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Thread: 1968 Barbara vs 1990 Barbara

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    Just been bitten LivingDeadGuy's Avatar
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    1968 Barbara vs 1990 Barbara

    Which version of Night of the Living Dead's leading female character do you guys perfer best?

    I like the 1990 version of her character better because of the fact that she knew how to fight and defend herself from zombies and because she was the only character who was thinking rational about the situation they were in. In the original her character gave up on surviving too quickly and basically sat around being a burden for the other characters.

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    Team Rick MinionZombie's Avatar
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    It's an interesting one. We were discussing this a little bit in the thread about the 'Doctor of the Dead' podcast.

    It's probably fair to say that the 1990 version of Barbara works well, but her growth is at the expense of many of the characters around her. The 1968 version works well for the time - and there would be people in a situation like that who would fold into catatonia and confusion. O'Dea is undoubtedly my favourite as she's the most iconic, although the 1990 version is a more rounded character. It was definitely the right idea to reflect the times in the 1990 version, but it's a shame that a bunch of the other characters descended into more 'one note' territory.

    There are characters who worked far better in the 1968 version than in the 1990 version - Ben and Cooper, for two - and Judy Rose was an exceptionally annoying arse in the 1990 version. I know I've said it a few times before, but blimey, the 1990 version of that character was intensely irritating. I'm not sure what Romero was thinking with that element of the script...

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    Just been bitten LivingDeadGuy's Avatar
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    I think maybe Romero was intending for Judy to replace Barbara from the original movie as the hysterical panicking female character. Also I admit I liked the original Helen Cooper over the remake one because she was like the voice of reason in that one while in the remake she was more mousy but it did make sense because Harry was portrayed as being abusive towards her in the remake (he really wasnt abusive in the original they were portrayed as just an unhappy bickering married couple).

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    Just been bitten LivingDeadGuy's Avatar
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    Also I agree that the original Barbara had a lot of realism to her character. Most people would probably react the same way she did in a crisis. I guess I actually liked both versions of the character to be honest.

    Edit: Also speaking in Judy Rose's defence I didn't find her to be that annoying. If anything I found her to be realistic in the 1990 remake because she and Tom were just a young couple terrified by what was going on but they clearly wanted to help out any way they could. The problem was that they were both clueless and in a panicked state of mind and I think that is also how the majority of people died from the zombies.

    Also I wanted to applaud Judy for calling Ben and Harry out on their pointless cockfighting. She made a good point that Tom and her didn't have to let anyone into their Uncle's house.
    Last edited by LivingDeadGuy; 15-May-2017 at 02:13 AM. Reason: edit
    Just a zombie girl on a Saturday night. <3

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    Just been bitten Zombie Snack's Avatar
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    I prefer all the 1968 characters over the 1990 remake
    D.I.L.L.I.G.A.F.

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    Webmaster Neil's Avatar
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    But...But... But... Patricia Tallman?!?!?!?!?!?!!!
    Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there--on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam. [click for more]
    -Carl Sagan

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    Quote Originally Posted by Neil View Post
    But...But... But... Patricia Tallman?!?!?!?!?!?!!!
    I'm with Neil on this one, surprise.

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    Walking Dead Moon Knight's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Neil View Post
    But...But... But... Patricia Tallman?!?!?!?!?!?!!!
    This right here.
    "That's the deal, right? The people who are living have it harder, right? … the whole world is haunted now and there's no getting out of that, not until we're dead."

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    through another dimension bassman's Avatar
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    I enjoy both versions of the character because they’re reactions that you’d really see in such a situation. It really has nothing to do with her being female, but I can imagine lots of people losing their mind like the 68 version if something like this went down. I suppose if you had to pick one over the other, you gotta go with the more heroic version in Savini’s film.

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    Webmaster Neil's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by bassman View Post
    I suppose if you had to pick one over the other, you gotta go with the more heroic version in Savini’s film.
    Yes... Because PATRICIA TALLMAN!
    Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there--on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam. [click for more]
    -Carl Sagan

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    Quote Originally Posted by Neil View Post
    Yes... Because PATRICIA TALLMAN!
    ^ This.

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