"The Walking Dead" - Frank Darabont, AMC (1 Viewer)

[Inspector Hammer!]

I also mentioned live action but what I mean is the artwork alone does nothing for me, seeing drawings, even if they are impressive, of a story was never compelling to me.


And yes, the FX look damn awesome in HD.

 

[Greg_S_H]

Yeah, Kirkman never planned to tell the whys of the zombie apocalypse. It just is. Also, Hammer, I don't know how you feel about Romero and his comical zombies--the ones wearing clown costumes and cheerleading outfits ("Hey, somebody had to die wearing that!"), but Kirkman hates that stuff with a passion. He said he never wants his zombies to become jokes. I think he pulls a lot of weight with this series when it comes to that kind of stuff.


Don't feel left out if we sometimes reference the comic. It's kind of cool that it's all new to you. But, you're in for some truly insane shit in the very near future if they stick even remotely to the source material.


The girl they cast as Andrea is pretty cute (the blonde at the radio). It looks like they ditched her having a sister (unless she just wasn't seen yet). I can't wait to meet the guy on the tank's radio. Love that guy!

 

[TravisR]

Originally Posted by Inspector Hammer!

And yes, the FX look damn awesome in HD.

The zombies looked great but I thought the CG blood looked exactly like CG blood.



Anyone not familiar with the comic should probably be very careful regarding spoiler boxes, there's already one MASSIVE spoiler (properly hidden) that probably won't occur for at least two or three seasons on the TV show.

 

[SteveGon]

If you've seen "The Mist" you've got the answer to your question.

True, but that was a low budget horror adaptation of a Stephen King story. Robert Kirkman isn't a household name and this is a tv series. Probably a lot more money men involved in TWD. Still, it might happen.


I would be surprised if they film the scene where the two little girls are beheaded by the serial killer Rick's group runs into at the prison. Zombiefied little girl heads may still be too freaky for tv! That scene visibly unnerved my 13 year old nephew when I let him read the trades. Bad uncle Steve. (Fortunately he survived and became a zombie nut like me!)

 

[SteveGon]

Hmm, if this is a success maybe we'll see a Marvel Zombies movie...

 

[Greg_S_H]

Originally Posted by TravisR
Anyone not familiar with the comic should probably be very careful regarding spoiler boxes, there's already one MASSIVE spoiler (properly hidden) that probably won't occur for at least two or three seasons on the TV show.

I was just going to say that. I have no authority here, but I would ask that people consider identifying what type of spoiler they are revealing. Is it a spoiler for next week's episode, or is it something that would spoil anyone who hasn't read at least 60 issues of the comic book? If it's something that could be known by watching the "next on," that's a whole different level from "here's where this character will eventually wind up." There's nothing wrong with Steve's spoiler being included in this thread (and, the show may not follow the comic that closely), but I don't think anyone new to TWD wants to go anywhere near that information!


Glad this is on AMC. I was going to try to save the episodes, but it's pretty close to a guarantee it'll be out on Blu-Ray.

 

[ChadMcCallum]

Originally Posted by SteveGon


I would be surprised if they film the scene where the two little girls are beheaded by the serial killer Rick's group runs into at the prison. Zombiefied little girl heads may still be too freaky for tv! That scene visibly unnerved my 13 year old nephew when I let him read the trades. Bad uncle Steve. (Fortunately he survived and became a zombie nut like me!)

I don't think we'll see that either. It didn't add a whole lot to the story, as I recall, plus it would be far too graphic for HBO, let alone AMC.


HUGE COMIC SPOILERS!



I'm looking forward to the scene where Tyrese is killed. That was the biggest shock of the entire series for me and it was brutal. It felt like a real kick in the balls and even though it happened a few years ago I'm still kind of mad at Kirkman for doing that but it will make for some great tv so I hope it happens in the series and in the same way.

I also wonder if Rick will still lose his hand? It would probably look pretty fake on screen, unless he wears a greenscreen glove and they remove the hand in post production but that would probably get expensive. I bet he won't lose the hand, unless he's for some reason fitted with a prosthetic hand soon afterward.

 

[Greg_S_H]

Just reposting, not factchecking: http://ifanboy.com/content/articles/THE_WALKING_DEAD_Breaks_AMC_Ratings_Records

The numbers are in from last night's premiere episode of The Walking Dead on AMC. And they're better than anyone expected.






The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that the premiere drew 5.3 million total viewers and 3.6 million viewers in the 18-49 demo, the only demo that the advertisers, and thus the networks, really care about. Not only is that the biggest 18-49 audience for any series premiere on any cable network this year but it's also the biggest numbers for any series in AMC's history.

[COLOR= rgb(255, 0, 0)]UPDATE -[/COLOR] When you add in the viewers from the replays at 11:30pm and 1am, the total viewership rises to 8.1 million.

By contrast, here are the total viewerships of the first episodes of some other AMC series:

Mad Men - 900,000
Breaking Bad - 1,343,000
Rubicon - 1,700,000

And there's John's little Halloween decoration!

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

So cool that the ratings were strong, I was a little worried that people wouldn't tune in but the numbers show that I was thankfully mistaken.


And yeah, Sideshow Collectibles should make a full size prop of that zombie, of course the thing would probably cost 1,000's of bucks lol.

 

[ChadMcCallum]

Originally Posted by Greg_S_H




I was just going to say that. I have no authority here, but I would ask that people consider identifying what type of spoiler they are revealing. Is it a spoiler for next week's episode, or is it something that would spoil anyone who hasn't read at least 60 issues of the comic book? If it's something that could be known by watching the "next on," that's a whole different level from "here's where this character will eventually wind up." There's nothing wrong with Steve's spoiler being included in this thread (and, the show may not follow the comic that closely), but I don't think anyone new to TWD wants to go anywhere near that information!

That sounds like a good idea. I would also suggest everyone watching this series that hasn't read the comic avoid Walking Dead message boards like the one on IMDB since its full of major unmarked spoilers. I would even avoid looking at the covers of the comics if you see them in stores. Some of them have some pretty big spoilers on them.

 

[spshultz]

What a freaking start! I mean wow! I am no zombie connoisseur by any means but I decided to check it out on a whim and I'm glad I did. I'll be tuned in every Sunday.


By the way, why so much camera time spent on Kevin Bacon zombie in the bus?

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Kevin Bacon zombie...


I have a question regarding those bus zombies, did they just then reanimate or were they walking around and said "hey, I'm gonna go take a nap on this bus until lunch happens by." lol?


It's almost like these zombies are a lot like a car that's on E, they have to keep moving or else they shut down until something disturbs them to wake them up again.

 

[SteveGon]

You guys are probably right about the spoiler boxes - someone is bound to check out that info and then get upset.

One final spoiler regarding a post above:



I hated seeing Tyrese go out that way too. As a matter of fact I think his death bothered me more than Lori's! The governor sure was a douchebag and I'm glad he got his comeuppance (even though it was ultimately at the hand of one of his own people and not Rick). I was wondering about Rick's hand too. Not sure if they'll want to go to the bother of dealing with that...

 

[Kevin Hewell]

Those were zombies? I just thought that was the everyday crowd outside the Five Points MARTA station. *


*Atlanta joke



Quote:

I meant to mention, Rick running into the undead hoard in Atlanta just might find it's way into my subconscious while I sleep tonight, been awhile since a zombie attack made me tense up and feel very much afraid.

 

[SteveGon]

It's almost like these zombies are a lot like a car that's on E, they have to keep moving or else they shut down until something disturbs them to wake them up again.

For some of the undead in TWD that seems to be true.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

More accurately it's as if they run on so low of a charge of energy that they sometimes "fall asleep" so to speak to get another spark that will carry them for another short while.


I don't know why but I really like that, I'm not sure I've ever seen zombie's like that before.

 

[Greg_S_H]

Yeah, and I would include the guy "sleeping" outside the house. The one that Rick went apeshit on with the baseball bat. He was just having a little midmorning nap and smelled brains, and said, "Break's over!"

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

One other minor detail that I commend the show on is something rather simple but most zombie films overlook...flies.


In this show there are flies buzzing all over corpses, it really gives you a sick feeling in your stomach, almost as if you can smell them rotting. I'm so sick of seeing movies where a body has been laying for days or weeks and there are no flies.

 

[Greg_S_H]

I was going to refrain from commenting any more, but yeah . . . when the flies were in the horse house, I felt like flies were crawling on me. And the one thing I can't abide is creepy crawlies in my bedroom.

 

[joshEH]

A second season was just greenlit, according to some news outlets...awesome news.



Quote:

Originally Posted by Greg_S_H

The girl they cast as Andrea is pretty cute (the blonde at the radio). It looks like they ditched her having a sister (unless she just wasn't seen yet). I can't wait to meet the guy on the tank's radio. Love that guy!

Spoilers below:

Hearing Glen over the tank's radio at the end put a smile on my face.

"Hey, dumbass...you in the tank! Can you hear me? Cozy in there?"



Also, Emma Bell plays the sister -- we saw her briefly at the campground. Laurie Holden's character doesn't enter the picture until next episode, apparently.


The creep-factor for the hospital was right on point...loved the disturbingly-long, pale fingers reaching through the bulging "DON'T OPEN -- DEAD INSIDE" doors, and the scene where he's lighting the matches as he navigates the pitch-black stairwell had us on the edge of our seats while we sat there with the lights off. It almost made it scarier that nothing attacked him.


I can't believe they blew a little zombie-girl's brains out in the first five minutes. I'm really curious about the rules for basic cable gore now, because that pilot easily tops Breaking Bad's second episode, in terms of gratuitous splatter.


I love how the first scene is basically there to tell us: "Yeah, we're going to be shooting little girls in the head. You in, or out?" That tank scene? So beautifully done; I don't know if I've ever felt such overwhelming dread for a protagonist who was obviously going to survive.


One of the best things about the first episode was that no one seemed to do anything headshakingly stupid. All of the peril seemed legitimately encountered without having to resort to cheap tricks.


Anyways, looks like we're gonna make it to the prison-storyline after all. Hurd and Darabont certainly have to be celebrating right now.