new show: The Last Ship

[Thorin]

I really liked this new show called Last Resort, and it was rated pretty good by the critics.  Unfortunately it got cancelled after one season.  Last Resort was about a single US nuclear sub refusing to fire nuclear missiles at Pakistan and the ensuing chaos of refusing such an order.

Now there's a new show, called The Last Ship, again about a single US ship out on the ocean.  This time it's post-apocalyptic, with the ship the show is centered on being both the last clean place on earth (there's a virus killing people by the millions, a la Pandemic 2) and also the one place where a cure can be developed.  The show has been full of tension and great action sequences, mixed with mostly accurate-seeming combat terminology and a wonderful humanity-will-survive moral lesson.

There's four episodes out so far (the last one was yesterday).  Sorry, I don't know what channel they're reliably broadcast on.  But if you liked Last Resort or The Unit or even Falling Skies, you'll probably like this show.

My only complaint was the bad math - they were adrift in the Atlantic ocean near the tropics (where it gets hot) and had only 3,000 gallons of water for 216 people, which they said would only last them 5 days.  3,000 gallons x 3.8 liters / gallon = 11,400 liters / 216 people = 52.8 liters / person / 5 days = 10.56 liters / person / day.  They also drained all the juices out of canned fruits and built stills to boil salt water and built some system to turn beer into water...  10 liters of water per day is way more than you need.  They should have easily been able to last four times as long, twenty days drinking 2.5 liters per day.  There was some mention about it also being used for cooking, but really, don't boil anything then.

[Mr. Analog]

Man, the premise reminds me of On The Beach (1959), though On The Beach is far more pessimistic. In OTB fallout from World War III is starting to spread across the globe the only habitable areas are in the far southern hemisphere. Survivors in Australia detect morse code being sent from the United States and mount an expedition, they send out a submarine crewed by former US Navy people to investigate how anyone could have survived. Meanwhile what's left of the Australian government starts planning for the inevitable death and starts handing out suicide pills, etc. Meanwhile the crew of the submarine sends their communications guy out to find the source of the signal, turns out it was a coke bottle leaning on a telegraph key.

It's a very depressing, but interesting, film (stars Gregory Peck!)

[Darren Dirt]

Now there's a new show, called The Last Ship, again about a single US ship out on the ocean.  This time it's post-apocalyptic, with the ship the show is centered on being both the last clean place on earth (there's a virus killing people by the millions, a la Pandemic 2) and also the one place where a cure can be developed.  The show has been full of tension and great action sequences, mixed with mostly accurate-seeming combat terminology and a wonderful humanity-will-survive moral lesson.

Based on a book -- which had a dramatically different* resolution to the conflict compared to the plot of the tv version. (TNT, by the way)

*but that is GOOD, of course, cuz otherwise it would either be a non-starter, or it would get super-drawn-out :cough:GoT:cough: (or so I've heard)

[Mr. Analog]

Some a-hole printed a bunch of spoilers for GoT, had the nerve to sell them too!



Since it isn't on Netflix I've actually considered buying the books

[Darren Dirt]

GRRM was not forced to change the background event that triggered his story, unlike TLS which ... well, biological catastrophe is way more likely than nuclear war to be on the minds of young people compared to "back in my day"... :p

[Mr. Analog]

I hear ya...

[Thorin]

I've seen On The Beach.  I had to watch it a couple of times to completely catch the plot...