The Walking Dead TV

Yeah, the kid covering his ears and saying "don't shoot my mama" was a really chilling bit...I also really liked how the mom was shown not to be monsterous at all, but really kind of pathetic and helpless.

The thing with the halfie had a similar sense of pathos...I thought it was really effective because he's just kind of contemplating it crawling along. Is it alive? Is it still human? Is it struggling? It was a very, very rare beat that you never see in zombie pictures.

Another scene I thought was great was when he wakes up in the hospital (come on, do they think nobody's seen 28 DAYS LATER?) and he sees that half-eaten body in the hallway beyond a door. That's _great_ horror.

One thing I thought was funny in a very subtle way was the GONE WITH THE WIND reference when he walks out of the hospital and into the field of bodybags...that's a sort of spoof on the scene in GWTW when Scarlet walks out into the field hospital.

There was some really stupid shit in it too though. The kid zombie thing, come on. Seen it a million times. I was pretty disappointed in that. Also, who THE FUCK would write "God forgive us" on a wall in blood before/during/after suicide? I also feel like it's a really missed opportunity to not show more of Grimes coming to terms emotionally an psychologically with the fact the world ended while he was asleep. He just kind of gets up and rolls with it.

Michael Barnes wrote:

... Another scene I thought was great was when he wakes up in the hospital (come on, do they think nobody's seen 28 DAYS LATER?) and he sees that half-eaten body in the hallway beyond a door. That's _great_ horror.
....

Not saying that maybe they should have changed it for the series but

"Kirkman said, "I saw 28 Days Later shortly before the first issue of Walking Dead was released. That first issue came out in October of 2003 and 28 Days Later was released in the States in June of 2003. So we were working on our second issue by the time I saw it", before adding, "Yeah. It was a little annoying. But great minds think alike, right". "

I think the whole first scene, which is not how the GN started out, was really to let the viewers who haven't read the GNs know that this store is set in a post outbreak world. I thought it was kind of weird at first too, but then i realized the slower pace of the story, as compared to other zombie movies/tv shows. I think it was just something to grab the audience. But yeah, that scene really reminded me of Zak Snyder's Dawn of the Dead.

I love using the "waking up after a x period time in comma." I was actually just talking to a coworker about that at lunch. I think it's a terrifying concept. It was one of the best things about the recent Predators movie. Horror movies never did much for me, but thinking about giong into a comma and waking up after the world has completely changed for the worst and not knowing why is truly the stuff that horror is made up of.

I did like that they explained why he wasn't eaten by the zeds in his sleep, did you noticed the gurney in front of his door that he had to push away upon exiting his room for the first time?

Dan

Well, I have to say that last night's episode almost killed all the interest I have in seeing any more of this program. The huge 28 DAYS LATER steal (sorry, but that "we were working on it first!" thing is the oldest excuse in the book) was one thing, but this episode was like a library of George Romero cliches. OMG, _racial tension_? In a zombie movie? GET OUTTA HERE!

The part where they got the zombie's wallet out and saw who he was might have been an interesting bit, but then it turns into the usual mutiliation fantasy...it wasn't handled right at all. The setup was compelling, and then they just hack the guy up. Yeah, they were sick and the kid threw up, but it was still titillating,exploitation movie stuff. I didn't even think the "let's smear zombie entrails all over us" thing was particularly interesting or inventive.

It was dumb...rain doesn't wash off the smell of rotten blood and guts like that.

I also thought it was just really boring, I wound up fiddling with my phone halfway through because it was just incredibly dull.

It probably doesn't help that I know everywhere they shot, and it's literally like a one block radius.

I loved too how they spoiled the potentially interesting thing where the redneck was left on the roof by revealing that he's still alive in next week's episode. So much for that.

I dunno, I think it makes a difference that Frank Darabont didn't direct this episode...this was much more workmanlike.

I'm with you. I thought it was a very average second episode. I'll watch another one but I wasn't terribly impressed.

As is usually the case, it should have stayed as a graphic novel only. I just can't figure out why they don't create their own IP's rather then search for something to steal. I enjoy the comics but not only are my standards for comics different but the medium requires me to take in the information differently. It's not working in a T.V. series all that well. I was luke warm on the first and now I'm just not sure. Will I watch more? It depends if I'm free on Sunday but I'm not going out of my way for it.

I'm currently downloading the first 2 episodes. Sounds like I should wait a bit before watching.

I agree its not as good as the comics. It is different enough that one doesn't detract from my enjoyment of the other, which I like. The show itself I keep going back and forth as to how much I enjoy it, but I still think it has potential to be great later on. A typical zombie movie would be rolling the end credits now, but in the show I can't recall a single human even being killed by a zombie in the first two episodes. So I'm in for the first season for at least the novelty of it.

Yeah, the second ep pretty much sucked ass. White Power Bill's character was lame, as were the others in that group that weren't in the comic. I'm kind of just holding out to see how the handle the Rick/Shane/Lori love triangle. If they fuck that up, then there's no hope.

Oh, and fuck running zombies.

I just think it's really funny there's all this talk like "it's about the characters", "it's about humanity, not horror"...and then there's that thing about not ever calling them 'zombies' as if the show is somehow above that. But the centerpiece of episode two was a scene more gruesome, horrific, and brutal than anything in a Lucio Fulci movie! I get the point- the humans do the most violent and disgusting thing in the show...but so what. Humans also do stuff like the Holocaust. Chopping up a zombie with a driver's license is small potatoes.

Running zombies, yeah, it's time for that to be put down. I'm also tired of viral zombies. I'd like to see something get back to the cosmic/toxic/supernatural zombies for a fucking change.

Like I said, I haven't read the comics but it looks like there's not much original there either...the thing is, unoriginality and derivativeness comes across differently in the comics medium than it does in film/TV.

I'm also completely unimpressed with the characters. I don't give a flying shit about anyone in it yet. Rick is kind of cool, and I did like the dad and the kid from the first one...but everybody else is pretty much worthless.

First of all waking up after a coma in a hospital bed is not a 28 Days Later steal. It originally appeared in the sci-fi/horror classic Day of the Triffids so both the comic book and 28 Days probably "stole" it from that.

But I can easily see why letting the racial tension surface is totally lame. Because, you know, that would like never happen in a real life crisis. Sorry, but holding that against the show is just lame; zombie movies (or at least the Romero inspired of them) are ALWAYS about how the real monsters aren't the zombies. And while the conflict was not very elegant (it was obviously there to allow Rick to flesh out his character rather than on its own merits), I cannot see how it's fundamentally flawed. Especially since it's not really about racism, but about disagreement and frustration.

Personally I love the show so far. I like that the zombies move at different speeds just like real people would (no super zombies here), I like that we haven't seen a single person killed yet, and I think the scene where they walk through the zombies in blood smeared jackets was really intense.

OK, rambling time. I'll try not to spoil anything from the comics, but I'm not making any promises.

The first episode was rock solid. Probably the best zombie movie/tv this decade. Honestly, what even comes close? Sean of the Dead? A decent spoof that wasn't fucking retarded. Maybe 28 Days Later if you're being very liberal with your definition of zombie. Yes, the intertubes is filled with nitpicky bullshit about how it shouldn't have started with the scene of him shooting the little girl, or Barne's comment about the murder/suicide family scrawling "God Forgive Us" on the wall in blood, but that's just what that is: nitpicky bullshit.

The second episode however was a goddamned disaster. For those of you who haven't read it, the comic just has Rick enter Atlanta, almost get mauled by zombies, meet up with Glen (Asian kid), then head to the camp. Now I understand why they wanted to slow down how fast Rick meets up with his wife and kid (though I don't see how one more episode will make the masive coincedence any more believable), and I'm alright with them adding new characters for the show, but damn, that episode sucked. The key dropping scene alone was enough to make me want to rage quit.

I thought Glen was casted well, and he was probably the best new character in the show. Andrea (white chick), the only other one from the comic, was fairly meh to be hoest, and she looked a little old for her part (kind of impotant later). Of the other four characters (who are not in the comic), White Power Bill is the only one remotely interesting, if only because he actually has a personality, even if a shitty one. The other ones I'm sure are cannon fodder, which is pretty stupid considering the rate at which characters die in the comic anyway.

To anyone looking to maybe stop watching, please don't. That last episode was almost 100% filler bullshit. And why the kept the rubbing zombie gore on them as a disguise scene, one of the low parts for zombie lore in the comics, is beyond me. But stick with it, it should get better.

I thought #2 was average, hardly so dire that anyone would consider stopping watching. As I said before, it has promise, I'm prepared to give it time to find it's feet.

Agreed with everyone that ep 1 was a lot better than 2. I'm hoping this develops long-term with some more interesting interactions and human/social commentary. If so, Frank Darabont would be the right guy to do that in a way that slowly builds, based on The Green Mile and Shawshank Redemption (one of my favorite films ever, and probably the main reason I wanted to give this a chance to begin with). I did think the first episode issue of the zombie wife/mother was done quite well, and the Sheriff's initial disorientation was realistic. The main character is depicted well, though I agree with Barnes that there doesn't seem to be any really well-defined or likable characters. Caricatures, mostly, so far. But it's a series, so I'm sure they'll grow on you, regardless.

I agree that it's hard to say where the quality of the show is going to rest after just two episodes, but seeing as we're now 1/3 of the way through season one, shit has got to be formed up so to speak.

The social commentary thing is fine...but when it's the exact same social commentary that's been in every zombie movie since NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD...then it's kind of redundant.

So far though, I really liked the kid and the dad and they're gone. I liked the horse and it died.

Good call on that DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS thing, I didn't think about that.