[Some Spoilers Within]
It took just a little over 7 years from the time the first issue of Robert Kirkman’s zombie apocalypse comic book series was first published to the airing of its tv adaptation’s first episode. Who could’ve thought that a tv show (even one appearing on a channel with very mature and edgy shows like Mad Men and Breaking Bad) about a zombie apocalypse would ever make it on the small-screen. When I say make it I mean with all the violence and gore intact in addition to some very smart and emotional storytelling.
Now here we are just a little after Halloween, 2010 and the premiere of Frank Darabont’s The Walking Dead has finally completed airing it’s pilot episode to all of North America (Europe will get it’s own premiere a few days later). The series is the brainchild of Darabont and producer Gale Anne Hurd with Robert Kirkman on-board as executive producer and the source of all that is “The Walking Dead”. To say that the pilot episode was a wonderful piece of filmmaking and storytelling would be an understatement.
The pilot episode begins with a prologue showing a lone sheriff’s deputy with gas can in hand walking amongst the empty and abandoned vehicles parked every which way around a long gas station. We see the detritus of this makeshift camp’s former inhabitants. Every this deputy look he sees torn down tents and ripped blankets and sleeping bags. The camera even does a gradual sweep and pan on abandoned children’s toys and dolls. Before we even start to ask what happened to the people of the camp we finally see the first dead bodies as they molder inside some of the vehicles with flies flitting on and off the rotting corpses.
A sign proclaiming to anyone that the station has “NO GAS” dashes whatever hopes the deputy has of finding any. Before leaving to search the cars themselves a noise behind stops him. He looks down to find where the footsteps he heard might be and sees a pair of small, rabbit-ear slippered feet walking slowly before the figure bends down to pick up a ragged teddy bear off of the ground. One could see on this deputy’s face a sense of relief that he’s not alone and has found another survivor. But his relief doesn’t last as the small figure of the girl turns around to show the ravaged and bloody wound on her face plus the glossed over eyes of the dead. We finally see our first zombie and it happens to be a little blond-haired girl. How he deals with this zombified little girl definitely sets the tone for what coudl be one of the best shows on tv this season and, perhaps, beyond. It’s not the norm to see a little girl (even if she is one of the walking dead) get shot in the head with blood spurting and the back of the head exploding on tv. Darabont’s The Walking Dead will not be pulling any punches and dares the audience to stay and hold on for the ride to come.
The episode flashes back after this great opening to show the sheriff’s deputy in a more mundane time. He’s Rick Grimes (played by British actor Andrew Lincoln) and we learn through a back and forth with his partner Shane Walsh (Jon Bernthal) that he’s an introspective man who seems to love his wife and son, but like most marriages when one parent is a cop the dangerous nature of his job has strained his relationship with his wife. This quite interlude gives way to a shoot-out with some criminals at the end of a car chase and crash where Rick gets seriously wounded and landing him in the hospital. Rick seems aware of whats going, but in fact he’s been under a coma for a month or more and when he finally wakes its not to the mundane world he left behind when he was under but one irrevocably changed for the horrific.
Darabont’s cinematic touches could be seen in the sequence in the hospital where Rick explores the empty and darkened hallways and corridors looking for anyone. This entire sequence tells me that Darabont knows how to milk a scene for tension and horror. His camera doesn’t linger on any particular bloody mess but just enough to convey the realization dawning on Rick’s mind that he just stepped into a nightmare. The decision not to use any sort of music to score this section of the episode just added to tension and built up dread. The part where he finally goes into the lightless exit stairwell has to be one of the scariest sequence on tv or film this year, bar none.
The rest of the episode sees Rick learning more and more of this new world he has woken up in. It’s not a nightmare though it definitely counts for one albeit a real one. His fortuitous run-in with survivors in the father and son duo of Morgan Jones (excellently played by another British actor, Lennie James) and Duane Jones becomes the audiences way of learning the basic rules of this new world. The recently dead are not staying dead but returning to some sort of life with little intelligence but with a voracious need to feed to people (and later we find out even animals).
While the word zombies was never uttered audiences know what they are whether they’re called “walkers”, “lurkers” or “roamers”. They could only be killed by destroying the brain (either by bullet or smashing the skull with whatever’s handy). They’re also quite slow and easily avoided when spread out in small singles or two’s but deadly when in a herd-like group and all riled up and hungry. Rick takes all of this in as stoically as possible (something the character in the comic book does as well), but in the end all he wants is to find his wife and son. Which the episode doesn’t answer, but his journey to where they might be leads to one of the best cliffhangers for a pilot episode. A cliffhanger that should hook even the least fan of zombies. All I can say is poor Seabiscuit.
The performances by all the actors we get to see in the pilot episode ranges from excellent (Lennie James) to very good (Andrew Lincoln) to the jury is still out (Sarah Wayne Callies and Jon Bernthal). This episode really hinges on Lincoln’s work as Rick Grimes and he pulls it off despite what some were calling as a very bad Southern accent. I did’t notice and I’ve been around people who spoke with Southern accents and dialects that I think I could tell when one was bad or not. I think fellow blog writer Lisa Marie being from the South would have a better perspective on how good or bad Lincoln’s Southern accent was in this first episode.
It’s Lennie James as Morgan Jones who shined in this pilot episode. He did outshine Lincoln in their scenes together and he added several layers of characterization to a secondary character in the comic book series who only appeared in the first couple issues before disappearing for most of the comic’s current run until recently. It’s his work as Morgan Jones which gives me some hope that Darabont and his writers will deviate from Kirkman’s comic book timeline and bring the character back sooner rather than later. It would benefit the series in the long run (and from the ratings numbers the pilot episode received I’m guessing this show will have legs).
But what would a tv series about zombies be if I didn’t talk about the zombie make-up and gore-effects. When news first filtered in that AMC was where Kirkman’s on-going zombie opus was landing for a live-action adaptation there were some trepidation from the book’s fans and just zombie fans, in general. How can a comic book that was nihilistic to its core and very violent (and gory when it required it to be) be able to truthfully translate to tv when it wasn’t being filmed for one of the two premium cable channels like HBO or Showtime. AMC was the home of very mature series like Mad Men and Breaking Bad. While both shows explored very mature and dark themes it’s only in some episodes of the latter title that very violent scenes were shown. In something like The Walking Dead the show is about violence and how it’s now the primary rule of the land. It’s a kill or be killed world and it’s not even the zombies who would be the most violent encounters Rick and his group would run across.
It’s safe to say that AMC has been true to their word that they would have a hands-off approach to how Darabont and compant will deal with the violence and gore of the series. They seem to understand that this is a zombie story and zombie stories have inherent in their genetic make-up violence and gore. The pilot episode showcases both in plain view with some of the best zombie make-up effects work from Greg Nicotero and Howard Berger of KNB EFX fame. I’ve seen hundreds of zombie films and I will say that the make-up work this pilot episode is some of the best ever done. The so-called zombie bike girl still impresses me everytime I see it on my tv screen. As for the gore well all I can say is poor Seabiscuit.
I would say that the pilot episode of The Walking Dead was a success in more ways than one. It was a success in that for the first time in American tv history we had a genuine zombie show on tv and the kind fans have been wanting to see for years. It was also a success in that fans of Kirkman’s book who were still leery about how well it would translate to live-action should worry no more. Darabont and his writers were true to Kirkman’s vision while still able to deviate here and there from the comics to help strengthen the dialogue and the story as a whole. Critics of Kirkman’s writing style should be loving just how well the series writers have worked out some of the heavy exposition from the comics to create what really is a leaner, but better story.
Here’s to hoping that AMC sees the numbers and general positive reaction from critics and audiences alike and do the right thing by greenlighting a second season with more episodes. The six for this first season is definitely enough to whet the appetites of old and new fans but we want more. The dead have come to to tv and I don’t see them going away anytime soon.
Through the Shattered Lens 
I have not read the comic book, but I wonder if this story adapts more effectively to live action than a novel would because of the nature of the original format. You so often hear “You should read the book.” said in reference to stories adapted to film. Novels develop characters, describe thought, depict environments, etc, in so much more detail than a film could. And, of course, they enable and require the reader to visualize all of these things their own way. So a corresponding film would seem sparse and simplistic by comparison. But comic books tell stories, or at least scenes, more concisely than either books or film/TV. And they provide frozen drawn images to depict the action and settings. So a TV program could actually be more expansive and detailed (depending on how painstakingly the comic author tells the story).
I agree that the opening scene quickly and profoundly (and for non-horror fans, shockingly) set an appropriately unabashed tone for the series. It also gave genre fans an immediate assurance of the legitimacy of the project, as well as a morsel to chew on during the subsequent character/setting development.
I think it is a good idea to avoid the term “zombie”. If the characters used the word, and especially if they said things like “This is just like ‘Night Of The Living Dead!'”, it would add a significant cheese factor. The idea that the characters have never heard of such a concept – the dead reanimating as flesh-eating monsters – makes their fear and shock more palpable, ad makes the story more credible, as it were.
I have mixed feelings about the horse-eating scene, on a couple of levels. I am more upset by the depiction of animals suffering than I am by that of people. I suppose that is because I have seen so much murder and mayhem done to people on TV and film, but less to animals. And animals are the true innocents of the world. Beyond that, the premise goes back to some of the discussions on this very site from a few months ago regarding the nature of the beasts (the undead ones).
I guess there is something to be said for the idea of creatures hungry for any kind of flesh. On the other hand, remember the scene in the “Dawn Of The Dead” remake (2004), wherein the protagonists sent the dog across the street to get in the building where Andy’s gun shop was? The zombies ignored him, because they craved human flesh exclusively. The idea of them being specifically anthropophagous, as opposed to simply carnivorous, somehow makes them a bit more frightening. But maybe the disturbingness of an innocent creature being savaged makes the show more effective.
I did wonder about Rick’s seemingly smooth acceptance of current events and conditions, One would expect a decidedly freaked out “WTF!?!?” reaction. Perhaps his ability to roll with the changes provided some early insight into his nature and personality.
The scene with Morgan struggling to make himself shoot his “wife”, with his son downstairs, was powerful. If the series gives us more of these intense emotional situations resulting from the infestation, it will transcend the mere creature-feature perception, and perhaps have a broader audience appeal. I agree that Lennie James was outstanding.
And the creature effects – Kick Ass. I prefer to get a good look at the scary things in scary shows, but that only works if the creature/gore effects are excellent. In this case, it does, because they are. We get a great look at the “bike girl”; it is hard to look away. Yet even upon close inspection, we seem to be seeing an animated and aware rotting corpse. Which is what we should get in a well-done zombie show.
Just as you obviously are, I am jazzed about a TV zombie saga, which can tell a much longer and better-developed story than a film could. But only because I now have seen it, and it (so far) is excellent. Let’s hope AMC gives the producers the time to develop that story, and maintain that quality. For now, I’m looking forward to Episode 2…
LikeLike
The scene where Seabiscuit becomes chow is actually from the book and happens exactly as it did. I think the scene had to be kept and shot to show that, yes it is a zombie show. Until that scene we haven’t really seen any of the zombies eat anything alive. We’ve seen the aftermath of those they’ve bitten but not see it happen.
I liken the scene from the original Dawn of the Dead with the wife who found her husband in the tenement. Until that scene occurred we haven’t seen the zombies do anything other than be explained as dangerous creatures who kill other living people and try to eat them. Once the husband bit into the wife one knew that those in charge of the film meant everything about it being violent and horrific.
As for Rick quick to accept it’s a facet of his personality make-up which should become apparent as the show moves along. In the comic book its even much more brief how he accepts the new world. Rick is very compassionate as shown when he went back for the zombie bike girl and how he dealt with his former deputy. But he is, as shown in throughout the book, very stubborn and when he latches on a goal he does so with a single-minded purpose. When Morgan gave him the basic 101 of what the things outside the house were thats all Rick needed to know. His goal now was to find his wife and son. What happened to make the world the way it is doesn’t help him in any way to accomplish his goal.
LikeLike
I liked the show but I also had a hard time with how quickly Rick accepted what had happened, especially when compared to how Morgan couldn’t bring himself to shoot his wife.
LikeLike
Which were your favorite scenes?
LikeLike
Well, it definitely wasn’t the one with the horse getting eaten. lol.
I liked the look of the series. I’m not talking about the gore but I’m just talking about the way that the show visually represented the idea that the world just ended. The director had a good idea for detail so you really got the idea of human society just ending and nature returning to power.
Speaking for me, the best scenes were the ones with Morgan and his son and I wish more of the show had been dedicated to them and how they deal with living in the new world. Those scenes felt very real to me and they had a lot humanity to them.
If the rest of the series has more human moments like that, I’ll probably watch it. If its all just going to be blood and guts then I’ll probably just hide in my room whenever Lisa turns it on. 🙂
LikeLike
I think for non-zombie/horror fans the Morgan-Duane scenes would probably be their favorite as well. Morgan and Duane won’t be back this season, but hopefully they will be next. The show should balance between drama and horror since the comic book really doles out the zombie horror just enough to remind people what has been happening.
My favorite scenes has to be the hospital sequence when Rick first wakes up with special mention on the exit stairwell scene. I also liked the parallel scene with Rick going back to find the dessicated, half-zombie bike girl. That scene was almost as powerful as the Morgan-wife scene which takes place at the same time. Rick knows how dangerous these creatures are but he also seem to remember that the people they used to be and that compassion and empathy for what has happened to them shined through. This part of his personality will be tested much through this series.
LikeLike
When this show started off with Rick shooting the zombie kid, I knew it was going to be a winner. Too many shows shy away from showing any kind of violence towards children, and with a show like this I’d have been especially disappointed if it only showed adult zombies. The Seabiscuit scene was good fun too, although I also was of the thought process that zombies would only go after other humans. I suppose it would make sense though if a large pile of fresh meat was placed in their way like Seabiscuit was, then why wouldn’t they have a feast?
I just hope AMC has repeat showings of the show during the week, because I’m not going to be happy that I have to miss two weeks worth all the time. If they don’t show the previous two episodes that I missed when I’m at work, then I guess I’ll just have to stop watching and wait for the DVDs to come out.
LikeLike
Okay, I have just rewatched The Walking Dead pilot and here’s a few random thoughts:
1) Overall, I thought it held up pretty well on a second viewing. I have to admit that this latest time, I watched the show with my critical instinct turned up to 11. I mean, I went into full nit-pick mode here. But I didn’t find that much to complain about and that’s saying something, all things considered. 🙂
2) On the subject of accents, Andrew Lincoln’s accent worked best when he was on his own, just talking to himself. His accent was considerably weaker whenever he had to interact with any other actors — especially Lennie James. I imagine this would have to do with the fact that they’re both British.
3) Lennie James clearly gave the strongest performance in this episode but it should also be remembered that his character was allowed to show a lot more emotion. Andrew Lincoln, again, was at his strongest when he had the screen to himself and Darabont continually framed him as a prototypical strong, silent hero type. When he had to interact with others, he came across as a little stiff. Don’t get me wrong — I’d still totally pounce on him and lick his face if I ever met him. But his performance here was a little like Matthew Fox’s performance in Lost — stiff but appropriate for the material.
4) As my sister (Hi, Erin!) pointed out, Darabont did a good job directing this episode. Just look at the way he framed the opening by keeping the camera moving to create that feeling on unease while at the same time, not going so far overboard it was like he was there going, “Look at me!” To be honest, I was a bit worried when I heard the name Frank Darabont. I know that all you guys love the Shawshank Redemption but I suspect it must be one of those weird guy things (like football) because I’ve never been able to sit through the entire movie without dozing off.
5) I kinda wish they had used the word “zombie” in the show. Seriously, if the dead really did come to life, you would call them “zombies” and someone probably would mention a Romero or a Fulci film. I can understand that Darabont didn’t want to be campy but seriously, if they can use the term “vampire” in Twilight than I’m sure the Walking Dead can survive the word “zombie.”
6) I cried when Mrs. Morgan tried to get back in the house and then when Lennie James found he couldn’t shoot her. Now that’s great acting.
7) I could have done without the horse getting killed BUT, at the same time, it also established the idea of the zombies kinda being like a pack of wild dogs, on the prowl for anything.
8) The gore effects were very strong but they were almost too well-done for my taste. I like my gore to be realistic but not so realistic that it makes it impossible to have fun watching it.
9) Some of the zombie actors, tbh, were kinda half-assing it. And then others were among the best I’ve ever seen.
10) I don’t think Rick was too quick to accept the situation. The fact of the matter is that if you wake up and all you see are zombies then you’re going to believe in zombies.
11) Plus, even though I’ve only started in on the original Walking Dead, I think that Rick’s ability to adapt to any situation should become a major plot point as the series progresses.
12) To me, Lincoln’s strongest scene was when he was talking to the bisected zombie girl. I’m going to agree with Erin that, as long as the series has moments like this — moments the reflect some genuine human feeling — it’ll be a classic. 🙂
LikeLike
So, you’re starting to see Rick’s personality from the books slowly creep into the show even if it’s just the first episode. I think once we get farther into this season that development of Rick being so accepting will be explained by how he deals with the many crisis that come his way.
That same scene with Mrs. Jones trying to open the door to the house. If you watch it again look at Rick’s eye as it slowly glances down to the turning doorknob. That scene was great acting even if it was just Lincoln’s eye. You could almost read the many emotions running in Rick’s head at that very moment. Like “oh crap I shouldn’t have looked out through the peephole” and “I really should back out of here and go sit quietly somewhere”.
In the book they rarely say the “zed” word though it’s spoken out here and there but for the mos part the characters create names to describe the different type of zombies they come across. There’s general term walkers. Then there’s the “Roamers” who seem to just roam around in no hurry to get to any one place until they bump into a group that is heading towards something/someone. Then there are the “Lurkers” who just sit or lie in the shadows quietly while waiting for someone dumb enough to be right on top of them without checking to see.
For those who may be wondering. The half-zombie bike girl is not animatronic. She’s an actual actress who was made to look like that with CGI removing her bottom half. Her zombie make-up effects I must say is the best I’ve ever seen and not just in the “wow” department but also how it evoked so many emotions like sadness, disgust and empathy.
LikeLike
Andrew Lincoln’s “Southern Accent” is the one distracting weak link in an otherwise great show. It’s not that it’s bad, it’s that he only slips into it sometimes, and every time he does, it’s an unwelcome reminder that I’m watching an actor recite lines on a tv show. The character’s authenticity is reduced immensely. Better for him to just do the generic American accent that he seems to find more natural anyway.
If the character’s southern-ness was that important, why didn’t they find a Southerner to play him? Or else just scrap the “accent” all together.
LikeLike
Lincoln’s accent seem to have become a polarizing aspect of his work in the show. Some seem to be in your camp where they hear him speak and think it’s the worse Southern accent and thus breaks the moment of the scene.
Some don’t think his accent is as awful as some say and these people are Southerners who have lifelong experiences around the regional sound.
I’m somewhat in the middle in that at times he does slip a bit, but not enough that his performance breaks down. I actually think that him being chosen was never whether he could pull off the accent, but that he was the best actor for the job amongst those who auditioned for the role. Remember, despite the high production look of the show this is still AMC and they very well couldn’t spend a ton of money hiring actors who are well-known from the region. This also brings up the fact that most American actors tend to actually overdo regional accents themselves when performing such a role.
This is made clear with the complaing that Jon Bernthal himself is suppose to be doing a bad impression of a Deep Southern accent and one can’t forget that he’s not British but American.
LikeLike
Speaking as a Southerner — as well as a country girl — I can say I’ve always been pretty sensitive about bad Southern and bad country accents and yes, American actors really are the worst when it comes to going overboard. There’s always been a bit of elitism to the way that the entertainment mainstream presents my part of the world and a bad accent usually seems to go hand-in-hand with an insulting portrayal.
Lincoln’s accent doesn’t bother me too much, probably because he’s British so he at least has an excuse. To be honest, I think a lot of the issue comes from the fact that Michael Rooker went so over-the-top in his first appearance amd was such a stereotypical racist — the type that, nowadays, you’re just as likely to meet up North as you are down South — that it’s kinda made a lot of us Southerners a lot more critical of Lincoln’s accent than we would be otherwise. Because Rooker’s character — and characters like his, regardless of the media — almost felt like a slap in the face. We get tired of knowing that any time a show or movie is set down South, we’re going to have to deal with some redneck asshole just because the assumption on the part of the Darabonts of the world is that the South is crawling with these types. Meanwhile, of course, the NYPD and LAPD have both compiled terrible records as far as civil right are concerned yet if the Walking Dead was set in L.A. or New York, I imagine Rooker’s character would never have shown up.
Don’t get me wrong — I think the Walking Dead is great, I’d still happily lick Andrew Lincoln’s face if I ever met him, and I think Rooker redeemed himself somewhat in the third episode, and this is not going to make me stop watching or appreciating the show. It’s just I wish that a show could be set in the South and the Southwest without suggeting that somehow, those who speak with a Southern accent are somehow lesser human beings than those who don’t.
LikeLike
What did you think of the 3rd episode? I know it really was drama and group conflict heavy. Even saying that the show still able to put in a brief but well done gory moment.
LikeLike
Pingback: Happy Birthday, Arleigh! | Through the Shattered Lens