Good, but overrated

[BillyRay]

And remember kids; Pointing out continuity errors and nitpicking is all well and good online, But for the Love of George - SHUT UP DURING THE FUGGING SHOW!!! (That wasn't meant for any of you guys, just for a couple of the people who came 'round to watch and apparently knew everything about hospital power supplies, tanks, and whatever else they couldn't wait for the commercial to point out.)

[DubiousComforts]

But for the Love of George - SHUT UP DURING THE FUGGING SHOW!!! I feel your pain. I had the same problem with a friend at the premiere of DIARY. So I watched SURVIVAL on blu-ray by myself and it was a much more enjoyable viewing experience.

[darth los]

And remember kids; Pointing out continuity errors and nitpicking is all well and good online, But for the Love of George - SHUT UP DURING THE FUGGING SHOW!!! (That wasn't meant for any of you guys, just for a couple of the people who came 'round to watch and apparently knew everything about hospital power supplies, tanks, and whatever else they couldn't wait for the commercial to point out.) That is beyond annoying. For some reason people who have already seen something need to prove that they saw it with, "watch what's going to happen next syndrome". Thereby spoiling everything the trailer did not already show you. Fucking idiots.

[Trin]

You guys are making me happy that my world is already a zombie apocalypse (translation - I have no one in my world who enjoys zombies). So I watch the show alone. Which somehow feels right for this kind of thing.

[darth los]

It's better to watch it alone than with people who are not into it throwing cold water on your party saying how dumb or cheesy it is.

[Thorn]

While I have to disagree with the initial thought that the premier was not amazing, I found it to be quite more than expected and I enjoyed the acting a good deal (except the children who were terrible in my opinion but this is often the case very few child actors “get it”) I can say I certainly do care who lives and dies, maybe that is more tied to the fact I know them and am “close” to them from the source material. All that aside I like that Rick is not perfect. He is not the perfect cop, he is not a perfect husband, he makes mistakes, he makes sentimental decisions. Things that would happen to the average guy in the zombie apocalypse. He is not the “perfect symbol of zombie fighting badassery”. He is not an over the top super hero-esque character who does no wrong. He is a man, he is confused. He is lost. He continues to be human throughout the comic and at times doubts himself as do others for his mistakes. That is what makes it very real and engaging to me. The bike zombie. Yes well I doubt I would go back and put her down myself, but this is a TV show. It was done for a reason, and not a “I have lived zombie material for a lifetime and that’s just dumb” reason. It was a man who was lost, who was alone trying to find his wife showing compassion to another soul whom he has not come to view as “the enemy” yet. He sees her as a person, not a walker. He sees a woman, who is a victim and in her perhaps some of his wife, or himself. He puts her down as an act of compassion. Not because he is a tough guy clearing the town. We all make sentimental decisions, and it was funny how the “men” in the pilot talk about the women folk making decisions based on emotion and not logic. Then we see the same thing out of Rick. It was purposeful story telling. I loved the show, it was a great watch. As to Romero films not standing up to the test of time, let’s face it NOTHING does generally. My cousin has a romantic notion about the original star wars trilogy. He sings their praises while bashing other modern films like Avatar. I tell him to go back and watch those films without a child’s love, without the first time magic and a life time of admiration clouding your judgment and you see some really bad acting and a lot of crap. Crap we ignore because we grew up with them, embraced them, and made them part of us. Dawn was way campy. Night was full of bad editing. Day was the best film from the series in my opinion. It however is not my FAVORITE. Dawn is. The camp, bad acting, and technical errors do not take away from my enjoyment because the film MEANS something to me. Was Walking Dead the best TV show of all time? Was it the best zombie story ever? Was it better than Romero? Who cares? It was a great show that I enjoyed watching, and that to me is all that matters.

[Legion2213]

Thorn, regarding your Star Wars comment. To be a Star Wars fan, one must possess the ability to see a million different failures and downfalls, and then somehow assemble them into a greater picture of perfection. Every true Star Wars fan is a Luke Skywalker, looking at his twisted, evil father, and somehow seeing good. - Andrey Summers This of course could apply to anything with a really loyal following/dedicated fan base.

[thxleo]

Don't bother to address the shortbus riders, Lee. They would be praising "Zombies For Dummies" as long as it didn't have Romero's name on it. I think you are right about that, Jim. The backlash against Romero on this site - a site which is dedicated to him and his films I might add - is really bizarre to me. It's one thing to have some issues with his work or not be thrilled at all with his later films, yet still be able to respectfully articulate those thoughts. It's entirely different to read some of the things that so called "fans" on this message board write. Oh wait, I'm sure they would consider themselves way too cool to be called fans. Perhaps casual observers would be more appropriate? I hope Darabont doesn't slip up at any point and fall out of favor with the peanut gallery. They will want to disembowel him I'm sure.

[AcesandEights]

It's better to watch it alone than with people who are not into it throwing cold water on your party saying how dumb or cheesy it is. Yeah, I watched it with my girlfriend sitting next to me playing one of her PC games, talking about our future wedding and occasionally looking up and going 'eww.' I responded to this frequently with the Look™:

[Legion2213]

I think you are right about that, Jim. The backlash against Romero on this site - a site which is dedicated to him and his films I might add - is really bizarre to me. It's one thing to have some issues with his work or not be thrilled at all with his later films, yet still be able to respectfully articulate those thoughts. It's entirely different to read some of the things that so called "fans" on this message board write. Oh wait, I'm sure they would consider themselves way too cool to be called fans. Perhaps casual observers would be more appropriate? I hope Darabont doesn't slip up at any point and fall out of favor with the peanut gallery. They will want to disembowel him I'm sure. I've noticed that, I think it is more a case of bashing George for his last three efforts. I won't bash the first three films, they mean something to me, it's his later stuff that turned me off him as a story-teller/film maker. I think the vast majority of those having a pop at George would absolutely love him to prove them wrong and give us another zombie movie that blew our minds...I know that I would.

[darth los]

That's why the internet is a blessing Aces. We can all come here and enjoy this stuff and not feel out of place. Sorta like that Blind Melon video.

[Thorn]

Thorn, regarding your Star Wars comment. To be a Star Wars fan, one must possess the ability to see a million different failures and downfalls, and then somehow assemble them into a greater picture of perfection. Every true Star Wars fan is a Luke Skywalker, looking at his twisted, evil father, and somehow seeing good. - Andrey Summers This of course could apply to anything with a really loyal following/dedicated fan base. That is an amazing quote. Thanks I am going to be using that in the future. As for Romero bashing I would never "bash" Romero, I love the guy. I love who he is, and what he has done for the genre he created. I do not even loathe all of his later offerings as some do. You can look at a film, and detail the short comings of that film without bashing it. We can all look at things with an analytical eye and comment on what we see. It in no way changes my fanboy affection for GAR or his work.

[Wyldwraith]

Few thoughts on TWD, Been kicking around my overall impression of TWD's potential as based on the limited amount of material (the pilot) to work with. Here's what I came up with. 1) It's true in most zombie movies, and it's true for TWD: If the characters did the smart/extremely cautious thing all the time, the scriptwriters would be severely curtailed in their options for adding to the storyline. Yes, I'm among those that had a "WTF Moment" when Rick trotted that horse nonchalantly into a major city that the visible-at-a-glance evidence indicated tons of people had been trying to leave, but NO CARS left stranded heading TOWARDS the city. My WTF-moment was further compounded when Rick halted the horse's galloping momentum while surrounded by zombies. It would've made more sense to plough through them before they packed the straight back the way he'd come from the way they had the street(s) deeper into the city. All of that said, I was willing to shrug and go along, because they wanted a semi-viable reason to get him trapped in the tank, so what could happen from that point could transpire, which it couldn't have had he simply been allowed to escape back out the way he'd entered. 2nd/finally: When the pilot episode was over, it left me EAGER to see/know what happens next. That's the very ESSENCE of a cliffhanger done right. We're all far too familiar with bad cliffhangers. They just annoy you and feel so contrived you're not even sure you want to see what happens to resolve the bad cliffhanger. That wasn't the case here. Last thing I'll say: I REALLY adore the way that the three distinct behavioral "modes" of the Walkers have been consistently portrayed. You've got Motionless/Dormant/"Sleep" Mode, followed by aimless or slowly accelerating wandering for "Roaming Mode", and finally you've got riled-up, human-in-sight maximum speed Hunting Mode. So far, those portraying the zombies have been EXCELLENT *IMO* at portraying these distinct Walker behavior-types. It really gives the Walkers a far superior feel to the much more inconsistent Romero-esque Shamblers. And BTW, Romero didn't need TWD to Dethrone him. He dethroned HIMSELF when he shit Diary into the World, and then Vomited Forth Survival of the Dead, and THEN in multiple recent interviews has revealed how completely unable he is to discern between a good and an awful zombie movie, as evidenced by his REPEATED statements that Diary and Survival are clearly his best Dead work. Sorry George, that's completely delusional. Take TWD for what it is. A promising TV adaptation of a high-quality and very popular comic that features a Zombie Apocalypse as its major world-setting and dramatic set-pieces. Don't hype it into next year and don't hate on it before you've even seen enough of what the show has to offer to draw a worthwhile conclusion. I'm looking forward to this Sunday and seeing how he gets out of the tank and to start seeing what the deal is with the Atlanta survivors. If you share those feelings isn't that enough of an endorsement of TWD? If you're completely disinterested in what happens next/what you've seen so far, isn't that all you need to know or say about not wanting to pursue viewing the show? Besides, whatever camp you're in...new shows tend to improve in quality when the pilot succeeds

[Legion2213]

Point about the tank, I am looking forward to seeing how gets out of that myself. I will be avoiding spoilers from now on...as others have said, the spoiler that had the "dormant zombie" reveal in the tank really hurt...would have loved to have seen that in the show proper without knowing about it (my own fault, I know). It was really well done...I think tank zombie could be one of my favorite zeds so far, the gasping noise he made as he "re-activated" was wonderful. I really like TWD zacks, they are scary fuckers IMO.

[bassman]

I won't bash the first three films, they mean something to me, it's his later stuff that turned me off him as a story-teller/film maker. I think it's actually more often accepting that the first three films aren't without their flaws. Some fans tend to see the films with rose colored glasses and perceive them as absolutely flawless, while others can see that they're far from it. That doesn't mean we're bashing or hate these films, just that we see them for what they really are. And in most cases, we still love them regardless. I mean....if you can't find flaws in your favorite films, whatever they may be.....you're obviously lying to yourself. I can't recal anyone ever really BASHING the original trilogy here at HPotD. Just discussing said flaws.