Thanks for the link Spidey, at least I get to see the pilot

I was re-reading this thread, and I don't think I've ever seen one where there were so many blacked out spoiler lines! It made me laugh...it must look ridiculous to someone reading it for the first time.

Hahaha! All that black just makes it look more GAWTH!

-- Nephele

I have been waiting for this series since I heard it announced! Been reading the comic for some time now, and the first episode was scene-for-scene the most faithful adaptation of the comic I could ever have hoped for!

Thanks for that info, Agent Black! I was wondering how close an adaptation this was. Have you read the entire comic series?

-- Nephele

Up 'til maybe the issue before the last one put out, yes. I wonder how much they're going to alter the story... I saw some alterations in the second episode, and I actually liked how the screenwriters changed things. It worked better for television the way they crafted the story. A few of the characters in the second episode wouldn't be seen in the comics for some time. When I read the announcement as to who would play what part, I wondered how they would work their characters into the story that early. The screenwriters did a marvelous job, and they worked more drama and action into that portion of the story than the comic originally had!

If you would like to see Issue #2 of The Walking Dead, you can find it here. WARNING: Spoilers ahead! Rick's rescue from Atlanta actually goes a lot quicker and simpler in the comic than it does in the television show, and for a few pages it's only Rick and Glenn. After Glenn gets Rick out of Atlanta, they head right for the survivor colony. Don't read past them leaving Atlanta, unless you want potential spoilers. I say "potential" because the television series writers have changed the story enough to make it almost an entirely different entity, yet still a damn good saga on its own.

The first episode was pretty straight-forward, and it was a damn good rendering of Issue 1 and part of Issue 2 (Rick's arrival in Atlanta). There were little changes here and there, of course. We got to see more of the backstory between Rick and Shane. The comic had Rick attacked by a zombie in the hospital where he awoke. I'm actually glad that didn't happen in the episode, as it built up the tension to cracknasty levels. Rick's neighbor's story has more resolution in the television episode than the comic gave him in the first series (natural, since the average comic only has up to 32 pages or so to tell its story; it showed portions of the guy's story that wouldn't be seen for many issues to come). The relationship between Shane and Rick's wife was way more advanced in the series than it was in the comic. In the comic, it was a one-time fling, one quick fuck after seeing the ruins of Atlanta and mourning over our lost civilization and that was it. In the series, they're together. That honestly surprised me! It makes sense, and it was a bittersweet addition to the drama. Other than that, the first episode was a damn faithful adaptation and it actually added depth and realism to the story (and the comic was a pretty damn realistic story on its own!).

If you don't mind spoilers, the Scribd user Ich Bin Ein Nerd has posted issues 1 - 19 here. Again, don't say I didn't warn you!

One thing that kind of bugs me, but not all that much: the casting. I love the actors in the series, especially that I only have seen maybe one or two of them in other series/movies. All the rest are total unknowns to me, which makes them seem less Hollywood and more like I'm watching real people. Nice touch! Only part that still jars me is some mental casting I'm having to do away with. When you read a comic, sometimes you imagine a certain person doing the character's voice. It helps give me a mental image of the action when I'm reading a novel or a comic when I mentally cast an actor as a character; I tend to do this all the time when I'm reading something. Mentally, I had already cast Nathan Fillion as Rick Grimes, and I had gotten used to him in this role for 75-76 issues of the comic. Seeing Andrew Lincoln as Rick was a tad jarring at first. He plays the role like he was born for it... but when I read the comic, I still see Fillion as Rick. *shrugs* Can't be helped, I guess. Also, Shane in the comics is way beefier a guy than scrawny little Jon Bernthal, but I love Bernthal in the role and couldn't imagine anyone better for the part.

Thanks for your take on the comic series vs. the teevee series, Agent Black. Your comic spoilers explain a lot in regards to the teevee series. I agree with your regarding the hospital scene – I found it more suspenseful, too, without seeing zombies immediately attacking.

I think I'll pass on that link to the comic series that you gave, as I'm just going to watch the teevee series unfold without spoilers.

And, I know what you mean about mentally casting characters. While I would love nothing better than to see a television series produced based on Lindsey Davis' Falco (the Roman detective) series of novels, I already have this image in my mind of what Falco looks and sounds like. I'd hate to have my illusion shattered! (But I could see Robert Downey Jr. cast as Marcus Didius Falco.)

-- Nephele

I'm going to take a pass on reading the comic series; I don't want to know what happens yet! Still hoping to win a "stagger-on role" as a zombie in a future episode!

You, too? X-D

Yet another show to waste my time to while sewing and other mundane things!

For everyone saying stuff about the main character staggering around after waking up in the hospital: How long has it been since you had to stay in the hospital and how long was it that you felt like you were in a stupor before getting back to normal? You don't just *snap to* after you've been drugged and on IV fluids for days. Especially not for something as serious as gunshot wounds.

As for his wife screwing someone else? What was she supposed to think if he was left in a hospital full of zombies? The logical conclusion is that he probably got eaten or infected. Although I completely disagree with her and that other guy humping like fucking rabbits in the middle of zombie-pocalypse! What kind of damn morons want to get pregnant in that kind of situation? I know it sounds mean, but I'd leave anyone who decided to get pregnant to the zombies.

So, tomorrow night AMC is doing a 3-hour marathon of The Walking Dead – showing the first three episodes back-to-back starting at 8pm, for anyone who missed the first two episodes and is tired of playing catch-up on the computer monitor (like me).

I had a peek at the AMC website, and caught the preview for episode three. Rick is going back to Atlanta to rescue that racist guy that's a clear danger to the group? I'm kind of thinking that's nuts. On the other hand, the reasoning does follow along with...

Zombie Survival Rule #23: "God Bless Rednecks: Rednecks are loud, brash, well armed and ready to kick ass now and ask questions later. So when a redneck shows up in your group half drunk and rumbling louder than your humvee welcome him. Sure rednecks can attract zombies but they also are well-armed and kill a whole lot of 'em when they do come for dinner. Best of all they are good bait for you to make your exit while he is making a mess of the zombies and before he realizes he just ran out of bullets and does the happy meal groan."

-- Nephele

Very true! Muscles would have atrophied by then. I'm surprised he was able to stumble at all, let alone walk later.



Question: Did she know the hospital was full of zombies? I'm guessing the first zombies started showing up on their street, Shane probably grabbed her and the boy and they rabbited. She might've had no clue about what went on in the hospital. Besides, somebody had all the zombies barricaded behind those doors. Someone was probably hanging out in the hospital until they couldn't stay there any longer.




That, and the comics show that's just part of Rick's character: never leave a man behind, whether they deserve it or not.

I thought that rule only applied to comrades-in-arms? Granted, when the zombies come and make you an endangered species, every remaining human being is your comrade-in-arms, but this guy looked to me as though he would quite happily murder the black guy -- and anyone else who intervened. Anyway, it makes an interesting ethics dilemma!

-- Nephele

Ethics, shmethics! If Zombie-pocalypse ever really happens people better hope they don't utter any xenophobic, racist or sexist crap around me or they'll be zombie chow.

I'm thinking she probably had to have known. The guy she escaped with is a sheriff, right? The cops would be the first to be radioed about a problem like that going on with the hospital. Let's not all start judging the poor woman before knowing her story.

1. I know her story from the comics, and if the series is going to be as faithful to the comics as it has been so far, then I probably know more about where she has been and where she will be than you'd like me to tell.

2. I didn't say anything bad about her. Honestly, if a zombie attack were to happen, I'd probably leave town ASAP. I'd consider the hospitals as "already doomed" zones without even having to hear about what's going on. Consider this: if a guy gets bitten by someone else and the bite looks horribly infected, he's probably going to get taken to the hospital, right? What's going to happen? The doctors will try to do everything they can to keep the guy alive (and may even slow down whatever it is that causes actual zombification, for a time; the comics make it plain that being bitten by a zombie will only make you a zombie, their bite doesn't do anything but give you a nasty infection you will ultimately die from; cutting off an infected limb before the infection spreads will actually save you from dying and becoming a zombie). He will eventually become a zombie and probably bite a nurse, a doctor, somebody visiting him... You can see what's going to happen from there.

Figuring this out, I wouldn't have to hear about what's going on at the hospital, if I've already seen more than three zombies milling about the streets when I wake up in the morning. As soon as I see zombies, I'm assuming the worst, and I'm assuming the hospitals are probably going to be the first place to be overrun. I'm going to notify all of my family and friends (those who haven't already been bitten or become zombies themselves), I'm grabbing whatever I think I may need, I'm hopping in the car and I'm bolting, and I'm going to run over any zombie I see on the way.