Editing 673: The Sun

{{comic
| number    = 673
| date      = December 9, 2009
| title     = The Sun
| image     = the_sun.png
| titletext = Obligatory bad guy: This operation is sheer foolishness, and it's not happening on my watch! Mainly because I can't figure out how to adjust the time.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic makes fun of {{w|science fiction}} {{w|disaster movies}}, especially the 2003 film ''{{w|The Core}}'' in which a group of scientists travel through the Earth's mantle to place a series of nuclear devices in order to speed up the slowing rotation of the Earth's core and prevent a complete collapse of Earth's magnetic field. The comic is also a pun on "Daylight Savings Time" (yes, there's an S), using it to mean saving the sun's light rather than its usual meaning of the semi-annual shift in clocks to "save" daylight for a more useful part of the day.

This comic presents the next film from the makers of ''The Core''. In this case an astronomer, [[Ponytail]], discovers that the Sun's fusion is failing. The two [[Cueball]]-like guys behind her are not impressed; one is disbelieving and the other is not interested ("whatever"). But then Ponytail rallies them by pointing out the impeding doom for Earth and they call {{w|NASA}}. A group of astronauts at NASA takes the call and the leader (another Cueball-like guy) describes what could happen in trailer-like fashion:
*The earth bathed in eternal darkness? 
*A night without a dawn? Not on my watch! 
Then he tells his team of astronauts - a fourth Cueball-like guy, [[Megan]] and another Ponytail - to "saddle up", and the comic finishes with the poster (a copy of the one for The Core with the Sun in place of the Earth's mantle) of this new movie called ''The Sun'' (hence the title of the comic) with two taglines:
*It's Daylight Saving Time. 
*Never fall back. 

The movie describes a scenario in which "the sun's fusion is failing". This is in fact the exact plot of the British science fiction film  ''{{w|Sunshine (2007 film)|Sunshine}}'' from 2007, released two years before this comic, which was about a group of astronauts sent on a mission to reignite a dying {{w|Sun}} with a battery of nuclear bombs. 

The {{w|sun}}'s energy comes from {{w|nuclear fusion}} reactions among the extremely hot, dense hydrogen nuclei in its core. The idea of the sun's fusion failing is rather ridiculous from a scientific perspective, because the fusion reactions are well understood and the sun has enough hydrogen to fuel it for about 5 billion more years. Even if the sun's hydrogen was getting low, it would {{w|Star#Post–main sequence|start fusing helium}} and begin expanding into a {{w|red giant}}. This would then make the Earth uninhabitable. In other words, if the sun stopped fusing, we wouldn't have to worry about less sunlight, we would have to worry about more. 

In any case, it appears to be failing and the solution is to send a team of astronauts to the sun to restart the fusion. The team leader is motivated by concern that if the sun's fusion stops, there will be no more light, and so the earth will be in perpetual darkness.

The poster in the final panel gives the movies two taglines, both puns. {{w|Daylight saving time}} (DST) refers both to the policy of changing clocks and to the scenario in this movie in which it is time for the team to literally save the sun's daylight from being extinguished. "Never fall back" is an additional word play on the {{w|mnemonic}} used (in the States at least) to remember the direction to change clocks. The mnemonic, {{w|Spring forward, fall back#Terminology|"spring forward, fall back"}} indicates that in the springtime, clocks get set ahead by an hour, while in fall the clocks are set backwards an hour. The phrase "fall back", however, can also mean to retreat from a battle.

[[Randall]] seems to believe that DST makes little sense today and he has made it clear in [[:Category:Daylight saving time|several comics]] that he is not a fan — or at least not a fan of the twice-yearly transitions between the two semi-arbitrary time standards. As DST is the main joke of the comic (and the title of the next movie), the comment from the astronaut about this not happening "on my watch" may be a pun relating to his wristwatch. He would not wish to have DST on his watch! This meaning is made clear in the title text (see below).

The comic makes fun of these disaster movies in a couple of ways. The characters in the first panel acknowledge that the scenario doesn't make sense scientifically, but are prepared to sacrifice scientific value for the plot. Also, in the second panel, the team is to be composed of {{w|NASA}}'s "hottest astronauts", which makes fun of the fact that the characters in movies are much more attractive than average, and the fact that they will be much hotter when they reach the sun. The team leader expresses his concern with a few buzz phrases often used in such films.

An alternative explanation, which would make sense scientifically, is that the sun had never stopped working, and Ponytail merely assumed that something was wrong with the sun when the sunrise did not occur at its normal time, but that was only because the clocks had been sent an hour ahead for DST, and not because of anything wrong with the sun, which continued working properly, oblivious to earth clocks.

The title text continues the lunacy (solacy?) of the situation with the cliché of the "obligatory bad guy" — a person in the plot who acts antagonistic, often for the flimsiest of reasons. There is also the common complaint, especially among the technologically inept, that he can't figure out how to change the time, relating back to DST, and using the phrase "on my watch" as a pun here (if you interpret "watch" in the sense of a wristwatch). The phrase "on my watch" was used in the comic itself, but it isn't clear whether it was intended as a pun. It's possible that Randall realized he missed his chance to make a great pun with that phrase, inspiring the title text.

Note that while four different Cueballs in a comic is [[:Category:Multiple Cueballs|not uncommon]], it is rare that two different Ponytails are shown in one comic.

==Transcript==
:[Caption above the first panel, which is lower than the rest:]
:Coming this March from the makers of ''The Core''...
:[Ponytail is standing on a raised platform looking through a huge telescope (exiting the panel to the left) in an observatory. To her right is a large station with three screens and two Cueball-like guys are standing on the floor to the of that right. Behind them is another station with a large panel showing two circles with an arrow pointing from the top left to the bottom right.]
:Ponytail: The sun's fusion is failing!
:Man 1: Does that make sense?
:Man 2: Whatever.

:[Zoom in on the scene where Ponytail throws up her arms as she turns towards the two Cueball, still standing on the platform, but the rest of the background is white. The first Cueball turns around and points to the other Cueball who has also turned around and has taken a phone of the hook, the curled cord disappearing at the panels right edge.]
:Ponytail: If we don't send a ship to restart it, it could go out completely! 
:Man 1: Call NASA!
:Man 2 (into the phone): <small>Assemble our hottest astronauts.</small>

:[Another Cueball-like guy has taken the call, and still stands with the phone in hand, the cord attached to the phone hook on the panels left edge. He stands with the helmet of a space suit under his other arm, obviously being an astronaut. Behind him is a fourth Cueball-like guy, Megan and another Ponytail.]
:Astronaut: The earth bathed in eternal darkness? A night without a dawn? Not on my watch!
:Astronaut: Saddle up.

:[The same four characters are shown in silhouette on gray background (still only one with helmet under arm), casting huge shadows towards the bottom of the panel from the dim sun in the top center of the panel. Above the sun is written a tagline (for the movie) and at the bottom of the panels with shadows falling over it is a second smaller tagline:]
:It's 
:<big>'''''Daylight saving time.'''''</big>
:<small>Never fall back.</small>

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:The Core]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Daylight saving time]]
[[Category:Telescopes]]
[[Category:Puns]]