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Z Nation (Syfy show, shit but fun)

Started by Small Man Big Horse, November 16, 2014, 04:45:25 PM

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Small Man Big Horse

Z Nation is Syfy's zombie fest tv show, and it's kind of fun, and a hell of a lot better than The Walking Dead. It starts off with the bloke no one liked out of Lost protecting a guy called Murphy, a convict who was experimented upon and whose blood contains the cure to being a zombie. The idea is to get to California where some scientists will hopefully (if they're still alive) be able to come up with a vaccine and save humanity. Yay, etc. But
Spoiler alert
the Lost guy gets killed off by a baby zombie, and it's up to a ragtag team of survivors to get Murphy to the other side of the US. Oh, and meanwhile some lonely guy in an Arctic government base helps them out when he can. But he's annoying, so best ignored.
[close]

First the negatives:
Bad Acting! There's loads of it! Well, at first at least, things get a bit better as the show goes along.
Bad Dialogue! Varies from time to time, and on occasion it's really quite funny and self aware, but sometimes there's cringeworthy stuff going on.
Citizen Z - just a bit weird and creepy. Fortunately isn't the centre of too many episodes though.

But good things exist:
It moves at a really swift place and the gore is fun and inventive.
They play around with some nice ideas, and the plotlines are often quite unusual, there's a western themed one which was surprisingly amusing and well constructed.
Has a sense of humour about itself, the survivors are fairly self aware / sarcastic as to how shitty their situation is.
They killed off
Spoiler alert
the guy who seemed to be the main character at the end of the first episode, and then killed off his replacement in the sixth episode, which was quite a shock at the time.
[close]
Unlike the Walking Dead, here it really does seem like anyone could die (well,
Spoiler alert
bar Murphy, but even then he's definitely not the character he started out as...)
[close]
.

So kind of not essential tv, but certainly far more enjoyable than I ever thought it would be.

mook

we rattled through the first three episodes last evening, which is rare for me. it is fun though, the gore is so over the top (for a tv show at any rate) that it just make me chuckle. i hope they stay inventive the ways the dispatch the zombies, the scene
Spoiler alert
in philly with the liberty bell scudding down the street
[close]
cracked me up. you're not wrong about the acting, i can't work out if they're just bad actors just acting, or good actors acting badly. i keep expecting a whakka-whakka guitar to start up and they all start fucking like it's a late 80s porno.

Canted_Angle

I'm thoroughly enjoying this much more than Walking Dead. Although I made the mistake of googling a bit and just found out my favorite character dies.

kidsick5000

It's great for dropping characters. Quite bold in that respect.
In fact, it's rare for a show to anticipate when a character is done but it recently got rid of two, but in a pretty smart way that still had some impact.

It's a classic Irwin Allen set up. Possibly unreachable destination. rag tag bunch. They even have their own Zachary Smith character.

I'd like to see where they take it, especially since they've already done the "all a dream" episode.
Is California a real destination? The DJ stuff feels increasingly weird and incongruous.

But it certainly has more life in it than the other big Z show

Canted_Angle

It is genuinely something quite fun and special, I've binged on 8 episodes over two days and I'm quite wrapped up in it now. It takes more chances than that other Zombie show and it's so much fun without even seeming to try. I'm still disappointed
Spoiler alert
that my favorite character got killed so early on though
[close]
. Either way it's most definitely my favorite zombie show out of the two. 

thraxx


Only found about this this week and shit but fun about sums it up – I think the comments here are spot on.

It is definitely better than the Walking Dead, partly because you don't have the excellent comics to compare it to, and secondly because it doesn't take itself seriously.  There are so many issues and things wrong with the programme: from the appallingly bad yet mercifully short opening title to the clunky dialogue to the zombies that come out of nowhere and then start screaming every 5 minutes.  You can lose count in the space of about 3 minutes of all the mistakes, but whereas  in the WD if will annoy me intensely, Z Nation just fucks off and crashes off into another bit and does something quite interesting or cool, until they get bored of that and then fuck off into something else.

thraxx


Just watched the dream sequence episode - number 9.  The first episode to really REALLY annoy me.  So tedious, so cheapskate (clearly using EXACTLY the same locations as the second episode), and such a shit cop out pay off.  Feel quite fucked off at that one.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: thraxx on November 28, 2014, 08:50:50 PM
Just watched the dream sequence episode - number 9.  The first episode to really REALLY annoy me.  So tedious, so cheapskate (clearly using EXACTLY the same locations as the second episode), and such a shit cop out pay off.  Feel quite fucked off at that one.

I've just got up to date and yeah, that was pretty much my reaction (including the location thing).
Spoiler alert
I guessed pretty early on that the whole thing was her dream, and a way of discovering what she was suffering PTSD from, and it was fairly frustrating from that point on.
[close]
That said I did like the hulk-zombie, and a couple of the inventive gory bits, so didn't completely hate it, but it was definitely the weakest so far.

Episode 10 isn't a huge amount better, after the western themed episode I was starting to get high hopes that the show might develop in to something a bit smarter, but since then it's been a bit by the numbers. I'm still liking it though, and Murphy's whole plight seems pretty intriguing, so will stick with it for a while yet I imagine. Especially as there's so little else good on tv right now.

Canted_Angle

I've just watched the penultimate episode and I can safely say there hasn't really been a duff episode all series. Obviously the western one was the best but each episode has told a story without letting up on the pace or the fun. It's felt like there's been a natural progression with all the characters without needing 10minutes of exposition whilst starring out of a window.

I hope the next season sees Citizen Z going even more crazy than he already is and perhaps some interaction with someone who isn't imaginary. Murphy is a genuinely fantastic character and I can't wait to see where his story goes.
Spoiler alert
If he can control people as well as zombies would one drop of his blood in the water supply make him a kinda puppet master of the world?
[close]

So many more ideas have been presented and played out in this single series than in 5 series of Walking Dead.

Canted_Angle

Has everyone else given up on this? I just watched the season final and it looks as though things will be quite shaken up for series 2. Should be great.

thraxx

Quote from: Canted_Angle on November 29, 2014, 06:24:13 PM
I've just watched the penultimate episode and I can safely say there hasn't really been a duff episode all series. Obviously the western one was the best but each episode has told a story without letting up on the pace or the fun. It's felt like there's been a natural progression with all the characters without needing 10minutes of exposition whilst starring out of a window.

I hope the next season sees Citizen Z going even more crazy than he already is and perhaps some interaction with someone who isn't imaginary. Murphy is a genuinely fantastic character and I can't wait to see where his story goes.
Spoiler alert
If he can control people as well as zombies would one drop of his blood in the water supply make him a kinda puppet master of the world?
[close]

So many more ideas have been presented and played out in this single series than in 5 series of Walking Dead.

I like the Murphy character but I find the whole story arc that you've spoilered up there a bit too silly for my taste.  All the others silly things that have happened are sort of one offs and you move one, but that annoys me every time.

Also, the nuclear episode wasn't duff, but, it wasn't far off either.

Still I agree that there are loads of really cools ideas bouncing around, and would much rather watch this over the Walking Dead Boring anytime.

kidsick5000

Quote from: Canted_Angle on December 06, 2014, 04:02:55 PM
Has everyone else given up on this? I just watched the season final and it looks as though things will be quite shaken up for series 2. Should be great.

Not given up at all. A great season. How they deus ex machina in season two, I don't know.
But they still have Dr MacGuffin to find - combined with
Spoiler alert
a potential search for Murphy
[close]

Canted_Angle

Quote from: thraxx on December 06, 2014, 04:26:17 PM
I like the Murphy character but I find the whole story arc that you've spoilered up there a bit too silly for my taste.  All the others silly things that have happened are sort of one offs and you move one, but that annoys me every time.

Also, the nuclear episode wasn't duff, but, it wasn't far off either.

Still I agree that there are loads of really cools ideas bouncing around, and would much rather watch this over the Walking Dead Boring anytime.

It's zombies, the very concept is silly. Any curve ball just adds a new slant whether it's explored or not but this seems to be becoming the root of it which brings some interesting questions to answer.