Actually that sounds like it could be a great pitch for the next zombie film/TV series. The zombies are out there, but they're no more dangerous than a really bad storm that follows you around, slowly. The drama would arise from the characters on the inside, people who would never normally come into contact with each other in real life.

I suspect there are several reasons for the 'motley crew' band of survivors (in all these genre pieces). 1. All the nice people failed to kill their husband/wife/partner/friend the second they saw them as a zombie, so got bitten. So this would tend to leave the more sociopathic/unhinged people. Rational people don't kill their friends at a moment's notice (i like to think). 2. The mix of people highlights how random the outbreak is. If you were in a bad area, you'd find it really difficult to escape if you weren't prepared in advance. 3. Obviously, its better for the drama :-)

Say you were a rational person and had enough warning of the impending problem to escape and know the zombie 'rules' before they got you. Setting up a fortress is definitely possible. Armour is a good idea. Although not knowing if the bite strength of a zombie is much higher (typically zombies have been portrayed as very strong, due to 'something' in their muscles) would mean you tend towards rigid, kevlar-based armour (or plate. They should have someone in plate armour with a sword. That would be cool) But any solution like this will involve lots of scavenging. Which is inherently risky. So there's a risk/reward trade-off, particularly getting enough food to be ocntent for some time. Also, once you're holed up, what would you do? I think boredom is a strong motivator for going out and doing something (although admittedly, the speed with which the survivors on TWD decide to keep going back to the city suggests some zombie-inspired ADHD). Knowing something about the comics, they do come up with a good solution of somewhere to hide (remember, this is only a week or two after the 'event' so aren't organised yet).

But yeah, either a cruise ship, or better still, an oil tanker with hydroponic gardens and a nice lawn growing on top to graze your (presumably non-zombified?) sheep on would be ideal :-). Although parking it might be an issue. At least you could afford to crash a few. There's more oil tankers out there than one person could realistically wreck in a lifetime.

What's fun about this, Pete, is how much time it sounds like you've put into thinking this through.

1) plate armour and a longsword? Excellent
2) not sure human teeth could ever bite through bike leathers, could they? Experiments need to be carried out.
2) friends don't kill friends on a whim? Agreed.
3) Hydroponics? See, that's what I'm talking about. The WD peeps couldn't spell hydroponics.

I'm still holding on to my vinyl record collection...

Geez, Rob, I'm trying to sell a few books here... ;)

But you're right: the slow-moving zombie is a docile beast. On their own, he/ she is no more dangerous (to the average able-bodied person) than a pirhana fish flapping about on concrete. I guess, in groups, they present a greater threat, but even then - as you've said - there's a limit to their power. And, one would assume, as they continue to degrade, so too will their strength fade.

For me, the most interesting thing about a zombie melodrama is the headfeck the zombies' constant presence can create. They're always there, on the outside, reminding the survivors of what *could* happen to them, were they to slip up, of what *did* happen to their family and friends, or the people they worked with, their neighbours etc. And I think that strain on the survivors' mental health is what's most dangerous. It can lead someone to make an error in security precautions or even to flip out, intentionally bringing the whole house down on the others. It may be tempting for one person or group to take advantage of the situation and overpower another person or group, creating disorder, opportunity for the undead.

And that's the thing, isn't it? Zombies are consistent and dependable. Dedicated to a united cause. They lie in wait, ever-ready to make their move, while us humans do what we do best: we feck each other over...

I think Wayne's exactly right in all he says, but I'd emphasize that the key thing about zombies is their numbers. One live person armed with a longsword, even with armor, can't fight off hundreds or thousands of zombies indefinitely.

You also can't keep away from them forever - barricading yourself inside only works for a certain length of time before you need more supplies. And once you go outside, the mob will tear out your guts. (Whether you're a wanker or not.)

Katharine, I think that's very true. Zombies are the ultimate in annoyance - they perservere, waiting, pushing, shoving... with these bad boys, it's only a matter of time! :)

But there is a body of genre fans out there who can't take zombies seriously as a threat, for the reasons Rob cites. In fact, some genre books and films have played on such thinking and came up with interesting twists on the zombie genre, maybe where the zombie is the victim and not the antagnoist.

Very cool post, Rob. And TWD has been a grade-A show so far. Here's to zombiedom in all its varied glory :)

Actually, Wayne, I suppose that was one of the things I loved so much about Zombieland: if you follow the rules you should be fine. Unless you fall in love with a car-thief.

But you have to break the rules sometimes, which I believe is the point of Zombieland :-). And yes, I think about this too much (which could be helpful one day?).

But as wayne says, its the constant, untiring threat on your person that makes zombies dangerous. Its not that they get you when you're prepared, its that they WILL get you when you make a minor mistake (which humans have a tendency to do). Its always a nice set-up for exposing classic human flaws in all types of people. It is a shame scientists are reduced to cyphers in many of these stories though, as they have some more practical ideas to contribute :-). But we're probably too rational to survive the early days (or too busy trying to help).

Getting into the less than serious solutions I proposed, leather is certainly a good enough protection against humans biting you (although the leather hood you will wear will give you a certain horror look all of your own). As wayne also mentioned, if decay was an issue, zombies would be no threat at all very shortly after death (in fact they would not move) so we assume something is animating them and giving them extra strength. Or at least no fear of hurting themselves through exertion (a human can bite harder if they have no fear of dislocating their own jaw - true fact!).

With the platemail, fatigue could be an issue. This would require some considerable strength. Maybe need to get into training now. Maybe motors. Hmm - a mechanised suit. That has a certain je ne sais quoi. Where's my electronics books? ;-)

So this was posted by Rob, about Zombies. Rob Zombie, tee hee.