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IT Crowd DVD has subtitles in leet

Cory Doctorow at 3:06 pm Wed, Nov 15, 2006

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The IT Crowd DVDs have just shipped -- with subtitles in leet! The IT Crowd is a convulsively funny British TV show about sysadmins, created by Graham Linehan, who is best known for writing the classic show Father Ted.

The IT Crowd's first six episodes ran last year on Channel 4, and was widely shared online, resulting in major commercial success, critical acclaim, and a renewed contract for another season of the show.

I was privileged to consult a little on the show, and I was able to connect Graham with uber-geek Yoz Grahame, who suggested that the disc carry subtitles in leet (or 1337), the letter/number substitution code used by gamers, hackers and other net-dwellers.

The disc is region-locked to Europe, but I hear that a US version is coming shortly. Link (Thanks, Damien!)

See also The IT Crowd -- the geek comedy I've been waiting for all my life

Update: Yoz sez, "The L33T subtitles aren't just a straight translation into leetspeak - they feature tons of geek references including Zork, Counter-Strike, B3TA, MC Frontalot and lots more. They were cooked up by five of us - Tim Browse, Sean Solle, Jim Lynn, Shimon Young and me. The superb retrographics on the DVD, however, were put together by the geniuses at Framestore CFC."

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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