Better late for a review of this than never, right?
The Walking Dead (Season 1) (2010)
Created By: Frank Darabont
Where to get it: Anchor Bay
The Prologue
Seeing as how we are pretty much at the end of season 2 of AMC’s The Walking Dead now, I guess it’s kinda odd that I would just now get into anything about season 1. I wrote a post on this site about the series before it debuted on Halloween night in 2010, then I just simply hushed about it and I never watched a single show of it, until now. See, I’m a big fan of the comics and I just hate trying to watch any series on TV, especially one that sparked my interested like this one. I hate watching a show, waiting a week, watching another ect. So I waited til season 1 came to blu-ray before I even checked it out. Well, I did one better than that. I waited until Anchor Bay put out the new 3 Disc blu-ray set for season 1 before I even checked it out.
The Movie
The first season centers on Sheriff’s Deputy Rick Grimes, who was shot in an altercation with several criminals. His injuries result in him slipping into a coma for an indeterminate amount of time, after which he awakens into a post-apocalyptic world overrun by zombies, which the survivors colloquially call “walkers”. He discovers that his wife and son are missing and, after arming himself, sets off on a perilous journey for Atlanta, Georgia, where the CDC is rumored to have set up a quarantined safe-zone in the city and his family may be hiding. However, he soon discovers that the city has been overrun with “walkers” and it is no longer safe. A few miles outside the city, Rick’s wife Lori and his son Carl have been hiding away from the walkers with Shane Walsh, Rick’s former colleague and best friend. The twits and turns soon come into play and we have a very soap opera-like zombie story on our hands.
I just want to say upfront here, that unlike the majority of the people I’ve talked to, I do not think this is the greatest zombie story ever told, nor do I think it’s the greatest TV show of all-time. That way of thinking is just a bit silly when you break the entire first season of the show down. That being said, I did watch the entire season in one setting, so clearly I don’t think it sucked either. I did notice that from the comics I have read of The Walking Dead that a lot of the story was changed in order to make it a little more TV friendly. Or, as I should say, they changed it a lot to make it a bit more like a soap opera to latch in more of a demographic and to have a reason to keep a few of the characters around longer than they originally hung around in the comics. And that’s OK I guess, I could do without some of the unneeded drama, especially when it shortens the amount of zombie action, but it’s not what I disliked about this show the most.
I could break this show down into each of it’s six episodes but that would be a waste of time. If I were reviewing each show as it aired that would make more sense, but since I’m viewing this as whole season on a blu-ray set, I think it makes much more sense to do this review as a whole. For starters, I think the first episode is just fine and a nice way to kick things off. It stuck to the comic books perhaps the most, but it did also rip that portion of the show off a bit from 28 Days Later. But there is a nice story going on here and it continues building up drama and making you want to watch the next show, even if it does seem like a soap at times that just so happens to have zombie inserted into it. I would say that the story stays more or less strong until episode 4 titled “Vatos” when a gang is inserted into the story and really just causes the plot to be pulled into a direction we didn’t need it to go in. It’ sticks out, it’s silly, and I think it was placed there just to drag out an already short season on longer. It’s pretty much the only fault of season 1.
With the exception of episode 4, the rest of the season is more or less very interesting. There’s more blood than you’d expect for TV and it’s only brought down by CGI a couple of times due to CGI’s typical distracting nature. The film’s lead character, Rick Grimes, is brought to life and made very likeable by, Andrew Lincoln. It’s just a shame that his wife isn’t that likeable, not that shes supposed to be overall I suppose, but she does come across as unsympathetic and you probably wouldn’t care if she got “off’d” in the first season. Anyway, the season all leads to a finale inside the CDC where just a single person is alive to greet the surviving members of the group we are introduced to in season 1. It leaves us in a very dramatic fashion and it sets up a heck of a kicker for season 2. A season cliffhanger I’m sure I’d be even more interested in if I hadn’t read the comics and pretty much knew what was going on. Still, take out episode 4 and you pretty much have a perfect season 1.
The Conclusion
YES, it’s a damn fine series for the most part. But it does fall just short of the masterpiece most want to go on and on about in making like it is. It is however a show I find re-watch value in and I’d be happy to watch it again. But I shall again wait for the set of season 2 before I check that one out. The blu-ray quality for this set does improve as it goes along. It starts off a little rough, but it was shot on 16MM to ensure a rough and gritty look. And for the most part it works very well. Also, the 3 disc set is packing some nice features, like the first episode in it’s original black and white format. So, if you love The Walking Dead, this would be the set you want to buy.
The Rating (8/10)
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