Are we clear whether the 3-minutes to 8-hours thing is how long it takes you to die after you are bitten/scratched or whether that is how long it takes you to reanimate after you die?

My interpretation was after you die, but that's nothing more than my gut understanding of it at the time.

really enjoyed the finale - my favorite after the first one. but, man, you really do have suspend belief a LOT to watch this show (much like Lost). HB is clearly better at that than I am.

and yeah, I think Andrea is preggers. Unfortunately.

Yup, this is closest to what I think (and interesting hypothesis, that last, Jon).

The doc doesn't give a flying flip about these people or himself. Why would he care about someone being pregnant or someone being assaulted? He was ready to let them all fry with him just for being there.

No, I thought it was obvious that he's telling Rick something zombie-apocalypse-related. Like Jon says, maybe another location for possible survival, or maybe something about zombie behavior he noted, or some particular substance that seemed to have some effect limiting the zombie disease. Something zombie-ish about one of the other members, like Jon suggests above, is also a good guess, what with all the blood work he did.

I'm still wondering where the helicopter came from (and who was piloting it).

BTW, I wouldn't be surprised if either or both of Andrea and Lori are preggers, but I don't think that's what Jenner was whispering about.

agree

Considering there was only 1 hour left and they would need to locate the fuel, not to mention that he said they were locked in, I can understand why they didn't think that, they felt defeated at that point.

If anyone is interested Television Without Pity has been doing episode recaps. They are usually pretty entertaining.
TV Show Recaps & Reviews - TV Show Episode Recaps & Reviews | TWoP

I have to say that despite picking these six episodes apart I did enjoy the show and am hopeful they can iron out the problems and the bad dialogue during the lengthy layoff until season two.

100% clear that it's reanimation after death.

This is pretty much where I am. I like the show a lot but I think it can be improved in some ways.

On board with both you guys. It has room for improvement, but I'm enjoying it. If it gets worse though, I will jump ship.

I love the show. It certainly could improve. It's not perfect, but I had a blast watching the six episodes this year. Since I got a DVR 5 years ago, this is the only show I've watched every episode of when it aired.

It think the quality would have to take a serious down turn, which I really don't foresee happening so long as Darabount remains involved and on top of things, before I bailed on it. I certainly could. I've bailed on a ton of shows in the past, though none of them had zombies.

Guessing those were diesel generators and the drums were a minimum of 50 gallons. I just don't think it would be realistic for them to go seek and find enough diesel gas to make a difference.

Additionally - at least at the gas stations - I think those pumps have some type of electrical component to them and since it sounds like the power grid is gone, there is no way to get the fuel out of the ground.

DAMN YOU FOSSIL FUELS!!! :[

And here I would think the CDC would have some type of off the grid power supply like solar or wind farm...

Not that I'm familiar with, if there's even a wind farm in Georgia I've never heard of it.

Solar is a possibility but doesn't seem to have been a point of emphasis for the CDC, although they did recently commit to buying green energy (landfill-to-methane mostly) from Georgia Power. But that doesn't help them if the utility company has ceased to exist of course.

Just watched the last episode last night and had the same issue with it. Why wouldn't they siphon gas from the motorhome (which gets atrociously bad mileage) and use the other vehicles to preserve fuel. Or have everybody cram into the motorohome &bring only the pickup truck with gas cans loaded in the back of it. Just something other than 5 vehicles including a couple with 1 person in it.

Seems silly to me from a survival standpoint. Almost as if they are putting ALL eggs into the basket of "just get to the next place & everything will be fine".

Things like that could be one of the reasons they are changing out the writing staff. Or, I don't know what their travel arrangements are in the comics, so, maybe they are just following what's in there?

I am pretty sure they are all just crammed in the RV in the comic.

5 vehicles for 10 people, including 2 children, is excessive, but it's probably just for aesthetic purposes - the shot of the convoy rolling along. I don't have any issue with the crew having at least one, perhaps two, vehicles other than the RV, but 5 seems excessive.

Still, at least for me, it's a minor point. I am sure they will shed vehicles along the way.

Ah ok. So the comic had it the way people are thinking of how they should be driving around then or at least closer to it.

The only thing that comes to mind why they all have their own vehicle in the show is, to show that everyone came from somewhere else and it's kind of like Battlestar Galactica with its 'rag tag fleet'.

Definitely the smart way would be to have one or two back up vehicles and keep the wagon train as small as possible.

Another thought that came to mind while watching the last episode that I did not see brought up in this thread.

Did anybody else think for a minute that they might blow up everybody and start fresh in Season 2 with a new cast? And potentially make that a recurring theme each season. That thought crossed my mind a couple of times. I almost thought it might be the reason for making many of the characters very stereotyped. Like Ronnie Dobbs mentioned...Shane in the shower had my wife & I laughing as well. It was so over the top...almost campy if that's the right term.

I actually thought they might all blow up & we'd see another CDC base of people possibly and then Season 2 would be them trying to search out others in some other part of the country (or world).

Dola,

I have not read the comic so maybe that would be totally incompatible with the story but I don't have a sense for how close this show is following the comic anyway.

It sort of kind of follows the comic, but not really. Just for a sense of how things have already diverged:

The whole CDC thing was never in the comic.

Shane is already dead by this point in the comic.

Darryl/Merle don't exist in the comic.

The whole "Vatos" thing - those guys defending the old folks home - wasn't in the comic.

The tank Rick hid in when he first got to Atlanta wasn't in the comic.

Jacqui, the black woman who died in the last episode, wasnt' in the comic.

Andrea, Dale, Glenn, Rick, Lori, and Carl are all in the comic.

So, the series diverges quite a bit. I've been fine with it. I love both the comic and the show, but I feel the show is better.

Boom.

I just noticed this but absolutely agree with everything 100%.

I bought "Compendium One" (which is the first 8 chapters) from Amazon last week and have been devouring it (I'm about halfway through, so far). I think they really nailed the casting with Dale, Lori, Glenn, and Andrea. They did alright with Rick, but I think the actor is playing him a little too cerebral.

Otherwise, I cannot wait to see what they do with all the upcoming storylines and locales. I kind of feel like they wasted a lot of time with Atlanta and introduced a few too many new characters, rather than hitting some of the interesting locations and characters in the book, but I can understand since they were working on the knowledge that it could only be six episodes long.

Assuming you mean that he's playing the character too ... I dunno, making him more logical than he should be?

It's an interesting notion there, but what it made me wonder was whether this was (even subconsciously) influenced by the network where the show was airing. It's at least arguably one of the more intelligent audiences, perhaps playing the character with more base motivations might not be as appealing to the network's core?

That is a good point with the AMC audience. I think his character in the book seems a lot more impulsive with his decisions and actions than he does in the book. There are several times in the book where he has lost his cool, so it will be interesting to see if the actor can pull that off or if it will seem out of character for him.

Shane is actually casted pretty well (I think the actor is average at best, but has the look and can pull it off if they don't use him too much), but his TV character is kind of ruined for me after that goofy scene of him crying and drinking booze in the shower. :)

I've read the first two collections of books. Going to get more soon, been extremely happy with how they read.

I don't think this has been confirmed, but the story now is a July opening of Season 2 instead of waiting until October - Walking Dead Season 2 Coming in July | MoviesOnline

Good. Not only is that a traditional TV dead time with a dearth of good programming (so more will be encouraged to watch it), but going almost a whole year between season debuts after a first season of just six episodes keeps it in the memory a bit.

Finished up the Compendium last night. I really liked the direction they went in, but was not crazy about the last several pages.

I guess I'm going to have to spring for The Omnibus #3 Collection to figure out what happens next. The Compendium looks like it covers issues #1-#48, with the three available Omnibus collections each covering 24 issues. Not sure when/if a 2nd Compendium will be out (or if they have/will gone past 72 issues).

Where did that one leave off? Obviously spoiler, or PM me. Just curious where you're at.

You still have a ways to go. It gets increasingly more and more fucked up, but in a good way. I envy you for still having so much left to read.

How many more issues are there?

What did you do to get them? The Compendium (it had #1-48) that I bought was like $38 on Amazon (it was like $55 at retailers like Barnes and Noble), but it looks like the Omnibus editions (there are three that each have 24 issues) are anywhere from $150 to $500 due to short supply and that the indidual chapters (which I assume each have about 6 issues) are anywhere from $8-$20 bucks.

I'm think that they may come out with a second Compendium, but it may not be until another 24 issues come out (I'm not sure what exact issue that they are, but it looks like the furthest along that any of the collections has is issue #72).

Sorry if that was confusing. :)

I bought the hardcover books off Amazon. It's 12 issues per book. So yeah I finished up to issue 72.

I was confused as to what exact versions you were reading. I've been reading the "Books". They are a total of 6 of those and I have finished #1 and #2.

Walking Dead comes in softcover trades (6 issues), hardcover books (12 issues) or the big compendium on (#1-#48).

link to compendium on amazon:
Amazon.com: The Walking Dead: Compendium One (9781607060765): Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard, Cliff Rathburn, Tony Moore: Books

I also read it in hardcover format. Read #3 a while back and have #4 in my "to read" pile...

FM

and FWIW, looks like issue #81 shipped last week...

FM

It looks like, if you are just starting out like me, the Compendium is the best bang for your buck to get up to issue #48 and then these volume books can getyou from #49+ (they look to go up to issue #72 so far): Amazon.com: The Walking Dead, Vol. 9: Here We Remain (9781607060222): Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard, Cliff Rathburn: Books

Compendium is about $38 on Amazon and the above books look to be about $8-$10. I imagine there will be a second Compendium when they get up to issue #96 (but that sounds like it will be a year and a half away if they are only on #81 now).

Spoiler for folks who haven't read (or haven't read very far):

Wow.

Telltale Games

http://pc.ign.com/articles/115/1150855p1.html

Could be awesome. Planning a 4Q 2011 release gives me pause though.

Interesting development.

I still have my money on "Dead State" as the next interesting addition to the zombie video game cannon, but I am intrigued.

I'll just post it here but Dead Island was optioned into a movie.

Not a major spoiler, but there is some casting news that will at least give us some indication of how far into the graphic novels we will get to see in Season 2.




EDIT -- Messed up a name.

A good friend of mine got to be a zombie in some of the season 2 shooting in Atlanta because she won some online contest, but she cant talk about the details or even post pictures until September or they sue her, but she said it was a great experience

that's awesome!

Season 2 Trailer just aired at Comic Con.

http://www.amctv.com/the-walking-dea...from-comic-con

Looks awesome.

Can't wait.

Agree. The scenes from the FIRST EPISODE look awesome. Just as it did last year. Then it all went to hell. I'm in for the long haul, because I need a good zombie show to watch, but I'm worried this is going to be Heroes 2.0.

I guess it's entirely possible.

I loved last season. Thought it was fantastic from beginning to end. I feel it surpassed the excellent source material in most respects. Never felt like it "went to hell."

I get no sense at all of a Heroes 2.0 situation (none), but, then again, I got no sense at all of a Heroes 2.0 situation after the first season of Heroes. It was only during the second season did it completely fall apart.

I think the odds of that happening to this show are quite remote, but can't say it's impossible.

TWD at least has vetted source material so long as they don't stray from that they can avoid the shit that Heroes turned into. Heroes felt like there were 354 writers writing it.

My biggest compliant with this show was the opposite of my compliant in most movies / tv shows. In most movies, highly trained soldiers miss guys running 20 feet away with no cover. In The Walking Dead, every round fired is a kill shot.

I just finished reading issue 51 of Walking Dead and it's one of my favorite comic books ever. I can't talk about it because it's waaaaay into spoiler territory, but the story is so personal and so powerful, I haven't been moved by a comic book like that in a long time.

Yup, some of the characters totally changed personalities multiple times in a single season. It was insane how badly it was written. Sure people change, but there's usually a journey that gets them to their new place. These guys just changed because they need to get to the next plot point.

Blasted blocked video outside of the U.S. Any YouTube link?

Here you go.

Might need to bust out Left 4 Dead for a zombie fix...

You could be like me and get addicted to Stupid Zombies. :)

Some phone game?

Yup! And it's crazy addicting, lol.

Ugh. This is probably not a good thing:

‘WALKING DEAD’ SHOCKER: Frank Darabont Steps Down As Showrunner – Deadline.com

Kinda surprising. Hopefully someone can step in and do a good job replacing him.

I say they should bring in George.

Romero?

Or for the love god, no. Please no...

It sounds like he just wasn't up for the daily grind of a tv series. It sounds like the work, time and pressures involved are a lot different than what's involved in making a film. Makes sense, I suppose.

I agree. Hopefully whoever replaces him is solid.

It says some guy involved with The Shield could step in... I thought that was a decent show, so maybe this isn't a horrible thing. Seems like there is drama with this show though, wasn't the entire writing staff fired last season?

Downloaded it a couple days ago. Good stuff! Thanks for the tip.

Sure thing. It's a fun one. But I wish I wasn't up playing it late at night when I should be sleeping, lol.

I finished watching season one last night, picked it up from the library last week and watched an episode a night. I loved it, great first season, and I'm really looking forward to the 2nd season.

Bump...

Just a reminder that season 2 begins on Sunday @ 9:00 PM EST on AMC.

Can't wait.

Going to be a hard decision come Sunday night- Which do I watch first Boardwalk empire or Walking Dead...

In preparation of season 2 (tomorrow!) here is a link to a very short little "Walking Dead" web series. There are 6 "webisodes". They tell the back story of that half-zombie from the first episode that Rick saw when he got that bike and that went back and killed at the very end in the park. For short, little web deals they're pretty good.

http://www.amctv.com/the-walking-dead/videos/the-walking-dead-webisodes-1-a-new-day

Thanks for link, nice story to wet the appetite for tomorrow.

I was in Paris several weeks ago and walked by the Walking Dead poster. Nice ... Paris would be a great city for a zombie movie!

Walking Dead recently was added to Netflix as well. Good way to catch up.

Bumpity for a reminder that Season 2 premiere is tonight a 9p (8 central)

Bumpity for those DVR'ing it, the season premiere is 90 minutes

zombies always creep me out and i have a hard time watching zombie movies

That wasn't a great episode for me.

Felt like a lot of running in place and very little action OR plot movement.

Upset by the ending, very contrived IMO. Didn't seem realistic to put the child in that situation.

Not the best episode in the series. Lot of setup.

Loved the opening segment, got us back to the zombie tension, was a great way to get everyone back into the groove for a new season.

The ending, eh, the shock value was enough to override any contrivance for me. I was expecting one of two really big things there, got neither of them, so it actually worked for me (and I see how it works for storyline purposes, both canonical & perhaps non-canon as well). For them to get where I think they're trying to go in the first half of the new season (we get 7 eps, then a break til February 2012 before the other 6 eps), I figure the group dynamic storyline stuff is going to have to move fairly quickly, because I think we'll move on to a new location for those last six,ending with the first half with major drama (and fatalities) in ep 7. Point being, I expect this might be the most action packed episode of the fall segment, I'm okay with the main plot being slowed a bit here since I fear we're going to be caught up in a lot of melodrama for the next several weeks.

I liked it well enough.

The herd scene was well done. Very tense.

Some very good character moments.

Some solid zombie kills.

I was thinking about the idea of "plot movement". The plot is pretty much how these characters react to and survive a zombie apocalypse. It's not like "Lost" or any other episodic show where there is some giant over arching plot that the show is moving towards. The whole concept behind the comic, as stated a few times by Kirkman, is the "zombie movie that never ends." It's the trials and tribulations that this group of people face in a zombie apocalypse. Sometimes that will involve a lot of "running in place", missing children, time spent in traffic jams, etc.

There was a lot of setup, which is fine. They are drawing lines within the group, establishing some dynamics based on recent events and the like.

The ending is pretty much straight from the comic and a pretty big link to sort of the next "phase" in the series.

Question, which I believe I can phrase in a way that there's no spoilering at all.
(I haven't read the comic series, but I've skimmed some summaries enough to know a little about the basics)

Q: I'm expecting the next "phase" to be wrapped up at the end of the first half of this season. Does that seem about right to you? (I'm gathering you know the original source material).

Preview clip for next week's episode, just a conversation between T-Dog & Dale but it's a heck of an interesting conversation. Don't watch if you don't like having even smaller stuff spoiled for you.
http://www.amctv.com/the-walking-dea...2-bloodletting

Thinking things over with the mention of Lost, it will be interesting if they can get things moving along well enough or jump forward somehow, so that they can avoid the Walt/aging factor with the kids in this show.

Yeah, I think that sounds right.

I agree, that seems about where it will be too...

The ending just didn't seem believable to me, allowing the boy to do that. Didn't seem to fit with the characters and risk aversion.

Ignoring that, I agree with the points that the next six episodes look like they are heading in a interesting direction.

Really?

It seemed they spent the whole episode hinting that the kid was 'growing up', challenging authority, wanting to take on more,etc etc.

He was told to stay 'within eyesight' about a half dozen times, which he was clearly still doing. Oh well.

Overall, I liked it. For a show with a six or seven episode season, Id rather not have ANY idea whats about to happen or what direction things are heading in.

If people didn't like last nights ending they should give up on the show now because it only gets crazier (based on the books anyway).

Last night's premiere of The Walking Dead scored around a 3.8 national adults 18-49 rating (up from last year's season/series premiere 2.7 adults 18-49 rating) and 7.3 million viewers for the 9-10:30p telecast.

And set the all-time record for viewing of a drama on basic cable.

said Charlie Collier, AMC’s president. “That ‘The Walking Dead’ is now the most watched drama in the history of basic cable is staggering, just like our zombies.”

Am I the only one who thought that the ending sequence last night was a dream because of the way it was shot? I know from this thread that it wasn't a dream but still, I had that impression when I first saw it.

I never thought "dream" ... I was thinking

Way too boring, way too many hackneyed, contrived "personal drama" scenes. About 8 minutes of "red meat". The acting is terrible. A good example of this is Rick's monologue with bleeding Jesus (and his opening monologue...heck, any of his monologues).

The silver lining is that the zombie herd scene was awesome, so there is a little hope. Hopefully most of these actors get killed off this season (kill Shane...please?) and we get some better replacements.

Not as bad as the Vatos episode, but underwhelming.

It's interesting, because the single worst drawn panel in the entire series is the one where the kid gets shot. I think I could have drawn it. That said, it was much more interesting in the comic because you weren't sure wtf just happened. On the tv show, by the way the scene was set up, you instantly know it was an accident. Not sure why they decided to take out that element of mystery.

I wonder if it was Daryl's brother making the shot?

(I have not read any comics, so I have no clue)