The Walking Dead (AMC) - News/Speculation/Discussion SPOILERS to be tagged

[MattSilver 3k]

An excellent post, worthy of the Gateworld Hall of Fame (if we had one).

Damn. Straight.

[the fifth man]

They've said the series premiere will be on Halloween (a Sunday). And since all other AMC original series air on Sunday nights I think it's a safe bet that this will be a Sunday night show.

That will be great if it premieres on Halloween. I really hope it will be a two-hour premiere too.

[Sp!der]

Allow me to educate you!

Now, the term 'zombie flick' was no doubt brought upon by the Romero movies, Night of the Living Dead and its sequel Dawn of the Dead helping give image to the classic, and the best, kind of zombie: An actual dead corpse person, brought back to life. If anybody dies, they come back as a zombie, unable to be killed for good unless the brain is destroyed (Cutting off the head doesn't work, unfortunately). Zombie bites speed up the rate of death, which in turn leads to zombification.

Now, that's the 'classic' zombie. Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead Remake set out to take the 'classic' image and created what we dub, the 'fast' zombie. Unlike the Classic, the Fast can only be made into zombies through bites from other zombies. Normal deaths not involving destroying the brain, do not result in reanimation. But why are the Fast different than 28 Days Later's Infected? Simple. They die before reanimating. They're still corpses, but these guys run because of whatever virus that infects the blood of the Fast zombie, and they pass it on to others through bites, hence the running.

28 Days Later and its sequel, 28 Weeks Later, adhere to the class of monsters called 'Infected'. They. Are. Not. Zombies. Zombies are corpses that can only be put down by a bullet to the brain. The Infected, meanwhile, are people who were exposed to a virus through blood or saliva contact, known as Rage. Rage does just that - it makes the person infected into a mindless monster always running and hunting down folk to kill. Now, note this as well - zombies eat people. Infected, do not. Hell, the reveal at the end of 28 Days Later reveals that the Infected are starving to death. Meanwhile, in Romero's Land of the Dead, the zombie plague has been around for half a dozen years or so, and the Classics are not dying of starvation. They're already dead. They eat people, sure, but they don't need to.

People often confuse the term 'Zombie flick' for what is actually a 'Pseudo-Apocalyptic movie involving monsters resembling people chasing other people we're supposed to sympathise with'. I've heard idiots call I Am Legend a zombie flick. No. They're vampires, kids. Kinda vampires, but that's another whole mess of **** I DO NOT WANT TO GO INTO RIGHT NOW. Feckin' Twilight... Anyways, if somebody sees 28 Days Later and sees a pseudo-Apocalyptic world with monsters chasing humans, they cannot be forgiven for thinking "Zombie!" They are idiots, who can't even tell that the Infected are not corpses, and can die as easily as normal human. For lack of a better oversimplification, the Infected in 28 Days Later are just people on a particularly nasty strain of some drug, and transmit through blood and stuff. Zombies are corpses.

Zombies are better.

Consider yourself schooled, bud.

ok, thanks mate , maybe I should check out 28 Days Later anyway.... wasnt Carlyle in it too? or was it 28 Weeks Later? that the monsters in I AM LEGEND was not zombies, I noticed that although I do not like will smith, I liked that one.

[EvilSpaceAlien]

ok, thanks mate , maybe I should check out 28 Days Later anyway.... wasnt Carlyle in it too? or was it 28 Weeks Later? that the monsters in I AM LEGEND was not zombies, I noticed that although I do not like will smith, I liked that one.

He was in 28 Weeks Later, but both movies are great. I think you should watch them.

[Sp!der]

He was in 28 Weeks Later, but both movies are great. I think you should watch them.

okay Ill watch them these days... but it scares the hell out of me these movies so Ill watch them in the morning or evening i guess

[the fifth man]

okay Ill watch them these days... but it scares the hell out of me these movies so Ill watch them in the morning or evening i guess

Come on, watch them late at night. The later the better IMO.

[Wayston]

Allow me to educate you!

Now, the term 'zombie flick' was no doubt brought upon by the Romero movies, Night of the Living Dead and its sequel Dawn of the Dead helping give image to the classic, and the best, kind of zombie: An actual dead corpse person, brought back to life. If anybody dies, they come back as a zombie, unable to be killed for good unless the brain is destroyed (Cutting off the head doesn't work, unfortunately). Zombie bites speed up the rate of death, which in turn leads to zombification.

Now, that's the 'classic' zombie. Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead Remake set out to take the 'classic' image and created what we dub, the 'fast' zombie. Unlike the Classic, the Fast can only be made into zombies through bites from other zombies. Normal deaths not involving destroying the brain, do not result in reanimation. But why are the Fast different than 28 Days Later's Infected? Simple. They die before reanimating. They're still corpses, but these guys run because of whatever virus that infects the blood of the Fast zombie, and they pass it on to others through bites, hence the running.

28 Days Later and its sequel, 28 Weeks Later, adhere to the class of monsters called 'Infected'. They. Are. Not. Zombies. Zombies are corpses that can only be put down by a bullet to the brain. The Infected, meanwhile, are people who were exposed to a virus through blood or saliva contact, known as Rage. Rage does just that - it makes the person infected into a mindless monster always running and hunting down folk to kill. Now, note this as well - zombies eat people. Infected, do not. Hell, the reveal at the end of 28 Days Later reveals that the Infected are starving to death. Meanwhile, in Romero's Land of the Dead, the zombie plague has been around for half a dozen years or so, and the Classics are not dying of starvation. They're already dead. They eat people, sure, but they don't need to.

People often confuse the term 'Zombie flick' for what is actually a 'Pseudo-Apocalyptic movie involving monsters resembling people chasing other people we're supposed to sympathise with'. I've heard idiots call I Am Legend a zombie flick. No. They're vampires, kids. Kinda vampires, but that's another whole mess of **** I DO NOT WANT TO GO INTO RIGHT NOW. Feckin' Twilight... Anyways, if somebody sees 28 Days Later and sees a pseudo-Apocalyptic world with monsters chasing humans, they cannot be forgiven for thinking "Zombie!" They are idiots, who can't even tell that the Infected are not corpses, and can die as easily as normal human. For lack of a better oversimplification, the Infected in 28 Days Later are just people on a particularly nasty strain of some drug, and transmit through blood and stuff. Zombies are corpses.

Zombies are better.

Consider yourself schooled, bud.

so the creatures from resident evil are they zombies or infected? I remember the baddies from the first movie all died and reanimated but IIRC the virus also simply took over the living without making them die first. I do think they all needed to be shot in the head to be killed, but I'm not sure...

[MattSilver 3k]

so the creatures from resident evil are they zombies or infected? I remember the baddies from the first movie all died and reanimated but IIRC the virus also simply took over the living without making them die first. I do think they all needed to be shot in the head to be killed, but I'm not sure...

Resident Evil the movie? I'll say Zombie. The technicians and such from the first movie were all killed and then reanimated by the T-Virus, and numbers only started to spread by infection through biting. The person bitten eventually dies, and then the T-Virus transmitted through the saliva reanimates them. The RE Zombies were a lot like the Classic, in that the T-Virus made them reanimate after death, they were slow, and the bites sped up the process (In the second film, the guy at the end got shot and killed, and then reanimated, so it must've been airborne T-Virus making them closer to Romero Classic).

Then again, the RE movies played very fast and loose with their own damn rules. Basically, since it takes death for the RE Zombies to come about, they're zombies and not Infected. But, T-Virus infection on other creatures and stuff makes them closer to Infected, because we don't expressly know if the creatures being mutated by the virus died first or not - for example, we don't know if the Infected dogs died first and became zombie dogs in the film. Then again, it's been a while since I've seen the films, so I'll say the RE Film Zombies were Classic, but there were still those that might've infected by the T-Virus and mutated while alive. Also, the third film had the baddies turning the Zombies themselves into Super!Zombies, making them Infected Undead, basically.

Stupid inconsistent film.

[the fifth man]

I watched the trailer again just now, and it really got me excited. I really hope this show is as good as it looks, and that it does well for AMC.

[DigiFluid]

That will be great if it premieres on Halloween. I really hope it will be a two-hour premiere too.

Well it looks like you're (and I'm!) in luck, because word from AMC is that it'll be a 90-minute premiere episode

And thank god they're not pulling a Rubicon and making us wait ages for the second episode, the series is premiering and then carrying on as a normal series:

1.01 -- Oct 31
1.02 -- Nov 7
1.03 -- Nov 14
1.04 -- Nov 21
1.05 -- TBA
1.06 -- TBA

[the fifth man]

Well it looks like you're (and I'm!) in luck, because word from AMC is that it'll be a 90-minute premiere episode

And thank god they're not pulling a Rubicon and making us wait ages for the second episode, the series is premiering and then carrying on as a normal series:

1.01 -- Oct 31
1.02 -- Nov 17
1.03 -- Nov 14
1.04 -- Nov 21
1.05 -- TBA
1.06 -- TBA

Sweet! That is really great news, on all counts.

[Snowman37]

How many episodes will the first season feature? Will the 90-minute premiere be two-hours, 90 minutes without commercials; or will it be 90 minutes with commercials (63 without)?

[DigiFluid]

How many episodes will the first season feature? Will the 90-minute premiere be two-hours, 90 minutes without commercials; or will it be 90 minutes with commercials (63 without)?

The first season will be comprised of the 90-minute premiere and 5 hour-long episodes, for a total of 6 episodes this season. If other AMC original series are any indication, the hour-long episodes will clock in at approximately 47 minute.

[Snowman37]

How do you define a 90-minute episode? I define it as a two-hour episode with the commercial breaks editted out, leaving the viewer with a 90-minute episode. An example of this would be the series premiere of Stargate: Atlantis. "Rising" was a two-hour TV movie event, but on DVD, it's about 90 minutes long.

Thanks for the info. How come it will only be six episodes? Is AMC unsure of the show?

[DigiFluid]

How do you define a 90-minute episode? I define it as a two-hour episode with the commercial breaks editted out, leaving the viewer with a 90-minute episode. An example of this would be the series premiere of Stargate: Atlantis. "Rising" was a two-hour TV movie event, but on DVD, it's about 90 minutes long.

It hasn't been announced or made official yet, but I imagine that it means it'll probably get a 90-minute timeslot. In TV lingo, 'Rising' for instance is referred to as a two-hour pilot when, minus commercials, it clocks in at about 85 minutes. It hasn't been clarified yet, but I suspect it means that the WD premiere will be 10-1130pm.

Thanks for the info. How come it will only be six episodes? Is AMC unsure of the show?

Well in the first place, AMC's original series are pretty much always 13-episode seasons so 6 isn't really that big of a deal. But with WD I think it probably comes down to budgetary reasons. It looks to be almost entirely on-location shooting (much more difficult and expensive than on-set), there's licensing fees to consider (the comic series upon which this is based), big-shot film guy Frank Darabont is heavily involved, Bear McCreary is scoring, and the make-up alone probably costs a fortune.

[Snowman37]

Thankyou for explaining. I am glad that Bear McCreary will be providing the score, his music for Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles was awesome. How come AMC shows are only 13-episode seasons? I miss the days when 26 episodes per season was the norm. Note that this is because I only keep up with a few shows per year. For 2009-10, I watched Sanctuary and plan to catch up with Stargate: Universe. That's only 33 episodes. This fall, I'll be watching The Walking Dead if the pilot impresses me.

[DigiFluid]

I am glad that Bear McCreary will be providing the score, his music for Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles was awesome.

I first became acquainted with Bear McCreary's work for Battlestar Galactica and have loved everything I've heard him do since then.

How come AMC shows are only 13-episode seasons? I miss the days when 26 episodes per season was the norm.

Again, it really comes down to budget. You'll notice that really all premium-cable produced TV series only have 12-13 episode seasons. You really don't have to look any further than AMC and HBO's original series programming. It's partially a matter of cable networks not having as much financial backing as the major networks, but also because these original series have such huge production values. You can really see it in shows like Mad Men or Deadwood.

Note that this is because I only keep up with a few shows per year. For 2009-10, I watched Sanctuary and plan to catch up with Stargate: Universe. That's only 33 episodes. This fall, I'll be watching The Walking Dead if the pilot impresses me.

Hey, at least you only have a few shows per year to watch. I watch way, way too many

[Snowman37]

I guess I'm just used to ABC-CBS-NBC-FOX-UPN and syndication. The only made for cable shows I've followed is Stargate (SG-1, Atlantis, Universe) and Sanctuary. Sanctuary is the first show I've watched following the 13-episodes-per-season rule. Fortunately, the third season's been extended to 20 episodes. Woo-hoo!

[Madwelshboy]

The Walking Dead Season 2 is Official

Fangoria insiders have dug up the undead news that after a short 6 episode first season of The Walking Dead - which debuts this Halloween, we're set for more than double that zombie deliciousness and it's coming soon.

Filming is set to begin in February, 2011 with no official television debut set for the AMC show's second season, but producer Gale Anne Hurd also confirms that the series will expand to a set 13 episode season. This is to be expected as many of these harder edge shows run around that length.

Producer/Director Frank Darabont also spoke on his plans for season 2 stating he would love to include some of the environmental elements from volume 2 of series creator Robert Kirkman's epic comic.

"It would be great not just to get out of the heat, but to present a different idea to the audience visually and tonally by having it be winter. There’s some really cool stuff that Kirkman did, where they find the one zombie that’s frozen to the ground. I’d never seen that before and that’s really cool.” said Darabont.

http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansit.../news/?a=22091

[MattSilver 3k]

****. Yes.

Awesome.