The actress who is going to play Michone:

http://www.deadline.com/2012/03/the-walking-dead-casts-michonne-role/


.

Loved season 2. A little slow at times, but good writing all and all. Kind of gets right down to the living vs. surviving thing.

My only worry with the closing speech by Rick is it seemed he was almost channeling Shane, right down to the stupid gesticulating/pointing with the loaded handgun. I hope he hasn't lost humanity. An amazing lack of support demonstrated by his wife in that last scene; perhaps the cause of his tirade. I figure, once someone has tried to kill you twice, you're free to proceed with what must be done. But what do I know?!

I just started it yesterday when I was home alone (wife at work on a 30-hr bender).

Finished through Season 1/Episode six ... thank you Netflix, that's as high as it goes ... very entertaining ( a bit gruesome). Only read page 1 here, but agree they're pretty lax on security, leadership, division of labor. Definitely things that would probably be true to life.

Anyone ever read "I Am Legend?" It delved into "how" the zombies work (become animated, eat flesh, etc), but I totally forget. Someone shoot me a PM if you remember.

Edited to reflect my correct episode count.

I don't mind the slow pace. I do mind the continual stupidity. It mostly seems to be examples of what not to do.

I am especially struck by how many of the their problems are caused, or made worse, by lack of communications. If they had walkie-talkies, Shane and Otis could have called for backup, Lori wouldn't have needed to drive into town to fetch Rick and Hershel back, and you could find out where the kids were any time by just calling them up and asking.

If the characters were as astute as most of us are, the series would be less dramatic (and have lower ratings). But I don't know that I'd be so adept at pithing people.

I would not have been waiting around near Atlanta all that time - farm or no farm. I'd have been more likely to head into the sparsely populated southwest corner of North Carolina, in the Blue Ridge Mountains (still not all that far from Atlanta). I've made a few trips there and driven all of the BRP in NC and VA - the NC and southern VA portions are not close to big cities.

There's a fun exercise as we await Season 3. Going back to the pilot episode, what would we do differently? If anyone's game, I'll study Google Map and make my game plan.


Looks like in Season 3 the primary threats will be other groups of people.

Some interesting discussion of Season 3 at this link below:

http://entertainment.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474981211742


'The Walking Dead' Season 3 Spoilers: Andrea and Michonne, Rick and Lori, and the Virus

March 23, 2012 12:50 PM EDT

I think this is very realistic - the real doomsday preppers are heads down in their bunkers, waiting out the disease, not running about in a group without real preparations, providing the entertainment for the rest of us. Real survival is probably far less daring and far more boring - reduce mobility to zero, lock the gates and doors, go above ground where zombies can't follow, and wait for rot to take its course. Zombies who have decomposed down to stumps will be far easier to deal with. This show is about what's left, people mostly unprepared but living on the margin of survival - guns and guts, but often not enough tactics and strategy.

Folks who have the wherewithal to have all the preps will suffer a high casualty rate in a scenario such as this - I bet at least 50% won't make it to their vehicle, another 25% will drop during attacks, and the rest who aren't allied with enough force to resist zombie waves or get to effective shelter will fall, until there really aren't too many people with the forethought to put comms in their vehicles. Comms with rechargeable batteries. I seem to recall that the deputy (Carl?) started with a couple HTs taken from the sheriff's office but without spare batteries or the means to recharge. And those fell off the story line, left behind or left without a charge, or simply left off because no one was within range to answer. Not having rechargeable comms seems criminal if you're of a preparedness mindset, but probably all too common in a Georgia rural county that hasn't funded their Sherriff's office (with DHS funds) to ensure recharging during disasters. Disaster response plans almost always are predicated on the cavalry coming from a higher level of government or national organization: most response plans progress from local, regional, state, federal - here there are only rapidly overwhelmed local, state and federal assets - DHS, FEMA, DoD, etc. The cavalry with reliable comms never arrives.

Stupidity and mistakes are common during everyday disasters. In this scenario there is no authority to prop up supply lines, ensure water, provide some form of communications, safe shelter. They are on their own, and mistakes will be made. I suppose in a zombie scenario stupidity and mistakes costs lives, whittles down the group, exposes more danger. Until an infusion of assistance - like the huge looming prison beyond the trees, why wasn't at least the deputy acquainted at least with the location of local lockups (excellent zombie-resistant shelters) so large? He might have been, but he obviously wasn't thinking enough about the real crying needs of his group - water, food, safe shelter. Given the first two, any jail makes a pretty darn good shelter. Also I am a little surprised that in a nation with over 400 million guns, they aren't finding them littering the streets. Besides ammo, keeping weapons clean and operational would be another issue, but that probably falls below the line of TV entertainment.

Although there is someone pretty prepared in this, whoever is hovering around in the civilian helicopter. I haven't followed the series religiously or read the comic book version of Walking Dead, but eventually I know they'll encounter helicopter person.

Good points, Lono.

Shane said in his final episode that only two weeks elapsed between the zombie virus emerging and society collapsing. So this was not a protracted siege in which the population would have consumed everything. In fact, 99% + (it appears) of the population succumbed quickly.

I've read Compendium One of the "graphic novels" (#1-48 of the comics)- it is interesting to see where they and the television series diverge in plot and characters. There are significant differences to this point so even GN readers can't know for sure just how faithful the TV series will be. Hopefully Compendium Two will be out this summer.

Looks like Season 3 will be exploring much more the primary tension of all post-apocalyptic fiction: the conflicts between different groups of people and individuals who react differently to the void of civilized law and order.

I'm hoping the series won't be as dark as the GN got.

ADMIN NOTE: Nato7 - I moved your post & the replies here into the Walking Dead thread. Generally we keep ETS fairly zombie free but we allow a few to come to the campfire on occassion. I just want to keep them all in one place so we can keep them under control.

-Nighthiker
-----------


Although I'm not much of a fan of zombie films - one question I have is the longevity of a zombie. Film and television portray them as being as resilient as the cockroach.

Mdinana/Paramedicpete please free to correct me on the following:

Depending upon ambient temperature/humidity the human body begins decomposition within about an hour after death. The bacteria in GI tract start to consume the connected tissue while parasites (i.e. insects, bacteria, mold, vermin, and carnivores) commence from the outside.

So, assuming a normal rate of decomposition the zombie would not last much beyond a few months.

If viable, I think it is safe to say that most members on this forum could outlast them.

Yes/no?

LOL-

K, arguing from the side of my mouth.
Zombies are which
A) Magic- in which case medicine is moot
b) ITS A CONSPIRACY MAN! in which case they are genetically engineered- they are not "DEAD" dead, So are not really corpses.
c) caused by a virus- so KINDA dead, but not really- its just not a Human driving the body- who knows if they can ROT, the virus that drives them might drive out other bacteria/rotting mechanisms.
d) radioactive- in which case, the radioactivity is what kills the rotting bacteria.

At any rate- IF there are zombies, I am less concerned with how long it takes them to rot.
First you gotta avoid the 5 billion shambling corpses.

Then you worry about how long they are going to last.

Then you gotta deal with the loss of INFRASTRUCTURE that was eaten/destroyed/run by former corpses.

That's one thing that's bothers me about the George Romero type walking dead zombies. The energy to power the body has to come from somewhere. Famine victims' bodies break down their own muscle and tissue to provide the fuel needed to keep going. Even allowing for the occasional slow pedestrian, I don't think that a zombie can self sustain for more then a few months before it utilizes it's muscle tissue into immobility (de-animation by metablism). Shorten this time if the zombie isn;t the only thing feeding off its body (decomposition).

The raging human Zombieland type Z's are a whole different story.