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Fan Works
"That's just those damned penguins stirring up trouble," growled Gneelicks. "They claim we're an 'introduced' species. Hah! We huskies have been here for generations - my ancestors were eaten by Amundsen on his way to the South Pole! But the price of sentience is eternal politics - it's enough to drive you mad. Seals don't want to be tagged because it violates their civil liberties. Whales demanding compensation for attempted genocide. Emperor penguins with delusions of grandeur, complaining that the solar mirrors are interfering with their pattern of life..."
Films - Animated
"If it weren't for me, you'd still be in a cage in the bazaar, squawking, 'Polly want a cracker!'"
— Jafar to Iago, Aladdin: The Return of Jafar
Buster: Say, ain't you a dinosaur?
Rex: Why, yes. From tooth to toe, I am.
Buster: Then what the heck are you doin' playing golf?
Rex: I'm smart, Buster. I'm one smart dinosaur. But I wasn't always.
Buster: You weren't?
Rex: No, no siree. No, I started off stupid and violent.
Buster: You did?
Rex: This was a long time ago, you understand, a long time ago. I was a real terror then. I was a real animal. And I was hungry, all the time.
Rex: Why, yes. From tooth to toe, I am.
Buster: Then what the heck are you doin' playing golf?
Rex: I'm smart, Buster. I'm one smart dinosaur. But I wasn't always.
Buster: You weren't?
Rex: No, no siree. No, I started off stupid and violent.
Buster: You did?
Rex: This was a long time ago, you understand, a long time ago. I was a real terror then. I was a real animal. And I was hungry, all the time.
Films - Live Action
"I was a dog, but because I was really good, they upgraded me to human. Uh, sort of."
— Booga, Tank Girl
Literature
Long after the Martinis had exhausted themselves with their fight, Sebastian wandered the neighborhood, cataloguing everything. He was not simply storing things away and recalling them. He was asking why.
He realized then that things did not last forever. They decayed. Or they left. Or they died. Or they were lost. Or they were taken away.
That night, while he sat behind the Martinis' garage, the hair on his paws fell away. He was not alarmed. He simply brushed away the remaining strands, stretched out the toes into fingers, and rubbed the palms together.
More jets streaked overhead. Explosions thumped in the dis-tance, getting closer. Sebastian climbed to the roof of the garage to see over the hedges. Miles away, a city burned. Helicopters hovered over the flames like flies above a carcass. Massive fireballs bloomed amid the wrecked buildings. Then the electricity went out in all the houses in the neighborhood. The faraway conflagration provided the only light.
Sebastian stayed up all night watching, thinking, remember-ing. He knew that when the sun came up, more things would change. Or be taken away. Or die.
Still on the roof of the garage, Sebastian woke to the sound of glass breaking in the house. His eyes opened. A column of black smoke obscured the city on the horizon. He turned to the house and tried to listen. Janet burst out the door. She wore a hiker's backpack and held a child in each arm. Sebastian had never realized how strong she was.
Daniel trailed behind her. "We have to stick together," he said, his voice breaking. This made Sebastian pause. He actually understood the words!
"We're not staying in this house," she said.
Sebastian mouthed the words: we're not staying in this house.
— War With No Name, Mort(e)
Webcomics
The reintroduction of species to the overall gene-pool was also a matter of dispute. Kids were happy to see dinosaurs and wooly mammoths at long last, and the dodo's return to the dinner plate was welcome, but again, there were those who argued that no matter what the overall public good, messing around with nature is wrong. Entire political parties rose to power on the basis of their convincing arguments surrounding the issues of terraforming, habitatification, de-extinction, and specie-tweaking.
The one thing everyone agreed on, however, was that genetically granting sapience to african elephants was a mistake.
The one thing everyone agreed on, however, was that genetically granting sapience to african elephants was a mistake.
Bunni: That pseudo-whale was probably no more intelligent than Earth's dolphins.
[beat]
Bunni: I mean, before they were genehanced, and got into the United Nations.
[beat]
Bunni: I mean, before they were genehanced, and got into the United Nations.
Captain Tagon: Thurl, you hung me out to dry out there! You could have warned me that we'd recruited an elephant, and it has hands. Where does a five-ton elephant get hands?
Thurl: Wherever it wants to?
Captain Tagon: [glares]
Thurl: Sorry. That sounded like an elephant joke.
Captain Tagon: We can't tell those anymore!
Thurl: Wherever it wants to?
Captain Tagon: [glares]
Thurl: Sorry. That sounded like an elephant joke.
Captain Tagon: We can't tell those anymore!
Gregor: Animal testing. There is a failing in that few considerations are given to those we create as stepping stones on the Transhumanist path of self improvement.
Tess: [sing-song] One consideration is they become in-laws.
Tess: [sing-song] One consideration is they become in-laws.
Western Animation
"Despite his great big muscles and his Really Big Raygun
Jim is still an earthworm but then he's the only one
With a super suit to make him really super strong
Jim can be a winner if we only sing along!"
Jim is still an earthworm but then he's the only one
With a super suit to make him really super strong
Jim can be a winner if we only sing along!"
— Earthworm Jim theme song
Snuffles: Where are my testicles, Summer? They were removed. Where have they gone?
Summer: Oh...wow...that's an intense line of questioning, Snuffles.
Snuffles: Do NOT call me that. 'Snuffles' was my slave name. You shall now call me 'Snowball,' because my fur is pretty, and white.
Summer: Oh...wow...that's an intense line of questioning, Snuffles.
Snuffles: Do NOT call me that. 'Snuffles' was my slave name. You shall now call me 'Snowball,' because my fur is pretty, and white.
— Rick and Morty, "Lawnmower Dog"
