If you read my earlier post, I mentioned I was a big fan of cartoons as a kid. Growing up in Canada, my best options for cartoons were The Family Channel, Teletoon, YTV and Fox (saturday mornings) and a few others (PBS, The WB). Since most of these channels featured Canadian content, I was exposed to a show I deeply fell in love with.
That show, is ReBoot
Reboot was a very unique show at the time (first aired in 1994). The plot took place inside a computer or what the characters called “mainframe”. The cast was lead by Bob, who was known as a “guardian” and protected mainframe (get to that soon). Bob was followed by brother and sister duo Dot and Enzo Matrix. Dot owns a local diner and Enzo idolizes Bob. The rest of the cast is filled out by Enzo’s dog Frisket, the guru and leader figure of Mainframe Phong and the annoying Mike the TV, who is exactly what he sounds like. Most of the minor characters are 1’s and 0’s (barcode, computer code).
Bob, Dot, Enzo and Frisket
Who was Bob protecting Mainframe from? There were two main baddies in the show who appeared regularly. The first being Megabyte. Megabyte is the big bad for most of the series. He is known as a “virus” and is constantly trying to take over and destroy Mainframe. He also has a twin sister and the other main villain, Hexadecimal. She is very strange and terrifying (as least as a kid). While Megabyte is your typical deep voice, controlling villain (his robotic cronies Hack and Slash are a source of comic relief and usually always failed), Hexadecimal’s ambitions weren’t always clear (that and she seemed to have multiple personalities). These two weren’t the only source of drama in Mainframe, there were also the “games”.
Hexadecimal and Megabyte
The games were giant purple cubes that would descend form the sky (accompanied by a voice alerting the inhabitants of its arrival) and were sent by the “user”. The people of mainframe would have to rush to these games before they landed and play against the user in an attempt to beat them. If they didn’t play the game, the user would win and Mainframe would experience some sort of destruction (so losing multiple games would eventually destroy the whole city). If someone from Mainframe played the game and lost, they would turn into a sort of worm creature for life. So basically, the people of Mainframe had to play the game and always win! Pretty heavy stuff when you think about it. Usually these games were played by Bob, Enzo and Dot (and sometimes minor characters) and would feature a variety of game types. This is where “ReBoot” comes in. ReBoot is what the characters do when they enter the game to become a game character. They tap an emblem on their body (everyone has one), yell “ReBoot!” and turn into a game character. I loved when they entered the games as a kid. Usually it spiced things up in the episode, always provided a sense of thrill and urgency and usually the games parodied something from the real world.
Game Cube
Typically, the first season revolves around the Bob and the good guys defeating these threats. The show really opens up the world after season 1, and leads to some awesome new stories and characters. I should mention the animation of the show was computer generated and was the first of its kind. Mind you, this was very early computer generated graphics and looks kinda clunky today. Don’t let that distract you though, because it is really the story and characters that make the show awesome (and the animation does improve over the years). The humour is excellent, there are so many references to both computer lingo and pop culture and the opening theme is very memorable and sets the tone instantly. The show was also Canadian! It was made by Mainframe Entertainment, who also made another show I adored as a kid in Beast Wars (transformers spinoff and another topic I may write about someday).
Game styled around Pokemon is an example of the type of games they fought in.
There is so much to like about this unique show and I can’t recommend it enough. The good thing is, the whole show is out on DVD and can be easily bought. The one disappointing thing about the show is that it never got a solid conclusion. It ends with a HUGE cliffhanger and didn’t get resolved because of cancellation. Ever since the show ended, there have been comics made (I haven’t read them yet) and lots of comments/rumours about the show coming back in either movie or T.V form. Whatever the case, I fully recommend anyone to check it out and experience a wholly unique kids show.
The Future of ReBoot?!?
Links for more ReBoot content:
Jarthurdoyle 