2014-06-09
Original: 2014-06-09 on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1:
A person at a console (an officer with a ponytail): NAME?
Ahab (a bearded man): AHAB
Panel 2:
Officer at console: IT SAYS HERE YOU ONLY ORDERED THREE MINUTES IN THE HOLODROME?
A crew member (gesturing toward a doorway): RIGHT THIS WAY, CAPTAIN
Panel 3:
Ahab (now holding a harpoon): SHANT BE BUT THREE MINUTES.
Panel 4:
Wide shot: Ahab, a small figure with his harpoon, stands alone in a large dark vaulted chamber (the holodrome) with archways.
Panel 5:
Ahab stands alone in the dark chamber.
Ahab: ACTIVATE SIMULATION.
Panel 6:
A white whale appears in the darkness above Ahab.
Panel 7:
Ahab closes his eyes, raising a hand to his face, overcome with emotion.
Panel 8:
The crew member (a woman) outside calls in: CAPTAIN AHAB, YOU FORGOT YOUR—
Panel 9:
Close on the woman, mouth open mid-sentence, eyes wide.
Panel 10:
Final panel: Ahab is revealed embracing / nuzzling the white whale affectionately, the whale's body filling the frame.
Votey:
The white whale speaks: IT'S NOT WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE.
A person at a console (an officer with a ponytail): NAME?
Ahab (a bearded man): AHAB
Panel 2:
Officer at console: IT SAYS HERE YOU ONLY ORDERED THREE MINUTES IN THE HOLODROME?
A crew member (gesturing toward a doorway): RIGHT THIS WAY, CAPTAIN
Panel 3:
Ahab (now holding a harpoon): SHANT BE BUT THREE MINUTES.
Panel 4:
Wide shot: Ahab, a small figure with his harpoon, stands alone in a large dark vaulted chamber (the holodrome) with archways.
Panel 5:
Ahab stands alone in the dark chamber.
Ahab: ACTIVATE SIMULATION.
Panel 6:
A white whale appears in the darkness above Ahab.
Panel 7:
Ahab closes his eyes, raising a hand to his face, overcome with emotion.
Panel 8:
The crew member (a woman) outside calls in: CAPTAIN AHAB, YOU FORGOT YOUR—
Panel 9:
Close on the woman, mouth open mid-sentence, eyes wide.
Panel 10:
Final panel: Ahab is revealed embracing / nuzzling the white whale affectionately, the whale's body filling the frame.
Votey:
The white whale speaks: IT'S NOT WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE.
Alt text
A Moby-Dick-themed sci-fi comic. A bearded man checks in at a console and gives his name as "Ahab." An officer notes he only booked three minutes in the "holodrome" (a holodeck-style simulation room), and a crew member directs him inside. Carrying a harpoon, Ahab says "Shant be but three minutes" and enters a vast dark vaulted chamber alone. He commands "Activate simulation," and a white whale materializes in the darkness above him. Ahab closes his eyes and raises a hand to his face, deeply moved. A crew member outside calls, "Captain Ahab, you forgot your—" then freezes wide-eyed mid-sentence. The final panel reveals why: Ahab is tenderly embracing and nuzzling the giant white whale. In the votey (bonus panel), a close-up of the white whale's face, the whale says: "It's not what it looks like." The joke recasts Ahab's obsessive hatred of Moby Dick as secret intimacy.
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.