Zombieland - First episode

In 2009, the apocalyptic comedy film Zombieland was released, following four friends as they try to survive in a zombie-ridden America. The four friends were played by the successful actors Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, Woody Harrelson, and Abigail Breslin. The writers of the film, Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, didn’t initially plan on writing a film, but they wanted to write a series instead. When no one was interested in this idea, they changed the story into a film. After the success of the film, however, they had a new chance to create the series they originally wanted to create. Whether the series can match the success and quality of the film is another question.

The storyline of the series is similar to that of the film; four people try to survive and to avoid being killed by zombies. Unlike in the film, in the series they have contact through some kind of satnav-system with the new character called Detroit, who provides them with information on the whereabouts of other survivors. The series focuses on their search for these survivors whilst they make their way to LA where a group of survivors has supposedly settled.

The team manages to find many survivors but keeping them alive seems to be quite difficult. In the pilot episode, which is less than thirty minutes, there are already four minor characters that are gruesomely killed by zombies. These fast deaths make it impossible for the viewer to sympathise with them, but, luckily, that isn’t the intention of the writers; these weird deaths are meant to be a form of entertainment. Nevertheless, it’s not very funny. The first time a character is mangled by zombies, it is still kind of funny because of the unexpectedness of the whole situation. The second time, however, is already more predictable, and by the third and fourth time, it’s too obvious and just plain boring. It’s possible that I don't appreciate this kind of black humour enough to like the humour on this show, but I personally found the jokes too repetitive to be funny, despite all the different kinds of aggression displayed throughout.

So, the storyline lacks depth, but what about the characters? The series focuses on the same four protagonists as the film: the smart but socially awkward Columbus, the slightly insane Tallahassee, the emotionally distant Wichita, and the young and enthusiastic Little Rock. While the characters are the same as in the film, they are played by different actors: Tyler Ross, Kirk Ward, Maiara Walsh, and Izabela Vidovic respectively. The actors aren’t necessarily bad, but having seen the alternative, I prefer the film cast. In the film, the actors portray the characters with a bit more flair, and compared to them, the characters in the series are portrayed in a bland manner. Besides this, the writers have also written some of the characters more one-dimensionally than they were in the film; Tallahasse, for example, had an emotional side to his crazy side in the film, but in the series he’s just a lunatic who likes to kill zombies.

All in all, I’m not very positive about 'Zombieland's pilot episode. It could be that the series suffers from the comparison with the film which highlights the lack of depth in the series. Besides that, I also prefer the humour in the film over the humour on the series. The pilot was commissioned by Amazon, but the company has passed on the show. It’s possible that another network will pick up the pilot episode and decide to turn it into a series, but should this happen, I probably won’t watch it.