ReBoot is a Canadian animated television series created by Gavin Blair, Ian Pearson, Phil Mitchell, and John Grace, with the visuals designed by Brendan McCarthy after an initial attempt by Ian Gibson. It was produced by Vancouver-based Mainframe Entertainment, Alliance Entertainment and BLT Productions; and originally aired on YTV from 1994 until 2001. It is notable for being one of the first made-for-television CGI series.
Overview
The show follows the adventures of a Guardian named Bob and his companions Enzo and Dot Matrix within the computer system world of Mainframe as they work to keep it safe from the viruses known as Megabyte and Hexadecimal, in addition to other threats. Recurring plot threads include the User loading a game into the system, manifesting as an electrical violet cube lowered onto part of the city. Anyone trapped inside become NPCs and have the chance to play against the User. If the User wins, the area is destroyed (a.k.a. nullified) and the residents are reduced to leech-like creatures called Nulls. The setting of the inner world of a computer system, known by its inhabitants as Mainframe, was deliberately chosen due to technological constraints at the time, as the fictional computer world allowed for blocky-looking models and mechanical animation.Hetherington, Janet L. "As Mainframe's technology reaches adolescence, there's a 'ReBoot' Renaissance". Animation Magazine #59. Vol. 11, Issue 8, September 1997.
Cast and characters Bob (voiced by Michael Benyaer in seasons 1 and 2 and late season 4, Ian James Corlett in seasons 3 and 4) is Guardian 452 and the defender of Mainframe from both internal and external threats. Bob is often criticized by other Guardians for his unorthodox views regarding viruses: unlike other Guardians, who believe that viruses should simply be deleted on sight. Bob theorizes that viruses can be reprogrammed to live as Sprites, citing Hexadecimal as proof of his theories. Despite the difference in their personalities, he and Dot developed romantic tension that results them becoming a couple at the end of Season 3. Bob is equipped with a Guardian Keytool, "Glitch", which can transform into any device with a voice command. Dot (voiced by Kathleen Barr) is the daughter of leading Mainframe scientist Welman Matrix, to whom she was an assistant when she was a teenager. Now an adult and proprietor of Dot's Diner, Dot acts as Enzo's surrogate parent and guardian since the loss of their father, with their mother's fate being unknown. She takes over as in the third season. Enzo (voiced by Jesse Moss for the first ten episodes of Season 1, Matthew Sinclair for the final three episodes of Season 1 and the entirety of Season 2, Christopher Gray for the first four episodes of Season 3, and Danny McKinnon in a flashback during Season 4) is Dot's little brother, who hero-worships Bob and intends to become a Guardian. To protect himself from deletion in the third season, Enzo leaves Mainframe and begins traveling between games, rapidly aging into a violent and cynical adult, taking on the mononym Matrix (voiced by Paul Dobson). Unlike many other characters, Enzo's name is not a reference to computer terminology. Frisket is a robotic dog who is Enzo's pet and acts in a threatening manner toward everyone other than Enzo and AndrAIa, with a particular dislike of Bob. Frisket has enhanced strength, comparable to that of Megabyte, being known to catch cannonballs and ABCs in his teeth. Megabyte (voiced by Tony Jay) – A "command and conquer, and infectious" computer virus. Megabyte is an "Order Virus".Reboot S03E04 Game Over: approx 1min 23 seconds after opening sequence He came from the virus known as Kilobyte and when merged with his sister Hexadecimal, they form an even more powerful virus called Gigabyte. Megabyte commands his own army of binomes, and is quite strong, and capable of separating his top half from his lower half whenever he needs to. Hexadecimal (voiced by Shirley Milliner) – Megabyte's sister is a "chaotic" computer virus whose face is represented by a series of masks, each portraying a different emotion. She possesses incredible energy manipulating powers and telekinetic abilities. She is also shown to be able to fly on her own and controls the Nulls of Mainframe. Phong (voiced by Michael Donovan) – The original of Mainframe. Phong serves as a mentor and adviser to its inhabitants and works with Bob in defence of the system. Mouse (voiced by Louise Vallance) – A freelance hacker who is mentioned briefly before her first appearance. Mouse works for Megabyte in a one-shot early in the season, but switches sides to join Dot and Enzo. Together they defend Mainframe when Bob is trapped in "The Web". AndrAIa (voiced by Andrea Libman as a child, Sharon Alexander as an adult) is a copy of a Game Sprite who met Enzo in an undersea-themed game and fell in love with him at "first sight." AndrAIa piggy-backed her icon on Enzo's, allowing her to escape the game and stay in Mainframe with Enzo while her original self remained in the game. Her name is pronounced like "Andrea". Hack (voiced by Phil Hayes in season one, Scott McNeil in season two) and Slash (voiced by Garry Chalk) – Megabyte's henchmen. During the third season, they switch sides and join the side of Mainframe. Mike the TV (voiced by Michael Donovan) – A walking television that speaks in a commercial narration-like voice. Ray Tracer (voiced by Donal Gibson) – A web surfer that helps Matrix and Bob return to Mainframe, and becomes romantically linked to Mouse. Welman Matrix (voiced by Dale Wilson)– A scientist and father of Dot and Enzo Matrix. He designed a gateway device that would have allowed Mainframers to connect to outside Systems. Welman's experiment backfired due to his gateway pinging Gigabyte and warping him into Mainframe. The resulting explosion transformed Welman into a Null, split Gigabyte into Hexadecimal and Megabyte, and destroyed Mainframe's sister city. As a Null, Welman was taken in by Megabyte, who dubbed him Nibbles.
Voice cast Bob - Michael Benyaer (seasons 1, 2 and 4), Ian James Corlett (seasons 3 and 4) Dot Matrix, Princess Bula, System Voice – Kathleen Barr Enzo Matrix (young) – Jesse Moss (season 1), Matthew Sinclair (seasons 1 and 2), Christopher Gray (season 3), Danny McKinnon (season 4 (flashback)) Welman Matrix – Dale Wilson Matrix (adult Enzo Matrix) – Paul Dobson Enzo Matrix (Little Enzo) – Christopher Gray (season 3), Giacomo Baessato (season 4) Megabyte – Tony Jay Hexadecimal – Shirley Milliner AndrAIa (young) – Andrea Libman AndrAIa (adult) – Sharon Alexander Phong, Mike the TV, Cecil, Al – Michael Donovan Mouse, Rocky the Raccoon – Stevie Vallance Ray Tracer – Donal Gibson Captain Capacitor, Old Man Pearson – Long John Baldry Slash, Turbo, Mr. Mitchell, Herr Doktor, Cyrus, Al's Waiter (front counter) – Garry Chalk Hack (seasons 1 and 2) – Phil Hayes Hack (seasons 2 and 4), Specky, Praying Mantis Virus – Scott McNeil Daemon – Colombe Demers Daecon – Richard Newman Killabyte, Gigabyte – Blu Mankuma Gigagirl, Copygirl – Venus Terzo Spectral Leader – David Kaye Hue Branch – Christopher Gaze Lens – Don Brown Maxine – Janyse Jaud Additional Voices – Brad Bent
Production Development ReBoot was initially conceived in 1984 by the British creative collective The Hub, made up of John Grace, Ian Pearson, Gavin Blair and Phil Mitchell. After about eight years of development, Pearson, Blair and Mitchell moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, to produce the series. Pearson and Blair by this time had created some of the first widely seen CGI characters, in the Dire Straits music video for "Money for Nothing". However, technology was not yet advanced enough to make the show in the desired way. 3D animation tests began in earnest in 1990 and ReBoot had achieved its detailed look by 1991. Production continued on future episodes and the show aired in 1994 after enough episodes had been produced. This was a painstaking process, as no other company had at this time worked on a 3D animation project of this scale, and the software used was new to all in the company.
ReBoot was created on Silicon Graphics workstations using Softimage Creative Environment software.
Network censorship The show's early jokes at the expense of Board of Standards and Practices (BS&P) came from frustration encountered by the show's makers brought about by an abundance of script and editing changes that were imposed upon Mainframe before episodes were allowed to air. These changes were all aimed at making the show "appropriate" for kids, and to prevent even the slightest appearance of "inappropriate" content, imitable violence or sexuality.
The character Dot was considered too sexualized by the BS&P even though she was "never one to expose much cleavage" so the animators were forced to make her breasts less curvy and form them into a lumpy "monobreast", as lightly referred to by the staff. However, starting with season three, after severing ties with ABC, the "monobreasts" of all adult female characters were replaced with more anatomically correct versions. In another case, the word "hockey", as well as the sport itself, was cut in some countries as it was supposedly used as a vulgar slang term there. In the episode "Talent Night", one scene of Dot giving her brother Enzo "a sisterly kiss on the chin" was cut due to BS&P's fear of promoting incest, an insinuation which Pearson described as "one of the sickest things I've heard."
Episodes
Season 1 (1994–95) Each installment of the first season was a self-contained episode except for the two-part finale. When the User loads a game, a game cube drops on a random location in Mainframe, sealing it off from the rest of the system and turning it into a gamescape. Bob frequently enters the games, reboots to become a game character, and fights the User's character to save the sector. If the User wins a game, the sector the cube fell in is destroyed, and the sprites and binomes who were caught within are turned into energy-draining, worm-like parasites called nulls. When this happens, they are said to be "nullified".
In the U.S., the show was aired on the ABC Network and had to comply with Broadcast Standards and Practices. This was lampooned in "Talent Night", where almost every act for Enzo's party is banned by Prog Censor Emma See and the Small Town Binomes sing their hit BSnP ("It's fun to play/In a non-violent way").
Season 2 (1995–96) The second season was initially as episodic as the first but later featured an extended story arc that began with the season's fifth episode, "Painted Windows". The arc revealed that Hexadecimal and Megabyte are siblings, and introduced an external threat to Mainframe: the Web, which was set up in fearful mentions in "High Code" and "Painted Windows". The sixth episode, "AndrAIa", also saw a new character in the titular AndrAIa join the cast. Creator Gavin Blair has said the move to a longer arc came from "shrugging off the shackles of ABC and their BS&P" after being cancelled. The last episode would reveal Megabyte's ships were called ABCs.