The Other Worlds Shrine

Your place for discussion about RPGs, gaming, music, movies, anime, computers, sports, and any other stuff we care to talk about... 

  • The Walking Dead

  • Your favorite band sucks, and you have terrible taste in movies.
Your favorite band sucks, and you have terrible taste in movies.
 #149681  by Flip
 Mon Nov 01, 2010 9:49 am
Anyone else catch this on AMC last night? The first episode was 1.5 hours of awesome. Based on the graphic comic series, it seems to be a more serious look at a zombie apocalypse which, since its a show, should lead to some real good character development, too.
 #149682  by Mully
 Mon Nov 01, 2010 10:38 am
I did and I loved it. They are taking their sweet time, in 1.5 hours, they're about 20 pages into the comic.
 #149684  by Shrinweck
 Mon Nov 01, 2010 11:49 am
Yeah at this rate it's going to take like 15 seasons just to catch up.
 #149694  by Zeus
 Mon Nov 01, 2010 5:56 pm
Mully wrote:I did and I loved it. They are taking their sweet time, in 1.5 hours, they're about 20 pages into the comic.
Like every other AMC show out there, it moved SLOW AS FUCK.

But I am willing to wait it out for half a season or a full season before I write it off as "just another AMC show". But man, the rest of the eps better not move that slowly
 #149696  by Flip
 Mon Nov 01, 2010 6:48 pm
I liked it moving slow. Its one of the reaosn i like drama TV shows like this soooooo much more than movies, which have no time to develop people, atmosphere, and mood. I thought it was well done and i was glued for the entire 90 min. Well, i did pause the DVR once to get a snack.
 #149699  by Zeus
 Mon Nov 01, 2010 7:57 pm
Flip wrote:I liked it moving slow. Its one of the reaosn i like drama TV shows like this soooooo much more than movies, which have no time to develop people, atmosphere, and mood. I thought it was well done and i was glued for the entire 90 min. Well, i did pause the DVR once to get a snack.
Slow for a while is fine....as long as something is happening. But there is an epidemic with AMC shows where they essentially put filler in their shows as opposed to actual depth camouflaged as "tension" or "drama" where you get either nothing happening for 20 minutes other than manufactured or a repeat of prior "issues" that goes nowhere.

Like I said, I have a little more hope for Walking Dead since it is Darabont who's behind it and won't be making a final judgment 'til closer to the end of the first season. But it will require them breaking from the mold of Breaking Bad and Rubicon, shows that I follow but don't really love 'cause of how they're done
 #149700  by Flip
 Mon Nov 01, 2010 8:08 pm
A friend of mine who has read the comics said the same thing. Essentially, 'it will take 18 seasons if they keep that pace' so maybe they just wanted to draw out the beginning and all hell will break loose by the middle of the season.
 #149714  by Shrinweck
 Tue Nov 02, 2010 8:33 am
Hahaha. The Walking Dead has comparable, if not more, futzing about than Breaking Bad. Certainly more than Rubicon. It's so you can develop emotions for all the characters that he throws at you. Still, other than Rick and his son I've only grown to care about maybe a few other characters. Should still be worth watching a few seasons before his writing got to be more about the drama than the zombies. Still, it's very possible that they could quicken the pace and just forget about some of the stuff from the comic. I can't see it ALL going by fast, though. There's certainly some amazing material the comic has churned out through the years.

It's also a little further than 20 pages into the comic - arguably it's more like 40ish. About half-way into the second issue.
 #149715  by Mully
 Tue Nov 02, 2010 9:32 am
Could be, I counted page turns and not actual pages.
 #149717  by Shrinweck
 Tue Nov 02, 2010 9:52 am
Ah, okay, I did the individual pages like a lunatic.
 #149759  by Imakeholesinu
 Thu Nov 04, 2010 12:04 pm
Absolutely loved this show. Cannot wait for the next episode.
 #149772  by Mully
 Fri Nov 05, 2010 6:17 am
Only 3 full days left to episode 2. Geesh, I don't think I've ever been this pumped for the second episode...of the series.
 #149799  by Tessian
 Sat Nov 06, 2010 1:17 am
Finally watched it last night. I enjoyed it but agree it went too slow. I'll give it a couple more episodes to grab me, if they can pick up the pace a bit I'll be happy
 #149843  by Shellie
 Mon Nov 08, 2010 7:11 am
Watched the first ep this weekend, good cinematic quality, but I have issues with the story. Like how long he was in the hospital in a coma unattended to and how he is still alive. The extremely cliche scenes, etc.

Hopefully it gets better though.
 #149844  by Shrinweck
 Mon Nov 08, 2010 7:56 am
There's some reference in the comic about the wife leaving him with strangers (I assume nurses) or some such. It's possible that the nurses only recently died and his IV kept him hydrated a little longer... long enough for him to wake up.

Kind of disappointed with the second episode. Almost nothing happened in it that was taken from the comic. However, if you're in love with the survival horror aspect you'll probably enjoy it.
 #149849  by SineSwiper
 Mon Nov 08, 2010 10:04 am
Shrinweck wrote:There's some reference in the comic about the wife leaving him with strangers (I assume nurses) or some such. It's possible that the nurses only recently died and his IV kept him hydrated a little longer... long enough for him to wake up.

Kind of disappointed with the second episode. Almost nothing happened in it that was taken from the comic. However, if you're in love with the survival horror aspect you'll probably enjoy it.
What the fuck? So, they praise the source material when they are talking about the movie, but then they shit all over it after they have their hook? And then they drag it out for 90 minutes without covering all of the 20 pages of material?

That's not to say that I didn't enjoy the slower pace, but if you're going to do that, then fill it up more with source material.
 #149850  by Shrinweck
 Mon Nov 08, 2010 10:40 am
I wouldn't say shitting all over it.. it basically has to end up going the way it did in the comic starting in the next episode. Them putzing about in this one was just very odd.
 #149852  by Mully
 Mon Nov 08, 2010 12:02 pm
I like the deviations from the comic book so far. It has to be slower from the comic standpoint, for movies you have a finite timeline (give/take 2 hours) time limit, so it's going to be fast paced and action packed. For tv, you have basically an infinite time limit...take your time and build story. We will care much more about the characters in the comic.

However since you have a lot of time to develop the story/extra story, but don't spend tooooooo much time developing stories (a good point of reference would be to see the prison by the end of first season, but also this season is only 6 episodes instead of 13), don't stray too far from the source: aka don't make the zombie's talk or communicate (like in Romero's Land of the Dead), don't change the infection rate or reason for turning into a zombie (don't want to spoil the comic, but the true meaning of "the walking dead"); also don't be too clichéd,
 #149853  by Shrinweck
 Mon Nov 08, 2010 12:25 pm
There is no way they're getting to
Spoiler: show
the prison
by the end of this season. I will eat my hat.
Spoiler: show
(I won't)
At the most I see them getting to (do not read this if you haven't read the book)
Spoiler: show
Hershel's farm
 #149855  by Mully
 Mon Nov 08, 2010 12:37 pm
Shrinweck wrote:There is no way they're getting to
Spoiler: show
the prison
At the most I see them getting to (do not read this if you haven't read the book)
Spoiler: show
Hershel's farm
I double agree. Good observation.
 #149856  by Shrinweck
 Mon Nov 08, 2010 12:41 pm
Yeah it's a good place to end the first season since when they first get there
Spoiler: show
Rick thinks it could be permanent and it appears they're safe. From here it's somewhat possible with a 13 episode season next year that they resolve the prison all the way to the helicopter and capture.
 #149857  by Mully
 Mon Nov 08, 2010 1:34 pm
That is a big chunk of time, the whole 3rd year in fact, but I like where you're going.
 #149877  by Flip
 Tue Nov 09, 2010 3:52 pm
I just cant wait for:
Spoiler: show
The main guy to reach the camp so all hell can break loose with the love triangle. They make no confusion about portraying the partner as an asshole and that whole sex scene in the beginning of the last episode royally pissed me off. I didnt watch the previews of the next episode so i dont know whats going to happen and im actually glad i didnt read the comics so as not to spoil it.

A friend of mine read some spoiler said that the end to season 1 is different from the comics and they add a new arc that wasnt in the books. This season is only 6 episodes... but it already got picked up for a 12 episode season 2.
 #149878  by Mully
 Tue Nov 09, 2010 4:19 pm
We have a slight debate here at work. Has Lori and Shane's "relationship" start before or after the zombie apocalypse?

I've hidden this in spoilers to protect any spoilers...i don't think there are any and it doesn't spoil anything I think, but someone may think so.
Spoiler: show
I have book 4 (year 4) in my hands right now.

It may be vague on how long the affair was lasting.

So book 4 starts off as a flashback of Lori's (Rick's wife) showing Shane (his partner) and her getting it on. After a few panels, Lori says, "I'm sorry Shane. I just -- I can't help feeling guilty for leaving him [Rick, in the hospital]. And now -- after what we just did..." Shane replies, "What about us? After all the zombies are gone--then what? When Rick wakes up -- when he's fine.... when we're back home...Are you going to tell them about us?" Lori, "I don't know." Then she "wakes up" out of her flashback.

Does it seem like that one time or does it seem like this has been going on for a while.

If you know the comics, she sides with Rick as soon as he steps foot in the camp and never accepts Shane again.
Seems like it just started to me.
 #149879  by Anarky
 Tue Nov 09, 2010 4:33 pm
I just saw a 3 minutes preview for the next episode, they are probably going to just keep the whole story very loose from the comic books.
Spoiler: show
My honest guess will be the season ends in the winter where several of the survivors at the RV camp get killed and they'll start to drive off in the finale. I have this feeling in the back of my head that Shane will not be killed off this season.
 #149880  by Anarky
 Tue Nov 09, 2010 4:36 pm
BTW, not a fan of the use of 'geek' for the zombies, really hope they adopt roamers and lurkers soon.

I know geek was a term used for freak shows... but eh
 #149881  by Mully
 Tue Nov 09, 2010 4:48 pm
I was a fan only when Glenn used it. IF he was the only "geek" user, I thought that was fine, but now everyone is using it and its not cool.
 #149882  by Shrinweck
 Tue Nov 09, 2010 5:41 pm
You know what? If the show wants to go in a different direction with certain side stories - let it. Kirkman let some of the plot just drag and go to shit. As long as it preserves the comic's best moments then I won't mind. If it's just another slow drama that meanders and actually does end up giving the middle finger to the comic book.. then I guess I'll just have to stop watching. So far I've liked Rubicon more any way.
 #149892  by SineSwiper
 Wed Nov 10, 2010 7:10 am
Mully wrote:I like the deviations from the comic book so far. It has to be slower from the comic standpoint, for movies you have a finite timeline (give/take 2 hours) time limit, so it's going to be fast paced and action packed. For tv, you have basically an infinite time limit...take your time and build story. We will care much more about the characters in the comic.
Yeah, but you have to make sure it doesn't end up like Naruto or Bleach with the pacing. Hell, Naruto starts out going too fast a pace (which was definitely awesome), then they hit a brick wall when they ran out of material, so you ended up with about 50-75 episodes of shitty filler. When they started back up, the pacing was REALLY SLOW, like DBZ level slow. Bleach appears to have had similar problems, just not as drastic.

See, the Japanese have been translating manga to anime for years and years, so they are at least familiar with the problems of pacing (even if they don't solve for it all the time). Americans, not so much.
 #149896  by Mully
 Wed Nov 10, 2010 9:20 am
Good point with DBZ. Forgot about episode 32 - 36 scripts, "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"
 #149900  by Zeus
 Wed Nov 10, 2010 5:45 pm
I will certainly say that episode 2 was far superior to episode 1 in terms of pacing. My AMC fears were a little premature. If the rest of the season turns out like this, I'll be happy.
 #149902  by Shrinweck
 Wed Nov 10, 2010 6:32 pm
Really? By my count only a few things happened in that episode.
Spoiler: show
Rick got out of the tank. Rick got trapped in a building. Rick escaped and left someone trapped on the roof. Music montage. Fade to credits.
I guess it's better for pacing than the Breaking Bad fly episode.
 #149911  by Zeus
 Wed Nov 10, 2010 7:49 pm
Shrinweck wrote:Really? By my count only a few things happened in that episode.
Spoiler: show
Rick got out of the tank. Rick got trapped in a building. Rick escaped and left someone trapped on the roof. Music montage. Fade to credits.
I guess it's better for pacing than the Breaking Bad fly episode.
Pacing isn't all about tearing through a volume of plot points. That episode actually moved, they were always doing something, looking for something, or revealing something with very little filler. That's good pacing. There's nothing wrong with character development but you first have to have characters you care about or situations which call for development

The Fly episode from Breaking Bad was exactly like non-manga filler from Naruto. You can remove it from the series entirely and miss absolutely nothing. It was pure filler in every sense of the word and the worst example of AMC-ing a show
 #149933  by Shrinweck
 Thu Nov 11, 2010 3:04 pm
Ah, okay, I see. I think I'm just having trouble getting over the fact that almost no material from the comic was covered.
 #149934  by Mully
 Thu Nov 11, 2010 4:04 pm
I don't know what to think about them doing an exact remake of the comic. I hope they take it in a different direction because I know what is going to happen.
 #149935  by Zeus
 Thu Nov 11, 2010 5:21 pm
Shrinweck wrote:Ah, okay, I see. I think I'm just having trouble getting over the fact that almost no material from the comic was covered.
I don't know much about the graphic novels but I was under the impression that they were following it pretty closely. Are they deviating that much?
 #149950  by Shrinweck
 Fri Nov 12, 2010 2:02 pm
Basically none of the stuff in episode 2 happened in the graphic novel. It goes so far that Rick didn't even go INSIDE of the tank in the novel. There was one he walked by... The two major events that happened in the graphic novel as well are
Spoiler: show
the realization that rubbing yourself with zombie parts acts as an easy camouflage although the scene where they're around the zombies happens (and starts) COMPLETELY differently. The other is his partner and wife having sex. In fact, basically all the characters introduced in the second episode aren't even side characters (or extras!) in the graphic novel.
 #149958  by Mully
 Fri Nov 12, 2010 3:27 pm
This is a really good thread. It seems like everyone has been involved some way.
 #150010  by Mully
 Tue Nov 16, 2010 12:23 pm
Episode 3 = good episode. Not in the comics, but I like it.
 #150011  by Shrinweck
 Tue Nov 16, 2010 12:40 pm
Yeah, my thoughts as well, even if I thought the episode was going to end the way it did from the opening scene on.
 #150023  by Zeus
 Tue Nov 16, 2010 10:08 pm
Mully wrote:Episode 3 = good episode. Not in the comics, but I like it.
Episode 3 was a "we need to get this out of the way" ep. I didn't hate it but I'm happy they just did it all at once and got it over with.
Spoiler: show
Now we can get on to the group leaving the camp like they should. Not sure if that happens in the comics but it basically has to happen in the next 3 eps
 #150050  by kali o.
 Wed Nov 17, 2010 9:00 pm
Downloading...so I know what the hell you guys are talking about and so I don't finally get into the series right when they cancel it (My name is earl, legend of the seeker, etc).

Btw - Why isn't this in Music & Movies? Damn it...
 #150054  by SineSwiper
 Wed Nov 17, 2010 9:44 pm
Fixed that. Sorry, I tend to look at "The Shrine" view nowadays.

Legend of the Seeker is cancelled? Well, good riddens I guess, but I never heard about an official announcement.
 #150064  by kali o.
 Thu Nov 18, 2010 5:41 am
SineSwiper wrote:Fixed that. Sorry, I tend to look at "The Shrine" view nowadays.

Legend of the Seeker is cancelled? Well, good riddens I guess, but I never heard about an official announcement.
I dunno, I liked it. At least the last season when Cara came into the picture. But then I'm not familiar with the books, so I was free from being a nitpicky fanboy grasping to the source material. Like everything Sam Raimi touches, the casting choices were odd...probably what kept me away initially when I channel surfed past it. But once I gave the show a shot, it worked and I enjoyed it...for what it was.

As for The Walking Dead, I chain watched the first 3 eps just now. You guys sure talk alot. It's a zombie/apocolypse show...apparently based off some novels I'll never read (like it matters, they are all the same no?). I liked it. /shrug
 #150078  by Flip
 Thu Nov 18, 2010 5:08 pm
kali o. wrote: Btw - Why isn't this in Music & Movies? Damn it...

Because its TV, not music or movies. :P

What i think sets this apart from the allllll the cheesy zombie movies is that this series has yet to crack a joke or have an insanely cliche moment (expect maybe when they rubbed zombie guts all over themselves and the rain came). The mood is more real feeling. A movie shot like this would have been cool, too, but none of them are any good.
 #150082  by Mully
 Fri Nov 19, 2010 9:38 am
Flip wrote:The mood is more real feeling. A movie shot like this would have been cool, too, but none of them are any good.
You mean the mood from 16mm film? Yeah, movies shot like that are cool, too bad digital has sucked the life out of everything.
 #150150  by Anarky
 Mon Nov 22, 2010 5:33 pm
Spoiler: show
BRAVO! So glad they were actually able to kill people off (TV doesn't do what it needs to at times). Maybe I was wrong about where the season will end. I think they will be getting to Hershals farm in the finale. I still have some doubts about them killing off Shane.
 #150151  by Zeus
 Mon Nov 22, 2010 6:06 pm
Anarky wrote:
Spoiler: show
BRAVO! So glad they were actually able to kill people off (TV doesn't do what it needs to at times). Maybe I was wrong about where the season will end. I think they will be getting to Hershals farm in the finale. I still have some doubts about them killing off Shane.
Spoiler: show
Shane dying would actually be a great ending to Season 1. He's really a redundant character. The main character is clearly the leader now but he's been off doing stuff, so Shane's takin' care of the group while he's gone, but once he's done....). But it depends on how popular that character has become, they might hold off until Season 2.

Heroes was supposed to kill off characters all the time too, then it (and Claire and Hiro) got too popular and NBC ruined it. They finally got around to it in Season 3 when the show starting picking up
 #150160  by Mully
 Tue Nov 23, 2010 1:50 pm
Theory on how that episode ended:

What do you think?
Spoiler: show
Merle delivered a truck full of zombies to the camp!

Also, I wish Amy (the sister who died) was Andrea. Her face fits Andrea better than the current actress. She, Andrea, has been my favorite character in the comic.