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

[Paul D G]

Only just finally found time to watch the first ep.


- The Prologue threw me off. First I thought we were starting off in the middle of Zombie Apocalypse, then I realized we weren't and expected the gas station scene to repeat later in the ep, then it didn't. I assume it takes place between when he leaves for Atalanta, to when he finds the farmhouse. The should have cut to him shooting the zombie girl to place it, or leaving the gas station at least.


- The hospital-coma-awakening we've, of course, seen before. But really, if you want your character to not know what's been happening in the world over the past month what else do you do? I was frustrated he never expressed confusion as to what was going on, you know, like a "what the hell's going on?!" would have been appropriate. Or the expression that maybe he's hallucinating (having just woken up). The lack of ANY sort of backstory was a little frustrating. Something vague would have been fine, like "there were reports of an outbreak in Ethiopia, and within a week it had spread to London and New York. A week later it was all over..."

- I was disappointed that the pilot was fairly formulaic. The father-seeking-his-family is a pretty familiar theme in zombie horror. See Brian Keene's The Rising, for example or Stephen King's Cell.


- Sort of shocked by the Feast at the end of the film. It was scenes like this that forced the original Dawn of the Dead into Unrated territory!


So, I wasn't 100% happy with the premiere, but if it's zombies, I'm sticking with it.

 

[Tony J Case]

Originally Posted by Inspector Hammer!


I wouldn't want to be that poor skinhead bastard right now, he's in deep shit when those zombies find their way to the roof lol.

Well, Brooklyn did lock the door with a big ol' padlock, so the Zombies wont be getting through any time soon. And the bucket with the hacksaw did get tipped over - perhaps it was close enough for Skinhead to get the tool? Of course that looked like a pretty flimsy hacksaw and cop cuff-links aren't exactly made of paper, so Skinhead might be looking at a Saw-like solution to getting out of the cuffs.


He's in a bad position sure, but perhaps not a 100% Yer Fucked situation. . . .

 

[Henry Gale]

GOOFS:


In the hospital after he awoke he turned on a faucet and there was real water pressure.


No way!

 

[Chuck Anstey]

Originally Posted by Tony J Case




Well, Brooklyn did lock the door with a big ol' padlock, so the Zombies wont be getting through any time soon. And the bucket with the hacksaw did get tipped over - perhaps it was close enough for Skinhead to get the tool? Of course that looked like a pretty flimsy hacksaw and cop cuff-links aren't exactly made of paper, so Skinhead might be looking at a Saw-like solution to getting out of the cuffs.


He's in a bad position sure, but perhaps not a 100% Yer Fucked situation. . . .

Well if you notice on the close-up, he actually failed to lock the lock and it is just lined up but not pushed in to lock. From a realistic POV, Brooklyn would have had broken ribs from the beat down and might not have been able to move much at all, certainly not run down those stairs and possibly even die from the damage done now that they no longer have modern medical care. Would the group even allow anyone who attacked another for no good reason to live?


When the two were pretending to be zombies, my wife and I were thinking "Imhotep. Imhotep."


I do like how using guns has a consequence.

 

[mattCR]

He did take the grenade from the tank, though, yes?


I'm wondering where the kid in the sirened hotrod ends up...

 

[joshEH]

Solid episode after a great pilot; it felt like Dawn of the Dead '04, as far as it was fast-paced with solid action and tension, with small morsels of character development smattered through out. Loved Glen, though -- perfect realization of the character from the comics. His "organ donor" line was pretty great.


The zombie-mutilation scene was a delight. I am in awe over the amount of gore they're choosing to show. Even my stomach churned a little during the axe-hacking. And, Jesus, the show is only rated TV-14 -- gotta wonder what they'd have to do to get a TV-MA rating.


My one real problem with the episode:


The players: Atlanta...GEORGIA. Two white guys, one racist cousin-fucker, one former peace officer, one white woman, one black woman, one black man, one Hispanic man, one Asian man.


The odds of this group of people getting together is about the same as the Georgia legislature passing "William T. Sherman Appreciation Day."


Loved the ending. L-O-V-E-D the ending, with Glen speeding down the highway. If I hadn't read most of the graphic novel series beforehand, I'd probably assume he went to Florida, where there would be no zombies whatsoever, and he can bang a thousand chicks as the man that survived zombie-filled Georgia. Rock the fuck on, Glen.

(...Though, to be honest, if Georgia is fucked, then Florida is probably the fire to Georgia's pan. Fucking Florida.)

 

[SWFF]

I have yet to watch episode 2, will do it today, I think, but here's some insanely early news on the eventual DVD/Blu-Ray release of the first season:


SHOCK TILL YOU DROP: An early announcement was made today regarding The Walking Dead's DVD and Blu-Ray release.

It appears Starz/Anchor Bay are handling distribution for the entire first season which will set you back about $49.99.

Exact specs and special features have not been revealed. Also stay tuned for a release date.

The Walking Dead, seen on AMC, airs its third episode this Sunday.

 

[TravisR]

Originally Posted by Henry Gale

GOOFS:


In the hospital after he awoke he turned on a faucet and there was real water pressure.


No way!

Why is that a goof? If there was no one left in the hospital (which, presumably, was abanadoned before the utilities stopped working), there still should be enough pressure left that you could turn on the water for a little while.

 

[joshEH]

Also, no spoilers, but I really hope they keep Andrea's love-life the same as in the comic.

The zombie gore we're seeing right now is nothing compared to some of the shit that takes place later in the comic. And I mean NOTHING. There are human-versus-human parts so gruesome that I don't think they'll be able to translate it to TV.

One thing that I love, though, is that in this show the zombies are really, really frightening, without being the rabid beasts introduced by 28 Days Later and the Dawn remake. They are essentially Romero zombies, even though they are a bit faster and meaner, so they still maintain that sense of "manageable apocalypse" that make George's classics so much fun.

Proper fast zombies are just flat-out terrifying, because you could never stand a chance against them as a horde, while the "classic" undead give you the illusion that maybe you could make it in that situation, and also have the satisfaction of pulling off a few headshots in the process. The neat trick that TWD pulls is in giving the creatures that little bit of extra menace that makes them scary again, instead of being just a mob of rotting retards bumbling about.

Shit's gonna get buck-wild when this thing starts having guest-directors.

I'll tell you this much, though -- many of them will be unhappy. Ernest Dickerson directed an episode, and although he enjoyed the experience, he said Frank got a little micro-manage-y. Ernest is no auteur diva, so he rolled with it, but this is Darabont's baby, make no mistake.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

What I love about these zombies is that they seem to be a hybrid of what's best about both Romero's classic lumbering zombies and the ferocious fast-moving ones of The Return of the Living Dead (I use that as an example because to my knowledge that's the first film to feature sprinting corpses and it doesn't get credit enough), and they feature the intelligence of 'Big Daddy' in Land of the Dead, a character I hated in that film but have no problem with here because the purpose of that concept differs from Romero's obnoxious "rights for zombies as a people" ideals.


I'm with 'Rhodes' in Day of the Dead, they're fucking dead! Blow em' outta their socks lol!


Glen speeding out of the city at the end was great mainly because all I could think was "I betcha that's the last thing he expected to be doing when he woke up this morning." lol.

 

[joshEH]

Agreed, and I'm surprised no one has mentioned the zombie climbing the fence yet. But only one of the horde could do it. Seems like some have more "intelligence" than others (see also: zombies with rocks). Interesting.


I'm going with: the longer they've been zombies, the more intelligence they lose. The "fresher" the zombie, the more intelligent. These zombies are pretty hardcore. Using rocks, climbing...and they can get swift when there's food nearby. I like that they aren't just dumb and slow, and also aren't Olympians, but are somewhere in between.


They did finally pull a jump-scare with the rat-eating zombie in the sewer, but even that was well done, in the sense that they'd avoided jump-scares so heavily in the pilot that it sort of turned off my expectations of one finally coming.


And the slow build of the zombies recognizing something wasn't right with the normals' blood-disguises was also nicely done.

 

[Chuck Anstey]

Originally Posted by joshEH

Agreed, and I'm surprised no one has mentioned the zombie climbing the fence yet. But only one of the horde could do it. Seems like some have more "intelligence" than others (see also: zombies with rocks). Interesting.

Actually several zombies were climbing the fence, which is why he was shooting so much. They do a close-up of several climbers being shot. Now I would have thought with so little ammo he would have waited until after they actually made it over the fence before shooting just in case a climber couldn't finish the job.

 

[mattCR]

Ratings BOOM for AMC

“I wish all programming decisions were no brainers like this one,” said Sharon Tal Yguado, SVP Scripted Programming. “‘The Walking Dead’ is a TV masterpiece on so many levels. We want at least 10 seasons, if not more. Kudos to AMC!”

AMC’s “The Walking Dead” is based on the comic book series written by Robert Kirkman and published by Image Comics. Kirkman serves as an executive producer on the project and three-time Academy Award-nominee Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile) serves as writer, director and executive producer. Gale Anne Hurd (The Terminator, Aliens, Armageddon, The Incredible Hulk), chairman of Valhalla Motion Pictures, serves as Executive Producer. David Alpert from Circle of Confusion and Charles “Chic” Eglee (Dexter, The Shield, Dark Angel) serve as Executive Producers.

http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/11/08/amcs-the-walking-dead-renewed-for-13-episode-season-two-as-second-episode-big-ratings/71238

 

[joshEH]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mattCR , [/i]The Shield, Dark Angel) serve as Executive Producers.

http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/11/08/amcs-the-walking-dead-renewed-for-13-episode-season-two-as-second-episode-big-ratings/71238



I wish I were reading that above quote in relation to Caprica right now, but...hell, this is awesome, too. That's still GREAT numbers, better then Mad Men and Breaking Bad...and equally as outstanding, too, when you consider it's on at 10 PM, and it's going up against Sunday Night Football.


I think it would be awesome if, in the future, they took a page out of Lost's playbook, with regards to extended season premieres and season finales. It really felt good getting that long hour-and-a-half for the first episode, and I'd love to see that happen some more in the future. Battlestar Galactica and The Shield did extended episodes from time to time, as well.


But man, what's with the massive hate of this show on other parts of the 'net? People calling it "poorly written," directed, acted? Just another case of people hating popular things, it seems. The show is a hugely popular, water-cooler-level media event. There's always a backlash against those. The thing to do is just sit back, tune out the haters, and enjoy some really good TV.


I think the hype started a little early (but sure as hell paid off in the ratings), and the pedigree either had expectations high (OMG it's Frank Darabont) or cynical (juvenile metal/horror nerds crossing their arms and pouting over Darabont).

But you can pretty much find someone hating anything anywhere on the Internet; by and large, this show seems an irrefutable success.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

I was impressed before a single second of this showed even aired after reading the talent that was involved with it, it's awesome that my initial impression is turning out to be proven correct.

 

[Kevin Hewell]

I find it funny that Sundays at 10pm ET/PT is the battle of the "Walkers" with this show and "Brothers and Sisters".

 

[Greg_S_H]

I was expecting Rick to use the grenade for the noise distraction, but it's probably wise to save it. Great episode, and I don't even want to know those hating the show, but the car alarm was kind of silly. Maybe there are alarms that work that way, but every one I've seen shuts off after a minute or two. Again, though, maybe there are those that have to be manually disabled.


I wasn't too happy when I read about T-Dog and the racist, both of whom were created for the show (along with everyone else on the roof other than Glenn and Andrea), but they are better on screen than I had hoped. I actually felt bad for the racist, but I'm not sure how he could have been taken along without Rick having to sleep with one eye open. I'm sure it'll still be an issue.


Steven Yuen is great. It's as if Glenn stepped off the page.

 

[TravisR]

Originally Posted by Greg_S_H

Steven Yuen is great. It's as if Glenn stepped off the page.

I think it's all in the hat because I thought the same thing about him and Jeffrey DeMunn (Dale). Both wear hats and both look like the comic come to life.

 

[Dave Scarpa]

I'll probably get it after a healthy price drop, i'm buying the season from Itunes for my Apple TV, only $15.99 but only 720p still better than the SD Amc that Direct TV Offers, still very watchable on my 96" Screen. But the show seemed to be filmed in that high contrast video for a very grainy effect or it could just be itunes compression.

Originally Posted by SWFF : An early announcement was made today regarding The Walking Dead's DVD and Blu-Ray release.

It appears Starz/Anchor Bay are handling distribution for the entire first season which will set you back about $49.99.

Exact specs and special features have not been revealed. Also stay tuned for a release date.

The Walking Dead, seen on AMC, airs its third episode this Sunday.[/b]

 

[Dave Scarpa]

Caprica was'nt 1/10 of this series

Originally Posted by joshEH

Quote:


I wish I were reading that above quote in relation to Caprica right now, but...hell, this is awesome, too. That's still GREAT numbers, better then Mad Men and Breaking Bad...and equally as outstanding, too, when you consider it's on at 10 PM, and it's going up against Sunday Night Football.


I think it would be awesome if, in the future, they took a page out of Lost's playbook, with regards to extended season premieres and season finales. It really felt good getting that long hour-and-a-half for the first episode, and I'd love to see that happen some more in the future. Battlestar Galactica and The Shield did extended episodes from time to time, as well.


But man, what's with the massive hate of this show on other parts of the 'net? People calling it "poorly written," directed, acted? Just another case of people hating popular things, it seems. The show is a hugely popular, water-cooler-level media event. There's always a backlash against those. The thing to do is just sit back, tune out the haters, and enjoy some really good TV.


I think the hype started a little early (but sure as hell paid off in the ratings), and the pedigree either had expectations high (OMG it's Frank Darabont) or cynical (juvenile metal/horror nerds crossing their arms and pouting over Darabont).

But you can pretty much find someone hating anything anywhere on the Internet; by and large, this show seems an irrefutable success.