Topic: NBC Enviro Wet Dream Fantasy Show

[trapeze]

Yeah, so in this show (heavily promoted during the Olympics) electricity just up and fails everywhere on the planet all at once and it stays that way. Titled "Revolution" it is coming on NBC this September. Whoopee.

First reaction is, "Sure." We have seen this play out not too long ago. So even money odds that it gets cancelled before the first season ends. People are getting really fed up with investing time and interest in a series that gets canned.

Second reaction is, "Sure." As in, "Right...and I'll bet there is a floating tropical island with polar bears and a wheel that you turn to make the island disappear or some other such nonsense." Yeah, electricity just stops working. Sure. I wonder if magnetic north vanishes, too. Or if gravity quits working. Maybe the speed of light slows down. And telepathy and time travel become real. Because, hey, if electricity no longer works...at all...then the sky is the limit.

But really, this is the ultimate enviro-weenie fantasy...that thing that the OWSers dream about. Except that for them it would actually turn out to be something much more nightmarish if it were played realistically and straight.

First of all, if it really did happen, half of the world's human population would die off within about a month due to starvation. And then half of those survivors would die off next in another wave of starvation. That would be due to a loss of refrigeration, transportation, irrigation and general food production. The final surviving population would be literally back to hunter-gatherer subsistence living conditions. There wouldn't be any time for quests or adventures because everyone would be occupied from sun up to sun down by locating food.

Lack of modern medicine would get another wave.

So would a lack of clean water. Cholera would make a big comeback.

Lack of modern heating systems would wipe out a lot more in the first winter. Or carbon monoxide poisoning from trying to heat with combustion indoors. Stupidity kills.

It would take most of a year but probably 90% would be dead at that point.

Plus everyone would be very dirty. All the time. It always cracks me up to see Hollywood representing anyone prior to the 20th century as being clean and well groomed. They weren't. And anyone living in a post apocalyptic future would be pretty filthy and ripe all of the time. I am confident that everyone on screen will look like they just showered, shampooed and blow dried. There's a reason why The Road Warrior was so popular...it had an air of authenticity to its vision of the future.

I've seen the promo for this show and everyone has good clothing. How? It's supposed to take place fifteen years after the power goes off.

Anyway, though...the enviro weenies think that it would be all fun and games if we could all go back to a simpler time before all that nasty technology and oil (yeah, especially oil) ruined Eden. This is the same type of "thinking" that says that if all the guns went away we could live in peace and harmony. Purely idiotic.

I'm serious...if this scenario ever came to pass I think that I would just shoot dead anyone that mentioned how great it was that we were now getting back to nature. Here's a bullet, buddy...now you've really returned to nature.

So yeah, millions die within a few weeks from starvation leaving millions of firearms all over the USA and trillions of rounds of ammo and these bozos are running around with swords and arrows. I'd be shooting me some archers with an AK47 every time. And remember that scene from Indiana Jones where the swordsman gets plugged?

Apparently everyone runs down to the local sporting goods store and takes every compound bow and crossbow plus all of the arrows (even though they haven't been cut and tipped) and completely ignore all of those cases of rifles and shotguns. With all of the dead people there would be guns and ammo aplenty for the survivors. And who in their right mind would choose a crossbow as a primary weapon? You would be dead before you could reload the thing in any serious combat situation. And where do all of the swords come from? This is America. Swords can be found but they are rare. Firearms, on the other hand...A shotgun, an AR15, a good handgun and all the rounds I could carry. That would be it. Open season on OWSers, though. Plus, if it was me I wouldn't be clothing myself in anything but Real Tree cammo...let the OWS archers come in their designer clothing.

And what becomes of the military? Okay so some of their stuff stops working but they have guns and lots of ammo and MREs. Do they just disappear down a hole?

The survivors would also have to deal with tens of millions of rotting corpses, too. No way that the animals could eat them all before they putrified. That would be a fun future. Stinky and dirty 24/7. Plus disease and starvation. Yay, simple life!

Maybe they should throw in some zombies to spice things up.

[Sectionhand]

Gee ... The only thing I ever imagined was everybody on earth disappearing except me and Mrs. Zellhuber ( my 9th Grade French teacher ) . 

[Libertas]

Heh, nice one SH, I was always kinda partial to the Adam & Eve story too.   

Good stuff Trap, I recall several of the same thoughts rolling through my head as I caught some of the trailers for this tree-hugger fantasy.

I think I am right there with ya... "I'm serious...if this scenario ever came to pass I think that I would just shoot dead anyone that mentioned how great it was that we were now getting back to nature. Here's a bullet, buddy...now you've really returned to nature."

 

[LadyVirginia]

It's on NBC.  It won't make it to December.

  Plus people know the economy is bad--they have real concerns.  I don't think a show like this is going to have real appeal. Maybe when people think things are fine are they willing to engage in such a fantasy. USA Network recently aired a mini-series called Political Animals. From what I read after the first episode it didn't do well.

[Alphabet Soup]

I'm naturally drawn to stuff like this....so it's probably best that I don't do boob-toob anymore.

I (and I know that I'm not alone) grew up on a mix of "Lord of the Flies" and "Gilligan's Island". Sure Gilligan was great for the pratfalls, but I was fascinated with the Professor and his endless ingenuity. I remember a project with one of my brothers where we started building an airplane out of scrap materials. It was going to be powered by a lawnmower engine and I recall how our father poo-pooed it....right up to the point where he thought that it just might work and made us disassemble it. (I was 10 at the time)

I agree with LadyVirginia however - I doubt that it'll last because I doubt that there's enough interest in storylines of people fending for themselves. Where's the interest in having to walk somewhere without the comfort of a Starbucks on every corner ready to meet your caffeine needs? Or even the notion of doing without heated seats and Onstar?

[IronDioPriest]

...Plus everyone would be very dirty. All the time. It always cracks me up to see Hollywood representing anyone prior to the 20th century as being clean and well groomed. They weren't. And anyone living in a post apocalyptic future would be pretty filthy and ripe all of the time. I am confident that everyone on screen will look like they just showered, shampooed and blow dried....

They'll usually smear a little dirt on the cheek, just in the hollow that highlights the cheekbones. If they're supposed to be really grimy, they'll rub them down in a little sheen of oil to make them look slightly sweaty.

[LadyVirginia]

I doubt that there's enough interest in storylines of people fending for themselves. Where's the interest in having to walk somewhere without the comfort of a Starbucks on every corner ready to meet your caffeine needs? Or even the notion of doing without heated seats and Onstar?

They can't fend for themselves with all the comforts they enjoy. Rather than use modern conveniences to accomplish more in a limited time people have become more helpless.  We have all these appliances to cook and bake food faster yet I know women who take their families out to eat every night because they don't have time to cook. 

[Pandora]

I doubt that there's enough interest in storylines of people fending for themselves. Where's the interest in having to walk somewhere without the comfort of a Starbucks on every corner ready to meet your caffeine needs? Or even the notion of doing without heated seats and Onstar?

They can't fend for themselves with all the comforts they enjoy. Rather than use modern conveniences to accomplish more in a limited time people have become more helpless.  We have all these appliances to cook and bake food faster yet I know women who take their families out to eat every night because they don't have time to cook. 

Or what is currently referred to as "cooking".  "Look!  Mom baked!"  "Mom" poured a mix in a pan, added water, and stuck it in the microwave.

Those Mrs. Smith's apple pies were the best of its kind; now they come "pre-baked" because having to wait 50-60 minutes from freezer to mouth was just too troublesome.

I've seen ads on tv for the "Swiffer" mops being sold as less time-consuming than a mop and a bucket.  I don't see it as "saving" much time really, and then there's the added expense for the convenience.

[Weisshaupt]

Yeah, so in this show (heavily promoted during the Olympics) electricity just up and fails everywhere on the planet all at once and it stays that way. Titled "Revolution" it is coming on NBC this September. Whoopee.

I saw an early promo for it. Plane  falls out the sky (straight down) because it lost power. Amazingly the signal lights are still on. Oh, they were on batteries right? Nope. Batteries  don't work either.
This damping  field actually can cancel chemical reactions - but you see there is this key that if you switch it on, will allows the power to work where ever you go- only the batteries will have long gone dead and no one has feed fuel into a power plant for ages. And everyone hunts and defends with Bows, because ? I don't know. I didn't see a single gun in the promo. Gun Powder was made long before modern weaponry - and in this situation ,it would be as good, if not better, than gold. The US has plenty of fire arms, and reloading equipment.  If 15 years they ran out of Brass? Something tells me that would be another lucrative business.  And its not mad max- people are growing corn in the yards in suburbia and not having them looted or burned.

 Lets see, I get my tribe to produce gun powder, reload our old brass or start casting new, and then we go beat the sh*t out of every tribe using Bows and arrows.  The world would be more like the "Postman" - with roving barbarian armies demanding tribute form the suburbanites- of course maybe that is how it is  - the firearm army they don't show keeps them safe in return for food. Really, Really, Really dumb.

[Libertas]

I'm with your tribe, Weisshaupt!   

[Glock32]

I need to go back and study some basic chemistry.  Gunpowder, as noted, doesn't require anything terribly sophisticated to make.  Nitric acid and cellulose (i.e. wood fiber) produces nitrocellulose, the principal base of smokeless powder. The big challenge would be determining burn rates and safe charge amounts, but I guess in a Mad Max scenario a certain amount of risky trial and error is a given.

[Weisshaupt]

I need to go back and study some basic chemistry.  Gunpowder, as noted, doesn't require anything terribly sophisticated to make.  Nitric acid and cellulose (i.e. wood fiber) produces nitrocellulose, the principal base of smokeless powder. The big challenge would be determining burn rates and safe charge amounts, but I guess in a Mad Max scenario a certain amount of risky trial and error is a given.

Basically I would think we would be back to "black powder" - if you run out of brass or ways to load it,  you might see muzzle loaders only. Point is firearms aren't going to disappear. A loss of electricity means going back to the late 19th century as far as tech  goes.  You can still power factories with steam and mechanical belts.  Its a lot of modification, and obviously there would be a huge die out, armies and tribes would form, but raiding can only get you so far. At some point you have to rebuild - and most would want to return to that.  The person who prefers killing, raping and pillaging to indoor plumbing is rare. 

[ToddF]

From the NBC publicity department

Our entire way of life depends on electricity. So what would happen if it just stopped working? Well, one day, like a switch turned off, the world is suddenly thrust back into the dark ages. Planes fall from the sky, hospitals shut down, and communication is impossible. And without any modern technology, who can tell us why? Now, 15 years later, life is back to what it once was long before the industrial revolution: families living in quiet cul-de-sacs, with the best in grooming products and dentistry, and when the sun goes down lanterns and candles are lit. Life is slower and sweeter. Or is it? On the fringes of small farming communities, danger lurks. And a young woman's life is dramatically changed when a local militia arrives and kills her father, who mysteriously - and unbeknownst to her - had something to do with the blackout. This brutal encounter sets her and two unlikely companions off on a daring coming-of-age journey to find answers about the past in the hopes of reclaiming the future.

God help us, being in the grip of such a stupidity crisis.

[Pandora]

You ain't kiddin', 'hawk.

... the best in grooming products and dentistry ....

With no electricity?  What are they, nuts?!

[ToddF]

Well, I did make up THAT part... 

But only that part.  See, in 1750, they all really did live on quiet cul-de-sacs. 

[Weisshaupt]

You ain't kiddin', 'hawk.

... the best in grooming products and dentistry ....

With no electricity?  What are they, nuts?!

Oh thank god that is not really in the text on the website.

Our entire way of life depends on electricity. So what would happen if it just stopped working?
Well, one day, like a switch turned off, the world is suddenly thrust back into the dark ages. Planes fall from the sky, hospitals shut down, and communication is impossible. And without any modern technology, who can tell us why?
Now, 15 years later, life is back to what it once was long before the industrial revolution: families living in quiet cul-de-sacs, and when the sun goes down, the lanterns and candles are lit. Life is slower and sweeter. Or is it?
On the fringes of small farming communities, danger lurks. And a young woman's life is dramatically changed when a local militia arrives and kills her father, who mysteriously - and unbeknownst to her - had something to do with the blackout. This brutal encounter sets her and two unlikely companions off on a daring coming-of-age journey to find answers about the past in the hopes of reclaiming the future.
From director Jon Favreau ("Iron Man," "Iron Man 2") and the fertile imaginations of J.J. Abrams and Eric Kripke ("Supernatural"), comes a surprising "what if" action-adventure series, where an unlikely hero will lead the world out of the dark. Literally.

Of course the fact that I had to check speaks volumes doesn't it? Believe me, the presence of well groomed people with perfect teeth is going to be the most realistic aspect of this show.

What does this picture just scream "made for TV" actress?

[Pandora]

Well, I did make up THAT part...  

But only that part.  See, in 1750, they all really did live on quiet cul-de-sacs.  

Well, don't I feel like a dope now.  

And don't get me started on cul-de-sacs.

"Life is slower and sweeter"?  Unh hunh.  Apparently, the writers never spent even three days with no electricity.  The amount of time spent just trying to eat without just opening a can, just trying to keep one's hands clean, guarantees an early night -- forget the candlelight.

[charlesoakwood]

"just trying to keep one's hands clean"

Had to go without for just a brief period of time and this fact drove
the point home more than any other.  Never realized how often hands
are washed around here.

You can't cure insanity you can only lock it up.

[Pandora]

"just trying to keep one's hands clean"

Had to go without for just a brief period of time and this fact drove
the point home more than any other.  Never realized how often hands
are washed around here.

You can't cure insanity you can only lock it up.

Same here.  I don't do anything in the kitchen without first washing my hands.  Forget the alcohol "sanitizer".

[Sectionhand]

I need to go back and study some basic chemistry.  Gunpowder, as noted, doesn't require anything terribly sophisticated to make.  Nitric acid and cellulose (i.e. wood fiber) produces nitrocellulose, the principal base of smokeless powder. The big challenge would be determining burn rates and safe charge amounts, but I guess in a Mad Max scenario a certain amount of risky trial and error is a given.

 Black powder ....charcoal , sulphur and saltpeter ... just figure out the mixture ratios .