The Walking Dead!

[FSTargetDrone]

I haven't seen any other recent incarnation of the zombie apocalypse stories, so I'm giving this a pass in terms of It's Been Done Before. What I'm more concerned about is that this stays a limited series or that the story covers at the most months and not years. As discussed elsewhere, unless the Walking Dead are animated by magic or some other supernatural element, they should literally be falling to pieces sooner or later. The crawling woman's body was terribly ravaged with intestines and gristle hanging off of her, yet she was able to pull herself along the ground for quite some distance. She was breathing too (gasping, actually), as were the others, so evidently respiration is occurring.

I'm not at all convinced that the Dead are mindless. The behavior of Morgan's wife, the girl killed by Grimes and something I saw in the preview for tonight's episode is really making me think that something else is going in their heads. That is, some acting on memory, or thinking (in a basic way, perhaps).

[Gil Hamilton]

Well, yeah, because they are by all appearances Romero zombies. Bites that hasten death, but any death that leaves the central nervous system intact will rise as a zombie. Zombies cling somewhat mindlessly to the things they were attached to in their mortal existence. They aren't merely sick, and only destroying the brain will kill them. Travel in hordes, but have Zombie Radar so they only fight non-zombies.

Pretty much the play by play.

[Xon]

It's not supernatural Zombie Radar, infact it's a plot-point of the second episode that smell and noise is what they are attracted by. They dress in zombie guts (with disposable clothing with rubber gloves, to get past the Zombie Horde and then drive around with a car with the car alarm going off later to pull the horde off the building a group was camped in so they can pull everyone else out of the building.

As for why the Zombie outbreak occured(only hints in the TV Series so far, but spoilers for later); Spoiler

A super-flu wiped out something like half the worlds population inside of a few months, then the dead started rising.

[Zixinus]

I liked this one even better. Now THAT is a way to leave the city in style.

Liked the bit about the racist though. Sort of got what he deserved.

[Chardok]

I liked this one even better. Now THAT is a way to leave the city in style.

Liked the bit about the racist though. Sort of got what he deserved.

Spoiler

I don't think he's done. Notice that T-Dog knocked over that tool bag which included, among other things, a hacksaw. five bucks says he hunts them down and totally Oswalds them

[Azazal]

I'm not at all convinced that the Dead are mindless. The behavior of Morgan's wife, the girl killed by Grimes and something I saw in the preview for tonight's episode is really making me think that something else is going in their heads. That is, some acting on memory, or thinking (in a basic way, perhaps).

I'm guessing you mean using rocks to smash the store windows. Agreed, not a very typical zombie action. Though I was surprised none of them tried to climb up the ladder after Grimes and the kid. Also, even though he did not appear in this episode, did anyone else get a glint of intelligence form the bus zombie in last week's episode? Just the way he was looking at Grimes on the horse, seemed like there were some gear firing there.

As for the episode, a bit slow, but not bad, a background build up episode.

[Zixinus]

I'm guessing you mean using rocks to smash the store windows. Agreed, not a very typical zombie action. Though I was surprised none of them tried to climb up the ladder after Grimes and the kid.

I think one of them did try but couldn't quite menage.

Also, even though he did not appear in this episode, did anyone else get a glint of intelligence form the bus zombie in last week's episode? Just the way he was looking at Grimes on the horse, seemed like there were some gear firing there.

I think he might have appeared at one point, following Grimes and the kid when they're covered in blood. Not sure though.

[FSTargetDrone]

I'm guessing you mean using rocks to smash the store windows. Agreed, not a very typical zombie action. Though I was surprised none of them tried to climb up the ladder after Grimes and the kid. Also, even though he did not appear in this episode, did anyone else get a glint of intelligence form the bus zombie in last week's episode? Just the way he was looking at Grimes on the horse, seemed like there were some gear firing there.

Yup, the rocks.

I was waiting for Grimes to drop the grenade down the ladder cage after he and the kid escaped up the side of the building. At least, that's what I would have done in Left 4 Dead.

[loomer]

I liked this one even better. Now THAT is a way to leave the city in style.

Liked the bit about the racist though. Sort of got what he deserved.

That's kind of cold, man. Dying of thirst is pretty unpleasant. Ask me, the humane thing would've been to put him down.

[FSTargetDrone]

That's kind of cold, man. Dying of thirst is pretty unpleasant. Ask me, the humane thing would've been to put him down.

To be fair, the guy with him on the roof (the man he assaulted and beat rather badly) did try to go back and unlock him. It's not as if they left him there on purpose. He (the victim of the beating) also locked the door to the roof, to shield the handcuffed guy from the horde, at least for awhile. Maybe he thought there would be some way for him to get free on his own. And it's not like there was a lot of time to stand around and discuss the situation. The Dead were well on their way to the roof by then.

[loomer]

<snip for length>

Oh, yeah, I know that part. And I'm pretty sure the guy is coming back (the black guy dropped his tools, afterall). I'm just not sure that leaving a guy to die of thirst (assuming he doesn't get free) is any kind of justice, unlike Zix.

[Vympel]

I like this show. Does anyone ever address what zombies do after they eat something? How come we never see zombie poop?

[Vympel]

Actually, the bottom hatch really is there in that tank. I believe it was an M60 Patton that he crawled into, which does have a bottom escape hatch (Abrams don't). The only problem is that the US doesn't have any Pattons in service anymore except as museum pieces and it's not like zombies are capable of destoying enough modern tanks that it would be an issue. I mean, what is a zombie horde going to do to an Abrams other than possibly gunking up its treads?

It's a UK Chieftain tank actually.

[Meest]

I like it but with nitpicks more about character priority and stupidity. Why didn't they barricade the front door, they had a tons of scrap in the store. Also why abandon their bats and protective gear, they seemed to handle 2 zombies pretty easily with just bats, why not go into the sewer with at least melee weapons. Little things like that but not enough to make it annoying, like I let the whole car alarm thing pass, not sure if that model has an engine immobilizer with the alarm.

[Zixinus]

That's kind of cold, man. Dying of thirst is pretty unpleasant.

I know. That's why I said "sort of" rather than "exactly". Slightly more ideal would have been if the black guy (I'm terrible with names) would have thrown him the hacksaw, sort of saying "you fucked with me, I fuck with you" while still giving him a fighting chance. Of course, it is likely that they simply forgot that option.

Why didn't they barricade the front door, they had a tons of scrap in the store.

Because it would have only brought them a little time and it might have been a better solution to save their energy for escaping. Sure, there was a lot of crap in the store, but it would have taken time and energy to move it all, with possibly fairly little point.

Then again, they could have had the mind to cover up the window, to not allow the zombies to see in.

Also why abandon their bats and protective gear, they seemed to handle 2 zombies pretty easily with just bats, why not go into the sewer with at least melee weapons.

Because it was shown to be unsafe and because the grating would have taken too much time to brake (if they could at all). If there is one walker, there likely to be more. Even if they weren't any zombies, the sewers were a bad idea: do you know the sewer layout? Do you think that the sewers remained OK after the outbreak? Do you think that every door will be open? Do you think that tightly enclosed and dark spaces are the best way to move around against an enemy that doesn't need to see and can easily overwhelm you?

[loomer]

I know. That's why I said "sort of" rather than "exactly". Slightly more ideal would have been if the black guy (I'm terrible with names) would have thrown him the hacksaw, sort of saying "you fucked with me, I fuck with you" while still giving him a fighting chance. Of course, it is likely that they simply forgot that option.

Fair enough then - personally I think it's more likely the black guy forgot rather than the writers (remember, they did have him drop his tools...)

[Azazal]

I like this show. Does anyone ever address what zombies do after they eat something? How come we never see zombie poop?

They poop their pants? OK, got that out, that is a good question, we saw the zombies sniffing Grimes and Glenn, are other bodily functions working as well? Will they digest the eaten meat or will it keep gathering in their gut until their skin ruptures and their guts spill out?

I like it but with nitpicks more about character priority and stupidity. Why didn't they barricade the front door, they had a tons of scrap in the store. Also why abandon their bats and protective gear, they seemed to handle 2 zombies pretty easily with just bats, why not go into the sewer with at least melee weapons.

From the looks of it there were all sorts of clothing racks in the store, but we never saw any wood or such to block the doors with. The racks would have been a stop gap barrier at best, the zombies would have been able to push or crawl over the racks in a few minutes. As for the melee weapons, like they said in the first episode, a handful of zombies are easy to handle, but in a large riled hungry mob, they are very dangerous. Once in the sewers, there isn't much room to swing a bat, so there is no guaranteeing of one hit knocking out a zombie. Look at home many hits they used on the 2 they killed in the ally, if there are a couple dozen in the sewers, the zombies are going to win.

[Chardok]

TO be fair - they may have been wailing on the two in the alley "just to be sure"Grimes killed one with one whack of an Entrenching tool as he exited the tank. I don't get the feeling that they're all that hard to one-shot at all.

[FSTargetDrone]

Unless they were using aluminum bats, wooden bats will break after a few solid hits. Heck, they could break after one.

[Zixinus]

That, and think how exposed the survivors actually are: it only takes one scratch or bite for them to effectively die. For that reason, melee combat is an obvious last resort.

Again, it's due to numbers: they could not have faced the crowd. After all, how many guns do you think they had? Three, perhaps five and god knows how little ammo. Even if they didn't, they would still be overwhelmed: the noise would have attracted the whole city.

My only alternative idea is to set them afire and hope that the building doesn't follow.

[CaptainChewbacca]

Yeah, bats against a zombie is dangerous. One bit of blood spatter in your face or on an open cut and you're done for.

My main gripe was that rain shouldn't have washed off dried blood that easily.

[Chardok]

Yeah, bats against a zombie is dangerous. One bit of blood spatter in your face or on an open cut and you're done for.

My main gripe was that rain shouldn't have washed off dried blood that easily.

It was pretty fresh IIRC. I mean, they only minutes before hacked up the guy whose name I forget LOL

[spaceviking]

Expanding on the Zombie melee issue.. we saw a pack of zombies rip a part a horse pretty quickly, is this something humans would be physically capable of or would these zombies need to have enhanced strength.

[FSTargetDrone]

Expanding on the Zombie melee issue.. we saw a pack of zombies rip a part a horse pretty quickly, is this something humans would be physically capable of or would these zombies need to have enhanced strength.

The zombies are seen with various injuries, so this raises a further set of questions: DO they actually continue to decay after reanimation? Why doesn't their muscle tissue tear apart? Or does it? Exposed to the elements after death, the bodies should be falling to pieces before too long. Maggots should be all over these corpses within a few days at the most. But I can't recall seeing any flies or maggots around any of the walkers. If decay is somehow arrested (as it appears), what is it that does this? Something is keeping these bodies from dissolving into puddles of clotted gore.

Anyway, the walkers seem to respire, but do they? Blood loss is evidently not an issue, as the crawling half-woman in the pilot shows (on this particular issue, I submit she was somehow torn in half, died and then was back in action).

[Xon]

From the comics; The zombies decay from weather and physical events. Bacterial decay, however appears to stop. The walkers respire because it's like an ingrained habit. Just like that child walker picked up the stuffed toy and carried it around.

This actually leads to the 2nd type of zombie which the tv show has only hinted at so far. Lurkers, zombies which looks just like dead bodies and don't move or make any sound untill a living human gets within grabbing range. This describes the zombie we see in the tank at the end of episode 1. Later, this should result in a number of nasty deaths till the human cast learn about them.