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A world filled with zombies is the setting for AMC’s newest

original series, “The Walking Dead.” The series pilot kicks off

with a zombie apocalypse, which seemingly eradicates a large

percentage of the Western world. From there, it chronicles the

lives of those who survived this most unfortunate event. The series

was developed for television by Frank Darabont, the man responsible

for several screen adaptations of works by author Stephen

King. 

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The hero of this shindig is Rick Grimes, who was a police officer

before the world went to Hell. In the first few minutes of the

episode, Rick is shot during a gunfight, which leaves him comatose.

He wakes up in a hospital and promptly discovers that he is

seriously behind the times.

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 Rick is not pleased with this information; he heads home to find

his wife and son gone. This irks him further, and he finds a father

and son who have set up shop in an abandoned house and also learns

that a quarantine zone has been established in Atlanta.

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Based on my description thus far, you probably think this show is a

lot like “Resident Evil,” its various cinematic adaptations, or

anything spawned by the mind of George Romero. You’d be right. The

concept may be somewhat unoriginal, but the show has promise. Rick

is the character most developed in the pilot, but we have glimpses

of others; his wife Lori and son Carl are shown, as well as his

former colleague, Shane Walsh and a group of survivors.

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Anyway, Rick eventually decides to blaze his own trail and heads to

Atlanta to track down Lori and Carl. When he arrives at his

destination, another series of unfortunate events befall him. He is

immediately swarmed by a horde of zombies, and lives to see another

day by climbing into the open hatch of a conveniently located tank.

That’s where the episode ends, with Rick beset on all sides, but

before we fade to black, we witness him receiving a transmission

from the tank’s radio. The identity of the sender is not

disclosed.

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As I said, this show has promise. Darabont wrote and directed the

pilot, and he sets the season up nicely. I’m particularly curious

as to the person who sent the transmission to Rick; perhaps that

person’s identity will be revealed in the next episode. We’re bound

to be introduced to more characters in episode two, which should

allow opinions about this fledgling series to be further

developed. 

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As long as the series remains under Darabont’s control, I’ll remain

optimistic about its future. He wrote and directed the screen

adaptations of “The Shawshank Redemption” and “The Green Mile,”

among other things, so he’s talented. Tune in to AMC Sundays at 9

p.m. to follow his vision of the decline of Western

civilization. 

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I don’t know what road the series will take, but I suppose therein

lies the beauty of the unknown. It should be an interesting

odyssey, nonetheless.