Part of it might be budget. They already spend a ton on actors and zombie makeup. So they build a couple of mega-sets (Alexandria, Hilltop) where they can shoot years worth of scenes and shoot the rest out in the woods somewhere. No budget for post-apocalypse discos.
The show never made any sense from day one.
A Night of the Living Dead scenario where shamblers overrun the Earth through bites is ludicrous. Fast zombies through bites is more plausible and scary as hell. And The Stand Zombie Scenario (Disease kills billions and billions) and they turn into zombies is fine.
But heres what was so dumb from day one…A scenario of The Stand+Zombies…whats the backbreaker? Whats the thing that our heroes would talk about non-stop?? THE STAND PART…not the zombie part. Yet for ages, (I would ask viewers from time to time how this all happened) no one could tell me what the fuck happened, cause the onscreen people wouldn’t say. I THINK its not til the LA series do we find out where all these damn zombies came from.
Also…bicycles. Like The Stand theres not enough bicycling. Yes theres some, but whats up with all this fucking walking??? It should be bikebikebikebikbebikebikebike
Producers just avoid them cause it makes our heroes look dorky.
Edit: Even now trying to find an online answer all i get is “How did the zombie virus start”…I dont care about that. I want to know where all the zombies came from.
Making more arrows is not that big a deal, easier than making more gunpowder and bullets. Daryl probably has a stash of them wherever he’s living at the moment and is constantly making more.
I suppose he could always carve new crossbow bolts. They don’t use chemicals or precision parts like bullets do.
Modern crossbow bolts are made from either carbon or aluminum. Wood isn’t recommended for modern crossbows as they have a tendency to break and place the shooter at risk of injury.
How many golf clubs are there in the country? He’s set for shafts.
That was my thought. His bolts often seem new with unfrayed vanes. But maybe it’s not so much of a mystery after all.
In the breakdown of civilization after the beginning of the zombie apocalypse, it seems to me that the logical priorities are defense, food, electricity and governance.
A good guide is Lucifer’s Hammer (Jerry Pournelle and the great Larry Niven) where the lucky (and skilled) survivors gather on an aging Senator’s ranch in the foothills of the Sierras, a very defensible location but still low enough for subsistence farming and close to large fresh water sources, one of which contains a functioning nuclear power plant. After fighting a desperate battle against cannabalistic invaders, a few stalwarts of the compound convince the Senator that defense of the power plant has to undertaken by the exhausted survivors because therein lies the only possibility of regaining civilization. One of the arguments is that they are currently reduced to rewarding the child who kills the most rats every month and, while that’s necessary for now, it’s not acceptable for the future.
The compound is a benevolent monarchy with the Senator in absolute power but as he nears his death the question of governance afterward finally rears its head. It’s been years since I last read the book but I believe they never really resolve this issue before the book’s conclusion.
Breaking this post up just for optics. When I’m watching The Walking Dead, I’m imagining that, after the obligatory defense and food necessities, recruiting and vetting potential new members of the group is the next priority, safety in numbers and all that. Then electricity and governance. Alexandria was on the right path and the fact that it could not hold doesn’t change my mind about that.
The governance nerd in me enjoys speculating on what kind of government system a group of individuals committed to each other’s welfare would develop when faced with an opportunity to start from scratch. Would it be authoritative because of the imminent threats all around? Or would it be representative in an effort to recruit the like minded? World building is more interesting than world changing because of the blank canvas.
With so few people it could be fairly democratic. But in times of emergencies or for certain tasks you probably have to have someone in charge.
There doesn’t seem to be much of a formal governance structure in any of the groups. Like there is an informal “leader” like Rick or whoever. And there is generally accepted conduct like not stealing or murdering each other. But it doesn’t seem like any of the groups have any sort of codified laws. It doesn’t even seem like they have something as simple as a “chore wheel”, to determine whose turn it is to farm, hunt, cook, clear zombies, go on long range patrol, etc. It’s just kind of like “let’s follow whatever character is doing something to advance the plot”.
While they were in prison (I think), Carol was shown to be teaching children how to survive. But I got the impression that the adults thought she was teaching them school type stuff and Carol was teaching them Zombie Survival for Kids on the down low. You would have thought Daryl Dixon would have been teaching Wilderness Survival 101. By this point in the series, I would expect tracking, how to build a fire, and other such skills to be fairly common.
Maybe a chore wheel just isn’t exciting enough for television?
I’m just using that as an example of dealing with every day administrative issues besides “go to war with neighbors”
I apologize, I didn’t mean to sound like I thought your idea was bad. I get where you’re coming from. It might have been nice to see how the community deals with the day-to-day mundane issues of survival in their new world. Looking back, things should have stabilized by season 3 or 4 with Rick & Company settling in one place and building a permanent life. But maybe that’s not as exciting as one-eyed Governors or barbed wire baseball bats.
I’m of the opinion that TWD is a bit long in the tooth and needs to end. I’m not even interested in their new series, The Walking Dead: Kid’s Edition. And I say that as a big zombie fan.