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Released by: Anchor Bay Entertainment
Released on: August 27, 2013.
Director: Various
Cast: Andrew Lincoln, Norman Reedus, David Morrissey
Year: 2013
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The Series:
Based on the long running Image Comics series of the same name, written by Robert Kirkman and illustrated by Tony Moore and then later Charlie Adlard, AMC's first season of The Walking Dead had the daunting task of trying to bring a very popular and well written series to life on the small screen without alienating or upsetting a fairly fickle fan-base (it's a fact that horror fans and comic fans are pretty particular about details). The man who made it all happen, however, was none other than Frank Darabont, the same Frank Darabont responsible for directing The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile as well as more traditional genre fare like The Mist and writing credits on The Fly II and A Nightmare On Elm Street III: Dream Warriors. It seemed an unlikely choice for a TV series but the creative team (Darabont has since left) made it work and the show has been improving over the years to the point where, with this third season, it's getting pretty addictive.
The core of the storyline follows a sheriff's deputy named Rick Grims (Andrew Lincoln) who is shot in the line of duty and falls into a coma, his life saved by his partner, Shane Walsh (Jon Bernthal). When he wakes up, the hospital is empty - he wanders around and soon realizes that the small town is littered with corpses, some of which have risen from the dead and are feasting on human flesh. Rick understandably heads to his home first but is broken hearted to learn that his wife Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) and son Carl (Chandler Riggs) aren't there, though there's enough evidence to support the idea that they weren't killed but fled. Throughout the first and second season various members came and left the group. The third season, not surprisingly, picks up where the second one left off and Shane is now gone. That's when our core group arrives at the prison spotted at the end of season two. The casualties suffered in the second season are still felt as the story picks up, and basically Rick with some help from Daryl (Norman Reedus) are intent on getting the group into the prison.
Upon their arrival, they find that there are a trio of inmates holed up in there and that the place is otherwise overrun with zombies. Rick and company manage to clear out one of the cell blocks and claim it as their own. The inmates are left in another cell bock while the rest of the prison, which is damaged and prone to zombie infestations, remains as is. Along the way, Hershel (Scott Wilson) loses a leg but survives, while Glen (Steven Yuen) and Maggie's (Lauren Cohen) relationship starts to get more intense. Lori's pregnancy is coming to term with unexpected results while not too far over in what's left of a town called Woodbury, a man called The Governor (David Morrissey) keeps a grip over what initially seems like the last bastion of humanity left. The town is heavily fortified but clear of zombies and when Andrea (Laurie Holden), who left the core group in season two, and Michonne (Danai Gurira) show up, it seems too good to be true. Of course, when it turns out that one of The Governor's right hand men is none other than Merle (Michael Rooker), things start to get a bit dicey.
As the season plays out, a new group of survivors lead by a man named Tyreese (Chad L. Coleman) will arrive, Merle and Daryl will reunite, Andrea's loyalties will be tested and Rick and The Governor will basically go to war.
The episodes that make up the complete third season of AMC's The Walking Dead are included in the set as follows:
Disc One: Seed / Sick / Walk With Me / Killer Within
Disc Two: Say The Word / Hounded / When The Dead Come Knocking / Made To Suffer
Disc Three: The Suicide King / Home / I Ain't A Judas / Clear
Disc Four: Arrow On The Dropout / Prey / This Sorrowful Life / Welcome To The Tombs
This season really ramps up the pacing. Yes, the zombies are of course still a factor but the show has evolved into something more than just a series of stories about the living against the living dead. It's more about relationships, about what we have to fear outside of the shambling hordes of corpses and about the good and the evil that can and does come out of life threatening situations. With civilization broken the series takes on some interesting metaphors, as characters develop, form and break alliances and do what they need to do in order to survive.
The cast are once again all excellent here, with young Chandler Riggs really coming into his own as Carl and delivering some truly standout work that rises above what most actors his age are able to provide. Having Michael Rooker back in the ranks as Merle not only adds some interesting layers of complication to the storylines but also allows Rooker to really shape the character into something more interesting than the racist hillbilly he was in the first season. Rooker is up to the challenge and does this well. Bringing in Danai Gurira and David Morrissey as Michonne and The Governor respectively also helps to flush out the cast and fill in some of the holes that wind up being left by the casualties felt in the last half of season two and the first half of season three and they too do excellent work here.
All in all, this is pretty gripping viewing, a great mix of action, horror, drama and suspense. The effects, a mix of digital and practical work, continue to impress and repulse while the series begins to take on some fairly epic traits that resolve many of the storylines and plot twists from earlier seasons and set up some very interesting things to come in the soon to debut fourth season.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The Walking Dead was shot mostly on 16mm film, so expect a fair bit of grain in the presentation (thankfully the powers that be chose not to scrub it out). The quality of the 1.78.1 widescreen AVC encoded 1080p high definition presentation is strong throughout offers nice depth and detail, much better than standard definition could have provided, but sometimes appears a bit on the soft side when compared to other HD presentations. This appears to have been an intentional decision on the part of the production team and in the context of the series' sense of impending doom and apocalyptic despair, it actually works quite well. Color reproduction has a nice, natural feel to it and though the series tends to rely more on earth tones and drab interiors there are bright spots where it pops, such as the green of the plant life or the warmth of a light in a dimly lit room. There aren't any problems with compression artifacts to note save for a couple of darker spots where some minor bits block up, nor are there any issues with heavy edge enhancement to complain about. Things shape up quite well here, really, and the series looks very good.
The same high praise can also be levied to the series' English language Dolby TrueHD 7.1 mix, which comes with optional subtitles in English SDH and Spanish. Pretty damn close to perfect, this mix offers fantastic bass response and a really tight lower end, which you'll notice when you feel the impact from every bullet fired and every punch thrown. There's some great surround activity present throughout the six episodes that make up this first season, be it the moan of a zombie in the rear channels, a bullet zipping from left to right or some insects buzzing around near a still corpse. Directionality is tight and well placed and the excellent quality of this mix really enhances the viewing experience the way a good lossless mix should. Dialogue is perfectly balanced and the series' instrumental score is mixed in perfectly to compliment the action, drama and horror without burying any of the effects or dialogue. The quality of the sound in this set is very impressive indeed. An optional French language Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo mix is also included here.
Extras are plentiful here, starting with commentary tracks recorded by the cast and and crew for the following episodes: Killer Within, Say The Word, Made To Suffer, The Suicide King and The Sorrowful Life. These tracks cover a lot of ground but generally they're quite informative. We basically get an insider' look into the creative process by way of comments from the crew in addition to plenty of input into what goes into bringing the characters to life by way of input from the cast.
Here's who contributes to each commentary track:
Killer Within: director Guy Ferland, actor IronE Singleton
Say The Word: director/co-executive producer and SFX artist Greg Nicotero, actor Danai Gurira
Made To Suffer: executive producer/writer Robert Kirkman, executive producer David Alpert, executive producer Gale Anne Hurd, actor Danai Gurira
The Suicide King: Gale Anne Hurd, Danai Gurira
This Sorrowful Life: Greg Nicotero, actor Michael Rooker
The rest of the extras are found on disc five, starting with the featurettes. Kicking these off is the seven minute Rising Son which discusses the role that Chandler Riggs plays in the series and how his character, Carl, has evolved through the first three seasons of the show. The eight minute Evil Eye is an interesting look at the character of The Governor with some insight into how and why he is the way he is and a look at David Morrissey's approach to bringing him to life on the small screen. The eight minute long Gone, But Not Forgotten shows us what goes into killing off a character and gives us some insight into the makeup work and what it's like on set shooting these more intense scenes. The eight minute Heart Of A Warrior not surprisingly covers the introduction of Michonne into the series and the interesting dynamic that she brings to the series. We get some thoughts on Danai Gurira's talents as an actress and a look at the importance of Michonne's tenuous relationship with Merle as well as the character's personality quirks, both pro and con. Following suit is the five minute Michonne Vs. The Governor which further examines the conflict that exists between the two characters and highlights the shooting of one of the season's central scenes. The ten minute Safety Behind Bars is a very interesting look at the prison location and how the set was built while the eight minute Making The Dead shows how the zombie effects were done and how the makeup crew had their work cut out for them. Last but not least, we get Guts And Glory, an eight minute segment that explores the end days of a few key characters from this batch of episodes.
The set also includes thirteen minutes of Deleted Scenes from the following episodes: Walk With Me, Say The Word, Hounded, Home, I Ain't No Judas and Clear. All of the extras are presented in high definition. Included inside the keepcase is a booklet containing some advertising for other Walking Dead related material like an X-Box game and some action figures. The five discs fit inside a keepcase which in turn fits inside a slipcase with matching cover art. Puzzlingly enough, while the webisodes for the first two seasons were included in their respective releases, those created for the third season are nowhere to be found in this set.
The Final Word:
By far the best season of the show so far, The Walking Dead - The Complete Third Season gets a top notch Blu-ray release from Anchor Bay, offering up all sixteen episodes in excellent shape, with great audio quality, and a whole host of extra features.
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
