New series "The Walking Dead" on AMC

MichaelG said:

He and the father and son survivors find a safe harbor in the police station - it has water, food?, communications equipment, weapons, ammo, other vital equipment and they all just abandon it? And split up? Those were the only people he knows are still around and he can trust them apparently, and they all split up?

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Rick went to Atlanta to search for his wife and child. The father seemed attached to being close to his zombie wife.

MichaelG said:

He drives off in his cop car and runs out of gas (didn't he think to top it off? or to carry extra gas)?

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I guess not

MichaelG said:

He gets to the farm where he finds the old pickup truck - I assume he's going to siphon off some gas, but instead goes off on a horse? He abandons his patrol car? It's a safe place with mobility and communications and weapons and he just takes off an a horse?

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Horses don't run out of gas and provide companionship.

MichaelG said:

How does he escape the zombies by crawling into the tank? I'm not an expert, but do tanks have hatches underneath? It seems like the place tanks have most armor is underneath to protect them from IEDs, mines, etc. Wouldn't a hatch underneath defeat that?

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Some tanks have escape hatches located underneath them.

I can't think of a great explanation for the hospital stuff. Not trying to be fresh, just trying to provide another point of view

MichaelG said:

I still don't understand the first scenes where the main character shoots a zombie girl. I assume that takes place in the future, relative to where the story line left off.

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I think it's a scene that is supposed to take place between the time he left Cynthiana and before he got to the farm with the horse, perhaps his original attempt to find some gas for the police cruiser.

It's not in the comics, but I think the intention was
1) To get the viewer's attention. The show is called Walking Dead and unless you have that scene, it's a while before you see some zombies.

2) To show this is serious zombie action. Guy comes out and shoots a little girl. It's not campy or humorous.

As for the whole hospital thing, I think it's just a side effect of them drawing it out. In the comic Rick literally spends like, 2 pages in the hospital before he gets out. The comic on the whole is a lot faster paced. You don't have time to think about some of the logic loopholes because it moves so quickly. I believe the author has stated that since most of his work before hand didn't last too long that he was trying to get as much as he could in each issue, hence the fast pace and some of the illogical things in the story creeping in.

As for the horse, yeah. It's a bit of a trip from Cynthiana, Kentucky to Atlanta, Georgia. I'm assuming if he was having trouble finding gas he just decided to take the horse instead of dealing with it.

EDIT: here's a link to the interview with the author:http://popwatch.ew.com/2010/11/01/walking-dead-amc-pilot-kirkman/. Sounds like some stuff might get changed with regards to who lives and who dies.

I have been reading The Walking Dead comic book for over 4 years. When I heard they were making it into a television series I was horrified and felt certain they would ruin it.

However, I watched the first episode and I have to say I was very impressed. They stuck to the original plot, adding only some dialog, which was well done, and a few scenes, which melded perfectly into the story.

After seeing this, I have high hopes for this series, and I will be watching it from now on. I'm hoping they keep the original writer, Robert Kirkman, involved, because he is a very talented storyteller.

Hey chaps. I know I could just chug on over to AMC land(apologies to Gunny Ermey) and check this out myself but does AMC offer streaming of their currently running shows? I always go to SciFi a week after Warehouse 13 airs and stream the episodes. A great way to keep up with the series since I don't have satellite tele anymore. I was wondering if it is on something like Hulu( I do not have an account/do I need one?) or if it works better to get it directly from their site.

Regards, Todd

Yeah, but zombies can't eat a car

chris456 said:

Horses don't run out of gas and provide companionship.

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MichaelG said:

Yeah, but zombies can't eat a car

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Good point.

Kudos to AMC. Love Mad Men! Breaking Bad was pretty good (better since I live in Abq., and it was shot here). Can't get into Rubicon though. Watched the Walking Dead pilot, I'll probably keep watching. Turnoffs for me were the poor decision making in terms of staying alive, example: when he leaves the hospital, and passes the stacks of bodies, he goes thru an army outpost. DUDE! Time to stop and grab an AR, Beretta mags, etc.!

So far, it seems pretty good. Really enjoyed the premiere, and I am really enjoying boardwalk empire right now two. HBO and AMC make the best television. Showtime is pretty good too, Dexter rocks.

Liked the premiere episode! Hey *******. Yeah you, in the tank. That scene had me on the edge of my seat

Haven't read the graphic novels, so can't really comment on that.

Todd,

AMC is only streaming the premier episode, I don't think they are going to stream the other episodes. I don't know if Hulu requires an account or not, or if they are going to pick up the series.

Shawn

Another excellent episode. It's really interesting to see that even though there is a zombie apocalypse going on, people still stick to their old habits and prejudices. Great job with the writing.

I'm enjoying the series... it's definitely straying somewhat from the books, but still pretty interesting. I too am a sucker for post-apocalyptia. Perhaps the first season will be a basic introduction to the Walking Dead, and then in the second we'll start to catch up to the comic storyline. I've been reading the comics for a couple years now, and hope the series lasts long enough to reach certain points.

As far as the "copied 28 days later" thing it's more likely that it was a tip of the hat to Day of the Triffids (1951) or even Earth Abides (1949). The timing for 28 days later was way too close for Kirkman to copy it... they both came out around the same time in 2003. The director of 28 Days Later said that Day of the Triffids was inspiration for his movie.