Code Monkeys

For the phrase on which this program's title is based, see code monkey.

Code Monkeys
Code Monkeys title card
Genre	Comedy
Created by	Adam de la Pena
Country of origin	U.S.A.
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	9 (as of September 5, 2007) 14 (planned)
Production
Running time	approx. 30 minutes
Original release
Network	G4
Release	July 11, 2007 – Present

Code Monkeys is an animated series on G4. The show is created, written and executive produced by Adam de la Pena (I'm with Busey, Minoriteam). Jonathan Coulton’s song "Code Monkey" serves as the theme song of the show.

Show information

Many of the references in the show suggest that it is set at the beginning of the video game era, sometime in the 1980s. It centers on a video game publisher called Gameavision (reference to Activision). The company generally produces Atari-era-style videogames, and the show's animators use 8-bit graphics to create the characters and animals and 16-bit graphics to create mostly the environments, but with a decidedly warped sensibility. (Do not try this at home).

Characters

• Dave (voiced by Adam de la Pena), Jerry's best friend and officemate, the 2 often design games together. However when it comes to making games Dave is often shown to care more about playing games than making them. Dave is the antithesis of Jerry: a messy, rude, pervert who is constantly high. Despite all this, Dave has flair to all of his actions, and is a competent game programmer, as seen in "The Take Over," where his games impress a Japanese video game company. A running gag in the show is for Dave to make statements that are unintentionally ironic by today's standards; in the pilot episode, Dave doesn't believe the home computer will be successful in the future, saying it will be a "passing fad, like MTV". Another example is "The Take Over," Dave criticizes Protendo games, believing nobody will buy video games made by the Japanese. He also makes a claim that implies David Lee Roth will never leave Van Halen. In "Larrity's Got Back", Dave mentions that his father was killed in the Vietnam conflict, but gets over it after getting a massage from Todd's Vietnamese "wife", Ping. He also gets an ass transplant and now he has the ass of a blonde sorority girl that died in a cheer leading accident. His biggest dream is to be a millionaire with a kick-ass house filled with video games, an intelligent gorilla butler named "Jasper", a hot, ditsy anime chick with big boobs for a girlfriend, and a robot, "Scoot Scoot," that could turn into a scooter, a blender and a bong. Dave realized his dream in "IPO" by reinvesting his Gameavision stock into the porn industry, but gave half of his money to his best friend Jerry, when he became flat broke. In addition it has been revealed that he is not American, by the fact that he was close to being deported in "IPO". It can be believed that he is Canadian, due to his 'Rush' poster. Dave's license plate number is 80085, a LEET term for 'boobs'.

• Jerry (voiced by Matt Mariska), A hard-working designer who is far more responsible than his best friend Dave. He has a crush on Mary, another programmer at Gameavision. One of the show's running gags is that he pees himself often, due to him having a "weak bladder". Director Steven Spielberg is his idol. He shares an office with Dave, and while Dave's side of the office is a pigsty with a torn, dirty carpet, his is clean. He hasn't had sugar or caffeine in 10 years, but when he was fed Pixie Stix by Benny, he began practicing martial arts, kicking Clare in the face and punching a wall until his hands bled. In "IPO", Jerry became addicted to lap dances and spent all of his Gameavision stock on his stripper girlfriends, so he had to work three more jobs (as a bottle-capper, a garbage man, and a fry cook, where he was molested by his manager), to get back in the black. So far, Jerry is the only character on the show to have been "killed". He fell into a spike pit in The Woz and was run over by a dumptruck in IPO. When his game over screen pops up Jerry always considers selecting not to continue playing, only to click "yes". His "death explosions" resemble the ones from the first Mega Man game.

• Mr. Bob Larrity (voiced by Andy Sipes), Although he knows nothing about video games, he bought Gameavision from Steve Wozniak in the episode "The Woz". He expects all his employees to make him rich with each game they create. His office is large and he has a desk made out of ivory and elephant feet that always has three random items each episode on it with a price, a parody of the merchant's area in the early "Zelda" games. His friends call him "Hoss," and his family, except for Dean, calls him Carl, after his homosexual grandfather. He was apparently molested as a child, saying one time, "it touched me in a way that I haven't been touched since I was a kid," though it's debatable considering the subtle chuckling afterwards. Larrity has five ex-wives, with at least two that are dead and stuffed (one of whom is Dean's mother). Larrity has a secret warehouse that only Dave, Jerry, and his son Dean know about. The suck-ass E.T. games are kept there. He has committed many crimes, including: a bondage club meth lab, a psychic hot line scam, a wombat mill, getting some eagles drunk, killing and stuffing a Panda Bear, a white slavery ring, tax evasion, drunk driving, and running over a child while drunk driving. He has a safe hidden under Gameavision made by a Nazi where he keeps many items such as 6 months of Readers Digest, two leprechauns, Davy Jones' Locker with the lead singer of the Monkees inside, one of his ex-wives, a giant marble, a unicorn skeleton, and a Rubik's Cube with three reds on one side. He calls his butt "The Duke". He thinks better while listening to Queen . He is in posession of a "4-Barreled Shotgun". He usually says confusing statements that trigger the bottom blue screen to turn to ???? ??????? (The number of question marks indicates it is simply the words 'Code Monkeys' coverd over. In "Larrity's Got Back", he has an ass transplant where he gets Dave's ass and herpes. It is hinted at that Larrity cares a great deal for Dave and Jerry. In the episode "Stonervision", he admits that he feels Dave and Jerry are worth a lot more than he pays them, and in "Todd loses his mind", Larrity claims that he once loved them more than he loves his own son, Dean.

• Dean Larrity (voiced by Andy Sipes), Mr. Larrity's son, who is very strong and tough, but lacks intelligence. He is Gameavision's Head Supervisor. He supports his dad, who often yells at him, and has a brother who is in prison. He loves to exercise. He is arachnophobic. Things with more than one button confuse him. His office is nearly empty, containing only a weight bar and a box which he uses for a desk. Dean is in charge of getting rid of corpses. In the Episode "Stonervision", an FBI agent and a Drug Lord were killed in a gun battle behind Game-A-Vision near the dumpsters, at which point Larrity says "Put them in the usual spot." Dean proceeded to carry them into the dumpster that was right there. He also has a tattoo of a dolphin on his butt, though he was promised it was a shark. Dean also thinks that a helicopter is called a plane.

• Todd (voiced by Dana Snyder), a 33-year-old lonely designer who wears a viking helmet. He's obsessed with Dungeons & Dragons, thinks that aliens want to study his genitals, finds himself incredibly sexy, and considers himself Gameavision's greatest programmer. He is one of the more disturbing characters in the show, and his co-workers go out of their way to avoid him. He often becomes nude or pleasures himself while working at his computer and numerous conversations lead to him suggesting that he is having an incestuous relationship with his mother. He keeps a tiny, orange robot in his front pocket that compliments him; the 'bot 1st appeared in "Stonervision, but it wasn't responded to until "Super Prison Breakout", where Todd called it "[his]little and only friend". Todd's office looks like a stone dungeon, which he dubs "Todd's Lair". He likes nachos so much he once created a game about them, called "Nachotime". He has stated that the greatest day of his life was when his father died, so he and his mother could continue their "relationship". He's in great denial about his shortcomings; when Noshi from Protendo called him "a fat homosexual in horn-hat", Todd assumed them to be speaking of Black Steve. Todd is multilingual, able to speak fluent Vietnamese, German, and incomplete Japanese. In Larrity's Got Back, Todd married to Vietnamese mail-order bride named Ping who gave erotic massages to every male employee except Clarence (Who is gay), Jerry (Who is a square), and Benny (Who is ten). Todd frequently adopts the identity of his Dungeons and Dragons character, Pardue, to visit Gary Gygax and beg him for stat points.

• Black Steve (voiced by Tony Strickland), is Gameavision's accountant, and is shown to hate white people and most things white. He is known for shooting people and inanimate objects with his semi-automatic pistol. In a Q/A chat room with Adam De La Pena after the episode "The Takeover" he stated that Black Steve is not really his name and that it will be revealed later in the series.[1] A Jackie Robinson jersey hangs on his office wall and his wall paper is red, yellow, and green, like the national flag of the Republic of the Congo and other African nations. He is also lactose intolerant, as shown in "Stonervision". Despite his occupation, Black Steve has made a several games for the company such as "Honkey Killer", "Homey Pigeon", "Homey Pigeon 2", and "Cracker Barrel". Has rapped about white bitches.

• Benny (voiced by Dana Snyder), a 10 year old Korean child that Larrity adopted, probably illegally, into the company to test the video games. Benny is fed on a diet of cigarettes and pixie sticks to stunt his growth, which also makes him constantly hyperactive. Due to his small size he is able to crawl through vents and holes, often popping in whenever someone wonders where he is or when he is unexpected. He is a known smoker and often sells things to the company employees, such as caffeine and candy, and illegal goods, such as amphetamines, and is possibly a supplier of drugs to Dave. Benny thinks very highly of Larrity; however he doesn't show the same respect for Larrity's son Dean.

• Clarence (voiced by Lionel Tubbins) Gameavision's audio designer who sings almost all of his lines and is flamboyantly homosexual. He usually appears randomly and wears a light blue jumpsuit. He has shown an altruistic streak, such as offering his buttocks to Larrity for a transplant, but Larrity turned it down due to Clarence's sexual orientation. His office has a hot tub and a stage shaped like Prince's emblem. He says he would have sex with every male employee. Originally, he wouldn't have sex with Dean, but he changed his mind because, "that's how gay [he is]." He stated in Just One Of The Gamers that he first realized he was super-duper gay when "he kissed a man [named] Stan and something happened in [his] pants".

• Mary (voiced by Gretchen McNeil), Gameavision's sole female designer and the object of Jerry's affection, but she doesn't feel the same way. She is somewhat of a feminist because she doesn't get respect around the men of Gameavision except Jerry; she even had to dress up like a man to pitch her game ideas to Larrity.

• Clare (voiced by Suzanne Keilly), Gameavision's receptionist. She is self-centered and thinks she the prettiest girl at Gameavision, this is evident when she considered Wendy as the ugly one. Clare is also seen as the show's "whore," this is proven in "Super Prison Breakout" where she can be seen making out with Black Steve and asking if he'll "leave his wife". She mentioned having a nose job, even though none of the pixelated characters have visible noses. Clare is shown not to be very smart, although she likes "being treated like a lady" since she signed up for a conjugal visit in prison in "Super Prison Breakout" thinking it was teaching convicts English. She always wanted to own an S&M club; in a scene in "IPO", while trying to whip Mary, Clare accidentally called Mary "Daddy", suggesting that she has a problem with her father.

• Wendy Known as "the Hot Intern". She was first mentioned in "E.T.", when Mr. Larrity called Clare "ugly girl" over the intercom and she said that "Wendy's the ugly one", to which he responded "All pigs look the same from behind, darlin'". Wendy has only spoken twice, both times with Dave, regarding his offer for a date.

• Hank Summers, Benny's security guard who works for Mr. Larrity. He never speaks and is always seen with his arms folded and wearing army fatigues.

Video game-like look of the show

Other than the pixelated video game graphics of the show, there are a few attributes that make the show look like a video game.

• Start and End of the Show — After the opening theme, the screen flashes a "PLAYER 1 START!" screen. The show closes with a black "GAME OVER" screen
• Health — There is a Health bar in the top right-hand corner of the screen. The character it corresponds to constantly changes during the episodes. It consists of seven Heart Containers, as in The Legend of Zelda series. At certain times, it is replaced by other things, including a Weapon indicator when a character holds something.
• Point Counter — There is a point counter in the top left-hand corner of the screen. Points are randomly given to and taken from the counter throughout the episodes. To date, the high score on the point counter is 28,620 points.
• "Code Monkeys" bottom bar — The Bottom of the screen is occupied by a large blue bar that usually contains the show's title. At certain times, it is replaced by other things to match events. In later episodes it acts like its alive by reacting to what people

say or do like when jerry stated he liked spaghetti and it agreedor when it said "Koreans are funny" to Benny.

• Pause screen — Before a commercial break, a small box appears in the middle of the screen that freezes the show. There are some occasions where it is replaced: for example, when Dave is leaving Apple in The Woz, a box appears that reads "An error has occurred. Please wait while Code Monkeys reboots".
• Game Over Screen - When a main character's health bar depletes, a game over screen pops up. The box gives the character a choice to come back or not. Jerry is the only character to whom this has happened so far.
• Code Monkeys Cartridge - At the climax of the ninth episode of season one ("Todd loses his Mind") the picture fades and shifts in the style of graphical glitches as the "game" crashes. The perspective then moves "back" out of the TV screen to show a television set and a console hooked up to it. From the device colored much like a Nintendo GameCube but shaped more like a Super Nintendo protudes a big cartridge that resembles the SNES game cartridges (although being much larger akin the NES cartridges) and bears a big "Code Monkeys" picture on it's front. Paradoxically the "Code Monkeys" game is apparently a product of Gameavision. The anonymous audience member then pushes one of the buttons of the device frenetically (apparently a Reset switch) and eventually removes the cartridge. He then moves on to blow air onto the contact pins of the cartridge (a common necessity for cartridge games stored outside their boxes to remove dust and other particles in order to make the game work properly). Upon re-insterting the cartridge the episode takes off from the "Player 1 Start!"-screen thereby suggesting that the "game" has to be played all over again. This is imitates the nature of older video games (in whose 8bit style the show is realized) which often had to be completed in one sitting.

Locations

• GameaVision - The show's chief gaming company and main location. It's name and logo are references to Activision.

• Bellecovision - GameaVision's 1st rival. Dave describes it as "the ass of the gaming business" or "where awesomeness goes to die". One of their buildings was attacked in E.T.. The company is still in operation apparently, as they are shown to still be selling games in Stonervision. Its name is a reference to Colecovision. Bellecovision is shown to be very vicious, even having a slave driver.

• Protendo - Japanese video game company. Tried to merge with GameaVision in "The Take Over". Its name is a play on Nintendo. Protendo is also one of GameaVision's rivals.

• Stonervision - Dave and Jerry's game company. It only released one game, and was funded by a drug lord. Its name was a reference to Dave's frequent use of marijuana. Stonervision went out of business due to the expremely poor sales of its only released game.

• The Purple Nipple - A strip club that Dave frequently visits. The name is most likely a variation of the schoolyard bullying technique "The Titty Twister" which results in "Purple Nipples".

• The Branded Calf - A country style steakhouse. It was seen in Just One Of The Gamers as a staff party location.

• Jerry's House - The only employee's house to be seen as of late. In IPO it was seen filled with hookers and chinese organ theives. It was also seen that Jerry possibly drives a DeLorean that highly resembles the one seen in the Back to the Future movie series.

Featured games

Main article: Games featured on Code Monkeys

Throughout the series, the GameaVision staff always references or creates games on the show. Some of the games can be found on the GameaVision website.

Episode list

EP#	Prod. code	Title	Airdate
1	101	"The Woz"	July 11, 2007
The Gameavision staff's lives are turned around when CEO Steve Wozniak (providing his own voice) sells out to a crazy oil tycoon.
2	102	"E.T."	July 11, 2007
Steven Spielberg sells the rights to make the E.T. video game to Gameavision. Based on E.T. for Atari 2600.
3	103	"Stonervision"	July 18, 2007
Dave and Jerry quit Gameavision to start their own company with funding from a drug lord, Tony Dakota. Special Appearance by Nolan Bushnell.
4	104	"Super Prison Breakout"	July 25, 2007
Mr. Larrity sends the Gameavision staff to visit Rapeville State Pen after he learns that one of his employees has stolen some of his money. Guest starring Matt Hullum, Joel Heyman and Burnie Burns of Red vs. Blue
5	105	"Just One Of The Gamers"	August 1, 2007
Mary gets an idea on how to move ahead after having another game idea shot down; guest star David Jaffe as himself. Jerry develops a gay crush on Mitch, who is Mary in disguise.
6	106	"The Take Over"	August 8, 2007
The staff scrambles to save their jobs when Gameavision is sold to a Japanese video game company.
7	107	"Larrity's Got Back"	August 15, 2007
Larrity is diagnosed with "butthole cancer", and is in need of an ass transplant.
8	108	"IPO"	August 29, 2007
The staff pursue their wildest dreams when GameAvision's IPO makes them instant millionaires.
9	109	"Todd Loses His Mind"	September 5, 2007
Todd's Dungeons and Dragons inspired alter ego, Pardue, exacts his revenge on Larrity. Gary Gygax, creator of Dungeons & Dragons, guest stars.
10	110	"Third Reich's the Charm"	September 12, 2007
Dave pitches a game and gets GameAVision mixed up with the Hitler family.

Trivia

• Each episode begins with a gag disclaimer, that is unique to every episode.

• Dave has a poster on his wall of the popular Canadian rock band Rush.

• There is a mysterious character on the show who appears in meetings at the far right of the table. Not much is known of him other then he is an asian male who has not yet spoken during the show. This character only appears when Black Steve is not at the meetings, which leads one to believe that this mysterious Asian character works in the accounting department with Black Steve.

File:Rcr-cmsimilarity.PNG

River City Ransom/Code Monkeys similarity examples

• Some of sprites used for the characters have many similarities to character sprites seen in the NES game River City Ransom, although the proportions are different. The slave driver in Bellecovision also bears a resemblance to the Simon Belmont sprite from the original Castlevania. In the show's first episode, visual allusions to Mega Man, and Super Mario Brothers.

• Currently, there are two playable games on G4's official web site for the program, "2 Card Monte", which cannot be won, and "HangMan", which contains fewer than 10 words.

• In, "The Woz," Dave tries to convince many of the Gameavision employees to stay at Gameavision. He used examples of people who would eventually leave their group, such as, "Would David Lee Roth leave Van Halen?"

• In, "Stonervision" Dave and Jerry's investor is a drug lord named Tony Dakota. He is a spoof of Tony Montana from the movie Scarface.

• On the Code Monkeys official website, there are job posts. The 1st one says that Gameavision needs a secretary, only females need apply. The next job is being Todd's assistant. They must have 2 years experience, must like nachos and Dungeons & Dragons. The 3rd job is being the corporate ass kisser. The person must do whatever Mr. Larrity says, even kill. The pay is $5 an hour. The final job is being Dave's assistant. The person will get no pay, and will not get credit for programming the game.

• In the Episode ET a bottle of Mountain Dew and a can of Tab can be seen on Dave and Jerry's desk. This is a reference to the show's theme song, as one of the lines of the chorus is "Code Monkey like Tab and Mountain Dew".

• In the Episode ET Gameavisions ET game is loosely based on the real ET movie game for the Atari 2600. It was also a failure.

• Dave's shirt has a crude version of the Gameavision logo.

• In "The Take Over", when the logo for "Eating Warrior" is briefly shown, it is designed to look like the logo for another G4 show, Ninja Warrior which is called Sasuke in Japan.

• In "The Take Over", when Dave begins his 1st battle at the Nudie Bar in Food Warrior, the arena was changed to resemble the Kitchen Stadium from the original Iron Chef series in Japan. In Dave's 2nd Food Warrior battle, the new arena is based from the movie Fight Club, which starred Brad Pitt and Edward Norton.

• In, "The Take Over" Peter Pepper from the game Burgertime is seen during both eating competitions.

• In "The Take Over", the character of the nameless old man was a spoof of Mr. Miyagi from The Karate Kid franchise.

• In "The Take Over", the character of Kobatashi was a spoof of Takeru Kobayashi, a competitive eater.

• In "The Take Over", there is a homage to Godzilla and Mothra.

• In "Todd loses his mind", there is a homage to Paulie Walnuts, and Silvio Dante, from The Sopranos. They play as mobsters, trying to rough up Benny.

External links

• Gameavision
• G4's Press Release
• Code Monkeys Announced
• G4TV's Adam de la Pena Chat Transcript