"Revolution" - new JJ Abrams & Jon Favreau TV series

[Scottish Ninja]

Looks a lot like Stirling's "Dies the Fire" series. Though apparently black powder guns still work, so it'll be a different set of reenactors who get to take over. I'm interested now.

[Ahriman238]

It does look interesting, though if I understand it's killing anything electric? You should be able to make a simple car motor that would still work, and modern guns shouldn't have a problem. Firing that is, tooling fresh guns and bullets could be problematic, but probably no more so then reinventing musketry.

[Dass.Kapital]

So...it's just the electricity that's not working for what ever reason? Strange that there aren't more steam tech being shown around, but then it has only been 15 years....

[Sarevok]

Looks like another show about drama between attractive people. You expect people to look at least like a central asian farmer living in such conditions instead of models.

[amigocabal]

So...it's just the electricity that's not working for what ever reason? Strange that there aren't more steam tech being shown around, but then it has only been 15 years....

The story takes place in a part of the world that was especially hard hit as to collapse the social structure.

(In the Stirling's Dies the Fire series, Nebraska and Iowa survive as states, so I would not be surprised if it is true in this series as well.)

[Dark Hellion]

The preview for this show raises all sorts of nerd rage for me. Electricity seems to stop working for 15 years. Not just some kind of EMP event but the preview said that even batteries can't generate electricity. Which means that the fundamental laws of EM have changed... great.

Less technical but probably stupider still is that things like diesel engines should still run prefectly, they use compression instead of a spark plug.

It looks like one of those shows where the premise is interesting, but they tried to take that and make it sciency, which will make it stupid.

[Sarevok]

The premise only exists as means to setup the drama and the pairings and the angst. Not a carefully thought out examination of how society would be radically transformed by loss of ability to generate electricity anymore. Or a new society arising over the ruins of a recent technological civilization.

[Losonti Tokash]

(In the Stirling's Dies the Fire series, Nebraska and Iowa survive as states, so I would not be surprised if it is true in this series as well.)

That's...odd. What's the reason given for Iowa and Nebraska being so resilient?

[FSTargetDrone]

I wish NBC a lot of luck with a sci-fi series.

[Bright]

"For an unexplained reason, all technology in the world stops?" Meaning that even the writers don't know have a reason figured out? Okay, that's pretty damn stupid, but I could accept that. The problem is that it doesn't give me any faith in the writers.

[Vejut]

The preview for this show raises all sorts of nerd rage for me. Electricity seems to stop working for 15 years. Not just some kind of EMP event but the preview said that even batteries can't generate electricity. Which means that the fundamental laws of EM have changed... great.

Less technical but probably stupider still is that things like diesel engines should still run prefectly, they use compression instead of a spark plug.

First one, yeah. Second one, not so much. Older 80s Diesel engines would run just fine, sure, but even 10 year old diesels depend heavily on electronic control and fuel tank lift pumps, and won't run if the ECM stops working, just like your car and for the same reasons (emissions and fuel efficiency). You could probably make new old-style diesels, if you could get the power and tooling (though keep in mind diesel has to be fuel injected, higher precision work than just boring the cylinder--it was doable in the 1900s, but not really practical until about WWII), but I don't think you'd find a lot of the older style around.

[WesFox13]

Ok, wow, all electricity just stops? That just makes me brain hurt.

Besides why haven't people make like Steam engines or Wood Gas Engines? Oh even well ,Sterling Engines? I mean they would work without electricity. And you can still do some style of mass production with no electricity. and why did people abandon the cities, I mean there are so many resources people could use like scrap metal or old materials to make shelters, like how medieval presents broke down old roman buildings for building materials, they could grow food in small plots of land as well as have a good position for trading and commerce, especially if the city is near a river or the coast.

And a good thing that this brings up is how will the Native Americans along with other people deal with this change, will it allow them to regain their original lifestyle? And I also do wonder what kind of different "nations" will appear in this series.

[FSTargetDrone]

"For an unexplained reason, all technology in the world stops?" Meaning that even the writers don't know have a reason figured out? Okay, that's pretty damn stupid, but I could accept that. The problem is that it doesn't give me any faith in the writers.

The answer is on that flash drive. Which works. On a computer...

[Jaevric]

(In the Stirling's Dies the Fire series, Nebraska and Iowa survive as states, so I would not be surprised if it is true in this series as well.)

That's...odd. What's the reason given for Iowa and Nebraska being so resilient?

They're largely rural and agricultural; areas with big cities were more or less wiped because nobody knew how to farm or anything. The East Coast is basically populated by scattered bands of cannibals. California and Nevada died off almost entirely.

The premise is real questionable but I've actually enjoyed that series compared to Stirling's usual work.

[amigocabal]

They're largely rural and agricultural; areas with big cities were more or less wiped because nobody knew how to farm or anything. The East Coast is basically populated by scattered bands of cannibals. California and Nevada died off almost entirely.

The premise is real questionable but I've actually enjoyed that series compared to Stirling's usual work.

The Emberverse series is one of my favorites. I've read the sample chapters of Lord of the Mountains.

My guess is that the list of areas of concentrated survival in Revolution would be nearly identical to the list of areas of concentrated survival in the Emberverse. However, the fact that guns still work in Revolution changes things a bit. Farmers could more easily defend their farms from refugees, and some areas with partial (but not complete) geographical defenses could use machine guns and land mines for a common defense, while such things were not available in the Emberverse.

[Rossum]

"For an unexplained reason, all technology in the world stops?" Meaning that even the writers don't know have a reason figured out? Okay, that's pretty damn stupid, but I could accept that. The problem is that it doesn't give me any faith in the writers.

The answer is on that flash drive. Which works. On a computer...

Yeah, I'm not all that upset about the blackout being for "an unexplained reason" because honestly I think the sudden collapse of civilization and all of our technology would make it difficult to even figure out what happened. All the instruments to analyze the phenomenon would have been disabled, the communication network to get scientists working together on the problem would be shut down, all the scientists who could be looking at the problem are more likely trying to solve the problems of survival and rebuilding civilization, and even if there were people who figured out what happened then its unlikely that the average person would hear about it either due to communication lines getting shut down or all the different political groups or whatnot making their own theories and exploiting the situation.

So it looks like one of the few people who might know what's going on is that guy who made the warning and has the device, and possibly some other secret group of people somewhere. Solving the mystery of what happened is either part of the overarching plot or secondary to telling the story they have.

Actually, reminds me of Y the Last Man. In that series evey creature with a Y chromosome dies suddenly from a mysterious disease (symptoms include bleeding from the eyes and suddenly dying at the same time as all the other males) except for one guy named Yorick and his pet monkey. The story deals with how the surviving women adapt to the situation and how Yorick deals with it. At the end, they manage to solve some of the problem through cloning and offhand remark that the cause of the plague was "pretty underwhelming" and never explain it to the reader. Which makes sense to me. After all, stories like these are pretty much like the RARs we post here, have to handwave up some weird scenario and then see what happens as a result.

[FSTargetDrone]

The end of the trailer shows rather clearly an incandescent light bulb coming on and a computer booting up (fans spinning, etc.) in the presence of that glowing pendant in which the drive seems to be hidden. Now, is the person using the computer able to turn the computer on because of the drive (which I doubt, unless her chat partner has the same kind of thing on his or her end)? Or perhaps it just happens to be spinning up as she studies the drive. Whatever, there is obviously a power source there and wherever else her chat partner happens to be. So some equipment, somewhere, has been shielded or otherwise immune to whatever turned everything else off. Fine. If I can accept the inherent nonsense of zombies in The Walking Dead, I don't have much problem with (most of) the world's electrical devices suddenly not working across the world.

In any case, I doubt I will invest any time in this series unless it becomes popular enough to become renewed for a full season. Unless it's going to be the next Lost or The Walking Dead, I'm not going to bother. And I don't see much hope for a show like this on NBC lasting too long.

[Ahriman238]

"For an unexplained reason, all technology in the world stops?" Meaning that even the writers don't know have a reason figured out? Okay, that's pretty damn stupid, but I could accept that. The problem is that it doesn't give me any faith in the writers.

The trailer made it pretty clear that the mystery of what happened, how and why is going to be the driving force of the story. One presumes the writers already have an answer in mind, but are going to take a while to get there.

[Sarevok]

This is a series by makers of Lost. Given their past record even if they promise they are going to give an answer it is extremely doubtful they are being honest.

[FaxModem1]

I'm agreeing with Sarevok here. They'll be making it up as they go along here.

[Tsyroc]

I'm agreeing with Sarevok here. They'll be making it up as they go along here.

That's pretty much how all of the JJ Abrams' shows have been. Pretty good but if you watch them from week to week be prepared to be jerked around a lot, and royally screwed if the show isn't popular enough for it to last long enough to reach some sort of resolution before it goes off the air.

[Scottish Ninja]

The Emberverse series is one of my favorites. I've read the sample chapters of Lord of the Mountains.

My guess is that the list of areas of concentrated survival in Revolution would be nearly identical to the list of areas of concentrated survival in the Emberverse. However, the fact that guns still work in Revolution changes things a bit. Farmers could more easily defend their farms from refugees, and some areas with partial (but not complete) geographical defenses could use machine guns and land mines for a common defense, while such things were not available in the Emberverse.

Though it looks like, gun-wise, everyone's using blackpowder muzzle-loaders - from what this trailer shows I'd be surprised to see a working machine gun turn up. Technically, there's no real reason why modern small arms wouldn't work, while blackpowder does, so whatever explanation they eventually care to provide for the tech collapse will likely struggle to be consistent.

[Alkaloid]

Yeah, it's JJ Abrams, so in all likely hood there will be three good seasons which answer some questions but ask a lot more in the process, then he will panic and the answer to all the rest becomes 'undefined magic.'

[Bright]

Actually, reminds me of Y the Last Man. In that series evey creature with a Y chromosome dies suddenly from a mysterious disease (symptoms include bleeding from the eyes and suddenly dying at the same time as all the other males) except for one guy named Yorick and his pet monkey. The story deals with how the surviving women adapt to the situation and how Yorick deals with it. At the end, they manage to solve some of the problem through cloning and offhand remark that the cause of the plague was "pretty underwhelming" and never explain it to the reader. Which makes sense to me. After all, stories like these are pretty much like the RARs we post here, have to handwave up some weird scenario and then see what happens as a result.

I actually thought of that same comparison myself. The thing is though, Brian K. Vaughan had an explanation figured out. He's said that one of the theories presented in the series is in fact the correct one, it was just never laid out because the cause of the problem ultimately didn't matter as much as the solution and he wanted readers to make up their own minds about what happened. Any singular solution would have been underwhelming considering the scope of the mystery and the length of the series.

If the producers of Revolution have some sort of basic framework, I'd be satisfied even if they don't elaborate on it. If the mystery is actually going to be a major driving force in the narrative though, then the explanation better be a damn good one.

[JLTucker]

Yeah, it's JJ Abrams, so in all likely hood there will be three good seasons which answer some questions but ask a lot more in the process, then he will panic and the answer to all the rest becomes 'undefined magic.'

Which shows in particular are you referring to? If you're talking about LOST, he had very little writing credits: only the pilot. Lindelof was the head writer and a show runner.