I have not been painting much of a dark evening but have been watching my way through several TV series.
One of these binge-watched series is Wayward Pines (2015/16).
The title sequence by PictureMill for Wayward Pines uses railway modelling type figures, houses or scenes in a Slinkachu style diorama “movie stills” to show possible scenes from the series.
The advertising poster shows the Series 1 lead Matt Dillon, who plays an American Secret Service agent called Ethan Burke.
Burke is sent to investigate the whereabouts of two missing agents.
He wakes up in the woods near Wayward Pines, Idaho, bruised and confused after what appears to be a car accident.
The Fox trailer for Wayward Pines Series 1 https://youtu.be/jZ1GdNLQ42Q
The town is not the “paradise” the billboard claims.
I was interested to watch this 2015/2016 series as some of its early episodes in Series 1 were directed or written by the Duffer Brothers before they made the first series of Stranger Things (Netflix).
I can see many dystopian sci-fi / thriller tropes revisited by the Duffer Brothers in Stranger Things. Washed up cops, a strange dark underside to a normal small town, echoing hospital or lab corridors …
I also like the quirky title sequence, made of model vignettes that could be film stills, all of which hint at the scenes to come. 
Wayward Pines – “where Paradise is home”, its billboard announces.
Wayward Pines – the last of small town America? A perfect small town with secrets.
**** Warning – Plot Spoiler: Outside the town’s electrified fence, it is slowly revealed in Series 1, live tribes of ‘savage’ genetic mutant nicknamed “Abbys”, fast moving humanoid aberrations or devolution with predator like teeth and claws, excellent sense of smell and hearing, which hunt in packs and eat people. Much like chimpanzees go hunting each other or smaller creatures. ****
That’s a refreshing change from zombies, then …
Screenshot from the slightly altered Series 2 intro. Jeep and Troops.
Series 2 gives a more surprisingly sympathetic (post colonial) view of the Abbys as they mass again in their hundreds.
However the town now has a more martial law feel to it, with stylised light brown American / fascist uniforms. Lots of automatic weapons, disastrous use of flamethrowers, driving around fast in jeeps and army trucks as they set out to keep the town safe from the savages outside the gates and dissenters within …
Reference screenshot Series 1 – hostile savages (red dots) have breached the fence heading through the pines heading towards Wayward Pines. Almost a game screen.
As ever, the mind jumps towards potential gaming scenarios on the tabletop.
Savages versus trained or untrained troops or militia in urban or forest setting, should the electrified fence be breached …
An interesting model or prop of terrain model of the Wayward Pines town was sold after filming in 2015; its appearance is almost that of a board game or tabletop game.
And my screenshot from series 1 of a rough sketch map found by Ethan Burke of ways out of Wayward Pines … (You’ll never leave.)
*******
I bought both series (£20 per series of ten episodes) on Apple TV.
The original Series 1 stories are based on a trilogy of books by Blake Crouch.
Fox TV announced that there are no current plans for Series 3, leaving series 2 on a permanent cliffhanger.
Blog posted by Mark Man Of TIN, 24 November 2022.
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