At first, I kept comparing it to the original series and thought it didn't quite measure up, though it had an interesting premise and some interesting characters. Far more young characters too. Then sometime this season I just let go. I stopped worrying about it. I watch it, enjoy it, enjoy the Chris Hardwick power hour afterward, and just let it be. When it doesn't have to be the best or most suspenseful program out there, it's actually quite enjoyable on its own merits. Besides, it's not like every episode of TWD is a gem either.


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I don't know I think it is just too soon in the ZA for them to really see the whole picture. It's only been a few weeks...right?...and they have been pretty lucky. Sure they have seen some bad stuff but right now they really think there is a haven waiting for them in Mexico if they can just get there. I think the dread and sense of danger will increase the more they learn about where civilization is headed.

 

To be honest I think this season is turning out to be far better than season 2 of TWD was. No they aren't having to cut down zombies every single episode but the human vs human element is much better this season than it was in season 2 of TWD (anyone remember the love triangle and the search for Sophia storylines in season 2 of the other show that took up basically the entire season).

As far as the pirate villians no they aren't as cool as the villians we had in season 3 onward of TWD. But other than zombies and Rick battling Shane over who should be the leader, and with Lori, there were no villians in the first two seasons of TWD.

 

too many sunny day shots.. I understand that area of the world might not have lots of rain ... but then film more in night or make the surroundings darker and grimier...

having said that the last two episodes do have far better sets/surroundings than previous episodes.. the last show 'blood in the streets' had more "elements of fear" as you put it...

'captive' had better surroundings than previous shows, except maybe 'blood in the streets', but 'captive' didnt have that fear.. so I agree there was no suspense/horror/fear shots/atmosphere..

they need to make this show creeper, crawlier, and darker still.. you can still project a warm climate through sweat on the face, sweaty shirts .. etc.. and they need to show us how scared and shocked the characters are

 

eh I dont know about that.. TWD season 2 wasnt the best season... but I think it still carried the feel of an apocalypse better than this one..

if we are still in the middle of the "happening" of the ZA .. we need to feel it... the last two shows feel more like they are in the middle of the ZA or a very underpopulated part of the world ..its entirely way too quiet to still be at the beginning of the ZA breakout in LA/west coast

the horror/action/fear and the way the characters process it are totally absent from this show

 

I actually liked season 2 of TWD. It was more realistic IMO. As for Fear. I like the show, but I find the biggest problem is I don't really care about the character that much. Some of them are starting to grow on me so hopefully that will change. I like how Nick is adapting to the new world. His character has a lot of potential. Alicia seems like she's going to be a bad ass. Daniel could be very interesting, he has a touch of evil which could be explored. Chris seems to be going down a disturbed path, maybe a little like what Sasha went through. I think he will end up being useful. Ophelia is hanging in the background, maybe a glorified red shirt or perhaps she will end up with a good story like Carol. Strand still has a story to tell. He's intriguing. Madison and Travis need some work, but they're savable.

As I said I like the show, it just needs to go to the next level. I have faith it will.

 

Let's not forget Dave and Tony, along with Randall and the others with them. This was the first "Group" Rick and crew encountered, and it was near the end of season 2. It looks like FTWD is getting some more human elements out before the zombies in contrast to TWD with it's zombie heavy lead-in. They have the laurels to rest on here, in that with TWD it was established that zombies are lurking about early on, but we did not get hit with the potential of other human being a threat until later on. Remember, we have had the military from season one and now these 'pirates'. This group is getting an education early on that Rick did not have the benefit of.

And look at it this way; I doubt the yacht will be a mainstay for our ragtag band. I don't see it surviving the season, leaving them to now face the terrors of the mainland. What I find funny here, is that Nick has already used walker cammo prior to mid season 2 as many times as Rick has in 6 seasons. I foresee this actually becoming a tactic with this group. ;p

 

No one has died yet from the group this season?

Lame!

What is there to be scared of?

They are in California,people there have always been bad.

 

I don't know, the walkers in FTWD personally creep me out more than the ones in TWD, probably because the Abigail crew isn't as OP as Rick's group is right now. I think they personally could of done more with the fear factor if they had actually extended Season 1. Seriously, that went from a slow burn to the end of the world extremely quick, and too quick IMO.

But I also enjoy the overall design of the walkers in FTWD, because they resemble the humans they were before they died, unlike the walkers in TWD, which look pretty identical to one another overall as well as being pretty rotten. Not saying that's a bad thing, as the decomposing walkers are still very cool.

 

I honestly...think this FTWD crew would give Ricks gang problems. The Mexican Hitman, Strand and Salazar seem to have more brains and talents combined than all of Ricks crew as of Season 6 (With how much stupid shit they did, they probably be outsmarted by these three)

I think the young are adjusting to fast to. But maybe it is cause they are young, I don't know. But the sniper they got now, could kill a lot of Ricks people before they even could react. That man is a real killer, an hitman as far as I understand. Rick got non like that, He got soldiers, hardened survivors, trackers and experienced people. But the Abigail gang is not helpless.

 

I don't find much fear or dread in the original TWD lately to be honest. They have been scared since Hershel died to really kill anybody big off. Daryl and Carol survive van drops, being whacked by cars. Then she takes 2 bullets in her arm etc. Glenn gets shot in the shoulder, survives walker piles on a few times etc. Seem to terrified to kill cast off. If Negan doesn't kill Glenn or Daryl I will be annoyed.

On Fear I do fear for the characters - though in the future. I think most are safe for now. Season 2 is building the characters up so a loss means more. On season 2 of the original show by the end of season 2 we had lost Shane, Sophia, Dale, Jacqui. 2 of them hardly mattered or featured. Dale only died cause the producer issues - and it was right near the end of the season . The only real death we had was Shane. So give Fear time, it will probably get there.

In terms of atmosphere though, yeah the farm had a certain feel. It did feel safe for the most part, and you'd not know there was a ZA out there, but that is why it was kind of scary and static feeling. They were secluded in the rural area of a farm, but you saw elements of the ZA creeping in.

On fear when you are out to sea in the early days of the ZA, there is less a sense of an apocalyptic dread.

 

And that Jesse McCartney was one pretty badass walker. Nice to see there's life (and death, and undeath) after Disney channel.

 

I think that the 'grittiness' of our TWD family helps to illustrate the fear/dread factor. Just a bit ago I was posting a link to an interview of Andrew Lincoln in the Rick thread and spent a bit of time perusing some older posts. These two gifs, while I have seen before of course, struck me this morning:




Granted the first gif is season 3 and the last being season 6. I get it, I understand that of course Rick appears quite different than season 1 Rick. BUT I always had a sense that season 1 Rick was going to always end up as this complex interesting protagonist. I "knew" this before I read the comics (which I did not start until well into season 4). I just have yet to get any sense of who any one of the FTWD characters might devolve/evolve into. TWD and FTWD are two completely different beasts, and letting go of my notion that they needed to be alike has helped me in accepting the characters of FTWD and not trying to make them into versions of any one character from TWD

The gifs shared above illustrate the grittiness of our survivors of TWD, the almost wild west feel to their journey. I just do not see any of our characters in FTWD being those types of characters, I just do not envision this show being that "type" of gritty. Travis wielding a revolver slung low on his hip? Nah, that just does not seem to fit his character and I needed to stop trying to force that type of characterization onto him or any one of them for that matter. And in order for me to just enjoy FTWD for what it is I had to realize that letting go of that desire, to have TWD 2.0, was the only way I was going to begin to embrace these characters and their unique set of circumstances.

My first love will always be TWD and obviously no character will ever steal my fangirl heart from Rick Grimes BUT I am learning to care for some of these characters on FTWD. Granted some more (Nick, Daniel and Alex) than others and some not at all (Travis, Madison)....but in time, maybe I will learn to care for a greater number of them than not.

 

How is FTWD lining up with the comic verison? I haven't had a chance to read the FTWD comics yet, still working my way through TWD. Is Alex a main character in the comics? Love that saucy bit of kimchi :Grin:

 

The family that makes up the lead characters are really boring and, while not unlikeable, certainly not loveable. If one or more of them died in the next episode, I wouldn't care. And maybe that would spice up this show. The last episode was so boring I couldn't watch it to the end.

Asking myself why--- I don't care about any of these characters. Yes, Madison is brave but she is also an idiot. Yes, Nick is creative but he is also a disgusting addict. Yes, Travis is strong and talented but he is also full of doubt.

Other than Strand-- even 5 episodes in, 2 from the end of the season, I really don't care if they die, drown, get eaten or get stranded on desert shore and die of thirst. That's sad because I can see their respective assets and I still don't care about them. Why is that--that I really cared/care about certain TWD characters as if they were real and these characters --well,I just don'.t.?

 

I think all most of it really comes down to is how willing us as viewers are in going back to the very beginning and seeing things all over again with a different set of characters. Pretty much the main complaint I see about the characters is that they act dumb. Well of course they are going to act dumb by the standards us viewers have set over the years after watching TWD for six seasons where they are now two years into the apocalypse.

So again it is just a matter of how willing us as viewers are in going back and following the development of a brand new set of characters.

 

Yes, I understand your point. But I loved some of the TWD characters from the get-go. Rick, for example, won my heart when he said to bicycle girl,"I'm sorry this happened to you" and gave her mercy. Glenn, when he said, "hey dumbass, you in the tank" before he even risked his life saving Rick. Rick & Glenn when they walked through Atlanta wearing walker guts and then it started raining. Shane when he gave Ed the beating he deserved and needed. So many, many memorable moments that made me love these characters as if they were real. It wasn't as a season-full of accomplishments -- it was the individual moments. Not to mention many specific moments that made be hate characters like the charming Governor, stuff that was just delightful about Milton; Michonne's awesome debut and Merle's incredibly funny and offensive mouth. Etc.

For me, in FTWD, these moments just have not been there. These guys and gals might as well be people in pick-any-neighborhood. The FTWD characters just have not inspired me to care 2 hoots about them. Except maybe Stand,who I find complicated, kind, selfish, conflicted and interesting -- maybe bad, maybe not trustworthy but likely not evil. I'd like to feel something toward the rest of the characters, but I just don't. I don't even hate any of them but I don't even like any of them They're boring. They're repetitive. I feel like the show would benefit from one of the main cast dying because then -- maybe- I'd sympathize with the rest. (That said, Liza's death --my least dis-liked character, the bravest if them all-- did nothing to make me like Travis or Maddie.

I watch out of habit and faltering hope at least one of them will grow on me.

 

That's fine and there is nothing wrong with tuning out because they don't bring you the same feelings that the original group did. I still though will always remind people that it still is a very well put together show and in many ways right on par with the first couple seasons of TWD with the only exception the newness of it all.

Let me put it this way. If Rick's group wasn't the original cast of characters we followed in this apocalyptic setting our viewpoint of them might be very very different.

 

I'm not afraid to admit that I do enjoy FTWD.
However, my personal enjoyment doesn't mean I have nothing to complain about.

I do.

My biggest problem with the show is that for a show where you're expected to root for certain characters to stay alive, the show's writers have made it a pretty hard job to like and root for any charcter, or make them worthy of being rooted for.

TWD has had its fair share of mixed, good, or bad characters (Shane, Andrea, Hershel, Dale, Rick, T-Dog, Randall, the Governor, Dr Jenner,Joe, Gareth, Deanna, etc).

We can see that Rick and his fellow survivors are faced with doing morally good or bad acts, and we see their struggle with the actions of what they do.

And despite the fact that TWD's characters often shift their moral position, they remain relatable and sympathetic to we, the audience.

On FTWD, when we are introduced to the characters(Travis, Nick, Madison, Chris, Alicia, Daniel,etc) we know that they're all good people.

We know that Travis Manawa is a good person. Why? He's a school teacher.

Later, we are introduced to Madison's junk-addicted son, Nick. While drug addiction is a trait often associated with bad people, we're assured that Nick's a really good person with a bad habit.

Travis' girlfriend - Madison is a good woman. Why? She's a high school guidance counselor.

TWD, as I've said before, has a diverse set of morally good/bad characters. We like Hershel, Bob, Dale, and Glenn because they are good/likeable people. We dislike Randall, Joe, the claimers, Gareth, Mary, and the Terminus residents because they are bad/unlikeable people.

It's part of what makes the show enjoyable.

My problem with FTWD is that it's completely devoid of likeable/good/unlikeable/bad/complex characters.

Well, except for Tobias and maybe Strand.