Revolution

ggroy · Sep 27, 2012

Watched the first two episodes. So far the show seems kinda lackluster.

From reading stuff about this show online, I would have thought it would be something I could get into easily. But so far this show has fallen flat for me.

I'll watch the next few episodes and see whether it grabs my attention or not. (So far it has not).

Derren · Sep 27, 2012

As the show wont air in my country for a long time some questions:

I have already heard that apparently they didn't get the idea to use bikes, but is at least steam power featured in the post electrical world? Railroads?

Because when you look back at how the world looked right before people started to harness electricity with globe spanning empires and railroads spanning I can't really believe that the world, even after just 15 years, would look as medieval as what I have seen in the trailers. Especially as most knowledge is still there and people would actually want to rebuild modern tools without electricity.

Dannyalcatraz · Sep 27, 2012

Nah, they missed bikes AND steam, apparently. Doofuses.

Desdichado · Oct 1, 2012

I've enjoyed the show well enough so far. I always give new shows that I think I might be interested in 4-6 episodes to hit their stride.

I don't have any problem with the acting of the main girl. I'm not to thrilled with the way her character has been written, though. I get it; the naive, idealistic young girl is kiinda a stock character. But holy cow, it makes her look really stupid. If the character doesn't find her feet and stop acting like a moron sometime really soon, the show may founder on that alone.

That said, the pedantic nerd rage in this thread so far has been nearly as entertaining to read as the show is to watch. So, because it sparked that, it's already a success!

Umbran · Oct 1, 2012

Dannyalcatraz said:
Nah, they missed bikes AND steam, apparently. Doofuses.

Not necessarily.

Bikes require tires. Nobody is making new ones. It is 15 years after the blackout. What's the shelf life on bike tires? How long until the (rather thin) rubber starts breaking down? Unless it is more than a decade, there's no tires left.

As for steam - after only a couple episodes, we should not confuse "we haven't seen" for "does not exist".

But, even then, steam power has a problem - actually building the engine. Remember that pretty much everyone who works metals today is used to working with tools that are run by electricity and fossil fuels. One won't work, and the other runs out without new production and distribution. So, for example, there'll be no modern welding! How many folks do you know who can make a pressure-tight vessel and piping for steam using Victorian era techniques? How many of those will survive the post-blackout die-off?

You'll eventually reinvent the wheel, so to speak, but this is only 15 years later, not generations later.

Derren · Oct 1, 2012

Umbran said:
Not necessarily.

Bikes require tires.

No, they do not require them as the first created bicycles have proven. They do make riding them more comfortable, if they are not available wood or metal will also do.

Also you forget that in this apocalypse knowledge in form of books survived. A well stocked library should contain enough knowledge to get started. Not to mention that quite a lot of steam engines still exist today.

Dannyalcatraz · Oct 1, 2012

Bikes require tires. Nobody is making new ones. It is 15 years after the blackout. What's the shelf life on bike tires? How long until the (rather thin) rubber starts breaking down? Unless it is more than a decade, there's no tires left.

I realize I'm a nerd, and as such, I often have things at my mental fingertips that most people never even think to learn, but that's no excuse.

Here's the thing: early bikes didn't have rubber tires. Like carts, they started off with iron-shod wooden wheels and springs. In fact, bikes (in some form, including velocipedes) had been around for 60+ years before the invention of the pneumatic tire in 1888.

As for steam - after only a couple episodes, we should not confuse "we haven't seen" for "does not exist".

But, even then, steam power has a problem - actually building the engine. Remember that pretty much everyone who works metals today is used to working with tools that are run by electricity and fossil fuels. One won't work, and the other runs out without new production and distribution.

Those are good points.

OTOH, someone seems to have figured out how to keep making pretty uniform small swords...indicative of true manufacturing processes as opposed to scrounged sword-shaped scrap being sharpened and bound with wood & leather.

Janx · Oct 2, 2012

to go with what Danny is saying, my first bicycle was a Huffy my mom found in the shrubs by our house. She figured it was stolen, and brought it in and painted it. I got it when I was 8 as my first bike. I rode that thing for like 8 years, before I bought an 18 speed.

No flat tires, no replacements. rubber may not last forever, but don't assume it rots in a year. Nor does gasoline.

On metal working, half the kids in my high school took metal shop. Small town school, practical skill to have. We learned arc welding and oxy/acetalyne welding. I'm better with acetalyne.

Every welder on the planet probably knows how to use both. Any welding shop probably has both.

guess what doesn't need electricity?

In my shop class, I made a long sword. We cut scrap down, welded a handle, and used the torch and anvil to beat an edge into it. Then we used the grinder to sharpen it. Reckon the grinding part would be problematic, but the rest is pretty basic.

Umbran · Oct 2, 2012

Dannyalcatraz said:
Here's the thing: early bikes didn't have rubber tires. Like carts, they started off with iron-shod wooden wheels and springs. In fact, bikes (in some form, including velocipedes) had been around for 60+ years before the invention of the pneumatic tire in 1888.

Yes. And they have notably different wheels. Modern bike wheels without tires will bend lickety-split. So, we are back to the issue of metalworking to make new wheels.

OTOH, someone seems to have figured out how to keep making pretty uniform small swords...indicative of true manufacturing processes as opposed to scrounged sword-shaped scrap being sharpened and bound with wood & leather.

Yes, but a sharpened stick of metal is about the easiest thing to forge in the world. A friend of mine who runs a teaching smithy for a living can teach me how to make one of iron in an afternoon. That is much, much different than crafting a multi-piece, working machine.

Janx said:
No flat tires, no replacements. rubber may not last forever, but don't assume it rots in a year. Nor does gasoline.

Well, it hasn't been a year. It has been 15, and the places where those tires have been stored have not been climate controlled or maintained.

As for the gasoline - it isn't very useful. It's for use in engines that use electrical sparks.

On metal working, half the kids in my high school took metal shop. Small town school, practical skill to have. We learned arc welding and oxy/acetalyne welding. I'm better with acetalyne.

Every welder on the planet probably knows how to use both. Any welding shop probably has both.

guess what doesn't need electricity?

What, you got Heward's Everfull Acetylene Tank, or something? Nobody's making more of it. Nobody's pressurizing tanks of it. Nobody's shipping it around the country. Whatever is there locally is all you have to work with.

Now, maybe some of those warlords were smart enough to stockpile it, and use it for a project or two. So, maybe one of them's got a nice shiny new steam engine - good for later in the season.

RangerWickett · Oct 2, 2012

I think it would have pleased the geeks out there immensely if Google guy had, in the first episode, a small lab in his town where we could see stuff working or not working.

Like an aeolipile spinning with steam. Okay, that's a signal that steam power works. Maybe he shows off a science experiment for kids with a volcano, so basic chemistry is still good. Maybe he even has a conversation with the (now-dead) dad about how he's still experimenting on why he can set fire to alcohol, but if he tries to start his lawnmower it won't work.

Or maybe we need to stop worrying.