The final story of Calvin & Hobbes: The Series begins with a crew of filmmakers traveling to Antarctica on a boat to film a documentary about icebergs. Though the crew isn't happy about the climate, they still continue to work. Down in the ship's engineering section, some men continue to keep the boat moving until it suddenly lurches to the side, causing ice-cold water to come in through the hull. Meanwhile, a certain tall man has begun appearing in some of Hobbes's videos...
Tropes:
- And the Adventure Continues: This exact phrase is used in the ending (in the place where "THE END" would normally be).
- Bring My Brown Pants: Referenced.Producer: [on the wet Jefferson] Have an accident, Jefferson?
Jefferson: Oh! Er... Brandy got away from me... - Cassandra Truth: Much like other stories featuring him, none of the Five-Man Band initially believe Socrates about Slender Man stalking him.
- Dark Is Not Evil/Good All Along: The climax of the story, where Slender Man takes out Thunderstorm and Shadow, heavily implies he was actually on the heroes' side all along. The very last line makes this more explicit, as he waves silently to the heroes, his mission completed.
- Darker and Edgier: Hoo boy, where to begin:
- The opening scenes on the ship could've been the opening for a slasher film, and no one would've noticed a difference.
- Socrates is stalked by the Slender Man and attacked by a knife-wielding, gas-mask and hoodie-wearing psycho while he is alone in his house.
- Dr. Thunderstorm tries to sell out the earth to a bunch of aliens.
- And the two villains are heavily implied to be killed by the Slender Man at the end.
- The whole Mind Probe scene with Jack, who is described as being in pain the entire time.
- Deadpan Snarker: It is specifically noted that Shadow "didn't understand the fine art of deadpan snarking".
- Distressed Dude:
- Socrates. He is continuously stalked by Slenderman for some apparent reason, is attacked by a gas-and-masked wearing psycho with a knife in his house, and is kidnapped by Thunderstorm and Shadow for the alien transmitter/reciever implanted in his head.
- Dr Brainstorm and Jack are also this when they are captured by their rivals in the middle of the story.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Calvin remarks upon this in the ending:"Yeah, a lot has happened. You know, I remember back in the very beginning when it was just Hobbes and me against the world – fighting against the slimy girls, homework, babysitters and eggplant casserole. Then we met a mad scientist who wanted to rule the world with imagination, and then a bunch of idiot aliens mistook me for the Earth Potentate, then we met Socrates, and then we met Andy and Sherman, and then Dr Brainstorm and Jack showed up, and then I had the MTM, and it's just been one madcap adventure after another. It used to be so quiet around here, and now I'm constantly saving the planet with my five best friends in the world."
- End-of-Series Awareness: Crosses over with Leaning on the Fourth Wall in the epilogue.
- Family-Unfriendly Death:
- Whether or not they really died, the fact remains that Slender Man was the one who took Thunderstorm and Shadow out of action.
- It almost happened to the crew of the ship that Shadow encountered. Fortunately, it didn't happen.
- Faking the Dead: Jack does this briefly to fool Thunderstorm and Shadow.
- Foreshadowing: The creepy video Socrates and the others watch in Chapter 4 reveal Thunderstorm's return and his implied fate.
- Grand Finale
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: The entire epilogue, where the five heroes look back on their adventures - and thus, The Series - in a very meta way.
- Lights Off, Somebody Dies: Ambiguously, Thunderstorm and Shadow.
- Mind Probe: After capturing them, Thunderstorm has Shadow forcibly probe Jack's mind to steal one of Frank's old ideas that lead to him learning about Socrates' transmitter.
It's as brutal as it sounds. - Mythology Gag: The final lines of the series:Hobbes: Where are we going to go?Calvin: Exploring! Where else?
- Never Found the Body: Did Slender Man really kill Thunderstorm and Shadow? It's never made very clear.
- Not So Stoic: Jack in Part 3 shows this when he finds Thunderstorm and Shadow.
- Sanity Slippage: Thunderstorm starts suffering from this as soon as he finds the Slender Man.
- Shout-Out:
- Jack describes Dr. Pepper as "an intellectual drink for the chosen ones."
- The Slender Man aspects of the story take a number of cues from Marble Hornets, particularly in the mask-wearing man and the video the protagonists watch (which has all the hallmarks of a totheark video).
- Take That!:
- Towards Windows 8 at the beginning.
- And then there's this:
After a few minutes, Socrates came down the stairs carrying a giant box. "Alright, I have my entire horror movie collection right here for our viewing pleasure!" he announced, dropping it in front of Calvin and the gang, causing a loud thump.The group stared at it. "Are you sure it's a good idea to be watching horror movies right now?" Andy asked."Probably not, but it's either this or we go through my extensive Nicolas Cage collection."Everyone sat there, weighing their options."Let's see what you got there," Hobbes said, motioning to the box.
