• PDI Press

    PDI Press

    BETTY WHITE VS THE STUPID WORLD: The Movie

    PDI Press
    January 17, 2022 2

    Betty White Vs the Stupid World (Chapter Seven)

    PDI Press
    January 16, 2022 1

    Betty White Vs the Stupid World (Chapter Six)

    PDI Press
    January 15, 2022 3

    Featured

    BETTY WHITE VS THE STUPID WORLD: The Movie

    John E. Meredith
    PDI Press
    January 17, 2022 2
    • PDI Press Catalog
    • PDI Press Writers
      • Fiction
  • Columns A-D
    • A Fistful of Dollar Comics
    • ABCs of Horror
    • All Binge… No Purge
    • Anything Joes
    • Beautiful Creatures
    • Big Eyes Smart Mouth
    • Big Sleeps and Long Goodbyes
    • Cahiers du Horror
    • Dispatches From the Field
    • Drive-In Saturday
    • Dungeons & D-Listers
  • Columns F-P
    • The Final Girl
    • First Looks… Second Thoughts
    • The Flesh is Weak
    • Innocence and Experience
    • Lost in Translation
    • Marvel at the Movies
    • Muppets 101
    • Page to Screen
    • Popcorn Cinema
    • The Psycho Drive-In Podcast
    • Psycho Essentials: The ’80s!
  • Columns S-Z
    • Schlock & Awe
    • Shakespeare on Film
    • Shot for Shot
    • Sick Flix
    • Unnatural Selections
    • Versus
    • Video Word Made Flesh
    • We Got Lists
    • Women in Horror
    • The Xeno File
    • Zombies 101
  • Reviews

    Reviews

    Superman (2025)

    Movies
    July 10, 2025 80

    Final Destination: Bloodlines (2025)

    Movies
    June 26, 2025 8

    Predator: Killer of Killers (2025)

    Movies
    June 8, 2025 14

    Featured

    Superman (2025)

    Nate Zoebl
    Movies
    July 10, 2025 80
    • Books
    • Comics
    • DVD/Blu-ray
    • Movies
    • TV
    • Series
  • Interviews

    Interviews

    Interview with Indie Horror Master, Chris Bickel

    Interviews
    July 13, 2018 397

    David Black: Carnies, Carnage, and the Creative Chaos of Darkness Visible

    Interviews
    March 7, 2017 223

    Jaiden Kaine joins the Marvel Universe as new Luke Cage baddie, Zip

    Interviews
    September 29, 2016 8

    SDCC 2016 Interviews: The Cast and Creators of Batman: The Killing Joke

    Interviews
    July 28, 2016 61

    SDCC 2016 Interviews: The Cast and Creators of Syfy’s Van Helsing

    Interviews
    July 27, 2016 4

    Wondercon Interview: The Cast of Damien

    Interviews
    April 16, 2016 3

    Featured

    Interview with Indie Horror Master, Chris Bickel

    The Final Girl
    Interviews
    July 13, 2018 397
  • News

    News

    Regular Show: The Complete Series DVD is here!

    News
    February 9, 2025 20

    “PATER NOSTER AND THE MISSION OF LIGHT” UNLEASHES TERRIFYING UNDERGROUND HORROR – A PSYCHEDELIC CULT MOVIE EXPERIENCE COMING SOON!

    News
    November 15, 2023 74

    Breaking Down The Upcoming DC Studios Slate

    Shot for Shot
    February 1, 2023

    Featured

    Regular Show: The Complete Series DVD is here!

    Paul Brian McCoy
    News
    February 9, 2025 20
    • Trailers
  • Psychos
  • Shop
Breaking
  • Superman (2025)
  • Final Destination: Bloodlines (2025)
  • Predator: Killer of Killers (2025)
  • From the World of John Wick: Ballerina (2025)
  • RSS
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • Tumblr
  • Who We Be
  • Contact
    Home
    Reviews

    The Walking Dead 1.05 “Wildfire”

    Paul Brian McCoy
    ReviewsTVZombies 101
    December 24, 2010

    WDPoster

    Written by Glen Mazzara
    Directed by Ernest R. Dickerson

    Up to this point, it’s been kind of easy to discuss the show, since I’ve been intimately familiar with the comic and love the entire genre of zombie narratives. Sure, a lot of the field is awful. But there are gems in there, to be sure.

    The best works tend to deal with the people realistically. Which means with all the tragedy, anxiety, hope, fear, humor, successes, and failures. That’s one of the things that The Walking Dead does best in its comic format, and it’s one of the things that the TV series is shaping up to do best, too.

    Most of this episode is straight out of the comic, but we’re getting a huge plot shift here, and I’m not sure how to react to it just yet.

    Like I said, we open this episode just where you’d think we would, in the aftermath of the zombie attack on the camp. If the group seemed a bit large in the previous episodes, don’t worry. After that night, we’re down to just about the numbers that we saw in the opening chapters of the comic.

    Daryl
    Shane blames Rick for the severity of the camp’s losses, since he took valuable manpower away from the camp. Rick says that if it weren’t for the guns they brought back, the losses would have been worse. Lori’s stuck between the two of them. It looks like we’re gearing up for the confrontation we all know is coming, between Rick and Shane, for the direction of the camp.

    This opening act is filled with nice character moments, from Andrea forcing Rick away at gunpoint while she stands vigil over her dead sister, to Daryl claiming the camp had it coming for what they did to Merle, to Glenn demanding that bodies of their dead camp-mates stay separated from the bodies of the zombies, to Carol taking the pick-axe to her dead husband’s head – repeatedly.

    This is the sort of thing I was hoping for when I first heard about this series getting made. It helps that writer, Glen Mazzara is a seasoned pro at television writing, and that director Ernest R. Dickerson has over twenty years of experience, having directed films like Juice and one of my personal favorites, Tales From the Crypt: Demon Knight, before moving almost entirely into TV direction, with credits directing episodes of everything from Heroes to The Wire to Burn Notice to Treme, and Dexter.

    That experience all pays off as we get another solidly crafted piece of work, moving us one episode closer to the season finale. All of the character moments mentioned above are original to this version of the story, and if you ask me, are improvements. Not that the source material is lacking. This just fleshes out some elements that weren’t addressed in the comic, and it improves the story overall.

    Andrea
    The moment this week drawn directly from the comic, Jim choosing to be abandoned to die on his own, was played almost exactly like the source and it fit perfectly with the characterizations and plot developments brought to the narrative by the other writers and directors so far. That blending of the source with original material without losing the feel or the voice of the comic is impressive.

    Which brings us to the biggest narrative change to the series yet.

    In the comic, when the group decides to leave, it’s because it’s no longer safe there. Rick pushes for it, Shane resists. In fact, Shane goes crazy and threatens to kill Rick. Carl, who’s been given a gun and trained with it over the previous issue or two, shoots Shane dead to protect his father. It’s a powerful and gut-wrenching scene that wraps up the first six-issue sequence of comics and serves as a pivot point as the story moves away from the camp.

    I’ve been worried about how they were going to pull this off in the series, since Shane isn’t the threat he was in the comic. In fact, he’s an okay guy, doing his best to hold things together. When, this week, he points his rifle at Rick while doing a perimeter sweep and considers killing his best friend, it was disturbing not because of the act itself, but because it felt like a natural reaction to what he’s been through. The look on Dale’s face when he catches Shane considering the murder says everything. As does the look of shame on Shane’s.

    There’s a little bit of astonishment, and a little bit of fear in the way Dale reacts. It’s a very effective way of introducing the possibility that somewhere down the line, that confrontation from the comic may occur, but when Shane decides to back Rick’s suggestion of heading for the CDC Headquarters, it appears that we may put that moment off for a while.

    From this point on, we’re in virgin territory. There was never any clear destination in the comic when they packed up and left the camp, they were just looking for somewhere safe. So it came as a bit of a shock when as we move into the final act this week, we cut to an entirely new character. A scientist experimenting in isolation, trying to find a cure for, or at least an understanding of, the zombie plague.

    We get to see his experiment go south, and in a very dangerous moment, he is nearly killed by toxic fumes from the chemicals he’s working with. He barely gets out of the room and into detox before security protocols destroy the last of the tissue samples he had to work with. From there, it’s a short hop to considering suicide after a good all-night drinking binge.

    CDC
    Until the survivors show up at his doorstep. In a harrowing scene, Rick and the others make their way through the hundreds of corpses, actual ones, not the walking around kind, that are scattered all around the CDC Headquarters. The buzzing of flies is ever-present, making the scene even more unnerving.

    After pounding on the doors, the rest of the group is ready to leave, desperate to find shelter before nightfall, but Rick is sure someone’s inside and screams, pleading with them. And then the doors open, revealing a blinding white light and the episode ends.

    I admit, I wasn’t sure about this when I started writing. We’re going completely off-course from what I was expecting to see happen. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The CDC Headquarters is a great place to hole up, both from the point of view of the characters and from a stylistic angle. The place just looks amazing, and gives us an interesting new set of possibilities and dangers.

    And given how well the writers and directors have done so far when they’ve introduced original elements, I think enough trust has been built up to accept this shift and see where they plan on taking us. With one more episode to go, we should find out fairly quickly whether or not this works or was a bad idea. I have a feeling this is going to work out nicely for the story, if not for the characters.

    (Visited 166 times, 1 visits today)

    Related

    Paul Brian McCoyWalking Deadzombies

    FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
    Previous The Walking Dead 1.04 “Vatos”
    Next The Cape 1.01 “Pilot”
    monsterid
    Paul Brian McCoy
    Co-Founder / Editor-in-Chief / Dreamweaver
    Paul Brian McCoy is the Editor-in-Chief of Psycho Drive-In. His first novel, The Unraveling: Damaged Inc. Book One is available at Amazon US & UK, along with his collection of short stories, Coffee, Sex, & Creation (US & UK). He recently contributed the 1989 chapter to The American Comic Book Chronicles: The 1980s (US & UK). He also kicked off Comics Bulletin Books with Mondo Marvel Volumes One (US & UK) and Two (US & UK) and PDI Press with Marvel at the Movies: 1977-1998 (US & UK), Marvel at the Movies: Marvel Studios (US & UK), and Spoiler Warning: Hannibal Season 1 - An Unauthorized Critical Guide (US & UK). Paul is also unnaturally preoccupied with zombie films and sci-fi television. He can be found babbling on Twitter at @PBMcCoy.

    Related Posts

    The Psycho Drive-In Podcast 07: Superman (2025)

    Paul Brian McCoy
    The Psycho Drive-In Podcast
    July 13, 2025 11

    The Psycho Drive-In Podcast 06: 28 Years Later

    Paul Brian McCoy
    The Psycho Drive-In Podcast
    June 24, 2025 7

    Daily Top Ten

    • i-spit-on-your-grave-09The Final Girl: I Spit on Your Grave (2010) by The Final Girl
    • legion-episode-8-david-restrainedLegion Chapters 6-8 by Shawn Hill
    • star-wars-headerLost in Translation: The History of Adaptations, 1970-79 by Scott Delahunt
    • columbo-headerLost in Translation 123: Columbo / Mrs. Columbo by Scott Delahunt
    • Ramse and Cassie and Un-Romantic Tension12 Monkeys 2.08 “Lullaby” by Thom V. Young
    • superman-headerSuperman (2025) by Nate Zoebl
    • Doghouse 12012 EZMM: Last of the Living (2008) & Doghouse (2009) by Paul Brian McCoy
    • Wolves-MomoaWolves (2014) by Paul Brian McCoy
    • The BodyResurrecting and Redeeming The Dead Girl in… by Thom V. Young
    • cyberpunk-headerLost in Translation 387: Cyberpunk 2077: Trauma Team by Scott Delahunt
    400x400 GI Joe Funko Banner

    Weekly Top Ten

    • superman-headerSuperman (2025) by Nate Zoebl
    • i-spit-on-your-grave-09The Final Girl: I Spit on Your Grave (2010) by The Final Girl
    • star-wars-headerLost in Translation: The History of Adaptations, 1970-79 by Scott Delahunt
    • 80s-headerLost in Translation: The History of Adaptations, 1980-89 by Scott Delahunt
    • babylon-5-blu-ray-04Babylon 5 Complete Series Blu-ray Review by Paul Brian McCoy
    • belladonna-03Big Eyes Smart Mouth: Belladonna of Sadness by Serdar Yegulalp
    • mary-shelleys-frankenstein-headerEZMM 2024 Day 4: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1994) by Paul Brian McCoy
    • men-in-blackLost in Translation: The History of Adaptations, 1990-99 by Scott Delahunt
    • AT606-visionAdventure Time 6.06 “Breezy” by Dave Hearn
    • 2001Lost in Translation: The History of Adaptations, 1960-69 by Scott Delahunt

    psychodrivein

    We came here to chew bubblegum and write intelligent reviews and commentary on cult TV and movies! And we're all out of bubblegum!

    Today at https://psychodrivein.com Anything Joes: Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Anything Joes: ZARTAN UNBOXED! | Hiya Toys 1:18 G.I. Joe Figure Review & Comparison 

In this video, Greg cracks open the Hiya Toys 1:18 scale ZARTAN figure and takes a detailed look at his design, articulation, and accessories.
—
Watch Greg at the link in our profile!

@AnythingJoesPod #AnythingJoes #Zartan #HiyaToys #GIJoe
    Today at https://psychodrivein.com The Psycho Dri Today at https://psychodrivein.com

The Psycho Drive-In Podcast 07: Superman (2025)

Join Paul and John on the Psycho Drive-In Podcast as they delve into the first official DC Universe live-action film release, Superman!
—
Listen to the boys at the link in our profile!

#PsychoDriveIn #PsychoDriveInPodcast #Podcast #Superman #JamesGunn #DavidCorenswet #RachelBrosnahan #NicholasHoult #DCU #DC
    Today at https://psychodrivein.com Lost in Transl Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Lost in Translation 483: One More Trailer

The Fantastic Four: First Steps is a period piece set in the 60s, around the time the comic was first published.
—
Read more of Scott’s article at the link in our profile!

#LostInTranslation #FantasticFour #FantasticFourFirstSteps #MarvelStudios #MCU
    Today at https://psychodrivein.com Superman (2025 Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Superman (2025)

Superman is proof that the DC film universe might actually have the perfect person in charge of charting their cross-franchise courses.
—
Read more of Nate’s review at the link in our profile!

#Superman #JamesGunn #DavidCorenswet #RachelBrosnahan #NicholasHoult #DC #DCU
    Today at https://psychodrivein.com Lost in Transl Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Lost in Translation 482: Examining Recent Trailers

Two new trailers dropped that are of interest to Lost in Translation: Spaceballs 2 and The Naked Gun!
—
Read more of Scott’s article at the link in our profile!

#LostInTranslation #Spaceballs2 #TheNakedGun #Trailers
    Today at https://psychodrivein.com Final Destinat Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Final Destination: Bloodlines (2025)

FINAL DESTINATION: BLOODLINES is a return to form for a franchise that never should have been on the brink of death.
—
Read more of Nate’s review at the link in our profile!

#FinalDestination #FinalDestinationBloodlines #AdamBStein #ZachLipovsky #KaitlynSantaJuana #TonyTodd
    Today at https://psychodrivein.com Anything Joes: Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Anything Joes: S02E29 - File Card Focus: Big Boa
 
Greg and Jaren return to take a hard look at Cobra’s one-man trainer: Big Boa! 
—
Watch the @AnythingJoesPod gang at the link in our profile!

#AnythingJoes #GIJoe #Cobra #BigBoa #FileCardFocus
    Today at https://psychodrivein.com The Psycho Dri Today at https://psychodrivein.com

The Psycho Drive-In Podcast: 28 Years Later

Paul and John are back with a new PSYCHO DRIVE-IN PODCAST with a brand-new review of 28 YEARS LATER plus a look back at the franchise, its themes, its innovations, and its impact on the genre!
—
Listen to the guys at the link in our profile!

#ThePsychoDriveInPodcast #28YearsLater #28WeeksLater #28DaysLater #DannyBoyle #AlexGarland #AlfieWilliams
 #AaronTaylorJohnson #JodieComer #RalphFiennes
    Today at https://psychodrivein.com Anything Joes: Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Anything Joes: Backstock Blacksite - Night Specter (2008)

In Backstock Blacksite, we open the classified crates and dig deep into Greg’s personal G.I. Joe overflow closet, where extras, variants, and forgotten figures wait to be unearthed.
—
@anythingjoespod #AnythingJoes #GIJoe #GIJoeClassified #NightSpecter #BackstockBlacksite
    Follow on Instagram

    Look Who's Talking

    Shawn EH
    Shawn EH - 5/4/2025
    Thunderbolts* (2025)
    Yep, very well done; avoiding the big flashy battle that these heroes (can any of you fly?)...
    Ideonova
    Ideonova - 12/26/2024
    Page to Screen: F. Paul Wilson’s The Keep
    Not living up to the source material? What source material? The book is a predictable, at times...
    Fred L. Taulbee Jr.
    Fred L. Taulbee Jr. - 8/17/2024
    Cahiers du Horror 03: Frank Henenlotter and The Brain that Wouldn’t Die
    I need to see that again. Maybe make it a double feature with All of Me. Steve Martin is someone you...
    RSSTwitterFacebookinstagramtumblr

    Archives

    Large_rectangle_336X280
    • PDI Press
      • PDI Press Catalog
      • PDI Press Writers
        • Fiction
    • Columns A-D
      • A Fistful of Dollar Comics
      • ABCs of Horror
      • All Binge… No Purge
      • Anything Joes
      • Beautiful Creatures
      • Big Eyes Smart Mouth
      • Big Sleeps and Long Goodbyes
      • Cahiers du Horror
      • Dispatches From the Field
      • Drive-In Saturday
      • Dungeons & D-Listers
    • Columns F-P
      • The Final Girl
      • First Looks… Second Thoughts
      • The Flesh is Weak
      • Innocence and Experience
      • Lost in Translation
      • Marvel at the Movies
      • Muppets 101
      • Page to Screen
      • Popcorn Cinema
      • The Psycho Drive-In Podcast
      • Psycho Essentials: The ’80s!
    • Columns S-Z
      • Schlock & Awe
      • Shakespeare on Film
      • Shot for Shot
      • Sick Flix
      • Unnatural Selections
      • Versus
      • Video Word Made Flesh
      • We Got Lists
      • Women in Horror
      • The Xeno File
      • Zombies 101
    • Reviews
      • Books
      • Comics
      • DVD/Blu-ray
      • Movies
      • TV
      • Series
    • Interviews
    • News
      • Trailers
    • Psychos
    • Shop
    • PDI Press
      • PDI Press Catalog
      • PDI Press Writers
        • Fiction
    • Columns A-D
      • A Fistful of Dollar Comics
      • ABCs of Horror
      • All Binge… No Purge
      • Anything Joes
      • Beautiful Creatures
      • Big Eyes Smart Mouth
      • Big Sleeps and Long Goodbyes
      • Cahiers du Horror
      • Dispatches From the Field
      • Drive-In Saturday
      • Dungeons & D-Listers
    • Columns F-P
      • The Final Girl
      • First Looks… Second Thoughts
      • The Flesh is Weak
      • Innocence and Experience
      • Lost in Translation
      • Marvel at the Movies
      • Muppets 101
      • Page to Screen
      • Popcorn Cinema
      • The Psycho Drive-In Podcast
      • Psycho Essentials: The ’80s!
    • Columns S-Z
      • Schlock & Awe
      • Shakespeare on Film
      • Shot for Shot
      • Sick Flix
      • Unnatural Selections
      • Versus
      • Video Word Made Flesh
      • We Got Lists
      • Women in Horror
      • The Xeno File
      • Zombies 101
    • Reviews
      • Books
      • Comics
      • DVD/Blu-ray
      • Movies
      • TV
      • Series
    • Interviews
    • News
      • Trailers
    • Psychos
    • Shop
    Type to search or hit ESC to close
    See all results
    Username
    Password
    Remember Me
    Lost password?
    Create an account
    Username
    Email
    Cancel
    Enter username or email
    Cancel