, and Calvin, Hobbes and Andy are transmitted into his brain to repair the fault.Sherman is in his lab, working on something and ranting about a helium shortage, when Andy comes down to give him lunch, only to find that something has gone wrong. Sherman gets Calvin and Hobbes, who are working on the former's math homework, to see the problem: Socrates' transmitter chip has merged with his mind, becoming a part of his consciousness. This is bad, since it renders the chip worthless and has the chance of erasing Socrates' personality, leaving him an Empty Shell.
To fix it, however, they must go into Socrates' mind, a prospect the others find terrifying. Nonetheless, they teleport him over, knock him out with a chewy tablet, and hook up some electrodes to his head. Calvin gets a tracker to find the chip, being warned that the chip will have altered his mind to disguise itself, making it a sort of alternate dimension, and with that he, Hobbes, and Andy arrive inside the chip.
Socrates' mind is a strange, multicolored place with various strange creatures, and not a few paces in the group is accosted by Socrates' happiness, who quickly proves to be both useful and annoying. He tells them that there are two areas in his mind: the strange place they're in, and something beyond a door marked "AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY" that they're not allowed to see.
Walking on, the group encounters a graveyard, showing the graves of Anger and Fear. Calvin is confused - he has shown anger and fear in the past, so why would they be dead? The tombstone for Sanity, however, is not a surprise. They venture onwards, encountering laughing frogs, miniature Socrates clones, and the scheming side of Socrates misleading them before finding Socrates' noble side, who gladly guides them to a horribly bright light, where they find the chip.
Unfortunately, in the light is yet another Socrates - a much more hostile one, who is entirely black and sports red eyes, forcing them to get in and start repairing the chip - or rather, get the chip and his mind to be separate once more. Before this happens, though, Calvin stops the dark one long enough to talk with him - he was the first mental avatar, representing all his darkness (paranoia, fear, negativity, etc.), and made the others mental avatars so he could rule over them. He's the only one who knows about the chip, and is trying to use its fault to take over his mind.
Of course, Hobbes manages to stop his attack with a well-timed pounce, reasoning that Socrates isn't as in touch with his feline nature, and gets Calvin and Andy to start repairing the chip. Andy finds out that the fault was just a need for a software upgrade, which Sherman (outside Socrates' mind) pulls off by borrowing bits of older software to trick the computer into thinking it's a real update.
It works, and the light dissipates to reveal a colorful field, causing the dark Socrates to fade into smoke. With the chip now separated from Socrates' mind, the world inside becomes unstable, with winds blowing and everything fading. The trio escape and find a link home (represented by a space capsule), but Calvin pauses for a bit to point out the forbidden door to Hobbes - it's not fading with the rest of the world..
- "The metaphysical representation of something no one can see. The avatar of the door will eventually go, but its solidity suggests that whatever it is, it's permanent."
With that, Andy prompts them to get in the capsule, and they gladly oblige. Socrates wakes up, the others engage in some dialogue covering up what they really did (and revealing that they had a bet on when he'd wake up, the money from which was taken from Socrates himself), and Socrates is beamed home. Calvin and Hobbes then return home to resume working on the former's math homework.
Tropes:
- Absurdly Bright Light: One coats the chip, and hides Socrates' dark side.
- Achilles' Heel: Hobbes outright says the trope name when he pounces on the dark Socrates.
- Battle in the Center of the Mind: Downplayed - the main emphasis of Hobbes' fight against the dark Socrates is Calvin and Andy trying to upgrade the chip.
- Bedsheet Ladder: Used by Calvin and Hobbes to get out of their room.
- Blatant Lies: Socrates' scheming side claims that he's actually his calmness.
- Call-Back: After meeting Socrates' noble side, Andy remarks "That explains why he's so short," a reference to a remark the good side of Calvin got in the original strip.
- Cloudcuckooland: Unsurprisingly, Socrates' mind is this.
- Continuity Nod: Hobbes questions why the chip would malfunction, since in "The Transmitter Conspiracy" it was upgraded to automatically upgrade.
- Dark Is Evil: The dark Socrates, naturally.
- Dastardly Whiplash: Socrates' scheming side dresses as this, and Hobbes lampshades it:"[You must be Socrates' scheming side] because you look like a clichéd version of a movie style villain."
- Evil Laugh: Socrates' scheming side does this after misleading the group.
- Foreshadowing: Whatever that door means, it's sure to come up again later.
- Finger-Tenting: Socrates' scheming side does this after misleading the group.
- For Science!: Andy tells Socrates this as a reason for taking the yellow tablet.
- Good Hurts Evil: The bright colors of the field the Absurdly Bright Light was hiding causes the dark Socrates to dissipate.
- Heroic Build: Socrates' noble side.
- Involuntary Battle to the Death: Remarked upon, as Socrates plans on forcing two people to fight to the death with Slinkies as their only weapon.
- Journey to the Center of the Mind: The episode's main plot.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: The bright light inflicts this on the Socrates aspects.
- Literal Split Personality: All of the aspects of Socrates' personality are portrayed like this.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: The dark Socrates has these.
- Shout-Out: Sherman gets concerned about a worldwide helium shortage thanks to The Daily Show.
- The manner in which Socrates describes the changing taste of the tablet is very similar to Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory - only he passes out when he reaches blueberry.
- Calvin calls the Literal Split Personalities "the Tawdry Quirks Come to Life".
- The dark Socrates shouts "HEEEEEEEERE'S CRATESO!"
- After the dark Socrates dissipates, Andy remarks "What a world, what a world."
- Split-Personality Takeover: The dark Socrates tries this.
- Twisted Echo Cut:Calvin: You borrowed bits of that speech from something, didn't you? I don't know what, but you did.
Sherman: I borrowed bits from an old software. I should be able to trick the chip's systems into thinking it's an all-new upgrade.
