Melonpool

Melonpool is a newspaper-style Science Fiction webcomic created by Steve Troop. It updated fairly regularly from early 1996 to late 2005 and infrequently, though with full story arcs, since. It features the incompetent crew of the Steel Duck, usually stranded on earth with a broken ship. As well as having full stories, usually involving duplication and Time Travel (most Time Travel Tropes end up being used), it features Affectionate Parodies of a wide range of Science Fiction works and classic TV shows.

The author has also created a puppet show version.

Crew members include:

• Mayberry Melonpool, the Star Trek and Star Wars obsessed and incompetent alien captain from the planet Melotia.
• Ralph Zinobop, a bad tempered Mad Scientist (he built the Steel Duck) that looks down upon the rest of the crew. He's also an exiled prince from the planet Zinobop.
• Sam T. Dogg, an telepathic dog and the pilot of the Steel Duck. One of the only crew member with any common sense. From the planet K-9.
• Sammy the Hammy, a giant hamster (one of Ralph's experiments) that serves as the engine (runs in a hamster wheel) and is always hungry. Not very intelligent.
• Ralphie Zinobop, an opposite-personality nice clone of Ralph. Ralphie is very kind but also a nervous worry-wart.
• Roberta Smeffinfeffer, a female Melotian and the ship's doctor, despite having almost no medical experience. Arguably The Chick, though she did leave the group temporarily out of frustration. Has an on-again, off-again romance with Ralphie.
• Jalea (J-LB8) Bates, a former protocol droid that was turned into a singing FemBot by Ralph, and later obtained a human body in a bizzare accident and becomes much more likeable.
• The duck and the cat, who are occasionally given a crewmember's job despite being normal animals.

Can be found here.

---

Contains examples of the following tropes:

• Abridged Series: Steve was kind enough to draw one for the major story arcs for those that don't wanna completely go through the archives (And seeing how this reads like a newspaper comic, it is very helpful).
• Apocalypse How: Class X-5 occurred as a result of so much Time Travel going horribly wrong.
• Cloning Blues: Oh so much! But mainly with Ralph and Ralphie.
• Crossover: With Its Walky. Rare in that it had lasting consequences for both comics.
  • Ditto for the crossover with Zortic. Ralph and Splink are officially half-brothers, making Splink royalty.
• Fake Crossover: Ever wondered what happened to Lyman, Uncle Max and Opus (least before his revival)? Yeah this comic should answer those questions for ya.
• Five-Man Band
  • Idiot Hero: Melonpool
  • The Lancer: Sam
  • The Big Guy: Sammy
  • The Smart Guy: Ralph (and Ralphie)
  • The Chick: Roberta
  • Sixth Ranger: Jalea
• Mad Scientist: Ralph
• One Steve Limit: Avoided. Ralph's clone sticks around and decides to go by Ralphie, and even before that you had Sam T. Dog and Sammy the Hammy sharing a name
• Orphaned Series: More than once
• Planet of Hats: Melotians are (Earth) pop culture-obsessed couch potatoes.
• Shared Universe: With the Walkyverse and the pre-reboot Zorticverse.
• Timey-Wimey Ball
• New Tech Is Not Cheap: Inverted in this strip. It's because of the OLD technology (engine) that required expensive fuel.