I am currently watching the second series of the fabulously dramatic
and horrific The Walking Dead. The cable television show is based on a
series of graphic novels. Like Battlestar Galactica, it is played dead
straight, there is a dearth of humour. Unlike most
Zombie movies, the cast is not full of gung-ho heroes, cowering cowards
and moronic zombie bait. I think the writers
of this series decided that all such stereotypes would have died during the
initial stages of the zombie plague.
The cast is full of real people, reacting like real people
would to a zombie apocalypse. Each in their own way is tough minded and
determined to survive. The group is lead by two police officers and a
survivalist. One policeman, Rick Grimes quietly sticks to his morals. His wife
and boy are among the group. The second policeman, Shane Walsh was Grimes partner
before his coma. Walsh will do anything
to survive, especially if there are no witnesses. The survivalist is not the stereotypical
southern redneck that he presents as in the first episode.
Grime’s wife, Lori, hooked up with Walsh when they thought
Rick was dead. She has so far kept this
secret from Rick. The two children in the series do what they are told. There
are no surly/spoilt teenagers who run off into the night to party, because they
would all have been killed by the zombies. The writers of Terra Nova (dinosaurs) and Falling
Skies (aliens) might want to think about that.
The Walking Dead has similarities to other zombie and apocalyptic
shows. It starts like the movie 28 Days Later
with Rick waking up from a coma and unaware that an infection has turned nearly all the world’s population into
zombies. This is an excellent device to
introduce the zombiefied world. We find out what happened while Grimes explores the hospital and then Atlanta. A similar approach was also used in Resident Evil. The Walking Dead is similar to the excellent
BBC series Survivors.
The Walking Dead’s plot revolves around the group’s attempts
to survive. The threat of a zombie
attack is ever present, but the plot is not just there to fill the space
between zombie attacks. That time is used to explore tensions within the group.
The series looks very real. The zombie
attacks are extremely gory and lifelike. It’s not the type of series to watch
before going to a Bob Katter town hall meeting.
I really want to claim The Walking Dead as apocalyptic
science fiction. It does have science fiction elements: the zombies were caused
by a virus or infection and episode six revolves around a CDC scientist trying
to find a cure. Once claimed, I would place it on a pedestal far above any
other current science fiction shows.
