Counter-Revolutionary

My wife and I just finished watching the first season of Revolution on Netflix. Creator Eric Kripke together with co-producer J.J. Abrams have put together an interesting world and peopled it with potentially interesting characters who have very little interesting to say and get pushed along in uninteresting and predictable little arcs.

Action is at the center of each episode and the story moves along nicely, but I'm having a hard time giving a shit about what happens to the characters. Sure, a few of the crew get offed as the story progresses, but it's not like I really care. I'm more interested in seeing how Kripke and Abrams rationalize technical aspects of a world unable to generate any electricity.

The premise is similar to Sean McMullen's Souls in the Great Machine, but less compelling.

I was interested enough to stay up past my bedtime and watch the season opener this last Wednesday. I am still interested in the details of Kripke and Abram's post-electron world, and will admit to feeling a little something for one of the characters.

Plus, these guys obviously have a love for Zeppelin and Rush, as evidenced in the titles of two first season episodes, "Kashmir" (yes, the song featured) and "Nobody's Fault but Mine."In the opener, an extended reference was made to "Ramble On," and the main characters linger long enough in the vicinity of a street performer for him to play the entire chorus of "Tom Sawyer."

Fortunately, I don't get wrapped around the axle if the science is wonky, although I'd love to sit down and talk with somebody who is willing to bitch about all the ways Revolution hand-waves its way past reality. If you're one of those people, comment your ass off on this post. If not, comment anyway.

Revolution is a great RPG set-up, however, so if it builds up a Firefly-like following, someone with more time than and dedication than I could build a D20 plug in for it. I'd check it out.

Kripke's other major project, Supernatural, has also so far failed to impress. It has the same flat writing quality as Revolution. Not terrible, just mediocre, especially when contrasted with the high water mark of the genre, X-Files. However, Supernatural does compare favorably with Kolchak: The Night Stalker. It gets some great reviews, so I am going soldier on for a bit and hope it improves.