"Revolution" has started

[Nekosan]

First episode aired yesterday, thoughts?

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Special effects were decent for a tv series, CGI was much better than many recent shows have had.

Nothing special so far IMO, seemed a bit like someone read "dies the fire" and said "hey, let's twilight this up".

I'm not liking the set pieces, some of it was well done but they had a whole pile of stupid **** that distracted me... tiny plot of corn and veggies for the whole "village", planes sitting on the runway with baggage unscavenged and nothing at all stripped from them, dirt and leaves inside the bar and all over inhabited houses (because the lights go out and brooms don't work any more right?), there was even a fallen marble pillar lying right in the middle of a stairwell which would have been annoying as hell.

Also, that god damned crossbow... really?

All in it was a decent premiere but nothing special, I'd probably have been more impressed if the sets didn't keep ruining my immersion while i was watching, i spent too much time thinking "why the hell is so and so like that?", it reminded me a lot of "falling skies" in that it seems like they took a good idea and then left a lot of the production to middle aged christian housewives who moonlight as technical assistants, so much of it just looked like it had be farmed out to cheap writing/design teams.


Will watch again next week because the main character has a fantastic bum and because I'm hoping it will pick up as more of the story is revealed.

[SaNE]

First episode aired yesterday, thoughts?

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The premise of the show seems stupid, I'd understand networked systems (like H+ for example) but for everything that holds a current to be 'broken' and only works with a special pendent which you upload data to is just stupid.
Also how predictable was it that the faceless enemy was going to be the other bloke in the car?

Acting has been pretty terrible, the main character especially. Has a nice **** and midriff which we are supposed to be looking at (constant pans with it in the middle of the screen) but the only thing that was believable about her acting was the awkward interaction with the bloke at the water fall. I also agree that the crossbow was a let down, I originally though it was going to be a compact bow.

I also had to have a laugh (along with here we go again ringing away in my head) when I heard that the older fat bloke with the pendant 'used to work at Google'.

Visuals aren't horrible but they aren't amazing either (can clearly see where they start and end on most of them) and have to agree about the sets, some of it was quite stupid.
Why on earth would there be a pillar in the middle of a stair case in the first place? There was no where for it in the first place to fall onto the stairs, never mind someone thinking after everything has been turned off that they are going to put a pillar on some stairs 'cos it's fun.

It's something to watch just like Falling Skies for the most part, I however doubt it's going to get past the first season as it's just a different iteration on the same old story without something to really back it up. We shall see.

[Bicketybam]

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I think the show will go the same way as the power...

Like all sci-fi, I want to believe... it will do alright but I know this is on the same level as Terra Nova. Looks good, kinda interesting but stupidity abounds with their decisions they've already made.

A lot of things that bugged me you guys have already mentioned, but what about how clean the girls clothes were and how perfect as well. Same with the guy at the stream - clothes looked brand new - unlike clothes that would have not seen a washing machine in a long time. What got me was the first person they talk to in Chicago about Miles is Miles... ok.

And the fight scene was just silly, it felt so contrived. I was half expecting Miles to be wearing a white long sleeved shirt and black vest - Hello Han!

The biggest problem will be that they will have planned the show around the US Nielsen ratings and the sweeps weeks. So from now until end of Oct the episodes will most likely plod on only revealing a few details, yet after Oct to the end of November they will throw in some "more exciting and plot revealing" episodes. Seriously, that system doesn't work any more considering how many people even in the US watch the shows elsewhere (web, tivo etc).

If they really want it to be a success they need to amp up the storyline after this pilot and get stuck into core saga of how things happened for this world to be like it is. If they don't do it, the viewers will leave in droves. And unfortunately from what I've been reading it didn't have a great start - lots of people keen to watch, they WANT to believe it has a chance but they know with the piss poor effort they've already put into it, it hasn't got a good chance of surviving.

[jmcev]

i'll keep watching. the main girl is sexy.

[Nekosan]

re: Bickety

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You've touch on the thing I hate most in television: what they do to science fiction.

Every single good idea gets changed into something that's trying to appeal to teenage girls and housewives so you end up with some kind of family drama in space with a teenage love central story arc. Then all the GOOD sci fi gets canceled 3 episodes in and the bad gets 5 seasons.

[Bicketybam]

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Actually I was thinking about it today and I think that it might be that what ever turned off the power is still actually running and all those USB keys do is isolate a small area around them allowing devices to operate again. While I understand it is fairytale land where anything is possible, this seems more a plausible option rather then something wiping out/breaking all electrical devices so they can never be used again, yet the USB key can restore the "broken" device to working order. Time will tell...

[Fireslide]

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Yeah the ex google engineer mentioned something when they were talking to the kids about the laws of Physics just stopping working. So it's likely that it was either solar flare/change or some kind of global device that's affecting the whole planet/country. Those key things somehow restore things back to how they should work. Doesn't explain how they can use computers to communicate on a BBS or something, if electricity power stops working everywhere except near the usb thing, then it'd still be impossible to communicate over anything like the internet, too many devices in between.

[SaNE]

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Yeah the ex google engineer mentioned something when they were talking to the kids about the laws of Physics just stopping working. So it's likely that it was either solar flare/change or some kind of global device that's affecting the whole planet/country. Those key things somehow restore things back to how they should work. Doesn't explain how they can use computers to communicate on a BBS or something, if electricity power stops working everywhere except near the usb thing, then it'd still be impossible to communicate over anything like the internet, too many devices in between.

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The answer is going to be aliens...

[Yurtles]

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The answer is going to be aliens...

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[Bicketybam]

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The answer is going to be aliens...

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[Nekosan]

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I was thinking that it might be some weird kind of physical software (if that makes any sense), something that attaches to electrons etc in metal and slows them down or something like that and the usb key is stripping it out (still broscience no matter how they swing it). It still doesn't make sense that she could send and receive data through all that dead copper though, although i guess it's plausible that there are still relays up in space and there would just be no way of knowing (so everyone assumes they turned off too).

[SaNE]

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It has to be aliens, it doesn't make sense for it to be man made or man started since if it was there would have been a body that would have taken global or country control after the fact.
They had the magic technology to remove the 'effect' which blows transformers (but doesn't fry circuitry), makes combustion engines simply not work but can't turn the lights off a plane while it's being spun from the sky (instead of diving), there's also the fact that if it were man made/started they would have had much more time to prepare for what was going to happen.

The only thing that I can see supporting a man made/started is that there are a group of people who are communicating by using the magic technology; whether communicating through the object or using satellites (since there was no sign that any crashed and I think they would have thrown the images in since it would have been a cool effect).
Maybe a sick experiment or a last ditch effort to save the world from the dreaded global warming? Seems very unlikely and wouldn't make that great of a story.

[$had0w]

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I really do like the idea of it, but i cant get past the silly story.

Love story? lol.. WHY

How does that usb power things up again if its just in the area of it? We still need power going to the power points. It may create some kind of anti-power black out aura, but that doesnt explain HOW the machine gets power, or where it gets it from.. Let alone the whole chatting on the internet thing, when theres no power elsewhere..

[Fireslide]

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I don't think it'll be aliens, maybe alien technology though. I think it's some research project that some scientists were working on funded by super wealthy who built isolated sanctuaries for themselves with working technology in remote locations. They cut 'power' to the rest of the world to conserve global resources, stave off global warming and reduce the population.

As for whether the people with the magic usb keys are good or bad, I can't tell yet. Either scientists that rebelled against the project they were working on, or part of a new world order keeping an eye on things for the people in the working tech cities. Could be a combination of both.

At any rate, it's interesting enough as a premise, I just hope they do well with it

[hellbender]

I have gotten to the point now where i just point out (to myself) every little flaw of science in Movies/TV shows. As well as amazing coincidences plot wise and even battle/combat scenes just appearing fake (you can tell they are just 'pretending'). I just didn't enjoy anything and got bored. This is why i'm reading books more and more these days, so much more detail and my mind makes things as real as i need it to be.

So sadly as there has been nothing that has really met my standards, i have to switch my brain off and just accept that "OK" something magically happens, but lets just forget about the impracticality etc. and enjoy watching it. As long as the acting is good, the plot interesting and not the same old recycled cliche plots, or anything remotely like Lost, then its probably worth the watch... i'll just move the genre in my mind from sci-fi to fantasy....