• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Fear the Walking Dead - Season One - Sundays on AMC

DrBo42

Member
I'm definitely seeing a lot of people who simply aren't able to divorce what they know about the walkers with what the characters know about the walkers. The characters don't know what's going on. They obviously have encountered enough of the walkers to have an inkling of what's going on, that "you get sick, you die, then you come back and attack people."

This family is a microcosm displaying the breakdown of society. It might not be the full "let's watch a city disintegrate" that some people are looking for, it is consistent with how the show handles these types of things. That is, rather than the grand (and yes, expensive) perspective, they take a small set of people and show how they react/survive in this situation.

But let's take a real life situation (for those of you struggling with "but these characters are stupid!"). Remember the big tsunami in Indonesia in 2004? When the waves receded from the beach, how many people actually went toward the water? Thousands of them. We can sit here in hindsight and say "didn't they know that was a sign of a tsunami and they should be running in the opposite direction?" No, they didn't. They went toward something odd to see what was happening.

So try to take that perspective here. These characters aren't stupid: they simply don't know what is happening and are piecing it together.

I disagree. That tsunami analogy is rather poor. I'd argue that most that do not live on islands have no idea what receding tide means. I think everyone can realize what a snarling human trying to eat your face or eating your neighbors is. Someone either a) on bath salts or b) a zombie. Even if zombies as we know them don't exist in that universe's pop culture, after you see one up close in real life, some gears should start turning in your head. These characters are absolutely stupid, like every horror character that isn't written to be a guide.
 
I disagree. That tsunami analogy is rather poor. I'd argue that most that do not live on islands have no idea what receding tide means. I think everyone can realize what a snarling human trying to eat your face or eating your neighbors is. Someone either a) on bath salts or b) a zombie. Even if zombies as we know them don't exist in that universe's pop culture, after you see one up close in real life, some gears should start turning in your head. These characters are absolutely stupid, like every horror character that isn't written to be a guide.
If they have no concept of what a zombie is, or no knowledge of the concept, why would they ever consider that possibility?
 

DrBo42

Member
If they have no concept of what a zombie is, or no knowledge of the concept, why would they ever consider that possibility?
Nearly all members of the family we're following have encountered them, seen them eating people or been told that they're eating people and THEN encountered them only to try and talk to them etc. It's like no one in this genre has figured out how to write intelligent characters while maintaining suspense.
 
Nearly all members of the family we're following have encountered them, seen them eating people or been told that they're eating people and THEN encountered them only to try and talk to them etc. It's like no one in this genre has figured out how to write intelligent characters while maintaining suspense.
Considering those incidents happened mere hours after they first learned about the outbreak, yeah people trying to talk to them and help them makes perfect sense. The zombies still look human, and the characters don't know if they can be cured, if they're simply sick. Especially the incident with the principal; her trying to help her colleague and friend seems like a completely reasonable thing
 

DrBo42

Member
Considering those incidents happened mere hours after they first learned about the outbreak, yeah people trying to talk to them and help them makes perfect sense. The zombies still look human, and the characters don't know if they can be cured, if they're simply sick. Especially the incident with the principal; her trying to help her colleague and friend seems like a completely reasonable thing
Okay, I'll give you that. The principal is the last time I can accept her character doing that. Then of course, it happens AGAIN.
 

Teemo

Banned
So no signs of walkers for 9 days and we know society still falls apart and it's the end of times for humanity. I still can't believe the national guard is going to lose the battle against the walkers and end up napalming the city. They're already on a shoot first, ask questions later mentality. I hope the writers give us a plausible explanation.
 
So no signs of walkers for 9 days and we know society still falls apart and it's the end of times for humanity. I still can't believe the national guard is going to lose the battle against the walkers and end up napalming the city. They're already on a shoot first, ask questions later mentality. I hope the writers give us a plausible explanation.

The only thing they said in the last episode (during the scene with Ofelia and the sergeant) is that the military are stockpiling supplies in an attempt to retake the city. Guess the rioting was worse than we saw.
 
Okay, I'll give you that. The principal is the last time I can accept her character doing that. Then of course, it happens AGAIN.
With a different character. The mom by that point is obviously changed. She wants to keep her kids safe and she was ready to bash the neighbor's head in a hammer.

Nick is acting smart, and I don't see how the daughter was acting in a stupid way towards zombies.

Travis...maybe his reaction to the neighbor was a bit "come on, really" but he was in denial, and hadn't seen a wake-up call like seeing a zombie with its face blown off still walking around
 

Somnia

Member
So no signs of walkers for 9 days and we know society still falls apart and it's the end of times for humanity. I still can't believe the national guard is going to lose the battle against the walkers and end up napalming the city. They're already on a shoot first, ask questions later mentality. I hope the writers give us a plausible explanation.

The only thing they said in the last episode (during the scene with Ofelia and the sergeant) is that the military are stockpiling supplies in an attempt to retake the city. Guess the rioting was worse than we saw.

They also said they cleared a 5 mile radius around the safe zone so that makes some sense on why we wouldn't see many walkers, plus the military are probably killing any that show up on their patrols outside of the safe zone.

Things are going to get fucked up when walkers begin without anyone realizing it inside the safe zone, that much is obvious.
 

RangerX

Banned
Any one else liking this more then Walking Dead?

Yep I am. I just prefer the overall tone of the show and I seem to be in the minority in that I actually like most of the characters. The daughter is a bit bland but thats about it. I'm also actually enjoying being more informed than the characters are.
 
I think that the last episode gave a different impression to the outbreak than what is actually going down. I think that a lot of people living in the suburbs would have cheesed it out of there like the main family planned. Then any stragglers were either shot by the military or turned then shot. The city could still be going through all the breakdown stuff some people here are hoping for.
 
I never watched the original show but the prequel makes sense so far, as everyone is so incredibly Stupid, now wonder civilisation went to shit.I barely hang on and now 5 minutes in to episode 4 am offended by the stupidity.


"Dad look someone is responding with something like Morse code"

"Come down son I don't have time for this I need to improve my running pace per km"
 
Four episodes in and I'm really enjoying it.

Why do I get the feeling that Alicia will be killing herself soon? It just feels like it's not going to end well for her.

And goddamn at the beatdown the Nick got. Felt good to see it. It was a long time coming.
 
Enjoying this show far more than I originally thought I would. I like seeing the chaos and societal breakdown encroach on the "safety" provided by the military - even within its own ranks.

I never did figure out what the morse code messages were - did they explain them?
 

mm04

Member
I never watched the original show but the prequel makes sense so far, as everyone is so incredibly Stupid, now wonder civilisation went to shit.I barely hang on and now 5 minutes in to episode 4 am offended by the stupidity.


"Dad look someone is responding with something like Morse code"

"Come down son I don't have time for this I need to improve my running pace per km"

That's the one thing that bothers me. Lack of common sense. Forget the zombie interactions, just on the human interactions. The first 2 episodes drove me nuts because it was like "Just come home now, I can't explain to you why your life could be in danger out in the streets because we just ran over this dude like 8 times in our car and he's still alive and coming after us. Instead, I'm going to treat you like you're 5 years old and not a young adult and withhold that info from you. Just come home, now!" . Same thing with Alicia, just withhold that info for as long as you can so when she's faced with a dangerous situation she's confused and wondering WTF is going on.

That all being said, I'm going to continue watching because there's a lot of potential on what kind of story telling they can do here before it just turns into TWD West. Hell, maybe on the West coast things aren't as bad and it's a constant state of martial law and questionable government decisions. I'd be fine with that.
 
Any one else liking this more then Walking Dead?

Not me.

FTWD goes for a more traditional take on the genre. It's set as the apocalypse is happening. I still think its entertaining though! However, I prefer The Walking Dead's approach. The original series takes place in a post-apocalyptic setting, there's no military, no resistance, no bodying power - there's just survivors and the dead. They aren't trying to delay anything or save the world, it's already been taken. It's a story of what people become under these conditions not a story of what they were/are.
 
Not me.

FTWD goes for a more traditional take on the genre. It's set as the apocalypse is happening. I still think its entertaining though! However, I prefer The Walking Dead's approach. The original series takes place in a post-apocalyptic setting, there's no military, no resistance, no bodying power - there's just survivors and the dead. They aren't trying to delay anything or save the world, it's already been taken. It's a story of what people become under these conditions not a story of what they were/are.
That's why I like Fear so much. The stuff you like about the main series has been done so many times in movies and books and comics. It's well trodden and generic

That pre-apocalypse timeframe, during the end but not quite total collapse, is rarely explored

The original Mad Max and nothing else I can really think of atm
 
That's why I like Fear so much. The stuff you like about the main series has been done so many times in movies and books and comics. It's well trodden and generic

That pre-apocalypse timeframe, during the end but not quite total collapse, is rarely explored

The original Mad Max and nothing else I can really think of atm

I feel like its the other way around. Guess I haven't watched enough.

Most Zombie-flicks I've watched have taken place just before and/or just after the break out. We see military resistance and all that stuff. TWD is now years after the break-out, I haven't really seen much like that. Could you recommend me some movies/tv shows where its set years after the world has ended? I'm really interested in watching other stuff like that.
 
The most recent episode was the only one I've really enjoyed so far. I get that they don't know anything and that this is taking them by surprise. In fact, they're handling it very well in terms of mental health in that regard. And as much as I like Salazar (definitely my favorite character), it feels like he's there for convenience. I don't know. I'm watching. I'm willing to give it some time to take shape. I'm interested in what happens after the end of ep 4. I'm not sure I buy Liza's choice, but I don't feel like I know any of these people well enough to really be on board or not, and that's part of my frustration (along with what I said some posts back, that there's little suspense since we know how things largely shake out in this universe).
 
Yeah, I feel they could have done a better job of setting these characters up. Alicia in particular is such a half-assed individual with no depth. They need to do something with her and quick, because her self-loathing is getting tiring. It's like I'm watching a Dashboard Confessional music video everytime she's on-screen.

Andrew Lincoln was able to sell Rick a lot better in a much shorter amount of time. We can relate to him in the opening scenes because he's very personable when he's just shooting the shit about married life with his partner. Compare that to someone like Travis, who's about as charismatic as a piece of cardboard.
 

Bodacious

Banned
Also, the dad totally reminds me of the Wind Waker Shop Owner.
tumblr_nv6uaqvEB61s96c36o1_400.png

Holy Shit!

Vb2jGTz.gif
 
Here we go!

Time to find out Travis learned from what he saw.

That dude's voice sounded a tad bit like a younger Ironside until they showed him, lol.
 
Top Bottom