The Revolution pilot is online now...

[SG-17]

Dream wrote:

---

This show has a big problem that I don't think it can recover from.

The lead character that plays Charlie is a very poor actress. It has started to become more and more obvious now that we are at the second episode. Shows can get away with a bad or boring lead actor if the supporting cast is amazing, but this isn't the case here. It is obvious the network wants her to be their Hunger Games Katniss wanna character, since that franchise has become so big. At the moment I find her character to be annoying and stupid, terrible traits to have as the leading character. I hope the actress can get better eventually before she sinks the series.

It looks like her dumb brother and obvious future conflicted militia boyfriend will be around for quite a while.

Whenever we get scenes with the teens, it is awful.

Billy Burke, Giancarlo Esposito, and Elizabeth Mitchell are the only ones that have been doing a decent acting job on the show so far. Too bad it looks like they are all supporting characters.

I REALLY can't take the guy that plays the evil General seriously since he had also been on another failed NBC show, The Cape.

There is something about the show so far that makes it look cheap. It would be so much better if they dirted the characters up even a little. I can imagine how much better this show would be if it was on cable.

I think that this is the problem with the show that I've mentioned above.

[Tom]

This was a much better episode than the pilor.

[JD]

I really enjoyed it. Charlie doesn't bother me that much, although I do agree with those who have said that Billy Burke, Giancarlo Espisito, and Elizabeth Mitchell are the best part of the show.
I did not expect the ending at all, but I am very curious to see where they are headed. If they proportion of character story/conspiracy stuff continues on the way it did in this episode I'll be pretty happy.
As for the post-Blackout world we are presented with, I think this is one where it works best if you just don't think to much about it and just accept what we are given. I know some people might not be able to do this, but I am more than happy to.

[Enterprise is Great]

Interviews with Revolution creator Eric Kripke:

http://blastr.com/2012/09/how-eric-kripkes-joseph-c.php

http://collider.com/eric-kripke-revo...terview/195880

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...n_1881573.html

[Locutus of Bored]

The second episode addressed a lot of my issues and concerns with the overstuffed pilot and now I'm feeling much better about the story direction and execution of the show.

The lack of modern firearms amongst the populace was already addressed with their illegality in the Monroe Republic, but this episode addressed why even the militia was mostly armed with crude muskets except for the unit commanders. It's because they're constantly being raided by rebels and bandits for their extremely valuable (to sell, trade, or stockpile) weapons, so only the most badass and trustworthy members are allowed to carry them (Gus Fring and the "warden" in this episode). There are a lot of modern firearms, they're just being stockpiled somewhere by Monroe along with vehicles, artillery, and equipment in anticipation of power being restored and his armies then being able to roll over the rest of the outlying militia groups and independent areas.

We get some idea of the scope of the Monroe Republic in this episode in that it stretches from at least Chicago to Philadelphia and likely down to at least Baltimore as that's where Monroe made his decree outlawing firearms. So that's quite a massive area he controls, and that's just knowing the minimum limits. We can speculate that it probably extends as far south as Port Royal and the whole of South Carolina, where Monroe and Miles were stationed as Marines.

The show acknowledges again and in more detail that this is no ordinary man-made blackout as can be caused by EMP and so forth in that it's not recoverable like it should be, and that it's targeted at other means of power generation and locomotion such as batteries and spark plugs while not effecting human/animal, and plant bioelectric fields. This --and the on/off nature of the phenomenon in the presence of the pendants-- leads me to believe that the only logical culprit for the blackout is pre-programmed nanites designed to render a population powerless and incapable of mass transportation and communication in case they posed a military threat.

I believe this nanotechnology was developed at the University of Illinois by a group of mathematicians and other scientists including Ben Matheson, Grace, and the new face-unseen bad guy who showed up at Grace's house with his own pendant at the end of this episode.

The question remains though if they were the ones who deployed the nanites and caused the blackout in the first place to stop a greater threat, or if the nanites are the threat themselves along with whomever activated them (evil guy?) and they simply have a means over temporarily and locally overriding them. The R/Evolution part of the title could suggest either the nanites themselves evolving into a collective intelligence, or that the nanites were developed as a countermeasure to an AI computer system that was about to takeover key US government systems. It could almost be an alt-verse Terminator prequel with people trying to prevent the rise of SkyNet if you think about it.

On the other hand (with nanites being the threat themselves), Evolution was the TNG episode with the nanites becoming self-aware and the crew having to shut down power to parts of the ship initially to stop them from wreaking havoc before the reached an understanding. That would almost certainly be a piece of pop-culture the showrunners would be well aware of.

Also, with the setting at the University of Illinois, one can't help but remember that the HAL series AI computers from 2001 were developed at the real Coordinated Science Laboratory at the UoI Urbana-Champaign, so there's support for either the AI computer or AI nanite collective intelligence explanation (or both) amongst scifi pop-culture references.

As far as the characters go, I really like that they're giving Esposito's Captain Neville nuance and not jut making him outright evil. Yes, he's part of a corrupt system and yes he kills people left and right (but then again, so do the rebels), but he's not without compassion and consideration. He didn't execute the man with the gun as he could have under the law, he waited until that man pulled a gun on his troops and shot one. He cared for the wounded soldier and painlessly put him out of his misery. He could have killed Grace in the previous episode but spared her when she gave up their quarry. He didn't kill anyone in the Matheson's neighborhood until they started firing on his men. He clearly cares for and misses his wife a great deal. The way he lashes out at Danny when he "causes" (from Neville's perspective) the fight at the neighborhood or insults his nature implies that he genuinely feels upset about these things and isn't just acting out of cruelty. I think that while he may not approve of all of the Monroe Republic's methods (which is why he doesn't always carry them out instantly) he does genuinely feel that they are the best solution at restoring order in the region, and that they have righteous authority to police the people. He's wrong about this, but I think that making him somewhat a man of conscience leaves the door open for a change of loyalties at a later time. Or he could just be an asshole and Esposito is so compelling that it's hard not to want to see that he's more than just a two-dimensional villain.

Charlie's naivete is going to get annoying real fast, even though she does represent the conscience and heart of the show in comparison to her more morally flexible (but less annoying and far more interesting) uncle.

I liked the bit with the British "stepmom" sentimentally holding onto the iPhone because it holds the only pictures she has of her children, who she was separated from when the blackout stopped all overseas flights. It is an interesting reminder of how much of our information and personal keepsakes are stored digitally these days and how it could be lost in such a situation (granted, hardcopy photographs can be lost too, but that's why I like to keep a mix of both).

Nora seems like a good addition to the cast, and I hope she sticks around as a regular (she's around at least for the first few episodes according to IMDb). I'm glad she didn't actually turn out to be as morally ambiguous as Miles and that she has a cause she's fighting for, even if it's lifted right from The Postman and Jericho (though, honestly, it's a logical development if the government was completely taken out early on like it was in those movies/shows).

So, the second episode makes me a lot happier and more confident in the direction of the show with few exceptions, and it certainly has kept my interest up.

[sojourner]

Locutus of Bored wrote:

---

and the new face-unseen bad guy who showed up at Grace's house

She typed in that "Randall is here" on the computer. Guessing that's his name.

Hopefully his last name isn't Flag, or this show is going to take quite the 180.

[Locutus of Bored]

sojourner wrote:

---

She typed in that "Randall is here" on the computer. Guessing that's his name.

Hopefully his last name isn't Flag, or this show is going to take quite the 180.

That's exactly who I thought of when she typed the name Randall into the computer too.

[Mark_Nguyen]

I like the nanotechnology idea. But this has JJ's influence in it, for all we know it could still be THE HAND OF GOOOOOD that is causing this thing, and each amulet holds a piece of the shroud of Turin. Or something.

I'm sure that guns work just fine and may even be plentiful in this world, but I'm likewise sure that the machinery used to make most 5.62mm or .303 bullets ran on electricity. There may have been old manual stamping machines out there able to make shells, but they're not exactly plentiful... Hence the muskets, though someone would have to have the knowledge to create those first too since they're not exactly common firearms either.

Someone asked why there aren't steam trains, since fire still works and so should any sort of steam technology as a result. I wouldn't be surprised if one doesn't eventually show up, but it's not like it would be easy to clear enough track of unmovable diesel electrics, and create the infrastructure (water towers, coal mines, etc.) to maintain a railway, to say nothing of breaking museum pieces out of their disconnected rail lines (as they would have to do in my city's heritage museum, anyway). OTOH, it HAS been fifteen years. Heck, I could see a whole season devoted to people getting a simple steam railway between Chicago and some neighboring city going. Transportation opened up the west, and that's a running theme in this show.

With this latest episode it's clear that some cabal of nerds at the U of Chicago was invovled, and that these little amulets are going to be the source of figurative power Monroe will be searching for. Does he already have one? He's mentioned ice twice now; they had ice before elctricity, but it wouldn't surprise me if he had a minifridge and solar panel somewhere cooling his tea.

Mark

[Star Wolf]

Mark_Nguyen wrote:

---

With this latest episode it's clear that some cabal of nerds at the U of Chicago was invovled, and that these little amulets are going to be the source of figurative power Monroe will be searching for. Does he already have one? He's mentioned ice twice now; they had ice before elctricity, but it wouldn't surprise me if he had a minifridge and solar panel somewhere cooling his tea.

Mark

Either Randall is a Monroe super agent as opposed to the Captain being "regular militia" and he has them for sure. Or either Randall or the algebra teacher represents a third faction not accounted for yet in my opinion.

[Rhaven]

Thank you, Locutus. Your summation makes a lot of sense.

[sojourner]

Mark_Nguyen wrote:

---

Transportation opened up the west, and that's a running theme in this show.

Are you confusing this show with Hell on Wheels again?

[Mark_Nguyen]

Guess so. They film in next to where I live. :P

Point stands, though. With rapid transportation comes the ability to grow commerce, communication, and so forth. It becomes power. Since Monroe seems to be the evil power monger of the show, stands to reason he'd want to control (or prevent) anyone else from having it.

Incidentally, what IS up with the helicopter? Could someone with an amulet presumably pilot it? Does someone have aviation fuel in a barrel somewhere? It's not like they can simply whip some up.

And regarding the iPhone, that bit struck close to home. The vast majority of my pictures are digital now, be they family pictures or my improv shows. When I saw that the Doctor had everything of her family on a phone that doesn't work, I immediately looked at my wife and thanked her for her scrapbooking.

Pictures preceded electricity, come to think of it. Assuming whatever is preventing all modern technology from working doesn't prevent some basic chemical reactions, people SHOULD be able to whip up the various solutions required to create and develop film and photo paper. They're still doing it now. Unless someone figures being able to create gasoline is more important, assuming internal combustion still works..?

Mark

[Guy Gardener]

Well they don't have shit.

You think that really old engines would work?

You know antique roadsters?

failing that coal/steam powered trains would be excellent.

there was a sliders like movie called doorways where thy went to an alternate universe where a bug/virus ate all the petroleum in the world, designed to deal with oil leaks, slicks it just kept eating... but they had hippies in that world who had retrofitted a bus into a 20 man bicycle, which operated on the same principle as those gallies with 80 blokes pulling oars..

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ When exactly the hell did Doorways actually air?

[Guy Gardener]

1993.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106752/

I should of said "Before" Sliders or "pre"silders.

It aired hear as a Sunday afternoon movie.

From review on IMDB the cast is amazing, but it was obviously a failed pilot.