Editing 1391: Darkness
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==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
− | [[Ponytail | + | In the comic the news anchor [[Ponytail]] describes the {{w|sunset}} as though it were an unprecedented, newsworthy event, rather than [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MundaneMadeAwesome something mundane] that happens every day. They even have a reporter ([[Cueball]]) on the spot reporting from where the ''darkness'' has spread so far. |
− | + | We regard the sunset as a common event, but {{w|Isaac Asimov}} based his short story {{w|Nightfall_(Asimov_short_story_and_novel)|Nightfall}} on a fictional civilization that doesn't know darkness because the planet is always illuminated by the six stars surrounding it. It describes how people would react when, due to a specific constellation, the suns set for the first time. | |
Describing mundane occurrences in unusual detail, to show off how odd they really are, is something [[Randall]] has done before (for instance about dreaming in [[203: Hallucinations]]). But the caption below the main panel adds another twist to the joke by showing that the news report wasn't a mere imagine spot, but something actually happening due to the interference of Randall's final wish to his {{w|genie}}, which caused all news reporters to forget the day-night cycle. | Describing mundane occurrences in unusual detail, to show off how odd they really are, is something [[Randall]] has done before (for instance about dreaming in [[203: Hallucinations]]). But the caption below the main panel adds another twist to the joke by showing that the news report wasn't a mere imagine spot, but something actually happening due to the interference of Randall's final wish to his {{w|genie}}, which caused all news reporters to forget the day-night cycle. | ||
− | + | The caption references the fact that there is a limit to the number of wishes. It is a common rule, often used in fiction, that you get [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ThreeWishes three wishes] from a genie in a bottle. There usually is an added stipulation that no wish may be used to acquire more wishes. In the title text, however, it is stated that Randall has managed to bypass the three wish limit rule. This was accomplished by using his second (#2) wish to simply make the genie unable to remember granting the speaker any wishes. He have thus used the same trick on the genie as he used here on the media. The media wish turns out '''not''' to have been his last (i.e. #3), but rather #406. This shows just how far, "make someone forget something", can go by applying it to the genie. | |
− | + | It is interesting that it was his second wish that gave him unlimited wishes. What did he wish for on wish #1? Maybe he wasted the first wish, because he did not believe the genie was able to grant wishes - a common error. On the other hand, he may have used the first wish to learn a way where his second wish could circumvent the three rule limit. He did not wish for more wishes (a clear rule), but since the genie now always think the next wish is his first, it is not Randall who asks for more wishes, but the genie that forgets to stop at the limit... | |
− | + | The concept of having unlimited wishes has previously been explored in [[1086: Eyelash Wish Log]] - one of the wishes is also related to news anchors. | |
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==Transcript== | ==Transcript== | ||
:[Ponytail is a news anchor at a media desk and she reports:] | :[Ponytail is a news anchor at a media desk and she reports:] | ||
:Ponytail: ...getting reports that the darkness has spread as far west as Texas. Let's go live to our reporter in Houston. | :Ponytail: ...getting reports that the darkness has spread as far west as Texas. Let's go live to our reporter in Houston. | ||
− | + | :[From a breaking news window in the bottom right corner of the panel, a Cueball as a newscaster stands in darkness with two people walking behind him:] | |
− | :[From a breaking news window in the bottom right corner of the panel, Cueball as a newscaster stands in darkness with two people walking behind him:] | ||
:Cueball: It's been thirty minutes since the sun vanished... | :Cueball: It's been thirty minutes since the sun vanished... | ||
− | + | :[There is a caption below the panel]: | |
− | :[ | + | :Caption: ”Genie, for my last wish, make everyone in the media forget about the day-night cycle.“ |
− | :Caption: | ||
{{comic discussion}} | {{comic discussion}} | ||
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[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]] | [[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]] | ||
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]] | [[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]] | ||
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