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Walking Dead is boring!

Started by Beorning, November 26, 2012, 05:38:38 AM

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Beorning

Ooops. I said that aloud  ;)

Seriously speaking, though... I really don't get why this series is getting such great reviews. Personally, I'm in the middle of season 2 and I find my interest waning. The whole story is about a bunch of people moping about living in an awful, post-apocalyptic world and occasionally killing some zombies...

I freely admit that the series has great production values, but overall, it's not that good. There's only so much mileage you can get out of zombies... Personally, I feel the series ran out of interesting stuff after the first few episodes.

I don't get the popularity. And I don't get the popularity of zombie apocalypse genre in general... It's always the same one story: Night of The Living Dead being repeated over and over. NOTLD was a good movie, but the whole idea is very limited...

Jag

I used to really like Walking Dead, but my interest ran out mid-way through the first season. I finished out the first season and forced myself to watch the first episode of the second season. It didn't grab my interest, so I gave up. I agree with you, the had a good concept, but zombies get old quick. I love zombie movies, but only because they end and they are quick. I'm really no longer interested in a drawn out series about the poor, sad people who have to deal with the zombies.
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Silverfyre

I am with you on that.  I enjoyed the first season and then halfway through the second, my interest waned considerably.  I blame the characters of Lori and Carl.  She was not only way too intense at times but also turned the series into what I call "Lori Bi-polar Theatre".  And Carl.. stay in the fucking house!


Moraline

I've felt this way at times. I get tired of the over done drama and constant whining but...

I also get why people enjoy it to.

Unlike a regular Zombie movie where we see the people in a race/struggle to survive, instead we have a protracted struggle. It brings another side to the story where we see the constant stresses and strains of life in an apocalypse. It's something that you don't get out of a 2 hour movie. Instead we are witnessing the evolution of society as a whole through the microcosm of a small band of people and the ones that they interact with.

Obviously the show is a drama, aka a Zombie Apocalypse soap opera, and if your not a fan of drama then your most likely not going to enjoy the show for very long.

Personally, I prefer my horror with lots of action so while I enjoy the show at times I am also bored by the drama of it quite often.

That's my take on the show.

Sabby

The Dawn of the Dead remake was the only semi-recent Zombie movie I actually liked. Then I saw the original movie it was remaking and that was just as good in it's own way. But Walking Dead was a struggle for me to get through, and the characters were just atrocious :/

If you're going to make a zombie apocalypse story a character piece/soap opera (which isn't an inherently bad idea) then at least have some decent writing. Forgive me if I don't mourn when that blonde gets her legs eaten in a stairway :/

Beguile's Mistress

I saw both versions of "Night of the Living Dead" and wrote in a zombie story in Caprion's Lab.  I think that did it for me with zombies.  Once you've dispatched a zombie bull in a "gloriously disgusting, disturbingly gory and grossly gooey layer of zombie viscera" there is nowhere else to go.

Beorning

Quote from: Moraline
Obviously the show is a drama, aka a Zombie Apocalypse soap opera, and if your not a fan of drama then your most likely not going to enjoy the show for very long.

Oh, I love drama. One of my favourite shows is The Good Wife, after all...

It's just there's not much drama potential in a zombie apocalypse story. There's one basic problem: the world ended and zombies are everywhere, now the survivors are facing a crappy life of wandering and scrounging resources. It's not that interesting in the long run...

And I don't think that zombies are that interesting as monsters, to be frank, either. There's only a few distinct scenes / situations you can do with them. It all gets repetitive after a while...

Quote from: BeMi
I saw both versions of "Night of the Living Dead" and wrote in a zombie story in Caprion's Lab.  I think that did it for me with zombies.  Once you've dispatched a zombie bull in a "gloriously disgusting, disturbingly gory and grossly gooey layer of zombie viscera" there is nowhere else to go.

Hey, now I want to read it!  ;D

Moraline

A Soap Opera isn't about the Zombies or the Hospital or the Police Force where it takes place in. It's about the people interacting in the drama.

This is what The Walking Dead is going for - that interaction/life drama.

If you continue to watch the show you'll see the individuals as they break down emotionally. Some get stronger, some lose it entirely. That's the point of the shows story line. It's all about how the people interact/change/grow with each other over the course of this crisis.

However, I'm not saying it's good. Very important that you distinguish the point I'm making. I'm just saying that it's a drama and by focusing on the Zombies your missing the point of the show.

Sabby

Quote from: Moraline on November 26, 2012, 09:21:49 AM
I'm just saying that it's a drama and by focusing on the Zombies your missing the point of the show.

The shows called The Walking Dead :P It's advertised as a zombie apocalypse story. I think everyone misses the point with that kind of false image.


Moraline

Quote from: Sabby on November 26, 2012, 09:26:44 AM
The shows called The Walking Dead :P It's advertised as a zombie apocalypse story. I think everyone misses the point with that kind of false image.

Stories aren't about the protagonists or even the action, they are about the building and growth of characters. It's about who the people are and what happens to them as individuals. By that I don't mean whether they get bitten or not. I mean that it's about how they change emotionally/mentally.

As I said previously, it doesn't matter if the setting is Zombies, Apocalypse, Police, Hospitals, neighborhoods or anything. The settings give you motivation and conflict with which to grow your characters in.

So the name of the show and whether it has Zombies in it or not doesn't matter. The original poster was saying "There is only so many things you can do with Zombies."  However, it's not the Zombies you are supposed to focus on, it's the people in the show.

Honestly the same goes for any shows, TV/Movie/Documentary... it doesn't matter. The growth and development of the characters are the driving force behind any well told story.

So, like the show or don't like the show it doesn't matter - the Zombies aren't the show.. the characters in it are the show/story.
Quote from: Beorning on November 26, 2012, 10:22:18 AM
My local TV advertises it as horror... Hm.

~ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1520211/
TV Series  -   45 min  -  Drama | Horror | Thriller

It's only labelled a horror because it contains elements of horror but it's still a Soap Opera Drama involving people.

soap op·er·a
Noun:   
A television or radio drama series dealing typically with daily events in the lives of the same group of characters.

Chris Brady

My O&Os Peruse at your doom.

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Strangler

What Chris posted ;D

Having read a few of the graphic novels and watched a bit of Walking Dead I think a big part of the problem is in the adaptation. Walking Dead is unusually faithful to the original material. But what works well in a graphic novel doesn't necessarily translate into watchable live action. By TV standards the Walking Dead characters are thinly defined, dull and give far too much exposition. TV is so much more of an interdisciplinary medium than graphic novels and I think the lack of an original interpretation and artistic direction by the creators has seriously handicapped the show.

Also their zombies suck and they don't do a very good job of bringing home the existential terror of being eaten alive. I mean, it's horror. You could at least get me distressed and disgusted rather than, you know, bored.

Chris Brady

Quote from: Moraline on November 26, 2012, 12:09:55 PM
o the name of the show and whether it has Zombies in it or not doesn't matter. The original poster was saying "There is only so many things you can do with Zombies."  However, it's not the Zombies you are supposed to focus on, it's the people in the show.

What he meant, is what most people typically mean, when they say something like that, is that the premise in and of itself is limited, by the nature of the show.  Because it has Zombies, who react in a predictable manner (Shuffling along for brains) there's typically not many situations that promote a growth for the characters.  It's getting to the point where the perception has devolved into a repetitious 'daily' grind.  All the hard choices stop being hard after the 5th or 6th time you have to make the same one.  Outside of survival, there really isn't a clear goal.  You can't stop them, you can't 'cure' them you can't do much to them other than shoot them in the face.  And the moment you miss, you are one of them.

This is what is usually meant when someone says "It's a show about X."
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Stella

I think it would be more exciting if it had more likable characters.

Except Daryl.

Daryl's a boss.

Shjade

Quote from: Sabby on November 26, 2012, 09:26:44 AM
The shows called The Walking Dead :P It's advertised as a zombie apocalypse story. I think everyone misses the point with that kind of false image.

1) "The walking dead" as a phrase refers to the zombies and the survivors. As in "dead man walking." I'm pretty sure in the comics at some point one of them actually says, "We are the walking dead," but I'd have to go through all the books again to be sure. Does that shed any light on why the show's atmosphere is what it is?

2) It is a zombie apocalypse story. That means it's about people surviving a zombie apocalypse, not a documentary on zombies. When you watch a volcano disaster movie, how much time do they usually spend focused on characterizing and showing off the volcano? Answer: not a whole lot. There's a volcano; it's erupting. That's about it. 98% of the movie is how the characters are working together (or against each other) to survive the result of that eruption. Zombies are just another catastrophic event, not the star of the show.

I'm not sure where the idea of "there's only so much you can do with zombies" is coming from. There's only so much you can do with any end of the world scenario, but that's just a setting. The character interaction in that setting is what's important. I mean, hell, if there were really so little to do after an apocalypse, why is Fallout such a popular series of games? They should've run out of material in the first one, right? Nuclear fallout's a hell of a lot more "limited" than zombies as apocalypse options go, after all.

As for complaints specific to the show, rather than the series/concept: yeah, season 2 completely blew. A couple of worthwhile moments, but on the whole I don't think I really enjoyed any one entire episode in that season. Season 3's been considerably better in terms of "shit is actually happening" as opposed to season 2's "let's spend an entire season arguing in circles about the same problem on this farm because we don't want to resolve it until we can make that resolution part of the season finale for extra drama ooo ahh" crap pacing.

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide
Seriously, they should've just fucking killed Shane long before it finally happened. Would've given them room to push forward past the Rick vs. Shane stuff that they kept repeating and repeating that whole time, inject some new material.
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Wolfy

Quote from: Sabby on November 26, 2012, 09:26:44 AM
The shows called The Walking Dead :P It's advertised as a zombie apocalypse story. I think everyone misses the point with that kind of false image.

The real Walking Dead aren't the zombies, though...it's the characters.

As we've seen many times in both show and comic, anyone can die.

:D And the real threat during a Zombie Apocalypse isn't really the zombies, oh no...they're predictable for the most part, unless they sneak up on you.

It's the people in the apocalypse that's your greatest threat. :3

Silverfyre

I also think the title can be quite applicable to the living characters, especially considering that they will become zombies if they die from any cause. 


SinXAzgard21

"The second we put a bullet in the head of one of these undead monsters--the moment one of us drove a hammer into one of their faces--or cut off a head. We became what we are! And that's just it. That's what this comes down to. You people don't know what we are. We're surrounded by the dead. We're among them--and when we finally give up we become them! We're living on borrowed time here. Every minute of our life is a minute we steal from them! You see them out there. You know that when we die--we become them. You think we hide behind walls to protect us from the walking dead! Don't you get it! WE ARE THE WALKING DEAD!" - Rick Grimes
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Remiel

I have to admit, I've been watching every episode religiously since the show first started.   No, I'm not going to try to defend it.  No, I haven't read the comics.  Yes, Season 2 was painfully slow and I don't blame anybody for turning out. 

I do have to say, though, that season 3 has been better (even though Michonne is, to me, a completely unlikeable character).  I have to admit, I was quite shocked when
Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide
Laurie died in childbirth and then was promptly eaten by a zombie.
However, I have to give the series respect for that.  No one, even the "main" characters, are safe.

I think Wolfy put his finger on the whole point, on why the show still garners interest.  Despite the title, It's not about the zombies.  Yeah, they're there, we get it, they're dangerous, they want brains.  Ho hum.

No, the real theme of the show is--at the core, stripped of the artificial constructs of society, who are we, as human beings?  Are we intrinsically good, or intrinsically evil?  Without the safety and security of law and order to protect us, would we retain our compassion for our fellow human beings, or would we devolve into animals, intent on nothing but survival?   There is a saying, that all of mankind is three meals and twenty-four hours away from utter barbarism.  And we certainly see that, with some of the characters that the show presents.    We saw that in 28 Days Later too, with the company of soldiers.  It was completely realistic, completely believable, and completely tragic.


Ellipsis


I only watch it because my roommate claims the television on Sunday nights and usually, I'm out in the living room when she does.

Stella


Love And Submission

#22
Quote from: Remiel on November 27, 2012, 04:13:02 PM
I have to admit, I've been watching every episode religiously since the show first started.   No, I'm not going to try to defend it.  No, I haven't read the comics.  Yes, Season 2 was painfully slow and I don't blame anybody for turning out. 

I do have to say, though, that season 3 has been better (even though Michonne is, to me, a completely unlikeable character).  I have to admit, I was quite shocked when
Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide
Laurie died in childbirth and then was promptly eaten by a zombie.
However, I have to give the series respect for that.  No one, even the "main" characters, are safe.

I think Wolfy put his finger on the whole point, on why the show still garners interest.  Despite the title, It's not about the zombies.  Yeah, they're there, we get it, they're dangerous, they want brains.  Ho hum.

No, the real theme of the show is--at the core, stripped of the artificial constructs of society, who are we, as human beings?  Are we intrinsically good, or intrinsically evil?  Without the safety and security of law and order to protect us, would we retain our compassion for our fellow human beings, or would we devolve into animals, intent on nothing but survival?   There is a saying, that all of mankind is three meals and twenty-four hours away from utter barbarism.  And we certainly see that, with some of the characters that the show presents.    We saw that in 28 Days Later too, with the company of soldiers.  It was completely realistic, completely believable, and completely tragic.

The problem is though that while their are people who  are intrinsically evil in the world , those people are actually the most interesting which is something  The Walking Dead and 28 days Later got wrong.

Granted I stopped watching after the first season ( though I have been enjoying the game.) but there's no Frank Booth or Bane in the walking dead. There's no  Vlad The Impaler or Genghis Khan. There's just these seemingly one- dimensional strawman villains without bite.
This  is a real problem with the game to me , I keep playing and they put me up against these villains are very plain and unrealistic.


In real life despite being Villains  John Dillinger and Frank Lucas were entertaining and what to me makes them scary is that you kind of want hang out with them. I don't want to hang with the dudes from 28 days later. They seem way to  exaggerated  for me.


Utter barbism is a total fallacy  because even the barbarians were actually pretty comical and entertaining.

Just read this quote by Kahn himself.

“I am the punishment of God...If you had not committed great sins, God would not have sent a punishment like me upon you.”-  Genghis Khan

You have to admit that is pretty epic.

There's a reason he has Sixteen Million  descendants living today. Who wouldn't want to sleep with a guy that cool?


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Beguile's Mistress

Quote from: DTW on November 28, 2012, 07:36:29 AM
There's a reason he has Sixteen Million  descendants living today. Who want to sleep with a guy that cool?

I have a feeling wanting to didn't enter into every time or maybe even most of the time.

Chris Brady

Quote from: Ellipsis on November 27, 2012, 04:24:22 PM

I only watch it because my roommate claims the television on Sunday nights and usually, I'm out in the living room when she does.

For ME, once you hit the Pink zone, I stop watching and never come back.

And DTW has got it, truth be told, Zombies are lousy 'villains' because they have no goals other than to eat your brain, but don't really have much drive to do anything else.  It sounds to me like a lot of the people who like this show watch it IN SPITE of the Zombies, rather than BECAUSE of them.
My O&Os Peruse at your doom.

So I make a A&A thread but do I put it here?  No.  Of course not.

Also, I now come with Kung-Fu Blog action.  Here:  Where I talk about comics and all sorts of gaming