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 “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?”. And instead of the forests of Georgia, we see 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 hovered 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’d rather just stay 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.

As a big fan of the original The Walking Dead series, I was really excited for this prequel/spin-off. Since we already know what the world is going to become, the opening of the series feels quite slow—it’s almost 45 minutes into the pilot before we see a second walker. However, after this, the series kicks into full gear for the next few episodes, 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.

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.

Unfortunately this Blu-ray release is really light on bonus material—just two short featurettes totaling about 7 minutes. Anchor Bay will be releasing “Special Edition” Blu-ray & DVD releases of this first season some time next year (I suspect timed closer to the season 2 premiere on AMC). That release will likely contain a lot more supplemental material, including the currently-airing Flight 462 webisode series. So die-hard fans of the franchise may want to hold out for that version.

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
• Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish

Extras:

• A Look At The Series (4:11)
  The cast and creators talk about the premise of the series and how the show fits into the larger world of The Walking Dead. Includes interviews with executive producers Dave Erickson, Gale Anne Hurd, Dave Alpert and Greg Nicotero, co-executive producer/director Adam Davidson, and stars Kim Dickens (“Madison Clark”), Cliff Curtis (“Travis Manawa”) and Frank Dillane (“Nick Clark”).
• Inside The Characters of Fear The Walking Dead (2:55)
  The cast and creators talk about the characters. Includes interviews with executive producers Gale Anne Hurd and Dave Erickson, and stars Kim Dickens, Frank Dillane, Alycia Debnam-Carey (“Alicia Clark”), Cliff Curtis, Elizabeth Rodriguez (“Liza”), Lorenzo James Henrie (“Chris”), Rubén Blades (“Daniel”) and Mercedes Mason (“Ofelia”).

Final Thoughts:

I enjoyed Fear The Walking Dead even more binging all 6 episodes of the season for the second time via this 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. However, if you are looking for supplemental features, you are better off waiting for Anchor Bay’s forthcoming Special Edition release.