Poll: Favorite version of The Walking Dead

[TWEWYFan]

I picked up the Tell Tale Walking Dead game around June and I liked it a lot. I found the story engaging, the characters varied and interesting, and I really enjoyed the tough choices they threw at me. We'll see how it stands up to the test of time, especially with Season 2 imminent at time of writing, but for the moment it's probably one of my favorite games.

So a few months later an on the recommendation of a coworker I gave the AMC television series a try. After watching up through the third season on Netflix my final thoughts were a resounding... meh. It's not that I think it's bad exactly and I can certainly see why it has gotten the acclaim it has. Perhaps it was bias from the game but as the series went on I found myself becoming less and less engaged with the characters. I think in the end they and the series got a little too dark for me; I know that sounds odd given the genre but in the game I always felt there was a certain measure of hope. Or maybe that was just Clementine. (Cries manly tears)

Anyway in summation I was curious what all your thoughts were on the various incarnation of The Walking Dead. Which is your favorite and why?

 

[Queen Michael]

I've only read the comic, so obviously that's my favorite.

 

[tippy2k2]

Note for references:
I have read The Walking Dead Compendium's #1 & #2
I have watched The Walking Dead to the end of Season 3
I have played Telltale's The Walking Dead Season 1 & the 400 Days extra episode

For my order, it would go
TV Show > Video Game > Graphic Novel

While many hate the TV Show due to the slow pace and many red-shirts, I think the TV Show handles it the best. While the Red Shirts get really annoying (a problem I think clears itself up really well in Season 3). The slower pace is something that I absolutely love about the show and the fact that zombies are basically a secondary problem for them is something I really like.

The game is second only because they've done it once...now they have to do it again. Telltale's game is amaz-balls but it's a lot harder to capture that lightning in a bottle twice. If they manage to hit the bulls-eye twice, the games may overtake the show for me. 400 Days did absolutely nothing for me and felt like a waste of money but I'll chalk that up to Telltale having an experiment

The Graphic Novel, ironically, I think is alright at best. The graphic novel flies through the character development and does very little with it's characters. The best example I have is Shane (spoilers for Season 2 of the TV Show and Compendium #1)

Spoiler

In the TV Show, Shane goes a season and a half slowly losing his mind. He does some incredibly bad things (namely crippling a man and leaving him to get eaten so that he could escape). In the comic, he goes approximately 3 pages before going from an alright guy to nutter butters. I barely know who this guy is and the comic wants me to feel all kinds of remorse for what happens...

 

[EeveeElectro]

I haven't read the comics but I want to, but from what I've looked up about them, they seem a lot more interesting than the TV show but I understand why the show is how it is.
Some of the choices I prefer in the comics, some I prefer in the show.

S4 so far has been fairly weak, I thought towards the end of season 3 (I stayed up the night before S4 started again and binged on the last 5 episodes as I was behind) were amazing. The whole season was pretty good, imo. Hopefully S4 picks up, I do still like it and will still watch it.

The game was fantastic, can't fault it. I suppose the only problem is that a lot of stuff was predetermined no matter you chose, but it still had lots of possible story lines.
My empathy towards the characters sorta came out of nowhere. I was blubbing at the end, so Telltale did a really good job.

Edit: I forgot to rant some more about the show XD

I do enjoy it, I think how much Rick has developed as a character is great. I like all the main characters, bar Carol but I think because

Spoiler

She dies in the comics, the show decided to keep her in it so they've given her a complete new character which is starting to irritate me. She's gun-ho like Andrea but with knives which is one reason why Andrea annoyed me and I'm glad she got killed off in a way.
I suppose TV Carol's fate is better, making her a stronger character rather than her grow weaker and commit suicide but she's got to the point where she's become annoying.

I don't like how they keep introducing face-less, no personality, disposable people just because they want some action but don't want to kill off any main characters.
I didn't know the names of any of the new people that have been bumped off, and having to watch them just seems like a bore because I'm attached to the main characters now and want to see more of them.
I suppose it's better having some bait, but it'd be nice to feel at least something towards the character before they die.

 

[hazabaza1]

Game then comic then show. At times the show comes up above the comic like with the aforementioned Shane business and the comic does fall into some of the silly standard comic tropes but the writing is mostly solid.

Game is fucking amazing though.

 

[Kenbo Slice]

Comic and game are pretty great. But the show is fucking awful. It's like, hey you know what everybody loved in the comics? Let's not do that.


Most accurate honest trailer ever.

 

[General Twinkletoes]

I thought the show sucked ass (oh my god Rick is an annoying fuckwit), and I don't think I've ever liked a comic, and TWD seemed pretty poorly paced. Good example is Show Shane vs Comic Shane. The show did that so much better, and I think that was the high point, and his character development was the only thing that made that show worth watching IMO. I tried to finish season 3, but I couldn't be arsed.

On the other hand, the game is one of my favourite games ever. Fairly easy choice.

 

[mirage202]

So far for me it is the video games TellTale's that is.

I have no gotten around to reading the comics yet and while I do watch the TV show for me it is a little too much like a soap opera with zombies for it to be anything other than ok.

 

[Drummodino]

TellTale's game hands down. I watch the TV show and it's OK. Not great but a decent watch. The game however is much, much better. The writing and performances are so much better. I actually give a damn about the characters, rather than cheering for them to become zombie lunch.

I'll sum it up like this:

Clementine >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Carl
Lee >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Rick

 

[Tuesday Night Fever]

I've seen the show up to the start of season 3 and I've played the Telltale game. Between the two, definitely the Telltale game.

The show is just awful. There's nothing wrong with the pacing or the effects, but the characters are just crazy unlikable and amazingly stupid. It's to the point where I just feel complete apathy toward most of them, not really caring whether or not they live or die. Unless it's Carl, in which case I actively want him to die. Like sooooo badly do I want him to die. In the slowest, most painful way possible.

And did anyone else find it odd that during the very first scene of Season 1, when Rick and Shane and all the other cops are shooting at the criminals, they all have amazingly shitty aim - then later on Rick and Shane suddenly have sweet aimbots that let them consistently headshot walkers with every single round, sometimes while running and firing one-handed? I found it hard to suspend my disbelief with that. These people are so ridiculously proficient with firearms that you'd think they were all professional, world-champion marksmen prior to the outbreak.

 

[Meinos Kaen]

Probably the Comic, since in it Carl is actually badass instead of annoying and all the characters, even the 'redshirts', are useful and actually smart at least once in their lives. It took the TV counterparts ONE SEASON to understand they need some hand-to-hand weapons. The videogames come second, of course.

 

[SlaveNumber23]

I've watched the first 3 seasons of the TV show and while it was promising at first it has turned out to be fairly trashy. Its one of the most overrated TV shows I've seen, its not a terrible show by any means but it doesn't even come close to earning the 8.7/10 it has on imdb at the moment. That said, I can get enough entertainment out of it that I keep watching, though at this point its probably due more to how invested I am in the show rather than how much I'm actually enjoying watching it.

TellTale's game on the other hand is an absolute masterpiece. I haven't touched the comic.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I've only ever seen the show and played the game.

And even without the game I wouldn't touch the TV show with a 10-foot pole after that first season. Those first two episodes were promising, but as soon as what's-his-face got reunited with his family the show took a nose dive. And the last episode of that first season was the final nail in the coffin.

The only real blemish on the game is that unnecessary epilogue. Everything else is a slice of fried gold.

 

[Kae]

I read the first compendium of the comic and though it was OK, but it didn't grab my attention enough to keep reading, the show started off pretty great I loved the beginning but it kinda bored me on season 2 and I realized I really didn't care about any of the characters so I stopped watching, which leads me to the game which is amazing the first time you play it, well it grabbed my attention and though I didn't care about Lee at first I grew to like him as I advanced and made choices for him, it's just an amazing thing how it makes you feel like your choices actually matter and it really made me thing "If only I had done that!", I don't know I'd never felt guilt before while playing a game, it was different and I loved it, I was so close to crying many times and the ending really almost made me cry, so yeah I'll go with the game it's the only one I bothered finishing and even if Season 2 somehow ends up sucking Season 1 will still be my favourite Walking Dead thing.
[sup][sup]Though I wouldn't recommend replaying it right after you finish it, making other choices just doesn't feel right, not to mention it ruins the illusion of being in control.[/sup][/sup]

 

[Battenberg]

Pahaha, 75% for the video game, who could have seen that coming on a gaming website. I haven't read the comics yet and, since I've heard there's a good chance of spoilers for the series, I probably won't until the TV series finishes so that just leaves the game and the series. I kind of want to pick the game but I was hugely disappointed to find out how little control I actually had over the story when I looked it up afterwards so between that and the fact that the show has been good for 3 seasons I'd have to go for the show. Who knows, maybe S2 of the game will change my mind though.

 

[Andy Shandy]

It's between the game and the TV show for me, since I haven't read the comics, and the game wins rather handsomely. I did enjoy the TV show for the season of it that I've watched, but the game is just fantastic.

 

[TWEWYFan]

Pahaha, 75% for the video game, who could have seen that coming on a gaming website. I haven't read the comics yet and, since I've heard there's a good chance of spoilers for the series, I probably won't until the TV series finishes so that just leaves the game and the series. I kind of want to pick the game but I was hugely disappointed to find out how little control I actually had over the story when I looked it up afterwards so between that and the fact that the show has been good for 3 seasons I'd have to go for the show. Who knows, maybe S2 of the game will change my mind though.

Haha, true that might skew the metrics a bit. Still it's not as if gamers are incapable of enjoying other mediums. Case in point I loved Alien VS. Predator 2 on the PC but I also admit that it's still not quite up there with the first two films that inspired it. Good thing there were only two Alien films and not some hypothetical third and fourth installments that would drag things down.

 

[starslasher]

Just like most others, I liked the tell tale version of Walking Dead best. I have read a bit of the comic (the second volume) and only the first few episodes on TV, but they could never get me interested. Despite the illusion of choice in the video game, it was great drama. I could actually feel for the characters and the dilemmas that they face. But when I read the comic (pretty much the arc when they seek refuge in hershel's farm and then the prison), i don't sympathize with most of the characters, nor care about the decisions they make. the comic and AMC show tend to focus waaay too much on the "beware-humanity-more-than-the-zombies" angle, as if i haven't seen it in dozens of other movies, tv shows and cartoons. While the video game does does play that angle, I feel that it's toned down and the theme is a lot more about finding hope and changing expectations.

So yeah, for me, it's a no brainer.