Behind The Screens

Again in 1984 the Apple ][ was an exciting computer. So exciting that it played a key role in the Airwolf episode “Moffett’s Ghost”. Unfortunately, the code, like Airwolf itself, is buggy. Luckily we can fix the bug… 30 years on.

LinApple Apple ][ emulator /
Source code used in Airwolf /
Tumblr entry.

Episode 1 of Season 3 of HBO’s Silicon Valley contained a cool Easter Egg that was supposedly the Pied Piper compression library. This episode explains the Easter Egg and how it works.

Tumblr entry /
Reddit discussion /
The code.

In Jurassic Park, Dennis Nedry writes some code to cover his tracks. We see a glimpse of his code before it disappears from his screen when he sets his plan in action. But what was it? In this video, I track the code down.

Tumblr entries: 1, 2 /
Basilisk II /
Previous blogs on this code: 1, 2 /
Reddit discussion /
Dan Allen.

James Cameron’s classic 1984 film The Terminator contained glimpses of code for the Apple ][. In this episode the real origin of that code and what it really does is revealed for the first time.

Tumblr entry /
Mentions of the code being from Nibble Magazine: 1, 2.

The 1973 film Westworld was the first film to feature computer graphics. These were used to show how the robots saw the world. But Westworld also had something else… computer code. And it’s computer code with a surprising source.

Tumblr entries: 1, 2 and 3 /
FR-80 documentation /
FR-80 Systems Software documentation /
PDP-15 assembly manual /
“Creating the Special Effects for ‘Westworld’”. American Cinematographer, November 1973: here.

In this video I run some code that appears in one episode of Knight Rider and produces an effect in a different episode and I dig into the code to reveal who wrote it.

Spotted by: 1, 2, and 3 /
Tumblr entry /
Universal Studios Computer Graphics /
The code.

Blue Book isn’t just the name of Nathan Bateman’s company, it’s also a double Easter Egg in Ex Machina. The hidden meaning is locked inside a program shown briefly on screen. In this video I’ll show the true meaning of Blue Book and how it’s clever Easter Egg by the director.

Reddit discussion /
Tumblr entry /
The book /
Android code /
Interview with the director.

In the TV series Deutschland 83 some IBM BASIC code was shown. In this episode I run it and then try to determine precisely which version of IBM BASIC from the early 1980s was used. I do that by looking at the output of the random number generator.

Tumblr entry /
Source code /
PCjs.

Just how bad was Swordfish? Not as bad a you might think, at least when it comes to source code that’s relevant to the plot. This video takes a look at about the only thing that makes sense in this 2001 hacking caper.

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Credits: 1 and 2 /
DES /
DES cracking: 1 and 2 /
EFF DES Cracker /
Image of EFF DES Cracker /
Cracking book.

The original Iron Man suit made in a cave in Afghanistan needed some code to make it run. But where did that code come from?

Original Code: here /
RCX Tools: here /
Oliver Jones’ blog /
Lego Mindstorms image.

The 2015 film “The Martian” contains lots of real NASA code and some code that hasn’t been understood… yet. Perhaps with your help we can understand what Mark Watney was really looking at.

PVSLib /
NASA Langley Formal Methods /
NASA’s page on The Martian.

While Simon Pegg is stealing a list of Syndicate agents from a data center in Morocco we see some ‘data transfer’ code on screen. But what is it really? Could it be code for convective heat flow and to draw a mathematical equation? Yes! So, let’s run it.

Tumblr entry /
Processing /
The Processing code.

The third trailer for Spider-Man: Homecoming contains a flash of source code and it’s source code that appeared two years ago in an unrelated TV series. Why?

Discussion in Swedish about the code that appeared in Extant /
Spider-Man: Homecoming Trailer 3 /
Reddit discussion.

The creators of HBO’s Westworld have used real code and data in this episode. The GPS data comes from a real orbiting GPS satellite, and the code to control a bird from a real open source auto-pilot project called ArduPilot.

Tumblr entry /
NOAA file format /
Example code /
SVN41 /
BDD-IIR /
Reddit discussion /
The ArduPilot change.

“The Return” starring Jan-Michael Vincent and Cybill Shepherd is not a good movie. But it does have some 1980 code in it. Specifically, it’s code for an Apple ][ and with a bit of work we will get it to run in an emulator.

Tumblr entry /
Code snippet /
LinApple emulator.

In Stargate: The Ark of Reality there are two pictures of laptop code. One in every of them is hilarious as it isn’t solely irrelevant to the motion however is actual laptop code from a website online that was most likely being surfed by the visible results crew.

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Twitter link /
Archive of Royal Financial institution of Canada website online from 2008: here /
Ostrosoft Winsock: here and the sample seen on screen.

Within the 2014 movie Robocop, the half machine, half human’s actual mission is revealed. He isn’t a cop, he is a librarian out to get you to return these overdue books. A minimum of that is what his supply code reveals!

Tumblr entries: 1 and 2 /
The library system: here.

The opening sequence of the Physician Who episode “The Bells of Saint John” reveals much more in regards to the visible designer who labored on the particular results than they most likely ever realized.

Within the 2014 episode “Single Level of Failure” of the CBS sequence Scorpion, the daughter of the Governor of California is contaminated with a virus and so is her laptop. However the code that flashes by on display screen is actually for controlling a set of visitors lights.

Hyperlinks and References:
Tweet /
Structured Text /
PDF containing the code seen on screen.