Fear the Walking Dead 1.1 - Pilot episode (spoiler alert)

[NewJeffCT]

You can watch the opening scene here:

http://jezebel.com/watch-the-vague-eerie-opening-scene-of-fear-the-walkin-1725686666

What did the world look like as it was transforming into the horrifying apocalypse depicted in "The Walking Dead"? This spin-off set in Los Angeles, following new characters as they face the beginning of the end of the world, will answer that question.

[NewJeffCT]

1. I believe the first episode

is commercial free - so, 60 minutes with no commercials. Meaning, 90 minutes when they eventually repeat it.

[Baitball Blogger]

2. Impressions:

1) The Beginning was vague and eerie.

2) When I saw the actor walking in a sleep stupor, my next impression was, "Oh, the story is told from the zombie's pov.

3) Then, when I saw the young 90210-looking actor change expressions from sleepy to alarm to fear I thought, this guy has acting range. I hope he lasts a few shows.

4) Then I saw him drop the poker and my last thought was, how dull if they force us to go through a lot of slaughtered actors before we finally get to the baseline of survivors.

[NewJeffCT]

4. well, with Z Nation

we lost the "group leader" twice in the first season.

[Baitball Blogger]

5. I know. But it took a unique plotline to keep our interest.

Presumably, this new show follows the same "story facts." Which means that people don't know about zombies and they don't know that they will become zombies once they die, if the brain is still intact. Those will not be new reveals to us, the audience.

So, it will be interesting to see what they do to keep it fresh.

[PumpkinAle]

33. Z Nation was brill - want it back bad :)

[Lunabell]

3. OMG, I can't wait.

I'm big fan of the Walking Dead. Can't wait for Fear.

[NewJeffCT]

6. some articles

http://www.ew.com/article/2015/08/23/fear-the-walking-dead-showrunner-dave-erickson

http://www.usmagazine.com/entertainment/news/amcs-fear-the-walking-dead-5-things-to-expect-2015238

http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2015/08/23/the-secret-weapon-of-fear-the-walking-dead/

[Lisa D]

7. I wondered about the time frame.

Didn't know if they'd start at the same point in time as the current Walking Dead, or from the beginning of the zombie apocalypse.

[NewJeffCT]

8. The beginning

While Rick was in a coma.

[NewJeffCT]

9. 8pm has Talking Dead

with a preview of season 6.

[NewJeffCT]

10. some interesting new characters from season 6

of TWD. Denise, a doctor. Carter a construction guy and a guy that is a "runner"

[NewJeffCT]

11. kicking off now

I only watched a minute or so the the online preview.

[NewJeffCT]

12. looks like a littered up crack house

or church

[NewJeffCT]

13. Looks like Gloria

is having a little snack.

[Baitball Blogger]

19. I am off to a late start.

Looks like it started in a crack house? Is that a clue of some kind?

Interesting that the people who were bitten in that church have not yet turned.

[NewJeffCT]

20. good open

calm for the next 20 minutes or so, then an intense scene at the church/crackhouse

[Baitball Blogger]

23. Is he going in there without a gun?

Guess I will find out.

[NewJeffCT]

24. well, he has no reason to suspect

anything wrong besides some crackheads

[NewJeffCT]

14. Guess I was wrong

I had thought I heard somewhere that it was commercial free. I was wrong.

[NewJeffCT]

15. Nick in the hospital now

insulting the stepfather. Mom throwing the cops out

[NewJeffCT]

16. safer in numbers?

somehow, maybe not

[NewJeffCT]

17. calm before the storm?

so far

[NewJeffCT]

18. she was eating them

at the abandoned church

[NewJeffCT]

21. the old guy in the hospital

next to Nick... does anybody expect him to die and then turn and attack Nick?

[NewJeffCT]

22. starting to pick up a bit

Nick is obviously scared...

[Solly Mack]

25. I want to smack these people.

Wake up! Get a clue!

Sigh. I know, I know. The unbelievable is too unbelievable.

[NewJeffCT]

26. I don't think I'd go into a crackhouse

without a few more people at my back

[Solly Mack]

27. No kidding. The pace should be picking up soon. They are all scattered.

Still, I really want to smack them.

[NewJeffCT]

28. it's getting more intense

the last 10 minutes

[Solly Mack]

29. The learning curve is fatal. Catch up with the addict, people!

[Baitball Blogger]

31. Poor Nick. No good options.

Either he's hallucinating because he is crazy, or he's sane and it's the Zombie Apocalypse.

[Solly Mack]

41. I know, right! Still, he acts...doesn't question why...he acts. That's a good thing.

Yes, he went to look for answers, of sorts. Hoping it was bad drugs. But he embraced the reality enough to know the dead was walking and he had to hit it with a car again and again.

He'll probably die just because he has a grasp on the new normal the others don't.

[seveneyes]

30. Sick as a crick in my bones

[Baitball Blogger]

32. Lovin the change of venue and the appearance of more Latino actors!

[redwitch]

36. Young Johnny Depp look alike.

I think this is going to be a good show too. Even though they won't have Darryl or Michonne. (sp?) I do love zombies so!

[Baitball Blogger]

38. True about the Depp character.

However, he better grow an arc fast, or we'll be calling for him to be Walker meat.

[redwitch]

39. We be mean! LOL

I think he is a survivor. I hope so! I really enjoyed this first episode and I am thrilled to have Dead Sunday nights in advance of October.

[NewJeffCT]

47. the guy that played Nick

Frank Dillane - the young Johnny Depp? - also played the young Tom Riddle (aka Voldemort) in Harry Potter & the Half Blood Prince.

[redwitch]

48. I didn't catch that.

No wonder he looked familiar!

[NewJeffCT]

49. well, it was a small part

in that Harry Potter movie from a flashback. I would not have known if I didn't read about it.

[redwitch]

58. Yes but I have seen the movie with my youngest son half a dozen times!

What kids like, they like a lot!

[NewJeffCT]

37. it will certainly be different

than a couple of trips to Atlanta and then mostly rural. Hopefully, the Latino actors won't go the way of the black male actors from TWD.

I guess where they live on the show is supposed to be very diverse ethnically in real life.

[hlthe2b]

34. A bit of a let down after looking forward to it all summer... I'm hopeful it will pick up...

While I have nothing against the two main actors, I can't say I connected with them at all... Hopefully, they will move past all the stereotypical drug addict/teen angst storylines pretty soon. Unlike with TWD, I have yet to care whether or not any of them survive the walkers.

[NewJeffCT]

35. They're both good actors

but, I'm not sure of the chemistry between the two of them.

[Solly Mack]

40. The WD pulled you in from the beginning.

FearTWD, not so much.

I get the story is unfolding in a way to show just how slow people were to react to what was happening. The walking dead are not widespread, they can't believe what they're seeing on the news/videos, and they are still smugly ensconced in the comfy thinking that authority is the guiding force, and if anything was wrong, the government would not only tell them, but protect them as well.

The pimple-faced socially awkward teen gets it. The drug addict gets it. People on the fringe, so to speak - see it (think Daryl). They grasp that it's already bad. That you already have to be prepared to act, and act defensively. The teen had a knife (Tobias - and wants it back). The teen is watching the news and internet and putting the info together. The drug addict (Nick) was ready to fight...ready to kill.

Tobias also knows he is better off with a group. Probably because he already understands survival means not being alone. He looked so miserable on the bus when school let out early.

Rick was authority pre-walkers, and he is authority now - was it first bestowed on him because of what he once was? (sheriff) How much of the early adherence to Rick was based on the uniform he showed up in? Sure, he earned his place....but in the beginning, how much did his former job matter in the other survivor's perceptions of him?

Now we have a teacher (Travis) and a school counselor (Madison). Both authority figures. Travis more willing to allow for the possibility (of something being wrong) than Madison. Travis looked into what Nick said. Still, Travis was offering the walking dead help...trying to reason with the dead drug dealer. I think Madison will the one that comes up to speed the quickest between the two, however.

I think the school principal is going to become walker food, as an aside.

Alicia...unknown quantity. Intelligent, smartass, rebellious because she thinks she's smarter than those around her. Her boyfriend will be walker food too. (I think)

Travis's son. Hmmm... angry. We'll see.

His mom....we'll see.

[Baitball Blogger]

42. I don't have a problem with a slow first show because it does

follow what would happen in our society. Reminds me of the book World War Z. None of our agencies were quick to respond. The Socio-political network was more a hindrance than a help.

But, do I get this right that it all starts with a drug? So the question is, who manufactured the drug that started the apocalypse?

[Solly Mack]

43. Kirkman said he would never explain how it started.

So, I don't think Gloria's overdose on Calvin's drugs is the reason.

I think Gloria OD'ed, turned, and attacked the other addicts. Nothing else to that except for what Nick saw, and Calvin's later death and turning.

Since everyone is already infected, then it's something latent inside everyone that hasn't been triggered until now. For whatever reason - which Kirkman said we would never know because he said it wasn't important to the story.

[NewJeffCT]

45. maybe she had some of

Heisenberg's blue meth?

[Solly Mack]

52. LMAO! I love it! That would explain things.

"Baby Blue" spreads out and triggers the mutation that brings on the zombie apocalypse.

[NewJeffCT]

55. I didn't come up with that one

it went around the internet a few years back as Breaking Bad was wrapping up and TWD was getting more & more popular.

[Solly Mack]

59. I missed that one somehow. It's great though.

I hope Tobias finds Madison, somehow. I want him to live since he already believed. That he did understand makes me think he will die though.

He knows. He is trying to warn people. But he's a kid, he's socially awkward, and people aren't listening. Sort of like killing those that bring unpleasant truths.

People on the outside, the fringe people - they already live in a world where reality is harsh and dangerous. They're bullied, they're drug addicts, they're piss poor.....away from the mainstream....on the outside. Their minds are already geared toward survival.

It's a question now of amping up those skills and applying them to the new reality.

Nick, the addict, is a lot like Tobias in that he sees, he warns, and is dismissed....but Nick is also someone that knows how to survive on the streets. Tobias, not so much...though he can navigate the school bully program....with his brain. (Eugene?)

That one student said it - the new real...the kill shot.

Notice Travis and the other teacher were both talking on subjects that relate to what is happening. Man v Nature/Jack London/Call of the Wild/Nature always win, and the other teacher discussing linear progressions/unpredictable variables.

In the world of the walking dead, people are forced back to nature, so to speak. Social conventions and industry go out the window as society is dismantled in quick fashion. In Georgia, the return to nature isn't as obvious, even though the survivors literally go back to nature...the woods. It seems natural in the flow of things. But in an urban setting, nature becomes what it truly is.... waiting on the sidelines, ready to take back what belongs to it. It's dangerous, lurking, and biding its time. It will devour you...one way or another. The people on the fringe already know it is there - waiting. And they know because they have already seen firsthand - the nature of man/woman.

The nature of man/woman - evident in TWD because of the many changes people go through. We'll see it in FtWD as well, of course.

Wonder what Madison is hiding? There were hints. Things she said. There's a past there.

[NewJeffCT]

46. good summary

I think the original TWD show - Days Gone Bye - worked so well because the number of characters was limited. You had Rick and Shane in the flashback, then you had Rick, Morgan and Duane, and then nobody else until you heard Glenn's voice when Rick was in the tank.

So far, they've had too many characters and it was hard for me to like any of them and root for them. With Rick, I was rooting for him from the beginning. Sure, it changed here and there over time, but in season 1, he was the "good guy"

I have a feeling Alicia is not going to last the season. And, I think her text to her boyfriend "you better be dead" was prophetic about him - she'll find him, he'll bite her and she'll die.

[Solly Mack]

53. Yeah. Alicia looks to be a goner, too. I'm just hoping she'll last to actually

develop as a character.

I think Chris, Travis's son, will survive for the time being. But I think his Mom will die rather soon. Without the Mom to hide behind, the son and father are forced together to face their issues....in the walking dead world. (dundundun)

Wonder what the west coast will call the dead?

Zombies?
Deaders?

[blogslut]

44. The show did a good job of maintaining the sense of dread throughout the episode.

I don't think anything will ever compare to the premiere episode of The Walking Dead. That was unique and what drew me into watching a show in a genre to which I'm not normally attracted.

I may continue to view this new show. I don't know. Terror/Gore isn't my favorite. It angers and exhausts me. I don't hate the characters. The dialogue is relatively believable.

[Baclava]

50. I expected some character development - but I don't like any of them - dull and slow is no way to go

This show better get a whole lot better. I sensed no fear - just stupidity - they just shrug their shoulders when some dude gets run over 3 times in front of them and doesn't die?

C'mon - the addict is the one I'm supposed to identify with?

[NewJeffCT]

54. I had that same problem with the show

I hope it changes over the next 5 episodes.

There was nobody I really liked all that much – I made a comment on Twitter that the kid that was sleeping in Travis’ class was the character I liked the most. The nerdy kid that had the pen knife and warned Madison was a possibility, but I thought he came across more as whiny than smart or prescient.

Maybe they had too many characters to work into the mix? You had Madison and her kids Alicia and Nick. Then, you had Travis and his ex-wife and their son. Then, you had the eavesdropping principal and the nerdy kid with the pen knife, then Carlton the drug dealer. Not to mention the nurse that loosened up the strap on Nick’s hand and a few other minor characters.

What made “Days Gone Bye” – the pilot of The Walking Dead - so effective (IMO) was the lack of speaking parts. You had Rick by himself meeting the little girl walker, then the flashback to him and Shane and their shootout with the drug dealers. Then, Rick wakes up in the hospital all by himself and it was eerie and creepy. Finally, after stumbling around, he meets Morgan and Duane who help him out. He then leaves them behind to go to Atlanta and we hear no other voices until you get Glenn’s voice calling Rick in the tank to end the episode. Because Rick was all by himself, most people immediately felt sympathy for him and his being alone in this new world. I felt sorry for Nick, but I couldn't identify with him and his situation.

[Baclava]

65. Good points - well said. Days Gone Bye was amazing!

It kept you in first person mode...seeing it all through Rick's eyes for the first time.

One of the things that worked so well in TWD's early days was the walkers were still seen as people too. I mean, people remembered that they had been people with lives, not just zombies. The scene where Rick goes to find the half zombie woman who was pitifully crawling around on the ground so he can put her out of her misery was really emotionally compelling. Same thing with Morgan trying to kill his wife.

This series has potential if it was more realistic. But if characters are going to continue to behave so indifferently, then it's just not going to be very interesting. I kind of like Nick because he at least seemed to have genuine reactions to what he was seeing.

As far as too many characters in this one early - yeah, I was feeling that, it starts out like, why should I care about all these people?

[NewJeffCT]

66. on the other side, though

Rick was in a hospital in a suburb of Atlanta, which would have considerably less people than Los Angeles proper. Rick ran out of gas on his way from the town to Atlanta, so unless the car was running on fumes when he left (doubtful a now fresh Rick would have left with no gas in the tank?), he was not in one of the more densely populated suburbs immediately next to Atlanta like Decatur.

So, having a lot of people around makes it seem more like a big city in Fear the Walking Dead and can add to the chaos and confusion down the road as families try to reunite from different areas in the city - and, you can have several scenes like when Rick rode the horse into Atlanta and encountered hundreds of walkers.

[Whiskeytide]

63. That (the slow pace) is quite intentional, I think...

... This show plans to reveal how society crumbled in such a short time - and a big reason for that is that people - including the authorities - did not catch on very quickly. EVERYONE is clueless, stupid and unbelieving in the face of this. Remember that in TWD world, pop culture has no zombie apocalypse framework already in place. No character can say "I remember that movie 'Zombieland' and how Woody Harrelson kicked undead ass - we have to do what he did!" No one knows what a Zombie is (apparently that's an element of the comic series - which I have never read). The survivors, I think, will have to get lucky initially, giving them time to draw conclusions and take action.

The creators, writers and producers have commented on how FTWD will be received since the audience knows more about what is going on than the characters. That's an interesting dynamic between the show and the viewer, and one I think they'll exploit creatively. I think that, as the season progresses, some characters will step up and become "stars", and some will become dead. That's how it would likely play out in reality given the parameters of the premise.

[Baclava]

68. There's only 5 more episodes! - I'm an excitable boy! - I demand action!

like that

[MuseRider]

51. Is the original Walking Dead

over?

I never watched, figured I would catch that one later....I just finished Breaking Bad I am so far behind!

So is this like a prequel? That would be really cool.

[SwissTony]

56. From wiki

The sixth season is set to premiere on October 11, 2015. The season will consist of 16 episodes, split into two eight-episode parts, the second of which will begin in February 2016.

Be patient, good people.

[NewJeffCT]

57. correct

Fear the Walking Dead is just an attempt by AMC to capitalize on the popularity of the "mother" show, The Walking Dead.

[MuseRider]

60. Thanks, I should have looked that up myself

but just asked. I appreciate this. I will have to finish up what I have started then perhaps Walking Dead next. Thanks.

[Solly Mack]

61. The novel in the church is "Winesburg, Ohio" by Sherwood Anderson.

Themes:

The interaction between the individual and the world around them
Inability to communicate, loneliness, and isolation
Escaping isolation
Coming-of-age

I know a lot of people think TWD is a mindless show about zombies, so they would hold the same opinion of FtWD. The thing is, neither are mindless or about people eating zombies. Both are about people versus an entity that challenges their survival, their humanity - both the individual and the collective.

The zombies could just as well be war or pestilence or widespread massive civil unrest of a non-dead variety.

The point is the necessary obstacle, or event, that produces a divergence (think evolution - a point of change, breaking away). The obstacle that forever alters the well being, both mental and physical, of the humans. That sweeps everything known (and thereby safe) away from their lives, leaving them shattered and in need of a new way of being.

They become something different. They have to.....and the questions of what makes us human, what gives us our humanity, are all called into play.

And all that against the need for survival. The drive for survival. It's very strong.

Recall the English class with Travis on FtWD - what would you do to survive? (Call of the Wild/Jack London)

TWD has already hit on this, of course. But FtWD is exploring the lead up to the initial questioning. The question was already in play in TWD, but gets revisited from time to time.

Rick woke up to, and was thrust (reborn even) into a walker-filled world that he had adapt to rather quickly just to get out of the hospital and down the street.

FtWD people are getting a slow birth. From the womb to the nursery to home - and the learning curve will be steep.

[GOLGO 13]

62. So my take on this 1st episode

Is that it was a dull, listless chore to get through. I understand about setting up the characters & how their history/interactions among each other, yadda, yadda, yadda. It all is for naught. All the family drama goes right out the window when the end of the world hits you right in the face.

The cheap scares were not appreciated at all. It made things worse & infuriated me. There were times during the show that I was looking at my iPad more than the TV. By the end of it I wanted the entire cast consumed in a raging torrent of stinking dead just for it to be over.

The only thing I highly approve of is that the main cast seems fairly unattractive & very pedestrian. For a series that actually takes place in LA that's quite a bit of creative casting right there. Kudos for that.

[Baitball Blogger]

73. I'm expecting huge character arcs.

There will be a before and an after. What I am hoping to see is that the streetwise will come out ahead, and the prom queens will probably go first.

[NewJeffCT]

74. TWD has had some surprises in there

Though, whoever is the "moral conscience" seems to not last very long - Jackie in Season 1, Dale in season 2, Milton in Season 3, Hershel in season 4, Beth and Tyreese last season...

I wonder if they'll do the same in Fear?

[Baitball Blogger]

75. What would truly be interesting, is the new character's backstories.

Now that we're dealing with a Latino culture we have unknowns that can be examined. I'm talking about going beyond stereotypes.

[NewJeffCT]

76. well, it does seem like

that two of the three black male characters - the drug dealer and Alicia's boyfriend - died (well, the boyfriend is apparently dead). Only the principal is still alive.

[Baitball Blogger]

78. Calvin and Matt

Calvin, the drug dealer, was the first one that we know personally who gets walkered.

Matt has a chance, but I'm sure the principal will be walkered. Too much foreshadow with him in one of the scenes. Too bad, because he is a good actor.

I will have to watch it again. First time around I don't pay close attention because I'm usually working on something. Second time I look for the details I missed.

[NewJeffCT]

64. One thing I have noted over the past several years in my TWD and GoT threads

there seems to be more posts, on average, for The Walking Dead. However, the discussion for GoT seems to go on for several days (till Wednesday or Thursday), while TWD threads tend to die out Monday... maybe Tuesday.

[Solly Mack]

67. I could go on and on on both. :)

Sadly, for some.

[GOLGO 13]

69. IMO GoT fans seem more "devoted" I'll say as opposed to TWD fans.

I was about to say GoT fans seem more "psychotic" but I imagine how poorly that might have gone over. Their fans buy a metric ton more of GoT products as opposed to TWD-heads.

[NewJeffCT]

72. I've bought the DVDs of the TV show

of Game of Thrones, but not TWD. I also think that given the nature of the source - Game of Thrones is drawn from 1,000 page novels, where The Walking Dead is taken from graphic novels, so Game of Thrones had more depth/nuance to discuss?

[Joe Shlabotnik]

70. I missed it.

Should I watch it? I may very well be a Walking Dead purist.

[GOLGO 13]

71. Of course you should watch it.

Watching LA burn in a fiery, cannibalistic orgy of devastation & fury is always entertaining. It's like they can read my mind.

[Wolverine23]

79. a bit slow

Hate to say it but don't like the characters and pace of the show. Will still watch to see if it stacks up or not.