The Walking Dead

[JeepMonkey]

Is anyone watching The Walking Dead?  I was never really into zombie movies until a couple years ago, but this show is pretty good so far through two episodes.

[Howard_Casto]

Read the comics and you'll realize what a giant step backwards the tv translation is.  Mind you it's a very watchable "pretty good" show and the fact that it has zombies in it instantly makes it more watchable, but they've altered the very dynamic three dimensional (ironically) characters into random, shallow stereotypes.  They also made the zombies "smart" what with the using of tools, picking up things and trying to actively climb ladders and open doors.  The zombies in the book are dumb as rocks... as they should be. 

It has only been two episodes so far and the show isn't horrible but so far altering Grime's wife into a ---stingray--- and introducing a random black stereo-type named "t-dog" into the show isn't a step in the right direction. 


I'm optomiztic that they'll get thier act together as the show goes on, but it still could be a giant train wreck. 

[JeepMonkey]

They also made the zombies "smart" what with the using of tools, picking up things and trying to actively climb ladders and open doors.

A coworker of mine is a total zombie junkie, so we talk zombie talk from time to time.  Many times conversations are about the zombie "rules".  When I saw the zombies using rocks to break glass and climb ladders, that didn't seem to be very zombie correct.

[SNAAKE]

fence climbing was straight up BS

[Ginsu Victim]

Read the comics and you'll realize what a giant step backwards the tv translation is.

We're only two episodes in. Give it a chance. Once Rick joins the rest of the group, I'm sure we'll get to a show that feels more like The Walking Dead we know and love.

Me.....I love it.

[boykster]

We're only two episodes in. Give it a chance. Once Rick joins the rest of the group, I'm sure we'll get to a show that feels more like The Walking Dead we know and love.

Me.....I love it.

I'm really enjoying it too.  I did cringe a bit with the ladder/fence climbing zombies and when the one used a brick or rock as a tool, but otherwise I think it's been very well done.

[javeryh]

I never read the comic but the first episode was really good.

[Ginsu Victim]

I did cringe a bit with the ladder/fence climbing zombies and when the one used a brick or rock as a tool, but otherwise I think it's been very well done.

They're going by Night of the Living Dead rules. Bill Hinzman used a rock to break Barbara's car window, and some of the zombies were trying to climb to the second story of the house.

[Howard_Casto]

I did cringe a bit with the ladder/fence climbing zombies and when the one used a brick or rock as a tool, but otherwise I think it's been very well done.

They're going by Night of the Living Dead rules. Bill Hinzman used a rock to break Barbara's car window, and some of the zombies were trying to climb to the second story of the house.

Which would be great if this was a NOTLD series, but it isn't!

Besides, the first episode made the zombies REALLY smart in zombie terms.  Right from the very first scene... a zombie girl is walking along holding a stuffed animal (that part is accetable, she could have been holding it when she died).  She drops it, but instead of just going on, like a normal zombie would she frikkin, stops, looks at it and picks it back up!  In a later scene, a zombie returns to here own home and tried to open the door by turning the knob!  The only reason she can't get in is the door being locked.

No zombie since "Bub" has been this smart and he underwent special training.  Nearly every zombie in this tv series so far has been really smart.

[Ginsu Victim]

I would've preferred the zombies to be like they are in the comics, but I'm not unhappy with them so far.

Bub rules, btw. Second greatest zombie ever (just after Flyboy).

[Mikezilla]

I only caught the first episode, and I have the second on my DVR, I plan on watching it tonight. I loved it so far, and yes, I did find the door knob thing kind of odd. But hey. Its a zombie show, on TV. They are probably altering the "rules" a little, just because of the boring factor. You dont want people changing the channel cause its the same stuff over and over.

The crawling chick thing wasnt that smart. Who knows, maybe they will dumb them down. I think the effects are great.  

[TOK]

I only caught the first episode, and I have the second on my DVR, I plan on watching it tonight. I loved it so far, and yes, I did find the door knob thing kind of odd. But hey. Its a zombie show, on TV. They are probably altering the "rules" a little, just because of the boring factor. You dont want people changing the channel cause its the same stuff over and over.

The crawling chick thing wasnt that smart. Who knows, maybe they will dumb them down. I think the effects are great.  

I never read the graphic novel, but what I took from this is that although they are zombies they still cling to very stripped down versions of their daily routine. I thought the best example of this was the first episode where there were a couple of them sitting in the broken down bus -like they rode it to work every day and it was a muscle memory thing for them to just get on it and sit there.

I found the first episode covering a lot of familiar themes and wasn't totally buying into it, but the second episode spread things out a bit and I'm enjoying it.

[Funnel]

I'm also enjoying the series, been watching zombie movies since I was little. Agree with Ginsu on the smart zombies since NOTLD.

[Ginsu Victim]

I'm also enjoying the series, been watching zombie movies since I was little. Agree with Ginsu on the smart zombies since NOTLD.

Well, Frank Darabont himself said the show will use NotLD rules, which a lot of people seem to forget what all they did in that movie. The "ghouls" ate bugs, tried to climb, used rocks as tools, trotted at a decent pace at times, etc.

I would've preferred the zombies from the comic which have far less going on upstairs, but the way they are doing them doesn't necessarily bother me.

[isucamper]

Besides, the first episode made the zombies REALLY smart in zombie terms.  Right from the very first scene... a zombie girl is walking along holding a stuffed animal (that part is accetable, she could have been holding it when she died).  She drops it, but instead of just going on, like a normal zombie would she frikkin, stops, looks at it and picks it back up!  In a later scene, a zombie returns to here own home and tried to open the door by turning the knob!  The only reason she can't get in is the door being locked.

Gotta disagree with you here.  These are basically Night/Dawn/Day of the Dead zombies, and they have echos of their past lives still bouncing around in their heads.  For the same reasons they flock to the mall and idly push shopping carts around in Dawn of the Dead, they do the things you've mentioned. 

I do agree about the invented characters being real boring stereotypes.  Kinda disappointing.  The guy playing Rick is doing a bang up job though. 

[Ginsu Victim]

I do agree about the invented characters being real boring stereotypes.  Kinda disappointing.

Though Michael Rooker as Merle Dixon is doing a bang-up job. I'm a big fan of the guy and he's doing awesome work here. Too bad he won't be around long. (Said himself he came out to shoot for a few days and left)

[Rick]

Zombies breaking the rules?  This is unheard of!

 

[fallacy]

The zombies look good the environments look good. It starts off like 28 days later, where he wakes up in a hospital and everything is already destroyed. Except 28 Days later had jack ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- for the environment, everything looked clean.

Only thing left to be desired is the character’s interaction with each other. It has that cheap reading your lines acting type of feel. Ow well I guess you can’t have it all.

[gaijinking]

It's cool that they really shot in downtown Atlanta. And they filmed just down the street from GSU where I went to school.
It always cracks me up that the Office is supposed to be set in Scranton, PA when it's actually shot in Van Nuys. I guess the perfect sunny weather year round is the reason why the early studios setup shop here (in Hollywood) in the first place.
I haven't read the comic book, but I love the show so far. Does more of the story take place in Atlanta or around the south east?

[Ginsu Victim]

I haven't read the comic book, but I love the show so far. Does more of the story take place in Atlanta or around the south east?

If they follow the comics, they will work their way from Atlanta to Washington DC.

[javeryh]

I watched episode 2 last night.  I really like this show so far.  The zombies do seem a little smart though.  They used a rock to smash a window and one of them climbed a fence.

[Mikezilla]

yeah, I saw that, kind of irritated me but whatever. Like I said before, it is probably to stem the boredom/suspense factor. Episode 3 was pretty good last night. I cant believe they went back for that dude. Retards. 

[Dartful Dodger]

Brain dead zombies never made any sense, if they aren't smart enough to open a door or climb a fence, they shouldn't be smart enough to walk. Even a baby that doesn’t know how to walk can pull himself up and over the side of a crib.

They should just get dumber the longer they are dead(effect of their brain decaying).  I liked that the woman in the first episode was trying to get into the house she died in, sort of like she was just on cruise control.

[Ginsu Victim]

Achievement Unlocked!

(Yes, the sound is actually in the episode. You can compare this on Hulu (around 43:50) if you need further proof)

[Mikezilla]

What?! I dont know if I find that funny or stupid. I think Im going to go with stupid. I remember when they did the strike(bowling) sound in Matrix 2 when Neo hit a bunch of Agent Smiths together, and I was like "really?"

Damn Nerdlings.

[isucamper]

so is... <ahem> T-dog suppose to be tyreese?  if so i will be very disappointed

[Ginsu Victim]

so is... <ahem> T-dog suppose to be tyreese?  if so i will be very disappointed

No.

[eds1275]

What?! I dont know if I find that funny or stupid. I think Im going to go with stupid. I remember when they did the strike(bowling) sound in Matrix 2 when Neo hit a bunch of Agent Smiths together, and I was like "really?"

Damn Nerdlings.

Random fact: I was halfway through the second movie when I realized his name was Neo. I thought it was Neil.

[Rick]

Random fact: I was halfway through the second movie when I realized his name was Neo. I thought it was Neil.

 

I'm assuming you didn't read his screen in the first movie?

[Mikezilla]

 [/quote]

Random fact: I was halfway through the second movie when I realized his name was Neo. I thought it was Neil.
[/quote]

That is glorious. Best thing I have heard all day. 

[eds1275]

I'm assuming you didn't read his screen in the first movie?

No actually but I'm gonna guess that was in the beginning? I was probbly grabbing snacks or a beer or something.

[Mikezilla]

Any thoughts on last nights episode? I liked it, but kind of annoying. I wanted more to get accomplished, seemed like nothing really happened regarding finding the brother. The zombie effects looked great though. I hope they explain why the zombies made it to their camp. Unless I missed something, I kept having to go to the bathroom, drank too many beers and nobody would let me pause it...

[boykster]

Any thoughts on last nights episode? I liked it, but kind of annoying. I wanted more to get accomplished, seemed like nothing really happened regarding finding the brother. The zombie effects looked great though. I hope they explain why the zombies made it to their camp. Unless I missed something, I kept having to go to the bathroom, drank too many beers and nobody would let me pause it...

I really really hope that this show doesn't break down into a super slow 'soap opera' style episodic drama where every single plot line takes forever to move forward.  I love the zombie effects and what they've done so far, but they have GOT to keep the story moving otherwise they're going to lose a lot of viewers.

They didn't explain how/why the zombies found the camp...

[SNAAKE]

They didn't explain how/why the zombies found the camp...

I am sure you will find out next week....

[Bootay]

I really like the show a lot. I was shocked when the zombies attacked the camp too. I knew it would happen eventually but I wasn't expecting it that soon. The effects are great and I was surprised with the amount of gore. Pretty badass for a tv show.

I am not annoyed at any of the things that most are annoyed with. I never read the comic though. I am generally a big fan of zombie movies though and will even watch some of the low budget Italian ones from the 70s and 80s. (Some of them are just way too bad though)

I might start DVRing it and skipping weeks of watching live. The episodes are too short and just when I start getting into them it is over. I especially felt this way last night. As soon as it ended I was like "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO......." ...how can you end it after all that action?! If I DVR them in threes then by the time I am done with the third episode I should have my fill. Hopefully.

[Ginsu Victim]

I enjoyed the episode, though it OBVIOUSLY written by Kirkman, since it had a good story, but poor dialogue (a problem Kirkman has always had).

Anyone notice Greg Nicotero?

[Mikezilla]

Yeah they do seem rather short. I think they increased the amount of commercials considering its starting to pick up more viewers.

Haha Nicotero put himself in there? Was he a zombie and I missed it?!

[boykster]

They didn't explain how/why the zombies found the camp...

I am sure you will find out next week....

Undoubtedly - I'm actually OK with that they didn't explain that in this episode, you do after all have to keep the viewers coming back    I'm also not saying that I'm disappointed with the pace of the show - it has slowed down since the first episode, but that was to be expected. 

[Howard_Casto]

It looks like they a skewing from the comics a great deal on the series, which I'm actually in favor of.  I just wish they'd quit monkeying with the characters.  Also the zombies being a 2010 velicoraptor seems to have stopped as well.  They are now at the appropraite level of stupid. 

I'm liking it more as things go on, but there is still something a little off, can't quite put my finger on it.  We'll see.

[scept1c]

Will agree with Howard_Casto, though the TV is pretty good, it would never replace the emotions from reading.