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.

Cast and characters

The main characters included:

  • Bob – Guardian  452. He acts as the Guardian of Mainframe.
  • Phong – The original of Mainframe. Phong serves as a mentor and adviser to its inhabitants and works with Bob in defence of the system.
  • Dot Matrix – Initially owns a local diner and many other "businesses" (as seen at the end of the third episode of the first season). She takes over as in the third season.
  • Enzo Matrix – Dot's younger brother who idolized Bob as a hero. Enzo later grows up to become the renegade simply known as Matrix. Enzo's name is not a reference to computer terminology but instead the real-world Italian name "Enzo", as suggested to the co-creators by Chris Brough.
  • Frisket – A red and yellow dog. He is feral, incredibly strong, and only listens to Enzo.
  • AndrAIa – A game sprite and friend (and later girlfriend) of Enzo introduced in the episode named after her. She came from a 'Treasure of Atlantis' game and as such wears many seashells on her outfit. The "AI" in her name refers to artificial intelligence.
  • Megabyte (Gigabyte) – A "command and conquer, and infectious" computer virus. Megabyte is an "Order Virus". 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 – 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. During the third season, they switch sides and join the side of Mainframe.
  • Ray Tracer – A web surfer that helps Matrix and Bob return to Mainframe, and becomes romantically linked to Mouse.
  • Mike the TV – A walking television that aids and hinders the heroes. Mike the TV is shown speaking in a commercial narration-like voice.

Voice cast

  • Bob (seasons 1, 2 and 4 and Second Bob in season 4) – Michael Benyaer
  • Bob (season 3), Glitch Bob and Rob Cursor – Ian James Corlett
  • 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 (copy) – Christopher Gray (season 3), Giacomo Baessato (season 4)
  • Megabyte – Tony Jay
  • Hexadecimal – Shirley Millner
  • 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." The last episode would reveal Megabyte's ships were called ABCs.

alt=The original version of Glitch|thumb|Glitch - Guardian Bob's keytool

A creature from the Web entered Mainframe from Hexadecimal's looking glass (which was shattered by Mike the TV), bonding with her. Mainframe's nulls reacted spontaneously and covered her to form a monster named Nullzilla, which was defeated and neutralized by the protectors of Mainframe. The Web creature located Megabyte, took him over and forced him to merge with Hexadecimal, forming a next-gen super-virus called Gigabyte. Gigabyte was eventually neutralized as well, but the Web creature escaped into the bowels of Mainframe, where it began stealing energy to stay alive and grow. Mouse, a mercenary and old friend of Bob's, helped to find the Web Creature, but was almost destroyed by a bomb set by her employer, Turbo. The explosion created a "tear" (an unstable energy-based anomaly) which the Web creature used to create a portal to the Web. The protectors of Mainframe had to team up with Megabyte and Hexadecimal to close the portal. An army of CPU police clashed with an invasion of creatures from the Web. In the midst of the chaos, Megabyte betrayed the alliance (with the CPUs calling the ABCs "treacherous dogs!"), crushing Bob's keytool, Glitch, and sending him into the Web portal before closing it.

Season 3 (1997–98)

Initially, Mainframe thought they would follow up the second season with a film. The treatment was called Terabyte Rising and was to include flashbacks to the destruction of Mainframe's Twin City. This was dropped but much of it would be used for the fourth season. The following plan was to produce 30-minute episodes. These would be edited down to 21 minutes for broadcast and the extra scenes added to the film versions for DVD release. Against the writer's wishes, these scenes were cut from the scripts. After this decision was made, the eighth episode was rewritten to end on a cliffhanger.

In other media

Video game

In 1998, a video game was released based on the TV series, developed and published by EA for the PlayStation. The game received mixed reviews from critics.

Webcomic

Following its acquisition by the Rainmaker Income Fund in 2006, Mainframe Entertainment was renamed Rainmaker Animation. In 2007, Rainmaker announced plans to create a trilogy of ReBoot films with illustrator/animator Daniel Allen as the lead character designer. In conjunction with the website Zeroes2Heroes, Rainmaker announced an intention to allow fans greater access to the development of the film version's plans and also to the development of a ReBoot webcomic. Fans were given the chance to submit their own art and designs, with the potential to become an artist on the project, and their feedback helped decide which of five ReBoot pitches was developed.

The winning pitch was ReBoot: Arrival. Four fans were chosen to work as artists on the Arrival comic. According to the pitch at the Zeroes2Heroes website, Megabyte's Hunt has developed into a Net-wide war so pervasive that even other viruses united against it. The Users have gone, spending their time in an unending massively multiplayer online game. A sentient system named Gnosis is created as a way to stop Megabyte but goes rogue and begins enslaving other systems in its attempt to gain User-like powers. To stop Gnosis and bring back the Users, two teams of heroes are assembled which will include new characters and Lens the Codemaster, who appeared in the season 2 episode "High Code". Elements of this would be dropped in the comic.

The official ReBoot website was updated with a countdown, which ended on May 30, 2008, at 12:00 a.m. EST. Shortly afterwards, the site was updated with information about the first webcomic from the Arrival team and ongoing community input. The comic, renamed Code of Honor, was viewable after creating an account or using an existing Zeros 2 Heroes account.

A new countdown appeared on the official ReBoot website on August 18, 2008

Film trilogy

In June 2008, Rainmaker Animation announced plans for a trilogy of theatrical ReBoot films, with the first to be written by Jon Cooksey. A teaser for the film was released on October 5, 2009, on Rainmaker's official site, and in March 2011, Rainmaker said a ReBoot film remained in the company's plans. In a podcast released April 8, 2013, Rainmaker president and executive producer Michael Hefferon said the film trilogy was no longer being worked on.

ReBoot: The Guardian Code

A reimagined, live-action/CGI-animated series, ReBoot: The Guardian Code, was announced in 2015, and the first ten episodes premiered on Netflix worldwide (excluding Canada) on March 30, 2018. YTV aired all 20 episodes from June 4 until July 5, 2018.

The series follows four teenaged gamers, who are members of an online game's highest-scoring team. Vera is an artificial intelligence who has recruited the team as "Guardians" to physically enter and protect cyberspace. The Guardians battle the Sourcerer, a human hacker. Primary characters from the original series, such as Bob, Dot, and Enzo, are minor characters and only appear in one episode.

Documentary

An eight part documentary about the show, entitled ReBoot ReWind, was launched on September 24, 2024 on Telus Storyhive. The documentarians also collaborated with Mainframe to remaster the series from its original D-1 tapes, beginning with a remastered version of the first episode released on YouTube on September 10, 2024 to mark the show's thirtieth anniversary.

On March 4th, 2026, it was announced, on the Linus Tech Tips YouTube channel, that all of the original D-1 master tapes have been recovered. High-definition episodes have since been released infrequently via Mainframe's YouTube channel.

Telecast and digital releases

Television airings

ReBoot was first aired on Saturday mornings in Canada on YTV and in the U.S on ABC. It was canceled by ABC after The Walt Disney Company purchased the network in 1996. Episodes continued to air in Canada. Some episodes from the first and second seasons could still be seen in the U.S. when Claster Television distributed them during the 1996–97 season as part of The Power Block, with different shows airing in one timeslot on different days; ReBoot aired on Thursdays. It would be a year until new episodes aired on YTV due to Mainframe's involvement in Beast Wars: Transformers (known as Beasties in Canada) and Shadow Raiders, and the third season aired only on YTV at the time. In April 1999, sixteen months after the third season finale on YTV, it debuted in the US market on Cartoon Network (who would also premiere the fourth and final season in 2000), airing in repeats until 2001.

Production on other shows delayed the fourth season of ReBoot, the eight episodes of which eventually were aired in the U.S., but were also put together as two 90-minute direct-to-DVD features that ended on a cliffhanger season finale. The show's creators Blair and Pearson resigned from Mainframe Entertainment in 2004 to form their own independent studio, The Shop.

The show also aired in the United Kingdom from January 4, 1995 until April 9, 1998, on the ITV network as part of their CITV programming block. When it came to the third season, Meridian only purchased the broadcasting rights for the first 10 episodes of the season and on July 17, 1997, CITV started airing season 3 before anywhere else in the world; however, this run came to a halt in August after the sixth episode, "Where No Sprite Has Gone Before". On February 12, 1998, CITV reaired the show from the season 2 episode "Trust No One" until going into the episodes that had yet to be aired at that point. When "To Mend and Defend" should have aired, the episode "Firewall" was substituted since "To Mend And Defend" received 19 complaints from viewers who claimed "the violence was unacceptable and the characters were inappropriate in a children's programme shown at this time" on its original airing in July 1997. It was not specified, however, why the following episode, "Between a Raccoon and a Hard Place", was omitted from the run. The run was abruptly stopped without warning after the episode "Return of the Crimson Binome", and the remainder of the series wasn't aired due to ITV deeming the content unsuitable. The success of the series during the production of its second season caused arrangements with networks in 24 countries, including Fuji Television, who was interested in picking the rights to Japan.

The first season was shown in Ireland on RTÉ2 in 1995. In Germany, it premiered on KiKa in 1997.

Home media

In Canada, four VHS tapes were released in 1995 with individual episodes from the first season through Polygram Video. Each release contained a single episode: "Medusa Bug", "Wizards, Warriors, and a Word from Our Sponsor", "The Great Brain Robbery", and "Talent Night". In the United Kingdom, receiving two VHS releases, but with two episodes each: Volume 1 contained "The Tearing" and "Racing the Clock", while Volume 2 had "The Quick and the Fed" and "Medusa Bug".

The second season was never released, even though Polygram retained the rights to publish the episodes on home video via their deal for the first season. Despite this, in 2000, Mainframe struck a deal with the US A.D. Vision to release the third season on DVD.

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Anchor Bay Entertainment released the fourth season in its original form as two films (Daemon Rising and My Two Bobs) on one DVD entitled "ReBoot v4.0" which went out of print in early 2007. It was improperly mastered as the 25 frame/s source material was treated as 24 frame/s film speed material, meaning 3:2 pulldown flags were encoded into the MPEG stream, which resulted in the video playing back 4.096% slower and all the voices sounding deeper. Anchor Bay corrected and remastered the fourth season's disc and made it available by contacting them for a replacement; these discs are now also out of print. The fourth season has also been released in Australia in its original PAL video format, which is still in print. In Germany, it has DVD (PAL format) releases of all of season 2 and in Russia, has DVD (PAL format) releases for the first three seasons (though the first few season 3 episodes are counted as season 2), but the DVDs' soundtracks were dubbed in language.

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Shout! Factory acquired the rights to the show in October 2010 and released seasons 1 and 2 as a standalone title on March 1, 2011. On the same date, the complete series went on sale as a box set (titled "ReBoot: The Definitive Mainframe Collection") exclusively through Shout's official online store months before the set was scheduled to be on retail shelves. Seasons 3 and 4 were released on June 28, 2011, as well as a general retail release of the complete series set.

As of 2023, the show is available to watch on streaming service Pluto TV.

Awards

ReBoot has been the recipient of several awards. The show received Gemini Awards for Best Animated Program Series for three straight years between 1995 and 1997, as well as a 1996 Outstanding Technical Achievement Award. Other honors include the 1995 Award of Excellence and Best Animated Program from the Alliance for Children and Television and a Prix Aurora Award in 1996.

Other Gemini Award nominations include "Best Children's or Youth Program or Series" in 1998, and "Best Sound – Comedy, Variety, or Performing Arts Program or Series" for My Two Bobs and "Best Sound – Dramatic Program" for Daemon Rising, both in 2002.