Editing 1177: Time Robot

The comic starts with a scene from a 1984 science fiction action film ''{{w|The Terminator}}'', in which a killing robot (played by {{w|Arnold Schwarzenneger}}) is sent back in time to kill Sarah Connor, the main female protagonist of the movie, and a human, Kyle Reese, also travels back in time to protect her (and he acquires a {{w|sawed-off shotgun}} which Cueball holds in the strip).

However, in the following panels, Cueball changes the narrative so that instead of a real killing robot, he explains that we all are hunted by an unstoppable enemy trying to kill us – the time. And he goes on to point to the similarities between the time and a Terminator. The clock visible in the third panel features a red light in the place of a 3-hour marker, which is a reference to {{w|Terminator (character concept)#Physical characteristics|glowing red eyes}} of a Terminator.

In the final panel, “come with me if you want to live” is a [http://terminator.wikia.com/wiki/Come_with_me_if_you_want_to_live. famous phrase from the movie], but in this case, amended with the facts about the inevitability of eventual death.

Also, the title text is a play on a quote from ''The Terminator'', where Sarah Connor starts to believe that “[http://terminator.wikia.com/wiki/There%27s_no_fate_but_what_we_make_for_ourselves. There's no fate but what we make for ourselves.]”. It is also a reference to the character “{{w|Death (Discworld)|Death}}” in {{w|Terry Pratchett}}’s ''{{w|Discworld}}'' novels. In the Discworld novels, Death’s voice is always depicted in <span style="font-variant:small-caps">small caps</span> and he is often caught making sometimes bizarre philosophical statements about life and death.

:[Cueball runs towards Megan with shotgun in hand.]