Ocean's Unmoving has had some serious problems. It's been too slow to do enthralling action and too fast to develop so many characters. I can see why so many people have had negative responses. But to me, it's been compelling enough to make up for it:

* The setting is brilliant, thoroughly unique, and intriguing enough to spark Balrog-versus-particle-cannon-type debates. Words do not describe how cool timeless space is.

* The general plot is clever enough to suggest more comprehensive backstory; I could see someone writing fan-fic. The Deus ex Machina was perhaps a little disappointing, but the story did start with a Deus (nobody complains how the Greek gods screw up the Odyssey), and I think the way Bun-bun came full figure-8 more than makes up for it.

* There's been some problems with the characters - and in reactions today, Jezarro suggested one I hadn't thought of, but which may or may not bug me now depending on how things go. At any rate, though, they aren't dull.

For me, that's plenty. I really don't think OU was the sort of story SF is suited for telling, and as a result, it came out kind of porridgey. But it's clear to me there was a great story some place in there. Thank you.

*sigh*

Just because a god solved a problem does not automatically make it a Deus Ex Machine. Uncle Time was a part of the tale as a whole; his presence was established during the narritive and it was said in so many words that Timeless Space was the way it was because of his influence. It made sense that he could be found and it made sense that he could solve Bun-Bun's problem once he was found. He is the way out of Timeless Space.

Let me give you an example of a real Deus Ex Machina. Dangerous Days Ahead. Run the story as usual all the way up to where everyone is being beaten by Cloney and everything looks lost. Then, instead of having Torg save the day, a superior being (be it Zeus, Uncle Time or God himself) shows up and kills Cloney for Torg. That is a Deus Ex Machina. There would be no foundation in the plot for such an intervention or even the character doing the intervening.

See the difference?

Well just to be nitpicky, Torg is the one who killed Cloney, but yes only because of "real-Aylee" showing up. I think real-Aylee would have worked and seemed like less of a deux-ex, had Pete's delivery been different, but as it was I would agree.

real aylee turned up, but didnt save the day. that said, it was a bit of a deus ex machina, but i think it was more of a retcon in all honesty.
basically, i felt that pete realised he messed up - that people liked cute aylee more than he thought they did, and were too disapointed that aylee would turn evil. therefore, he did a retcon to fix aylee. it may have been intended from the start, but thats how it seemed to me.
i'd also remind people though, that there is a difference between 'deus ex machina' and 'surprising'. people seem to be mixing these 2 up fairly often :P

I definitely disagree on that one. I'd be very very surprised if Pete didn't know what he was doing with evil-Aylee from the moment he introduced her, though granted, only Pete knows for sure.

It does, but Bun-bun still just stumbled into him through chance. I suppose at that point it's semantics. How improbable does this have to be before we call it Deus ex Machina? More important is, how improbable does it have to be before we won't buy it as a plot device? On that, I'm with you, it was fine.

Honestly? It's boring me to tears. I miss the regular cast terribly.

This is sort of long so I summarized it in a short paragraph at the start so you can get the main point quicker if you so choose. Feel free to read the rest if you want a little support for the claims I make, or not.

Summary:

I like OU. The story is about Kada and Calix, Bun-bun is incidental, and writers are allowed to tell a different type of story from time to time to keep them from getting bored with their creations. Art (pop or otherwise) exists without you or me. If we enjoy it that's great, if not, art still exists. Additionally, Sluggy is a wierd comic with gods and other powerful beings in it and sometimes those beings do stuff that affects the cast. That's what we've signed on for.

Support and elaboration on those points:

First off, to address the original purpose of the thread, I am enjoying OU and have no problem seeing it resolved without Bun-bun since Bun-bun was largely an incidental character in this story, at most a plot divice for bringing certain more important characters into interaction. I'll admit that it was jarring when OU first started with Kada in the future and then shifted just as abruptly to Calix's village, but once I was able to accept that this is not so much a Sluggy Freelance story or even a Bun-bun story, as it is more of a side project told with Sluggy-style humor and a slightly different story telling style, I could enter the arc on it's own terms and have fun. I don't even care if the rest of the cast ever meets Kada and Calix. This is a story that I'm reading and enjoying and that's enough.

You see, I read things that aren't Sluggy Freelance, books for example, comic and otherwise, and many of these do not feature Torg, Riff, and the others as main characters. I guess I mean that I don't need these characters to enjoy an interesting story with cool sci-fi concepts and clever humor. The reality is that any writer gets tired of dealing with the same characters and rules all the time. Granted the world this comic takes place in is more flexible than most and allows Pete to incorporate pretty much any concept (demons, aliens, vampires, talking animals, camel curses, talking swords, whatever Oasis is, time travel, giant robots, personified holidays and killer satanic kittens, among other things) without having it seem out of place but it's rare that Pete gets the chance to start over with an entirely new cast oc characters to tell a story.

For the same reason that back in the days of Calvin and Hobbes, we would sometimes get spaceman spiff or tracer bullet or some other imagined character instead of Calvin to allow for a different style of story telling, Pete understandably feels the need to mix things up from time to time after writing this comic for so many years. I think that's why he tells Torg potter stories which are practically non-cannon since their only significance aside from being very funny even by sluggy standards is that they leave everyone wondering where Torg got off to. It's also the same reason that we sometimes get more somber story arcs with fewer jokes and more drama. Now Pete's telling a story about the oceans unmoving. He kept Bun-bun in it for a while but now the rabbit isn't important to the rest of the story he wants to tell, so Bun-bun was unceromoniously booted out of timless space in the most time effiecient way. Was it a little too convenient? Maybe, but this is a comedy strip and also one that is keenly aware of when it is doing these sorts of things so it can be forgiven. Heck, deus ex machina was what got bun-bun tossed into timeless space in the first place.

In the world of sluggy there are gods and sometimes those gods do stuff. You might as well complain about how wierd stuff always happens to the main cast. Sort of improbable that Torg and company keep encountering a steady onslaught of paranormal wierdness all the time, isn't it? But that's how things work in this comic and if you read Sluggy you accept that.

Now I'm not much of a writer, since I can't stick with any one set of characters and concepts for much longer that the time it takes to introduce them before a story I'd rather be telling occurs to me, (and I have a problem with run-on sentences) but even I could have come up with other ways to get Bun-bun out of timeless space that would seem less sudden. And I know that Pete could come up with some as well but they would all takes months to wrap up. It isn't so much a mater of writing himself into a corner as just wanting to get on with things. Pete clearly has some purpose in mind with Kada and Calix, who were really the start of this whole arc anyway, and wasting too much more time dealing with getting Bun-bun home would keep him from telling the story he wants to tell. Like I said before, Pete has created a world where pretty much anything can fly, so uncle time's part doesn't seem as unnatural as it would in another story. Sometimes you save the day through your own strength and cleverness, and sometimes you just get lucky; that's life, that's art. Ask the guy who discovered penicillin.

*raises hand*

I must concede, though, that Uncle Time is a textbook example of Deus Ex Machina. It would be on par with the Terminator popping into Hamlet and shooting King Claudius. However, this is acceptable because Bun-bun is not the protagonist of Oceans Unmoving. The real story is that of Calix and Kada. Uncle Time's sudden appearance has no impact on them--Bun-bun could have very well been left for dead and the story would read much the same way--and so it does not resolve the real plot. It's more of a side note: "Oh, by the way, Bun-bun's going to show up again later." Had the story been told entirely from Bun-bun's perspective, you must admit that Uncle Time would seem like a cheap plot device, but because he only exists to clarify the fate of a secondary character, he is acceptable.

Actually I agree with Ladyblanc's argument. Uncle Time was an established part of Timeless Space and so were the Oceans Unmoving. I don't think it qualifies as Deus Ex Machina, or at the very least it wasn't a contrived occurence out of NOWHERE.

I'd raise my hand, but I think it's gotten a little too crowed in here with OU supporters. So instead I'm gonna step outside and get some air.

oh and PS: Deus Ex Machinas are acceptable in any story that acknowledges there are Deus Ex Machinas.
http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=031214

Actually, I think you're missing LadyBlanc's point. In her hypothetical example of Deus Ex Machina, neither Torg nor Aylee would have been responsible for killing Cloney. Instead, some Greater Power would have appeared and done it... say, a crack team of anti-alien government troops led by W.B. Muldy and Danish Kruller.

That would be Deus Ex Machina.

That is also an example of an AWESOME Deus Ex Machina. Bring back Kruller and Muldy!

Actually, that isn't a Deus Ex Machina, despite the name. The Deus Ex Ovum was hinted at earlier and introduced in that strip. Bun-bun went to the North Pole primarily to prevent Santa from using the Ovum, and everything after "Slay Bells Ring" was a plot to force Bun-bun to use it. A Deus Ex Machina is a sudden plot twist that resolves the conflict.

I think the Ovum was a Deus Ex Machina. It was not a Deus Ex Machina to get out of the Holiday Wars, though. I think Pete realized that he had written himself in a corner with Alien Santa (and he probably wanted to get rid of Bun Bun's shaddow, too) and used the Ovum (and the whole Holiday Wars) as a Deus Ex Machina to restore Santa to his old self.