Who are the antagonists then?

In good zombie fiction, it would be the odds and human nature itself opposing the protagonists. Frictions within the protagonists' group or the threat from other groups of survivors. Zombies are just environmental hazards. I can not think of a single story that is only about humans fighting zombies or where the acts of killing or avoiding zombies actually create the conflict that needs to be resolved over the course of the story. It's often another asshole looking out for number one that provides the real antagonistic element to a zombie story.

i kinda like brainless zombie killing though :(

I avoid zombie fiction because I don't like it so I likely have missed the good ones but from the few movies, TV shows and the occasional game it seems to be about the root issue of zombies spreading so fast death is not a matter of years away but perhaps months or weeks for the entire human race. Anyway, I agree that the way you explain it it would be more interesting. Dead State seems to be the only game that tries to accomplish this and is in fact the first zombie game I'm looking forward to (excluding PvsZ).

I'd wish we'd dream less of stars, for a while, and more about the environmental dangers here on earth. It'd be a fairly fresh thing, too. Think Kim Stanley Robinson's novels; Some later Margaret Atwood; Cormac McCarthy's The Road (that's been out there already - and is the least positive of all those). There's more - and I think a cultural trend that gains some traction in literature, lately, too.

Envisioning radically different societies on that end - and from my perspective there's loads to dream about with that (and much to fear!) - is something that just has to happen on a cultural / social and political level. The debate isn't really happening much, outside of those groups that are really keen on that topic and go out of their way to be involved.

There is still religion though. That is bad enough.

For those who mentioned FarScape, I thought that was an excellent series, breaking with many usual conventions, and was sorry to see it cancelled too soon. The following mini-series/movie wrapped things up, but it could have been done better over a few seasons. Still, I am glad we got those extra hours, so not every end was left loose.

I'd say yes, I believe the reason is oversaturation, especially on the internet. The same thing is happening to conspiracy theories / new age stuff / internet trends as happened to art and architecture. Centuries ago, you could name and clearly identify a period by some kind of a predominant style, now it's all a hodgepodge with no cohesive or coherent standards. Trends overlap and mix and generally don't last very long anymore, people's attention span is getting shorter and shorter so no one digs deep into any subject for many hours but spends those hours browsing unrelated stuff on Youtube, jumping from one topic to another. People are running around in circles like headless chicken, until they are tired. Once rested, the circle begins anew. Nothing sticks enough to become a craze anymore so it seems as if we are in limbo. Of course there are still people out there who are crazily dedicated to one thing or one trend but the general public is definitely in collective limbo as far as I can observe.

UFOs I can live with. I hope the fascinations with zombies and vampires tails off at some point ( I can only deal with so much vampire stuff on TV, movies, books ( book store shelves full of!!))

Also, I just randomly stumbled on this old xkcd, which may also point at a pragmatic aspect of the question.

Horrific abominations of , always trying to kill [url=http://www.allmystery.de/dateien/pr43265,1282238422,american_fat_soldier.jpg] something, interested in anal probing.
Owe, but lets forget Americans and talk about UFO. I believe the reason why there are not so many sightings are
either better medicamentation or they have followed a debate of our Bundestag on Phoenix.

What if it only goes downhill from here? What if the zombies and vampires get replaced by mutant hamsters?

Good. Now let us kill off Zombies and the Rapture next. :L
I'd be game for that.

Has it? It's no wonder people see flying saucers all over the world...

in the united states, we have had a bunch of fake new "reality shows" about trying to find bigfoot on cable tv. they are looking for him on so many shows that it makes me think, "even if bigfoot does exist, they should leave the poor guy alone already! unless he is going to do a sit-down interview with barbara walters, just leave him alone!" :)

Zombies

Zombies are the new UFO's