What if they did find the cure in "DAY"?

[JDFP]

I guess I could list this in the "Romero Hypotheticals" thread I started, but the idea just seems so laughably funny to me that I couldn't help but post it for its own thread.

So yeah, what if say Logan/Fisher/Sarah did end up discovering a cure for the zombie plague? I always thought that would have been an interesting kick in the movie. Imagine having the cure but knowing that it's far too late for it to be beneficial to just about anyone -- being that about 90% (or more) of the U.S. is already wiped out.

I wonder how a creation of a cure could have influenced the actions of those characters. Rhodes couldn't exactly be running around barking that he wanted to see results if they DID give him the result of a cure (being that it was an F'ing war and not a field trip, after all --- I love that line), at the same time their mission there would have been completed -- so, then what?

It's a bit like winning the lottery and dying the next day (thanks, Alanis) the thought of "if" they had discovered the cure. How funny would that have been...

Anyway, I have a dark sense of humor like that, so it's a funny thought to me at least.

j.p.

[sandrock74]

Yeah, it would have been too late to be of any pratical value by that point. They could have secured their own area better, maybe been easier to go on supply runs, but thats about it.

[axlish]

I'm not a big fan of Day, but I always found it brilliant that Dr. Logan was on the brink of putting together a solution, but he was too mad to see it through, and Rhodes was too pissed to notice.

You see, Bub was pretty close to being fully trained. Bub, being a zombie, could mingle amongst and train other zombies. Pretty soon, you've got them all "doing tricks"! Before long, you've got a stealth army of undead, sneaking into and integrating into mass hordes of zombies, only to rip them all to shreds at the sound of a horn.

[Slain]

What do you mean by "a cure" for the zombie plague? A two pronged solution was needed to fight the zombies; a vaccine that kept people from turning after they died, and a bio-weapon that actually destroyed the creatures. I doubt Dr. Logan could have developed either a vaccine or a zombie bio-weapon in the primitive lab he worked in.

Humanities only hope after losing access to advanced bio research labs would have been to send teams out to see if they could find some naturally occurring organism that attacked zombies in the wild, and spread this organism around to make it pervasive in the ecosystem. I imagine it would taken years, or even decades, for a zombie bio-weapon to disperse itself through the environment without aid of a functioning war machine to spread it around.

[SRP76]

What do you mean by "a cure" for the zombie plague? A two pronged solution was needed to fight the zombies; a vaccine that kept people from turning after they died, and a bio-weapon that actually destroyed the creatures. I doubt Dr. Logan could have developed either a vaccine or a zombie bio-weapon in the primitive lab he worked in.



Exactly. It depends what kind of "cure" you mean: something that just prevents people from becoming zombies, or something that actually reverses the process, wiping the existing zombies out.

[JDFP]

I was thinking more along the lines of a vaccine to keep people from becoming infected as well as the ability to "not come back" as well. Even if it had happened that they were able to create some type of vaccine, it probably wouldn't have done too much good -- until the ghouls all died off (which within so many years they would eventually rot away).

j.p.

[MKaneJeeves]

Like others said, depends on the cure. You couldn't reverse what happened with the undead since they are technically already dead; best bet would be some biochemical that would speed up their death without somehow not harming live humans if they consume the chemicals. Sort of like the chemicals that killed the rats off of Rat Island or a insecticides a plane drops on a field; you would focus on populated areas and have a plane go over and drop the chemicals on the zombies. As far as not coming back, that would be nice, but it seemed too late at the point the characters were in in Day to be really practical. The main focus first should be eradicating the zombies and then focus on repopulation.

[Neil]

I can imagine them creating an agent that nutralised the condition. I could see them in bio suits fumigating using hand held equipment, and the dead basically keeling over within seconds of exposure to the cloud...

[Mr.G]

I don't think a 'cure' would ever be the next step. The only benefit would be not turning into a zombie...but more than likely you'd still end up dead from being torn apart or blood loss. They military should have just nuked most of the country or the heavily infected areas.

[Danny]

theyd still be less than a dozen people, isolated with no contact against a city full of zombies.

id say the odds were still bad leaning towards unfair.

[Monrozombi]

The only "cure" i could think of that would work would be time itself. Southern Florida, or Florida in general is hot and humid. Give it a year or so and the zombies would just be falling apart and with such a small living population their numbers would dwindle soon enough. Heat, sun, humidity, parasites, bugs would all take their toll on the zombies, eventually they would just rot away and become more of a nuisance then anything. Wait it out, yes its tedious but gives you time to find some sort of innoculation to stop anyone from coming back as one.

[krakenslayer]

In the original Day of the Dead script they do come up with a "cure" of sorts, but things go to shit before it can be put into general usage. It's neither a bio-weapon or a vaccine (for a start, they're not sure that they're even dealing with a biological cause), instead they train and condition zombies en masse to carry weapons and dash out the brains of anyone and anything not wearing a special brightly-coloured shirt. The idea is that since wild zombies do not attack each other, hundreds of the tame ghouls can be dropped off on the mainland and spread out into the landscape, wandering among their undead brothers with impunity, smashing and blasting them, eventually, into extinction.

[darth los]

In the original Day of the Dead script they do come up with a "cure" of sorts, but things go to shit before it can be put into general usage. It's neither a bio-weapon or a vaccine (for a start, they're not sure that they're even dealing with a biological cause), instead they train and condition zombies en masse to carry weapons and dash out the brains of anyone and anything not wearing a special brightly-coloured shirt. The idea is that since wild zombies do not attack each other, hundreds of the tame ghouls can be dropped off on the mainland and spread out into the landscape, wandering among their undead brothers with impunity, smashing and blasting them, eventually, into extinction.


One wonders how well that would have worked. Whether it's other zombies or sky flowers a point comes where they adapt.









:cool:

[Trin]

The best "cure" would be something that en masse deactivates the center of the brain that is stimulated.

Since these reanimated bodies have no fuel source (they don't nourish themselves and they don't absorb energy from any detectable source) it stands to reason that whatever stimulated the brain in the first place continues to stimulate them.

Let's say that it is radiation emanating from something in space. Find a way to shield them from the radiation and you win. Imagine if a zombie walks into your protected base (radiation protected) and immediately falls to the floor deactivated because they lose their connection with their power source. You could safely and easily destroy them by the thousands.

[krakenslayer]

One wonders how well that would have worked. Whether it's other zombies or sky flowers a point comes where they adapt.


:cool:

But how are they gonna adapt to that? Learn to fight each other? Great! Mission accomplished. :D

[Trin]

Even in the script for original Day they had instances of the zombies going off their training. It was as bad a plan as what Dr. Logan was concocting in the movie. And they were not teaching them to battle other zombies. They were teaching them to battle humans not wearing the orange markings.

And I had another crazy "cure-ish" idea. If the part of the zombie brain that is stimulated could be disrupted, even temporarily, with something akin to a Tesla coil that emits a short range electrical signal then you could make a sorta zombie suppressor. If you made it portable (runs on a car battery) you could drive around and the zombies would just fall to the ground within some proximity of you. Scavenging would be easy.

[blind2d]

That's a great idea! Thanks for helping me write my next zombie fic!

[krakenslayer]

Even in the script for original Day they had instances of the zombies going off their training. It was as bad a plan as what Dr. Logan was concocting in the movie. And they were not teaching them to battle other zombies. They were teaching them to battle humans not wearing the orange markings.


The concept was clearly designed to give them a weapon with which they could "sweep" infected areas and clear them. It so just happened to also have the fortunate (for the Governor) side-effect of wiping out any pockets of human resistance that might threaten his power-mad dream.

[Trin]

The concept was clearly designed to give them a weapon with which they could "sweep" infected areas and clear them. It so just happened to also have the fortunate (for the Governor) side-effect of wiping out any pockets of human resistance that might threaten his power-mad dream.Huh.. I didn't get that impression from reading the script. I'll have to give it another once-over after I get some pepto-bismol for afterwards. I always got the impression the governor was training the zombies as an army for use against his enemies, ie other jealous humans. I'm not an expert on the original script by any measure. I've read it a couple times but hated it.

[SRP76]

But how are they gonna adapt to that? Learn to fight each other? Great! Mission accomplished. :D

No. They adapt by realizing they aren't getting fed any meat while they're out "doing the job", and simply say, "fuck this shit; I'm going back to the base and eating those live people".

[Slain]

A low tech cure for zombies would be to ship a bunch of hyenas and vultures over from Africa, and let them eat the zombies. These two animals, and maybe the American buzzard too, are unique in that they are immune from all know pathogens. They can eat the most disease ridden, purified meat imaginable and not get sick.

[krakenslayer]

No. They adapt by realizing they aren't getting fed any meat while they're out "doing the job", and simply say, "fuck this shit; I'm going back to the base and eating those live people".

It would be possible to build some reward element. For example:

Train the zombies to associate a special alarm sound with being fed (a la Pavlov's Dogs), when they drop the zombies off in an area of the city, they also plant an audio device at ground zero. During the day, the zombies are free to roam the area, killing anything that moves. At dusk, once the area is mostly cleared, the device emits the "food" alarm at high volume and all the trained zombies in the area will return to ground zero to be fed.

[sandrock74]

It would be possible to build some reward element. For example:

Train the zombies to associate a special alarm sound with being fed (a la Pavlov's Dogs), when they drop the zombies off in an area of the city, they also plant an audio device at ground zero. During the day, the zombies are free to roam the area, killing anything that moves. At dusk, once the area is mostly cleared, the device emits the "food" alarm at high volume and all the trained zombies in the area will return to ground zero to be fed.


To be fed what, exactly? People?? It won't work.

[Yojimbo]

I say no matter what the cure might have been, if it did not involve the zombies instantaneously keeling over and becoming harmless it wouldn't have made a bit of difference to the group in the cave who were on a one way path to imploding tragically.


I could see it now.


DR. LOGAN
Captain, this cure guarantees that none of us here, neither you nor I, nay not even Rickles will reanimate after expiration. My scientific mission to prevent us from becoming zombies is an ultimate success- say, wouldn't father be proud of me now!!


RHODES
Motherfucker! We fucking would still be fucking dead! You fucking fucker! Fuck you Frankenstein, this is the fucking shit that is supposed to fucking knock our fucking socks off? What the fucking hell? All you are fucking doing is jerking each other off in there, you fucking fuck fuck!!!


DR. LOGAN
Be civil, Captain! Those are my stockings!

[JDFP]

I say no matter what the cure might have been, if it did not involve the zombies instantaneously keeling over and becoming harmless it wouldn't have made a bit of difference to the group in the cave who were on a one way path to imploding tragically.


I could see it now.


DR. LOGAN
Captain, this cure guarantees that none of us here, neither you nor I, nay not even Rickles will reanimate after expiration. My scientific mission to prevent us from becoming zombies is an ultimate success- say, wouldn't father be proud of me now!!


RHODES
Motherfucker! We fucking would still be fucking dead! You fucking fucker! Fuck you Frankenstein, this is the fucking shit that is supposed to fucking knock our fucking socks off? What the fucking hell? All you are fucking doing is jerking each other off in there, you fucking fuck fuck!!!


DR. LOGAN
Be civil, Captain! Those are my stockings!

Jim, I could definitely see that line of dialogue, I'm sure Rhodes (after ensuring that he has his hair properly and proportionately greased and straightened) would think of at least a few good witticisms to throw in there for good measure between all the "fucks" -- and let's not forget Steel, he'd be right behind him to throw in a "Fuckin A' captain!" at the end of the very apt dialogue.

j.p.