Tag: the walking dead season 4

The Walking Dead Season 4 Premiere – Thoughts

The Walking Dead Season 4 premiere is easily the best season premiere the show has had. While there were a few shortcomings in the story, I was happy the season could start out on a strong foot. Hopefully the momentum of The Walking Dead Season 4 premiere is an omen for a great season ahead. There are spoilers here. If you have not watched yet – go away.

The Walking Dead

Should there be cannibals on The Walking Dead?

What I Liked in The Walking Dead Season 4 Premiere

  1. I love when the show creators zoom forward in the future. This was something welcome in The Walking Dead Season 4 premiere. I like having to play catch-up.
  2. The zombie rain the grocery store was one of the best effects I have seen in the history of The Walking Dead. By placing this type of effect in The Walking Dead Season 4 premiere, the new show-runner proved we should expect anything at any time.
  3. No Governor? Good. I was hoping they would keep him off the premiere to give more impact when he showed up.
  4. It is about time the creators of the show made someone die in the middle of the night and turn into a walker. This is something which has always been a cloud hanging overhead. It is definitely time they address it.
  5. Having Daryl being the one standing under the helicopter was a great idea. From that moment in The Walking Dead Season 4 premiere, we all remember that Daryl can go at any time.
  6. The eyeless zombie is one of my favorite of all time.
  7. Seeing the Woodbury survivors milling in with the known survivors is a good move. There is enough time to break up the cliques which might have formed.
  8. The Walking Dead Season 4 premiere gave us a strong look at the kids of the show. I am sure there are people who do not like the idea of “TWD Kids,” but it adds another element to the story and more challenges.
  9. What is with the pig? Could it be the sign that pigs are going to start turning? They do have internal organs which are similar to some of humans. Their immune systems are also similar. Of course, it could also be the insertion of a livestock disease which could be making the humans sick.

What I Did Not Like in The Walking Dead Season 4 Premiere

I know that The Walking Dead Season 4 premiere takes place months in the future from the last season, but there are a few aspects which bothered me. I also know many of these issues will be clarified in the upcoming weeks – but these issues still remain in my mind.

  1. Both Daryl and Michonne are charismatic, cracking jokes, and smiling. Part of their mystique is their stand-offishness and their inability to strive in social situations. They are wildcards which don’t go with the rest of the pack.
  2. Rick and the survivors spent weeks (if not months) trying to get Daryl to stay near the rest of them at Hershel’s farm. He tried to keep clear of most of them at the prison during the previous season unless he needed to be. Now he is part of the council? It does not make sense with his personality. He is a problem solver, not a leader.
  3. During the break between the previous season and The Walking Dead Season 4 premiere, the survivors have created spikes to impale walkers around the gate. Why couldn’t they come up with barricades which would keep walkers away from the fence?
  4. The entire segment with Eddie (the head) and his wife needed to be explained on Talking Dead. Not a good move. While I really liked the directing in the episode, the question of “why was this section here?” was not apparent during the episode and should have been developed better. Granted, her character was to display giving up, but it was too drawn out for that type of message, especially since we have heard the message before.
  5. How can anyone survive long in a cloth tent?
  6. Isn’t there a gaping hole in the back of the prison where Tyreese and his crew came in which has never been fixed? Shouldn’t that have been seen well before The Walking Dead Season 4 premiere?
  7. If Rick is not part of the council, why would Carol not want Carl to tell him about teaching the kids about fighting? Rick does not have a say.
  8. Batteries are probably hot commodities. Why would the survivors be using them in iPods to listen to music?

Overall, I was more than satisfied with The Walking Dead Season 4 premiere. I am looking forward to an awesome season.

The Walking Dead Season 4 Premiere – Low Expectations

We are just days away from The Walking Dead Season 4 premiere, and I am already getting myself mentally ready for the episode. There are certain statements I am making to myself to make sure I am not impacted by certain issues we have seen in the past with season premieres of The Walking Dead.

Don’t Expect the Episode of the Year Out the Gate

For the past two seasons on The Walking Dead, we have seen season-openers which were pretty flat. Many of us took to the Internet asking if this was going to be a horrible season based on the first episode. So far, we have not been let down by the rest of the season. I am already figuring that The Walking Dead Season 4 premiere will be one of the low episodes of the season.

The Walking Dead

Based on past year’s examples, I have low expectations of The Walking Dead Season 4 premiere

Don’t Expect Much Action in The Walking Dead Season 4 Premiere

Season 2 and Season 3 both started off with slower episodes. We have the opportunity to see how life has improved for Rick and the survivors, and we should not expect anything different with The Walking Dead Season 4 premiere.

Don’t Expect Much of The Governor Just Yet

I would be surprised if we saw The Governor in The Walking Dead Season 4 premiere. I would also not be surprised if we only say him briefly. I have a strong feeling we will just see more of him as the season goes on. We can be reminded of him out of the gate, but not much else.

Don’t Rely Fully on Preconceived Notions

Of course, I also know that the show’s creators could toss my previous ideas from this article out the window. The crazy thing with the show is that we could start out The Walking Dead Season 4 premiere with a huge zombie attack. I doubt it, but it would make for an interesting start to the season.

Success of The Walking Dead Season 4 Premiere Too Factored to Predict

The Walking Dead Season 4 is approaching, and people are trying to predict how huge the season premiere will be. Will viewership for The Walking Dead Season 4 premiere set a new record for the show? Will it set a new record for cable? Actually, I see it as impossible to predict as there are way too many factors involved this year.

The Walking Dead Season 4 Premiere Will be HUGE

Yes, The Walking Dead Season 4 premiere will be huge. How huge will be determined by certain factors listed below.

The Walking Dead

Should there be cannibals on The Walking Dead?

Season 4 Hump

The fourth season of a show is often called a “hump season.” At this point, most shows have had a declarable shark jump, but not so (that we can tell) with The Walking Dead. There are very few shows which have had a larger fourth season than third season. One easy example would be The X-Files. Even The Big Bang Theory has a drop from the third season to the fourth. We have to consider that most shows have a fall-off in viewership after the third season.

Fan Dedication

The Walking Dead should be considered with shows such as The X-Files because both shows have/had very dedicated fans who wanted to know everything possible about the show and refused to miss a week due to their dedication and the dedication of those who they talk to who also watch the show. We will see the dedication of the “deadheads” during the The Walking Dead Season 4 premiere. They will be the core audience which AMC will attempt to build on. The number of dedicated fans increases with every marathon of the show, so AMC can pad the premiere numbers a little more with a strong marathon in the upcoming weeks.

Market Promotion

The more marketing AMC does going into the premiere, the bigger it will be. AMC and Image Comics have done great jobs so far in promoting the show. If they let up in the next eight weeks or so, the season premiere will be lacking.

The BIG Wild Card

The wild card which prevents us from being able to say how HUGE The Walking Dead Season 4 premiere will be is the third season finale. It was lacking in closure since The Governor is still alive and it did not give us a cliffhanger which would make us tune in this October. Rick simply letting in a bunch of old people and children did not hold a drop next to some of the cliffhangers the show has become notorious for in the past. Some disappointed fans will not be back next season. How many are disappointed enough to stay away is left to be seen.

The Walking Dead Season 4: More From Comics

Last night, TV Guide posted an interview about The Walking Dead Season 4 with comic creator Robert Kirkman and new showrunner Scott Gimple. One interesting item to pull from this interview (which you are can read here) about The Walking Dead Season 4 is how more scenes and scenarios are pulled directly from the comic. I see this as an interesting move which will help the franchise as a whole.

The Walking Dead

Should there be cannibals on The Walking Dead?

Scenes from the Comics: Refocus Fans

I have heard some fans talking during the third season about how they were discouraged that there was not more pulled from the comics during the season. By pulling more from the comics during The Walking Dead Season 4, Kirkman, Gimple, and the other creators will be able to rope these potentially wayward fans of the comic back into having a deeper interest in the TV series.

Scenes from the Comics: More Readers

If word can filter out strong enough about how The Walking Dead Season 4 will be pulled more from the comics, more readers will pick up the old trades and omnibuses. Since the beginning of The Walking Dead, I have been amazed by how many people who have never read comics want to read the comic to see particular scenes before they play out on TV.

Fans who have not done so at this point, are sure to hit their local comic shop or bookstore to pick up some copies of issues they have missed. I would not be surprised to see a few of the trades hit the Diamond Top 20 trades later this year as fans try to see what happened after the final battle with Woodbury. They will want to know what they have yet to see on The Walking Dead Season 4.

The Walking Dead Season 4: Ignored Issues?

There are some interesting issues presented in the storyline of The Walking Dead Season 4 which many fans and followers appear to have overlooked as talk about the new season is either avoiding the issues listed below or people have not thought of them. These are important changes which the creators have to pay attention to.

The Governor will still stalk in The Walking Dead Season 4

The Governor will still stalk in The Walking Dead Season 4

The Obvious Issues in The Walking Dead Season 4

Most people are talking about the schism happening between Rick and Carl or how The Governor becomes a wild card now in the show. Fans are looking at the issues which will face those in the prison now that there are more mouths to feed. There are many other issues the creators have to face.

The Extra Supplies in The Walking Dead Season 4

Fans should be celebrating a potential aspect of The Walking Dead Season 4 because Rick and his crew have the opportunity to raid Woodbury for supplies. If the creators don’t take a look at all Rick the survivors can take out of Woodbury, it would be a missed opportunity for us all. Remember, Woodbury had military vehicles, weapons, food, tools, clothing, and other extras such as comfortable beds and furniture. All of this can be moved to the more-secure prison. If the survivors start complaining about not having supplies, the creators have underestimated the characters who would comb through Woodbury and the fans.

The Nighttime Worry in The Walking Dead Season 4

While there was always a potential for someone to simply die in the middle of the night and start eating others, it is more so with the number of elderly people in the new season. If this is not addressed, it would be a bad move for the creators. There are some interesting scenes which could happen if this potential issue is explored correctly.

Tyreese / Daryl Power Struggle in The Walking Dead Season 4?

There is the chance for there to be a power struggle between Daryl and Tyreese. Of course, with Tyreese taking a co-starring role now, time will have to be taken away from someone else. Even if there is not a struggle in the storyline between the two characters, fans are sure to struggle with potentially losing “Daryl time.”

The Walking Dead Season 4 poses to be a rollercoaster ride for fans. Hopefully, though, the potential issues mentioned above will be addressed by the creators in an attempt to make The Walking Dead Season 4 the best season so far.

Visit our Walking Dead page on Amazon

The Walking Dead Season 4 Early Concerns

The Walking Dead Season 4 is a long way off, but there are specific concerns I have about the next season which will bother me until the season premiere. While the show continues to reach higher in the ratings, there are certain unique issues to The Walking Dead Season 4 which were not present in the other seasons which should be addressed.

The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead Season 4 poses unique challenges

Another New Showrunner?

While the second season of the show was filming, Glen Mazzara replaced Frank Darabont as the showrunner. Moving into The Walking Dead Season 4, Mazzara is out and Scott Gimple is the new lead. In the second season, Mazzara would have found himself having to carry on some of Darabont’s ideas and directions to show continuity in the season. With a new season, Gimple is able to start fresh and can take the show wherever he sees fit without being tied down to previous plans. This could be a positive in how he could improve the show or a negative in having a new monster unchained.

Dismal Season Finale

The Walking Dead Season 4 will have to win fans over very quickly since the show is coming off of a very dismal season finale. Fans did not get the “Wow!” moments they were expecting, there were too many commercials, and there was little closure. If the first or second episode of the new season do not live up to the expectations of fans, the ratings will take a stiff downturn.

To read my opinions on the season finale, please follow this link.

Character Development

The former creators of the show have proven their inability to develop certain characters we see each week. T-Dog is the one character we often think about being underdeveloped, but what about Beth? She has been on for two seasons and she is still simply Hershel’s “other daughter” that sings from time to time. What are they going to do now with the prison being full of kids and old people? How many of these low-level characters will have to take time away from the main characters? How will the creators figure a way to give these people substance? How are the creators going to ensure characterization in The Walking Dead Season 4 is not spread too thin?

The Walking Dead Season 4 presents interesting and concerning problems for the creators of the show. How these issues are overcome will have a direct impact on the show’s ratings early on. Hopefully, the fans will not be disappointed.

The Governor on The Walking Dead Needs to Die in Season 3

I overheard a discussion the other day between two fans of the Walking Dead franchise which quickly turned into an argument about The Governor. One fans believed The Governor and the residents of Woodbury should be carried over into Season 4 of “The Walking Dead” while the other fan believed the character should be killed off at the end of the current season. To follow along the lines of the show so far, The Governor needs to die in Season 3.

The Governor on "The Walking Dead"

The Governor on “The Walking Dead”

New Locations for “The Walking Dead”

Each season of “The Walking Dead” has presented new challenges for Rick and the survivors and a new location. Remember, the first season took place mostly in the camp while the second season focused on life on the farm. Season 3 of “The Walking Dead” put them in the jail. To keep cohesion in the show, the survivors need to be forced out of the jail somewhere at the end of the season. If the survivors are no longer at the jail, it should pose for closure in the storylines with The Governor as well.

New Challenges

The first season was about Rick finding his family and proving to them that he would keep them safe. It was an opening season in which Grimes tried to figure out what was going on and her put his game face on for the first time. The second season was about trying to find a home and return to some type of normalcy. Instead of the struggles being physical, most of the struggles were mental as Rick tried to straighten himself out with Lori and take command of the group from Shane. Shane became a greater obstacle for Rick than the walkers and Shane was taken care of permanently as the season was coming to a close. So too should it be with The Governor as he represents a change into the survivors having to worry more about people than about the dead.

The Stale Argument

Some fans of The Walking Dead in comic book form might argue that The Governor has to die to keep cohesion with the comic. The creators of the show do not have to follow the same rules as the comic, but they should follow the same rules that have been set in previous seasons. It is time to close the book on Woodbury and The Governor and move on to another volume in the life or Rick Grimes and in the lives of the survivors he takes care of. The Governor needs to die sometime in the next few weeks, and before the final credits roll on Season 3 of “The Walking Dead.”