Observations of "Revolution" the new TV Series

[Steve R.]

I'll take a rest from politics to dismember "Revolution", a new SF TV series. The SF premiss of "Revolution" is that something has happened to electricity so it will no longer work to operate electromechanical devices. Since a story needs a premiss, I don't have a problem with the fact that electricity stopped working.

My issues with "Revolution" are that society has apparently been thrown back technologically to around maybe1600(?????). Seems to me that a more realistic technological throwback (in the absence of electricity) would have been to around 1900. (Of course all of our scientific advance to the extent that they are not dependent on electricity would still help society.)

The series is still new, but there is a notable absence of technologies that would work without electricity; steam power for one could be used for railroads, cars, ships, and factories. Another potential, I believe, would be diesel engines. Dirigibles could replace airplanes. Yet none of these obvious technologies has been shown so far.

Guns have been treated in an odd manner by the show. The show seems to imply a shortage of guns, which I find very surprising considering the number of guns presently in existence and the fact that guns and ammunition are not dependent on electricity. The characters are running around with swords and bows!!! Hence my implausible reference to 1600.

 

[Adam Caramon]

I've only seen 20 minutes of the first episode - and I drew the same conclusions that you did. It is a JJ Abrams show, which basically means it won't ever really make sense.

 

[Lightwave]

I haven't seen it but I would have thought that an easier plot line would simply be to have a much more dramtic fall off from peak oil.

I wonder how the world would cope if it suddenly had to go cold turkey on its oil addiction.

 

[bweldon]

Well I have watched the first 2 eppisodes and to be honest, the series looks like a stretch of SM Stirling's Dies the Fire trillogy. Where high level tech has been eliminated, everything from gun powder to electricity. Good video and storyline but basis leaves me wanting more.

 

[bweldon]

Here is the link to his site http://smstirling.com/books/