1.01/ 1.02: The Long Road Parts I & II

[Dave]

1.01: The Long Road.

Jeremiah the series is a Platinum Studios comic-book-to-film adaptation. The adaptation of Jeremiah is based on the award-winning European graphic novel series by Belgian author Hermann Huppen. Set in the future, the series focuses on Jeremiah (Luke Perry) who must navigate his way through a world populated by the survivors of a deadly epidemic that spared only those who had not yet reached puberty. Now those same survivors must find their way in a decadent civilization and attempt to create a new world order of hope.

Jeremiah, a loner by nature, is joined by the naïve yet colorful Kurdy (Malcolm-Jamal Warner) on a quest to find the mysterious "Valhalla Sector". Together they set out on a journey during which they discover rival social factions at war and young people who must make decisions without wisdom from those who lived before them.



Premiere Episode: The Long Road


Jeremiah lives in a post-apocalyptic world following "The Big Death," a mysterious but devastating plague which claimed the lives of billions of people -- everyone above the age of puberty.

The world, for this generation of lost children, was shattered forever when they were forced to bury their parents. Life has become a bleak and seemingly soulless attempt to stay alive - to plunder, forage or barter for food and clothes and to seek out the sordid and fleeting pleasures that briefly distract them from their lives of terror and savage desperation.

Fifteen years have gone by since the world "ended" -- literally for one generation, symbolically for Jeremiah's generation. Jeremiah (Luke Perry), is twenty-seven, cynical, cautious and intense. He is one of the few left with a conscience and with a sense of debt to his dead parents and the brother whom he unwittingly let die in the chaotic aftermath of the epidemic. He is grimly determined to find the location of the "Valhalla Sector" which his father spoke about shortly before he died. He is also determined to help those less fortunate than he, as a vindication for his brother's death.

Jeremiah writes ritualistic, poignant notes to his dead father, keeping him apprised of his progress. On his way to a town where he has heard there is a good information network, he meets Kurdy (Malcolm-Jamal Warner), a loner who's accustomed to taking care of "number one" and who tries to steal Jeremiah's freshly-caught fish. Jeremiah takes pity on Kurdy and shares his meal, and although Kurdy disappears shortly afterward, the two are destined to hook up again.

As Jeremiah enters the town and approaches the free market, a scuffle breaks out. Armed bandits try to rob market vendors. There is gunfire from a building nearby, thugs are dispatched, and the true power of the town becomes apparent -- the self-styled leader Theo (Kim Hawthorne), a tough-as-nails woman who has trained a team of ferociously loyal jocks and nerds to keep order and to research technology. Jeremiah saves Theo's life from sniper fire and they have a meeting.

Later, in a bar, Jeremiah meets Simon (Daniel Gillies) and Matthew (Curtis Bechdholt), who witnessed his quick response to the sniper. Matthew speaks to Jeremiah about recruiting him for their "cause" and they agree to talk later. Jeremiah and Kurdy reconnect in the bar and resolve their differences.

Meanwhile, Theo's thugs have discovered a camoflauged Land Rover, belonging to Matthew and Simon. It's so unusual to have a vehicle, especially one with fuel, that Theo knows Matthew and Simon belong to some sort of organization. She has them captured and is prepared to torture them to find out the truth.

Theo discovers that Simon was speaking to Jeremiah in the bar, and has Jeremiah captured as well. Kurdy witnesses Jeremiah's abduction and, in a rare moment of unselfishness, follows and decides to help him escape. He creates a riot by spreading the rumor that Theo has been holding out on the town members by hoarding supplies. In the ensuing confusion Kurdy breaks into the school in Theo's compound and releases Simon and Jeremiah. Matthew has already been shot to death by Theo.

The three companions escape in the Land Rover, but Simon is fatally wounded in the process. As he is dying, he makes Jeremiah promise to return the Rover to "Thunder Mountain" and warn the leaders that the "Big Death" may be coming again.

Jeremiah and Kurdy find "Thunder Mountain," an underground government nuclear bomb shelter where 2000 people are living, unknown to the outside world. They are under the charismatic and idealistic leadership of Marcus Alexander (Peter Stebbings), who believes Jeremiah's story about Simon's and Matthew's death. Together they formulate and carry out a plan to foil a mass murder of minorities by "skinheads" twenty miles from the compound. An alliance is forged, and Jeremiah and Kurdy agree to continue to help find out more about whether the "Big Death" is in fact coming again, as well as ways to help make the world a better place.

Armed only with Simon's journal of networks/contacts and the Land Rover, Jeremiah and Kurdy head back to the outside world to help rebuild a new society on the ashes of the old.

 

[Krystal]

What can I say, this was the premiere of Jeremiah and the one that caught my attention to continue watching the adventure. It have an interesting story, great characters and the key element the intrigue to let you wanting to see more.

The first thing I enjoy inmediately was the funny way Jeremiah and Kurdy know each other and the interaction between the two and believe me I still enjoy it. The second thing I love about this was Theo and her town. She's great and the story with Simon and later the Thunder Mountain group.

Krystal :rain:

 

[Gemsong]

Excellent start to the series. I'm watching it from the beginning again, so I'll probably start commenting on the episodes as they reshow them.

 

[Krystal]

Excellent :rolly2: I see it again, ah, how much I love this series. Is really interesting how one see things after knowing the rest of the story. I have to say that I enjoy it completely again, Jeremiah and Kurdy interaction, Markus first encounter with both of them and his reactions. Love how much fun they have when scaring the neo nazis to put it in some way.

Krystal :freak4:

 

[Gemsong]

I like all the subtle things you don't notice the first time.

Yeah... Kurdy is still topping my list of who I like first. For all that he's a tough guy, he's got a good heart.

 

[Krystal]

He's a sweetie.

Krystal

 

[Dave]

I finally made it here......

Sky One has just shown the first hour of this, they have split it into two parts. It ends with Jeremiah and Simon talking about "The End of The World" and Simon saying "....But it does exist!"

My initial reaction was that it was a little slow, and that the dialogue was a little boring. Sorry about that! It has some potential but I’ll need more to keep me watching every week.

I’ve seen several other TV series and movies with similar themes, and I will reference those. I don’t know if anyone else has seen them. From the world of film the ‘Mad Max’ series and ‘The Omega Man’ spring to mind, while from TV, there is the children’s series ‘The Tribe’, Terry Nation’s excellent ‘Survivors’ and a 1984 BBC series set after a nuclear bomb fell on Sheffield called ‘Threads’.

The disease

Both ‘Jeremiah’ and ‘The Tribe’ have a plague that wipes out all the adults and leaves children. I don’t think that such a thing is likely. It is unlikely for such a thing to develop naturally. The female bartender said it was created in a lab, but why, and how? At present, any genetic engineering only splices one set of genes into another, and this limiting factor would not be one that would appear naturally, because it would make a virus obsolete in a very short time. ‘Survivors’ had a plague that wiped out those with a low resistance to it, leaving mostly young fit adults and a few children. This seems much more likely to me. But this is the scenario they have set us, so who am I to argue with it?

Theo as the ‘City Queen’

Maybe this is sexist, but this would be a man’s world. Women are not as strong as men, and it counts in a world such as this. Theo would never survive unless she was much stronger physically. She was quite a bitch, and would need to be too. She was very like Tina Turner’s character in ‘Mad Max beyond the Thunderdrome.’ But I still think she would have been deposed from her throne long ago by one of her male deputies.

Technology and Society

No petroleum – yes, the theme of ‘Mad Max 2’ and a realistic scenario.

Horses pulling cars – cute, but realistic? Lose the top and keep the wheels. You would need to be higher off the ground to control the horse.

Haircuts with kitchen scissors – No way, there would be better smaller scissors available, even if the hairdresser were self-taught.

Bartering – ‘One thing for another’ - it looked realistic – but carrying tins around in a bag? I would use something else as currency.

Gangs, mobs and vigilantes – all looked realistic. ‘The Omega Man’ was alone and could not hold out from the victims of the plague, ‘Survivors’ found people wanting to form any kind of group for protection. Jeremiah would be much safer if he stayed in the settlement, and obeyed the rules. Being a loner is going to get him into big trouble.

Re-using bullets – looks like they answered a fan’s question before it was asked. I just hope they know what they are doing. I know someone who once made homemade fireworks, I don’t recommend that you try it yourself!

Steam engine – It took 15 years to work out from books how to make a Steam engine using the best brains Theo could find? Not a very promising start for her eggheads. There are plenty of kids today who know enough about cars to strip and rebuilt engines. It isn’t knowledge that would be the problem, it would be lack of fuel. What does this steam engine run on? If it was petrol, then an internal combustion engine is much more efficient, if it is coal, there where does it come from, and how do they transport it. The first steam engines were built at the head of coal pits.

It wasn’t very gritty. Both ‘Survivors’ and ‘Threads’ were realistic and shocking, and made you question things. This was superficial. It is shown at 10pm on Sky One because of the sex and violence, but neither were vital to the plot. Next week it's on at 11pm. Theo is head of a brutal regime. She would need to be, but she did none of the beatings herself. I think she would need to, and we should have seen it. Why did we see Kurdy and the bare-breasted woman? What did we learn about him or her by that subplot? I think they often just add sex and violence for the sake of it, here it wasn’t necessary at all.

I've been most critical, and it really wasn't that bad. But I need to know more about 'Vahalla' and what makes Jeremiah tick to want to watch this. He hardly spoke at all in this episode. Maybe if it wasn't cut in half, I would have these questions answered.

 

[Krystal]

Hey Dave! Great to see you here, hope others come soon. This have been looking like a graveyard. Well, I think the Long Road was slow so I can understand you first impression and I think showing only the first part make it more slow because for me the two part together make it more interesting. So I think that could be one of the reasons you find it so slow.

I have to agree with your comparison of Theo with Tina Turner, I found it very similar too when I see it the first time. As for Theo I think she knows how to manage crows although more with fear than other thing, and she's the kind of leader that use the fear to make others do things for her. That sounds like a politician, nevermind.

You will know more about Valhalla and what ticks Jeremiah believe me, but it is drop in little bits of information in every episode, until you get to the arc episodes that show you a lot of info in very explosive ways. So hang in there, the waiting I think will be good at the end.

Krystal

 

[Dave]

OK, Thanks Krystal, I'll keep watching then.

I still don't think much of the idea of Tinned Food as currency. I was considering it more last night, and apart from the weight problem, there is room for fraud. I tin of 'Corned Beef' must be worth more than 'Weight Watchers Rice Pudding', so this "3 Tins" or "2 Tins" business wouldn't work. And what is to stop you eating the "Hot Dogs" but first peeling off the label, and sticking it on a can of "Cat Food".

 

[Krystal]

Originally posted by Dave

And what is to stop you eating the "Hot Dogs" but first peeling off the label, and sticking it on a can of "Cat Food".

Seeing that way, I think you're right about that I wouldn't like that way of currency either.


Krystal

 

[Dave]

I was sure this thread would be more popular after Sky One showed it, but it looks like no one else watched it. Tabitha has posted that she missed it; she forgot it was on!!!

 

[Krystal]

I think that is the Big Death curse Maybe it needs a little promotion, and is there are *lurkers* around, come and share your thoughts.

Krystal

 

[Dave]

This part was much better, and does make a more rounded episode when added to part one.

Kurdy uses the suspicions of the conspiracy theorists and his candy stick to rouse a mob as a diversion, while he springs Jeremiah and Simon free. Simon is critically injured in the escape and the truck radio is damaged. Simon tells them that the “End of the World†is at Thunder Mountain, asks them to return the truck, and warn them that “It’s coming againâ€.

Jeremiah has heard his father mention Thunder Mountain. Kurdy remembers it from Disneyland. They determine to go to the Cheyenne Mountain Complex, so that we now have two major sci-fi franchises set there.

They meet the “Skinheads†mentioned in the first part of the episode. Luckily, these “white supremacy†gangs have posted no lookouts, so they can leave the truck and wander about the deserted city. The gang thinks that the “Big Death†was visited upon the Earth because “inferior†races were allowed to breed too freely. The “Skinheads†aim to wipe them all out. Facing superior numbers, Jeremiah and Kurdy are unable to help free the captives due for execution.

After entering Thunder Mountain, Jeremiah and Kurdy are interrogated, but eventually believed, and meet Marcus Alexander, the man in charge. They are fed and shown around the complex.

Jeremiah makes a good case for helping the victims of the skinheads and Marcus agrees to help. They manage to free the captives without being identified. It was fairly easy to do this because the “Army†of Skinheads turned out to be the same 5 or 6 running in different directions, and because they were afraid of things that go bang.

They agree to take Simon and Mathews’s places as an intelligence patrol, helping the “End of the World†to find answers to what the “Big Death†was and if it will return.

Simon was also investigating "Vahalla Sector" and had met several people who knew about it, according to his book of notes, which Jeremiah takes with him.

Two questions:

1/ Who is the mysterious man with the wooden staff, radio and fur cloak? He disappeared in front of Jeremiah last week, and I though he was some kind of vision, but this week he seems real enough.

2/ How and when did Jeremiah learn to drive? He looks about 9 in the flashback sequences, when the “Big Death†came, and from numerous conversations that we’ve heard there is no petrol to run cars. So how has he been able to practise and what would be the point anyhow? Given a choice, would you not learn to ride a horse?

 

[Tabitha]

I decided to skip to the bottom to add my comments on the second half of the premiere before reading everyone elses, I'll edit it later in case it is very repetitive.

First of all - why didn't they show this as a two parter?

Second of all - is it just me, or was calling the woman "Theo" a very confusing move considering the very prominent placement of the former "Theo Huxtable"? That threw me every time her name was mentioned.

I liked how the disease that wiped out the adults was referred to as the "Big Death", the kind of title a child would give - not "epidemic", or "outbreak" or any other adult words, a childlike response that stuck as the children grew up.

You know, I think perhaps I got myself a little bit too excited about the prospect of this series - I found what I saw to be a little disappointing. The acting was passable, but I don't know about the characterisation - what are the chances of a phrase like "Y'all have got to get to steppin" making it into the future without the omnipresence of Jerry Springer, Ricki Lake, and more importantly adult society in general. I would imagine that in the scenario we are presented with, society should really be quite different, no? Would relationships stay the same without the pressures of normality foisted upon us by the television and commercial culture? Would not new forms of speaking emerge, a new lingo if you will?
Overall this reminded me of Dark Angel - the bar scene near the beginning could easily have been Max's beer and pool hang out, and the whole post apocalyptic thing, while more advanced (ie further deteriorated) than Max's Seattle, was very familiar.
Maybe it is the Vancouver locales.

Obviously I was expecting something more radical, but don't worry, I am more than prepared to give this show the benefit of the doubt - after all we have lost so much great SF of late I worry that nothing will get past season one

Also - my flatmate blabbered his way through much of the hour, so perhaps some of the subtleties were lost on me.

 

[Tabitha]

Two questions:

1/ Who is the mysterious man with the wooden staff, radio and fur cloak? He disappeared in front of Jeremiah last week, and I though he was some kind of vision, but this week he seems real enough.

2/ How and when did Jeremiah learn to drive? He looks about 9 in the flashback sequences, when the “Big Death†came, and from numerous conversations that we’ve heard there is no petrol to run cars. So how has he been able to practise and what would be the point anyhow? Given a choice, would you not learn to ride a horse? [/B]

These were big questions of mine too - I assumed the cloaked fella was explained in the first part, but obviously not. The actor has been in SG1 and Outer Limits before - he was a Nazi in OL in a rather good time travel/Holocaust episode, and in SG1 he was one of the pretend animal gods (ALIENS!) of Tonani's.
Anyhoo, I am sure it will get explained later

Also - Cheyenne Moutain - is that were they were? I was thinking that the cafeteria was quite reminiscent of some SG1 sets, I wonder if they have the same studios in Vancouver?
I was wondering where this was set - was it established which city or state jeremiah grew up in? I assume they are now in Colorado because of the Cheyenne reference.

As for the driving question - that is the first thing my flatemate sceptically said, but I just put it down to the show being set in America! You gotta remember that an automatic car is kinda like a dodgem Only j/k, but I know a lot of kids (mostly in rural areas) that were taught to drive while they were under the age of 10, and I am sure it is the kind of thing that you could figure out if you put your mind to it.
I would be more concerned with the fuel - what are these cars running on?

 

[Krystal]

Originally posted by Dave

Two questions:

1/ Who is the mysterious man with the wooden staff, radio and fur cloak? He disappeared in front of Jeremiah last week, and I though he was some kind of vision, but this week he seems real enough.

2/ How and when did Jeremiah learn to drive? He looks about 9 in the flashback sequences, when the “Big Death†came, and from numerous conversations that we’ve heard there is no petrol to run cars. So how has he been able to practise and what would be the point anyhow? Given a choice, would you not learn to ride a horse?

As Tabitha says, you will know later more about the mysterious man.

As for how and when Jeremiah learn to drive, good question. Don't know. As for the cars you will see in the following episodes that not everyone have cars. The ones that have it, like the one Simon have or the Thunder Mountain group have fuel for it. You would see also in other episodes about it.

Krystal