[JesusMonroe]

From the Walking Dead wiki:

"Due to limited intelligence, zombies have difficulty overcoming various obstacles. Zombies can ascend and descend stairs, but they cannot do so gracefully or quickly. As zombies do not require sleep or nourishment, they are constantly ready to respond to stimuli even when in their "lurker" state.

[Valleyaggie]

Oh I never lie Aggie. Come with me and we'll talk about it. It's safe, I'm a really nice guy. Honest!

I would have come with you but the clown kinda freaked me out..... that and the fact that you're married......

[Serenity@sea]

Did you really have to bring the clown to the next page?

You'll have to look for the thread with Glass and BWR. Now, he's married to two women. He could always make it three.

[backwoodsroamer]

stumble around slack jawed and try to gnaw on anything within reach.

Well I dunno Hon, that's all you do and you scare me.

[backwoodsroamer]

t..... that and the fact that you're married......

Well if that's a problem Aggie, I can always make room for a looker like you.

The others were getting a little boring anyway. Plus the rose garden needs another dose of Roamers Secret Ingredient Mulch before winter sets in.

I'll get out the ball peen hammer, fire up the wood chipper, and it can be just you and me.

[Lurwalker]

I hate to be a wet blanket, but it has always seemed to me the walkers can do anything that is convenient to make the story work. Maybe I'm just too cynical though.

Wet blankie, Wet blankie, WET BLANKIE. Gt put yourself in the dryer.

The walkers were sort of climbing the fence before Rick decided to sacrifice the pigs to them. This also wasn't the first time they climbed a fence as they did it in S1 as well. So far they can climb stairs, ladders, fences and open doors, use rocks to break through a door and they may survive even if you burn them as shown in S3 in the TG walker pit. I believe that one of the producers commented on this subject at one point and mentioned that the walkers would be advancing. Now did he mean in what they are capable of (such as falling out the ceiling or the mass at the vet school or if they are going back to more of what they had them do in S1?).

[Valleyaggie]

Well if that's a problem Aggie, I can always make room for a looker like you.

The others were getting a little boring anyway. Plus the rose garden needs another dose of Roamers Secret Ingredient Mulch before winter sets in.

I'll get out the ball peen hammer, fire up the wood chipper, and it can be just you and me.

So I can get the mulch treatment when the newness wears off and you find another woman who sparks your interest? Uhm.... no thanks. But we can always be friends...... Now, back to the thread: It really is disappointing to see the inconsistency with the walkers' abilities. Having them be able to climb a fence in one episode but not another should be monitored by a committee who does nothing but check previous episodes to make sure everything is consistent. One of the reasons the various Star Trek series were so good is that they had a committee of people who did just that. They even created a back story to explain the Klingons in the Original Series who didn't have brow ridges in order to keep it consistent. And that's why they created an alternate time line in the new reboot; they can be as creative as they want without having to adhere to the canon.

[ElizabethsEden]

Oh I never lie Aggie. Come with me and we'll talk about it. It's safe, I'm a really nice guy. Honest!

FREAKED ME OUT !!!!!!!!!!! NO BUENO!!!!!!

[backwoodsroamer]

So I can get the mulch treatment when the newness wears off and you find another woman who sparks your interest? Uhm.... no thanks. But we can always be friends...... Now, back to the thread: It really is disappointing to see the inconsistency with the walkers' abilities. Having them be able to climb a fence in one episode but not another should be monitored by a committee who does nothing but check previous episodes to make sure everything is consistent. One of the reasons the various Star Trek series were so good is that they had a committee of people who did just that. They even created a back story to explain the Klingons in the Original Series who didn't have brow ridges in order to keep it consistent. And that's why they created an alternate time line in the new reboot; they can be as creative as they want without having to adhere to the canon.

The problem here is that AMC is famous/notorious for doing things on the cheap. I'm sure they have a committee of bean counters to pare things down to the last penny. That committee would veto any walker consistency committee. Sad but true IMHO.

[City]

Perhaps it depends on the specific walkers abilities? Like one might have more brain stimulius and be able to ascend/descend but another might not.

[DominusPisces]

Perhaps it depends on the specific walkers abilities? Like one might have more brain stimulius and be able to ascend/descend but another might not.

They can't be as mindless as people think. Finding their mouth with their hands when they feed takes allot more than people realize. Babies have to learn it.. stroke victims sometimes need to as well. I'm okay with a few "Walker Scholars" Able to figure the coordination necessary to scale a fence or occasionally turn a door knob. The "Rock on the Window" Walker might have had the Rock as a last ditch weapon pre death and simply reanimated holding it and not known to let it go. The only two walkers that seemed to have 'too much' intelligence was Morgan's wife and the Teddy Bear Walker. Morgan's wife kinda pushed the HIGHEST limit I want to see a walker plan.

[UltraAmbiguousID]

They can't be as mindless as people think. Finding their mouth with their hands when they feed takes allot more than people realize. Babies have to learn it.. stroke victims sometimes need to as well. I'm okay with a few "Walker Scholars" Able to figure the coordination necessary to scale a fence or occasionally turn a door knob. The "Rock on the Window" Walker might have had the Rock as a last ditch weapon pre death and simply reanimated holding it and not known to let it go. The only two walkers that seemed to have 'too much' intelligence was Morgan's wife and the Teddy Bear Walker. Morgan's wife kinda pushed the HIGHEST limit I want to see a walker plan.

Agreed, but not about Morgan's wife. In "18 Miles Out", there were the three walkers that fell on top of Rick. The second one was kinda pushing Rick's gun outta the way. Yeah, it was probably meant to be flailing arms, but it didn't come across that way to me. Regardless, that's the one that's always bothered me, not even RV walker which Andrea stabbed with the screwdriver.

[Thierry88]

Moving hands to mouth to eat is an animal instinct. I think you should see walkers in TWD as primitive animals. They can sit on their knees while eating like humans can (like the one that was eating a dear just near the Atlanta camp and the walker Daryl shoots before he spots zombified Merle).
The little girl zombie who picked up the teddy bear, Morgan's wife turning the doorknob, the rock walker, the walker that seemed to try to follow Rick and Glenn up the ladder and those walkers climbed up the fence were all in season 1 directed by Frank Darabont. I think he had a different view of walkers having some vestigal intelligence and memories than Mazara and others had. The RV walker was in episode 1 of season 2, which was also directed by Darabont partially. The walker that pushed away Rick's gun multiple times in "18 Miles Out", I think it was meant to be accidentally but the actor playing that walker didn't do it very convincingly. Just imagine if you are instructed to push away a gun but make it appear accidentally, I doubt all walkers seen in TWD are portrayed by highly skilled actors due to budget reasons.

[DominusPisces]

Moving hands to mouth to eat is an animal instinct. I think you should see walkers in TWD as primitive animals. They can sit on their knees while eating like humans can (like the one that was eating a dear just near the Atlanta camp and the walker Daryl shoots before he spots zombified Merle).
The little girl zombie who picked up the teddy bear, Morgan's wife turning the doorknob, the rock walker, the walker that seemed to try to follow Rick and Glenn up the ladder and those walkers climbed up the fence were all in season 1 directed by Frank Darabont. I think he had a different view of walkers having some vestigal intelligence and memories than Mazara and others had. The RV walker was in episode 1 of season 2, which was also directed by Darabont partially. The walker that pushed away Rick's gun multiple times in "18 Miles Out", I think it was meant to be accidentally but the actor playing that walker didn't do it very convincingly. Just imagine if you are instructed to push away a gun but make it appear accidentally, I doubt all walkers seen in TWD are portrayed by highly skilled actors due to budget reasons.

The gun walker might have simply recongized the gun as "not food" as opposed as a threat and simply wanted it out of the way between it and his food. Like I said I'm okay with the occasionl 'brilliant' walker or one with enough muscle memory to climb. As far as steps I'ld imagine they can navigate them as well as any drunk person.

[UltraAmbiguousID]

The gun walker might have simply recongized the gun as "not food" as opposed as a threat and simply wanted it out of the way between it and his food. Like I said I'm okay with the occasionl 'brilliant' walker or one with enough muscle memory to climb. As far as steps I'ld imagine they can navigate them as well as any drunk person.

Hee hee. I like your point about the walker seeing the gun as "not food". I'd never thought of that. You've helped me overcome one of my Walking Dead criticisms.

[SteadyEddie]

In season 1, I think the second episode, they were climbing up chain-link fences (hmm, not doing that now) and picking up rocks to smash in glass windows. They were turning doorknobs.

[UltraAmbiguousID]

In season 1, I think the second episode, they were climbing up chain-link fences (hmm, not doing that now) and picking up rocks to smash in glass windows. They were turning doorknobs.

Yep. Not sure how I feel about scholar-walkers vs dumb-as-paint walkers. They're scary as-is, wouldn't want them fiddling with the locks at the prison like Morgan's wife with the knob. Could you imagine? You're trying to sleep and hearing that scraping sound? *shiver*

I've seen videos where ants will form a bridge out of themselves by linking together, allowing fellow ants access to an otherwise out-of-reach place.

I'm wondering if the walkers are capable of collaboration? It'd make sense because we've seen two instances where walkers congregate to topple a fence: on Hershel's farm at the split-rail (?) fence and now, at the prison.

[Thierry88]

Pushing together against fences doesn't seem much like collaboration to me. It is similar to a bunch of hooligans start pushing against riot fences to fight with the police. There is no real coordination in which walkers have different tasks like digging underneath the fences to weaken its support in the ground while others are pushing. The walkers have a herd mentality seen by a couple of walkers walking in a direction and other walkers following them resulting in accumulating numbers, but if they really collaborate they would have started clustering together against the fences sooner. They only did that first when someone was feeding them rats.

[DominusPisces]

Oh I never lie Aggie. Come with me and we'll talk about it. It's safe, I'm a really nice guy. Honest!

I can't help but be reminded to a quote someone did when you posted a meme about the 'brilliant' Commissar. "I shudder to think what lies in the dark recesses of your hard drive" Yes... that quote... sums this up well.

[hannsg]

Perhaps it depends on the specific walkers abilities? Like one might have more brain stimulius and be able to ascend/descend but another might not.

Execrably the "plot hole" can be explained that different walkers can be smarter than others due to age, condition , extant of disease

[hannsg]

Morgans wife climbed the steps to his house in the pilot

[DominusPisces]

FINALLY watched the Webisodes. If you watch the second one, we see a person go down fighting with a machete. When we see his walker he is STILL holding the machete. He never thought to let it go. Probably an instinct to grab whatever is in it's hand. So once again I say Rock Walker died fighting and still had it in his hand when he stumbled up to the mall.

[City]

Also I'm sure I read that the walkers were too smart in season 1 and they dumbed them down for the rest of the series. Maybe they could say that the LENGTH of time a walker has been dead (walker state) might make them lose more human abilities... so the longer they're walkers, the more like walkers and the less like humans they become?

[doc dynamo]

From the Walking Dead wiki:

" As zombies do not require sleep or nourishment, they are constantly ready to respond to stimuli even when in their "lurker" state.

I think we have consistency problem. In season 3 Milton says that Michonne's two jawless walkers had been starving, but starving slowly. I assumed this meant walkers need nourishment.

[UltraAmbiguousID]

Morgans wife climbed the steps to his house in the pilot

And, I guess because of Morgan's reveal in "Clear", she had to have climbed down the steps, too.