The Walking Dead (AMC) [**Spoilers**]

expectationlost

PhiloCypher wrote: »

My first thought was that he was telling Rick Comic

everyone is infected whether they were bitten or not as we found out in the comics

but what you said makes far more sense .

ok make sure you don't read this spoiler

don ramo

Richard Dower wrote: »

That CDC building blowing up was pretty woeful CGI!...god really poor, also of note...for a 720p HD the quality of the picture was HORRID!, pixalated and blurring all over the shop....really annoying!

DeepBlue wrote: »

@Richard the 350MB version was fully of glitches too.

remember lads this isnt a network show, AMC dont do CGI, and when they do do CGI its only gonna be to convey the point of what they want the viewer to know, therefore its not gonna be fancy CGI, it gonna be a building blowing up, thats it, as basic as possible,

and glitchy files arent AMCs problem its just you have cheap american cousins,


anyway, i for one liked it, i didnt really want them hanging around the CDC, i thought it might be cool if they maybe helped yerman get some more specimens or something, but i doubth it would have worked out,

it should be interesting next season alright, some solid groundwork has been laid down this season, it hasnt been all riveting stuff, but itll give us a better understanding of who some of these people are,

id say one or two of the cast will die within 2 epsiodes of season 2, and hopefully lennie james will fall into the group, and maybe even one or two better actors, to stay i would want mainly rick, shane, lori, dale, andrea, darly, the other i wouldnt be to broke up if they were ate,

i would like if they could possibly push the premier to start with most of the network shows in september, have it end this time next year instaed of only being half-way and then possibly taking a break over christmass,

KeanSeenan

DeepBlue wrote: »

The CDC thing was pretty pointless. They find it and seemingly a day or two later it's blown to smithereens. WTF!!?!!?

I suppose it was just to show them that the rest of the world has been hit and give some idea of what isn't left of civilization.

Wossack

how close was I to getting rid of that Andrea wench? Heck, I was even willing to let Codger McFishermans-Hat go to be finally rid of you, and what? Waa waa waa, dont pull this, dive behind sandbags, hop in truck, happily ever after? First ye kill the wrong sister, and then this? BAH

The CDC episode... you'd swear it was a standalone xfiles episode rather then a season finalle

Basq

The grenade bit was all a bit lazy tbh.. and Jon Bernthal's hammy performance seems to get more and more over-the-top each week.

Not a great finale.

I'm looking forward to season 2, but it does need a real shake up - the characters are the real weak-point, with writing not far behind.

At the end of the day, there's been plenty of shows with average (or below average) first seasons that develop nicely in their 2nd season... 'Buffy' being a prime example.

Richard Dower

Overall i enjoyed the show, but it's not "must see", the plot and characters are rather generic, but i do like they are adding a more emotional and "human" touches to the story, Lennie James agonising over shooting his zombie wife was a high point. Amy dead and rebirth were great.

The production design is very basic, but it adds to the feel of the show, i think Darabont firing the writing staff is a good idea, if him and Kirkman take over and add a couple more guys to to the day-to-day duties, keep a core group, they should be fine.

I'd suggest a single 6 episode viewing session, it'll add to the viewing pleasure.

youcancallmeal

Richard Dower wrote: »

the plot and characters are rather generic

+1
I found the plot fairly plodded along with no real aim but thats to be expected in a zombie apocalypse, what else can they do but try to survive? But therein lies the problem, when there isn't much happening plot wise you need your characters to be very strong. tbh I didnt really find any of them interesting or likeable at all and couldn't care less if they got eaten or not. Basically they needed to do something like the cast of lost meets dawn of the dead, imagine John Locke cutting down some Zeds with his knife!

Having said all that it was only 6 episodes in fairness and I will definitely be tuning into season 2

BKtje

Why didn't the scientist guy just tell them that they needed some fuel for the generators? They had what seemed like a day to go out and get some.

I do get that he wanted to die but still. He also almost murdered all of them.

Overall fairly disappointing series. I enjoyed it but it could have been so much more.

Richard Dower

As many predicted (incl. myself) TWD scored another record ratings, 6 million viewers + a 3.0 Adult demo:

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2010/12/06/walking-dead-finale-draws-6-million-viewers-3-0-adults-18-49-rating/74468

jor el

Fairly crappy episode, and season ending, over all. Nothing really happened, neither Lenny James nor Merle turned up, and suddenly they have enough fuel in all the cars to drive away, when previously they were almost dry.

killbillvol2

basquille wrote: »

The grenade bit was all a bit lazy tbh.. and Jon Bernthal's hammy performance seems to get more and more over-the-top each week.

Not a great finale.

I'm looking forward to season 2, but it does need a real shake up - the characters are the real weak-point, with writing not far behind.At the end of the day, there's been plenty of shows with average (or below average) first seasons that develop nicely in their 2nd season... 'Buffy' being a prime example.

What does that leave?

Pity the grenade wasn't a dud and they all got fried inside CDC. We could start Season 2 with Merle and Lenny and never have to look at those hams again.

X-Calibre

Really disliked that episode. The only remotely important things we learned were that the rest of the world is pretty much f*cked as well, and that Shane tried to save Rick. I assume the intention of the flashback was to make us feel some sympathy for Shane, but then he ended up just being a dick for the rest of the episode which made the flashback seem irrelevant.

Other than that, the episode plodded along with some cringe worthy dialogue and acting and with very little of interest happening. A few of the characters (Shane, Andrea) have started to become really unlikable as well.

Overall it was a disappointing end to a series that has gone downhill since the fantastic pilot. I'll tune in the 2nd season but if it doesn't pick up I'll be giving up. The sacking of the writers is a sign that maybe Frank Darabont was unhappy with the first season and wants to overhaul it for the 2nd season. Hopefully this is the case because it has a hell of a lot of potential.

Syferus

jor el wrote: »

Fairly crappy episode, and season ending, over all. Nothing really happened, neither Lenny James nor Merle turned up, and suddenly they have enough fuel in all the cars to drive away, when previously they were almost dry.

They never said they were completely empty, just that they wouldn't be able to reach the miltary base on the fuel they had.

Frisbee

Jenner definitely told Rick that Lori is pregnant imo, there's nothing else he could know about her and that would show up on a blood test.

Really wish Dale hadn't persuaded Andrea to get out before the CDC exploded. Hate her as a character and wish she'd just have her face bitten off at this stage.

Great line-

Rick: I'm grateful.
Jenner: There will come a day when you won't be.

don ramo

http://insidetv.ew.com/2010/12/03/walking-dead-darabont-hurd-writers/

interview with the executive producer stating that darabont didnt fire the writing staff, some have moved onto other projects, it doesnt say how many left, but writing staff can change quiet regulary if they dont feel that the show there writing for sparks there interest,

maybe this opens the door to bring on writers that might now be interested in this show now that they know the premise of the show,

she also said that the carcaters that survived in last nights episode have already signed in for multiple seasons, that maybe the case but i wouldnt say all of them will survive, i cant see all them contracts being honoured, not in a show like this,

i think shane resents the fact that rick survived, he was happy with lori and probably thought her and him were more suited for each other than her and rick, and since rick turned up it has just sent shane into a spiral, at the start of the season shane was running the camp, and rick arrives and kinda just took over from shane, he reasoned better with the peope, wheras shane just kinda had a heavy handed approach to dealing with issues, i understand shanes situation more than any other caracter on the show, i think his caracter has probably progressed more than any other,

Pepe LeFrits

I thought that was a terrific finale. The staying behind bits at the end were properly grim.

Orizio

The dialogue and acting has really gone to **** after the first two episodes. Hopefully the new writers can save a show with at least some potential, but it needs more action, more tension, less faceless characters and more subtle writing and acting.

ricero

I didn't get the whole let's forgot about meryl dixon like he was one of the most fascinating charaterS yet is only in it for one episode I was expecting him to come back maybe and get sum revenge hopefully he returns in the secound series

Orizio

Oh and the blonde girl that should have died is possibly the most irratating and pompous character in any TV show currently. Although all of the characters are a pain in the ass to a certain degree - I mean when the most likeable one is the redneck dude with the crossbow you know you've managed to write up some truly odious characters.

Augmerson

Quality wasn't best in that final episode, felt a bit rushed towards the end, really felt they could have done more with the finale of the first series. Really wondering about what Jenner said to Grimey, read a spoiler in the last few pages of the thread - could be that, but the story has been altered around already so maybe not, but if the Mist was anything to go by, Darabont isn't always in favour of a happy ending.

Richard Dower

There is a PROPER out now for the last ep. - the first release was dreadful quality!

expectationlost

and to think rick wouldn't recognise rape defense wounds from a mile off and be a bit more curious

pixelburp

I think what this show lacked was a definitive arc to be honest. Yes the quality went downhill from the first episode, but with only 6 stories in total, to me it seemed obvious the writers had no concrete, over-arching plot to work with, and so as a consequence the characters felt sketchy and at a loose end. What we got was 6 episodes of ... filler, really. I can only hope that with a 13-episode season 2, we might see something a little more solid & well plotted than the haphazard season 1.

Because of this, it seemed like they didn't know what to do with some of the characters. Merl (mr. one hand) disappeared despite being set up as a future antagonist: I presumed it was going to be revealed he was the source of the zombie incursion into the camp. Were we supposed to care about that black lady who stayed in the CDC? Did we even get her name? I think she spoke one line in the whole episode, suggesting maybe it was god's wrath. Marvellous, the token shoutout to the biblebelt. Shane's swinging from sympathetic, misunderstood anti-hero, to total douchebag in the space of 5 minutes. And what about Rick Grimes? Seriously - are his decisions in the comics as stunningly boneheaded as they are in this show? Nearly everything he got the camp to do resulted in disaster. I wish they'd put Dale (old guy with beard) in charge as he's the only likeable, sensible & practical man in the camp.

I did laugh though when the scientist informed us that the last country to surrender to the virus & were closest to a cure were the French. Followed quickly by the comment about fossil fuels; jeez Frank Darabont, could have been less subtle with the lecturing?

Basq

pixelburp wrote: »

And what about Frank Grimes? Seriously - are his decisions in the comics as stunningly boneheaded as they are in this show?

Yeah.. what about Frank Grimes?!



:pac:

pixelburp

basquille wrote: »

Yeah.. what about Frank Grimes?!



:pac:

Whoops; Well Frank did electrocute himself, an act only mildly more stupid than half the things Rick has been doing in The Walking Dead

krudler

Orizio wrote: »

Oh and the blonde girl that should have died is possibly the most irratating and pompous character in any TV show currently. Although all of the characters are a pain in the ass to a certain degree - I mean when the most likeable one is the redneck dude with the crossbow you know you've managed to write up some truly odious characters.

I dont even know half the characters names and I've watched the whole series, they've killed off the somewhat interesting characters and left the ones you just dont care about, even the supposed hero of the show makes stupid decisions and nearly gets everyone killed in almost every episode.

Duggy747

krudler wrote: »

even the supposed hero of the show makes stupid decisions and nearly gets everyone killed in almost every episode.

In fairness, in the comics Ricks decisions almost 99% resulted in disaster. He's an anti-hero who doesn't want the job because of the actions of his consequences.

I liked the finale, wasn't great but I was entertained. I love zombies so when the scientist shows them the process of changing I thought that was cool.

It was very rushed, the whole "CDC is gonna blow up" just came out of nowhere!! But I didn't think the building blowing up looked too bad, I mean for a TV show it was decent. I've seen far worse CGI on high-end shows.

I can see why Darabont got rid of the writers, this show has fantastic potential but this season was more filler and a horrific waste of good characters. It had some excellent moments but they got over-shadowed by some crappy dialogue pieces.

Switching Shane from misunderstood hero to an utter wanker was a bad choice, we didn't need the whole potential rape scene to portray how much he wants to be with Lory and Carl. It would've been far more interesting showing him as a character that wanted something to cling onto and was jealous of Rick having his family. Tragic hero, sort of job.

I still enjoyed the season but I agree with the other posters on some of it's faults. The black woman who stayed behind (I thought she was an odd looking woman, strange nose on her) was forgettable, didn't even know her name and didn't care for her. The finale really should have left us wanting something to look forward to, I mean we have to wait a year for the next season!

As for what the scientist said? I imagine it was that

either Lory's preggers or that everyone is infected anyways...........but I'd say it's that Lory is pregnant.

Frisbee

I think they should put Daryl in charge. He seems to be the only one with an ounce of common sense. Plus he likes to solve problems with an axe/crossbow/shovel. He gets shit done.

Also I caved and ordered Book 1 of the comic on Amazon...

PhiloCypher

A decent but not great season finale but then my expectations have been lowered week on week with this show .

My problems :

• The joy over the food and showers don't feel as well earned here as they do in the comic , in the comic there was always a few panels devoted to hunting and the daily slog of surviving , with all the detours into atlanta we never get that sort of insight into camp life in the show .
• Why try and humanize shane by showing us he really did think Rick was dead only to have him try and rape Lori .
• In an effort not to leave people with a cliffhanger if the series didn't get a second season the show lumbers on past the most obvious place to end it and leave people wanting more ie. where Jenner locks them all in the control room and gives his speech about a quick death being far preferable .
• The most powerful non nuclear explosive in existence and it doesn't blow out the campers and every other car in a half mile radius windows ? ..... sorry not buying it .

Richard Dower

All the latest news here: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/ustv/s135/the-walking-dead/

Augmerson

Has anyone here ever seen that movie Outbreak with Hoffman and Freeman et al?

I'm fairly sure in the beginning they use one of those Thermobaric weapons and wipe out a village and half a forest with it. The explosion that brings down the CDC is pretty tame in comparison, and if the CDC is underground with tunnels and stuff, wouldn't the surface have cracked or heaved up?

Orizio

Pacing is a huge problem. I see missed opportunities everywhere - the first 6 episodes could have been focused on Rick, the black dude and his child and the Asian chap, and left the camp out of the picture. Rick and the other three could spend their time trying to find Rick's family and other survivors and the whole thing could have been focused on developing those four characters and putting them into difficult situations involving ****loads of zombies. The final episode could be them finding the camp...under mass zombie attack. Cue loads of death, a great gun fight and Rick uniting with his family.

The second series could then focus on the camps survivors (lets say 7-8 of them, the ones listed above, plus Murro and his brother and some zombie fodder) finding the CDC. There then could be a few scientist survivors rather then one, all of whom disagree on how to treat the survivors, some of whom should be infected themselves. Cue everyone turning on everyone 'The Thing' style.

****, I'm wasted over here, I should be writing TV scripts in LA...

AlmightyCushion

Augmerson wrote: »

Has anyone here ever seen that movie Outbreak with Hoffman and Freeman et al?

I'm fairly sure in the beginning they use one of those Thermobaric weapons and wipe out a village and half a forest with it. The explosion that brings down the CDC is pretty tame in comparison, and if the CDC is underground with tunnels and stuff, wouldn't the surface have cracked or heaved up?

The type of weapon used doesn't determine the size of the explosion. You could have two different Thermobaric weapons go off and one could produce a massive explosion whereas the other could be tiny in comparison.

As for the second part of your post, I don't really know. It probably depends on how far underground the tunnels are and how far (if at all) they extend out from the building.

madrab

Here is what a airfuel bomb should look like

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsQdeAeOEg4

iguana

Deleted User wrote: »

Interesting ending. This may seem like a stupid question, but does anyone know if the CDC has that built in? If the power goes, it explodes. I mean, it makes sense given what they essentially are dealing with.

I'd imagine that if they have such security measures they would also have an awful lot more power. Probably enough for an entire compliment of staff to last in their for a prolonged period. Jenner and the group from the camp should have been able to live there for years. Instead we are supposed to believe that one guy using limited power used up all the fuel in about 6 weeks? If that was the case the place would barely last a few hours when it was in full use. That plotline was an insult to the viewers' intelligence.

AlmightyCushion

iguana wrote: »

I'd imagine that if they have such security measures they would also have an awful lot more power. Probably enough for an entire compliment of staff to last in their for a prolonged period. Jenner and the group from the camp should have been able to live there for years. Instead we are supposed to believe that one guy using limited power used up all the fuel in about 6 weeks? If that was the case the place would barely last a few hours when it was in full use. That plotline was an insult to the viewers' intelligence.

What I thought was even stupider was he told them not to turn anything on and go easy on the hot water. Then he shows them that video on that stupidly massive screen How much power was that thing using. Plus that talking computer and who knows what other pointless energy chewing things he used while he was in there.

KerranJast

The thing that stuck out for me was him bitching about fossil fuels. Aren't most high tech facilities geothermal? And the French run nearly entirely on Nuclear power. They'd surely have enough uranium stockpiled in the plants to last at least a year.

senordingdong

That was an awful ending, to an awful episode, of an awfully average show.

I don't even know where to begin picking this show apart, but it comes down to two main points, awful writing and awful acting.

Wossack

KerranJast wrote: »

The thing that stuck out for me was him bitching about fossil fuels. Aren't most high tech facilities geothermal? And the French run nearly entirely on Nuclear power. They'd surely have enough uranium stockpiled in the plants to last at least a year.

if the nuclear reactors used in subs/aircraft carriers are anything to go by, fully fueled, 20+ years is more likely

krudler

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

What I thought was even stupider was he told them not to turn anything on and go easy on the hot water. Then he shows them that video on that stupidly massive screen How much power was that thing using. Plus that talking computer and who knows what other pointless energy chewing things he used while he was in there.

Ha yeah "dont plug in the video games!" meanwhile, here on my 20ft plasma screen is an elaborate animation showing a dead person coming back to life, oh and say hi to my talking supercomputer counterpart.

blodvyn

Orizio wrote: »

Pacing is a huge problem. I see missed opportunities everywhere - the first 6 episodes could have been focused on Rick, the black dude and his child and the Asian chap, and left the camp out of the picture. Rick and the other three could spend their time trying to find Rick's family and other survivors and the whole thing could have been focused on developing those four characters and putting them into difficult situations involving ****loads of zombies. The final episode could be them finding the camp...under mass zombie attack. Cue loads of death, a great gun fight and Rick uniting with his family.

The second series could then focus on the camps survivors (lets say 7-8 of them, the ones listed above, plus Murro and his brother and some zombie fodder) finding the CDC. There then could be a few scientist survivors rather then one, all of whom disagree on how to treat the survivors, some of whom should be infected themselves. Cue everyone turning on everyone 'The Thing' style.

****, I'm wasted over here, I should be writing TV scripts in LA...

I'm a fan of the show but yes, you do make a very good argument in fact reading over it I'd probably prefer yours!

Snake Plisken

Well I enjoyed it flaws and all, looking forward to season 2, with Frank D. at the helm none of the main charecters are safe

L31mr0d

Daryl is by far the best character in the show. He's the only character I want to see survive. The rest seem to all be acting like the world hasn't been flushed down the crapper.

I felt the episode was decidedly meh... and absolutely no cliff hanger to speak of.

My favorite "this is so sh!t" moment was when Daryl was trying to break the bullet proof glass with his steel axe and Token tells him to back away and proceeds to think the leg of an aluminium reception chair is going to do a better job.... wtf?

AlmightyCushion

L31mr0d wrote: »

My favorite "this is so sh!t" moment was when Daryl was trying to break the bullet proof glass with his steel axe and Token tells him to back away and proceeds to think the leg of an aluminium reception chair is going to do a better job.... wtf?

Yeah that was daft. He should have tried shouting or looking menacingly at it, probably have worked better than a fecking chair.

senordingdong

LOIKE OMG GUYS THIS IS A FOCKING PANDEMIC!

WE HAVE TO BLOW UP TO CDC TO STOP THIS GEAR GETTING ...eh...getting...out-er.

Frisbee

L31mr0d wrote: »

Daryl is by far the best character in the show. He's the only character I want to see survive. The rest seem to all be acting like the world hasn't been flushed down the crapper.

+1, if that shít really went down he's the only one I'd want around tbh.

It's strange - a lot of people are pointing out silly mistakes - like the guy trying to break the glass with a chair. What you are forgetting is the fact that they were seconds away from the whole building exploding. With that in mind, would anyone be able to think clearly?

senordingdong

Deleted User wrote: »

It's strange - a lot of people are pointing out silly mistakes - like the guy trying to break the glass with a chair. What you are forgetting is the fact that they were seconds away from the whole building exploding. With that in mind, would anyone be able to think clearly?

Well, the exploding building was a silly mistake in itself tbh.

FrostyJack

senordingdong wrote: »

Well, the exploding building was a silly mistake in itself tbh.

The Doc explained why it would explode, seemed a fairly resonable explaination.
The reason the "talking computer" was left on was it ran the whole show. The screen was only on for a few minutes where as the kids could have been on for hours, that's how I would explain that one. I liked the way the Doc wasn't the expert and he explains how if his wife was and if she was there, she would have found the cure. A nice touch I thought. The CDC was important because it showed how little they knew about it, origins etc. but also showed it was world wide and they were the last station running. I thought Rick would have mentioned the chopper though at that point though. Good episode, not great but it leaves a lot of the donkey work done for season 2 so hopefully it will fly along. Roll on 2011.

FortuneChip

L31mr0d wrote: »

Daryl is by far the best character in the show. He's the only character I want to see survive. The rest seem to all be acting like the world hasn't been flushed down the crapper.

I initially thought he was the best character, the most in tune with the current environment, but if you look back at his scenes there is a common trend.

Daryl says something realistic "Come on people, he's a zombie now, lets take care of it" etc
Daryl charges at someone with axe, crossbow, whiskey bottle
Enter Shane/Rick with pistol, shotgun, biceps to intercept Daryl
Daryl walks backwards away paraphrasing his earlier quote