Why were they looking for survivors in "DAY"?

[JDFP]

While the opening scene ("Hello?" "HELLO?" "HELLLLOOOO!!!") is pretty cool for an opening sequence to show the practical effects of the Zombie Apoc on society and the complete overturn of society by zombies, I've always wondered why exactly the survivors were looking for other survivors. Sure, it's a great humanitarian thing to save people from the ghouls. But, what's the practical purpose? Say for example by some act of fate some guy came running down the street in the opening sequence yelling: "Help me! Here I am!" and they picked him up. They'd end up taking him back to the facility where he'd eat their food and use their low supplies. What information could they really get from the survivor? "Yeah, there's zombies everywhere killing people. I'm lucky to be alive." Right. That would have been helpful. I've just always scratched my head at why they were using their fuel and taking the risk to look for other living people out there. The only thing that could make somewhat sense of would be the rare chance they would find a survivor that says: "Hey, I know a safe place where we can all go!". But that would be about as likely in a survivor as finding a survivor at all (nil to none). j.p.

[Trin]

They may have been looking for rationale to continue the work. Or looking for help. Or looking for information. If you were to find survivors out there like that the chances are you'd find a fortified group, not just some guy who runs out of the quik-e-mart. Since they lacked good radio equipment and had lost contact with Washington they may have thought they could hook back into the world through other survivors. But my standout reason is just to see that they were not the last remaining humans. Without other humans their entire effort was futile, and that's the underlying conflict of the entire movie.

[Wrong Number]

My thinking on this was that the group did not have every survival skill covered and even if they did they did not have "backup" people with all the skills they needed. True, more people would be an additional drain on limited resources, but if you got lucky and found someone like for example my husband (a scientist with a chemistry back round), survival could be a whole lot easier. WN

[blind2d]

All good points, as always. Personally, I believe they were really lonely and starting to lose it. So anything to break the tedium and claustrophobia of life at the base, no matter how unlikely to get results or how draining on resources, would've been welcome. More people also means more guns on the undead, which remember, they were losing people at this point thanks to Logan.

[Legion2213]

They are all good, valid answers IMO. Hell, maybe they just wanted to get away from thier bunker, Rhodes and his obnoxious bunch of goons for a few hours...imagine being stuck with those idiots for months on end! (brilliant characters, horrible people to be stuck with...GAR's last great cast IMO). Oh and JDFP, you are right, wonderfull opening scene, fantastic way to introduce us to the PA world.

[Epidemic79]

Great point! Had wondered about that a few times over the years. Especially if they did find a group of more than 2 or 3 survivors,how would they possibly get them out on that little chopper. Say a full family of survivors plus their friends / neighbors? Yeeeeah,that evac aint gonna happen! But that is a good point also on them searching for survivors just for the sake of getting out & doing it.

[Rancid Carcass]

It might have been part of their mission brief - they where there on orders so I'm guessing that the government strategy was to send out these scientific/military teams to find a possible solution to the crisis and, wherever possible, locate and rescue any survivors with a long term view to re-establishing civilisation at some point in the future when the situation had been brought under control. I could be wrong of course... but the chances of that happening are something like four hundred thousand to one by my calculations...

[Lord_Galvatron]

They needed somebody new to play Uno on Friday night. You see, it is kind of bad seeing Rhodes holding his gun while waiting for the first person to yell "UNO!"

[JDFP]

They needed somebody new to play Uno on Friday night. You see, it is kind of bad seeing Rhodes holding his gun while waiting for the first person to yell "UNO!" I could just see this scenario played out... Steele: I'm gonna fuckin' get a fuckin' Uno first... Rickles: <maniacal laughter> You show that Uno, Steele! Logan: Father never allowed me to play this game... Rhodes: Look here people, I'm here to play some Uno and I intend on playing it, so show your card, Steele. j.p.

[Trin]

Biggest UNO in the cave.

[Yojimbo]

They may have been looking for rationale to continue the work. Or looking for help. Or looking for information. If you were to find survivors out there like that the chances are you'd find a fortified group, not just some guy who runs out of the quik-e-mart. Since they lacked good radio equipment and had lost contact with Washington they may have thought they could hook back into the world through other survivors. But my standout reason is just to see that they were not the last remaining humans. Without other humans their entire effort was futile, and that's the underlying conflict of the entire movie. Agreed. Since they had no radio contact, theyneeded to make these excursions just to see if society was surviving in any form, hoping that they would run across a survivors compound so that they could hook up and rebuild society. At the core, they also have a very human need to hook up with other humans, and the discovery that they were not the last people on earth would have boosted their outlook on a large level.

[JonOfTheShred]

Simple, really: only one female, many dudes. The penis to vagina ratio was all off. And not only that, but the weirdest, creepiest dude got that tail, I'd be pretty pissed at that fem too. Can't even walk a zombie correctly, and HE gets the last pussy on earth?

[blind2d]

Excellent point!

[JonOfTheShred]

Excellent point! I can see them all fighting to go on the missions, perhaps before they starting losing so many men and realized how bleak the situation really was. "I wanna go look for survivors!" "No I'M gonna look for survivors!" "As 2nd in command its an ORDER that I get to leave this monkey farm and find some hot piece of ass to pl...I mean, find some survivors to rescue."

[DEAD BEAT]

While the opening scene ("Hello?" "HELLO?" "HELLLLOOOO!!!") is pretty cool for an opening sequence to show the practical effects of the Zombie Apoc on society and the complete overturn of society by zombies, I've always wondered why exactly the survivors were looking for other survivors. Sure, it's a great humanitarian thing to save people from the ghouls. But, what's the practical purpose? Say for example by some act of fate some guy came running down the street in the opening sequence yelling: "Help me! Here I am!" and they picked him up. They'd end up taking him back to the facility where he'd eat their food and use their low supplies. What information could they really get from the survivor? "Yeah, there's zombies everywhere killing people. I'm lucky to be alive." Right. That would have been helpful. I've just always scratched my head at why they were using their fuel and taking the risk to look for other living people out there. The only thing that could make somewhat sense of would be the rare chance they would find a survivor that says: "Hey, I know a safe place where we can all go!". But that would be about as likely in a survivor as finding a survivor at all (nil to none). j.p. All i can say bout this is that if i wer locked up with a bunch of assholes like Rhodes and his butt buddies believe me i'd b lookin' for anything better! Remember what Mc Dermott said: "You know sometimes i make an extra effort to raise someone in hopes of gettin away from your nasty mouth Steele!" And on the other hand maybe their just gettin' out for some fresh air! lol personally i'd b lookin' for some new trim...but thats just me!