Cyberchase Character Discussion (for your local Cyberchase trivia quiz) - #4: The Hacker
You all knew this one was coming.
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.
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.
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.
