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Seanmcd (Seanmcd)
Username: Seanmcd

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 217.39.90.36
Posted on Sunday, October 31, 2010 - 07:15 pm:   

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWbIExGtVgs&feature=related

This looks like it could be the 'Dead' sequel Romero should have made instead of those 'Land of', 'Survival of' and 'Diary of' efforts.
Starts tonight appropriately enough on US TV. Maybe our American board members can give a thumbs up or down on this show?
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.96.253.77
Posted on Sunday, October 31, 2010 - 08:33 pm:   

Really looking forward to this...I am, however, a massive fan of those "'Land of', 'Survival of' and 'Diary of' efforts".
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Steve Bacon (Stevebacon)
Username: Stevebacon

Registered: 09-2008
Posted From: 90.204.111.238
Posted on Sunday, October 31, 2010 - 08:38 pm:   

Starts on FX UK channel on Sky next Friday. I like Andrew Lincoln.
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Frank (Frank)
Username: Frank

Registered: 09-2008
Posted From: 85.222.86.21
Posted on Sunday, October 31, 2010 - 11:06 pm:   

Watched it last night. The best, and I mean this sincerely, the best zombie series/film you're ever going to see. Simply outstanding. Intelligent, frightening, and owes everything to Romero at his finest. Arguably, already, the greatest horror TV show you will ever see.

Over the top, Frank? Not on the 1hr I just watched.

And yes, Andrew Lincoln is great as an American sheriff. Perfect realization of a great idea that has gone awry many times.

You will come away thinking Darabont can do no wrong, again.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Monday, November 01, 2010 - 10:56 am:   

You have me excited, Frank! And that's from someone who had written Romero off (though it tore my still beating heart out) many years ago...

'Land Of...' - mediocre.
'Diary Of...' - shockingly regressive.
'Survival Of...' - couldn't bring myself to watch it.

However, I have bad experiences of initially wonderful big US TV franchises. Even 'Twin Peaks' went on a series too long. And when is someone going to edit that show down to just the best bits anyway?
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Chris_morris (Chris_morris)
Username: Chris_morris

Registered: 04-2008
Posted From: 98.220.97.79
Posted on Monday, November 01, 2010 - 01:52 pm:   

Thought the dialogue at the beginning was a bit dodgy, but once things get going Darabont doesn't miss a step. Beautiful stuff. Count me in.
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.96.253.77
Posted on Saturday, November 06, 2010 - 03:08 am:   

Just watched the first episode. I think Frank's gone a bit hyperbolic (is he Stevie in disguise?), but, yep, despite a dodgy first few minutes, this was very good stuff. It has that quality a lot of modern horror films lack: soul. I'm in for the long haul with this one.
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.96.253.77
Posted on Saturday, November 06, 2010 - 03:13 am:   

And just for the record:

'Land Of...' - brilliant. The more times I watch this, the better it gets.

'Diary Of...' - a superb reboot: funny, chilling and presient (as Romero's zombie films always have been)

'Survival Of...' - an odd, endearing, thoughtful little film that shows Romero doesn't give a fuck what the fans demand. They're his zombies, and he'll do what he likes with them.
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Frank (Frank)
Username: Frank

Registered: 09-2008
Posted From: 85.222.86.21
Posted on Saturday, November 06, 2010 - 12:09 pm:   

Land of ... misguided mess.
Diary of ....back to his roots, scary, frightening, one of fave horror films in recent years...Romero showing he hasn't lost it (not original), but a standout horror film nevertheless...
Survival...I can see where he's going with it...I need a lot longer to digest this one...suspect it may grow on me...

Zed - no, mate, I wasn't exaggerating what I felt for The Walking Dead. But then again, how many out and out, pure horror driven, intelligent, horror shows do you know...I mean 100% horror...no sidelines into other genres...just horror...yes I suppose we could edge in sci-fi into the WD equation, but let's just focus on a serious attempt by TV to run with this one....
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.96.253.77
Posted on Saturday, November 06, 2010 - 12:50 pm:   

but let's just focus on a serious attempt by TV to run with this one....

Indeed. But let's also not get carried away about how good it is - from the first hour, it's a superior Romero rip-off with great potential to take off and explore the material in different directions. Let's see how it develops from there. I have high hopes for The Walking Dead, but I don't want to cripple it with overly high expectations.
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Frank (Frank)
Username: Frank

Registered: 09-2008
Posted From: 85.222.86.21
Posted on Saturday, November 06, 2010 - 01:03 pm:   

Zed - yes, true, mate. But I do have a good feeling about this. And great news about its ratings. Apparently the highest they've ever had for a horror show and the highest for the network behind its first screenings (:

But yes, I must remain calm.
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John Forth (John)
Username: John

Registered: 05-2008
Posted From: 82.24.1.217
Posted on Saturday, November 06, 2010 - 01:05 pm:   

I was reading the comic it was based on up until about issue 55, at which point I stopped because I felt the writer was running out of ideas. You can only play the "Oh my god! People are worse than zombies!" card so often. But for the first few story arcs there are some good, harsh moments which hopefully the TV adaptation will retain.

I watched it last night and it was... okay. Not much actually seemed to happen, and the scenes without dialogue were far better than some of the shonky exchanges earlier on. There's potential there, though, and I will say that the zombie FX were fantastic, particularly the crawling one which featured a couple of times.
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Frank (Frank)
Username: Frank

Registered: 09-2008
Posted From: 85.222.86.21
Posted on Saturday, November 06, 2010 - 01:24 pm:   

John - yes, I do have reservations about this taking a formulaic approach, especially (SPOILER) with the relationship arc between the sheriff (presumed dead), his wife and his best friend (the deputy). I can almost see that one coming a mile off. But I agree, the moments without dialogue, especially with Andrew Lincoln tottering along by himself are superb.

I suspect this show will take some of us by surprise. I think it's going to be something special. I think it's not even started to get warmed up yet.

SPOILER

Favourite scenes: the hospital doors with the words scrawled over it. And Lennie James character with the sniper rifle unable to shoot his wife. And finally, the comedic but horrifying scene when the sheriff still in his hospital gown tries to get away on the bicycle.
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.96.253.77
Posted on Saturday, November 06, 2010 - 01:43 pm:   

The show certainly has the potential to be brilliant...let's just see if it manages to fulfill that potential.

John, I agree that some of the dialogue was awful (I think Chris said this above, too).
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Frank (Frank)
Username: Frank

Registered: 09-2008
Posted From: 85.222.86.21
Posted on Saturday, November 06, 2010 - 01:46 pm:   

I don't think the dialogue was awful, just as Chris said, a little bit ropey.
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.96.253.77
Posted on Saturday, November 06, 2010 - 01:47 pm:   

The exchange at the start, in the police cruiser, was embarrassing, I thought: it sounded like dialogue written by someone who's never heard real people talk. Things improved a lot after that point, though.
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Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 109.79.109.124
Posted on Sunday, November 07, 2010 - 01:06 am:   

I must admit I think the title refers to Andrew Lincoln, the cream cracker of actors biscuit tin.
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Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 109.79.109.124
Posted on Sunday, November 07, 2010 - 01:09 am:   

Land... feels like it's not the film Romero really wanted to make but with some good zombies.

Diary... an exciting return to the roots; it feels like it was made by a man 1/3 of Romero's age.

Survival... unfortunately under-cooked, with shallow characters.
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Stephen Theaker (Stephen_theaker)
Username: Stephen_theaker

Registered: 12-2009
Posted From: 62.30.117.235
Posted on Sunday, November 07, 2010 - 09:08 am:   

In the cinema it wouldn't have been that impressive, but for TV it feels very unusual and interesting. Comparing the first episode to the early pages of the comic, I'm impressed by the ways they expanded it. Bodes well. I liked the dialogue at the beginning - reminded me of Darabont's work on The Shield.
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Steve Bacon (Stevebacon)
Username: Stevebacon

Registered: 09-2008
Posted From: 90.204.111.238
Posted on Sunday, November 07, 2010 - 09:41 am:   

SPOILERS -

I thought it was quite a solid piece. The 'half-woman' crawling after the bike was superb for tv, I thought. As was the way the Sheriff dispatched the little girl at the start. And the emotional aspect of what happens to our loved ones - as Frank already said, about the bloke who was unable to shoot his wife - emphasised an angle lacking in much of horror tv/film.

This makes me think of the thread that Paul Finch posted a few weeks ago, about how we attract a mainstream audience to a genre like horror. My wife watched The Walking Dead with me and, whilst not usually a horror fan, said it was one of the most tense hours of television she's seen in years. She loved it. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I'm hoping it doesn't get fucked up with the episodes to come.
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Frank (Frank)
Username: Frank

Registered: 09-2008
Posted From: 85.222.86.21
Posted on Sunday, November 07, 2010 - 09:52 am:   

Spoiler - the scene where the zombies start ripping into his horse, while he crawls away under the tank, and you think he's simply going to crawl out the other side...holy shit...scary stuff... Steve, no wonder your wife was tense, I think a lot of people were.

Protod - Lincoln's a good actor. Give the lad a chance
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Matthew Fryer (Matthew_fryer)
Username: Matthew_fryer

Registered: 08-2009
Posted From: 90.195.182.42
Posted on Sunday, November 07, 2010 - 10:08 am:   

Pretty good so far, other than some ropey dialogue as people have said (Especially - as Zed pointed out - the false banter in the police car at the start)
But it has a heavy, apocalyptic atmosphere that hangs on every scene and I like the zombies, both the SFX and their behaviour.
I hope it stays strong.


*SPOILERS*

A few favourite scenes:
Steve, with you on the crawling zombie and opening execution of the undead little girl. Wonderfully dark, and quite brave for TV.

As several have said, the Lennie James character being unable to shoot his wife was very powerful. It made me ask myself if I could do that. Don't know if I could...

I loved the sheriff riding around the corner of a fairly quiet city street to discover the horde. Both my wife and I sucked in breath at that moment. And the whole hiding in the tank scene that ensued was beautifully shot.

One thing annoyed me. Maybe I misunderstood, but in the hospital stairwell not long after he'd woken up, why did he shut the door into the corridor - which was well-lit - and plunge himself into darkness and have to strike a match? There was no threat.
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Soozy (Soozy)
Username: Soozy

Registered: 09-2009
Posted From: 81.148.243.133
Posted on Sunday, November 07, 2010 - 12:04 pm:   

GCW and I watched this last night, Zombie related "anythings" just make me laugh, HOW CAN THEY BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY!

The most distressing thing for me was when the mob of Zombies attacked that poor horse....I dont have a problem with humans eating each other, it's innocent animals I have a problem with.

Saying that, we enjoyed it and will be watching the next episode.

Soozy
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Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 109.79.13.226
Posted on Sunday, November 07, 2010 - 12:30 pm:   

"Protod - Lincoln's a good actor. Give the lad a chance"

I did! All of AFTERLIFE, in fact. But he is much better than Lesley Sharp, who makes me feel I'm watching a school play.
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Frank (Frank)
Username: Frank

Registered: 09-2008
Posted From: 85.222.86.21
Posted on Sunday, November 07, 2010 - 01:42 pm:   

Hersey, Proto, Lesley Sharp is a fine actor

The next episode of The Walking Dead is out today.
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Gcw (Gcw)
Username: Gcw

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.148.243.133
Posted on Sunday, November 07, 2010 - 07:01 pm:   

(Don't tell Soozy but I once had a Horse Burger in Amsterdam...!)

gcw
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Frank (Frank)
Username: Frank

Registered: 09-2008
Posted From: 85.222.86.21
Posted on Saturday, November 13, 2010 - 01:58 am:   

Just watched the second episode. While it does settle into the pattern of TV, it bodes well. In fact, and though not directed by Darabont, it looks to be in fine hands. There's one scene in particular (don't worry no spoilers here), that makes you wonder how the hell it got shown. The dynamics for a great pure horror show are at this point being fully realized by the makers. Is it as good as the first episode. NO. Definitely not. But, it's still the best horror show you're likely ever to see. I'm hooked, and ever so grateful they took a chance on this. And good news. The ratings were so high, that already the second series has been green-lit, with a much bigger budget. And, the much under-appreciated Michael Rooker is in this episode. Just remember this is a TV show, not a film, and you'll let some things pass.
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Frank (Frank)
Username: Frank

Registered: 09-2008
Posted From: 85.222.86.21
Posted on Saturday, November 13, 2010 - 02:03 am:   

Oh, and what was funny in Shaun of the Dead, is used to brilliant effect here...And is not in the slightest bit funny. Strange to see a comedy influencing a straight horror so clearly. Then again, Shaun had its fair share of elegant horror loosely disguised beneath the comic banner. Guess that's what makes it so bloody brilliant.
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Frank (Frank)
Username: Frank

Registered: 09-2008
Posted From: 85.222.86.21
Posted on Saturday, November 13, 2010 - 02:18 am:   

And wait till you meet Glen. You're gonna want him to last the whole season.
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Barbara Roden (Nebuly)
Username: Nebuly

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 216.232.180.184
Posted on Saturday, November 13, 2010 - 07:17 am:   

Frank: Agreed on all points. Didn't quite live up to the first episode, but then what could? Besides, when you have to introduce a whole raft of new characters, then something's bound to give, and I think this episode handled it as well as could be expected. Glen is WONDERFUL; I've no idea how long he hangs around for, but I hope it's forever.

Ah, that scene. Yes. Don't know how it made it onto TV, but - I was watching it with my son Tim, who's pretty good with gory stuff, and even he turned his head away (I was suddenly and unaccountably preoccupied by something on the carpet, so couldn't watch the screen).

And yes, Tim and I picked up on the SHAUN reference when we watched it; a few seconds into it, and we were both looking at each other and laughing (for the right reasons). 'Good vocal work. . . .'
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Seanmcd (Seanmcd)
Username: Seanmcd

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 217.39.91.208
Posted on Saturday, November 13, 2010 - 03:39 pm:   

I can't wait for this to come to my TV screen. Is it scheduled for any non SKY channels in the UK ?
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John Forth (John)
Username: John

Registered: 05-2008
Posted From: 82.24.1.217
Posted on Saturday, November 13, 2010 - 04:23 pm:   

I don't know, Frank, I was howling with laughter at THE WALKING DEAD's version of the the SHAUN... scene. And I say this as someone who (sacrilige, I know) doesn't actually like SHAUN OF THE DEAD very much.

As for the rest of the second episode - I thought it got off to a shonky start with some more ropey dialogue and some dreadful acting from the supporting cast, before settling in to a far more exciting second half. Michael Rooker is a fine actor, but here he's been saddled with a shocker of a stereotype to work with, and the whole bit with the key was just a wee bit too contrived for my liking.

Still, I was pleased to see them take a bit of a departure from the comics in this episode (the issue in question is pretty much just Rick and Glen, most of the other characters are new - bar one) as I think an entirely faithful adaptation would have eventually bored me.
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.96.253.77
Posted on Saturday, November 13, 2010 - 11:49 pm:   

I'm with John - the Shaun reference was fucking hilarious. The bit prior to that, involving a welder's mask, a dead zombie and an axe, was even funnier.

I enjoyed the second episode, but it's becoming increasingly apparent that this is just dumbed-down Romero for a TV audience. It lacks the layers of Romero's films - the depth, the subtext, the nuances. And it's shockingly predictable. Still, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't enjoying it. But IMHO last year's Dead Set was ten times better (and darker, and more resonant).
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.96.253.77
Posted on Saturday, November 13, 2010 - 11:57 pm:   

It's Romero stripped of the social relevance.
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Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 109.79.81.76
Posted on Sunday, November 14, 2010 - 12:46 am:   

Parts of DEAD SET reminded me of Sarte's NO EXIT: "Unless we get out of this room, it's me. And you. Shitting in a bucket. Forever."
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.139.216.19
Posted on Sunday, November 14, 2010 - 09:47 am:   

I only saw a minute of Walking Dead but it felt sort of Roland Emmerichy to me.
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Frank (Frank)
Username: Frank

Registered: 09-2008
Posted From: 85.222.86.21
Posted on Sunday, November 14, 2010 - 11:45 am:   

Zed - in all respect, mate. Anybody can write about, or film something with under-lying social themes, it doesn't necessarily make it a superior piece, especially if it's hammered home, which the Land/Diary of the Dead did. Romero did indeed manage it with skill and panache with the Night/Dawn/Day, films which I adore for all the reasons you've previously cited, but having something to say doesn't mean his recent movies are particularly good at working in the subtext. The problem is you are one of the most die-hard fans I know of Romero, therefore I suspect you sometimes allow your subjectivity to by-pass the obvious flaws of his recent work. And yes, I know, it's all different shades of shit/taste, etc.

But agreed, the Shaun reference is funny to a seasoned horror fan, but you're not looking at it from a seasonal TV viewer.

Horror fans come too readily equipped to watch TV shows without bringing in a lifetime of well versed criticisms ready to employ.

I agree with Tony though, it does have a Roland Emmerich feel to it.

And John, yes, the Rooker redneck character is terrible.

Nothing personal, Zed.
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Frank (Frank)
Username: Frank

Registered: 09-2008
Posted From: 85.222.86.21
Posted on Sunday, November 14, 2010 - 12:16 pm:   

Zed - I'm not having a pop at you, mate, just in case you thought I was. I respect your views, but I do honestly believe that Romero makes a films where the obviousness of the message, social themes, seem to be laid on with a trowel.

Is The Walking Dead dumbed down? Perhaps. Probably. But it is TV.
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Frank (Frank)
Username: Frank

Registered: 09-2008
Posted From: 85.222.86.21
Posted on Sunday, November 14, 2010 - 12:43 pm:   

Zed: just to show you I love ya, check out this trailer for a film that I'm sure you're gone love. The patriarch of a bunch of Mexican cannibals dies leaving them...well, just watch, one of the finest trailers in a long time...genuinely scary:http://www.dailymotion.pl/video/xde5m0_we-are-what-we-are-trailer_shortfilms
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.96.253.77
Posted on Sunday, November 14, 2010 - 02:08 pm:   

therefore I suspect you sometimes allow your subjectivity to by-pass the obvious flaws of his recent work.

Nope. I don't by-pass them at all; I forgive them. I've said before, I'll forgive a lot of flaws in a film if two things are present: ambition and integrity. Romero's zombie films jibe with my personal taste - I love them. They press all my buttons. Of course they're flawed - isn't everything? - but these are flaws I can live with.

Horses for courses.
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.96.253.77
Posted on Sunday, November 14, 2010 - 02:17 pm:   

And I honestly don't get the big problem people seem to have with Land of the Dead - other than it's not the film they seemed to want Romero to make. I think it's a superb film, mixing the pulpish with the sublime, the daft with the brilliant, the prosaic with the visionary...a totally undervalued piece of work. IMHO, of course.
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.96.253.77
Posted on Sunday, November 14, 2010 - 02:43 pm:   

it doesn't necessarily make it a superior piece, especially if it's hammered home, which the Land/Diary of the Dead did. Romero did indeed manage it with skill and panache with the Night/Dawn/Day

Dawn of the Dead is the most heavy-handed (and least succesful) of the lot, mate. The subtext in all the films is laid on with a trowel. Again, Romero's heavy-handedness is a forgiveable flaw, because the whole is far greater than the sum of its parts.
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Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 109.79.213.236
Posted on Sunday, November 14, 2010 - 07:09 pm:   

Hmm, but DAWN has the most likeable (human) characters, I think, which is the thing that's mising from LAND. But at least LAND did well in other areas. SURVIVAL didn't even get its title right.
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Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 109.79.213.236
Posted on Sunday, November 14, 2010 - 07:11 pm:   

Sorry, an "s" was missing from "missing".
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Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 109.79.213.236
Posted on Sunday, November 14, 2010 - 07:19 pm:   

They all have something original about them.

NIGHT - Everyone dies
DAWN - Shopping mall
DAY - Clever cadavers
LAND - On-screen nose-picking
DIARY - Camera POV
SURVIVAL - Equestian zombie

Someone said that the zombie genre is closest to porn than anything else, in that it relies on inventive variations on a standard forumla. I wouldn't know.
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 99.126.164.88
Posted on Sunday, November 14, 2010 - 10:09 pm:   

Someone said that the zombie genre is closest to porn than anything else....

Well, let's put it this way... don't look, but just leave the sound going, during a porno sex scene, and a zombie feeding scene... screams, groans, the squishy sounds of flesh... you can't hardly tell the difference between the two....
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.96.253.77
Posted on Monday, November 15, 2010 - 12:21 am:   

Craig:
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Barbara Roden (Nebuly)
Username: Nebuly

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 216.232.180.184
Posted on Monday, November 15, 2010 - 05:39 am:   

I think something that puzzles a lot of people about zombies is the fact that their popularity - in books and stories and on film - just keeps growing, despite the fact that zombies themselves are probably the horror monster that you can do the least with. Vampires, for example, have a ton of scope; you can invest them with back story and motivation and personality, they interact in various ways, and have various effects upon, the other characters in the book/story/film, they can be blood-sucking or psychic or energy vampires, they can be scary or evil or yes, even sparkly or emo, if you want. You can't do any of that with zombies; setting aside the classic 'corpses reanimated by magic and set to do menial tasks' take, they're dead people who've come back to life and want to eat the living, because they're hungry for human flesh. That's it. They don't have a motivation, except hunger; their back story (if they have one) can only be supplied by someone still living; and their only interaction with other characters is to kill them or be killed by them.

So it's not surprising that zombie films tend towards a certain sameyness in a lot of ways, which is where the comparison to porn films comes in, I think: both show one basic thing with lots of inventive variations, and that one basic thing is physical, with little or no emotional weight behind it as a motivating factor. At least in GOOD zombie films (as opposed to the bad ones, and most porn films), there're other characters to care about and supply the emotional heft; for me the standout example is the remake of DAWN OF THE DEAD, where we get to know and care about a lot of the main characters. We never get the feeling they're just there as zombie fodder, with the viewer's only emotional investment being trying to figure out who'll snuff it and when (the fact that you have actors of the quality of Sarah Polley and Ving Rhames and Mekhi Phifer and Jake Weber in lead roles sure doesn't hurt). Plus the writing is excellent; James Gunn, who adapted Romero's original script, eschews heavy-handedness and clunky dialogue, opting instead for more realistic conversation, brilliant set-pieces that arise naturally from the situation, and a real stroke of genius in the character of Andy, the gun shop owner marooned in his store across the parking lot, only able to communicate with the survivors in the mall by signs but still very much a part of the group.

Of course, a huge attraction of any zombie film - for some people perhaps the only attraction - is upping the gore factor each time out. More blood, more guts, more grue! More inventive ways of killing the zombies! (I love the 'death by defibrillator' in DIARY OF THE DEAD.) The same doesn't quite hold true for stories and novels about zombies; I haven't read a lot of them (although I have written a couple), but it strikes me that you're able to be more subtle - if I can use that word in conjunction with zombies - in print than on film. Zombie films are in large part about the gore, on the screen in living colour; I guess you could write page after page after page of gore and grue in a zombie novel, but it's possible to be more subtle in print, where you can leave more to the imagination of the reader (my story 'Flu Season' in SUBTERRANEAN ONLINE is about zombies, but there's not a drop of blood shed, and like Shaun said in the film, I don't mention the zed-word).
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.139.216.19
Posted on Monday, November 15, 2010 - 11:46 am:   

Barbara! Is AH still happening!

She's like the elusive Pimpernel...
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Matthew Fryer (Matthew_fryer)
Username: Matthew_fryer

Registered: 08-2009
Posted From: 90.195.182.42
Posted on Monday, November 15, 2010 - 11:49 am:   

I'm quite enjoying it, though so far Dead Set is still my favourite.

I was delighted to see the criminally-scarce Michael Rooker, but then yes, the character he's been given isn't very interesting.
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 195.166.117.210
Posted on Monday, November 15, 2010 - 11:56 am:   

Tony:
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.139.216.19
Posted on Monday, November 15, 2010 - 12:07 pm:   

I feel a bit like a really crap xmen man - invisible, inaudible and inneffectual. :-(
Sadly Babs also has a power - she can vanish at the first sense of my useless presence. 8(
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.139.216.19
Posted on Monday, November 15, 2010 - 12:09 pm:   

It's just I've a story due/in limbo in it - and it might be six years old now or thereabouts. I used to quite like it but feel it might have turned to poo, or died... :-(
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.139.216.19
Posted on Monday, November 15, 2010 - 12:11 pm:   

'I don't mention the zed-word'
- Zed - that should have been your kid's name; Zedward.
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 195.166.117.210
Posted on Monday, November 15, 2010 - 12:23 pm:   

Zedward...that's hilarious, mate!
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Tom_alaerts (Tom_alaerts)
Username: Tom_alaerts

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 194.78.35.175
Posted on Monday, November 15, 2010 - 02:50 pm:   

Barbara, I think you should crosspost your comment to the All Hallows newsgroup.
Plenty of interesting points to discuss (in both forums).
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Tom_alaerts (Tom_alaerts)
Username: Tom_alaerts

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 194.78.35.175
Posted on Monday, November 15, 2010 - 02:51 pm:   

Not least of which, what porn movies are GOOD ?
:-)
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Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 147.252.230.148
Posted on Monday, November 15, 2010 - 03:18 pm:   

"Not least of which, what porn movies are GOOD?"

Some of the Bond movies. (If we're honest, every scene is a sex scene.)
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Barbara Roden (Nebuly)
Username: Nebuly

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 216.232.180.184
Posted on Monday, November 15, 2010 - 03:53 pm:   

Tony: Look for something in your in-box!
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.139.216.19
Posted on Monday, November 15, 2010 - 04:09 pm:   

Ha! It's thee!!!
I will. :-)
It's not porn I hope. Erm...that sounds prudish, doesn't it?
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.139.216.19
Posted on Monday, November 15, 2010 - 04:10 pm:   

Hey Barbara - do you have my new address? Should I email it you again?
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.139.216.19
Posted on Monday, November 15, 2010 - 04:11 pm:   

It's lovell663 at btinternet dot com, so to speak.
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Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey)
Username: Ramsey

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 195.93.21.68
Posted on Monday, November 15, 2010 - 04:54 pm:   

"Not least of which, what porn movies are GOOD ?"

Depends on your tastes. Unless you share mine, my recommendations aren't much use (I don't care for hard-core at all). If you do, check my non-fiction book.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Tuesday, November 16, 2010 - 12:28 pm:   

Got to see both episodes of this over the weekend in Leeds and was highly impressed! The production values, direction and performances are first rate... but I just hope they wrap it up after 1 or at most 2 series and I find it frustrating, in this post-apocalyptic format, that we know the top billed cast members are all guaranteed to survive - a serious flaw of all big US TV Shows like this one. Still, for now this has me well and truly gripped!
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John Forth (John)
Username: John

Registered: 05-2008
Posted From: 82.24.1.217
Posted on Sunday, November 21, 2010 - 03:58 pm:   

Watched the third episode of this on Friday and found it to be a real step up on the previous two. It was a fairly zombie-lite hour (although there was a neat decapitation/finish off the head with a crossbow bolt sequence), but finally spent a little bit of time getting to know the characters, which makes all the difference.

What impressed me the most was that there were at least two sequences that could have received the full-on overblown BIG DRAMA sweeping strings and slow motion treatment, which instead were played very naturally and with genuine understated emotion. I was a bit apathetic about Andrew Lincoln's casting, but he's really starting to impress now.

It even managed to elicit some sympathy for Michael Rooker's character - who was horribly one dimensional in the second episode. Not bad going at all.
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.96.253.77
Posted on Sunday, November 21, 2010 - 05:09 pm:   

I still think there's something missing from the show...it isn't bad, but it's not great either. There's nothing new on offer here, and the characters are a bit "central casting". I'm still watching, because there is some good stuff going on, but I really wanted to love the show instead of thinking "Well, it's all right."
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John Forth (John)
Username: John

Registered: 05-2008
Posted From: 82.24.1.217
Posted on Sunday, November 21, 2010 - 05:22 pm:   

I don't disagree with that, Gary. The comics had the same problem in that they were a perfectly entertaining, exciting zombie survival story, but they brought nothing new to the table. So far the series has been the same. As you've said elsewhere - there appears to be no subtext, no deeper level to what's going on. It's all very superficial. And while I don't mind that generally, it's probably what held the comic back from being truly great instead of just good.

It's best viewed as a soap opera/drama with zombies. In itself not a bad thing.
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 99.126.164.88
Posted on Sunday, November 21, 2010 - 06:24 pm:   

John (Forth) - that's *exactly* what I felt about the comic (what early issues I read) - interesting setting, but absolutely nothing new. Zombies, and soap opera: mix them together and you have something interesting because they've been mixed together... but that's also the sum total of "interesting." And so, I literally have no desire to see the show, at all....
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Barbara Roden (Nebuly)
Username: Nebuly

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 216.232.180.184
Posted on Sunday, November 21, 2010 - 06:49 pm:   

But really: what 'new' stuff can you bring to the zombie table? The zombie plague as a metaphor for nuclear/chemical/natural disaster or war: done. The plague brings out the best/worst in survivors: done. The survivors try to survive as best they can using the locations/tools at hand: done. Survivors deal with their feelings of guilt at being alive/having to despatch loved ones who've turned: done. Conflict breaks out amongst the survivors: done. Complaining about something as well made and interesting as WALKING DEAD 'not bringing anything new to the table' is like complaining that every cop/medical/legal show on TV doesn't bring anything new to the table. Just enjoy it for what it is, not what it's not, and be glad that someone thinks this particular horror sub-genre is worth doing so well for a mass audience, as opposed to just giving us more reality show crap.
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.96.253.77
Posted on Sunday, November 21, 2010 - 07:55 pm:   

But really: what 'new' stuff can you bring to the zombie table?

Loads, to be honest. A lot of zombie fiction (although I'm no expert on this sub-genre) particularly seems to be taking the theme in interesting directions - some of the Abaddon novels are especially clever. But The Walking Dead isn't even trying; it's happy simply to be derivative. The whole things comes across like a homage to Romero. Well made, decent acting, great effects, but I literally have seen everything they've done before.
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.96.253.77
Posted on Sunday, November 21, 2010 - 07:56 pm:   

As I said above, I am enjoying the show, but I froget about each episode immediately after watching it.
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Barbara Roden (Nebuly)
Username: Nebuly

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 216.232.180.184
Posted on Sunday, November 21, 2010 - 07:59 pm:   

And I argue that's no bad thing, Gary. I watch so little TV - like, almost none - that I'm perfectly happy with a zombie show that's well made with decent acting and great effects.
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 99.126.164.88
Posted on Sunday, November 21, 2010 - 08:20 pm:   

Gary has hit it on the head: the zombie genre has LONG since passed away from the very novelty of its own nature - shambling zombies are no longer fresh or new, and neither are any of the many conventions Barbara mentions. So, regardless of "drama," a return to those old days when zombies were fascinating just for being zombies... is only going to be, imho, underwhelming. It's how I felt about the comics I'd read - I could care less, because it was just so utterly rehashed. But then, I thought the characters and storyline was sub-par, not compelling. One can have two detective novels, and if one's done well, and the other terribly, despite both relying on the same conventions, well....

I can't judge the series, have not seen it. But if it's like the comic? I'm pretty sure I won't like it. But who knows? Maybe I'll proclaim it the best thing I've ever seen... my tastes rarely make any sense lately....
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.96.253.77
Posted on Sunday, November 21, 2010 - 10:40 pm:   

Barbara, I watch very little TV, too. That's why I demand a bit more than the average viewer when I do - for example Dexter takes overused generic conventions and blows the arse off them. I wish the makers of The Walking Dead would have tried that...

I believe the zeitgeisty word to describe my reaction tot he series is: meh.

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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.96.253.77
Posted on Sunday, November 21, 2010 - 10:41 pm:   

But, hey, I'm still watching, and hoping...it's at least good enough to make me tune in every week.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Monday, November 22, 2010 - 12:09 pm:   

Normally I'd be in Zed's camp on this issue but for some reason I find myself in Barbara's... so far anyway.

'The Walking Dead' is just so well done and brilliantly entertaining, in a schoolboy enjoyment kind of way, that I can't help loving it. It's a rare pleasure to see genre TV done dead seriously like this - the committment of everyone involved is a joy to behold imo. So far it's easily the best straight horror TV show since 'The X Files' and the best apocalyptic sci-fi TV show since the original 'Survivors' - derivative as heck and all the better for it. I do have my doubts they can sustain this level of quality indefinitely though and hope the series is brought to an end gracefully.

I'll be back in Leeds in another fortnight and have to wait till then to catch the 3rd-5th episodes. Looking forward to it!
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Frank (Frank)
Username: Frank

Registered: 09-2008
Posted From: 85.222.86.21
Posted on Monday, November 22, 2010 - 12:50 pm:   

Steve - sent you an email, mate.
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Tom_alaerts (Tom_alaerts)
Username: Tom_alaerts

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 194.78.35.175
Posted on Monday, November 22, 2010 - 03:14 pm:   

I will watch yesterday's new episode this evening.
While I am not that interested in zombies, the series is well done and suspenseful. Curious how it'll evolve.
By the way, my favourite new series, with a huge margin, is Boardwalk Empire.
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Frank (Frank)
Username: Frank

Registered: 09-2008
Posted From: 85.222.86.21
Posted on Sunday, November 28, 2010 - 11:19 am:   

Tom - Boardwalk Empire, sublime.

SPOILERS FOR WALKING DEAD: Another improvement on the second episode, and with an ending that, perhaps, sign-posted clearly (?)this shocking, nasty conclusion.

There's even one moment of outright comedy mocking cinema's stereotyping of Hispanic nationalities to genuine effect, which unfortunately falls prey to cliches of a different kind.

Probably the best moment of this episode (SPOILER) is Jim being restrained after digging lots of graves and getting sunstroke, and telling everybody that the only reason he escaped the zombies was that they were eating his family right in front of him.


SPOILER
BE PREPARED for the first casualty of the main cast. Like I said, maybe you will read the signs only too well, but I doubt it will lessen the impact of the final scene/frame.

I feel the show is definitely improving, and isn't just a soap opera with zombies. I still think it has some way to go to produce the brilliance of the first episode, but I still think it's still the finest out and out horror show ever put on TV.
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John Forth (John)
Username: John

Registered: 05-2008
Posted From: 82.24.1.217
Posted on Sunday, November 28, 2010 - 10:16 pm:   

An enjoyable fourth episode. Andrew Lincoln's portrayal is growing on me more and more. He's a little different from the Rick of the comics, more steely and harsh when it comes to making tough decisions. Also good to see the 'rednecks' allowed space to breath as characters. The brother of the Michael Rooker character looks to be far more interesting than the usual one-dimensional hick.

That said - there are still some moments of staggeringly poor dialogue in there. Andrea's opening conversation with her sister was almost painful to follow, and the last line dropped like a fart in an elevator.

But it's definitely growing on me - different enough from the comics to keep me interested.
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Matthew Fryer (Matthew_fryer)
Username: Matthew_fryer

Registered: 08-2009
Posted From: 90.195.182.42
Posted on Monday, November 29, 2010 - 10:02 am:   

Both Andrew Lincoln and Michael Rooker's brother have grown on me massively during this last episode.
And we had the first bit of real Z-action for almost 2 episodes. It's good to see that they don't need to rely on that for it to be entertaining.
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 195.166.117.210
Posted on Monday, November 29, 2010 - 10:21 am:   

Yes, this episode was probably the best yet...but still, there's something missing for me. It seems hollow. Still watching, though.
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Frank (Frank)
Username: Frank

Registered: 09-2008
Posted From: 85.222.86.21
Posted on Monday, November 29, 2010 - 02:03 pm:   

Norman Reedus is the chap playing Michael Rooker's brother. He's done a bit of genre work in his time. Carpenter's 'Cigarette Burns' and 'Blade II.'

I think he's an excellent actor. I know Carpenter really rates him.

He's also in Boondocks Saints, both parts.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Wednesday, December 08, 2010 - 05:50 pm:   

Caught up with Episodes 3, 4 & 5 in Leeds over the weekend. Awesome, absolutely fecking awesome!! I'm totally in Frank's camp with regard to this instant TV Horror classic!

Story and character progression are exemplary for this kind of series with all the expected zombie clichés and obvious homages brilliantly integrated and fantastically, unashamedly entertaining. Standout sequences for me were the exceptionally well handled and genuinely emotional "big reunion" and that terrifying, and expectedly unexpected, surprise attack on the camp - and its devastating aftermath. I'm finding myself quite upset there is only one episode left (that I won't get to see until my next visit over Christmas) and wanting much more of this quality horror-adventure-drama TV masterpiece in the making - and no one is more surprised about that than me!
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Tom_alaerts (Tom_alaerts)
Username: Tom_alaerts

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 91.176.183.55
Posted on Wednesday, December 08, 2010 - 10:46 pm:   

Well, unfortunately the last episode is not that compelling. Yes, a few good moments but on the whole it was rather simple.
Anyway, I am already looking forward to season 2, within a year or so...
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.96.253.77
Posted on Wednesday, December 08, 2010 - 11:19 pm:   

a few good moments but on the whole it was rather simple.

That sums up the entire series for me, Tom. I really wanted to love this...but didn't. Stupid character motivations from two-dimensional characters, generic plots, obvious set-pieces, ropey dialgue, and absolutely nothing new to say.

I'll watch the final ep, and continue to watch the next season, but overall I've increasingly disappointed after a genuinely compelling first episode.
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Tom_alaerts (Tom_alaerts)
Username: Tom_alaerts

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 194.78.35.175
Posted on Thursday, December 09, 2010 - 10:16 am:   

> That sums up the entire series for me, Tom. I really wanted to love this...but didn't. Stupid character motivations from two-dimensional characters, generic plots, obvious set-pieces, ropey dialgue, and absolutely nothing new to say.

It does really feel like a simple comic book, even the so-called emotional moments.
Yet in general I was entertained enough to keep on watching.
It' sure isn't Boardwalk Empire (best new series in my opinion) though !
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 195.166.117.210
Posted on Thursday, December 09, 2010 - 01:54 pm:   

I wish Boardwalk Empire would come to UK screens...
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Tom_alaerts (Tom_alaerts)
Username: Tom_alaerts

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 91.176.183.55
Posted on Thursday, December 09, 2010 - 06:29 pm:   

> I wish Boardwalk Empire would come to UK screens...

Ehmmm yes, now there are more devious means to get to see it. Not that I condone these, of course...
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Friday, December 10, 2010 - 01:01 pm:   

You guys are so hard to please... this show wasn't trying to say anything new but to create a fantastic adventure, compelling and entertaining in spades, out of the old Romero set-up of worldwide zombie apocalypse.

Remember the first time you watched 'Dawn Of The Dead' and were blown away by its sheer scope, and wanted to see what was happening in the rest of that world, how society was crumbling and the survivors were clinging on in ever smaller and more desperate groups. That's what this series shows brilliantly imho. It's not about deep messages or hidden resonances but about thrilling the audience and drawing them into the experiences of these people and wanting to know what happens next and who will make it to the end... that pure and that gloriously simple!

I really do think it bears comparison to the original 'Survivors' - and coming from me there can be no higher praise.
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.96.253.77
Posted on Friday, December 10, 2010 - 01:29 pm:   

But, Stevie, I've already seen all that before, and done so much better. I just find this a bit...empty. I forget what heppened about five minutes after each episode is finished.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Friday, December 10, 2010 - 03:29 pm:   

Well I haven't seen it done before with anything like the amount of time and detail and subtle character development these six episodes have allowed for... a whole world has been fleshed out in which the zombies are becoming almost incidental details compared to what happens to this group of characters. I love it, an instant TV classic.
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 99.126.164.88
Posted on Friday, December 10, 2010 - 04:40 pm:   

God, Zed, that's uncannily exactly how I felt about the few comics I had read! It's amazing, and disappointing, that that seems to have translated to the small screen....

I think, if I had to bottom-line it, it goes like this: Stevie the site-seer indeed does enjoy and want to see more of the DAWN OF THE DEAD, what-has-happened-to-the-!@#@!-world?! world of zombie-apocalypses. Zed, not so interested.

Some people want to explore all around Middle Earth. Others just want to stick with Frodo and Gandalf and those guys....
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.96.253.77
Posted on Friday, December 10, 2010 - 04:49 pm:   

My tastes regarding zombie films are odd - for instance, I loved Survival of the Dead.
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John Forth (John)
Username: John

Registered: 05-2008
Posted From: 82.24.1.217
Posted on Sunday, December 12, 2010 - 03:21 am:   

I've caught up with the final episode now, and while I thought there was a steady improvement in the show up to and including the fourth episode (although I share Gary's misgivings that it's not really bringing anything new to the table), I thought that things went badly wrong in the last twenty minutes of the fifth episode and the entirety of the sixth.

I don't really want to go into details, for fear of massive spoilers, but there are moments in the final episode that unpick some of the nicer ambiguities set up in the early part of the season. And where the series so far has been nicely low-key, the final episode seems to be going for more of a grand LOST finale, which feels at odds with the remit of both the show and the comic.

I appreciate that there's a degree of pandering to be done to the TV audience, but not at the expense of the good work done so far.
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.96.253.77
Posted on Sunday, December 12, 2010 - 10:39 pm:   

I've just watched the final episode, too.

After a promising first episode the whole series became increasing humdrum. Give me Romero's "Survival of the Dead" over this any day - at least Romero tried to do something original with the sub genre he created.

I just found the whole thing utterly uninvolving. I could see everything coming entire scenes before it did. Drama-by-numbers, I'm afraid.

Umberto Lenzi's "Nightmare City" was more enjoyable than this po-faced bland-fest. I really wanted to like it, too
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.96.253.77
Posted on Sunday, December 12, 2010 - 11:19 pm:   

Final thoughts:

My main problem with "The Walking Dead" is that it's utterly obselete. These days, when the zombie sub-genre has been deconstructed so completely - even by the man who invented it - with films like "Colin", "Zombieland", "Shaun of the Dead", "Diary of the Dead", "Dead Set", etc, this series simply felt...well, quaint. Like they decided to pretend the last 20 years of zombie films never happened. I'd call it a failure of imagination in the type of subject matter where imagination is pivotal. It isn't even homage; it's just lazy.
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Tom_alaerts (Tom_alaerts)
Username: Tom_alaerts

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 91.176.34.112
Posted on Sunday, December 12, 2010 - 11:42 pm:   

All good points, Zed, yet still it did entertain me quite a bit - except for the final episode.
Even if it does not feel original, I do like the fact that a competently made TV series allows you to get to know the characters better as the series progresses, than what's possible in a movie.
I also do expect (and hope) that we'll see a seriously irritated Michael Rooker back next year.
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.96.253.77
Posted on Monday, December 13, 2010 - 01:07 am:   

But, Tom, the characters were dull - two-dimensional, too. I can't even remember their names.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Monday, December 13, 2010 - 11:43 am:   

MASSIVE SPOILERS

I couldn't disagree more, Zed. The characters convince by their very ordinariness imo. These are just normal people caught up in an unimaginable apocalyptic nightmare and reacting exactly as ordinary people would. I found the death of Amy and poor Jim's fate particularly affecting and felt like cheering when fat Ed got what was coming to him. The whole sequence of the attack on the camp and its aftermath was devastating imo.

I think it's unfair to criticise this wonderful production for not being progressive. It is basically taking the premise of 1978's 'Dawn Of The Dead' and widening it out to show every minute detail of how civilization fell apart. I find the programme a fantastically involving and brilliantly performed - dead straight - old-fashioned epic adventure yarn of quite remarkable quality for a TV show.
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 195.166.117.210
Posted on Monday, December 13, 2010 - 12:07 pm:   

Horses for courses, mate, but I think it's dull.

widening it out to show every minute detail of how civilization fell apart

I disagree with that, too, Stevie. The absence of real detail is part of what's wrong with the show. It's as if they couldn't afford to hire more extras - there's very little sense of threat and no sense at all of a larger world than the bubble the characters are in. And I thought the big reveal in the final episode was embarassingly lame.

The Survivors remake is 10 times better than this, and a lot more entertaining.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Monday, December 13, 2010 - 12:25 pm:   

Haven't seen the last episode but I can guess where it's going from the end section of Episode 5 - which, for me, worked as a homage to 'I Am Legend', the too often unacknowledged originator of the whole undead apocalypse sub-genre.

The remake can't possibly be better than the original 'Survivors'. The greatest continuing drama sci-fi series that has ever been made imho.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Tuesday, January 11, 2011 - 11:46 am:   

Got to see the final episode in Leeds over Christmas and have to agree there were problems with it but nothing that fatally flawed the show as a whole.

The mistake they made was in having a quiet, character based and virtually zombieless episode as the supposed "big finale" to the first series. If this one had come in the middle of a series no one would have had any problem with it, and it would probably have been hailed for its subtlety (by me anyway), but as the "final" one it couldn't help but feel like an anti-climax and something of a cheat. That's not the fault of the show or anyone in it (imo) but of kack-handed scheduling and our own expectations.

I'm still looking forward to Series 2 like no other TV show I've seen in recent years!
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.170.177.92
Posted on Tuesday, January 11, 2011 - 02:02 pm:   

I haven't seen this, but wonder how we would react if Dawn of the Dead came out now and Walking Dead back then? Would the flaws or qualities of each still be there? Has the shock of the new diminished to the point there can no longer be a new?
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Tuesday, January 11, 2011 - 03:13 pm:   

It couldn't have happened like that, Tony.

'The Walking Dead' is the ultimate evolutionary result of what was started with 'Night Of The Living Dead' and cemented iconically with 'Dawn Of The Dead', and spoofed to perfection with 'Shaun Of The Dead'. It's unoriginal as feck and entertaining in spades, because it gives zombie fans exactly what they've always dreamed of, and for that reason I think it is brilliant AND has finally finished the genre.
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 195.166.117.210
Posted on Tuesday, January 11, 2011 - 03:33 pm:   

I disgaree. There's no evolution here. The Walking Dead comes on as if the last 25 years of the zombie sub-genre didn't happen. We've seen it all before, and done much better. Zombie Fail.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Tuesday, January 11, 2011 - 04:05 pm:   

Let me clarify what I was saying... I mean 'The Walking Dead' is the ultimate evolutionary result of that particular (and specific) Romeroesque zombie apocalypse scenario, in terms of special effects, acting and technical skill, but more importantly because of the sheer amount of running time available to fully explore the concept in every minute detail.

The fact that they are able to have episodes almost completely devoid of zombie action, but that still build the plot, character and world development, is the ultimate proof of what I state imho.
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John Forth (John)
Username: John

Registered: 05-2008
Posted From: 82.24.1.217
Posted on Tuesday, January 11, 2011 - 08:36 pm:   

I lost faith in the writer of the comics - Robert Kirkman - when he admitted in the letters page that he'd never seen DAY OF THE DEAD. I don't expect him to have seen every zombie film ever made, but if you're going to tackle the Romero template you should at least make sure you've seen the classics.
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 194.176.105.56
Posted on Tuesday, April 12, 2011 - 11:38 am:   

Saw the first episode last night and loved it. I'll certainly be wwatching the rest - to open the show with a 10 year old girl zombie being shot through the head in glorious HD... OMG (to borrow a horrible term but it's what I thought as I watched it).

I actually liked the banter in the car at the start.

I also like the almost total absence of incidental music. Let silence build the atmosphere instead... very very well done.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Tuesday, April 12, 2011 - 03:41 pm:   

You're in for one hell of a treat, Weber!

The show is criminally UNDERRATED by the horror cogniscenti imho.

I'm still itching for Series 2 like no other recent genre TV Show.
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Frank (Frank)
Username: Frank

Registered: 09-2008
Posted From: 82.210.134.81
Posted on Tuesday, April 12, 2011 - 03:56 pm:   

I loved the first four episodes, but have considerable reservations about the last two, especially the last episode, which seems to be steering it into Lost and other closely associated territories. I raved about it at the beginning, but Darabont's incredible first episode couldn't be matched by what follows. BUT, I enjoyed the character developments, which muscled it along quite admirably. I will, of course, await the next 13 episode series with excitement, but for me there is only one generic horror series that really makes inroads into horror these days, and that is Being Human. Shouldn't really compare the two, but they are the only real true horror shows out there. The rest are mere shadow puppets by comparison.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.153.150.118
Posted on Tuesday, April 12, 2011 - 05:05 pm:   

I'm projecting it tonight for me and the lads (it can link up to the telly! In fact it looks BETTER from the telly!) - I can't wait!
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.153.150.118
Posted on Tuesday, April 12, 2011 - 05:08 pm:   

Is there a point in linking this short of show with Land of the Giants and The Invaders? Are these new progs just like those things, but sort of more sophisticated?
Heck - will there be a Shakespearian-quality monster series on its way in forty years or so?!?
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.153.150.118
Posted on Tuesday, April 12, 2011 - 05:08 pm:   

Bit funny that Waking the Dead finishes this week.
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 194.176.105.56
Posted on Tuesday, April 12, 2011 - 05:20 pm:   

It's very gruesome and scary for tv Tony, how old are your lads?

The DVD will almost certainly be an 18 when it comes out in this country...
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Tuesday, April 12, 2011 - 05:21 pm:   

Yes, Tony.

You've hit the nail on the head! 'The Walking Dead' is very much in the tradition of those great 60s & 70s long running genre TV Shows. It takes the basic set-up familiar from Romero's great trilogy (etc) and runs with it, exploring every angle, and should be recognised as every genre fans dream come true imho.

I'm thinking of Series 1 & 2 as one 19 episode single entity so far as it lessens the impact of Episode 6 appearing anti-cilmactic. I believe that when viewed in the broader scheme of things that one will appear one of the more pleasingly subtle and intelligent character-building eps.

Don't be put off, Weber. It really is a great show!!
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.153.150.118
Posted on Tuesday, April 12, 2011 - 05:31 pm:   

Weber - 13 and 16. They do like their horror movies. They've seen The Exorcist and The Orphan and stuff (they LOVED the latter). I hope I don't look reckless - I don't let them watch 'anything'. When I say it's horror movie night they rub their hands with glee, like I used to.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.153.150.118
Posted on Tuesday, April 12, 2011 - 05:38 pm:   

Um, the youngest I said could watch The Exorcist until he got scared (he was jealous his brother was watching it) but he never did. Quite shocked me, his reaction, actually. He said he was a bit sad it hadn't bothered him.
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Seanmcd (Seanmcd)
Username: Seanmcd

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 81.151.80.82
Posted on Wednesday, April 13, 2011 - 10:51 pm:   

Finally got to see episode 1 on Sunday. Wonderful stuff! I'm really looking forward to the rest of this series. Finally a first class horror treat to wind up the weekend. I'm just worried there will be an unbearable 2 week break over the Easter holiday period.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.170.88.56
Posted on Thursday, April 14, 2011 - 03:00 pm:   

Me too! We whipped it on the projector, surround sound, like I said (I will keep plugging this!).
I thought it was absolutely fantastic. Me and both lads loved every minute. I was right about the Quinn Martin parallels because it was just so 'plain' (in a good way) and entirely gripping. Invasion of the Bodysnatchers was made in just the same way back in the fifties, and if that makes it feel old it's also not meant to be criticism, just an observation on the approach. It is not especially deep or 'twisty' - in fact it's almost Fordian, like a John Wayne movie. The pace is spot on, and the comparisons with the old series of Survivors accurate.
I can't wait till next week. Different to Being Human but in a very good, very refreshing way.
(BTW me and my kids have invented a new game (though I've only just realised this) - 'Did Stephen King write this?'. They said it of Jaws and Duel, among others. I think it could apply here.)
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.170.88.56
Posted on Thursday, April 14, 2011 - 03:01 pm:   

And again, it looked f*cking AWESOME cinemafied.
If only films at the pictures were this good.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.170.88.56
Posted on Thursday, April 14, 2011 - 03:02 pm:   

And it's fantastic that it's on over the summer...
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Lincoln (Lincoln_brown)
Username: Lincoln_brown

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 121.214.149.120
Posted on Friday, April 15, 2011 - 09:38 am:   

'Did Stephen King write this?'.
Apparently he's writing an episode or two for the next season, with Joe Hill.
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 109.158.56.60
Posted on Friday, April 15, 2011 - 09:46 am:   

Not great news that. His x-files episode was rubbish. and so are most of the films he wrote himself.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Friday, April 15, 2011 - 03:57 pm:   

If ever there was a victim of his own success it was Stephen King...
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.96.253.77
Posted on Friday, April 15, 2011 - 06:03 pm:   

Yeah, some victim: a multi-millionare pop-cultural icon. The poor wee lamb.
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Gary Fry (Gary_fry)
Username: Gary_fry

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.31.24.131
Posted on Saturday, April 16, 2011 - 05:01 pm:   

King does have some terrible lapses of judgement. I blame all those B-movies he watched when he was a lad. His nostalgic commitment to them makes him blind to their crapness. He associates naff effects with feeling frightened and assumes we'll all feel the same.

Then again, he did write The Shining and Misery. :-)
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Des (Des)
Username: Des

Registered: 09-2010
Posted From: 86.158.236.228
Posted on Saturday, April 16, 2011 - 05:28 pm:   

If you read THE DARK TOWER, there will no longer be any debate about who is the greatest writer of the 20th and 21st century.
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Gary Fry (Gary_fry)
Username: Gary_fry

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.31.24.131
Posted on Saturday, April 16, 2011 - 05:50 pm:   

Really, Des?
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Des (Des)
Username: Des

Registered: 09-2010
Posted From: 86.158.236.228
Posted on Saturday, April 16, 2011 - 06:19 pm:   

well, other than me? the missing trick. :-)

Seriously, I've long thought that SK is the true great fictioneer that straddles the 20th and 21st centuries. This has been confirmed by my recent reading of the massive DARK TOWER series of novels.
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Gary Fry (Gary_fry)
Username: Gary_fry

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.31.24.131
Posted on Saturday, April 16, 2011 - 06:23 pm:   

Fair enough, but that's one helluva statement above.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.4.19.77
Posted on Sunday, April 17, 2011 - 10:58 am:   

Stephen King is a great popular entertainer and a very fine writer but in the field of modern horror/fantasy Ramsey Campbell & Clive Barker (to name but two) are streets ahead of him imo.

But if I had to pick the greatest living author nowadays, without genre bias, it would probably have to be Hilary Mantel.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.4.19.77
Posted on Sunday, April 17, 2011 - 11:01 am:   

While up until 19th April 2009 it was indisputably J.G. Ballard.
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Des (Des)
Username: Des

Registered: 09-2010
Posted From: 86.158.236.228
Posted on Sunday, April 17, 2011 - 11:07 am:   

If you read THE DARK TOWER and many of his other books as a gestalt, I feel Stephen King is both an entertaining Horror writer and a skilled Literary genius like Joyce or many of the Magic Realism fantasists. A difficult combination to bring off.
Meanwhile, my *favourite* writers remain Lovecraft, Ligotti, Elizabeth Bowen, Marcel Proust, Aickman, Campbell - and, yes, more recently, Mark Valentine, Quentin S Crisp, Joel Lane, Mark Samuels, &c
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.96.253.77
Posted on Sunday, April 17, 2011 - 12:14 pm:   

I feel Stephen King is both an entertaining Horror writer and a skilled Literary genius

I couldn't agree more, Des. There's more than popular entertainment going on in King's work. At his best, he's better than anyone.
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Gary Fry (Gary_fry)
Username: Gary_fry

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.31.24.131
Posted on Sunday, April 17, 2011 - 12:21 pm:   

Better than anyone, period? Or better than anyone alive now?

Surely we're not suggesting he's as great as Shakespeare, Tolstoy or Milton?!
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Joel (Joel)
Username: Joel

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 2.24.30.85
Posted on Sunday, April 17, 2011 - 12:54 pm:   

Interestingly, while some enthusiasts of 'literary' weird fiction (S.T. Joshi in particular) have dismissed King outright as a downmarket gore merchant, some 'hardcore' horror writers and fans have dismissed him as being too 'literary' to be 'real'. Ray Garton, for example, described King as an 'academician' with no sense of reality.

The truth is that King is a complex, versatile writer who is strong on themes and character depth, but rather limited in technique. He has written some powerful and memorable stories at novella and novel length. But he has written too many books, and many of them are too long. He is a world-leading brand rather than a genre-leading author, and I don't think it's possible to be both. King the weird fiction writer, King the thriller writer and King the literary writer are all on board the massive freight train that is King the brand, and they all wave as the train goes past. But a lot of the other carriages are empty.
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Des (Des)
Username: Des

Registered: 09-2010
Posted From: 86.158.236.228
Posted on Sunday, April 17, 2011 - 12:56 pm:   

Well, I could say anyone is better than Shakespeare! :-)

But, seriously, imo, King is the greatest fiction author in English who straddles the 20th and 21st century, i.e. for the reasons I gave earlier.
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Des (Des)
Username: Des

Registered: 09-2010
Posted From: 86.158.236.228
Posted on Sunday, April 17, 2011 - 12:58 pm:   

I am assuming everyone who is talking about King here has read his magnum opus, THE DARK TOWER, as well as some of his other great books.
[I've only read the DT in recent weeks!]
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Gary Fry (Gary_fry)
Username: Gary_fry

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.31.24.131
Posted on Sunday, April 17, 2011 - 01:10 pm:   

OK, Des, maybe I should read DT. Then again, maybe you should read every other writer who straddles the 20th and 21st Centuries in case your conclusion is wrong! :-)
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Des (Des)
Username: Des

Registered: 09-2010
Posted From: 86.158.236.228
Posted on Sunday, April 17, 2011 - 01:15 pm:   

Well, I did say imo. One gets a gut feeling. But someone who keeps his or her novels in a cupboard may be a candidate. Or someone who rarely submits things unless asked.
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Joel (Joel)
Username: Joel

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 2.24.5.138
Posted on Sunday, April 17, 2011 - 01:21 pm:   

Des, to be honest I don't think many critics or even fans have picked up on The Dark Tower as being more than King's annual holiday in a genre that's not his homeland. Is it necessary to read them all in sequence, or is there one that could usefully be appreciated on its own?

King works I have really enjoyed, and in some cases re-read, include Carrie, The Shining, The Dead Zone, Pet Sematary, The Dark Half, 'Apt Pupil', 'The Body', 'Crouch End' and 'The Reach'. But that's the tip of a very deep and dark iceberg that proabably harbours lost ships and unknown species.
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Gary Fry (Gary_fry)
Username: Gary_fry

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.31.24.131
Posted on Sunday, April 17, 2011 - 01:26 pm:   

'Crouch End'? I really disliked that. Very bad Lovecraft, I thought.

I certainly add Misery and Gerald's Game to your list, Joel.
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Des (Des)
Username: Des

Registered: 09-2010
Posted From: 86.158.236.228
Posted on Sunday, April 17, 2011 - 01:34 pm:   

No, Joel, the MASSIVE Proustian DARK TOWER is organic in 7 volumes. Not a holiday, imo, but a rite of passage. There's also a tween-volume inquel coming next year which should perfect the gestalt, in my estimation.
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Des (Des)
Username: Des

Registered: 09-2010
Posted From: 86.158.236.228
Posted on Sunday, April 17, 2011 - 01:37 pm:   

And soon to be a film or series a la LOST, too.

(Some volumesz are over 800 pages, btw)
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Gary Fry (Gary_fry)
Username: Gary_fry

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.31.24.131
Posted on Sunday, April 17, 2011 - 01:38 pm:   

There's also an additional DT tale in the collection Everything's Eventual.
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Frank (Frank)
Username: Frank

Registered: 09-2008
Posted From: 85.222.86.21
Posted on Sunday, April 17, 2011 - 01:38 pm:   

Gerald's Game is the only King book I had trouble with because of the appearance of the 'bogeyman.' While it served to add impetus to the narrative, and heighten the 'fright factor', it felt a little like misdirection, or perhaps on the author's part, worrying too much about the 'constant reader.' That King was able to do so much with what lesser writers might have found limiting, was a masterclass is writing, but then to introduce what I thought was more a device, seemed to say he wasn't sure readers would go with it. I found the bogeyman scenes terrifying, who wouldn't, and with King I always overlook faults simply because I have grown up with King and love his voice, but I found it disappointing.

Crouch End - yes, I didn't like that, too. I would have thought King doing Lovecraft in Britain a real treat, but it was rather hit and miss.

Joel - I recommend Lisey's Story, it's a heart-wrenching novel.

And Under The Dome for it's blatant politics, it's action, and King's ability to weave together, yet again, so much so expertly.
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Des (Des)
Username: Des

Registered: 09-2010
Posted From: 86.158.236.228
Posted on Sunday, April 17, 2011 - 01:39 pm:   

My two favourite non-DT SK books: DUMA KEY and FULL DARK, NO STARS.
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Gary Fry (Gary_fry)
Username: Gary_fry

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.31.24.131
Posted on Sunday, April 17, 2011 - 01:48 pm:   

Crouch End the tale is not as bad as the TV adaptation, Frank. Oh God, no . . .
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Des (Des)
Username: Des

Registered: 09-2010
Posted From: 86.158.236.228
Posted on Sunday, April 17, 2011 - 02:16 pm:   

There's also an additional DT tale in the collection Everything's Eventual.
===========

Yes, thanks. Someone else has also alerted me to this recently.

==============================================
to be honest I don't think many critics or even fans have picked up on The Dark Tower
===========

Well, I'm not yet up on all DT criticism. But there is a major active public forum dedicated solely to DT discussion called PALAVER here: http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/index.php
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.96.253.77
Posted on Sunday, April 17, 2011 - 02:27 pm:   

I'll re-word my statement: (In my opinion) when King is at his best, he's better than anyone else (that I've ever read) in the horror field.

IMO.

IMO.

IMO

Ad nauseum.

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Joel (Joel)
Username: Joel

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 2.24.30.9
Posted on Sunday, April 17, 2011 - 02:46 pm:   

In a long review of Duma Key in the weird fiction critical journal Dead Reckonings, the reviewer described it as the worst book he had ever been called upon to read in thirty years of reviewing. Is this merely literary politics (like Dale Peck's infamous trashing of Philip Roth in the New York Times), or does it reflect the idiosyncratic and selective nature of the appeal of major weird fiction writers? We don't have a lot of common ground where the appraisal of weird fiction is concerned because it affects us in quite a personal way, and we tend to rationalise what works for us as being objectively 'good writing' when similar arguments could nail it as 'bad writing' without a lot of effort. The same things that impress some readers irritate others. While mediocre, unambitious writing attracts only lukewarm praise or criticism, the genre's leading figures tend to elicit a passionate response – sometimes positive, sometimes negative.
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Des (Des)
Username: Des

Registered: 09-2010
Posted From: 86.158.236.228
Posted on Sunday, April 17, 2011 - 03:07 pm:   

I think there are as widely diverse views from specialist mainstream literature reviewers about a single work in mainstream literature as between different reviewers from different genre specialisms about a particular book in their own or some other (perceived) specialism. The way of opinion.
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John Forth (John)
Username: John

Registered: 05-2008
Posted From: 82.24.1.217
Posted on Sunday, April 17, 2011 - 03:57 pm:   

Des, to be honest I don't think many critics or even fans have picked up on The Dark Tower as being more than King's annual holiday in a genre that's not his homeland.

I think this it widely true, Joel. Certainly I never gave The Dark Tower a second thought until just a few years ago.

Personally, I think it's a spectacular, entertaining mess.
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.96.253.77
Posted on Sunday, April 17, 2011 - 04:33 pm:   

Regarding King, it strikes me that a lot of long-time genre fans seem to hate the fact that he isn't writing another The Shining or Salem's Lot every time he starts another book. It's like a backlash; they feel betrayed. They hate stuff like Duma Key and Lisey's Story for their perceived lack of supernatural tropes, and can't seem to get their head around the fact that King has moved gradually further away from his pulp roots towards a more literary/mainstream type of novel. It seems to have passed these critics by that King has always written this kind of thing, it's just the other stuff that made him famous.
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Des (Des)
Username: Des

Registered: 09-2010
Posted From: 86.158.236.228
Posted on Sunday, April 17, 2011 - 05:05 pm:   

Personally, I think it's a spectacular, entertaining mess.
========================

In many ways, I agree. A mess of genius. It's as if (particularly in the seventh volume of Dark Tower), King (who appears in 'Song of Susannah' (6th volume) in person as a character called Stephen King with sons Joe and Owen and wife Tabby) is shit-scared by the Beams of what he has created - that he tries to mess them up before they really get at him - or us.
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Frank (Frank)
Username: Frank

Registered: 09-2008
Posted From: 85.222.86.21
Posted on Sunday, April 17, 2011 - 05:05 pm:   

Prof - yes, Jesus wept, that TV series, and that episode were dreadful. Yet still I watched it.

Zed - my sentiments almost exactly. I couldn't care less if he writes supernatural, drama, crime, etc, as long as King writes. I feel that way about all my favourite authors.

If Ramsey wrote a science fiction novel,an outright comedy, etc, I'd still be queuing up to buy it. Oh yes, I like my authors writing horror, but I'm not adverse to whatever else they write.
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Gary Fry (Gary_fry)
Username: Gary_fry

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.31.24.131
Posted on Sunday, April 17, 2011 - 06:53 pm:   

Zed, I don't see how adding "IMO" makes any difference. If you make a statement, allow folk to respond to it. That's debate, isn't it?

You nobhead. :-)
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.96.253.77
Posted on Sunday, April 17, 2011 - 09:02 pm:   

Not when some big Bradfordian tithead twists my words, it isn't.
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Gary Fry (Gary_fry)
Username: Gary_fry

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.31.24.131
Posted on Monday, April 18, 2011 - 08:20 am:   

Twist your words? How's that, then?

I merely asked you a question, seeking clarification.

You cockforbrains. :-)
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 195.166.117.210
Posted on Monday, April 18, 2011 - 10:03 am:   

Twisty, twisty, wordy, wordy.

How dare you question me. Do you now who I am? (Because I don't.)
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Gary Fry (Gary_fry)
Username: Gary_fry

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.31.24.131
Posted on Monday, April 18, 2011 - 10:13 am:   

You're Zog, King of the Moritans, known throughout the land as a benevolent soul. But woetide folk who cross you, for they shall feel your wrath! (You keep it in a box and lift the lid whenever you're mildly piqued. Each wrongdoer gets 30 seconds to have a good old play with it.)
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.156.233.116
Posted on Monday, April 18, 2011 - 06:05 pm:   

2nd ep a bit of a comedown. Like a so-so Primeval epsiode. :-(
Hope it picks up again.
And is it me, or is the fact they left the guy on the roof a bit like that bit in the old Survivors series, where the wife leaves her injured hubby in that container? Bet he comes back.
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 194.176.105.51
Posted on Thursday, April 21, 2011 - 03:23 pm:   

I thought it was as good as the first. The tension in the scene where they walked through the zombie throng covered in bits of zombie to disguise the smell was palpable. When it started raining...

I loved it. this is one of my favourite shows at the moment.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Thursday, April 21, 2011 - 03:41 pm:   

I thought the second episode was when the series really got into its stride. The city scenes were incredibly well done, tense and exciting!
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Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 109.79.43.55
Posted on Thursday, June 02, 2011 - 12:43 am:   

I just caught the first ep of this and am puzzled by why I liked it so much. Everything that happened in it was from the big book of zombie cliches, but for some reason it affected me emotionally. I genuinely felt for the man who couldn't bring himself to shoot his dead wife, even though we've seen this very scene about a billion times before. I did a "whoa" when Andrew Lincoln turned a corner was surrounded by a throng of shamblers. I'll even go back on what I said about him - he was good in this.

A line from the loose sequel to METROPOLITAN (whose title escapes me) stuck with me: "...as with everything, it's all in the execution..."

I'm looking forward to re-watching it and seeing how Darabont made me care about this one.
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Stephen Theaker (Stephen_theaker)
Username: Stephen_theaker

Registered: 12-2009
Posted From: 92.232.184.206
Posted on Thursday, June 02, 2011 - 01:04 am:   

I enjoyed the series, but one thing they've changed from the comic is that the zombies sometimes run rather than walk.

It's a small change, but it affects the whole programme, because the comic is based around the idea that the zombies are slow-moving - from the title down! - and you're generally safe as long as you keep moving and don't get surrounded or cut off.

Letting the zombies run in the tv programme makes scenes that seemed a bit reckless in the comic - walking through a small wood, say - utterly insane in the programme.

But I'm looking forward to season two.
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 195.166.117.210
Posted on Thursday, June 02, 2011 - 12:10 pm:   

I, too, enjoyed the first episde, Proto...sadly, it all goes downhill from there.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Thursday, June 02, 2011 - 12:51 pm:   

I disagree, the second and fourth episodes were every bit as strong as the opener, while the quieter episodes in between flesh out the characters and draw us further into their world. 'The Walking Dead' is one of the best things on telly at the minute and taken with 'Fringe', 'Doctor Who', 'Psychoville' & 'Sherlock' (any more?) shows what a golden era of genre TV we're living through right now.

When is the second series starting and on which channel? I have a horrible feeling I won't be able to see it on first run.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Thursday, June 02, 2011 - 12:55 pm:   

I don't remember the zombies running... an animated shuffle maybe but not exactly running.
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 195.166.117.210
Posted on Thursday, June 02, 2011 - 01:59 pm:   

I wish I was as easilly pleased as you, Stevie. Honestly, I do.
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 195.166.117.210
Posted on Thursday, June 02, 2011 - 01:59 pm:   

I also wish that could spell "easily".
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Thursday, June 02, 2011 - 02:46 pm:   

Not easily pleased but appreciative of quality and able to judge works within their own parameters. 'The Walking Dead' does exactly what it set out to do and does it with aplomb.

There is no one fussier than myself when it comes to genre TV or cinema. For me 'The Walking Dead' works, 'Buffy The Vampire Slayer' did not. 'Insidious' works, 'Black Swan' did not. Etc...
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 195.166.117.210
Posted on Thursday, June 02, 2011 - 02:49 pm:   

If The Walking Dead set out to ape George Romero's zombie films and be as lazy and unoriginal as possible, then, yes, it did exactly that. But with little aplomb, IMHO.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Thursday, June 02, 2011 - 02:58 pm:   

As 'The Walking Dead' set out to expand upon George Romero's zombie apocalypse scenario and be as picaresque and exciting as possible, then, yes, it succeeded with aplomb, IMHO. nah nah na-nah nah
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.132.95.140
Posted on Thursday, June 02, 2011 - 03:45 pm:   

I feel awful saying it but Walking Dead felt sort of Hallmark channel after that first ep. In fact, the second ep was ok, what with the shock twist about three quarters in. But after that I felt curiously uninvolved.
My little yellow face is - :-(
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Thursday, June 02, 2011 - 04:48 pm:   

Like I've said before, these shows require a suspension of disbelief and for one to invest in the characters. Your sensibilities really are jaded at the minute, Tony, if you can't see the quality of this production, the sheer amount of money and skill that's been lavished on it and the strength of the cast. I thought it was compulsive viewing and really can't wait for Series 2.
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 195.166.117.210
Posted on Thursday, June 02, 2011 - 04:51 pm:   

As 'The Walking Dead' set out to expand upon George Romero's zombie apocalypse scenario

Well, it certainly failed in doing that. Where was the expansion? I saw no evidence of it. The whole thing was just a retread of Romero's core themes and techniques dumbed down for a TV audience.
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 195.166.117.210
Posted on Thursday, June 02, 2011 - 04:52 pm:   

the sheer amount of money and skill that's been lavished on it and the strength of the cast

Indeed...but they sure scrimped on the writing.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Thursday, June 02, 2011 - 06:00 pm:   

I think you're taking the show a tad too seriously, Zed.

It never set out to be a big artistic statement but to entertain genre fans who wanted to see more of the detail of Romero's apocalypse and to revel in the sheer adventure of the survivors having to readapt to such a world. It's a great big slab of quality horror/sci-fi entertainment filled with stock characters and situations on a larger scale and over a more epic timescale than was available to any filmmaker. The best show of its kind since the original 'Survivors', beside which even it admittedly pales.

Wind your neck in, man, and enjoy what every genre fan has secretly been longing for since 'Dawn Of The Dead' first lit up our screens!
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John Forth (John)
Username: John

Registered: 05-2008
Posted From: 82.24.1.217
Posted on Thursday, June 02, 2011 - 06:59 pm:   

enjoy what every genre fan has secretly been longing for since 'Dawn Of The Dead' first lit up our screens!

A version that's ten hours long but minus the intelligence?
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.96.253.77
Posted on Thursday, June 02, 2011 - 07:21 pm:   

Stevie - no, I'm not taking it at all seriously. That's the problem.

A version that's ten hours long but minus the intelligence?

Well said, John.

The Walking Dead is rubbish. I really, really wanted to like it, but it was just...well, devoid of originality and heart.
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Seanmcd (Seanmcd)
Username: Seanmcd

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 81.151.84.123
Posted on Thursday, June 02, 2011 - 11:51 pm:   

I started this thread and i'm here to tell ya that the wife and i LOVED it (for all the reasons Stevie has so eloquently stated)

ROLL ON SERIES 2!
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 109.158.59.89
Posted on Friday, June 03, 2011 - 12:05 am:   

The walking dead wasn't rubbish. I thought the last episode was a bit slow but other than that i can't remember a TV show that ever went as far with the subject matter.

This was a groundbreaking show for TELEVISION and I'm really looking forward to the second series.
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.96.253.77
Posted on Friday, June 03, 2011 - 01:14 am:   

It was rubbish to me. Apart from the first episode, and a few brief moments that I've forgotten about. The last episode was insultingly bad.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.4.19.77
Posted on Friday, June 03, 2011 - 01:22 am:   

Thank you, people, now I'm finally about to watch (just a little bit pissed) last week's 'Doctor Who'.

As for the last episode of TWD, it was slow, yes, but at last we started to get to the heart of what was actually happening. I thought the character of the defeated scientist was brilliantly written and the computer graphic sequence of what was going on in the human brain - between life, death and zombiedom - was the most inspired moment of the entire first series... so there!
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 195.166.117.210
Posted on Friday, June 03, 2011 - 11:55 am:   

They should rename it The Walking Meh.
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 194.66.23.11
Posted on Friday, June 03, 2011 - 02:11 pm:   

You've used that joke already about doctor Who.

can you find something more original please?
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 195.166.117.210
Posted on Friday, June 03, 2011 - 02:16 pm:   

They should rename you Marc Meh.

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Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 109.79.246.12
Posted on Friday, June 03, 2011 - 02:25 pm:   

The Shrugging Dead. Tony said this ages ago - that the zombie genre is westerns were to another generation. It's a familiar, comfortable landscape for a generation. Now that it's come to television, it's the euqivalent of Bonanza. Dads will fall asleep in front of it on Sunday afternoons.
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 195.166.117.210
Posted on Friday, June 03, 2011 - 02:40 pm:   

The Shrugging Dead...that's brilliant.

Yeah, I remember Tony saying something like that. And it's a good observation.
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 194.66.23.11
Posted on Friday, June 03, 2011 - 03:29 pm:   

You should be renamed gary Mac-Meh-on. you're the one who seems to be insisting that all the genre TV we have at the moment is just meh.
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 195.166.117.210
Posted on Friday, June 03, 2011 - 03:37 pm:   

It is - apart from Psychoville, which is really rather glorious.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Friday, June 03, 2011 - 04:07 pm:   

It's starting to approach the heights of 'The League Of Gentlemen' imo. Missed last night's episode, so can't look at the thread, but should get to see it tonight.

I'll say again, 'Psychoville', 'Sherlock', 'Doctor Who', 'The Walking Dead' & the criminally underrated and really quite brilliant 'Fringe' are amongst the best genre TV shows that have ever been produced in any era - and they're all on now. So enjoy them, folks. I know I am...
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Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 109.79.127.172
Posted on Wednesday, June 08, 2011 - 01:42 am:   

Episode 2: Saying "meh" is more effort than it deserves.

(Spoiler: wouldn't rain reduce ones ability to smell anything?)
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.144.33.42
Posted on Wednesday, June 08, 2011 - 02:24 am:   

(not entirely)
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Frank (Frank)
Username: Frank

Registered: 09-2008
Posted From: 85.222.86.21
Posted on Tuesday, August 09, 2011 - 08:12 pm:   

http://insidetv.ew.com/2011/07/22/the-walking-dead-season-2-trailer-is-here/#mor e-51617
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Frank (Frank)
Username: Frank

Registered: 09-2008
Posted From: 85.222.86.21
Posted on Tuesday, August 09, 2011 - 08:31 pm:   

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/ustv/s135/the-walking-dead/news/a331334/the-walking- dead-season-two-trailer-released.html
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John Forth (John)
Username: John

Registered: 05-2008
Posted From: 82.24.1.217
Posted on Tuesday, November 22, 2011 - 08:54 pm:   

Is anyone watching the second series of this?

It's absolutely dismal. Despite having a full 13 episodes to play with, the plot is crawling along with barely enough story to fill an hour and a half. The quality of the writing has taken a major nosedive to the extent that the writers of each individual episode don't seem to have seen the preceding three or four ("I don't roll over for anything," declares a character who, a few episodes ago, wanted to kill herself). No one speaks like a real human being, and various characters seem to have developed a nasty habit of talking to Jesus ("Give me a sign," they implore, meaning a 'good sign'. Isn't the dead returning to life to consume the living sign enough?!). The only character even remotely likeable is Daryl. The others are either deeply annoying, or anonymous.

The only positive is that it continues to give exteremely good zombie. One walker, which has been stuck down a well, is particularly impressive. But it's not worth sitting through 35 minutes of lazily plotted, shoddily written rubbish to get to the few good bits.
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.96.253.77
Posted on Tuesday, November 22, 2011 - 10:07 pm:   

I have the last 2 episodes recorded on Virgin+ but really can't summon the energy to watch them - I've given up on this witless bilge, I think. Time to hit the delete button.
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Matthew Fryer (Matthew_fryer)
Username: Matthew_fryer

Registered: 08-2009
Posted From: 94.12.171.45
Posted on Wednesday, November 23, 2011 - 01:21 pm:   

John, you summed it up perfectly.
That well-zombie was ace, and the undead action scenes are nicely choregraphed.

But Daryl is the only interesting character, and if they kill him off, I'm outta there.
The old vet seemed cool at first, but even he's annoying me now. The two coppers seem to be constantly trying to out-dickhead each other, and I wish the tortured blonde woman would stop thinking about it and top herself.

That said, I must confess to being intrigued by the barn cliffhanger.
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Paul_finch (Paul_finch)
Username: Paul_finch

Registered: 11-2009
Posted From: 92.5.34.157
Posted on Wednesday, November 23, 2011 - 02:17 pm:   

I must admit, something that started out as a bit of tour de force, really seems to be dragging its heels now. As others have said, we cover very little ground per episode, and there are repeating plot-threads (i.e. humans accidentally being shot by other humans).

Also, is it my imagination, or are the rather cheesey Wild West accents getting stronger each week? The 'bad cop' is a particular case in point. I've got the stage now where I expect him to start singing Davey Crocket or Jesse James.
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.184.107.46
Posted on Tuesday, May 15, 2012 - 09:14 pm:   

Well I just watched episode 1 of season 2 and loved it. The tension was palpable in the hiding under the cars sequence. Brilliant piece of telly and a still surprising level of gore.

I'll certainly be taping it again next week. I don't want to watch it when it's on because there were 5 advert breaks in a one hour programme. Not good. I watch most stuff from commercial channels off tape so I can fastwind the adverts.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.18.174.156
Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2012 - 12:51 am:   

I've heard nothing but great things from people whose opinion I trust about Season 2, Weber, and can't bloody wait to see it. I envy you.

I think this series and Romero's original trilogy will come to be judged the final word on the whole apocalyptic zombie sub-genre, done straight.
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 82.145.208.82
Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2012 - 01:06 am:   

You either don't trust people on this board or you haven't read this thread... I was thinking the other week when i went to the zombie night that it's not possible to do a serious take on zombies any more when the one serious film of the night turned out to be rubbish. The Walking Dead has convinced of once again that i'm wrong. Do you not get channel 5 in ireland Stevie?
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.18.174.156
Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2012 - 10:02 am:   

You mean it's started on Channel 5! I didn't know that. Feck! What night?

Bugger I've missed the first ep...

I'm staying true to my opinion of Season 1, Weber, and trusting those who agreed with my take on the series who all say Season 2 is even stronger and does not develop as predictably as one might imagine. All of which bodes well but I'll make my own mind up in the end. Got nothing but good vibes so far and what you've said has just strengthened them. Nowt more to it than that.
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.156.210.82
Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2012 - 10:48 am:   

Season 2 is rubbish; it's where I gave up on the show. They spend their entire time looking for a missing character and developing the story and characters in predictable arcs. Really dull stuff, pubctuated by an occassional bit of crow-pleasing zombie gore. People have been switching off in droves.
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Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey)
Username: Ramsey

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 92.8.30.216
Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2012 - 11:11 am:   

At least the crows were happy, then!
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.156.210.82
Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2012 - 11:13 am:   

That'll teach me to type fast and not proof read my posts.
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Huw (Huw)
Username: Huw

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 220.138.163.181
Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2012 - 11:20 am:   

I still find it watchable, but there are some big flaws.

The main problem I had with it was the utter disregard for consistency. The rules they establish for the zombies early on are broken later on in the series, as if they think the viewer won't notice, or care. Also the way in which the characters sometimes act is just silly. There have been so many occasions in which a character has suddenly done something unbelievable or out of character just to set up another scene. This kind of thing shows a laziness and lack of imagination, and I think it insults the audience.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2012 - 11:31 am:   

What night is it on? I'll have to start watching this and let you all know what I think. Been dying to see it since the end of Season 1 a long, long time ago.

I'm just going by what my horror aficionado mates have been telling me and they're tending to say it builds on the strengths of Season 1 and is still superb entertainment. Here's hoping. It certainly captured my imagination, thus far, though those flaws you point out do sound serious, Huw!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2012 - 11:37 am:   

Also bear in mind I was incredibly sceptical this show could work before I started watching it but found the treatment of the apocalypse scenario in Season 1 to be the most convincingly detailed and gripping I have watched since Romero's original trilogy. It reminded me a lot of what I got out of the 1970s original version of 'Survivors', and for me there can be no higher praise.

I sincerely hope they haven't fluffed it in Season 2.
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Huw (Huw)
Username: Huw

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 220.138.163.181
Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2012 - 11:46 am:   

I watched Season 2 all the way through, so obviously I found it gripping enough to stick with it - it's just some of the flaws I mentioned above that spoil it for me. We're told early on, for example, that the zombies rely on their sense of smell to find human prey, and the characters go to great lengths to disguise their scent. In Season 2 this is completely ignored and contradicted, as if viewers won't remember. I hate this kind of laziness on the part of writers.
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Stu (Stu)
Username: Stu

Registered: 04-2008
Posted From: 82.11.97.255
Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2012 - 11:57 am:   

Stevie, you can watch the first episode of season 2 at http://www.channel5.com/shows/the-walking-dead/episodes/what-lies-ahead
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.131.34.237
Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2012 - 12:04 pm:   

I feel no connection with the characters. It feels very distant - behind several sheets of glass. Has a sort of cockfight appeal when the zombies are on though.
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 82.145.210.186
Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2012 - 12:30 pm:   

It's on monday nights initially but is probably repeated a few times before next week. Check the schedules
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2012 - 12:58 pm:   

Fantastic!! That's my Monday nights sorted for the next while.
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David_lees (David_lees)
Username: David_lees

Registered: 12-2011
Posted From: 92.22.58.98
Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2012 - 06:47 pm:   

I think Season 2 improved tremendously in its second half, when the new showrunner Glen Mazzara took over from Frank Darabont, which bodes well for Season 3. In fact:

"I think we’ve told our story about this group. The story about the love triangle of Rick, Shane, and Lori, and about trying to find a safe place, and life on the farm. We’ve given that story more than enough screen time. Moving forward, we want to open this up. To introduce new characters, new stories, new locations, new dynamics. I think next year will feel like a radically different show. We’ve improved the pacing drastically. We’ll still have our characters, and still tell stories about people that we care about. I think that everything we’ve done so far has been a warm-up, and I think our best episodes lie ahead."
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.18.174.156
Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2012 - 07:42 pm:   

Thanks for drawing my attention to this, Weber!! I'm just about to watch Episode 1 on Catch-Up TV.

What with this and Season 2 of 'Fringe' (fucking brilliant show!!) I'm in TV Heaven at the minute.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.18.174.156
Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2012 - 10:33 pm:   

Wow!! Now that was bloody excellent! No complaints from me.

We had genuinely edge-of-the-seat shit-yourself suspense, fantastic zombie make-up (again, amongst the best I've seen), stomach churning gore effects (I could almost smell the putrefaction when they cut that thing open, yech!), unexpected character developments and a real "what the fuck!!" shocker of a cliffhanger ending that has me wishing it was Monday already. What's not to like? This show is just about the best mounted TV Horror series I have possibly ever seen. Hallelujah and all the Saints be praised!!

Now here's hoping they can sustain this level of quality throughout the run...
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Seanmcd (Seanmcd)
Username: Seanmcd

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 193.113.57.161
Posted on Friday, May 18, 2012 - 01:02 pm:   

Cripes! I wasn't even aware season 2 had started. I'll get it tonight on 5 Catch up. Thanks for the bump Weber !
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.18.174.156
Posted on Tuesday, May 22, 2012 - 12:37 am:   

Another excellent gripping episode but Weber is right, watching it at the time of broadcast is a real pain with all the Channel 5 ads. I think I'll watch this on Tuesday nights on Catch-Up TV from now on.
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 194.66.23.11
Posted on Tuesday, May 22, 2012 - 05:59 pm:   

first advert break barely 2 minutes after the opening credits...

irritating in the extreme
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Seanmcd (Seanmcd)
Username: Seanmcd

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 193.113.57.161
Posted on Friday, May 25, 2012 - 03:02 pm:   

I always record on the Digibox and skip the ads later. I very rarely watch any 'Live' scheduled TV for this reason alone. I really enjoyed the first 2 episodes.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Thursday, May 31, 2012 - 04:12 pm:   

Just getting round to saying that the third episode of this marvellous series has really upped the ante in terms of shock character development. Where we go from here is anyone's guess and I'm thoroughly enjoying the journey. Again comparisons to the 1970s 'Survivors' are much more apt in what the show delivers than to Romero's iconic trilogy. Great stuff!
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.155.144.90
Posted on Monday, June 18, 2012 - 01:59 pm:   

Well, I was despairing of this series and was on the point of giving up watching it, but the last one I saw has ensured I'll keep going - it had humour in it, an element quite missing so far. It completely revived the narractive, made it more three dimensional and watchable. The characters - and indeed the actors (you can see it in their faces - especially the old man's) - have suddenly popped into life in a way that is such a relief. It's definitely what's been missing all along.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.18.174.156
Posted on Monday, June 18, 2012 - 02:28 pm:   

Glad to hear that, Tony. I've been glued to this series every week and look forward to each new episode in a way that hasn't happened me since 'The X Files'. I'm a fussy bastard when it comes to investing in long running TV series and gave up on 'Lost' after 4 eps, as I could see where it was going... and all I subsequently heard only confirmed that.

'The Walking Dead' is different. The post-apocalypse plot meanders in a wonderfully unpredictable manner and I, for one, have really bonded with all the characters and know I will experience a real sense of loss if any more of them die. Also, the gore and zombie effects are the most astonishingly visceral I can recall seeing anywhere. I mean, what about that muckman zombie trapped in the well and what happened to it. I swear I nearly puked and could actually smell the stinking putrefaction - an element no film has ever captured before for me.

As if all that wasn't enough, last week's ep seems to be introducing one of my favourite horror tropes - that of the small group of strangers who stumble into an isolated community who appear nice as pie on the outside but hide a dark secret in the barn. All this contuinues to resonate strongly of the 1970s 'Survivors' and the post-apocalypse novels of John Christopher & John Wyndham for me.

Sublime genre TV, imho, and supremely entertaining.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.155.144.90
Posted on Monday, June 18, 2012 - 02:30 pm:   

I know the secret of the smiley community. Brrr....
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.18.174.156
Posted on Tuesday, June 19, 2012 - 02:44 pm:   

My God! Seriously, did any of you see last night's episode of 'The Walking Dead'?!

Talk about upping the ante! All the simmering character plot threads that have been intertwining since the start of Season 1 - the love triangle, Rick's emerging dark side, the gradual fragmentation of the group into those who will cope and those who cannot, and various other secrets, stretching way back - came to a head in a boiling stew of brilliantly performed and riveting character drama last night that I really didn't see coming. What has gone before will be made to look like a camping holiday compared to how things can only progress after this explosive episode. Add to that the single scariest zombie attack of the series so far, imo, and the usual gut-churning gore effects thrown in at just the right moments and this series has just stepped up to a whole new level. Next Monday can't come soon enough, annoying ad breaks notwithstanding! This really is fantastic genre TV!!
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.155.144.90
Posted on Tuesday, June 19, 2012 - 03:25 pm:   

That's great news - even if it might have to be turned down a notch from your megathusiasm! ;)
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.18.174.156
Posted on Tuesday, June 19, 2012 - 03:35 pm:   

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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.18.174.156
Posted on Tuesday, June 26, 2012 - 03:58 pm:   

Last night's episode was another belter of real emotional power. The fear levels for these characters, given the amount of time I have spent with them, are now cranked so high it makes even the long quiet sequences almost unbearably tense. This show keeps getting better and better with last night's gutwrencher of a finale pulling out all the stops... poor Hershel (and what a great performance from Scott Wilson).
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.44.184.29
Posted on Tuesday, June 26, 2012 - 07:09 pm:   

It's the last one???
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.136.101.252
Posted on Tuesday, June 26, 2012 - 07:31 pm:   

No, it wasn't a finale. I'm sure it's on next week.
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.136.101.252
Posted on Tuesday, June 26, 2012 - 07:31 pm:   

Might have been a mid-season break thing
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.18.174.156
Posted on Tuesday, June 26, 2012 - 09:22 pm:   

Just watch it people and try not to be sucked into the emotional mindset of each and every character in the final 5 minutes or so... given all they have already been through together.

This show reminds me more and more of what I always got out of classic westerns, I've just realised. It's the whole pioneer, surviving in a lawless wilderness thing, with bells on! What separates the doers from the hangers on, the decent from the self centred.
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Stu (Stu)
Username: Stu

Registered: 04-2008
Posted From: 90.246.170.179
Posted on Tuesday, June 26, 2012 - 09:49 pm:   

There's 13 episodes to the season and this was episode 7.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.44.184.29
Posted on Tuesday, June 26, 2012 - 10:25 pm:   

Yes, a western. It really is Bone-anza.
I still don't think it's as good as it thinks it is but I do enjoy it, and I do look more forward to it with each passing week, unlike series one.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.44.184.29
Posted on Tuesday, June 26, 2012 - 10:27 pm:   

The minset for the apocalypse would be to get your head round to the idea of rebuilding. Mow lawns (I've noticed how short the grass is in this series!), pick up litter - PRETEND things are OK.
Er, am I thinking about this too much?
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.18.174.156
Posted on Wednesday, June 27, 2012 - 09:22 am:   

Actually, Tony, I think TWD is better than it realises it is but that's more to do with the always compelling nature of the post-apocalypse, last people on earth scenario. I can't fault the show as far as acting, writing, direction and production values go but that only scrapes the surface of what's so damn good about it. TWD is destined to be remembered as an under-appreciated classic of its era, imho. Much as was the BBC's 'Survivors' in the 1970s - the only show with which it is truly comparable.
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Stu (Stu)
Username: Stu

Registered: 04-2008
Posted From: 90.246.76.95
Posted on Wednesday, June 27, 2012 - 11:31 am:   

I've not seen the original SURVIVORS but I think TWD is much better than the SURVIVORS remake from a few years back.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.44.184.29
Posted on Wednesday, June 27, 2012 - 03:24 pm:   

Oh, it's not as good as the old Survivors but it's miles better than the new one.
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Carole Johnstone (Carolej)
Username: Carolej

Registered: 04-2010
Posted From: 94.15.145.194
Posted on Wednesday, June 27, 2012 - 08:16 pm:   

I stopped watching this after Season 1 because I wasn't blown away, but started watching it again when it came on Channel 5. After a slow start, I'm kind of getting into it a bit more. It's not bad at all. And I have a bizarre but very, very big crush on Daryl. Someone's going to tell me that he dies in Episode 8 now, aren't they?
(ha, was going to say comes to a sticky end there before thinking better of it )
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Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 109.79.90.94
Posted on Sunday, July 08, 2012 - 02:01 am:   

Just watched Season 2, eps 2 and 3. When does it get good? The acting would be noticeably substandard in the 1980s, but in today's television landscape it's simply dreadful. Nobody underplays anything. They sure talk about "Gohd" a lot. I mean A LOT.
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.147.137.251
Posted on Sunday, July 08, 2012 - 12:23 pm:   

The last two episodes have been absolutley brilliant. I loved the way they managed to turn the destruction of a couple of dozen walkers into a tragedy. It really settled any doubts I had about the acting talents of the old man playing Herschell. This is a series I'm going to have to get hold of on DVD and rewatch.
The last episode was particularly fine - with zombies only appearing in the opening - the aftermath of the massacre in the previous episode - they managed to give one of the most tense scenes of the series to date and concluded with possibly the most shocking scene yet. I can't wait for tomorrow night.

Contrary to Proto's statement above, the acting is excellent with several very nicely understated performances.

Proto - If memory serves you've reached the point where Shane and Otis are trying to getr medical equipment for Carl and are stuck in the school with a hoard of zombies. If you've not seen anything you like yet I'm very surprised. Do you expect him to underplay the panic when his son is wounded? Or Sophie's mum to underplay the fear that comes with the loss of her daughter? There's a lot of big emotional events going on in the show, big emotional events evoke big emotions which are hard to underplay. Given the situations a lot of the performances are very natural.

And as for the discussions about God, it's set in the deep south of the U S of A. It's a religious area. They're going to talk about him upstairs. It would seem odd if they didn't.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.152.62.175
Posted on Sunday, July 08, 2012 - 02:07 pm:   

Proto - it sort of picks up. A bit of humour creeps in to it and adds a sense of depth missing till now. I actually enjoy it now, but it isn't great television. I watch it in the way I watch Scooby Doo. You have to change your brain gears. I mean I know you shouldn't have to, but it helps you let some pleasure in if you do.
I'm enjoying it more than I did Prometheus, anyway.
(Poor Prometheus - a new yardstick for standards and disappointment)
I now like the old man. He makes me laugh.
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Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 109.79.58.199
Posted on Sunday, July 08, 2012 - 04:58 pm:   

Yeah, you're right, humour is badly needed. It's that sort of 2nd or 3rd tier level of entertainment. It works better as wallpaper while I'm doing something else. If you look at the acting that's possible on telly, IN TREATMENT for example, it actually reminds me of ELDORADO (wasn't that the name of the British soap set in Spain where they had to give their actors extra acting lessons during production?)

(I actually watched one of the old Scooby Doos from the '70s and it was still fun!)

Yeah, poor Prometheus. I looked at its Art of... book and the film as imagined looks so much more exciting than the final thing. I know they all do, but this one in particular I think they were really trying to do something interesting but the quickening just never happened.
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Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 109.79.58.199
Posted on Sunday, July 08, 2012 - 05:04 pm:   

That old man with the nostrils gets better? He seems so desperate to appear wise. A little-noted trait of some people of a certain age.
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 82.5.43.148
Posted on Sunday, July 08, 2012 - 08:48 pm:   

That old man with the nostrils

I loathe him; he's part of the reason I stopped watching the show. If I was stuck in a lift with him, never mind a zombie wasteland, I'd punch him. In the nostrils.

I'm with Proto: The Walking Dead is terrible.
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Stu (Stu)
Username: Stu

Registered: 04-2008
Posted From: 90.244.33.237
Posted on Sunday, July 08, 2012 - 11:51 pm:   

Yeah, but you liked the Survivors remake.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.152.62.175
Posted on Monday, July 09, 2012 - 07:56 am:   

Proto/Zed - once you stop trying to wait for a wise old man to come out of him and learn to accept he's a successfully dull old man he becomes more amusing. Also, he shows a bit of pep later and becomes more amusing.
I sort of agree with everybody in that it's as good and/or bad as you want it to be, something quite unique in telly.
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Seanmcd (Seanmcd)
Username: Seanmcd

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 193.113.57.161
Posted on Tuesday, July 10, 2012 - 03:30 pm:   

Well me and my wife Sinead are glued to it every week without fail. She's not a horror fan like me but she makes damn sure this is recorded. The characterisation and acting are brilliant. The Zombie effects suitably horrific and the plotting is tight and tense. Great stuff so far.
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David_lees (David_lees)
Username: David_lees

Registered: 12-2011
Posted From: 92.22.21.241
Posted on Saturday, July 14, 2012 - 12:59 am:   

The Season 3 trailer is online: http://youtu.be/ShQz68Zkb3Y
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 188.221.155.202
Posted on Thursday, July 19, 2012 - 03:37 pm:   

Just about to watch this week's episode. The series has always kept me enthralled and entertained from the beginning but this last 4 or 5 episodes have raised the dramatic tension to a whole new level. The slow burning suspense is well nigh unbearable at times.

'The Walking Dead' is hands down the most sensational horror production ever shown on TV, imo, and keeps getting better. There is a real feeling that the best is yet to come and never have I feared for a group of characters more.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 188.221.155.202
Posted on Thursday, July 19, 2012 - 08:33 pm:   

Another belter!

Been meaning to see how gorgeous I find the girl who plays Maggie. Now that's my kinda woman. Has she been in anything else?
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Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 109.79.108.104
Posted on Wednesday, July 25, 2012 - 01:33 am:   

It's still pants, but there were some good bits. The first episode on the freeway, the poor thing in the well. But they don't give the zombies the charming touches of humanity that distinguishes Romero zoms from video game zoms.

You can get some enjoyment from TWD, but much like life, it's a process of lowering ones standards until one feels warm contentment with it.

(And, like life, it gets worse so you have to lower your standards again. And again. And again. Until you are dust.)
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.158.157.153
Posted on Wednesday, July 25, 2012 - 12:32 pm:   

Fact; it IS getting better. We were really upset at the death of Nostrils last night. Really, really upset. It is inching towards richness - like one of the zombies, getting there in the end.
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Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 109.79.43.30
Posted on Wednesday, July 25, 2012 - 01:02 pm:   

Well thanks, that's saved me from any suspense or emotion that event might have evoked. We're not all watching the same episodes at the same time, Tony.
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 109.145.129.137
Posted on Thursday, July 26, 2012 - 12:13 am:   

I'm glad I didn't look on this thread till I watched that.

Early in the series I was getting really annoyed with the character of Dale and wishing they'd kill him off. Then I realised that his performance is a lot more subtle than it first appears.

Here we have a man who wants to be the aged, wise father figure of the group but is finding himself increasingly out of his depth. I've actually gained a whole barrel-load of sympathy for him recently.

I hope they let the new guy live
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.158.157.153
Posted on Thursday, July 26, 2012 - 11:16 am:   

Shit. I keep thinking I'm still in the seventies, when everybody watched it at the same time. I'm sorry.
I must say though, it does make talking about things quite difficult. What if Tommy Hargreaves over there is watching it at such a slow rate as to be three years behind us, should we wait for him?
:-(
Weber - in the last few weeks I've come to love Dale, too. He was a man who must have had a quite life and tootled along without a qualm, then had Shit world thrust upon him. Some take to it and he hasn't.
I don't want them to shoot 'that person' either, but think there are going to be bad consequences for them if they don't. The show is warming up to being more ruthless.
Poor Dale. :-(

*SPOILER*


The boy! WTF! He's.....scary.
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Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 109.79.7.56
Posted on Wednesday, August 01, 2012 - 01:04 am:   

Okay, I just watched a good episode!

The one where that thing happened in the swamp and then that other thing happened with the barn. Yeah, that one.

I hope they move on from the farm now. If they stay much longer after that it's going to seem like the budget-conscious setting that it is.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 217.42.55.97
Posted on Wednesday, August 01, 2012 - 02:53 pm:   

It does stay there but I didn't mind. Last nights was a real shocker, and next weeks - the last - phew!
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 109.145.133.31
Posted on Friday, August 03, 2012 - 12:32 am:   

Just seen this weeks... they can't end it there!!!!!

The farm's been a good setting. Gave them more money to spend on zombies.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 212.183.128.7
Posted on Saturday, August 04, 2012 - 11:40 pm:   

Just watched this week's episode (making it two real "Fuck me!" shockers in a row) and the series is now brilliantly poised for a belter of a climax that I suspect has been purposely designed as a tribute to the great grandaddy of all zombie movies. I can't fecking wait!!
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David_lees (David_lees)
Username: David_lees

Registered: 12-2011
Posted From: 92.16.241.44
Posted on Sunday, November 11, 2012 - 11:34 pm:   

No discussion of season 3 yet? It's been showing on FX for the last three weeks. There's certainly been a lot going on and no shortage of grisly zombie death.
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 109.145.132.209
Posted on Monday, November 12, 2012 - 12:11 am:   

I don't have FX to watch it on - but a friend is putting it on disc for me - so end of next week I can start watching it
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.29.244.47
Posted on Monday, November 12, 2012 - 12:44 am:   

I can't fecking wait to see Season 3. The last episode was absolutely fantastic, imo. It more than fulfilled my expectations and from what I've been hearing the new season is even better. For my money 'The Walking Dead' is already the best pure horror non-anthology TV series ever produced. The quality even puts most cinema efforts of recent years to shame.
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David_lees (David_lees)
Username: David_lees

Registered: 12-2011
Posted From: 92.16.241.44
Posted on Monday, November 12, 2012 - 12:43 pm:   

Don't let anyone tell you what happens in the third episode! It's pretty jaw-dropping.

Without spoiling anything the most interesting change, for me, looks like it's going to be how Carl is treated as a character. It's going from "whiny kid who wanders off and endangers everyone" to "how would a child actually develop in a ruthless, hopeless post-apocalyptic environment".
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David_lees (David_lees)
Username: David_lees

Registered: 12-2011
Posted From: 92.16.241.44
Posted on Monday, November 12, 2012 - 01:33 pm:   

Oops, I meant the fourth episode. Don't let anyone tell you what happens in that one.
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Seanmcd (Seanmcd)
Username: Seanmcd

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 193.113.57.161
Posted on Tuesday, November 13, 2012 - 02:26 pm:   

I missed the first 2 episodes of S3 on FX. I'm debating whether to plunge straight in at Ep3 ?
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David_lees (David_lees)
Username: David_lees

Registered: 12-2011
Posted From: 92.16.241.44
Posted on Tuesday, November 13, 2012 - 05:51 pm:   

Hmm, you probably could. I wouldn't recommend jumping in any later as there's a lot happening in each episode and new characters getting introduced, but the first two episodes are just setting things up and establishing what's happened to everyone since Season 2 ended.

I've written summaries of the first two episodes if you want to get up to speed. Obviously they're packed with spoilers - I've done them in black text, so highlight the space below with your mouse if you want to read them.

It starts about 8 months after Season 2. The main group have survived winter and become considerably more competent at zombie killin', crafting makeshift silencers for their guns, for example. Rick hasn't forgiven Lori and is extremely cold to her. They find a prison and decide to set up home there - it's fortified, full of supplies, has land that could be farmed and is set up so clearing out and keeping out the zombies is a manageable prospect, though undead prison guards in riot helmets prove to be a problem. Hershel gets bitten on the calf and has to have his leg amputated below the knee. They also find a group of surviving prisoners holed up in the cafeteria.

Meanwhile Andrea and Michonne (the sword-wielding woman who rescued her at the end of the season 2) have also been surviving winter, but Andrea is sick and looks like she won't survive much longer.

Episode 2 is all about the prison. The group have to decide whether to throw out the surviving prisoners, let them have their own separate cell block or play it safe and execute them all. They decide to give them a cell block and split the supplies between them but as they're clearing out zombies one prisoner gets infected and the leader of the convicts tries to get Rick killed during a fight. Rick straight-up executes him then leaves his friend locked in a yard full of walkers to die. The two surviving prisoners beg for their lives are allowed to remain in the second cell block. Hershel almost dies but Lori gives him mouth to mouth, despite the fact he could turn at any moment, and saves him.



End of spoilers
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Seanmcd (Seanmcd)
Username: Seanmcd

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.179.220.19
Posted on Tuesday, November 13, 2012 - 11:50 pm:   

Thanks David. I'll watch Ep3 this weekend.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 212.183.128.233
Posted on Saturday, June 29, 2013 - 08:03 pm:   

Yeehaa!!

Sean has just informed me that Season 3 of 'The Walking Dead' finally starts airing on Channel 5 at 11.00 tonight!!!!

That's me staying in!

By Christ, I love this show.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Monday, July 01, 2013 - 01:51 am:   

Just watched the first episode of Season 3 and it was bloody brilliant!! Non-stop action, gore and nerve-shredding suspense from start to finish with a cracking cliffhanger that'll have me on tenterhooks all week. This is what television is all about!! Fucking excellent!!

Can this show possibly get any better?
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Monday, July 01, 2013 - 11:35 am:   

In my opinion the sheer brilliance, depth of character development and epic scope of 'The Walking Dead', that only a long running TV show can manage, really has closed the book on the whole zombie apocalypse scenario.

Romero's original 'Trilogy Of The Dead' defined the template and has never been bettered, while 'Shaun Of The Dead' provided the definitive spoof version. As far as I am concerned those films and this wonderful TV series are the final word on the subject and all other projects that slavishly copy Romero's vision, with a tweak here and there (see 'World War Z'), are nothing more than lazy redundant footnotes, for all their competence and momentary entertainment value.

Zombies will always be an integral part of the horror genre but we need to move on now from the idea of global takeover and get back to their arcane roots in voodoo and black magic if the figure of the walking corpse is to retain any of its potency. Lucio Fulci understood that way back in 1979. Filmmakers take note...
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 194.66.23.11
Posted on Monday, July 01, 2013 - 02:19 pm:   

I'd argue Juan of the Dead and Cockneys vs Zombies as two great zombie spoofs which equal or possibly surpass Shaun of the dead. Juan of the Dead certainly had a higher laugh quotient for the audience I saw it with tha SOTD had when I saw that. It also has the loudest laugh moment I can recall when watching a film in a theatre.

Walking Dead gets better and more shocking over the next several episodes. I won't give spoilers but keep a hanky or 3 ready to mop up the tears.
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David_lees (David_lees)
Username: David_lees

Registered: 12-2011
Posted From: 2.96.207.42
Posted on Monday, July 01, 2013 - 03:00 pm:   

I think I posted a thread about this earlier in the year, but if we're talking zombie spoofs it bears repeating: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuKV2Z3eYTY

The funniest 15 minutes you'll spend today.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Monday, July 01, 2013 - 04:04 pm:   

What I found great about 'Shaun Of The Dead' was the perfect balance between belly laughs, clever satire, genuine pathos and outright scary horror. It is, in my opinion, one of the most successful and wildly entertaining, as well as multi-layered, horror comedy films ever made. I thought that when I first reeled out from watching it in the cinema, grinning from ear to ear, and I think it even more now. I can feel another compulsive rewatch building...
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Huw (Huw)
Username: Huw

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 1.169.137.165
Posted on Monday, July 01, 2013 - 09:52 pm:   

Stevie, I watched Season 3 of The Walking Dead recently, and thought it was an improvement on the (already pretty good) second series. It's of consistently high quality throughout, really excellent in places. The tension is wrenched up very high from the start, and it doesn't let up until the end. As Weber hinted, there are a number of emotionally charged scenes, some of which were particularly hard-hitting. One is early on and occurs in the prison 'tombs' (I think this is the one Weber alludes to). There are a couple more scenes later on which I found almost painful to watch, one involving a character from very early on in the series who subsequently dropped out of sight, and another... well, I'd better not say any more or I'd be spoiling it for you. Suffice to say, it's definitely worth sticking with - roll on Season 4.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Monday, July 01, 2013 - 10:39 pm:   

How's the cat, Huw?
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Huw (Huw)
Username: Huw

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 114.25.179.138
Posted on Thursday, July 04, 2013 - 04:09 pm:   

She's recovering well, thanks! I have to take her to have her staples removed tomorrow - it'll be two weeks since her surgery, which left her with a long scar along her belly resembling a 5-6 inch zipper. I still have to take her for daily fluid therapy, but she seems stable and in good spirits. Looking at her, you wouldn't think there was anything wrong. the doctor said it 's quite unusual for a cat her age (4) to have kidney failure, but it can strike at any age, apparently.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Thursday, July 04, 2013 - 04:55 pm:   

That's such a relief to hear, Huw! Good luck to her.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 212.183.128.185
Posted on Wednesday, July 10, 2013 - 05:35 pm:   

Just watched episode 2 and this show just keeps getting better and better. There was a moment in this one that made me almost jump out of my skin. The raw emotion of watching these characters, that we have grown to know and love, dice with death and harden as people in order to continue surviving is one of the most potent television experiences I can ever recall. The 1970s 'Survivors' is in danger of being toppled from its perch at the top of perfectly realised apocalyptic dramas - and there is no higher praise I can offer than that!!
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.134.108.15
Posted on Thursday, July 11, 2013 - 07:15 pm:   

It just keeps improving this season. You've got some real surprises on the way. Emotional rollercoaster doesn't begin to describe what's about to happen.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Thursday, July 25, 2013 - 12:45 pm:   

Finally got to see that episode last night and I'd hail that moment as one of the most shocking and genuinely moving (as well as nauseatingly horrific) in television history.

It's offical. This show is a masterpiece! A milestone in TV entertainment that has shattered the boundaries between big and small screen forevermore. Look nowhere else for the story of the zombie apocalypse, people. This is it perfected!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 212.183.128.2
Posted on Thursday, July 25, 2013 - 08:13 pm:   

I hope that the last doomed words of that character will ring through the rest of this monumental series.

"If it feels wrong don't do it."

Jason dinAlt would heartily agree!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Thursday, August 08, 2013 - 12:40 pm:   

Six episodes in and 'The Walking Dead' continues to go from strength to strength. The acting, gripping twists in the storyline and astonishingly convincing gore effects are like nothing that has ever been produced for television before. Is this the best horror TV series ever made? The horror equivalent of something like 'Star Trek'? You bloody well better believe it is!!

Sensational and supremely moving, exciting and shit scary entertainment. This is one of the best things ever to have been produced in the genre. End of story!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Friday, August 09, 2013 - 11:44 am:   

I can't stop worrying about what may be happening to Glenn & Maggie (my fav character - I'm hopelessly in love with the girl). As soon as I saw them happy and talking about what a beautiful day it was my spidey sense went into overdrive. Please don't harm them!

Some TV shows really get under your skin...
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 5.102.90.2
Posted on Friday, August 09, 2013 - 06:35 pm:   

Glenn has his finest moment ever on the show soon.

Fantastic stuff
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Monday, August 12, 2013 - 01:31 am:   

The tension in this magnificent show has reached an all time high with the end of that last episode and what we can feel coming in the next one. I haven't been this excited at a genre cliffhanger, with a whole week of pent up excitement to wait, since the 70s glory days of 'Doctor Who' or the first appearance of the Borg in 'Star Trek : The Next Generation'. What an absolutely brilliant TV show!! Any horror fan who hasn't been following this series really doesn't know the sheer pleasure they've missed! Beyond wonderful!!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Monday, August 19, 2013 - 10:58 pm:   

Wow! That was one of the most tense and exciting hours of television I've seen in many's a long year! I have no idea where they're headed after this or who is gonna kick the bucket next. Fantastic!!
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.134.106.163
Posted on Tuesday, August 20, 2013 - 02:45 am:   

Glenn's big moment - fantastic or what?
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Tuesday, August 20, 2013 - 02:50 am:   

I didn't move from my seat, my mouth hanging open, from first second to last. Incredibly exciting action/suspense the whole way through with the constant fear of losing any number of the characters we've followed and grown to love. Awesome TV!!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 86.24.62.55
Posted on Tuesday, August 20, 2013 - 07:34 am:   

I really must mention again the wonderful experience of having to watch such a flawlessly done and gripping TV show as this one episode a week (as with the equally enthralling 'Colditz', for example) as we used to have no option but do in television's heyday of the 60s/70s.

I am no fan of marathon viewing sessions of such shows - as is all too easy to succumb to with the technology and viewing options we have nowadays. The sheer suspense is magnified to untold levels by the wait. This is what has been missing from the joy of TV all these years and it's great to have it back again. Sometimes I feel only pity for the spoiled youth of today and their lack of patience. Self control is its own reward. On that score I'm totally in agreement with Proto (wherever he is).
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Monday, September 30, 2013 - 12:23 pm:   

Saw the penultimate episode of Season 3 last night and it included the single finest and most emotionally devastating moment of the show so far, imho. Yes, for me, even more than the time when that happened to you know who. The image of the flesh-eating zombie has never been more powerfully or emotionally used on screen as that moment last night - and it was all so bloody unexpected!! Spine-tinglingly brilliant television!!!!
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David Lees (David_lees)
Username: David_lees

Registered: 12-2011
Posted From: 2.218.168.197
Posted on Monday, September 30, 2013 - 01:15 pm:   

Apparently they're planning a spin-off Walking Dead series about another group of survivors in another part of the country, that won't be tied to any of the comic storylines. There's no details about it yet though.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Monday, September 30, 2013 - 02:45 pm:   

It will probably be shit, David.

I could have watched the big Season 3 finale last night but made a conscious decision not to as I didn't want to dilute the emotional effect of that last one. I will watch it on Catch Up TV at some point during the next week. The suspense is killing me but the waiting is such an intense pleasure. It's like televisual tantric sex!!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Monday, September 30, 2013 - 03:26 pm:   

What sets 'The Walking Dead' apart from any other long running TV horror series ever made is the literary depth of characterisation married to gross-out visual horror. The two combine to never before imagined effect many times over throughout this magnificent series but here's just one example from the last couple of episodes:

In the last two emotionally intense episodes we have seen four nauseatingly graphic scenes of head crushing that would give Stephen King nightmares - given his inexplicable objection to a certain scene in Philip Kaufman's brilliant 1978 remake/sequel of 'Invasion Of The Body Snatchers' (1956).

Head crushing No. 1 involved The Governor (what a great yet painfully human villain) and a spade. It was done out of necessity but the brutality of the act was driven by maniacal hatred - given what had happened to his daughter.

Head crushing No. 2 involved the increasingly complex character of Michone and was the most horribly graphic of the three as she stomped the head of a zombie with her boots until the brains squished out. Her action was driven by sheer terror and the survival instinct of a trapped animal and was completely devoid of any deeper emotion.

Head squashing No. 3 was again performed by Michone and said more about her humanity, when compared to Merle's (the unthinking decapitator), than anything literature could have conveyed. It happened briefly and matter of factly and made me understand her character, in a split second of visual horror, than any number of words could have conveyed.

Head squashing No. 4 was the most emotionally devastating thing I have ever watched on a horror television show (or the vast majority of horror films) and was performed by my favourite character on the most hideously affecting zombie of the entire series so far. It was grotesque and painful to the eyes, the brain and the heart.

This show is a masterpiece!!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Monday, September 30, 2013 - 03:30 pm:   

And the great line from the episode before last that makes this all understandable was spoken by Michone: "They weren't human to begin with."

The ramifications of that simple statement echo back through all three seasons, so far, with incredible potency!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Thursday, October 03, 2013 - 01:03 pm:   

Well, that's 'The Walking Dead' over for another season and I'm going to miss my weekly fix of post-apocalypse action. There'll be no spoilers but expect the unexpected and have a box of tissues handy.

It has been one of the greatest pleasures of my television viewing life to experience this series grow in stature from its early promise into the greatest horror/sci-fi TV show ever made - bar none! I believe future generations will come to see it as the defining statement on the whole "millennial end of times" zombie apocalypse phenomenon.

Only the great flu pandemic series 'Survivors', from the 1970s, rivals it in terms of unswerving gravity, production values, writing, acting, visceral shock value and gut-punch emotional impact. And 'Survivors' is now second in this particular TV genre. I never thought I'd ever be saying that... well done to everyone concerned!! This is a true Horror Masterpiece!!!!
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 109.147.136.205
Posted on Tuesday, October 25, 2016 - 12:17 pm:   

Me and my son both agreed that the first episode of season 7 was the most brutal thing we've ever seen in a tv series. I'm not sure I can keep watching.

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