AMC's The Walking Dead Season 1 Discussion & Spoilers

[scnj]

They'll have to develop new nemesis and story-lines fairly quickly as the walking dead themselves don't present viable or even interesting long term antagonists, but they'll suffice for the first half of this season.

The first half of the season doesn't give them much time, the season's only 6 episodes long.

6 episodes for an entire season.........???

That's truly pathetic. I thought the 12 episode Dexter seasons were ridiculously short.

Don't forget, this show is a pretty big risk. There hasn't really been a show quite like this before, so there was no way to predict how the ratings would turn out. AMC made the decision to give it a short season, only spending half the budget on it, then giving it full 13 episode seasons once the show's audience has been found.

 

[Zombie]

IRight off the bat the main charactor tells one of his men to make sure there is a round in the chamber, and he has the safety off. The guy is using a GLOCK, there is no manual safety switch! That control he manipulated and click we all heard was the slide release.

Slide Lock. GLOCK calls it a Slide Lock.

It locks the slide back. You release the slide by pulling the slide back and allowing the slide lock to drop out of the way.

If you use the slide lock to release the slide eventually you will end up damaging the Slide Lock and have to replace it.

But the scene was still funny to watch. I wonder if the actor realized it when he was handling the Glock.

Also, there were alot of UH-1s in Army colors lying around. Even the National Guard doesn't use the old huey anymore, they got retired over a year ago.

It's possible given the situation that they pulled them out of mothballs.

The last thing was the "escape hatch" found under the tank that our hero used to get away from the zombies at the end. I am not positive, but I am pretty sure that the M-1 doesn't have an escape hatch on the bottom (any tamkers out there want to help out an ol' 11B on this one?)

The M-1 doesn't have an escape hatch.

 

[Zombie]

Next, the tank was clearly a mock-up, it did a poor job of looking like an Abrams, and the inside was entirely too spacious. They also do not have escape hatches on the bottom since that would make it more vulnerable to mines.

Even with out an escape hatch a tank is extremely vulnerable to a mine going off beneath it.

The weakest part of the tank is the bottom and then followed by the top (which is why we have weapons to attack tanks from the top). Your armor is concentrated on the front, back, and sides.

If the bottom was as strong as the sides of the tank you'd have a tank that was too heavy to move.

Finally, will the survivors be smart enough to use suppressed and silenced weapons later on in the series? Heck, even bows and crossbows would work.

Judging by the comic books........

 

[PsychoPere]

"Guts" was a damn good episode, definitely maintaining the pace from "Days Gone Bye." I'm very glad the tv show kept in Rick's idea from the comics of trying to "blend" with the walkers by smearing entrails and blood all over themselves. Glenn in the show so far seems to be just as brave as the comics version too. Merle Dixon was an interesting addition to the tv show, for already presenting the idea that sometimes a person may have to be left behind to save the group. I didn't see the preview for the next episode and I've attempted to avoid reading too much about the series (I've read through issue 54 of the comics, so I don't want to accidentally surprise myself on anything created for the tv show), so I'll be curious to see if he manages to return to the camp.

They'll have to develop new nemesis and story-lines fairly quickly as the walking dead themselves don't present viable or even interesting long term antagonists, but they'll suffice for the first half of this season.

The comics have had plenty of outsiders for Rick's group to contend with, so the show has many possible nemeses to adapt in future seasons.

Edited to add:
Here are some interviews some people might find interesting:
Producer Gale Anne Hurd
Frank Darabont
Frank Darabont
Andrew Lincoln (Rick Grimes)
Sarah Wayne Callies (Lori Grimes)

 

[davejames]

Wow, I gotta say I really missed Darabont's direction this time around. After the elegant and sophisticated direction of the premiere (with all those great slow-reveals and quiet moments of suspense), the generic and by-the-numbers camerawork here REALLY stood out to me. It's like they didn't even try to copy the same style.

And without some great direction to elevate the material, all that was left was a pretty standard story of people trapped in a building surrounded by zombies. It just didn't do enough new for my taste.

Thankfully it picked up and got a lot more suspenseful towards the end, with the characters having to walk through a street full of zombies and all. But here's hoping the remaining episodes get back to that unique style we saw in the first ep.

 

[RoJoHen]

The only thing I really didn't like was Dixon the Cliched Racist. Like, were we supposed to feel bad that he was getting left behind? Because I sure as hell didn't. I probably would have shot him in the head to put him our of his misery, but I wouldn't have been upset that I couldn't save him.

 

[Roshi]

Wow they were super fast with the blood/guts covering stuff. In the comic book it happened later. Anyway, I'm still enjoying the show but I keep wondering how many seasons have they planned?

 

[JacksonArcher]

I liked the episode. I felt it maintained the pacing of the first episode and it had some great, tender character moments. The scene with Rick and Andrea was really touching and the moment where Rick remembers Wayne the zombie was really affecting in my opinion.

Plus you had some great suspenseful moments like when Rick and Glenn walk amongst the zombies or when Rick is trying to save the remaining survivors (which oddly enough reminded me of a similar scene in the Dawn of the Dead remake, however with a bit of a reversal: instead of breaking into the enclosed space, they are trying to break out of it).

However, it might not have been as strong as the first episode but I was thoroughly entertained and I really look forward to the next episode. They can't maintain a pulsating sense of excitement with every episode, and there are going to be episodes that are quieter and more meditative, but I thought this one was adequately suspenseful and yet still had some of the quieter moments of the first episode.

 

[PsychoPere]

Surprising, I imagine, no one, considering its fantastic premiere ratings, AMC has renewed The Walking Dead for a second season today.

Edited to add: Here is a more formal link, rather than the Twitter one above.

 

[Zachary Smith]

The only thing I really didn't like was Dixon the Cliched Racist. Like, were we supposed to feel bad that he was getting left behind? Because I sure as hell didn't. I probably would have shot him in the head to put him our of his misery, but I wouldn't have been upset that I couldn't save him.

I might have been tempted to toss him off the roof out front and use him as a distraction and fled out the back while the zombies were feeding on him.

 

[PKerr]

Don't know if it's been posted as I'm late to this tread and even knowing about this series (which I love BTW) and I'm not going to read through 13 pages of posts.

Watched the first Episode Friday and the second first run last night.

There is good news and bad news..

Bad news is season one will only be six episodes

Good news is Season two has been green lighted.

http://tv.ign.com/articles/113/1133012p1.html

 

[RoJoHen]

Yes, it was posted literally two posts before yours.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

Dixon was there mostly as a character foil for the black guy. Plus, he was there to Frank can say the whole "there's no blacks, white or rednecks" thing. And finally, he was there to demonstrate that the human survivors can leave living humans behind as be the very monsters they knew the redneck was.

Mark

 

[RoJoHen]

Dixon was there mostly as a character foil for the black guy. Plus, he was there to Frank can say the whole "there's no blacks, white or rednecks" thing. And finally, he was there to demonstrate that the human survivors can leave living humans behind as be the very monsters they knew the redneck was.

Mark

I realize this, but it's almost like the writers took the easy route by making the guy an Evil Racist. It would be a lot more dramatic and heart-wrenching to have to leave behind a good guy.

 

[Cutter John]

Mark

I realize this, but it's almost like the writers took the easy route by making the guy an Evil Racist. It would be a lot more dramatic and heart-wrenching to have to leave behind a good guy.[/QUOTE]


Wouldn't be surprised if they had to face that situation later in the series. Remeber, theres still that no good wife-stealin' bastard to deal with once our crew reaches the base camp.

As for Mr Redneck, I have the strangest feeling we'll be seeing him again.

 

[RoJoHen]

As for Mr Redneck, I have the strangest feeling we'll be seeing him again.

My roommate said the same thing, and I really hope not. Overly Cliched Characters are easily one of my least favorite things.

 

[RJDiogenes]

I only made it as far as the "Officer Friendly" scene so far, but there's a couple of things I don't understand. First, why was he in such a hurry to get out of the tank? Couldn't he just wait a while for the Zombies to wander off, and then find a better escape route? A lot of the roads were completely clear when he arrived.

Second, what's the advantage of camping out in the open rather than finding a secure place to hunker down? The campers don't seem to be going anywhere; they seem to have created a very vulnerable encampment.

 

[JacksonArcher]

I felt bad for Dixon. He was a racist and a bigot, but no one deserves to be left to die like that. Based on the preview for next week's episode, it appears that decision will mean consequences for some of the survivors, including Rick.

 

[FreezeC77]

I only made it as far as the "Officer Friendly" scene so far, but there's a couple of things I don't understand. First, why was he in such a hurry to get out of the tank? Couldn't he just wait a while for the Zombies to wander off, and then find a better escape route? A lot of the roads were completely clear when he arrived.

Second, what's the advantage of camping out in the open rather than finding a secure place to hunker down? The campers don't seem to be going anywhere; they seem to have created a very vulnerable encampment.

Plus he didn't even see if he could start the tank...

I agree completely on the camping out thing because as I'm watching their campsite I'm wondering "What the hell are you guys doing?" I expected they were there and had some kind of perimeter fencing or something... but there was nothing. I could see the benefits of camping in a very wide-open space where you'd be able to see anything coming from a long ways out, but they weren't doing that. Something could get from the tree-line unobserved and be at or behind a car in not too much time. Then they're just using regular tents that could easily be torn into by a zombie.

 

[JacksonArcher]

I don't think they are the sharpest tools in the shed when it comes to basic survival- these seem like regular, normal people and probably have no idea what to do in terms of staying alive in a crisis like this.