TV Alert: Revolution
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Revolution, the new “doomer” drama by J.J. Abrams, premieres tonight.
In Revolution, people in a futuristic world struggle to survive and reunite with loved ones in a world where there has been no electricity for fifteen years.
Abrams explained what viewers might expect from Revolution. “Not only do we get to visit the highlights of what transpired in flashback, but also that things have time to evolve,” he said. “And we’ve had very interesting discussions about what might have happened, and why, if the power went out. This show is certainly in no way, Lost, and has a very different conceit … I think it has potential.”
Tonight’s episode, The Blackout, will begin with the powering down of the world. Not only does the electrical grid go down, but alternative power sources, such as generators or flashlights, are also rendered useless.
After fifteen years without power, the US government has fallen and militias are in charge. “Physics went insane,” Revolution character Aaron (Zak Orth) tells a group of schoolchildren, “and nobody knows why.”
Revolution will air at 10 PM on NBC.
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Who cares. You know, being as JJ is just your average Hollywood producer/ director with his hands in many projects, do we really need to know about everything he does? These Star Trek new pages are looking less and less like Star Trek news and more and more about what new project JJ is working on. NO ONE CARES!
How corny and uninteresting.
T’Bonz apparently has a news quota to fill. That was her excuse for posting Saldana dating gossip. God forbid she not post somethng. It sounds like the consequences are too terrible to imagine. Being more sci-fi-ish, she’ll likely say this is a show Trekkies might enjoy. But a quota makes that suspect. Too bad she can’t just post worthy Trek news. Maybe it’s about their advertising?
Yes, it’s a slow news day. And yes, like it or not, J.J. Abrams is now involved in Star Trek. We hear about side projects from Michael Dorn and Garret Wang, we even get news items about convention appearances by “Mr. Adventure” for gahk’s sake. Myself, if I’m not interested I tune it out.
As for this snoozefest, all I have to say is, there is nothing mysterious about a good-sized electromagnetic pulse from a weapon or a natural event. Nothing they’ve described so far is anything you would not see from a nice big solar flare or multimegaton high-altitude nuclear detonation.
There. Interest ended, tuning out in three, tw— *zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz*
Sigh. Well, I am forced to admit the answers might interesting in a train wreck kind of way. It can’t be an EMP because that is a momentary thing. An EMP would not continue to suppress physical laws of electromagnetism. So someone maybe invented and used an electromagnetic field suppressor which will be found and destroyed to great effect in the final episode after much heroism, the token death, and the usual melodrama. The train wreck part is watching how they explain why this electromagnetic field suppressor does not also cause complete darkness (photons don’t work), instant death (neurons don’t fire), and loss of all radiant energy on Earth, plunging it into an instant deep freeze. It is fiction, but people these days like things to make sense. Oh, right… Red Matter. 😉
There is a device some characters carry which locally inhibits the ongoing effect and makes technology work again, so there’s a conspiracy angle and so on rather than just an EMP with one-time effects.
I checked out the show. The production values were high, with impressive views of disused buildings and aircraft covered with foliage and so on. But one character turns out to be the most deadly butt-kicker ever, defeating 20 guys with behind-the-back sword moves and dodging gunfire and the like, and I didn’t buy it for a second.
Giancarlo Esposito made for a suitably menacing bad guy, but the whole “militias” thing seems odd; if guns still work, why are they so quickly reduced to (apparently newly manufactured) bladed weapons and flintlocks? Only some of the big-deal bad guys seem to have fancy modern guns. The “computer geek” character offers no surprises.
I’m also annoyed how some of the characters look exactly the same after fifteen years. And as of now, it appears that Elizabeth Mitchell will only appear in flashbacks; that doesn’t seem like the best idea on the face of it (not that I personally would want to see more of her, but rather it’s a lot of money spent for something with limited ability to impact the story in the “present”).
I really liked this show when it was James Cameron’s Dark Angel ;). At least for the first year.
A strong EMP would have long-lasting effects. It will fry electronics and electrical components, even simple things like batteries if it’s strong enough. It will also scramble the ionosphere for years or even decades.
However, that’s not good enough for JJ, and so we throw in the red matter, the gizmo-that-makes-things-work-again, which is another middle finger in the face of established science.
Oh gods. Those knuckleheads wrote it, didn’t they.
I post news Monday through Friday. Obviously, my personal preference is for directly-related-to-Trek news, but that’s not always possible. So I will talk about other projects of those who have been involved in Trek, such as Abrams’ new series, or Takei’s new play.
With the only Trek production being finished (and under tremendous secrecy all during filming), there’s not a lot of Trek news out there and only so much merchandise is being released.
I’m hopeful that the stories I post are interesting to people and I do my best to post an interesting variety. Given human nature and individual tastes, it’s only natural that some won’t like some stories and others won’t like different stories. I’d rather post too many stories than not enough, and as I said, I need to have something up M-F.
I only posted the Saldana statement given the long-term nature of her engagement (that was broken). I’ve not (nor do I intend to post) posted on her romance with, uh, what’s his name – Bradley Cooper, I think, that was a very short-term “working on the same movie” romance, nor have I posted about Zach Quinto’s relationship with the fellow from Glee, even though I wish them every happiness. I will post on marriages, sometimes the birth of children and deaths. I may occasionally post on relationships, but I have to feel there is a good reason to do so.
You have the option of not reading stuff that doesn’t interest you. When I was just a reader of the news, that’s what I did. Story that wasn’t to my taste? SKIP. Didn’t click. It’s what I do at any news site – I read that which interests me.
And yes, “God forbid I not post something.” Do you want me to be like another Trek site, which won’t post for a few weeks, then will post for a day or two like crazy (and half of that fan productions or stupid fan YouTube mashups or whatever?)
The news is free here. Read it or don’t. I’m trying to do my best to bring interesting articles, but unlike Scotty – I’m not a miracle worker. I can’t make up news. If it’s thin on the ground, I have to do my
best. And – even if there are six articles in a day, there is still no
guarantee that someone will be interested/like an article. That’s how it
goes.
Kind of boggles my mind that someone bitches about something that is provided for free. LOL. That’s the Internet for you.
To those that enjoy the articles, thank you. I sincerely try to put up interesting stuff that you will enjoy to read. To those that don’t – well, again that’s how it goes.
By and large I enjoy the articles you post. If I don’t find them interesting, then I move on to the next article. Funny how that works.
In the future, boobs will not sag and hairlines will not recede. If Star Trek has taught me anything, it has taught me this.
Hellooo!?
Founder changling women? Picard?!
the mysterious part is, why doesn’t it turn back on in FIFTEEN YEARS. You try and make a generator? Doesn’t work. An EMP doesn’t do that.
A good flashback can move the story forward. About the guns, it’s hard to make machine guns without electricity.