2441: IMDb Vaccines

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IMDb Vaccines

Title text: I'm actually not sure if Vader and the Emperor count as a household or if Vader lives in that weird black egg thing or what.

Explanation

This comic is another in a series of comics related to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as being one written as part of the My Hobby series.

Cueball is evaluating movies on IMDb (the Internet Movie Database), based on how many people would need to be vaccinated for COVID-19, in order for them to follow the CDC's most recent guidelines. The guidelines tell how fully vaccinated people should act (at time of posting). The evaluation assumes that the COVID-19 pandemic spread to the universes where the movies take place by the time at which they take place. This is part of a continuing pattern of comics. In these comics Randall applies COVID-19 safety standards to pre- or post-COVID situations.

At the moment, Cueball is viewing the final confrontation between Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader (formerly Anakin Skywalker), and Emperor Sheev Palpatine. This confrontation takes place on the second Death Star in Return of the Jedi. Darth Vader wears a breathing apparatus in a mask that fully covers his face. Vader wears this because he sustained massive respiratory damage several movies earlier. During the confrontation, the Emperor is killed. Then Luke removes Vader's mask to see his face. (It is revealed in a previous film that Vader is Luke's father.) COVID-19 would be impossible for the Star Wars movies, because the Star Wars movies take place "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away", well before COVID-19 existed.^{[citation needed]}

Cueball notes that if only Luke had been vaccinated, he would still be a possible risk to Vader. The various vaccines seem to do well to protect recipients from the harsher outcomes of the virus. The vaccines may not completely prevent them from mild infection and potentially then passing it onwards. Luke is young and healthy. Luke is probably less susceptible, if Luke were to be exposed to the virus at any point. Vader's health issues mean that Vader would be in much greater danger from such a respiratory disease without Vader's own personal inoculation. The Emperor is elderly, but probably not at as great of a risk as Vader is. However, the Emperor, too is susceptible if the Emperor were infected.

Cueball judges that Darth Vader's mask and breathing apparatus would protect Vader from the virus, a topic that was previously considered in 2367: Masks. The protection is at least to a limited extent. This is not an unreasonable assumption. Vader's suit has allowed Vader to survive the vacuum of space for short periods of time. Cueball concludes that all the characters in this fight need to be vaccinated in order to prevent the spread of the virus. This will be true until the Emperor dies. After the Emperor dies, only Vader needs to be vaccinated.

The title text refers to two separate CDC recommendations. If you are visiting with people from a single household when vaccinated, all at low risk of serious complications from COVID-19, you do not have to take precautions. The precaution that you do not have to take include physical distancing or masks. If you are visiting with people from multiple households, then it is recommended that you take precautions against the spread of the disease regardless. Cueball is unsure whether or not Darth Vader and the Emperor live in close enough proximity to count as a single household. Whether Vader and the Emperor live in a single household would change how Cueball decides who should and should not be vaccinated. It is unknown, based on the Original Trilogy of Star Wars movies alone, how much time Vader and the Emperor spend in proximity. The "weird black egg thing" refers to Darth Vader's meditation chamber. The meditation chamber first seen in The Empire Strikes Back, which allows Vader to spend some time outside of his suit.

Transcript

[Cueball is sitting in an office chair at a desk typing on a laptop. There is a large thought bubble of his thoughts above his head, and his typing on the laptop makes sounds.]

Cueball's thoughts:

For the throne room scene, I think it's all three until the Emperor dies, then Vader only.

It can't be Luke only, since he's visiting Vader, who is clearly at elevated respiratory risk.

Plus, he removes Vader's mask!

Keyboard: Type type.

[Caption below the panel]:

My Hobby: Editing IMDb to note the minimum set of people who need to be vaccinated in each scene for it to pass muster under current CDC guidance.

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Discussion

So the Force doesn't protect you against COVID-19? Barmar (talk) 03:59, 25 March 2021 (UTC)

I haven't let my midichlorians near it enough to tell, and I worry it could be a mutation of somebody else's, but I suspect you need to meditate for a long time, and be on a mission of galactic hope, and then you'll be basically okay. 162.158.63.212 02:02, 26 March 2021 (UTC)

What I got from this comic, after an initial laugh, was the realization that this has been going on long enough for something like this to develop into a hobby....172.69.170.120 04:21, 25 March 2021 (UTC)

What's up with "Vader lives in that weird black egg thing". What is the black egg thing? 141.101.98.108 09:30, 25 March 2021 (UTC)

A Hyperbaric oxygen chamber on his personal Star Destroyers. You see it in Empire Strikes Back when it opens up for a message. He can safely remove his mask there and breathe unassisted and meditate on the Dark Side or Padme. (~~The comment you have just read waa inserted, unsigned, by 162.158.166.55 several hours after the following answer.~~)

A combination meditation-chamber, sterile disrobing room and medical support facility. It lets him periodically divest himself of the irritatingly confining but necessarily life-supporting suit components, get a degree of respite from its relentless enclosure, let him tinker with his various biomechanical replacement parts and take time out to think suitably dark thoughts about the Dark Side. 141.101.98.6 11:28, 25 March 2021 (UTC) (PS: Oh look, almost the same IP!)

It's not explicit in the movie, but I would assume that other than Palpatine coming out to oversee the 2nd Death Star trap that Vader doesn't spend enough time in proximity to the emperor to count as a household. It seems like Vader is out with the 501st on either the Devastator or Executor hunting the rebel alliance, and Palaptine spends most of his time on Coruscant. Plus Vader would be fully enclosed in the respirator system any time they are together since the "weird black egg thing" is for when he's alone.162.158.212.218 16:53, 29 March 2021 (UTC)

Edit: Deleted comment. Sorry for the accidental spam. ^{)|(}Quill_{)|(} 15:04, 25 March 2021 (UTC)

• This tag is automatically added to new pages, which can be assumed to be incomplete. It's reasonable to remove it from an older page with a complete-seeming explanation, but probably not from a page referencing a comic that's been up for less than a couple days. 108.162.241.160 18:24, 25 March 2021 (UTC)

Whoops, sorry. When I put these tags up, I was looking for WHY the comic is incomplete. The message should have emphasized adding a real explanation to aid would-be explanation fixers.

is ANYONE going to add ANYTHING about IMDb? i feel like that is a large chunk that is important for explaining the comic. on a semi-related note, why is the b in IMDb not capitalized? it is still part of the acronym Internet Movie DataBase, no? if you disagree that a letter in the middle of the word should be capitalized, then wouldn't it make more sense for it to be IMD? 172.68.65.244 01:02, 26 March 2021 (UTC)Bumpf

Well, "Database" is one word, which is why the "b" isn't capitalized. I agree with you about explaining IMDb, however, I'll added to the incomplete tag. Argis13 (talk) 01:29, 26 March 2021 (UTC)

I realized I didn't read your question properly, I guess they just thought IMDb sounded better, or something called "IMD" existed and they didn't want to get confused with it. Maybe the wikipedia:International Institute for Management Development?Argis13 (talk) 01:40, 26 March 2021 (UTC)

In circles where databases are worked with, it is always two letters. This makes it far more unambiguous what you are talking about. The two letters usually have the same capitalisation, not always uppercase. 162.158.63.212 02:02, 26 March 2021 (UTC)

I fully support the "IMDb" capitalisation. For the same reason I flinch at "MSM" (I may pointedly use "MM", though rarely does anyone notice/not assume a typo). 141.101.99.208 02:48, 26 March 2021 (UTC)

You have to remember that IMDb is *old* - 30 years old. Like, pre-web, Usenet old. Modern naming convention need not apply. 162.158.74.175 13:49, 26 March 2021 (UTC)

I was never a reader of the original rec.arts.movies material (I was more an alt.fan.pratchett lurker) but I did reference the Cardiff Internet Movie Database (as jt was then) on occasion. I'm not entirely sure if it was immediately "IMDb" the moment it changed ('97?) or got bought up by Bezos, but it is indeed the official capitalisation/branding right now. 141.101.107.166 19:43, 26 March 2021 (UTC)

If the Death Star doesn't count as a bubble, I don't know what does!

Is it worth mentioning that Palpatine does survive?

The article says he dies, but he does show up again in Episode IX. However, since this is more of a revival, is it really worth mentioning? 162.158.63.10 18:55, 26 March 2021 (UTC)

Eh. Not really needed to explain this comic, and the comic says that he dies. I think that mentioning that "oh, later he comes back" would only confuse a casual reader. Also, no reason to spoil a movie that isn't mentioned in the comic.Argis13 (talk) 19:40, 26 March 2021 (UTC)

Rats! Your warning not to spoil the movie was so detailed that it totally spoiled the movie for me. Be more careful next time... please. WaxWamp (talk) 04:43, 26 April 2021 (UTC)