Walking Dead and Fear The Walking Dead crossover...

[Neil]

It's even showing at theatres? I don't quite get the premise as the two story lines feel a long time apart? ie: The Walking Dead feels like a year further into its storyline? - http://www.looper.com/113640/walking...reen-theaters/ Sunday, April 15 marks an epic and highly anticipated moment for these series, as worlds collide when Morgan (Lennie James) crosses over from The Walking Dead and into the new world of Fear," said AMC's Theresa Beyer in a statement. "We are thrilled to be working with our terrific partners at Fathom to provide fans from across the country the opportunity to experience this crossover moment in such a special way and among other members of one of television's most passionate fan communities.

[Buzzbomb]

Rick looks worried...

[shootemindehead]

Oh dear. That sounds like desperation.

[MinionZombie]

So there must be a time jump coming for TWD between the end of Season 8 and the beginning of Season 9, and if Morgan is crossing over then there'll be a huuuuge time jump for FTWD (which smells like an attempt at rebooting the show after three seasons of consistently dwindling ratings - the season Live Viewing averages went from 7.6 to 2.3 million). FTWD certainly needs a major shake-up (it, like TWD as well to be fair, could use a shorter season, too!) so this in itself has stopped me from giving up on FTWD entirely, but we shall see where it goes from here and whether it can make some significant improvements (Fear has a new showrunner IIRC, so fingers crossed). Time jumps all round - most welcome - hopefully they do something groovy with 'em.

[Moon Knight]

Oh dear. That sounds like desperation. GoT has been aired in theatres before too. Unless you’re talking about the crossover then yeah I can see that.

[shootemindehead]

Nah Moonie, the theatres thing is grand. It's the crossover malarky that I think smacks of desperation. They're two distinctly different timelines (with FTWD taking place a year or more before TWD). It talkes place in a global situation that's, literally, 2000 miles apart from each other in a set of conditions that prohibits safe and easy travel. I just don't see this working at all and it feels very gimmicky. Are we to believe that Morgan up'd sticks, travelled 2000 miles to LA/Mexico had a bit of a laugh with FTWD lads and then headed back another 2000 miles to meet up with Rick an Co.? And not say a word about it? Or, is he out of TWD (a very bad move) at the end of S8 and relegated to a FTWD cast member, which means that show has to make a forward timejump of over a year or more, which further reduces the point of its existence? In any case, despite having them all on HDD, I haven't watched FTWD for over a year now. I lost interest, so it won't really affect me, other than the fact that TWD might lose a great character to a lesser show. It's just more of "Oh, don't do that..." situation.

[MinionZombie]

Shoot - I believe it'll be 'Morgan leaves TWD S8 and then travels and ends up in FTWD' - so yeah, FTWD will be having a huge time jump, but frankly that show needs a big shakeup. It had long since lost its entire purpose for being (to show the beginning of the ZA - hell, it ran through that in Season 1's six episodes in a desperate rush for some strange reason, to try and catch up and 'be like TWD', which was a fool's errand). FTWD should have followed the government side of the ZA. I know there's this thing of 'the gubmint collapses!', but it'd be interesting to follow the collapse of the government - but not the total collapse - enough would survive in a bunker, then you follow that story, and then perhaps even see the attempts to re-instate government on a lawless post-ZA land. That would have been something quite different from TWD, but instead they went with more civilians - we didn't need that, TWD had that well covered already. Anyway, hopefully Fear gets a major shakeup and finds a reason for being that clearly sets itself apart from just being 'TWD: West Coast'.

[shootemindehead]

Mmmm, I dunno Mini, still seems like a weak move to me. It's like a top flight premiership team loaning out a star midfielder to bottom of the table championship club. If I was Lennie James, I wouldn't be too happy about it. Although, maybe it's only for one series and he ends up back in his old position in TWD S9? In which case it's more work for him.

[beat_truck]

I actually brought up the EXACT same points/issues with the crossover episode as shootemindehead when I was discussing this with someone. Maybe I'm not good at reading people, but Lennie James sure didn't seem real thrilled about the whole thing when he was on Talking Dead. I don't hate FTWD, but I agree that they blew the chance to do something cool and different with it. I actually taped the whole last season but I don't even remember if I've watched any of it yet. Guess I need to catch up.

[MinionZombie]

Shoot - Oh yeah, I'm not keen on TWD losing Morgan (one of its best characters) to the inferior FTWD, and it does smack of little more than a gimmick, which makes it more insulting. Beat - you know what, I was wondering the same thing myself when Morgan's move was announced on Talking Dead. Lennie James didn't seem over-the-moon about it. Not sure whether he was just tired, or was constrained by not being able to say much because of spoilers, but "thrilled" wouldn't be how I'd describe his mood.

[JonOfTheShred]

Fear the Walking Dead should have been handled like World War Z (the book, not the godawful movie) with a variety of perspectives.

[MinionZombie]

Fear the Walking Dead should have been handled like World War Z (the book, not the godawful movie) with a variety of perspectives. The way people talk about the Wire (it shows corruption from every angle - politicians, law enforcers, criminals, shipping) is how I had hoped FTWD would have been handled. Revolving cast, revolving stories, never reliant on time frames beyond each season, so you could jump around with the timeline. I hadn't thought of FTWD being like that - but I like it! If only they'd done something like that, eh? That format would have also made it much different from TWD, as well, allowing Fear to stand on its own legs far better. But alas...

[Neil]

Fear the Walking Dead should have been handled like World War Z (the book, not the godawful movie) with a variety of perspectives. The way people talk about the Wire (it shows corruption from every angle - politicians, law enforcers, criminals, shipping) is how I had hoped FTWD would have been handled. Revolving cast, revolving stories, never reliant on time frames beyond each season, so you could jump around with the timeline. Yeh, that could have been nice... Lots of short(er) stories...

[JonOfTheShred]

I did enjoy Fear the Walking Dead once it reached Mexico. They are smart enough to offer a variety of settings. The abandoned hotel / resort, Mexico's deserts, the ranch, the boat, the city (without showing any of the initial chaos.) I think the biggest thing holding The Walking Dead back isn't the writing or the acting, but rather the fact it feels the entire series has taken place in the same square mile of Georgia.