The Walking Dead – Finally, a reason to turn on AMC
It may have only been a pilot episode, but AMC’s new series The Walking Dead has already got me hooked, and with good reason too. Zombies. Who doesn’t like zombies? And who doesn’t like a TV series dedicated to them with production values as high as this one? Really. This new show is looking to become one you can’t afford to miss.
The show focuses around a man who wakes up after a coma only to find the city and probably the world infested with zombies called ‘walkers’. In traditional zombie fashion, they tear people apart, bite into them, and are dangerous. But the show keeps with common clichés — one shot to the head and they’re down for the count. Sound familiar?
Judging from the pilot, the show looks to be a great one. Amazing acting, dynamic camera angles, and effects rarely seen on TV make this one of those premiere shows like Dexter that audiences can’t miss. They draw the line between television series and feature length film in terms of the quality of the product itself.
Take this scene late in the pilot where the main character shoots a zombie in the head at point-blank range. The sound gets muffled, the screen gets blurry, and for a moment, I thought I was watching a video game in some parts. These kind of effects draw the audience in, and if you’re a fan of being drawn in, then this is for you. Then again, who isn’t? Isn’t that why we watch TV in the first place? Or at least watch things online?
Speaking of watching things online, I’d suggest Sidereel for all your TV series needs. You just have to be careful on which sites you click on to watch what it is you’re looking to watch. Most of the time Megavideo works, though, minus those annoying time-limits on how long you can’t watch for. But that’s why God (Joe Pesci) invented proxies. Woo.
Anyway, back to the show, it delivers. Hardcore. Oh, and having a man on horseback run through a massive city, only to turn a corner and find the street overrun by zombies is GOLDEN. Really. That single image is one I’m sure people on message boards across the interwebs are going to be buzzing about for quite some time. This kicked ass.
My major complaint with the pilot comes with the pacing early on. I understand the audience needed to get familiar with the main character, but there was an unhealthy sense of isolation with him and the rest of humanity for too long. This technique is like a double-edged sword in my mind. It works great for films like I Am Legend, but for a pilot, especially the latter part of 40 minutes, I found it unneeded.
With this being said, the second half of the pilot was amazing on pretty much every level possible. Especially the city scenes and the part where the black protagonist was picking off zombies from the second floor of a house. The camera angles and sense of ambiance make these scenes worth watching and are some of the best stuff I’ve seen in awhile.
I guess the real question is: where do they take it? For those who are unaware, The Walking Dead is based off a comic book. But I find with adaptations, the plot gets changed around quite a lot. And will this series get better as it moves on? I do recall a show on NBC that had people watching for the first few episodes only for everyone to change the channel soon thereafter…
But I think The Walking Dead is “the event” most of us have been waiting for. It’s new. It’s about zombies, and not vampires. It’s gory, it’s over-the-top, and it’s something more than worth watching. It’s worth DVR / PVRing and telling your friends about.
It’s easy to see why this show is being talked about so much right now and is leaving people anxiously awaiting Sunday for episode 2. Really. I heard scientists are trying extra hard to build a time machine just for this show so they can watch it earlier.
It’s easy to recommend this show. Or at least the pilot. Let’s hope things keep up, because if they do, we’re looking at one hell of an awesome ride.
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