Poking around in io9’s site this week, after their in depth synopsis of Dr. Schlozman’s The Science of Zombies Lecture, I ran across yet another 10 Ten list which the Internet seems to thrive on these days.

This one, however, peaked my interest, as io9 put together a Top 10 list of the Greatest Space Zombies of All Time. “Fantastic” (I Thought) “I’ve always had a soft spot for the melding of classic horror and science fiction that is the space zombie”.

As you are reading this, I’m sure you are aware that Zombies are great - but like classics sometimes we need to mix it up a bit in order to keep it interesting. This was why Pride and Prejudice and Zombies was such a run-away hit. A harsh environment like space gives us fantastic new opportunities to be scared, tense and apprehensive with our traditional zombie stereotype. The space environment also adds plausibility to any extra-terrestrial origin of our Zombies, and gives the writer the opportunity to mix the Zombie with other science fiction elements (like cybernetics).

Zombies loose on a space ship, for instance, could traps all survivors in an isolated area. Because the survivors are unable to escape into the cold recesses of space, they will need to band together - either fighting or sneaking past the Zombies in order to make it to the escape pods.

And that’s just one example.

io9’s list is comprehensive, and like all good zombie resources contains a bunch of references which I have heard of, and agree with their inclusion, plus some I haven’t - giving me some leads for my own Zombie entertainment.

I was especially happy to see the inclusion of the Dead Space Necromorphs, as I believe the Necromorph was one of the best dead army re-imaginings which I have seen in a long time.

I notice some small inconsistency, however, as Firefly’s Reavers were included, which - like the really angry people in the 28 X later franchise are not Undead. I don’t have a problem with their inclusion, but it seems to me if you can include the Reavers, and the cybernetic Mass Effect Husks while excluding the Borg from your list you should probably review your selection criteria.

Also, where was the Space Zombies from the Doom Games? They are in space, they have been in a total of three video games and have made major cultural impact on multiple generations of video gamers. I’m pretty sure they should at least get some sort of honorable mention.

All in all very entertaining article, you can read it here.

Dr Schlozman is an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and a lecturer at the Harvard School of Education - he is also considered the world’s leading authority on the neurobiology of Zombies.

The above lecture was recorded for the Science on Screen lecture series at the Coolidge Corner Theater in Brookline, MA. The lecture was called “The Neurobiology, Physiology and Cultural Overtones of the Zombie Film Genre”

For the lecture, Dr Schlozman studied by watching lots of Zombie films, reading Zombie books, interviewing great Zombie film directors and amassing Zombie merchandise, all tax deductible. I’m very envious.

The science fiction blog io9 has written an entertaining comprehensive synopsis of the lecture, here.

For more Dr Schlozman, you can check out an interview with Woke up Dead here.

I Love Sarah Jane is a wonderful Australian Short film written by Spencer Susser, David Michôd and directed by Spencer Susser under blue-tongue films.

It is a brief snapshot into the lives of a gang of Australian kids and teenagers who have been orphaned by an ongoing Zombie holocaust.

The film is 14 minutes long, and it uses all of that to weave a fantastic story about survival, how different people cope with extreme circumstances with a lord of the flies backdrop. I loved it!

You can watch I Love Sarah Jane in its entirety in the above embedded youTube viewer or on the blue-tongue film homepage.

Underneath It All is a fantastic piece of pixel art created by Eric Poulton for the 2006 Last Man Standing competition at ConceptArt.org.

It’s here because it has a delightful zombie surprise just a little way down the top, or a little way up from the bottom - depending on which way its flipped.

You can view the art here, and check out some of Eric’s other work here - which includes some very cool steampunk work.

(Image from Zentastic.com)

When I bought my (now gone) panelvan I’d considered painting an oldschool mural on the side, something with wild animals and scantilly clad women. Representing the local Department of Zombie Disposal would have been a much better idea and certainly in keeping with the rusted-out post-apocalyptic look of the vehicle. Instead I’ll just have to admire Shannon Larratt’s truck and keep the idea in mind while looking at getting another car.

In case you haven’t heard - Canadian and Australian mathematicians from the The Department of Mathematics at the The University of Ottawa have decided to take the mystery out of the survival promises of the human race when the dead finally have enough and decides to kill us all.

The basis of the paper is this, by creating a mathematical model of the infection rate of the classical pop-culture zombie: slow moving, cannibalistic and undead -we can project our survival rate.

We don’t do so well.

Their paper is one of several (but the only zombie related one) to be included in the 2009 Infectious Disease Modelling Research Progress book, which (according to Amazon.com), has not been released yet - but if you want to pre order a copy you can do so here.

I imagine the authors wrote this paper because they were sick and tired of the mistaken hope that people have that they can survive a zombie invasion. So when the dead actually start walking, and everyone is telling you to run - or pulling out their copies of The Zombie Survival Guide you can point to this paper and say:

“No, no, we are fucked - it’s been statistically proven. We might as well just wait here to die.”

But just how fucked are we?

The zombification model created and used is based on the SIR models for infectious diseases, with some modifications - because, unlike the measles, when you encounter a zombie you have an opportunity to cave their head in instead of becoming a zombie, reducing the effective infection rate of the infected population (ie: stop the zombies by shooting them in the head, they can’t eat you if you made them dead.)

From this infection projection model it is revealed that over a short timescale a zombie infection will result in the eradication of the human civilisation, unless dealt with quickly and severely. As the timescale increases our eventual extinction becomes more and more certain.

“In summary, a zombie outbreak is likely to lead to the collapse of civilisation, unless it is dealt with quickly.”

I’m pleased that they used the classical pop-culture zombie for their modeling, it really enforces that Hollywood’s trend of making zombies more dangerous (ie: making them faster, smarter, stronger) is really unnecessary. Everyone is still going to die anyway - whats the rush?

To read this great paper, click here.

Is there anyone, anywhere who was not forced to read Pride and Prejudice as a child?

I’m sure that you would not be able to find anyone in Australia who hasn’t read it - and I suspect that even on Lincoln Island a copy washed ashore and Harbert was forced to read and write a book report on bits of plants penned in his own blood.

That said, I enjoyed the book when it was an enforced part of my schools curriculum, and can assure you that the addition of zombies to this fiction only improves the story.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is a story about a young girl, Elizabeth, who trained in the deadly arts both in England and trips to the Orient - has her social world turned upside down by the arrival of Mr Darcy, a haughty and arrogant eligible bachelor. And Zombies.

The Meat

You wouldn’t think this story could actually work, but it does -the fusion of the epic courtship of Elizabeth and Mr Darcy set in an olde zombie overridden England results in a book which is more than a zombie book gimmick - and becomes a very an entertaining story in its own right.

There are also illustrations, fantastic old style print illustrations of important plot points during the story. These illustrations add so much to this book, they not only re-enforce important imagery but their style also immerses the reader into the time period that the book was set.

Most importantly the co-author (Seth Grahame-Smith) has also managed to retain the Free Indirect Speach used in the original book by Jane Austen, which ensures the charm and actual point of the original story remains.

The Bones

As the book retains the character and style of the original, if you found the first one hard to read - your going to have trouble making your way through this one as well.

The Taste

Get yourself a copy - because its not only a good story, but it would look great on your coffee table.

I have been reading the Marvel Zombies series as its been released - given the opportunity to see my favorite marvel heroes and villain’s zombified how could I resist?

The catalyst for the creation of a Marvel Zombie universe is the arrival of a mysterious superhero figure in yellow (Sentry - wikilink), who eats a few humans and then bites the first superheros who arrive on the scene - The Avengers - and then promptly disappears.

The Avengers quickly turn, and then proceed to eat every living creature on the planet except other superheros who can survive long enough to turn into zombies themselves.

The Marvel Zombies zombies are unique, as when the infected turn they retain all their cognitive abilities, but are cursed with a hunger which only lessens when they eat enough. Zombie superheros selectively retain their superpowers (For example, Wolverine lost his healing factor) making them more than a match for everyone on the planet.

Soon - there is nobody left to eat.

The Bones

I was really dissapointed with Marvel Zombies 1 & 2. The artwork was superb, but the storyline really failed to interest me. This is because Marvel Zombies 1 & 2 were set after (nearly) all the superheros had turned and all the humans had been eaten and the zombies left are searching for fresh meat - so the story is from the zombies perspective.

It’s cool, and unique, but I really couldn’t get behind the zombies on this one, all I could really manage was an ongoing feeling of horror as the heros tore the flesh off the people they had sworn to protect, with no regret.

The Meat

Marvel Zombies: Army of Darkness, Marvel Zombies: Dead Days and Marvel Zombies 3 on the other hand were absolutely superb series’s.

Of the three, Marvel Zombies 3 stands out as the best in the new series by far.

Marvel Zombies 3 takes place on the Home reality of Captain Mexica, Earth-1519  and the Marvel Zombies Earth-2149 (This might seem a little confusing, because it is. For more information on the Marvel Multiverse click here)

The Zombies of Earth-2149 have found a way across dimensions to Earth-1519, and they start their invasion by sending, my favorite mercenary - a zombified version of Deadpool.

In response, Earth-1519 sends a jaded and angry Machine Man to Earth-2149 to get some blood samples of the original zombie menace, and he then proceeds to tear up every zombie he comes across.

Fantastic.

I loved this new storyline, as it not only involved the threshold stages of the zombie infection, but Machine Man was a fantastic main character. The moment Machine Man realises that in the zombie dimension he can kill as many “fleshies” as he likes without consequence was amazing.

The Taste

As long as you know there is a Marvel Zombies Universe populated by Zombie counterparts of the Marvel Superheros, you can skip Marvel Zombies 1 & 2 and jump straight to #3, the really good one; you can always go back and read 1 & 2 afterwards.

I’ll cover Marvel Zombies: Army of Darkness and Marvel Zombies: Dead Days in later reviews.

Sean reminded us of the dancing zombies in Michael Jackson’s Thriller video. It has come to my attention that there are also singing zombies.

The Bruce High Quality Foundation have been filming Isle of the Dead and if you follow the above link then you will get to hear over 200 zombies sing Summer of ‘69.

I would have thought that if the zombies were the singing type then there could be much better songs for them to sing…

Michael Jackson reportably collapsed at his home Los Angeles with cardiac arrest and died at the UCLA Medical center.

You can find more information about this tragic turn of events here.

You might be asking “Why is this being reported on a Zombie blog?” and the answer is very simple - In my opinion, Michael Jacksons song “Thriller” is easily the most recognisable and best zombie dance ever created.

You can listen and watch the thriller video on his official youtube page here.

Personally I’m going to mourn Michael Jackson’s passing by learning how to dance it.

Here are some resources which are going to help me to just that - a bunch of instructional videos, an image and a fantastic threadless shirt.