1.01: Fear The Walking Dead - Pilot

[ctg]

When her drug-addict teenage son Nick is found in shock in the middle of the street as if he has just seen a ghost, Madison tries to understand what happened to him, with the help of her daughter Alicia, and her fiancé, Travis Manawa. They discover it might be linked to the mysterious illness that is spreading at a fast rate in the city of Los Angeles for a few days and inevitably all around the globe soon...

The pilot episode airs in the US August 23rd, and there will be six episodes in total. But fear not Fear The Walking Dead has already been renewed for a second season.

 

[Jesse412]

It was much slower than I anticipated with lots of family drama setup. I thought the opening and the ending were good though and will give the next couple episodes a chance.

 

[Warren_Paul]

So far it's about what I expected, including the family drama. We have to get to know the characters first before we can care about them in the action to come. But I think once things get going it will be pretty intense.

 

[ctg]

Oh, that was wonderful. Not just to see people alive and world full of noises. I couldn't help myself as I shouted on them being stupid for going so boldly into obvious nesting locations. It's so stupid. We know that the virus is in everyone and we've seen through Shane's death how quick it happens, but we have never seen the stupidity of the people caught into middle of it.

Although this is not beginning of the beginning, because they carefully slipped in that the walkers has been seen at least in five states. They don't state the numbers, but I estimate that at this point there are (in states) anywhere between forty to sixty thousand active zombies. Maybe the number is even higher because every death should be considered as one rising. Nobody escapes. Only that might not be true as we haven't seen any grave zombies and they might be the only people who get to escape the fate of everyone.

Without that knowledge the people are f***ed. They don't understand what is going on and therefore the chaos slowly start to spiral. So it's nice to see a functioning city, so full of life, and people even discarding good food. The places aren't trashed. Not even in the shooting alley. Watch all those cars, even police doing their duties like in the old days and think what you know. I bet you say, "They are so stupid!"

Additional musing, centre mass shots aka body shots. Sure the police did the right thing as its what normal people do. Although european's would prefer single shots, it's not unlikely to see one emptying a clip, reloading and continuing doing the same thing, while swearing: "He's on drugs or something..."

 

[REBerg]

I was expecting a slow start, but I could have done with less of the blended family drama.
The learning curve for these citizens is much steeper than it should be. How can anyone living in LA, where life imitates art on a daily basis, not immediately recognize a zombie? Head shots, officers, head shots.

 

[Jesse412]

How can anyone living in LA, where life imitates art on a daily basis, not immediately recognize a zombie?

Kirkman has said before that there are no Romero movies in TWD.

 

[ctg]

I was expecting a slow start, but I could have done with less of the blended family drama.

io9's and wired's journalist were on your line. They didn't see or couldn't understand that this series is set in the beginning and not during or after the zombie invasion. Equally they were saying that they don't need to know anything, zombies should just have arrived and done their bits instead of devoting time to fill in a bit of backstory rather than making them all stoic zombie killing machines.

Is that what you expected from the series?

 

[ctg]

On more serious note I wish they would devote more time on nerdy stuff while the power is still on. But I have to say it is going to be very interesting to watch how the family reacts and how they prepare to meet these undead people head-on. It's not like they have had time to read the essential survival guides or dip in the comics/movies to educate themselves. How would you guys do it without any knowledge of zombie apocalypse?

 

[Warren_Paul]

io9's and wired's journalist were on your line. They didn't see or couldn't understand that this series is set in the beginning and not during or after the zombie invasion. Equally they were saying that they don't need to know anything, zombies should just have arrived and done their bits instead of devoting time to fill in a bit of backstory rather than making them all stoic zombie killing machines.

That's a pretty sad attitude towards the show they have then. I think the journalists missed the point of the show and failed to understand that if it was just a zombie massacre without any character development then the characters would fall flat and the story would be weak.

I think the mistake the writers have made wasn't showing the family drama, it was creating unlikeable characters.

People would be okay with the family drama if they could actually get behind and support the characters, but after the first episode, I found the only enjoyable main character is Travis, simply because he's more honest and open about what's going on, and he's an awesome teacher, and very supportive character. The mother's denial and blindness throughout the entire episode was plain annoying.

The sister might be okay, but so far she hasn't done anything to really make me want to care for her, and while Frank Dillane might get nominated to receive awards for his portrayal of a drug addict after that first episode, the untrustworthy betrayal he demonstrates during the episode makes it very hard to care about his character's survival in future episodes to come. I guess I just have no patience for weak characters like him.

The learning curve for these citizens is much steeper than it should be. How can anyone living in LA, where life imitates art on a daily basis, not immediately recognize a zombie? Head shots, officers, head shots.

Kirkman has said before that there are no Romero movies in TWD.

Jesse is correct.

What we are watching is an alternative reality. Just because zombie stories and flicks exist in real life doesn't mean they exist in the reality that we are being shown on the show. For the story to work the concept of zombies must be something completely alien that the characters have never even entertained the thought of.

Otherwise at first sight of one it would be, "oh hey look, a zombie. Don't let it bite you. Shoot it in the head," and the story would be over without any real conflict. They would already know how to solve the problem before it even became a problem.

 

[ctg]

I think the mistake the writers have made wasn't showing the family drama, it was creating unlikeable characters.

People would be okay with the family drama if they could actually get behind and support the characters, but after the first episode, I found the only enjoyable main character is Travis, simply because he's more honest and open about what's going on, and he's an awesome teacher, and very supportive character. The mother's denial and blindness throughout the entire episode was plain annoying.

The sister might be okay, but so far she hasn't done anything to really make me want to care for her, and while Frank Dillane might get nominated to receive awards for his portrayal of a drug addict after that first episode, the untrustworthy betrayal he demonstrates during the episode makes it very hard to care about his character's survival in future episodes to come. I guess I just have no patience for weak characters like him.

I don't think there has been a series in the history that has made me to root for the characters at the beginning. They could have gone down scientist PoV and show viewers when the science community got a hint about upcoming devastation. Equally they could had written something similar to what happened at the beginning of last years Ebola outbreak, and shown that there were "interested" people doing a "data-mining operation" that "they'd briefed on WHO" earlier. Instead of that we got a pimple faced youth with a small fruit knife in his pocket mumbling something that "it has crosses five state-lines." That, if nothing else, is a mark of tinfoil stuff seeping back into the mainstream culture.

In fact, I was more interested on seeing how people were totally clueless about the upraise. And like I said, it's nice to hear helicopters droning in many scenes, sirens veiling in the distance, not talking about hearing people chatting and seeing them using mobile phones. All those things are pretty much gone in the original series, and if they appear, they're always plot devices rather than just everyday background items.

However, interestingly I was rooting for the drug kid and cheered when he rammed the truck on a zombified drug dealer purposely. He meant to kill even if it didn't happen. Equally he and his "parents" failed to commit one significant brain injury, so it's back in the days, when people know nothing about the undead.

What the journalists were really expecting? I don't know, but I'm interested to see how the scenario evolves and how soon the "family" finds them escaping the city. Other things I'm waiting to see is government's response, FEMA camps, Quarantine Zones, panic and resulting chaos in ordinary citizens, looting and mass hysteria AND an explosion in zombie numbers.

What would be really interesting to see is Patient Zero and originating location.

 

[REBerg]

A lot of good points made here in initial discussion of a new series.

I knew the plot was going back to the beginning of the apocalypse, and I expected a slow build. Instantly caring about new characters has never happened for me, either. To illustrate how normal society gradually comes to realize what's happening and begin to cope with it, they might have chosen a better focus than a badly blending family with all sorts of extraneous built-in drama. I wasn't expecting Ward, June, Wally and the Beaver, but I wasn't expecting the Osbournes.

I still think they gave us too much family for starters. They could have distributed some of that in the next few episodes and moved the plot along a little more quickly in the pilot.

"Alternate reality" is simply an oxymoron for "anything goes." The sum and substance of The Walking Dead is the gritty reality in which the characters adapt to and survive in a deadly environment (no pun intended). By choosing to create a world in which no previous references to zombies exists, Kirkman does a disservice to Romero and all the others upon whose shoulders he has built his stories.

Zombies are arguably among the most illogical monsters ever conceived, but I find them immeasurably more entertaining than vampires and werewolves. Kirkman could have let prior knowledge of zombies into his worlds. Even as one who has enjoyed living dead hi-jinks for decades, I would have a hard time overcoming my disbelief should I see one approaching me in real life. Gradual acceptance could have worked here for these characters.

The characters' lack of zombie education in both The Walking Dead and the spin-off is just a pet peeve of mine. Despite this glaring omission, I love TWD and will quite probably grow to love its offspring as well. I expect I'll even love the next spin-off Beware of the Flying Dead.

 

[Gnrevolution]

Have to say I agree with ctg and Warren_Paul more than REBerg on the presence of the zombie as a pre-existing monster archetype. If they existed in TWD universe prior to the outbreak it would simply provide too much knowledge to the human population. Everyone knows that the Romeroesque zombies move so slowly (although apparently according to TWD silent as a mouse when it suits) that as soon as it becomes clear of the method to kill them becomes clear (and it wouldn't take long), no matter how many zombies there are it is only ever going to end with humanity winning. You'd have to go down the road of 28 Days Later / World War Z and din some way alter the reality of the zombies in order to throw humanity off track.

TWD is predicated on fact that the lack of knowledge about what to do stalled a response long enough that by the time people realised what needed doing, civilisation had already fallen past the point of no return. TWD is really about the people trying to survive and not the zombies, it has become clear by Season 5 that the zombies in many instances are merely a back drop to the real monsters of the series, other humans. What's not so clear yet (having only been 1 episode) is whether the same mentality is to be applied to this series.

And as mentioned, props to Frank Dillane for his druggie portrayal, at times I kept thinking he looked a bit too much like Keanu Reeves, but then he actually acted and that mask fell away quick enough

 

[REBerg]

Well, I clearly have a minority opinion (of one) on Kirkman's Fear the Zombie History issue. Thus, my final, carefully crafted, impeccably intellectual and logical comment on the topic must be:

Oh, yeah?

 

[ctg]

Oh, yeah?

<3

 

[Judderman]

Well, I clearly have a minority opinion (of one) on Kirkman's Fear the Zombie History issue. Thus, my final, carefully crafted, impeccably intellectual and logical comment on the topic must be:

Oh, yeah?

I agree with you. Just because someone has seen a zombie film doesn't mean they will register immediately that the guy getting shot and getting up is a actually a "real" zombie. Also I think a load of people would be killed before a uniform response of shoot them in the head was put into action. Not like everyone is an equipped target shooter either.

 

[Judderman]

Oh, that was wonderful. Not just to see people alive and world full of noises. I couldn't help myself as I shouted on them being stupid for going so boldly into obvious nesting locations. It's so stupid. We know that the virus is in everyone and we've seen through Shane's death how quick it happens, but we have never seen the stupidity of the people caught into middle of it.

Although this is not beginning of the beginning, because they carefully slipped in that the walkers has been seen at least in five states. They don't state the numbers, but I estimate that at this point there are (in states) anywhere between forty to sixty thousand active zombies. Maybe the number is even higher because every death should be considered as one rising. Nobody escapes.

The characters so far are not likeable but we will root for them all the same. They are trying. I thought the opening scene was excellent. So atmospheric. The boy looks a bit like a vampire himself. Actually this first episode reminded me of The Strain. Both have outbreaks in cities where people aren't fully aware of them and are trying to continue living their lives. I don't think the people in Fear The Walking Dead seemed particularly stupid.

How did you come up with those numbers? Based on death rates?

I thought there might be a little explanation of the cause but we must assume something has been put into or developed in the air worldwide.

 

[ctg]

How did you come up with those numbers? Based on death rates?

Death rates and added up at least two months to the beginning. The estimate is very conservative, and the problem is that everyone has it. The number could be much higher as around hundred fifty thousand dies everyday around the world. In ten days, that would 1.5 million, and in hundred days (four months) 150 million just based on average deaths.

 

[Dave]

Firstly, I liked it and I will watch more.

However, I think you are missing the point regarding the characters. It isn't a case of whether they are above average intelligence, or whether they have watched any Zombie movies; rather the fact is that, based upon what we saw in TWD and the big characters who died in that, these people just don't cut the mustard; they don't have what it will take to survive. It is more a case of attitude. I would give them about three episodes to live unless they can shape up pretty quickly. In the post-apocalyptic scenario people must change quickly or die. You need to be ruthless, driven, hardened, hard-as-nails, single-minded, relentless. I don't see a Rick or a Carol in them, but maybe the story will show how they will change - and that would be interesting to watch.

 

[Droflet]

Yeah, what Dave said.

 

[Denise Tanaka]

I guess I'm late to discover this thread because HULU.com only just recently made the Pilot episode available. (Episode 2 onwards can only be viewed with a subscription, so I have only watched the pilot.)

...based upon what we saw in TWD and the big characters who died in that, these people just don't cut the mustard; they don't have what it will take to survive. It is more a case of attitude. I would give them about three episodes to live unless they can shape up pretty quickly.

I agree! In fact, I was rooting for someone to befall a tragedy. It was really slow paced and not scary at all.