Survivors - what did you think?
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I started a thread on chatter, but was pointed to this one. I'm remaining open minded on the series. My wife rolled her eyes when the instructor in Scotland asked the lady did she know how to plant crops etc. Her comment was 'You'd love that'.
I would tend to head towards the coast (milder weather, easier access to food and longer term transport). In terms of somewhere to live, probably a older large house, preferably with some form of spring well. The older house will have fireplaces and probably a range for cooking / heat. The house would need to be off the beaten track slightly to provide some privacy.
I would also have prioritised fuel along with food, and once the guys with shotguns turned up, firearms would go to the top of the list - farms, police stations, even some army places would all be places to look. I'm very surprised that the two male leads havn't done this - especially the ex con.
I would tend to head towards the coast (milder weather, easier access to food and longer term transport). In terms of somewhere to live, probably a older large house, preferably with some form of spring well. The older house will have fireplaces and probably a range for cooking / heat. The house would need to be off the beaten track slightly to provide some privacy.
I would also have prioritised fuel along with food, and once the guys with shotguns turned up, firearms would go to the top of the list - farms, police stations, even some army places would all be places to look. I'm very surprised that the two male leads havn't done this - especially the ex con.
Agree with the Shane Meadows comment from firecrest. "This is England" was superb, eclipsed only by the very dark and realistic "Dead Mans Shoes".
I'd love to see his make of this series.
I'd love to see his make of this series.
Personally, my Number One item to get would be a crow-bar.......mind you, apart from a hospital and two shops, everybody who gets the lurg seems to of kindly left their doors unlocked
Empty roads do look more worrying, but there should be more abandoned stuff laying about...and the odd stiff wouldn't look out of place either
I'm withholding judgement ATM (might of been better if the whole cast were unknowns maybe?)
Empty roads do look more worrying, but there should be more abandoned stuff laying about...and the odd stiff wouldn't look out of place either
I'm withholding judgement ATM (might of been better if the whole cast were unknowns maybe?)
Off the topic this thread is becoming, but I found out tonight that those scenes of the guy walking through an abandoned housing estate was my mum and dad's road! I thought it was, but then you think - no. So the answer to the question where do you go is - Rochdale!
xylaria
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Don't know about the blokes, but if i was forced to spend armaggeddon with a vacant trollop wouldn't lift a box off an injured bloke that had helped her, I am pretty sure i would be causing the fights not breaking them up.
As for where I would I go, RAF stafford via a good womble around argicultural suppliers and garden centres.
I'll be interested to see when they actually have to start to do stuff / improvise themselves.
Given the timeframes and no power I would assume that all fresh produce is now spoiled. There are a number of scenes where the react to smells in the kitchen cupboards / fridges.
So - if you want fresh bread, you now have to bake it. With no leckky, that means over a fire or in a range (possibly a gas cooker)
If you want fresh milk, you better find a cow - and the cows won't last for ever if they're not milked.
Fresh Fruit, Veg and meat will also be spoiling. Time to look at foraging and also gardening.
Given the timeframes and no power I would assume that all fresh produce is now spoiled. There are a number of scenes where the react to smells in the kitchen cupboards / fridges.
So - if you want fresh bread, you now have to bake it. With no leckky, that means over a fire or in a range (possibly a gas cooker)
If you want fresh milk, you better find a cow - and the cows won't last for ever if they're not milked.
Fresh Fruit, Veg and meat will also be spoiling. Time to look at foraging and also gardening.
>>Given the timeframes and no power I would assume that all fresh produce is now spoiled
It's a pity they didn't just rerun the old series. It covered so many issues just by using strong characters and interesting plot lines. In real life, tinned food would last about 3 years if only 1 in 5000 people were left alive. But no one wants to watch 3 years of survivors eating baked beans before they start farming, so Terry Nation removed this safety net by constructing secondary waves of disease like cholera and smallpox which effectively rule out shopping sprees to the towns. Petrol and ammunition ran out pretty quick too, leaving people to think a bit harder about transport and defense.
There's one nice scene where a survivor is searching a kitchen for things of value. IIRC he pockets a bicycle tyre repair kit and laughs when he discards a grapefruit knife.
And therein lies the whole nub of this kind of drama. Namely, a catastrophe of this nature makes us reassess what's really important in life, and how we ascribe value to people and things around us.
It's a pity they didn't just rerun the old series. It covered so many issues just by using strong characters and interesting plot lines. In real life, tinned food would last about 3 years if only 1 in 5000 people were left alive. But no one wants to watch 3 years of survivors eating baked beans before they start farming, so Terry Nation removed this safety net by constructing secondary waves of disease like cholera and smallpox which effectively rule out shopping sprees to the towns. Petrol and ammunition ran out pretty quick too, leaving people to think a bit harder about transport and defense.
There's one nice scene where a survivor is searching a kitchen for things of value. IIRC he pockets a bicycle tyre repair kit and laughs when he discards a grapefruit knife.
And therein lies the whole nub of this kind of drama. Namely, a catastrophe of this nature makes us reassess what's really important in life, and how we ascribe value to people and things around us.
rancid badger
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
That's where I've seen most of the cast
They were mostly vaguely familiar and you've just pinged it for me
I've only seen the first episode, and quite frankly, I think it's pretty lame.
the trailer for number 2 looked even worse, so I won't be bothering to watch any more.
The basic theme of the thing, however is really very interesting and thought provoking.
It's a great pity they didn't put a bit more thought and research into the whole thing, as well as some of the millions they waste on high profile presenters.That's assuming they didn't spend millions producing it of course, if they did; we were robbed
Enjoy it if you like it
cheers
R.B.
I sort of worked out that if you go off grid, it takes about four years. Basically a full cycle of crop rotation. The big problem would be fruit, most of them need time etc to get started. Then you also have the massive lack of practical knowledge. So the sooner you get started the better, because it would not take long for plants to die with no one tending them.
I wonder how long toothpaste lasts? Drugs have a date stamp, so then problems really start. What sort of set up would you need to have a basic drug lab? And then you need the staff? Would you not need certain plants(Think Coloumbia), were would you get them. If the stuff needed mining, that disease better not crop up a lot.
You would think a farm would be a great idea, but most modern farms are set up for machines. At five acres per four people, and animals, so it does need a lot of thinking about, but on the other hand we know more than we every have about how stuff works. I plan on setting up a massive square garden style system, to make life easier, and cheaper long term, because no outside aids needed. Would seeds be an issue? With hybrids etc. You do not want lots of an item at once, but fresh food as often as possible. It is the slow food, or eat in season systems that you would need. Not so much farm, as Victorian country estate, the land has to serve the table, not the shop.
Also you have to defend it. A nice high walled, stratigicly placed castle, is just so much easier, or a mall(Cribbs Causeway, springs to mind) and slowly search, and then calapse buildings to leave you with outer walls, and fire zones. It is not the Mad Max stuff that would be the big issue, but simple stuff like 'Yes, you can come in as soon as you have stayed in this house for 4 weeks, so we know you have nothing'.
It is actually a very interesting set of problems to work though.
You need something over a 120 people to keep the human race alive, so a lot of doctors, chemists, and other really useful people(Health is the big problem, is it not?) better survive.
Agreed in the short term, But for long term, it's your surplus that would be your trade items. I would think rapeseed would be a good crop to turn over a few acres too, so long as you have your food requirements covered as you suggest. It's pretty easy to make biodiesel from it and then you have fuel for your tractors and land rovers.[/quote]
Defence would be an issue short term, but I think it would become less important over time. I dont think there would be a need for castle-level defence ...that's pretty much war really. If there is that much tension, you'd be better off moving somewhere else. I cant see it as a major problem though, maybe initially where gangs and thugs would take advantage, but it wouldn't take long for the "community backlash" to suppress that. I would think you'd be fine with a few shotguns, once "territories" had been established.
Oh and communications would be vital too. With all the comms networks down, then people would be truly isolated. But build a national network of ham radio base-stations running off car batteries and solar panels and you restore comms to the nation. That would be the first step in stabilising a new society. Even on a local level it would be extremely useful. Solar/water/wind powered base-station in your farm or whatever, mobile stations in all the cars and handheld units for on foot. Very, very handy, not just for defence, but also for trade, safety, rescue, coordinating looting etc. I dunno how long the sattelite system would run for without human intervention, but my guess is they'd be up for a good while. Maybe for years. Sat nav systems would be useful too, especially combined with radio.
I've watched the first two episodes, and thought it rather poor, especially compared to the original, which was (at the time, anyway), gripping stuff.
I suspect that some of the casting is down to the BBC trying to be inclusive. However, there are some good actors amongst them, not least Daniel Ryan, [namedropping] who I met earlier this year when much of the last Messiah was filmed at my workplace [/namedropping].
Some of the storylines are rather predictable, but maybe it will develop as the series progresses.
I suspect that some of the casting is down to the BBC trying to be inclusive. However, there are some good actors amongst them, not least Daniel Ryan, [namedropping] who I met earlier this year when much of the last Messiah was filmed at my workplace [/namedropping].
Some of the storylines are rather predictable, but maybe it will develop as the series progresses.
I get what you are saying but the supply for me would have to be the a second thought, and not have the same level of protection, as the main supply.
I really wonder what would be the best plant fuel? There is a bush/tree that they are playing with.
I agree but think you are not seeing the bigger picture. It is not the mad max sort of defense, it is the what have they got, and what impact will it have on us, that worries me. It is also the walk softly and carry an armed tank divison, style of defense. You go pick on those farmsteads, and leave me behind my metre think walls.
Comms is another one I had not really thought about. Provided they do not need anything should the sats not last a long time, at least 100 years. The problem would be if they need course corections or anything.
The satellites would be out of synch in no time Martyn. There is a large military facility in the USA which applies daily corrections. I assume they would also be dead.
Depending on the time of year everybody else died, plants could look after themselves. That is, if the fields weren't bare, as in mid winter.
Fruit trees exist now and wouldn't need to be planted; other crops would self seed (as long as they weren't GM) and you could harvest by hand.
It would only be necessaey to get to a part of the country with a good mix of farming/horticulture and you could live quite well by foraging.
We only need high yeild farming to feed a large population and that would have been taken care of.
The satellites would be out of synch in no time Martyn. There is a large military facility in the USA which applies daily corrections. I assume they would also be dead.
Yeah, I wondered that and googled it after posting above. The existing GPS system wouldn't last long, but interestingly, the European Galileo system is being designed to be much more robust and maintainance free. They have chosen an orbital height much higher than the US GPS system to keep them as interfereance free as possible. That said they are still building two European ground control centres and ground control will still be required. So the Galileo system will last longer than GPS, but will still go down once the constellation gets out of sync.
As you say, sat nav wont last long.
Eric_Methven
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
They would be choked out by weeds long before a second self seeded harvest could develop. Weeds take over very quickly. Most food plants wouldn't have a chance. Even if they did manage to grow without human intervention, much of it would be destroyed by deer and cattle which will become prolific in number and wild within two generations (two to four years).
Eric
Oooooo, I can see a TV company reading this lot and thinking "Time to get these guys and gals into an experiment and see how they do" you'll all get invitations to survive for 20 years and they'll film it
I jest but it would be interesting, although I know that they've done it before, but you'd have all the resources of the world available to you, that might make a difference compared to being dropped on an island somewhere.
I jest but it would be interesting, although I know that they've done it before, but you'd have all the resources of the world available to you, that might make a difference compared to being dropped on an island somewhere.
Imagine Chernobyl. They abandoned everything in the villages around it. That must be what would be left to work from.
cheers,
M
cheers,
M
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