The Walking Dead: The Gilligan’s Island effect
As we move toward season 8 of The Walking Dead, the more communities we see the more it becomes necessary to start developing new technology.
Sometimes it’s hard to tell who has it worse: The cast of The Walking Dead, or the cast from Gilligan’s Island. We’re talking the characters from those shows, of course. On the one hand, the folks living on that famous “desert isle” weren’t being chased by zombies, but they did have their own set of challenges given that they really had to build everything out of coconuts and bamboo. The Walking Dead has its zombies, but each community has its own set of creature comforts by the bygone era before the dead started walking.
Though we know the Professor on Gilligan’s Island was really good at making radios from coconuts, it seems that it’s time for technology to start developing on The Walking Dead.
Any of the communities fortunate enough to have solar panels have been blessed with electricity. Negan himself delighted in flipping the lights on and off, as well as watching the water turn on and off in the sink. Though factories still exist, the number of skilled laborers, craftsmen and inventors who know how to build things is scarce. The solar panels will eventually go out, and what then? (Incidentally, that’s what Daryl was getting at when the gang first arrived in Alexandria – best not to get too comfortable because it never lasts)
People like Eugene who have some kind of technical knowledge and skills are valuable. Not only can he manufacture bullets, but he can (probably) do all kinds of things if he puts his mind to it.
We need more Eugenes.
Everything from car batteries to radio batteries will eventually go out, which means a new power source should be created. (Anyone remember making a battery out of a potato? They should bring those back!) Gas will be used up, forcing the development of new fuels.
The reason the castaways on Gilligan’s Island were able to survive as long as they did (and I mean this in a very tongue in cheek way, of course) is that they had the Professor who was always creating new items. The world of The Walking Dead has become one part Dark Ages, reverting to spears and bows and arrows instead of guns, and one part hanging on to what’s left of modern technology.
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- Will Morgan Jones find Rick Grimes in The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live spinoff?
- Watch Tales of TWD actress Jillian Bell in Prime Video’s Candy Cane Lane
After All Out War, it’s time to see the start of another Industrial Revolution. Standing in between the past and the former present isn’t going to do much as the survivors look to their futures.