vikenticomeshome

[vikenticomeshome]

I agree. Giving Hacker those tiny legs was absolutely unacceptable.

For Context

Two rant posts in one day?

Anyways.

Hacker’s tiny legs.

I believe I am the sole person who does not enjoy this aspect…but let me tell you why.

Hacker’s legs are first mentioned in a flash episode. We all know how seriously I take flash *cough* sarcasm *cough*. What I believe the writers did in whatever season that was (I believe Team Spirit is the first mention) - was mess up the mix between cartoon and reality.

To me, the first few seasons give the impression of a lot of exaggeration to help kids immediately identify a character’s chief traits. Hacker is egotistical and threatening - therefore they give him a massive chest, large chin, and smaller legs to exaggerate the chest. Make it look even bigger than it actually is. We see this in other strong characters like Deci and Zeus.

In the beginning seasons, Hacker does not have difficulty keeping up with the other characters, for example: Eye of Rom, A Whale of a Tale, etc.

He is shown to run just as fast as Buzz or Delete in these instances.

In one episode specifically, it’s hinted that we see Hacker’s footprints!

As we can see, the footprints are large.

In the episode about human proportions, the writers purposely avoided using any borg people to avoid giving anyone a set size. Even when the earth kid’s proportions are seen in a more detailed way, they are different sizes than what is animated usually.

I think these things - Hacker’s footprints, the kids’ footprints, other similar stereotypically ‘strong’ male characters, not being shown to be slow in other scenes - all point to that little bit of cartoon exaggeration. Meaning in reality, of course Hacker’s an adult with adult sized shoes.

But flash did the same thing with others! From the model that flash used for the earth kids without sweaters, their wrists are wayyyyy too skinny. Their hands are too big. The whole thing is just awkward. Not to mention Hacker’s hands are smaller than Jackie’s in A Perfect Score!

But if Hacker has tiny legs like that, then that means the same logic should be applied to the rest of the world. So Matt, Jackie, and Inez are all terrifying looking in real life.

I feel like it’s another instance of the animators/writers/whomever forgetting the rules of the universe and something made for a cheap laugh. I’m not tryna be all like ‘oH hAcKeR CAn dO EVerYThINg’ but dammit let the man walk!

Of course we all know I like to make everything ‘realistic’ or whatever. And there are probably plenty of counter points but the cheapness of flash comedy in the later seasons gets me sometimes and I refuse to enjoy >:0 (unless one of my mutuals does it it’s okay then. Don’t worry I separate these thoughts from my enjoyment of other fan media!!!)

It is kinda a zany show and I get that it’s in a different universe where all is not applied the same way as with earth physics. So I try to compromise by drawing him bowlegged or with slightly shorter legs than average. And obviously I still exaggerate some features.

(I hc that he actually can’t run very fast because of a knee injury in college playing football or smt.)

Just agh. It sucks seeing something pathetic come out of nowhere about your favorite character.

Anyways don’t worry if you like him with teeny legs I’m just never really going to draw him with them lol.

#cursed image #hacker #cyberchase

[vikenticomeshome]

That is pretty cool. I don't have any hard evidence as to where this came from, but I can give my thoughts. I don't think this was sold as a commercial product. If it had been commercially released, it would have logos on it. I don't see any PBS logos, and I don't see a Flying Minds logo. Flying Minds produced a bunch of the merch for Cyberchase around 2004-2005, including the single official Cyberchase plush, the Digit plush.

We'll probably never know the full Flying Minds inventory, as several pages for their store are completely missing, with no product names or photos. Even the pages that have product names are missing almost all of their photos.

I dug into the old Flying Minds site and shared my findings on these posts. For what it's worth, I never saw this clock on the surviving pages.

Flying Minds - The Defunct Cyberchase Merch Empire (part 1): https://www.tumblr.com/vikenticomeshome/748361823260196864/flying-minds-the-defunct-cyberchase-merch-empire?source=share

Flying Minds - The Defunct Cyberchase Merch Empire (part 2): https://www.tumblr.com/vikenticomeshome/748363201305018368/flying-minds-the-defunct-cyberchase-merch-empire?source=share

I don't think this was a contest prize either. I have archived the two Cyberchase contests that I am aware of, and they seem to only talk about commercially sold products like the school supplies, VHS tapes, DVDs, and CD-ROM games. There is no mention of clocks or any specially-made products.

The 2004 Cyberchase Online Contest: https://www.tumblr.com/vikenticomeshome/745780583151665152/cyberchase-the-chase-is-on-museum-exhibit-videos?source=share

The 2005 Cyberchase Online Contest: https://www.tumblr.com/vikenticomeshome/745765865491972096/alright-i-wanted-to-share-the-content-that-i-have?source=share

The Hacker artwork has been used in a few different places. Sometimes he has simpler of more complicated coloring. The closest coloring matches that come to mind for me is between the cover of Variety magazine from October 1-7, 2001...

And the Who's Who document, which as a copyright from 2000 and 2001.

I find it interesting that the Cyberchase logo is missing its blue oval background on your clock. That blue oval has been around for ages, even appearing on the website as early as December 2001, before the show even started airing.

The only place I can think of where I've seen the Cyberchase logo lettering without the blue oval background is on the original 1998 pilot.

This isn't a perfect match, since they had multiple different colors behind it. However, the stuff that we see through the letters of the logo was animated, so the title care for the pilot may have been given flashy animations to try to give a good first impression when they were trying to sell the show.

I don't think that a modern bootleg would use the pilot logo, or go to the trouble of cutting out the letters without the logo. And I don't think anyone was making bootlegs of the show before the show even started airing.

I am aware of one other Cyberchase clock, which was the clock used during production of one of the Cyberchase For Real segments.

Even that one has the logo with the oval though.

Cyberchase Clock Featuring Matt Figurine: https://www.tumblr.com/vikenticomeshome/747107515110686720/cyberchase-clock-featuring-matt-figurine?source=share

As far as I know, your clock has never been seen in a Cyberchase live-action production. It could have been made a prop for Cyberchase For Real, and then the scene ended up cut, but I doubt it.

My theory is that your clock was a custom that was commissioned or made internally by the team that created the original Cyberchase pilot. That would explain the use of the old style logo. I bet they used this in their offices, and then someone eventually sold it years later. It's possible that it could have been a gift between members of the team, but I don't think so, as there were no personal messages anywhere on it.

found a hacker clock on ebay and i have no idea where it came from. i thought maybe it was a prize given out in one of the cyberchase contests years ago, but i have no evidence. there are no brand names except an electronics company on the motor. i have the feeling it's either bootleg or i have something incredibly rare in my possession. either way, it's cute.

#cyberchase #2000s nostalgia #lost media

[vikenticomeshome]

Cyberchase- Why is The Hacker Such an Ass?

So, I was on TV Tropes awhile back. I was specifically on the Wild Mass Guessing (WMG) page for Cyberchase. The WMG page is a place for people to put their head-canons and wild ideas and explain why they have those ideas.

One head-canon that struck me as a bit odd was the idea that The Hacker is infected by some sort of virus that led to him becoming a villain. The idea is that he is not entirely in control of his actions, and that much of his current personality is just the virus talking. I'm sure people have already tapped into this idea for its fan-fiction potential.

At first, I sort of laughed off the idea and moved on. However, when I thought back over the various episodes of the show, I realized that the show did poke at the idea a few times, whether it was intentional or not.

I want to talk about two cases where the show poked at the idea. However, I want to make a few things clear first. First, I don't think this theory will ever be confirmed in the show. The show-runners love him just the way is. They love how pompous and preening he is.

They love him endangering our child protagonists.

They love setting him up for the Cybersquad to foil his plans in the end.

They love embarrassing him and poking holes in his image.

While the original story of The Hacker was that he was just born evil per "How It all Started"...

... they have since expanded his backstory to include a period of faithful service to Motherboard...

...followed by a turn to villainy later on, perhaps when he realized what the Transformatron could do.

Even when he went through his inevitable villain decay due to being defeated by children so many times, they fit it into the universe. The Hacker's current arc is that no one is Cyberspace is scared of him anymore, so he's trying to restore his image.

So, no, I don't think we're going to have the revelation that The Hacker is really a good person who is forced to be evil via a sentient virus, a magic spell, or hard drive damage.

If they were to go that route, they would have a problem. They would probably have to permanently reform The Hacker. And if he permanently cures Motherboard's virus, then the show ends.

Even if they decided to reform him, but left him unable to cure Motherboard's cirus, they would lose their OG villain. Yes, Ledge and Zusk exist, but they barely exist at this point, especially Ledge, who Motherboard probably deleted off-screen after what he did to the kids and Digit vanished a few seasons ago. They can't fill his shoes. Even Wicked, who's been the main villain in a few episodes, probably wouldn't be able to come up with a new, interesting, magic spell for every episode going forward.

And if they tried to confirm this theory without reforming Hacker, then the whole dynamic of the show changes. The kids wouldn't be cyber-chasing after a power-hungry cyborg who wants to control Cyberspace. They would be trying to heal a brain-damaged cyborg who once served and protected Motherboard.

Now, let's get to the two times where I think the show poked at the idea that The Hacker became a villain against his will and need to be healed.

The first case was in Season 3 Episode 6 "The Grapes of Plath". The main plot here is that the Crab Prince was dared to go into the forbidden abyss and came out with a glitch.

He has been transformed into a compulsive liar. This would apparently up-end society in Aquari-yum worse than when Icky, the last Cyberslug, dies, and he can no longer feed on the energy that threatens to boil over the site.

So, now, the kids need to go to the Fountain of Truth and retrieve the Grapes of Plath, which will cure him.

Meanwhile, the Hacker has a problem. His chin is all floppy. It just isn't as firm and rigid as it was when he was a younger borg, and now he is self-conscious about it.

He accidentally intercepts a transmission from Motherboard. While it's a bit garbled, he hears her mention a "fountain of *unintelligible* uth". Of course, we know that it is the Fountain of Truth, but he believes it to be the Fountain of Youth. He wants to use the grapes to restore his chin.

Now, we don't know much about the Grapes of Plath. We know that they come from the Fountain of Truth, and we know that, when the Crab Prince was dipped head to toe in them, they removed the glitch that turned him into a compulsive liar.

Were these grapes specifically engineered to fix glitches that involve compulsive lying? That's a very niche use case. I can't imagine Plath gets many visitors. We don't see any evidence that they force the subject to always tell the truth like the spell from the Jim Carrey movie "Liar Liar". Are these Grapes all about restoring someone to their true self by removing a glitch? I like that explanation best.

Still, despite the kid's warnings that these grapes are from the Fountain of Truth, not the Fountain of Youth, The Hacker jumps in and covers himself from head to toe.

And he comes out of the juice a completely different Borg.

The Hacker: Happy Birthday, Princey. Say hello to your new best friend, the meanest guy in Cyberspace. When it's my birthday I want a cute little pony, no, a lollipop.

He is promptly removed. At this point, he seemingly goes back to normal, and is no longer covered in grapes.

Hacker: Follow me, ya duncebuckets!

Hold up, what the fuck just happened? We go back to the status quo almost immediately, as this is a status quo show, but the Grapes of Plath affected The Hacker. Why would they do that? This isn't like The Hacker hitting his head in Season 2 Episode 10 "Raising the Bar", and then, afterwards, he thought that Buzz was the boss, and that he was the henchman. This is more like mixing a cure for magnetite poisoning, and then discovering that the cure didn't fully work because the damage was more severe than expected.

No one ever said the Grapes of Plath make someone friendlier. No one ever said they make you want things like lollipops and ponies. We know for sure that they were able to cure the glitch that made the Crab Prince a compulsive liar. We know for sure that they have some association with truth, as they come from the Fountain of Truth. We know that The Hacker started wishing the Crab Prince Happy Birthday and asking for lollipops and ponies after his exposure. We can theorize that their ability to heal someone from a glitch could come from an innate ability to help restore someone to their true self.

We know very little about what The Hacker's personality was like before he turned to villainy. Even his expanded backstory is mostly just the villainy he did before the Cybersquad was recruited.

his plans for the Transformation (and Coop's attempt to stop him)

his poisoning of Coop (and what that did to Slider)

his theft of the Encryptor Chip (and his banishment)

his tricking of the Flying Parallinis into rescuing him from Mount Way-Up-There (and the impact that mistake had on them)

his attack on Valussa (and Digit's defection)

his action of infecting Motherboard with a virus (and the start of the series)

Maybe The Hacker enjoyed ponies and lollipops back in the day. Maybe we saw the real Hacker for a few seconds there before the virus/spell/brain damage overwhelmed the healing power of the Grapes of Plath. I wonder.

Let's move on to the second time the show implied something was wrong. However, in order to talk about that, I have to lay out two assumptions.

First, let's assume that Motherboard has a strong moral framework that leads her to always do the right thing, in spite of any personal biases. She does not seek easy ways out which would compromise her moral framework. This is what the show has been telling us for years.

I think the best example of this is probably one of the very best episodes of the show, Season 2 Episode 4 "True Colors". The Hacker calls an election for potentate and sets himself up to run against Motherboard, which is perfectly legal under the Cyber-constitution. Whether Motherboard truly believed The Hacker had reformed or not is unclear. However, it doesn't really matter. If he had won the election, she would have stepped down and followed the will of the people.

We learn that, if The Hacker wins, he will revise the Cyber-constitution to bring an end to the elections and make his rule permanent. The way he says it suggests that, as potentate, he would be able to revise the Cyber-constitution all by himself without any checks or balances.

Now, there's a whole can of worms here about a singular ruler being able to rewrite all of the laws unchecked, but I'm leaving that closed for now. However, this does mean that Motherboard could have rewritten the Cyber-constitution herself to shut down the Hacker's election plan right there. She didn't do it.

Second, let's assume that Motherboard was fully on board with the plan that Digit and the kids were executing during the episode that I am about to talk about. There are some things in this episode that suggest that the kids may have been running wild here, and that Motherboard was unaware of what was happening right until close to the end. I do plan to talk about that on another post. For now, we assume that Motherboard was on board the whole way.

Let's review:

Motherboard has a strong moral framework that leads her to always do the right thing, in spite of any personal biases. She does not seek easy ways out which would compromise her moral framework.

Motherboard was fully on board with the plan that Digit and the kids were executing during the episode that I am about to talk about.

Do you have all of that? Good. Let's talk about Season 5 Episode 8 "Inside Hacker".

So, Digit gives us the premise up front.

Digit: Reprogramming Hacker so he changes back into his good old self. Our best plan yet!

So, I think we all see the ethical implications of attempting to rewrite someone's personality against their will. Of course, that's with our world's understanding of the importance of "the self" and free will.

But hey, maybe Cyberspace has a different idea of the "self" that we would consider dystopian. Maybe borgs reprogram each other all the time without consent. Maybe the "self" is fluid here. What else does the show have to say about the concept of reprogramming someone? Wasn't there an episode where Digit was considering allowing himself to be reprogrammed to be less clumsy? Yeah, it was Season 6 Episode 1 "Digit's B-Day Surprise".

Uh oh. There are consent forms for reprogramming someone, and I don't remember The Hacker signing anything. Does anyone remember who was trying to get Digit to provide consent to be reprogrammed in this episode?

Wait, so this is a line that even The Hacker won't cross? Well, the Cybersquad's plan just sounds wicked in a bad way.

That has a double-meaning, as Wicked has repeatedly engaged in reprogramming borgs against their will. We saw this in Season 2 Episode 3 "Harriet the Hippo and the Mean Green" and Season 7 Episode 7 "Spellbound". I'm not even going to touch what happened with "Designing Mr. Perfect".

So, yeah, reprogramming someone against their will is definitely a villainous act in Cyberspace. The kids may be naive on this point, but Motherboard isn't. Even the virus doesn't eliminate her moral code, as we've seen in the other episodes. So, how we do we resolve this? Well, sometimes kids cartoons make a mess of the discussion of free will. They will claim that a "good" character being brainwashed by the "bad guys" and turned "evil" is absolutely horrible, which is an excellent point to make.

However, that same show will then claim that an "evil" character being brainwashed by the "good guys" and turned "good" is absolutely fine. As long as the character isn't evil anymore, the show calls it a win. The most famous example of this is probably the "Care Bear Stare" from the Care Bears cartoons. That was just a brainwashing attack they used on their enemies.

Cyberchase has pretty simple morality. Motherboard is the ultimate good, while The Hacker is the ultimate evil. However, we are at least a little bit above The Care Bears here. The kids are required to abide by the laws of the different Cybersites that they take action in. They aren't given easy outs like shooting The Hacker until he stops being a villain. That sounds more like a gritty reboot of Cyberchase.

So, let's add one more assumption to the board for "Inside Hacker":

Motherboard has a strong moral framework that leads her to always do the right thing, in spite of any personal biases. She does not seek easy ways out which would compromise her moral framework.

Motherboard was fully on board with the plan that Digit and the kids were executing during the episode that I am about to talk about.

Cyberchase is not The Care Bears.

So, how do we resolve the issue? Well, suppose that The Hacker started out as a good guy, who worked as a technician for Motherboard. He wanted to help make Cyberspace a great place, and all he wanted in return was to go home to his pony and lollipop at the end of the day. But then, one way or another, his personality was altered against his will, and he became obsessed with taking over Cyberspace. He became the villain he is today.

Then, perhaps the action of reprogramming him back to his original self without consent can be justified. After all, the original Hacker is not able to provide his consent. In that case, maybe it falls to Motherboard and Dr. Marbles to become his medical proxy.

Again, I don't think we'll ever see the show confirm this theory. It would just make too much of a mess if we haven't been with the real Hacker for the past 20 years. I do wonder if the implications of these two scenes were put in by the writers intentionally though.

There are other ways to look at this, of course, so let's pull our combined board here.

The Hacker acted strangely after being covered in the Grapes of Plath from the Fountain or Truth. These grapes are known to have repaired the glitch that turned the Crab Prince into a compulsive liar. The Hacker talked about celebrating the Crab Prince's birthday and wanting a pony and a lollipop for his birthday. He was back to normal shortly afterward.

The kids and Digit went forward with a plan to forcibly reprogram The Hacker against his will to turn him from a villain back into his original good self.

2a. We know that reprogramming someone against their will is a villainous act in Cyberspace. Wicked has done it numerous times. When The Hacker wanted to reprogram Digit, he would not proceed without getting his signature on the consent forms, which implies that reprogramming Digit without his consent is a line that The Hacker won't cross.

2b. We assumed that Motherboard has a strong moral framework that leads her to always do the right thing, in spite of any personal biases.

2c. We assumed that Motherboard knew what the kids were up to throughout the episode, rather than just finding out at the very end.

On #1: The incident with the Grapes of Plath could have been a fluke. We still know next to nothing about how the grapes work. It could be like magnetite, which affects all borgs differently. On #2b: Perhaps Motherboard slipped up here with regards to her moral code. Perhaps, in a moment of anger over her own suffering with the virus, she put the kids on their mission to end the threat of The Hacker via forced reprogramming. If so, this is a pretty big black mark on her record.

On #2c: Some of the dialogue in "Inside Hacker" suggests that the kids and Digit came up with the plan. We don't actually see Motherboard's face until the very end. Perhaps she didn't realize what was really going on until that point. And at that point, the important thing was rescuing Matt, not scolding the children.

#cyberchase #cartoon #2000s #nostalgia #pbs kids #2000s childhood #the hacker #longpost

[vikenticomeshome]

Flying Minds - The Defunct Cyberchase Merch Empire (part 2)

When we get to the "Math and Money - DVDs, CDs, and VHS" section, we are back to Cyberchase.

The DVD, VHS, and the CD-ROM games are well-known at this point.

And then, we get to the "Books" section.

Venn Perplexors Level A and Level B are not Cyberchase branded.

Neither is "Math Path Puzzles Level A".

Through further digging, I was able to get the Flying Minds product page for "Super Cyber School Supplies".

In addition to the mechanical pencil and pencil case, it also case with a calculator, a binder, a theme book, a 6-inch ruler, pens, an eraser, and a sticker sheet.

That's everything that I was able to dig up from the Flying Minds website.

I never did find a place to retrieve that exclusive download from. I'm not sure if that item was ever shifted to the pbskids.org website. It may be lost forever.

Still, I enjoyed digging around into the records of the days when Cyberchase had a more robust merch department. I really wish they would have done more plushies. I would have happily collected a complete Cybersquad.

#cyberchase #cartoon #2000s #nostalgia #pbs kids #2000s childhood #archived web content #flyingminds

[vikenticomeshome]

Flying Minds - The Defunct Cyberchase Merch Empire (part 1)

So, I fell down a bit of a rabbit hole recently. I started looking into a long-defunct company called Flying Minds that had an association with Cyberchase. It all started when I was looking at my DVD of Ecohaven CSE and found this.

Calling all Cyberchase fans... For your exclusive Cyberchase download, check out www.flyingminds.com

Limited Time offer!

Promo Code VID05

There were some free downloadable items available on the actual pbskids.org website back in the day. There were a few downloadable flash-based screensavers and a calculator voiced by Bianca. These have been preserved on the Flashpoint Archive. However, I have no idea what this exclusive download from flyingminds.com would have been. I would be very curious if it was still circulating today. Unfortunately, it seems very unlikely that it would have been preserved by WayBack Machine archives, since you needed to put in a promotional code to get it.

Regardless, I started looking into the archives of the flyingminds website to see what they had to do with Cyberchase. It turned out that they sold a bunch of Cyberchase-branded products back in the day. Before I get to that though, I figure I should set the scene for what Cyberchase merch looks like today. Here is the official PBS kids store.

It's mostly clothing. We can see shirts, hoodies, baseball caps, and a tote bag. We can see some stuff themed after the 20th anniversary of the show, while other stuff is more generic. I've seen the exact same catalogue on a site called merchmake, so perhaps this is who the current show-runners contracted the merch out to.

I also found some more baggage on a site called personalized planet. While this isn't the official PBS Kids store, I'm pretty sure this is legitimate.

I'm only including stuff that I believe is official. I'm not talking about Etsy here, since that tends to be unofficial fan-works. I'm also not talking about Redbubble, since its so infamous for art theft.

So, that's about it for official Cyberchase merch in the present day. There's not very much of it. However, if wind the clock back to 2005 when Flying Minds was active, things were very different. They had a partnership with Thirteen/WNET New York to bring out a much wider variety of Cyberchase merchandise. Let me show you through Wayback Machine archives. Unfortunately, much of their catalog photos were not archived, but I'll see what I can do to supplement. I think the best place to start here is with Flying Minds's own explanation as to what they were doing with Cyberchase.

Begin

What is Flying Minds? Established in October 2004, Flying Minds is a partnership between C&T Ventures and Thirteen/WNET New York working together to bring you cool, innovative products that will engage your children in a world of fun learning. Flying Minds has teamed up with Thirteen/WNET's acclaimed children's program, Cyberchase, to be your online store for Cyberchase gear, including school supplies, apparel, games and toys. As co-producer of this award-winning show, we are very proud to be a part of the Cyberchase family and will continue to work closely with the creators of the program to bring you exclusive products for many years to come.

In keeping with our mission to provide "Cool Stuff for Clever Kids" (and adults too), Flying Minds is committed to making your visit to our site an enjoyable experience. To this end, we will continue to develop and seek out quality products, activities and services (both fun and educational) that meet our demanding standards. Whether through information to help kids learn about financial literacy or a loyalty program where kids and adults can spend or save points, our goal is to grow Flying Minds into a company that provides an interactive and entertaining experience for our customers.

Most importantly, your purchases at www.flyingminds.com help to support Cyberchase and Public Television. For cool activities and to learn more about Cyberchase, visit www.pbskidsgo.org/Cyberchase/.

End

Most archives I have found of the site are from 2005. Unfortunately, it seems that Flying Minds didn't last very long after all. I know that some of their Cyberchase products are considered collector's items now, and they can get expensive.

Their most famous product is the sole official Cyberchase plush toy, Digit. He's my co-producer for this Tumblr blog.

Let's see what we can gather from the remnants of their site.

The first section on the list is "School Supplies" This was originally two pages, but it seems like only the first page of this section was archived at all. Even then, the pictures from the first page have not been saved.

Just to be clear, the Digit plush that I have is not a backpack. I have only ever seen one size of this plush, so the listing for a "Digit Le Boid Plush Backpack with Accessories" is a bit confusing to me. I haven't seen any vintage Cyberchase backpacks or water bottles floating around either.

I did see a Worthpoint listing for a prior eBay sale of a pencil case, mechanical pencil, and stickers. The pencil case had Flying Minds branding on the back, so it looks like we can fill in that blank. It may have been part of the prizes for either the 2004 or 2005 Cyberchase Online Contests as well.

The next section to look at is the "Toys & Games" section. Once again, only the first page has been archived at all, and all of the images are missing.

So, they talk about a clock with a stop watch, which they also refer to as a keychain. I haven't seen this exact item, but I have seen a Worthpoint listing for another vintage Cyberchase keychain.

I also found a Worthpoint listing for that collector tin with 2 packs of playing cards, so we can document that.

We've already talked about the famous Digit plush. I haven't seen any pictures of the "Super Cyber 100-Piece Floor Puzzle".

Next, we can look at the "Party Supplies" section. There are only two items in here.

I was able to source a picture from pintrest showing an eBay listing for some Cyberchase party supplies. I assume these are the same ones that were sold through Flying Minds, as it was listed as a party set for 8.

I can see napkins, stickers, plates, cups, and hats. I think I also see placemats (middle right), cards (bottom middle), wrapping paper (top right), and some sort of cardboard hanging decorations (bottom right).

Next, we can move on to the "Apparel" section. This is yet another section where only the first page was captured and the images were lost.

Once again, we have those backpacks that I wasn't able to source. photos for. However, I was able to source photos from an eBay listing for the "Cyberchase Bad Guys Baseball Cap"

Next, we get to look at the "DVDs, CDs, and VHS" section. Unfortunately, this section's original proud 4 pages have been cut down to a single page of entries with their pictures missing.

Thankfully, these four DVDs are pretty well-circulated these days, so they aren't mysterious.

The other half of site is marked as "Math and Money". However, it is a mixture of items that are branded Cyberchase and items that are not branded as Cyberchase, so I will go through them.

First, we have "Math and Money - Games".

I actually figured out what "Moneywise Kid$" is, as the website for the developer, Strom Mfg., showcases the box.

PayDay was a money-management board game that was originally released in 1974. With that in mind, I believe that Flying Minds would have been selling the 30th anniversary edition in 2004-2005.

"Buy It RIght" was probably this board game version from 2002.

This was probably what they were talking about with "Flip 4".

We can move on to "Toys & Banks". Unfrotunately, I don't think contains the amazing bank that Slider assembled for "The Snelfu Snafu"

I was able to find the Moonjar Classic Moneybox on Moonjar's website.

The other items have such generic names that I won't be able to provide a definite answer.

Continued in part 2, as I hit the image limit.

#flying minds #cyberchase #cartoon #2000s #nostalgia #pbs kids #2000s childhood #lost media #longpost

[vikenticomeshome]

Cyberchase - Zorgon the Evil Wizard

Let's talk about the Zorgon The Evil Wizard. This was a Cyberchase villain who was only featured in the singular chapter book, "The Search for the Power Orb". We've seen wizards and witches in Cyberchase before, such as Stumblesnore, Melvin (brother of Merlin), and Wicked.

So, we know what to expect, right?

Before we get to see Zorgon, we already know that this is going to be very bad. He lives on a Cybersite called Mount Doom, so he's a clear reference to Sauron from Lord of the Rings. Digit is terrified of him and horrified at the idea of going to Mount Doom. Zorgon is presented as the second most feared being in all of Cyberspace, just behind The Hacker. This was a comparison to The Hacker from 2003 as well, before his villain decay.

We get to hear about some of his exploits. I'll block the picture for now, since I have a higher-resolution one coming up.

Once, he turned all the inhabitants of Solaria into pigs. Then, he held hostage all of the water from Shangri-la in a small test tube until he was paid off in cybergold.

The Solaria one is pretty cruel since pigs can get sunburned. The Shangri-la one is something truly special though. The implication here is that he went up against Master Pi and his soldiers and won. I know that The Hacker took over the site once, but it seems like Master Pi allowed it to happen because he wanted to give Buzz and Delete the golden drop test (Keep the jar sealed for peace, or take out the golden drop for infinitely doubling wealth). The idea of Master Pi paying someone off is unthinkable.

Anyway, what does he look like?

Where do we even start? I've never seen a wizard with a double-pointed hat. That has to be an attempt to imply demonic horns. He's also just so tall. I'm going to assume that Digit is about 2-3 feet tall. Let me try something.

Ah, so, if we count the hat (and we should, since I think he may actually have horns under there), Zorgon is between 8 and 12 feet tall. There is a point later on where he shrinks them down to the size of mice, but it takes place after this picture. How is this guy second to Hacker in any contest?

But what does Zorgon do when he discovers the kids have slipped into his house?

He proceeds to trap them with a spell and then test out a new potion he just made up on them. It shrinks them down to the size of mice. He does not take them seriously as a threat in the slightest. This is one of the few times that the kids have been affected by magic/potions from Cyberspace as well. Recall that they were unaffected by Wicked's "Spell of the Mean Green", and they were immune to magnetite poisoning.

And then he sends his Cybercat Zird to eat the children.

Thankfully, Zorgon has not been keeping his equipment maintained. They find a potion that turns anything it touches to stone, and they use it to turn Zird to stone, so we know that Zorgon can do that.

The kids desperately search for a leaking barrel containing a potion that will let them grow big again.

We have a potion that causes anything, metal included, to burst into flames and disappear. We have a potion that causes any object to sprout brown hair all of the place. I don't want to know what he intended to use those for.

The kids find a potion to get big again. However..

I couldn't find these words anywhere, so I suspect they are gibberish. Given an earlier line about how no one who has entered Zorgon's cave has ever returned, I assume he was going to kill the kids here.

The kids defeat Zorgon when Izzy dumps a random potion on him. It could have been a death potion for all he knew.

Yeah, Zorgon had a brainwashing potion so powerful that it worked against him. How was this guy second to The Hacker again?

As far as I know, Zorgon has never appeared beyond this point. Presumably he's still out there, brainwashed into being nice. I guess he's not really a villain anymore, but what does he do?

#cyberchase #cartoon #2000s #nostalgia #pbs kids #2000s childhood #digit

[vikenticomeshome]

Cyberworld QBorgs (part 3) - Zeta Quest 3D

Here's another post about Cyberworld QBorgs. The QBorg "Zeta Quest 3D" was based on the cartoon "The Zeta Project" from the 2000s. Unfortunately, much of the content from this QBorg is currently lost. I believe I have assembled just about everything that could be retrieved from the Internet Archive. While it is possible to walk around in the known levels, it is currently not possible to interact with the characters or get much of the story. Maybe someday a former Cyberworld employee will come forward with assets.

Here's the page where they explain the premise and ask you to download the Cyberworld browser. I will transcribe the text.

Begin

The Zeta Project Presents Zeta Quest 3D.

Become Zeta, and continue the search for Dr. Selig in this revolutionary 3D game.

If you have not already downloaded the Cyberworld browser you will need to do so, but trust us; it's worth it!

End

I like that we get a small screenshot of the game world which shows what the right-side panel is supposed to look like. Even after gathering all of the files that could be archived, much of the right-side panel is missing.

Since we're here, we may as well see the system requirements.

Begin

The Cyberworld browser is for PC users only.

System Requirements: Windows 95 or 98, Windows ME, Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 3 (or greater), Windows 200 Professional/Server

Microsoft Internet Explorer 4 (or above); compatible with Netscape Communicator 4 (or above)

VGA with 256 colors or greater

Pentium 90 MHz (133 MHz recommended)

16 MB RAM (32 MB recommended)

End

I think I can handle that.

Our first borg is the intro. It is just a flash animation that discusses the premise in more detail. I will transcribe this as well.

Begin Narration Bucky has intercepted a transmission from Dr. Selig, Zeta's creator, who is working on a new Infiltration Unit at a top secret lab deep in the mountains of New Mexico. By triangulating the Satellite signals carrying the transmission, Bucky has pinned down the location of the lab. This may be Zeta's best chance to find Dr. Selig.

Playing the role of Zeta, you must find Dr. Selig, and keep from being captured by security forces at the lab.

We are then dropped off in a forest, presumably near the lab that we need to inflitrate.

If we move forward, we can find Ro, one of Zeta's allies in the show. She has a phone for us to take.

She's also supposed to have some dialogue here, but that is lost.

We can walk down the single path until we reach an ominous looking building. I believe this is the hidden science lab. However, we cannot just walk in there. Zeta is an infiltration robot on the show, and I think he has disguises in this game. However, with most of the buttons missing their images, I can't figure out how to put on the disguise. I'm guessing the correct disguise is "Lab Tech", which is the top right item.

However, it looks like, if I was able to put on a disguise, I would move onto a borg called "guard" next. So, let's skip ahead.

I think I can make out my character's face on the Wanted poster.

Shhh.. the guard is sleeping.

You can steal that tablet computer off his desk. I also found some power cells down the hall.

The white void awaits at the end of the hall.

It's supposed to lead to the "office" borg, but its broken. Let's skip ahead to that borg anyway.

Someone painted an entire desk, chair, and computer on the wall, which is odd.

We can find some office workers.

I found this area in the office map, which looks out of place. It has a white void, but it didn't seem to take me anywhere.

So, I tried another white void that looked more like it belonged.

I think I put on a scientist disguise, though its hard to say when the disguise menu doesn't have labels. Anyway, that second white void took me to "IU 8 Lab A".

I found a new friend. He is called weldbot. He doesn't speak, move, or do anything, so he may not be alive.

And then, I found another white void with no real way to continue. There are no other maps (called borgs) known to exist.

So, what did I think of that? I have never seen "The Zeta Project", so I can't speak for the accuracy or any creative liberties here. Unfortunately, so much of the game content is currently lost that it would be unfair for me to form much of an opinion on it. Here's hoping that we get another situation like when Eddie Ruminski came forward with the assets for those other Cyberworld QBorg games.

Anyway, I should probably watch the show at some point. I like the concept of a an assassin robot growing a conscience, rebelling against his agency, and trying to track down his original creator.

#not cyberchase #but cyberchase fans might like it #nostalgia #2000s #The Zeta Project #Project Zeta #cartoon #cyberworld qborgs #lost media #archived web content #flashpoint archive #flashpoint project #Zeta Quest #Zeta Quest 3D

[vikenticomeshome]

Cyberworld QBorgs (part 2) - Cyberworld Olympiad

Alright, let's start out by walking through Cyberworld Olympiad. This was an educational game where your character wanders through an Olympic stadium setup learning about the Olympics. We start with these introductory instructions. I will transcribe them.

Begin Instructions

Each robot in the world, will ask you an Olympic trivia question. Answer enough of them correctly and you'll receive a gold medal.

You can finish the trivia questions at any time by clicking on the "Go to Podium" buttom, but you need to answer them all in order to get a better medal.

End Instructions

We are dropped straight into our main map, "cw_olypiad.borg", which is the outside area. We can see the Swimming building up ahead, and we also see the robot with a trivia question for us. I will transcribe the text in the right-hand panel, which explains where we are.

Begin Right Panel

Welcome to the Cyberworld Olympiad. Answer the trivia questions in all three stadiums, and win a medal for your hard work!

The swimming facilities are to the left. The path of stars to your right will take you to the other two buildings.

End Right Panel

As we approach the swimming building, we get some historical information in the right panel. I will transcribe it.

Begin Right Panel

In 1896, the modern Olympics were started in Athens Greece by Pierre du Coubertain. Swimming was a major event in these games.

Enter the building for swimming facts and trivia.

End Right Panel

We can go ahead and enter the swimming building, and there is plenty to see in there.

We load into the map "cw_swimming_pool.borg". We've got some sprites made from photo cut-outs of people. We have an animated man on a screen who is swimming. We have the very flat looking pool, since it's basically a floor texture. We have some very low-resolution fans filling the seats. Remember that this was the year 2000 and playable in a web browser, so there were some severe limitations.

Let me transcribe the new information from the right panel

Begin Right Panel

Swimming became part of the modern Olympic Games in 1896, which was held in Athens. Races were open to any style of swimming, but competitors using an overarm, scissor-kick stroke called the Trudgen normally won.

Some of the compressed sprites are worse than others. This man's eyes look like something out of a horror game.

Check out the big blocky scoreboard in the top right and the floor to ceiling informational board on the left.

Here's an example of the trivia questions that could come from the Cyberworld-branded robots.

In what year did the U.S win event event in the swimming competition?

A) 1944

B) 1948

C) 1952

D) 1976

With the modern internet, it's easy enough to find the answer (1948). I'm not sure how easy it would have been 24 years ago.

It turns out the looping animation of a man swimming has some interactivity. I can open some fun facts. I will share one.

Fact 2: The butterfly came about because of a loophole in the breaststroke rules.

I salute pink speedo man for levitating in the air for 24 years for our entertainment.

Let's go back outside. There is a button here to start the fountains. We can also see various flags and the giant Gymnastic building in the distance. I will transcribe the right panel text.

Begin Right Panel

The Greek athletic Games, commonly known as the Panhellenic Games, were an integral part of Greek life. Running events were among the oldest and most exciting contests in these games.

Enter the Olympiad Stadium for more trivia questions.

End Right Panel

I won't go into the stadium just yet, as I believe that is the final stop where we get our medal. Instead, I will go to the Gymnastics building.

You may or may not be able to read the motto printing along the upper wall "Stronger, Faster, Higher". Apparently, that motto goes all the way back to 1894. As of 2021, it is now "Stronger, Faster, Higher - Together".

Let me transcribe the text from the right panel.

Begin Right Panel

One of the oldest sports in the Olympics, Gymnastics began in ancient Greece more than 2000 years ago.

More facts and trivia questions await you in the gymnastics building. Good luck!

And so, we load into the map "cw_gymnastics.borg"

We have an animation of someone swinging around on a horizontal bar. We also have giant flags everywhere. Let me transcribe the right panel.

Begin Right Panel

Gymnastics is one of the oldest Olympic sports, as it began in ancient Greece more than 2000 years ago. Men gathered at gymnasiums to practice the sport, and debate about art, literature and philosophy as well. Gymnastics focused on finding symmetry between the mind and body by pairing physical exercise with intellectual activity. After financial corruption led to the banning of gymnastics in 393 A.D., the sport did not reappear in the public arena until the 16th century.

End Right Panel

Off topic, I had never heard that fact before. I can't imagine how bad the corruption would have been lead to banning an entire set of sports from the Olympics for that long.

You may be able to see that the gym area ahead and to the right is dark.

The lights turn on when you enter the gym. That was probably pretty amazing in the year 2000. Let me transcribe the right panel.

Begin Right Panel

Head over to the gym floor and clock on your favorite apparatus for interesting information.

Did you know that the word "gymnastics" came from the word "gymnazein", which meant "exercising without clothes"?

End Right Panel

Here's another trivia example, by the way.

Let's start our tour of the different apparati with the still rings, which light up when we touch them.

It comes with a video demonstrating how they would be used. However, the video doesn't seem to play properly. The assets may be lost.

Here's another view of the Gymnastics floor.

I'm going to move onto the main stadium before I hit the image limit for this post.

We go inside, and we load into "cw_trackandfield.borg".

We can see the famous Olympic flame, more cut-outs of people, and an animation on a screen of someone running.

I will transcribe the Right Panel.

Begin Right Panel

During the ancient Olympic games, Greeks sometimes made runners wear infantry armor. Eventually competitors only had to carry a soldier's shield as they ran.

Women's running events were added in 1928. Unfortunately officials banned the women's 800 metre run when several competitors collapsed. Today, however, men's and women's track and field events are nearly identical.

We can see a sprite of a runner about to begin, to the delight of the low-resolution fans in the crowd. We also see the Cyberworld company logo being held up by those fans.

Here's one of our fun facts. The first recorded sprinter was Coroebus, a Greek who a 193 metre race in 776 BC. Props to Coroebus for his win.

Unfortunately, when I tried to go to the podium to see if I had done well enough in the trivia questions to get a medal, the "cw_ceremony.borg" failed to load. I suspect that an asset is missing somewhere, or some underlying JavaScript code is getting into a bad state.

However, DoomTay created a program called JSBorg that can read the map data and assemble it, as well as allowing us to walk around. The Sprites are rendered in a weird way, but at least we can see inside.

And so, I walk to the podium.

I'm not sure who these three guys are. Because the ceremony is broken, I declare myself the winner of the gold, silver, and bronze medals by default.

So, what did I think of this? I didn't play this back in the day, but I think I would have been very impressed at the time. Sure, the graphics look pretty crunchy now, but that was what they could deliver over the Internet in the year 2000. I think this would have been a cool way to learn about the Olympics back then.

Anyway, let me give a big thanks to AL2713, DoomTay, Eddie Ruminski, and everyone else who worked together to resurrect this game in 2023, over 20 years later.

#not cyberchase #but cyberchase fans might like it #cyberworld #qborgs #2000s #archived web content #lost media #web games #longpost #olympics #flashpoint archive #flashpoint project

[vikenticomeshome]

Cyberchase Character Discussion (for your local Cyberchase trivia quiz) - #4: The Hacker

You all knew this one was coming.

#4: The Hacker

Let's talk about The Hacker's character, as well as the lore around him. We can start with his original character bio. Of course, keep in mind that this info was laid down nearly 25 years ago, so much of what we talk about may no longer be canon. The Hacker is a particularly interesting case, as they have presented different origin stories for him over the years which contradict one another. These don't seem to affect how the Cybersquad views him, though. I remember reading a post not too long ago about someone pointing out that our three Earth kids don't seem the least bit interested in The Hacker's origin. Yeah, I agree on that point.

So, we know from this panel that he is pompus and power-hungry. We also know that he wants to take over Cyberspace. It is a bit weird that they call it "Cyberworld" here. Maybe that was some sort of early name. They already knew that his wig (or was it real hair at this point?) was going to be important to the character.

His favorite color is puce. We all remember how upset he was during Season 1 Episode 1 "Lost My Marbles" when he was stuck using pink fog instead of puce fog to make sure the children would be lost on Topsy-Turvy Island forever.

We also know about his interest in Elvis and becoming the Big E E (Evil Elvis).

We also saw his love for Elvis in the official Cyberchase web comic "Cyber Idol" from Ron Barrett.

He also loves Judge Doom from "Who Framed Roger Rabbit".

He enjoys "The Prince" by Machiavelli, which is a very old and famous book going back to the 1500s. The book present itself as a guide for how princes should act when they gain their power. There's a whole section about princes gaining their power through criminal acts, which I'm sure The Hacker would have enjoyed very much.

The Hacker's original original story came from the oficial Cyberchase Prequel web comic, "How It All Started" (episode 1). It is about as simple as can be.

Narration: Needing an assistant with a high level of intelligence, Dr. Marbles assembles a cyborg who calls himself The Hacker.

The Hacker (thinking): Hmmm, someday I'll take over all of Cyberspace!

He picked out his own name, and he decided he would take over Cyberspace shortly after birth. He also always looked like his current self. Is assembly the normal process for birthing a new Cyborg? Did Slider start out the same way? You know what? I don't even want to go into the confusing mess that is Cyborg biology or how it compares to Robot biology on this post. We know that Cyberchase is never going to explain it.

I'll keep the rest of this origin story brief. The Hacker stole Motherboard's Encryptor Chip and locked in a Vault.

Digit was able to retrieve it, and Motherboard declared that The Hacker must be banished for his crime. Dr. Marbles drained his power, which ensure that he needs to regularly recharge himself. Then Dr. Marbles sent him to the Northern Frontier via a remote-controlled pod.

I love Dr Marble's line here. "Page down, Hacker. You file is closed!"

It is revealed that The Hacker brought Digit with him into exile against his will. Somehow, neither Motherboard nor Dr. Marbles realized this.

I've already talked at length about The Hacker causing disruption on the Valussa Cybersite, which led to Digit fully defecting to Motherboard.

We actually got an animated adaptation of this version of The Hacker's origin story in Season 1 Episode 11 "A Day at the Spa".

It gives us The Hacker having his perpetual power supply down-graded by Dr. Marbles prior to being launched into exile.

However, the show has not maintained the origin story from "How It All Started". Starting with Season 3 Episode 4 "A Piece of the Action", we see The Hacker in his younger years. I'm not sure if his hair was a wig back then or not.

We got more of this during the Transformatron Arc, where we saw Coop destroy the Transformatron Blueprints to prevent The Hacker from using the machine to take over.

We also know that The Hacker went to school, though it's not clear if this was high school or college.

So, yeah, it seems like the writers decided to move away from The Hacker as being born evil. They wanted to flesh him out more and have him turn to darkness over time.

All of this could still fit with his original banishment though. Maybe Motherboard never learned about the Transformatron, since The Hacker damaged Coop's hard drive and sent him into exile. Maybe Coop didn't want to go to Motherboard and harm The hacker more once the Transformatron plans were disposed. Perhaps The Hacker's theft of the Encryptor Chip still happened later on and triggered his banishment.

And then Season 5 Episode 6 "The Flying Parallinis" happened.

Oh look, that poor cyborg is trapped on top of Mount Way-Up-There in the Northern Frontier.

Good thing The Flying Parallinis are here to use their flexing power to build a tower to rescue him.

Oops.

And so, having accidentally freed The Hacker from his prison, The Flying Parallinis vowed to put aside their special talent for who knows how long. No doubt that was pretty traumatic for them.

One central point of The Hacker's situation is that he no longer has the amazing power supply he started with. It was downgraded, so that he requires regular recharges. Did Dr. Marbles and Motherboard just stick him on top of a tower all by himself to die?

Well, if Season 12 Episode 8 "Hacker Hugs a Tree" is his canon origin story, then the answer is no. Here is how his banishment was portrayed during that episode.

So, we have Hacker in his young form being shoved through a portal to the Northern Frontier all alone. This breaks the idea that The Hacker was in his final form when he was banished. This breaks the idea that Motherboard and Dr. Marbles put him on top of Mount Way-Up-There. This breaks the idea that he took Digit with him when he was banished. I'm not even sure if Digit exists at this point in the new timeline. They don't explain why he's being banished here. It may not have even been over the theft of the Encryptor Chip in this timeline. Given that he looks the same as he did when Coop shredded the Transformatron plans, I wonder if Motherboard found out about him giving Coop magnetite poisoning a few days later, and that got him banished.

In hindsight, maybe I should have made a separate post all about The Hacker's origin story and its retcons. On the other hand, I don't know that you can talk much about the character without at least trying to explain his banishment.

Okay, let's fast-forward to the present. What does The Hacker really think of the Cybersquad? With Motherboard damaged, but not destroyed, Matt, Jackie, Inez, and Digit are usually the only ones standing between him and controlling Cyberspace. Assuming Digit's origin story hasn't been ret-conned, he is basically The Hacker's son, even if he has betrayed him at the point. Matt, Jackie and Inez are actual children. Would The Hacker really go as far as trying to kill them all if he had the chance?

Yes! Yes he would! One stand-out example is Season 3 Episode 7, where he uses lava to flood the pyramid stairs that they are climbing. That was attempted murder.

We can also consider Season 1 Episode 7 "Zeus on the Loose" as a stand-out example. The Hacker openly states that he intends to open Pandora's Box in order to unleash death and destruction. As a children's cartoon character, he isn't even supposed to use the word "death", but he does it anyway, because he's The Hacker.

But what about Cyborg children? Is The Hacker willing to hurt them too?

Yes! Absolutely! The most notable case was probably giving Slider magnetite poisoning in Season 4 Episode 5 "Measure for Measure".

And what about Digit? What is The Hacker willing to do to him?

How about we use Season 6 Episode 1 "Digit's B-day Surprise" as an example. The Hacker spends Digit's B-Day with him breaking his self-esteem down. Digit is convinced that the kids dislike him for being clumsy. He is almost convinced to sign a consent form to let The Hacker reprogram him to make him less clumsy.

Of course, this is a trick to let The Hacker turn Digit into an obedient henchman. The kids are so fortunate that Digit defected to Motherboard. Buzz has no special abilities. Delete has his seldom-used elongating arms, but he is a wishy-washy mess. Digit has an all-purpose beak that can open nearly any lock and drill through nearly any material. He's also the only Cyberspace resident who is immune to magnetite. Also, he can fly. He could be a goddamn Terminator.

What's next for The Hacker? Will he hurt unborn babies?

Oh yeah, he already went there in the pilot, "The Poddleville Case", where he stole the Poddle's eggs.

Anyway, what else can I say about The Hacker? He's quite happy to bide his time and play the long game with his plans. We saw this in the Snelfu Snafu, where he let the kids get the last bid on the auction for the Encryptor Chip. They took it back to Control Central, plugged it in and...

...it turned out that The Hacker sabotaged the Encryptor Chip ahead of time to allow him to take over Cyberspace.

We could also look at the Transformatron Arc, where the kids won in small ways, while The Hacker slipped away laughing with another piece to his blessed machine.

Ascension.

I suppose we can finish up with his official trading card.

The only real piece of new information here is that he refuses to provide his age. So, your guess is as good as mine. He could be 3 years old or 300 years old.

#cyberchase #cartoon #2000s #nostalgia #pbs kids #2000s childhood #inez #the hacker #archived web content

[vikenticomeshome]

Around Town with Cyberchase (and The Harry Show)

Hello all,

I wanted to talk about another promotional area of the Cyberchase website. This was "Around Town with Cyberchase". I believe it was active from 2009 through 2010.

Here is the main page, featuring Harry with his binoculars.

The purpose of this section was two-fold. I'll let Harry explain in this promo video, which was probably exclusive to the website.

So, there were two parts to this promotion. On the one hand, we have preview clips for upcoming episodes of the Cyberchase cartoon. These were presented on top of webpage backgrounds, and most of the webpage backgrounds had flash animations related to the episodes. I cannot reproduce the animation here, but I have submitted them for inclusion in the Flashpoint Archive Project.

The main page for the Cyberchase cartoon episode previews has an animation of Jackie painting the Hedgehoppers in Pompodouria during Season 7 Episode 7 "Spellbound".

The page for Season 7 Episode 6 "The Deedle Beast" had an animation of the kids arriving in Golftopia to help Digit with Dewey the Deedle Beast.

The page for Season 7 Episode 7 "Spellbound" featured an animation of Wicked flying around on her broom.

The page for Season 4 Episode 10 "A Tikiville Turkey Day" featured a mostly-static page showing some of the citizens from the Tikiville Cybersite.

The page for Season 7 Episode 4 "Blowin' in the WInd" featured an animation of some cyborgs flying/racing in wind-based vehicles.

On the other hand, we have "The Harry Show". This was a live-action segment performed by Harry from "Cyberchase for Real". These were short segments when he discussed math topics. However, I believe these were exclusive to the website, and they were not aired on television like "Cyberchase for Real".

Here is the page showing the titles for the five episodes that were produced.

I won't reproduce them directly on this post. However, I will include links to the pbs.org website, which is hosting the videos almost 15 years later.

Leapin' Leopards: https://www.pbs.org/video/cyberchase-the-harry-show-leapin-leopards/

Ice Cream Royale: https://www.pbs.org/video/cyberchase-the-harry-show-ice-cream-royale/

Cell Phone Game: https://www.pbs.org/video/cyberchase-the-harry-show-cell-phone-game/

Math on the Street: Harry & Ryan: https://www.pbs.org/video/cyberchase-math-on-the-street-harry-ryan/

Math on the Street: Harry & Vishnu: https://www.pbs.org/video/cyberchase-math-on-the-street-harry-vishnu/

In case PBS ever decides that these old videos need to go, I put them on the Internet Archive as well: https://archive.org/details/leopards_202404

That's about it for this promotion.

#cyberchase #cartoon #2000s #nostalgia #pbs kids #2000s childhood #archived web content #flashpoint archive #longpost

[vikenticomeshome]

Official Cyberchase Gifs - Part 2

Here is a collage of the Gifs that they used to show what happened in each show. They did them for the first 52 episodes, which completed the first three seasons. Here are episodes 27-52.

#cyberchase #cartoon #2000s #nostalgia #pbs kids #2000s childhood

[vikenticomeshome]

Official Cyberchase Gifs - Part 1

Here is a collage of the Gifs that they used to show what happened in each show. They did them for the first 52 episodes, which completed the first three seasons. Here are episodes 1-26.

#cyberchase #cartoon #2000s #nostalgia #pbs kids #2000s childhood

[vikenticomeshome]

Cyberworld QBorgs (part 1) - How We Got Here

Hey, I'm posting something that isn't Cyberchase-related. How novel. There may be some overlap between fans of Cyberchase and fans of this other thing, though.

So, from around 1999 to around 2003, there was a company called Cyberworld International Corporation. They wanted to created web-based multi-media experiences. The idea was that you could make websites and web media more interesting if you gave the user a 3d virtual world to wander around in. Let me transcribe the text from a 2003 Internet Archive capture of their homepage.

Richmedia on the Web has never been so easy.

Cyberworld's revolutionary approach to web development lets you produce 3D multimedia web environments in days rather than months.

Seamlessly integrate multimedia products into a 3D environment without modeling and significant programming. Create a lifelike and interactive online experience for you, your company or your customers.

Let Cyberworld dramatically reduce your time to market and cost of web production.

That's their mission statement.

The 3D worlds that they produced were known as QBORGs. They were playable via a proprietary browser known as the Cyberworld QBORG Browser. Surprisingly, as of 2024, this browser still works on Windows 11. Here's the regular version of the browser. This is the most recent version, 5.3. This is the one that will run most, if not all, of the games.

Quite possibly their most famous game was "Pokemon 2000 Adventure". This one used a custom version of the browser with tons of Pokemon branding.

For many years, these games were completely unavailable. Due to their strange file structure, many of them were not archived properly on the Wayback Machine. Additionally, setting them up on a webserver for the proprietary browser to access them was apparently pretty tricky.

The Flashpoint Archive project is a group that handles the preservation of web games. As the name suggests, their big thing is flash games. However, they have expanded over the years to cover plenty of obsolete web technologies. Here's a link to their project: https://flashpointarchive.org/

And here's a link to a page talking about the different web technologies that they cover, as well as technologies that they plan to cover: https://flashpointarchive.org/datahub/Platforms

In 2023, there were several breakthroughs in reviving the Cyberworld QBORG content within the Flashpoint Project. A former employee from Cyberworld International Corporation, Eddie Ruminski, came forward with CDs containing the missing assets for several games. Flashpoint Project members, including DoomTay and AL_2713, worked out how to setup the QBORG Browser inside Flashpoint.

The Flashpoint Project isn't yet at the point of making the games part of its official release, but that is planned to happen. In the meantime, it is possible to obtain the asset packs for the games and load them in the Flashpoint Project yourself. Here's a screenshot I took while playing the "Pokemon 2000 Adventure" game.

Now, this map is covered with 2D sprites of tree, which may make it a bit harder to see the 3D modeling. Here's a screenshot that I took in a different game, "Cyberworld Olympiad" that shows a 3D building in the background. It also shows a floating robot, who was there to ask trivia questions around the Olympics.

I never played with these growing up. I didn't hear about until many years later. I would have found these to be amazing at the time though. Remember that this was 1999-2003. It was still pretty early days for 3D-rendered games playable in your web browser.

I am planning to play through the available games and make some tumblr posts containing my thoughts on them. However, before I did that, I wanted to put together a post discussing what the games are, and crediting the people who helped bring them back roughly 20 years later.

I'm not sure how long it will be before The FlashPoint Project includes these games in an official release. That will be the point when running the games will be as simple as downloading the Flashpoint Infinity software, selecting the game from a list, and launching it.

As I've shown, the games can be played through the Flashpoint Infinity software, but there are additional steps required. I put together an Internet Archive Upload of the assets with some instructions on how to load them, if anyone is interested.

There were other games produced for Cyberworld QBorgs, but the assets for those games have not resurfaced in their entirety yet. I am also planning to make some tumblr posts going over the missing games and what we know about them. Here is the current list of Lost/Found QBorgs from the Lost Media Wiki.

#cyberworld #qborgs #cyberworld qborgs #2000s #archived web content #lost media #web games #early web #pokemon #longpost #not cyberchase #but cyberchase fans might like it #flashpoint project #flashpoint archive

[vikenticomeshome]

Cyberchase - "Who's New?" Promotion

Cast your mind back to the Spring/Summer of 2004. Cyberchase was just starting its third season. This was an important time for the show, as they were about to introduce several new characters.

Nero the Animal Hero (debuted in Season 3 Episode 1 "Ecohaven CSE")

Slider (debuted in Season 3 Episode 2 "Borg of the Ring")

Mister-Z (debuted in Season 3 Episode 3 "A World Without Zero")

Sheldon and Roxy (debuted in Season 3 Episode 4 "A Piece of the Action")

Creech (debuted in Season 3 Episode 5 "The Creech Who Would be Crowned" )

At the time, the Cyberchase was updated with a promotion called "Who's New?", which served to introduce the characters. You can see it promoted on the website in this capture from June 9th, 2004. I believe the promotion started sooner than this, as all of those episodes aired in May. However, the Internet Archive has a gap between February and and June of 2004.

We start with a title page.

Five new episodes of Cyberchase will be on TV in May!

Check your local listings for the exact dates.

In their latest adventures, Matt, Jackie and Inez make new friends and explore new cybersites like the jungle of Ecohaven. And the CyberSquad returns to one of their favorite places, the skateboarding cybersite Radopolis.

Figure out their names and you'll get a printable "puzzle poster."

We get this panel, which looks like a title card for a 70s cartoon. We also get Matt trying to be mysterious.

Here's the main panel, showing the upcoming characters.

We get riddles to solve to get each letter of the character's name.

Here's some fun facts about Slider.

Lives in Radopolis

Loves to skateboard and is really good at it.

Can fix anything.

Here are some fun facts about Creech.

Lives in tropical Tikiville.

Really fun and spunky.

Her family used to rule Tikiville until they lost the crown in a race.

Here are some fun facts about Nero the Animal Hero.

Travels all over Cyberspace, but especially loves the jungles of EcoHaven

Has his own cybertv show 'Nero the Animal Hero.'

Can soothe savage beats by singing to them in Spanish.

Here are some fun facts about Mister-Z.

Live in glamorous Gollywood.

Occupies a very important place.

Has a special value not everyone sees.

Here are some fun facts about Roxy.

She's a Scritter.

Lives underground in Eureeka.

A very loyal friend.

And here's some fun facts about Sheldon.

He's a Scritter.

Lives underground in Eureeka.

Loves to jump.

Sure enough, you get a printable puzzle piece for each of these six characters.

I used GIMP to cut out the pieces and put them together into one image.

If anyone here wants to actually print this out and assemble it, here's an Internet Archive upload of the six pages extracted in full quality. it also contains a bunch of other goodies from archives of the old website.

The game itself has been submitted for inclusion into the Flashpoint Archive project.

So, we get an interesting selection of characters here. Of course, Creech and Slider show up on the show all the time. However, as far as I am aware, Mister-Z, Nero, Roxy, and Sheldon have not appeared since their debut episodes.

I didn't know that the Scritters lived underground, and I had forgotten that "A Piece of the Action" took place on the cybersite Eureeka.

#cartoon #cyberchase #2000s #nostalgia #pbs kids #2000s childhood #creech #slider

[vikenticomeshome]

Since I am now at 35 posts, and most of them are Cyberchase, I thought it best to go ahead and write a Table of Contents to make things easier to find.

Non-Cyberchase Content - Table of Contents

Cyberworld QBORGs

Cyberworld QBorgs (part 1) - How We Got Here: https://www.tumblr.com/vikenticomeshome/747776745410838528/cyberworld-qborgs-part-1-how-we-got-here?source=share

Cyberworld QBorgs (part 2) - Cyberworld Olympiad: https://www.tumblr.com/vikenticomeshome/748312614870908928/cyberworld-qborgs-part-2-cyberworld-olympiad?source=share

Cyberworld QBorgs (part 3) - Zeta Quest 3D: https://www.tumblr.com/vikenticomeshome/748326377123659776/cyberworld-qborgs-part-3-zeta-quest-3d?source=share

Cyberchase Content - Table of Contents

Cyberchase Character Discussions

#1 - Inez (Nezzie): https://www.tumblr.com/vikenticomeshome/745140437309882368/cyberchase-character-discussion-for-your-local?source=share

#2 - Matt: https://www.tumblr.com/vikenticomeshome/747212797667049472/cyberchase-character-discussion-for-your-local?source=share

#3 - Jackie: https://www.tumblr.com/vikenticomeshome/747232027979415552/cyberchase-character-discussion-for-your-local?source=share

Cyberchase - An Interview With The Hacker by Reporter CyBob from "Cyborg Life!": https://www.tumblr.com/vikenticomeshome/747251079483424768/cyberchase-an-interview-with-the-hacker-by?source=share

Zorgon the Evil Wizard: https://www.tumblr.com/vikenticomeshome/748331634038849536/cyberchase-zorgon-the-evil-wizard?source=share

The Cyberchase Homepage Through the Years

Part 1 (December 28, 2001 through December 12, 2004): https://www.tumblr.com/vikenticomeshome/745099003856830464/i-decided-to-collect-some-screenshots-showing-the?source=share

Part 2 (January 6, 2005 through February 10, 2007): https://www.tumblr.com/vikenticomeshome/745227891086917632/i-decided-to-pick-up-where-i-left-off-on-my?source=share

Cyberchase Lesser-known Cybersites

#1 - Valussa: https://www.tumblr.com/vikenticomeshome/745076792239456256/i-decided-to-give-some-recognition-to-some?source=share

Cyberchase - Cybersite Valussa (follow-up): https://www.tumblr.com/vikenticomeshome/745825039073574912/cyberchase-cybersite-valussa-follow-up-i-made?source=share

Cyberchase Contests

The 2004 Cyberchase Online Contest: https://www.tumblr.com/vikenticomeshome/745780583151665152/cyberchase-the-chase-is-on-museum-exhibit-videos?source=share

The 2005 Cyberchase Online Contest: https://www.tumblr.com/vikenticomeshome/745765865491972096/alright-i-wanted-to-share-the-content-that-i-have?source=share

Cyberchase Individual Episode Discussions

Season 2 Episode 4 "True Colors" - One of the best: https://www.tumblr.com/vikenticomeshome/747265878646784000/cyberchase-season-2-episode-4-true-colors?source=share

The Cyberchase Web Adventures Official Web Comic Series (including "How It All Started")

Cyberchase: How It All Started (Episode 1): https://www.tumblr.com/vikenticomeshome/745889287277543424/cyberchase-how-it-all-started-episode-1-when-i?source=share

Cyberchase: How It All Started (Episode 2): https://www.tumblr.com/vikenticomeshome/746493652973535232/cyberchase-how-it-all-started-episode-2-okay-i?source=share

Cyberchase: How It All Started (Episode 3): https://www.tumblr.com/vikenticomeshome/746799646422302720/cyberchase-how-it-all-started-episode-3-this-is?source=share

Cyberchase Web Adventures Episode 4: Numberless Poddles: https://www.tumblr.com/vikenticomeshome/746980214442164224/cyberchase-web-adventures-episode-4-numberless?source=share

Cyberchase Web Adventures Episode 5: Hacker Jack by Ron Barrett: https://www.tumblr.com/vikenticomeshome/747026377717465088/cyberchase-web-adventures-episode-5-hacker-jack?source=share

Other Official Cyberchase Web Comics

Cyberchase Comics: The Great Cyber-skate by Ron Barrett: https://www.tumblr.com/vikenticomeshome/747042147783655424/cyberchase-comics-the-great-cyber-skate-by-ron?source=share

Cyberchase Comics: Half-Off Hacker by Ron Barrett: https://www.tumblr.com/vikenticomeshome/747338138473676800/cyberchase-comics-half-off-hacker-by-ron-barrett?source=share

Cyberchase Comics: Cyber Idol by Ron Barrett: https://www.tumblr.com/vikenticomeshome/747352055579066368/cyberchase-comics-cyber-idol-by-ron-barrett?source=share

Cyberchase - What's Hacker's Secret?? Promotion

Cyberchase - The "What's Hacker's Secret?" content (part 1): https://www.tumblr.com/vikenticomeshome/745698917707071488/alright-cast-your-mind-back-to-watching?source=share

Cyberchase - The "What's Hacker's Secret?" content (part 2): https://www.tumblr.com/vikenticomeshome/745702051476013056/the-whats-hackers-secret-content-part?source=share

Cyberchase - The "What's Hacker's Secret?" content (part 3): https://www.tumblr.com/vikenticomeshome/745758203615264768/the-whats-hackers-secret-content-part-3-the?source=share

Other Cyberchase Promotions

Cyberchase - "Who's New?" Promotion: https://www.tumblr.com/vikenticomeshome/747761737080717313/cyberchase-whos-new-promotion?source=share

Around Town with Cyberchase (and the Harry Show): https://www.tumblr.com/vikenticomeshome/748243089066491904/around-town-with-cyberchase-and-the-harry-show?source=share

The Australian DVD Releases of Cyberchase

Cyberchase (Australian Release) DVD Volume 3: https://www.tumblr.com/vikenticomeshome/746403677091282944/cyberchase-australian-dvd-from-mra-entertainment?source=share

Cyberchase (Australian Release) DVD Volume 4: https://www.tumblr.com/vikenticomeshome/745978858436771840/cyberchase-australian-dvd-from-mra-entertainment?source=share

Cyberchase (Australian Release) DVD Volume 10: https://www.tumblr.com/vikenticomeshome/747439379811811328/cyberchase-australian-release-dvd-volume-10?source=share

Cyberchase - Cyberspace is a Dystopia

Part 1: The Cybersite Clearing House (and their Prizes): https://www.tumblr.com/vikenticomeshome/746487365186551809/cyberchase-dystopia-the-cybersite-clearing-house?source=share

Miscellaneous Stuff

Cyberchase - Nezzie's Special Eyes: https://www.tumblr.com/vikenticomeshome/744906196364001280/this-is-a-well-known-aspect-of-cyberchases?source=share

Cyberchase - The Hacker's Darkest Quote: https://www.tumblr.com/vikenticomeshome/744903344365109248/cyberchase-season-2-episode-12-the-guilty?source=share

Cyberchase - Promotional Material: https://www.tumblr.com/vikenticomeshome/747628865272299520/cyberchase-promotional-material?source=share

Cyberchase - A Brief AIM Conversation Between Inez (SalsaDancingOnMyHead) and Jackie (DreadPirateRobertas): https://www.tumblr.com/vikenticomeshome/747238319929294848/cyberchase-a-brief-aim-conversation-between-inez?source=share

Cyberchase Clock Featuring Matt Figurine: https://www.tumblr.com/vikenticomeshome/747107515110686720/cyberchase-clock-featuring-matt-figurine?source=share

Cyberchase - The Grim Wreaker Ship (as portrayed in Season 2 Episode 3 "Harriet Hippo and the Mean Green"): https://www.tumblr.com/vikenticomeshome/745987910095044608/cyberchase-the-grim-wreaker-ship-as-portrayed?source=share

Cyberchase - Hey, you guys want to see something cursed?: https://www.tumblr.com/vikenticomeshome/745862370652553216/cyberchase-webisode-3-panel-7-pbs-kids?source=share

Cyberchase - The Hacker's Most Humiliating Defeat: https://www.tumblr.com/vikenticomeshome/745079873722351616/i-wanted-to-draw-attention-to-what-may-well-be-the?source=share

#cyberchase #pinned post #cyberchase how it all started #how it all started #archived web content #matt #jackie #inez #the hacker #slider #longpost #cyberworld qborgs

[vikenticomeshome]

Cyberchase Promotional Material

Here are a few promotional materials for Cyberchase. First, here's a cover for the October 1-7 issue of Variety Magazine. We can see The Hacker, Buzz, Delete, Jackie, Inez, Matt, and Digit.

The Hacker and Buzz appear to be coming through the screen. I think the kids should start running. I've looked through the magazine, and they don't actually talk about the show anywhere. The cover mentions one of the companies involved with Cyberchase was going to have a booth at MIPCOM. They even have a section that goes over different companies that were going to be there. That section even features Nelvana and PBS, and yet Cyberchase isn't mentioned. It's very strange that they only featured Cyberchase on the cover.

Here's a page from a magazine that involves punching out Hacker's face to make a decoder wheel. Then, you would use it to solve the code.

There was actually an online Flash game version of this. It is odd, as it renames the Skwakpad to the Squawkbox 5000.

Here's one more web-based promotion. This was reachable from the early version of the Cyberchase homepage via the "What is Cyberchase?" item

It explains the premise behind the show.

So, what do you think? Do you think the series has staying power? Should I watch it?

#cartoon #cyberchase #2000s #nostalgia #pbs kids #2000s childhood

[vikenticomeshome]

Cyberchase (Australian Release) DVD Volume 10

Here's some high-resolution scans from Volume 3 of the Australian release of Cyberchase.

Okay, so we have Lady Ada Lovelace and her time machine. We know that this scene was created based on Season 2 Episode 1 "Hugs and Witches". However, there are a few things wrong here. First, we have Jackie struggling to open the door. In the proper episode, this door had a massive padlock on it.

Digit easily snips it off, so maybe that's what happened here. But if that's what happened, then why is Jackie still having trouble with the door? It looks like she's pulling it pretty hard. Oh no, it open's inward, doesn't it?

Damn it. Was this the sort of lessons the kids learned after the show ran out of math?

Wait, no, it opens both ways. It is because Jackie is 2D, but the model is 3D? Am I overthinking this?

Moving on, let's talk about Lady Ada Lovelace on the cover. In the episode, that window had bars over it, presumably for security.

But on the DVD cover, I guess they really wanted to show her face unobscured, so they removed the bars.

But then, you wonder why she didn't just climb out the open window.

What else? We've got Matt rushing up the path like his life depends on it. I've never seen him run that hard before.

Yes, The Hacker is right there, clearly enjoying the scene, but Matt doesn't look scared. He looks really determined to do something.

Is he going after Digit? Why?

But we all know the real star of this cover is. I think the designers did this on purpose, since she is featured on the spine as well.

What is she doing? This isn't helping at all.

Actually, if I look at Digit's line of sight, I think he's really concerned about whatever is going on with Inez.

I know, I know, I need sleep.

#cartoon #cyberchase #2000s #nostalgia #pbs kids #inez #jackie #matt #digit #2000s childhood #cyberchase australian DVD