Talk:673: The Sun

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Interesting (or deliberate?) that there's no reference at all in the explanation to Sunshine, released two years previously. 178.99.247.73 21:07, 20 May 2013 (UTC)

  • I just want to know if Randall knew the film Sunshine existed when he made the comic.

Can't "to spring" be thought of as a physical movement? 108.162.212.196 00:49, 7 January 2014 (UTC)

Yes; that's why the mnemonic works. Zowayix (talk) 16:08, 15 January 2014 (UTC)
Also, the mnemonic works because physically it is relatively easier to spring (i.e., jump) forward and to fall (through the simple action of gravity, without being able to catch yourself with your arms) back(ward) than it is to do the reverse. --BD (talk) 01:09, 20 November 2014 (UTC)
the fusion reactions are well understood

By whom?

I used Google News BEFORE it was clickbait (talk) 22:12, 27 January 2015 (UTC)

Okay, I'm too lazy to figure out a rewrite, but honestly...it seems pretty durned obvious that it's making fun of "The Core" which is actually mentioned in the comic, not making fun of some random British film not mentioned. Also look at the movie poster for "The Core" on Wikipedia; the similarities to the last panel with the group of people and the silhouettes is pretty obvious. 108.162.215.150 23:11, 12 April 2015 (UTC)MW

I think "not on my watch" is being used as another pun, as daylight savings would not happen on your watch if you couldn't adjust it. 173.245.52.127 12:19, 28 April 2015 (UTC)


It's not incorrect to say that this comic makes fun of science fiction disaster movies, but that's not right place to start. The comic is really about the fact that there are two ways to interpret the term "daylight saving time", and one of those ways sounds like the over-adrenalized style that one sees in action movie posters. That's the central joke, and the mockery of science fiction disaster movies is there in order to make that joke funny

The statement that "Even in the nearly impossible event of the sun's fusion is failing in the traditional sense, the sun would collapse causing a supernova." is incorrect as the Sun does not have enough mass to fuel a supernova. IIRC it's mass would have to be about 40% higher for that to happen

Removed it. 162.158.238.236 02:29, 30 October 2020 (UTC)

Is the second Cueball in panel one dismissing Ponytail's warning, or dismissing the other Cueball's question of whether it makes sense? I took it as a joke on people dismissing such criticism of such disaster movies by pointing out they are just an excuse for two hours of pretty people and special effects, and aren't supposed to be thought about. 162.158.79.16 15:38, 17 March 2022 (UTC)


How are we sure there are two ponytails in this comic? It could be the same character. After all they will need someone competent on their team. 162.158.103.172 18:04, 25 January 2023 (UTC)

There's no sign that the common illustrative (and filmic) convention has been broken, of NASA-calling Cueball being in direct communication with helmet-carrying Cueball across the 'jump-cut' between the two frames/scenes. For original Ponytail to have had time to be in both scenes presupposes a whole omitted period of time (ok, so not rare in film trailers, which reassemble the storyline how they see fit) but, more than that, it makes nonsense of the helmet-Cueball seeming to learn of the group's instructions by phone when Ponytail (of the initial scene) seems to be already both knowledgable and authoritative enough to have briefed the team upon her arrival (at whatever point in the intervening time that was).
...you'd need to assume some big "but is the threat really real?" plotpoint where Ponytail (initial version) and her staff have primed NASA but some beaurocratic process then had to have been seen (in the full movie) in which Ponytail (and perhaps even one of 'her' Cueballs, because... expendible sidekick?) rock up to NASA, get them to at least prepare for the mission, all the while awaiting the go/no-go direct from the person in charge (NASA boss/POTUS/whatever), at which point the explicit confirmation comes through and is rhetorically relayed to a team who know exactly what it is they'll be doing (if it turns out they're doing anything) and just need an "It's a Go, guys!"
Not that some dialogue/screenplay isn't as bad as the backformed trailer-cut version forces us to assume (nor that some trailers don't horribly Lie with misplaced or even unused film-footage that sort of makes its own sense, if you don't notice the same character present in both scenes). But I prefer to think that Astronomer-Ponytail is perhaps NASA-Ponytail's twin sister. Making it even more dramatic that, in order to save the world from <whatever>, the former has to put her super-sibling as directly into harm's way as any practical and observational person can, even given the latter's obvious tendency to a more risk-taking profession (but probably still topped the intelligence tests).
...yet that's just my own headcanon. 172.71.178.64 00:05, 26 January 2023 (UTC)