

#Team z walking dead series#
However, while the two series are clearly related behind the camera, that DNA doesn’t translate onto the screen. Z Nation creator Craig Engler gets a “based on” credit. Black Summer’s other co-executive producer, director and writer, Abram Cox, also did the same tasks on Z Nation. Most of the writing and production staff are Z Nation veterans, with Z Nation creator Karl Schaefer teaming with Z Nation writer, co-executive producer, and director John Hyams to create Black Summer. Lovejoy from The Simpsons, ”Short answer, ‘yes’ with an ‘if.’ Long answer, ‘no’ with a ‘but’.” Black Summer was announced as a spinoff, the Z Nation equivalent of Fear the Walking Dead. Are Z Nation and Black Summer Actually Connected?

Mysterious deliveries of food and supplies turns missions of mercy into killing fields as people fight over precious resources that might never come again, rather than cooperate and share.

Trying to help other people in the world of Black Summer is a great way to get yourself killed or eaten, and every alliance of like-minded people seems to only cause trouble. There’s not even organized crime, just disorganized gangs killing and dying over canned goods. If the government exists and is giving orders after the first episode of Black Summer, no one is listening. There might be a gang of five or ten people, but they’re certainly not looking to set up a farm stand to sell their crops. There’s no such organization or overwatch in Black Summer, which is six weeks to three months or so from the start of the outbreak. Why You Should Watch Black Summer on Netflix By Ron Hogan Essentially, Z Nation is the point in which the apocalypse stopped being terrifying and started to just be very inconvenient. Sure, people die along the way, but the major plot is a mission of hope and the ability to save the world. It might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it tended to find the correct balance between gore and fun, akin to Zombieland, while still maintaining an overarching plot where the survivors were trying to get the only person immune to zombie bites to the last-known CDC facility in California. That’s why when Netflix announced a Z Nation spinoff titled Black Summer, the name promised something diametrically opposed to the story of Murphy and company. That’s the word the survivors came up with to describe the first summer of the zombie outbreak in which 95 percent of the world’s population died off, and it’s clear from even a cursory glance at that percentage that Black Summer was no laughing matter, even if zombies could be. Z Nation was never going to reach the ratings heights of The Walking Dead, but unlike the series it effectively mockbusted, it was fun, inventive, and never afraid of being funny in between ominous mentions of the events of the “Black Summer”. The show did well enough to make it five seasons, morphing from something that straddled the line between campy fun and a character study with surprising depth considering its origins. Or at least they must make money because when The Asylum was looking to branch out with original ideas not echoing upcoming big-budget movies, Syfy was willing to take a gamble on Z Nation.Īs far as Syfy titles go, Z Nation was a remarkable hit. Typically these movies end up on Syfy where they’re successful enough that the company makes money. These kinds of films are an acquired taste, but they’re usually low budget fun with some sort of twist on the concept being mockbusted. Mockbusters are movies with titles like Transmorphers or Paranormal Entity that are designed to fool people into either making accidental purchases on home video or becoming intrigued enough to stop scrolling. Independent film company The Asylum is best known, perhaps unfairly, for its “mockbusters”.
