1326: Sharks

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Sharks

Title text: 'Now, minions, I'm off to inspect our shark cages.' 'Do you really need to inspect them this often?' 'PRISONERS MUST NEVER ESCAPE.'

Explanation

This explanation may be incomplete or incorrect: First draft, needs more detail. If you can address this issue, please edit the page! Thanks.

Cueball is an evil ruler that makes his minions send sharks after escaped prisoners. However, he also shows a softer side by accidentally mentioning that the sharks are not actually meant to catch the escaped prisoners, but are released to increase the endangered shark population.

In the title text Cueball again is hiding his interest in sharks by again claiming that the sharks are only there to stop the prisoners from escaping.

This is a play on an action movie trope from the 70s and 80s, where evil villains try to use sharks to kill off the protagonist (e.g. The Spy Who Loved Me, Thunderball, etc.). Since any halfway intelligent villain would just shoot the hero, this comic suggests the sharks aren't really about the hero at all.

Transcript

[Cueball is sitting in a throne.]

Offscreen: The prisoner escaped and is swimming toward the mainland!

Cueball: Release the sharks.

Offscreen: Yes, sir.

Offscreen: The sharks are swimming away.

Cueball: They're escaping, too? Send sharks after them!

Offscreen: Now those sharks are swimming away.

Cueball: More sharks.

Offscreen: ...Sir, what's going on?

Cueball: Prisoners, of course! Can't let 'em escape!

Offscreen: Sir, are you trying to turn Doom Island into a marine biology center?

Cueball: Shark populations are in decline— *ahem* I mean, the world must fear us!

Offscreen: Right...

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Discussion

Um... Are the sharks the prisoners? 108.162.222.227 11:00, 5 February 2014 (UTC)

Yeah, it's awfully quiet... looks like nobody gets this one? :) --108.162.254.179 12:05, 5 February 2014 (UTC)

To some extent. I think the first mentioned "prisoner" who escaped and was swimming could be a human, but maybe not. However, the "PRISONERS" mentioned in the title text are definitely sharks.199.27.130.180 05:57, 6 February 2014 (UTC)

The "PRISONERS" in the title text aren't sharks. He's just reinforcing the pretext that the sharks are there to keep the (human) prisoners in check, which gives a justification for constant inspection of the shark tanks --108.162.216.64 01:54, 9 February 2014 (UTC)

No - a real prisoner escapes - and then the evil guy has a reason to release the sharks. And as the sharks are just happy to be free, they escape instead of going for the prisoner. So he can release more sharks ad ifinitum - except that his hang-man can see the problem with the plan - to release sharks into an ocean - that humans are emptying of sharks to use only their fin... Kynde (talk) 12:50, 5 February 2014 (UTC)

Makes me wonder if Randall recently watched Despicable Me 1 and/or 2... Condor70 (talk) 13:01, 5 February 2014 (UTC)

Yeah, or a Sean Connery-era James Bond film... 173.245.55.62 13:51, 5 February 2014 (UTC)Pat

Even still, I feel this one is lacking a bit. It would have been better if there was a stick-minion in one of the frames. ;) Jarod997 (talk) 13:52, 5 February 2014 (UTC)

Thunderball, Licence to Kill and Despicable Me 1 all feature sharks. But none of them have the same setting as this comic. Condor70 (talk) 14:11, 5 February 2014 (UTC)

A quick google search reveals that "Doom Island" is a location in a game called "Fish Wrangler": http://fishwrangler.wikia.com/wiki/Doom_Island. This may tie into the sharks theme...? TheGreatSasquatch (talk) 19:56, 5 February 2014 (UTC)

Occam's Razor would suggest that it's just a generic sounding "Evil Villian Lair" name, rather than a reference to something.Pennpenn (talk) 22:54, 5 February 2014 (UTC)

If he wanted to save the shark population so bad, why'd he capture them in the first place? Unless...he bred them. Diszy (talk) 14:53, 6 February 2014 (UTC)

By capturing sharks, he could make it seem as though shark populations were actually lower than they were, forcing more extreme action by groups attempting to preserve the oceanic ecology. Once sufficiently strict laws are in place, Cueball can release the sharks into a much safer environment. Alternately, by removing sharks from the ocean, he is reducing the number of sharks that can be killed, therefore more directly helping to protect shark populations. Of course, given his love of sharks, I have little doubt he would have bred sharks, or at least allowed them to breed. Athang (talk) 22:35, 6 February 2014 (UTC)

He just captured a few to breed the rest. Maybe he have to capture a few from time to time, but he would have already released more than what he captured. 108.162.219.125 01:58, 19 February 2015 (UTC)

And not a mention of "Frickin' Lasers!", that I can see... 141.101.99.250 10:48, 7 February 2014 (UTC)

What I don't get is that if he wanted to make Doom Island into a marine biology center, wouldn't he want to keep the sharks there? Letting all your fish go makes for a pretty short-lived marine biology center... --108.162.216.64 01:54, 9 February 2014 (UTC)

Maybe he didn’t expect for all of the sharks to escape when he released them to hunt down the escaped prisoners? 42.book.addict (talk) 22:11, 2 February 2024 (UTC)

Release the hounds! With killer bees in their mouths!!! 108.162.249.214 10:00, 12 September 2014 (UTC)

Do we need the 'Sharks in action movies' section? This isn't TV Tropes, and there is already a link to the applicable TV Tropes page in the explanation. I know it relates the the comic, but it seems a bit unneccesary to me. --Pudder (talk) 17:15, 9 February 2015 (UTC)

I thought that “shark cages” referred to the cages in which the sharks are kept