Why The Big Bang Theory is actually a Prequel to The Walking Dead

"One of us, one of us..."

Yeah, you probably wouldn’t think those two shows had anything in common. One is a comedy about a group of nerdy scientists and their socially awkward attempts to fit into the world around them. The other is a harrowing drama about people trying to survive in a world decimated by zombies. But if you watch both series there are quite a few clues that show how those not so innocent scientists led to the rise of the Walkers.

1.)           Steve Yeun

"I would rather live in the South
than deal with that nut anymore."

One of the main characters in The Walking Dead is Glenn, played by actor Steve Yeun. Coincidently, before Steve got cast in this plum role, he had a small role on an episode of The Big Bang Theory. In a flashback episode, Steve plays Sheldon’s former roommate before Leonard moved in. Now how does this in any way connect to The Walking Dead? Actors play different roles all the time. But what if this isn’t a different character? Glenn is surprisingly skilled at survival in the world of The Walking Dead. He’s quick witted and good under pressure. Almost as if he has survived a traumatic experience prior to the zombie apocalypse. A traumatic experience like having to live with Sheldon Cooper. Despite his many annoying habits, Sheldon does like to be prepared. FOR EVERYTHING. He has drills and contingencies for so much. Also it is conceivable that after putting up with all that, Glenn would want to get as far away from that as possible and he would move from Pasadena, California all the way to Atlanta, Georgia.

2.)           Science

"Back off man, I'm a scientist."

At the heart of The Big Bang Theory are scientists. These characters are geniuses in their chosen field. And this is important because most likely the virus that causes the zombies was created by a group of genius scientists. People who both know how viruses work and how they could possibly affect the brain. Specifically a microbiologist (which is Bernadette’s specialty) and a neurobiologist (which is Amy’s specialty). Now you might think that creating such a thing as a zombie virus would be too unthinkable a thing for people as sweet and kind as Bernadette and Amy to do, you would be wrong. Bernadette has mentioned several times on the show that she has done some pretty messed up things in the lab (combining Ebola with the common cold just as an example). And Amy has “joked” many times that she would like to dissect her friends simply out of pure curiosity. These two evil geniuses could easily get together one afternoon and play around with some new viruses in the lab.

3.)           Fear The Walking Dead

If the zombies don't get you,
The Hipsters will.

Now while I am theorizing that The Big Bang Theory could be a prequel to The Walking Dead, AMC already did release a series that is a prequel. And guess what? It takes place in California. Just like The Big Bang Theory. Fear The Walking Dead deals with the beginning days of the zombie outbreak. When we tune in to The Walking Dead it is Rick Grimes waking up after being in a coma for months and the zombie apocalypse is well underway. Fear The Walking Dead deals with a world where zombies are just starting to appear. It is a rare occurrence. And since most of the news reports and encounters with zombies seem to be in Cali, specifically Los Angeles, we can assume the outbreak started there. Or perhaps it started in nearby Pasadena, where the characters from The Big Bang Theory live. Being a current California resident (residing in Burbank myself) I can tell you that it is not hard to get from Pasadena to LA. But LA is a large metropolis so probably there would be greater panic over zombies showing up there than in the quaint little Pasadena so LA becomes the perceived ground zero, when in fact it should really be 2311 North Los Robles Avenue (the primary residence of Leonard and Sheldon).

4.)           Penny and/or Wolowitz

Okay, it is easy to imagine Amy and Bernadette cooking up the zombie virus, but how would such a virus get around the world. On The Walking Dead it is revealed that everyone is infected. Every single person has the virus in them and it just takes their death for it to activate and resurrect them. So how did the rest of the world, or at least the US, become infected. Well there are two possibilities. The first involves the loveable yet not as bright as the rest Penny. While originally on the show Penny was an aspiring actress, this past season has seen her become a drug sales rep. This particular career requires her to travel a lot. She would make the perfect carrier for a disease that is intended to infect a large population. Every airport, train station and taxi cab she gets in or out of infects another huge group of people who in turn infect others and who in turn infect others more. Not to mention all the various doctors she will infect who will pass the disease on to their patients.

The second possibility is Bernadette’s husband Howard Wolowitz. A brilliant engineer and astronaut, he could design some sort of device that could distribute the virus in a low earth orbit. Possibly both methods are used seeing the length to which the virus has spread in the world of The Walking Dead.

5.)           Sheldon

There is one problem with the idea that Amy, Bernadette and Wolowitz would team up to release a zombie virus upon the world. All of them are too nice. They could never do something so heinous as infect the world, even if they were experimenting out of scientific curiosity. But someone in their group of friends would. Sheldon Cooper has been described more than once throughout the series as a super villain in the making. And he is not above messing the lives of others if it suits his needs. In simple, Sheldon would absolutely release a zombie virus on the world. He might even do it simply because he was playing the Resident Evil video games and wanted to see if he could transfer the skills from the game to a real life scenario.

"Can I eat my own brains?"

So there it is. It is completely conceivable that at the end of The Big Bang Theory we will see Sheldon Cooper unleashing the zombie apocalypse. Or quite conceivably Daryl and Rick could run into a horde of walkers that consists of four nerds and a pretty blonde. Perhaps Michonne will decapitate a still lecherous dead Wolowitz. Either way, it is worth watching both series to see how they unfold and reveal more ties to each other. Bazinga!

Sex With Aliens Is Always Awkward

If you have ever read any science fiction stories or watched any movies or TV shows in the genre, you’ve come across Aliens. It’s one of the major pillars in the genre. Writers love trying to figure out what life will be like on other planets. And for the most part, it’s pretty dull. Something like 90% of all aliens portrayed in films and TV tend to be some form of humanoid. Most look exactly like humans. And even more than looking like humans, they all seem to have a similar anatomy to humans. Judging by the number of species that Kirk managed to bed down with, the Vagina is universal. But if you really look at examples of aliens presented by fiction, sex with aliens seems like it would be a horrible and terrible experience.

Reproduction

Now we use the term “sex” but when it comes down to it, this is all supposed to be about reproduction. Making babies. And in order for there to be sex between two species, sex must be a part of reproduction. And there is no guarantee of that. Look at the Xenomorphs from the Alien series. They reproduce through a parasite attaching itself to a host and infecting them with an alien embryo that will mature inside the host. Nothing “sex”-like about that. You can be male, female, neuter, merely a biological organism. That’s just one alternative to sexual reproduction. But chances are more alien species would develop an alternative to male/female sexual reproduction. So before you even have time to find the intergalactic equivalent of Spanish Fly, you’re being used as an incubator for a parasite.

Age of Consent

A year is 365 days (also 525,600 minutes for you theatre fans). But that’s just on Earth. On Mars a year is 687 days. The point is that different planets have different measurements of time. So if you told a Martian (for the sake of this argument we’ll say there is life on Mars) that you were 18, in reality you are telling him you are 9 and a half. Also while it is considered pretty universal in human society that 18 is a mature adult, not everyone has matured when they reach that age. Some people age slower or mature sooner. And aliens might have even more rapid or protracted lifespans. On the TV show Star Trek: Voyager there was an alien race called the Ocampa that only lived 9 years (9 years their home planet, 9 years Earth time, they never quite explained). The point is she aged rapidly. And yet despite being only 2 or 3 years of age on the show, engaged in sexual relationships with several crewmembers. Regardless of her actual age, she was considered mature enough to engage in relationships. Apparently the unofficial motto of Starfleet is “If there’s grass on the field, play ball.”

Genitals

You can’t talk about sex without talking about genitals. They’re an important part of the process. And assuming that species all reproduce the same, even if there are male and female members of a species, there is no guarantee that they will have complimentary or corresponding genitalia to yours. On the popular TV series Babylon 5 (no matter what Sheldon Cooper says) it is revealed that the Centauri, an alien species, have six. Six what, they never say. But when Centauri have sex they use six, increasing the amount used to increase the sexual intensity. Now as a red blooded American male, I have one. I know what that one is for and have no idea how that one is supposed to correspond with five other things. Also returning to the Ocampa, who  give birth out of their backs between the shoulder blades. Which leads one to believe that they have vaginas on their backs? Staying in the Star Trek universe, in The Undiscovered Country, Kirk kicks an alien in the kneecaps and is told that he in fact hit the alien in his possible alien balls. This presents a whole new problem trying to find the G spot if you also have to find the Q, X, Z, and # spots as well.

STDs

"Again?"

Women love a man in uniform. Even if that uniform looks like pajamas with pieces of jewelry attached. Throughout the Star Trek series, each show had a member of the crew who was always drowning in ladies. Kirk was it on the original enterprise. Riker took over on Next Gen. Doctor Bashir and Worf both seemed to do pretty well with the ladies on Deep Space Nine (though I might give special mention to Odo). And of course Tom Paris and Harry Kim were serial daters on Voyager. So with all this sex one has to wonder, did any of these people get an STD? The future of Star Trek is filled with an amazing amount of medical science, but people still get sick. And despite the fact that illnesses aren’t supposed to cross the species barrier with the ease they seem to do in the future, sickness is rampant in the future. But we never see a scene where someone walks into sickbay, talks to the doctor or activates an EMH (which is what I’d do because you could erase its memory) and say “It hurts when I pee.” There was an episode of Voyager that had a Macro-Virus (a virus that grows to enormous size) on it. I dread to think what that would be like as a venereal disease.

Mating Habits and Reproductive Cycles

Okay, forget everything above. Let’s say you are disease free, have corresponding genitalia to your mate, and have found someone of the same sexual persuasion as you. You still have to approach this potential interstellar friend with benefits. Which is not as easy as one might think. Vulcans mate once every seven years of their natural lives. They literally go insane until they bust a nut or draw blood. If you want to date a Klingon, they draw blood right to begin with. A Klingon will bite a potential mate on the cheek. 50 Shades of Grey is heavy petting compared to the Klingon Kama Sutra (if there is Klingon Shakespeare, there’s got to be Klingon sex manuals). And that’s just two examples from one sci-fi universe.

Hybrids

 While sex is fun, the real purpose of it, as stated in the first example, is procreation. Which is sadly a bad idea for humans and aliens to do. Even if you get through all the above problems between aliens and humans in order for you to be a happy couple with your alien love mate there is a major problem. Sterility. It has been observed among many animal species on earth that when two genetically compatible animals mate, the offspring is usually infertile. That is to say they are incapable of having children themselves. These are animals that at least come from the same gene pool, with a common ancestry some where in its evolutionary history. For two completely alien species to mate it would probably be impossible for them to even produce offspring, let alone offspring that would be infertile.

So there you have it. Alien sex is awkward, gross, pointless, and in many cases dangerous. Stick to earthlings or your right hand. It may be less fun but you’ll live a longer and more fulfilling life. If you must engage in sexual congress with an alien, be sure to program the code for titanium condoms in your replicator and make sure your sickbay is stocked up on antibiotics. And keep a phaser close by.

6 Reasons Why A Contemporary Version of The Breakfast Club Would Not Work

The cinematic masterpiece The Breakfast Club is considered by many to be one of filmmaker John Hughes best works. A story of five vastly different high school students who bond over the course of a Saturday detention session. The lesson of the film is that these characters that think they are different, in reality, aren’t. They are all portraying a role assigned to them by their peers, parents, and teachers. They are more than just the cliques they belong to and portray. It’s a cute tale from the Eighties. Unfortunately, the Eighties is where it belongs.

Like many of Hughes’s films, they seem to portray a simpler time. True, his films are not period pieces from some bygone era. His best works are from a mere 20-30 years ago. Hardly the blink of an eye in the grand scheme of things. But for human society, a lot can change in just a handful of decades. And that is why The Breakfast Club would not work if set in our Post 9/11, 24 Hour News, Social Media, Streaming Video world. The archetype versions of the characters presented in the original film simply don’t exist anymore.

The popular perception of the American Teenager has changed greatly since The Breakfast Club first met that Saturday morning years ago. Filmmakers like Larry Clark (Kids, Bully) showed a hyper-sexualized teen party scene involving multiple partners, rape, and the free exchange of STDs. And horrible incidents like Columbine had teenagers perceived as potential time bombs just waiting to go off.  And sadly a modern version of The Breakfast Club would have to be populated with those modern teens.

Only in the 80s

First of all, there are some things about this film that right off the bat makes no sense. Why in a fairly large High School are there only five people in Saturday detention? Also why are the only five people in detention white as the freshly fallen snow? This movie is supposed to take place in a suburb of Chicago, a fairly large and ethnically diverse metropolis. This isn’t the Deep South where some schools still try to employ segregation. Could it be that the Principal of this school is a closet racist and in another part of this school there is a group of five African American students and five Latino students, all of different backgrounds going through their own bonding experience? And if there was, when are we going to see those movies? (Sadly John Hughes was unable to make them before his death).

Claire; The Princess

As portrayed by Molly Ringwald, Claire was a rich sophisticated popular girl. She comes off as a bit of an oversexualized bitch, but as we the audience get to know her, we find out she has deep thoughts, is still a virgin, as is attracted to the criminal nature of Bender. In short, she is much more interesting than her character would suggest.

Sadly in our current class obsessed culture, that would not be the case. Rich people are evil as portrayed in modern fiction. The only times rich people are not evil are when they are using their vast wealth to fight crime (thank you Batman and Iron Man). Otherwise, rich people tend to be the token bad guys. Or at best they are self-obsessed narcissists like in The Social Network. Because our good guys are the underdogs, having to struggle for everything in life giving them much needed character and drive.

If anything, the new version of the Breakfast Club might reveal that it is Claire who got all the others in trouble and being forced to have to spend their Saturday in detention. Claire would have had her Daddy make a call to the principal whose job would be threatened and she would spend the day doing drugs and screwing her boyfriend, probably one of the members of the Brat Pack in College. Maybe Rob Lowe. Because while 80s Claire was still a virgin, modern Claire would be the promiscuous teen she was accused of being. The constant sexual imagery bombarded to modern day teens, Claire might even have a scandalous sex tape floating around.

Brian; The Brain

In the original film, Brian is kind of a nothing. So much focus is left towards developing potential romances between Andrew and Allison, and Claire and Bender, that Brian is left kind of ignored. Which is probably why he ends up actually doing the essay assignment that is their punishment. Which also allows him to get that final word in at the end of the film, explaining the ultimate lesson to us the movie goer. He is innocuous and so when he makes that final revelation, it is just that more powerful.

But in our contemporary reality, Brian would be an ultra driven future success story. It is already established in the John Hughes Version that Brian is a good student and loving son. The revelation that he has a fake ID so he can vote says much about his character. He cares about maturing.

Modern Brian would be getting ready to launch his startup app for the iPhone. Something involving ridesharing or food delivery or something people always need. He’s not even in college yet but he’s already thinking about his future financial empire. Most likely Brian is in detention because he was caught trying to buy cocaine from Bender, something to keep him awake during those long programming sessions.

Andrew; The Athlete

One would think, Andrew being a jock wouldn’t be that much different today as it was in the 80s. We hear about Andrew being pressured to win by his father, him bringing a huge amount of food with him to detention in order to maintain his muscle mass, you could see such a character still existing today.

Except with the huge industry that revolves around student athletes today, Andrew’s need to succeed would be much greater. It is doubtful he would even be in detention if he was any kind of star on the athletic team. His coach would get him out, or the principal would forgive him, so that Andrew would not lose valuable training time.

Obviously for Andrew to even be in detention he would have to have done something serious. Not the mean spirited prank he is in for in the original film (taping a guy’s butt cheeks together). More likely he violently attacked a fellow student. And the source of his rage is obvious; steroids. Andrew’s need to be a successful athlete would force him to turn to illegal substances. Despite the fact that he is destroying his body, no one around him cares as long as he continues to win.

Though Andrew might even have been doing steroids in the original film. If you watch that scene where he is running around the library after hotboxing it in the records office. That is not the behavior of someone who has just smoked pot. He is wired and aggressive, the opposite reaction most have to marijuana.

Allison; The Basket Case

While the movie refers to the character of Allison as a “basket case” in reality she is what we would refer to now as “Emo.” Black clothes, kind of quirky, but definitely not the mentally damaged vision the term “basket case” brings to mind. And even by the end of the movie, she has put on make up and changed clothes and made herself to look rather attractive. She develops a relationship with Andrew and is no longer quite the weirdo she was at the beginning of the film.

Modern day Allison would probably be cutting herself, on several different medications, and would not be in a normal High School. Someone who is constantly threatening to runaway from home would be in some sort of Psychiatric care. While in the John Hughes movie she jokes about having an affair with her shrink, in the modern version she might just actually be.

Bender; The Criminal

Bender is the character that would not survive at all into the remake of The Breakfast Club. In the 80s you could get away with having a character that was a “Criminal” but was actually just a trouble maker and disrespectful. In the reality of the film, Bender was just lashing out because of the abuse he felt from an overbearing father at home. If anything, his hijinks were rather tame. Very much what you would expect from John Hughes’s vision of a “Criminal.”

In a post Columbine world, Bender would have shown up to The Breakfast Club with a sawed off shotgun and/or a semi-automatic weapon. There wouldn’t be a fun scene of Bender sharing his weed with the recent of the Detention. Bender would have smoked some Crystal Meth before blowing off Richard Vernon’s head. He would stalk the halls looking for Claire, who was his target all along, taking out Brian and Allison along the way, Allison being an easy kill as she mutters to herself in the fetal position on the floor.

Andrew might try to confront him in a fit of ‘Roid Rage but would be knocked out with the butt of the gun before being shot. Bender would then take his own life, saying “No Dad, What about you?” Carl the Janitor would be left to clean everything up after the calling the cops.

And that is the sad modern version of The Breakfast Club. No Claire and Bender romance; No Allison and Andrew romance; No fun dancing after sharing marijuana. And definitely no “Don’t You Forget About Me” with Anthony Michael Hall voice over. Just a lot of sad people, with sad lives, ending tragically.

Sincerely Yours,

Not The Breakfast Club.

Batgirl 41 and Why The Variant is Not Offensive

If you’re not a comic book reader, this entire blog entry will probably mean absolutely nothing to you. But read anyway because I feel like there is a bigger issue here than just a bit of art. Recently DC Comics decided to pull a variant cover for its upcoming Batgirl #41 at the request of the artist. I can understand why the artist felt a little skittish about this work of art going out into the world. It basically shows Batgirl being held at gunpoint by The Joker, who smears a red smile across her clearly terrified face. The image is meant to pay homage to The Killing Joke, one of the greatest Batman stories ever printed.

My decision to write a blog about this particular issue is that it seems to have sparked a debate about sexism in comics. Now while I will agree that there is sexism in comics (in DC comics a lot specifically) I don’t feel like this cover is an indication of such. The cover is trying to capture a terrifying moment in Barbara Gordon aka Batgirl’s life. The moment she was paralyzed (and possibly molested) in the pages of The Killing Joke. This is further emphasized by the Joker wearing the same tourist outfit he wore in that comic. So it is understandable that any image referencing this comic would be a bit disturbing. This is the most horrible moment in Barbara Gordon’s life. She would be terrified by any interaction she’d have with the man who violated her in such a manner, The Joker.

Now to be fair, the ultimate decision to pull the issue came from the artist. As a creator myself I am always for control of media by those who produce it. IF the artist has a change of heart about his own artwork then he should be allowed to state his opinion. My main issue with this are the people who are trying to turn this cover into something it is not, and that is an exploitation of women. Or worse, making light of rape. Neither of those issues seem to be the case. This is solely an issue of a super villain being depicted as terrorizing a hero. This is what villains do.

The Joker has been presented in horrific fashion in many issues before. He has murdered and tortured Batman AND his allies. Why is this one depiction of him terrorizing Batgirl special? Batgirl is as much of a hero as Robin or Nightwing or Batman himself, yet only because this one issue depicts her being terrorized is their any sort of uproar. Why? Is it because she is a woman? Well then isn’t that more sexist than treating her like all the other heroes in which she shares a world with? Shouldn’t people who are advocates for equality want to see a female hero depicted just as her male counterparts? Batgirl is terrified, but so would anyone be if they were being held at gunpoint by the Joker.

 

I’m not saying I want to see an increase in female heroes being terrorized by villains, not at all. I am merely asking people to look at comic books as a whole. Women have made huge strides in comic books recently. Ms. Marvel, Storm, Silk, Spider-Gwen, these are some of the most popular comics on sale at the moment and they are all titles featuring female heroes. A Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers, not the Kree Mar-Vel) and a Wonder Woman film are both in production to be released in the next few years. Women are making big steps in the comic book world. But if writers and artists feel like they need to tiptoe with how they portray women in their comics, that advancement will come to a halt.

One of the major signs of equality are men no longer feeling like they need to treat women with kid gloves. For female heroes to be seen as just as strong as male heroes, they need to be also shown as just as vulnerable. And one sign of strength among super heroes is for them to go through tragedy and come out the other side. Barbara Gordon may have gone through horrors at the hands of the Joker, but she has still managed to be a hero. The variant cover of Batgirl #41 does not exploit that fact, it celebrates it.