AMC- The Walking Dead (TV Spoilers!)

Huntn · Oct 18, 2011

There is a dedicated Walking Dead Comic Thread: here.

Watched the second season premier of The Walking Dead last night. I had a bad feeling about the highway traffic jam and for good reason. The zombie herd was awesome. Daryl Dixon was kick ass. Overall outstanding cast. Loved the zombies in church.

My fingers are crossed that they can keep the atmosphere and tempo of the first season going. The premier of this season maintains the standard so far.

Did anyone notice when they went to search for Sophia, they wanted to bring a group so they could fan out to look for her, but when they actually walked through the forest it was in single file? Come on.

The Walking Dead Cast.

NutsNGum · Oct 18, 2011

I managed to catch the first series of this, and it was brilliantly well done. Presumably it won't be shown for a while here. Is it available on iTunes?

rhett7660 · Oct 18, 2011

I loved how graphic it was. The gutting of the one zombie was classic.

I hope they wrap up looking for the girl in the next episode. If not show her as a zombie!

I thought the same thing when I saw them in a straight line. Really guys! LOL

Iscariot · Oct 18, 2011

I'm glad the show is doing well, but I have to admit that I don't have a high opinion of it. I've been reading the serial since it started in 2003, and I do not think the show comes even close to matching it in terms of quality. That said, I'm not going to bitch; I'm just curious if any other serious fans of the comic feel similarly.

Huntn · Oct 18, 2011

NutsNGum said:
I managed to catch the first series of this, and it was brilliantly well done. Presumably it won't be shown for a while here. Is it available on iTunes?

As of now, I only see the first season listed in this iTunes Link. Hopefully soon...

Iscariot said:
I'm glad the show is doing well, but I have to admit that I don't have a high opinion of it. I've been reading the serial since it started in 2003, and I do not think the show comes even close to matching it in terms of quality. That said, I'm not going to bitch; I'm just curious if any other serious fans of the comic feel similarly.

I have not read the comic, but I understand the feeling. I frequently read books that are not portrayed as well in film. The hardest thing to translate are character's feelings. In any film, you are mostly likely going to miss out on much of the original content in background, history, or character's feelings that don't make it out of print. The degree of it makes or breaks the film. In the Sookie Stackhouse Books (True Blood/HBO), so much is lost in the way of humor, the way Sookie sees situations. Additionally, they trashed the original True Blood story. I recently started reading Game of Thrones and while there are some elements that are missed in the show, it follows very faithfully to the book.

dXTC · Oct 18, 2011

Huntn said:
I had a bad feeling about the highway traffic jam and for good reason. The zombie herd was awesome. Daryl Dixon was kick ass.

I found it interesting that the survivors called it a herd, rather than the oft-used phrase "zombie horde."

And indeed, Daryl has become a breakout character, analogous to Wolverine in the X-Men movies or perhaps Sayid in Lost. There has been talk of introducing Michonne, a similarly butt-kickin' character in the comic, to the show; I wonder how Daryl would react to that.

rhett7660 said:
I loved how graphic it was. The gutting of the one zombie was classic.

Actually, I found the filming of Daryl's headshot from behind on that particular zombie an excellent effect shot. The zombie "screams" at Rick, then Daryl fires the crossbow from behind and the arrow comes out the front of the zombie's head (THOKK!), with no camera cut. I wonder if the zombie at that point was still the actor or an animated dummy; I'd love to see a Behind The Scenes look at that shot.

rhett7660 · Oct 18, 2011

Iscariot said:
I'm glad the show is doing well, but I have to admit that I don't have a high opinion of it. I've been reading the serial since it started in 2003, and I do not think the show comes even close to matching it in terms of quality. That said, I'm not going to bitch; I'm just curious if any other serious fans of the comic feel similarly.

Nope I feel the same way. I kept waiting for some of the more shocking scenes to come about it. The show is good and sometimes great, but it doesn't hold a match to the comic book in terms of sheer grittyness and shock value. We haven't really seen anything that is shocking in the show. The comic book, good lord..... Every other issue it seems like a character is put to the extreme test.

But I don't want to divert the conversation to much. But yes I agree, however I still really like the show for what it is. I am glad AMC is not pushing away the gore. That is nice.

dXTC · Oct 18, 2011

rhett7660 said:
I am glad AMC is not pushing away the gore. That is nice.

Yeah, I'm glad this didn't get picked up by a major broadcast network for this reason. ABC or CBS would have had to tone the violence down several notches to appease conservative viewers/sponsors, and this would have ruined the whole feel of the situation. There are a lot of living characters with several subplots in TWD, but this is still a far cry from Lost.

My wife winced at every stab of Andrea's knife into that zombie's eye socket in her RV attack scene.

If you haven't seen the Webisodes yet, I strongly suggest you do. They show the "origin" of the show's iconic "Bicycle Girl" crawler zombie, and it's just as good and grimy as the regular series.

Queen of Spades · Oct 18, 2011

I actually thought the premiere had some really bad writing.

- Rick's monologue to the walkie talkie

- his second weird monologue to the statue of Jesus

- Carol not getting up to help her daughter being chased by a zombie (!!) then blaming everyone else

- Why were there intact zombie corpses all over the roads, and why were the cars all flipped and destroyed?

- Suddenly the zombies can't smell humans? In season one, their sense of smell was so strong, that the survivors had to cover themselves in zombie carcass to avoid detection. In this episode, they hid under cars while hundreds of zombies walked right by them

edit: Also, the female characters are universally annoying, underwritten, etc. I'm pretty much dying to see Carol get killed off. I didn't really give a rat's about finding Sophia because her mother is annoying and she's a non-factor.

I don't know, I thought there were lots of little inconsistencies and clunky dialogue. They seem to be excellent at all the visual stuff and creating a sense of urgency, but some of the logic is lacking.

rhett7660 · Oct 18, 2011

dXTC said:
Yeah, I'm glad this didn't get picked up by a major broadcast network for this reason. ABC or CBS would have had to tone the violence down several notches to appease conservative viewers/sponsors, and this would have ruined the whole feel of the situation. There are a lot of living characters with several subplots in TWD, but this is still a far cry from Lost.

My wife winced at every stab of Andrea's knife into that zombie's eye socket in her RV attack scene.

If you haven't seen the Webisodes yet, I strongly suggest you do. They show the "origin" of the show's iconic "Bicycle Girl" crawler zombie, and it's just as good and grimy as the regular series.

ohh... I am going to have to check this one out...............!

Queen of Spades said:
I actually thought the premiere had some really bad writing.

- Rick's monologue to the walkie talkie

- his second weird monologue to the statue of Jesus

- Carol not getting up to help her daughter being chased by a zombie (!!) then blaming everyone else

- Why were there intact zombie corpses all over the roads, and why were the cars all flipped and destroyed?

- Suddenly the zombies can't smell humans? In season one, their sense of smell was so strong, that the survivors had to cover themselves in zombie carcass to avoid detection. In this episode, they hid under cars while hundreds of zombies walked right by them

I don't know, I thought there were lots of little inconsistencies and clunky dialogue. They seem to be excellent at all the visual stuff and creating a sense of urgency, but some of the logic is lacking.

The only thing I can think of re: "Smell Humans" is the fact there was so much death and bodies lying around that it masked their smell. Maybe?

Re: The cars.. mass panick, auto accidents, great use of props!

I agree with the opening monologue, it seemed a bit off, but hey... they showed a zombie being disemboweled and another getting stabbed in the face with a screwdriver!!

From what I remember reading the series did so well that they had to put everything (writers, actors, directors etc) back into place so they could start a second season. I think we are going to see some more of these little things and then I am hoping it smooths out. However I am alittle worried they did fire the main director. I am hoping that with his firing the new director doesn't "tone" the feel down at all.

Queen of Spades · Oct 18, 2011

rhett7660 said:
The only thing I can think of re: "Smell Humans" is the fact there was so much death and bodies lying around that it masked their smell. Maybe?

Re: The cars.. mass panick, auto accidents, great use of props!

I agree with the opening monologue, it seemed a bit off, but hey... they showed a zombie being disemboweled and another getting stabbed in the face with a screwdriver!!

From what I remember reading the series did so well that they had to put everything (writers, actors, directors etc) back into place so they could start a second season. I think we are going to see some more of these little things and then I am hoping it smooths out. However I am alittle worried they did fire the main director. I am hoping that with his firing the new director doesn't "tone" the feel down at all.

Thing is, I like the show despite hating most of the characters, and despite the generally bad dialogue. I just think this show could be even better than it is. I know they had some production issues with the showrunner and keeping their team intact, but it's been a full year, so logic problems are inexcusable.

I will say Carl getting shot was incredible, unexpected, etc. Great way to end the episode. Now if they can just kill off Carol and Andrea, we'll be in business.

rhett7660 · Oct 18, 2011

Queen of Spades said:
Thing is, I like the show despite hating most of the characters, and despite the generally bad dialogue. I just think this show could be even better than it is. I know they had some production issues with the showrunner and keeping their team intact, but it's been a full year, so logic problems are inexcusable.

I will say Carl getting shot was incredible, unexpected, etc. Great way to end the episode. Now if they can just kill off Carol and Andrea, we'll be in business.

Yup, taken right from the book! That is why I love the comic books. There are so many of these type of moments. So many of them..... I am hoping they bring in the "governer" and keep to his character as he is just flat out brutal!

I couldn't agree more with this statement.

jesses · Oct 18, 2011

Man you're all getting me excited to watch it. I missed the premiere, so I am waiting for it to be on demand.

GoKyu · Oct 18, 2011

rhett7660 said:
Yup, taken right from the book! That is why I love the comic books. There are so many of these type of moments. So many of them..... I am hoping they bring in the "governer" and keep to his character as he is just flat out brutal!

I couldn't agree more with this statement.

I was posting updates while watching the show on The Walking Dead's Facebook page, and it seems that a LOT of people have never even heard of the original comic book - (to avoid spoilers) they were saying things that, had you read the source material, you know couldn't be true...

I was actually thinking maybe it wouldn't be so practical to have The Governor in this story, the way it seems to be pacing. Although I'll admit, I'd *LOVE* to see the arena fights they put on

I wonder if we'll get Tyrese, or maybe a similar character in his place...

As someone else was asking about why the zombies could smell them in the first season, but not when they were hiding under the cars - Kirkman said they have limited smelling sense - they aren't bloodhounds. There were probably so many zombies that they could only smell each other with the cast hidden under the cars...

Queen of Spades · Oct 18, 2011

GoKyu said:
As someone else was asking about why the zombies could smell them in the first season, but not when they were hiding under the cars - Kirkman said they have limited smelling sense - they aren't bloodhounds. There were probably so many zombies that they could only smell each other with the cast hidden under the cars...

There was a huge mob of zombies when they were in downtown Atlanta - remember when they swarmed around the military tank? It was practically a flash mob. So that reasoning doesn't really go with what we've been shown, and if it's an allusion to something explained better in the comics, fine, but that doesn't really help the television version.

Iscariot · Oct 18, 2011

Queen of Spades said:
So that reasoning doesn't really go with what we've been shown, and if it's an allusion to something explained better in the comics, fine, but that doesn't really help the television version.

It's not better explained in the comics; it never happened there.

Queen of Spades said:
I will say Carl getting shot was incredible, unexpected, etc. Great way to end the episode. Now if they can just kill off Carol and Andrea, we'll be in business.

This was actually my biggest criticism of the show. It's way out of the timeline, which means that either they want to tell that story now, or more likely, they don't have to fortitude to actually stick to the events in the comic. I'm not going to do spoilers, but something far bigger was supposed to have already happened.

GoKyu · Oct 18, 2011

Iscariot said:
It's not better explained in the comics; it never happened there.

This was actually my biggest criticism of the show. It's way out of the timeline, which means that either they want to tell that story now, or more likely, they don't have to fortitude to actually stick to the events in the comic. I'm not going to do spoilers, but something far bigger was supposed to have already happened.

I understand that it's a different medium, so things are going to change around plot wise, to some extent. I'm happy that they're headed to this part of the story, as I really like it a lot.

Queen:

Re: flash mob...they may not be able to smell too well, but they can see an agitated horse and rider pretty well. Rick scrambled under the tank, but the zombies were already on to him, so of course they would follow him under the tank also.

Huntn · Oct 18, 2011

dXTC said:
Actually, I found the filming of Daryl's headshot from behind on that particular zombie an excellent effect shot. The zombie "screams" at Rick, then Daryl fires the crossbow from behind and the arrow comes out the front of the zombie's head (THOKK!), with no camera cut. I wonder if the zombie at that point was still the actor or an animated dummy; I'd love to see a Behind The Scenes look at that shot.

My guess is they did not let Daryl shoot an arrow at the camera, and that it was probably a CGI shot, but it could have been a mechanical dummies head.

Iscariot said:
This was actually my biggest criticism of the show. It's way out of the timeline, which means that either they want to tell that story now, or more likely, they don't have to fortitude to actually stick to the events in the comic. I'm not going to do spoilers, but something far bigger was supposed to have already happened.

I've seen many compromises in most book to film stories. You just have to hope they don't change too much. I've not read the TWD comics so I don't know, and don't want to know.

Queen of Spades said:
I actually thought the premiere had some really bad writing.

- Rick's monologue to the walkie talkie

- his second weird monologue to the statue of Jesus

- Carol not getting up to help her daughter being chased by a zombie (!!) then blaming everyone else

- Why were there intact zombie corpses all over the roads, and why were the cars all flipped and destroyed?

- Suddenly the zombies can't smell humans? In season one, their sense of smell was so strong, that the survivors had to cover themselves in zombie carcass to avoid detection. In this episode, they hid under cars while hundreds of zombies walked right by them

edit: Also, the female characters are universally annoying, underwritten, etc. I'm pretty much dying to see Carol get killed off. I didn't really give a rat's about finding Sophia because her mother is annoying and she's a non-factor.

I don't know, I thought there were lots of little inconsistencies and clunky dialogue. They seem to be excellent at all the visual stuff and creating a sense of urgency, but some of the logic is lacking.

As far as bad writing, I realize this is somewhat of a cop out, but it could be a portrayal of an average person who is not particularly good at putting together a speech. You have to ask yourself is it authentic or not. As far as Carol not acting when she needed to act to save her daughter, then blaming everyone, I can see this happening. As far as zombie corpses, they could have been killed by people stuck in the traffic jam. Mostly I saw vehicles that had either run into others or got stuck in the jam.

0098386 · Oct 19, 2011

I wasn't too impressed with that episode.

The effects were just awful, the zombie makeup/effects were nice but I found the rest distractingly bad.
The church thing confused me, why where there zombies in the church itself, behind a shut door? Same for the zombie that found its way into the motor home and knew that a panel was a door. Are they getting smarter? I wouldn't mind if that turned out to be the case. Why run so far out into the woods to kill them almost silently with a rock to the face?

I think I'm falling out with the characters. I'm just not believing them.

GoKyu · Oct 19, 2011

Dagless said:
I wasn't too impressed with that episode.

The effects were just awful, the zombie makeup/effects were nice but I found the rest distractingly bad.
The church thing confused me, why where there zombies in the church itself, behind a shut door?

I didn't mind so much that the door was closed, but that they were sitting there like they were praying...

But the same thing happened all through season 1 too. Remember the zombies sitting in the bus as Rick came into the city on the horse...how they had to stand up and go down the steps. Then there was the one outside of Morgan's house, looking like he was sleeping against the fence.

I guess they're more active at night and tend to go into a sort of sleep mode during the day if they aren't in a herd or there's no activity they can sense...

Huntn · Oct 19, 2011

Dagless said:
I wasn't too impressed with that episode.

The effects were just awful, the zombie makeup/effects were nice but I found the rest distractingly bad.
The church thing confused me, why where there zombies in the church itself, behind a shut door? Same for the zombie that found its way into the motor home and knew that a panel was a door. Are they getting smarter? I wouldn't mind if that turned out to be the case. Why run so far out into the woods to kill them almost silently with a rock to the face?

I think I'm falling out with the characters. I'm just not believing them.

It's as if they remember a shadow of a former life. It's just like the guy's wife in episode 1 who kept coming back to their house to try opening the front door. Zombies can manipulate objects and for all we know, the wind blew the door shut.

Regarding Andrea and Dale, I'm trying to remember, I know she wanted to die at the CFDC, but did she leave because Dale would not leave without her? I thought the discussion about her right to die if she wants to was a good one.

ucfgrad93 · Oct 19, 2011

Queen of Spades said:
I will say Carl getting shot was incredible, unexpected, etc. Great way to end the episode.

My jaw literally dropped open when that happened!

Overall, a good start to season 2. The only thing I didn't like was the zombie who got into the RV. He was actually searching and I thought it was too advanced for a zombie.

rhett7660 · Oct 19, 2011

GoKyu said:
I was posting updates while watching the show on The Walking Dead's Facebook page, and it seems that a LOT of people have never even heard of the original comic book - (to avoid spoilers) they were saying things that, had you read the source material, you know couldn't be true...

I was actually thinking maybe it wouldn't be so practical to have The Governor in this story, the way it seems to be pacing. Although I'll admit, I'd *LOVE* to see the arena fights they put on

I wonder if we'll get Tyrese, or maybe a similar character in his place...

As someone else was asking about why the zombies could smell them in the first season, but not when they were hiding under the cars - Kirkman said they have limited smelling sense - they aren't bloodhounds. There were probably so many zombies that they could only smell each other with the cast hidden under the cars...

I was just reading about there is a book coming out about the back story to the Governor. They mention we just might see him. Oh man you and me both, would love to see his character. I can't remember her name but I am wondering if the female will take up the roll of "sniper" in this series. In the previews for upcoming shows, it shows her holding a rifle with a scope.

I would be very surprised if they had enough balls if you will to show some of the things that are coming down the road in the show. If they do we are all in for a really good ride!

mscriv · Oct 19, 2011

I've never read the comic so I can't share in the joy or disappointment, depending on your perspective, of how they are adapting it for television. I enjoyed the first season and the second looks like it's going to be good as well.

As far as the behavior of zombie's I've always believed that it was a mixture of instinct and memory. Obviously, the higher functioning parts of the brain are no longer working and so complex thought and action are impossible, but basic things, like opening a door, remain.

From the above perspective, I interpreted the zombies in church as a hunting strategy. It's like when a predator in the wild hunts near water because they know prey will come there to drink. The zombies knew that the recorded church bell could bring people, so they hung out there waiting for them to show up. I could be overthinking it, but that's immediatly what I thought when they showed that the bell was an automated recording.

GoKyu · Oct 19, 2011

mscriv said:
As far as the behavior of zombie's I've always believed that it was a mixture of instinct and memory. Obviously, the higher functioning parts of the brain are no longer working and so complex thought and action are impossible, but basic things, like opening a door, remain.

From the above perspective, I interpreted the zombies in church as a hunting strategy. It's like when a predator in the wild hunts near water because they know prey will come there to drink. The zombies knew that the recorded church bell could bring people, so they hung out there waiting for them to show up. I could be overthinking it, but that's immediatly what I thought when they showed that the bell was an automated recording.

I don't think the zombies are *that* intelligent anymore. When the church caretakers got run off or killed, I'll bet the bell had already been set (maybe they got run off/killed on a Sunday before or after a church service...)

And like I said in a previous post, I'll bet the zombies were just sitting there because they couldn't sense any activity going on, so they were kinda in "sleep mode".

AMC- The Walking Dead (TV Spoilers!)

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