VideoTyme

Why are people fascinated by what the world would be like after an apocalypse of some kind? You'd think there would be a shortage of TV shows and movies depicting these kinds of stories, but there isn't. In fact, there have been so many produced, I will never be able to remember them all. Some of the stories are about the world after plagues wipe out all the people and some of the stories are about the world after a nuclear war of some kind. Some of the stories never tell you what caused the apocalypse in the first place (except in a sequel or something).

Logan's Run

I'm not sure, but other than some B-movies from the 1950s shown on TV when I was a kid (and I won't even try to remember them), I think Logan's Run (both the movie of 1976 and the TV series of 1977) is the first apocalyptic story I can remember. There were more made before it, but I didn't see them until much later. In this particular story, the human race is confined to domes due to the radiation levels outside the domes.

A "sandman" is turned into a "runner" and escapes the dome, accompanied by a pretty, younger accomplice. When he returns and is captured, the computer questions him about the "sanctuary". All of his responses, both verbal and mental are: There is NO sanctuary.

Mad Max

It isn't explained in the first Mad Max movie of 1979, but there's a worldwide shortage of oil that causes the apocalypse to occur in this series of movies. We didn't find that out until the first sequel in 1981, called "Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior" and we got more of the same with "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome" in 1985.

The stories all take place in Australia. By the third movie, there's more than an oil shortage and biker gangs to contend with.

Robert Neville

The character, from a book, has been portrayed in at least three movies and he always dies in the end. I've never seen "The Last Man on Earth" (1964), but I've seen both "The Omega Man" of 1974 and "I Am Legend" (the same title as the book) of 2007.

Despite the differences in the stories, the same plot is used: A plague has wiped out most of civilization and Robert Neville is looking for a cure to save the remaining survivors from becoming zombies.

More Zombies

Neither the original "Night of the Living Dead" (1968) or the remake of 1990 explained why corpses were being reanimated. It wasn't until the sequel to the original, titled "Dawn of the Dead", in 1978 that we learned that radiation from a passing comet was to blame for all the problems. More sequels, "Day of the Dead" (1985) and "Land of the Dead" (2005), showed the apocalyptic effects of zombieism (yes, I made up that word).

The 2004 remake of "Dawn of the Dead" had similarities to the original, but it wasn't radiation from a passing comet that caused the affliction. A simple bug bite was killing people and then reanimating them.

Another series of movies, originally intended as a parody of the "Dead" series of movies, started out with "Return of the Living Dead" (1985) and spawned its own series of sequels. I won't mention the titles individually, but they all started with "Return of the Living Dead". Not one of them was as decent as the first (not by a long shot). The first one tells the story of how a chemical invented for the US Army got out of control and inspired the first "Night of the Living Dead" movie. The sequels are just more of the same and not very good either.

The "Resident Evil" (2002) series of movies, based on a video game, is another story of a plague that wipes out civilization. That doesn't actually happen, though, until the third movie in 2007. The first one just started the process.

More?

I know there are more apocalyptic movies and TV shows, but I can't seem to remember them right now. Feel free to list the ones you've seen in the comments.