1585: Similarities - Revision history

99.224.109.91: Simple rewording

2025-12-02T00:19:58Z

Simple rewording

FaviFake at 17:25, 24 March 2025

2025-03-24T17:25:38Z

Cheesesentience: /* Explanation */

2025-01-06T14:18:52Z

‎Explanation

Cheesesentience: /* Explanation */

2025-01-06T14:17:43Z

‎Explanation

Cheesesentience: /* Explanation */ removing spoiler

2025-01-06T14:14:50Z

‎Explanation: removing spoiler

172.70.80.225: /* Explanation / Corrected an error in the Spoiler alert - Mark used the lander,* not the rover

2024-12-29T22:03:01Z

‎Explanation: Corrected an error in the Spoiler alert - Mark used the *lander,* not the rover

Tromag at 01:45, 20 November 2023

2023-11-20T01:45:57Z

Oneforfortytwo: remove unlikely explanations

2023-07-25T18:45:06Z

remove unlikely explanations

Trogdor147: Added Perseverance to the list in the last paragraph

2023-06-21T05:22:46Z

Added Perseverance to the list in the last paragraph

162.158.62.163 at 22:44, 11 May 2023

2023-05-11T22:44:54Z

@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 ==Explanation==
-There's a common punchline in which the plot lines of two thematically-different works of fiction (usually movies) are compared in greatly-abbreviated form, and the speaker sarcastically concludes that the two movies are "basically the same". For sake of example, Disney's ''{{w|Aladdin (1992 Disney film)|Aladdin}}'' and {{w|James Cameron}}'s ''{{w|Titanic (1997 film)|Titanic}}'' [http://imgur.com/gallery/kasCMYd both feature a story] in which a lower-class boy and an upper-class girl fall for each other, among other cherry-picked yet interesting parallels. But due to the different emotional tones of the films, most people would not consider them to be at all similar (one is a family-friendly "happy ever after" tale and the other is a period romance that turns into a disaster thriller).
+There's a common punchline in which the plot lines of two thematically-different works of fiction (usually movies) are compared in greatly-abbreviated form, and the speaker sarcastically concludes that the two movies are "basically the same". For example, Disney's ''{{w|Aladdin (1992 Disney film)|Aladdin}}'' and {{w|James Cameron}}'s ''{{w|Titanic (1997 film)|Titanic}}'' [http://imgur.com/gallery/kasCMYd both feature a story] in which a lower-class boy and an upper-class girl fall for each other, among other cherry-picked yet interesting parallels. But due to the different emotional tones of the films, most people would not consider them to be at all similar (one is a family-friendly "happy ever after" tale and the other is a period romance that turns into a disaster thriller).
 This comic spoofs the idea. Instead of comparing plot lines of two movies, [[Ponytail]] and [[Cueball]] compare the respective movies' development histories. ''{{w|The Martian (Weir novel)|The Martian}}'' was originally a serialized story written by {{w|Andy Weir (writer)|Andy Weir}} on his blog which was later compiled into an ebook for people to easily download, then published into a physical book, and has now had a {{w|The Martian (film)|movie}} created based on it. The movie was officially released in the US on the same day this comic was released (October 2, 2015).

@@ Line 10: / Line 10: @@
 There's a common punchline in which the plot lines of two thematically-different works of fiction (usually movies) are compared in greatly-abbreviated form, and the speaker sarcastically concludes that the two movies are "basically the same". For sake of example, Disney's ''{{w|Aladdin (1992 Disney film)|Aladdin}}'' and {{w|James Cameron}}'s ''{{w|Titanic (1997 film)|Titanic}}'' [http://imgur.com/gallery/kasCMYd both feature a story] in which a lower-class boy and an upper-class girl fall for each other, among other cherry-picked yet interesting parallels. But due to the different emotional tones of the films, most people would not consider them to be at all similar (one is a family-friendly "happy ever after" tale and the other is a period romance that turns into a disaster thriller).
-This comic spoofs the idea. Instead of comparing plot lines of two movies, [[Ponytail]] and [[Cueball]] compare the respective movies' development histories.
+This comic spoofs the idea. Instead of comparing plot lines of two movies, [[Ponytail]] and [[Cueball]] compare the respective movies' development histories. ''{{w|The Martian (Weir novel)|The Martian}}'' was originally a serialized story written by {{w|Andy Weir (writer)|Andy Weir}} on his blog which was later compiled into an ebook for people to easily download, then published into a physical book, and has now had a {{w|The Martian (film)|movie}} created based on it. The movie was officially released in the US on the same day this comic was released (October 2, 2015).
-''{{w|The Martian (Weir novel)|The Martian}}'' was originally a serialized story written by {{w|Andy Weir (writer)|Andy Weir}} on his blog which was later compiled into an ebook for people to easily download, then published into a physical book, and has now had a {{w|The Martian (film)|movie}} created based on it. The movie was officially released in the US on the same day this comic was released (October 2, 2015).
+''{{w|Fifty Shades of Grey}}'' began as a {{w|fan fiction}} of a well known brand (the {{w|Twilight (novel series)|Twilight book series}}). It was originally written on the internet by {{w|E. L. James}}. It was then transformed into a successful book series which was later turned into a {{w|Fifty Shades of Grey (film)|movie}} released in February 2015. The book was already referenced back in 2012 in [[1128: Fifty Shades]]. Since ''Fifty Shades'' is a romance story about a sadomasochistic relationship, and ''The Martian'' is a very technical story about surviving completely alone on a hostile planet, the two books could not be any more different, hence the joke due to the juxtaposition.
-''{{w|Fifty Shades of Grey}}'' began as a {{w|fan fiction}} of a well known brand (the {{w|Twilight (novel series)|Twilight book series}}). It was originally written on the internet by {{w|E. L. James}}. It was then transformed into a successful book series which was later turned into a {{w|Fifty Shades of Grey (film)|movie}} released in February 2015. The book was already referenced back in 2012 in [[1128: Fifty Shades]].
+Cueball continues the joke by joining the two titles using red for Mars, to make a new book title, that should cover both books: ''Fifty Shades of Red.'' Ponytail says to Cueball that such a book would be irresistible for him. She does this by daring him to say that he wouldn't read it, believing he could not say so without lying. It is possible that the brand that ''The Martian'' derives from is {{w|NASA}} itself. ''The Martian'' has been compared to the film {{w|Apollo 13 (film)|Apollo 13}} by Randall in [[1536: The Martian]]. ''Apollo 13'' does indeed glorify the roles of the NASA engineers, and ''The Martian'' does a similar thing. That Randall would go see this movie as soon as it was released was already made perfectly clear back in June when he released the comic [[1536: The Martian]] showing how excited he is about the book. He then really looked forward to the movie.
-Since ''Fifty Shades'' is a romance story about a sadomasochistic relationship, and ''The Martian'' is a very technical story about surviving completely alone on a hostile planet, the two books could not be any more different, hence the joke due to the juxtaposition.
+Randall indicates in the title text that he has just seen the movie (certainly possible, if he caught a midnight screening; perhaps he drew this comic in advance and wrote the title text after) and finds the Sojourner rover adorable. Of course, he could also have seen it in the trailers. The [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/BB-8 BB-8] mentioned in the title text is the {{w|astromech droid}} from the movie {{w|Star Wars: The Force Awakens}} and is available as a toy (see also BB-8 on the [http://www.starwars.com/databank/bb-8 official Star Wars] home page). {{w|Sojourner (rover)|Sojourner}} was the Mars ''Pathfinder'' robotic rover. Mark Watney, the main character of the book, had the rover and let it wander around like a space puppy.
 Randall indicated that he thinks the Sojourner is much cuter than BB-8, and that he would like to have one as a pet. He then states that the Sojourner has always been the cutest among all the [[:Category:Mars rovers|Mars rovers]]. The cuteness of Mars Rovers is also mentioned in [[2433: Mars Rovers]]. There have been five so far, the other four being {{w|Spirit (rover)|Spirit}}, {{w|Curiosity (rover)|Curiosity}}, {{w|Opportunity (rover)|Opportunity}}, and {{w|Perseverance (rover)|Perseverance}}, three of which have already been used in xkcd comics: [[695: Spirit]], [[1091: Curiosity]], and [[1504: Opportunity]].

@@ Line 26: / Line 26: @@
 The [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/BB-8 BB-8] mentioned in the title text is the {{w|astromech droid}} from the movie {{w|Star Wars: The Force Awakens}} and is available as a toy (see also BB-8 on the [http://www.starwars.com/databank/bb-8 official Star Wars] home page). {{w|Sojourner (rover)|Sojourner}} was the Mars ''Pathfinder'' robotic rover. Mark Watney, the main character of the book, had the rover and let it wander around like a space puppy.
-Randall indicated that he thinks the Sojourner is much cuter than BB-8, and that he would like to have one as a pet. He then states that the Sojourner has always been the cutest among all the [[:Category:Mars rovers|Mars rovers]]. The cuteness of Mars Rovers is also mentioned in [[2433: Mars Rovers]]. There have been five so far, the other four being {{w|Opportunity (rover)|Opportunity}}, {{w|Spirit (rover)|Spirit}}, {{w|Curiosity (rover)|Curiosity}}, and {{w|Perseverance (rover)|Perseverance}}, three of which have already been used in xkcd comics: [[1504: Opportunity]], [[695: Spirit]], and [[1091: Curiosity]].
+Randall indicated that he thinks the Sojourner is much cuter than BB-8, and that he would like to have one as a pet. He then states that the Sojourner has always been the cutest among all the [[:Category:Mars rovers|Mars rovers]]. The cuteness of Mars Rovers is also mentioned in [[2433: Mars Rovers]]. There have been five so far, the other four being {{w|Spirit (rover)|Spirit}}, {{w|Curiosity (rover)|Curiosity}}, {{w|Opportunity (rover)|Opportunity}}, and {{w|Perseverance (rover)|Perseverance}}, three of which have already been used in xkcd comics: [[695: Spirit]], [[1091: Curiosity]], and [[1504: Opportunity]].
 ==Transcript==

@@ Line 26: / Line 26: @@
 The [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/BB-8 BB-8] mentioned in the title text is the {{w|astromech droid}} from the movie {{w|Star Wars: The Force Awakens}} and is available as a toy (see also BB-8 on the [http://www.starwars.com/databank/bb-8 official Star Wars] home page). {{w|Sojourner (rover)|Sojourner}} was the Mars ''Pathfinder'' robotic rover. Mark Watney, the main character of the book, had the rover and let it wander around like a space puppy.
-Randall indicated that he thinks the Sojourner is much cuter than BB-8, and that he would like to have one as a pet. He then states that the Sojourner has always been the cutest among all the [[:Category:Mars rovers|Mars rovers]]. The cuteness of Mars Rovers is also mentioned in [[2433: Mars Rovers]]. There have been five so far, the other four being {{w|Opportunity (rover)|Opportunity}}, {{w|Spirit (rover)|Spirit}}, {{w|Curiosity (rover)|Curiosity}}, and {{w|Perseverance (rover)|Perseverance}}, three of which have already been used in xkcd comics: [[695: Spirit]], [[1091: Curiosity]] and [[1504: Opportunity]].
+Randall indicated that he thinks the Sojourner is much cuter than BB-8, and that he would like to have one as a pet. He then states that the Sojourner has always been the cutest among all the [[:Category:Mars rovers|Mars rovers]]. The cuteness of Mars Rovers is also mentioned in [[2433: Mars Rovers]]. There have been five so far, the other four being {{w|Opportunity (rover)|Opportunity}}, {{w|Spirit (rover)|Spirit}}, {{w|Curiosity (rover)|Curiosity}}, and {{w|Perseverance (rover)|Perseverance}}, three of which have already been used in xkcd comics: [[1504: Opportunity]], [[695: Spirit]], and [[1091: Curiosity]].
 ==Transcript==

@@ Line 24: / Line 24: @@
 Randall indicates in the title text that he has just seen the movie (certainly possible, if he caught a midnight screening; perhaps he drew this comic in advance and wrote the title text after) and finds the Sojourner rover adorable. Of course, he could also have seen it in the trailers.
-The [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/BB-8 BB-8] mentioned in the title text is the {{w|astromech droid}} from the movie {{w|Star Wars: The Force Awakens}} and is available as a toy (see also BB-8 on the [http://www.starwars.com/databank/bb-8 official Star Wars] home page). {{w|Sojourner (rover)|Sojourner}} was the Mars ''Pathfinder'' robotic rover.
+The [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/BB-8 BB-8] mentioned in the title text is the {{w|astromech droid}} from the movie {{w|Star Wars: The Force Awakens}} and is available as a toy (see also BB-8 on the [http://www.starwars.com/databank/bb-8 official Star Wars] home page). {{w|Sojourner (rover)|Sojourner}} was the Mars ''Pathfinder'' robotic rover. Mark Watney, the main character of the book, had the rover and let it wander around like a space puppy.
 Randall indicated that he thinks the Sojourner is much cuter than BB-8, and that he would like to have one as a pet. He then states that the Sojourner has always been the cutest among all the [[:Category:Mars rovers|Mars rovers]]. The cuteness of Mars Rovers is also mentioned in [[2433: Mars Rovers]]. There have been five so far, the other four being {{w|Opportunity (rover)|Opportunity}}, {{w|Spirit (rover)|Spirit}}, {{w|Curiosity (rover)|Curiosity}}, and {{w|Perseverance (rover)|Perseverance}}, three of which have already been used in xkcd comics: [[695: Spirit]], [[1091: Curiosity]] and [[1504: Opportunity]].

@@ Line 31: / Line 31: @@
 '''Spoiler alert''': The rover was used by Mark Watney, the protagonist of ''The Martian'' (played by Matt Damon in the movie), to allow him to contact Earth.
-Randall indicated that he thinks the Sojourner is much cuter than BB-8, and that he would like to have one as a pet. He then states that the Sojourner has always been the cutest among all the [[:Category:Mars rovers|Mars rovers]]. The cuteness of Mars Rovers is also mentioned in [[2433: Mars Rovers]]. There have been four so far the other three being {{w|Opportunity (rover)|Opportunity}}, {{w|Spirit (rover)|Spirit}} and {{w|Curiosity (rover)|Curiosity}} which have already been used in xkcd comics: [[695: Spirit]], [[1091: Curiosity]] and [[1504: Opportunity]].
+Randall indicated that he thinks the Sojourner is much cuter than BB-8, and that he would like to have one as a pet. He then states that the Sojourner has always been the cutest among all the [[:Category:Mars rovers|Mars rovers]]. The cuteness of Mars Rovers is also mentioned in [[2433: Mars Rovers]]. There have been five so far, the other four being {{w|Opportunity (rover)|Opportunity}}, {{w|Spirit (rover)|Spirit}}, {{w|Curiosity (rover)|Curiosity}}, and {{w|Perseverance (rover)|Perseverance}}, three of which have already been used in xkcd comics: [[695: Spirit]], [[1091: Curiosity]] and [[1504: Opportunity]].
 ==Transcript==

@@ Line 20: / Line 20: @@
 Cueball continues the joke by joining the two titles using red for Mars, to make a new book title, that should cover both books: ''Fifty Shades of Red.'' Ponytail says to Cueball that such a book would be irresistible for him. She does this by daring him to say that he wouldn't read it, believing he could not say so without lying. The red could also be a reference to the safe word used in the Fifty Shades series, for when things hurt instead of being pleasing. It means stop! But stop should be a word you can say, without the other one stopping, adding to the illusion of being forced; actually stopping would be done by saying ''red''. Reading it like that, the title would be ''Fifty Shades of Stop''!
-An alternative explanation is that Randall is commenting on the [http://screencrush.com/the-martian-damon-interstellar/ frequent] [http://io9.com/sorry-interstellar-we-just-saw-some-of-the-martian-an-1699793860 comparisons] made between The Martian and the movie {{w|Interstellar (film)|Interstellar}}, comparisons centering on the fact that in both {{w|Matt Damon}} plays an astronaut stuck on a deserted planet, but also mentioning, among others, the appearance of {{w|Jessica Chastain}} and the similar design of the spacesuits used in both movies. These comparisons have been prevalent on the Internet long before the release of The Martian, so evidently spurred by the movie trailers, rather than by reviews of viewers. Randall is making the point that to one who has seen the movie, comparing The Martian to Interstellar is as far-fetched as comparing it to Fifty Shades of Grey. According to this interpretation, Randall is not ridiculing The Martian, but rather Interstellar. By proxy, he is praising The Martian. Given that Randall has chosen (now for the second time) to mention the film explicitly on his site, the idea that he is promoting The Martian is perhaps more plausible than the idea that he is expressing dissatisfaction with it. The title text, where he makes a similar comparison, favoring The Martian over Star Wars: The Force Awakens, further boosts this explanation.
+One explanation is that Randall is commenting on the [http://screencrush.com/the-martian-damon-interstellar/ frequent] [http://io9.com/sorry-interstellar-we-just-saw-some-of-the-martian-an-1699793860 comparisons] made between The Martian and the movie {{w|Interstellar (film)|Interstellar}}, comparisons centering on the fact that in both {{w|Matt Damon}} plays an astronaut stuck on a deserted planet, but also mentioning, among others, the appearance of {{w|Jessica Chastain}} and the similar design of the spacesuits used in both movies. These comparisons have been prevalent on the Internet long before the release of The Martian, so evidently spurred by the movie trailers, rather than by reviews of viewers. Randall is making the point that to one who has seen the movie, comparing The Martian to Interstellar is as far-fetched as comparing it to Fifty Shades of Grey. According to this interpretation, Randall is not ridiculing The Martian, but rather Interstellar. By proxy, he is praising The Martian. Given that Randall has chosen (now for the second time) to mention the film explicitly on his site, the idea that he is promoting The Martian is perhaps more plausible than the idea that he is expressing dissatisfaction with it. The title text, where he makes a similar comparison, favoring The Martian over Star Wars: The Force Awakens, further boosts this explanation.
 It is possible that the brand that ''The Martian'' derives from is {{w|NASA}} itself. ''The Martian'' has been compared to the film {{w|Apollo 13 (film)|Apollo 13}} by Randall in [[1536: The Martian]]. ''Apollo 13'' does indeed glorify the roles of the NASA engineers, and ''The Martian'' does a similar thing. That Randall would go see this movie as soon as it was released was already made perfectly clear back in June when he released the comic [[1536: The Martian]] showing how excited he is about the book. He then really looked forward to the movie.

1585: Similarities - Revision history

99.224.109.91: Simple rewording

FaviFake at 17:25, 24 March 2025

Cheesesentience: /* Explanation */

Cheesesentience: /* Explanation */

Cheesesentience: /* Explanation */ removing spoiler

172.70.80.225: /* Explanation */ Corrected an error in the Spoiler alert - Mark used the *lander,* not the rover

Tromag at 01:45, 20 November 2023

Oneforfortytwo: remove unlikely explanations

Trogdor147: Added Perseverance to the list in the last paragraph

162.158.62.163 at 22:44, 11 May 2023

172.70.80.225: /* Explanation / Corrected an error in the Spoiler alert - Mark used the lander,* not the rover