Character names from "Island of the Dead" first impressions...

[Thorn]

At least he stayed normal with Riley & Charlie. We could've had, "Call me Meltdown. Just look at my face, you can see I should be called Meltdown." I ROTFLMAO at this.

[Deaths_Shadow]

Dude, nothing about that guy is in shape!! Unless the shape you mean is round. I see your point aboutthe availability of food, but my point is that he would be looked upon with distrust and even hate, because he Obviously gets more than his fair share. Pilsbury could hardly deliver his lines without taking big fatboy breaths between each sentence. Fat useless F#ck!ng character!!! Now having said that, let me point out that I am on the tubby side myself. So I know what I am talking about. But I can garangoddamntee ya that if I had survived a zombie armaggedon for three years, I would have slimmed down to below a 40 waist. So he should of looked like this? His character was fine. Your making a big deal out of nothing. And your also saying only thin people would have survived? Hmmmm. Maybe Gary Howard Klar was to fat to who played Prvt Steel in Day. Of course maybe he was to FAT and OLD for you. Characters like these to me were the only thing going for "Land" and as far as this next project, well i will watch it but it will have to be a rental.

[Thorn]

Actually I think that you are kind of missing his point. Pillsbury was beyond obese he was huge, and that film takes places years after Day does. Steele was fat, he has a beer gut. This takes place not too far after the fall of man, and while they are in an institution with plenty of food available to them from the military and still lots of foraging to be done if one is so inclined. There was also plenty of alcohol to help perpetuate a beer gut. Now Pillsbury did not have a beer gut he was so over weight as to be a severe health risk to himself. (and other if he sat on them) In a time when alcohol, and food are at a premium and so many people are going without basic needs a man of that size with so much MORE than his share would not be received well by a large number of the people around him. While yes it is a movie, it is like sticking Hurly from lost in a concentration camp in a Nazi film. You would go "Huh?" and if the script was to be believable the other prisoners would have to assume he was getting food from somewhere and thus they would not trust him. I have to agree with clanglee on this one.... also the glam "twink" picture you posted made me feel kind of sick so I am going to disagree out of principle.

[clanglee]

Thank you Thorn. . .I thought I was making sense. . . I guess not to everyone. I had no problem with the variety of characters Land had, I just had a major issue with a morbidly obese man staying that way in that particular situation. AND THEY LET HIM IN THE ARMY?!?!??! And send him out for important missions where there could be running and whatnot involved? Come On!! I know that there are fat folk that are actually more in shape than you would think. Look at Jack Black, John Belushi, and Chris Farley for example. . they are/were tubby and full of energy (sure the cocaine helps). But each of these guys. . who are/were nowhere near as fat as Pilsbury. . . would loose weight during a zombie crisis because of the extra work and lack of food. Due to his size. . I can only assume that Pilsbury only sat around and ate. He is obviously eating way more than his fair share of the food, and he leads a very sedintary lifestyle. Both of which should be high crimes in a world where everyone musrt depend on each other to survive.

[jscott]

Maybe they had thyroid problems, you insensitive priks!

[clanglee]

Voted least likely to be able to survive a zombie outbreak.

[clanglee]

And Come on!! Neither of these guys were morbidly obese. Pilsbury looks like he ate Rickles!! In Samoa, 50,000 slightly overweight american soldiers eaten every day.

[Trin]

There is a perspective where Pillsbury works. He's one of Kaufman's elite. He's not standing on a wall or going on raids like a common military person. He sits inside the protected area with all the food he wants and his only job is to point a gun at anyone who tries to take away his meal ticket. A guy could get fat doing that. It was proven that those in Kaufman's inner circle could care less if some poor shmuck in the streets is living on crumbs. It was also proven that those on the outside couldn't do anything about it even if they didn't approve. For Kaufman's reign to exist Pillsbury (or quite a few someone's like Pillsbury) HAS to exist. Kaufman couldn't stay in power without some guys with guns hanging around. And those guys would have to be living the high life to put up with Kaufman's unscrupulous treatment of the masses. It sure wasn't Riley, Cholo, or Brubaker keeping the gun trained on Kaufman's enemies. They were portrayed as part of the downtrodden. They weren't even allowed to carry guns near Kaufman. Remember, too, that Kaufman's security guards were none too thin. They, like Pillsbury, were kept in all the food and luxuries to assure their loyalty. To me Pillsbury was still ridiculous. But it's because they tried to make him cute and lovable instead of the unscrupulous and lazy bastard he'd need to be to fill the role.

[AcesandEights]

Wow, Trin. Very, very good points, all around.

[clanglee]

Good points, but your last statement ruins the argument Trin. Pilsbury was VERY quick to turn against Kaufman. His personality did not exactly show that he was an establishment kinda guy. And besides the fact, why would the pleasant but morbidly obese fellow be chosen to go on an important mission out into zombie infested territory? I just plain didn't buy his character.

[DawnGirl27]

And besides the fact, why would the pleasant but morbidly obese fellow be chosen to go on an important mission out into zombie infested territory? I just plain didn't buy his character. Perhaps for the intimidation factor (to keep the trio in line)? Kaufman must not have known Riley too well, though, because that didn't faze him a bit, or for that matter, Slack. Charlie, a bit, but not too much so he couldn't function, and with Riley around, he did fine. That's the only reason I could come up with - the old saying, 'I'd hate to meet him in a blind alley' kind of thing....

[Trin]

Good points, but your last statement ruins the argument Trin. Pilsbury was VERY quick to turn against Kaufman. His personality did not exactly show that he was an establishment kinda guy. And besides the fact, why would the pleasant but morbidly obese fellow be chosen to go on an important mission out into zombie infested territory? I just plain didn't buy his character. I don't think the last statement ruins the argument. I think it merely changes the crux of the argument. I didn't like Pillsbury either, but his implausibility to me does not rest with him being big and fat. I disliked him because he was portrayed as someone who should've been one of the good guys all along. As opposed to Motown (urrgggh - I hate to even recognize that character's name) who seemed like the exact kind of twerp who would support Kaufman. As to his disloyalty, it may be that there was erosion in the Kaufman ranks for some time. We saw (in the director's cut) someone in the Green commit suicide. We saw the board members questioning Kaufman's decisions. Cholo rebelled. This wasn't a happly little enclave. Maybe Pillsbury just recognized that with guns pointed at the Green and Riley offering another option (something he'd probably never had before) the time was right to switch sides. I also agree with DawnGirl in that Pillsbury did bring some intimidation. You saw it in the camera angle they used when he first walks in. They made him look even bigger than he already was. And I cannot believe that man was all fat. Those big guys like that are built on a frame of muscle.

[clanglee]

That's a lot of maybes Trin, which I'm sure we can both agree do not. . a good plot or story. . .make. As for muscle and intimidation, no doubt. He could kick my ass in a heartbeat. . . if he could catch me. In that event however, he would likely keel over in cardiac arrest after 20 feet of exertion.

[Trin]

That's a lot of maybes Trin, which I'm sure we can both agree do not. . a good plot or story. . .make. As for muscle and intimidation, no doubt. He could kick my ass in a heartbeat. . . if he could catch me. In that event however, he would likely keel over in cardiac arrest after 20 feet of exertion. It was 2 maybes. And they were wonderfully well supported ones. I want to upgrade one of them to a "definitely." There was definitely erosion in Kaufman's ranks. If you asked me to choose - were Kaufman's minions absolutely happy/loyal - or - were they open to a change if another option were available. Based on the events I'd choose the latter. So the only maybe is whether Pillsbury was looking for that change. I will grant you that my logic is bordering on becoming a defendment. And I am ashamed to be a party to it. But I think my reasons bear up to pretty hard scrutiny. I think Pillsbury was bad storytelling in any case because either of our arguments have holes that ruin his character.