Revolution (New JJ Abrams show)

[Racket_Man]

Being an Illinois native I just have to say you wouldn't see the buildings of downtown Chicago like that from Pontiac, Illinois. It's on I-55 halfway between Chicago and Bloomington-Normal. It's further south than where I live, and you can't see even the Sears/Willis Tower from here. That shot looked more like it was from the western suburbs. And some of that landscape looked dubious at best.

Having said that, tonight's episode was interesting. They're still kind of setting things up.

I used to live in Chicago and travel to St. Louis in I-55. usually once you go to Joliet you could not see anything of the Chicago skyline let alone in Dwight or Pontiac.

Heck even between Joliet and say I-55 and I-294 (around Hinsdale) it was hard to see the downtown skyiline.

[Andara Bledin]

Generally speaking, the curvature of the earth makes viewing man-made landmarks that are more than, say, 25 miles away or so pretty impossible.

The lights on the Eiffel Tower can be seen an impressive 50 miles (80km) away, but Pontiac is twice that distance from Chicago, and the Tower is over 4 times the height of the tallest skyscraper.

^-.-^

[violiavampyr]

I saw a snippet of a preview, got excited, immediately thought "dies the fire". Then I did some research on the show, saw a couple trailers, read some articles, got pissed off and was determined to hate it. But, to be fair I forced myself to watch the show.
I made it 8 minutes in. The ice cream flashback pissed me off to no end. "Oooh, savor the ice cream, honey, you'll never taste it again!" Goddamnitall there was plenty of "modern" things before there was world-wide electricity. Illinois gets cold enough for ice-houses. All you need is sawdust and lake ice. -snip- .

Exactly! My bf and I started debating about it. he said,"Where would they get the ice?" "They're in Illinois!"

[mikoyan29]

Generally speaking, the curvature of the earth makes viewing man-made landmarks that are more than, say, 25 miles away or so pretty impossible.

The lights on the Eiffel Tower can be seen an impressive 50 miles (80km) away, but Pontiac is twice that distance from Chicago, and the Tower is over 4 times the height of the tallest skyscraper.

^-.-^

You can see the top of the Chicago skyline from Michigan City, Indiana. I'm pretty sure you can see it from Benton Harbor, Michigan as well.



http://michiganexposures.blogspot.co...f-chicago.html

[Andara Bledin]

The distance from Michigan City to Chicago is about 40 miles, so less than the 50 the Eiffel Tower can be seen from, and only 40% of the distance to Pontiac.

And it's over water, which makes a decided difference.

^-.-^

[Aethian]

You can see the top of the Chicago skyline from Michigan City, Indiana. I'm pretty sure you can see it from Benton Harbor, Michigan as well.

http://michiganexposures.blogspot.co...f-chicago.html

Depends on how clear it is. Sometimes Lake Michigan is way foggy.

[mikoyan29]

The distance from Michigan City to Chicago is about 40 miles, so less than the 50 the Eiffel Tower can be seen from, and only 40% of the distance to Pontiac.

And it's over water, which makes a decided difference.

^-.-^

Although based on my picture, it wouldn't look as big as it did in the show.

I've watched the 2nd episode now and I'll have to say that I'm not sure. If it's just a simple matter of getting the amulet to something, why didn't the dad do that already?

[julchen]

Oh, JJ Abrams. You never fail to take a potentially interesting concept for a television show and turn it into utter crap.

I managed two whole episodes of Alcatraz before I started gagging.

[Jester]

Watched the second episode. While I still think this is more eye candy than anything, I have to say, at least they are starting to address the fact that such a happening seems impossible, even to the characters. The bearded guy (Aaron?) addressed that while walking with Maggie.

[BookstoreEscapee]

I've watched the 2nd episode now and I'll have to say that I'm not sure. If it's just a simple matter of getting the amulet to something, why didn't the dad do that already?

I'm intrigued enough by the premise that I'll give it a little longer; I just have to grit my teeth through the girl's scenes because she is way too unbelievably whiny and childish for someone having grown up in this world, even if she was somewhat sheltered in their little village. Every time she says the uncle should do something "cuz we're family" I want to smack her.

Watched the second episode. While I still think this is more eye candy than anything, I have to say, at least they are starting to address the fact that such a happening seems impossible, even to the characters. The bearded guy (Aaron?) addressed that while walking with Maggie.

Does he know what the amulet thingy is/does? The dad told him to get to whoever but does he know why? If he's the dad's best friend I wonder how much he knows. Also wonder if Dad has his own computer setup hidden in an attic somewhere.

[Jester]

Aaron seems to be clueless about the amulet, what it does, or how it will work...he is just honoring his friend's request to get it to Whoever. As for dad having a computer hidden away, it's possible, but since Dad dies within minutes of the first episode beginning, and no one's found it, it's kind of a moot point.

Here's a question that begs asking, and I fear I know the answer: if Charlie ever comes to the point of having a computer operational in front of her, will she have any idea how to use it? I say she won't, because the power went kablooey when she was four years old. But knowing Abrams, she will have absolute full knowledge of how to operate it without any problem. If/when that happens, I may just abandon the show out of pure nausea.

[BookstoreEscapee]

Aaron seems to be clueless about the amulet, what it does, or how it will work...he is just honoring his friend's request to get it to Whoever. As for dad having a computer hidden away, it's possible, but since Dad dies within minutes of the first episode beginning, and no one's found it, it's kind of a moot point.

Here's a question that begs asking, and I fear I know the answer: if Charlie ever comes to the point of having a computer operational in front of her, will she have any idea how to use it? I say she won't, because the power went kablooey when she was four years old. But knowing Abrams, she will have absolute full knowledge of how to operate it without any problem. If/when that happens, I may just abandon the show out of pure nausea.

I think you're right on the first part. If he knew he might have powered up the iPhone so Maggie could see her pictures for a bit. Just wondering if they (or the militia) will make their way back to the village to search Dad's stuff and find some electronics.

I'd say she might remember a little bit of how to use a computer; I think she was supposed to be about 6 when the power went out (the brother is 19 now, so that would make him 4 then), so she'd at least have some computer skills. Also, at the beginning of the pilot, the brother was playing with an iPad or something like that, so they clearly have used computers. So I can see her remembering at least the basics of how to use one...though not the type that the woman at the house was using; Charlie would only be familiar with the graphical interfaces that we use today, not the C: prompts that they used way back when, so if they have her hop onto a terminal and start typing commands, I'll call BS on that.

BTW, the IMDB main page for the show has the lights shut off (black background).

[Jester]

Nope. It was clearly stated that she was 4 when it all went out, and that she is 19 now. I believe her brother is 17, and in the flashbacks is pictured as a toddler of about 2 or so.

As for him using the iPad, I have seen many kids of that age using iPads or similiar type tablets (some designed specifically for kids so they don't wreck something hugely expensive or fuck up some important files), so that is not that odd. And either way, what are the odds that they would have retained anything of their computer use after having only used comps as very young children? And even if they DID, what they remember from childhood would be pretty much useless for anything they would want to use computers for as adults. I know what I was doing with technology when I was 4....do you really think any of that would help me out now?

[BookstoreEscapee]

OK, according to the official site, she was 5 and he was 2.

http://www.nbc.com/revolution/episod...de-101/617497/


Edit: I'm watching right now, and after the brother's first scene this ep, I'm liking him a little bit better. Her, still not so much.

[mikoyan29]

Yes, I am still watching this show. I finally got a chance to watch last week's episode. So after 15 years, they finally decide to run a steam engine? It seems that if nothing else was working, someone would have decided to fire up a steam engine for kicks and giggles. I mean heck, they may have accidently discovered that steam engines still worked as the SS Badger or a handful of other Great Lakes ships didn't stop (The Badger uses a reciprocating steam engine and there are still a handful of steamers on the Great Lakes). And if you were the crew on one of those vessels, you might decide to keep your decided advantage.

And then we find out about the significance of the amulet....Hmmm...reminds me of other stories.