#The Poddleville Case

[anwism]

Just felt like drawing Matt from Cyberchase, or rather his Pilot design

Idk, I just love the pilot art style more than the actual series

[moecartoons]

I really like this meme, oop

[princess-draws]

For @cyberweek

Cyberweek Day 1: Redraw

So I decided to redraw from the Poddlevile Case episode!

This is actually better than the traditional one that I draw two years ago 😊

[vikenticomeshome]

Cyberchase: Italian Translations of Episode Names

Hello all,

I have a slowly-growing collection of Cyberchase DVDs. Some from the U.S, some from Australia, and some from Italy. While the U.S. and Australian ones are in English, the Italian ones have an Italian dub and translated titles. Unfortunately, the DVDs don't have an Italian remake of the introduction song, though I believe something official for that exists now.

Anyway, I wanted to show the titles and talk about them. The original English titles relied on word-play in some cases, which doesn't tend to translate well. The Italian release that I have here is a set of nine episodes spread across three volumes. I haven't seen any other Italian releases for the show, and I don't know the history of Cyberchase dubs beyond this point.

So, let's start with Volume 1.

So, we start with the very first episode of the series. The original English title is "Lost My Marbles". The Italian title is "Hanno Rapito Il Dott. Marbles". This translates to "They Kidnapped Dr. Marbles". So, we lose the pun, but they got the point across.

And then we skip ahead to the sixth episode of the series. The original English title is "Zeus on the Loose". The new title is "Mitologia e divisioni". This translates to "Mythology and Divisions".

I'm a bit torn on this one. On the one hand, the original English title sounds more exciting, as the translated Italian title sounds like something from a dry educational show. On the other hand, Zeus hardly even appears in the episode, so the original title doesn't make much sense. It's more about the kids being on the loose, and them being in danger from various mythological creatures. Even The Hacker spends most of the episode staying out of the kids' business, as he is on his ship struggling to open Pandora's box.

And now, we finish off volume one with the eighth episode of the series. The original English title is "And they counted happily ever after". There isn't much to talk about this one. The Italian title "E contarono felici e contenti" just translates to "And they counted happily ever after.

Now, we move on to Volume 2.

So, we jump back to the third episode of the show. The original English title was "R-Fair City", which is word-play, so we expect there will be a translation problem. The Italian title is "Il Calcolo delle Probabilita". It translates to "The Calculation of Probabilities". This is another title that sounds like it would belong to a dry educational show. I wish they had tried to translate the site name.

And then, we get to the fifth episode of the series. This is "Sensible Flats", which is more word-play. Uh oh. The Italian title is "Una terra per Hacker". This one translates to "A Land for Hacker". I kind of like this title better than the original English title.

And then, we get to the seventh episode of the series. This is the re-edited version of the 1999 pilot, "The Poddleville Case". The title is "Il caso Poddleville", which just translates to the "The Poddleville Case". Just like Volume 1, the last episode gets a 1:1 translation.

And finally, we move to Volume 3.

We start with the fourth episode of the series. The original English title was "Snow Day to be Exact". Yeah, we got more word-play. Okay, the Italian name here is "Neve a Solaria". That translates to "Snow in Solaria". Alright, that seems fair.

Next, we get the tenth episode of the series. The original English title was "Secrets of Symmetria". The Italian title is "Terror In Symmetria". Alright, I know that the "secrets" part in the original title is referring to the kids learning about the different types of symmetry. But, come on, "Terror in Symmetria" is the better title.

And now, we finish our adventure with the tenth episode of the series. The original title was "Clock Like an Egyptian". Yeah, this one needed a completely new title. The Italian title is "Il tempo fugge". This translates to either "Time Flees" or "Time Flies", the latter of which is a popular idiom.

So, there we have it. I had fun looking into this.

[princecoolkid]

Season 5 "A Clean Sweep" versus Season 1's Pilot, "The Poddleville Case"

[t4c0c4tr4dst3r]

I THINK I JUST FOUND AND ENTIRE DOCUMENT ABOUT CYBERCHASE, THE PODDLEVILLE CASE, AND ANOTHER PILOT EPISODE CALLED BRIDGE OMG

[thedarkmistress16]

what's the strangest episode of a kid's show you can think of?

the whole child kidnapping subplot of The Poddleville Case was wild, even more so in its pilot edition for obvs reasons.

[knightmareaceblue]

Cyberweek 2022 Day Six: Pilot

Happy anniversary Cyberchase!

My original idea was to create a noir style poster, but it didn’t... exactly pan out. That’s why Jackie’s wearing a different outfit, but no one else is. (Actually, Inez and Matt had a completely different placement in the poster, but it looked bizarre, so I had to restructure at the last minute.) So instead, I just tried to create a mystery feeling poster, since that’s what the title ‘The Poddleville Case’ invokes in me. Still, even with the somewhat odd animation style, this episode is a pretty good one. Thanks for starting us off, Poddleville.

[cyberweek]

CyberWeek 2022 starts January 16th!

A weeklong celebration of our favorite edutainment program with artistic prompts everyday! The show first premiered on the 21st so let’s celebrate!

What sort of Art is allowed?

Any! Traditional/Digital art, Writing, Cosplay, Video edits, anything you can make! Anything you wanna make! Sew a doll, bake a cake, whatever! Sadly, prompts aren’t made with all types of art in mind, so feel free to interpret them however you want to fit your medium!

Will there rules?

Tag your post with #cyberweek2022! Or @ this blog! Or both!

Follow this blog and support your fellow Cyberchase fans!

No Lewd. No P*dophilia or inc*st or anything nasty. I will simply ignore it.

No Tracing, Use of Bases or other assets without COMPLETE transparency. Credit your sources!

Angst, light gore/blood and etc are allowed. Try to keep it PG13. Everything will be tagged accordingly so remember to use Tumblr’s tag filter feature to your advantage.

OCs should only show up on the OC prompt if available.

Prompts

Jan 16 - Cybersite

Cyberspace has 1294 Cybersites! Give or take. Which is your favorite? Or maybe there’s one you would like to change! Perhaps you just really dig the Pompadorians hairdos! Pick a Cybersite and go wild!

Jan 17 - Friendship

No more romance! It’s time to let the friendships shine! Which two characters do you just really dig the bro energies from? Maybe there’s two character who have never met but you think would really get along! Do you like a duo, a trio, or a whole squad?

(Please be respectful and celebrate your favorite friendships instead of putting down other’s ships! Also, try to stay in spirit by not using a ship of yours for this day or tagging other people’s art as ships, ty!)

Jan 18 - Color

Cyberchase is full of beautiful, wild and sometimes wacky color choices! Is there someone with a particular hair color you like? Is there a color they use a lot that you think has a lot of meaning behind it? Do you just really dig the colors of the sky in a certain shot? Time to break out the metaphorical crayons!

Jan 19 - OCs

Have an oc? Maybe three? Show them off! Make one completely up on the spot! Maybe it’s just you in the Cyber world!

Jan 20 - Redraw (Draw This Again!)

Hold your horses! This time instead of redrawing something from the show, you’re going to redraw some Cyberchase art you made last year! It can be something you made for Cyberweek ‘21 or something you made on your own time! Whatever it is, it just has to be Cyberchase related and something you’ve already created!

(If you have truly never drawn Cyberchase before this week, then you may opt to redraw a screencap from the show instead!)

Jan 21 - Pilot (Prompt inspired by @opportunistic-chicanery​)

It’s here! The Anniversary! Let’s show our love by celebrating the pilot of the entire show, The Poddleville Case! Recently the original pitch of this pilot was found, so feel free to take inspiration from that version!

Jan 22 - Animal

The final day! Time for the “weird creatures” to shine! The show has many, many fun and kooky critters to choose from! There’s the giant sea slug Icky! The handful of a pet Deedlebeast! Maybe you appreciate the simplicity of the Earth animals like Gatito or Shermie! Go Wild!

Questions/Comments -

Please send all questions about this event to the inbox. Anon will be off and questions will be posted in case others have similar inquiry. Please do not reply to posts or try to dm your inquirers.

[xxjustavexx]

Sometimes I wonder what it would be like if Cyberchase kept their OG design (like the one in the poddleville case)

[kinopioa]

Cyberchase Develpment

- 1996 -  August - Funding for research and math studies across multiple schools begins. Funding by the National Science Foundation, starting at $50,000 (NSF): https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9612533

Concepts of Cyberchase being a game the kids get zapped into are noted, in addition to planning to have it interactive for the audience

- 1998 - January: Second stage starts, funding $450,000. NSF Site https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9725610&HistoricalAwards=false

Although the idea of Cyberchase being a game is scrapped, the plan for making the show have the kids interact with the audience is still noted

October: Actual Animation development starts. Character designs are presented to kids, and 2 storyboard ideas are presented. One for “The Poddleville Case” Pilot we got, the other for an episode where the kids help an elephant cross a bridge Design evolution of characters from Earliest till Pilot;

Jackie (Known as Julie until 1999): 

Matt (Known as Kyle dorky Moe cut pfft until 1999): 

Inez (Who BARELY changed):

Buzz and Delete (kinda Ren and Stimpy esque...):

Hacker. Note he stuck with these proto designs for a long time until actual animation dev started:

More research is done to determine what station the pilot would air on, though with WNET lending support, this was mostly canned. Though “commercial breaks” for Cable/Satellite still were a thing oddly despite airing on PBS, which international airings would take advantage of for the final series

- 1999 -  May: Pilot Unveiling to a select group of schools. More research and potential fine tuning is done. The idea of the kids interacting directly with the audience is scrapped...sort of

The inital Cyberchase Website on Wnet also launched!

August/September: Public pilot reveal! Aired on Twin Cities (TPT) PBS initially. Vid length 24:15 Due to executive changes, Curious Pictures doesn’t cite this as one of their works. WNET also immediately changes support to have development by Nelvana for Seasons 1-5 - 2000 -

Feb: Rushed redubbing and editing for the Pilot happens. This was done in stages due to shifting focus of 2 other episodes; “Lost My Marbles” and “Snow Day”, in addition to canon consistency Trace: Where they trace over the original animation. Sometimes they exclude frames, so Matt stops mid blink for this camera pan. Though outside sudden brightness, this is the least intrusive of reanimating. The background actually got slightly more detailed here, though with less natural lines

Overlay: where the background is spliced from original footage, but characters and objects are reanimated. Some of the splicing has disastrous artifacts, likely due to using a tape source. This was most likely the most rushed stage

Completely new:

These scenes noticeably had flatter perspective. In addition to being the brightest of all footage

Then the last stages, you have random scenes where they look WAY more like final series, like this shot (note 5 fingers). Not sure why it’s faded, but some unedited Pilot footage reused DID have hue color issues, so it could just be time crunch

Compared to Pilot* footage (To my guess that this is unedited visually as of the creation of this post unless debunked, note 4 fingers and wackier proportions)

Remember when I said “sort of” for forgetting to have the kids interact with the audience? Wnet added a live action scene after the animation, where the host (Kareem Blackwell) would talk to the audience about a related math concept. Here they show rhythmic clapping 

This inclusion cut off around 2 min of the animation, and the live action actor is different than final series

Meanwhile despite the edits to the pilot, we’ll focus on..

March: Funding for Nelvana, now $2,972,045, for development of 25 new episodes: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9909404&HistoricalAwards=false

The Storyboard phase for the first 3 episodes, Lost My Marbles and Snow Day have started. Similar to before, researchers present the voiced storyboards to students to see the response. Interestingly despite being the first developed, Lost My Marbles would continue to be rewritten until 2001, possibly to include the new character Digit, and the scrapping of a scene. I won’t go into details of what differs in the storyboard compared to final, but it explains the rushed nature of the first episode compared to others if they kept rewriting the script till that late

In addition, the heavily edited Pilot aired. It’s unknown if this was before or after Chris Lloyd voices Hacker, though most likely everyone else was redubbed at this point

September: The old Cyberchase site is finally discontinued. All that’s left was this Logo 

Fun thing, this font is the same one used for the Ice Age Movies

- 2001 - 

June: Around 14 episodes are done by this stage. Castleblanca is in the final storyboard stages, with it fully presented to a select group again.

December: A New PBS Kids Cyberchase website launches! Lore of Hacker and Digit are viewable as interactive Webisodes

- 2002 - 

January: Final 2002 series airs! Live Action segments feature Mathew Wilson and Bianca DeGroat and Bianca. Gilbert Gottfried and Chris Lloyd noted as recurring voices. All future broadcasts since of Ep 7 are of the edited pilot

Though despite researching, I never did find out whether the pilot was initially cel animated or not. Or well, the entire unedited pilot..

[skwakopedia]

The Original Pilot Demo for Cyberchase. Earlier version of the episode “The Poddleville Case,” featuring different voice actors, scrapped animation, and a early concept version of Motherboard. Found on the official Cyberchase Facebook.

[anonymous-ivplay]

Favorite Cyberchase episodes from when I was a kid (WARNING this list is long):

“Lost My Marbles” — I always have loved me some good ol’ worldbuilding, even back when I was 6

“The Poddleville Case” — quickly stood out to my kindergarten brain as “different,” which I later learned was because it was a pilot episode and the animation style wasn’t finalized yet. The characters were still figuring out their personalities/interactions as well as what kind of world Cyberspace was, and the resulting zaniness intrigued and endeared me. Plus the For Real in this episode was the only one without Harry or Bianca; I wish that guy had shown up in more episodes tbh

“Secrets of Symmetria” — Jackie speculates what could happen if Hacker ever made it into the Real World and this is neVER BROUGHT UP EVER AGAIN

(more under the cut!)

“Of All the Luck” — idk the way all the lucky charms are set free at the end would never fail to blow my little mind with how creative it seemed

“Cool It” — always have been a Motherboard stan, so any Motherboard-centered episode automatically stole my heart

“Codename: Icky” — who didn’t love secret codes as a kid?

“Less than Zero” — ASJGHFDLKDASGHLFVAUYDWKLMAF as you can see my love for this one transcends mere words

“Fortress of Attitude” — *pounds fists* SECRET AGENTS SECRET AGENTS SECRET AGENTS SECR

“Out of Sync” — Greek muse Calliope + Lesbian Rockstar Inez = ‘nuff said

“Hugs & Witches” — past!Me must’ve known I’d study computer programming one day? Regardless, I adored Lady Lovelace so much so that I referenced her poem in an Odd Squad fanfic but even moreso I adored the embarrassingly touching moment the main 3 shared at the end

“Totally Rad” — Inez saving the day because of her small size but mighty defiance was too relatable as a little kid. Plus the imagined cheerleader!Inez never failed to crack me up

“Harriet Hippo and the Mean Green” — literally just because of that one shot of Buzz and Delete’s feet walking right past Jackie and Inez

“Mother’s Day” — happened to be the first episode I ever remember watching, so of course it has a special place on this list. Not to mention it’s the only one where Widget doesn’t feel like a deus ex machina, though of course I didn’t know the word for that at the time

“The Eye of Rom” — MOAR SECRET AGENTS except with Bianca in the For Real 

“A Whale of a Tale” — *squeals at the love shown by Inez in her terror that Matt nearly got himself killed*

“The Guilty Party” — good ol’ whodunnit with Inez as its star, what’s not to love? (also have y’all figured out by now that I had a huge gay crush on Inez as a kid?)

“EcoHaven CSE” — eyyyy another whodunnit! Also this was the episode where I first figured out from her Spanish lullaby that Inez is Hispanic and that made me love her even more

“A Piece of the Action” — fun fact, I once had a fantasy of turning Cyberchase into a Broadway musical with 7yo nerdy me playing Inez of course and this was the episode I’d’ve wanted to do that with, no idea why

“The Creech Who Would Be Crowned” — YEEEEE AN EPISODE CENTERED COMPLETELY AROUND INEZ also she and Creech are lesbian girlfriends change my mind

“A Perfect Fit” — a race against the clock in a rundown temple, plus a math concept I’d never heard of before this episode and would never hear of again until like high school? Win

“The Snelfu Snafu, pts. 1 and 2” — MOTHERBOARD NEARLY DIED BUT THEN SHE WAS ALIVE AGAIN EXCEPT SHE HAS TO LIVE WITH A TERMINAL ILLNESS FOREVER BUT IT’S OKAY BECAUSE CYBERSPACE COMES BEFORE HER OWN HEALTH AND IM NOT CRYING MY 7YO SELF IS

“Penguin Tears” — the phrase “angle in = angle out” became my unofficial life motto until I was like 13

“The Case of the Missing Memory” — ooh goody another whodunnit bUT THIS TIME WITH MOTHERBOARD YAAAAASSS

“A Broom of One’s Own” — had me annoying my parents into the grave with how often I’d parrot the word “chic”

“Jimaya Jam” and “Spheres of Fears” — I was never much into the new Flash animation part of the series but 9yo me made an exception for these two episodes

And after that my local PBS network stopped airing Cyberchase so I lost interest and stopped watching. Until very recently of course!

[princess-draws]

Been watching Cyberchase The Poddleville Case Pilot Episode and I found another weird glitch.

The Hacker’s left arm is now sleeveless ???

[vikenticomeshome]

Cyberchase: How It All Started (Episode 1)

This comic was later renamed to Cyberchase Web Adventures Episode 1.

When I make posts about certain Cyberchase characters or important events, I sometimes show panels from the prequel web comic "How It All Started", which was released online in December 2001, a month or so before Cyberchase premiered. I have restrained myself from just posting the whole thing, since I don't own it.

However, it is no longer available on the live pbskids.org website. It is available through archives, but there are some difficulties in tracking it down due to missing images in some places. Additionally, even when it was available on the live pbskids.org website, it was free for all to view, so posting it here wouldn't hurt anyone.

The best way to enjoy the web comic is through the FlashPoint Archive Project. This is because the webpages used simple animations in some places. Essentially, each comic page is treated like a tradition animation cell. They have a background layer, and then the webpage places images on top of it that can be exchanged for one another. This produces simple three-frame animations for things like flashing lights or repetitive arm and eye movements. This isn't something I can easily reproduce on Tumblr, since it isn't like posting a single animated GIF. There may be some round-about way to convert it (i.e. take video of the webpage animating and convert it to GIF), but I'm not going to do that. So, this will just be still images. There is no author or illustrator credited for this. The webpages mention a copyright of 2001 for the Educational Broadcasting Corporation, but I don't know if they actually assembled the content in-house, or if Nelvana or WNET did it. I just want to make sure that everyone is aware that I do not own this. I am presenting someone else's creation here, in an unedited form.

There is one other thing I should point out. When the comic was originally released in 2001, it has a certain framing to it.

However, in 2002, the Cyberchase website got redesigned, and the comic was changed as well. Some animations were removed, some images were replaced with lower-quality images, and some assets were altered to fit in a new frame. They started calling these webisodes to fit in with Cyberchase Web Adventures, which included an original Poddleville story and one about Hacker trying to knock over Tikis in Tikiville.

I prefer the original framing, and I dug into the archives to find as many panels with the original framing that I could. However, I was unable to find the original framing for a few pages. It may be possible for someone with better Photoshop skills to try to put the assets back in their original forms. I'm not that person, but the assets are on the Internet Archive and the Flashpoint Project for anyone who wants to try. In those cases, I will use the new framing. All of the images necessary to understand the story are intact. However, there are some special cases that I will note when we get to them.

Anyway, my plan here is to show the panels, transcribe the narration and dialogue, and make some commentary at the end. So, let's begin.

Narration: Cyberspace... A place where time and space are one... A place where the lines between reality and imagination no longer exist... A place where anyone can go and anything can happen.

Narration: Throughout Cyberspace there are thousands of places called cybersites, each very different from the other, and all under the watchful eye of their thoughtful and peace-loving leader: Motherboard.

Narration: The heads of several cybersites gather for an important meeting with Motherboard to discuss the future.

Narration: Motherboard tells everyone that all is well, and reminds them that peach and harmony are the key to the future.

Dr Marbles(?): Together we are strong

Assembled Heads(?) of Cybersites (Ava of Symmetria, Sheriff Judy of Sensible Flatts, The King of Happily Ever After, Zeus of Mt. Olympus, an unknown character, Ollie Nollie of Solaria, Lucky of R-Fair-City, and Two-Headed Sam of Castleblanca): To Motherboard

Editors note: Motherboard is absent from this panel during this version of the comic. I'm not sure if this was supposed to be a shot from Motherboard's POV, or if they just wanted to wait another page before showing her. That speech bubble is so far away from Dr. Marbles, that I wasn't sure if he was even the one saying the line. Maybe they were implying that Motherboard was speaking through the screen behind Dr. Marbles, even though it doesn't have anything on it.

The second version of the comic adds a screen with Motherboard to the background layer, implying that it was supposed to be her saying the line all along. This is confusing.

Narration: Motherboard exists in a vast, hi-tech computer center known as control central.

Narration: Motherboard is the brain of the giant computer system that oversees all of Cyberspace.

Narration: The brilliant Dr. Marbles is responsible for keeping Motherboard's parts working smoothly and efficiently at all times.

Dr. Marbles: Your memory is now optimized, Motherboard.

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!

Narration: Wanting an assistance of his own, Hacker makes a robotic Cybird he names Digit.

Digit: Yoikes!

Narration: One night, while Marbles is away, Hacker removed the Encryptor Chip from Motherboard... ...and hides it inside a secret vault.

The Hacker: Without the Encryptor Chip, Motherboard cannot function. Ha-Ha-Ha!

Digit: Stop! You can't do this!

Narration: Digit needs to figure out the combination to the safe so he can replace the Encryptor Chip inside Motherboard before it's too late!

Digit: This is definitely not going to be easy!

Editor's Note: And then, we play "Crack Hacker's Safe". This game still exists on the pbskids.org website almost 25 years later. It was done in Javascript, so it survived the death of Flash that took out most of the rest of the Cyberchase game library. Feel free to pretend that Digit is the one pressing the buttons for these panels. Make up dialogue if you wish.

Narration: Congratulations you did it!

Narration: With the Encryptor Chip safely back in place, Motherboard tells Hacker he has to leave.

Motherboard: Your hostile actions cannot be tolerated, Hacker. You are no longer welcome here.

Narration: The power is drained from Hacker and he is placed inside a remote-controlled Cyberpod.

The Hacker: Someday... somehow, I'll return. And when I do, I'll take over all of Cyberspace!

Dr. Marbles: Page down, Hacker. Your file is closed!

Narration: Hacker is banished to the farthest reaches of The Northern Frontier.

The Hacker: NOOOOOOO....!

Narration: Neither Motherboard nor Dr. Marbles realize that Hacker has taken Digit with him.

The Hacker: I'll be back! Ha-Ha-Ha!

Digit: Yoikes Lemme outa here!

Narration: Check out webisode 2... ...and find out about Hacker's Evil plan ... and what happens to Digit!

Editor's Note: So, we have the narration inviting us to watch webisode 2. Normally, you would expect the alt text attached to the web page to match the text for the image, so that if someone was unable to load the image, they would still get the text. The alt text is: "Tune in next week and find out about Hacker's evil plan and what happens to Digit!"

This leads me to believe that there was a different version of this image back in 2001 that had narration that was either the same as the alt text, or more similar. However, it appears that that version of the image was replaced, and the original version was not archived.

That's the end of the comic, so let's get to my commentary.

So, what do I think about this comic? I enjoyed reading it. I like the idea of The Hacker's schemes to topple Motherboard starting before the main virus. I find it a bit odd that he was able to remove the Encryptor Chip without either Motherboard or Dr. Marbles being alerted instantly, since it is an essential part.

I suppose Digit was already a good guy at this point. Otherwise, he would have looked the other way, Motherboard would have ceased function, and we wouldn't have gotten the show at all. Now, Digit never being a bad guy is a controversial idea in the fan community. If he was always against The Hacker's evil plans, then it removes the idea of him being genuinely bad and having a change of heart later. I'm also not sure why The Hacker took Digit along after he foiled his plans this first time. Perhaps Digit was able to hide this betrayal from him at the time. But then, who else would have known about The Hacker's secret vault, or the fact that he stole the Encryptor Chip?

It is questionable how much of this is still canon. The Hacker's origin story in particular has been expanded in the years that followed. The modern story talks about him wanting to help Motherboard, and then turning evil later. Meanwhile, this original origin story had him turning evil immediately. At this point, they had not even created the young Hacker that we see in flashbacks, since he only appears (from birth) in his final form.

The show has also animated a flashback of Dr. Marbles exiling Hacker in the same cyberpod. But then, we got Season 5 Episode 6 "The Flying Parallinis, where his banishment involved being trapped on top of Mount Wayupthere until the Parallinis accidentally released him. Both items may have been ret-conned in Season 12 Episode 8 "Hacker Hugs a Tree", when we see him banished via portal. He is also alone in that episode, so he didn't bring Digit along with him in that version of events.

Also, can we go back to the board room with the leaders of a few of the Cybersites?

This was early days for the show, so they only had so many characters created. Now, Zeus makes sense. He is the king of the gods on the Mt. Olympus Cybersite. The King from Happily Ever After also makes sense. Judge Trudy makes sense, I suppose. Back then, we only really knew her and her sister, Sheriff Judy, from Sensible Flatts. This was long before Sensible Flatts had a separate mayor.

Ava from Symmetria is an interesting choice. She runs the factory that produces the symmetrical objects, but is she also the head-of-state on that Cybersite? We don't see anything on that Cybersite other than the factory, so maybe the site really is just the factory.

I'm surprised to see Two-Headed Sam here. We know he runs the Cryoxide factory in Castleblanca, but this isn't really an Ava situation where the entire site is just one factory. Is Sam also the head-of-state across Castleblanca? That would explain his monopoly on the Cryoxide business, and it is a concerning conflict of interest. This was before the mayor we all remember from the Halloween Howl.

Ollie Nollie was the cart driver on Solaria, and Lucky was the cab driver on R-Fair City. I get that Solaria is mostly a vacation resort, and R-Fair City is an amusement park. But it's still weird to me that these two would be the heads-of-state over there.

Does anyone recognize the character in the top right? I can't find any reference to him.

Edit: I was looking back at S01 E21 "Less Than Zero", where we see a meeting of the Cyber Council. They used the same room, and the characters are in much the same arrangement. Our mystery character is replaced by the Mayor of Poddleville. The Mayor of Poddleville is easily the most senior member here, due to his place in the pilot. So, I'm a little surprised that he was the one character to change between "How It All Started" and this episode.

We also get Lachesis, one of the three fates from Greek Mythology, seated across from Dr. Marbles. I'm not sure why only one of the three fates gets a seat at this table. Why would Olympus get two representatives on the council?

[princecoolkid]

This is the same episode.