in his heart, Calvin and Hobbes Tends to remain grounded in some semblance of reality. Sure, there’s the pervading question of whether Hobbes is real or make-believe (a question creator Bill Watterson wants to answer). But most stories take place in the real world as Calvin experiences it.
While Calvin has his solo adventures as Spaceman Spiff, those fantasies don’t usually involve Hobbes. Sometimes, however, the titular pair of best friends will find themselves in a fantastical situation straight out of a science fiction story. Whether it’s time travel, cloning, or travel through outer space, these adventures make for some of the most memorable Watterson has ever produced. The best of these are not limited to a single day’s pass, but unfold over the course of days or weeks. Here are the greatest sci-fi storylines from Calvin and Hobbes‘Run.
10
The debut of the transmogrifier turns Calvin into a tiger
March 23 – April 3, 1987
From Calvin’s perspective, it must seem like Hobbes had the ideal life. With no school, no chores, and no parents to deal with, things are much simpler for Tigers. That’s why, when Calvin invents a cardboard box transmogrifier, he immediately decides to turn himself into a tiger.. It’s not quite as he imagines, as he steps out of the box looking like a miniature version of his best friend.
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Calvin quickly realizes that being a tiger seems better than it actually is. It doesn’t bring him any closer to having, because they stare awkwardly at each other before Calvin starts to wonder when they’re going to eat. The mother does not notice this change in him at all. Eventually, he decides to switch back to his regular self. But the discovery of what amazing things can be done with a cardboard box opens up a world of possibilities that Watterson explores over the course of the strip..
9
Calvin’s thinking cap really expands his mind
November 15 – December 4, 1993
For someone who is so opinionated about things, Calvin has a surprisingly tough time coming up with a topic to debate for a school paper. Instead of thinking about something he is passionate about, or bouncing ideas off of Hobbes, he decides to invent a thinking cap to enhance his brain. Using a metal calender and his ever-reliable cardboard box, he builds a machine to “Conduct electrical brain impulses and reflect brain waves.” It works, and even though Calvin has always had a big head (metaphorically speaking), the thinking cap literally grows on his head to contain his enlarged brain.
After successfully unraveling the secrets of the universe, Calvin finally decides to write a paper arguing that tyrannosaurs are predators and not scavengers. But as his brain begins to shrink back to its normal size, he spends all his time making drawings of a T-Rex eating people in a museum.. When he’s ready to start writing, it’s time for bed. He quickly cobbles together a one-sentence paper that claims it would be “Pretty wrong if they only ate things that were already dead“, which earns him a D on the assignment.
8
Calvin and Hobbes go back in time to get rich with dinosaur photos
June 25 – July 7, 1990
If there’s one thing Calvin loves more than dinosaurs, it’s coming up with get-rich-quick schemes. He combines both of these as he and Hobbes go back in time to the Jurassic period (about 150 million years ago). Unlike their first journey into the past, when they visit the era of dinosaurs by accident, This time they are prepared. They even packed snacks, which Hobbes is more interested in than any of the fancier stuff going on around them.
They first spot a Diplodocus and snap a few pictures before running into a carnivorous Allosaurus. They are forced to flee for their lives, and only escape by distracting it with their snacks (especially with Calvin’s snacks, since Hobbes still wants to be). When they return and get the film developed, Calvin’s parents think he was just taking pictures of his toy dinosaurs, dashing any hopes that they might benefit from their experience.
7
Calvin’s goody two-shoes clone drives him crazy
March 18 – April 3, 1991
Calvin’s first foray into the world of cloning doesn’t go exactly as planned (more on that later). However, he revises the idea and thinking with his duplicate, making it so that it will only duplicate his good side rather than his entire personality. The result is a version of Calvin who combs his hair, cleans his room, eats his vegetables, and participates in class. All this is going great, until he develops a crush on Susie, offering to carry her books and write her love notes.
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Watterson crafts this story a little differently than most of his stories. At first, the reader just sees Calvin acting nice, and is probably just as confused as his mother is. Eventually, he clues us into the true nature of what is happening. And while Calvin is happy to have a patsy to do his chores and school work, the one thing he won’t stand for is someone ruining his reputation by being nice to a girl. He and the nice Calvin almost get in, until the duplicate has a bad idea and drops out of existence.
6
Calvin brings a snowman to life
December 31, 1990 – January 19, 1991
The snowmen Calvin tends to build are equally grotesque and creative, and have resulted in some of the most beloved strips Watterson has ever produced. In this story, he finally gets to experience the horror that others must feel when looking at his creations. After preparing a snowman to life, he is shocked to find that it actually works. But this snowman is no Frosty, and chases after his creator.
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While Calvin and Hobbes try to figure out how to kill the creature, it starts building snowmen of its own. It eventually amasses a whole army of “Deranged Mutant Killer Monster Snow Goons.” Under the night, he and Hobbes go out and hit the snowmen with a hose. This freezes them in place and ends their threat, while also getting Calvin. In trouble for turning the lawn into a giant sheet of ice.
5
Calvin and Hobbes try to go to the future, ending in the past
August 31 – September 11, 1987
The first time Calvin uses his cardboard box to travel through time, things go as wrong as they can. He and Hobbes set out to explore the future, hoping to uncover something futuristic and bring it back to the present so they can get rich. However, they do not notice that they are facing the wrong way, and end up traveling to the distant past.
At first believing that they are in a futuristic arboretum, they quickly realize their mistake after meeting a dinosaur. They run for their lives – and of course get into an argument about whose fault it is. They manage to get back to their time machine and return to the present. While it’s not what they were hoping for when they set out, it’s a valuable learning experience that allows them to be more prepared for subsequent trips in time.
4
Calvin invents a transmogrifier gun, gets stuck as an owl
February 8-20, 1988
Calvin is quick to give up on things when he encounters challenges (or just gets bored). But he is also not one to let a good idea go to waste. Returning to his transmogrifier invention, he modifies it from a cardboard box into a gun that he can use to change into whatever he thinks of.. However, he makes the mistake of trusting Hobbs with the task of transmogrifying him into something, and is shocked when his buddy turns him into a chicken.
This story is the rare one that continues through a Sunday Pass. Most ongoing storylines would pause after Saturday and continue on Monday, with Sunday being an unrelated comic strip.
This leads to one of their classic fights as they struggle over the gun. Watterson gets a chance to show off some of his more cartoonish character designs when the two turn each other into a duck, a pig, a pterodactyl, an alligator and a chimp, among other animals.. Eventually the gun breaks, leaving Calvin stuck like an owl. He is horrified when he realizes that he won’t have to go to school anymore, only to be disappointed the next day when he wakes up a man once again.
3
Calvin and Hobbes travel to Mars
September 12 – October 1, 1988
For a 6-year-old, Calvin has a pretty cynical view of humanity, especially when it comes to how we’ve been treating our own planet. Realizing that humans have ruined the environment and that he will grow up to inherit a doomed world, Calvin decides to leave Earth. He and Hobbes blast off into space in their trusty red wagon, making a quick trip to Mars. They think they are the only ones on the planet, until they meet a “Weird from outer space– who already lives there.
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After the first freak, Calvin and Hobbes realize that Mars is the home of this creature. Once again showing a maturity beyond his years, Calvin concludes that they had better return to Earth and fix their own planet, before ruining someone else’s. While it’s true that he can often be immature and selfish, this is a rare instance where Calvin acts thoughtfully, and even a little altruistically.
2
Calvin invented his first duplicator
January 8 – February 2, 1990
The first time Calvin tries to duplicate himself with a cardboard box, it creates total chaos. He comes up with the brilliant idea of making a copy of himself to do chores and homework. However, the plan backfired spectacularly when the duplicate decided he didn’t want to do any of that stuff. Clearly, it has not only copied Calvin’s physical body, but also his personality.
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Things get even more out of hand when the duplicate creates duplicates of itself, leading to a swarm of Calvins. Everyone is in trouble at school, partly because every day is a different duplicate, and partly because they are just Calvin. It becomes too much even for the original, who decides to get rid of the duplicates by transmogrifying them into worms.
1
Calvin travels through time to avoid homework
May 20 – June 6, 1991
As many of these adventures demonstrate, Calvin will go to almost any length to avoid doing work. When he is assigned to write a story for class, he decides to skip the hard part and just travel into the future when, theoretically, he will be done writing. He goes from 6:30 p.m. to his bedtime at 8:30 p.m., and discovers that he still hasn’t written it. The past and future versions of Calvin argue about whose fault it is, before deciding to blame it all on 7:30 PM Calvin.
The two Calvins use the time machine to travel to 7:30 and confront the Calvin they believe should have written the story. Meanwhile, the 6:30 and 8:30 versions of Hobbes decide to stay put at 8:30 while the Calvins sort out their mess. They realize that it would have been easier if Calvin had just written the story in the first placeAnd decide to write it together while they wait.
Taking inspiration from what’s going on, the two tigers write a story titled, “How Hobbes, the Handsome Tiger, Saves the Day… No Thanks to the Time Traveling Chowderhead.” At first, Calvin is outraged, but it ends up earning an A+ from his teacher. Combining time travel, multiple Calvins fighting each other, and Hobbes being the voice of reason, the storyline contains all the elements of a classic Calvin and Hobbes Science fiction tale.