User blog:Dorkpool/The Walking Dead

Happy Halloween, everyone! As a website devoted to scary stories, I'm sure you all are celebrating today in one way or another. If you're going trick or treating, I have one piece of advice: don't take candy from people driving around in vans that say, "Free candy." Ever.

Anyway, today, in honor of Halloween, I decided to talk about something horror oriented. And no, it's not Creepypasta; if you take a look and many of my older posts, you'll see I've done that subject to death.

No, I'm going to be talking about The Walking Dead today, and how awesome it is.

Now, I'm specifically referrring to the show. While I have read some issues of the comic (which are pretty good), I have more experience with the show.

Anyway, I'm sure you all have some opinion on The Walking Dead. Some might say it's boring and the plot moves glacially slow. Others might say it's awesome and one of the best shows ever made. Others might not give half a damn, and wonder why in the hell they're reading a post written by a guy named Dorkpool.

I personally like the show. Granted, there are times when it can be boring and slow, but, on the whole it's pretty awesome. Why? Well, for starters, let's talk the special effects. Specifically, the walkers.

The effects for the walkers are pretty damned realistic, and you know what, those effects not CGI, they're make up. That's not to say the show doesn't use CGI, but honestly, let's all appreciate the fact that this show is not only using makeup, but doing it damned well. In a world where most effects are done on a computer, the fact that makeup is still a thing is pretty great.

Anyway, besides the special effects, there's also the story. And, I admit, it can be pretty slow at times. But I think that it moves slowly when the main characters are in one place for a long period of time. For example, there was the season at Hershel's house. And while it was good, it was pretty slow. Or there's the first half of season 4, which was mainly at the prison, which was both really dark (and considering this is a show with more character deaths than Game of Thrones, that's saying something) and a bit boring. See, this show works better when the characters are on the move. Season five, which is still going on, has this, and it's pretty awesome.

Actually, speaking of the story, there's something somewhat interesting here I have to note: the show focuses more on the characters than the zombies. Now, I'm not an expert on zombie fiction, but, from what I can gather, such things seem to focus more on the zombies than the characters. Now, if The Walking Dead were a movie, perhaps it would be that way. But, for the most part, we see more of the characters than the zombies. Sure, the zombies are there and a threat, but mainly it's about people trying to survive the zombie apocalypse. In fact, it should be noted that, a lot of the time, the main threat in the show isn't the zombies, but people. Cannibals, the Governor, and random groups of survivors make up the main antagonists here.

Now, as I said, I have little experience with the comics, but, from what I've read, the show is somewhat faithful to them while doing its own thing. There are some changes: for example, Shane dies long before they reach Hershel in the comics (oh, uh, spoiler alert); Daryll isn't a character in the comics; and Rick ends up having a relationship with Andrea in the comics. However, I have a belief: if you change something from the source material, and it's good, then I have no problem with it. For example:

Bad Change From Source Material:

The Mandarin in Iron Man 3 (if you've seen the movie, you know what I'm talking about. And yes, I know, there's a real Mandarin running around, but they didn't have him in the movie, so I'm still counting this)

Douchebag Eddie Brock in Spider-Man 3

Where Gwen Stacy died in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (I personally feel that it would've been sadder if she died after being thrown off a bridge, especially since, in the movie, Spider-Man writes "I love you" in webbing on the side of a bridge. How sad would it have been if we see Spider-Man holding his dead girlfriend on the top of the bridge, with "I love you" still on it. And yes, I know that Spider-Man's webbing dissolves in an hour, but considering that The Amazing Spider-Man movies kind of ignore the main Spider-Man continuity, it could work.)

Bane in The Dark Knight Rises

Deadpool in X-Men Origins: Wolverine (This is probably the worst from this list)

Ivy Pepper (I have a whole rant devoted to this one)

Good Changes From Source Material:

The Sandman in Spider-Man 3

Spider-Man having organic webbing in the first 3 Spider-Man movies (while some may rightfully complain that developing the webshooters show Peter Parker's intellect, it can also be argued that Spider-Man is supposed to be a somewhat realistic and relatable superhero. If a teenager can develop an adhesive material that most 4M corporations can't, he's less realistic. It should also be noted that in earlier drafts of the script for the first movie, Spider-Man couldn't fire his webbing where he wanted, so he developed webshootes simply for aiming. It's a shame they didn't go that route.)

Most of the stuff done in Arrow and the Flash

Ok, granted, the list of bad things is longer than good things, but the point is change should be accepted if it's good. Which is what The Walking Dead does quite well.

So, the main point of this: THE WALKING DEAD IS AWESOME. IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT, START WATCHING IT. (And sorry about the spoilers)