“ReBoot” 1.1 – The Tearing (7 out of 10) – Directed by Dick Zondag; Written by Gavin Blair, John Grace, Philip Mitchel, and Ian Pearson; Starring: Michael Benyaer, Kathleen Barr, Jesse Moss, Tony Jay, Michael Donovan, Philip Maurice Hayes, and Gary Chalk; Originally aired: September 10, 1994.
“ReBoot” was a Canadian series created by Mainframe Entertainment that took place inside a computer mainframe, Think “Tron” but watered down. The series centers around Bob, a Guardian and protector of Mainframe, and his friends Dot Matrix, diner owner, and her little brother Enzo who looks up to Bob as a grand hero.
The series had to fight to get a place on the small screen. The nature of its animation meant that the work was slow going, most of the creative team had to learn how to animate with new software as they went along. The show was in production for three years before it aired in order to ensure there were enough episodes backlogged to keep the show going.
The central plot of the series is the continual struggle between Bob and the villain Megabyte, a virus that has infected Mainframe and wants to get into the super computer to infect the entire system.
In addition, the story is often interrupted when “the user” inputs games in which the residents of Mainframe participate. Bob’s other concern aside from protecting the city from Megabyte, is to discover the true nature of the user and protect his friends from the destruction left behind when they lose a game.
The pilot episode introduces the three central protagonists as well as Megabyte and his two cronies Hack and Slash. Megabyte has discovered a tear in the programming that, if stabilized, would allow him unfettered access to the super computer. When the user inputs a game the tear stabilizes into a portal and Bob, along with Dot, race to stop Megabyte from getting through.
My initial rating for the episode and the series was a six out of ten but it earned an additional star for being the first fully computer animated television series and pushing the boundaries of animation.
Though the animation is clunky and some of inserted computer terminology feels forced, the series has heart and hit a chord with nineties viewers who were also just entering an increasingly digital world. As such “Reboot” earned its place in the history of cartoons for being pioneers of an emerging medium.