The first official day of San Diego Comic-Con 2011 saw the release of an exclusive Season 2 poster for AMC’s The Walking Dead series. Last year at this same comic-con saw this series release a first season exclusive poster painted by Drew Struzan which was a hit with fans of the comic book and the show. This time around another fan favorite artist was tapped to paint the second season poster for Comic-Con.
Tim Bradstreet is one of the well-known comic book illustrators whose comic book covers have become favorite of comic book fans everywhere. Whether they were covers for Vertigo’s Hellblazer series or for Steve Niles’ wildly popular Cal McDonald series his covers had a unique horror-noir look to them. This Bradstreet style really lends itself well to the Season 2 poster for The Walking Dead.
Today also saw a couple new production stills from Season 2 which looks to have Rick and the gang breaking down on an interstate full of wrecked and abandoned vehicles and most likely attracting all sort of zombies to their presence.
The first season of the tv adaptation of Robert Kirkman’s critically-acclaimed zombie comic book series, The Walking Dead, was a huge hit for AMC despite only running a truncated 6-episode for the initial season. For it’s second season the series will get a much heftier 13-episode season which put’s it in line with most basic cable series like Breaking Bad, Mad Men and True Blood.
Both a new poster promoting the series’ return this coming October and a quick first look footage from the new season premiered within 24-hours of each other with the footage premiering during the latest season premiere of fellow AMC stablemate Breaking Bad. The poster shows the Winnie with the main characters from the first season standing upon it with hordes of zombies surrounding it. It’s a scene done many times before with the most recent one in the French zombie film, The Horde. The poses of the characters also look like they’re from solo character portraits and just photoshopped into the image. They definitely could’ve done a better job, but at least the zombies look cool.
The footage shown is pretty straightforward as we see Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes hiding and waiting behind a tree to ambush a shambling zombie with a huge rock and then doing the same to another which enters the frame. This scene looks too simple, but watching Lincoln’s expression and mannerism spoke much about how much darker his character becomes. I like how the zombies look much more emaciated here as if they’re starting to starve as their food source begin to get smaller and smaller.
The Walking Dead Season 2 will return to AMC this October. Here’s to hoping it’s early October and not another Halloween weekend premiere.
So, we’ve finally reached the season finale of a very short inaugural season of Frank Darabont’s tv adaptation of Robert Kirkman’s critically-acclaimed and very popular comic book series, The Walking Dead. AMC ordered an initial 6-episode for this season which made setting up the world for the non-fans of the comic book a top priority. This could be seen in the first five episodes as each one explained the rules of this new post-apocalyptic world and how it has changed how people have now begun to behave.
The tv series has stayed mostly loyal to its comic book source, but some divergence from the source material has caused some grumblings amongst the comic book’s legions of fans. It doesn’t matter to them that the comic book’s creator has been ok with the changes and actually an active participant with said changes. These changes have been somewhat minor in the show’s five episodes but as episode five rolled to an end we got a major departure to the source material. Rick has taken his band of survivors back to Atlanta where the CDC (Center for Disease Control) is headquartered at. This never happened in the comic book and it’s inclusion to the story has driven many a fan of the source material batshit crazy.
They ask why make the changes, both minor and major, to a story that was already full of story-arcs, subplots aplenty and enough characters down the line that new ones weren’t needed. I can’t blame them for asking such questions for I, too, are a major fan of the comics right from the very beginning. But these changes is exactly why the story being told by this tv adaptation look and seem fresh to me. The end of the last episode was such a major departure that I can now honestly say that I have no idea what Darabont and Kirkman have in store for Season Two. It’s that element of the unknown and the surprise of not knowing what’s around the corner why I don’t rail against these changes. If I wanted a page-by-page, panel-by-panel adaptation then I’d rather just bring out the comics and re-read them for the umpteenth time.
Now we get to the season finale and whether the major change will actually improve or just ruin the series.
I must say that I was guarded in my optimism about this major departure and the inclusion of the CDC. What I’ve liked about some of the best zombie stories ever put on film or on paper is that the zombie apocalypse never truly gets a definite explanation as to how it began or what caused it in the first place. This season finale episode titled “TS-19” seemed like Darabont’s attempt to try and explain the cause of the zombies and who or what let it loose in the first place. Very bad zombie stories try to over-explain and end up tripping over themselves in the process and thus ruining the experience.
With “TS-19” we get Dr. Edmund Jenner (Noah Emmerich), last surviving researcher in the CDC, give a brief explanation as to the process of when a person goes from living to dead to reanimated corpse. While the fancy computer-enhanced imagery seemed to explain much it really doesn’t. It just scientifically showed what everyone already knew. They still don’t know if it’s a viral or bacterial disease or if it’s even a disease at all. Even Jenner doesn’t discount Jacqui (one of those new characters added in that fans of the comics railed against) mentioning that it could be the wrath of God. The sequence even answers viewers’ question about how long it takes for a recently dead to return back as a “walker”. The answer to that is that they don’t know.
This episode highlighted how ineffectual the very institutions people depended on for help, security and safety when the zombie apocalypse finally hit critical stage. We see this in the show’s cold start prologue as we go back in time to see the final moments at the King’s County Hospital where a comatose Rick Grimes was being kept at for observations. Shane, his partner and best friend, sees the brutal solution the military has for those either infected but alive and/or unwilling to vacate the hospital as it began to be overrun by the “walkers”.
This sequence answered questions about why the military was so inefficient. It’s also a damning condemnation about the rigidity of such a major governmental institution unable to adapt to an ever-changing situation where the enemy didn’t sleep, didn’t stop to rest or wasn’t afraid about being fired on. This was an enemy that was conducting the true meaning of “total war” on a people who were already on the ends of their last rope. The fact that their solution only swelled the ranks of those they fought just showed how doomed the world is when something this apocalyptic occurs without warning and without a means to fully understand and combat.
Even Jenner doesn’t know what made the zombie apocalypse begin and the source of what scientists thought was something they could find a cure for. This ambiguity needed to be shown to stop question from the audience about the “why’s” and “how’s” and instead get the series back onto the road where survival and holding onto their humanity remains their ultimate struggle.
This episode does get them back onto that lonely road with some deciding to stay as the facility began a countdown towards a final decontamination. We get also get a nice scene between Jeffrey DeMunn’s Dale and Laurie Holden’s Andrea that should make fans of the comics happy. The same goes for showing just how ineffectual Rick has been as their leader as every decision he has made has put the group in danger. It shows Rick’s intractable belief in doing the right things and holding on to the vestiges of civilized behavior could be just a front to give his wife and son hope that things will be better. This episode shows Rick that what’s better is to stay for that final decontamination instead of going back on the road where only death and suffering will await him and his group. Jenner’s comment that was heard was like a prophetic announcement that Rick will regret going back out.
So, we finally end Season One of The Walking Dead and have a very long wait (hopefully AMC make the decision to air Season Two not on October but at least a month sooner, if not a couple of months.) til the series picks up again with the convoy of survivors headed to parts unknown. Parts unknown not just for the characters in the series but for fans of the comic book as well. Here’s to hoping that while Darabont and Kirkman uses the comic book as the main path for the series moving forward that they also deviate from it from time to time if there’s a good story to tell on those small paths and tributaries.
Extras
* “Dude, you are such a buzzkill.” – Glenn finally gets backhis witty ways as he reacts to Shane’s questioning of Jenner during a celebratory dinner.
* “Man, I’m going to get shitfaced drunk, AGAIN.” – Daryl’s reaction to Jenner’s news that there may be no one left anywhere.
* I found it quite ironic that of all the people to hold out the longest as the rest of the world gave up it would be the French.
* There was quite the Lost In Translation moment towards the end as Jenner whispers something into Rick’s ear before the group bolted to escape. Theories on what already has odds on Lori’s physical situation after the tests Jenner gave the group.
* As a military nut I smiled at the use of the acronym H.I.T. to literally mean a hit of a high-impulse thermobaric high explosive. That’s what I call a hit.
* Scene as Rick tries to plead with Jenner to let them go one can see Daryl still axing away at the blast doors.
* “The world runs on fossil fuel. How stupid is that!” – Jenner pointing out that places still doing research to find a solution failed because the power grids which run on fuel stopped due to lack of it.
* “This is what takes us down. This is our extinction event.” – Jenner finally voicing what everyone in the show has been avoiding and should give a clue as to the true meaning of the show’s title.
* The episode ends with a Bob Dylan song, Tomorrow Is a Long Time, that was very appropriate.
We’ve now come to the penultimate episode of The Walking Dead‘s first season. If there’s been one thing about this tv adaptation — of the Robert Kirkman comic book series which it’s based on — has proven it’s that the show is willing to go off the reservation when it comes to following the source material. The show has made some interesting storytelling and character choices right from the start. Scenes which occur later in the comic book have been moved up and combined with others. New characters, both recurring and disposable ones, have been introduced to the original numbers from the book.
Some of these changes have been welcomed by old fans of the book, but there’s a vocal minority who don’t see why there’s a need for such changes and additions. To new fans whose experience with this franchise has been just through the show the changes don’t mean a thing. They’re coming into this fresh and with open eyes. For long-time fans this need to watch this show with open eyes instead of clutching at the strict canonical material that are the books it would be a hard time going. I’m one of those who have been reading the books since the beginning and for the most part I’ve accepted these changes. Even the major departure introduced to end this episode I find quite interesting and with guarded optimism that it will lead to a surprising season finale and set-up season two properly.
We begin the show the very morning after the zombie attack on the camp which ended the previous episode. The survivors are cleaning up the bodies of both the “walkers” put down and those people they lost. The scenes showing how both Carol deals with her abusive husband’s corpse and how Andrea deals with her younger sister Amy were quite powerful in their own way. In one scene, we see an abused and beaten down wife taking out her anger and relief on the source of her problems with a pickaxe. In another, we see an older sister remembering past regrets of never being there for her much younger sister despite promises to do so. The scene with Andrea goes against much of what most zombie survival aficionados would do, but it brings to light just how much the Andrea loved her sister and even if it means seeing her come to a semblance of life just one more time to say her goodbyes she would do it. Knowing what she would need to do in the end just made her tearful final goodbye that more powerful.
The third farewell doesn’t happen until 3/4’s of the way into the episode (though we do see Morales and his family go their own way. Going to miss him going for the fences with that baseball bat) and involves Jim. An injury incurred from the fight during the night leaves him and the group with a problem that gets resolved in one of the more poignant scenes in this series, so far. As Morgan Jones from the pilot episode instructed Rick the “walkers” and their bites are a death sentence. The two competing leaders of the group in Rick and Shane want to solve their Jim problem using different methods. Rick wants to take the group to the one place he thinks could still help Jim and that’s the CDC near Atlanta. While Shane, with enthusiastic support from Daryl, wants to put Jim down before he becomes a dangerous liability.
In a scene reminiscent of a similar one from Romero’s original Dawn of the Dead, Jim makes the final and ultimate decision about his life. The goodbyes made by everyone to Jim after he’s made his decision to be left behind was very heartbreaking. Jim might have been a secondary support character but the last couple episodes have fleshed out his character enough that we care what happens to this man who has lost everything and thinks his predicament will reunite him with those he has lost.
The growing schism between best friends Rick and Shane gets a few more nails added to it as we see Shane gradually losing his command of the group. The group looks to be gravitating towards Rick as their leader now and even the wildcard in Daryl seem to look to Rick for the answers. The scene between the two as they patrol the woods near the camp definitely widens the gulf between the two even if Rick looks to be unaware of what’s really going on with Shane. The sudden appearance of ever stalwart and ever watchful Dale sure thinks something is amiss.
It’s the final ten minutes of the show where we finally know why the episode was titled “WildFire”. In another departure, one that would be called huge by fans of the comic books, we see the lone surviving researcher within the CDC sending video reports on what’s being called “Wildfire” and how research on the so-called “disease” has remained useless with no answer in sight.
The whole entire sequence reminds me of the early parts of Stephen King’s own apocalyptic epic novel, The Stand, as scientists desperately try to stem the tide of the approaching apocalypse to no avail. It’s little subtle references to other apocalyptic stories and tales like this which keeps some of the changes and departures from the source material bearable and, at times, even welcome.
It’s this major departure that will send some long-time fans of the comic book apoplectic. The vocal minority will definitely get even louder as to why Darabont and the writers are messing with the timeline and the stories in the original comic book. As one of those fans I should be screaming just as loudly, but the zombie and apocalyptic genre fan in me actually like how this show has gone off the beaten path of the original source material.
If they had stayed word-for-word and panel-for-panel true to the comic book then there’s no surprises to be experience. Knowing how everything unfolds right from the start could get boring even if it is about something read and re-read with love. There’s still no guarantee that the final pay-off of this particular major detour from the comic book will end in a good way, but the possibility of not knowing how this story-arc will end this first season is both exciting and tense-inducing. It could succeed in the best way, but also fail in an epic one. Either way the path now is not set in stone and everything moving forward will be undiscovered country.
Extras
* Quote of the night: “I think tomorrow I’m gonna blow my brains out, I haven’t decided. But tonight, I’m getting drunk!” – nameless CDC researcher.
* For once Glenn doesn’t have a witty quip or remark which just highlights the somber mood of this episode.
* There’s still no news on the whereabouts of one Merle Dixon though he gets name-dropped a couple times.
* A sneaking suspicion that Merle will not appear again this season, but may in the next or later ones.
* Bear McCreary’s score and choices of music for the episode the best in the series, so far to date. Especially, the use of John Murphy’s Adagio in D Minor from the sci-fi drama Sunshine which was recently used in Kick-Ass.
It’s now just a little over a month to go before one of the most anticipated new shows on TV hits the airwaves. AMC’s tv series adaptation of Robert Kirkman’s critically-acclaimed and fan favorite comic book series The Walking Dead will premiere on Halloween night 2010 at 10pm. The show will also premiere within days in over 40-plus countries which would be an unprecedented feat for a first time tv series.
Frank Darabont and his band of writers seem to have taken Kirkman’s story and made the necessary changes to make it work on tv. One aspect of Kirkman’s storytelling was how some people thought it to be too expositionary. This left each page with too much talking while at the same time not fleshing out each character to be distinct from each other. While I can see that I don’t buy into that particular flaw in the story too much. This is a story of the end of the world and stress definitely plays a key role in how everyone reacts to their new environment.
From the AMC “sizzle” reel the network has released just in the last few days it looks like the show’s writers have taken Kirkman’s story, ideas and dialogue and made them flow much more naturally. Final judgement on whether this actually happens will have to wait until the show premieres, but Darabont has always been a writers first and filmmaker second so I definitely have much faith that he and his team will come out with a great product that takes the best from the comic book and trims the fat and gristle off by the wayside.
There’s also one thing the “sizzle” reel above shows which should answer the trepidations that some of the comic book’s fans have had since hearing th news of the adaptation. This was whether AMC will keep the gore and violence from the comic books or will it be toned down. From the looks of some of the scenes shown in the reel above the gore and violence is on-hand and from the look of things this may be the most gory thing on tv that’s not premium cable. I see blood, gore, viscera and all the nice gooey things that happens when a body’s insides are exposed to the environment. YUM!
Halloween 2010 needs to come now, but until then revisiting the comic books the series is adapting is a good way to pass the time.
Through the Shattered Lens 