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The Walking Dead: Episode 1.05 "Wildfire" Comparison

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How does the penultimate season 1 episode compare to the comics?

The second to last episode of the first season of The Walking Dead aired last night. Last week I gave a comparison between the first four episodes and the comic book series by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore and Charlie Adlard.  Let's take a look at fifth episode.
 
While Episode 5 of The Walking Dead shared a few similarities with its comic book brother, it’s also the biggest indicator that this television series will be playing out much differently than the source material in the long run. Spoilers ahoy!  

Episode 1.05 - "Wildfire" 

 
Reaching out to Morgan at Dawn 
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Rick stays true to his promises. That’s what we learn from the multiple scenes in this week’s episode where Rick attempts to radio out to Morgan to warn him of what’s happening in and around Atlanta. These scenes continued to show Rick’s dedication and devotion to everyone’s well-being, even those outside his immediate family. Sadly, these early AM radio broadcasts never happened in the original Kirkman comic book. Once Rick leaves Morgan behind in their home town we don’t see, or hear, from him until far later in the comic book series.   == TEASER ==

Birthing of a Zombie  
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Talk about creepy, yet heartbreaking. The sequence where Amy is literally birthed into zombiehood is one of those moments that shows how different The Walking Dead is from every other piece of zombie fiction on the planet. I bet most people watching were expecting Amy to quickly turn into a zombie and pop up for one big shock scare before being put out of her misery. Not so fast. Remember: character is the soul of this series and that’s once again made clear by Amy’s slow and sad transformation in the arms of her sister, Andrea. For comparison sake, the original comic book wasted no time on the dead and quickly smash-cut to the burying of the fallen the morning after the camp attack.         
 
Jim Got Bit  
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This episode we find out that Jim was actually bit during the zombie camp attack. While the same thing happens in the original comic, events play out a bit differently in the AMC series. In the AMC version Jim is shown as being much more secretive about his bite wound than he was in the original source material. However, Jim’s desired fate plays out the same in both the television series and comic, as he’s left by a tree to die and “be with his family.” 

    
Andrea and Dale Share A Moment             
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Andrea was having a tough time with the loss of her sister. Unsurprising for fans of the comic, the only person able to break through to her was Dale, delivering a heartfelt speech about his late wife’s passing due to cancer. The comic does feature a similar scene, only with far less words, simply showing Dale put his arm around Andrea and offering his services should she need anything. To me, the AMC version is far more powerful and an excellent indicator of the budding relationship between these two characters.

    
Alone in the Woods   
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The scene with Rick and Shane patrolling the outskirts of the camp during last night's episode was particularly interesting. While a similar scene happens in the comic, the context that kick-starts the in-your-face argument between friends in the television series shows more than just Shane being at his wit's end with the whole Rick returning from the dead/can't be with Lori situation. It reinforces to the audience that Shane actually did good by his best friend by saving his wife and son, even if it was for his own selfish gain in the end. We needed to be reminded of this so Shane doesn't come off as a complete villain. He's a human being, flaws and all. 
 
Convoy to the CDC   
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This is completely different than the original book. In fact, we never see anyone drive anywhere during the opening story-arc of The Walking Dead comic. All the action takes place inside the camp. However, I do understand that for an hour-long, six episode series you need to give the characters more to do than sit around a campfire and be sad. Therefore, I’m OK with this diversion from the original comic because it makes complete sense for this struggling group to travel to a place that may have food, medicine, shelter and a possible cure. Furthermore, this plot development continued to stress Rick and Shane’s increasingly hostile relationship.  
 
CDC Arrival and Reveal  
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Much like the convoy to the CDC, the reveal of a lone CDC Agent alive and breathing is something completely fresh to AMC’s version of The Walking Dead. Honestly, I’m not sure how I feel about it yet. I guess I have to see how it plays out in the season finale, but it’s another risky move by AMC to reveal something this big so soon. For perspective, we’re 80 some issues deep in The Walking Dead comic and we still have no solid evidence of a cure being in the works. AMC continues to reveal a larger world of survivors--ones with more worldly importance to boot--and I think it kind of diminishes the value of our main cast. 
 
Conclusion 
That’s it for Episode 5 of The Walking Dead. With the surprising turn of events in this week’s episode, I think we can all agree that we should expect the unexpected in next week’s season finale. The same applies to fans of the original comic. But make no mistake, AMC is still delivering a great drama television series. It’s just interesting that they’ve chosen to digress from the original comic so early. 
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Rick Grimes
Shane
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The Walking Dead

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danhimself

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Edited By danhimself
@Kid_Zombie said:
" @danhimself said:
" @Kid_Zombie said:
" @danhimself:  Ya carl rules, we are really scared we are not going to see the Carl from the comics in the show. or see a completly new way of showing he become that. What about the gun? you think they will let a kid carry a gun on TV? Might look bad, but its such an important part of carl. Ha ha who knows, guess we will have to watch and see! "
I was thinking about that yesterday...they still haven't trained him yet and that plays a major role in Shane's death....also what about the twins?...they're not in the show so how do we get that moment? "
Ya i was just talking about this, what i THINK happened with the twins, is that they will come in later. I don't think they casted them because, look how old they casted the little girl and Carl, they prob would have done the same with the twins. this was originally 6 episodes with hopes of a full season and a second season, so i dont think they casted them for the first 6 episodes simply because they didnt want to cast all the main characters and deal with young child actors till a full series was a sure thing. I honestly think they will come in for either the next half of season one or season 2.  This is what I THINK is going on with them, that sort of thing happens all the time in a TV show especially a mini series "pilot" six episodes. Sorry hopefully that made sense ha ha But i think we will see them eventually....I hope. "
that's a thought...my thought is that they're going to replace Patricia, Allen, and the twins with the latin family that just left before they went to the CDC
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Kid_Zombie

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Edited By Kid_Zombie
@danhimself:  Ya I think they were the replacements, but only for the six episodes "Pilot Mini". They left, and probably wont come back me thinks, but maybe we will run into them again. But i think the family with the twins will come soon. Again I hope i mean ha ha.
 
I was just talking about the whole cdc thing, and I think maybe they are showing "hey we can do different stuff from the book as well" more to the new fans, the fans, and the studio. To show that we can do things from the book, but also do our own thing as well. I'm really interested to see what the show is like when its no longer confined to 6 episodes. Will they be more like the book, A nice inbetween, or radically different ha ha. Very curious to see what comes out of the Mini.
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highshooter

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Edited By highshooter
@danhimself said: 

that's a thought...my thought is that they're going to replace Patricia, Allen, and the twins with the latin family that just left before they went to the CDC "

 
omg i hope that doesn't happen. 
 
Did anyone else have a hard time watching the actors playing the latin family deliver their lines?  When the father comes out of nowhere and tells everyone they are going to split from the group and not head to the CDC... it ruined my immersion in the show and i felt as if they were extras that got lucky to get to deliver a few lines to 'tie their loose end' for when ppl ask why we'll never see them again..  
 
They should have just killed them off in ep 4. just so we didn't have to see the children saying goodbye to each other.. Because of that scene I'm not so convinced these kids know how to act well enough to make me believe they are really in a zombie apocalypse.  The way sophia, carl and the twins interact with each other in the book are very important moments that help us gauge the overall descent of everyone.  I hope they don't just carry sophia and carl through episode 6 like they have been doing so far...
 
I love TWD, and I couldn't be happier with the choice of actors for all the main characters as well as the new direction of the story.  The best part about the show for me is knowing about all the small stuff that story arcs into something big later on.  I'm sure ppl who haven't read the books didn't even notice that Rick gets his hat back, they made no effort to highlight the importance of that... but I noticed!  This show rewards the book readers way more than people who are new to TWD.  There is no way to spoil the show by knowing what happens in the comics.  Half the main characters haven't even been put into the show yet, anything could happen!
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highshooter

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Edited By highshooter

A lot of people are saying the show has a much slower pace than the book and I actually thought the opposite.   They are loosely following the book and in terms of the progression according to the book they are going very slow.  This is because they've changed the story so much. 
 
The moment Rick reunites with his family to the group finding their first permanent shelter is what I consider the first stretch in the book.   In the show the CDC has replaced the need for them to find that other shelter they do in the book, so I'd say both mediums explore the time between fright, flight and first shelter equally.   However there is so much more happening in the show at the moment.  
 
They even took parts from later in the book and put them in the beginning.. I've watched each episode a few times now and I pick up on something new each time.
 
Merle is forced to cut off his hand to save his life, and it won't be the last time non-zombies will have to be dismembered.. I even suspect that if we see Merle again, there won't be any need for a certain someone else to lose their hand. Having 2 gimps would be too repetitive and on top of that it's kinda hard to have an actor play a 1handed survivor, you'd have to CGI every single scene they are in from that point on. 
 
The racism, the domestic abuse, to name a few, all come from later on in the book and they did an excellent job bringing that to the front in the show.  They hit on enough big issues in the first season to cover the same amount of problems that are in the first 20-30 comics, yet they've also some how made room for all the extra character development each person gets that was never in the book either. 
 
It's TV gold!

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MrGutts

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Edited By MrGutts

Just for the record, the CDC does not have Agents and if a zombie out break did happen, you wouldn't want to go there..  

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Doctor!!!!!

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Edited By Doctor!!!!!

Gotta love my Walking Dead......ZOMBIES......WALKERS.......GEEKSSSSSS......

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JediAutobot

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Edited By JediAutobot

I've been really happy with the show, both in bringing to life well loved parts of the comic and in the deviations.

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Fantomex100

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I dislike how they portrayed Jim because he was my favourite character.

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