The Sun
by Jeff
Image text: Obligatory bad guy: This operation is sheer foolishness, and it's not happening on my watch! Mainly because I can't figure out how to adjust the time.
This is a comic about a pseudo-science Hollywood action Blockbuster. The movie The Core is referenced in the beginning, which was a movie widely panned by critics. In The Core, the problem was that the core of the Earth was going to stop rotating and they had to send something into the core of the Earth to fix it.
Stephen and Me
by Jeff
Image text: Hey, let go! We were all thinking it! Someone had to speak truth to power!
This comic is a parody of the movie/documentary by filmmaker Michael Moore called "Roger and Me" in which he detailed the problems that General Motors created in his hometown of Flint, Michigan by moving the manufacturing to Mexico. Roger is reference to General Motors CEO Roger Smith.
Stephen Odell is the CEO of Volvo, so the parody becomes "Stephen and Me".
The image text in this case is a continuation of the comic and what the filmmaker with the beret would say when he was being taken by security.
Spinal Tap Amps
by Jeff
Image text: Wow, that's less than $200 per ... uh ... that's a good deal!
Here is the scene being referenced from the movie, Spinal Tap if you haven't seen it.
Pandora
by Jeff
Image text: What? Oh, no, the 'Enchanted' soundtrack was just playing because Pandora's algorithms are terrible. [silence] ... (quietly) That's how you knooooooow ...
Pandora is a online software program for listening to music. It uses an algorithm to classify music. You put in an artist you like and it creates a whole station of similar music. Pandora has an application for iPhones and other wireless devices.
Enchanted is a Disney musical set it modern day New York City in which a cartoon princess is banished to New York by an evil witch. Typical Disney fare.
UPDATE: And also the lyrics sung in the image text are from the song "That's How You Know" from the Enchanted Sountrack.
Prudence
by Jeff
Image text: Moments later, the White Witch rolls up and, confused, tries to tempt the probe with a firmware upgrade.
This comic is a reference to the book The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by CS Lewis and later made into a movie. The children in the book are playing "hide and seek" in an unfamiliar house when one child hides in a wardrobe. They then find a entire world known as Narnia behind (or inside) the wardrobe.
The comic is making a play on the Narnia tale, by instead of the child exploring the new world herself, she sends a probe. This is similar and possibly a reference to the probes that NASA deploys to gather information about new worlds. It also may be a reference to Stargate, in which the Stargate Command sends a probe to new worlds to gather information about the world.
EDITED TO ADD: The title appears to be a reference to the fact that the child in the comic does not run blindly into the new world, like in the book, but instead she deploys the probe to gather information first, which would be seen as "prudent".
Movie Narrative Charts
by Jeff
(You absolutely have to click on the image to see it larger. It is quite detailed and impressive.)
Image text: In the LotR map, up and down correspond LOOSELY to northwest and southeast respectively.
Lord of the Rings is pretty self-explanatory if you have seen the movies based on the series by JRR Tolkien. It is important to note that the chart is based on the movie, not the books. Second, is the original Star Wars trilogy. If you haven't seen those, stop what you are doing right now and go get them. Third, is the original Jurrassic Park movie.
The joke in 12 Angry men graphic is that in the movie all 12 jurors are all in the same room the entire movie. They never move and they all always interact with each other, hence their lines stay straight and close to each other.
The last box is a movie called Primer from 2004, which became a cult classic. It is about accidentally discovering time travel. The plot is so convoluted and mixed up with the time travel between the original person and the so-called time travelling "double" that it is almost impossible to figure out where each character is at one time...as the comic illustrates.
UPDATE: These charts are roughly a reference to the map by Charles Joseph Minard that details the movements and losses of Napolean's troops on his failed conquest of Russia.
Example can be found here.
October 30th
by Jeff
Image text: Not enough houses on your block? Just hit them at 30-year intervals from here to 2300 and get 10x the candy.
First of all, because Doc Brown uses the phrase "overshot", he is travelling back in time to maximize his candy intake. Which is opposite of the image text which proposes going forward in time to trick or treat as many times as possible.
Secondly, I cannot get the rhyme, "Great Scott, I must have overshot!" out of my head.
EDIT: And as kb says in the comments the character is Emmett "Doc" Brown from the Back to the Future series, who's catch phrase was "Great Scott!".
Blockbuster Mining
by Mike
Image Text: The 2007 Bridge to Terebithia trailer put me off too much to see that particular movie, but I am cautiously optimistic about Where the Wild Things Are.
Michael Bay ruins everything.