The Walking Dead

[kaneda]

Just wanted to get people's thoughts - those who've watched it and those who haven't alike. I initially thought the idea of zombie related TV show was a tall order. It works for a movie because the gag doesn't tend to wear terribly thin in only 90 odd minutes. But a TV show just seemed like an unsustainable idea.

However, I'm officially hooked. The pilot is one of the best episodes of a TV show I've ever seen, and certainly the best pilot episode period. I'm at the tail end of season 2 at the moment (the finale won't air until Sunday), and I'm already annoyed that it'll be at least 8 months before season 3.

What I like:

- The zombies are a minor part of the story and not constantly being relied upon for pushing the story forward
- The characters are simple, but still interesting - particularly the character of Darryl
- There's been no needless subplots - it's remained about survival at all costs
- It's shot superbly
- For a TV show, the effects are actually not too bad

What I dislike:

- The location. It just feels like it should be Texas, and not Georgia
- The kid - he's annoying and should not be part of the show

So, if you've watched it, give your opinions and predictions about what might lie ahead. If you haven't watched it, then do so - now!

[bluedagger]

I love the series. One thing that does bother me though is that mostly ever episode since shane killed that guy has been no more than two sentences

SHANE WTF ARE YOU DOING
CARLS NOT IN THE HOUSE DAMMIT

But yeah really excited for the finale

[RedX]

It's a good show.

One of my favorite drama series I'd say. I love AMC! Mad Men, Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead.
Season 4 of Mad Men and season 4 of Breaking Bad is the best television drama I've seen, those shows just get better and better.

[灰野 敬二]

The characters are annoying and unlikeable for me, but the show has its moments.

[puzzLe]

I only heard about it a couple of times, didn't interest me much at first. Then I was crashing over at Moonlight's and we were pretty bored so I was like "dude just download some episodes of the walking dead, we'll watch that for a bit.."
So we downloaded season 1, started watching at 1 am. Went through all the episodes of the first season and we were so hooked we just downloaded season 2 aswell and watched like 5 episodes of that. We went to sleep at like 8 am that morning, and ever since we're total suckers for the show and it just blows my mind how well it's made. I'm a huge fan of zombie- and post-apocalyptic stuff in general, and that stuff combined with a perfect balance of action and emotion..just wow.
The latest episode was fucking insane, so much stuff went down that I needed like an hour just sitting in front of my computer going like "what the fuck just happened..". Only 1 more episode til the end of S2 though. Hope they'll hurry with S3 since there was already a pretty big break in the middle of the second season. And kan, you're right about the kid. His acting sucks and he doesn't add anything except a source of irritation.





I'm ready for it! Made a whole list of do's, dont's, tactics, places and options already

[Jerka]

I've seen season 1 and about 4 episodes from season 2 but it got kinda dull so I stopped watching, might start again once Tyreese and Michonne are introduced.

[Noah]

The characters are annoying and unlikeable for me, but the show has its moments.

Pretty much this. Some of the actions that the characters have committed throughout the two seasons makes me unable to symphatise with them. Sure they're in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, and the likely extinction of mankind, BUT GODDAMNIT ANDREA WHY WOULD YOU SHOOT DARYL WHEN THERE'S A GROUP OF FIVE PEOPLE IN CONTROL OF THE SITUATION, and Lori you prolife stupid female why would you decide to keep the baby after acquiring the set of pills almost got Maggie turned into a walker, especially since you don't even know if the baby even belongs to Rick.

..No but it's a good show, I'm always left wanting more after finishing an episode.

[Daffy]

I found the first season way more interesting than the second as the first season was a proper zombie show, but the second is a survival drama with zombie elements in it.
In almost every show that could be an interesting action series of some kind the writers have to add a dumb cunt who gets pregnant so that the pace of the show can get turned down way too many steps in order to add some bullshit drama that's disguised as giving the show "depth" also cutting costs.
24 and Strike Back are fucking fantastic action shows due to the lack of dumb cunts getting pregnant and The Walking Dead could have been THE show to watch if it weren't for that.
I hope for the sake of the show that whatever the fuck her name is has a miscarriage of some kind to get things going again unless that's used to make it a sob-story.
That said I'll watch it regardless as it is a zombie show and beats the fuck out of 98% all the other TV shows currently running.
SPOILER DON'T READ: Killing of Shane so soon was also a bad idea as the conflicting views between him and Rick was one that kept the focus on the zombies an not the fucking harvesting the others were focused on.
The episode ended with potential for some interesting turns though so I fucking hope to god that it's the necessary ingredient for making it exciting again.

[kaneda]

@ Puzzle: It wasn't so much his acting, because it wasn't terrible. It's more the fact that his role is superfluous. He basically acts as Rick's moral compass, and nothing more. Also a show runs the risk of running into a major problem that the show Lost suffered - a child character growing faster than the timeline of the show. Remember Walt?

@ Daffy: In regards to your spoiler, I thought it was too soon initially also. But it eliminates the fear I had that that plot point was basically going to be the entire series. My fiance likes Sex & the City, and by association I've endured a lot of that show. The one thing that bugged me most (apart from the six million other things) was this ever present plot point concerning Carry and Mr Big. It became annoying and repetitive after two years, and they dragged the fucking thing on for seven. Going back to Lost again, the Jack/Locke battle was also dragged out way too long and became annoying in the end. So that decision in your spoiler, I think, was a wise one. Nothing worse than when a plot point overstays its welcome.

Another little thing that bothered me was how quickly events took place in the first season. One of the golden rules in movies/TV is don't play all your cards too quickly. It felt like the first season did that. I would have liked to see the first season (which only consisted of six episodes) being just Rick trying to get to Atlanta - running into situations along the way and giving us a good amount of time with that character. But instead almost every key plot point was dealt within just those six episodes. That's just a minor complaint though. I haven't read the comic, so maybe that's the way the story unfolds, and you do have to honour the comic to at least some extent before you go off and start doing your own thing.

[Jerka]

Another little thing that bothered me was how quickly events took place in the first season. One of the golden rules in movies/TV is don't play all your cards too quickly. It felt like the first season did that. I would have liked to see the first season (which only consisted of six episodes) being just Rick trying to get to Atlanta - running into situations along the way and giving us a good amount of time with that character. But instead almost every key plot point was dealt within just those six episodes. That's just a minor complaint though. I haven't read the comic, so maybe that's the way the story unfolds, and you do have to honour the comic to at least some extent before you go off and start doing your own thing.

Season 1 is pretty much based on the first 6 chapters of the comic but the biggest difference is that Carl shoots and kills Shane (he wasn't built up as much as he was in the show) before they leave their camp outside the city.
Some smaller stuff is changed like the people they met in the city when going back for the guns, but in the big scheme its the same as in the comic, their going to Hershels farm, the barn being full with zombies etc which can be kinda boring because that means anyone who read the comic already know who's going to die when and what is going to happen next.
Carl is different in the show though which I though was kinda sad.

If anyone is interested.
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[kaneda]

Thanks for that Swooth. Whenever I see an adaptation, I'm always curious to know how it was handled in comparison to the literature. Page by page adaptations are incredibly rare, so I'm not surprised that changes, even subtle ones, were made to the overall story.

EDIT: The course of events in those pages is what I was certain was going to happen at the same moment of the show. This was obviously a choice made because children shooting people is something that's tough to get on TV. It's tough enough to get it past movie censors.

I'm wondering if the small plot point with talking to the guy on the two-way (who Rick left in the first episode) is in the comic?

[Simon]

Haven't watched it, and probably won't any time soon. Zombies were never my thing 

[Daffy]

Then why comment?
Who the fuck needs to know that you're not watching in a discussion about the show?

[Jerka]

I'm wondering if the small plot point with talking to the guy on the two-way (who Rick left in the first episode) is in the comic?

By two-way you mean the radio thingy then no, it isn't in the comic, they still meet in the beginning and go to the police station though.
I don't want to spoil anything about Morgan so lets just leave it at that.

Another thing that is different is that the plot at the Center for Disease Control never happens, instead they find this walled in neighborhood that is full with zombies, there is also where the non-wife beater version of Ed(Allen) dies.
But Allen actually had 2 kids and a wife though so he could be the Morales in the series, depends on how you look at it.

Guess Ill watch the latest episodes now just to catch up.

[Eddeman]

Watching the latest episode right now, I just had to pause and vent for a bit because Carl (the kid) needs to fucking die. The whole RV thing where they jumped on the roof was fucking stupid too. Why not let them jump on and then instantly gun it out of there? Jesus shitfuck it's infuriating to watch sometimes. Good show though