The Walking Dead (AMC + Darabont) - Page 35

That has to be one of the stupidest things I've ever heard. You actually called the CDC to ask if they would have an emergency explosive system?

Did you also ask them if there was reanimated dead folks walking around? While you're at it, ask them if they got some weaponized smallpox in their basement.

Color me crazy, but I'm guessing one of the best writers on the site's questions to the CDC guy will probably be a little brighter than your posts, Snaieke.

What's the Fox News spin on the exploding CDC, Snaieke?

As if anyone really needed this answered. Jesus Wept.

Also, "age old" question? You make it sound like zombies have really been around since the middle ages and this fictional television show just answered for historical fact of a fictional phenomena. What a weird phrase.

Well, this has to be one of the stupidest things you have ever posted.* You criticize a guy who, instead of sitting around making uneducated definative statements, actually educates himself and shares that knowledge with us.

Thank you for contributing so much to the discourse Snaieke.

*Don't worry guys, I know that's not true.

He does the same thing in the Politics forum, so most of it are kind of used to it.

Is it that hard to imagine that people might have different tolerances for that stuff (broadly sketched characters, timeframes that built around drama instead of realism) in a two hour movie than a long-form TV show?

Snaieke, I haven't really had much problem with most of your other board posts but the last few in here have been utter shite.

If Renn comes back that they don't explode the entire building I'm cool. If he comes back and says there isn't some sort of oxygen burning system for destroying any kind of airborne path then I will immediately get to my congressional reps and demand a oxygen air burning system to kil all that shit they have there.

The key thing to remember, here, is that the fail-safe was designed for a incident of catastrophic terrorism. The CDC bunker was likely designed to withstand a nuclear bomb or biological attack, and that's what the backup generators were for. In those situations drastic enough to cut off power for months on end like that, they likely assumed that Atlanta had either been obliterated or completely wiped out.

In either case, the explosion of the building (which was confined to the premises) wasn't likely to have lethal consequences, and it was the most certain way all of the nasty things in cold storage being destroyed. Solar panels can fail, and are not dependable. It's unlikely that solar power would have been enough to power the critical functions of that facility, anyhow.

The real question is, why they didn't build a nuclear power plant into the bunker, like they do with every submarine that the U.S. Navy deploys? The answer that makes sense is that nuclear power plants are expensive, the residents of Atlanta would have likely bitched about the risks of radiation leakage, and it's politically possible to spend money for the military that is impossible for civilian purposes.


This didn't make sense to me, either. The only thing I can think of is that he was working off whatever advances the French team had made before he lost contact with them, and he he was holding on to wild hope that something, anything, would turn up on the final day.


I can buy that someone, at least, would have made that choice. It seemed pretty random that it was the black woman who made it, though, especially since she had a husband to think about. On the other hand, it made perfect sense for Andrea to decide to stay, and I would have been angry if they hadn't explored that.

Essentially, Dale guilted her into living, which isn't very romantic, but is very effective. Especially since I think he meant every last word of what he said.

Please. Your original post held up the latino "gang" as evidence of why the survivors shouldn't have believed Jenner that there was nothing left. He obviously didn't mean that there was no other survivors on the planet. He also didn't solely mean that there were no other CDC-type facilities left. He meant all hope of mankind recovering from something like this was lost.

Exactly. It's an extinction event that's still happening.

And I'm not necessarily going to hold a fictional CDC up to what the actual CDC does. If we start doing that, there are literally scores of films we should start picking apart.

Actually, I'd assume it'd be easier to tolerate it in a long-form TV show. The questionable characterizations, etc. end up being a smaller percent of the whole. (And some things can even be fixed down the road.) Plus, looking at it from a filmmaking standpoint, you have a lot more time to fill on a much more brutal writing schedule, so less time to plan. None of that stuff should show up in a two-hour movie.

For example, ALL OF THEM.

I get this. I really do. But at a certain point, you can't be above calling something fictional out for believability. I know it's a show with zombies in it, but it's attempting to be a realistic show with zombies in it. Some of the stuff in the finale seemed like it was straight out of a bad sci-fi movie. And so people are calling it out on that.

Those CDC eggheads think they know everything. I bet they find the idea of corpses coming back to life ridiculous too.

It's not a matter of picking anything apart. I imagine it's just a fun little interview with someone on the inside. C'mon, people. Anyone who's ever been in the military has to roll their eyes at just about every depiction of their branch of the service onscreen. Doesn't mean they still can't enjoy the show.

Jenner had lived in isolation for a month in a building with a countdown clock, mentioned all the other groups he was in contact with had gone dark, and was contemplating offing himself. When a character set up like that uses words like "extinction event", I would think that we as the audience are supposed to take their words at face value.

I didn't read it as Jenner thinking the "government", in abstract, was facing a setback, it seemed to me like he really thought mankind was done.

It seems to me that a Scientifically minded person like Jenner would way the odds of survival in terms of the likelihood of humans having enough raw numbers left to put together a viable breeding population.

If he didn't think that was likely he would probably write us off.

THANK YOU

According to Robert Kirkman, the show's writing staff wasn't exactly "fired":

Looks like it's still up in the air, re: the whole situation.

That article is pretty vague. I mean yeah, one guy quit, but what about everyone else? He's just kind of like "we'll see who writes next season!" I don't know, but it sounds like he's intentionally not really saying anything at all.

Okay, several things here.

1) A movie has a very short time frame to communicate its points to the audience. Once Jane makes his decision at the end, there is exactly one more dramatic beat that has to be hit. Showing him wandering around aimlessly in the mist for some more "believable" amount of time serves no real function, so the timeline is compressed for don't-waste-my-fucking-time's sake.

2) Conversely, a show has much more time to work with, so it could actually slow things down and pad out the CDC timeframe to both downplay the level of coincidence and flesh out some of those stock characters you were complaining about.

3) The coincidence in The Mist occurs after the climax, which is the worst place to add unnecessary length. In TWD, the coincidence is setting up the climactic conflict, and as such the mechanics of it can be tinkered with more freely without lessening to the dramatic impact.

Personally, I'm not particularly fussed by either case. But the similarities are very superficial, imo, and I think it's entirely reasonable to forgive one and not the other given the differences in format and context.

For some reason I bristle a bit at highlighting Devin's writing from elsewhere but this shit was so spot on I couldn't resist:

Yet he still champions the show.

I used to be terrible about that. Eventually I lightened up.

The shredded wheat side of me knows that the air blowing out of the exploded building was 4500 degrees Farenheit, and every single member of the cast would have had their lungs destroyed while the gas tanks of their cars ignited under their feet. The frosted side says, "fuck it, this story's had zombies staggering around since episode one."

That's a stretch. He summed the season up with a C+ and has been pretty critical of the show throughout.

funny, i was just about to say if you wanna know what this entire show will be like, watch the ending the The Mist...there it is.

this is why i am enjoying the fuck out of it, i know what i'm watching and not expecting anything more. if others wanna nitpick, go to town.

True. I'm blinded by his ridiculous Shane love.

This is a fair point. Hopefully, a 13-episode season two will allow the show to breathe a little. (Again, that's what's great about a TV show. They can learn what doesn't work and what needs tweaked and use that knowledge to make the show better.)

No matter how I try to approach it, these were 6 episodes of a show spinning its wheels in the mud. That was the season finale? Some exposition that amounted basically to "Your brain stops working and then it sort of starts again." Duh. Why did we need the CDC to take up one and a half episodes of a six episode season? Seriously, what if it wasn't a hit? What if it got cancelled after this episode? This is what we'd be left with?

There was zero closure in any of the arcs in this season. Not with the Rick/Lori/Shane triangle. Not with Dale and Andrea. Not with the redneck brothers. Everything that happened could be condensed into two episodes, three tops.

It's a good thing the show diverges from the comic so much. Because at this rhythm it would have to run for ten seasons at least to cover the major story beats and the important characters.

do you know how many season finales end with explosions. Many. I'm ok with it.

I'm ready for season 2.

Doesn't that just make it worse? Also a pretty lame excuse. If it's bad it's bad, I don't care if everyone does it.

Given what we've seen of some of the zombies this season, I wouldn't be surprised if a major thread next season is exploring the idea that Jenner was wrong about "nothing of you" being left.

Not as good as the last episode but still a great hour to spend with your TV. Look forward to the next season.

The explosion didn't bother me at all, not as a a plot element nor as a piece of TV world physics. So had the characters driven 100 meters further down the road everything would be fine? (not you Renn, as you were clearly bothered by other stuff).

Oh well, I guess not everyone needs Mad Men/Boardwalk Empire level writing in every single piece of television show, to be entertained on a sunday night. I don't mind these discussions at all and I do see how many of the arguments hold up, but I simply believe some people just have a more relaxed approach to some of this stuff and don't mind some of the silly bits. I'm just glad I'm not pulled out of a show due to some of the stuff that apparantly rubs people the wrong way with this series.

Yup I feel the same way. We did see some "sparks" on that MRI VR that shot off to other parts of the brain from the stem.

Which would render that lengthy scene even more pointless.

The very first zombie we saw in this show was proof that some kind of memory remains after reanimation (when she picked up her doll). Then there's Morgan's zombie wife trying to open the door to her home. Possibly also Amy patting Andrea's hair before trying to eat her face off. So it's not just the "primal instincts" or whatever that Jenner talked about.

It's setting up a science vs. faith dynamic as someone mentioned above.

EDIT: I kind of see Jenner's explanation as an agreed-upon lie, the party line to make it easier to just mow down the zombies. Reanimated corpse that may have traces of the person I knew? Maybe I shouldn't shoot it in the head. Mindless husk that's devoid of anything it once was? Fire away!

Jenner himself obviously believed it though, otherwise I doubt he could have put a bullet in his zombie love's brain so easily (would at least have waited for her to exit the MRI machine lol)

same here, though i can't fault people for being critical...still, i don't think i've ever seen such a polarized discussion. people love the show, but the nitpicks would have you believe they hate it.

I did have quite a chuckle at the idea that there was some kind of rig with a .38 duct taped to the inside of the MRI machine, and the mental image of Emmerich sitting at his computer station, glumly tugging a piece of string to end his wifemonster.

I think a point has to be made that, no matter how pointless some of you think the scene with the explanation about what's left of someone's personality was, keep in mind they're developing a TV show. A popular one at that. And I bet many people, my wife included, don't have a clue about zombies, their lore or some of the numerous "facts" that many of us have been exposed to through movies and comics.

A lot of the general viewing audience are being drawn in (made more obvious in the finale as the zombies only made a real appearance in the end) because of the human drama, the fact that everyone is talking about it and they're just plain curious. Fill an hour with zombie gore and only the hard core fans will be left. My wife can take a little gore (she was sad for the horse for god's sakes!), but you need the human element more to make it a successful show.

That whole discussion, in a way, explained to the uninitiated what a zombie is and how it affects people. And I can guarantee they're talking about that at the office and not the fucking blast radius.

Considering that we only saw the first minute or so of zombie reanimation before a bullet was delivered, there's plenty of leeway to say that other parts of the brain wake up later.

Still, why go there at all?

The explosion mechanism and said explosion were dumb.
Everything else on the episode? Worked like gangbusters for me.

Specially Jenner's speech and total loss of anything at the end.
I loved the virtual MRI.

But Norman Reedus stole the episode again. God Damn he's terrific here.

‎"Those doors are designed to resist a rocket launcher" "Bet your head ain't"

only moment in the series i burst out laughing.

The Mist was 2 hours. The Walking Dead season one (minus commercials) was 4 hours. Seems like splitting hairs.

It was the last piece of his wife, the last chance for her death to have meaning and the sole reason he had kept on living.

Is that enough?

---

My only real problem with season one is that I don't really care about any of the characters. I don't actively dislike them (which would be a deal-breaker), but I'm not drawn to them.

Other than "noble leader and family man", I don't have much of a read on Rick, and he's the protagonist. I do like Dale, despite always seeing him as a Russian serial killer (see HBO's terrific Citizen X). I enjoy Daryl as much as I loathed his cartoonish Rookerbrother. The rest... are just kinda there. My favorite character, and I'd say by far the best actor the show has employed was "black guy with kid and zombie wife" who IMDB tells me was "Morgan". I'd still have rather seen his story than Rick's.

It was still an entertaining show, and there's nothing wrong with it that's irrepairable, so I'll be looking forward to season two. Hopefully with more Morgan.

Lori says you're wrong. She's got the crazy eyes.

Yeah, there's no question he was talking about human kind. You don't use the word extinction and not mean that an entire species is dying off. This begs the questions why Rick didn't tell anyone about the helicopter. Seemed like a government type copter, from what little we saw. But at the very least, it means that there are more than just Vatos surviving in an abandoned rest home.

It's still a difference of 100%, which is a mighty thick hair. Plus there's the whole issue of set up vs. denouement, and there really being no room for additional character development in The Mist's case, while Dead could've used more (Random Black Lady being the most glaring example). They're two very different scenarios from a story perspective.

Mostly agree about the characters, though. The only one I completely like is Glen, although Dale's mostly okay too.

He did. They thought he was delusional.

This thread, man...

Guys, can we all just agree that Daryl is the fucking best at least?

Daryl is the best character on the show.

I actually think he's not that great, but in every episode since the third, there's at least one "Lemme at him!" scene where all the guys gang up and pull an angry, flailing Norman Reedus away from someone. This is a cute running gag.

So it's a dumb but entertaining zombiemelodrama punctuated by a really good pilot. Fair enough.