It would be unfair for me to answer some of these, but I will answer one of them. It was a civilian helicopter by the look of it. Could have been commandeered (sp) by the military though.

 

It is all in the comic, if you read the comic, you would have known what that helicopter is about, otherwise I would not ruin for you unless you really want to know

 

i really wish comic book spoilers didn't count for the TV show since they are two different thigns..but I think it will be like the comics (as far as the population is concerned)...different but similar

 

I haven't read the comics and stay away from spoilers, but I can't wait for the prison. If I were to guess the chopper is from the prison...

 

The answer is no

 

Looked to me like a Bell 412 by the shape of the tail boom, which is the twin engined, four bladed version of the chopper landed in the city in episode one (the tank scene). We only saw the reflection of it in that scene but still looks to be the same.

Used in both military and civilian operations.

I think unrelated to the prison, but you never know. Operating aircraft of this type requires support structures in place. Fuelling, and more importantly, maintenance.

 

Plus there is no way the helicopter could stay maintained without Dale around to replace radiator hoses

 

I too am not reading the comics. I read the spoliers once and I was unhappy that I did so, because it ruined Dale's death for me. So I do not read the spoilers anymore. So THANK YOU to everyone who showed restraint on this thread, giving those of us who aren't reading the opportunity to stay blissfully ignorant of the upcoming chapters.

That said, I can't quite figure out the timeline... when did they first see the helicopter?

 

Are we sure it's a prison? If it was a helecopter, who's to say it's not Ft Benning?

 

I believe it is a prison due to the design. Walls, guardtowers, etc. And that's what they were calling it on Talking Dead.

 

On another note... As far as the helicopter and where it's from, or the prison or whatever, I'm not sure it even makes sense to compare the comics to the show anymore. They are varying greatly from that storyline. So I think it's impossible to say with certainty anything will be the same. And as Kirkman already stated, it will be very different.

 

It's not a case of the Zombies following the helicopter specifically. It's about how a "herd" gets formed. A few Zombies hear a noise and they start walking toward it, they bump into others that follow the first few. That group encounters more walkers, who start shambling along, and before long you have a large group of Biters growing exponentially following a noise long forgotten, walking because the others all are . . . it's like a force of nature . . .

 

Carl, great description of herd or pack behavior! Related animals will pick up and react to cues from one another. The zombies don't have higher brain functions, so they would most likely follow a cue until another comes along or the first wears out. The herd was simply moving due to the initial stimuli of the noise from the helicopter. Individuals along the way just "went with the flow". When another stimuli came along (the gunshot) their attention immediately shifted.

Also, I don't know if they will bring this in, as much of the comics have been changed for the show, but in the books there was a differentiation amongst the dead. Some were passive. Others much more reactive. So, some would search or "herd" and others would simply lurk.

 

That's why I was calling them Biters and Walkers, not Lurkers. *wink