General

[Meph]

Originally Posted by Titus

So I don't know if they're running along side that with the comic.

That's the problem, right now that's up in the air. They're straying so far from the comics that pretty soon I think Carl will kill Rick and Dale will become the Governor and cut off Andrea's hand while Shane picks up a Katana and sleeps with Daryl. I mean it's not even close to the source material anymore. They just happen to share the same names as those in the comics.

And no, that whole "they had to change a few things for it to work for television" argument doesn't fly. People ridicule Television for a reason, because Networks make shows for bottom feeders and low fruit pickers and mouth breathers which makes all the rest of us suffer from lack of imagination or genuine ingenuity or intelligent dialogue/developments. That's why HBO has such amazing programing and wins every award they're up for, because they don't make their shows for the lowest common denominator. They make a damn great show, and if you can't keep up well **** you you're being left behind with the paste eaters where you belong. Go watch fat people make fart jokes on NBC, that'll be more your style if you can't keep up.

The comics are intelligent, clever, thought provoking, great character development. And they do what they want without insulting the reader in thinking they can't handle a story shake-up. They kill main characters, then bring in new main characters, and you get to learn about them and get behind them also, some of them die, but more people come along. They show you how people break down psychologically, how they cope with their decisions in this cruel world, how they adapt. Right now they're showing that with Shane decently... but everybody else is kinda acting like this isn't even the Zombie Apocalypse it's just some black plague that'll be gone next week they just gotta ride out the storm then they can go back to Xbox. All the while making absolutely horrible decisions that don't fit into what people in these situations would be doing. While having no consistency with the Zombie interaction/development.

I want to enjoy this show, I try to... but there are just so many glaring annoyances that it's really difficult some times. Writers just need to stop writing the characters like they're complete idiots.

[Harbinger[TG]]

My main issue is that the zombies somehow know to step over other zombie bodies.

[Scharfschutze91]

lmao ^

[Surge-NS]

Originally Posted by Meph

That's the problem, right now that's up in the air. They're straying so far from the comics that pretty soon I think Carl will kill Rick and Dale will become the Governor and cut off Andrea's hand while Shane picks up a Katana and sleeps with Daryl. I mean it's not even close to the source material anymore. They just happen to share the same names as those in the comics.

And no, that whole "they had to change a few things for it to work for television" argument doesn't fly. People ridicule Television for a reason, because Networks make shows for bottom feeders and low fruit pickers and mouth breathers which makes all the rest of us suffer from lack of imagination or genuine ingenuity or intelligent dialogue/developments. That's why HBO has such amazing programing and wins every award they're up for, because they don't make their shows for the lowest common denominator. They make a damn great show, and if you can't keep up well **** you you're being left behind with the paste eaters where you belong. Go watch fat people make fart jokes on NBC, that'll be more your style if you can't keep up.

The comics are intelligent, clever, thought provoking, great character development. And they do what they want without insulting the reader in thinking they can't handle a story shake-up. They kill main characters, then bring in new main characters, and you get to learn about them and get behind them also, some of them die, but more people come along. They show you how people break down psychologically, how they cope with their decisions in this cruel world, how they adapt. Right now they're showing that with Shane decently... but everybody else is kinda acting like this isn't even the Zombie Apocalypse it's just some black plague that'll be gone next week they just gotta ride out the storm then they can go back to Xbox. All the while making absolutely horrible decisions that don't fit into what people in these situations would be doing. While having no consistency with the Zombie interaction/development.

I want to enjoy this show, I try to... but there are just so many glaring annoyances that it's really difficult some times. Writers just need to stop writing the characters like they're complete idiots.

This.

I don't understand the logic at work with this writing. The same writers work on both the comics and the show. In the comics, nothing good ever happens. Alright, that's bad for TV, certainly for longevity's sake. It's got a certain integrity, however, because they make no pretenses that anything else will happen. It's a fatalistic view of a dying world.

"The Road" by Cormac McCarthy is another literary example of this kind of fatalistic writing really working out. It's an acquired taste, and certainly not for anyone or even most people.

The show could actually be more balanced than the comics, with a few good things happening amongst the bad to make casual viewers actually care what happens next. There's no suspense when everything always turns out badly. The problem is, there's no commitment to this or any other disposition. The show is spastic.

What promisingly started in the first season as an interesting reboot of the story by the only guys who really have a right to reboot it, complete with surprises and twists both good and bad, turned into this season's soap opera with zombie extras in every other episode.

What's that? Who's got a secret. In the barn? Gasp! Who hooked up with who this week? Oh no you di'int. Who the baby daddy?

Nothing about the situation, the environment, or even the other people is dangerous or threatening. Hell, the little girl's character was so poorly developed by this time that I don't think most viewers really cared whether they found her. At least the first series had good driving macguffins like the radio and guns, then Atlanta, then the CDC transmission.

It's seeming like after last season, they just decided to sell out and write what happens next based on the opinion of some focus group. Honestly, I think that's probably an agreement struck with AMC, and that's why they signed the third season so readily without looking at numbers for this one.

Periodically Kirkman comes up for air and does something in his own style, like Sophie getting offed. The inconsistency ends up being worse for viewership than the pessimism of the comic would be.

It's realistic for a balance of good and bad crap to happen. It's the apocalypse. Still, come on. You can't have Maury one minute and Night of the Living Dead the next.

/rant

Now as AMC goes, I don't think they're a lowest common denominator network. Hell on Wheels is a fantastic show. This one was last season too. There's still time to fix things.

[THE-SHOOTIST]

I for one was a bit surprised to see that Sophia had been zombiefied. I thought that she had a tough enough upbringing with her abusive father (and the implied sexual abuse by the same man) without offering her up to Rick's magnum.
The part I really liked was how everyone in Rick's group found that whacking zombified people you don't have any personal relationship to was easy, almost fun, and how that all changed when one of their own walked out and had to be put down. Ouch! The irony!
Eric, I hate Laurie too, I'd really like to see her get her come-uppance. Perhaps a threesome with Shane and Rick "high-fiving" over her back as the story lines seem to have moved in that direction, and then a nice zombification and a creative 'Zombieland' put-down, perhaps with a piano?

We should start wagering and setting odds on the plotline.
The red-neck and Sophia's mom hook up and start up the first post-apocalyptic meth lab?

[bigbthebenji]

i still don't get how zombies function. What can and can't they do? Stepping over dead bodies, for example, doesn't that require cognitive function?

[Deus Machina]

I like the show, for what it is. It's not the comic. I don't expect it to be, because the writers want to keep getting paid. I take it as that.

These aren't purely traditional zombies. They have at least enough brain left to know 'find food' and not just 'I see something in grabbing range to eat', even if they're not great at it. Like the herd; that was just the zombie version of "My friend's bro said their might be cake."

Stepping over bodies? Even cheap toy robots deal with that sort of thing now. "I'm bumping into something, let's move a little bit." A little surprised none have tripped yet, though.

Then again, the show wouldn't exactly be all that interesting if the heroes would be perfectly safe if they just moved into the local Ikea store.

[acesn8s]

Loved the last scene. I caught on right before Sofia came through the door. I'm pissed with myself for not figuring it out when they showed the catchpoles.

I'm still trying to figure out what Dale was thinking when he took the gun stash out into the forest to hide it from Shane. Sure, he doesn't trust Shane, but hiding ALL the guns when there is a barn full of walkers, plus a bunch just wandering around - not too smart. I expected better than him.

I also really liked that Glenn voiced an issue I've had with this season. He told Maggie that for a while, he didn't see the walkers as dangerous.


Also, Herschal is a douche. I agree that he knew that Sofia was in that barn and he let them search for her over and over.

[RAZRBAKK]

Originally Posted by TheYoda

I find Laurie (Rick's wife?) to be the most irritating character. I keep wishing for her to get eaten. Hopefully this is coming in February and will be a catalyst for Rick evolving into a darker character. Haven't read the books, but from various discussions I gather he is headed in that direction.

I absolutely HATE Laurie, as well as Andrea. Andrea just bitches way too much about everything. She keeps trying to prove that she's capable, but she's obviously not.

Originally Posted by Wrathbringer

This was really bugging me so I checked the Wikipedia summaries of the episodes. One day passes from when Sophia goes missing to when Carl gets shot, which could be enough time for the girl to get bit, stay at that house overnight, turn and be found by Otis before he goes hunting. It took Amy what, 10-12 hours to turn in Season 1? I think the timeline works.

The scientist at the CDC said that it could happen much faster then that. Based on her being a pretty small kid, I could see her dying and turning in a few hours. Especially if she bled out.

Originally Posted by PistolRogue

Did she infect herself? Or did she become infected and decide to make the best out of it and get as much scientific data from it as possible? I honestly don't remember but I thought it was the latter...

It was certainly the latter.

[Mar]

Originally Posted by Meph

And no, that whole "they had to change a few things for it to work for television" argument doesn't fly. .

well I disagree, and apparently so do the writers, producers and executive producers (read the original writers)

Last time you spent a day in a comic book store how many women came in and bought graphic novels? How many women watch TV?

Either way they have changed it for a purpose, and I maintain it is to suit the different target audience.