The Walking Dead: Days Gone Bye

At last, it's finally here! The TV adaptation of one of my top five favourite comics ever. I've been waiting to see this since the second they announced it. They made it clear up front that there would be changes from the comics but I'm glad of that - I certainly don't want to see the exact same story all over again.

The first change is that they spend a bit more time at the start establishing a sense of normality before thrashing it all with the end of civilisation as we know it. The comics jumped right in and I think the TV version works a little better. And then we're straight into the Day of the Triffids style opening.

This show doesn't pull punches with the gore. There's a half eaten corpse not 5 minutes in. I can already tell this is probably going just as much a kick-you-in-the-balls story as the comic ever was.

Another change for the better given the new medium is the increased amount of time spent developing some of the characters - especially Morgan, who disappears for freaking ages after the first few issues of the comic. The slow pace helps a lot with getting to know who these people are, and avoids the trap to rush too eagerly through the plot-lines they might be cannibalising from the comic. The one thing that the time spent with Rick as he wakes in this new world doesn't help with though is how easily he seems to accept the existence of zombies. But then again, he can't help but see the evidence with his own eyes, so that helps I guess.

The scenes with the deserted streets of Atlanta are kinda creepy but then I've always found completely empty city streets very unsettling. And then we get to the obligatory zombie horde scenes, and while nothing much happens in them they are really, really well done.

Overall, it's a pretty good - if very slow paced show. But then I suspect that the first season will be roughly trying to cover the first graphic novel and that's probably why they;re keeping it pretty slow. Thankfully, it works well for this kind of story. I just hope it gets a little more interesting soon and that they can keep the level of quality up.