from that shitty insurance claims jobs?  When the electricity goes out, you can start punching people's faces in with your fists instead of your passive-aggressive punching bag and you can do whatever you want you crazy diamond!

[Reply #16 on:]

Okay, that last ep had a side-boob scene to end all side-boob scenes. Main character in dorky sci-fi show can't act? Get her naked instead, always works a charm!

And you know winna, I think you're right... the good guys in this show aren't actually the good guys.

I still don't like the main character even after seeing her naked. Her scene with the potato farmer cemented her as a cold-hearted bitch.

I mean, c'mon! He just kissed his wife, hugged his grandkids and said goodnight to them, told her all about how the person who sent her to kill him had turned his daughter into a coke whore and sent her back in a bodybag.. she saw the pics about how he was a policeman and his family was too going back for generations and she *still* went to bury a knife into his eye socket even after he was knocked unconscious and posed no threat.

How the hell am I supposed to be cheering for a character like that?

How the hell did this show get renewed for another season already? I've been watching it for train-wreck entertainment purposes, I wasn't expecting it to last.

[Reply #17 on:]

Revolution--a semi-interesting show with a horribly retarded premise that turns out to be stupid--is the polar opposite of Terra Nova--a shitty show with an awesome premise that turned out to be retarded.

[Reply #18 on:]

I find myself liking this show even though I can't really buy into the premise at all.  I like it enough to keep tuning in anyways.

On a separate note, how come "evil" armies like the Monroe army in Revolution always have to be dressed in Nazish uniforms?  C'mon costume designers, WWII has been over for a long, long time.  Can't one of you guys think outside the box just a little?

[Reply #19 on:]

I think it just has to do with the fact that they need uniforms to identify themselves and uniforms tend to look similar to one another.  Plus all of those uniforms would have been hand crafted in some fashion from whatever remnants of society they could use or make without the aid of electricity.

Revolution seems to be a pretty interesting show because their environment and how the characters interact with it generally seem to give off a real atmosphere of surviving.  This show prossibly does the whole post-apocalyptic scenario in that regard better than TWD and it has better flashbacks.

That said, the premise is ridiculous (they could have said something realistic happened and knocked out the electricity instead of prevented electricity from working, and they could have set the story another 15 or 30 years into the future), the dialogue feels like it's written by 16 year olds at least half of the time, and they push the whole emotional aspect into firm melodrama territory most of the time, but all in all it seems to be a decent show and it's relatively entertaining.

[Reply #20 on:]

This show just started in the uk last week and I saw the first episode. Looks good so far.