''Revolution'' - the new TV series, 'turning the lights off' would NOT lead to mayhem...

HelenConway:

I am convinced that maybe things would not be quite so easy if the lights went out [ now].

I hope you don't feel driven to accepting how things would most probably be, but that you arrived at it through some self-analysis and understanding. Apologies if my posts came across as being bullish.

As for the series itself, I tried watching the first episode, but it was so awful I couldn't continue watching.

I feel the creators of the programme missed a very good opportunity to tell a very dramatic tale. The one they are trying to tell is 15 years after the event, when what they should have focussed the series on was the struggle for survival starting at the event. That is where the more interesting and dynamic story resides.

Instead what we have is an awful, badly acted, turgid affair, filled with perfect bodies and beautiful people whom do not look the worse for wear after 15 ravaging years of struggle, bearing no scars whatsoever. It is absolute drivel! Billy Burke should be ashamed of himself, but then again, he did star in Twilight. What is it with Hollywood
that it can't show real grimness in its shows?

reply to post by HelenConway


To put it simply, people these days are very dependent on electricity. In the pre-electric days, people had an outhouse, oil lamps, fireplaces, and stoves that used wood. Today, we rely on power for the sewage management in most places, power for lights, for heat, for cooking, and so forth. Most homes provide no way for people to stay warm, or cook, or anything else with, without electricity. Plus, in Revolution, they lose everything, including all the cars. No cars means no trucks. No food shipments. Add in no communication, no way for people to get help, and you don't think they would go a bit cray? Even in Jericho (another good series, though only two seasons), there were issues. Some places, like the featured town, managed in some ways, but even there, people died, people disagreed, and there were problems. Just look at what happens in some places (NOT all) after a major disaster? Look at New Orleans after Katrina. People were preying on one another in the emergency shelter. Granted, most do NOT act like that after such storms, but the fact remains that some do. If everything was off, you can bet some would act in a similar fashion. Not everyone in revolution was violent, or bad. Some were decent, and simply trying to get by. Some made that, well, difficult. All in all, they are doing a pretty good job. The thing I would question is whether there would be many places left that were calm, fifteen years later. They would have to be a long way from the big cities.

Originally posted by elysiumfire
What is it with Hollywood
that it can't show real grimness in its shows?

Maybe then you should have stuck it out past the first episode, especially as that was a two parter anyway!

They do flashback to the immediate post-event stuff too, so another example of how not to base opinions on one episode. In one flashback, we see Monroe and Maddison walking to Chicago and they encounter lawlessness, murder and discover grim acts which is what provokes the two to set up the Republic...

reply to post by stumason


I really hate this aspect of American culture. I like the longer more story driven movies. I am American by the way. I have a family member who doesn't like any of the "slower" movies and wants all action I guess. It drives me crazy when we try to find a movie we both like.

Originally posted by HelenConway

Yes I think that is true bar the millions of deaths... I have been thinking ..

What do we need - food / water / shelter / medicines / sanitation / warmth / fuel for transport.

1] if the electrcity grid went down - we would still be able to use cars ?
If not why not ? We would still have batteries and be able to build them - .

It's ALL electronics, not just the power grid. Anything that uses electromechanics technology cannot work, and you cannot simply supplement it with batteries. If by some miracle you could find a old style diesel with a mechanic fuel pump you might get lucky. This would only be used for transport though, you cannot generate any electricity.

Originally posted by HelenConway

2] Water - are the taps reliant on electricity ? I am sure the drainage systems set up by the Victorians did not have electricity and these are still in use today - the pumping stations could use diesel generators -- we could set up a supply chain for diesel.

Yes pumps need electricity, and water will be the biggest problem in mega cities. You can survive a month without food but only a few days without water. Lack of clean water will lead to a lot of violence and looting. This will happen very quickly.

Originally posted by HelenConway

3] Food - we would have as a country a certain amount to tide us over - this would have to be rationed - like during the war.

Supermarkets will be looted for stockpiling. Once they are empty no more deliveries. People who live 10-20mins DRIVE from supermarkets will have what's in their pantries to survive on for a while. You will also need a means to carry all these supplies besides your 2 hands.

Originally posted by HelenConway

4] Farms - would once again be given prominence - horses would be used to work heavy machinery, although whilst there is a diesel in the supply chain then tractors would still function.

5] we would breed and work heavy horses.

There are no horses, not to the extent we are going to need .. they will need to be bred, this will take years. All modern farm machinery uses electronics, they are out. It takes 1 farmer to do the work of a 100 farmers now a days thanks to technology. They don't have spare skilled farmers lying around in wait to work the crops. Also without electronic irrigation, their crops will all be dead before any of that happens.

You have no way to transport it 100s of miles to processing/distribution plants which run on electricity.

Originally posted by HelenConway

6] we would light our homes with candles and gas and solar energy.

7] we would install wood burning / coal burning stoves / solar panels.

I have no candles, where would all these candles come from,? Gas grid is powered by electricity. Gas bottles are a minimal supply, and Solar is electricity. They are out.

Wood burning stoves would be the only option but that will cause a lot of fires in modern homes not designed for them. You would also need to buy/aquire these stoves, and without transportation, supply will be extremely limited.

Originally posted by HelenConway

8] we may be able to use solar batteries to power things like our computers etc.

9] do satellites rely on electrcity ? Does the telecoms network need electricity to function ?

Batteries are electricity, they are out. Even if satellites in orbit were not effected there would be no way to receive the signal on the ground without electronics. Communication is back to horse ridden letters.

Originally posted by HelenConway

10 ] we managed to feed cities by the millions without electricity in the past we can do it again - we still have the skills and the brains to live well.

The infrastucure was setup for it. Most farmland was near cities so they could transport by horse cart. Since trains, farmland has moved further out of towns making it impossible by horse and cart.

Originally posted by HelenConway

11] ships / trains etc they can be converted fairly easily to steam / sail

No this is not easy at all. For starters without cranes, your not going to pickup a 50 tonne diesel ship engine and replace it out with a steam engine. You will also need to manufacture all the new parts and integrate them. Millions of working steam engines just arent lying around.

Originally posted by HelenConway

Finally - our know how did not die with the electrcity grid - we could still make medicines, the maufacturing plants could be adapted to work mechanically - with manual input for energy.

Computers store most information, especially from the past 30 years. Most breakthroughs/research is done with "electro" microscopes in vaccum sealed airconditioned labs.

Millions if not billions will die in the making of your Agrarian utopia

I watched 4 episodes of this when it came out. When the uncle and spy kid who gives the main chik "the vapors" were trying they're hardest to kill each other.. and she runs up RIGHT in the middle of it and stopped the fight, I turned it off right then. That show has a good premise, but thats it.

The script doesn't do any justice to the premise.

Just think about it.. its NBC for god sake! I'm sure that FOX News would agree that the grids going down indefinitely would not lead to anarchism... but they're full of it!

That show is straight up propaganda. Why would NBC pick up, and keep(!) such a stupid show? Its not because Americans are that dumb... It doesn't get good ratings. Its to trick dumb people that they will be safe when the lights go out.

Dont worry America... there are magic stones that will save us!

reply to post by HelenConway


Steam and other alternative energies could by no means support the support-structure we've created which is completely dependent upon electricity/oil. Sheer numbers, because our world population has grown so exponentially, would make this impossible. I don't think homo sapiens would ALL die, but certainly we would lose many lives over many years, and be crippled in a plethora of ways.

Just a reminder: right now, a good part of the population of the world doesnt have access to most of those marvelous things that electricity brings us. It is often said that today half of the humanity lives in cities, which means that the other half lives in the country. From them, probably most don't even have access to electricity. And even the ones living in cities live more in shacks than in modern apartments. For exemple, there's a popular thing recently for lighting up homes with a bottle in a hole in the roof: www.youtube.com... This is actually very useful to a *lot* of people. So when you say "we would collapse", keep in mind that it's just we the western world, not we the humanity. The change would be much less drastic in poorer countries.

However, apparently in the series it's not just electricty, cars also don't work anymore. But I don't understand why. Apparently candles burn, so why not oil? This series is dumb.

reply to post by rafafel


oil does burn in the show too they explained exactly what took out hte power and why it reamins off but as per spoiler code i wont mention it but my earlier theories were wrong its the fact that any and every form of electricty does not work because nothing holds power,you can still burn gas and what not but it wont power anything the only powered vehicles we have seen have been one train and a bunch of busses from the republic of georgia evidently has in great supply both of these were steam powered (motors not requiring electricity to function) and powered by coal

its not that physics or anything like that are breaking down but that a plot device has disabled all forms of power storage and generation to the planet

i thought how they explained it and the series of flashbacks explained alot