1337: Hack

2014-03-03T19:32:00Z

Cactus: /* Explanation */ Corrected info about pools in the movie and its ending

<noinclude>:''"1337", this comic's number, redirects here. For the 2007 storyline of the same name, starting with [[341|comic 341]], see [[:Category:1337]].''</noinclude>

{{comic
| number = 1337
| date = March 3, 2014
| title = Hack
| image = hack.png
| titletext = HACK THE STARS
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|More detail; characters' motivation, etc.(?)}}

[[wikipedia:ISEE-3/ICE|ISEE-3/ICE]] is a spacecraft launched August 12, 1978. The original mission was to study the interaction between the Earth's magnetic field and the solar wind. It was later sent to visit Comet Giacobini-Zinner and became the first spacecraft to do so by flying through a comet's tail. Its trajectory will bring it close to Earth on August 2014. A status check of the spacecraft has revealed that many of its instruments are still working and that it contains plenty of fuel. But the hardware to communicate with ISEE-3/ICE has been decommissioned, and it will be expensive to reestablish the communication needed to use the spacecraft for another mission. See also http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2014/02070836-isee-3.html

The characters Crash and Burn (and the former's catchphrase, "Mess with the best, die like the rest") are an allusion to the 1995 movie [[wikipedia:Hackers (film)|Hackers]]. Since the movie predates the shutdown-signal (1997), the characters should both possess the skills and 'outdated' equipment to understand and hack the signal to the probe.

The title text "Hack the stars" is also an allusion to the movie [[wikipedia:Hackers (film)|Hackers]] where the Phrase "Hack the Planet!" is used on multiple occasions.

There are several pools in the movie as well. There is a subplot involving a mythical pool on the roof of the high school where several of the characters are students. Additonally, a scene in the movie[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcHBsB0igrg] shows Crash and Burn swimming in a rooftop pool, while several buildings light up with the words "CRASH AND BURN", the result of their friends' latest hack. This scene is similar to the last four panels of the comic.

The number of the comic is also significant, in that 1337 is a common numeric form of [[wikipedia:Leet|l33t]], again refering to hackers.

==Transcript==
:[Panel 1 shows an image of the ISEE-3/ICE spacecraft]
:Narration: The ISEE-3/ICE probe was launched in 1978. Its mission ended in 1997 and it was sent a shutdown signal.
:Narration: In 2008, we learned-to our surprise-that the probe didn't shut down. It's still running and it has plenty of fuel. ...and in 2014, its orbit brings it near earth.
:[Panel 3 shows Megan and Ponytail talking to each other.]
:Megan: We could send it on a new mission... Except we no longer have the equipment to send commands to it.
:Ponytail: Can't we...
:Megan: NASA won't rebuild it. "Too Expensive"
:Ponytail: Seriously?
:Megan: I know, right? So the Internet found the specs and we went to work.
:[Panel 5 shows Megan and Ponytail have walking into an area where a girl and Cueball both are sitting at desks looking at laptops.]
:Narration: We've convinced them to give us time on the Madrid DSN transmitter and hacked the maser to support the uplink. And today's the big day.
:Cueball: Transmitting... We have a signal! We have control!
:Megan: OK, transmit the new comet rendezvous maneuver sequen-
:[Cueball, off panel]: What the hell?
:Megan: What?
:Cueball: My console went dead!
:Girl: Mine too!
:Megan: What's happening?!
:Cueball: There's a new signal going out over the transmitter!
:[Megan, off panel]: A bug?
:Cueball: Someone else is in the system!
:Girl: Kill the connection!
:[Cueball, off panel]: I can't find it!
:Girl: They're firing the probe's engines!
:[Cueball, off panel]: NO!
:[Megan, off panel]: Who's doing this?? Stop them!
:[Girl, off panel]: I'm trying!
:Cueball, pointing to his screen: Look! My screen!
:[Text, on Cueball's laptop screen]: M-E-S-S-W-I-T-H-T-H-E-B-E-S-T D-I-E-L-I-K-E-T-H-E-R-E-S-T
:[Panel 13 shows two people in a pool at night.]
:[Panel 14 zooms out to reveal the pool is on top of a skyscraper in a vertically developed, downtown setting.]
:Burn: Crash?
:Crash: Yeah, Burn?
:Burn: Make a wish.

[Panel 16 shows the spacecraft streaking across the sky, indistinguishable from a meteoroid.]

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:1337: Hack

2014-03-03T18:09:36Z

Cactus: On the pool scene.

Taking the number with the title, we have a 1337 Hack. Has to be related. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.64|108.162.237.64]] 08:28, 3 March 2014 (UTC)
:: I concur, I don't think 1337 and Hack are just a coincidence [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.223|108.162.250.223]] 10:36, 3 March 2014 (UTC)

.... ok ... I bet that if the probe destroyed {{w|Star_Trek:_The_Motion_Picture|three of the Klingons' new K't'inga-class warships and the monitoring station en route}}, they would rethink the "we can no longer communicate with it" ... (seriously, probe from time of Voyagers returns to Earth and we are not able to communicate to it ... Roddenberry got surprisingly close). -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 10:42, 3 March 2014 (UTC)

I wonder if it comes close enough to Earth so that it has enough delta-v left to deorbit like that, and where it would end up. Maybe someone could model it in KSP or something... [[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.84|173.245.48.84]] 11:37, 3 March 2014 (UTC)

:It's not orbiting the Earth, so it doesn't need any delta-V to de-orbit. Consider: meteors hit the atmosphere (or the ground) all the time with no delta-V at all. All it needs is enough delta-V to re-aim so that it hits the planet, which if you start far enough away is probably very very little. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.61|173.245.48.61]] 18:00, 3 March 2014 (UTC)

Thank you, Randall, for making this possible. I will now forever lay claim to this comic as per this log: http://pastebin.com/bpexL7zL

You rock, dude. Keep on it. :) {{unsigned ip|108.162.218.5}}

I added the transcription - feel free to adjust the names of "Guy", "Girl1", and "Girl2" as I can't recall any "Randall appropriate" names. I've grouped all panel elements into groups, which I believe is correct. It's my first transcript. ;) [[User:Jarod997|Jarod997]] ([[User talk:Jarod997|talk]]) 14:00, 3 March 2014 (UTC)
:Wow, um, and if someone could "pretty" up the transcript so it shows a bit more nicely on the "front" page, it would be appreciated. [[User:Jarod997|Jarod997]] ([[User talk:Jarod997|talk]]) 14:07, 3 March 2014 (UTC)
When I first saw the explanation, I thought the move "Hackers" was the subject of [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/130:_Julia_Stiles comic 130], rather than "Ghostwriters". Has anyone actually seen both? I get the impression Ghostwriters falls under the category of "so bad it's good", whereas Hackers is more of a cult classic. Maybe it's worth mentioning this emerging xkcd theme somewhere in the explanation. Thoughts? --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.16|108.162.219.16]] 14:43, 3 March 2014 (UTC)

"Hackers" is so bad it is good. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.117|108.162.246.117]] 17:10, 3 March 2014 (UTC)

What, no rooftop pool comments? {{unsigned ip|108.162.215.33}}

I was going to make a comment about the pool on the roof. I couldn't remember if they ended up in a roof pool later on in the movie, or if i'm thinking of another movie. I haven't seen Hackers in so long. [[User:Andyd273|Andyd273]] ([[User talk:Andyd273|talk]]) 17:46, 3 March 2014 (UTC)

Regarding the pool:
IIRC, the movie ends with the two main characters (who use the aliases "Acid Burn" and "Crash Override") going on a date at a swimming pool on a roof (the scene shot as in frame 13). Meanwhile, their friends hack the lights on some office buildings so that they display the words "CRASH AND BURN". The shot showing this is also very similar to the last three frames. [[User:Cactus|Cactus]] ([[User talk:Cactus|talk]]) 18:09, 3 March 2014 (UTC)

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1337: Hack

Talk:1337: Hack