So the other night was the premier of the ‘Walking Dead’ spinoff – ‘Fear The Walking Dead’. The premise, in case you missed it, is that unlike ‘The Walking Dead’ which shows us the zombie apocalypse about a month after it started, we get to see it from the start.
I find this interesting because I want to see the descent into a dystopic world. Walking Dead shows us the ashes of the world, but I want to see the world when it was burning.
Im expecting that since the first episode was used primarily to set up who was who and what their situations were, the second episode will get to the ‘meat’ o the matter. I want to see the panicked mobs in the supermarket, the violent traffic jams, the looting, the every-man-for-themselves police, the mobs of scared people, the infrastructure failure, etc, etc. To me, thats the most interesting part.
The first fifteen minutes of the otherwise forgettable World War Z movie was like that. There was a great scene in the supermarket where the cop ignores the patrons shooting each other while he grabs stuff for himself. Sahdes of hurricane Katrina.
So far, though, Im less than impressed. I understand that the real zombie action has to wait until we’ve been introduced to the characters. Thats fine, I understand that. But, geez, there was not a single person there whom I cared about. Drugg addled son, bitchy daughter, desperate-to-be-a-family dad, badly-defined ex-wife, angst-ridden new wife…genuinely no one I cared about. We’ll see if that changes.
I fast forwarded it after 10 minutes. I can’t believe that the same crew that made the Walking Dead made this crap.
Hell, Z nation has a cheesier plot, but at least you give a a thumbs up for being so bad or good that it was at least entertaining.
Skip the walking dead
Chris k
your last comments really echoed what I had told folks earlier. No characters that I really cared about…really stereotypical cross section. Other than Cliff Curtis (the Dad), if they all got eaten, I couldn’t care less.
I really hope we see some decent action with the next one…
I think you nailed it.
I’m not yet connected with these characters. But it’s only been one episode 🙂
I was surprised at well the drug addict played his role. I was struck at very much he’s like a young Johnny Depp. I think he put on an excellent acting display. So much so, the other members of his family were flat and supremely uninteresting.
I mean – when they both went to where their son had his experience and saw what they saw; how absolutely unaffected they seemed by it. I mean – are they in shock? probably but still – there was no emotion displayed to make me think they were afraid or worried.
I’m looking for the display of societal descent as well. I’m curious how they’ll handle the topic. We already know there’ll be riots/looting/large crowds, when in the bumper they showed the fam begging refuge in a store to ‘ride it out’ and the streets behind them were just teeming with all sorts of people.
I’m curious how they’ll show the infrastructure coming to a halt. I can imagine there’ll be plane crashes, train derailments, processing plants and sewage plants ‘melting’ down, but I’m also curious if they’ll be able to show enough of the human interaction during the chaos. I want to see how they’ll portray people during the breakdown..
I think this series will be interesting. Well, I hope it is.. 🙂
You know, I kept saying “This kid is a ringer for Johnny Depp”. I think thats what they were going for and it wouldnt surprise me if he’s the ‘hook’ to bring in a younger demographic.
Focus groups. I’ve read that that is how they pick characters for tv shows, now. Mostly due to worthless “writers” in Hollyweird. Those asswipes are the reason that Jericho ended. They held a strike, which killed their second season, pretty much.
I said the same thing to my wife (regarding the unlikeable characters). I do find the husband/step father likeable but mostly because he’s played by a character actor whom I have become a fan of over the years. Aside from him, I am rooting for the zombies!
I so badly want him to be Smiley again!
I said the same thing about 15 minutes into it. “Great, I’ve met the characters, I don’t care about them, let’s have some zombies.”
And that’s the beauty of it. I don’t care who dies. 🙂
I’m hoping the pre-apoc characters are uninteresting by design. Perhaps they will become more appealing characters once… “Challenged by their circumstances.” Alternately, it may just disappoint.
Good idea, piss-poorly executed. The writing, the acting, and the camera work was awful. I’ve seen “Independent” films made by broke artists that were far better.
In real life, nobody thinks, talks or acts like the characters in this show.
I’m pissed.
If OBAMA had a zombie TV show it would look like this one!
Second show (8/30) was definitely better. More action. The kid who showed up on 1st show with knife is pretty intelligent – liked the way he related what the public’s reaction to this ‘event’ was going to be.
Won’t be the spoiler for those who haven’t seen it yet – I still have some high hopes if the 2nd is any indication.
I second J.R. the second show was far better. I was half way through the episode and thought “now we have a SHOW”.
DVR has the time slot locked.
A glutton for punishment, I tried again to watch the Pilot and the second episode last night. A so-so project for a film school, but Fear the Walking Dead really is horrible.
Only one character of possible interest.
Watch Z nation skip fear the walking dead
Me three…while Johnny Depp’s younger brother did a good job playing a drug addict, there was too much of him in episode 1. Episode 2 was far better and we began to see society start to unravel. However….
There were far, far too many commercials in #2 to the point it was almost unwatchable. I understand, the commercials pay for stuff…but at one point I started timing and in one 20 minute span, 50% were commercials.
Now that I’m done with that rant, and not wanting to give spoilers, keep your eye on 2 people…the mother and Tobias the kid with the knife. The dad…future walker nutritional substance. I did want to b**** slap the daughter at first, but #2 gave me pause. The drug addict son will have plenty of stuff once the apocalypse kicks into hi (no pun intended) gear. And, doesn’t AMC know skipping an episode over Labor day will cause is much torment? I mean, many were going to abandon ship after E1, then E2 kept the dream alive…but skipping a week?…oh the humanity.
I kind of liked it just from the standpoint of a bunch of LIBS. are thrown into a hell of their own making, no preps, no weapons, the goverment will come and save them. The only ones that has any survival thinking is the dope head and the south americans. The dope head has learned to scroung for the things he needs and how to go off the grid with little to nothing, but he has a monkey on his back! To the south americans its just another day back home.