The Walking Dead was fantastic. I watched the premiere as it aired (well, with a slight Tivo delay), and ate up every minute of it.

Here's some thoughts:

• It's beautifully shot, and I love how sparse the musical accompaniment is
• The premiere stuck pretty darn close to the source material
• The acting was really good in the first episode, but the supporting cast wasn't great in the second, probably because all but two of them weren't in the comic, and they're pretty clichéd
• Dramatically, the first episode really got to me, even though I already knew everything that was going to happen, but they flushed out the characters from that first issue (pretty easy, there are only three)

They seem to really want to stretch this series out, because the 90 minute premiere only spans the very first issue of the comic, which is now up to over 78 issues. The second episode doesn't even get as far as the second issue does, because after the first five minutes it completely diverges from the book. I found that fascinating. The first episode was so loyal to the comic, but other than about 60 seconds, the second episode was absolutely nothing like the second issue of the book, and even introduced at least three people that weren't in the comic.

I suspect this was a way to tell the fans: look, we're going to stay true to this series, but we're going to do our own stuff too. They had said just that in interviews leading up to it, but I find it interesting that they seemed to go to a great deal of trouble to demonstrate this idea in the very first two episodes, going to the extremes in both cases.

But what's even better is that I really dug the second episode too. It didn't have the emotional impact the first episode did, but it felt like a big budget zombie movie instead of a TV show.

One thing I wonder is how that production is going to keep up. So far the first two episodes have depended heavily on huge sets and MASSIVE numbers of extras in extensive full-body makeup. Plus, the special effects when it comes to the gore in the series (of which there's a surprising amount for AMC), are very good and must cost them a great deal. I suspect the show is going to get MUCH cheaper from episode three on out, as the group starts trying to hide. The third episode will probably take place mostly in the woods, actually, and probably cost about 1/30th what each of the first two cost.

So there's my take on the show. I think it's really good, and what I've seen of Andrew Lincoln so far seems to indicate he'll make a good Rick, who is a complicated character to portray. The jury is still out on the rest of the cast, though I like the guy playing Glen.


(MAJOR spoiler ahead that gives away something from later in the comic - don't say I didn't warn you)