Hacking the IT Crowd Season 3 DVD

by Kyle on Mar.15, 2009, under General

Hey guys!

I’ve gotten on board this time after having missed out on the Season 2 competition. I will post my progress as and when I make it!

Lets get started.

1) A reference to http://www.itcrowd.com/clue is made in the ‘Credits’ video. This website asks you for your e-mail address, and upon entering redirects to a YouTube page. The channel was ‘unavailable’ at the time of writing this post.

2) During the ‘cuke can’ game – a website is revealled; “http://cuke.me“. This redirects to the Reynholm Industries access denied page we’ve seen / decyphered before.

3) Also during the ‘cuke can’ game – a password is given: “TXgwQuMq2v0″. Upon Googling this password; a YouTube video was found (the video ID matches the password). The video can be found here. The video is a Fremantle Media title card. As to where this password can be used is unknown as of now..

4) The ‘geek/1337′ subtitles are based upon the standard subtitles but with letters replaced. My guess is that steganography is used and that by compiling a list of all the capital letters a message can be found. More on that soon – I’m supposed to be working on a university assignment so this is low priority at the moment . Will have to get ripping the subtitles and OCR’ing the text – use a filter to display capitals only and see what comes up.

This is just a basic knowledge of what I managed to interpret after 20 mins of general poking around the disc and it’s contents.

Hopefully I shall find more soon and keep you posted!

If you haven’t already – go ahead and grab your copy of the IT Crowd Season 3 over at Play. If you don’t have any of the preceding seasons, I highly recommend the 1-3 boxset. At £17.99 – it’s a steal.

Don’t forget, if you engage in piracy – be prepared to face the consequences.

Update: The ITCrowd.com/clue now links to the official YouTube page for The IT Crowd. The quest continues..

:easter eggs it crowd hacking season 3 moss maurice roy jen reynholm industries

79 Comments for this entry

Jun
March 24th, 2009 on 4:05 pm
When I played the game I thought that the whole address is backwards. So I typed in http://TXgwQuMq2v0.cuke.me
The website I entered then said “Coming soon” and was titled “The cake is a lie”. Haven’t found out what it could mean, but I am working on it
admin
March 24th, 2009 on 5:31 pm
Ahh! I didn’t think of that *doh!*

Nice find! The ITCrowd.com/Clue links to the working channel now – still nothing sent to your e-mail address though…

Keep me updated
admin
March 24th, 2009 on 5:59 pm
Thought I’d made another discovery:

http://01189998819991197253.cuke.me/

Although; anything appended before the .cuke.me redirects to the same page.. ;P Bummer!

I’ll keep on searching!

(The cake is a lie is a phrase taken from the video game ‘Portal’; check out this article for more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cake_is_a_Lie – most likely just a reference to something which supposedly doesn’t exist but in actual fact, does!)
Lewis
March 25th, 2009 on 11:34 am
I’ve been working on this myself, the oldschool way (watching all the subtitles) the first word is styrasaur, good luck
juliaL49
March 25th, 2009 on 2:08 pm
Hola, so I’m not the only one who discovered those obvious clues

I had a quick look at the subtitles – extracted and compared them – and it’s all nonsense. The replaced letters read bkfkggkfgfbf5kJgfqflmkkhkK (and so on) and the new ones (as Lewis pointed out) start with STYRACOSAURUS1iEBMHD
Must be something more to it then.

Does anyone know if the competition (provided there is one) is only for UK residents like it was with season 2?
admin
March 25th, 2009 on 2:11 pm
STYRACOSAURUS is actually a dinosaur. It may not be entirely gibberish..

No idea about the competition restrictions/details.. still to be discovered!
juliaL49
March 25th, 2009 on 2:21 pm
Oh found something else:
Bluffball.com is registered to FreemantleMedia
admin
March 25th, 2009 on 2:23 pm
http://www.bluffball.co.uk/ – was the one used in the episode wasn’t it? Theres a placeholder for the Bluffball site on both URLs now – bluffball.com previously redirected to a page full of ads.

It appears as though they’ve not fully prepared all of the ‘puzzle’ and it’s misleading.. or it may just be part of the master plan..
juliaL49
March 25th, 2009 on 2:37 pm
Oh yes it is .co.uk – just checked the episode again. And in the source code there is a link to the Channel 4 episode page.

I’m hoping it IS part of the master plan!
Andrew
April 2nd, 2009 on 10:54 pm
anyone got any further yet?! i’ve not ripped all the subtitles yet but i don’t even know what i’d do with them!
Boredoperator
April 4th, 2009 on 3:09 am
Just a quick nugget of information… the number at the bottom of the credits screen 01189998819991197253 can be inputted once on the you tube page and brings up a IT crowd scene which points back to the when will you die web site from the series 2 compitition….. then onto other you tube hits, may be a clue…
Nicola
April 5th, 2009 on 1:13 am
Found http://www.cuke.me has text pixeled out on the image, when you translate it it reads “hurt raisins cabbage and oatmeal sentiments of our”

Any ideas?
Andrew
April 5th, 2009 on 8:16 pm
http://itcrowd3easteregghunt.blogspot.com/

that’s my progress so far… not really going anywhere. the cake is probably a lie… in which case there’s nothing to look for.
Lee
April 16th, 2009 on 12:52 pm
…I remember seeing this site a while ago http://hideyourarms.com/2008/11/24/the-it-crowd-roy-loves-geeky-tees/ which shows that in episode 1 of series 3 Roy wears a T-shirt with the quote on it ‘The cake is a lie’, so could that be something to do with this web page about the cake being a lie and something ‘coming soon’? http://01189998819991197253.cuke.me/
jacob
April 16th, 2009 on 5:20 pm
Te cake is a lie is a line from the game portal released in the orange box its somewhat of a cult hit – which i cant beleive u didnt get
Lee
April 19th, 2009 on 8:05 pm
I do know that, funnily enough you’re not the first person to point it out, I just wondered if it was a coincidence that Roy wears a “The cake is a lie” T-shirt in the first episode of that series.
Dominik Scholz
April 26th, 2009 on 6:45 am
I thought, I mention the website http://01189998819991197253.co.uk, which is registered to Michael Thory. It contains some “information” about the new number
Btw, I’ve decoded all the letters and numbers of the l33t-subtitles, but I have some problems, whether an O is a capital letter or a number… but nothing useful yet.
Dustin
April 27th, 2009 on 11:16 am
thecakeisalie.com – no idea if it is part of the game, but the stylesheet for the page points to a contest.css file.

Still trying to see what comes up form all this.
st jude
May 5th, 2009 on 5:06 pm
yo boys and girls!
im not a very clever geek, but am incredibly interested in this whole thing! just wondered, ive been checking all the websites, including the new police number, and thought maybe you could call the number, or try emailing the email addresses of the diffrent people. let me know how it pans out!
st jude
May 5th, 2009 on 5:10 pm
also another thing, the strange language could be either some weird type on microsoft word, cus y’know ,its about computers, but also the new district-9 film coming out has weird alien language! please dont quote me on this, im a teenager who cant do any computery stuff butt just love the whole idea of an easter egg hunt! but these are JUST THEORYS, and im pretty certain are wrong.
st jude
May 5th, 2009 on 5:13 pm
yo, just picked up something else, has anyone translated the geek subtitles to the bit in the football episode where moss says “its coming home, its coming home” as the websie said, “its coming soon, its coming soon”
st jude
May 5th, 2009 on 5:16 pm
sorry i keep typing! im getting well excited now! the clip it shows you when you submit: firstly, has anyone done the geek to that clip, secondly, a man in the crowd was wearing a t-shirt that said cccp, any ideas…
st jude
May 5th, 2009 on 6:04 pm
nother ideas, maybe inputting password into ” submit email thing” will ge something, also, blue bar at bottom of reynolmn industries message, type code there?
st jude
May 5th, 2009 on 6:09 pm
i tried registering to friend face, it said coppa:fail
st jude
May 5th, 2009 on 6:11 pm
plenty of fish .com, probably nothing, its picture of people on friend face. also, the internet flash games they parody on the dvd could be something….
st jude
May 6th, 2009 on 12:58 pm
found a picture of richmond
an anon
May 11th, 2009 on 9:45 am
CCCP means combined community codec pack, just another nerdy tee.
monkeylaydee
May 11th, 2009 on 9:31 pm
Hey.. just thought I’d chip in. I only started getting onvolved with this stuff yesterday after buying the DVD.
According to urban dictionary.com the phrase ‘the cake is a lie’ means that something promised reward but nothing actually came of it..

so maybe this is a ruse and the answers are somewhere else… (?)
Chris
May 12th, 2009 on 8:57 am
Just had a quick look for “jennywenny@friendface” on the internet. One of the results was: http://www.friendface.org/pg/friends/JruLa/?view=opendd

In the text there you repeatedly find http://reynholm.co.uk/-moss

entering the address you get onto Moss’ homepage, where you find a not saying “Update: Roy, here’s the files you wanted.”
Among those files you will find “U: moss.m
P: lonelyroad”

After that I went onto http://www.reynholm.co.uk. There you can access the Reynholm Staff Intranet using the U and P discovered on Moss’ homepage.

I am pretty sure that it has nothing to do with any contest, but it’s still fun.

Anyway, just wanted to share…
Chris
May 12th, 2009 on 9:15 am
And one more thing about the “hurt raisins cabbage and oatmeal sentiments of our”: “hurt … sentiments of our” seems ordinary enough, so i suppose we’d have to decypher only the “raisins cabbage and oatmeal” part if anything. Maybe an anagram???
Stuart
May 13th, 2009 on 3:20 pm
The cake is a lie, is a reference to a PC and Xbox game called ” the orange box” in that was half-life 1 and 2, Team fortress2 and a SUPERB game called Portal.. within portal “The Cake is a lie” can be found through the cake on the walls, in secret areas etc…
Stuart
May 13th, 2009 on 4:48 pm
opps.. just read the rest of the comments.. missed the one about portal.. sorry for the double posting of said info… I am at a lost as to were to go now though…
Stuart
May 13th, 2009 on 4:57 pm
I went to the web site and got onto the staff intranet.. took me to this page.. http://www.reynholm.co.uk/intranet/
U: moss.m
P: lonelyroad

dunno if any of this is useful
admin
May 13th, 2009 on 5:52 pm
hehe no problem Stuart I’m in the same boat unfortuantely – I’m currently busy with exams & university assignments but straight after that I’ll have plenty of free time to get on this case further

That info I’ve already found – it’s not actually an official website it’s made by a fan so it’s doubtful it’s anything to do with the easter egg hunt; never know though – didn’t appear to be anything of any relevance on there when I checked..

The quest goes on..
Coxie
May 13th, 2009 on 10:27 pm
Hi Folks,

Only picked this whole thing up a couple of days ago but looking at the you tube page there’s a line at the 10 seconds mark on the progress bar of the clip. At this time the guy behind him bring his arm up wearing a wrist band but cannot read it, not sure if you could freeze, capture and read I don’t think I have the software.

Also http://www.bluffball.co.uk has a hidden link top left… “its coming home” directs you to channel 4 on demand maybe something there… only 2 clips “Normal Big Man” and “Keeping Up…” might lead somewhere.
Coxie
May 17th, 2009 on 1:23 am
The clue site is no longer working… Does that mean someone’s made it?!?
Terry
May 19th, 2009 on 2:37 am
I don’t think http://www.reynholm.co.uk/intranet/ is related at all.

The domain is registered to an Australian and you can find links to details of himself where he describes himself as a fan of the show.
nadj
May 21st, 2009 on 12:51 am
Hmmm, just had a look at that site – I really get the feeling there’s something in it.

Try the IT Department page, click on the Helpdesk link and get through the questions. It generates a code it suggests you keep safe. Perhaps this code may be of use somehow?
nadj
May 21st, 2009 on 12:59 am
…oh! Also spotted HokersPoker.com on a monitor about 7 mins into Episode 3. Takes me to a page called The Cake Is A Lie and “Coming Soon…”.

Beside the monitor are 2 box files – one with “Suppliers – D.C.” writen on the label and the other with “Contact Info: Fanta”. Don’t know if it could be login details for something, or just an odd bit of set design.

Ahhhhg, this thing’s stopping me from watching IT Crowd without thinking everything’s a clue now!!
nadj
May 21st, 2009 on 1:05 am
http://www.reynholm.co.uk/~moss/

Click on the “Update: Roy, here’s the files you wanted.” link.

Anyone techier than me know what can be done with these files?
nadj
May 21st, 2009 on 1:07 am
Got it!! Look in the folder in that file list and there’s a password file! Gets you into the Intranet page! I’m in!
nadj
May 21st, 2009 on 1:09 am
Right, go to Staff ID Cards page and it shows Moss’s cards, including 8 digit staff number. There’s a few places on the site that allow entry of a staff ID code. Gonna have a mess about…
nadj
May 21st, 2009 on 1:14 am
…noticed something – the password file was called 77258149.pw but that doesn’t match the staff ID on the card. Hmmmm…
nadj
May 21st, 2009 on 1:37 am
I’m starting to think this whole “cake” is very possibly a lie! Maybe there is actually no competition at all…
st jude
May 25th, 2009 on 4:06 pm
nice nadj, very possibly…
also, roys home page, link to some weird thing…any ideas?
Hacker
May 27th, 2009 on 5:56 pm
By Jeeves i think i’ve got it!
st jude
June 1st, 2009 on 9:22 pm
yeh, tell us plz!
Reynholm Industries
June 3rd, 2009 on 9:33 am
Hi everyone! My name’s Chris, I’m the Australian who owns Reynholm.co.uk. I worked hard on the series 2 DVD easter eggs but gave up in the end, and I’d hate to see any of you waste time looking for hidden meaning with my Reynholm site. I have nothing to do with the Series 3 competition, the closest I am involved with the IT Crowd is that I follow Graham Linehan on Twitter. There’s no hidden meanings on the site, the password file is random numbers/letters. Feel free to contact Moss through the Reynholm site if you want to email me personally about this.
admin
June 3rd, 2009 on 10:16 am
Thanks for confirming that Chris, I did say so earlier; as I remember discovering your site and then realising it was a fan site (albeit a great one!)

I’m surprised that nothing has developed on the scene in relation to the egg hunt. Maybe we should ask a for a hint off Graham via Twitter?
Reynholm Industries
June 3rd, 2009 on 7:00 pm
I’ve posted some info that might be useful:

http://bbcentral.wordpress.com/2009/06/03/important-info-re-it-crowd-series-3-dvd-easter-eggs/

Really just ruling out the most obvious factors to help people avoid wasting their time.

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April 7th, 2009 on 10:16 am
[...] third season of The IT Crowd was recently released on DVD. The box contains an internet puzzle hunt – and an interesting exposé of the hunt that shipped with the second season [...]