NBC's Revolution - Thoughts?

Yes but I would imagine 15 years out that the existing supplies have been scavenged or used during the early days of chaos. And while human life is "cheap" in a pre-industrialized society, you really don't want to blow up your chemists or experienced workers, which happened a lot when mercury fulminate was first produced. They don't use that today as primers in modern ammo but it is the easiest to produce.

Built a smelter from scratch recently? Know of a lot with in walking distance of a major city? Got plenty of fuel to heat one up? A lot of problems to overcome because in the last 50-100 years we've built up an infrastructure that is now useless without electrical power and combustion engines.

We've gotten all the easy coal, gas and oil that could have been reached with late 19th century techniques. Our manufacturing facilities are scaled for economy of scale, designed to make things in large batches not small or tiny. Plus I imagine that world would be a lot like Civilization. So-and-so controls the only X facility in a hundred miles and we need that to prosper, so invasion.

When you take the supply of large amounts of energy out of the picture, most of our manufacturing capability goes bye-bye. Or do you know where we've kept all our 19th century manufacturing facilities in storage so they could go get them and at least get back to a post-agrarian society?

Copper doesn't require the usage of high temperature facilities. It was, after all, one of the earliest used metals. There's plenty of spare (and quite pure) copper lying around in the form of household electrical wiring that is now useless. A properly built kiln with a wood fire can get hot enough to melt copper. There had to have been some in places like Chicago that could've been scavenged or hell, just read a book on it.

How many people know how to build a wood/coal fire kiln from scratch? My friend's wife has a kiln, big electrical one for firing pottery. It's not really adaptable for a different heat source. How many people or places do you know of that have detailed instructions about building preindustrial devices for manufacturing using only preindustrial tools to do so?

I'm not saying it's impossible, I'm just saying a lot of this knowledge isn't the easiest to find locally and it helps if you have someone with actual practical knowledge about how to do it. How many traditional blacksmiths do you know of in your area that eschew from using any current technology to assist?

That's the thing. This knowledge isn't restricted or hard to access. If there's a bookstore, library, or possibly even a home improvement center nearby, there's a pretty good chance there's at least some information on building a kiln. Hell, if the town has a wood-fire pizza place, there's a good possibility (maybe) that it could be converted to smelting copper.

Got ceramic bricks from pretty much any home improvement store? You can, arguably, build a kiln with them.

I'm giving Revolution a shot, but things are not looking well for the survival of the show as it stands right now. 15 years after the collapse of civilization as we know it, and they're dressing like they just went shopping at the mall. (Granted, assuming a massive percentage of the population dies off, there may be caches of untouched goodies available for pilfering for years.)
It won't just be the folks on total life support who will die off, but those on continuing medication treatment as well. (Raises hand - Inherited Hypertension aka High Blood Pressure) And chances for survival would be slim with even relatively minor wounds due to infection and lack of proper treatment.
The killing issue (in my mind) as others have said, the characters are doing some awfully stupid things assuming they went thru the 15 years preceding the start of the show's future timeline.

Last year I read One Second After (written by William R. Forstchen) and I have to say it honestly frightened me. Why? Because it avoided 99% of the Hollywood glamorization of the Post-Apocalyptic scenario survivors. I'll admit that some aspects of the presented reality got stretched a bit, but that's a common occurrence in storytelling. You want a realistic treatment of the Post-Apocalyptic scenario? Read or listen to this one... and it only covers the first year after an Electro-Magnetic Pulse event occurring in North America.

Info on the book is available at: http://www.onesecondafter.com/ as well as Amazon.com and Audible.com (for the audiobook adaptation).

gave up on it after 3 episodes.

The concept is huge, the actual show is very small.

It is just tedious to watch. And Charlie is lame.

Is everyone in that family a ******* moron? I mean seriously, you are under no obligation whatsoever to save the life of the man who killed your father, the people you know, is a psychopathic murderer and is delivering you to god knows what. You let the ****** die and you get away. It's pretty much exactly like the end of Batman Begins only this kid doesn't have the sense god gave the common turnip.

Better more gritty and real post apoc was done in the road and the book of eli. Not to mention the direct ripoff of Eli and catness.

The show is boring and frankly stupid in most parts, but hey its US TV and saying that alone should lower all expectations.

The show is losing me... It may have one or two more episodes of my patient attempt to give it a chance.

Reading this thread makes me so glad I gave up on that show when I did.

I was just plain bored by this last episode. I guess it also says something that it took me till now to watch it on my dvr.

That Charlie is too ******* stupid to be allowed to live. I'm certain that if Miles let the bint die, he'd raise the collective human IQ average about 5 points. Either that or he should give her a ball of string and tell her to sit in the corner and try not to drool on herself. She also had the perfect opportunity to shoot Insurance Guy with her crossbow, but instead charges him like Leeroy Jenkins.

And the bit with the militia guy...why did they let him out of the cage to begin with?

One good thing...Elizabeth Mitchell standing next to a window while wearing a translucent shirt. Rawr...

The leash is shortening. But patience continues, if thinned.

The wonderful map reveal... showed a Munroe Republic that IMO is ridiculously too large, as are the 'other' republics.

How are they going to walk from Indiana to Philly in any sort of reasonable time to save anyone?

Miles sent Charlie alone after Danny against trained soldiers, in the cramped confines of a moving train?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dark One And the bit with the militia guy...why did they let him out of the cage to begin with?

I didn't understand that at all, other than... he has to get home to momma for the big reveal you already figured out.

I particularly liked the road with a fresh coat of asphalt and paint next to the train going down the tracks.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dark One One good thing...Elizabeth Mitchell standing next to a window while wearing a translucent shirt. Rawr...

I just may have made appropriate (inappropriate?) comments at the time....

I'm still watching. There are some brilliant moments. The part where the friend talked about being bullied on the schoolyard, to a really good life, to the bullies being back in charge, I thought it was good. The british lady carrying around the iPhone because in there are the pictures of her kids, it's such a wasteful but human reaction. And then the power comes on for just a moment.

And I like the grey aspects of the Republic. The violence of the anarchy when everything broke down, and the imposition of order was apparently an attempt to solve problems as opposed to "we like beating on people. Let's make a big group so we can beat on more people" - I'm looking forward to more of where things went wrong.

Yes, lots of people being stupid, and I wish it wasn't so. If it only makes one season, I won't be terribly unhappy (unless the quality really ramps up). But there's enough in it that keeps me turning in.