This spinoff series premiere was the most viewed TV pilot ever at over 10 million viewers for the premiere. Did it live up to the hype?
Quoth wikipedia: "Fear the Walking Dead has received generally positive reviews from critics." And it has a 77% rating on rotten tomatoes with a 71% rating from the audience. Okay, so there are few negative nellies out there, but it's still decent, isn't it? Well...no.
Letme tell ya, I really, really wanted to like this. But the pilot was an unmitigated disaster. It was such a disappointment. Any Walking Dead episode is better than this Fear the Walking Dead episode.
What's wrong with it, you might ask. Essentially, the characters are extremely bland and didn't even seem come across as real people (which is absolutely disastrous in a character-driven show like the Walking Dead) and nothing happens on the first episode. Except for the first and last couple minutes, basically nothing happens. Nothing memorable, anyway. It's boring. Dreadfully, dreadfully boring. I couldn't even persuade my roommate to sit through the whole thing. He walked away within the first 10 minutes and I was sorely tempted to after 20.
If it weren't for the occasional zombie, this would be a family drama. Almost everything that the Walking Dead is known for isn't present here. The Walking Dead has this great aesthetic exemplified in the intro (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LrERgFY0As), shots within abandoned and decaying homes and these panned-out shots of desolated urban areas. And here's the spinoff's intro (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KskWp1uSpms). It wouldn't be so bad if only the intro was a downgrade from the parent show, but everything else is just like that - just a poorly put-together mess that doesn't come even close to the original. Granted, those are tough shoes to fill, but this wasn't even close. Like Phantom Menace not close. The kind of not close where you wonder if there was ever a sincere attempt.
Here's the plot of The Walking Dead: Rick is a cop. Rick gets shot. Rick wakes up in the hospital. Don't dead, open inside. A confused Rick encounters zombies. He hightails it out of there. Finds Morgan, who sort of fills him in on recent events. Goes looking for his family. Iconic shot of Rick riding a horse down the highway into a ruined Atlanta. Zombies attack. Rick is forced inside the tank and is surrounded by a horde of zombies. Roll credits.
Here's the plot of Fear the Walking Dead: drug addict wakes in a flophouse to the sounds of someone getting eaten by a zombie. He investigates the noise and finds a zombie. He hightails it out of there and into the street, where he gets hit by a car. Family worried about him. Family talks and talks and talks with subtle hints of some incipient zombie activity (subtle as a 2x4). Drug addict finds dealer and asks him if he got some 'bad stuff'. Drug dealer says don't worry about it, drives him over to cap-a-snitch lane, and pulls out a gun. Shockingly, addict tries to grab the gun. Gun discharges and dealer dies from bleeding about 10ml of blood on his otherwise pristine shirt. Family finds addict, addict confesses to killing the dealer. Family drives back and shockingly, dealer is zombified. Family kills zombie dealer and collectively wonder wtf is going on.
In the first pilot, we have a well-paced and interesting show about a guy trying to find his family after a zombie apocalypse. Decent acting, good writing, good atmosphere, etc. You care about this guy and whether or not he accomplishes his goals.
In the second pilot, we have a poorly-paced and uninteresting show about a guy and his family encountering the beginnings of a zombie apocalypse (which could been good if the initial encounters were more interesting, but falls flat here). The zombie outbreak surprises them but the audience already knows all about it, so there's nothing very exciting or memorable. And worse, it's impossible to care about any of these people.
I've heard it gets better in the second episode, but man, this first episode was such a huge disappointment that I'm not even sure I want to see any more of it. And I'm not at all a difficult guy to please. What do you guys think?
Quote from: Hydra009 on August 25, 2015, 03:42:41 PM
Letme tell ya, I really, really wanted to like this. But the pilot was an unmitigated disaster. It was such a disappointment. Any Walking Dead episode is better than this Fear the Walking Dead episode.
Yeah, even the whole second season which consisted of nothing but conversations with Dale, Andrea, and Hershel and searching for Sophia was more watchable than the ninety minutes that was that.
Quote from: Hydra009 on August 25, 2015, 03:42:41 PMEssentially, the characters are extremely bland and didn't even seem come across as real people (which is absolutely disastrous in a character-driven show like the Walking Dead) and nothing happens on the first episode.
Yeah, the characters felt forced together. It was sort of like Thanksgiving at an airport.
Quote from: Hydra009 on August 25, 2015, 03:42:41 PMExcept for the first and last couple minutes, basically nothing happens. Nothing memorable, anyway. It's boring. Dreadfully, dreadfully boring. I couldn't even persuade my roommate to sit through the whole thing.
When it started with a junkie eating another junkie in a church, it definitely had my attention. What a bait and switch.
Quote from: Hydra009 on August 25, 2015, 03:42:41 PMI've heard it gets better in the second episode, but man, this first episode was such a huge disappointment that I'm not even sure I want to see any more of it. And I'm not at all a difficult guy to please. What do you guys think?
The trailer for the first season that aired seems very promising. It's just the complete breakdown of society, which I think is a fascinating angle. I feel like if the first episode had to be slow in order to "set the scene" they definitely failed miserably. I'm going to give it a second chance on Sunday, but meh.
Quote from: TomFoolery on August 25, 2015, 03:56:37 PMThe trailer for the first season that aired seems very promising. It's just the complete breakdown of society, which I think is a fascinating angle. I feel like if the first episode had to be slow in order to "set the scene" they definitely failed miserably. I'm going to give it a second chance on Sunday, but meh.
Yeah, I'll give it a second shot. It's just...man, that's one hell of a bad start. You'd think the end of the world would be less of a snoozefest.
Speaking of, the creators say they wanted to explore the initial outbreak and give the audience a better understanding of the how and why of the zombie apocalypse. (which is strange considering how we've got bupkis so far and the zombie outbreak is already well under way)
But I'm not sure that's actually a good idea. Sure, it'd be nice to sate our curiosity, but part of TWD's draw is that it's a huge mystery. The characters don't know how the exact nature of the zombie plague or much about zombies themselves, and this ignorance adds another layer of frustration and uncertainty to their daily struggles. It's also a plot point on more than one occasion in the comics. Solving this mystery would remove some of the mystique of the setting.
I liked the way it ended, but that was definitely a bit slow.
I've come to the conclusion that I don't believe in zombies and have ceased to be interested in the tripe around the zombie apocalyptic future
Quote from: AllPurposeAtheist on August 26, 2015, 03:36:14 PM
I've come to the conclusion that I don't believe in zombies and have ceased to be interested in the tripe around the zombie apocalyptic future
Really? Just wait until one of them starts eating your brain! They have already eaten Trump's brain--and Sarah Palain--and Rubio---and loved Jindal's......and so on.
My brain is going to be on Mount Rushmore..
West Coast... so surfing zombies that eat fish brain tacos?
Quote from: kilodelta on August 26, 2015, 07:14:12 PM
West Coast... so surfing zombies that eat fish brain tacos?
No, more like canned representations of everything that belongs on a modern family drama, such as the emo prodigal son who loves the smack, his intelligent overachieving sister who got into Berkeley and feels angry that her achievements go unnoticed amid her brother's routine fuck-ups, the harried mother who tries too hard, and the guy who likes to fuck her, with a complexion
just dark enough to say to viewers "Yeah, we respect diversity."
I watched this week's episode and it picked up considerably. Kind of an interesting take on how quickly civilization falls.
Enjoying this series would require leaving the usual frame of mind of TWD and start over with it. Which is probbaly hard to do for any fan. Because we know what happened. All those poeple we see are dead. Not specifically them of course. Just people. Except a few ones who'll manage to survive.
The mother series is about representing the evolution of what happens to surviving people in that environment; the weight of the circumstances; phases they go through and how they arrive to the same blind point over and over again. (Probably, why I love the show very much) Characters have changed, developed... got mature and have become 'proffesionals' in a manner with what they lost and gained and we along with them. To provide that sense of continuity, it is following a nucleur group with additons and substractions.
[spoiler]However, in the spin off it hasn't even started...they are just starting; they are 'amateurs',lol.[/spoiler]
I haven't decided if I liked it or not yet. But I can't get over of any phase of a good made 'zombie' apocalypse, because let's face it, it is the best idea of a catalyst in a given story -even though a fantasy element- to make something what really human is and can be under extreme circumstances. How delicate our 'great' civilisation is. You can't provide that with wars or natural catastrophies on screen. Nobody would watch it.
[spoiler]I also like that while TWD startes with one man who has no idea what is going on while the reast did, FWD starts with a man who knows what is going on while the rest has no idea. Nice asymmetry.[/spoiler]
Quote from: drunkenshoe on September 15, 2015, 10:29:32 AM
Enjoying this series would require leaving the usual frame of mind of TWD and start over with it. Which is probbaly hard to do for any fan. Because we know what happened. All those poeple we see are dead. Not specifically them of course. Just people. Except a few ones who'll manage to survive.
I like the comics, I like the original show, but strangely, I think I'm coming to like this one even more. I don't know if it will stay that way, but I like watching how things fall apart. Right now everyone's just confused, and I think the transition is important, because they still feel bound by society's rules and don't know why their friends, family or neighbors are trying to hurt them or even really know that their neighbors are even dead. Most people's first instinct if someone stumbled up to them making breathy growling sounds wouldn't be to whip out a baseball bat and smash their heads in. I think it goes a long way toward explaining why there are so many sadists and psychopaths in the original series: because as the world fell apart, most of the people with any shred of decency were trying to reason with the infected or would refuse to kill them (like Herschel used to) because it was unknown what exactly was wrong with them. People that could more easily cut ties with friends and loved ones were more likely to survive. And as the teasers for the next season of the original series hint at, what's the point of rebuilding civilization if none of us are civilized anymore?
Quote from: Mike Cl on August 26, 2015, 04:11:24 PM
Really? Just wait until one of them starts eating your brain! They have already eaten Trump's brain--and Sarah Palain--and Rubio---and loved Jindal's......and so on.
I recall a scene in one of the Night of the Living Dead sequel's. It may have been the second one. A boyfriend of one of the women turns into a zombie. She's still in love with him. He finally catches her and they are sitting on the floor together with his arm around her lovingly, and he says, "I want to eat your brains." She was well aware at this point of the fact that zombies want to eat people's brains, and she shuts her eyes really tight, nods her head, leans over to him, and says, "OK, OK," and lets him eat her brains. Such love and devotion was inspiring. Well, creepy, actually. The whole movie had this kind of slapstick horror throughout.
Quote from: TomFoolery on September 15, 2015, 10:48:51 AM
I like the comics, I like the original show, but strangely, I think I'm coming to like this one even more. I don't know if it will stay that way, but I like watching how things fall apart. Right now everyone's just confused, and I think the transition is important, because they still feel bound by society's rules and don't know why their friends, family or neighbors are trying to hurt them or even really know that their neighbors are even dead. Most people's first instinct if someone stumbled up to them making breathy growling sounds wouldn't be to whip out a baseball bat and smash their heads in. I think it goes a long way toward explaining why there are so many sadists and psychopaths in the original series: because as the world fell apart, most of the people with any shred of decency were trying to reason with the infected or would refuse to kill them (like Herschel used to) because it was unknown what exactly was wrong with them. People that could more easily cut ties with friends and loved ones were more likely to survive. And as the teasers for the next season of the original series hint at, what's the point of rebuilding civilization if none of us are civilized anymore?
Oh definitely agreed. Highly likely I'll love it. To me the whole TWD is like a customised product I ordered. When I was a big kid and also as a young adult, I used to watch zombie movies, try to imagine the world we know falling apart and felt sorry because they didn't make any shows or movies like this one. About people. And human. So I am enjoying it immensely.
When I first saw the 28 Days Later years ago, I had hope that they would do something like this related to fall of civilisation. With TWD and the spin off....I am grateful.
I wrote that 'it would require to leave a certain frame of mind', because I know most people felt like 'going back' while nothing 'new' would happen. I don't see it that way at all. I just would like to see it done as good as TWD.
Too bad most people skip it thinking it is just a 'zombie show'. Myeh.
I gave it another shot and watched all 3 episodes. It's gotten much better. Not the best, but it's okay - watchable, even. So far, it's my second favorite zombie drama tv show created by Robert Kirkman.
I thought it was funny how the gang sat down and played monopoly. It'll be a wonder if they survive for two weeks longer, let alone as long as Rick's group.
And I liked how the military intervened. In TWD, we get hints of a small military presence - a helicopter flying overhead and a small group of military survivors. It'll be interesting to see how things go wrong for them.
Quote from: Hydra009 on September 15, 2015, 11:35:33 AM
I thought it was funny how the gang sat down and played monopoly. It'll be a wonder if they survive for two weeks longer, let alone as long as Rick's group.
My favorite moment so far was... [spoiler]... in the second episode where the daughter is looking out the window and sees a male neighbor attacking another female neighbor and her mom pushes her back and shuts the curtains.
The interaction between them describes in one 15 second clip exactly what it means to be human.
The daughter screams out "Mom! That's Mrs. So and so!" I think most decent people would have that reaction to seeing a neighbor being attacked by someone. Altruism in the face of violence is a very human thing.
But the mom doesn't care, because just a few hours earlier, she was fighting for her life while the former principal of the school she worked at was trying to eat her face off. Abandoning common decency in the wake of extreme fear and the unknown is also about as human as it gets. [/spoiler]
Yeah, but I think these people are taking far too long to get their shit together. Rick acclimated pretty quickly by comparison. Right now, not only would zombies get these Californian suburbanites, but bandits would wipe the floor with them. Assuming they don't suffer a far more mundane death like starvation.
If I saw the neighborhood go to hell in a handbasket like they did, I'd barricade and gather supplies and arm myself pronto. And when I had to hoof it, I wouldn't think twice about self-defense.
Rick woke up to a whole town walking dead. Walked between piles of corpses from an abondoned hospital with doors locked and written 'Do not open dead inside' on it. And had someone to explain after everything is gone. He was in a coma during this phase. Not to mention he is a sheriff.
Okay, not exactly the same circumstances. Still, he walked out of that hospital, oblivious to everything that had happened, and managed to survive his first few walker encounters without acting like a complete idiot. Meanwhile, we have way better informed people in a group who seem perpetually confused and collectively couldn't defend themselves from an angry duck.
Quote from: Hydra009 on September 15, 2015, 12:04:58 PM
Yeah, but I think these people are taking far too long to get their shit together. Rick acclimated pretty quickly by comparison. Right now, not only would zombies get these Californian suburbanites, but bandits would wipe the floor with them. Assuming they don't suffer a far more mundane death like starvation.
When a few cases of Ebola turned up in the US, I didn't take all the food and supplies I could and go hide out in the woods. Most people would agree that's overreacting.
These people are understandably in that same state. True, they've seen much worse than Ebola firsthand, but they don't know what a worst case scenario looks like and they have a lot of questions. And now the National Guard has shown up, and people want to have faith that the military will protect them in a situation like. So maybe they're thinking the worst case scenario now is that they'll have to live under martial law for a while, maybe food and fuel will be rationed, but eventually things will get worked out. I think there's a decent reason for them at this point to believe that, because it's only been a few days of rioting and general chaos.
Rick however woke up to find a worst case scenario: he was alone and corpses were trying to hurt him. He probably had some questions about why, but there were no questions about how bad it could get, because it was already there.
LOL, I have to wonder if the under-40 crowd really like zombies that much, or if it's just the Hollywood producers dumping shit on you. When every other new series or movie is about zombies or vampires, how can it not get old?
Actually, what Hydra is complaining about what I think is realistic and love about the both shows. Because the progress of realising what is really going on would be very slow. This is one of the reasons why -like 28 Days Later- the TWD starts with Rick getting out of coma after everything is messed up. To get in action asap.
Also you already know what you are watching. You know what happened in the scenario.
In real life, people do not live their lives with a zombie apaocalypse at the back of their mind or that some event could break out to lead to some E.L.E. to take ultimate surviving position. It's not something they know, but somethig they need to learn. Also half of the people would die in events breaking during the panic.
Nobody would believe in it watching it online or witnessing it -as they showed it very cleverly by 'the cop shot a man' lol- without being attacked. And even then it would take a long time for people to see that everything can be gone and that there won't be any authority or help coming. It's also a defense mechanism.
And nobody would help, could help, but just watch mostly. Because you know, help should be coming, somebody must be in charge. Brr... gave me terrible goose bumps. :sad2: Depresssing.
Quote from: TomFoolery on September 15, 2015, 12:26:41 PMWhen a few cases of Ebola turned up in the US, I didn't take all the food and supplies I could and go hide out in the woods. Most people would agree that's overreacting.
True. But a very slim portion of the population would react like that. Most people would go about their daily lives. But if I saw half the community keel over from it, I might grab some gloves and a face mask. That would be a pretty appropriate reaction, imho. Actually, maybe a little bit on the low end of the ol' competence curve. And these people are even more clueless and ineffectual than that.
And funny that you should bring up Ebola, because I think it illustrates another issue with this series. The ebola outbreak was relatively limited. And the news was all over that. Even if you lived under a rock, you knew about that stuff backwards and forwards. But apparently, the end of the world didn't merit nearly that much attention. Only that internet kid really had the skinny early on, and even as the shit really started hitting the fan, most people were utterly uninformed. You'd think some guy taking 5 to the chest then biting another guy's face off would attract more attention. Especially if there were dozens, then hundreds of reports just like that. It almost strikes me as a contrived, plot-induced idiocy.
There wouldn't be anything serious or real info in the news. Because of the fear of panic that would break out which would kill more than the virus in a short time in the first phase. And they would start to come back in masses according to the scenario how virus works.
Also people would start to stock, loot...attack around...etc. Atrocities would ensue. Governments would deny anything is out of control, well untill everything is really out of control. A lot of people would get shot dead by armed forces. Again to come back. At some point not too late, people would run off to their families from armed forces, leaving their posts.
The only thing that they will screw up in the series -I hope they won't- would be the bombings of certain urban areas and cities run over that would start in the next phase. May be they'll skip it altogether. Hard to balance in the scenario.
Quote from: peacewithoutgod on September 15, 2015, 12:35:45 PM
LOL, I have to wonder if the under-40 crowd really like zombies that much, or if it's just the Hollywood producers dumping shit on you. When every other new series or movie is about zombies or vampires, how can it not get old?
I think it mainly speaks to arrogance. Like, remember the time when circumstances killed off everyone, except
me (and probably my loved ones, because this is my fantasy goddammit!)? Of course not. It speaks to a large group of society that is self-centered and/or wants everyone else to get what they think is coming to them. Some politicians and Wall Street bankers like it because they're sociopaths and deep down would love a chance to rule the world like the governor. Blue collar types love it because they fantasize about a world in which money and power don't matter, but common sense and hands on skills like hunting and mechanics do. Hell, even the bitch from the fat-shaming video would probably relish at the idea of fat people being too slow to outrun zombies and natural selection finally getting it's voice heard again.
What most people don't get (and a few other people in this thread seem to have touched on) is that most people would die as collateral damage during the civil unrest period, and not from being attacked by the undead. Imagine how many people were killed in those riots alone? Then there are millions of people dependent on medication and other medical interventions to survive, and once those amenities disappeared, those people would also die and then reanimate, and thus the problem grows exponentially. Then once the military can no longer contain it in large urban centers, there's no question in my mind that they would bomb the shit out of large cities in a last ditch effort to stop or significantly slow it. No matter how amazing you are with a bow and a wrench, you still can't survive the government plopping an H-bomb down in your neighborhood.
But everywhere you look, there are people saying, "Look at those suckers,
I would be smarter than that. I can't believe
they weren't prepared for zombie/robot/alien/vampire/mummy end games!" I think that's why this show appeals to me: it shows people acting like people, not a traditional strict dichotomy of strong and capable versus weak and useless. As to why zombies, I think they're just what's trending right now. Back in the 1990s and 2000s, it was very much aliens. It's early in this show, but these characters are showing they have both strengths and weaknesses, rather than being these unconquerable survivors that the original show keeps around.
Quote from: TomFoolery on September 15, 2015, 02:31:45 PM
But everywhere you look, there are people saying, "Look at those suckers, I would be smarter than that. I can't believe they weren't prepared for zombie/robot/alien/vampire/mummy end games!"
Yeah, people seem to lack a lot of imagination of what would happen if you ask me. I would be one of the first to go. Probably in the first phase.
QuoteAs to why zombies, I think they're just what's trending right now.
Besides the trend -or this is why it is the trend among the end of the world scenarios we love to rewind- a deadly virus that can animate people to attack others while removing the identity of people is good for:
-A virus that can renimate dead people is the best catalyst to build a ground for any madness human is capable. You can't do that with a world war or a natural catastrophy scenario. Highly likely, there would be some authority standing in both cases. At least not dark enough as a movie. It also plays to the vigilance, personal survival skills, because there can be attack from anywhere, anyone. From people you know, people you are emotionally bonded to.
-People can kill them without any burden on their conscience. Because they are already dead.
I could discuss the governor's case from a different point. The talk he had with the woman -in the trailer- and the child he found after saving that girl... He changed instantly and went to kill the other candidates. Strong and able males go on and turn into something else when they own up to a woman and a child; a family. Doesn't matter whose at that point. They play to that a lot in the series; sometimes in a disguised way, sometimes openly.
Think about Shane. After Rick comes back, more than losing a woman, it is losing a family to fight for, because they make him stronger.
Rick is not the governor, but he will have to somewhat act like him in a lot of instances, because he gets it better by the time that every safe haven is a temporary delusion.
The Governors are the last men standing. Sooner or later every men managed to survive will turn into the governor.
-And personally I love the idea that the series' message is 'even when the whole world rises from the dead to eat you alive, you had better be scared from the living next to you'. :lol:
Quote from: TomFoolery on September 15, 2015, 02:31:45 PMAs to why zombies, I think they're just what's trending right now.
Imho, the main draw of the Walking Dead isn't the zombies at all. The zombies just the background threat that the survivors have to deal with. The real draw is the survivors dealing with loss and hardship and trying not only survive, but desperately trying to hold onto their humanity while faced with extremely difficult decisions. And that's a consistent theme from the very first episode to the very last episode. As the comic states explicitly, The Walking Dead doesn't refer to the zombies, it refers to the survivors.
You also get to see idealism and realism as well as good and evil play out in a setting devoid of law and structure. The survivors have many different, often mutually exclusive goals, and (as the comic recently showed) different ideas of how people should live going forward. Which way of life will ultimately triumph? I'm dying to find out!
QuoteIt's early in this show, but these characters are showing they have both strengths and weaknesses, rather than being these unconquerable survivors that the original show keeps around.
I couldn't disagree more. I was just watching the season 5 final of TWD and several characters almost crack in that episode. They're not unconquerable and they certainly display strengths and weaknesses aplenty.
And once again, I find myself unhappy with the spinoff because I honestly don't see much characterization in any of these people. If you asked me to describe any of the main family, I'd be hard pressed to do it.
Quote from: Hydra009 on September 15, 2015, 04:37:31 PM
I couldn't disagree more. I was just watching the season 5 final of TWD and several characters almost crack in that episode. They're not unconquerable and they certainly display strengths and weaknesses aplenty.
Well, sure, they display weaknesses, but those weaknesses aren't really huge weaknesses. Rick has spent the series on a rollercoaster from this buoyant optimist to paranoid asshole who also lost his mind after his wife died, but somehow he's always more or less kept it together. Carol was a domestic violence survivor and after she toughened up when her daughter died, she's killing people just for having the flu, stoically executing a psychopathic child, and threatening to hurt little boys who tell her secrets.
Quote from: Hydra009 on September 15, 2015, 04:37:31 PMAnd once again, I find myself unhappy with the spinoff because I honestly don't see much characterization in any of these people. If you asked me to describe any of the main family, I'd be hard pressed to do it.
I'm beginning to get a feel for them. The mom is tough and will do what she has to. Her daughter I think has potential, but it seems to soon. Her son is a selfish twit with enough junkie smarts to probably survive (figured out where the neighbors kept their shotgun that he once tried to steal pretty quickly, ya know?). Her boyfriend is a sensitive guy who hates guns but even he mowed down a drug dealer walker with his truck. Mr. Salazar is a badass, but I'm going to say his independence is going to get him in trouble. I want to say his wife is a goner because she's overly dependent on her husband, but at the same time she coyly told her daughter she had survived worse, so I get a feeling she might be a dark horse.
I personally was zombie'd out about 1965. The whole concept keeps meeting my logical mind and the silliness of it and ends there. Other imaginary stuff yeah, space travel and time travel and whatever, but zombies really never appealed to me. I don't watch any of the shows. I saw an analysis of a zombie outbreak on another forum that indicated that such an occurrence would only last about 3 years tops, and ol' Rick has been running around at least that long.
Quote from: stromboli on September 15, 2015, 05:39:17 PM
I personally was zombie'd out about 1965. The whole concept keeps meeting my logical mind and the silliness of it and ends there. Other imaginary stuff yeah, space travel and time travel and whatever, but zombies really never appealed to me. I don't watch any of the shows. I saw an analysis of a zombie outbreak on another forum that indicated that such an occurrence would only last about 3 years tops, and ol' Rick has been running around at least that long.
The show is not about zombies. It's about the people.
It's getting better.
Quote from: stromboli on September 15, 2015, 05:39:17 PM
I personally was zombie'd out about 1965. The whole concept keeps meeting my logical mind and the silliness of it and ends there. Other imaginary stuff yeah, space travel and time travel and whatever, but zombies really never appealed to me. I don't watch any of the shows. I saw an analysis of a zombie outbreak on another forum that indicated that such an occurrence would only last about 3 years tops, and ol' Rick has been running around at least that long.
Roughly 2 years in the show. Much longer in the comics.
And yeah, the zombies would get thinned out over time (and perhaps debilitated by rot and constant exposure to the elements). In this setting, everyone who dies for any reason turns into a zombie, but even so, the uninfected human population nosedived and survivors continually kill zombies, so the zombie population isn't sustainable over a long period of time.
I just caught the last episode, and man, it was pretty horrible imho. When the actual Walking Dead show comes back on, I'm going to drop this series harder than Star Trek Enterprise.
We start off to domestic squabbling as our survivors apparently live in the lap of luxury and have nothing better to do than to act like assholes the entire episode.
Asshole #1 chills in an outdoor pool like he's at Cancun before sneaking off and stealing medicine from a critical patient like a complete asshole. Asshole #2 sits on the roof and thinks someone's alive outside the safe zone. Let's say that's true. So what? Want to mount a rescue? I agree with the dad there. Leave it alone. You're relatively safe, don't jeopardize that by doing something crazy like taking a pair of wire cutters and opening a hole in the only barrier against the zombies and walking around in zombieland like a complete idiot. And here comes Asshole #3, doing just that. Brilliant.
Meanwhile, the military is allegedly sending a bunch of sick people to a special camp where they'll get treated and almost certainly not get summarily executed. We actually don't know for sure what they intend to do, and we get a lot of fearmongering from the survivors. Survivors who simultaneously rely on military aid to stay alive and think the military is out to get them. Wouldn't it be hilarious if all that turned out to be baseless paranoia? But given that we know how this ends, it's much more likely that the injured really are being killed or abandoned. And I'll probably get some flak for saying this, but that's not entirely a bad strategy. People who are dying or injured to such an extent that they're unlikely to recover are dead weight at best and new zombies at worst. Disposing of them is a fucked up and definitely a Shane thing to do, but it is somewhat understandable. I wouldn't do that myself, but then again, a lot of what Rick's group does wouldn't even cross my mind in normal circumstances. Besides, anything that could bring harm to Nick is okay in my book.
This show definitely hit a low point. The pacing is there, finally. And we get to see the main characters' personalities, finally. But the problem there is that they're almost all unlikable assholes. Nick's an asshole. The mom's an idiotic and abusive asshole who probably sabotaged the community's only defense against the zombies. Roof guy is an asshole who'll probably get someone killed. The girl, I dunno what her problem is, but she carved up her arm like a psycho. So she's an asshole, too. The dad's a jogger who apparently is anti-gun in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, which is idiotic. He's not quite an asshole, but he's getting there.
In summary, these people are bafflingly idiotic and complete assholes and I hope they all find their way to Terminus or whatever its equivalent is on the west coast.