"Solution to TWD's Pacing Problem is right in the Comics"
Dec 9, 2016 19:03:28 GMT -5
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Post by Ripley on Dec 9, 2016 19:03:28 GMT -5
Posting for v
"...Ever since the Governor bit the dust a few years ago, fans of the series have been waiting with bated breath to meet the comic villain who made the eye-patched mayor of Woodbury look like a teddy bear. Negan is one of the most popular characters to come from the comic canon, and with the blockbuster casting of Jeffrey Dean Morgan in the role (arguably the most well-known actor the cast of relative unknowns has attracted to date), you knew AMC was going to milk it for all it’s worth. Which didn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing. But with Sunday’s midseason finale upon us, it’s become clear that The Walking Dead is content to keep kicking dirt around the sandbox it’s created, instead of moving on to new terrain. Rather, it’s starting to feel like the AMC series’ creative team would prefer to play with the shiny, new Jeffrey Dean Morgan action figure they just pulled out of the box, Lucille and leather jacket included. The Walking Dead, has never been the fastest-paced series on TV, but it once possessed a certain narrative energy—which is saying something, especially for a series whose premise is basically that it’s an endless apocalypse.
Much of that prior success can be traced back to Robert Kirkman’s immensely successful comics (still going, by the way), which the series has mined again and again for key story elements, sometimes panel by panel. Yes, the TV series has taken some liberties along the way (Andrea is dead, Carol is alive and awesome, Daryl exists, etc.), but they’ve largely kept the bones of Kirkman’s story in place. Which makes the frustratingly slow start to Season Seven all the more, well, frustrating. The framework is there, and they’re actually following it, for the most part—they just need to do it with more urgency. Considering that Kirkman’s been telling this story for 13 years and 160 issues (and counting), there are still seasons’ worth of material from the comics to adapt, and more being written with each new issue. So why spend eight episodes—several of them super-sized—meandering around the realization that Negan is a Really Bad Dude?
Put simply, there is no reason. We’re at the midseason break, and you could’ve skipped all but one or two episodes and not missed much. That’s not a good thing. And looking to the comics, that seems to be something Kirkman already knows.
The season-long wait for Glenn’s death? Kirkman wrapped it all up in issue 100, no cliffhanger required. The TV series is now focusing on elements from issues 104-105 of the comic at this point—the “What Comes After” arc. Carl’s failed attack on Negan is right out of the comics, and at least in that version of the story, it’s the start of a bizarre friendship between the two. We start to see the seeds of that planted on screen, as well. Which is fine! It’s a good story in the comics, and might well work in the series. But where the comic is limited by a page count each week, AMC’s adaptation has begun to stretch the hour-long drama to its breaking point: Without the need to be concise, the TV series no longer has the impetus to focus on its strongest, most important narrative threads. Not every scene needs to make it on screen, after all. There’s a reason most footage ends up on the cutting room floor..."
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"...Ever since the Governor bit the dust a few years ago, fans of the series have been waiting with bated breath to meet the comic villain who made the eye-patched mayor of Woodbury look like a teddy bear. Negan is one of the most popular characters to come from the comic canon, and with the blockbuster casting of Jeffrey Dean Morgan in the role (arguably the most well-known actor the cast of relative unknowns has attracted to date), you knew AMC was going to milk it for all it’s worth. Which didn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing. But with Sunday’s midseason finale upon us, it’s become clear that The Walking Dead is content to keep kicking dirt around the sandbox it’s created, instead of moving on to new terrain. Rather, it’s starting to feel like the AMC series’ creative team would prefer to play with the shiny, new Jeffrey Dean Morgan action figure they just pulled out of the box, Lucille and leather jacket included. The Walking Dead, has never been the fastest-paced series on TV, but it once possessed a certain narrative energy—which is saying something, especially for a series whose premise is basically that it’s an endless apocalypse.
Much of that prior success can be traced back to Robert Kirkman’s immensely successful comics (still going, by the way), which the series has mined again and again for key story elements, sometimes panel by panel. Yes, the TV series has taken some liberties along the way (Andrea is dead, Carol is alive and awesome, Daryl exists, etc.), but they’ve largely kept the bones of Kirkman’s story in place. Which makes the frustratingly slow start to Season Seven all the more, well, frustrating. The framework is there, and they’re actually following it, for the most part—they just need to do it with more urgency. Considering that Kirkman’s been telling this story for 13 years and 160 issues (and counting), there are still seasons’ worth of material from the comics to adapt, and more being written with each new issue. So why spend eight episodes—several of them super-sized—meandering around the realization that Negan is a Really Bad Dude?
Put simply, there is no reason. We’re at the midseason break, and you could’ve skipped all but one or two episodes and not missed much. That’s not a good thing. And looking to the comics, that seems to be something Kirkman already knows.
The season-long wait for Glenn’s death? Kirkman wrapped it all up in issue 100, no cliffhanger required. The TV series is now focusing on elements from issues 104-105 of the comic at this point—the “What Comes After” arc. Carl’s failed attack on Negan is right out of the comics, and at least in that version of the story, it’s the start of a bizarre friendship between the two. We start to see the seeds of that planted on screen, as well. Which is fine! It’s a good story in the comics, and might well work in the series. But where the comic is limited by a page count each week, AMC’s adaptation has begun to stretch the hour-long drama to its breaking point: Without the need to be concise, the TV series no longer has the impetus to focus on its strongest, most important narrative threads. Not every scene needs to make it on screen, after all. There’s a reason most footage ends up on the cutting room floor..."
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