HPotD Offical "The Walking Dead" Poll

[Neil]

So, what did you make of it?

[clanglee]

I give it a strong 8. Wonderful in many many aspects, and lacking only in a few. I probably would have given it a 9 if I hadn't felt so underwhelmed at the finale.

[Legion2213]

I'm goin' balls to the wall...first ever zombie TV series - bench mark my friends, the standard by which all new comers will be judged for many decades to come. :)

Some may say that 9 is over generous, but I can't bring myself to give it anything less. :cool:

[ProfessorChaos]

while it's not perfect, it's damn close.

almost chose 8, but decided 9 is more like it.

[Ghoulman]

Had to go with 9 as well. Though The Walking Dead may not be a perfect work, I believe it is as close to perfect as we have ever gotten in this genre. MAJOR FUCKING KUDOS to Romero for creating the genre, to Kirkman for reinventing the genre, and last but certainly not least, Frank Darabont for progressing, by fucking light years, this wonderful genre!

[kidgloves]

The fanboy in me was tempted to rate it a 10 but, having read the comic, I still don't think the tone was captured too well. Vatos was completely out of place and some of the dialogue was WTF moments.
It's very very strong though and even though we don't have an ongoing zombie series to compare it to, I'm rating it an 8.
My post apocalyptic juices have been awakened.
Now what would I do if it was me in there situation. Hmmmmm

[bassman]

I would have to give it a 8 or 9. Went ahead an chose 9. An awesome mini-series so far. Can't wait to see next season!

Couldn't care less if it was close or far away from the source material. They're two totally different beasts. I don't think this was ever going to be Sin City levels of adaptation. As they've said in interviews, the comics are just the basic "path", but there will be many changes from that path. Season one proved that much...

[Zombie Snack]

Gave it a Strong 8......wish I would have went with a weak 9 now though

[Thorn]

I give it a strong 8. Wonderful in many many aspects, and lacking only in a few. I probably would have given it a 9 if I hadn't felt so underwhelmed at the finale.


I too gave it an 8 for failing to deliver in a few instances, some lack luster performances, and some hokey situations. (Vatos, and the CDC crap for example)

[shootemindehead]

7 for me.

Hits some strong points (especially in makeup and the zombies themselves), but in the end there's too much fluff and not enough sticking to the flippin' story. There's also way too many equity members taking up screen time and a lot of bad moves with character and situation. There's a lack of danger, too, prevailent in the show. There were only a few times I felt that the characters were in any real threat. Too much of the time they're waltzing around without a care in the world. In other words...not enough zombies. The stars of the show in my opinion.

All in all though, it has me wanting more.

Pretty dreadful idea to limit the first series to 6 episodes.

[krisvds]

Strong 8.

The series is like a love letter to classic Romero films. However: not as much subtext here as in the classics. Also: the focus on the human drama as opposed to action is what made the comics great but in the television series ... Well, let's just say that I feel there's a real danger that future episodes might get bogged down in soap series clichés.

Oh, and anyone hating on Romero's recent undead films and raving all over this series should have their heads examined.

[DEAD BEAT]

wow! according to the poll most of us are thinking alike here! ;)

[darth los]

Strong 8.

The series is like a love letter to classic Romero films. However: not as much subtext here as in the classics. Also: the focus on the human drama as opposed to action is what made the comics great but in the television series ... Well, let's just say that I feel there's a real danger that future episodes might get bogged down in soap series clichés.

Oh, and anyone hating on Romero's recent undead films and raving all over this series should have their heads examined.

And why should we have our heads examined? Because his recent films suck and this mini series, although not a masterpiece, is lightyears ahead of them?


And yeah, there were some moments especially in the 3rd episode where I thought I was recording a show off the lifetime or oxygen network.

:cool:

[MinionZombie]

Rated it a 9.

I loved it. Outside of the first episode, #5 was my favourite - and #6 was properly spiffing too, it had a real Dawn/Day vibe to it at certain moments, and the final act had me all wavering on the edge of my seat. :cool:

Now ... bring on the home video release!

[ProfessorChaos]

Oh, and anyone hating on Romero's recent undead films and raving all over this series should have their heads examined.

http://nolifing.com/files/e3f292844a15.jpg

[darth los]

A solid 8. Great show even though there is room for improvement.

:cool:

[BotOZombie]

I was close to voting a 9 but chose to vote 8 (and a strong one at that). There were clearly errors throughout the series and , I suspect future series will improve upon this one.

Loved series one though even with the warts!!!

[mpokera]

Rated it a solid 8, loved it overall and so glad to see a serious well done effort in the genre. Had a few problems (VATOS I found insulting) but yay!

[fishfast41]

I give it a 9, I loved it,but there are a hell of a lot of loose ends to be cleaned up next season. There were also a few continuity problems-This needs to be done better.

[EvilNed]

A sturdy 7. A great series, with nice looking zombies and awesome production value.

However the zombies themselves seem awfully harmless, and to be honest the drama has been less than interesting at times.

[Howard stern]

I gave it an eight, I wish they would not have skipped the part when society is just starting to fall apart. I know they did a flash back to the hospital scene and that was a great part of the last episode. That's why I love the original Dawn of the Dead so much they showed the chaos and how thing fell apart.

[SymphonicX]

The first episode was OK, the second better, number 3,5,6 were massive let downs leaving ep4 as the real standout moment in the series.

Had some really really nice touches but fell massively short on providing us with characters and situations we hadn't seen a hundred times in maybe less polished productions.

Rick Grimes was good as the lead and the supporting cast all made sense, it was well cast and well acted mostly throughout - but it all boils down to "was this a lot of fun to watch" - some of it was, but after 6 weeks it could have delivered so much more.

[krisvds]

Episodes 1 and 4 were fantastic and indeed up there with the best the genre has to offer.
I also liked the scene with cuffed Merle losing it while the zombies were banging on the door a lot. That was one intense moment! Fantastic make-up on those walkers as well.
Kinda liked the tension of the finale, though the scifi bigass screen and the scientific explanation of the zombie-turn didn't work for me. That final explosion was pretty stupid as well.

[MinionZombie]

Why was the final explosion stupid? Because it was a bit of a stretch on the budget (and so not as visually impressive as you'd expect from a movie), or because of it just being an explosion - there was clearly reason for it, so that all the hideous viruses inside the CDC would be incinerated, as explained by Jenner.

I re-watched the ending of this episode just on it's own and it gave me chills - particularly the scene between Andrea and Dale - really powerful and chilling.

As for there 'not being enough zombies' - is it such a surprise? The CDC building is clearly on the outskirts of the city (as evidenced by the vast swathe of green just before the fade-out as the vehicles drive off), and as such there's not going to be many zombies roaming around - certainly not countless numbers of them. They caused a brief bit of fuss when entering the CDC and attacted nearby attention, but it was so brief that no other zombies would have been drawn out - so no doubt those killed as they fled the following day before the explosion happened, were those that they didn't kill which were coming for them the night before.

Meanwhile they'd been causing a hell of a lot of ruckus in the very heart of Atlanta, so the dead would still be milling around en mass there, and their hearing isn't going to be as good as a human's - and a human wouldn't be able to hear one man screaming from however far away - a mile, two miles, three miles even?

So it's pretty obvious - to me anyway - why there's so few zombies outside the CDC.

[krisvds]

Why was the final explosion stupid? Because it was a bit of a stretch on the budget (and so not as visually impressive as you'd expect from a movie), or because of it just being an explosion - there was clearly reason for it, so that all the hideous viruses inside the CDC would be incinerated, as explained by Jenner.

I re-watched the ending of this episode just on it's own and it gave me chills - particularly the scene between Andrea and Dale - really powerful and chilling.



No. Right. I see WHY the explosion was necessary. It's just theway it was handled visually that struck me as a bit silly.

[MinionZombie]

No. Right. I see WHY the explosion was necessary. It's just theway it was handled visually that struck me as a bit silly.

Budget. Simple as.

I didn't find it silly, just a bit short on funds ... but it did the job regardless.

Or do you mean how the explosion occurred/how the building collapsed?

[Sammich]

I thought the show was aight, considering that there really isn't anything to watch on TV right now, with the exception of Dexter.

IMO the only interesting and characters identifiable with are:

1. Shane - The real screwed up person he is came out when he was drunk and when he pommelled that wife beating husband. I want to see what sets the guy off and what he does after going irrevisably beserk, which shouldn't take much now that everything has been yanked away from him after Rick showed up.

2. Glenn - An asian in a horror movie that isn't used for comic relief or an "expendable red shirt" is a refreshing change of pace. More history on him is needed or he will just fade into the background.

3. Rick - Considering he is what the story revolves around, well I guess they had to make him somewhat interesting.

4. Morgan - Even though he was only in 1/3 of an episode his character came across as genuine. I want to see how he resolves his wife becoming a zombie and if he joins up with the group.

The rest of the people seem to be just hanging around waiting to become zombie chow.

[krisvds]

Budget. Simple as.

I didn't find it silly, just a bit short on funds ... but it did the job regardless.

Or do you mean how the explosion occurred/how the building collapsed?

Just the CGI look of it. Short on funds probably.
That's not all though. I liked the tension the countdown brought to the episode but on the other hand I found the whole 'race aginst the clock' a bit awkward. Like they wanted to go for the big explosion, 'action' ending but, as yoy said, were a bit too light on funds to pull it of. It's also very clichéd.
I found the moments that were less 'Hollywood' to suit the genre better. That interaction between Dale and Andrea as you stated was more powerful than any explosion could be.

[blind2d]

Dude, kris... you haven't seen a low-budget explosion until you've seen 'The End'. If you compare the CDC to that bull ring... looks like friggin' ILM.
Anyway, I gave it a 9, because they really tried, dammit! And of course it's not perfect, but pretty much as close as one could hope for, I think! But yeah... episode 5 was almost total meh...