Walking Dead - The Stupid, It Hurts

[geonuc]

No real spoilers here.

I like the Walking Dead, but they are sooooo stupid. It's been that way from the beginning, such as with driving around in the dilapidated RV even though they probably drove past several RV outlets in their travels, not to mention all the car dealers with perfectly good new trucks.

You'd think by now they'd have learned, especially people like Rick and Darryl. But no, there those two are, going on a scavenger run in one vehicle and just the two them. Really? You got all that dead weight in town and you can't get a couple other people to drive a backup vehicle and watch your back while you're scrounging?

No way I'd leave the compound on a run without:

1) two vehicles, preferably one being 4WD
2) two people per vehicle
3) everyone armed with a semi-auto and three spare magazines. The designated lookout would have an automatic weapon.
4) everyone carries a walkie-talkie type radio.
5) empty gas cans in each vehicle. Look for gas each time you're out. Look for major gas supplies, in fact. Also gas stabilizer at auto parts stores.

Drives me nuts. It's pretty easy to come up with interesting scripts without having the star characters act like morons.

[vendic]

SFC and I have been thinking the same thing for a long time now.
Dumb dumb dumb.
We still watch it, well we did till we cancelled cable.
No point paying a ton for a couple of shows that we watched.
So haven't seen the current season at all.

[SciFiFisher]

If you can get a decent internet connection there are alternatives. It can be a booger wading through some of the different options. You have Hulu, Amazon, Netflix, and then there are the different offerings from the different networks which are all offering various streaming options. And of course, each has a different line up in the "free" section. You might find Amazon wants to charge you to see a show and Hulu has it for free or vice versa.

[vendic]

Oh we have hulu, amazon and netfilx. Combined they are 1/3 of the cost of cable here.
Since we only watch a couple of shows it wasn't worth the high monthly outlay.
We could literally buy the blurays when they came out for far less.

[SciFi Chick]

Yeah - basically, the only difference now is we have to wait longer for certain shows, and it's difficult avoiding spoilers.

[SciFiFisher]

Yeah - basically, the only difference now is we have to wait longer for certain shows, and it's difficult avoiding spoilers.

ah yes. Spoilers.

[Swift]

Yeah - basically, the only difference now is we have to wait longer for certain shows, and it's difficult avoiding spoilers.

The zombie butler did it.

[vendic]

r.e. the stupidity of the characters.
We used to pause the show just to say things like, "wtf? are they stupid? who the hell in their right mind would do that? wtf wtf."
Still watched it though. lol

[Swift]

r.e. the stupidity of the characters.
We used to pause the show just to say things like, "wtf? are they stupid? who the hell in their right mind would do that? wtf wtf."
Still watched it though. lol

I don't watch Walking Dead, but isn't that a fundamental characteristic of horror movies, that the characters have to act like they have never seen a horror movie, and don't have any common sense.

And then it gets made fun of by Geico... that's just what they do.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYae3ZAAbLc

[vendic]

It is true to some extent. "Cabin in the woods" didn't follow that path. Lots of others don't either.
Usually the "B" grade horror movies do.
The original "Dawn of the dead" was a damned good movie and had smart people in it as well as the stupid.
But the stupid were those that basically lost their minds because they couldn't take it anymore.

The walking dead has people that have lived through it and keep repeating the same mistakes even though they are meant to be the smart ones. They struggle to find food, ammo and constantly get surprised. It's bang head on desk material most of the time.
Like, why the hell would a Sheriff who is clearly trained in weapons not want his son to learn to use a gun in an apocalyptic zombie world where one bite means you're dead and they keep coming at you?
They devote an entire two episodes to debating on the pro's and cons of teaching a kid to use a gun. Seriously?
If you're in this world, it's time to learn survival skills and weapons. It's something everyone needs to learn.
Dumb is walking around with a rifle in NYNY today to protect yourself against the British, bears or Indians.
Dumb is not knowing or carrying a firearm and a backup weapon in the zombie infested world.
They seem to get confused which they are living in.

[geonuc]

I don't watch Walking Dead, but isn't that a fundamental characteristic of horror movies, that the characters have to act like they have never seen a horror movie, and don't have any common sense.

It is but the WD isn't a horror movie. It's a post-apocalypse survival show. In the horror movies, the characters generally are surprised to find themselves the situation they're in and basically freak out. In the WD, the main characters have all been there done that, yet they still do stupid stuff. Their characters aren't portrayed as stupid people, they're supposed to be savvy survivors. Yet the writers can't seem to grasp that that means they shouldn't constantly be doing stupid stuff.

As vendic said, a lot of head banging on the desk stuff. Drives me nuts mainly because it doesn't have to be that way. The writers have plenty room to script exciting episodes even with the characters act reasonably.

[SciFiFisher]

It is true to some extent. "Cabin in the woods" didn't follow that path. Lots of others don't either.
Usually the "B" grade horror movies do.
The original "Dawn of the dead" was a damned good movie and had smart people in it as well as the stupid.
But the stupid were those that basically lost their minds because they couldn't take it anymore.

The walking dead has people that have lived through it and keep repeating the same mistakes even though they are meant to be the smart ones. They struggle to find food, ammo and constantly get surprised. It's bang head on desk material most of the time.
Like, why the hell would a Sheriff who is clearly trained in weapons not want his son to learn to use a gun in an apocalyptic zombie world where one bite means you're dead and they keep coming at you?
They devote an entire two episodes to debating on the pro's and cons of teaching a kid to use a gun. Seriously?
If you're in this world, it's time to learn survival skills and weapons. It's something everyone needs to learn.
Dumb is walking around with a rifle in NYNY today to protect yourself against the British, bears or Indians.
Dumb is not knowing or carrying a firearm and a backup weapon in the zombie infested world.
They seem to get confused which they are living in.

This is what happens when you have writers, producers, and et al. who think they must say something about current events going on in the real world. Because they have a moral duty to help the audience understand the issues that society is facing. No you don't mister script writer. What you have is a moral duty to do is make your characters believable in the environment they exist in.

[vendic]

You may have a point Fisher.
They are writing about the political situation in the USA.
Do dumb shit, have people die and not understand why, repeat.

[geonuc]

More stupidity. Bit of a spoiler but not much:


The good guys mobilize their forces, prepare some (sort of) armored vehicles, do some sentry elimination, all in furtherance of their goal to attack and kill Negan. That is the goal, as stated by Rick - kill Negan. And they have a lot of folks and weapons with which to do it.

So, there they are, outside Negan's joint, a zillion weapons at the ready including automatic weapons. No one is shooting at them, yet. As expected, Negan comes out the door maybe 50 feet away with a few of his minions and proceeds to engage Rick and company in a taunting match. He's standing out in the open.

So, WTF? SHOOT HIM! NOW! Hose the area with lead! With all those weapons even if everyone is an incredibly lame shot, the sheer amount of lead they could fling would certainly result in a kill. Which is their stated goal, right?

Idiots. Every season - stupidity, idiocy, negligence. Basically, Rick and company continue to do everything they possibly can to lose and die.

[SciFiFisher]

More stupidity. Bit of a spoiler but not much:


Idiots. Every season - stupidity, idiocy, negligence. Basically, Rick and company continue to do everything they possibly can to lose and die.

Because, that's what they do.

[code monkey]

More stupidity. Bit of a spoiler but not much:
...
So, there they are, outside Negan's joint, a zillion weapons at the ready including automatic weapons. No one is shooting at them, yet. As expected, Negan comes out the door maybe 50 feet away with a few of his minions and proceeds to engage Rick and company in a taunting match. He's standing out in the open.

So, WTF? SHOOT HIM! NOW! Hose the area with lead! ...

surely you've seen that sort of scene before. person a has a weapon trained on person b. kill him? oh, no. he/she must gloat. explain why/how ... basically giv enough time for b to escape. a classic.

[vendic]

Cm, twd takes things to a new level of dumb.
I completely agree with geonuc. It should have been a really simple thing to do. 50 yards. A spear could have done the job. Arrow, no problem. Crossbow, ludicrously easy. Rifle, only a retard could mess it up.

I watch the show hoping it will get back to being entertainment but fear it will become, "fear the walking dead". An even dumber spin off.

Still get a laugh out of it. Mainly because they are so stupid. SFC gave up when they killed off a main character that was there since the first episode. That was dumb too.

[geonuc]

Watched the first couple of episodes of the second half of season 8 (2017 season). We have to wait until Netflix carries it to avoid paying per episode charges.

Unlike almost every other episode, neither of these two had the good guys out doing stupid, head-desk type of idiocy. No, the producers of the show have a new way to annoy the crap out of me: playing a song/ballad in its entirety at high volume while watching some overly emotional crap happening to the characters. No dialog, just loud music. Three to four minutes of it. I hate it.

Another one of my shows - The Americans - started doing this, too. I hope it's not a new thing.

[squ1d]

Try the show "ugly americans". Also features Zombies. But it's much better

[geonuc]

Try the show "ugly americans". Also features Zombies. But it's much better

I'll check it out if I can.