Well, isn't that reason enough to see the story to it's end?



Seeing how long OU has been going on- months and months- I think that qualifies them as main characters. And as wonderful as the characters are that you listed, it's always nice to take a break from them and find out what else is going on. Personally, afters months of BunBun and years of Torg/Riff/Zoe, I'm excited to see a couple weeks of just 'new' people. It's a refreshing break that doesn't involve filler strips or vacation time.

And let's not forget that Pete doesn't do long, epic storyarcs that have nothing at all to do with Torg and The Gang. He doesn't do much at all that doesn't affect them in some way. So we know that somehow Oceans Unmoving is ultimately going to be an influence on Torg Etc.

I, too, actually like Oceans Unmoving. Because it's a fairly active storyline that involves a steady string of plot twists, narrow escapes, and so on... while being driven by a fairly cohesive internal logic.

T-1000, your objections seem rather fussy to me. As far as I can tell, the only way you'd be satisfied with an escape from Timeless Space would be for the escapee to engage in an extensive, painstaking R&D program aimed at reconstructing Teknokon One and returning to their own time after hundreds of man-years of effort.
Virtually any story which involves significant amounts of quest and adventure must contain some form of 'plot token'. 'Plot tokens' are things within the plot that do not exist outside the plot, but which play an essential role in the development of the plot. For example, the One Ring in the Lord of the Rings is such a token. Objectively, why on Earth would a little gold ring be able to threaten the fate of nations? It makes no sense. And yet the story is good, and it would be much poorer without the Ring and what it represents. Because within the universe of the story the Ring is important.

Objecting to Uncle Time as a piece of half-assery intended to save Pete from being written into a corner is, to my mind, like objecting to the One Ring as an arbitrary and far too important element of the plot of the Lord of the Rings. There were reasons to suspect that a way out (or at least something important) might lie beneath the Ocean from the beginning. For crying out loud, the title of the entire story was Oceans Unmoving. Shouldn't that suggest that the Ocean itself might be important as something other than 'the floor of the universe'?
I didn't notice that in advance. Neither did most of the rest of us. But the fact that it was unexpected doesn't make it a half-assed exercise in deus ex machina.

In a universe with fantastic features that defy reality as we know it (which the Sluggyverse has been since we first saw Bun-Bun, if not from the very first strip), the existence of godlike entities in various places throughout the setting is NOT necessarily a mere contrivance by which the author extricates himself from a dilemna.

Point. Heck, not only might Kada and Calix be Torg's parents, they may directly or indirectly impact an as yet unsolved plot, like Oasis or Zoe's tattoo, or the like. They aren't just obscure players who will exit stage left permenately at the end of this chapter. They'll be back (just like Oasis).

EDIT: That was in responce to Taurus, by the way.

I second the motion. I HATED OU up until about 3 months ago, when I went through and reread it all. Suddenly, It clicked together and has done nothing but improve since.

Also, I dont want Noga to die, but I DO think that the grays are due a victom soon!!!

I too raise my hand. Kada and Calix are very sympathetic characters and we have lost many of them (Bert and Sasha come to mind) in the comic.

I can tell from this post that you have not paid critical attention to a single thing that I have said, nor do I really believe you were paying much attention to LOTR. So rather than waste my time I'll just say "thank you for playing, better luck next time"

*Hangs a sign on T-1000's post*:

Do not feed the trolls. Thank you.

T, if you're not trolling, don't take it seriously. But you are the one who seems like you're ignoring stuff. I mean, you didn't even respond to that post, just said that the person obviously didn't read yours.

Also, Bun-Bun getting out of TS through the OU is what is known as irony. Everybody thinks that the ocean is BAD, but in reality, it's the way out.

While I don't entirely agree with the One Ring as an example of a plot token (it was too central IMO), there is no need to be rude and snippy because somebody doesn't agree with you. Having a different opinion does not = didn't pay attention to anything you've said.

Er, excuse me.

*raises hand*

There we go. Now I'll watch the development of this thread from the sidelines, as I have before.

every story has coincidences and strange happenings, thats what makes them storys rather than lists of "what i did at the office today".

that said, i did love your classic "you disagree with me, so i'll claim you're ignoring me, ignore you, and say that i've won the thread.". havnt seen one done quite as well in a while.

(for the record, LOTR is ridiculously full of deus ex machinas - the film especially, the books not *quite* as bad. "Oh dammit, we're outnumbered with no chance. meh, i'll just go pick up this invincible army that can win the battle in moments." "poop! we're stuck on an erupting volcano! oh good, some giant eagles have appeared for no apparent reason to rescue us." to name but 2.)

Pete did not half-ass this. The point is that they could all escape by jumping into the ocean. Thats why when we saw Bunbun and Blacksoul frozen in time in the water that we didn't see anyone else. Now if you did then by all means start complaining.

Wow, it's funny what can draw my attention back to the boards...

*raises hand* I enjoyed the story immensely in the beginning. What can I say, I have a deep love of pirates! I especially love Jaspers and Feder, as annoying as they are, for the Pirates of the Caribbean reference. I'll admit, the story lost me somewhere toward the middle, but re-reading the strips caught me up just fine. I can't wait for the end of the arc, but only because I can't wait to have the full story completed and laid out before me.

Also, I love Noga! She fits in nicely with my second love, mythology/folklore.

...oh, also--sorry you felt offended, T-1000, but I thought Simon_Jester really made a good argument, especially with the lord of the rings reference. Personally, I felt that whole Uncle Time scenario was a bit tacked on, but I can appreciate the irony, and I have a feeling it wouldn't have come across as half-assed in the least if Pete weren't struggling to move the story along... I imagine there may have been some unnecessary, but more appeasing foreshadowing that was kicked to the curb in an effort to wrap things up efficiently/expediently...

i'll raise my hand. I'm actually sad it's ending so soon. sure it's cruel of pete to leave what happens to the main characters as a cliffhanger each time he snaps to ou (which is where I think most of the discontent is coming from) but ou is a superb storyline in and of itself, rivalling that which redeems when you go back over it all at one time. A large part of the problem is that whenever we went into one of these side storylines before (the kittens, kesandreau's well, etc) there wasn't anything big going on with the other characters at the same time; this time, pete cut to ou just as they opened a box of mysterious contents <i>twice</i>. So the discontent with ou is quite understandandable.

I'll remember not to feed the trolls and mallet-wielding Dogberts from now on. Or at least try to remember.