618: Asteroid

2013-07-15T21:53:28Z

121.99.61.70: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 618
| date = August 3, 2009
| title = Asteroid
| image = asteroid.png
| titletext = My Deep Impact/Little Prince crossover fanfic has been poorly received by the community.
}}

==Explanation==
The end of the world has been envisioned in many ways. One of the most common is with a {{w|Deep Impact (film)|really}} {{w|Armageddon (1998 film)|big}} {{w|Asteroid (film)|rock}} {{w|Meteor (film)|hitting}} {{w|The Day the Sky Exploded|Earth}}. There is an [http://impact.ese.ic.ac.uk/ImpactEffects online calculator] for asteroid impacts, but don't worry as any rock that does hit Earth [http://blog.seattlepi.com/thebigblog/2010/11/04/calculator-shows-effects-of-asteroid-collision-with-earth isn't likely] to kill [http://www.sott.net/article/124099-Catastrophe-Calculator-Estimate-Asteroid-Impact-Effects-Online everyone]. And, as seen in a [[what if?|what-if]] article, [http://what-if.xkcd.com/20/ speed counts too].

The joke here, though, is that, after sending up a robot to blow the asteroid to smithereens, said rock is actually the home of {{w|The Little Prince|the Little Prince}} from the wildly famous tale by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. To save our world, we must destroy his. And probably the prince along with it. If the only way to save our species is by killing off another species, is the act still ethical? In none of the world-destroying asteroid stories were said rocks actually home to intelligent life. Or any life, for that matter. A second joke that can be seen is that in sad movies the "heroic" mission always involves humans in some way imperiling themselves to save humanity, rather than, say, staying safely at home and using a robotic rover to do all the dangerous stuff.

The title text is a reference to the 1998 asteroid movie {{w|Deep Impact (film)|Deep Impact}}. "Crossover" is a term used to refer to a technique of taking two independent (and usually already existing) stories and creating a scene or short story in which characters from both worlds collide and interact with each other. Or, in other words, characters from one story "crossover" into the second. Fanfic is short for {{w|fanfic|Fan Fiction}}, e.g. a fictional story written by someone who loves a particular story/series/idea so much they wanted to write their own tale about it (or one who hated said story so much they felt compelled to fix it). It suggests that most people were either unwilling to play a game involving build asteroids to destroy the earth, or watch a movie of people nuking miniature kingdoms to save civilization. A tough entertainment call any day.

This may also be related to the trolley problem.

==Transcript==
:[The panel appears like a news report.]
:[There is a picture of a rocket, captioned 'Breaking news']
::News-anchor: ''Astronomers have confirmed that the asteroid is headed for Earth.''

::News-anchor: ''NASA has launched a heroic mission to land a rover on the asteroid, drill into it, and destroy it with nuclear bombs.''
:[The picture of the rocket fills the panel. In an inset picture is the rover.]

:[A woman is sitting at an interface. A man stands next to it. Both are wearing headsets with microphones.]
::Woman with headset: ''The robot has landed successfully and planted the nukes! We're saved!''
::Man with headset: ''Hooray!''
::Voice: ''We're heroes!''

:[Digital countdown.]
::0:05...
::0:04...
::0:03...
:[The Little Prince is looking at the NASA rover, which has drilled into the asteroid. Beside him is the rose, and a small volcano.]

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]

Talk:380: Emoticon

2013-07-15T21:10:37Z

121.99.61.70:

This ''may'' also be a reference or allusion to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Langford#Basilisks David Langford's basilisks], which are computer-generated images (mostly fractals) that kill or otherwise incapacitate people by triggering faults or overloads common to human neuropathways. ...I think it's just about the humor in a mythological basilisk's power transferring via emoticons, though. [[User:JET73L|JET73L]] ([[User talk:JET73L|talk]]) 16:05, 8 February 2013 (UTC)

<BSLSK05> :) {{unsigned ip|173.72.159.14}}

Perhaps Cueball isn't dead, but petrified, because he saw the eyes indirectly? Like in Harry Potter. [[Special:Contributions/121.99.61.70|121.99.61.70]] 21:10, 15 July 2013 (UTC)

explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

618: Asteroid

Talk:380: Emoticon