Zombie Cliche Lookout: A Slight Misunderstanding
I’ll admit, the inspiration for this episode comes not from any zombie movie, or even a horror flick. It comes, instead, from the episode of The Simpsons where Homer joins the Navy reserves. In it, the drill instructor says to Homer: “Look, I don’t like you, and you don’t like me.” to which Homer confusedly replies “I like you”. What does this have to do with zombies? Well, not a damn thing, but I’m going to roll with it anyway.
A lot of interpersonal conflicts stem not from any actual issue, but from misunderstanding the thoughts and intentions of others. We do this all the time. We want to know what others are thinking – especially about ourselves – and anticipate what actions they might take because of these thoughts. Usually, this is completely harmless, but occasionally people take this way too far and act on some bizarre worst case scenario that only exists in their minds.
About this Episode:
The coffee cup has been bugging me for a while now. I’ve been wanting to get rid of it when I got back to this set, but it seemed weird just to make it disappear. So instead of disappearing it completely, I tried putting it in the sink in the background, but since the sink is so damn small, it ended up looking really bizarre. My solution? Cheryl got thirsty.
That’s right; I’m a problem solver.
Discussion Question: Engineered and Weaponized Zombies
It seems like I’ve been reading more stories lately where the origin of the zombies is intentional. That is, they were created for a specific purpose, usually as a weapon. Assuming these zombies function in basically the same manner as those in Bricks of the Dead, how well do you think they would work as a biological weapon? For instance, would they be effective at pacifying an area prior to an invasion? Would dealing with the remaining zombies after the fact be a bigger challenge than dealing with the defenders?
I wonder if Inez wants to say goodbye to Brent before he turns into a zombie, before she goes. If they decide to take her with them, I think it’ll mean problems for the trio down the track. And, anyway, when did Dave say anything about Inez leaving? 😉
It’s something that’s been simmering for a bit now. Inez and Murphy have been butting heads, and Inez’s only real ally is now infected.
As for the coffee cup, that’s one well-used coffee cup. I think others have had it in their hands at one stage or another! 😀
It’s a communal mug.
The old trope is that the first step of developing a biological weapon is developing the countermeasure. Otherwise you are just committing a protracted suicide attack. The weaponized zombie concept works really well because every infected person becomes an active agent for spreading the infection. With a typical biological weapon (say a virus) the initially infected person becomes ill and eventually incapacitated which limits their ability to spread the virus. In most scenarios I have read the weaponized infection reaches a certain point then people begin to take stronger precautions and basically shut themselves in their homes. The infected die off and with no exposure to fresh hosts the virus fizzels. With a weaponized zombie, each and every infected person heads out into the world and immediately begins hunting for people to bite. If they aren’t destroyed or die off on their own each infected zed can infect an almost infinite number of others.
Unless you have a really effective countermeasure to turn off the infected zeds then I cant see this as a practical weapon in a typical conflict. Eventually some of the people on your side of it ore going to cone into contact with the infected from your enemy and its all over for you. The only way it could really work is in a case where there is a major geographical obstacle to overcome.
Say for example that the Nazis had developed a weponized zombie in WWII. They couldn’t have used it in Europe or Africa unless they had a really great method f controlling its spread. But they could have deployed it against the UK with relative safety. Introduce the infection, let it spread for a while until the country couldn’t defend itself in any way, then wipe out the zeds by firebombing the hell out of the place then sending in enough specially armored troops to mop up the rest. If something goes wrong and your troops get infected, then just pull back and cut your losses. Wait a while longer and try again.
Wow, excellent post, Damage. The way you describe biological weapons reminds me of an old flash game where the goal was to guide the evolution of a disease (virus, bacteria, prion, etc.) with the goal of wiping out all of humanity. If it spread too fast or with too many symptoms, everyone went into lock down and you lost.
This is similar to your: “how many can you handle” question. If it is already a zed when released, then the lower the numbers, the easier to handle. The higher the zed count, the less likely to be handled and how did the “release-ers” handle the large number? Plus using it on your own soil is a big NO WAY!
It is easier to release a smuggled virus or drug and make people into a zed like state.
EXAMPLE: 1 guy told be here at a set time with item x and your family will be set for life (movie minority report final showdown scene). In today’s economy any one would jump at the chance.
I like the idea of a genetically created zombie disease with some sort of built in kill switch. The people using the zombies let them do all the damage they need to do, and then activate the kill switch, instantly turning the horde off.
Do I see the chance of Inez disappearing into the distance…. bye bye Inez 🙂
Dave has done well writing her character, she annoys the heck out of me for some reason, and I’d like to see her go.
However, I really like how Dave is approaching her and Brent in altering our main groups dynamic, it has been awesome.
Brent is still lying around zombifying right? Lets see what Dave does with that as there is several ways it can be used…
HAPPY NEW YEAR to all, hope 2015 is awesome!
Wow, thanks for your kind words, Mad.. I definitely want Inez to be a divisive character. I want people to not exactly like her, but understand where she’s coming from.