Zombie Cliche Lookout: Too Much to Do
As I have said again and again in these write-ups, having a few other people you can count on with you in the zombie apocalypse is going to make your task much, much easier. That said, there are certainly trade-offs. Take the current situation, for example. While having multiple people available helps to spread out the work to be done, and allows people to keep watch on things from multiple perspectives simultaneously, those people all soak up resources, have interpersonal conflicts, and can make noise that can draw in more zombies.
Could a single survivor in a home barricade it fast enough to prevent the zombies from getting inside? That’s hard to say. They would almost certainly make less noise, which might attract fewer zombies and make the job easier and perhaps not as time intensive. On the other hand, if a zombie or two happened to get in, they would have to stop barricading to deal with the threat, giving the zombies even more time to force their way in. Trade offs and more trade offs.
About this Episode:
If you can’t tell, the interior sets are completely different from the exterior model for Ted and Vicky’s home. I tried to make them match up roughly well, but the interiors are, by necessity, different and larger. However, I do want you to be able to get a sense of the layout of the home from the exterior shots, which means that the living room that Clark is referring to has a lot of windows.
Discussion Question: How Much Barricading
Assuming that the zombies are like those in The Walking Dead, with strength comparable to the living, and without the ability to use tools, how much barricading would really be necessary? Yes, multiple zombies could pile up and apply more pressure, but there’s still only a finite amount of surface area at play here.
Typo alert: allows people to keep any eye on things” any–>an
If you mean to say multiple people here, it would be better to word it as “keep watch on things” or similarly worded.
“which might attract few zombies” few–>fewer It’s almost certain they’d attract few zombies, fewer is the proper word here though! 😉
Fixed both; thanks.
Regarding the Discussion Question; If building a barricade, one that is meant to last a while, at least, would it not be prudent to make it solid enough that no amount of force would open it? Zombies certainly can’t simply knowingly apply pressure, although I suppose they could build up of their own accord and if there is enough space to give them room to move forward whilst applying pressure. Pressure is a funny thing, if it can’t go forward it will go sideways, and in directions it can go, and zombies would react similarly. Maybe the pressure of enough zombies would cause them to be pushed away from the very victims they seek out. I take it that Dave’s zombies aren’t intelligent enough to reorient themselves towards a source of noise if that noise has stopped since they stopped, and they can’t locate it with some kind of zombie super-sense of direction or recall. As Dave has repeatedly said, his zombies don’t have super-powers. 😀
That’s right, no super powers. And, yes, it would likely be prudent to build them as strong as possible, although time and materials would likely be at a premium.
That brings me to a syntactical improvement in Dave’s opening line for these comments: “again and again” Use “repeatedly” instead. 😉
Not flagging as a typo, since Dave is free to write it the way he wants it to look. 🙂
I like again and again, the repetition makes sense in the context to me. Anyone else want to weigh in?
While we’re at it, “While having multiple people available helps to spread out the work to be done, and allows people to keep any eye on things from multiple perspectives simultaneously.” is a sentence fragment.
Combining it with the following sentence would be better:
“While having multiple people available helps to spread out the work to be done, and allows people to keep any eye on things from multiple perspectives simultaneously, those people all soak up resources, have interpersonal conflicts, and can make noise that can draw in more zombies.”
Ah, right you are. Fixed.
As for the continuity problem, you know my solution: actually build the buildings with removable walls and shoot inside. I’m not saying I necessarily recommend that, though. It does get limiting at times, and I find myself wishing I’d made every room in ever building a little bigger.
That would be the way to do it, but I’m never clever enough to pull off builds like that.
If we are dealing with TWD zeds the amount of barricading needed would consist of drapes, door latches, and bunny slippers. Serioiusly those zeds have been held back by pop up tents on multiple occasions, ankle deep mud, a latched fence, and quite a few other impossibly easy obstacles. Remember Morgan’s spike traps? Backing up seems to be beyond them. Romero zeds on the other hand were much bettèat tearing down barricades.
Hah, well said, sir.
Hi Dave, I have made a thing for you
https://www.flickr.com/photos/legomiles/16891717730/in/photostream/
That is excellent! I love work trucks.
Dave I love your comics but the ones of late have been exactly the same….. still a great comic though.
All the same? Well don’t worry, I’ll be mixing things up pretty soon.