Pharyngula: A heartwarming tale of love and a family

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PZ Myers is a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris.
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« Teachers should also read this | Main | Drinking Liberally tonight »

A heartwarming tale of love and a family

Category: Entertainment
Posted on: March 6, 2008 4:45 PM, by PZ Myers

Yeah, I cried at the story of The Dog, the Cat, and the Giant Squid.

Quick, someone, get the movie rights!

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Comments

I spewed ink out of my lacrimal glands!
.

Posted by: Jaycubed | March 6, 2008 4:56 PM

we let ours sleep in bed with us.

Posted by: barklikeadog | March 6, 2008 5:00 PM

Holy cute, batman!

Posted by: Cat of many faces | March 6, 2008 5:00 PM

Best comic ever... nuff said

Posted by: Thethyme | March 6, 2008 5:08 PM

Toooooooooo good !
This is the family that I like !

Posted by: astrolieber | March 6, 2008 5:09 PM

The only bad part is the rain seemed a bit "deux ex machina" and anything god related gets my hackles up :-)

Posted by: Robert Thille | March 6, 2008 5:34 PM

Aw!
I have a beagle myself, and a big fluffy teddy-squid named Mohammed that she's very fond of. Great story - now I too suffer from temporary hyperlacrimosity!

Thanks PZ, that made my day. Best thing you've ever posted, ever - in the history of ever :)

Posted by: ekranoplan | March 6, 2008 5:54 PM

:-}

Wonderful.

********************************

SPOILER ALERT!

I knew it! I knew it! I knew the squid would turn itself into a parachute! Hahaaah! Bow in awe of my l33t deduction sgillz. =8-)

Posted by: David Marjanović, OM | March 6, 2008 6:31 PM

Yay! What a great story!
Although I have to wonder what was wrong with the family that they never though to go look for their missing trailer of pets.

Posted by: Sengkelat | March 6, 2008 7:17 PM

#10

See? It was all DESIGNED!!!

Posted by: Sh!fty | March 6, 2008 7:33 PM

#11

I love the fact the cat is a complete bastard. Reminds me of my recently departed Kramer, the black cat from hell. That cat was a DUDE.

Posted by: Bride of Shrek | March 6, 2008 7:38 PM

#12

This cartoon was inspired, no doubt, by Gary Larson's 'Far Side' comic. I remember he had a one panel drawing of some animals (including a giant squid) on an Incredible Journey.

Posted by: Praxiteles | March 6, 2008 7:49 PM

#13

Noes, noes #9, you has it rong: The pets are the HUMANS. Look at the first panel! Obviously, you've never had a cat: a cat is always Monarch (if a bit aloof and a something of a bastard).

Posted by: OrchidGrowinMan | March 6, 2008 7:58 PM

#14

Praxiteles: Yes, but were the other two animals a dog and a cat? I've been racking my brains trying to remember. I think there was a dog and a giant squid, but the third animal was something else.

Posted by: Brian | March 6, 2008 8:14 PM

#15

A dog, a cat, and a giant squid
Got left behind, so what they did
Was crawl, and squirm, and run and jog
This giant squid, and cat, and dog,
To get to where their owners sat,
The dog, and giant squid, and cat.

Posted by: Cuttlefish | March 6, 2008 8:54 PM

#16

Awwwwww. I read it to my kids as a bedtime story tonight.

Posted by: Carlie | March 6, 2008 9:06 PM

#17

Oh, great. Now the younger one is in bed crying because "it was scary when the squid dried out", and I can't find the stuffed octopus for him to sleep with. *Sigh*

Posted by: Carlie | March 6, 2008 9:14 PM

#18

It made me think how We3 could have been even cooler if one of the neurologically enhanced, superweapon toting animals had been a giant squid.

Posted by: Ginger Yellow | March 6, 2008 9:17 PM

#19

Is gud skwid?

Posted by: Ginger Yellow | March 6, 2008 9:18 PM

#20

I should have expected it, thought I was the only one that'd ever bought We3 (from random internet polling) :) Poor bunny.

Posted by: Adam Robinson | March 6, 2008 9:58 PM

#21

This is the greatest thing that I have ever read. Thank you, PZ.

Posted by: Justin T | March 6, 2008 10:55 PM

#22

And the moral of the story is: always make sure your trailer brakes (including the breakaway switch) are in good working order.

[This safety announcemt brought to you as a public service by the fact that I should have gone to bed an hour ago. Good night.]

Posted by: Eamon Knight | March 7, 2008 12:06 AM

#23

I knew cats could read. Once the one I used to have figured out the deadbolt, I knew we were in for trouble.

Posted by: MAJeff, OM | March 7, 2008 1:00 AM

#24

Heartwarming! I just forwarded the link to friends -- especially the ones with storybook-aged children.

Posted by: McLir | March 7, 2008 1:13 AM

#25

MAJeff @ #23 (uh-oh) I knew cats could read.

Of course. They read through their assholes. Why do you think they sit down on whatever you're trying to read, yourself?

Posted by: Ron Sullivan | March 7, 2008 1:30 AM

#26

I knew cats could read. Once the one I used to have figured out the deadbolt, I knew we were in for trouble.

My cat has worked out how to open the fridge and the jar of mayonnaise he finds inside. He can also distinguish an unopened tin of tuna from any other tin. It's harder to cat-proof the kitchen than it is to toddler-proof it!

Posted by: Eliza | March 7, 2008 2:43 AM

#27

Made me cry. I think I empathised with the squid too much. I've sent it to my cat-like 'friends'.

Thanks for posting it, PZ.

Posted by: MH | March 7, 2008 5:12 AM

#28

There was almost a goddammed tear in my eye after reading that! And I don't cry for anything. I must be hormonal... poor squid...

Mildly OT, how was it they started at the beach, had 8 miles to get home and managed not only to encounter a desert but also temperate woodland?

Posted by: maxi | March 7, 2008 7:40 AM

#29

Oh my, I thought this was crap! If the tale was honestly anthropomorphic then the three pets would have stayed put, the family would have noted toute suite that their car was no longer attached to the pet van, and they would have turned back to retrieve the pets. Can we say contrived here? Could not a better story 'vehicle' be constructed to carry the 'moral' of this story? That altruism pays?'

In addition, the ending had a very unsafe car setup with a overflowing giant squid thrust through a very harmfully drying sun roof. Spare me, please. And yes, I have lived with cats all my life, so what would you expect? (Also hated dolls, children stories, cartoons, and Mickey Mouse when I was a kid).

So what floats my boat, this does: http://drawn.ca/2008/03/06/abcdefg/

Artistic, invigorating, funny, interesting, etc. And it involves children!

Posted by: Logicel | March 7, 2008 8:17 AM

#30

I am perfectly serious when I say that my 4-year-old loved this cartoon. I liked it too, but not quite to the reread-fifteen-times level.

Posted by: Dianne | March 7, 2008 11:01 AM

#31

If that family had just put the pets on the roof of the car like Mitt Romney, none of that would have ever happened.

Posted by: Glenn | March 7, 2008 1:35 PM

#32

Logicel,

A BORING video with incredibly insipid music.

I would hazard a guess that "what floats (your) boat" is "crap!"

Posted by: Jaycubed | March 7, 2008 5:54 PM

#33

How spooky. I happened to dream about squid the other night.

Worse - they were some sort of unholy bunny-squid hybrids. A whole big tub of them at a genetic engineering zoo of sorts (the only other creature I recall are the unicorns). Think furry squid with the bunny ears. Or just rabbits with tentacles, perhaps.

They were fed herring.

Posted by: Sili | March 7, 2008 7:36 PM

#34

Ummm, wouldn't the freshwater rain have resulted in rather dramatic osmotic shock, and that squid would have swollen up and burst quite dramatically?

(And yes I noted that I've already suspended disbelief regarding a talking cat, dog and squid, making their way home against all odds, and the parachute thing at the end to complain about an implausibility in the final scene)

Posted by: AlanWCan | March 7, 2008 10:50 PM

#35

Ummm, wouldn't the freshwater rain have resulted in rather dramatic osmotic shock,

yes.

and that squid would have swollen up and burst quite dramatically?

no.

Posted by: Ichthyic | March 7, 2008 10:55 PM