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The Walking Dead (3 Viewers)
- Thread starter MikeNV79
- Start date
Mr. Cheese
Full House
I'm watching it right now. I've watched it from season 1 on and I've always enjoyed it.
Milo013
Flush
Season 5 has been okay, so far.
Quicksilver-75
4 of a Kind
Hooked. I have always enjoyed these kinds of programs. The biggest + for the show is the casting. I find the characters very genuine. I also am kind of happy the show deviated (hugely in places) from the c-book series. It would have ended by now for sure.
the tv show is awful, and I REALLY wanted to like it because for me Zombies > Werewolves > Vampires. The only thing I enjoy about the show are:
The writing is atrocious, the plot holes innumerable. Where shall I begin?
BEING BIT/SCRATCHED - In the beginning of the series, before they realize everyone is infected and will turn upon death, they believe being bit or scratched will result in a person turning. Yet every f'ing episode they are bare-knuckle brawling zombies with punches to the zombies face. Because clearly putting your skin into contact with zombie teeth is a smart idea
INSTA-SPAWNING ZOMBIE HORDES - A super cheap tactic to introduce "suspense". Numerous times throughout the show a horde of walkers will appear out of thin air about 20 feet from the survivors. Here's two of my "favorite" examples:
1. On the highway when the RV is stopped they have the old guy up on the roof of the RV acting as lookout (because clearly having the elderly gentleman with glaucoma as your lookout is the best decision for survival). Somehow despite a clear field of view for miles they don't notice a horde of walkers until they are about 20-50 feet away from the group. Hey guys, I know, LET'S HIDE UNDER THESE CARS!
2. When Shane & Otis are fleeing the school they are both getting tired and decide to take a rest. There is a chain link fence IN FRONT OF THEM that they stop at. They turn around and place their backs on this fence to catch their breath. Before you can say ERMAHGERD ZERMBIE BUTT SEX! a horde attacks them from the other side of the chain link fence (which, last I knew, are see-through, so how they missed this horde when two seconds ago they were FACING it is beyond me)
BOOM HEAD SHOT! - Ok, I get it, head-shots are cool, who doesn't want to see a zombie head explode like a pumpkin on Halloween? But how did EVERY survivor become an expert marksman, able to pick off zombie heads from a football field away with a pistol? Or Beth in the pitch-black basement of the hospital..........headshot.....every.....shot. Yet when they come across other survivors suddenly everyone has the shooting skill of your average Star Wars Storm Trooper?
HIGHWAY PILEUP - Why on the highway into and out of Atlanta, in the massive traffic jam, are there cars randomly overturned (yet no indication of anything that would've caused that accident?) Also, why are there zombies just lying dormant inside closed, undamaged cars, waiting for someone to show up so they can scare them? If ANYONE was fleeing Atlanta to escape the zombie outbreak and they were stuck in this massive traffic jam would they just stay inside their car until they expired from natural causes and turned, or would they, you know, OPEN THE F'ING DOOR and get out and start walking???
ZOMBIE IN A WELL - On the farm the group discovers a zombie has fallen into one of the wells. This zombie is a pus-filled bloated corpse standing waist deep in the water. The group becomes concerned that if they kill the zombie it will contaminate their drinking supply (just forget that it's been in the drinking supply for a couple of weeks leaking its pus-filled sores into it) so the decide they need to send Glen down into the well to pull the zombie out while it's alive. Uh, that well is already contaminated bros.
I just can't like any of the characters, I can't like any of the story, it's all just so much garbage and it monkey tilts the crap out of me.
I did recently play both Seasons 1 and 2 of The Walking Dead by Telltale Games and that got me hooked on the characters and made me care about them fortunately. But I'll stick to watching Game of Thrones for quality writing.
- The fantastic makeup work for the zombies
- The fantastic kill shots
- watching the survivors die horribly
The writing is atrocious, the plot holes innumerable. Where shall I begin?
BEING BIT/SCRATCHED - In the beginning of the series, before they realize everyone is infected and will turn upon death, they believe being bit or scratched will result in a person turning. Yet every f'ing episode they are bare-knuckle brawling zombies with punches to the zombies face. Because clearly putting your skin into contact with zombie teeth is a smart idea
INSTA-SPAWNING ZOMBIE HORDES - A super cheap tactic to introduce "suspense". Numerous times throughout the show a horde of walkers will appear out of thin air about 20 feet from the survivors. Here's two of my "favorite" examples:
1. On the highway when the RV is stopped they have the old guy up on the roof of the RV acting as lookout (because clearly having the elderly gentleman with glaucoma as your lookout is the best decision for survival). Somehow despite a clear field of view for miles they don't notice a horde of walkers until they are about 20-50 feet away from the group. Hey guys, I know, LET'S HIDE UNDER THESE CARS!
2. When Shane & Otis are fleeing the school they are both getting tired and decide to take a rest. There is a chain link fence IN FRONT OF THEM that they stop at. They turn around and place their backs on this fence to catch their breath. Before you can say ERMAHGERD ZERMBIE BUTT SEX! a horde attacks them from the other side of the chain link fence (which, last I knew, are see-through, so how they missed this horde when two seconds ago they were FACING it is beyond me)
BOOM HEAD SHOT! - Ok, I get it, head-shots are cool, who doesn't want to see a zombie head explode like a pumpkin on Halloween? But how did EVERY survivor become an expert marksman, able to pick off zombie heads from a football field away with a pistol? Or Beth in the pitch-black basement of the hospital..........headshot.....every.....shot. Yet when they come across other survivors suddenly everyone has the shooting skill of your average Star Wars Storm Trooper?
HIGHWAY PILEUP - Why on the highway into and out of Atlanta, in the massive traffic jam, are there cars randomly overturned (yet no indication of anything that would've caused that accident?) Also, why are there zombies just lying dormant inside closed, undamaged cars, waiting for someone to show up so they can scare them? If ANYONE was fleeing Atlanta to escape the zombie outbreak and they were stuck in this massive traffic jam would they just stay inside their car until they expired from natural causes and turned, or would they, you know, OPEN THE F'ING DOOR and get out and start walking???
ZOMBIE IN A WELL - On the farm the group discovers a zombie has fallen into one of the wells. This zombie is a pus-filled bloated corpse standing waist deep in the water. The group becomes concerned that if they kill the zombie it will contaminate their drinking supply (just forget that it's been in the drinking supply for a couple of weeks leaking its pus-filled sores into it) so the decide they need to send Glen down into the well to pull the zombie out while it's alive. Uh, that well is already contaminated bros.
I just can't like any of the characters, I can't like any of the story, it's all just so much garbage and it monkey tilts the crap out of me.
I did recently play both Seasons 1 and 2 of The Walking Dead by Telltale Games and that got me hooked on the characters and made me care about them fortunately. But I'll stick to watching Game of Thrones for quality writing.
Milo013
Flush
I agree with most of what you wrote but, in the end, it's entertainment. Like the cowboy and war movies that NEVER show the hero reloading. As for Game of Thrones, I agree that it is a far better written show, but even that has it's limitations. GRRM once stated that he always wondered why there was never any discussion of agrarian policy in Tolkien's work (with respect to how everyone got fed, commerce, etc. Well, maybe it's because the average reader would find that BORING AS HELL> By all means work it out so that your story has plausibility (if you like), but lets shave a couple hundred pages off those epics by deleting such trivialities, shall we?
Please note that I have only seen the passage mentioned above on video, but that my brother, who has read the books, confirms the substance. I love the show . . . much more than Walking Dead, where I wish that Carl would get Joffrey'd ASAP.
Agreed, not a Carl fan either. I was pleasantly surprised by Telltale Games Walking Dead series of point and click adventure games though. Much better writing than the tv show, and you're forced into some pretty difficult decisions. Picked up both seasons (each containing 5 episodes) during a Steam Sale pretty cheap
manamongkids
Full House
If you are going to nitpick a zombie show with plot holes and lapses in plot in general, you have to consider this about every show...ever. When you watch a show like walking dead, you are taking a leap of faith and throwing out all reality in watching, and thats part of the fun.
Some of the most beloved shows of all time have plot holes, breaking bad, and sopranos to name a few; not major plot holes, but instances where you just have to throw out reality and just take it as entertainment.
I enjoy walking dead because on sunday nights it lets my brain relax and I dont have to think much when watching it, purely from an entertainment perspective.
I also find it kind of funny when people defend the cast or say its a redeeming quality of the show, I was listening to a tv critic podcast and they were saying that the show should kill off every character and start fresh. The reason being is that the idea of a zombie apocalypse is good enough to drive audiences to watch.
Mr Tree
Straight Flush
If you want to poke holes in zombie stories we can axe the whole trope right here [emoji1]
http://www.cracked.com/article_18683_7-scientific-reasons-zombie-outbreak-would-fail-quickly.html
http://www.cracked.com/article_18683_7-scientific-reasons-zombie-outbreak-would-fail-quickly.html
I can only suspend my disbelief so far, there are limitations, and unfortunately The Walking Dead, which I really did want to love, takes the cake for going too far over the line into ridiculous.
I loved Breaking Bad as well, although near the end it started getting pretty dumb (like Gus not approaching his car in the parking garage, for instance)
I loved Breaking Bad as well, although near the end it started getting pretty dumb (like Gus not approaching his car in the parking garage, for instance)
chipjoker
Flush
I super enjoy the show, I started in on the middle of the second season but fully caught up now.
SixSpeedFury
Full House
It's not for everyone I guess. Just how my friends rave about Sons of Anarchy, I watched a few episodes and just didn't get into it.
i still watch it every week despite having sworn it off at least twice. my issues with the show in the past have not been so much the need to suspend disbelief.
you have to take the show for what it is and not what we wish it would be. if you're looking for a realistic show about zombies...i don't think i need to finish that thought. as to how the cast became fantastic marksmen or how cars got upended on the highway, these are not difficult to explain, but do we really need a montage of rick teaching people how to shoot or scenes of cars flipping to show that it's physically possible for a car to flip on its own? this is the kind of tedious storytelling i can do without.
objections like those are the most superficial complaints and don't reach at all to what the show is actually trying to do. you can only judge it if you agree to take it on its own terms. game of thrones is awful if you think it's attempting to be a moralistic fable, but it's great if you realize it's just a stylized genre soap opera. similarly, walking dead is horrible if you're looking for a procedural about the zombie apocalypse (go watch world war z which, while flawed, is better at hitting those marks), but to judge it fairly, you have to define what you think it's trying to do.
in my opinion, it's primarily attempting long-range character study. why i think it ultimately fails is that there is a tremendous amount of internal inconsistency within many characters' trajectories. they'll build an entire history for a character only to see that character act on entirely new and previously unaddressed motivations simply because a particular action will create more drama or suspense to serve its secondary goal of being a thriller. many movies/books/tv shows have been great character study/thrillers without having to sacrifice long-built character traits for cheap, temporary gags, but the walking dead doesn't seem to care much for keeping characters' arcs internally consistent.
in the end, i still watch for the thriller element, the story, and in very, very small part the character element. i don't think it's a great show, but it is very watchable if you're realistic about what you want to get out of it.
you have to take the show for what it is and not what we wish it would be. if you're looking for a realistic show about zombies...i don't think i need to finish that thought. as to how the cast became fantastic marksmen or how cars got upended on the highway, these are not difficult to explain, but do we really need a montage of rick teaching people how to shoot or scenes of cars flipping to show that it's physically possible for a car to flip on its own? this is the kind of tedious storytelling i can do without.
objections like those are the most superficial complaints and don't reach at all to what the show is actually trying to do. you can only judge it if you agree to take it on its own terms. game of thrones is awful if you think it's attempting to be a moralistic fable, but it's great if you realize it's just a stylized genre soap opera. similarly, walking dead is horrible if you're looking for a procedural about the zombie apocalypse (go watch world war z which, while flawed, is better at hitting those marks), but to judge it fairly, you have to define what you think it's trying to do.
in my opinion, it's primarily attempting long-range character study. why i think it ultimately fails is that there is a tremendous amount of internal inconsistency within many characters' trajectories. they'll build an entire history for a character only to see that character act on entirely new and previously unaddressed motivations simply because a particular action will create more drama or suspense to serve its secondary goal of being a thriller. many movies/books/tv shows have been great character study/thrillers without having to sacrifice long-built character traits for cheap, temporary gags, but the walking dead doesn't seem to care much for keeping characters' arcs internally consistent.
in the end, i still watch for the thriller element, the story, and in very, very small part the character element. i don't think it's a great show, but it is very watchable if you're realistic about what you want to get out of it.
daschuck77
Two Pair
Seems like we never know what side of the bed Rick wakes up on these days.
While I disagree to an extent with his opinion on the quality of character study in WD, I think jb's analysis is spot on.
I have been a fan from the beginning, and I've read the books as well. The show is far from perfect, but I think it tells a compelling story about people (both specific characters and humanity in general) and how we would change if an apocalyptic event like this were to occur. I can forgive the flaws.
I have been a fan from the beginning, and I've read the books as well. The show is far from perfect, but I think it tells a compelling story about people (both specific characters and humanity in general) and how we would change if an apocalyptic event like this were to occur. I can forgive the flaws.
ParrotheadMZ
Flush
Good show but a little slow this year. Kinda loosing intrest. Breaking bad was good. Sons of Anarchy is bad ass though. Just starting to catch up on that. Only 3 behind now. I've wore Netflix out lol
Apologies for threadjack, but looking familiar?
Attachments
detroitdad
Royal Flush
Solid episode. Love the beginning when Rick asked the dude to stop, he didn't, he ran him down.........should have listened.......
detroitdad
Royal Flush
I disagree. Then he couldn't have said "shut up" to a corpse
i'm back to torturing myself with this slow motion train wreck every week. i would pay a ridiculous amount of money to see a tornado come through and kill all these idiots. but still i watch, so who is the real sucker?
My money's on this latest community not being weird/sinister...
I liked Rick's speech from last week's episode when he was all like "We're the walking dead!" and I was like "OMG that's so clevah! They're alive, but they're dead! And they're walking!"
I liked Rick's speech from last week's episode when he was all like "We're the walking dead!" and I was like "OMG that's so clevah! They're alive, but they're dead! And they're walking!"
The scene where the group was shambling along with a horde they were ignoring in the background made me think it was trying to portray the survivors as the walking dead, because how much longer could they really have in their state? Then, like all shows do, it spelled it out for us at a 3rd grade reading level.
Like Butler, I just want to see these fools perish in grisly fashion. The rest of the show (story/plot/writing) is absolute garbage.
Poker Zombie
Royal Flush
I'm calling the new place a puppy mill - except with humans.
it's a little weird because when they were parked outside the gate at the end of the last episode, they (both rick and michon) clearly heard children playing, yet in the preview for next week's episode, the streets looked deserted as they entered. tough to say what's going on there.
if it turns into another governor situation, it will really test what patience i have left for the show. they already tried version 2.0 of that scenario in the hospital and mercifully that tangent was short-lived. i can't see why we need to go back over that ground again. i would be very happy if it is a truly new thing for the show. maybe a truly good community and the group has to learn to adapt to peaceful conditions now that they are essentially feral animals? or something that develops new information about the nature of the walkers? or maybe something truly out-of-nowhere with supernatural elements?
basically, anything new is good unless it's botched and i will be really irritated if it's just the same old.
if it turns into another governor situation, it will really test what patience i have left for the show. they already tried version 2.0 of that scenario in the hospital and mercifully that tangent was short-lived. i can't see why we need to go back over that ground again. i would be very happy if it is a truly new thing for the show. maybe a truly good community and the group has to learn to adapt to peaceful conditions now that they are essentially feral animals? or something that develops new information about the nature of the walkers? or maybe something truly out-of-nowhere with supernatural elements?
basically, anything new is good unless it's botched and i will be really irritated if it's just the same old.
manamongkids
Full House
this show is terrible, I have this guilt about all shows I invest so much time into though. I finished lost and hated the final season. I finished sons of anarchy and that was terrible after season 3. I basically hate watch many shows I have invested time into. I need the sense of accomplishment. This show could change the characters to a group of feces with a cartoon nose and eyes on it and I would still finish out the show, thats just how I am
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