ReBoot 

In the inner computer world of Mainframe, a guardian program sprite and his friends defend the system from threats from viruses and the User.

Creators:

Gavin Blair, John Grace, Philip Mitchell

Stars:

Michael Donovan, Kathleen Barr, Garry Chalk

3 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Complete series cast summary:
Michael Donovan	...	Phong / ... 47 episodes, 1994-2001
Kathleen Barr	...	Dot Matrix / ... 42 episodes, 1994-2001
Garry Chalk	...	Slash / ... 36 episodes, 1994-2001
Michael Benyaer	...	Bob / ... 29 episodes, 1994-2001
Scott McNeil	...	Hack / ... 27 episodes, 1995-2001
Tony Jay	...	Megabyte 26 episodes, 1994-2001
Stevie Vallance	...	Mouse / ... 21 episodes, 1994-2001
Sharon Alexander	...	AndrAIa / ... 20 episodes, 1997-2001
Paul Dobson	...	Matrix / ... 20 episodes, 1997-2001
Shirley Millner	...	Hexadecimal 20 episodes, 1994-2001

Storyline

The extraordinary adventures of life within a computer, as depicted in one of the world's first totally-computer-generated series. The riotous humour, infinitely-variable action and scenery, and intelligent use of every computer reference known, combine to produce a stunning universe where good constantly fights the forces of evil. Dot Matrix and her brother Enzo, plus thousands of friendly binomes, live in Mainframe, which is plagued by viruses Megabyte and sister strain Hexadecimal. Guardian Bob is sent from the Net to protect them, and soon makes it his home. Together, they must prevent Megabyte from taking control of all the systems. As an added complication, games being played by the mystical User invade the system regularly, and must be defeated, or else portions of the city are laid waste... This gives us a chance to see every genre of video-game ever conceived, from the point of view of the characters! When Megabyte finally manages to banish Bob, Enzo takes over as the city's ...

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Plot Keywords:

hoverboard | flying car | robot | hologram | video game reference | 

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Genres:

Animation | Action | Adventure | Comedy | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Certificate:

TV-Y7

Details

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 September 1994 (USA)

Also Known As:

Mégabogues

Company Credits

Production Co:

Alliance Communications Corporation, BLT Productions, Claster Television Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min (47 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Originally there was going to be a spin-off learning series with the binomes as the character. It never went into production, however a concept art sheet can be seen in the Reboot Art Book.

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Goofs

It is established early on that simulated time is 10,000 times faster than real time, as the characters use the unit nanosecond like we use the second. Yet, in the one area where the characters interact with the Users (i.e, humans), the games, time passes at a much faster pace while it should be much, much slower.

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Quotes

Megabyte: You're all mine now.

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Crazy Credits

ReBoot: Icons (1997) has a new intro sequence when Enzo Matrix grows up and becomes the Mad Max like renegade Matrix.

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Alternate Versions

Several episodes were changed for their original U.S. airings. In "The TIFF", when Dot punches Bob, there is normally a loud smack noise. ABC replaced this with Bob saying "ouch!" "Web World War" was changed significantly, with many small parts cut out, including the destruction of Dot's Diner. When Cartoon Network aired "Mousetrap" in April '99, they cut out the entire party sequence due to the implied alcoholic intake, though a similar scene in "End Prog" was left intact.

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Connections

Spin-off Reboot (1998)

User Reviews

Smart, action-packed, and a lot of the time, pretty hilarious!

ReBoot takes place in the city of Mainframe, representing the inside of a computer. The characters' speech reflects this with words and expressions like: random (crazy), basic (stupid), deleted or nullified (killed), and there was a time Enzo realized he should've "copied and pasted the truth"! Characters include binomes (citizens shaped like numbers, usually 1s and 0s), sprites (more human-like) and viruses (usually villains).

It features many inside jokes and references from Indiana Jones to Sailor Moon. In one episode, after the disappearance of several people, Fax Modem and Data Nully come to investigate (Fox Mulder and Dana Scully from The X-Files. Gillian Anderson actually voiced the latter). There is also a brief scene of Modem deciding between postcards for Los Angeles and Vancouver, mirroring David Duchovny's involvement in moving X-Files production from Vancouver to L.A. (ReBoot is produced by Vancouver's Mainframe Entertainment). Another local reference was a truck with "Two Small Sprites with Big CPUs" printed on the side. I'm told there is a local Vancouver moving company called "Two Small Men with Big Hearts".

An important part of the show is the games, which appear as cubes dropped from above by "the user". If characters enter these games to play against the user, losing means deletion for them and damage for the city. Genres in the games reflect the wide range of real-life video games and spoof everything from Mad Max to Evil Dead ("Malicious Corpses") to Austin Powers!

I particularly enjoyed the references to "BS'nP" that showed up a few times. This is a facetious acronym for ABC's "Broadcast Standards & Practices". Examples include Enzo firing a rocket launcher only to find it fires an inflatable raft with "BSnP approved" stamped on the side; and the Small Town Binomes (Village People) performing "Living with BSnP" ("It's fun to play in the non-violent way!"). Originally seen on ABC and YTV, it was cancelled by the former after the 2nd season. YTV continued to air the show (still does as of this writing!) and, being free from ABC's BS&P censorship, ReBoot could now deal with more mature themes. This was an improvement in the eyes of many. Following a hiatus, the 3rd season also showed a dramatic change in the graphical quality (more detail, shadows, etc.), due to advances in technology.

Another long hiatus followed the 3rd season but ReBoot came back with two feature-length movies: Daemon Rising and My Two Bobs (or 8 new episodes). The second ended with a cliff-hanger so I'm hopeful we haven't seen the last of ReBoot.