World War Z: Announced

[Tetsubo]

And a trenchcoat, I assume?

No trench coat I'm afraid. And I can't find my black wool officer's coat either...

 

[Felon]

While I am glad you were able to logically flesh out why zombie hordes could never happen this way, you're essentially arguing about fantasy, and not the real world. Since there are no such things as zombies, your argument holds no water.

That's a rather obtuse assertion. Just because a book contains an element of fantasy, it is not completely absolved of any need to portray events in a believable manner. You are making the all-too-common mistake of conflating realism with believability.

In this case, it seems like a pretty straightforward point that needs addressing. There just aren't huge caches of intact dead bodies laying conveniently around for some zombie effect to activate. I don't have any dead bodies in my house, or within a block of my home, or likely even within ten or twenty blocks. How about you? Again, I'm talking about corpses sufficiently intact to mobilize. And if they're the type of zombies that rip the living apart and devour them, then they're not even self-propagating.

So, there is a question of where millions of dead bodies come from. Perhaps WWZ addresses it with a super-fast-killing-plague or something. Haven't read the book myself.

 

[Umbran]

So, there is a question of where millions of dead bodies come from. Perhaps WWZ addresses it with a super-fast-killing-plague or something. Haven't read the book myself.

In WWZ, it isn't awakening of already-buried corpses - there is a plague that kills you, and then your dead body gets up and starts with the shambling.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

It all got started with some kind of bacteria, virus, chemical/biological spills drifting up from the now-underwater cities in the Yangse River.

Also with the virus it doesn't go active right away. It takes time, which is how the virus spread. Since people bitten in China who escape would then go Zombiefied when in another country, or in a couple case on the plane/boat itself. The virus could also remain dormant in organ/blood donations. So anyone receiving a blood/organ transplant from someone who had the virus would soon become a zombie after the transplant.

I am looking forward to see the mop-up crews in the Canadian north, smashing frozen-zombies. That will either be creepy or very weird looking.

 

[Tetsubo]

In WWZ, it isn't awakening of already-buried corpses - there is a plague that kills you, and then your dead body gets up and starts with the shambling.

Real world diseases just don't spread all that fast or far, even with modern transportation. Even airborne diseases don't kill that many people. And if the scenario calls for the "bite vector" variety things slow down even more. It just isn't that easy to achieve a zombie "horde".

The world in a Romero type of Rising would fundamentally change. But it would still be *our* world.

 

[TanisFrey]

Real world diseases just don't spread all that fast or far, even with modern transportation. Even airborne diseases don't kill that many people. And if the scenario calls for the "bite vector" variety things slow down even more. It just isn't that easy to achieve a zombie "horde".

The world in a Romero type of Rising would fundamentally change. But it would still be *our* world.

The pandemic flu of 1918 hit all over the world at the same time. No one knows why it hit at the same time. Some say WWI was why but this does not explain why very remote villages in North Canada, Alaska, Russia got hit by it. It skipped over vast empty area between the villages it area of very poor transportation. Others say it was a mutated bird flu that jumped to man, but the resent scare about bird fly (2005) does not fit the pattern of 1918. One scientist claims exogenous start, many discount him.

So saying that real world diseases can't spread so far, so fast is flawed. I have given you one real world diseases that has defied the experts theories.

 

[Tetsubo]

The pandemic flu of 1918 hit all over the world at the same time. No one knows why it hit at the same time. Some say WWI was why but this does not explain why very remote villages in North Canada, Alaska, Russia got hit by it. It skipped over vast empty area between the villages it area of very poor transportation. Others say it was a mutated bird flu that jumped to man, but the resent scare about bird fly (2005) does not fit the pattern of 1918. One scientist claims exogenous start, many discount him.

So saying that real world diseases can't spread so far, so fast is flawed. I have given you one real world diseases that has defied the experts theories.

While the 1918 Flu did spread very far and very fast, it didn't go as far and as fast as do Hollywood Diseases (HD). HDs also tend to have a lethality level far higher then even Ebola. Pretty much anyone that gets a HD (especially in a zombie-verse), dies. The HD never mutates into a less harmful form, it rarely mutates at all.

Take -I Am Legend- as an example. Almost *every* human on the planet is infected. Even those on isolated islands (though you do pose an argument against that). Even, apparently, those on Naval vessels and submarines. Or those at Polar stations.

Note that the 1918 Flu *didn't* wipe out humanity. It didn't even effect many parts of the planet.

HDs only survive within poorly written scripts.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

Though in the end, even if the spreading of the virus is poorly done. If the rest of the plot is successful, I really don't care about the actual virus. Especially considering that a book/movie where alot of the dramatic tension comes from the spread, it be less dramatic if done completely correctly.

Also, it actually doesn't reach islands and military ships/civilians ships in the book. Which is why the newly formed UN is in the sea amongst various aircraft carriers and cruise ships that governments had fled to.

Usually the only way islands/ships got hit was a infected was already on board the ship when it left dock. Or sheer bad luck made it that one of the roaming bands of zombies on the sea-bottoms hobbled their way onto the beaches of the island.

 

[Umbran]

HDs only survive within poorly written scripts.

If you happen to define "poorly written" as including anything that doesn't conform to modern norms known to science - such that we can't have a disease that is drastically more communicable than any before seen on the planet, for instance - then I guess I can't argue with you. I've already noted that the zombies defy the most basic laws of thermodynamics as well, so the virulence is hardly the worst technical offense.

I would find that an odd attitude to find on a board devoted to RPG gaming. The root of speculative science fiction is asking, "What if?" I this case, the spread of the zombies is not really the point of the book. The human stories of what happens to people in this (scientifically absurd, I grant you) world that are the real point. They are written with craft, understanding, and artistry, and are what make the book good. The details of the zombies are thoroughly secondary.

 

[Wonzling]

I wonder what good it would do to run over a zombie horde with a tank. I mean, outside of a really big plain or similar location it would not be feasible to cause much damage to a large horde before running low on fuel, while the horde around you is busy munching on the population.
If I remember correctly, during the military scene in WWZ the horde was approaching roughly along a motorway filled with wrecked cars. This terrain and the number of zombies would render most types of vehicles quite inefficient, even tanks. Especially if your goal is to stop the horde there and now.