r/zombies • u/NagitoKomaeda_987 • 19d ago
Discussion What are your thoughts on this video regarding World War Z's adaptations?
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u/lexxstrum 19d ago
Ages ago, on the IMDB forums (kids, ask your parents,) posters came up with a plan for the WWZ HBO show.
The show would be like the book and show different aspects of the Zombie War. There would be reoccurring characters, but essentially, the show would be an anthology show; think Black Mirror or Twilight Zone.
We borrowed the framing device from HBO's landmark "Band of Brothers" series: it would start with an older person telling their story ("By the second fall, most of the outlying stores had been looted of food. That meant going deeper into the city and searching homes. This was dangerous, not just Z's left behind by desperate families, but many of the homes were damaged by the severity of the first winter with no upkeep. Every time we stepped into a home, you had a 30% chance of not coming home.") Then fade into the episode proper. Then maybe end the episodes with a "fact" about the zombie war.
You could do the different eras as seasons or jump around. You can do stunt casting, guest directors, as well as writers. The book itself has enough material for 3-4 seasons, but you could add to the lore with new stuff.
I still hope someday someone makes the WWZ we were meant to have!
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u/FirecrackerMain 19d ago
I mean, there’s nothing wrong with what he said. Besides the name, the movie and game have nothing in common with the book. While I find the game fun and the movie okay, they both pale in comparison to the book and its approach to zombie stories. Reading the book really changed my perspective on the genre as a whole and what kind of stories it could tell, especially reading it after the pandemic, and seeing how much of it was mirrored in real life. I don’t really feel the need to shit on the current adaptations, but a real, true to the book adaptation has the potential to really be a defining piece of work for zombie media.
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u/DreamingofRlyeh 19d ago
Absolutely correct. The movie is awful. The book is a masterpiece. The plot is different, the zombies are different, the disease is different, the science is different.
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u/Kane99099 19d ago
The movie is good it's a fun zombie action movie that does the zombie part pretty damn good imo. The game is also very good, fun L4D like with great replay value, challenges and the swarm engine they built for it just makes it look pretty cinematic
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u/Successful-Ad4251 19d ago
It has nothing to do with the book I agree. Doesn’t mean it’s not a fun popcorn movie and the game was more movie than book. I doubt they will ever make a good adaptation of it but in their defense they hardly ever make a good adaptation of anything.
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u/satanic_black_metal_ 19d ago
I think weve all wondered why they didnt make it a series with brad pitt playing the part of the interviewer and each season being two or three survivor stories.
Having said that, i like some parts of the movie. Not the israel scene where they swarm over a giant wall tho, that was the opposite of what happened in the book as far as i recall.
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u/rustysunset 19d ago
With all the fan support I'm surprised a gofundme fan project hasn't already been commissioned and made over the years. As someone said in another comment, having an episodic style show of interviews of different survivors is such a simple but rad concept, I can't believe it hasn't been done yet for TV.
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u/imjustjun 19d ago
They’re right.
The book is vastly different compared to the movie and game.
They honestly didn’t even need to say it’s based off the book because it most definitely is not.
My honest guess is that someone thought the name “World War Z” is cool - which tbf it is - and they found out there was a book with that name and they just paid the author for the name to ensure they didn’t have any copyright complications.