Xombie

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Screenshot from Xombie: The Animated Series
Screenshot from Xombie: The Animated Series

Xombie is a series of Flash cartoons produced by James Farr[1] that Wetsand Animation is producing a feature-length animated film based upon.[1] Farr has said that his reason for using Flash as his medium was its economity.[2]

Xombie tells the story of a little girl named Zoe, who washes ashore several decades after a zombie plague has wiped out most life on Earth and replaced it with bloodthirsty reanimated versions of the planet's previous inhabitants. She is saved from a swarm of zombies by Dirge, a "variant", a zombie who has retained their conscious mind and the ability to think like a human. (According to the official website, the variants are called "xombies", but the term has yet to be used in the series itself, likely because it is pronounced the same way as "zombie".) Dirge takes it upon himself to perform one last good deed before his zombie body withers away and begins a journey to reunite Zoe with the few remaining live humans and save her from a gruesome death at the hands of the undead. Recently, James Farr has released a book displaying the events of the first saga the series, entitled Xombie: Dead On Arrival, which can be purchased at Amazon.com. There is also a six issue comic book series called Xombie: Reanimated, the first issue being released April 2007. It will be the second part of the intended Xombie trilogy.

Contents

[edit] Chapters

The first chapter is hosted exclusively on the official Xombie website, while the rest are hosted on Newgrounds. These animations make up the bulk of the Xombie series:

  • Chapter 1 The Dead Sea
  • Chapter 2 Cadillacs and Cadavers
  • Chapter 3 Grinding Organs
  • Chapter 4 Relics and Reptiles
  • Chapter 5 The Exhibit, Reel 1
  • Chapter 5 The Exhibit, Reel 2
  • Chapter 6 The Hands of God
  • Chapter 7 Thunder and Lightning
  • Chapter 8 Death under Wraps
  • Chapter 9 Falling Forever
  • Chapter 10 Hallowed Grounds (coming soon)

There are also some comic-like strips on the official Xombie website, which tell what happened in the events before the animation chapter "The Dead Sea". These are called "Xombie: Breathless":

  • Page 1 Eyes on the Water
  • Page 2 Enough Surprises
  • Page 3 No Worries
  • Page 4 The Shot
  • Page 5 A Cold One

[edit] Story

Xombie: Breathless
The Earth has been over-run by a plague, which turns all forms of life into the undead when they die, roaming and searching for the living to feast upon (in typical Romero Zombie fashion). The remnants of the living take shelter in various shelters (it is unknown how many of these shelters exist), hoping to survive. Chronologically, the "strips" take place before the actual animated series.

The date is November 17th, 2042, and the time is 9:42 PM. A helicopter is flying above a mass of water, when one of its occupants, a young child named Zoe, is clinging onto a rope ladder. Squid tentacles arise from the sea and try to grasp the helicopter. The Helicopter breaks free, but Zoe loses her grip and falls into the water below. An undead sea creature tries to devour her, but fails, and Zoe sinks more into the water, with her teddy bear. In the helicopter now are only three people; a woman named Zora, Zoe's mother, a miltary man (named Soran), and a pilot. The military man refers to the woman as "Dr. Elgin", and orders the pilot, "Daschle Branch", to turn the vehicle around. They search the waters from above for around half an hour, but find no sign of Zoe. Feeling the search is in vain, the "Lieutenant" orders branch to return to "Acropolis" (a Human survivor shelter). Whilst on their course, Lieutenant and Branch talk, stating that "the reef is officially cold" and they reveal that they have been on some sort of rescue mission, and Zora and Zoe were the only survivors.

Then, at 10:29 PM, an undead Human shoots at the helicopter - the single shot that is fired lands in Branch's chest - 3 minutes later, he becomes an undead, but is quickly killed by Lieutenant, only to have Zora point out the fact the pilot is now dead.

Xombie: Dead On Arrival
"Dead On Arrival" observes the struggle of Zoe, after falling from the helicopter in "Breathless", and her friendship with Dirge and Cerberus, both of which are undead. Dirge is a "variant" (he retains his intelligence and does not feast on living beings), Cerberus is merely a well-trained dog from his past life as a police dog. Every paragraph below here is for each different episode.

Zoe wakes up, washed ashore onto a beach. Dazed and confused, she walks away from the beach, and sees a huge city in the distance (Destiny City), and the road leading up to it riddled with wrecked cars. She hears music, and proceeds towards its source, which turns out to be a nearby graveyard. She stands at the enterance, and shortly afterwards, people are shown coming forward in the distance, and hands sprouting from the ground. To her horror, they are revealed to be reanimated corpses and are coming closer to her. However, a man jumps over the tombstone behind her and he fights off the zombies, with nothing more than a shovel. He turns to her, but overwhelmed with what's going on, Zoe faints. The man, who is actually an undead himself, mutters "perfect" to himself at the sight of the child. Enter Dirge, a "variant".

During the time she is unconscious, Zoe has a flashback of herself and her teddy bear sinking in water. She awakens, to find herself in a crypt and the man that saved her life is sat near her, reading "Theortical Neuroscience" and "Do Dead Men Dream?". Dirge reveals that he preserves himself, and his dog, in embalming fluid as to not decay. Zoe is still nervous of her mystery saviour, but he assures her that he won't eat her, stating that if he were going to, he'd have done it already. Zoe tells Dirge her name, but once asked where she came from, she replies that she doesn't know - Dirge himself also has the same problem - all Dirge remembers is rising from a grave. In fact, he wishes to help her find other living humans, and they leave the crypt and proceed to the local scrapyard, where they "borrow" a Cadillac hearse and travel through the ravaged Destiny City, but eventually end up driving over a cliff due to a mass a zombies, and land on the enterance of a circus.

Zoe has another flashback - sinking in water, watching her teddy above her. Awakening, Dirge tries to restart the car, but to no avail. Zoe asks "Why do zombies eat people anyway?" and to this, Dirge claims that some believe they are nature's way of "starting over from scratch". They decide to get out and look around with stealth, but Cerberus, Dirge's dog, accidentally triggers off an amusement machine, which shouts loudly through the circus, awakening the undead within and even a huge zombie that manages to overwhelm Dirge. Zoe uses Dirge's shovel to make an 'air ride' cart drop on his head, killing him. From a distance, a silloutte of a woman, holding a Scythe, and a Velociraptor dinosaur watch them move out of the circus on foot.

On a cliff, Zoe and Cerberus relax whilst Dirge injects himself with a fluid, from 'Destiny Medical', and he tells Zoe that zombies don't feel any pain at all. Zoe believes that this is a positive trait and complains that she has a headache. Dirge then makes it clear to Zoe that by her feeling pain she is reminded that she is alive, and thus it should be welcomed. They proceed to Destiny City on foot, and a futuristic flying device is observing them. Dirge, Zoe and Cerberus come across a museum and enter, much to the dismay of Zoe. Inside, they encounter the Velociraptor from before and Dirge fights it off, and then impales her on an exhibit skeleton. A woman enters the room and apologizes for dinosaurs' behaviour, and welcomes them, but also congratulates them that they are the first 'people' to enter the building in over 20 years.

She introduces herself as Nephthys, an ancient Egyptian who is, like Dirge, an undead variant. They enter a different room, to escape the dinosaur which is now trying to free itself. Zoe has another flashback, but now remembers being in a boat on a large mass of water with a helicopter overhead, and a burning building in the distance, Ward's Reef Prison (this is shown on a map that is provided in the FAQ by the serie's creator). A rope ladder is thrown down form the helicopter and a women aboard shouts something. Before Zoe can grab the ladder, tentacles sprout from the water below. Dirge and Nephthys discuss their "variant" status, but says that she doesn't know much more than he does. Meanwhile, the flying probe that was following them previously has arrived and enters the main hall of the museum, spying on them.

Nephthys walks over to a computer, and opens its files whilst telling Dirge that the undead are caused by the Necrosis germ, and activates itself 1-5 minutes after the body dies, re-animating the subject to 'life', but with no memory or intelligence - Dirge and Nephthys are a one-in-a-billion chance, because the Necrosis that has taken over their body did so too quickly. Dirge looks upon this as a curse, but Nephthys takes this as a second chance at life. Nephthys inquires about Zoe, and Dirge tells her that he's taking her to the nearest shelter, but she reveals that the shleter has better defense than he thought and there's no chance of him living with her. Nephthys warns him that there are other worse things to worry about than the undead. They proceed, without Nephthys, into the main hall when three large robotic enteties smash the window-dome above them, and drop down in front of them. Before any of them have time to react, the three 'cyborgs' (refered to as "The Hands of God" and "Xar-Ggothua") have weapon-targetting lasers pointed at their heads.

The Xar-Ggothua recognise Dirge as a variant, and analyze him, discovering that he preserves himself with embalming fluids. They state their Hands of God title to them, and say they are here for matters of 'weapons disposal'. Dirge yells that they are un-armed, to which they reply "you are the weapon". One of the Xar-Ggothua hints that Dirge may have met them before. Their apparent leader is about to reveal Dirge's real name, but is interupted by the dinosaur, now fully released, and they use this chance to escape the building. Outside, Nephthys has prepared a Cadillac Hearse for their getaway. They jump in, and they drive onto a highway but the Xar-Ggothua actually have a flying aircraft and are in hot pursuit. No way to out-run them, Dirge exits through the coffin-door of the car and jumps up to the craft (nick-named "Vulture").

Dirge lands on the Vulture, bouncing off the front windshield and grabbing hold of a fin. He climbs back onto the windshield just as they enter a tunnel. Dirge starts to beat on the Vulture using his shovel. The Xar-Ggothua activate one of the ships turrets and fires on Dirge, who quickly smacks it away. He then grabs a second turret with his chains and points it down at the cockpit. When the Xar-Ggothua activate the second turret, they end up shooting themselves. Dirge them jumps from the Vulture back into the Hearse and commands Nephthys to speed up. They are able to make it out of the tunnel just as the Vulture blows up behind them. The scene then changes to another of Zoe's flashbacks. She is now hanging from a rope ladder from the helicopter. A giant squid creature is attempting to pull the copter down, as well as Zoe. The copter is able to break free, ripping out the squid's tentacles. Zoe, however, loses her grip and falls into the water. As she sinks, a group of undead sharks gather around her. One shark tries to eat her, but is missing its lower half, letting Zoe pass right through. An undead humpback whale then appears, letting Zoe grab one of the spears stuck in its body. The whale then takes Zoe to the beach where she first woke up. Zoe wakes up back inside the Hearse. She walks outside to see a large city, the Acropolis. Seeing a helicopter parked within the city, Zoe says "Mom...." in a low voice. Nephthys explains how the city's defense turrets are programed to kill a zombie, but not a human. b analyzing body temperature, or lack thereof. Knowing that this is probably the last they will see of each other, Zoe gives Cerberus a hug goodbye and procceds with Dirge to the city gates. The Xar-Ggothua then appear coming out of the tunnel.

As Zoe and Dirge make their way toward the gates of the Acropolis, something squeaks and talks. It turns out to be Zoe's teddy bear, which Cerberus had found on the beach where Zoe first woke up. Zoe asks Dirge if he could stay with her, but he refuses, saying that only the living are allowed there, which he isn't anymore. Zoe promises to make the people there see that he is more than just a Xombie. Meanwhile, Nephthys meets the Xar-Ggothuas face-to-face. The Xar-Ggothuas identify her as a Variant and procced to kill her. After a short battle, two out of the three Xar-Ggothua are dead. The last one's armor breaks and reveals its face underneath. Seeing this, Nephthys freezes long enough for a saw blade that the Xar-Ggothua launched earlier to cut her in half. Dirge notices that there is a problem and tries to get Zoe to go to the city. Zoe hesitates, still wanting Dirge to stay with her. Dirge tries to explain, but is suddenly impaled by a barrage of tentacles, possibly from the lone Xar-Ggothua.

Dirge fights with the last Xar-Ggothua, as Zoe flees throguh the bio walls to the city. The Xar-Ggothua pierces Dirge's chest, then grab zoe. However, she pulls a cord on her bear, and it remarks "State your password". She whispers, "Wake up Wolfgang," and throws it at the Xar-Ggothua, where it speaks again and says "good morning" before it explodes. She falls off the bridge from the force of the explosion, but Dirge swings in on his chains and picks her up to drop her at the front gates. The Xar-Ggothua stands back up, his left arm and shoulder now missing, and Dirge rushes through the bio wall, activating the guns, which fire at him. He reaches the Xar-Ggothua with the bullets trailing in hot-pursuit.

Xombie: Reanimated
Xombie: Dead End

[edit] Awards

On Newgrounds:

  1. Xombie: Chapter 8, Daily Feature, 10/10/06
  2. Xombie: Chapter 8, Weekly Users' Choice, 10/11/06
  3. Xombie: Chapter 7, Daily Feature, 2/1/06
  4. Xombie: Chapter 7, Review Crew Pick, 2/1/06
  5. Xombie: Chapter 7, Weekly Users' Choice, 2/1/06
  6. Xombie: Chapter 6, Review Crew Pick, 6/22/05
  7. Xombie: Chapter 6, Weekly Users' Choice, 6/22/05
  8. Xombie: Chapter 6, Daily Feature, 6/21/05
  9. Xombie: Chapter 5 | Reel2, Review Crew Pick, 10/13/04
  10. Xombie: Chapter 5 | Reel2, Weekly Users' Choice, 10/13/04
  11. Xombie: Chapter 5 | Reel1, Weekly 2nd Place, 10/13/04
  12. Xombie: Chapter 5 | Reel2, Daily Feature, 10/10/04
  13. Xombie: Chapter 5 | Reel1, Daily 2nd Place, 10/10/04
  14. Xombie: Chapter 4, Review Crew Pick, 6/23/04
  15. Xombie: Chapter 4, Weekly Users' Choice, 6/22/04
  16. Xombie: Chapter 4, Daily Feature, 6/19/04
  17. Xombie: Chapter 3, Review Crew Pick, 2/11/04
  18. Xombie: Chapter 3, Weekly Users' Choice, 2/11/04
  19. Xombie: Chapter 3, Daily Feature, 2/5/04
  20. Xombie: Chapter 2, Review Crew Pick, 12/17/03
  21. Xombie: Chapter 2, Weekly Users' Choice, 12/17/03
  22. Xombie: Chapter 2, Daily Feature, 12/11/03

[edit] Xombie Forum

The official Xombie community where fans can talk about all things Xombie.

Here you can also roleplay in the massive Xombie RPG forum, based on the Xombie series where players take on the lives of people in the Xombie world. Although dozens of campaigns were lost when the forum went down, the community is beginning to pick up the pieces and start anew. Recently, Version 2.0 of the rules has been posted under the title "XRPG2: Dead Meat", and is currently in Alpha testing.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Alexander, Dave. "Flash Freak Show". Rue Morgue, August 2005.
  2. ^ Morrow, Jennifer. "Xombie" Undead and on-line. Fangoria, August 2005.

[edit] Trivia

  • Interestingly, the name of the main protagonist and his dog (Dirge and Cerberus respectively) are often compared to, and believed to be based off, the title of the video game Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII-. However, the Xombie animations were started before the conception of the video game. This misconception is likely due to the fact that the majority of the Flash series is exclusive to Newgrounds.com, which is popular amongst the video game community.

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

For more information or to view the currently available episodes of Xombie go to:

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