Walking Dead and Romero zombie differences

[Ragnarr]

Even the zombies in the GAR trilogy weren't terribly consistent. You had the initial zombie who attacked like a maniac in the beggining of NOTLD, used a rock to smash the car window and chased down the road with pretty good speed. You had the shambling, at times comically inept zombies in Dawn, and you had several varieties in Day, some very fearsome and quick (think the ones they were removing from the pen via rod and reel) However, I don't think it's been established in TWD that everybody comes back. Have I missed it? If so when and how was that revealed? My point exactly. Being that there were unanimated corpses seen in the traffic jam in the early episodes of season 2, this means that they died of reasons other than being bitten and were NOT reanimated. Therefore, this is not the GAR type of reanimation. TWD zombies spread the virus through bites (or possibly through infecting drinking water if the zombie-in-the-well banter has any merit).

[bassman]

However, I don't think it's been established in TWD that everybody comes back. Have I missed it? If so when and how was that revealed? Not in the television series, but this is the case in the source material which will most likely transfer over to the television series. We've just yet to see anyone die under non-walker circumstances. The bodies sitting in the traffic jam were just a goof that naturally we've over-examined as if the creators put them there as some kind of clue. They were just set decoration....

[darth los]

They need a new decorator then. The creators are obviously zombie fans at or above the same level we are. If we can see this shit then are we to believe it somehow got passed them? It just comes off as sloppy and lack of attention to detail.

[Gemini]

The bodies in the cars could have offed themselves with a bullet to the brain. However, in my mind there's no way shamblers take over the planet in a bites-only scenario. Too slow, easily contained, and particularly the zombies in TWD seem to take forever to come back.

[shootemindehead]

My point exactly. Being that there were unanimated corpses seen in the traffic jam in the early episodes of season 2, this means that they died of reasons other than being bitten and were NOT reanimated. Therefore, this is not the GAR type of reanimation. TWD zombies spread the virus through bites (or possibly through infecting drinking water if the zombie-in-the-well banter has any merit). You're making assumptions that the corpses in the cars weren't killed by some sort of head trauma though. If their brain is destroyed, they won't reanimate.

[babomb]

Kirkman himself in an episode of "Talking Dead" says that freshly dead corpses are much more agile than the ones that have had time for their muscles and tendons to rot away. IMO, this is the only way to maintain some realism in the whole reanimated corpse event. Based on Jenners assertions that a small part of the primitive brain reactivates, causing them to operate on pure instinct, also follows suit with that line of reason. I like Romero zombies to a degree, but sometimes they appeared too much like hypnotized people from the old days of monster movies. You'll see the ones in NOTLD(original) to walk with their arms straight out, with stiff legs. They don't feel pain, so they would move as fast as they could with no regard to muscle and tendon damage, probably fall alot because of that. I never liked the "mysterious" aspect of the way Romero zombies came back to life. Bites causing the reanimation makes much more sense than some strange radiation from a venus probe. What kind of radiation would cause that? Not any we know of or deal with. -- -------- Post added at 12:16 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:04 AM ---------- However, in my mind there's no way shamblers take over the planet in a bites-only scenario. Well, not if everyone knows and understands the "rules" for the Romero zombies. But that would never be the case. The phenomenon would be dealt with in a more medical-clinical way. Bites would be treated as wounds initially, and people wouldn't be shooting family members in the head because they got bit on the hand. It's not the bites themselves or the shamblers that take the planet by brute force. It would come down to our inability to deal with the problem the way it needs to be dealt with that causes our demise. Which is much more plausible than mysterious radiation. The radiation scenario poses much more "sci-fi" implications. Because, such radiation would likely be engineered to cause the reanimation rather than it being a "coincidence". So then, who created the radiation? Extra-terrestrials? God? That has much more far reaching implications than human error.

[darth los]

Bites would be treated as wounds initially, and people wouldn't be shooting family members in the head because they got bit on the hand. It's not the bites themselves or the shamblers that take the planet by brute force. It would come down to our inability to deal with the problem the way it needs to be dealt with that causes our demise. Now that's something i always thought as well. Dr. Foster spends the first 10 minutes of dawn ranting about it. At that point they were 3 weeks into it and as he said they were unable to check the spread of the phenomenon due to issues of morality. It's not even the fact that they didn't deal with their loved ones while they were bit but still living. They problem was after they died and turned they were still unable to bring themselves to do what had to be done. They didn't even want to turn the bodies over to the gov't. The denial of what was really happening coupled with the refusal/inability to act lead to virtual extinction. However, to me this is not plausible in a bites only scenario where it would seem that there would be a patient zero and thus a ground zero or region that can be contained and dealt with by the gov't. In an anyone who dies comes back scenario it's happening everywhere all at once. That is not something the gov't could handle. They would need citizens to act and we see how that turned out. Which makes me think of a point not often brought up. In notld Gar tried to have it both ways. On one hand it's clearly established that the bodies of the recently dead are returning to life and attacking the living which would imply the everywhere at once scenario. On the other there's a point in the film where the reporter states that reports indicate that it's confined to the eastern third of the united states, so far as they know (which is key). Don't know about everyone else but I got a sense by the end of the film that the possies roaming the rural area had the situation under control.

[Ragnarr]

You're making assumptions that the corpses in the cars weren't killed by some sort of head trauma though. If their brain is destroyed, they won't reanimate. True. I suppose they could have been waiting so long in that traffic jam that they banged their heads against their steering wheels until they died. I know that's what I want to do in most bumper-to-bumper traffic around here.

[darth los]

True. I suppose they could have been waiting so long in that traffic jam that they banged their heads against their steering wheels until they died. I know that's what I want to do in most bumper-to-bumper traffic around here. Well played sir.

[FunkyPertwee]

I also wonder if the walkind dead zombies have the incredible fear of fire that GAR zombies do.

[Legion2213]

And the zed in the tank, as well. I f*cking love the way he "re-activated" when Rick dropped in there next to him...like a dormant machine! As for differences, simply staying quiet and out of sight seems to work well in the WD setting (TV anyway). These walkers don't seem to have the GAR "sixth sense" that always draws them to human outposts.