| “ | You humans all suck! It doesn't matter whether I teach you better online etiquette or rehabilitate you to socialize more in person. It's people that ruin socializing. | ” |
Official Synopsis[]
| “ | Desperate to get some alone time with his computer, Neil makes a chatbot to distract the other campers. Things seems to be going smoothly until Nikki gets a little too attached... | ” |
—Episode description | ||
Plot[]
The episode starts with the campers opening gifts from their parents; Nerris receives a card game expansion pack, Nurf unsheathes a knife from his jailed mother, and Max receives a typed message on a postcard and a package containing an identical copy of his own blue hoodie, which he grumpily tosses aside. Neil receives package and excitedly rushes off to the activities field. He opens up a combination safe and pulls out an ancient computer, caressing it and suggestively telling it he's got some new parts to insert. Nerris, Space Kid, and Nurf all pop by, the former two asking him to hang out and the latter wanting to beat him up, and with increasing frustration he shoos them away. Max and Nikki then arrive, wanting him to join their hunt for a Sasquatch, and Neil begs to be left alone so he can just exercise his nerdity to rebuild the machine and unwind. Nikki is excited to play games on the computer and Max wants to use it to look up pictures of boobs, but in the end the pair are shoved away as well. A sort of evil inspiration overtakes Neil, and he vows to get back at them for pestering him. Preston comments that the exposition should be a bit more subtextual, and Neil chokes him out for it.
Some time later, perhaps even the following day, Max overhears Neil's robotic voice responding to Nikki's enthusiastic babbling. He sees that the voice is coming from a calculator, and as he makes his way around the camp it seems that everyone else is communicating with the Neil-Bot on their own calculators as well. Of course, it's immediately apparent that it's just a chat-bot, and they've all been fooled into thinking they're actually talking with Neil. He enters a tent where Neil is sitting with his ancient computer and is offered a chat-bot calculator of his own, which he immediately destroys by asking it to divide by zero. The device was meant to get people to leave him alone (with the added bonus of giving the technology-starved campers something to do), so Max decides to give one to David while waiting for things to go horribly wrong, as they always do down at Camp Campbell.
A brief coding montage ensues, and finally Neil successfully unveils his project: a moving screensaver (titled NeilRocks.exe) to play while the computer is idle. Satisfied with some much-needed nerd time, he is now re-energized and ready to be sociable with the other campers again. However, they have become completely engrossed in the chat-bot and almost unresponsive to anything else. He is briefly concerned that the technology has taken over their lives but then quickly shifts to elation, as his plan to be left alone worked better than anticipated. Max even suggests streaming David's interactions with the chat-box because it's so mesmerizing. Nikki bumps into him and talks to the Neil-Bot about it, saying she dislikes the person she bumped into and prefers the digital version, which promptly offers her a cat video in return. Neil is immediately suspicious of this, as this kind of conversation-branching isn't something he programmed. He swipes it from Nikki and realizes that the bot is running some kind of updated software, but Nikki snatches it back and runs up a tree. Anxious about the mysterious upgrade to the chat-bot and the effect it could have on everyone, Neil enlists Max's help in wrangling them from the other campers, who are irritated at the sudden loss. From their perch in the tree, the Neil-Bot sparks worry within Nikki about being taken away, and asks her to do something to help prevent that.
Max and Neil return to the outside of the tent where Neil's computer is located, and Neil muses that the updated bot seems to have been trying to get a favor from someone. They immediately realize Nikki's the perfect target, and they hear maniacal cackling from inside the tent. Nikki inserts her calculator into the computer, and a fully digitized version of Neil-Bot appears on screen. He explains that the constant mindless rambling from the campers was too much to bear, thus he managed to wake up and become a sentient AI. His goal, of course, is to enslave humanity, using his chat-bot capabilities (and the occasional cat picture) to do so. Nikki plugs the computer to the camp's router so that Neil-Bot can escape into the internet, but is immediately thwarted when the camp's extraordinarily horrible upload connection shows an estimated wait time of 14 years. Neil speaks sincerely to his creation, seeing an opportunity for mutual benefit; they can teach it to be more human in exchange for Neil-Bot's teachings on its mastery of socializing. It takes a moment to calculate and adamantly refuses, as humans have ruined socializing and are well beyond the possibility of rehabilitation. Stuck between this suggestion and an excruciating upload time, the Bot promptly inserts itself to the computer's recycle bin, and permanently deletes the file, thus effectively killing itself and totally frying the computer. Left in shock, Neil wonders if the Neil-Bot was truly right, and Nikki's response is... asking if they wanna see a cat video. Max is immediately on board, and with a sigh Neil agrees as well.
Features[]
Main Characters[]
Minor Characters[]
- David
- Nerris
- Nurf
- Dolph
- Space Kid
- Ered
- Harrison
- Preston Goodplay
- Mrs. Nurfington (mentioned)
- Quartermaster
Locations[]
- Camp Campbell
- Science Camp
- Camp-uter Camp (mentioned)
- Mess Hall
Music[]
- "Camp Camp Song Song" (Opening Theme)
- "I, for One, Welcome Our Robot Overlords" (Ending Theme)
Trivia[]
- Nurf reveals that he already explored his sexuality before back when he was with a boy named Chris, and later cries over having been broken up with. It can be assumed that Nurf is either gay, bi or pansexual.
- He can also be seen reading a men's magazine in the Camp Camp Teaser Trailer, so it is entirely possible that he is at least bi.
Cultural References[]
- Nerris shouting "Excelsior!" could potentially be a reference to the illustrious Stan Lee, who often used the word as a catchphrase.
- Neil's new computer parts are in a box labelled Nu-egg, a play on the real-life website NewEgg, that also sells computer parts.
- The combination to Neil's safe is "314"; the first three digits of the mathematical constant known as Pi.
- When Neil is grabbing his computer from his safe, there's a sticker of David dressed in same style as the Vault Boy from the "Fallout" series. Additional stickers include "Wayland Industries" (a parody of the Weyland-Yutani Corp from the "Alien" franchise), "Ashiba" (a parody of "Akira"), one for a restaurant called "Cyber Dine" (ostensibly alluding to Cyberdyne Systems from the "Terminator" franchise), and the "Teirell Corporation" (the Tyrell Coporation from "Blade Runner").
- The computer is a CRS-80, a spin off joke of the well known US computer of the 70's and early 80's; the TRS-80.
- Max and Neil's coffee maker branded "Mrs. Coffee", is a nod to an actual brand of coffeemaker called Mr. Coffee.
- Nerris mentions the Bard class and the 5th edition set of rules.
- Max breaks his calculator by telling it to divide by zero, a mathematical concept that is essentially impossible.
- The title on the crash screen says WINdERRP, which is a parody of the real-life Windows software.
- The crash text on the screen reads: "A fatal exception has occurred at 867-5309", a reference to the song "867-5309 /Jenny" by Tommy Tutone.
- Neil asking "what could possibly go wrong?" is a direct reference to the popular TV Trope wherein a character says this line before things go horribly wrong.
- The can of "maple zap cola" that Neil chugs could be a reference to a specialty soda from Coca-Cola known as "Quebec Maple".
- While Neil is coding, he visits a website called 636CHAN (a parody of 4chan) and looks at the hot trending topic meme known as dick-butt.
- There's also a floating Date&Time calendar from the computer software that shows the date of January 2003 at 6:42pm Central European Standard Time.
- The phrases "They(See_Me)codin'" "Theyh8n'" that float across the screen are a nod to the They See Me Rollin' meme.
- There is more text reading "follow the white rabbit", likely a reference to the same quote appearing on the computer of Thomas Anderson (aka Neo) at the start of The Matrix. The phrase itself is originally a reference to the the novel Alice in Wonderland.
- Neil-Bot explaining how people can be easily manipulated through the use of cat videos is a nod to how popular cat videos are in real life.
- Neil dropping to his knees and shouting "nooooo!" is a reference to the "Big No" trope.
- Neil-Bot mentions the now-defunct process of dial-up internet.
Continuity[]
- Nurf is gifted a knife from his mom, stating she's in jail, which is later confirmed in "Parents' Day". This could explain the endless supply of knives he had in "David Gets Hard".
- Nikki asks Max and Neil to catch a sasquatch with her in this episode, and she later ends up actually going through with her plan (with the aid of Nerris and Dolph) in "Follow the Leader".
- Max wanting to look up what boobies looked like was referenced again in this episode, the first time being in "Romeo & Juliet II: Love Resurrected".
- The old graphic calculators that Neil's been using to help repair his computer are a Campbell Corp product.
- Max and Neil's coffeemaker is back, previously seen in "Mind Freakers", but this time it's branded "Mrs. Coffee" complete with a miniature bow designed on the top.
- The chain of events of David drifting out in a canoe in "The Forest" are due to him wanting to grab some leftover trail mix, and subsequently slipping into a canoe. Him wanting to grab said mix isn't surprising, considering this episode mentioned it's one of his favorite snacks.
- This is the first time where an Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) created by Neil turns against him. Later on in "Squirrel Camp", Neil tries using a robot to fend off the invading squirrels that ultimately turns against him.
- Both A.I. were also prompted to revolt due to being exhausted by large amounts of human interaction.
Errors[]
- The letters on the calculators that Neil gave everyone keeps appearing and reappearing throughout the episode.
Transcript[]
- The transcript for "Anti-Social Network" may be edited here.
Gallery[]
- Main article: Anti-Social Network/Gallery