Walking Dead Season 5 Trailers: Surviving Together and Another Day

Hey everyone, I know it’s been ages since I’ve done a post and that I’m way behind on recaps. Sorry about that. Things have been super crazy with graduate school and other endeavors. Eventually I’ll finish recapping Season 4 and the first half of Season 5, but I thought I’d return with some thoughts on the two most recent trailers for the second part of The Walking Dead Season 5. Check them out below.

Note: Normally I’d just embed them, but I can’t figure out a way to embed them without having both autoplay at once, so I’ll give you links to spare you the dual audio.

Surviving Together

“All that matters is surviving together.” That’s basically the only thing that’s said during this teaser for second half of The Walking Dead Season 5. The trailer doesn’t tell you anything, but it’s still fun watching Rick and his crew marching through the foggy woods, looking really determined while they fire heavy artillery at unseen forces. Are they fighting humans or walkers? Does it really matter? The show will still continue to ask tough questions and to keep us guessing about what it means to be human in a decaying post-apocalytpic world.

Another Day

This trailer for the second half of The Walking Dead Season 5 tells you a little more about what we’ll be seeing, but not a whole lot. Looks like everyone is back on the road again, fighting through zombie-filled roads on their way to some unknown destination. Maybe they’re headed to Virginia like when they take residence at the community in the comics? Despite all that they’ve been through, people still seem to be hopeful about the future, especially Tyreese and Michonne who are talking about things not being over and living to have another chance.

I’m looking forward to seeing what happens when the show returns. How about you? What do you think will happen in the second part of Season 5?

Walking Dead Season 4 Trailer and EW Cover Story

Chandler Riggs as Carl Grimes on the cover of Entertainment Weekly

Good

Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes on the cover of Entertainment Weekly

Better

 

Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon on the cover of Entertainment Weekly

Best

My excitement about The Walking Dead Season 4 went from a 5 to an 11 last Friday. It was a great day to be a fan of the show because not only was The Walking Dead Season 4 trailer unveiled at the San Diego Comic-Con, but the issue of Entertainment Weekly that was released had a Walking Dead story and three different collectible covers. A cover features Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), another has Carl Grimes (Chandler Riggs), and the third, most badass one features my favorite character Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) on his motorcycle. Sadly I didn’t get the Daryl edition like I had hoped, although I was still pretty happy with Rick.

Based on The Walking Dead Season 4 trailer and EW’s article, the new season, which starts in October 2013, seems like it will be a great mixture of character driven episodes and tense action. Here are my thoughts on the trailer and the article. Be sure to watch the trailer below and let me know what you think about this teaser for Season 4.

When we pick up with the people at the prison, it seems like times are getting extremely tough. With more humans at the prison, resources are probably going much faster. There are multiple shots of Daryl and company risking their necks on dangerous supply runs like the one in the trailer’s opening at a Walmart-type store. It’s definitely unsettling to hear screams of pain without knowing the source. Plus, the conversation that Carol has with Daryl about the increasing number of walkers and the shots of zombies piling up against the prison only add to my anticipation about how the survivors will deal with the growing threat.

Speaking of Carol, I was glad to see her talking more with Daryl. I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m a total shipper hoping that those two get together. I also thought it was funny that she was teaching a class on knife safety. I’m intrigued to see how that particular portion fits into the coming episodes. Other things that made me curious: the new character played by Lawrence Gilliard Jr., all the emotional reaction shots, the talk about leaving the prison, the scene where everyone is fighting their way from a car through a swarm of zombies, and the final moments when they hear something on the radio.

Lawrence Gilliard Jr.’s character clearly has something dark going on beneath the surface, especially based on the shot where he’s looking in the mirror with his hand shaking. I wonder what potentially dastardly deeds he will perpetrate. Hopefully he isn’t linked to Hershel’s line about two of their own being killed in cold blood or to the shot of dead rats someone has been feeding the walkers on the fence. The emotional reaction shots could be to anything, although to me they signal a lot more character-rich episodes.

The scene where everyone is fighting near the car and Tyreese is battling a cluster of zombies by himself, reminds me of a part of the comic where he similarly fends off a ton of walkers. I cross my fingers that the fight goes in his favor since I like Tyreese. I’m going to guess that his busted eye in the trailer comes from a fight with Rick. I can’t wait to see how their relationship is built up in the show and what will eventually bring them to the same blows that they famously exchanged in the comic.

The Entertainment Weekly Article

The cast of The Walking Dead in Entertainment Weekly

Wicked creepy right? This isn’t a position I’d want to be in.

The main photo for EW’s Walking Dead Season 4 article is amazing. It’s cool toward the beginning of the issue that you see how the photographer was on his back to take the shot of everyone creepily standing over him.

Behind the scenes with the cast of The Walking Dead

Cool to see how it’s done huh?

I enjoyed the piece’s anecdotes about Chandler Riggs (Carl) finally getting to fire a real gun on set after celebrating his 14th birthday. Admittedly I was concerned too about the season would be with its new showrunner Scott Gimble, however the interviews with cast members and reminders of the superb episodes that he wrote in Seasons 2 and 3, assuaged my fears.

EW got me wondering how The Governor will crop up in Season 4 and hooked me with teases about an impending threat scarier than the walkers. It made me laugh though to hear viewers were confused about the Tyreese/Sasha relationship. Even if you didn’t read the comic, I thought it was fairly obvious that they were family. Like the EW writers, I’m speculating nervously on how many characters might get killed off this season.

I say if Daryl dies we riot. Anyone else agree?

Just kidding…or am I? Haha.

NMA’s Walking Dead Season 4 Trailer

Yesterday I stumbled upon this fan trailer for The Walking Dead Season 4, created by the folks over at Next Media Animation.

I love their idea that Season 4 should focus on Glenn’s sister, who has only been referenced in passing on the show. The thought of her out there trying to survive on her own, searching desperately for him, would create some entertaining drama. I also think it would be a cool concept to visit, because it’s a storyline I haven’t encountered in the comics.

The only thing that’s kind of strange about the trailer is that the style of zombies don’t really match those that you see on The Walking Dead. Since these guys are an animation group, their zombies are all CG, which makes sense. However the walkers move and look closer to ones you’d find in Resident EvilĀ than on the show. As such, when these walkers get killed, it’s more obvious that they aren’t real.

If they had more time or the budget, it would have been nice to see real actors dressed as zombies. Then they could have still used CG to animate the kills. Speaking of kills, there is one awesome take-down in there that has a head getting lopped off, with blood splattering all over the camera lens.

Check out their trailer below and head over to http://www.nma.tv to see more of their content. Then let me know with a comment below, what do you hope will happen during The Walking Dead Season 4?