The Walking Dead

[Anders]

I was very impressed with the first episode. The actors were great, the zombies and gore effects were generally well done, they captured the creepy feeling of waking up in a changed world quite well, and, most importantly, they got the main point of the comic across: It's not about the zombies, it's about the people.

They also had some very nice shots (cinematographically speaking), though I'm a bit skeptical about their use of slow motion during part of the mass scene near the end.

One thing about the actors: I hope they've chosen the kid who plays Carl very carefully. That's got to be one of the hardest roles to pull off in the long run, considering everything he goes through (if they follow the comic).

[lostphrack]

I enjoyed it a lot and I'm planning on sticking around for the rest of it. I haven't really read the series beyond the first TPB so I'm looking forward to checking out all the new material in a few weeks.

The slow motion bit was definitely odd, but I'm guessing it was done to try and avoid the nastiness of the horse being shredded and what not. I'd guess that if there's ever an uncensored/unedited release on DVD that it won't be there...?

[Anders]

I hope it was that. My first thoghts was that they were trying to make it more frightening (didn't work) or trying to hide less than stellar zombie make-up (kinda worked). It was just... jarring.

But overall, top-notch.

[lostphrack]

Yeah, I mean... it could very well be the fact that getting a horse to fall down and let people clammor all over it wasn't really possible without more money for CG or something, so they just tried to cover for that entire scene with slow motion. I really, really hope that wasn't what happened and that my first guess was right.

[Anders]

The hesitation I felt after those slow motion shots has been completely blown away. The quality since then has been top-notch on pretty much all counts, I think. I haven't quite finished watching episode four yet, but unless there's a severe drop in performance I'm in it for the long haul and definitely getting this on DVD once/if it's made available.

I've been thinking of going back and re-reading those early issues of the comic, but I think I'll wait a bit longer. I'm not sure I'll be able to stop reading before I pass the point the show has reached and I don't want to spoil anything - I haven't read those in years - and if I do it before the show has solidified as its own thing in my mind I might start to get annoyed at the inevitable differences.

[K-Box]

Michael Rooker? Still not being paid what he's worth as a character actor. Him on a rooftop managed to be five utterly fascinating minutes of television?

Glenn? "What were you, before this?" "Pizza delivery man." When even the racist good ol' boy who hates you just because of how you look is impressed with you, you've earned your badass cred.

The shootout at the camp? Holy shit. That was awesomely nightmarish.

[Anders]

Agreed on all points. The camp attack was... harrowing is the only word I find that quite fits.

Well, that and awesome.