The Walking Dead

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Originally Posted by ']['ear

But why is the girl so dumb? Why is anybody so dumb as to go into, say, a storm sewer when zombies are around?

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Sometimes you gotta do dumb things to be the good guy. In the series so far, the Deputy goes into Atlanta thinking there's a safe zone there and looking for his Wife/Child. Well, what he doesn't know is Atlanta's been completely over-run by the dead and he finds out the hard way. Dumb? Not yet. So, lucky for him there happened to be a group of survivors, willing to help him, nearby in Atlanta when he got himself into trouble. The survivors were there to scavenge for supplies for their community camping outside the city. Dumb? Not yet, but pretty damn lucky. So, one of the survivors is a violent nut job racist who the Deputy ends up cuffing to a pipe on the roof of a building. It turns out all the noise the deputy made fighting zombies and getting rescued attracted a whole lot of zombie attention and the group of survivors is trapped inside a building the zombies are slowly busting into. In their haste to leave, they lose the key to the handcuffs and leave the guy on the roof. Dumb? Not yet. Pretty sensible if you ask me. Well, in previews for next week, the Deputy decides he needs to go back and rescue roof-guy. :|

Alright, now that might be dumb. But the Deputy has been consistent in character, in caring about people, even those already turned into zombies. He's got a powerful sense of right and wrong and of duty to the public. The writers set him up enough that going back to rescue roof guy in what amounts to a suicide mission is plausible, even if its more or less dumb.

I think the problem with a lot of dumb situations in horror film is laziness on the part of the writers. Here, in this series, they have first rate writers and directors and a network with proven high standards all of whom are going to insist on the highest quality story lines. So they can get their characters into and out of trouble without resorting to dumb or implausible short cuts. Shit happens every day to get people into trouble and its not always stupidity. Stubborness, pride, certainly, ignorance, of course - that makes the world go round - anger, resentment, jealousy and lets not forget duty, loyalty, training, and curiosity - it's not all bad, see. Humanity so flawed there's any number of reasons bad things happen and conflict develops. Resorting to developing the story's problem based on being dumb is lazy, pure and simple.

Yes, most Hollywood types are pretty lazy. Reliance on CGI emphasizes that even more.

Don't know if someone mentioned this yet, but Walking Dead got the green light for a second season.

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Originally Posted by ']['ear

Yes, most Hollywood types are pretty lazy. Reliance on CGI emphasizes that even more.

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The biggest problem I've seen with CGI is overkill. Big Effects films are just blah now because they've used it to death. Nothing's amazing anymore when everything is amazing stacked on amazing with a side of amazing all covered in amazing sauce. CGI's gotta be putting stunt people out of business right and left too. Kind of sad, really. There's going to be a backlash - the next big thing in film is going to be making it so nothing they do with CGI looks so impossible it had to be CGI. That's going to be a fundamental of good direction - you'll see.

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Originally Posted by Ominous Gamer

Don't know if someone mentioned this yet, but Walking Dead got the green light for a second season.

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Sweet. Off hand, do you know how many episodes are in a season? Is it 14?

A second season already? Sometimes I really don't understand US programmers. Fine shows like Kings and Caprica get clipped like it's nothing and then a zombie series get the green light for a second season just like that? Don't get me wrong, I like Walking Dead so far, but it's difficult to see how you keep it interesting for more than one season.

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Originally Posted by Hazir

A second season already? Sometimes I really don't understand US programmers. Fine shows like Kings and Caprica get clipped like it's nothing and then a zombie series get the green light for a second season just like that? Don't get me wrong, I like Walking Dead so far, but it's difficult to see how you keep it interesting for more than one season.

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Different networks, different audiences, different business models, different planning.

Where can I find this Awesome Sauce? I now have a craving.

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Originally Posted by Veldan Rath

Where can I find this Awesome Sauce? I now have a craving.

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Look again. It's Amazing Sauce.

Explains why I couldn't find it...:noob:

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Originally Posted by Hazir

A second season already? Sometimes I really don't understand US programmers. Fine shows like Kings and Caprica get clipped like it's nothing and then a zombie series get the green light for a second season just like that? Don't get me wrong, I like Walking Dead so far, but it's difficult to see how you keep it interesting for more than one season.

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I'm betting the plots or screenplays (or whatever they are called) have already been written for Season 1, if they are as strong as the original airings, there is no reason to push back signing everyone on for a 2nd season. The longer you wait, the more of a following the show gets, and the more expensive the cast can get since they know they can get almost whatever they ask for.
Besides, the comic this is based off of has been going since 2003. Plenty of interest.

It does beg the question of what happened to Caprica, though. I never watched it, but folks around here say they liked it. I wonder if its because its a prequel. Everyone knows how it ends.

It has something to do with Syfy sucking sweaty hairy balls.

And then the way they pulled it; just janked it from the schedule.

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Originally Posted by littlelolligagged

It has something to do with Syfy sucking sweaty hairy balls.

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Originally Posted by Hazir

And then the way they pulled it; just janked it from the schedule.

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Just when I though Lilo wasn't watching.... do you lurk in every thread and only post when something near and dear comes up? :bulb: Anyway, keep in mind that SciFi did shepherd BSG through its entire run plus a movie or two as well. There has to be a reason beyond ball sucking for dropping Caprica and that's likely that nobody's watching it. Which is stranger still since, and I'm deferring to your assessment, its a good show. It really could be that few people are intersted in the premise - the prequel of another series and so everyone knows how it will ultimately turn out. The machines grow up, try to kill everyone, get defeated (temporarily). The story arc hook is thus fairly neutered.

The story arc is neutered that much is true, but they appeared to be taking some interesting twists and turns on the road to the cylon/human dichotomy. It was fun to recognize bits and pieces emerging of doctrine that was set in stone in BSG.

1) Just watched the first episode for Walking Dead on Hulu. The parallels to 28 Days Later notwithstanding, it was interesting and kept a good pace. They are taking care to develop a good plot and I can see that the overarching narrative can be taken in some really interesting directions.

2) I had high hopes for Caprica, but found the pace achingly slow. I liked some of the underlying themes, but it just bit off too much at once. A bit like the final season of BSG. The thing that made BSG great was the underlying sense of existential doubt, and how that shaped the characters. Caprica seemed more like a though experiment.

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Originally Posted by Dreadnaught

2) I had high hopes for Caprica, but found the pace achingly slow. I liked some of the underlying themes, but it just bit off too much at once. A bit like the final season of BSG. The thing that made BSG great was the underlying sense of existential doubt, and how that shaped the characters. Caprica seemed more like a though experiment.

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How long did you watch it? The show took a while for me to really get into it, which was perhaps a big part of its problem.

I got through maybe five episodes.

This show is kinda lame now. Reminds me of a day time soap opera with fancier filming, but same basic story line.

Quinten the Vampire and Dark Shadows. Anyone remember that? Bugged the shit out of me, because women would talk about the sexual tension drama, week after week. It went on for ages. I just wanted to see vampires.

It's like Lost plus Survivor, with the promise of seeing some zombie action along the way. Meantime, we watch typical territorial fighting stuff, with competing love interests.

I'd hoped it would be heavier on the zombie angle. :(

Lame? :mad:

Spoiler:

Last night was good - not sure why that guy cut his own hand off instead of cutting through the handcuff. :| Also, nice that Deputy's partner told his wife he was dead. I can see why she might be a little mad. On the other hand, I think he had every reason to believe he was good as dead.

FFS spoiler tags. :sour:

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Originally Posted by Dreadnaught

FFS spoiler tags. :sour:

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Woops. Sorry. :(

Spoiler:

All spoliers will be spoiler proofed here on out... I didn't think anyone was reading this thread that cared...

Yeah I don't care too much either about spoilertags, I simply stay out when I know a new episode has been aired that I couldn't see yet. I thought this episode was a bit lame too. I am starting to get annoyed with this urge to always put some stupid aggressive redneck in this type of series. I think it could be a hell of a lot more interesting if they wouldn't put in characters that deserved to die long before the first zombie appeared.

Caprica really didn't do it for me. For that matter, BSG had only a couple of duds in seasons 1 and 2, but went steadily downhill after that. Can't say they quite jumped the shark, but it got baroque and pretty weak in places. Plus, I wanted to fucking KILL Starbuck before Season 3 was over. Whiny ass snot.

Spoiler:

oh, and out-boxing a sturdy lad like Lee Adama? Horse shit. Too many plot elements ended up having BS keys like this.

Oh, and All Along the Watch Tower pissed me off as well. Seriously? {not a bad cover, though. :p}

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Originally Posted by EyeKhan

Woops. Sorry. :(

Spoiler:

All spoliers will be spoiler proofed here on out... I didn't think anyone was reading this thread that cared...

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Dork! Retroactively spoiler tag the original post. :mad:

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Originally Posted by Hazir

Yeah I don't care too much either about spoilertags, I simply stay out when I know a new episode has been aired that I couldn't see yet. I thought this episode was a bit lame too. I am starting to get annoyed with this urge to always put some stupid aggressive redneck in this type of series. I think it could be a hell of a lot more interesting if they wouldn't put in characters that deserved to die long before the first zombie appeared.

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In any end of world scenario you're going to have conflict with lawlessness and might=right. That's what I think they are playing with in the survivor camp. I hope they don't goof it up.

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Originally Posted by ']['ear

Caprica really didn't do it for me. For that matter, BSG had only a couple of duds in seasons 1 and 2, but went steadily downhill after that. Can't say they quite jumped the shark, but it got baroque and pretty weak in places. Plus, I wanted to fucking KILL Starbuck before Season 3 was over. Whiny ass snot.

Spoiler:

oh, and out-boxing a sturdy lad like Lee Adama? Horse shit. Too many plot elements ended up having BS keys like this.

Oh, and All Along the Watch Tower pissed me off as well. Seriously? {not a bad cover, though. :p}

Dork! Retroactively spoiler tag the original post. :mad:

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:D I thought that was funny.... :( Anyway, the damage is done. I'll start with next week's episode.

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Originally Posted by EyeKhan

In any end of world scenario you're going to have conflict with lawlessness and might=right. That's what I think they are playing with in the survivor camp. I hope they don't goof it up.

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I understand that, but why does there always have to be a character that is as stupid as fuck with a bunch of guns. I guess it's something about US culture bla bla, but it really gets old if they keep repeating the Mad Max scenario. I think it would be a lot more fun to see a group of ordinary people surviving in the world gone topsy turvy because the dead are walking, rather than yet another drama with people having to deal with stupid fucks who don't get that you don't have a chance to survive if you work alone in a way that may cause a million dead come knocking at your door.

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Originally Posted by Hazir

I understand that, but why does there always have to be a character that is as stupid as fuck with a bunch of guns. I guess it's something about US culture bla bla, but it really gets old if they keep repeating the Mad Max scenario. I think it would be a lot more fun to see a group of ordinary people surviving in the world gone topsy turvy because the dead are walking, rather than yet another drama with people having to deal with stupid fucks who don't get that you don't have a chance to survive if you work alone in a way that may cause a million dead come knocking at your door.

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Spoiler:

The guy on the roof shooting into the street, I agree whole heartedly. But, assuming you saw the latest episode, what about cross-bow guy? He's not stupid, so far, just very aggressive. In any case, keep in mind that if you have a survivor camp working well together and no serious internal conflict, you lose a major avenue for drama. Stories with no conflict are boring and how far can you go with dealing with external threats to the community to make the story interesting? The trick is to steer away from the cliche's a little better. Right now they've been mixing up the enlightened with the unenlightened and watching the fire-works.

That's not particularly creative.

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Originally Posted by EyeKhan

:D I thought that was funny.... :( Anyway, the damage is done. I'll start with next week's episode.

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Smegma breath!

1) not everybody reads the thread in real time, and
b) the thread is here forever.

Only half joking. Please spoilerize it. Not doing so ain't cool.

Fine. :mad:

Last night's episode was the first I can say I didn't care for.

Spoiler:

The guy who dreamed about the attack the night before and went a little bonkers digging graves. Please don't get all fucking mystical! That's one of the things that ruined BSG! :mad: And the gang-bangers running the old-folks home - a little dose of sophmoric "don't judge a book by its cover" to held educate the dumbass viewing public? Come on! :rolleyes:

Anyone catch last night? Next week is the rump season finale.

Spoiler:

I liked the scene outside the CDC - nice chaos - lots of folks with holes in their head :D . Not sure why there's only one guy left inside the CDC. That doesn't make a lot of sense. Maybe they'll explain next week. And who the hell was in that helicopter in the first episode? I thought they would go somewhere with that - connected with the CDC or something. I thought the battered wife going heavy with the pick axe on her dead - half-eaten - husband was cliche to the max and I didn't care for the big sister waiting for little sister to wake up and then shoot her in the head while hugging her. Too dangerous. Too melodramatic too. And kind of dumb.

Given that your posts are exactly a week apart, I think you can let this thread die. :p

Last post will be next week, at best. And who knows, maybe Hazir will come back.

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Originally Posted by EyeKhan

Last post will be next week, at best. And who knows, maybe Hazir will come back.

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Yeah, I'm still watching. Hard to tell really if this series will stay on my 'to see' list; they are doing too many seriously dumb things. It's really not good if you feel like half of the characters deserve to be eaten by zombies. Especially that thing with people not accepting that dead people are actually dangerous in their new world.

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Originally Posted by Hazir

Yeah, I'm still watching. Hard to tell really if this series will stay on my 'to see' list; they are doing too many seriously dumb things. It's really not good if you feel like half of the characters deserve to be eaten by zombies. Especially that thing with people not accepting that dead people are actually dangerous in their new world.

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Spoiler:

I'm starting to like the redneck stereotype with the crossbow. He's got his shit together. And I agree, they have to take better care with the writing. Things have been all over the place.

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Originally Posted by EyeKhan

Spoiler:

I'm starting to like the redneck stereotype with the crossbow. He's got his shit together. And I agree, they have to take better care with the writing. Things have been all over the place.

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I agree, he was the only one who appeared to be thinking straight. Wonder what happened to his one-hand brother by the way. They gonna bring him back as a Mad Max Edwars Scissorhands?

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Originally Posted by Hazir

I agree, he was the only one who appeared to be thinking straight. Wonder what happened to his one-hand brother by the way. They gonna bring him back as a Mad Max Edwars Scissorhands?

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Oh, he'll be back. There's a number of loose ends we'll see again:

Spoiler:

A. Edward 1-Hand -- remember, they left a note at the camp telling where they went...

B. The mystery hellicopter (for sure)

C. The old folks home (maybe)

D. The black guy and his son (maybe)

Seems like what we're seeing is a deadly fear of the arc. Walking Dead is turning into a weekly short movie with a recurring cast + some zombies. My interest is dropping dramatically fast; I'll give it another week or two and then I may put myself out of my misery.

It's over for the season. Have to wait till next year to know if they are going to screw it up.