This is another one that I didn't like much but Andrew thought was funny. Looking back, it actually is pretty funny.

SPOILERS: Given later events, it's very possible that what Dave is talking to is not a recording, but a copy of Future!Dave's mind uploaded into the base's computer system. The possibility occurred to me while I was writing these strips, but I decided to leave it up in the air. It doesn't make much difference anyway.

Many the Narbonic strips that still make me crack a smile (and there really aren't that many) are the ones that perfectly encapsulate one of the characters. Artie has a lot of moments like that; as will come up in much later Director's Commentaries, I will never not be amused by his excitement over working for a nonpartisan think tank or the line, "I've only been able to contact a local village, and my Gwich'in is terrible!" Anyway, this is one of Dave's perfect little moments. He's in the future, a holographic duplicate of himself is trying to entertain him with Star Wars jokes, and he acknowledges that this is entirely appropriate.

Plus there's the fourth-wall breakage. Dave breaks the fourth wall a lot.

Failing to refill the swimming pool is one of the few ways to die in my favorite video game of all time, Maniac Mansion. So this is a reference, but it's a legitimate plot point in the strip as well. I took a ridiculous amount of pride in setting that up.

The most important advice Future!Holographic!Dave gives is actually in the third panel, but Dave doesn't take it.

These and the next couple of strips were some of the last strips I wrote for this storyline. They're really just here to tie the plot together. I wish they were funnier, although I always enjoy using the word "sass."

SPOILER: Ironically, or maybe just strangely, Dave does quit smoking as a result of this.

It's probably worth noting that Future Dave is someone who regularly feeds people into teleporters.

The only part of this strip I really like is Dave's line in the first panel. Obvious humor is obvious. I really wish I'd drawn more detailed backgrounds in the future scenes. Some of these weeks, I was on a tight schedule. Or I was lazy.