So I finally sat down to watch the trailer for The Walking Dead TV series. I know, I know...I call myself Thezombiemessia, and it's taken me this long to actually watch the trailer.
For those that haven't seen it yet, here it is:
But the trailer got me thinking, and it got me talking.
My fiancee isn't much of a gore fan, let alone a Zombie fan. She doesn't dislike them, she just has to be in the right mood to sit and watch things like that...which leads to problems.
The Walking Dead, as a comic, works so well because comics are a niche market anyway...yes, it costs a lot to make them, print them, etc, but not as much as it does to make a TV series or a Film. So the niche market is able to support the comic, for as long as the writers are able to keep it interesting (or until the story comes to a natural close).
The Walking Dead, as a TV series, on the other hand has to aim itself to as wide a range of audiences as humanly possible. If it doesn't get the viewers or ratings, it doesn't get the funding, and it goes the way of shows like Firefly, John Doe, and Flash Forward. All three of those shows were great, and had so much potential...but lacked the interest from the viewing public.
So how can The Walking Dead be sold to new audiences?
It's hard to talk about The Walking Dead without mentioning the Zombies...I mean, they're in the name, they're on the front cover, and they make an appearance in every single issue, so you'd be hard pressed to attempt to sell both the comics and the TV series to a new audience without bringing them up.
But are they the only thing you should bring up? And are they the most important thing?
To anybody else that has been following the comics, it is apparent that the Zombies aren't the main focus of the series. It's best to think of the Zombies as the back drop. Sure enough, nothing in this series would be happening if it weren't for the Zombies. They are the trigger event, the catalyst behind every event in the comics (and undoubtedly the TV series).
Like any great story, there is always a setting and a cast. Unlike most comics, books, or shows that involve Zombies, it is best to think of the Zombies in The Walking Dead not as a part of the cast, but as a part of the setting.
Any Zombie fan knows that keeping mobile is the best idea in a Zombie Apocalypse...which leads to a constant change in setting. The only certainty being that Zombies will be in the next location, and the next, and the next. So whilst the locations of the series change on a semi-regular basis, the Zombies are always there.
That explains them away as the setting, but how does this fit into my overall plan for selling this series to other audiences?
If you hadn't guessed yet, I'm saying that the main focus of this series is the surviviors. The cast, the real cast, and their struggle to survive in a world that is completely different from what they knew before.
How many Zombie storylines can you think of that have more than one "fleshed out" (pun not intended) character? I can think of, maybe, 3 or 4 storylines in total...and even then the characters tend not to be that great.
The Walking Dead is different. All of the characters have been given life by the writers, even those that only appear for a few panels or pages at a time. The Walking Dead (the comic, and hopefully the actual show) is like a well written TV series from the get go (and in this day and age, a well written TV series is hard to imagine, isn't it?), with each character having their own hopes, wishes, dreams, goals, wants, etc.
With this, the characters bring life to the world around them. If you took out the Zombies, and just imagined a world that was ravaged by a virus that culled the population (think, Survivors), then you'd still be left with a heavily story driven series with built out characters.
So here we have it, a series with Zombies in it, that isn't about the Zombies. To any Zombie fan, this is still ok...Zombies still play a role, and make the series that little bit more interesting to watch, but to those like my fiancee or even those that just don't like Zombies that much, you should sell the series like this.
The characters mean something in this show, the storyline means something, and everything serves a purpose. The characters aren't there to be eaten, as they are in many other Zombie related mediums, they're there to watch, listen to, fall in love with, feel sympathy with, or even hatred and fear (yes, there are bad guys in the comics). You'll feel for the characters as they lose loved ones, you'll rejoice as they meet new survivors and join up to support eachother, you'll question motives, and you'll feel regret actions that characters take.
It's a character driven series, that has Zombies in it...not a Zombie driven series, that has food walking around pretending to have character.
If you agree with me on this, please push for others to sit down and watch the show when it hits the small screens. If it succeeds, it'll hopefully grow as the comics have done, and we may see a golden age in the horror genre. No more of this shlock horror, gore, or torture, instead we'll see comics, books, films, and shows that focus on the characters and the storyline.
