The Far Side

Discussion in 'TV & Media' started by INACTIVESamusAranX, Apr 6, 2008.

  1. INACTIVESamusAranX

    INACTIVESamusAranX Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    I showed this funny but very poltically incorrect strip to my cousin who for his sake fortunately has never read it.

    He thought it was offensive. :borg:

    I love this strip. I love just as much reading about the uproar some activist group or random tightwads caused when one of the strips offended them. :lol:
     
  2. FalTorPan

    FalTorPan Vice Admiral Admiral

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    It was a great comic. Loved it.
     
  3. Bak_and_Blue

    Bak_and_Blue Captain Captain

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    The Far Side is essential for any science teacher. It adds relevant comic relief to any test. The guy who wrote it had to be some kind of scientist. He had a fantastic brain.

    My favorite had to be "Crisis Clinic" going over the waterfall.
    Second to that was the crowd of Lemmings going over a cliff; one Lemming had a snorkel on.
    Or the smoking dinosaurs: why dinosaurs really went extinct.
    Classic.
     
  4. Tom Servo

    Tom Servo Commodore Commodore

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    Probably the funniest cartoons ever. I love the one with the two scientists whose time machines crash into each other in the Jurassic period.
     
  5. drc

    drc Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    The Far Side, offensive? I can't remember anything of the sort. I never found it to be in anyway politically incorrect. what do you mean by that?
     
  6. Flying Spaghetti Monster

    Flying Spaghetti Monster Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I like "Cow Tools" "Luposlipophobia" and "School for the Mentally Gifted"
     
  7. The Nth Doctor

    The Nth Doctor Infinite Possibilities... Premium Member

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    Which strip(s) did you show him?

    I absolutely love The Far Side because it's quirky, honest, real, ironic, and damn funny.
     
  8. Unicron

    Unicron Boss Monster Mod Moderator

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    Actually, Gary Larson has said (particularly in the tenth anniversary book, The Prehistory of the Far Side), that he received frequent complaints from readers about the strip, and certain cartoons in particular. The "Cow Tools" cartoon was particularly infamous, as many people found it very confusing and difficult to understand. Some of the complaints were due to his own errors (one was a cartoon about a dog dreaming about finally catching a car, and howling over its "kill." Larson added the car's transmission case, in an attempt to make a realistic car, but realized this was a mistake after printing because it made the dog appear to be "romantically entangled" with the car). Others were the fault of a given newspaper screwing up a caption, or in one particular case accidentally cutting a key part of a cartoon out due to the format being cropped.

    Personally, I never read too much into Far Side cartoons. ;)
     
  9. MeanJoePhaser

    MeanJoePhaser Admiral

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    The best ones where when the Dennis the Menace captions got switched.

    Even though it ended in the 90's...Far Side is soooo 80's. I remember when it got big...there was all this FAR SIDE stuff...I had no idea what it was at first.

    Still a few a clones in papers out there, none ever measure up or have the same character as The Far Side.

    Though, The Far Side itself owes a bit to Charles Addams (IIRC, Larson acknowledges that.)
     
  10. INACTIVESamusAranX

    INACTIVESamusAranX Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Well, I certainly don't find it offensive but many did, especially animal lovers: there's the infamous "Tethercat" cartoon (where two dogs are playing tetherball with with a cat), the alligators bobbing for poodles, the accidental car & dog love scene, the Fifi one (where an owner is urging her dog to run inside, but the doggie door is nailed shut).

    Amnesty International used to mail the author everytime he made a strip about torture. Heck, for the first few years of the strip he wasn't even allowed to show outhouses in the strip.

    Also, read his 10th anniversary book; there's some strips in there he didn't bother to try and submit that even surprised me.
     
  11. M'Sharak

    M'Sharak Definitely Herbert. Maybe. Moderator

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    I don't know which strip that might have been, but it doesn't really matter -- some people need to lighten up.

    Sure, it toyed with a few boundaries -- that sort of thing is why we have humor, to begin with -- but The Far Side was never about causing offense.



    "Ha! Webster's blown his cerebral cortex!"

    That's not about head trauma -- it's just a funny idea, right?
     
  12. Orac Zen

    Orac Zen Mischief Manager Super Moderator

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    The Far Side is complete and utter genius. :bolian:
     
  13. TGTheodore

    TGTheodore Writer Admiral

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    One of my favorites was the infamous Cows at the Grand Canyon, posing for a photo. Apparently, the drawing was so subtle that even a majority of die-hard fans of the strip didn't get it. (And of course, once you have to explain a joke it loses most, if not all of its humor)

    Another, of course, is a rifle scope's view of two bears. One bear is nervously grinning at the hunter's eye and is casually pointing for him to shoot the other bear. I still have that mug.

    --Ted
     
  14. Colonel Midnight

    Colonel Midnight Vice Admiral Premium Member

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    ^ That one is a classic -- along with the similar one where the two deer are talking to each other... and the one has a target symbol on his chest.

    'Bummer of birthmark, Hal...'

    :guffaw: :guffaw:

    Wasn't there one strip he did where some Christian group got all bent out of shape because it showed God playing Jeopardy? Reminds me of the people here in Virginia -- they need to just LIGHTEN UP.

    Cheers,
    -CM-
     
  15. Kegek

    Kegek Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Possibly the greatest comic strip of all time.

    As far as his more tasteless strips go, my all time favourite (though I think it was just included in a collection and not published as part of the regular strip) was when some people see a corpse slumped over a piano. 'Don't disturb him,' one observes, 'he's decomposing.'*

    *Line taken from memory; it's something to that effect anyway.
     
  16. TGTheodore

    TGTheodore Writer Admiral

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    Yes! Great one! As I recall, two nerd contestants each have zero points and God has all the points.

    --Ted
     
  17. Warp Coil

    Warp Coil Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I'm sitting at my desk at work right now, and I have a 2008 Far Side "Scared Silly" mini-calendar hanging up to amuse me. Favorite by far is the month of May - "Now go to sleep, Kevin - or once again I'll have to knock three times and summon the Floating Head of Death."

    I love this strip,and have given many a Far Side greeting card to people for various events.
     
  18. Mr. Laser Beam

    Mr. Laser Beam Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I like one of the other ones he never used: A group of aliens shaped like fire hydrants, and one of them has 'something' dripping off him. There is a large dog nearby. One of the aliens is very upset: "'Take me to your leader,' I said...and then the most hideous thing happened!"

    Some of my favorites that did get used:

    - Two aliens are trying to talk to people. One of them is sheepishly clutching an English/Alien dictionary. The other one, very angry, says "'Take me to your stove'? You idiot! Give me that book back!" :guffaw:

    - Interplanetary luggage mixups. A human is pulling an unidentifiable piece of alien clothing out of a bag and saying "What the heck is this?" The alien has the human's clothes and is thinking "øod nqx fpxh ga?"

    - In God's kitchen: God has a box of "EARTHQUIK" on the kitchen counter. He pulls the Earth out of the oven and thinks 'Something tells me this thing's only half baked.'

    - An Indian tribe is gathered on the top of a cliff. There is a train going by, in the valley below. The chief looks at the rest of his men and says "Pardon me, boys...is that the Chattanooga Iron Horse?"

    - A caveman has just been squashed flat by something very large. Caption: "Gak Eisenberg invents the first and last silent mammoth whistle."

    - More cavemen. One of them has produced a slide of something with a large spiked tail. "Now this end is called the thagomizer...after the late Thag Simmons."
     
    Last edited: Apr 7, 2008
  19. Pegaritaville

    Pegaritaville Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I love The Far Side. It used to be the first thing I looked at when I sat down to read my morning paper. I have just about every book- even though I've seen every comic numerous times, I still get a chuckle out of them.
     
  20. Amaris

    Amaris Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    There was a coffee cup with that strip on it, and I wanted it so bad. I searched for it for years but could never find it. New, anyway. Best strip ever. :lol:


    J.