The Show
My guy Marv from Sin City once told me, "I love hitmen. No matter what you do to them, you don't feel bad." I'd posit that the same is true of zombies. They're already dead, so no harm/no foul. And since they want to eat our brains, pretty much anything we do can be justified as self-defense. Of course, the surest and most popular course of action is a bullet to the brain, and zombies further fulfill our basic human need to shoot stuff in the head.
The Walking Dead plays by the rules and spells them out for us: Target that cranium before they bite you, because if they leave enough of you behind, you're not just a dead man, you become one of them, doomed to forever shuffle in search of that sweet, sweet human flesh. After the zombie apocalypse hits in the first episode, families are divided and reunited, a lot of the undead are put down permanently, and the science of it all is finally explained... minutes before almost all hope is lost.
Season 1 was released on Blu-ray back in March, and at the time I raved about the show but lamented the somewhat lackluster extras. In anticipation of the imminent debut of Season 2 on AMC, Anchor Bay has now tendered a Special Edition of same, enhanced and expanded for our deeper enjoyment.
The Picture
The presence of executive producer/writer/director Frank Darabont assured high production values, and the 16:9 image quality remains solid if not stellar, with decent blacks, a fair amount of 16mm film grain and some ringing. A few shots show a deliberate harshness when someone is recording a 4:3 video diary. The six episodes are still spread across two discs, and the addition of new audio commentaries does not appear to have taken a toll on the video bitrate.
The Sound
The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtrack offers up quite a bit of detail, little touches that can really keep us on edge in a world where terror can approach from any direction at any time. Bass is remarkably strong for a TV show, a boon to the shocks and action beats, while the surround cues are ample when needed. A French Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack has also been added for this edition.
The Extras
As with the Blu-ray release of Mr. Darabont's The Mist, this Special Edition set allows us to see the pilot of The Walking Dead in both color and now black-and-white, which from its very first shot evokes the mood of George Romero's original Night of the Living Dead, imparting a retro, almost timeless feel. Even the evident grain helps. Remember too that the comic book upon which the series is based was black-and-white. The HD video quality is strong, and I'll give the studio the benefit of the doubt and say that the step down to old-school Dolby Digital 2.0 as the only audio option was also a deliberate artistic choice. It's actually not bad, but who doesn't love high-res 5.1?
A slew of new featurettes pack the supplemental third platter, starting with the very thorough three-part "We Are The Walking Dead" (56-and-a-half minutes), followed by " "Bring Out the Dead: KNB and the Art of Making Zombies" (17 minutes), in contrast to "Digital Decay: The VFX of The Walking Dead" (12 minutes). We also hear from creator Robert Kirkman in "No More Room in Hell: The Walking Dead Phenomenon" (12-and-a-half minutes) and "Adapting the Dead" (seven-and-a-half minutes). These are all in 1080i resolution at 60Hz, as opposed to "Killer Conversation: Frank Darabont & Greg Nicotero" (about 13 minutes) about the artists' friendship and partnership, in full 1080p/24.
Each episode now has an audio commentary and the pilot actually carries two, the first by Darabont with a second from executive producer Gale Anne Hurd, executive producer/writer Kirkman and producer Denise Huth. Other participants across the brief season include directors Michelle MacLaren, Gwyneth Horder-Payton, Ernest Dickerson and Guy Ferland; special effects make-up artist/consulting producer Nictoero and actors Andrew Lincoln, Jon Bernthal, Emma Bell and Laurie Holden.
Final Thoughts
The stepped-up extras are the obvious enticement to re-buy, a real treat for the many hardcore fans, even if none are really Blu-ray-specific (no BD-Live, no Bonus View), so if you're looking for a way to quell your insatiable Walking Dead hunger, lumber no further.
Product Details
| Overall | |
|---|---|
| Video | |
| Audio | |
| Movie | |
| Extras |
