Walking Dead: Days Gone Bye, The

This is the best example of a TV-Movie Fanedit I've seen from this site so far. A lot of these types of fanedits struggle with adapting a long form television show into a simple self-contained story with a 3-act structure. Which is only fair, adaptation is difficult. AD_Phoenix has made it look easy.

Being in the Televisual renaissance that we are, writers have realised that they can use long-form story telling to slowly develop characters and to tell an expansive narrative. The Walking Dead, despite being a part of the initial renaissance, never quite found its footing on this. Many characters were very poorly developed: Shane's arc in The Walking Dead TV show looks less like a slope and more like a side-on view of the Himalayas, and Andrea might possibly be the most inconsistently written character on television. And I like both of those characters. As for an expansive narrative? AMC forcing Darabont to half the budget and double the season length sure put a pin in any hopes of that.

This film eliminates both of those problems by condensing it into what I think The Walking Dead should have been. A movie series directed by Frank Darabont (Dir. The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, The Mist)

The characters now follow a clear arc throughout the time frame of the film. It begins with Shane desperately trying to save Rick. He shows a mixture of shock, delight and fear at Rick's appearance. Then Lori shuts him down, in a fit of rage he goes overboard beating Ed and threatens his life (The first time we've seen him like this). This slow development, minus a scene of Shane fantasizing about killing Rick, and we are all the more shocked when he tries to rape Lori (Whose relationship is only hinted at) and when he flips out in the computer room forcing Rick, for the first time, to physically confront his best friend. This. Is. Fucking. Perfect. This is exactly how Shane's character should have developed, but instead they made his character so whacked out from the start that what happens at the end of season 2 was obviously inevitable.

As for Andrea. Say goodbye to her bipolar character. One that demands to be taken seriously, yet is constantly screwing up, freaking out or being generally incompetent. That strips away leaves someone that takes themselves seriously and isn't afraid to stand up to people. So when her sister dies and she's distraught, it's much more internal, hence why she says nothing to anyone about staying in the CDC, she just does. Why she says nothing to anyone until Dale consoles her. Her and Dale's relationship to shines through here. These two actors are Darabont regulars, so have the chemistry and acting chops to pull it off. We don't get one of the worst written scenes on the show between her and Amy, just to telegraph that one of them is going to die. Andrea cares about Amy, and that's what matters. Her relationship with her sister never developed in the show, whereas her relationship with Dale did, thus why it should be given more screen time.

The other main characters are mostly the same as their characterization wasn't truly awful in the first season. Also Lori isn't constantly shooting off mixed messages which is nice.

The main theme of this film is clearly family. Rick wanted to find his and did. Shane felt like he lost his own family when Rick returned. Andrea loses a sister but gains a father. Etcetera.
By really focusing on certain personal moments, the film develops a feeling of closeness between the characters that the movie never did. I never thought at any point whilst watching the show that Jacqui had any personal relationship with Jim until he got bitten, but as that's the focus of their interaction here, we see a connection between them. Hence his acceptance of death resonates with her at the climax.

There are a few cuts and minor details in the current version (as of may 2017) that still need to be ironed out. For example: the new title sequence, while cool, goes on slightly too long meaning the music is noticeably repeated; there is a discrepancy of shots during the inter-cutting in the finale that is quite noticeable; in Atlanta every single gun shot sounds the same regardless of the setting or what fired it. Also, the grenade is now not set up at all. If possible, it'd be cool to composite the grenade into the shot of Rick clearing out the police station armory.

Otherwise the editing is relatively flawless. Entire scenes, sequences and lines of dialogue being lifted go by completely unnoticed. This will be important for the second film, that has to work with a tv season twice as long yet with half the plot.

The fade to black and white at the end is an artistic decision that some may not be keen on. However I liked how it looked so much, I have converted the whole film into black and white. It feels just like watching the classic Night of the Living Dead, especially during the quiet scenes of Rick by himself in the first act.

These are really all that is holding this cut back from being "perfect" in a sense of what it is trying to accomplish.

This isn't just good as a fan edit, this is good as a film. Which is always a good sign for TV-movie edits. I look forward to the future of AD_Phoneix's adaptation of The Walking Dead.

I rewatch this more than my own edits.

So while nothing can take away the complexity of the plot of the first season of walking dead and the character development, I think this edit does a fantastic job pulling this off in 2.5 hours while also giving every important plot point. Perfect for if you are trying to recap what happened in the first season during a binge. And while some scenes and episodes are obviously cut, I think the time stamp on the movie is very doable. Ive watched condensed versions of TV shows or movie trilogies where its 4+ hours and you need to carve out a large chunk of time. This is literally the length of a "kind of long" movie.

I did notice though at the CDC Carol getting the grenade isnt set up, which to the casual viewer could get real confusing.

Well done

This Movie is Good so watch it

if you like twd watch this. if you havent ever seen twd this is a great way to get introduced to the series