The Walking Dead Season 8 Comic-Con Trailer Analysis...

It's that time of year again – San Diego Comic-Con – and, naturally, that means the trailer for the new season of The Walking Dead!

Now, as I've written about before, Season 7 undoubtedly had some problems – however, the show makers have proved in the past that they do listen to fans' concerns and make changes. I've read a few interviews with Scott Gimple (the show runner) where he has stated that not only will the pace of the 8^th Season be ramped up, but the structure of the storytelling will be changed. In other words, aside from the possibility of a flashback episode detailing Negan's back story, the 'isolated episodes showing just one character/story' are out. These stand alone episodes can work in moderation: The Governor's flashback episodes in Season 4, for example, or the episode in which we saw how Morgan came to regain his sanity and find a path to peace, or indeed, 7x02 in which we follow Carol and Morgan as we were introduced to The Kingdom (with a satisfying conclusion at the end, justifying Ezekiel's more outré characteristics).

Season 7's biggest problem was definitely the structure, which made the overall story feel fractured with main characters disappearing for a handful of episodes at a time while the writers played for time in-between the premières and finales, sapping considerable momentum. The low point for all this? Episode 7x06: the Oceanside episode – Tara couldn't carry the weight of introducing the third new community of people inside five episodes after The Kingdom and The Sanctuary. Indeed, the introduction of those scumbag trash pile people (lead by the irritating Jadis) proved problematic for the back-half of the seventh season, too.

Anyway – enough of that, because Season 8 is shaping up to be an exciting thrill ride that will reward viewers' patience. All Out War has been declared and the battles are upon us!

Click “READ MORE” below to see what's what in the Season 8 trailer...

Flavours of the Month: July 2016...

Biting political satire, self-hating comedians, bullet-time, zombies, and a hefty amount of research - just some of the looks, sounds, vibes & flavours of my July 2016...

Click "READ MORE" below for what's been setting the tone of my month...

The Walking Dead Season 7 Comic-Con Trailer Analysis

Find Walking Dead memes here.

Considering that infamous cliffhanger at the end of Season 6, it's hardly a surprise that this year's Comic-Con trailer for The Walking Dead is a bit on the short side. Opening with 80 seconds worth of mood-setting glimpses at each of the characters facing Negan's prized barbed-wire-wrapped baseball bat Lucille (as the camera lovingly rises up the length of the weapon – ooh err, Mrs!), the remaining 100-ish seconds give us some scattered glimpses and teasing lines of dialogue to whet our whistles.

But what did we get to see in the trailer? Let's dive in, shall we?

Click “READ MORE” below to see some glimpses of The Walking Dead's seventh season...

Flavours of the Month: July 2015...

Brooding detectives, nerdvana, 'black out years' tunes, darkly comic tales, and a great big thwack in the ribs are just some of what's been flavouring my July 2015...

Click "READ MORE" below for this month's Looks, Sounds, Vibes & Flavours...

Ash vs Evil Dead – Comic-Con Trailer Analysis

Watch the Official Trailer HERE and the Comic-Con Panel HERE.

Ash is back, baby! The trailer for the ten-part horror/comedy series from Starz premiered at Comic-Con 2015 and it's whipped up a bit of a fan frenzy – so let's dig into some of the highlights.

Boy Done Good:

So where's Ash gone since we last saw him? Not very far, it seems – if anything he's gone in reverse – living in a trailer hitched to the same car he's always had (just think of the time and money Ash must have spent restoring it after the events of the third film!), and now he's not even working at S-Mart. Now he has – so I presume – slid down the retail ladder to 'Value Stop' where he's still a Stockboy, re-living past glories as he tells his co-worker Pablo of his prior adventures: “I was the only one to escape, but now the evil has found me.” At least he's got himself a new prosthetic hand – a bit more fitting to 21^st Century life than that bulky steel contraption from the last movie … maybe whatever magic that made it function wore off? “You won't see that hand, but that's all I'll say,” teased Raimi in response to a fan question on the matter of Ash's substitute hand at the Comic-Con Panel.

“Ash, even in his prime, would be the wrong guy to save the world – now he's thirty years older and he has to save the world! I'm really worried for the world,” said Campbell of Ash's advancing years. “Crabby old man Ash.” Sam Raimi also noted some of Ash's continued (but loveable) foibles: that the character is “a heel, a coward, and a blow hard” but is also “a great monster hunter”. Still though, while he may be a bit down-at-heel (he's even revealed to be wearing dentures at one point – but could this just be a little joke only for the trailer?), Ash still knows how to wield a stump-mounted chainsaw – a moment in the trailer that pushed all the right buttons!

Click “READ MORE” below to continue this trailer analysis with more screenshots...

The Walking Dead Season 6 Comic-Con Trailer Analysis

Looking for some Walking Dead memes? Click here.

“We both started out in the same place … you can come back from this, I know you can” says Rick, but who is he talking to? Is it Morgan? It likely is, but what could Rick be referring to? Has Morgan done something terribly wrong between when we last saw him in Season 3 and now? “Good people, they always die – I'm a killer, Rick, and you are too,” responds Morgan, supporting Rick's view that you shouldn't take chances – but does this have a loaded meaning? Is Morgan unsure of Rick's intentions – his sanity, even – after the close of Season 5 which saw Rick kill an enraged and beaten Pete right in front of Morgan?

“You get out of here and you don't ever come back,” says Morgan in another part of the trailer, at which point we cut to Rick. Clearly the folks behind The Walking Dead want to give us an idea of Morgan and Rick being potential enemies in Season 6, or at the very least two sides of a contentious argument. The editors of these trailers are notoriously tricksy, and when you look closely you see numerous instances where two different scenes have been stitched together to seemingly form one scene. There will surely be a clash between the two men – but will it be quite as angry as the trailer suggests? Could it even be a double bluff?

Click "READ MORE" below to continue this analysis of the Comic-Con trailer for The Walking Dead Season 6...

Flavours of the Month: July 2013...

LOOKS:

The Returned - this 8-part French supernatural series (that's not about zombies, despite what numerous lazy news articles claim - hint: the clue's in the title "Les Revenants") has been a real joy to watch. Beautifully crafted in all regards, it's a mystery that keeps on giving - so many questions, and thankfully numerous answers. There's the big central mystery that will go unanswered until the very end - naturally - but there are innumerable medium-and-mini mysteries throughout, which are either answered, or brought further into focus by small pieces of new information in each episode. There's always a sense of forward momentum, so the mystery never becomes frustrating or stagnant. Bring on series 2!

Click "READ MORE" below for many more flavours of the month...

The Walking Dead Season 4 Comic-Con Trailer Analysis & 5 New Memes...

See more Walking Dead memes here.

At last, the 2013 Comic-Con is here, and coming with it is the Season 4 trailer for The Walking Dead; in another fast-moving sneak-peak, let's delve in deeper and pick some things out.

N.B. Click on each image for FULL SIZE.

Click to Enlarge: It's that time of year again...

Click “READ MORE” below for analysis, screenshots, and memes...

The Walking Dead Season 3 Comic-Con 2012 Extended Trailer Analysis...

It's that time of year again – the San Diego Comic-Con is once again under way – and for we fans of AMC's hugely successful hit show The Walking Dead (which returns in October), it means time again for another mouth-watering preview trailer. Check it out here, or if you're not American, then check it out here.

Find more Walking Dead memes HERE. 

What's more, these trailers have become synonymous with excellent clip selection and editing – details are kept hidden (their context often tweaked or totally changed), while still giving the fans a big old mouthful to chew on, and the music selection is always pitch-perfect. The trailer for season one featured “The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore” by The Walker Brothers, while season two's drool-inducing teaser brought Wye Oak's wonderful “Civilian” to our attention, and season three is no different in quality – it features “Black” by Kari Kimmel, which perfectly fits the tone of what we got to see. Read on for analysis and screenshots galore!

N.B. Spoilers for season two of The Walking Dead ahead - but not for season three. All comments are based on what you see in the trailer - if you want to remain completely oblivious to all things season three, don't read on ... otherwise, enjoy!

#1: Michonne's an arse kicker:

 

Introduced very briefly in the season two finale, we'll not only finally have a definitive answer as to how to pronounce her name, but we'll get one of the most beloved badasses of the comic on our telly screens. Here (and in a preview clip seen online earlier this week), she clears out a grocery store with her trusty sword in her own inimitable fashion, which includes a double decapitation.

#2: Michonne and Andrea team up:

It was fairly clear it would go this way when we were introduced to Michonne in the season two finale (where she saved an exhausted Andrea), but season three's extended trailer provided confirmation that these two death-dealing femmes will join forces. Michonne's already the ultimate bad ass, but at this stage we're still witnessing the evolution of Andrea. In season two she finally found her groove with firearms (so long old life as a Civil Rights Lawyer), and the season two finale also left her abandoned in the wake of the confusion of the incredible attack on Herschel's farm by a herd of walkers – a real trial by fire. Judging by this trailer, Andrea's up for a bloody good fight too, and this looks like it'll be an intriguing change-up when compared to the comics.

#3: Time in the wilderness:

 

Judging by Carl's shaggy hair, Herschel's beard, and Lori's unmistakable baby bulge, it looks like our band of survivors have been surviving on the road for quite some time. It would appear that the show-makers are seeking to condense time and events a little bit here (the prison storyline was spread out over six volumes of the trade paperbacks), which was further hinted at when we were told that we could be seeing the prison storyline spread across season three and season four.

Click "READ MORE" below for a whole shedload more trailer analysis and screenshots!