First impressions: Florence (left) meets Sam and Helix for the first time. The galaxy will never be the same again.

Freefall is a popular webcomic written and drawn by Mark Stanley. It is a humorous science fiction story detailing the misadventures of the starship Savage Chicken and its crew: Sam Starfall, a lovable alien con artist; Helix, a childlike robot; and Florence Ambrose, a genetically engineered "Bowman's Wolf" (i. e. an anthropomorphic canine). Stanley began writing and drawing the strip as a feature for the occasional furry zine Yarf!. He began the web comic with the intent of telling the actual story behind the characters, and the storyline began on March 30, 1998. The comic is updated three times every week. It celebrated its thousandth strip in August 2004. The strip is in black and white, but the first 388 strips are also available in fan-colored versions. This work is copyrighted, and used with permission. ... This work is copyrighted, and used with permission. ... Webcomics, also known as online comics and web comics, are comics that are available on the Internet. ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... This dog has been dressed in human accessories for humorous effect. ... Genera Alopex Atelocynus Canis Cerdocyon Chrysocyon Cuon Dusicyon Fennecus Lycalopex Lycaon Nyctereutes Otocyon Pseudalopex Speothos Urocyon Vulpes Canidae is the family of carnivorous and omnivorous mammals commonly known as canines. ... Fox versions of Robin Hood and Maid Marian, from the Walt Disney Robin Hood, a major example of the predominant character design style of Furry art Furry is a colloquial term that indicates a fictional anthropomorphic animal or a fan of anthropomorphs. ... A zine—a contraction of the word magazine—is most commonly a small circulation, non-commercial publication of original or appropriated texts and images. ... March 30 is the 89th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (90th in Leap years). ... 1998 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... 2004 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December See also: August 2004 in sports Deaths in August 2004 • 30 Fred Whipple • 26 Laura Branigan • 24 Elisabeth Kübler-Ross • 18 Elmer Bernstein • 15 Amarsinh Chaudhary • 14 CzesÅ‚aw MiÅ‚osz • 13 Julia Child • 8 Robert... This article is about the term as used in media and computing; for more specific uses, see Black and White. ...

The plotline focuses on the life of Florence Ambrose, a hard-working and honest technical engineer, after she is hired to work for the shady, less-than-ethical Sam. Since the beginnings of the strip, Florence has worked to repair Sam's spaceship and actually get it flying again -- while at the same time trying to keep her sanity in the wake of Sam and Helix's trouble-making. Sam's reputation as a no-good low-life is known far and wide across the curiously named colony planet "Jean", where the story takes place, even to the point where the local authorities know that if anything bad goes wrong in their society, Sam probably had a hand in it. Sam wears a humanoid environment suit with a goofy face, but he has hinted that his true appearance is squid-like. Florence, Sam, and Helix: the crew of Mark Stanley’s Freefall Freefall is a popular webcomic written and drawn by Mark Stanley. ... SQUIDs, or Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices, are used to measure extremely tiny magnetic fields; they are currently the most sensitive such devices (magnetometers) known, with noise levels as low as 3 fT·Hz−½. Some processes in animals produce very small magnetic fields (typically sized between a nanotesla and a microtesla...

Freefall's plot has been criticised by some as slow-moving. The comic's seven years (in 2005) of thrice-weekly strips has so far covered only a few days' activity in the story. (16, if you want to be exact. Most fans of the webcomic applaud the depth allowed by the slow rate at which time passes.)

Robots in the Freefall universe are sometimes programmed with the same Three Laws of Robotics that Isaac Asimov made famous in his stories, but their artificial intelligence is well developed, and they have a lot of autonomy, which helps them cope with a universe that has other sapient species besides the humans and robots from Asimov's stories. It is implied that "Three Law Robots" are not created anymore, and modern AI's have more sophisticated safeguards. This cover of I, Robot illustrates the story Runaround, the first to list all Three Laws of Robotics. ... Dr. Isaac Asimov enthroned with symbols of his lifes work (Rowena Morrill) Isaac Asimov (c. ... Artificial intelligence (also known as machine intelligence and often abbreviated as AI) is intelligence exhibited by any manufactured (i. ... Sapience is the ability of an organism or entity to act with intelligence. ...

A running gag throughout the comic is the reaction of the robots when they first meet Florence. Since the Bowman's Wolf is a brand new species, the Freefall robots do not recognise her, and their first reaction is invariably to throw their arms out wide and shout "doggy!". The effect can be "kinda freaky" when a lot of them do it at once. But despite this childlike behaviour, the Freefall robots have developed a great respect for Florence, especially after she risked her life to rescue two robots from destruction during a hurricane. Because the memories of most of the robots on "Jean" are networked together, all the robots on the planet are now aware of Florence's deeds and are desperate to help her in any way they can. The running gag is a popular hallmark of comedy television shows and movies. ... This article is about weather phenomena. ...

Freefall is noted as being one of the more scientifically accurate science fiction web comics available today. Author Stanley has stated he intends to keep the science in the comic as realistic as possible without relying on deus ex machina (or "magic") devices such as "warp drive," "artificial gravity," or "transporter beams." Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... Web comics are comics that are available on the web. ... Deus ex machina (plural dei ex machinis) is Latin for god from the machine and is a calque from the Greek από μηχανής θεός, (pronounced apo mekhanes theos). It originated with Greek and Roman theater, when a mechane would lower a god or gods onstage to resolve a hopeless situation. ...

An in-joke for Star Trek fans is that the Savage Chicken's registry number is 1071-CCN - the reverse of the Starship Enterprise's NCC-1701. An in joke is a joke whose humour is clear only to those people who are in a group that has some prior knowledge (not known by the whole population) that makes the joke humorous. ... This article is being rewritten at Star Trek/temp. ... The starship Enterprise (NX-01). ...

External links

• Freefall home page: http://freefall.purrsia.com/
• Websnark on Freefall: here.
• Cross Time Cafe: Webcomic (updated weekly) based upon Freefall's fans and discussion forum members. Wikipedia Article: Cross-Time Café