"Revolution" new TV series comparisons to "Jericho" (2006) series

[jefferiestubes8]

How much the new "Revolution" (2012) (TV series) compare to the cancelled "Jericho" (2006) (TV series) remains to be seen but the similarities will be there. The new lifestyle in Revolution is 15 years after 'the event' but in Jericho it is only the first year after.

The new clip covers a minute and half of the first episode of J. J. Abrams' Revolution, showing the moment when all the lights go out - setting the stage for the primary arc which takes place 15 years later.

See the video preview here.
http://www.tgdaily.com/entertainment/65386-revolution-preview-crashes-nearby

Here is a 5 minute first-look video with a lot of behind-the-scenes and interviews with cast & director of the pilot:
http://www.nbc.com/revolution/video/revolution-first-look/1412426

Here is the lengthy synopsis of the series:
Our entire way of life depends on electricity. So what would happen if it just stopped working? Well, one day, like a switch turned off, the world is suddenly thrust back into the dark ages. Planes fall from the sky, hospitals shut down, and communication is impossible. And without any modern technology, who can tell us why?
Now, 15 years later, life is back to what it once was long before the industrial revolution: families living in quiet cul-de-sacs, and when the sun goes down, the lanterns and candles are lit. Life is slower and sweeter. Or is it?
On the fringes of small farming communities, danger lurks. And a young woman’s life is dramatically changed when a local militia arrives and kills her father, who mysteriously – and unbeknownst to her – had something to do with the blackout. This brutal encounter sets her and two unlikely companions off on a daring coming-of-age journey to find answers about the past in the hopes of reclaiming the future.

Revolution premieres Monday, September 17 on NBC.

Probably no vehicles and cars unlike Jericho which used cars pre-1985 before computer chips were in them. I'm looking forward to this series. Will a telegraph work on this show? That would be fun to see in this series since it works on the most basic of electricity principles. People in this universe have the education of 21st century technology and what can they make happen for communications with what tech does work without electricity? The raw materials and even cables to carry electricity are already in place. Will someone make a DIY homemade battery? Will someone use solar photovoltaics? Will an internal combustion engine generator work?
Are there other drama series that have been done in this pre-industrial revolution style of technology that were not little house on the prairie?
I'm guessing the pilot episode will be more like a movie rather than the first episode of Jericho. Episode 2 of "Revolution" will be how the series will be for the most part including the flashbacks to 15 years earlier.

What do you guys think about the comparisons of these 2 shows?

 

[DarthTom]

I'm guessing the pilot episode will be more like a movie rather than the first episode of Jericho. Episode 2 of "Revolution" will be how the series will be for the most part including the flashbacks to 15 years earlier.

What do you guys think about the comparisons of these 2 shows?

This does sound like an interesting premise. I think the de-evolution of society is an interesting anthropological study.

After Rome fell - society and the world generally de-evolved substantially. We went form building massive coliseums to grass huts - from having running water in homes to bathing and shitting in the forest.

It took nearly 1000 years for society to "come back," technologically to what the Romans had achieved centuries earlier.

 

[jefferiestubes8]

communications

Well even if they cannot use the traditional electromagnetic telegraph (used since 1839 and 2-way telegraph in 1892) I'd like to see if they use the Optical telegraph including the use of smoke signals, beacons or reflected light since this does not require electricity.
From the first-look video above the heavy use of oil lamps and horses, bows & arrow, muskets & swords give this a modern day Western feel (more so than Justified on FX and similar to Jericho (2006) rather than Hell on Wheels which is a traditional Western. Well maybe not the swords but they give it a certain style as well as the crossbow with the popularity of The Hunger Games trilogy series still to release 2 feature films in the next 4 years also using similar bow & arrow weapons and bringing a little weapon tech to this TV series.

How will "Revolution" allow characters to communicate?
It's not just communication but also news reporting when considering society and technology for communication.

 

[crookeddy]

The advertising for this show certainly doesn't look promising. Lots of focus on family and "finding new strength". Typical mainstream crap.

 

[Rhaven]

I'm looking forward to the premire. I figure if they can hook me with the first episode, I'll probably keep watching.

 

[jefferiestubes8]

Re: "Revolution" trailer

Here is the Revolution official trailer (HD):
length: 4:05
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwfCRAtkYEI
the trailer shows a conspiracy type thing like Jericho...

as far as a reason why no electricity: EMP

A nuclear weapon detonated at a high altitude would send the United States back to the 18th century. An EMP’s effects would include the destruction of electrical circuits, rendering cell phones, computers, vehicles, airplanes, power grids, and all other electrical equipment useless. In the case of an EMP—from “space weather” or a high-altitude nuclear detonation—transportation systems would be halted, communications would be rendered useless, and grocery stores would be unable to preserve or restore food supplies.

NBC’s “Revolution” Shows Life after An Electromagnetic Pulse Attack


just like in The Day After tv movie from 1983.

well i think i found an answer:

Though "Revolution" hasn't yet premiered, there's been some confusion as to what the "rules" of the show's universe are, especially in terms of using technology not powered by electricity. "Stay tuned for steam engines, is the short answer," Kripke joked. "It’s about electricity -- anything that throws a spark, any circuit that carries an electrical charge, that is the simple, clean rule, everything expands from that. Batteries and spark plugs and everything that comes from electricity [won't work]. We actually brought a physicist into the [writers'] offices and we pitched him the concept and our secret of why it all happened ... His face just lit up and he said, 'That’s absolutely possible!' So we did our homework and came up with something that’s actually plausible."

source

 

[Lindley]

Re: "Revolution" trailer

Planes fall from the sky? Maybe that's plausible for fly-by-wire models, but not for traditional aircraft. Jet engines don't depend on electricity once they're started, and pilots can get by without radios or navigation equipment if they have to.

Jericho made this mistake as well.

Also, electronics can be protected against EMP. Some are, especially government stuff.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

Well, Kripke can pat himself on the back for his alleged adherence to physics all he wants, but nothing I've seen in any of the exhausting number of trailers and promos for this show have shown a mechanism for or conditions of the global blackout that is at all consistent with EMP.

- The lights go out in a domino-like sequence similar to a rolling blackout, but first local near Illinois, across North America, then worldwide in the span of eight minutes. It's not a series of nuclear or e-bomb explosions and then instant and simultaneous lights out in the affected regions (and you would need numerous bombs to blackout the entire world).

- The mechanism for the blackout seems to be some kind of computer virus or electronic signal rather than a nuclear explosion, as power can be activated and deactivated at will with a flash drive override device hidden in a pendant.

- If the source of the blackout was nuclear, people would know that was the cause of the EMP and would begin repairing and rebuilding infrastructure and gradually restore power. However, whatever is causing the blackout on the show renders that impossible. It's not a one time event, it's a continuous signal or virus that prevents repair or reactivation of any electronic device without the override in the pendant I mentioned above.

- Important government and military facilities are hardened against EMP, and yet in this show they are all rendered useless and the government is as powerless to act as anyone else. For some bizarre reason the massive stocks of rifles, shotguns, handguns, and (most) grenades the military has which have no electronic parts and would be in perfect working order don't work in the universe, because everyone's been reduced to using swords, arrows, and muskets for some reason in one of the most heavily armed countries on Earth.

So, no, unless there's some kind of magical signal that can't be detected yet can shut down all power systems worldwide (it would have to be mounted on a series of satellites to blanket the Earth yet also would never come down despite no longer being serviced, refueled, replaced, or monitored), or a virus that can interface with every computer system around the world and take over non-networked electronic devices, there's no "realistic" explanation for the blackout on this show, and it's certainly not regular EMP.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

I got a bad feeling about Revolution. It does look too vanilla and broadcasty, and I dont think the girl can carry a lead role. If this were cable, they could make Giancarlo Esposito the lead even though hes the villain and then they might have something.

I still miss Jericho, it had a rough start but evolved into something good and with its own unique feel. still hoping netflix might revive it.

 

[auntiehill]

^I kind of get that feeling as well. I'll give the first episode a try and see what happens, but I admit that I don't have high hopes for this one.

 

[JD]

This is one of my most anticipated shows of the new season. I've really liked everything I've seen so far.
I don't really see the Jericho comparison myself. Yeah, I guess if you boil it down to it's most basic elements you could throw the comparison around, but IMO the tone, style and size of this look very different. It definitely seems to go with a much more dramatic collapse of society, much quicker than Jericho did.

 

[arch101]

Any show that can heighten awareness of EMP and it's after effects is a good thing. It's amazing how few people really understand what that is and how close we could be to experiencing it. I was shocked that even highly educated people I know turned white when I explained what would happen if Iran popped a high-altitude nuke over the eastern US.
I hope this show has good technical consultants and is fairly realistic within dramatic bounds.

 

[Mistral]

Frankly, this reminds me of Stirling's Dies the Fire series, minus the "magic" he began leaning towards...

I'd really like to see how they undermine physical laws, because that's what they have to do to make electricity untenable. AN EMP(as pointed out already) can be recovered from.
Hell, I can build a simple generator using car parts and a quick visit to Home Depot-so no electricity 15 years later means the laws of chemistry/physics have changed. And how do people keep thinking/living/breathing without electricity? Neurons are electrical, our hearts keep rhythm electrically, etc. So either low grade(like piezoelectric) power works-or it doesn't. In which case, everyone dies.

 

[Caliburn24]

Yeah, the premise does smell a lot like Stirling's series, and eventually some one will ask that question of one of the show's creative staff and maybe get a straight answer.

But Stirling did three important things that I feel Revolution is making mistakes about.

1) What caused the laws of physics to change was not a plot point, characters theorized and speculated about it, but the "change" was just a macguffin so the author could get down to the business of modern day people coping without technology and struggling to survive(note; haven't read the later books, but it holds true in the first few). Making the mystery of the "change" a central plot point(and apparently being able to reverse it at will) cheapens everything else(and the writers better be able to write one heck of a payoff).

2) There is no time jump in Stirling's series. Which allows for the characters to develop naturally, we see them become survivalists and badasses. By jumping straight to fifteen years after the event we miss that good stuff. It is just another example of a TV show trying to scrimp on costs(showing the fall of civilization would be expensive) at the expense of character and story. The Walking Dead is guilty of this, Revolution appears to be even more guilty of it.

3) Stirling went dark, people starved and chaos and anarchy were everywhere. Revolution appears too light(in tone), everyone is too clean, too well dressed, too civilized.

Despite those qualms I'll be watching the show and it could be better than expected. I hope it is.

 

[JRoss]

Not to mention that this show is not set in Oregon. Angers me because now we won't get a Dies the Fire movie/miniseries/show. And Oregon deserves a bit of spotlight. How many things have been set in Chicago?

 

[DigificWriter]

Based on the trailers, the series eminds me of a cross between Bethesda's Fallout RPG series and Terry Brooks' Shanarra novel series. I don't traditionally watch a lot of stuff on NBC, but this has me intrigued enough that I'm going to give it a chance.

 

[Takeru]

It's a silly premise that makes no sense, I won't watch it. The show will most likely get cancelled after the first season.

 

[MadOnion]

Sounds like a smoke monster is not letting the giant underground plug to be put back in.

 

[Enterprise is Great]

I doubt this show will make it through a full season as it's up against Castle and Hawaii 5-0 two shows that do pretty well in the ratings against each other and both have pretty solid fanbases. NBC is shooting itself in the foot by putting it in this time slot.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

I dunno, I think Revolution might be able to carve out a niche for itself among sci fi and action series fans who've largely given up on broadcast TV, and arent the audience for the competing shows in the timeslot.

I dont see Revolution stealing audience from competitors so much as building an audience that woudlnt otherwise be watching broadcast TV at that time.

And of course a big chunk of whatever audience it gets will watch on DVR. But in the plus column, its on NBC, which cant afford to be fussy.