Walking Dead Season 7 **merged**

[MileyDancer]

I noticed that there's less walkers roaming around now. No herds roaming the roads.

The show isn't about walkers anymore. It's a drama. I reluctantly caught up and i bet it's going to take like 2 more episodes before any "fighting" begins.

 

[TellerMorrow34]

Speaking for myself, I was re-energized to know that things are going to start happening and 'the War' will start soon. I had feared that this thing was going to drag on for a long time.

Maybe more viewers will feel that same way after they eventually watch this episode?

I kind of felt that the second half of the season would be the March to War and All out War arcs of the story. I am glad he did peak your interest back up again. I think you'll like the March to War and All out War stuff. If they do it at least as good as the graphic novel it's pretty good stuff.

 

[TellerMorrow34]

The show isn't about walkers anymore. It's a drama. I reluctantly caught up and i bet it's going to take like 2 more episodes before any "fighting" begins.

Quite possible, even if they do it exactly like in the graphic novel it's going to be a few episodes before they actually begin any fighting. They're going to have to get the other communities on board and prepared.

Now from the small glimpse of things we saw in the preview I'm thinking they're actually deviating from the source material a bit here. In the comic there are basically 3 fights between Rick's people and The Saviors. A very small skirmish and 2 major battles.

It looked like, unless I'm just seeing it wrong from the previews, that Rick's people might actually be taking the fight to small groups of Saviors first. Small attacks allowing them to dwindle down some of the numbers and to arm themselves as well.


Now the capture of Eugene makes a huge difference in all this, as does Rick and his people having now guns really, as neither of those things happened in the comic.

 

[Stash]

I kind of felt that the second half of the season would be the March to War and All out War arcs of the story. I am glad he did peak your interest back up again. I think you'll like the March to War and All out War stuff. If they do it at least as good as the graphic novel it's pretty good stuff.

I sure hope so. I've stuck around for 7 seasons now, so it's obvious I want to like this show.

Part of me can't help but wonder if the ratings plummet didn't speed up this process in some way? Possibly to the tune of episodes being shortened/combined or possibly even cut?

I'm optimistic that they'll give up some great action set pieces before this is all over with.

And after that, I need some 'bigger picture' storylines, instead of rehashing living arrangements and a 'big bad guy' to deal with. In 7 seasons, we've already rehashed those storylines multiple times.

 

[Nightman]

The ratings for the mid-season finale were the worst since the MSF of season 3– 10.6 million viewers. Still a nice total, but well down from the season 7 premier which was over 17 million viewers.

Wouldn't be surprised to see an episode in the second half of the season fall below 10 million for the first time in a while.

They lost me from the 'must-see'.......I DVR it and watch by Tuesday anymore

 

[Nightman]

I sure hope so. I've stuck around for 7 seasons now, so it's obvious I want to like this show.

Part of me can't help but wonder if the ratings plummet didn't speed up this process in some way? Possibly to the tune of episodes being shortened/combined or possibly even cut?

I'm optimistic that they'll give up some great action set pieces before this is all over with.

And after that, I need some 'bigger picture' storylines, instead of rehashing living arrangements and a 'big bad guy' to deal with. In 7 seasons, we've already rehashed those storylines multiple times.

Neegan was like a season long inside joke only the comic readers would get

He is lost on me.......he is a skinny jeans wearing pervert with weird annunciations that would have been killed 20 times over

 

[Stash]

Neegan was like a season long inside joke only the comic readers would get

He is lost on me.......he is a skinny jeans wearing pervert with weird annunciations that would have been killed 20 times over

Oh and that back bend he constantly does! That's hilarious!


But yeah, even in a world where I'm supposed to accept zombies walking around, expecting me to believe that this clown would exist just pushes things too far. And it's a shame because I think Jeffrey Dean Morgan is great.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Oh and that back bend he constantly does! That's hilarious!


But yeah, even in a world where I'm supposed to accept zombies walking around, expecting me to believe that this clown would exist just pushes things too far. And it's a shame because I think Jeffrey Dean Morgan is great.

I think it's a case of something working in one medium, the graphic novel that doesn't work as well on TV.

In addition the GN Negan has a much different look and a different personality.

Finally there's a feeling in the GN of less Neganese between the introduction of the character and the start of the war. On TV, as we've all noticed, the Negan thing has been drawn out and out due to the presence of all the "bottle" episodes.

 

[Stash]

I think it's a case of something working in one medium, the graphic novel that doesn't work as well on TV.

In addition the GN Negan has a much different look and a different personality.

Finally there's a feeling in the GN of less Neganese between the introduction of the character and the start of the war. On TV, as we've all noticed, the Negan thing has been drawn out and out due to the presence of all the "bottle" episodes.

I think that's a very good assessment of the differences. As interested as I was in the slow build, once it arrived, I was disappointed. I'm asked to make too many leaps in logic and tasked with 'checking my brain at the door'. And that doesn't work for me. There's a line between 'suspension of disbelief' and 'insulting your audience's intelligence'. And they crossed it.

My hope is that we get a satisfying war with the requisite action sequences and conflicts, the expected victories and losses, but then I want to see them move on in a different direction. Things are getting stale.

Things need to get 'bigger'.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

I think that's a very good assessment of the differences. As interested as I was in the slow build, once it arrived, I was disappointed. I'm asked to make too many leaps in logic and tasked with 'checking my brain at the door'. And that doesn't work for me. There's a line between 'suspension of disbelief' and 'insulting your audience's intelligence'. And they crossed it.

My hope is that we get a satisfying war with the requisite action sequences and conflicts, the expected victories and losses, but then I want to see them move on in a different direction. Things are getting stale.

Things need to get 'bigger'.

They're caught in that endless loop of "Find safe haven, kill a few zombies, get threatened by non-zombie group, kill a few zombies, eradicate non-zombie threat, again have safe haven... Oh and kill a few zombies."

I think the only time that cycle is going to be broken is at the end of the TV series when the group finds their permanent safe haven.

 

[Stash]

They're caught in that endless loop of "Find safe haven, kill a few zombies, get threatened by non-zombie group, kill a few zombies, eradicate non-zombie threat, again have safe haven... Oh and kill a few zombies."

I think the only time that cycle is going to be broken is at the end of the TV series when the group finds their permanent safe haven.

That's too bad, I was hoping that as a reader of the comics, you'd tell me that there was change on the horizon.

If the 'lather, rinse, repeat', that you refer to is all we ever get, this thing will go downhill fast.

The comics group never quests to Washington, D.C.?

 

[punchnjudy]

They're caught in that endless loop of "Find safe haven, kill a few zombies, get threatened by non-zombie group, kill a few zombies, eradicate non-zombie threat, again have safe haven... Oh and kill a few zombies."

I think the only time that cycle is going to be broken is at the end of the TV series when the group finds their permanent safe haven.

Is that when Carl really becomes a serial killer?

If I wrote this series, the final scene would be a mushroom cloud. No explanation, just boom.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

That's too bad, I was hoping that as a reader of the comics, you'd tell me that there was change on the horizon.

If the 'lather, rinse, repeat', that you refer to is all we ever get, this thing will go downhill fast.

The comics group never quests to Washington, D.C.?

Surprisingly in the graphic novel, there is only one scavenger run by Glenn (and a less important character) to DC and they report back that it's basically not worth scavenging due to the amount of zombies present.

Obviously one of the weaknesses of the TV show is the idea that northern Virginia is so incredibly isolated as far as no places to find guns and other goodies. Honestly the local of Alexandria, the Hilltop, the Kingdom and the Sanctuary.... It makes it seem like the area is out in the boonies of Pennsylvania or West Virginia.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Is that when Carl really becomes a serial killer?

If I wrote this series, the final scene would be a mushroom cloud. No explanation, just boom.

Trouble is one big-arse bomb would clear out a relatively small area but with the entire world covered with the undead, one bomb wouldn't do much unless it was like the "Alpha-Omega" bomb seen in "Beneath the Planet of the Apes" which basically destroys the planet.

 

[Stash]

Surprisingly in the graphic novel, there is only one scavenger run by Glenn (and a less important character) to DC and they report back that it's basically not worth scavenging due to the amount of zombies present.

Sounds lazy and weak. Don't want to adequately explain anything, and then want to try to just 'write off' the epicenter of the country.

Obviously one of the weaknesses of the TV show is the idea that northern Virginia is so incredibly isolated as far as no places to find guns and other goodies. Honestly the local of Alexandria, the Hilltop, the Kingdom and the Sanctuary.... It makes it seem like the area is out in the boonies of Pennsylvania or West Virginia.

And that something that there's entirely too much of too - boonies. The folks in the Beth episodes seemed to be sitting pretty in the city but Rick and the gang never thought about setting themselves up likewise and starting to rebuild. Again, lazy and weak writing. Or the network being cheap about production costs.

 

[Stash]

They're caught in that endless loop of "Find safe haven, kill a few zombies, get threatened by non-zombie group, kill a few zombies, eradicate non-zombie threat, again have safe haven... Oh and kill a few zombies."

I think the only time that cycle is going to be broken is at the end of the TV series when the group finds their permanent safe haven.

Here's my own thought on 'the end' of the series, if they ever have one. And I wonder if the scenes were ever filmed.

Rick Grimes wakes up in the hospital from his long coma, to his wife and son, in a world where the zombie apocalypse never happened.

 

[punchnjudy]

Trouble is one big-arse bomb would clear out a relatively small area but with the entire world covered with the undead, one bomb wouldn't do much unless it was like the "Alpha-Omega" bomb seen in "Beneath the Planet of the Apes" which basically destroys the planet.

That's why I wouldn't give an explanation.

Seriously, though, a happy ending for a zombie series just wouldn't seem right. All the old zombie movies I saw ended rather painfully.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Sounds lazy and weak. Don't want to adequately explain anything, and then want to try to just 'write off' the epicenter of the country.



And that something that there's entirely too much of too - boonies. The folks in the Beth episodes seemed to be sitting pretty in the city but Rick and the gang never thought about setting themselves up likewise and starting to rebuild. Again, lazy and weak writing. Or the network being cheap about production costs.

I've beaten this to death, but there's no doubt in my mind that if Frank Darabont was still the show runner that it would have gone down a different path. Would it have been better? Worse? Who knows. But I think it would have progressed down a path that is/was more different from the graphic novel than how the current show parallels the graphic novel.

One of the stories the came out after Darabont left was that AMC wanted to keep the production costs as low as possible which of course makes "booney filming" a priority over "urban filming".

But of course the direction of the current show is driven by Kirkman who's more interested in how the survivors interact with each other rather than how they interact with their environment.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

That's why I wouldn't give an explanation.

Seriously, though, a happy ending for a zombie series just wouldn't seem right. All the old zombie movies I saw ended rather painfully.

I think Kirkman has said he would like the conclusion to be one of hope, but that could have been applicable to just the graphic novel.

 

[Stash]

I've beaten this to death, but there's no doubt in my mind that if Frank Darabont was still the show runner that it would have gone down a different path. Would it have been better? Worse? Who knows. But I think it would have progressed down a path that is/was more different from the graphic novel than how the current show parallels the graphic novel.

One of the stories the came out after Darabont left was that AMC wanted to keep the production costs as low as possible which of course makes "booney filming" a priority over "urban filming".

But of course the direction of the current show is driven by Kirkman who's more interested in how the survivors interact with each other rather than how they interact with their environment.

Totally agree with you. I think the show suffers from the falling out.

And again, if this 'booney world' thing keeps up, the series life will ultimately be cut short.

One of the things that first drew me to the show were those impressive urban shots, and episodes like those at the Atlanta CDC.

At some point, they have to take things out of the woods.