# Was this a Calvin & Hobbes cartoon? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 30, 2004, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-a-calvin-hobbes-cartoon/277372 "2004-11-30T19:43:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2004, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-a-calvin-hobbes-cartoon/277372/1 "2004-11-30T19:43:56Z")
I’m drawing some comics, and I have an opportunity to use a joke I’ve had in mind for a long time … but I have a sneaking suspicion that the gag may have already appeared in a Calvin & Hobbes strip: Child bored during car trip. Staring out window, sees speed limit sign. Sees typical warning sign that says, “SPEED ENFORCED BY AIRCRAFT.” A sports car whizzes by, clearly over the speed limit … and an F-15 swoops out of the sky and blows it up with a heat-seeking missile. Anyone recall this? (I don’t feel like paging through ten books of Calvin & Hobbes comics.) ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2004, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-a-calvin-hobbes-cartoon/277372/2 "2004-11-30T19:52:54Z")
Not quite the same. Calvin imagines a squadron of F-14s piloted by T.Rexs blowing up his school. Hobbes was underwhelmed. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2004, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-a-calvin-hobbes-cartoon/277372/3 "2004-11-30T20:12:21Z")
> [@Grey](#): > > Not quite the same. Calvin imagines a squadron of F-14s piloted by T.Rexs blowing up his school. > > Hobbes was underwhelmed. 🙂 That one is my favorite C&H of all time. The look on the T-Rex’s face in the cockpit was priceless. Calvin: This is _ **SO** _ cool! Hobbes: This is _ **SO** _ stupid. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2004, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-a-calvin-hobbes-cartoon/277372/4 "2004-11-30T20:42:30Z")
> [@Grey](#): > > Not quite the same. Calvin imagines a squadron of F-14s piloted by T.Rexs blowing up his school. No, you’re confusing _two_ strips there. In one, Calvin imagines T-rexes flying F-14s attacking other dinosaurs (tyrannadons?). In the other, Calvin imagines him flying an F-14 and blasting his school to bits. Watterson got some complaints from parents about that one… ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2004, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-a-calvin-hobbes-cartoon/277372/5 "2004-11-30T20:52:22Z")
> [@rjung](#): > > No, you’re confusing _two_ strips there. > > In one, Calvin imagines T-rexes flying F-14s attacking other dinosaurs (tyrannadons?). > > In the other, Calvin imagines him flying an F-14 and blasting his school to bits. Watterson got some complaints from parents about that one… You’re right! Loved 'em both. ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2004, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-a-calvin-hobbes-cartoon/277372/6 "2004-11-30T21:25:02Z")
Ahh, yes. I forget the exact wording, but: The only thing more terrifying than a Tyrannosaurus Rex is . . . _a Tyrannosaurus in an F-14!!!_. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2004, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-a-calvin-hobbes-cartoon/277372/7 "2004-11-30T21:25:24Z")
What are you drawing some comics for? ---
**Author:** ![Talon\_Karrde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Talon\_Karrde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Talon_Karrde)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2004, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-a-calvin-hobbes-cartoon/277372/8 "2004-11-30T22:24:22Z")
I love C&H and have read a lot of the collections, but I’m hardly an expert. For what it’s worth, I’m just about positive that I haven’t seen that joke used. It is a lot like the kind of stuff that would be in it. I think the idea is funny. ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2004, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-a-calvin-hobbes-cartoon/277372/9 "2004-11-30T23:19:12Z")
It is a very Calvin-type idea; I don’t think it would have been used by Watterson though. The focus of the humor is wrong. An F-14 blowing up the school would be a kid’s idea of cool. An F-14 blowing up speeders in traffic is a more adult-oriented fantasy (not in the X-rated sense of adult.) School is a cause of a kid’s frustration; traffic is a cause of an adult’s frustration. As I recall, Watterson was pretty consistent in his approach; Calvin might wax poetic at length about his observations of grownup issues, but his fantasy targets were always chosen from his own perspective. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2004, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-a-calvin-hobbes-cartoon/277372/10 "2004-11-30T23:33:43Z")
> [@rjung](#): > > In the other, Calvin imagines him flying an F-14 and blasting his school to bits. Watterson got some complaints from parents about that one… Correction; Calvin was flying an F-_15_ during his attack on the school. (Oddly enough, it looked like he was attacking it with air to air missiles. :smack: ) Not to be confused with the one where he’s flying an F-4 Phantom, but discovers his plane is a shoddily constructed deathtrap—cut to him at a worktable, scowling at a model F-4 he’s (badly) assembled. ---
**Author:** ![Talon\_Karrde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Talon\_Karrde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Talon_Karrde)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-a-calvin-hobbes-cartoon/277372/11 "2004-12-01T04:27:51Z")
It wouldn’t have to be frustration, so much as a child-like view of how the world works. ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-a-calvin-hobbes-cartoon/277372/12 "2004-12-01T08:32:37Z")
I remember a sign from when I was a kid. It said “Speed Enforced by Radar”, and someone had spray-painted “O’Reilly” after it. I always thought that would make a good cartoon. ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-a-calvin-hobbes-cartoon/277372/13 "2004-12-01T15:35:00Z")
In addition to all the strips already mentioned, there’s also a chance that you could be thinking of a strip in which he sees a “maximum weight allowed on bridge” sign, and asks his dad how they come up with it. ---
**Author:** ![SpectBrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a87d85/32.png) [@SpectBrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpectBrain)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-a-calvin-hobbes-cartoon/277372/14 "2004-12-01T16:18:30Z")
Were you maybe thinking of [This](http://www.radical-jokes.com/html/Enforced-Speed-Limit.html) ? ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-a-calvin-hobbes-cartoon/277372/15 "2004-12-01T16:48:09Z")
> [@SpectBrain](#): > > Were you maybe thinking of [This](http://www.radical-jokes.com/html/Enforced-Speed-Limit.html) ? Oh thanks for this! That’s getting printed out riiiight now. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-a-calvin-hobbes-cartoon/277372/16 "2004-12-01T16:49:10Z")
> [@Governor Quinn](#): > > In addition to all the strips already mentioned, there’s also a chance that you could be thinking of a strip in which he sees a “maximum weight allowed on bridge” sign, and asks his dad how they come up with it. Oh, and this is one of my favorite Calvin strips of all time. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-a-calvin-hobbes-cartoon/277372/17 "2004-12-01T20:21:26Z")
There was also a strip (I think it was a Sunday) in which Calvin, bored on a long trip in the family car, asks if he can drive. He gets behind the wheel and goes so fast that the car starts flying. (It is a daydream, needless to say.) But the gag you described never appeared in C&H. (I’ve read all the books at least a dozen times.) ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2004, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-a-calvin-hobbes-cartoon/277372/18 "2004-12-02T22:08:40Z")
> [@bup](#): > > What are you drawing some comics for? A series of graphic novels for girls (3-5thish grades) due out in 2006. The gag in question might be used as a boredom fantasy (along with others) during a long car ride.