Cinemusings

THE WALKING DEAD - THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON: 3-DISC SPECIAL EDITION (DVD)
10/3/11
Felix Vasquez Jr.

With "The Walking Dead" being perhaps one of the biggest television hit in years, it was only obvious AMC television would rush out a box set of the entire first season of "The Walking Dead." I can't imagine it took them very long since the first season of the 2010 hit series is only six episodes, but that's only the norm for AMC who practices a formula of six trial episodes leading in to a hopeful second and third season of thirteen episodes. It happened with "The Killing" and they also practiced the formula for "Breaking Bad," two truly genius series. With "The Walking Dead" rushed in to production on the home video front, fans were treated to a hastily created albeit much welcomed addition to their horror collection that brought together one of the biggest hits of 2010. For folks looking for a more complete edition, AMC and Anchor Bay have released a more thought out and well versed edition in a Three Disc hard cover treatment that should be a welcome collector's piece for hardcore fans of "The Walking Dead."

This edition is solely focused on the hardest of hardcore fans of the series, meaning folks who have read the comic series and the seen the show, which is why the packaging focuses heavily on contrasting the comic book with the show with a heavily painted front cover depicting the walking dead, and then the hand drawn characters on the fold in of the three disc edition. For folks looking for more comprehensive second editions this is about as great as it gets and I cracked open this bad boy as soon as I got my greasy mitts on it. To prove this spiffy three disc edition of the hit series is strictly for fans and collector's, Anchor Bay grants us the privilege of watching "Days Gone Bye," the pilot episode directed by Frank Darabont in the original format of black and white. As many know, the original comic is black and white, thus we're given a glimpse in to this world of live action zombie apocalypse in full black and white. Attached to the third disc as a single main feature, "Days Gone Bye" certainly does have a different atmosphere in black and white taking on an entirely new dimension that only the more acutely aware viewers will notice.

For example the scene of Rick driving up to the camp in the opening of "Days Gone Bye" resembles the opening shot of "Night of the Living Dead" while the shadows are much more stark and consuming resembling much of the later issues of "The Walking Dead" that used shadows to tell the stories more than detail. "Days Gone Bye" is arguably the finest episode of the first season and Darabont's paint strokes are ingenious whether they're in color or black and white. I highly recommend fans of the show take the time out to watch this episode without color, as it feels so absolutely suffocating and horrific, it's startling. Among the new features we're given audio commentary on all six episodes of the season, many of which vary from episode to episode. Since Emma Bell is my future wife, I started with "Vatos" to hear her and creator Robert Kirkman discuss the production of the episode which includes Bell's feelings about Laurie Holden, and the dangerous rock quarry the entire episode centers around. If that's not enough we're given some more featurettes which include "We Are The Walking Dead" about the cast of the series, "No More Room in Hell" about the phenomenon of The Walking Dead and the origins of the comic book which involve Robert Kirkman tricking his way in to Image Comics and the original title of the series that will surprise many a viewer.

There's also "Adapting the Dead" a wonderful special about the making of the series that explains many of the subtleties of the show and how they reflect the comic and why Darabont trailed off from the continuity to tell tales we've never seen before. There's also "Killer Conversations" showing Gregory Nicotero and Darabont discussing the genre and the series and much more specials about special effects and KNB. Speaking as an overly protective long time fan of "The Walking Dead" for years, it's a thrill to have a more thought out reasonably compiled season set that puts down the entire season in wide screen and allows fans a peek inside the lore more comprehensively. Whether you want to pay for another edition is all up to how loyal you are to the franchise.

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