When Michael and Vince talked about the behind the scenes details I can definitely say I learned a lot of things that I was not expecting. Michael is the head walker, so even when the walkers don't look like the same person it very well could be him since he has several different zombie looks. Michael did a lot of the talking since he is the head zombie and he deals with the special effects the most. First, in the scenes where Michael is actually eating and pulling out intestines, he is actually doing it, yep that's right he is gnawing on sterile cow intestines. And the other part of the time, Michael is gnawing on condoms filled with BBQ. You will hear towards the end of the blog where the cast and crew eat and a lot of times its not on set based on what they have to eat and the scenery not exactly being appetizing. To me, I think Michael deserves to be the highest paying actor on the show just for having to do this. Michael did talk about how he got started with The Walking Dead. Before The Walking Dead, Michael had never played in any major roles and he was just out of college when the show practically fell in his lap. For him, it was one of those things that he looked at like a one and a million chance that he would never get. He literally walked up to a casting director and got lucky with an audition, and he amazed the directors just as we get amazed with his work everyday. So, for all you out there that have acting or voice acting aspirations, just remember its possible and it can happen. One thing I was pretty shocked to find out was the number of walkers there actually are in an episode. As many as we see I would think that there would be hundreds but nope there isn't. Apparantly a lot of those bodies you see (especially the ones on the ground) are dummies, and even some of the ones walking. To this say Vince stated that there has not been more than 175 in a single episode. This made me think back to the episode in the beginning when Rick was on his horse in the army tank, and there appeared to be hundreds. This just goes to show how amazing effects can, and what we can percieve them to be vs what they really are. Some of the zombie extras would even carry dummies, or some of them would just be dummies laying on the ground. As low as a budget as this show had when it first started, I must say the effects and everything else involving the scenes is very impressive. The actors who play the zombies are also sometimes filmed from the neck up and their head is really the only part shown, and then the rest is effects. This I thought was pretty awesome too, and that they didn't have to makeover their whole bodies just to make a scene that was only a few seconds long, or have to give 100 zombies makeup from head to toe. 
After the men talked about all the behind the scenes details I decided to raise my hand and ask a question that I was almost positive they were not going to answer. And my question was : "What can you tell us about where next season is headed and how much is Season 4 going to follow the comic?". Michael glanced over at Vince a little bit hesitant to answer it, and then Vince looked right back at me and said "I will tell you this, "Season 4 will not follow the comic, not even a little bit". So there's your spoiler. And if you have read the comic, then you should know that this could change a lot of things that happen. People have been wanting to know if Little Ass Kicker dies (as she does in the comic), and I think we now have our answer. My prediction is what he meant by this statement was that Little Ass Kicker does not die as she does in the comics. This is a question that people have been dying to know the answer to, and I think its because its hard to swallow. Anytime a child dies on a show, fake or real, and especially a baby it can change your views on things, even change your mind on your favorite show, whether it follows the comic or not. Knowing this little bit of information can lead into so many different
possibilities for next season. If you have not read the comic, then
this may not change a whole lot for you. But, lets face it when we have
a movie or a show based off the comic, we want to see it follow the
comic. This may change the opinion of the show for many viewers, and
especially Walking Dead comic book readers. The way we feel about all the disturbing parts in the comic and the show is that this is one thing we love about the show. And that's that they don't hold back, they explore all possibilities for what it would really be like, and how our kids would be in grave danger and the point is made to never let go of them. Sure, when someone randomly kills a child on a movie or a show and its not necessary, then yes it is a little disturbing. But, lets face it this would be completely accurate in a zombie outbreak. Regardless, we are pumped for Season 4 and we cannot wait to see what they have in store for this season. We are especially excited to see what revelations will be made, and how it will differ from the comic. And don't forget that there will be a Walking Dead spin off show in 2015. Hey fans, it will not follow the comic or the show and it will be completely different and doesn't even take place in Georgia. The quality will be the same as well as the acting, but don't expect it to follow any story lines that we are normally use to with The Walking Dead.
Don't worry ladies the last part of the panel was completely dedicated to Norman Reedus. I think Vince and Michael both knew that everyone wanted to know the juicy details on our favorite character. One thing they said was Reedus was the only person in the cast (even Robert Kirkman) that actually had an entire truck load and a wagon behind the truck full of mail. Not much of a suprise, but a little shocking that he gets more fan mail than Robert Kirkman himself. One thing both men said was how great of a guy Norman Reedus was. They pointed out how much he awknowledges his fans. And I have to say out of all the businesses on set we see Reedus and Rooker the most taking photos with fans. They both emphasized on something a lot and something that I am sure all of you have heard many times, and that's that The Walking Dead cast is really a family. They are together on set, off set, holidays, weekends, and they really spend a lot of time together just as any family would. One thing that was really amazing towards the end that I never thought of was when Michael asked people what they thought zombies meant to us as a person. I am thinking to myself, "we all love them". But he gave a much better analysis and that was "Zombies are our metaphor for our fears in everyday life". I thought this was the most compelling and truthful analysis that I had heard of zombies to this day. Now, let's take a look at the comic up to this point and also the first three seasons of the show. In my opinion, this might possibly be the best comic book TV show of all time. The first time we picked up TWD comic I fell in love with the horror, the art, and the astounding writing that Robert Kirkman did in this amazing comic. The first three seasons were amazing, and I think we can all thank an incredible comic due to this (along with amazing cast and crew).
The first season of The Walking Dead started out a little slow but in my experience, good, long lasting TVshows always start out slow. I felt like the show did start out a little slower than the comic, but there are so many more characters in the comic than in the show. I am glad that they cut out characters rather than cutting out important details, because lets face it there's so much to the comic and so many characters that it would be impossible to cover it all in less than an hour. Other than leaving out a few characters in the comic, I would say the show matched the comic 100% up until this point. It was a great first season and we got to see the characters that we had all been reading about for several years, and one of our favorite comics was finally developing into a great show. This is the season when all the characters in the storyline realized that life as they know it may never be the same. Even with all of the turmoil in season one, we felt this was actually the season least packed with action, but it was still a great season. This was of course Michael's favorite season because this is where he made his debut and his dreams started to come true.
In the second season, we watched the whole group kind of diminish and fall apart. This is when Rick kills Shane and I think it was something we were all waiting for the first two seasons. The thing that still throws me off to this day was how Shane turned. Did he get bit and we all just didn't see it? Or did he get poisoned by the water from the water well? Sometimes I love how the show leaves us hanging and leaves it up to us to decide what the motive was or what exactly happened. The show allows you to determine some answers on your own, and its one thing that we love about the show. It also leaves the opening for other books, TV shows, and possibly movies when we don't have every single detail and every single aspect of the story. We have to admit that the only thing we didn't like about Season two is how much they dragged out Shane. After everything he had pulled we felt like it just dragged on for too long, we did like how his exit was made on the show, we just wished it was a little quicker and not drawn out so much. 
The ending of last season was in my eyes, absolutely incredible. Merle's exit at the end could not have been more perfect. This was someone we began to loathe in the show, and at the end him trying to redeem himself and make up for all the harm he had caused was the best way that they could have made his exit. When Carol's husband (Ed) died in the show, no one cared and I think that's because he was pure evil all the way until the end. But with Merle's exit it was so tragic because he put himself on the line twice to save his brother and the group. When Merle decided to put himself on the line close to the end of the season, I think he knew it came down to him sacrificing himself, or his brother and the rest of the group. He even put himself on the line to save Michonne, and we all know she is his least favorite. The brotherly connection between Daryl and Merle at the end was absolutely incredible. We had not yet seen this connection with the brothers and it was the moment that Daryl realized that Merle wasn't so heartless after all, or that something had changed him for the better. Vince identified this as his favorite season and scene of the show was when Merle and Daryl had that last moment together. One exciting special effects thing we learned in the first season was learning what happened to all those fish when the tanks got broken in Woodbury. And you can rest knowing that all those exotic fish did not die. There was a stunt woman to pull all of the fish. The heads in the tanks were real skulls, which is another thing that makes this show great is they try to get as realistic as they possibly can. We also have Andrea's exit, which we thought overall was good but just like Shane we thought it was a little drawn out. She was an annoyance just like Shane was for a long time and I think everyone was relieved to see her go because her character was just getting too much on the annoying side. A couple places that we would like to give a big shout out to. One of them being our friends at Senoia
Coffee and Cafe. They have always made their place like a home to fans, and especially The Walking Dead cast and crew. Their food looks amazing, and if you are anywhere near Georgia stop by and give them a hello. Also, Woodbury Shoppe is another great place where The Walking dead cast and crew will show up to meet fans. They have anything and everything that you could think of that is related to The Walking Dead. They really have some awesome merchandise that you may not see anywhere else. And let's not forget this is where the cast and crew goes when they are too grossed out by the set to eat there, so you never know who you are going to tun into. Another place is Mile High Comics. They have made it possible with all their freebies and giveaways to make our Walking Dead comic book collection what we really want it to be. Of course, a big thanks to Denver Comic Con for bringing us two strait years of one of the most amazing cons to attend, and they have also brought us great Walking Dead cast two years in a row. Don't forget all the proceeds go to Comic Book Classroom, a literacy program for kids. The photo placed here was taken with a fan at Senoia Coffee and Cafe, which is known and shown in the show as the Woodbury Cafe. There are also some books that we encourage everyone to read that relate to zombies. One is The Walking Dead book series. It is absolutely phenomenal, and we have not wanted to put it down since we started reading it. Its all about the governor and the loose ends that we did not know about, such as when Penny got bit, and why the governor turned so evil. It fills in a lot of the gaps that the comic and the show leave out and its great finding out all the details that we may not know. As we stated earlier its very creative when writers do this so there is an opening for other books and stories. Another great book that we have been thoroughly enjoying is Brian Parker's, GNASH. It is a great book about the zombie virus, and it is very worth the read. You can get it on Kindle or Paperback on Amazon. Another great zombie book is Dan Conner's, My Gal, The Zombie. It is a great zombie comic strip with the perfect amount of humor and keeps your attention throughout the whole book. Dan also has some great art, and he is featured at the Charles M. Shulz Museum. We will leave all info on all these places and the books at the end of this blog so please be sure to check them all out. Don't miss our weekly reviews on The Walking Dead and other shows, and please contact us with any questions or comments. Also don't forget to watch the preview below for tonight's show if you have not seen it yet. This is the extended trailer so it is different from the one that was released at San Diego Comic Con this year.
Blog written by Geeking 4 Everyone
Pictures from panel taken by Geeking 4 Everyone and all others came from The Walking Dead website and Senoia Coffee and Cafe.
The Walking Dead: http://www.amctv.com/shows/the-walking-dead
Denver Comic Con: http://www.denvercomiccon.com/
Comic Book Classroom: http://www.comicbookclassroom.org/
Denver Comic Con logo by: J Scott Campbell: http://www.jscottcampbellstore.com/
Senoia Coffee and Cafe: http://senoiacoffeeandcafe.com/
Woodbury Shoppe: https://www.facebook.com/WoodburyShoppe
Brian Parker (author of GNASH):
Dan Conner: http://crazygoodcomics.storenvy.com/
Don't forget to shop at Mile High Comics for great pricing and availability!!!
http://www.milehighcomics.com/
Make sure to check out Lords of Geeks Blogs and Podcasts!!! http://www.lordsofgeek.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment