So, did you catch the pilot of NBC's Revolution Monday night? A dystopian network drama from executive producer J.J. Abrams and directed (the pilot anyway) by Jon Favreau. The series starts off introducing us to several of our characters before a "phenomenon" occurs, shutting down "all modern technology". ALL of it. For the ENTIRE WORLD. And not just the internet, electricity and other utilities... but also basic internal combustion engines (and not because of a fuel shortage) and all other "modern technology" (Solar panels? Wind turbines? Hydro electric? Copper wire? Magnets? Unclear at this time.)
Then about 15 years later we catch up with our main characters yet again living in a "village" of sorts in a post-apocalyptic world ruled by bandits and militias where only the most innovative and badass survive. OK, not bad... right?
So perhaps I've got a few things wrong in my interpretation of this first episode, but only time will tell and there are already plenty of questions that we are going to need J.J. Abrams and friends to answer for us. The most obvious question being... what the hell happened? Who turned out the lights and... how? Of course waiting for J.J. Abrams to answer to this question will more than likely take longer than it took for Ross and Rachel to get together. Any Lost fans out there??
Even more puzzling than that for me, however (again, from my initial impression only) is from watching ads for the show before it aired I got the impression that something like an EMP went off and shut everything down... but that doesn't appear to be the case because the effects appear to be far more widespread and devastating than what any EMP could accomplish.
So... the second question that I have is... how did this "phenomenon" turn off ALL "modern" technology? From what I could tell, this was not just a classic example of "grid shut down" that many of us know is absolutely possible (where utilities are shut down and/or supply issues cause fuel shortages). No, this is a far more "science-fictiony" type of grid crash. The catastrophe in REVOLUTION seems to be something that has caused even basic combustion engines (with no circuitry to speak of) not to work... even if they are fueled. At least... that's what I took from this first episode. If that is indeed what is going on in REVOLUTION... that doesn't seem very realistic at all to me... but I am going to reserve judgement until I have more information.
On a purely entertainment value, the show is "OK" for now. The storyline and acting are not particularly sophisticated... but it is network broadcasting. I guess I was just hoping for something a little more interesting, but maybe I need to give it more of a chance? I think I will.
What do you all think? Please leave your comments!
