Interesting New Apocalypse Ideas

[Joose]

I was listening to the Rooster Teeth podcast on my way in this morning, and they mentioned the concept for an apocalyptic thing they are writing. They didnt go into details but the basic idea seemed to be that everyone in the world dies if they fall asleep, like a widespread version of Nightmare on Elm Street, and the story is about the survivors trying to stay awake whilst they find a way to beat it. It struck me as a really good concept, but then I realised I pretty much only thought that because it was an apocalyptic event that hadnt already been done to death in the movies.

Nearly every apocalytic story (or post apocalyptic for that matter) I can think of follows one of a surprisingly small number of themes:

Nuclear War
Virus
Zombies
Insane AI
Aliens
Rocks fall, everyone dies
Really Shitty Weather

Sometimes they mix it up a bit by combining one or more of these themes, but thats largely it. There are *some* exceptions. The first one to come to mind is the excellent comic Y: The Last Man, where everthing male on the planet falls over dead simultaneously except for one guy and his monkey (for complicated reasons that sort of make sense). And then theres....er....No, actually, thats the only one I can think of that doesnt follow the above. Oh no, wait, Day of the Triffids: Most of the planet get blinded by a freak meteor shower and the rest get nommed by plant monsters. Thats pretty original.

Im sure there are others out there. Are there any you can think of that I could check out? Or even just ideas for apocalyptic scenarios that havent been covered already? Just to be clear, I dont mean apocalypse as in "the absolute end of the world, entirely, seriously, everyones dead dave", but more "the end of the world as we know it in some probably violent and certainly horrible way".

One idea that im surprised hasnt been thoroughly used up already: The Rapture. Im sure you could make some badass stories about a world where all the nice people suddenly up and vanish simultaneously.

Other ideas that come to mind:
Freak sunspot activity renders all electronics around the world suddenly and permanantely fucked.
For a really unusual take on apocalypses: people stop dying. Theres nearly 160k people die every day worldwide, it wouldnt take that long for the sudden increase in population to be a massive problem.
Something other than god damn zombies again: maybe a similar idea but with a werewolf plague, or ghosts or something.
Everyone starts becoming exponentially hungry. Kind of like a zombie film once the normal food runs out I suppose, only everyone is in the same boat and fully aware of what they are doing.
CERN actually does make a black hole after all and it is very slowly eating away the world like some sort of planet cancer. Survivors in the states stare out at the rapidly retreating sea with accompanying "water down the plughole" sound effects.

OK, I'll stop now.

[Mr. Johnson]

I was gonna say Y:the last man, but you beat me to it. I liked that comic so much I bought all the (pretty damn expensive) hardcover editions.

[Dog Pants]

I can think of some more:

The Langoliers - like the black hole thing, robots eating the world to clean up as time moves on
Maximum Overdrive - Aliens turn all our machines against us
Mad Max - Fuel crisis leads to economic collapse
There was another one similar to Day of the Triffids where a passing comet causes everyone to disappear, buta few people survive by various virtuous circumstances. Something like The People the World Forgot.
Also, wasn't the nobody dying thing the plot of Miracle Day in Dr Who?

Personally I'd do a plague of Lotuses. The world is overrun by sports cars.

[Joose]

Also, wasn't the nobody dying thing the plot of Miracle Day in Dr Who?

Was that a Torchwood thing? I never watched past the first series. I may have picked up on the idea from the advertising or something I suppose.

Personally I'd do a plague of Lotuses. The world is overrun by sports cars.

[friznit]

Yeah, noone dying was Torchwood. They started incinerating people alive who had disabilities. It was actually pretty good.

Humans losing the ability to reproduce after a massive ballsack microwave incident would be an interesting one, done from the point of view of the last ever baby to be born.

[ProfHawking]

Wasn't that done in Children of Men?
good film btw

[HereComesPete]

Wasn't that done in Children of Men?
good film btw

They certainly did no more people being born. Well, apart from the one.

[Roman Totale]

One idea that im surprised hasnt been thoroughly used up already: The Rapture. Im sure you could make some badass stories about a world where all the nice people suddenly up and vanish simultaneously.

I think the Left Behind series has already got that one pretty well covered.

I'd like to see a setting where time starts to move backwards. It has been partly covered by Kurt Vonnegut in Timequake - people from the year 2001 are jumped back to 1991 and forced to re-live the last 10 years, but they can't change anything and go through it all knowing exactly what's about to happen to them. But for a truly apocalyptic version it could be a true regression in time - buildings get dismantled, the population shrinks, and slowly everything starts to devolve (good news for the birds in that case).

Or maybe some quirk in natural selection - the only people to survive a pandemic are those with, for example, a severe mental handicap. If it was a slow pandemic you might even be able to see the shift in society as those with a natural immunity rose in profile and public standing, and therefore re-shaping the path of humanity.

Apathy. It's the least exciting apocalypse ever - people just can't be bothered any more. Hygiene drops off, disease follows, industry collapses, cities left neglected turn to rubble and eventually the last few people left alive just mope around (and try to avoid each other so they don't have to start up a conversation).

[HereComesPete]

Apathy - Idiocracy.

[Roman Totale]

I could never be bothered to watch that.

[Dog Pants]

I'd like to see a setting where time starts to move backwards.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNWGcYcBklE[/media]

those with, for example, a severe mental handicap. (...) those with a natural immunity rose in profile and public standing, and therefore re-shaping the path of humanity.

Watch Saturday night TV and tell me this is not already happening.

Apathy. It's the least exciting apocalypse ever - people just can't be bothered any more. Hygiene drops off, disease follows, industry collapses, cities left neglected turn to rubble and eventually the last few people left alive just mope around (and try to avoid each other so they don't have to start up a conversation).