Walking Dead TV Series

[inkmachine]

Still say DeadWorld is a better comic and would make a better television series....none the less, I still greatly enjoyed The Walking Dead and will continue to watch it as long as it keeps with the quality and pacing of the first episode.

[Shannafey]

Originally Posted by inkmachine

Still say DeadWorld is a better comic and would make a better television series....none the less, I still greatly enjoyed The Walking Dead and will continue to watch it as long as it keeps with the quality and pacing of the first episode.

I love Dead World and bought it when it first was published! I have almost every issue of the series. There are a few that have eluded me, as I quit buying comics in college and now I'm trying to find a few that I didn't buy back in the day! That being said, I think Dead World is more original, but Walking Dead is a better comic!

Side Note, Inkmachine, being in Flint, MI do you know my buddy, author Chris Ringler?

[maybrick]

Originally Posted by KamuiX

So here's my one gripe: From the quick glimpse we got of the initial group of survivors, it looks as if they've either made a couple of the insignificant characters black or added a couple in. This pisses me off, because this is obviously a response to all the shit AMC gets about the lack of blacks on Mad Men. It annoys me that AMC would pander to this incredibly small group of insecure, always looking for invisible racism retards because if the series lasts past the first season, it's going to get a couple of the strongest black characters on TV. And the fact that it's obvious these changes or additions are meaningless since there's been no change to major characters like Dale, Lori, Glenn or Shane, it's so apparent what the motivations are here.

Otherwise, it was quite great.

I'm not sure what you're talking about. Are you basing this all on the first episode? I think you need to re-read the early issues of Walking Dead, because Morgan and Duane (the two black characters) have ALWAYS been black.

i've never even heard of the comics, but i liked the show, defiantly gonna keep watching.

[Mitbox]

I liked it and thought it was good for a tv show, but didn't add anything new to the concept, everything I saw has already been done in other zombie movies (I felt like watching a remake). Still is too early for a verdict, I'll keep watching to see if there's any improvement.

[Jason Reynolds]

I enjoyed it enough to keep watching. I'm curious to see if it can last multiple seasons without getting repetitive.

[KamuiX]

Originally Posted by maybrick

I'm not sure what you're talking about. Are you basing this all on the first episode? I think you need to re-read the early issues of Walking Dead, because Morgan and Duane (the two black characters) have ALWAYS been black.

I'm not talking about them...I'm talking about the group at the encampment with Shane, Lori, Carl, Dale, etc. When you see them get the short message from Rick over the CB, you can see a couple black people lingering by the RV. So obviously they've added a couple of characters or changed the characters of someone like Donna or Allen. Looking at IMDb, they've added some characters: Walker, Jacqui, and somebody named T-Dog...

To me, all unnecessary changes to appease a very small crowd of very touchy people. Who knows, maybe they'll turn out to be fantastic characters. Something tells me they'll be relegated to minor characters though considering who's just over the horizon.

[mcchrist]

It had a good start. I have to say, though, after seeing the preview for the whole season, I don't know if my interest in this one will hold for very long. We'll see.

[Copyboy]

Originally Posted by Mitbox

I liked it and thought it was good for a tv show, but didn't add anything new to the concept, everything I saw has already been done in other zombie movies (I felt like watching a remake). Still is too early for a verdict, I'll keep watching to see if there's any improvement.

I felt exactly the same way. I really enjoyed it but at the same time there were no real surprises. Throughout the entire episode I had this weird sense of deja vu as if I'd seen it before and knew what was coming next before it happened. Will definitely keep watching though!

[17thJuggalo]

Love the comics and dug the show, I'll be up watching this every Sunday no doubt.

[spawningblue]

I thought the first episode was amazing, and if I remember correctly, followed the comic pretty closely (I have only read the first 12 issues, need to catch up!). The zombies and gore well well done, as was the Directing. Most importantly though, the script and characters development was great. The actors were all perfect in my opinion, and it was strange to see a zombie show or movie that was that emotional. The scene where the father was aiming the gun at his wife really worked for me. I also really loved the acting between the two cops and their dialog in the opening. It wasn't really that important, but it just felt really real which was nice for a change, especially in a horror related show. I can't wait for episode 2 and will be watching every episode and buying the Blu Ray set when it comes out!

[allmessedup]

I thought it was really good, especially for something on non-premium cable. I thought they actually had quite a bit of gore, more than I thought they would. Definitely something I'll be tuning in to each week. I've only read the first comic, but I think both comic and show do a good job of balancing the horror elements with character development.

As far as the whole character issue, I think it wouldn't be too realistic if there weren't at least a few black characters, since it's set in Georgia.

[j tea]

I watched it last night and enjoyed it. It is difficult for me to see how they could make a whole series out of the usual zombi tropes. In fact I felt like the hour-long show was just a dragged out first five minutes of every other zombi movie. Not that its bad, I am sure it is necessary since they are trying to develop characters and tone, but it was quite evident to someone who has seen most of the blueprint movies.

The black characters discussion is weird. I didn't read the comics so I don't know who was changed or not or why. I can't say as an outsider I picked up on any effects of it. It is odd that you would think that just because a character was given black skin that all of a sudden they couldn't have the exact same traits, experiences, and reactions as the original white character. Does it matter that much? I can see if someone were making a Ronald Reagan biopic and made him black to appease people who were alienated by him it would seem like palliation. Or if you took a beloved fictional character like Prince Hamlet and made him black just to see what it would be like if he were black (which I think has been done) it might seem like a stunt. But I can't believe the characters in this comic are so widely recognized, or beloved for their whiteness that it is really such an affront.

Anyway, I hope my neighbor keeps dvr'ing it so I can tune in.

[Paff]

A couple of comments about the addition of black characters not originally in the comic (and like KamuiX says, there are very strong black characters to be introduced, not to mention an Asian who will obviously be coming on VERY soon). Remember that we are talking about Frank Darabont, who turned an obviously white character (Ellis Redding) into a career-defining portrayal by Morgan Freeman.

Granted, it's a little harder adapting a comic-book character into a different race, since we've SEEN what they look like.

But as for the comments about criticism from the black community about the lack of black characters on AMC shows, I used to think this was a dumb complaint too. After all, it's the STORY that matters, not the color of the actors who play the roles. This is not the first time these complaints have come up. I remember hearing about it in the 90s with Friends, where there were comments about the overwhelmingly white cast in one of the most diverse cities in the world. About the only people of color were Lauren Tom in a few episodes early on, then Aisha Tyler in response to the criticism.

But then I saw a movie that changed my mind. White Man's Burden, starring John Travolta and Harry Belafonte, directed by Desmond Nakano. It's an allegorical tale, in a US where blacks have always had the power and the whites are the downtrodden minority. Most of the things I expected to see were there; People call the cops when John Travolta is in their neighborhood, cops pull him over for no reason, landlord won't give him and his family a break when they're late with the rent, etc. But one scene really struck me. Travolta's kid is watching TV, and flipping channels. EVERY single show has an all-black cast. Soap operas, comedies, etc. And the commercials are for things like black hair-care products, makeup, etc. My first thought was "you know, I don't think I'd watch much TV if that's all that was on, and I'd probably gravitate to a show with more white characters even if it wasn't that good"

So yeah, there may be more black characters than originally written, but until there comes a day when you hardly ever see any people of your race represented on screen (and when they are, it's only as a stereotype), don't knock it.

[KamuiX]

Originally Posted by j tea

The black characters discussion is weird. I didn't read the comics so I don't know who was changed or not or why. I can't say as an outsider I picked up on any effects of it. It is odd that you would think that just because a character was given black skin that all of a sudden they couldn't have the exact same traits, experiences, and reactions as the original white character. Does it matter that much?

It's not really about that...it's just sort of silly to pander to a small group of people that look for invisible racism everywhere. In fact, unless they've created new characters with new storylines and not just changed skin color and names, the only people left in that original group that haven't been accounted for are very insignificant, which like I said, makes it all the more apparent they're just trying to avoid any type of outcry from this very small contingency of insecure people, which in all honesty should be insulted if these characters turn out to be nothing more than auxiliary.

If I hadn't been such a fan of the series, this never would have been anything I even noticed; it's just that I was looking around during that small glimpse of the group to see if I could notice who was who and it stuck out like a sore thumb. And since I've heard all of the bitching about Mad Men (search it on Google, it's good for a laugh), it just struck me what the motivation was. In the grand scheme of things I agree, it means very, very little.