Tranquility Base Comic

Saturday 15th March, 2008 @ 12:00 GMT

This is the second part of a 3 part series that started here.

Just like Hogwarts, Tranquility Base has a rather busy hospital wing, with close ties to the Bio Lab's veterinary surgery. What went on during the "several hours of major surgery" isn't shown, but I can tell you it was messy.

Captain Slog's histrionics in the first panel are based upon a quote from King Lear. In the scene, Lear is lamenting the death of his daughter Cordelia, shortly before he too snuffs it. It's one of Shakespeare's more cheerful works.

Howl, howl, howl, howl! O, you are men of stones:
Had I your tongues and eyes, I'ld use them so
That heaven's vault should crack. She's gone for ever!
I know when one is dead, and when one lives;
She's dead as earth.

King Lear, Act V, scene iii

Hudson's response is based on the Duke of Kent's line, "O my good master!"

The first part of the episode title is based on the quote "every inch a king," spoken by Lear in act IV, scene vi. The line is actually ironic, although Lear doesn't mean it to be, because by that point he is anything but regal -- the same way Slog is anything but Captain-like in this episode. The second part of the title, "or maybe he's the fool," I made up - it references the fact that Lear behaves more foolishly than his faithful Fool, who is often wise and acts as the King's conscience (albeit in the form of jokes and song, because he is, after all, a servant). That, I hope, reflects the working relationship between Slog and Hudson. Anyway, enough literature... this isn't Newsnight Review.

Oh, and yes, the cat is called Fluffy, Captain Slog gave him that name.