Over the weekend, AMC took us back through the first two seasons of The Walking Dead in their entirety, as a buildup to this fall's 3rd season. I watched every fucking single episode all over again. This is probably my 4th or 5th viewing of the first season episodes (own the Blu-ray), and my 3rd viewing of the 2nd season episodes. I even DVRd the 2nd season episodes I wasn't able to sit down and actually watch, which meant I pulled two 3 A.M. shifts over the weekend playing catch-up. Either I'm a glutton for punishment or I just really love the holy hell out of the show. I'm gonna go with the latter. I absolutely love this show.
I realize a lot of people were put off by the second season, whether it being for lack of action or people to really cling on to. Just as well, I realize that some purists of the comic can't even fathom how a likewise fan could possibly like the show. I honestly loved the slow moments because they put me on edge, to a point to where I didn't know how much longer I could take it. And the payoffs were more than enough for me. Much like the comic, I dig all the characters, whether it's a dig to hate kinda thing or if it's a dig to get behind kinda thing. I haven't been around since the very first issue of the comic, but I have been around since the first graphic novel. I enjoy the shit out of the comic, too. I don't even really have an answer as to how I can like both the show and the comic on an equal level, but it IS a possibility to like both. I guess if I had to break it down, I just really like the slightly different tone of the show. One thing for me is I'm a really big fan of music and how powerful it can be in certain segments of a film or series. The soft and cold score that plays while Morgan is looking at his zombified wife through a sniper scope --trying to find the strength to blow her brains out-- makes the moment all the more heart wrenching. The composition during the highway scene of the season 2 opener amps up the intensity. And the mid-season finale at Hershel's barn is another moment where music makes it all the more grabbing. I simply love shit like that. I get choked up when music works, and I can't tell you how many times I have been a near blubbery mess while watching this show. It's a lot.
I was half expecting to write this up and say the most exciting aspects of watching the Season 3 preview weekend would be catching glimpses of things to come this fall, but honestly, that's not all it. Don't get me wrong, it was cool seeing snippets of the group's new location and hearing some of the actors hint at what's to come, but it was just cool for me to fall back into The Walking Dead world. I've been missing the shit out of it since the Season 2 finale. And I had a blast absorbing it all in one weekend. Like I said, I had to DVR some of it to watch it later, but I stuck to my plan and felt rewarded afterward. Sticking around for commercial breaks had some bonuses too, to an extent. They do become repetitive as hell, eventually. A trailer for Capcom's new Resident Evil 6 game has me pretty pumped, and there was also a preview for Episode 2 of Telltale's The Walking Dead video game, now available on Mac, PC, Xbox360 and PS3. I've already played this puppy and it fucking rules and I cannot wait for the next episode. $5 well spent, as far as I'm concerned.
E3 Trailer, not TV spot
TWD Episode 2 preview
After the run through of the entire Walking Dead series, we had a brand new 1 hour episode (which, it should always be an hour) of The Talking Dead, hosted by Chris Hardwick. Guests were Glen Mazzara, Gale Anne Hurd, Robert Kirkman, Dave Alpert and... Drew Carey? Gotta say dude is looking pretty good, and he seemed genuinely interested in the show. He was also pretty funny, if not overboard a few times. Anyway, of course Hardwick tried to suck juicy Season 3 tidbits out of the group and got basically nothing, story-wise. Rightfully so, I don't wanna know shit until it comes on. Coolest parts were videos of when Hardwick toured the set, got to look at weapon props and see the prison, which was completely fabricated for the show. Fucking awesomely detailed. Lastly, there was a badass small clip of what's to come in Season 3, and I am pretty damn excited! Apparently, next week (July 15th) during AMC's premiere of Small Town Security there will be a 4 minute promo trailer for Season 3, so be sure to watch if you give as much a shit as I do! I'm guessing it's gonna be the Comic Con promo. Here's some stuff I dug up around the net. Just a few images and such...
Season 3 clip
And, I'm just gonna include these because they are some of the best damn promos for a show I've ever seen. I would say that even if I fucking hated this show.
Season 1 Comic Con trailer/promo
Season 2 Comic Con trailer/promo
Lastly, the black and white premiere of the Season 1 pilot. Much like watching Darabont's The Mist in black and white, this was a total atmosphere changer for the show, and a great nod to Kirkman's comic series. However, I feel like it worked more with The Mist, because said movie is not ongoing. It just felt like one big muscled up bad as fuck offspring of Sci-Fi classic Them! But watching the pilot of a show in black and white and not being able to do so with the rest of the series is kinda just a giant dick tease to me. I guess I just don't understand the point --other than to appease fans of the comic. But seriously, the main gripe of most purists is not that it's in color-- unless the entire show was gonna be offered up with the same treatment, either on DVD or a digital download or something. Though, I highly doubt that. I'll for sure be down if it does happen, but I'm not holding my breath. It was neat to watch and like I said, it's a great nod to the source, but I didn't need it. The show works fine in color, for me. I will say one thing it did do was inspire me to go back to the comic and start reading from the beginning again. I've done this about 5 times with The Walking Dead series, and this is going to be a fun catch-up. I'm actually one of those dudes who enjoys falling behind with a comic series, because I get too fucking antsy waiting by the month. I like to wait a while so I have a lot of ground to cover. I am currently about 14 issues behind with TWD, so I can't wait to experience all the fucked upness that I am sure has been happening.
~THE END~
