# 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:** 9
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2015, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-series-premiere-tonight-9-open-spoilers/728638/161 "2015-08-26T23:13:25Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > What is the drug that makes folks kill and eat people? There was[video of it](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IczKUyCH2R0)a year or so ago. PCP, and Nick even asked his dealer if he laced the heroin with PCP. > [@carnivorousplant](#): > > As a result of media attention, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a statement saying that the “CDC does not know of a virus or condition that would reanimate the dead (or one that would present zombie-like symptoms).” > > Um Humm. :dubious: But just in [case](http://www.cdc.gov/phpr/zombies.htm). 😉 ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2015, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-series-premiere-tonight-9-open-spoilers/728638/162 "2015-08-26T23:15:23Z")
Please note that the cannibal guy was reported to be on “bath salts” a wink wink marketing term for research chemical stimulants. But in fact when toxicology came back he had nothing in his system but marijuana. ---
**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 26, 2015, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-series-premiere-tonight-9-open-spoilers/728638/163 "2015-08-26T23:33:59Z")
> [@Lightnin](#): > > The “Flu” bit didn’t bother me at all- I thought it actually made a lot of sense. We know from the original series that the zombie virus exists in everyone, it just manifests after you die. Many real-life diseases manifest their initial infection as “flu-like symptoms”, even if those diseases have no other symptoms. HIV, for example. > It actually makes perfect sense for a “flu” outbreak as everyone gets the initial infection, and a school is a perfect vector for some sort of airborne disease. > It’s also possible that the “flu” might actually kill a few people, usually the very young, old, or those who are already sick. This is where we’d get the initial seed population of zombies- a lot of people would go to sleep lying next to their sick family member and wake up being munched on, since that family member died in the middle of the night from the symptoms. > I could see how that could really hasten the spread of the disease, far faster than just shambling-zombie-kills-someone could. > Granted, I’m probably giving the writers a bit more credit than I should, but that’s my fanwank and I’m stickin’ to it. > One bit I particularly liked was that the clean-cut teenage family friend of the junkie turned out to be a cold-blooded dealer. That was a nice bit of misdirection. However, it’s a shame that the writers had him be black and die first. You’ve misunderstood my posts on this topic: I wasn’t objecting to the use of a virus as the plot development that explains the zombie-ism; I was objecting to the way the writers of this show have _handled_ that plot development. That reason–an infective agent–for having most of humanity turn zombie/vampire/what-have-you, is pretty much the default, in recent years: we see it in 2002’s _28 Days Later_, 2007’s _I Am Legend_, and of course 2009’s book version of _The Strain_, later made into a television show. It was advanced as “the reason” for the original modern treatment of zombies–George Romero’s 1968 _Night of the Living Dead_–in the 1985 _Return of the Living Dead_, based on a book by Romero’s Night co-writer John Russo. So the idea has been around for a while, and can make for a very exciting and well-thought-out treatment of the general apocalyptic theme. Or it can make for slap-dash schlock. It’s all in the quality of the writing. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2015, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-series-premiere-tonight-9-open-spoilers/728638/164 "2015-08-26T23:45:37Z")
The only way the FAST collapse of society in TWD franchise makes sense is something causes a lot of death simultaneously everywhere say like 10% of the population being killed off in a short time frame. Society could still collapse in a scenario where only the dead rise but it would take a lot longer. If you’ve never lived through a situation where the power goes down for a week, shit collapses fast as battery backups last 24-48 hours. ---
**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 27, 2015, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-series-premiere-tonight-9-open-spoilers/728638/165 "2015-08-27T00:29:29Z")
> [@MegaNazz](#): > > You’re talking out your ass, Broomstick. The body becomes physically dependent on it if you do it with enough frequency. No, I am not talking out of my ass. I worked at a methodone clinic for four years back in the 1990’s and saw literally thousands of addicts. You, personally, know a couple of deceased addicts? I used to process the paperwork on deceased addicts who attended our clinic. I’ve seen the reports on literally hundreds of dead addicts. The only ones that died in _heroin_ withdrawal (or any other opiate) were those with, as I said, other major health problems in addition to their addiction. > [@](#): > > It’s happened, more than once, to people I knew personally…not friends of mine but just idiots that got addicted and then got pulled out of it through circumstance only to end up passed out and dead while trying to eat a hamburger. So… they weren’t your friends, just acquaintances? How do you know they didn’t have some other problem on top of their heroin addictions? > [@MegaNazz](#): > > Troutman, you actually disproved him because he was saying death from heroin withdrawal is a myth. Like I said, I’ve known more than one person who has died from just quitting and not using something like methadone to get off of it. Do you have a reading comprehension problem? Did you actually read EVERYTHING I wrote in that post, or did your brain lock up at some point? Here, I’ll help you - here’s the entirety of my post: > [@Broomstick](#): > > A heroin junkie? No, they won’t. Can we end that myth, please? Sure, the junkie might fell really crappy, but unless they have some other major, major health thing going on it won’t kill them. > > Now, going cold turkey off a full-blown alcohol addiction, or benzos, that can put you at risk of death. Again - Are you certain that those deceased addicts you knew (as acquaintances, not close friends) didn’t have some other medical problem? Are you certain they weren’t addicted to more than one substance? Because dual addictions can and do occur. As noted, quitting alcohol or benzos cold turkey really does put you at high risk. And sure, if you have a propensity for seizures that could kill you during withdrawal - but seizure are, you know, a _medical problem_ that’s usually considered fairly serious. > [@](#): > > It’s messed up because you think they’re just detoxing or whatever and then they’re dead. Actually, the whole addiction thing is pretty messed up… I suppose we could page **Qadgop the Mercotan** - he’s an actual MD with some knowledge of addiction himself. You won’t have to take my word for it then, but the word of an actual doctor. ---
**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 27, 2015, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-series-premiere-tonight-9-open-spoilers/728638/166 "2015-08-27T00:37:25Z")
> [@](#): > > The attack ended at 2:13 PM with Officer Ramirez shooting Eugene once at first and then another four times when that proved ineffective. The ordeal had been captured by a security camera on The Miami Herald building.[12] The surveillance video shows that the attack continued for 18 minutes before help arrived.[11] So… does it say anywhere whether or not Officer Ramirez’s final shot was to the head or not? ---
**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 27, 2015, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-series-premiere-tonight-9-open-spoilers/728638/167 "2015-08-27T00:45:39Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > So… does it say anywhere whether or not Officer Ramirez’s final shot was to the head or not? Oh, Hell. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2015, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-series-premiere-tonight-9-open-spoilers/728638/168 "2015-08-27T00:46:24Z")
Two more questions, and while I have read the thread entirely, it is still possible I missed it. 1. My wife thought the idea of people turning once they die(bit or not bit) was later in the apocalypse. The black drug dealer died at the end, unbit, and he came back. Did we know this was an immediate part of the zombie-outbreak? 2. I think I asked this already? 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? ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2015, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-series-premiere-tonight-9-open-spoilers/728638/169 "2015-08-27T00:56:28Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > 1. My wife thought the idea of people turning once they die(bit or not bit) was later in the apocalypse. The black drug dealer died at the end, unbit, and he came back. Did we know this was an immediate part of the zombie-outbreak? I think it’s an open question. Some people in this thread think everyone is already infected. I’m guessing some people are infected, but not everyone yet. The show hasn’t revealed enough to know for sure. I didn’t watch the supplemental information during airing, so maybe more was revealed there. ---
**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 27, 2015, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-series-premiere-tonight-9-open-spoilers/728638/170 "2015-08-27T00:56:36Z")
The question of how and why there are so many zombies, as in most of the people in the walking dead Universe, will probably never be answered. Just like how we will never know how billions of zombies keep walking (using energy) with out eating. For months or years. Because it’s a TV show/comic book, not a real world. ---
**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 27, 2015, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-series-premiere-tonight-9-open-spoilers/728638/171 "2015-08-27T12:58:33Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > That reason–an infective agent–for having most of humanity turn zombie/vampire/what-have-you, is pretty much the default I don’t think they’re going with the infectious agent angle in the walking dead universe. The CDC guy showed time lapse images of the effect, but that’s not the cause. For my money, the cause of zombieism is a curse by god. In an instant, every human is imbued with zombieness in their core, such that when they die by anything other than brain trauma they rise again as zombies. Based on the first episode of FtWD, I additionally think that at the moment of this divine curse, some percentage of the population couldn’t handle their zombieness on a physical level, and immediately began deteriorating with flu-like symptoms. Those people – whose bodies simply can’t handle it – will quickly die, turn, and start eating people, which will give us a very large initial population of zombies. That’s how society gets overrun. ---
**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 27, 2015, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-series-premiere-tonight-9-open-spoilers/728638/172 "2015-08-27T13:08:11Z")
I think it is germs from a meteorite. ---
**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 27, 2015, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-series-premiere-tonight-9-open-spoilers/728638/173 "2015-08-27T15:44:00Z")
I blame some twisted writer somewhere … ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2015, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-series-premiere-tonight-9-open-spoilers/728638/174 "2015-08-27T16:52:14Z")
> [@grude](#): > > Please note that the cannibal guy was reported to be on “bath salts” a wink wink marketing term for research chemical stimulants. But in fact when toxicology came back he had nothing in his system but marijuana. The thinking is that what a lot of law enforcement claims to be drug/bath salts/PCP freakouts are really untreated major mental health problems. Someone who’s paranoid, delusional, and manic can be really, really strong and move really quickly. And they can make a hell of a mess. ---
**Author:** ![MegaNazz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/858c86/32.png) [@MegaNazz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MegaNazz)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2015, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-series-premiere-tonight-9-open-spoilers/728638/175 "2015-08-27T17:03:27Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > No, I am not talking out of my ass. I worked at a methodone clinic for four years back in the 1990’s and saw literally thousands of addicts. > > You, personally, know a couple of deceased addicts? I used to process the paperwork on deceased addicts who attended our clinic. I’ve seen the reports on literally hundreds of dead addicts. The only ones that died in _heroin_ withdrawal (or any other opiate) were those with, as I said, other major health problems in addition to their addiction. > So… they weren’t your friends, just acquaintances? How do you know they didn’t have some other problem on top of their heroin addictions? > Do you have a reading comprehension problem? Did you actually read EVERYTHING I wrote in that post, or did your brain lock up at some point? Here, I’ll help you - here’s the entirety of my post: > Again - > Are you certain that those deceased addicts you knew (as acquaintances, not close friends) didn’t have some other medical problem? > > Are you certain they weren’t addicted to more than one substance? Because dual addictions can and do occur. As noted, quitting alcohol or benzos cold turkey really does put you at high risk. > > And sure, if you have a propensity for seizures that could kill you during withdrawal - but seizure are, you know, a _medical problem_ that’s usually considered fairly serious. > Actually, the whole addiction thing is pretty messed up… > > I suppose we could page **Qadgop the Mercotan** - he’s an actual MD with some knowledge of addiction himself. You won’t have to take my word for it then, but the word of an actual doctor. Keep drinking the kool-aid, man. I’m not behind the desk. I’m living with these people. ---
**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 27, 2015, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-series-premiere-tonight-9-open-spoilers/728638/176 "2015-08-27T17:55:07Z")
> [@FXMastermind](#): > > The question of how and why there are so many zombies, as in most of the people in the walking dead Universe, will probably never be answered. > > Just like how we will never know how billions of zombies keep walking (using energy) with out eating. For months or years. > > Because it’s a TV show/comic book, not a real world. Well, that and why they only partly decay. A corpse outdoors in L.A.'s climate (or Georgia’s, for that matter) would be reduced to goo and bones fairly quickly, but for some reason the walkers are immune to this and even to the flies and other scavengers that would normally and quickly converge. ---
**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 27, 2015, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-series-premiere-tonight-9-open-spoilers/728638/177 "2015-08-27T18:05:28Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > even to the flies and other scavengers that would normally and quickly converge. Don’t let the writers see that. They would think that maggots dropping off of a walker would be cool. :rolleyes: ---
**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 27, 2015, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-series-premiere-tonight-9-open-spoilers/728638/178 "2015-08-27T19:01:56Z")
It would be cool! ---
**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 27, 2015, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-series-premiere-tonight-9-open-spoilers/728638/179 "2015-08-27T19:19:21Z")
> [@FXMastermind](#): > > It would be cool! Have you ever considered a career in writing comic books? 🙂 ---
**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 27, 2015, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-series-premiere-tonight-9-open-spoilers/728638/180 "2015-08-27T20:45:10Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > I don’t think they’re going with the infectious agent angle in the walking dead universe. The CDC guy showed time lapse images of the effect, but that’s not the cause. > > For my money, the cause of zombieism is a curse by god. … It’s an interesting premise, but note that neither the show nor the comics on which they’re based have so much as hinted at any sort of supernatural element in the goings-on. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-series-premiere-tonight-9-open-spoilers/728638.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fear-the-walking-dead-series-premiere-tonight-9-open-spoilers/728638.md?page=10)