Good, but overrated

[kidgloves]

I think I sense ulterior motives here hmmmmm.

[Neil]

DC, i gotta disagree with you on this; with all due respect, i think you've got your fanboy hat on a little too tight and it's affecting your thinking....romero's earlier works are good, but he's a terrible director compared to darabont. there's more emotion in those 2 scenes with morgan trying to put down his wife and rick putting bicycle girl out of her misery than any single romero film in its entirety. *minor spoilers* Have to disagree there! I find Darabont's emotional filming a little ham-fisted these days... The scenes come across as a little too contrived and unatural. As for comparing it to emotional scenes in Romero's films, I'd say Bub finding Frankenstein dead had more emotion in I was a little annoyed as how dim Grimes seemed. He's seen the world in tatters? Dead hands coming through a door. The corpse of bike girl crawling along, but seemed unwilling to accept in the walking dead? I enjoyed the first episode. Found some parts great, but alot of it a little average. As a pilot it did its job, and I'm hoping the rest of series can pick up a bit... ps1: Why did they go back to the house given the police station was available? ps2: How did the people talking to Grimes at the end know the radio in the tank was even working, yet alone on? @ DC: when they are testing to see if there's hot water at the police station, morgan says that the power had been out for a month, so who knows how long rick was out for...i'd guess about 5 weeks. so maybe bicycle girl was one of the first to go. How could Grimes live for that long without attention?

[Zombie Snack]

How could Grimes live for that long without attention? How do the Dead Walk?

[Neil]

How could Grimes live for that long without attention? How do the Dead Walk? *sigh* Unfortunately we need believable rules/behaviour/events don't we. We take a leap of faith with the dead rising due to a virus or something... But unfortunately the leap of faith falls apart if unbelievable things are balanced on top of it... It needs to be as believable as possible, else it all just falls down...

[shootemindehead]

How could Grimes live for that long without attention? How do the Dead Walk? Oh come on! If you can't buy the basic premise of the show, you might as well not watch the thing. ---------- Post added at 11:03 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:59 AM ---------- *minor spoilers*How could Grimes live for that long without attention? This IS one of the major problems I had/have with 'The Walking Dead' in general, comic and film. But, I can accept that Grimes was receiving attention up until very shortly after he awoke. Perhaps a tiny skeleton crew were in operation at the hospital and evacuated in a hurry a few days before he opened his eyes and they got out and forgot him in the rush? I could find that possible. It's a minor issue as far as I am concerned.

[Neil]

Just speaking to a friend of mine. His 90yr old grandmother was taken off 'support' for her to die naturally. Took her 2 weeks to pass away... So I guess Grimes, on a drip maybe etc, could survive 3-4 weeks?

[shootemindehead]

I liked the father and son characters, and Morgan clearly had the strongest scene in the pilot. Their story is interesting and you want to see them survive, but lo and behold, the "hero" has already left them behind. The bicycle girl corpse, on the other hand, was just silly and Grimes' dialog made putting her down even sillier. What was his attachment to this particular dead thing? Grimes gave less of a crap about one of his own deputies. He didn't even show one-tenth of concern before blowing the little girl away. Did he become numb to it all? There was also nothing about the bicycle girl that elicited sympathy; she just looked like an effect in which they were trying really hard to hide the fact that there was a human being under the make-up. Being reminded that dead are/were human beings is important. Ha ha! And some people call me hard to please! Anyway, while there are flaws in 'The Walking Dead', no doubt, it's still one of the better efforts I've seen in a LONG time at the "living dead". I think the guy playing Rick did a credible job and yes he does act like a bit of a dolt at times, but don't we all? He's supposed to just an ordinary bloke, not the standard TV guy with all the right moves and answers. The father and son characters is probably one of the better attempts to show how some people would try and hold up after the "apocalypse". I thought it was spot on and his resolve to knock off the wife was handled quite well too. And the bicycle girl zombie was excellent IMHO. I felt she was one of the most sympathetic/pitiful zombies I've ever seen. Even I felt a bit of an attachment to her! I imagined myself in the characters situation and viewing such a person in such a ruined state. How would I feel If my wife and son were not around, possibly dead after suffering such an agonizing death, then reviving and crawling aimlessly and pathetically across the ground like her? I can believe that that is what Grimes is thinking here. He probably gave "less of a crap" about his deputy, because he was a wanker. Besides, humans often transpose feelings onto blank canvases and to Grimes, the Bike girl zombie is a blank canvas. In addition, the "little girl" was coming for him, so he had to react relatively quickly, not much time for sympathy there, although he clearly is not relishing the prospect. The bike girl zombie is impotent and can warrant more study...thus more feeling.

[Danny]

my only gripe was there was not much of that actually from the comic, it was like taking the first issue and thinking "hurm, this is only 15 to 20 minutes of tv, need to flesh it out" and thats what they did. There was more original story than actual comic adaptation. What news stuff that was there wasn't bad at all, but the fact that there was more new story than source material might be a sign that we are going to get a different story as it goes on, because like i said before, when it goes on, particularly the tedious prison arc i could see it losing a lot of viewers unless they change some stuff. Which now seems entirely possible.

[kidgloves]

Just speaking to a friend of mine. His 90yr old grandmother was taken off 'support' for her to die naturally. Took her 2 weeks to pass away... So I guess Grimes, on a drip maybe etc, could survive 3-4 weeks? Did you not see the carnage outside the hospital? It's very possible that Rick was only left for a couple of days before he woke up. The hospital was being protected by the military and would have been one of the last places to be abandoned. ---------- Post added at 11:50 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:46 AM ---------- Did you not see the carnage outside the hospital? It's very possible that Rick was only left for a couple of days before he woke up. The hospital was being protected by the military and would have been one of the last places to be abandoned. Edit Rick shooting the police officer was a VERY important moment for his characters arc.

[bassman]

eh, well....Dawn and Night are completely overrated around here too, so this seems par for the course. Under par in most cases... TWD is the best zombie outting since Day.

[deadkrank]

It's way overrated. If any other dead film had the lead character making as many stupid mistakes as TWD's Rick Grimes, the fans would be screaming for their pound of flesh. The pilot was okay, and of course, there's no good reason not to see how it all plays out, but does anyone seriously care if any of these characters survive? Speaking of fans screaming. A few years ago I brought my DVD copy of Dawn of The Dead over to a friends house. Thinking it was just going to be the 2 of us watching the movie.But how wrong I was as he invited his whole family over to watch the movie with us. Yeah anyways we was watching the movie and my friend and his family started making fun of Flyboy Steven.They all thought Steve was a dumbbell. Yeah they all had a feld day on poor Steve at the end of the movie when Steve got attacked by the zombies in the elavator. Yeah anyways I had a blast watching Dawn of The Dead with my friends family. Its so fun to watch horror movies with a group of people. Yeah anyways agree with you about Rick in The Walking Dead.

[DubiousComforts]

we was watching the movie and my friend and his family started making fun of Flyboy Steven.They all thought Steve was a dumbbell. Yeah they all had a feld day on poor Steve at the end of the movie when Steve got attacked by the zombies in the elavator. Yeah anyways agree with you about Rick in The Walking Dead. Stephen in DAWN was intended to be a dumbbell; even Romero comments that Stephen is "a mess" in one of the dvd commentaries. The difference is that Stephen is a well-conceived, well-acted, believable character. His missteps make sense and his ineptness serves a purpose: to create tension within the group. I'm not sure what was intended with Rick Grimes' character in TWD. I'd assume more of an everyman which the audience will identify with, but I don't believe that he was intended to be a dummy based on the comic. He doesn't ask Morgan what's happening, for example, but Morgan offers an explanation anyhow. I believe these leaps in logic are the result of the screenwriting. TWD is the best zombie outting since Day. Which is important for those that worry about such things. So it's kosher to overrate the TWD's attributes simply because everyone else is doing/has done it with Romero's works? He probably gave "less of a crap" about his deputy, because he was a wanker. Besides, humans often transpose feelings onto blank canvases and to Grimes, the Bike girl zombie is a blank canvas. The "blank canvas" is an excellent insight. Along those lines, my wife also pointed out the irony of Morgan joking about his wife packing photo albums while he packed survival supplies, yet those photo albums were clearly helping him to "survive." But in regards to the deputy, nobody was painted a bigger wanker than Grimes' own partner. Isn't that guy pretty much responsible for him getting shot?

[bassman]

Which is important for those that worry about such things. So it's kosher to overrate the TWD's attributes simply because everyone else is doing/has done it with Romero's works? Umm...no. I'm not overrating anything. I understand that you think it's overrated, however, I feel that it's great and the best zombie "film" since 1985.

[AcesandEights]

It's way overrated. If any other dead film had the lead character making as many stupid mistakes as TWD's Rick Grimes, the fans would be screaming for their pound of flesh. The pilot was okay, and of course, there's no good reason not to see how it all plays out, but does anyone seriously care if any of these characters survive? I mentioned some really good rationales behind one of Rick's choices in the pilot in another thread. I think normal people in abnormal, over the top circumstances would make some questionable choices, especially ones that have in-character considerations. Additionally, I certainly think this is the best zombie fare on screen in the last few years and--for me--if you discount 28DL/28WL, it is the best zombie fare on film (big or small screen) in what? The last decade, maybe. I'd have to think about it. I must be forgetting some films, right? Anyway, I don't want to get into the personal taste comparison game, but I do think the series has started strong. Now, I do have some concerns with how the story and mood of the series will be maintained, as the comic hinges on audience patience. I also feel there are a few minor things that could have been done differently with the pilot, but I think it was rock solid, especially considering the table had to be set for so many upcoming components of the series.

[DubiousComforts]

I understand that you think it's overrated, however, I feel that it's great and the best zombie "film" since 1985. "Great" sounds reasonable, but perhaps you missed some of the way-over-the-top accolades being tossed its way. I don't really understand how TWD can be compared to any standalone film when it's a serial and all of two days old. I mentioned some really good rationales behind one of Rick's choices in the pilot in another thread. I think normal people in abnormal, over the top circumstances would make some questionable choices, especially ones that have in-character considerations. The character attributes that I find issue with have more to do with what was glossed over or simply done for the sake of contrivance. It's understandable, for example, why Rick would leave relative safety and head for the city. It makes little sense why he would ride a horse into an uncertain and potentially dangerous situation. Why didn't he simply take the horse to the city limits, and then further travel on foot to investigate the downtown area?