AMC's The Walking Dead Season 1 Discussion & Spoilers

Discussion in 'Science Fiction & Fantasy' started by Dream, Oct 30, 2010.

  1. Gotham Central

    Gotham Central Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Given that civilization has collapsed, I would not expect them to be using potatoes for silencers if only because they'll probably need them for food. Silencers would be good...though they still make a noise and we have no idea how zombie "hearing" works.

    As for the crossbow, how good are those with head shots? A crossbow may not do enough damage to the brain to be effective. The other problem with the crossbow is the limited amount of ammo that you can carry at any given time...especially compared to a gun. Cross bows are great for distance shooting and sniping but in a street fight give you'd be better off with some form of automatic weapon.
     
  2. nx1701g

    nx1701g Admiral Admiral

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    Well I officially have a new favorite show. This is the first time I've found zombies frightening since I first watched Night of the Living Dead.

    Earlier in the thread someone asked why zombies don't attack each other. In several of the books related to the genre it was always suggested that it was because of the smell that zombies gave off. Others suggested that it was because of phereomones given off by living humans.
     
  3. Zachary Smith

    Zachary Smith Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I pity the fool . . . Uuhhhnnnn!
     
  4. startrekwatcher

    startrekwatcher Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Oh this tired old refrain again I see....You know where I criticize a show and the retort is that I must not have liked it because it didn't have any action or not enough VFX or whatever. No, I actually prefer character-drama with a nice bit of plot--I certainly don't need action in my entertainment--quite the opposite.

    Most shows or films these days are nothing more than an overdose of action, VFX sequence with no story or characters to connect with--that *is* why I am so down on most series/films. And while I've long lamented the ridiculously fast pacing of tv shows and films where everything is a blur I also don't want the pacing to be as slow as molasses either.

    But at the same time just because there is no action or plot and you have pretty much nothing but two actors on screen sharing dialog also doesn't make great tv either if it isn't compelling--a lesson Caprica, Rubicon etc didn't learn.

    I'm sorry but I found none of the characters the least bit interesting and with very little entertaining plot to compensate for that the show already lost me. I need to connect with the characters and without that I'm not interested. And it also didn't help that this show didn't exactly tread any fresh ground--all of this is pretty standard zombie/apocalyptic fare.
     
  5. Zachary Smith

    Zachary Smith Vice Admiral Admiral

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    The reason zombies don't attack one another is because their bodies are biologically inactive and composed of dead, rotting and corrupted tissue and therefore lacking in the ability to provide the undead with the energy needs they desire. Though their bodies don't require food for survival, but they crave energy (i.e. "food") on an instinctive level.

    The mechanism by which they became reanimated is low-powered and incomplete; which is why they move slowly and are relatively weaker than living humans. Their systems recognize their physiology is underpowered compared to what it is designed for and so they naturally crave the energy of the much high metabolic systems of living humans. Their primitive brain mis-translates this low-powered state and desire for more energy as a form of intense "hunger" and manifests as a solution a severe craving for the much more energetic, biochemically powered metabolism of the living humans. And, of course, in life the "undead" gained energy from the environment just as we all do, from eating. Therefore, the zombie's instinctive solution to solving the energy issues of its own low-powered, "starving" metabolism is by trying to obtain the energy of the biochemically powered metabolism of living humans by eating them. Of course, it doesn't work because you basically have a NEW mechanism functioning which reanimates the dead on a cellular level but their organ-based biological systems are inoperative and thus the "hunger" is never abated. BTW, the means by which humans (and all other known creatures) are defined as "living" and the mechanism by which the zombies are reanimated are mutually incompatible. They are NOT "alive" by any known medical or scientific definition as the means by which they are reanimated is not biochemical in nature and the function of their bodies is not organ-based. In the zombie, you have a creature which is being "powered" by a process its body never evolved to handle; which results in a lot of mis-communication and mixed signals within the system.

    Incidentally, the lack of intelligence, awareness and general "personality" of the zombie is not a failure of the reanimation process but a consequence of the physical destruction of neurons of the brain which occurs in the relatively narrow window between the "death" of the living human and the "reanimation" of the undead zombie. The neurons of the brain, mostly lacking in glycogen, reserves are physically disrupted by the hypoxic/anoxic conditions in the brain that occur following the cessation of heart/respiratory functions and prior to the actual mechanism of reanimation. Higher brain functions, and therefore intellect, personality and self-awareness, are essentially destroyed at this time and do not recover following reanimation due to the physical disruption/destruction of the neural network of the brain.

    It is possible, BTW, in rare instances where, for one reason or another, reanimation occurred more quickly than usual or if the body was very cold thereby limiting the physical damage to the brain, the reanimated specimen might exhibit some slightly higher quality of mental function or intelligence and display some dim familiarity with or memory of locations, people or objects. Some may even engage in habitual rote-memory behaviors they performed in life, but this is essentially reflexive and not conscious activity.
     
  6. Mr. Adventure

    Mr. Adventure Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    They did a really good job illustrating the problem with numbers in that horseback scene. I had a feeling there was a hatch but that under the tank scene was still intense.
     
  7. Obiwanshinobi

    Obiwanshinobi Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    This season is only 6 episodes long, so I'd suggest to at least watch it to the end and then judge it as a whole before hastely brushing it off. It's only the pilot and we've only met a few characters so far. It's a show about zombies, slow moving ones in fact, so molasses sounds about right, pace-wise. Any faster and we would have missed some of the good stuff in setting these characters up. So far so good in my opinion. Flaws or not.
     
  8. Kelso

    Kelso Vice Admiral Admiral

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    On the destruct button until the last minute!
    I really enjoyed it.

    I'll be back next week.
     
  9. Harry Palmer

    Harry Palmer Admiral Admiral

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    Instant classic.


    Two things.


    The escape hatch the M1A1 Abrams does not have an escape hatch.

    The Huey carcasses. The US Military doesn't use them anymore.


    I can live with it.
     
  10. watermelony2k

    watermelony2k Vice Admiral Admiral

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    After rewatching it, did anyone else notice how in the beginning Shane dipped his french fry into Rick's ketchup? Foreshadowing much?
     
  11. Obiwanshinobi

    Obiwanshinobi Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I noticed it too, I guess you could say that, but still not sure if it really meant anything other than needing ketchup.
     
  12. O'Dib

    O'Dib Commodore Commodore

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    Until they start feeding, at which point they can chew off limbs, tear out internal organs, etc.
     
  13. RJDiogenes

    RJDiogenes Idealistic Cynic and Canon Champion Premium Member

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    Ah, there we go. Probably cut for time. Maybe the DVD release will be extended.
     
  14. Cutter John

    Cutter John Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    I rarely leave the Doctor Who forum anymore, but jeez, does every new show get nit-picked this hard around here?
     
  15. J.T.B.

    J.T.B. Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I have a basic familiarity with the zombie genre, but it usually doesn't do much for me. I thought the premiere episode was OK, not great, but "establishing" pieces can have disadvantages. There were some things that didn't make a lot of sense, I wasn't crazy about some of the performances, and I wasn't impressed with the police work at the beginning (What was going to happen to the pursuing cop cars when they hit the spike strip? How did they allow another occupant to crawl out and shoot someone?!) But for the most part the look and tone worked and I will be watching future episodes and hoping for improvements. I thought the effect on the deputy of his .357 going off inside the tank was a nice touch, that kind of thing is so often overlooked.

    I'm assuming if the power grid is down the cell towers aren't working, and the survivor guy said that broadcasting had stopped at some point, so I guess two-way radio was the best option. Plus it is more likely to be monitored by "authorites," if any still exist.

    The show was definitely set close to present-day, there was a 2009 or '10 Ford Fusion on the road. I wondered about the date myself in the first scenes when I saw the deputy was wearing a six-shooter. You don't see too many of those as duty sidearms these days. Was that to heighten the tension as the zombies close in and he's down to his last shot? The way he eyed the Beretta magazine made me think he may want to switch weapons.

    --Justin
     
  16. Mr. Adventure

    Mr. Adventure Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    The internet and cell phones don't work that well when there's no power.
     
  17. RoJoHen

    RoJoHen Awesome Admiral

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    Only by certain people.
     
  18. Mr. Adventure

    Mr. Adventure Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Nitpicking isn't so bad, it means they got most everything right so people only notice the details. I mean if the worst problem people find with your show is that the tank shouldn't have an escape hatch in real life you probably should be happy.
     
  19. Agent Richard07

    Agent Richard07 Admiral Admiral

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    That bothered me too. I was hoping that he'd ask more questions so that we could at least get one man's take on what happened.
     
  20. sojourner

    sojourner Admiral In Memoriam

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    My one little nitpick - In the first scene of him galloping away on his newly acquired horse, the bag of guns on his back is obviously fake. The way they were bouncing against him he would have had a broken back in a few minutes. Also in that same scene, you can see the guns almost fall out of the bag as he races away.

    Some of the Hueys were parked too close to light poles at the hospital.

    truly nitpicks. Nothing remotely disastrous about them.