TERROR TUBE
Z-Nation

By Kraven: The She-Wolf


     Z-Nation, like its counterpart The
Walking Dead, both deal with people
fighting to survive in the aftermath of
a zombie worldwide takeover. Like
The Walking Dead, Z-Nation boasts
some amazing make-up effects on
its living dead actors that can stand toe to toe with any movie make-up effects you’ve seen over the years.
And as with most zombie flicks, the story is loosely based on the idea that the world has gone to hell and is
now over run by walking, flesh eating corpses that Night of the Living Dead made so ground breaking
almost 50 years ago.

    But now this is where Z-Nation and The Walk-
ing Dead part ways for in this show, the lead charac-
ters are not just fighting to survive the end of the
world as they knew it, but are also on a mission.
Z-Nation picks up 3 years after the zombie virus
has taken over the world and turned all its dead into
walking cadavers hell bent on eating the living. In
the wake of this nightmare, some science egg
heads try and create a cure by injecting prison
inmates with a anti-virus vaccine to combat the
disease. But before they can fully test it on their
non-willing subjects they are overrun by the dead
and are all attacked and eaten alive. That’s all but
one.

    Bitten many times but one man known only as
Murphy, survives the attack and becomes some-
thing of a human/ zombie hybrid.  Seeing that he is
immune to being fully turned into one of the living
dead, the surviving government decide to bring
Murphy to a science lab clear across the country
from New York to somewhere in California. It is
there that they think they can use the antibodies in
his blood to stop the spread of the zombie virus
and save the human race from becoming a planet
of the dead.

    As the story starts out, the operation to move
Murphy is one of a military plan but soon as the
defense force in charge of Murphy are killed by the
zombies, the mission is taken up by a rag-tag
group made of a bunch of misfits with a former Pro
Hockey player and his girlfriend, a pot head hippie
and a kid who turns out to be a best damn zombie
shooter in the land. They are all held together by
Lt. Roberta Warren, a former member of the
National Guard. It is she who takes over when the
group’s original commander Sgt. Charles Garnett
is bitten and turns zombie. They are lead through
the zombie badlands by Simon, better known by
his code name Citizen Z, who oversees their trip
from his government watch tower high in the North
Pole. From his computers, he tracks the gang as
they journey across the country fighting the dead
and the undead as they try and get “The Package”
aka Murphy to the government lab on CA.

    Although Z-Nation plays it a little more lighter in its approach like having a zombie tornado making fun
of the movie Sharknado and an never ending rolling zombie tumble weed that pops up now and then the
show plays it zombie kills dead straight. Much in the same way that on The Walking Dead any given cast
member may get eaten and turned into a zombie, the same goes here. Many main cast members as well
as its most known actor Tom Everett Scott (An American Werewolf in Paris), who played the groups
commander Sgt. Garnett, was killed off midway into season one shocking the hell out of me. The zombie
attacks too are not played down and are very violent, graphic and upsetting when it comes to a main
character.

    Unlike the other series, the word zombie is used all the time and if not using the word zombie, the
walking dead creatures are referred to as Zs. Also once a victim is attacked and bitten, it takes only
moments after dead before they are reanimated up and a danger to all making the zombie mayhem even
more insane. Here too, the zombies are not slow moving walking dead but fast running attacking monsters
that are much harder to kill and downright scarier.

    Although it may not have the fan base that The Walking Dead clams, Z-Nation is a fun little ramp into
zombie terror that must be seen and enjoyed by all. In fact, the SYFY channel where it is shown just picked
up the series for a 5th season for a summer 2018 run. If you have never seen this show but love The
Walking Dead and zombie movies, you will love Z-Nation.
Murphy: possibly the cure to the zombie virus
Lt. Roberta Warren: leader of the group
Citizen Z: eye in the sky help for the group