o/t(ish)...rewatching Jericho, spoilers ahoy

[raketenjagdpanzer]

for you T2k nuts who somehow DIDN'T see it...


anyway, spoiler space...



...


There's an episode where the "army" shows up, a unit of perhaps a dozen or so soldiers accompanied by an M1. They tell everyone in the town that the country is rebuilding, that the nations responsible for the attacks were retaliated against and destroyed, etc. If you've seen it, you know how it goes down - Jericho winds up with its own M1 which gets used at the end of Season 1 (and has a few seconds in season 2).

Anyway.

The one use of it in a real combat sense is firing one round, but it's established when the tank shows up that it is completely out of ammo. So the good people of Jericho use the main gun tube to fire their one mortar round, convincing the neighboring town that the tank is combat capable and driving them off (for a bit).

Would it even be possible to gooseneck or sabot a mortar round (assuming it wasn't already a 120mm round which given that the round itself is shown - it was stolen from the enemy town's ammo factory and looks to be a 60-80mm round) to do that? I mean, ignoring the obvious ballistic characteristic differences.

Obviously I think what the writers did was say "Okay, a mortar is like a cannon, right? And an M1 has a cannon on it, right? So therefore..."

Personally I think it was beyond lazy; simply saying the M1 had one round of ammo left would've been just as effective.

[Legbreaker]

Anything is possible given enough time, resources and imagination. I wouldn't want to try it for real, but if it was life or death, and there was the time required to rig it up, it's possible I suppose.
Wouldn't have any accuracy to speak of, or decent range, but if all you're trying to do is throw an explosive a few hundred metres and make it go bang....
As for it being a viable combat option, not a hope in hell.

[pmulcahy11b]

You could always rig a giant spring and plate in it and use it like a giant PIAT...

[cavtroop]

it's things like this which drove me away from TV. I haven't watched a serial TV show in years and years. If the writers don't have any basis in reality, then they should find another show to write for. Not having seen it, it's tough to say, but it seems like they just needed 'a weapon that the enemy doesn't have an answer for'. Wouldn't an armored Humvee with a Mk19 or .50 cal serve the same literary purpose? Maybe the M1 with a single round left, like mentioned above. But shooting a mortar out the tube? Meh. Sure, it might be possible, but it just smacks of silliness.

I have Jericho in my Netflix queue, but I can never bring myself to watch it - it was cancelled early, and I don't want to 'get into it' (if that's possible given the writing in the above episode) just to have it end early. I also have Walking Dead, but I havent heard good things of season 2....

[Schone23666]

Originally Posted by cavtroop

it's things like this which drove me away from TV. I haven't watched a serial TV show in years and years. If the writers don't have any basis in reality, then they should find another show to write for. Not having seen it, it's tough to say, but it seems like they just needed 'a weapon that the enemy doesn't have an answer for'. Wouldn't an armored Humvee with a Mk19 or .50 cal serve the same literary purpose? Maybe the M1 with a single round left, like mentioned above. But shooting a mortar out the tube? Meh. Sure, it might be possible, but it just smacks of silliness.

I have Jericho in my Netflix queue, but I can never bring myself to watch it - it was cancelled early, and I don't want to 'get into it' (if that's possible given the writing in the above episode) just to have it end early. I also have Walking Dead, but I havent heard good things of season 2....

Same here...would you believe I've barely watched any TV serials since what...2000 or so?

Maybe the stock writing and stock characters and rehashed plots, or predictable political correctness, endless "reality tv" garbage, etc. etc. just grates me, I dunno...

[kcdusk]

I liked Jericho. Pity it finished early, i understand you not wanting to "get into it" knowing it doesnt have a proper ending (I used the same argument not to watch Deadwood, which i have since started watching anyway!). At the same time, i have caught some episodes of Jericho on tv lately and havent been able to switch channels when it comes on.

Walking Dead series 2 has been increadably frustrating so far, so amatuerish. I cannot belive it rates so well. The final episode was really good, i hope it carries on when it kicks off in the new year.

I've just started watching Falling Skies, I'm into episode 3 and it has been really good so far.

[raketenjagdpanzer]

Jericho was good while they were keeping us the viewer in the dark about what the hell went down. What was crammed into about 13 episodes (last 4 of season 1, the remaining into the mini-season 2) was supposed to unfold over 4-5 seasons so it clearly lacked.

The show didn't have the budget it needed, either, so the episodes had to focus on the plains of Kansas *coughnorthofhollywoodcough* or the town itself. We might have had a real tour-de-force of characters going near destroyed cities, etc., but the low budget and lack of studio enthusiasm pretty much doomed it to be ignored. Once they killed off Gerald McRaney I knew the jig was up.

Still, the battle at the beginning of the 2nd season was worth watching.

[Rainbow Six]

Originally Posted by raketenjagdpanzer

Jericho was good while they were keeping us the viewer in the dark about what the hell went down. What was crammed into about 13 episodes (last 4 of season 1, the remaining into the mini-season 2) was supposed to unfold over 4-5 seasons so it clearly lacked.

I also enjoyed Jericho, particularly the first series, where no one really knew what was happening in the rest of the country. I'd never heard that about 4 - 5 seasons being crammed into one half series before but it makes sense...the first series did a good job of building things up gradually, whereas the second season definitely came across as much more rushed. But in my opinion the first season viewed on its own is a thoroughly watchable piece of post apoc TV that has a few ideas that would be useful for a US based T2K Campaign.