Post-Apocalypse Fiction

Discussion in 'SciFi & Fantasy' started by Zero Mass, Nov 22, 2004.

  1. Zero Mass Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    298
    So yeah, I think that this is my favorite form of science fiction.

    Favorite Movie: The Postman
    Favorite Game: Fallout 1 & 2
    Favorite Book (When I was 12): Z is for Zachariah
    Favorite Show: Jeremiah

    I have a few different theories as to why people like to read/see/play like it is the end of the world, but I want to throw it out to everybody here first.

    What is your favorite Post-Apoc movie/book/game/show? And why?
    Why do you like this stuff, what is so darn awesome about it?

    What is your favorite type? There is nuclear destruction, contaminated wasteland, nuclear winter (new ice age) ferile earth, medieval, ocean world, robotic future, alien apoc., meteor destruction, armegeddon (god bitch slaps the world), giant mutant earth, and my all time favorite cowboy society with ray guns!

    Also, who are some of the greatest characters from these worlds?

    holler Back, I am really in the mood to chat about this
    -ZERO MASS
     
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  3. Revolution Registered Senior Member

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    164
    Ok I'll bite:

    Game: Most deffinitly FALLOUT 2, Fallout, Wasteland(back in the 80's) Why: Cmon anyone ever played the Fallout series need not explain! Its just the SH*T.

    Show: gotta go with Jeremiah as well, bought the whole first season. Why: Its a drama set in a realistic post apoc world. It just Clicks....Nuff Said.

    Movie: Postman was good, The Road Warrior, The Stand(Stephen King), (The Day After was a shocking flick)

    Book: Wingman (was a bunch of books) Why: Post Apoc and sorta millitary adventure taking on the factions that were like gangs, trying to restore a new gov.
     
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  5. CounslerCoffee Registered Senior Member

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    I tend to agree. I get a hard-on for movies like The Omega Man or shows like Jeremiah.

    Ever heard of a movie called Night of the Comet? That's a good one.
     
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  7. Kunax Sciforums:Reality not required Registered Senior Member

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    Post-Apocalypse stuff is about rebuilding or making a place of your own, a commen but good foundation

    fallout is da boom
     
  8. Shenzhou Shameless Reductionist Registered Senior Member

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    I like the book "Earth Abides". "The Stand" is an awesome book too, but it's not really science fiction is it?
     
  9. Communist Hamster Cricetulus griseus leninus Valued Senior Member

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    Warzone 2100 was quite good (game)
     
  10. Thor "Pfft, Rebel scum!" Valued Senior Member

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    Favorite Movie: Ooooo...Violence Jack was a good 'un. Equilibrium is a must. Oh, and Returner.
    Favorite Game: Christ on a rope. Neocron, Fallout Series, Warzonne 2100 (as mentioned above), Earth 2150, Tiberian Sun,
    Favorite Book: Last Legionairre series...uhm...haven't read in a while, hang on...
    Favorite Show: All shows about post-apocolypse in the UK tended to be shite Aussie shows about the apocolypse.

    My favourite type is usually Aliens taking over the Earth...nothing like a good human vs far superior race and kickin' some ass. Prefer it when it's the Japs doing it cos the Yanks get all smarmy about it. I would prefer it if they didn't come up to the Brits and said 'Remember when we saved your asses when the Forlogs took over London'.
     
  11. Roman Banned Banned

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    11,560
    The Postman was the first book that came to mind. Bloody brilliant.
    Have you read any other books by David Brin?
     
  12. My Sexy Blue Feet Out sunbaking, leave a msg... Registered Senior Member

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    606
    Both the postman and z for zacheria were bloody awesome. Both stuck in my mind heaps.
     
  13. invert_nexus Ze do caixao Valued Senior Member

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    9,686
    Z for Zachariah was fucking awesome!!!

    For... um... a children's book.
    Been a large number of years since reading it. And the science was a touch shady. But it was still fucking awesome for the age I was when reading it.

    The Tripod Trilogy was cool too. Too be honest, I didn't read it until I was out of the proper age category. I read it as a comic series in Boys Life magazine as a kid, but didn't read the books until just a few years back.

    How about Stephen King's Dark Tower series for some real post-post-apocalypse?

    How about Day of the Triffids for a movie (or was it Night of the Triffids?). Cheesy but good.

    The postman was... Ick. Gay. Worst movie ever. Even worse that Water World. Costner should be hung by the yard arm.
     
  14. Roman Banned Banned

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    11,560
    Invert, did you read the Postman, or just saw the movie? Because the movie mad me want to cut myself. It was one of those things that hurt to watch, but I had payed 1.99, so I might as well get my money worth.

    I too liked the Tripod trilogy, and I'd recommend it, but they're sort of little kid books.

    Battlefield Earth by Hubbard was a masterpiece. The movie was shite, nothing redeeming there, but the book was non-stop sci-fi urethra joy.
     
  15. CounslerCoffee Registered Senior Member

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    4,997
    Indeed. Battlefield Earth was the best science fiction book I've ever read. The movie was the worst science fiction movie I've ever seen. Kinda ironic, eh?

    The movie was based on a book? Was it any good (The book that is)?
     
  16. Roman Banned Banned

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    11,560
    I thought the Postman(book) was very good.

    I think it's my favorite post 70's sci-fi book; but I really haven't been keeping up with the genre.

    What was really great was how it combined a bunch of contemprary ideas and culture into a coherent post-apocolyptic America. A bunch of contemporary factions became their own organizations, though most communities became small, armed forts.

    Favorite Movie: Mad Max
     
  17. Zero Mass Registered Senior Member

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    298
    wow, I can't believe anybody else has read Z for Zachariah, I read that thing like ten years ago, great book. It got me into the genre.

    I really like the idea of living in a society that has fallen and trying to restore order. I am sure that it is what it felt like when the roman empire fell, all the road systems and means of 'civilized' life rotted away, to live in that kind of situation is so interesting to me.

    Yes, Counslercoffee, Night of the Comet was pretty awesome. A good mix of zombie and post-apoc movie.

    I hate every one of you guys that have bad words for Costner, I thought that the Postman (movie) was great. The world has fallen, communication has failed, and people are trying to survive...it was great. the reason why it is one of the best post-apoc films is because it deals with the main theme of all P-A movies, and that is of the indominable human spirit. It goes from higgh levels of semi-magical scenes (the lion, the army of 8 movie scene, and the final army scene) to those of normal human strife (when the men are lined up and shot execution style, the training scene, the final fist fight) and the movie really balances those two styles well, where other films are all one or all the other. also, on a side note, Battlefield Earth was horrible.

    that was my nuts Postman rant, don't get me started on Waterworld...
    Has anybody ever scene Six-String Samurai? That was an awesome one, Also, I am not sure if they count, but I really like Tank Girl and Judge Dredd. Just throwingthose out there

    -ZERO MASS
     
  18. Roman Banned Banned

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    11,560
    The Postman book had all those elements, but was a million times better.
    The leader of the badguys was an augment– a genetically and surgically altered badass, who would have crushed Costner like the pussy he is.
     
  19. CounslerCoffee Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    4,997
    Another good Post-Apoc book that I did not think of was one called The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. It's pretty awesome. A few books of hers (Oryx & Crake) are post-apoc books but are kinda like 1984ish. They have a point and plot, basically.

    There's another book called Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler. That's a good book too. Geez, I just came to the conclusion that a majority of my favorite books are in the Post-Apoc genre.
     
  20. Zero Mass Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    298
    Alright, this post has already had some positive effects. I really like the genre also. The suspense is so high, I love it. My favorite short story ever is:

    The last man alive in the entire world sits in his study reading a book. There is a knock at the door...

    That is awesome, it gives me a chill every time I think about it. WHO COULD IT BE? ARG

    -ZERO MASS
     
  21. Shenzhou Shameless Reductionist Registered Senior Member

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    46
    What about Kim Stanley Robinson's 'The Wild Shore'? That's pretty good.
     
  22. Killjoy Propelling The Farce!! Valued Senior Member

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    5,289
    Books:
    Canticle For Liebowitz - by Walter Miller
    Follows the history of an order of monks established in the "new dark age" brought on by a nuclear war (which they refer to as the "Simplification" and/or "The Flame Deluge") over the span of several hundred years as humanity rebuilds civilization from the ashes.

    Songs From The Stars - by Norman Spinrad
    Post nuclear war tale in which the survivors have split into 2 camps. A "non-technological utopia" encompasing the West coast, and a group attempting to return to "the old days" by recreating the lifestyle and tech developments of the "Pre-Smash" era. They refer to the nuclear war as "The Big Smash".

    Another good book, also made into a movie:
    On The Beach - by Nevile Shute
    An American submarine crew finds themselves survivors of a nuclear conflict.
    They make their way to Australia in an effort to escape the inexorably expanding area of nuclear fallout which is gradually wiping out all life on the Earth's surface.

    Here's one for Zero Mass, who wrote:
    Last Stand of the DNA Cowboys
    Picture Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (and Co.) in the far-flung future.
    I never could find the other 2 books in the trilogy, but this one stands alone well enough.

    I'm rather partial to the "nuclear apocalypse" theme, because it's one we can "manage all by ourselves", so to speak.
    Although I have read a few interesting short stories with the common theme of an alien "visit" effectively "ending the world", but in these cases by virtue of the mere fact of the aliens' arrival, rather than destruction or subjugation being their aim.
    In one for instance, a gigantic crippled alien vessel lands on Earth to effect repairs, but completely ignores the existence of humanity as it's robotic apparatus mine ores, build facilities, and assemble the replacement parts the ship requires - all the while destroying the Earth's capacity to support life as humanity tries in vain to contact, plead with, and at last sabotage the ship before life on Earth is wiped out.

    Other movies:
    The Day After
    Omega Man
    Damnation Alley
    Mad Max (the first film)



    Games...
    hmmm...
    There was once a role-playing game called Twilight 2000 wherein one played members of the members of armed forces effectively turned loose upon the "new frontier" of post-war Europe after WW3.
    I recall we called our bunch "The Future Kings of Switzerland", because our ultilmate plan was to invade it & take over.
    LoL
    OH...!
    and another called Gammaworld, which was full of mutants, monsters, bits of "old" technology & all that good stuff.
    'course, I'm talking about us "old geezers" playing these on the order of 20 years ago...

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  23. guthrie paradox generator Registered Senior Member

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    4,089
    Ahhhh, a while since I read any post apocalyptic books/ short stories, but anyway...

    Z for Zachariah was on school library lists when I was at school (10 years ago) and it was very good.
    I note The day of teh dtriffids has been mentioned, what about "some of Wyndhams other books like "The Kraken wakes" and that one where being a mutant means a death sentence.

    Neville Shutes "On the beach" is a fucking scary story, I havnt met many people who've read it, but it should be compulsory reading for those who think MAD is cool.

    I used to have a fair number of post apocalyptic SF books, but cant find them anymore.
     

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