The fact that a television series will be on the air focusing on the aftermath and survivors of a zombie apocalypse is an achievement in itself and a testament to the idea that the TV industry is in the middle of another Golden Age for the flickering box. Fortunately for viewers, the simple existence of such a series with AMC’s adaptation of Robert Kirkman’s comic book series The Walking Dead isn’t the only impressive quality of the series. Though the launch of the brand new series from Frank Darabont (The Mist, The Shawshank Redemption) has many familiar elements seen in countless zombie flicks before, it’s our characters, their emotion, and the sheer human tragedy in such a devastating epidemic that hits the hardest. Find out how The Walking Dead injects new life into a recycled plot and genre below!
In the opening moments of the pilot titled “Days Gone By”, the tone and style is set for the entire series. A haunting silence lies in the air as a uniformed police officer, possible a sheriff walks through streets and fields littered with abandoned, burned and wrecked cars. Gradually dead bodies become visible, and the flies that swarm buzz in and out. But this sheriff isn’t concerned with the dead. He’s just looking for some gas. But in his search, the silence in the air is broken by a nearby shuffle. Looking under one of the disheveled automobiles, the officer notices the feet of a young girl in some worn slippers. We can only see her from the back, but her pause to grab a stuffed bear relieves our tension. That is until the officer calls out to her, causing her to turn around and reveal her bloody and torn face. With great regret and remorse, the officer puts one bullet right in the center of her skull with a violent, bloody splatter. This is The Walking Dead.