The Colony

[slinco]

Has anyone seen this new show? I watched it the other day, not bad. I am a semi-survivalist type so I cam appreciate the premise- but there are NO guns in the show. Would'nt a firearm of some type be critical in that situation? They have boards with nails in them for weapons. Sorry but you are seriously lacking if you do not have a gun in that type of environment. Apparently they are basing it on the Katrina disaster. If I were in that situation I would love my guns even more than I do now.

[Hoi Polloi]

What's the premise of the show?

[karl]

I didn't give it a chance after seeing some of the extended previews. How can a show claim to be realistic with paid participants with cameras in their faces? The drama is overplayed and the situations seem far from real. Take that for what it's worth, though. I haven't actually seen the show yet. I would love to follow something like that if it had the ability to avoid "drama for the sake of drama" as I call it in reality TV. The disagreements (especially in Lost, which I did follow for a season) are only there to maintain viewership. I have a feeling if my life was on the line I'd be much more willing to cooperate with strangers. How can that be recreated? It cannot safely be recreated.

What did you think of it?

[slinco]

I think it's a hokey reality show, I was hoping for something better after seeing the previews.
So much of the situation they are in is quite unrealistic. Not one of those people own a weapon?
If things got to that point I would not be cooperating with any strangers unless I felt they were decent people.
Strangers looking to take what I have would be eating 00Buck.

[smyrna]

I watched an episode the other day and although I found it entertaining, I had to wonder how much of it was directed for the sake of capturing the right moments on film.

For example, there was a scene where a girl, supposedly a mechanic by trade, was trying to figure out a way to generate power to recharge a collection of car batteries that had been "scavenged" from somewhere, so the batteries could then power an inverter to power a battery charger which supplied power to batteries for some cordless tools that had been "found". She and another member of the colony, take an alternator from a junk car and rig it to the pto shaft of a tractor to generate the needed power. They overcome several problems in the process and end up successful. But, while I was watching this feat of engineering, I had to wonder why they didn't just crank the tractor and use it's alternator or generator to recharge the batteries. That would have been boring TV though.

During one of the commercial breaks, they showed a trailer for another episode and apparently there is a "fight" with a neighboring group of people and one of the colony members is bloodied. That got me to thinking about the "rules of engagement" for the show. I have a hard time believing that the show's director would just tell a groups of folks to enter the colony and try to rough folks up while I catch it on film. Sounds like a recipe for disaster or well choreographed TV. I vote the latter.

[flb_78]

It's almost entertainment, but nowhere near a real life situation.

[terryg]

Oh well, if Captain Kirk can do it...



All we need are diamonds

[Kawabuggy]

Speaking of the alternator on the tractor PTO, did you note that the pulley they used had the alternator spinning at such a slow speed that it would be inefficient fuel wise to try and charge a battery as it would take far too long! Further, alternators do not produce much energy at slower/idle speeds. It takes a little RPM to get them to put out the juice. They should have OVER-DRIVEN the alternator pulley, instead of under-driven it. Great engineering-NOT! I also agree that too much time was spent trying to engineer the alternator when they could have easily used the one on the tractor. It was probably one of those things where once they proved that the tractor could do it-then they were given electricity (not reliant on the tractor anymore) for free for the sake of the show. I can't see them relying on that tractor long-term for energy. That hog-fuel they brewed up is sure to clog the fuel filter in short order, and/or foul the spark plugs over time. Then what? Tractor no worky, no more juice after that.

I could see rigging up a bicycle to run the alternator. Like a stationary bike set up where each member has to take 30 minutes of "spinning" a day to help charge the batteries. That way fuel is not required, and that type of set-up should last indefinitely. Or, why not try and find some solar panels? They are common enough now that finding them in a post-apocalyptic scenario should not be too hard.. I just don't believe that trying to run a fuel set up to charge batteries was smart at all. Look at how much work went into producing the hog-fuel. If light generation was their primary motivator, the hog fuel could have been burned in lamps for that purpose, and would probably last longer used in that manner than as fuel in a tractor motor.

Wind power generator? Hydro-powered generator? More realistic in my mind. Eventually the batteries will go bad... Then what? They should be focusing on long-term easily renewable energy sources. But hey, that was the one & only episode I watched, or will watch.

[texasjeep44]

The tractor was a diesel, so it doesn't have spark plugs to foul. The fuel might end up clogging the filter but that would take some time.

As far as the alternator/generator on the tractor. Well it didn't have one, it had been removed previously. Additionally, a bicycle being pedaled for 30 minutes a day isn't going to do squat to recharge a battery bank. We have a battery bank set up at deer camp, and depending on how much usuage it gets it can take hours for the alternator setup we have to recharge the bank. Oh, and we don't use a bicycle, we use a honda motor running at a pretty slow speed.

One thing that folks might consider is the recharge rate of the batteries as it relates to the battery life. For instance if you use a battery charger on the 10 or 15 amp charge cycle it will recharge the batter faster, but doesn't give as full a charge, and definately takes its toll on the plates. The 2 amp, or trickle charge is going to result in a more complete charge and not damage the plates as much over the long run.

Yes running an alternator at higher rpms results in a higher amperage being delivered back to the batteries, but may not be the best for the battery bank. In your car, the battery is really only used to start the car, (well and keep the clock and stereo settings, ect), that quick drain of the battery to start the car doesn't deplete the battery much at all, then once started the alternator takes over by supplying the car with power and recharging the battery loss from the initial start. This doesn't result in much wear on the battery. Anyone with much automotive background knows that a running a weak battery for a long time can result in a bad alternator, and visa versa. When running a battery bank, recharging the batteries as fast as you can isn't necessarily the best scenario.

I watched this show last season, and am watching it this season as well. Does it bother me that they don't allow the use of real weapons by the folks, yes it does. However, there are some things that can be learned from watching it once you get past some of the the limits that the producers have placed on the participants.

[Purplehood]

Is this MacGyver Redux?

[dicion]

Any 'Simulation' of a post-apoc scenario will never be equal to the real thing, period.

In a real post-apoc scenario, there's 1 rule: Survive
On these shows, there's loads more.

There's just so many options, depending on what kind of situation/location/etc you're in, that saying 'I'd do X' is pointless.

If it was just you and 5 other people in a deserted city is a completely different scenario than if it's just you, and 5 other people in a city full of zombies, or a city that's been highly irradiated by nukes.. or viruses, or the countryside, etc.

Ideally you'd have a nice underground bunker setup, stocked with years worth of supplies, and be good to go before it hits

[KC5AV]

I've only seen one episode this time around. They did the same thing last year. It's good entertainment, but totally unrealistic. I don't know the mix this season, but last season, they had a doctor, a nurse, an electrical engineer,a contractor, a guy with a background in fabrication, an aerospace engineer, a martial arts instructor, and a marine biologist. If the end of the world comes, you're not highly likely to end up with that sort of mix purely by chance.

[karder]

I saw a little of this show last weekend. It was kind of odd. If this were a real emergency, these folks would need to get out of the city and try to get into the countryside where there are some natural resources to live off of. You can only scavenge junk yards for batteries for so long. I would go into the mountains and live off the land than do what these people are attempting. The chance of long term survival would be much higher.