Fear The Walking Dead is a prequel/spin-off series of AMC’s smash hit The Walking Dead. The original series made a quick jump from lead character Rick Grimes falling into a coma to waking up to a world that had been overrun by zombie-like “walkers”. This series takes a step back, asking the question, “What was it like during the initial outbreak as society started to crumble and fall apart?”. While the original series takes place in the forests of Georgia, Fear The Walking Dead explores what things were like as the outbreak happens in the more densely-populated, urban setting of East LA.
As the series opens, college drop-out/drug addict Nick (Frank Dillane, Sense8) wakes up after passing out in an abandoned church. He is shocked to discover dead bodies everywhere, and his female friend leaning over one of the bodies, chomping away at the flesh. As she makes her way towards him, he dashes out of the building screaming, ending up in the middle of the street, where he is hit by a car.
Single mother/school guidance counselor Madison Clark (Kim Dickens, House of Cards) gets the call that her disappointment of a son is in the hospital. She now lives with her fiance, English teacher Travis Manawa (Cliff Curtis, Gang Related) and her perfect daughter Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey, The 100). Travis has a son of his own, Chris (Lorenzo James Henrie, Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2), who would prefer to live full-time with his mother, Travis’s ex-wife Liza (Elizabeth Rodriguez, Orange is the New Black).
While no one initially believes Nick’s story—they chalk it up to the drugs—news reports keep coming in about a virus that is spreading across the city, causing people to become violent. And video surfaces of the police open-firing at these violent “monsters” as they fall down and just get right back up.
The riots get worse, and the power goes out. As our group of survivors try to escape from the city they are joined by the Salazar family—barber Daniel (Rubén Blades), his religious wife Griselda (Patricia Reyes Spíndola) and their daughter Ofelia (Mercedes Mason). The city soon becomes a series of containment camps run by the military, but our survivors suspect the government may be hiding something.
Last December, Anchor Bay released a bare-bones Blu-ray edition of the first season of the series, which I previously reviewed. Fortunately, at that time they had let consumers know this new Special Edition was forthcoming, because this release is much more feature-packed. I’ve included portions from my original review, along with updates covering all the new bonus features.
As a big fan of the original The Walking Dead, I was really excited for this prequel/spin-off series. Since we already know what the world is ultimately going to become, the opening of this series felt a bit slow—it’s almost 45 minutes into the pilot before we see a second walker. However, after this, the series really starts to kick into full gear, giving some really tense, edge of your seat moments. It slows down slightly for fourth and fifth episodes, but finishes out the season really strong, leaving the series in an exciting, interesting place for the second season, which premieres in April.
While the original The Walking Dead has more of a grittier look and faded out tone, this series has a much cleaner and more vivid picture that looks fantastic on this Blu-ray release. The audio track is also extremely well done, making great use of all of the audio channels to increase the intensity of the scenes and put the viewer right in the middle of all of the creepiness. This new release also adds a French language soundtrack for those who need it.
The Special Edition release also gives fans the bonus material they were looking for the first time around, including audio commentaries on every episode, over 70 minutes of featurettes, 5 deleted scenes, a cinematic widescreen version of the pilot and a digital copy of the season. I’m glad Anchor Bay announced ahead of time that this release would be coming so that fans could plan accordingly and not be forced into a surprise double-dip later on, as this is most definitely the version of the season to own! The only thing I was disappointed to not see included is the FTWD-related Flight 462 webseries that has been airing during episodes of The Walking Dead—hopefully that will find its way onto the second season Blu-ray.
What’s Included:
Episodes: (4:58:13)
- All 6 Episodes of the First Season:
“Pilot”, “So Close, Yet So Far”, “The Dog”, “Not Fade Away”, “Cobalt”, “The Good Man” - 1080p / Widescreen 1.78:1
- Audio: English Dolby TrueHD 5.1, French Dolby Surround 2.0
- Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
- Digital HD Copy redeemable via Vudu or Flixster
- Includes all 6 episodes plus all 6 “Inside…” featurettes
- Audio Commentaries
Audio commentaries are provided on every episode, and can be found on the discs with the corresponding episodes. For the most part these are entertaining and informative—the participants give a lot of interesting behind-the-scenes stories, insights into the production process, characters and story, and some of the things that changed over the course of filming and editing. Some of these are better than others, but overall there are a little too many long pauses where the folks are just watching and not talking. The participants are as follows:- Episode 101: Pilot (1:04:24)
Co-Creator/Executive Producer Dave Erickson, Co-Executive Producer/Director Adam Davidson and Actor Kim Dickens (“Madison Clark”) - Episode 102: So Close, Yet So Far (42:51)
Co-Creator/Executive Producer Dave Erickson, Co-Executive Producer/Director Adam Davidson and Actor Kim Dickens - Episode 103: The Dog (48:22)
Co-Executive Producer David Wiener and Actor Alycia Debnam-Carey (“Alicia Clark”) - Episode 104: Not Fade Away (46:23)
Executive Producer David Alpert and Co-Executive Producer David Wiener - Episode 105: Cobalt (45:00)
Executive Producer David Alpert and Co-Executive Producer/Writer David Wiener - Episode 106: The Good Man (51:09)
Co-Creator/Executive Producer Dave Erickson and Actors Kim Dickens and Elizabeth Rodriguez (“Liza Ortiz”)
- Episode 101: Pilot (1:04:24)
- Pilot Episode: The Widescreen Version (1:04:24)
The pilot is presented in the more cinematic 2:40:1 aspect ratio. However, instead of just simply adding black bars to matte the top and bottom of the picture, they have actually reformatted the picture to include more detail in each scene in the sides of the frames. I wouldn’t mind if the whole show was presented this way as it’s really nice to the larger scope of it all! - Deleted Scenes (6:35)
A collection of 5 fully-produced deleted scenes. There’s some interesting and fun material here that would have made great additions to the episodes. - Inside “Fear the Walking Dead”
The cast and producers discuss the major developments of each episode. These give a nice, concise recap of the season, and should be a great refresher before watching the second season. Participants include executive producers Dave Erickson, Gale Anne Hurd, Dave Alpert and Greg Nicotero, co-executive producer/director Adam Davidson, and actors Kim Dickens (“Madison Clark”), Cliff Curtis (“Travis Manawa”), Frank Dillane (“Nick Clark”), Alycia Debnam-Carey (“Alicia Clark”), Elizabeth Rodriguez (“Liza”), Lorenzo James Henrie (“Chris”), Mercedes Mason (“Ofelia”) and Rubén Blades (“Daniel”). Select from:- Episode 101: Pilot (5:54)
- Episode 102: So Close, Yet So Far (4:58)
- Episode 103: The Dog (5:03)
- Episode 104: Not Fade Away (4:48)
- Episode 105: Cobalt (5:32)
- Episode 106: The Good Man (4:46)
- Fear: The Beginning (10:13)
The cast and producers talk about the premise of the series, how the characters and public deal with this unknown threat and collapse of society, and how the audience is a few steps ahead of the characters. Those interviewed include co-executive producer/director Adam Davidson, executive producers Dave Erickson, Gale Anne Hurd, and Dave Alpert, and actors Kim Dickens, Mercedes Mason, Alycia Debnam-Carey, Rubén Blades, Cliff Curtis, Lorenzo James Henrie and Elizabeth Rodriguez. - Five Things You Need To Survive (2:17)
In this fun featurette, cast members Alycia Debnam-Carey, Lorenzo James Henrie, Elizabeth Rodriguez, Mercedes Mason, Cliff Curtis and Rubén Blades talk about the five things they would like to have in order to survive a zombie apocalypse. - Locations: LA & Vancouver (6:56)
On set with the cast and producers in Los Angeles and Vancouver as they discuss changing the setting of the story from Georgia to the more urban setting of Los Angeles, which adds new elements both environmentally/geographically as well as in the socioeconomic make-up of the characters. They also discuss shooting in Vancouver to double as LA. Those interviewed include executive producers Dave Alpert, Gale Anne Hurd, Dave Erickson and Greg Nicotero, co-executive producer/director Adam Davidson, and stars Kim Dickens, Alycia Debnam-Carey, Rubén Blades, Lorenzo James Henrie, and Cliff Curtis. - Quarantined (6:36)
The cast and producers talk about the military occupation/martial law storyline and how things are not as safe, secure and under control as they initially seem to be. Those interviewed include executive producers Gale Anne Hurd, Dave Erickson and Dave Alpert, co-executive producer/director Adam Davidson, and stars Mercedes Mason, Cliff Curtis, Rubén Blades, Frank Dillane, Kim Dickens, Alycia Debnam-Carey, Elizabeth Rodriguez and Lorenzo James Henrie. - Stunts & Anarchy (6:59)
A behind-the-scenes look at some of the first season’s stunts and action sequences, including Nick being hit by the car, and the riots. Those interviewed include executive producer Dave Erickson, stunt coordinator Keith Campbell, VFX supervisor Gregory Lemkin, special effects coordinator Bill Ryan, special effects technician Garett Bullock, weapons advisor Thomas Potter, stunt coordinator Gaston Marrison, 1st assistant director Morgan Beggs, and stars Frank Dillane and Alycia Debnam-Carey. - The Faces Of Fear (5:15)
Cast members Kim Dickens, Frank Dillane, Alycia Debnam-Carey, Cliff Curtis, Lorenzo James Henrie, Elizabeth Rodriguez, Rubén Blades and Mercedes Mason talk about their characters. - The Infected (4:48)
The cast and filmmakers talk about how the characters deal with the fresh walkers and the initial stages of the zombie apocalypse. Includes a behind-the-scenes look at some of the effects, and interviews with executive producers Greg Nicotero and Gale Anne Hurd, co-executive producer/director Adam Davidson, make-up artist Andy Schoneberg, and actors Cliff Curtis, Alycia Debnam-Carey, Kim Dickens and Noah Beggs (“Peter Dawson”).
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Blu-ray:
Digital Copy (Redemption Deadline 6/30/2018):
Extras:
Final Thoughts:
I enjoyed Fear The Walking Dead even more the second time around as I was able binge all 6 episodes straight through via the Blu-ray. Whether or not you’re a fan of the original series, this new show is definitely worth checking out. The Blu-ray looks and sounds excellent, and now it comes loaded with bonus features and a digital copy. While the bonus material is a great addition, I’m not sure if I’d recommend a double-dip if you have already purchased the previous bare-bones release, at least not until the price comes down, as the episodes themselves are the same. For new buyers, this is definitely the version to pick up, and now is a great time to catch up before the new season starts on April 10!
