I was looking forward to this series based on the classic book. After all, Earth Abides was partly the inspiration for Stephen King’s The Stand. I liked it so much I use the title in my Area 51 series for the most recent book.
The first episode starts slow, very slow. Especially in this day and age of people wanting action right away. Then it does time jumps of years. Overall, I’m not thrilled. Here’s some of my reactions (spoilers):
First, no one is driving around two years or more after the “end”. Gas goes bad. Everything except nature goes bad. It’s a crutch.
Why in survival stories like this, and The Walking Dead, are people arming themselves with the worst choices possible? I remember a scene early in the Walking Dead where they’re excited to find a set of knives in the trunk of a car outside of Atlanta. I’m thinking you could outfit an Infantry Battalion with what would be in a line of cars outside of Atlanta. In Earth Abides, spoiler alert, he gets attacked by a lion. And he’s armed with his famous hammer — the hammer is very important in the book. Come on. You know there’s loose wild animals out there. You should be carrying something more than that.
Same with when the two kids take off in a stock Jeep. Like that old camper they kept in WD. You have your choice of everything and that’s what you use? At the very least you want a winch, high clearance, big tires, heavier suspension, yada yada.
The whole drilling for water episode was very weak. A plot justification for interpersonal action. That drill never went deeper than ten feet. And they were driving around doing that for people all over the place? Huh?
He throws up a handful of solar panels early on and apparently that provides power for everything and running water. Really? It’s year 17 and they’re still using those batteries? I like solar and am playing with a larger array now, but I know there is a shelf life to the batteries. Batteries are the choke point for all green power.
The most significant and revealing event is in that drilling episode. Spoiler: when he simply takes out the bad guy with his hammer. He just does it. For me that shows a critical part of survival. Often, it is the worst people who will be the best survivalists, especially in a scavenger society. Kudos on doing that. And then not letting the bad guy’s wingman in the community. Who is, of course, only armed with a knife in a country with 400 million firearms lying around.
I’ll keep watching it, because it shows flashes but overall, I wish they had stayed tighter to the source material. Showing off a solar power hang glider in that last episode does not cause me to be optimistic. As a writer, it just feels like there is no spine to the story. What exactly is it about? The book was about preserving the knowledge of civilization and not descending into savagery. They mention the library a couple of times and even have a few scenes there. But the whole thing feels a bit scattered.
If you want to really be prepared, especially for things most likely to happen, like power outages, floods, etc here is The Green Beret Preparation and Survival Guide.
And here are the books that Ish should have: https://www.slideshare.net/CoolGus/what-books-should-you-have-in-your-preparation-and-survival-library-253990181
You can follow me here https://bob-mayer.medium.com/subscribe You can subscribe to Medium (well worth it for the articles you can access) here: https://bob-mayer.medium.com/membership You can sign up for my email list for occasional free books and survival advice here: http://goo.gl/XnSgtB
