Editing 460: Paleontology

This comic is essentially a set up for a pun: "Underground" can mean "under the ground" (buried in the dirt) or "non-mainstream." In this case, [[Ponytail]] is whining that she had been doing paleontology before {{w|Jurassic Park}} kicked paleontology into the mainstream with living reproductions of dinosaurs, thus apparently undermining the hard work paleontologists had done. In other words, this comic is also poking fun at hipsters.

Of note is the fact that "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acrocanthosaurus '''acro'''canthosaur]" is misspelled in the third panel as "'''arco'''canthosaur."  Assuming this isn't merely a spelling mistake on [[Randall]]'s part, Ponytail's incorrect pronunciation further undermines her self-proclaimed superiority over all the Jurassic Park-inspired "bandwagon" paleontologists.

The title text refers to both the phenomenon called '{{w|jumping the shark}}' and the controversy having the ''Brontosaurus'''s scientific name changed to ''{{w|Apatosaurus}},'' despite that ''Brontosaurus'' had already made a name for itself in the mainstream. [[636: Brontosaurus]] also references the ''Brontosaurus'' name change. An ''Apatosaurus'' also appears in [[15: Just Alerting You]], and [[650: Nowhere]].  {{w|Ichthyosaur}}s are marine reptiles with bodies resembling sharks or dolphins, which lived alongside dinosaurs during the {{w|Mesozoic}} era.

:[Cueball and Ponytail in a museum, near a reconstructed dinosaur fossil.]

:Ponytail: Jurassic Park came out 15 years ago.