# XKCD webcomic **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 2, 2009, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-webcomic/516039 "2009-11-02T12:04:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-webcomic/516039/21 "2009-11-02T17:29:13Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > It’s got a minor flaw. There should be a line for the baliff character that bounces across the group like a rock skipping on a pond, reflecting intermittent scenes where he comes to the jury room to deliver requested evidence and transcripts. Yeah, that would kind of destroy the joke though… ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-webcomic/516039/22 "2009-11-02T17:38:54Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > Yeah, that would kind of destroy the joke though… Oh, I dunno. I think including the one bouncing line is a visual and thematic improvement. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-webcomic/516039/23 "2009-11-02T17:48:09Z")
If you really want to get picky. Fonda and the Joseph Sweeney (jurors 8 and 9) share a scene on their own at the end of the movie. I really like the comic and would put it up as a poster in my toilet if I wasn’t a very lazy so and so 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-webcomic/516039/24 "2009-11-02T18:19:52Z")
> [@Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](#): > > That’s brilliant! > > Except Samwise eventually sails to the Undying Lands to be reunited with Frodo (since he was temporarily a ring bearer), but I suppose it isn’t long enough for that. So does Gimli come to think of it. The chart is based on the movies, not the books, so it doesn’t get that far. You’ll notice that it has Saruman dying during the Two Towers, rather than at the end of the book, like really happened. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-webcomic/516039/25 "2009-11-02T19:00:59Z")
I love every little bit of it, for it’s geekery and funny. But, if you really think about it, the character lines for _Primer_ should be splitting off for all the clones of themselves the time machine makes of them. But that would just weigh the funny down in that last pane. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-webcomic/516039/26 "2009-11-02T19:08:49Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > I’m guessing that these are tributes to [Charles Minard](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Joseph_Minard) and to the ‘[best statistical graphic ever drawn](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Minard.png)’? That’s what I thought, too. ---
**Author:** ![Delayed\_Reflex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/delayed_reflex/32/3172_2.png) [@Delayed\_Reflex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Delayed_Reflex)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-webcomic/516039/27 "2009-11-02T19:51:07Z")
Truly impressive, though I think it would have been nice if he had Obiwan’s ghost in there too. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-webcomic/516039/28 "2009-11-02T19:56:30Z")
> [@Delayed\_Reflex](#): > > Truly impressive, though I think it would have been nice if he had Obiwan’s ghost in there too. I wonder what all six would look like, including the ghosts. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-webcomic/516039/29 "2009-11-02T20:03:49Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > I wonder what all six would look like, including the ghosts. I can imagine the Luke and Leia lines popping out of Padme’s line, which expires soon after. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-webcomic/516039/30 "2009-11-02T20:10:25Z")
If Munroe offered a full-size poster print of the LoTR graphic I’d totally buy one. ---
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-webcomic/516039/31 "2009-11-02T20:31:16Z")
> [@Eternal](#): > > The Primer and 12 Angry Men graphs. I honestly think the others could have been little projects the author worked on in his free time and it only turned into a comic when the Primer and 12 Angry Men timelines occurred to him. Yeah. There is an actual primer timeline graph though, and it is crazy. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-webcomic/516039/32 "2009-11-02T20:34:48Z")
As it happens, he does that now and then. So, I’d keep checking back. P.S. that was in response to **UncleRojelio**. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-webcomic/516039/33 "2009-11-02T20:46:13Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > If Munroe offered a full-size poster print of the LoTR graphic I’d totally buy one. He almost certainly will. In the [store](http://store.xkcd.com) he offers prints and posters of his most popular and visually notable. A cynic might suggest that he made this comic mostly for the eventual revenues of those sales. > [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > The chart is based on the movies, not the books, so it doesn’t get that far. You’ll notice that it has Saruman dying during the Two Towers, rather than at the end of the book, like really happened. However he completely ignores the silly Aragorn “dying” when forced off the cliff by the wargs and the annoying river scene. Incidentally, his Black armies are poorly represented too. In the Breaking of the Fellowship and Helms Deep battle there are Mordor-Orcs and Uruk-hai. In the battle of Plennor Fields there are similar numbers of Orcs and Southrons/Eastrons and the final Army at the Black Gate is the largest of all the forces. ---
**Author:** ![Loopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loopus/32/15343_2.png) [@Loopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopus)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-webcomic/516039/34 "2009-11-02T21:42:25Z")
> [@yojimbo](#): > > If you really want to get picky. > > Fonda and the Joseph Sweeney (jurors 8 and 9) share a scene on their own at the end of the movie. In addition, characters go back and forth from the jury room to the bathroom a few times. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-webcomic/516039/35 "2009-11-02T21:50:31Z")
> [@Omniscient](#): > > He almost certainly will. In the [store](http://store.xkcd.com) he offers prints and posters of his most popular and visually notable. A cynic might suggest that he made this comic mostly for the eventual revenues of those sales. Cool, as soon as it appears I’ll get it and the “[height](http://xkcd.com/482/)” poster. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-webcomic/516039/36 "2009-11-02T22:22:49Z")
I admit to having an XKCD print on my office wall. It’s the Boom-De-Ah-Dah one that’s a parody-homage to the Discovery Channel commercial. I offered him $15 or somesuch for it and got it in the mail, autographed and with a stick figure self portrait, a short while later. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-webcomic/516039/37 "2009-11-02T22:58:37Z")
Personally, I’ve got a theory that the humor of a joke, to those who get it, is inversely proportional to the number of people in the general population who would get it. I know that when I tell physics jokes to groups of physicists, I always get good reactions, even when the jokes themselves aren’t all that intrinsically funny. So it is with XKCD. A lot of the jokes are obscure enough that almost nobody gets them, so those of us who do find them hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-webcomic/516039/38 "2009-11-02T23:03:23Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Personally, I’ve got a theory that the humor of a joke, to those who get it, is inversely proportional to the number of people in the general population who would get it. I know that when I tell physics jokes to groups of physicists, I always get good reactions, even when the jokes themselves aren’t all that intrinsically funny. > > So it is with XKCD. A lot of the jokes are obscure enough that almost nobody gets them, so those of us who do find them hilarious. Yeah, I’ve heard this before too, but I can’t remember where. The obscurity of a ref definitely adds to the entertainment value, which is partially why geeks can amuse themselves for hours quoting lines from movies and books at each other even though there’s nothing all that…_funny_ about it. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-webcomic/516039/39 "2009-11-02T23:24:59Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > Yeah, I’ve heard this before too, but I can’t remember where. The obscurity of a ref definitely adds to the entertainment value, which is partially why geeks can amuse themselves for hours quoting lines from movies and books at each other even though there’s nothing all that…_funny_ about it. **Racetrack PA announcer** : “And the winner is number three, in a quantum finish!” **Professor Farnsworth** : “No fair! You changed the outcome by measuring it!” 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-webcomic/516039/40 "2009-11-02T23:41:23Z")
> [@mr.jp](#): > > Yeah. There is an actual primer timeline graph though, and it is crazy. [Here’s one, in the same style as XKCD’s.](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/PrimerTimeline.gif) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-webcomic/516039.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-webcomic/516039.md?page=3)