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Old 11-02-2010, 12:07 AM   #96
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Re: The Walking Dead (New AMC Program)

I've been insanely excited for this series to start ever since I heard it was announced, both because I'm a huge horror junkie and because a good friend of mine has raved about the comics for quite some time. The series premiere definitely didn't disappoint.

What set this introduction apart from many other zombie stories was the simple fact that they chose not to go the excessively gory, action-packed route, and rather focused on immediate character and plot development. Sure, the show kicked off with the pretty intense gas station scene where Grimes was forced to cap a preteen zombie, but even there a major part of his character was revealed in that he was intensely conflicted but knew what he had to do. There will be plenty of time to incorporate the more standard horror elements of a zombie tale -- it was important to me that they avoided that as much as possible and went right into the meat of the story itself.

The plot reveals were also very well done. Morgan became an immediately likable character (the scene when he nonchalantly walked up to a zombie and blew its brains out was fantastic), and I'm actually most interested in how him and Duane will come back into play. I'm also glad that I didn't know who was playing Grimes' wife, so as to actually allow the scene with her and Walsh, followed by Grimes looking at his family photo, to have the impact the director desired.

Speaking of directing, I thought the actual shooting and construction of the episode was top notch. The two specific instances that stood out to me were when Grimes left the hospital and the screen was flushed with white light, putting you in his perspective stepping into the sunlight for the first time in who knows how long. Similarly, I thought they did a great job of creating the feel of disorientation in the tank from the sound of the gunshot after Grimes offed the army zombie.

I expected the show to be good, but the premiere actually surpassed my expectations.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ExistenceNow View Post
I just pulled that number out of the air.

The zombie story tends to have a short arc. I'm just curious how they'll stretch it out over multiple seasons. Are they gonna have these people on the road constantly dodging zombies or is it going to turn into a people vs people thing inside a compound?
Remember that a full season will only consist of 13 episodes. With that in mind, the straight up zombie apocalypse story can easily span two seasons if it's written right, which I'm sure it is/will be based on the premiere.

After that, there are two very obvious storylines they could follow -- (1) zombie extermination (Season 3), and (2) nation/worldwide recovery (Season 4). Unlike a movie, where you have a pretty strict 2-3 hour time limit, a television show can extend the story to the "what happens next" point. Assuming it stays popular, I expect they'll do just that.

Last edited by DMBzilla; 11-02-2010 at 12:08 AM.
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