# Fear the Walking Dead series premiere tonight @ 9 (open spoilers **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 23, 2015, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-series-premiere-tonight-9-open-spoilers/728638 "2015-08-23T21:08:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2015, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-series-premiere-tonight-9-open-spoilers/728638/201 "2015-08-28T01:43:33Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Isn’t that supernatural? > :dubious: Isn’t _what_ supernatural? Your post seems to take the way I defined supernatural, and then ask if what I said I meant by ‘supernatural’, is what I meant by ‘supernatural’. (And the answer to that is Yes.) But if not, then perhaps you can expand on your question…? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2015, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-series-premiere-tonight-9-open-spoilers/728638/202 "2015-08-28T01:49:19Z")
😕 > [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Interesting, but why does inflicting even a relatively minor brain injury (i.e. one that wouldn’t necessarily kill a healthy not-dead human) cause the whole system to instantly collapse? Walkers take relatively mild taps to the skull (assuming the skull doesn’t instantly collapse like an rotting watermelon) and it’s lights out. The Walking Dead zombies have been rotting away for months. It doesn’t take much to punch through the skull and stop the brain, like shooting the guy in the head finally in Fear the Walking Dead. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2015, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-series-premiere-tonight-9-open-spoilers/728638/203 "2015-08-28T01:51:40Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Interesting, but why does inflicting even a relatively minor brain injury (i.e. one that wouldn’t necessarily kill a healthy not-dead human) cause the whole system to instantly collapse? Walkers take relatively mild taps to the skull (assuming the skull doesn’t instantly collapse like an rotting watermelon) and it’s lights out. Well, whoever was working on the nano project didn’t want the nanos screwing with a person’s brain and changing their personality or mental functions. That’s why the nanos only reboot the brainstem and lower brain functions like movement and eating - that’s the only part of the brain they have access to. And it’s a very tenuous access. So relatively little disruption of the brain will result in a loss of their control over the entire body. And yes, I know TWD creators don’t want to address why there are walkers - that doesn’t matter. It’s still fun to speculate. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2015, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-series-premiere-tonight-9-open-spoilers/728638/204 "2015-08-28T02:11:49Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > It’s still fun to speculate. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2015, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-series-premiere-tonight-9-open-spoilers/728638/205 "2015-08-28T02:25:50Z")
[Some kills are easier than others.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQEz0E3SH2Q) ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2015, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-series-premiere-tonight-9-open-spoilers/728638/206 "2015-08-28T14:42:28Z")
The CDC had been working with samples of a “walker virus” to discover a cure for the disease. In Wildfire (season 1, episode 5) - _The group continues on, arriving at the CDC building, where a scientist, Edwin Jenner, who isolated himself while running tests on the walker virus, has just lost his only virus test sample and is considering suicide._ In TS-19 (season 1, episode 6), - _Dr. Jenner explains to the group, using a computer model called Test Subject 19, the process in the brain that takes place when a person is bitten and then partially revived as a walker_. > **[The Walking Dead (season 1)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Walking_Dead_(season_1))** > > The first season of The Walking Dead, an American post-apocalyptic horror television series on AMC, premiered on October 31, 2010, and concluded on December 5, 2010, consisting of 6 episodes. Developed for television by Frank Darabont, who wrote or co-wrote four of the season's six episodes and directed the pilot episode, "Days Gone Bye", the series is based on the eponymous series of comic books by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, and Charlie Adlard. It was executive produced by Darabont, Kirkman, _Dr. Jenner discusses his findings about the outbreak and the disease. He shows an MRI of his wife, Candace, as Test-Subject 19 since she was infected and what the result of the infection was._ > **[Center for Disease Control](https://walkingdead.fandom.com/wiki/Center_for_Disease_Control)** > > The Center for Disease Control, abbreviated as CDC, is a building within Atlanta, Georgia that the survivors attempt to reach in Episode 5 of Season 1, "Wildfire", in a desperate attempt to obtain assistance and aid from the government. The CDC was... ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2015, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-series-premiere-tonight-9-open-spoilers/728638/207 "2015-08-29T04:24:15Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Wouldn’t a zomibe outbreak take over the earth in less than a week? How many zombies does each one have to make for the earth to be mainly wiped out in a week? A quick bit of Excel work - If you start with 1 zombie and they can bite and turn 1 zombie per hour, the number of zombies effectively doubles hourly, in a series - 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 etc. As its exponential at the end of 24 hours you have nearly 8.4 million zombies [=entire London or NY]. You would exceed total world population by 34 hours from start. Of course this relies on lots of stuff happening, and distance becomes a real impediment if quarantines could be enforced. But this is on 1 effective bite per hour, which seems modest in a dense urban environment where chaos is breaking out. How long would it take police / army / Australian Border Force to mobilise to create barriers that could stop the walkers? And if they were those quick little buggers like in World War Z or 28 Hours? Being exponential, if nothing is done in the first low-rise hours then its going to get really bad really fast. From the sounds of the show, they are showing that there is a half-arsed attempt to suppress the dead, leaving enough time for more acting but not an effective counter-measure. ---
**Author:** ![BrassyPhrase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea666f/32.png) [@BrassyPhrase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrassyPhrase)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2015, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-series-premiere-tonight-9-open-spoilers/728638/208 "2015-08-29T08:29:07Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > That ambiguity was intentional; you’re not supposed to be able to tell if it’s a walker or weirdo. They are trying to make the point that when walkers start appearing, people will think they are just weirdos. I really saw that shot as a shout out to _Shaun of the Dead_ where Shaun is on the bus home (which has to stop b/c traffic issues from zombies) and before that he sees some odd guy chasing pigeons in a park they pass. (While half the people on the bus look half dead themselves.) It’s a quick shot while you’re figuring out ‘something is odd here.’ That may have been a shout out to a shot in something else as well. I don’t know every zombie movie in the world. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2015, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-series-premiere-tonight-9-open-spoilers/728638/209 "2015-08-29T09:25:36Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > The CDC had been working with samples of a “walker virus” to discover a cure for the disease. And… what’s to say a nanobot is largely indistinguishable from a virus? Or they’re just assuming it’s a virus? Don’t mess with a good but completely baseless theory! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2015, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-series-premiere-tonight-9-open-spoilers/728638/210 "2015-08-29T13:34:47Z")
If we’re going to get all sciencey, this type of condition is probably more likely to be caused by a Prion than a virus. They already affect the brain and are harder to cure. ---
**Author:** ![cerberus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cerberus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cerberus)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-series-premiere-tonight-9-open-spoilers/728638/211 "2015-08-30T01:33:00Z")
The 28 Days / Rage virus model makes sense if you want a viable zombie - the infected have a metabolically normal body with a cluster fucked brain. For the Romero / dead / un dead / not alive, mostly zombies , logic mostly departs the building, unless the zombifying vector infuses the entire victim - a zombified cluster fucked brain is useless without an active nerve/muscle network, this is arguably embodied by the Resident Evil T virus. But the usual ghoul/zombies in the tradition of Romero and others, it’s magic. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-series-premiere-tonight-9-open-spoilers/728638/212 "2015-08-30T02:58:28Z")
Didn’t hold my attention at all. Hated the druggie kid and wanted him offed. I’ll give it another ep or two, but other than Kim Dickens, this thing seems to be a stinker. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-series-premiere-tonight-9-open-spoilers/728638/213 "2015-08-30T19:23:12Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Epidemics start slowly, with one or two cases, spread slowly at first, _then_ explode. This isn’t really much different. Except this isn’t starting slowly. We’ve already seen a perfectly healthy, unbitten drug dealer die from a gunshot wound and then rise as a zombie. Because everyone is already infected. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-series-premiere-tonight-9-open-spoilers/728638/214 "2015-08-30T19:47:25Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > Except this isn’t starting slowly. We’ve already seen a perfectly healthy, unbitten drug dealer die from a gunshot wound and then rise as a zombie. Because everyone is already infected. Our first two deaths have been associated with drugs. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-series-premiere-tonight-9-open-spoilers/728638/215 "2015-08-30T20:00:15Z")
Don’t forget the old man in the hospital. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-series-premiere-tonight-9-open-spoilers/728638/216 "2015-08-30T20:32:04Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > Don’t forget the old man in the hospital. Well, Hell. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-series-premiere-tonight-9-open-spoilers/728638/217 "2015-08-30T20:38:31Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > Don’t forget the old man in the hospital. What the … wasn’t the accident victim on the freeway video a death? Then he rose up biting, from off a stretcher? ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-series-premiere-tonight-9-open-spoilers/728638/218 "2015-08-30T20:56:31Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > Don’t forget the old man in the hospital. The one that died and didn’t turn. Which kinda invalidates your theory… OK, he didn’t turn on camera and admittedly we don’t know for sure what happened. But I just re-watched that scene and basically he flatlines, they try to resuscitate him and fail, then the doctor says “This gentleman needs to be downstairs NOW” (he also makes the comment before that “There’s too much we don’t know”). So while the urgency to get a dead person to the morgue certainly indicates that they know something has been going on, I still maintain that it’s completely implausible everyone could have been infected at exactly the same time. Recall the figure I cited earlier - under normal circumstances about 150,000 people die every day globally, probably a large percentage in hospitals. If your theory were correct then that would mean at _least_ 150k walkers popping up on day one and there’s just no way something like that would or could be kept under wraps for any amount of time. ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-series-premiere-tonight-9-open-spoilers/728638/219 "2015-08-30T21:02:31Z")
If the morgue was set to below freezing, it would take care of the zombie problem in the hospitals. Frozen zombies can’t move. Because they are ice, solid. Something the original series hasn’t ever shown. Yet. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2015, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-series-premiere-tonight-9-open-spoilers/728638/220 "2015-08-30T21:17:28Z")
> [@FXMastermind](#): > > If the morgue was set to below freezing, it would take care of the zombie problem in the hospitals. Frozen zombies can’t move. Because they are ice, solid. > > Something the original series hasn’t ever shown. Yet. Isn’t a morgue refrigerator temperature rather than freezer? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-series-premiere-tonight-9-open-spoilers/728638.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-series-premiere-tonight-9-open-spoilers/728638.md?page=12)