Revolution

Umbran · Sep 14, 2012

Deset Gled said:
[RANT]

I absolutely cannot stand the preview for Revolution that shows a commercial airliner falling straight into the ground in a tight spiral....
[/RANT]

*shrug*. You know, we are talking about a show in which technology ceases to work, but biological process (which depend upon the same fundamental principles, when you get down to it) continue to function. I find it difficult to worry about exactly how a plane crashes.

El Mahdi · Sep 14, 2012

Maybe they have an answer for that (biological functions not being affected) within the premise of the story. So something like that doesn't bother me. I'm willing to wait to the end to find out why that occurs (though if it isn't answered by the end of the series, I'd be dissapointed...even though I know viewer dissapointment really wouldn't matter to the production any more). But internal inconsistencies...such as having cars completely shutdown (including their lights), but crashing airplanes still have nav lights on...indicate to me a production that doesn't pay attention to details. If they're going to miss details as obvious as that, how can I honestly expect them to be consistent in their storylines and within the internal rules of their world? How can I expect them to deliver interesting stories and characters on a consistent basis?

In my estimation, I can't. And I have a limited enough time for such pursuits anyways, that this one easily goes by the wayside.

Dannyalcatraz · Sep 14, 2012

As annoyed as I am by the preview, I still want to see if it is otherwise any good.

Umbran · Sep 15, 2012

El Mahdi said:
Maybe they have an answer for that (biological functions not being affected) within the premise of the story.

Unless the answer is, "It is MAGIC*," that'd be hard. In the end, both biology and technology are driven by the same physics - change the physics so that one fails, the other will fail.

And, if the answer is, 'It is MAGIC," then the basic answer to the inconsistencies is, "MAGIC settled in unevenly at the very start." Now, we move on to the MacGuffin search and how we get about performing the MAGIC ritual that saves the world.

I don't myself care so much about details, unless they are relevant to the plot or characterization.

*Where "MAGIC" is magic, or any sufficiently nonsense pseudoscientific gobbledigook.

RangerWickett · Sep 15, 2012

If it's magic, then they'd better not make the LOST mistake by teasing viewers into thinking there's a rational scientific explanation.

Felon · Sep 15, 2012

Umbran said:
Pleather is plastic.

Well, it's not very good plastic. In practical terms, there should be more clothes with holes and rips. Then again, you'd see guys with beards far outnumber guys without them, and you'd see some women sporting them as well.

But when it comes to post-acopalyptic America and deserted islands and fantasy worlds supposedly based on the medieval era, audiences want to have their cake and eat it too. They want a fantasy that serves up these rugged, harsh worlds, but they still want attractive and relatively clean characters.

So, your post-apocalypse hero has perpetual five o'clock shadow, and your post-apocalyptic heroine might have a rogue strand of flaxen hair hanging down across one of her adorably grease-smugged cheeks.

Because, after all, if it was just a bunch of ugly people struggling and suffering, who'd care?

RangerWickett said:
If it's magic, then they'd better not make the LOST mistake by teasing viewers into thinking there's a rational scientific explanation.

This is an expectation folks had towards Lost I never could understand, both while and after it aired. Given what we saw of the island, what would possibly justify the words "rational" and "scientific"? Would an LHC explosion rippling backwards through time be rational and scientific? Would the good ol' nanotechnology chestnut be rational and scientific? Treating the island as a terrestrial phenomenon--a convergence point for natural forces--seems about as good an explanation as any science experiment gone awry.

When it comes to these big mystery events, there aren't infinite options. There's the otherworldly and the pseudo-scientific That's about it.

RangerWickett · Sep 15, 2012

I believe it was the show creators explicitly stating, 'Yes, there is a scientific explanation for everything weird on the island.'

Pseudo-science, maybe.

Personally, I think they just muffed the later seasons by not having a good narrative arc.

Mark CMG · Sep 15, 2012

Felon said:
Well, it's not very good plastic. In practical terms, there should be more clothes with holes and rips. Then again, you'd see guys with beards far outnumber guys without them, and you'd see some women sporting them as well.

But when it comes to post-acopalyptic America and deserted islands and fantasy worlds supposedly based on the medieval era, audiences want to have their cake and eat it too. They want a fantasy that serves up these rugged, harsh worlds, but they still want attractive and relatively clean characters.

So, your post-apocalypse hero has perpetual five o'clock shadow, and your post-apocalyptic heroine might have a rogue strand of flaxen hair hanging down across one of her adorably grease-smugged cheeks.

Because, after all, if it was just a bunch of ugly people struggling and suffering, who'd care?

We need a Blair Witch-style indy film cast in that manner just to see what would happen. Besides, round these parts we refer to "just a bunch of ugly people struggling and suffering" as Thanksgiving dinner.

Dannyalcatraz · Sep 17, 2012

Could mean nothing, could mean everything...

But I'm sitting here watching the Niners/Lions game and they just aired an ad for Revolution. And as the ad ends, they are showing the dark side of the Earth...and there is a single, city-sized point of light.

Who knows, perhaps some mad super-genius* is generating EMP waves that affect everywhere but his stronghold.

* or aliens, or Elf Lords...

Janx · Sep 17, 2012

It looks like the show takes place 15 years after the blackout. So it's got more in common with Thundarr or Jeremiah than it does Jericho.

I like Jericho better than Jeremiah. The latter was just to wandery and I never finished watching it.