Bad General | 15 Oct 2013 10:43 a.m. PST |
So
Are the zombies, like, dead? Are they undead? Have they come back alive as monsters? I guess what I don't get is: where's nature in all this -- packs of dogs, grizzlies, mountain lions? Tigers from the zoo? In the great doc LIFE AFTER PEOPLE, they make a compelling argument that when man disappears (man as hunter, farmer, urban dweller), wild life comes roaring back (like around Chernobyl, now overrun with bear and wild boar, etc.) YouTube link None of makes much sense
The zombies are starving, but
don't starve. What's the science here? |
John Leahy | 15 Oct 2013 10:49 a.m. PST |
I know this is a zombie show. I realize discussing science with zombies is a stretch. However, I agree. Why are the zombies not decomposing enough to die off. It's been quite some time since the plague started. I also agree that unless animals were infected they should be running rampant. Thanks, John |
pzivh43 | 15 Oct 2013 10:50 a.m. PST |
The zombiues are definitely dead, in the sense they have died and come back. Also have seen them attack and eat forest creatures. Mike |
79thPA | 15 Oct 2013 11:10 a.m. PST |
Does whatever afflicts them cause them to stop decomposing? |
ArchiducCharles | 15 Oct 2013 11:18 a.m. PST |
- Why are the zombies not decomposing enough to die off. It's been quite some time since the plague started. - Well for one it would make for a pretty boring show if, you know, all the Zombies would die off
(I just assume Zombies eventually stop decomposing). I just think there is TONS of stuff that doesn't make sense with a Zombie apocalypse (starting, of course, with the fact that the dead are coming back to eat people!), but this is a TV show that is there to entertain us, not a science program. I say stop asking questions, and just enjoy the ride (and I think it's been a pretty good ride to this point) |
darthfozzywig | 15 Oct 2013 11:28 a.m. PST |
I also agree that unless animals were infected they should be running rampant They are, but since they flee from zombies also, you don't see the two in close proximity. This week's episode made a point of noting that the survivors needed to check their traps/snares frequently, since the zombies would find the animals and devour them pretty quickly. It's also a story, not a simulation. That means an increased or decreased presence of animals needs to be significant to the plot. Chekhov's deer, if you will. |
victor0leto | 15 Oct 2013 11:30 a.m. PST |
a life form (virus? bacteria?) that is nebulously identified in the comic is responsible for animating the body of the human (it infects the brain, that is why destroying the brain is important to the plot). This life form controls the brain, maintains certain functions and keeps the body "animated" (for its own purposes, presumably to spread itself, very similar but not exactly like World War Z). The plausibilty breaks down when we start asking questions about lung fuction, circulation, digestion, and on, but the premise is that the "host" life form needs the body to feed in order to keep it going and the zombies, if denied food, will slow down from starvation, but never come to a completre stop. Also,very little is explained regarding what happens to the life form if it should freeze (as Atlanta, in the winter can reach freezing temperatures over night). |
haywire | 15 Oct 2013 11:50 a.m. PST |
They are decomposing slowly. The show producers have made mention that the zombies are becoming "squishier" and easier to kill. I am not sure of the timeline so far but I do not think it has been more than a year yet (not having seen the new season opener). |
marcus arilius | 15 Oct 2013 11:58 a.m. PST |
since every living human is infected it must be something we put into the eco system. you just have to die to become a Zombie. no bite is needed. Now in World War Z (the movie) I bet The North Koreans tried to weaponize the rabies virus en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabies . and it got out of hand. that's way they pulled all the Teeth out of there people. |
skinkmasterreturns | 15 Oct 2013 12:12 p.m. PST |
The need to feed does explain why they wander so much(its not like theyre going to set up houskeeping,after all) and often times slow down after a point when there isnt food.If the zombies did all decompose away and thus not be a threat,it would simply become a post apocalyptic story(anyone remember Survivors?),with groups vying for control of resources. |
Feet up now | 15 Oct 2013 12:36 p.m. PST |
While we are here . How do they walk? Digest flesh? Use the senses? |
Space Monkey | 15 Oct 2013 12:41 p.m. PST |
In the comic (I know
) it eventually comes out that there are different varieties of zombies
or different states. Some sit around in a torpor while others are much more active. I haven't read the latest issues so I don't know if more of the reasoning behind that has been revealed but I wonder if there's some sort of stasis/repair going on. |
darthfozzywig | 15 Oct 2013 12:50 p.m. PST |
While we are here . How do they walk? Digest flesh? Use the senses? For those folks late to the party I'll repeat: it's a story, not a simulation. |
PJ Parent | 15 Oct 2013 1:48 p.m. PST |
And why don't the bugs (maggots mostly) eat them. |
tulsatime | 15 Oct 2013 2:46 p.m. PST |
They do not need to eat, digest, breath, circulate blood or any other bodily function. Zombies heads have been cut off and the body stops but the head will continue to be active but not be able to do anyting. The zombies do not eat to nourish themselves. The suggestion is that maggots will not eat them because the zombie virus makes them poisonous to anything that would try to eat them. The important thing to remember is that the zombies are impossible. They are truely a story device. If a zombie was hooked to a treadmill and food placed in front of it the zombie would walk endlessly to get at the food. That is perpetual motion. The treadmill could be hooked to a generator to supply power creating energy without using fuel. Remember that matter and energy cannot be created or destroyed just transformed from one state to another. |
doug redshirt | 15 Oct 2013 3:09 p.m. PST |
And that is why the zombies I use in my games are alive, but infected with either a virus like rabies or alien nanotech that has built a small computer in human brains that control them. My favorite creation was a military experiment that allowed for rapid healing. The problem they discovered was that to work the body converted all the fat and other possbile energy sources in the body to new tissue, leaving the person ravenous and without any ability to think other then to eat. After eating until bursting the person would go into a sleep like state while the body heals fully. The other bad side effect was that every time it happened the brain was slowly destroyed by the body heating up to too high a temp during the healing process. Eventually the creature only wants to eat. But there is a period when it is fairly intelligent, can open doors, figure out solutions to reaching its prey and so on. I actually spent weeks studing how it could be spread and would have to look at my notes, but I think was spread by using what was originally a flu virus as a carrier, with the flu virus being dead and unable to reproduce. Of course it mutated like all good horror movie viruses and was spread beyond the lab. The nice thing about this virus is that it allows me to have all sorts of wildlife that has gotten used to eating infected humans, so have come to consider all humans as food. Dog packs, lions, tigers, bears and even wild pigs. |
Ark3nubis | 15 Oct 2013 3:31 p.m. PST |
The zeds are created by some form of virus. That virus reanimates the central nervous system (primarily the brain) so the equivalent might be if you got some electrodes and attached them to a recently dead thing the nerves would be activated and jig about but the thing is still dead. The nerves control everything in your body so the senses in the undead work at a limited level. It's this firing up of the nervous system that you see the effects of, not that they are in some way alive. As for decomposition the virus is hostile to life and this includes bacteria too. Bacteria when they break-down matter and body tissues, release by-products and chemicals, thus the smell of decay. In WWZ (the novel) the zeds don't smell for this reason. As a consequence the bacteria that would otherwise break down a dead body are inhibited from doing so by the virus that causes the dead to rise, and so the tissues break down much more slowly. It's a twist on things and makes a bit of sense, not enough sense though if you ended up analysing it fully of course. To be fair I think darthfkzzywig said it best, it's a story, a narrative, and for me as long as it is more or less a viral cause and not magical based I'm happy to go along with the story, just 3 whole days (70.5 hours) to go
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Norman D Landings | 15 Oct 2013 4:11 p.m. PST |
To return to the OP – 'Walking Dead' Zeds eat living flesh. ALL living flesh. (Remember the fate of Rick's noble steed in Atlanta?) So presumably, much of America's livestock and fauna have been mobbed and mauled to death, and any surviving wildlife has learned to steer well clear of humanity. Different zombie mythologies vary in their treatment of non-human species. The 'Dawn of the Dead' remake features zombies with no interest in non-human prey
so the survivor's dog carries supplies back and forth unmolested. The 'Resident Evil' series only features a couple of specific examples: zombie attack dogs, which are a deliberate creation of the Umbrella corporation, and living but 'infected' crows, which become aggressive after eating zombie flesh. The 'Return of the Living Dead' series' zeds are created by an experimental military chemical agent which affects anything and everything – pinned butterfly collections and dogs split down the middle as anatomical specimens come back to life. The much less potent 'street' version of the drug which features in the later sequels only affects humans. I'm okay with WD's take on wildlife. What really grips my colon, though: no matter how visibly decomposed and obviously long-dead the WD zombie
Headshot! Followed by
a nice big splash of fresh, liquid blood. What? How? So these things have functioning circulatory systems? That requires a beating heart! |
StarfuryXL5 | 15 Oct 2013 5:58 p.m. PST |
Maybe the blood is just pooled in the brain and not circulating. A nice little bath to soothe the animating virus. My problem with WD head shots is that the CDC scientist said that the body is animated from the brain stem, yet most of the head shots don't come close to hitting it. It's just a story, yes, but a story needs internal consistency. |
nazrat | 15 Oct 2013 6:51 p.m. PST |
This is WAY too much thinking about something that is pretty ridiculous and implausible at it's heart
Just enjoy the show for what it is and leave off with the science and "reality" of it! |
Pedrobear | 15 Oct 2013 7:27 p.m. PST |
What amazes me is how the male survivors get unkempt facial hair, while the women still have shaped brows and shaved armpits! But I guess they don't want the show to get *too* scary
P.S.: Static blood clots. link |
Extra Crispy | 15 Oct 2013 8:28 p.m. PST |
Didn't zombies start out as magic not SF anyway? |
Mithmee | 15 Oct 2013 9:13 p.m. PST |
"packs of dogs, grizzlies, mountain lions? Tigers from the zoo?" Eaten "I bet The North Koreans tried to weaponize the rabies virus en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabies . and it got out of hand. that's way they pulled all the Teeth out of there people." Didn't help since they are the most likely ones who fired off that Nuke. |
tancred | 16 Oct 2013 3:01 a.m. PST |
My biggest problem with the show is incredibly easy it is to pierce or crush a skull. |
VonTed | 16 Oct 2013 3:47 a.m. PST |
Who mows the lawns in the abandoned towns? |
victor0leto | 16 Oct 2013 6:38 a.m. PST |
My biggest brain boggle in all this is how the words "Zombie" and "Ghoul" have sort of lost their independent meanings. |
Norman D Landings | 16 Oct 2013 8:39 a.m. PST |
I'd say 'Ghouls' have been bent much further out of shape than zombies. From shapeshifting demons in Islamic mythology, via flesh-eating undead humans, Lovecraftian dog-faced mutants, to J.K. Rowling's harmless domestic gremlins. In comparison, Zombies have remained much closer to their origins. |
corporalpat | 16 Oct 2013 8:58 a.m. PST |
Simply put, the explanation is: Willing suspension of disbelief. |
billthecat | 16 Oct 2013 2:37 p.m. PST |
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StarfuryXL5 | 16 Oct 2013 9:30 p.m. PST |
You know. Never believe it's not so. |
kalgaloth | 17 Oct 2013 5:35 p.m. PST |
Actually there have been different "levels" of decaying zombies shown from near skeletons to ones that are more recently deceased. And the ease of crushing their skulls shows the level of decay I think. That's my guess. |
Lookingglassman | 18 Oct 2013 7:01 p.m. PST |
How come animals aren't hunting them? I figure packs of wild dogs and wolves and other animals would be having a feast by now. |
Fabe Mrk 2 | 18 Oct 2013 7:38 p.m. PST |
Well according the Zombie survival Guild ,animals have a natural aversion to the infected. Guess the same applies in TWD. |
Ark3nubis | 19 Oct 2013 9:32 a.m. PST |
In WWZ the book the Solanum 'virus' is hostile to all life, bacterial level up to whatever, and so fatal if ingested. That's why they don't decay as bacteria can't break duwn the body tissues as they get killed off by the virus. The additional results are that they DON'T smell rotten as the the decay process is prevented (rotten things smell bad, but as they don't/can't rot, they don't smell) |
Brother Jim | 19 Oct 2013 9:33 a.m. PST |
TWD zombies hunt the animals, not the other way around. |
Darkoath | 26 Oct 2013 7:04 a.m. PST |
Maybe a virus that can cause the dead to reanimate and walk around would also delay decomposition or drastically slow it down? I did like how the "living" zombies in 28 Days Later eventually starved to death! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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