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

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.

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.

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

fallout is da boom

I like the book "Earth Abides". "The Stand" is an awesome book too, but it's not really science fiction is it?

Warzone 2100 was quite good (game)

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'.

The Postman was the first book that came to mind. Bloody brilliant.
Have you read any other books by David Brin?

Both the postman and z for zacheria were bloody awesome. Both stuck in my mind heaps.

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.

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.

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

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?

Invert, did you read the Postman, or just saw the movie?

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

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

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

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.

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.

Geez, I just came to the conclusion that a majority of my favorite books are in the Post-Apoc genre.

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

What about Kim Stanley Robinson's 'The Wild Shore'? That's pretty good.

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:
and my all time favorite cowboy society with ray guns!
Last Stand of the DNA Cowboys (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0345358082/qid=1101493308/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-8293309-6600658?v=glance&s=books)
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... ;)

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.

Guthrie, I was one the same reading list for Z for Zacahriah. It got me some reading points because I answered all the questions about it correctly.

I was watching The Matrix today and I really like that post-apoc world. Humans are banding together trying their best to stave off an attack from evil robot forces. The earth is laid waste. And all of humanity is about to perish...great high stakes.

there was a show on sci-fi channel, a movie really, that was about a post-apoc band of guys with a leader with an eye-patch and a mutant and a trader guy. It reminded me a lot of Fallout. Does anyody remember that movie?

-ZERO MASS

Nope. It sounds about as formulaic as they come. Did it involve some large guns and improbably dressed women?

And yes, the matrix is post apocalyptic, with the entertaining twist that it is pre-apocalyptic inside the heads of most of the human population. WHich was a great idea (though only mainstream original I think) for one film, 3 was going a little far.

the brothers had an awesome idea making the matrix, but they did go a bit extreme in throwing that idea all over the place. 3 movies (4 including animatrix, if it really counts...) and 2 games is a bit in excess. and it did scent of B.S. in a few points in the movies.

and yeah, post-apocalyptic life would suck emotionally, but the instinctive overdrive you get when you notice that "you're on your own" is one hell of a rush. The idea of living to extremes just sounds awesome to me, even though I'd probably regret saying that if the time actually came.

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.

Z for Zachariah was naive and riddled with bad science (universally fatal fallout, no drop in radiation levels after a year, no apparent nuclear winter, and the impossibility of one valley remaining uncontaminated when the rest of America was totally sterilized..!) yet still, a nice story. It was a recommended book at my high school too.

The John Wyndham novel about mutants is The Chrysalids, and has to be my favourite post-nuclear tale (though bordering on overly fantastic here and there). I think the author should have set a whole series of novels in that future world, with its endless kaleidoscope of crazily mutated flora and fauna, its countless humanoid races, its re-emergent socities of religious fanatics and pioneers, and of course the enlightened antipodean civilization of telepaths. :cool:

A Canticle for Leibowitz is also outstanding, as others have said. Especially since it is really 3 successive novellas at intervals of 600 years, thus encompassing a grand vision of future history. And the ultimate irony of the monks' dedicated preservation of knowledge and literacy over the centuries, which enables the slow rebuilding of civilization until it finally culminates in another holocaust. :eek:

The 1984 BBC TV movie Threads surely beats all other depictions of a nuclear war and its nightmarish aftermath: for sheer grimness and realism. There is stark and believable radiation sickness, mass mutilation, famine, frostbite, the rapid decay of government into thinly-stretched martial law; and no sign of betterment 10 years on. Not to watched if you are already depressed... :(

Anybody ever see "A Boy And His Dog"? A must for any post-apoc video library. Based on a Harlan Ellison short story.

"Alas, Babylon" is a highly respected PA novel. May be a bit dated now. Like "On The Beach" it's very accessible and realistic, so maybe not as interesting for people well-read in the field (they might not find the ideas new whereas crossover readers certainly should).

It might be worth while to check out a movie called "The World, the Flesh and the Devil" just for historical perspective. Not a great flick, but interesting concept for 1959.

Postman: great book, but (spoiler alert) fairly bad movie that slips down into utter excrement in the ending fight scene. The Bad guy is supposed to have ended the last challenge to his authority in 6 seconds. That's a serious badass rep to have, but he sure doesn't show us any moves as he and Costner grope one another. Matrix style or Jet Li stuff would not be appropriate, but something along the lines of the bar fight from "Shane", or ending of "Streets of Fire" (post apocalypse? Maybe), or even "Rocky" would have helped me to believe that pacifist Costner could beat the general on sheer willpower and determination. Mostly, it's just a case of wasted potential since the book was very good.

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.
This is a huge problem in movies today, like Johnny Mnemonic, for example. They try to make one char into the be-all, end-all badass. Both these stories had in common that the title character was not a butt-kicker. Why is that so hard to accept in film? Dunno.

Check out Blood of Heroes, and maybe Zardoz. Also, a friend of mine was in "World Gone Wild" and despite that, I'd recommend skipping it. Erg.

Book: "O-Zone" by Paul Theroux.

In the not-too-distant future, America has turned into a police state and a rigidly class-obsessed, terrifyingly racist society. On the verge of anarchy, the country is fragmented into many chaotic parts. The Owners, the remnant elite who live in armed enclaves protected by fearsome security forces, feel menaced by aliens also called Roaches, Trolls, Skells, Starkiesall those who lead desperate lives of poverty and despair. A group of eight Owners, including a near-genius adolescent, seek an adventurous thrill in a rocket trip to the forbidden area of the O-Zone, formerly the Ozarks, which has been sealed off following massive nuclear contamination. The experience changes all of them, and a second, secret voyage there has terrifying consequences. Theroux has vizualized every detail of his desolate, all-too-plausible world. His scathing social commentary is powerful and convincing; his characters, while too unappealing to win the readers' sympathy, etch themselves in the mind. This highly literate science fiction is not a pleasant book to read, but it is a significant contribution to the literature of what may be a preapocalyptic world.
Amazon.com

Not an especially GREAT book, but interesting none the less. It's also in the pre-apocalypse genre, whatever that means.

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.


I loved this book, but you've got it a bit wrong! It follows the Ablation Order of Leibowitz, an order of Catholic monks which was founded (Ironically) by a Jew, who happened to be a weapons engineer shortly after the "Flame deluge". The Simplification was a time shortly after the war when people were destroying all remaining technology and books because they wanted to shun the technology which had destroyed them and killed so many. The Monks of St. Leibowitz collected remnants of technology and information from before the Nuclear apocalypse so that they could slowly help mankind rise from the ashes. They end up letting secular scientists take the information and humanity uses the information to rebuild society. . . and nuke themselves to death again! How Ironic! hehe. Very good book. . . lots of Latin, kinda' preachy but it's all good.

Z for Zachariah was naive and riddled with bad science (universally fatal fallout, no drop in radiation levels after a year, no apparent nuclear winter, and the impossibility of one valley remaining uncontaminated when the rest of America was totally sterilized..!) yet still, a nice story.

Yeah. Bad science, but it was more about what such conditions would do to people. How the guy became obsessed with girl. And how the girl couldn't bring herself to kill him in the end and ended up taking his super radioactive shielding wagon and took off into the radioactive wasteland on her own.

And, while the probability of a single area being saved from fallout in such a strong manner, there are areas that are known for having their own weather like that. My home town was one of them. We could watch the summer thunderstorms build in the west, get closer and closer, then suddenly bump off to the north or south then promptly come back into line once it moved east of town. We called it 'the Stanton County Split." And when tornadoes and such hit the neighboring counties and towns, we were always unaffected, and when we got such bad weather the other areas were unaffected.

Weird stuff. But, nothing that would have such a strong affect as in the book. (We used to joke that there was an old indian burial ground under the town or some other bad juju. :p)


And Alas Babylon. Yeah. How to forget that one. Not the most gripping story, but it was good and relatively realistic.


Here's one that I just remembered. Not really what I'd call good literature but it had some interesting concepts.

After the Zap.

It was about a kind of bomb that let out some kind of worldwide EMP pulse that not only fried circuitry but scrambled people's brains so that nobody knew who they were anymore. There was a group of ex-military folk called nukers (or maybe blimpers) that traveled around dispensing small nuclear arms to local 'tribes'. To set off the nuke (which would have to be called a type of suitcase bomb. No missile or anything) there needed to be a code input into the bomb to arm it. The 'football'. But, here's the nifty bit, the 'football' was a child's heart. Usually the chief's son or daughter. It was branded into the inner wall of their aorta and so to set off the nuke the chief would have to cut out their child's heart, slice out the aorta, dry it and prepare it the proper way and then slip it into the device. I have the feeling that the idea is not exactly original, but it is the first place I ever came across it.

Movies :
Mad Max II
Tank Girl

I guess that there are pressure systems that affect towns and certain areas. This could play into a nuclear holocaust by sparing those areas as the fallout would not be carried by the winds if the pressure system created a pocket around it. The water sources in the story were affected as that is a different ecological system.

Fenris, I really liked Tank Girl, I though it was great. Desert wastelands are great, monsters in the desert, short supplies of water. Terrific!

-ZERO MASS

Was Tank Girl the one with anthropomorphic kangaroos?

Can't say I'm a big fan of the Post Apocalyptic scene but I cannot believe that Planet of the Apes has yet to be mentioned here.

yep they were called Rippers, and I think Ice-t played one of them...it is a movie worth seeing

Planet of the Apes is a good one, those bastards "blew it all up" a theme from a lot of P-A flicks

-ZERO MASS

Oh man, Tank Girl was awesome.

I can't believe that 'Earth Abides' hasn't even been mentioned by anybody but myself! Is it because nobody else here's read it, or is it just not well regarded?

Never heard of it. What was it about?

Never read "Earth Abides" myself, thopugh I've heard it involves a general reversion to savagery and cannibalism. Sounds like fairly standard retrograde socialization, already well-established in some post-modern urban communities...

BTW, has anyone read John Christopher's The Death of Grass? That's a sort of soft apocalypse, where civilisation breaks down due to worldwide famine after a mutant grass virus wipes out all major grain crops and animal feed. I could imagine it leading to a Mad Max-type situation, complete with the desert setting...

It is standard post-apocalypse fare, but it was written in the 1940's I think, so you have to allow it a lack of innovation by today's standards. It's about the small group of survivors that gradually accumulates around a rather introverted geography student, and his efforts to preserve scientific knowledge. It has a brilliant melancholy but optimistic feel to it.

This introverted student saviours sounds like the way I used to imagine myself, if anything world-shattering ever did happen! Will have to read the book.

Philip K Dick has written a lot of short stories centered around people after
nuclear war or apocalypse type events. Very nice to read. One features (briefly) a
rat that can play a flute. I think it's one line, but it's genius. He also talks about new
traps to catch mutated animals. The detail regarding these post apocalyptic
world's are amazing. Read some!

Lucifer's Hammer, by Niven, was good. Hard to decide if it is apocalyptic or post apocalyptic.

As for Earth Abides, someone mentioned it early on, so I did not. Good book.

Book: William Brinkley's "The Last Ship", Ballantine Books 1989
Game (p&p rpg): Frank Chadwick's "Twilight:2000", GDW 1984
Movie (term post-apoc used loosely here): John Milius' Red Dawn 1984
Series: Terry Nation's "Survivors" on BBC from 1975-1977