>> ^ant:

I hope it's better than season 3!


That's a tall order...

This is completely a *viral ad for AMC (Walking Dead) to get the whole Dish/Viacom dispute resolved.

Also, I'm not completely cool with scaring the shit of little kids who can't handle that kind of reality/fantasy juxtaposition in the real world. I'm afraid that little girl will have nightmares for a few nights now because of this.

Agreed. Season 2 was a big of a drag. So long as they push the pace up this could be very good. Great material there, so long as... <slight spoilers follow>

... so long as they get The Governor and Michonne right. I had him as a Dennis Hopper type, played nasty by Antonio Banderas, or maybe Michael Wincott a la The Crow, but anyone straight out of Deliverance (the film, or the idea) would work.

Fear The Living indeed.
>> ^probie:

Looks good. I'm just curious if they're going to stretch the prison across one season or two.

Official: http://www.amctv.com/the-walking-dead/videos/season-3-comic-con-trailer-the-walking-dead

This is really just a silly Hyundai Elantra commercial where they also talk to one of the Walking Dead creators about his work. There are roughly 3 different versions of the car depicted, and none of them are feasible.



Of course no one would pick a compact coupe as the foundation for an armored car if they had any kind of choice in the matter (and if they don't, there's no reason to talk about what a great choice their only option is). There are a couple key areas in which this car really shows the limitations of the basic platform (a compact coupe): Height, Carry Capacity.

Basics:
An Elantra weighs about 2,800lbs unmodified (and roughly 3,500 - 4,000 as imagined), has about 150HP (not impressive numbers from a 1.8L engine), and has a sunroof roughly 4'8" feet off the ground.

Height:
The idea of a turret on top of the car for offense is great, except for the part where he's talking about a car with a height of less than 5 feet. The average person is about 5'6" with an arm's reach of at least an extra foot. So, the person in the protected turret is still likely in range (the hypotenuse of an arm reaching to this height would be slightly longer than the ~4'8" car height plus the roughly foot and a half of turret). Have you ever stood out of a compact coupe's sunroof while the car was in motion? There's not a lot of room in that car period, there's certainly no room for a person to stand in the center of it while it's in motion in a high stress situation.

Carry Capacity:
The Elantra has a roughly 900lbs carry capacity (this weight includes driver and passengers, plus armor and such). I'm going to assume the weight of the cow catcher is about equal to an average small truck snow plow (250lbs), and that it's for hitting zombies not clearing the road of vehicles, and I'm going to place a fair shot in the dark of roughly 172.5lbs for the rest of the armor (assuming 7 gauge sheet metal is ideal, and assuming 23 square feet will cover enough glass). So far we've got 477.5lbs of carry capacity for driver, gunner, passengers, and gear. Each person likely weighs roughly 200lbs which means the car has enough capacity to deal with a driver, a single gunner, and two moderately well stocked bags of supplies. Any more than this and the car will start to run into issues, a lot more than this (say, loading it up with passengers and gear) and you risk significant damage to the car's ability to continue driving. All of this assumes they don't want to beef up the rear of the car to allow the vehicle to be able to "safely" ram other obstructions in the road (in a demolition derby drivers drive, and crash into each other, backwards to protect all of the sensitive components in the engine bay).

Other:
The roman chariot style blades on the wheels of a car was tried in an episode of the tv show Top Gear and it threw off the wheel balance to the point of making the car entirely undrivable for any more than a mile or two. Also, just about the last thing you want to do when dealing with zombies is damage their legs because it's much easier to see a zombie walking than a zombie crawling (our soldiers crawl when they want to be harder to see in modern combat for a reason). The general purpose of a compact car is to be accessible (read: inexpensive), and often they utilize a small fuel efficient engine. Increasing the weight of this car by about 40% is not doing any favors to the already under powered car, and the fuel economy is going to suffer. Realistically, speed and acceleration are meaningless (of course the car will exceed the 3 mile per hour average human walking speed).

Improvements:
*Start with a different type of vehicle. Perhaps something that was designed to be large.
*Ignore the mad max spikes.


research tools:
http://www.hyundaiusa.com/elantra/specifications.aspx
http://www.hyundai-forums.com/197-i30-elantra-touring-forum/140546-load-capacity-2012-touring.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humvee
http://www.fisherplows.com/fe/showroom/homesteader
http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/gauge-sheet-d_915.html
http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/units/scales/sheetmetal.html

>> ^xxovercastxx:

I like the setup. I fear that it will turn into a story about the (mis)adventures of a scrappy band of insufferable assholes ala The Walking Dead. For some reason, that's what's popular these days.


Hey, in the 90's all the models were heroin addicts with clinical depression and anorexia. Fads are weird.

>> ^HugeJerk:

J.J. Abrams does a good job of finding interesting show ideas, putting together a decent cast, getting a budget for a good looking production... and then leaves the shows to writers who have no idea on where they are going to take it, so it ends up a confusing mess that never has a satisfying pay-off.


I was thinking the same thing. When the preview first started I was like 'oh this is a good idea!' But by the end I was thinking 'contrite, cliched, waste of an idea with some useless Hunger Games adaptations.'

I just have a feeling this is Walking Dead all over again. For fans of that show this is IMHO but they took a great comic and a good starting point and threw it out of the window in favor of horrid acting, massive plot-holes and soap opera style cliched writing.

And people wonder why I prefer british TV. Better writing, better acting, shows actually feature mature plot lines with depth and character. Shows like Walking Dead would have been fantastic if a UK producer had gotten a hold of it.

I like the setup. I fear that it will turn into a story about the (mis)adventures of a scrappy band of insufferable assholes ala The Walking Dead. For some reason, that's what's popular these days.

>> ^GeeSussFreeK:

I am late on the whole walking dead thing. I watched an episode today where someone got bit, was still alive, and was keeping it in the down low. As things often do, his secret gets out, but at first just one person knows about it. That is a very critical point in the way the situation is going to play out. One way is the person that finds out calmly goes to the rest of the group, they all talk about it and decide what to do. Many hard choices will most likely be made, but they will be made without panic. The other way, the way which always happens in movies, and perhaps in real life, is the one person who finds out, starts screaming "HES BIT HES BIT", people get crazy, pull out their guns, and everyone is in a terrible state.

That is how I feel about this whole case, there was a chance to talk about this like people. That chance was missed, and it rarely returns. The media generally isn't concerned anymore with conversations, so I try to not watch it, except when I need a laugh. The racist time out is actually the closet I have seen any media, even if it is comedy, try and talk about the issue without it being a panic, to that I salute them. I saw the same rabid conversations here on the sift, of which I have participated in the past...but will seek not to try and avoid the screams of "He's bit, he's bit!" when I can.


Well said! Upvoted!

I am late on the whole walking dead thing. I watched an episode today where someone got bit, was still alive, and was keeping it in the down low. As things often do, his secret gets out, but at first just one person knows about it. That is a very critical point in the way the situation is going to play out. One way is the person that finds out calmly goes to the rest of the group, they all talk about it and decide what to do. Many hard choices will most likely be made, but they will be made without panic. The other way, the way which always happens in movies, and perhaps in real life, is the one person who finds out, starts screaming "HES BIT HES BIT", people get crazy, pull out their guns, and everyone is in a terrible state.


That is how I feel about this whole case, there was a chance to talk about this like people. That chance was missed, and it rarely returns. The media generally isn't concerned anymore with conversations, so I try to not watch it, except when I need a laugh. The racist time out is actually the closet I have seen any media, even if it is comedy, try and talk about the issue without it being a panic, to that I salute them. I saw the same rabid conversations here on the sift, of which I have participated in the past...but will seek not to try and avoid the screams of "He's bit, he's bit!" when I can.

Walking Dead
The Simpsons, American Dad and Family Guy
Game of Thrones

>> ^probie:

Glad they're finally catching up to the meat of the story. Am also glad they're hardening up Rick; was afraid they were going to keep Andrew Lincoln as the archetypal good guy leader for the sake of TV. They've got me for season 3; I guess this gives me enough time to go back through and catch up as I still need to read #7 HC.


It was a cliffhanger. It always does that.

1 more comment have been lost in the ether at this killed duplicate.

>> ^dystopianfuturetoday:

So did little Karl kill Randall in the book? It would be a great plot point: he fucks up by letting the zombie go and wants to redeem himself for dales death by killing Randall. It also gets the group off the hook from having to make a tough moral dilemma, much like Shane did when he let the zombies out of the barn.


Since you seem to insist on letting yourself be despoiled, I'll tell you:

Karl kills Shane in the book. And pretty early on too. Simply for messing with his dad.

DFT: Read the effing books.

...and in fact an entire graphic novel and television series--lots of pictures there!>> ^Ryjkyj:

>> ^gwiz665:
Reading sucks..I need sensory input!

Dude... that's why there are pictures.