The Walking Dead - AMC

JohnnyGottaKeyboard said:

When I mentioned misogyny in my earlier post, I was referring to the more subtle way women were portrayed as both weak and in need of protection and guidance, and as a prize to be contested by the menfolk. (Of course, if the last few years have taught me anything, it's that female characters have been set-back about twenty years since Buffy closed the Hellmouth for good.)[/SIZE]

Click to expand...

Hmm, I don't know about that. In the comic, the best fighters in the group are women (Andrea the sniper and Michonne the melee combatant).

maestrowork said:

It's a little far-fetched someone could live on a slow IV drip for a month (considering electricity may be down, too), but I think that's something that audience can choose to suspend their disbelief on. Still unlikely, however.

Click to expand...

I find it amusing that we're effectively decrying the lack of realism in a show where the world has been overrun by rotting undead. Just sayin'.

On a more serious note, as I recall in the comics Rick eventually finds out that the hospital was still manned until the zombies overran it. Apparently that happened not too long before he woke up. If I remember right, I think the timeline was that he was in a coma for three months, the outbreak (and evacuation of nonessential people in the town) happened a month before he wakes up, and the hospital was overrun about a week(?) before he regains consciousness.

(Anyone who read the comics more recently than me, check me on this?)

I think that the timeline would make sense (ish). Like Piper mentioned the hospital could've been (or was?) ran by a few people who stayed behind. The door was changed from the inside.

I was also angry about the horse. He shouldnt have promised it wasnt going to die. Horses are very trusting. I can only hope that the horse comes back and wreaks some horsey zombie mayhem.

All in all, I thought this episode was pretty depressing. But then I get way too into things when I watch them. When Fred died (Angel) I cried for a week. I am going to wait for my overall opinion till the second episode. I realize that there are certain factors that need to be established, and because of the genre those factors will be repetitive.

It's set to record on my DVR!

Finally saw this last night. I really liked it, think it is about time they did a Zombie tv show. Now I have never read the comics (or even knew they were comics), so I can't comment on that.

I do see a small parallel to 28 days, but honestly wouldn't have noticed it if it wasn't mentioned here. The major issue I had was the hospital scene as well. I am going to assume that there were some staff there taking care of him until shortly before he woke up, or else it doesn't make sense. An IV running for a month or more? I don't think so. And the fact that no alarms went off when he starting taking things off made me think there was no power. It was obvious his bandage hadn't been changed in awhile. And he would have had a urinary catheter (or would have pissed and crapped all over himself). Medical mistakes always bug me.

And I did get really angry when the horse died. I hate seeing animals hurt in tv and movies.

I did wonder about the wife and his friend. I thought it was pretty messed up, and way too soon...then I thought it had probably been going on for awhile.

Otherwise, I liked it. I like how they portrayed the zombies (not even calling them that). I prefer shambing to running. Make-up was really good. Who else wants a walk on role as a zombie?? I think it would be fun. Also like the story line of the man with his son, and the mom being turned. Felt so bad for them.

They have a few kinks to work out, but I am looking forward to next week.

JohnnyGottaKeyboard said:

I don't know anything about the graphic novel, but the series was a bit derivative (if not downright plagiaristic) in that the hero was shot and then 28 DAYS LATER he awoke in a hospital to find the world overrun by zombies. Also are American actors so expensive now they have to import Aussies and Brits for everything?

Click to expand...

Well, using the same idea isn't plagiarism.

Further, the opening of 28 Days Later was an homage to Day of the Triffids. It's too good a plot device not to use again.

JohnnyGottaKeyboard said:

And there was a lot of acting in this ep--the window sniper scene was particularly annoying, but I do admit to a certain curmudgieness.

Click to expand...

Not sure what this means. You don't like fiction shows to have acting in them? I'm a curmudgeon myself, so maybe I can understand.

I wish I'd known they were filming in Atlanta; I coulda been a zombie! In the comic, it was clear that neither the writer (Robert Kirkman) nor the artist (Tony Moore) had ever been to Atlanta, and didn't do the half-hour's Internet research that would have at least provided real street names and a proper skyline; so it was good to see my city on the screen.

They'll do okay if they follow the general storyline of the comics, while improving on its worst flaws (terrible dialogue and terminally stupid heroes). Judging by Frank Darabont's film The Mist, he won't shy away from the comic's theme that nobody is ever safe. (And if you rent or buy The Mist, I highly recommend watching the black & white version of the movie on the bonus disk.)

Come to think of it, it's too bad Thomas Jane, who starred in The Mist, couldn't have played Rick, but he's busy playing a manwhore on HBO's show Hung. But Andrew Lincoln did fine. Both he and Lennie James (who played Morgan, the grieving widower with the young son) are English, but they do pretty well with American accents.

For a fan of the comic, it was fun to see the characters brought to life. When viewers start to get attached to them ... well, there'll be some rough episodes down the road.

There are logic problems, pretty much inherent to the genre. The zombies in the show are apparently Type 1b (based on my own classification). Meaning that they're individually very slow and unintelligent -- and also that only people infected with the zombie virus (or whatever the agent is) will become zombies. (As opposed to Type 1a, the George Romero zombie. In his scenario, everybody who dies for any reason rises as the living dead.)

That should be the most survivable scenario (though an essential element of the zombie problem changes later on), and if the military could maintain discipline, there's no way they should be overwhelmed. For the total collapse that seems in evidence, I'd have to posit that there was mutiny in the ranks and mass desertion as soldiers and Guardsmen panicked and took off to try and save their own families.

Satori1977 said:

And I did get really angry when the horse died. I hate seeing animals hurt in tv and movies.

Click to expand...

I know what you mean. Maybe this'll help: Blade (the horse), takin' a break with his co-star, Andrew Lincoln.

Sydneyd said:

All in all, I thought this episode was pretty depressing. But then I get way too into things when I watch them. When Fred died (Angel) I cried for a week.

Click to expand...

Uh-oh... it's a good thing you haven't read the comics then. Specially issue 48...

Kaiser-Kun said:

Uh-oh... it's a good thing you haven't read the comics then. Specially issue 48...

Click to expand...

Oh great! does a box full of puppies get eaten?

Sydneyd said:

Oh great! does a box full of puppies get eaten?

Click to expand...

...that would've been easier to process...

Kaiser-Kun said:

Uh-oh... it's a good thing you haven't read the comics then. Specially issue 48...

Click to expand...

I read them in the graphic novel collections, rather than the individual comics, but I think I know the one you mean. Oh, yes.

Now that I think of it, maybe the best thing the comics do is communicate how deeply, grotesquely sad the whole zombie scenario is. Looks like they've caught that pretty well in the show.

Oh I HOPE they fix the terminally stupid heroes thing.

Cause seriously, they started dying so rapidly and in situations so obviously deadly, I stopped reading the comics in anger and frustration.

When's the next installment?

JohnnyGottaKeyboard said:

Puh-leeez! About half of his anquish would have sufficed. (But really you're leading me into picking knits; I really enjoyed the show overall.)

Click to expand...

That's "picking nits". (I had to do that just for the irony.)

It's an emotional scene; perhaps the most wrenching, nightmarish moment of the character's life. Not sure how much you want that underplayed.

I've got Night of the Comet on my Netflix queue; maybe I'll bump it up now.

Brainstorm77, the show should be on AMC Sunday nights, 10 EST.

Manuel Royal said:

I've got Night of the Comet on my Netflix queue; maybe I'll bump it up now.

Click to expand...

Night of the Comet is indeed a classic, but it is probably best enjoyed if you do not go in thinking that you are about to see the Citizen Kane of the 80s. It is fair to say that you are not.

JohnnyGottaKeyboard said:

I think Night of the Comet did a much better homage to DOTT. But yeah, you're right. Altho there really is no use denying that the similarities between TWD and 28Days are closer than any of the other comparisons.I dislike when the acting takes me out of the story and bashes me over the head with the fact that some guy is on screen being paid to emote. I think the window-sniper scene did this. He looks through the viewfinder... Can't pull the trigger! He steadies himself, looks again... Again he can't pull the trigger! His heart is breaking. He has to save her! It's all too much for him!!!

Puh-leeez! About half of his anquish would have sufficed. (But really you're leading me into picking knits; I really enjoyed the show overall.)

Click to expand...

I liked that scene, probably my favorite scene of the whole ep. I found his emotion, his anguish over whether to pull the trigger or not, very real. It doesn't matter what he does, he knows that. She is already gone. That isn't her (the wife and mother he knew), but seeing her face, he still can't do it.

I hope to see more of his character.

shawkins said:

Night of the Comet is indeed a classic, but it is probably best enjoyed if you do not go in thinking that you are about to see the Citizen Kane of the 80s. It is fair to say that you are not.

Click to expand...

I worked on that movie... kind of. I worked for the FBO where the JetRanger was based, and fueled it up a couple of times over the two days the production company could afford to use it.

Noah Body said:

I worked on that movie... kind of. I worked for the FBO where the JetRanger was based, and fueled it up a couple of times over the two days the production company could afford to use it.

Click to expand...

LOL. That was a real helicopter? I alway sort of assumed it was one of those kind on a wire that they give to little kids, except painted really well.

"Attention Shoppers..."

I am SO watching that movie again this weekend.

AlexPiper said:

I find it amusing that we're effectively decrying the lack of realism in a show where the world has been overrun by rotting undead. Just sayin'.

Click to expand...

Surely if this example was more realistic (I haven't seen it yet so I don't know the details), that would be better than just saying it doesn't matter because it's a show about an unrealistic issue - zombies? Just because the zombie angle isn't part of the real world shouldn't mean the makers and viewers accept what sounds to me like a cock up.

As an FYI, I was on iTunes this morning and it looks like they're selling full episodes.

shawkins said:

LOL. That was a real helicopter? I alway sort of assumed it was one of those kind on a wire that they give to little kids, except painted really well.

"Attention Shoppers..."

I am SO watching that movie again this weekend.

Click to expand...

Definitely a real helicopter, a 1973 model if memory serves. I always wondered why military guys were flying around in a brightly-colored civilian helicopter, but hey... when you're making indy films, you fill in as best as you can.

That film started my unrequited love for Catherine Mary Stewart, though being the fickle man that I am, I'm sure I abandoned her a year or so later. And I found Mary Woronov to be very strangely... hot. In a cerebral sort of way.

"An E-ticket attraction! Let's do it again..."

Noah Body said:

That film started my unrequited love for Catherine Mary Stewart,

Click to expand...

Oh, hell yes! I hope wherever she is now she still has that same haircut.

Noah Body said:

And I found Mary Woronov to be very strangely... hot. In a cerebral sort of way.

Click to expand...

In-deed. She's so very stern. Hubba hubba.

Oddly enough I'm watching the pilot again here while I'm typing this post...

Manuel Royal said:

There are logic problems, pretty much inherent to the genre. The zombies in the show are apparently Type 1b (based on my own classification).

Click to expand...

I would be very interested to see your classification system of zombies. Perhaps it's something that should be standardized?

I think it's really too bad that the whole 28 Days Later/The Walking Dead thing is being so beaten over, especially regarding the coma (there's not much similarity besides that... especially since they aren't even technically zombies in 28 Days Later, just ask Danny Boyle), especially considering, as I previously pointed out in my timeline, I'm pretty goddamned sure Kirkman had it written, and probably had the first comic drawn, before 28 Days Later was even out over here in North America.

So unless he flew to the UK, or got an advance script, there you have it.

And as previous people had pointed out, 28 Days Later wasn't the first movie to ever come up with the whole "wake up from a coma and find everything different" anyway. I mean, hell, they do it in freaking soap operas every other week.

They're infected with RAGE!!!!!!!!