Season Review: The Walking Dead Season 2

Last night my wife and I finished watching the second season of The Walking Dead.

Oh yeah - Mild spoilers ahead.

So season two could basically be considered the Farmhouse season - which honestly was fine with me. After the amazing (but obviously super-expensive) first season which involved a zombie-infested Atlanta, I actually thought going smaller worked.

I wasn't a big fan of the season split however (where the first half of the season aired from October through December and then we were treated to a large break followed by new episodes in February), but mostly that is due to my fear that the second season will be split up for the DVD sales.

As with the first season, I was thrilled with the acting, the look and the zombie effects, and as a long-time reader of the original comic, I found it pretty interesting to see where the story changed and where it stayed the same.

If zombies are not your thing, I'd probably stay away from the series, but if you like a little scare on TV, this might be right up your alley.

I can't wait for season three this fall!

Things I've Noticed: Clearing out the PVR can be pretty exciting

So over the last couple weeks my wife and I have been deciding between our current cable/phone/internet provider and the competition. Both sides have put up a pretty good reason to either switch or stay, and in the end our choice works best for our needs (I hope), but an interesting side-project in all this is that we have been working for the last two weeks to empty our PVR.

The Personal Video Recorder (PVR) is in some ways like a VCR, but unlike the older machine, which could be programed to tape television at a certian tie, the PVR can be programmed to tape shows or complete series at any time they air. Like a show featuring Australian crime-fighting teenaged mermaids? Annoyed that it only airs at 2:15am? No problem, the PVR will tape that series until you have dozens and dozens of episodes backlogged on your system, stopping you from watching your current prime-time favourites!

Okay, so there are some bugs, but what the heck, all new technology needs to be better understood by the users so that they can access it more effectively.

Our PVR lists a percentage of total space used (rather than number of programs) and over the last two weeks we went from 89% to 5% (last nights episode of Eastenders and The Finder). Over the course of this week I've learned a lot things.

1) Some shows work better if you watch them in a smaller period of time, AMC's Hell on Wheels (10 episodes) was a pretty fun show to watch at two episodes a night, but I think it may have lost something for me if I simly watched it weekly.

2) High Definition (HD) shows take up a lot of space, and unless the show is visually striking (mostly Special Effects heavy shows) the need to see it in HD isn't really that great.

3) You (well, I) feel a great sense of accomplishment when I get the PVR down to zero, like I've defeated a boss in a video game.

Bookmonkey vs. PVR

BOOKMONKEY WINS!!!

Series Review: The Walking Dead

My wife and I finished watching the first season finale of The Walking Dead about fifteen minutes ago and as a huge fan of the comic series I have to say, This show is awesome!

I love the fact that the television adaptation goes in its own way, making this surprising for fans of the comics but stays true to the key relationships in the original story, that of Rick's immediate family (his wife and son) and then his extended family of fellow survivors outside of Atlanta in the wake of a zombie apocalypse.

This series was definitely horror, giving me both tension and gore, as well as great characters and some very haunting visuals. Trying to give only mild spoilers is a little difficult, but I love how much story they packed into these six episodes. We watched the pilot, then took two weeks off and watched episodes two and three back to back and tonight we watched the final three, I like watching a lot of shows on a weekly basis, but the tension was so effective with this show I needed to pack the episodes a little closer for my own well being.

Do I want to own this show - heck yes! Do I recommend it to anyone who likes horror (or my favourite horror sub-genre post-apocalyptic horror)? Absolutely. Considering how graphic the source material is, I wasn't sure a television adaptation would do it justice, but just a few minutes into the pilot and I was blown away by how true to the source material the show was.

This show was great, my only problem is that I'm going to have a long wait until season two.

First Impressions: The Walking Dead

Last night my wife and I watched the pilot of the new AMC series The Walking Dead, and I've got to say it was pretty awesome. Here are my key impressions of the show:

1) The show works as horror! Having just spent a month reading and viewing a "horror" series involving both vampires and werewolves, I was ready for something that might actually scare me and The Walking Dead delivered. From the opening sequence to the escape from the hospital and the exploration of Atlanta, this show had me pretty freaked out.

2) The acting was great, Andrew Lincoln stars as Rick Grimes, a deputy Sheriff and a man who has woken up into a terrifying new world. I bought the portrayal completely and I am a pretty big fan of both the comic series that inspired the show and the character specifically.

3) The zombie effects were amazing - feature film quality stuff. I was consistently impressed by just how good everything looked, from the abandoned cities to the creatures themselves.

Overall the show was pretty amazing and yes, I will watching the entire series.