Zombie Cliche Lookout: Turn, Turn, Turn
A lot happens in the early part of a zombie outbreak. People don’t know what’s going on, and panic. The zombie population explodes as people are infected and die before survivors know how to cope with the dying. Services start shutting down one at a time. First the police, fire department, and ambulances stop responding. After that, stores and gas stations start emptying out. Maybe they exhaust supplies, maybe they get looted, or maybe the people who work there are unable or unwilling to show up. Next, 911 (or whatever the emergency hotline equivalent is in your country) stops answering. Soon, utilities like power, gas, and water start winding down. The comfortable life we’re used to is gone in a matter of weeks.
Then something strange happens. The people who make it few the first few weeks of complete chaos start figuring things out. They learn how to get by and defend themselves. The world is still incredibly dangerous, but there’s a short period of equilibrium where people can survive on what they can scrounge for a while. But that won’t last. Soon, people will start running out of what they need, and start banding together under powerful, charismatic leaders who want to consolidate or even conquer.
About this Episode:
I tried something a little different with this one to show the passage of time. The idea was showing the snow moving in and out to give us a sense of winter. Honestly, I don’t think it looks great. I had it set on a tripod to have the angles consistent shot to shot, but it looks too samey, so I moved the camera around a bit between shots. It’s a small improvement, but damn, this is a failed experiment.
Zombie Cliche Lookout: Winter Zombies
There was a fair bit of talk last week about jumping ahead and wanting to see how the zombies would react to cold weather. We’re not doing that in the comic, unfortunately, so I want to see what you guys think of things. What is the cold going to do to the zeds, and to the living?
Typo alerts: ” population explodes are people are infected” – change first “are” to “as” 😀
“and ambulences” ambulences–>ambulances 😉
“people can make it by on” change “make it by” to “survive” 😀
” it looks to samey” to–>too 😉
Wow Dave, your typo is off the charts today! 😀
Man, awful. And one is just a straight up misspelled word.
Ah well, fixed them all.
You know what, Dave? Screw skipping winter, I want you to pause, gather some winter set supplies, and set up for these people trying to survive winter! 😀 I don’t care, whatever it takes, the more you’re trying to put into words, the longer I want to actually see what you’re talking about become a reality in this comic. Words are, unfortunately, just not good enough! You must try harder! 😀
Well, that’s ,my sentiments on it, anyway, anyone else feel the same way or even differently?
Yeah! We’re taking a stand! 😀
Hah, he sure is.
That is one shiny cabin.
Yeah, it sure is. That’s probably why you don’t see many cabins in real life made out of ABS plastic.
Haha! 😀
I think you could have maybe extended the episode (or had multiple episodes). And included shots of the group in between the shots of the cabin.
Montage:
Cabin: no snow
Shots of the group cutting wood. Boarding up.
Cabin at night, with first snowfall. (Pretty! Pretty!)
Murphy looking out the window. Everyone gathering by the fireplace in the cabin. Keeping warm.
Cabin with snow (middle of winter)
Get some of the group on a run. Maybe see some frozen zeds or something.
Maybe get a shot of Brent’s grave.
Then, Boom! Spring! And the story picks back up.
I think that woulda been nice. 🙂 But four, almost identical, shots of a mini cabin is just as good. Lol!
Missed opportunity, in my book. Could have been some cool photography. Oh, well. I’ll move on. 🙂
“But four, almost identical, shots of a mini cabin is just as good. ”
Hah, I know, right?
I’m not sure what the zeds would do in the winter. I like the idea of them “freezing”. But when they thaw, oh boy. 😀
If it’s inside, it won’t freeze.
If it’s outside, but keeps moving, it won’t freeze.
But most, that are outside, will slow down in the thick snow and eventually trip, get stuck, and freeze. 🙂
I’m interested. It’d be fun to see a zombie, standing still. Nothing catches its attention, so it doesn’t move, and it just freezes. Dumb zombie. Lol!
Really good thoughts here. I think you’re probably right. Without an active circulatory system, they’d likely freeze pretty damn quickly once they stop moving and the temperatures are well below freezing.
Not necessarily–just because something moves DOESN’T mean it won’t freeze. Plenty of hikers have tried to keep moving and have frozen to death.
Endothermic creatures (warm blooded that is) work by circulation. You have tiny blood vessels in your bones that your blood cells rub against as they move through them that helps to generate heat. That, in addition to digesting food and in some animals (such as a horse with its cecum) fermentation will produce heat.
Now we know that zombies DON’T have any special organs to aid in that. They’re limited to the standard human set. Heck, most of their organs don’t even work! So the only real question is: do zombies have any sort of circulation?
If no, then they’ll freeze regardless. If yes, then it’s a matter of time before what warmth they generate will be bled out into the cold air. A man sized creature only has so much thermal energy in them. Once it’s gone, they need to replace it.
And at this point, there aren’t that many people to eat and replace it with…
“Not necessarily–just because something moves DOESN’T mean it won’t freeze. Plenty of hikers have tried to keep moving and have frozen to death.”
Good point here. I guess what I was getting at is more like how moving water doesn’t freeze nearly as quickly or as easily as still water.
Dave how many days well below freezing have we had this year? I live awfully close to you. We would have them 365 days a year. And since Zombies already defy the laws of human body functions, i.e. you need an active circulatory system to move muscles, they might not freeze unless they get stuck to something.
Not many so far, maybe five or six?
And you make a good point about them ignoring the laws of physics.
Where are you?
I saw it’s not that ignore the laws of physics, they’re just no longer human and don’t follow the same set of rules. If you want to use something else than “Human’s freeze if it gets cold” that perfectly fine.
Just make sure you think about why, and then apply it to the tale when ever the reason comes up even if you don’t tell the reader. (i.e. Zombies actually generate a lot of heat due to how they now break down human flesh so they stay warm in winter…but that means they start to cook themselves once summer roles round…)
It’s okay so long as your reason remains a constant. Don’t ever become an author that has things happen because the plot said so. You’re better than than! 🙂
Dang it! Posted before I spell checked! 🙁
BrickVoid’s gonna have a field day with this 😉
“Don’t ever become an author that has things happen because the plot said so. You’re better than than!”
Hah, I don’t know that I’m better than that, but at least in this case I skipped right over the problem.
On a somewhat related topic, have anyone else noticed that the production team for The Walking Dead never made any episodes during the winter?
I haven’t watched this season, but I definitely noticed in previous seasons, and that annoyed me. I remember it being a plot point in the comics early on, and it was pretty interesting. It’s a shame the show never explored it.