ReBoot FAQ, 2 of 5
Smith and O'Halloran
Subject: ReBoot FAQ, 2 of 5
Contents: Introduction, Toys, Cards, Trivia
Date: Mon Feb 10 14:05:45 PST 1997
From: Joe Smith <jsm...@inwap.com>
Joe Smith's Unofficial ReBoot Home Page
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_Joe's unoffical ReBoot home page_
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This the 19,596th access of this intro page.
=== The "Unofficial ReBoot Home Page" ===
[ image='reboot/images/BizCard.gif' descr='[ReBoot info available on-line]' ]
When this site was first submitted to Yahoo, the URL was
"http://www.inwap.com/Reboot.html". That single page has been greatly
expanded, and now resides at "http://www.inwap.com/reboot/".
Check out the editorial page which has the history
of this document.
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Unofficial ReBoot Home Page
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_The unofficial ReBoot home page_
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| Description | Disclaimer |
Third_season | Introduction |
Episodes | Merchandise |
FAQ | Publicity |
Other_sites | Index | Acknowledgements |
Honors | Viewing_Hints |
| Editorial_Page |
[ image='images/Logo-color.gif' descr='[GIF: logo]' ]
=== Welcome to ReBoot ===
This is the 156,802nd access since 29-Mar-95.
[ image='characters/cast3rd.gif' descr='[JPG: cast 3rd season]' ]
[ image='images/Poster.gif' descr='[JPG: poster]' ]
[ image='characters/cast2nd.gif' descr='[JPG: cast 2nd season]' ]
[Cast, 3rd season] [Poster, 1024x599, 123K] [Cast, 2nd season]
== Description ==
_ReBoot_ is a half-hour of computer animation that had been shown on ABC
Saturday mornings. It has great computer generated characters and
backgrounds, and has good stories sprinkled with puns based on the computer
industry. This document describes the ReBoot cartoon show and ReBoot toys
and has a complete episode guide.
== Disclaimer ==
This is the unofficial ReBoot home page. Its author, Joe Smith,
does not work for BLT Productions or Mainframe Entertainment Inc, does
not work for Alliance, YTV or ABC. Check out the Editorial Page for
details on how and why this home page was created.
== Gemini Award Nomination [new] ==
_ReBoot_ has been nominated for the 1996 Gemini Award in the
category "Best Animated Program or Series" on
Canadian television.
== The US 1996-1997 season started in September, 1996 ==
ABC has dropped _ReBoot_ from their Saturday morning line-up.
Claster Television is syndicating _ReBoot_ to 106 independent
TV stations in the US. YTV is showing _ReBoot_ in Canada.
Season III tentative schedule for 1997:
* Canada: YTV, starting in March (as they are made).
* UK: Meridian, starting at the end of March or April.
* US: Claster has not announced any definite plans, but they like the
current ratings. They may show Season III starting in the fall of 1997.
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[ image='images/Logo-bw.gif' descr='(ReBoot)' ]
== Introduction to the show ==
* Production.
* The people who create _ReBoot_.
* _ReBoot_ fan mail
* Brendan McCarthy, the character designer.
* Interview on _The Anti-Gravity Room_, 13-Jan-96 on the YTV network.
* Mainframe Entertainment is looking for more animators for a new show: Beast Wars.
* 3-Mar-96 _ReBoot_ won a Gemini Award for Best Animated Program
Or Series. (The Gemini is a Canadian award for television excellence.)
* _ReBoot_ wins Outstanding Technical Achievement Gemini Award.
* Silicon Graphics has a spotlight on _ReBoot_ for May, 1996.
[ image='characters/cast.gif' descr='[JPG: cast]' ]
* Characters
* good guys
* bad guys
* voice actors [new]
* Locations.
* Sectors of Mainframe
* Specific Sites
[ image='images/logo-fr.gif' ]
== The episodes ==
* The opening sequence (with audio).
* Title credits and end credits.
* The episode list.
* Promo spots (teaser clips)
* Saturday morning preview (8-Sep-95)
* Tetralogy: "Nullzilla", "Gigabyte", "Trust No One", "Web World War".
* Pictures of Gillian Anderson wearing _ReBoot_ merchandise.
[ image='irwin/Irwin90.gif' descr='Irwin' ]
== Merchandise ==
[ image='images/FleerLogo.gif' descr='Fleer' ]
* 4 NTSC and 4 PAL episodes available on video tape.
* Irwin Toys.
* Collector's Edition: Bob in a white outfit.
* Fleer Ultra trading cards.
* WIZARDS Guide To Comics #44 (Apr-95) had a 2-page poster.
[ image='images/FAQsmall.gif' descr='? ? ?' ]
== FAQ ==
* Frequently Asked Questions. (Need translation to other languages.)
* German translation of the FAQ. [new]
* Quotable lines.
* Glossary of computer terms.
== Publicity ==
* Comments from the Hollywood press.
* Comments from the Net.
* Press releases.
* Second Season.
* _ReBoot_ renewed for second season.
* Information about the show.
* Details about the characters.
* The people who make _ReBoot_.
== Pointers to other _ReBoot_ resources ==
[ image='ytv/YTV-icon.gif' descr='(YTV)' ]
* Company references: BLT, Alliance, Irwin, YTV
* The official ReBoot Home Page went on-line August 4th, 1995.
(It has not been updated since then.)
* 11 QuickTime movies at Alliance's site.
* (If you are running Mosaic-2.6 for X/UNIX, you need this short-cut
because Alliance's ReBoot page has images inside of tables.)
[ image='characters/bobwallpaper.gif' descr='Bob Wants You' ]
* Unofficial references: Fans
* Newsgroups: alt.tv.reboot
* Internet Movie Database: cast information
* People who tape _ReBoot_.
* Win-95 Theme files: 01 02
* IRC chat room and BBS listings
== Index ==
* The End (a complete table of contents)
* List of pages at this site
* List of images (GIF and JPG)
== Acknowledgments: Text ==
The authors of the press releases and news articles are listed in the
section under "Press releases". All the other text you see here was
authored by Joe Smith. If you intend to incorporate some of this information
in your document, please put a link back this page.
The history of this document is kept in the editorial page.
== Acknowledgments: Images ==
The nifty pictures on the Characters/Heroes/Villains pages are courtesy of
the friendly folks at Mainframe Entertainment Inc. The originals were 720x576
or 576x720 RGB files in Silicon Graphics format; they have been converted
to JPG and GIF for viewing
== Honors ==
[ image='images/5percmdt.gif' ]
The Unofficial ReBoot Home Page has been rated among the top 5% of all sites
on the Internet by Point Survey.
Three identical reviews, with different backgrounds:
jpeg text gifs
[ image='images/wwwwprem.gif' descr='Walking the World Wide Web Premiere Site' ]
Walking the World Wide Web 2nd Edition has this site listed under Section
VII: _Just For Kids_, Cartoons & TV Shows, ReBoot.
[ image='images/award5s.gif' descr='Q with 5 stars' ]
Queue's Adventures 5 Star Favorite Web Site Award.
"_Everything_ relating to _ReBoot_ is here!"
"Totally online!"
== Viewing hints ==
This document was designed with Netscape's Navigator and displays
reasonably well with MS Internet Explorer and Mosaic-2.0 for Windows.
It is also designed to be usable with text-only browsers, such as lynx.
To help you navigate around this site, you will find these four images at
the bottom of each page:
[ image='images/right.gif' ] goes to the next page in the guided tour
[ image='images/left.gif' ] goes to the previous page in the guided tour
[ image='images/up.gif' ] goes up one level
[ image='images/url-h3.gif' descr='URL' ] goes to the home page (this one).
Updated: Feb 10, 1997 01:28
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ReBoot: Production
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_Production_
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=== The Show ===
[ image='characters/reboot.gif' descr='(ReBoot)' ]
ReBoot is produced in Canada and is 100% CGI (Computer Generated Imagery).
It is created on Silicon Graphics workstations using SoftImage software.
Seven episodes were originally produced for the first season (Fall 1994).
An additional six episodes were added to the first season when the
the show was renewed for a second season. The third season is
being produced for the YTV network, but it will not be shown on ABC.
The show has won a _Gemini Award_ for the Canadian best animated program
series on YTV, Youth Television, the network for young people in Canada.
The concept for ReBoot was copyrighted in 1991 (which is the date in the
end credits), but the first show was produced in April of 1993 and shown
in the US on ABC in September 1994. Much of the visual design of the
show was done by Brendan McCarthy, a well-known comic book artist.
Brendan has a new project: Z-MEN.
It takes six weeks to produce a pair of half-hour shows. They produce
two or more shows in parallel, so that all the animators won't be reporting
to a single director. Only a few seconds of finished product are created
per animator on a typical work day.
The _Toy Story_ web page has the history of computer graphics,
an excerpt from the book "Becoming a Computer Animator" by Michael Morrison.
== Created by BLT / Mainframe Entertainment Inc ==
BLT = Brough Limited Television, producer: Christopher Brough
Mainframe Entertainment Inc
Attn: Mairi Welman (Corporate Communications)
Suite 710 - 1045 Howe St.
Vancouver, BC, Canada V6Z 2A9
Phone: (604)681-3595, Fax: (604)681-3517
E-mail: ma...@reboot.com
= Fan Mail =
ReBoot does not have a fan club at this time.
If you wish to write to the producers to tell them what you think
of their show, use the address above for sending fan mail.
To repeat: There is no fan club.
== Distributed internationally by Alliance ==
Alliance does the international distribution. For questions about ReBoot
in North America, contact Mainframe at address above.
Alliance Communications Corporation
920 Yonge Street
Suite 400
Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4W 3C7
Phone: (416)967-1174, Fax: (416)967-1782 or (416)960-0971
Contact: Suzan Ayscough, Director of Communications
Alliance has several QuickTime movies showing
the people who create ReBoot.
== Distributed in the US by Claster TV ==
Claster Television Inc
9630 Deereco Road
Timonium, MD 21093
Phone: (410)561-5500, Fax: (410)561-5511
== Co-produced with YTV ==
[ image='ytv/YTV-icon.gif' descr='YTV' ]
YTV
64 Jefferson Avenue - Unit 18
Toronto, Ontario, Canada M6K 3H3
Phone: (416)534-1191, Viewer Relations
E-mail: in...@ytv.ca
=== The Setting ===
[ image='characters/cast.gif' descr='cast of characters and logo' ]
The story takes place in the city of Mainframe, somewhere on the Net.
The bad guys are trying to break out and access the Supercomputer.
Every once in a while the User downloads a game, and the citizens of
Mainframe are called to battle.
During the opening sequence, Mainframe shows up as a round city
floating above a sea of blue. If you look carefully at the 2 o'clock
position, you can see the three olive-drab skyscrapers that are Baudway.
(The buildings are the size of a larger "The Broadway" department store.)
Dot's Diner is on the top level near Baudway.
Megabyte's tower, the Silicon Tor, is somewhere in the industrial sector.
Hexadecimal has a lair under the streets of Lost Angles.
Phong lives in the Principle Office at the very center.
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ReBoot on The Anti-Gravity Room
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_Interview on The Anti-Gravity Room, 13-Jan-96_
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[ image='images/agrlogo.gif' descr='AntiGravRoom' ]
=== The Anti-Gravity Room, episode 10 ===
Saturday, January 13, 1996, 8:30 AM on YTV
by Mike Shumko
I'd never seen the show before. Based on this one viewing, it
seems to be primarily concerned with entertainment media for
young people, such as comic books and video games. The three
hosts are Phil, Nick, and Shashi.
This episode, called "Visions of the Future", included
segments on Marvel's 2099 or 2101 comics, and Electronics Arts
Canada's plans for new computer games. The third segment was the
ReBoot interview featured here, and the last segment featured
the Star Wars comic books.
-Mike
== THE REBOOT INTERVIEW ==
_Nick:_ ReBoot is a computer generated cartoon series that
is definitely a vision of the future, and Phil went to talk to
the guys behind Bob, Dot, and Enzo.
_Phil:_ I'm at the production offices of ReBoot, where they
create an animated series that's right on the cutting edge. It's
been said that the animators here go where no other animators
have gone before. I got a chance to talk to one of the original
creators, Gavin Blair.
_[Megabyte says, "How novel".]_
_Gavin Blair:_ Just after myself and one of my partners,
Ian Pearson, worked on the Dire Straits Money For Nothing video,
and just after we'd finished that, he said, "Hey, wouldn't
it be cool to do a whole show like this?" The first show
took about nine months to produce, from nothing to finished show.
Things are a lot better now, because we've kind of got a handle
on what we're doing. But we can turn a show around in about three
weeks.
_[Intercut with this part were scenes from 1992 when the early
'Wizards, Warriors...' animation was rough, and the same scenes
from the 1994 finished product.]_
When we get started on a show we start with the script. That's
voice recorded using a lot of local actors, a couple of guys who
are in L.A. The sound is then brought back here and we feed it
into what's called an AVID, which is an off-line editing system.
The sound is then chopped up, selected takes are chosen, and then
we have what we call setup pictures, which are like pictures of
Bob, Dot, Enzo, whoever, just in like three-quarter poses. And
we block out the episode just using stills, kind of like a storyboard.
Then we'll sit down and we'll gather together the relevant actors
and relevant sets and do proper setup pictures. So it'll be the
right camera, the right lighting, the right actors in the right
place, but they won't be moving - it will just be a still. And
the show is blocked out further that way. Then the sound for each
particular scene is fed to an animator, who will what we call
GRIN it, which is to make the characters talk, and then they're
made to move. The last thing we do is bring them to life and animate
them as much as we need to.
We're not trying to replace traditional animation or anything
like that. I think it's another genre that's been created, and
it will live alongside traditional animation and Claymation and
stuff like that. It's just another style of animation.
_[Scenes from 'Wizard, Warriors' and 'Talent Night'.]_
_Phil:_ We're talking to Zeke from ReBoot. So exactly what's
your job here?
_Zeke Norton:_ My job is to make things move. For example
I've got Hexadecimal here, one of the characters from the show.
She has two seconds to scare one of the other characters, Mike
the TV. This is called shaded mode, this is as close to real 3-D
objects that we see as the animators. What we actually work in
is called wire frame. That's sort of a skeleton view of the characters.
You can see right through it. But the reason we do this is because
the computers are not fast enough to move these characters in
shaded mode. They have to do it in sort of a skeletal form.
_Phil:_ Now what equipment do you use to get all this stuff
happening?
_Zeke:_ We use SGI hardware,
Silicon Graphics, and we use
SoftImage
in terms of the animation software, and we have some other software
that's been written in here by some guys.
_Phil:_ Now as an animator what would you like to see in
terms of the technology, to make it easier for you or better for
the show?
_Zeke:_ Well, I'd like to see it go faster. That's what every
animator wants and that's what they're moving towards. It's gotten
a lot faster in the past five years, ten years - it's always getting
faster. But it still takes us a long time to animate, not animating
in real time. It's not like live action where you tell your actor
'Walk over there'. It takes three seconds. For me to make a character
'walk over there' it's going to take me five hours. When it can
take me three seconds to make my character walk over there, then
I'll be happy.
_[END OF SEGMENT]_
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ReBoot: Characters
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_Cast of characters, end of second season_
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[ low='characters/cast512.jpg' image='characters/cast512.gif' descr='Cast' ]
This is a clickable imagemap. Click on a character's
face to go to that section of this document.
Or click on the corners to see a slightly larger image.
(It's OK to click before the picture finishes loading.)
== The Good Guys ==
* Bob the Guardian
* Dot Matrix
* Enzo Matrix
* Frisket the dog
* Phong the ancient one
* Mike the TV
* Cecil the Maitre'd
* Andraia
* Binomes: Ones and Zeros
== The Bad Guys ==
* Megabyte, big blue meany
* Hack and Slash, red and blue dummies
* Hexadecimal, scarlet lady
* Scuzzy the cat
* Mouse (a female hacker)
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ReBoot: Heroes
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_The Good Guys_
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The color images on this page are courtesy of some of the fine people
at BLT Productions. Thanks, guys!
=== The Good Guys ===
[ image='characters/heroes.gif' descr='[JPG: Bob Dot Enzo Frisket]' ]
Most character names and place names are puns on computer-related names.
See the Glossary for details. The good guys have the diamond icon
(white triangle pointing up, dark triangle pointing down, white semicircle
above, dark semicircle below).
Each small image here is a sample of a much larger image. Clicking on them
will show much larger JPEG images. Most of them are about 720 x 560 pixels.
== Bob ==
[ image='characters/bob.gif' descr='[JPG: Bob's face]' ]
Voice: Michael Benyaer
Bob is a Guardian. His goal is to mend and defend. He has to mend
ruptures in the interface, and defend his friends from their enemies and
from the User's games. Bob is human shaped with a blue face, hair that is
the shiny gray of pure silicon, and wears an all-purpose device called
Glitch on his armband. Bob's diamond icon is upside down compared to
everyone else, has a gold background instead of white, and is shiny instead
of flat.
His "hot shot" attitude has caused problems with the relationship between him
and Dot (which appears to be strictly platonic). He has an apartment
down by the docks, where he works on his car (which looks like a cross
between a hovercraft and a 1950's Cadillac with fins).
== Dot Matrix ==
[ image='characters/dot.gif' descr='[JPG: Dot's face]' ]
Voice: Kathleen Barr
Dot owns Dot's Diner, the place where most of the stories start. She
is a successful business woman, and either hates Bob for being such a macho and
insensitive protector, or loves having a man around. She is human shaped
with green skin (same as her kid brother, Enzo) and black hair.
== Enzo ==
[ image='characters/enzo.gif' descr='[JPG: Enzo + Frisket]' ]
Voice: Jesse Moss/Matthew Sinclair
Enzo hates being the little kid, but can't help acting like one.
("Can I go with you to Level 31, Bob? Can I, can I, can I, please.")
He is human shaped with green skin and usually wears blue pants, a white
shirt with the number 01 on it, and a baseball cap. He is spotlighted in
"Enzo the Smart".
== Frisket ==
[ image='characters/frisket.gif' descr='[JPG: Frisket]' ]
Voice: (growls a lot)
A red and yellow dog the size of a pony. His jaws are so strong that
he can catch cannonballs in mid air, hold down an armored tank, and has a V8
with supercharger under the hood. He takes orders only from Enzo. The episode
"In the Belly of the Beast" centers on Frisket.
== Phong ==
[ image='characters/phong.gif' descr='[JPG: Phong]' ]
Voice: Michael Donovan
Phong is the "ancient one" for the show; he knows everything.
His body looks like something that came out of the Stanford AI Lab
in the 1970's; primitive locomotion (single roller), rudimentary hands
(three-pronged grabber). His gold head is bald on top and he wears
a port-red tunic with Chinese dragons embroidered on it. Instead of the
usual diamond icon, Phong has a Chinese Yin/Yang symbol. To obtain his
wisdom, the seeker has to play him at is favorite game, Pong.
== Mike the TV ==
[ image='characters/mike.gif' descr='[JPG: Mike]' ]
Voice: Michael Donovan
Instead of a tv announcer, Mainframe has an announcer TV. Mike has
all the bad qualities of an obnoxious announcer and won't shut up. (In fact,
he is so unbearable that his remote ran away and now no one can shut him off.
In one episode (Wizards...), Mike gets to prove that he is an asset
to the community.
== Cecil the Maitre'd ==
[ image='characters/cecil.gif' descr='[JPG: Cecil]' ]
Voice: Michael Donovan
Cecil typifies the snotty French waiter, and appears to have decended
from the original Macintosh computer. His name may have derived from the
server software "CSIL" (pronounced: See-Sil) at Simon Fraser University's
Computer Sience undergraduate lab.
== Andraia ==
[ image='characters/andraia.gif' descr='[JPG: AndrAIa]' ]
Voice: Andrea Libman
Andraia is a game sprite that piggybacked her way into Mainframe
using Enzo's icon in the episode titled "AndrAIa". She is the only person
in Mainframe that is Enzo's age.
== Binomes: Ones and Zeros ==
[ image='characters/binomes.gif' descr='[JPG: Many Ones and Zeros]' ]
Voice: various
Most of the inhabitants of Mainframe are Ones and Zeros.
* One - tall and narrow, made of three cubes stacked up. The bottom cube
has the legs, the middle one has the arms and a mouth, the
top cube has a single eye. (The eye is reminiscent of HAL from 2001.)
(Megabyte has one servant with legs and mouth on bottom, eye in
the middle, and arms with bulging biceps on top.)
* Zero - short and round, spherical.
The arms and legs are connected to end caps which rotate independently
of the middle section. The eyes and mouth are texture mapped.
* Five - a character (usually blue-violet) in that shape of the
number "5". The eyes along the vertical edge and the mouth is
at the sharp corner.
* Seven - Black with noticeable texture. The eye and mouth are at the
sharp corner.
* Eight - Orange, wears small derby hat.
* Nine - we might never see this character. See "Quick and the Fed"
for details.
== Specific Binomes ==
[ image='images/Capacitor.gif' descr='[JPG: Captain Capacitor]' ]
* Captain Capacitor - a peg-leg One who is the main character in
"The Crimson Binome". Voice: Long John Baldry
* Dino DeHorrendous, the Director, is a Zero with a mustache. He wears a
red felt hat, monocle, and carries a megaphone.
* The Cameraman - a shy One with a blue hat. Tends to hide behind other
people, usually seen behind the Director on the camera crane.
* Al - the owner and cook at Al's Wait and Eat on Level 31. Al is heard
but never seen. In "The Great Brain Robbery",
Al is completely covered with rope.
* Al's Waiter - a surly-looking brown and green One that takes orders
and shouts them to Al in the kitchen.
* Algernon Cholmondley-Worthington III (Algy), a zero, the luckless pilot.
* "Binky" Ffarquarson, a one, Algy's sidekick.
== Other Data Sprites ==
Data Sprites are highly evolved energy forms like Bob, Dot, and Enzo. The
keep the Mainframe functioning by operating services such as buses, shops
and restaurants.
In "Medusa Bug", there are at least two other
Data Sprites the same size and shape as Dot, but with different hair styles.
= Rasta Mon =
Voice: silent
Rasta Mon was seen at Al's place in "Quick and the Fed".
He has no lines, so we don't know if he is for or against Bob and the gang.
Rasta Mon has small purple shades, long dreadlocks (that have what appear to
be knives or "control points" tied to the ends). He has a scarlet face that
looks like a typical computer programmer.
= Stripe =
Voice: silent
Stripe is another character seen in Al's Diner. She has orange, white
and black strips on her shirt and hair. She also has no lines, but is listed
by name in the collectable cards, along with Rasta Mon.
== Hi-Res images in JPEG format ==
You can click on the outlined images above, or on the names below.
720 x 576 69K Bob, Dot, Enzo, Frisket
610 x 720 50K Bob's face
576 x 720 29K Dot's face
720 x 540 33K Enzo and Frisket running from HD
999 x 750 69K Frisket in warehouse
720 x 540 32K Phong in his game room
720 x 540 51K Mike the TV
720 x 576 48K Cecil in door of diner
720 x 540 65K Andraia's claws
511 x 727 65K Group of binomes
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ReBoot: Villains
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_The Bad Guys_
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The color images on this page are courtesy of some of the fine people at
BLT Productions. Thanks, guys!
=== The Bad Guys ===
The bad guys don't help out when the User tasks Mainframe with a game.
Each small image here is a sample of a much larger image. Clicking on them
will show much larger JPEG images. Most of them are about 720 x 560 pixels.
== Megabyte ==
[ image='characters/mega.gif' descr='[JPG: Megabyte sitting]' ]
Voice: Tony Jay
Big meanie (computer virus) with blue metal skin, a green mouth, and
a red Neptune-like crest on his head. He speaks with a mid-Atlantic accent and
has several minions at his beck and call. He is often seen as a legless
torso sitting at the floating control panel, but he can strap on a pair of
legs and go bounding with great speed.
He has two green crescents on his chest, a triangle on his sternum, and four
short vertical stripes below the ribcage. His servants are branded with a
black square that has the same image; it looks like an un-smiley face.
(The actor who provides Megabyte's voice, Tony Jay, has been seen as Lex
Luthor's assistant Nigel St. John on "Lois and Clark".) (He is also doing the
voice of Judge Claude Frollo in Disney's "Hunchback of Notre Dame".)
== Viral Binomes ==
Megabyte's servants have red and green eyes instead of black and white ones,
are usually dark blue in color and have the black and green unsmiley face logo.
== Nibbles ==
Nibbles is a Null, a green worm with white markings. It is seen in
"The Quick and the Fed" crawling up on Megabyte's shoulder.
It turns dark blue when MB got careless and squeezed poor Nibbles. (Nulls
in the wild are known to suck up all the energy around them.) Megabyte has
a special relationship with Nibbles, which is hinted at in "Nullzilla".
== Hack and Slash ==
[ image='characters/hack.gif' descr='[JPG: Hack and Slash]' ]
Voice: Phil Hayes and Gary Chalk
Voice: Scott MacNeil and Gary Chalk
A matched pair of bumbling one-wheeled robots, "rolling teapots".
Hack is red, Slash is blue. (Even Megabyte has problems remembering which
one is which, as mentioned in "Quick and the Fed".) They sound like
Gilbert Gottfried and are better at being "yes" men than henchmen. (They have
so much weaponry that there wasn't much room left for brains.)
== Hexadecimal ==
[ image='characters/hex.gif' descr='[JPG: Hexadecimal]' ]
Voice: Shirley Millner
Woman who wears tight scarlet clothes and has a white mask for a face.
She has a helmet with 5 spikes, making her look a bit like Medusa.
She lives on the island of Lost Angles, which is connected to Mainframe by
a spooky looking Gilded Gate Bridge.
== Scuzzy ==
[ image='characters/scuzzy.gif' descr='[JPG: Scuzzy]' ]
Voice: silent
The football shaped critter, Scuzzy, acts like Hexadecimal's familiar,
the same way that a black cat is a familiar for a witch. Scuzzy does not
speak, but communicates by playing back scenes that it has recorded.
(The green dome on top of its head is where the pictures are shown.)
In "The Medusa Bug", we see what happens to
poor Scuzzy when Hexadecimal gets upset - Scuzzy splits into pieces when
it falls through a hole in the floor. (The name is derived from the
popular pronunciation of the acronym "SCSI".)
== Mouse ==
[ image='characters/mouse.gif' descr='[JPG: Mouse]' ]
Voice: Louise Vallance
Mouse is a human shaped woman with lilac-colored skin, flaming red
hair, a white shirt and black pants. She has intricate tattoos around her
eyes and forehead and speaks with a pseudo-Texas drawl. She has a
reputation of being able to sneak into and out of places without being
noticed. On her finger she wears a ring with her Mouse signature. This
ring appears to be as powerful as Bob's Guardian Tool. Her collectable
trading card says "Mous is an adventurous, inter-modal anti-hero for hire."
She was mentioned in passing in "The Crimson Binome" and is the
main character in "The Great Brain Robbery".
Bob has tangled with her before; when she tried to hack into the Supercomputer
while Bob was on duty. Her actions in "Gigabyte" did not make it clear
whether she is a good guy or not. And in "Trust No One", she inadvertantly
triggers the disaster known as "Web World War". No one but Bob trusts
her, although she may become a "good guy" in the third season.
== Hi-Res images in JPEG format ==
You can click on the outlined images above, or on the names below.
720 x 720 86K Cast: large MB in back, heroes in middle, logo in front
720 x 576 54K Megabyte with Nibbles
720 x 540 55K Hack and Slash
700 x 525 32K Hexadecimal on her throne
720 x 540 38K Scuzzy in HD's Lair
720 x 576 31K Mouse, the female hacker
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ReBoot: Mainframe
----------------------------------------
_Overview of Mainframe_
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This is a clickable imagemap. Click on one of the six sectors
or the center to go to that location in Mainframe.
Or click on the corners of the image to see a larger image (640 x 480, 63K).
[ low='images/CityMap1.jpg' image='images/CityMap1.gif' descr='overhead view' ]
(It's OK to click before the picture finishes loading.)
A Sea Wall Street G Prime D Sea
Beverly Hills
[ image='images/CityMap2.gif' descr='oblique view' ]
Baudway Dot's Diner
Floating Point Park Lost Angles Kits Sector (the Net)
== The main sectors ==
((0)) Center
12-2 G Prime
2-4 Baudway
4-6 Kits Sector
((6)) Lost Angles
6-8 Floating Point Park
8-10 Beverly Hills
10-12 Wall Street
== Specific Locations ==
* Dot's Diner
* Bob's Apartment
* Principle Office (Phong's residence)
* Archives
* Hex's Lair (in Lost Angles)
* Megabyte's Silicon Tor (in Sector G Prime)
* Old Man Pearson's Data Dump
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ReBoot: Main Sectors
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_The Sectors of Mainframe_
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=== Locations in Mainframe ===
[ image='images/CityMap2.gif' descr='oblique view' ]
== The sectors ==
The Principle Office is at the very center of Mainframe, and the reset
of the city is divided into six sectors. This is seen most clearly in
the opening credits, when Bob says "Systems, people, cities, to this
place: Mainframe." (A VCR with a good freeze-frame is handy for
seeing this.)
[ image='images/CityCenter.gif' ]
* The white globe at the center is the Principle Office
* This is the home of the mayor, COMMAND.COM, and his executive
secretary Phong.
[ image='images/CityGPrime.gif' ]
* From the top of the picture to the 2 o'clock position is G Prime.
* Megabyte has taken over the entire sector; his Silicon Tor is
the highest tower in all of Mainframe.
[ image='images/CityBaud.gif' ]
* From 2 o'clock to 4 o'clock is Baudway, the bustling business district.
* Dot's Diner is near 3 o'clock.
* Al's place is on Level 31, the basement of Baudway.
[ image='images/CityKits.gif' ]
* From 4 o'clock to 6 o'clock is the Kits Sector.
* Interface ports to the Com Net, Vid Net and Ethernet.
* Bob has an apartment here.
* The boardwalk and marina are at the outer edge of Kits.
[ image='images/CityLost.gif' ]
* The small, irregular splotch below the 6 o'clock position is Lost Angles.
* It is connected to Mainframe by a creepy looking Gilded Gate Bridge.
* One of its towers is a replica of the Los Angeles City Hall.
* Hexadecimal can make the ground open up and swallow her enemies.
[ image='images/CityFloat.gif' ]
* From 6 o'clock to 8 o'clock is Floating Point Park.
* A relaxing place among the data lakes and information trees.
* The park was disconnected from Mainframe in "Gigabyte".
[ image='images/CityBHills.gif' ]
* From 8 o'clock to 10 o'clock is Beverly Hills.
* The neighborhood has large white terraces.
* Gold plated circuit boards.
[ image='images/CityWallSt.gif' ]
* From 10 o'clock to 12 o'clock is Wall Street.
* Heavy-duty number crunching here.
* Central Financial District.
= Locations at Alliances's Reboot site =
[ image='images/map-small.gif' ]
The Official ReBoot Home Page has a much better tour of Mainframe.
Each tour page has a round green map at the bottom. Clicking on the center
of the map will jump to the Principle Office; clicking near the edges of the
map will jump to the other sectors. (Be sure to click on each picture there;
some images have hot spots bringing up details on various vehicles.)
Note: The Alliance map is rotated 30 degrees counter clockwise with respect
to the view presented here, which came from the opening sequence.
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ReBoot: Sites
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_Specific Locations_
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= Dot's Diner =
Upper level in the Baudway sector, near the tall buildings in the
main shopping district. It is at the intersection of two major roads,
judging by all the traffic that goes by. A billboard for "Ray's Custom
Zipboard" is on the building behind the diner.
= Bob's Apartment =
In the Kits sector, down by the docks, it is in a round 5-story
building with a rotating 8-ball on the roof. He is working on restoring an
old car, red, with fins like a 1958 Caddy. The car is seen (and heard)
working in "The Great Brain
Robbery". Mike the TV appears to share the apartment with Bob ("
The TIFF").
= Principle Office =
Many wires carrying the digits 1 and 0 converge at a white and orange
ball at Mainframe's axis. This is where Phong lives.
= Archives =
The Archives are in the basement of the Principal Office. This heavily
shielded locked area holds all the important records.
= Megabyte's Tor =
Upper level in the industrial sector. It has a tower that looks like
a cobra, and extends down into the lower level.
= Hexadecimal's Lair =
Is underground, inside the island of Lost Angles. (Lost Angles is
connected to the city of Mainframe by a creepy looking foot bridge.)
The Lair is under the pavement; Hexadecimal opens up a hole in the ground
to bring visitors to her throne room.
= Old Man Pearson's Data Dump =
The dump is in sector 1001 on the lower level, not too far from
Megabyte's lair. Mr. Pearson has a lot of street sweepers (Seen "In the
Belly of the Beast".)
= Floating Point =
A park with benches. Seen in "The TIFF" and Gigabyte.
= Other places =
The Algorithm Theatre, the Bus Terminals. Vid Windows everywhere.
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ReBoot: Toys - Checklist
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_Merchandising: Toys, Checklist_
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This is a list of the Reboot action figures from Irwin Toy.
=== 30000 - Colorful 3-inch Figures (set of 12) ===
* 33011 - Bob standing, arm upraised (+)
* 33012 - Bob on Zip Board (+)
* 33013 - Dot
* 33014 - Enzo standing, hand on cap
* 33015 - Enzo on Zip Board
* 33016 - Frisket
* 33017 - Megabyte standing
* 33018 - Megabyte with weapon
* 33019 - Hexadecimal
* 33020 - Hack (red)
* 33021 - Slash (blue)
* 33022 - Phong (+)
=== 30001 - 5.5-inch Poseable Action Figures (set of 7) ===
* 30011 - Bob with interchangeable Glitch parts (+)
* The original has Bob wearing a goofy expression and a lump of
silver as his hair.
* The white "SPECIAL EDITION"/"EDITION SPECIALE" has a computer molded
head and the white uniform from "Talent Night".
* The yellow limited collector's edition has the same new head and
the yellow racing suit from "Racing the Clock".
* 30012 - Dot with Cecil (+)
* 30013 - Enzo (+)
* Enzo is scheduled to have a new computer molded head too.
* 30014 - Megabyte with moveable jaw and claws (+)
* 30015 - Hexadecimal
* 30016 - Hack (red) with pop-off limbs
* 30017 - Slash (blue) with pop-off limbs
=== 30002 - Micro Playsets (set of 3) ===
* 30022 - Megabyte's Throne Room (MB, Bob, Dot) (-)
* 30023 - Hexadecimal's Lair (HD, Bob, Enzo) (-)
* 30024 - Hack and Slash Vehicle Bay (Hack, Slash, Enzo, Frisket) (+)
=== 30004 - Bob's V262 Turbo Drophead Car ===
Use Glitch from the 5.5-inch Bob to activate the car's ignition.
This is a limited edition item, may be hard to find.
=== Other items ===
* Coloring book
* Three different 100-piece jigsaw puzzles
* Poster
* Children's book: "The TIFF" ($4.95)
* Children's book: "Frisket Take Command" ($4.95)
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ReBoot: Toys
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_Merchandising: Toys_
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In addition to Irwin Toy, there is "Canada Games Company Limited", who are
making 100-piece jigsaw puzzles. Walmart (Canada) has 3 different sets:
1) Enzo, 2) Frisket, 3) Everybody.
9-Spe-96 A new line of ReBoot action figures has been spotted in central
Canada. This one has Hexadecimal dressed in black. ReBoot CD-ROMS are
scheduled to hit Canadian stores in October. US orders are taken on the
Irwin Web site.
[ image='irwin/Irwin90.gif' descr='Irwin' ]
This is the 20,149th access of this page.
From a member of the production crew (April 7, 1995):
The action figures and playsets will be coming out soon. There is stuff
like a Hex head, where the face opens up and there's a little set with a
jail or something inside (like Mighty Max). Besides the figures, there's
the typical birthday decorations, Halloween costumes, underpants, etc.
The figures will be made by Irwin. They're Canadian only so far and are
going to try to break into the US with this toy line.
=== ReBoot toys via mail order ===
The Puzzle Zoo ("The world's most unique toy store!") in Santa Monica used
to sell the ReBoot toys via mail order. (The original batch of 3-inch
and 5.5-inch figures are sold out, and the new batch has not arrived yet.)
You can contact them at:
Puzzle Zoo
1413 Third Street Promenade
Santa Monica, California 90401
Phone: (310)393-9201
Fax: (310)393-9891
=== May 31, 1995 Irwin USA ===
[ image='irwin/IrwinLtd.gif' descr='Irwin Toy Limited' ]
From: Chuck Sakolsky - Irwin Toys
Scott Irwin asked that I fax you the names of the retailers who will he
carrying the ReBoot figures. We will be shipping the 3" figures within a
couple weeks, Followed by the 5-1/2 articulated figures with accessories in
late July, and the micro playsets with mini-figures in August.
The figures and playsets will be carried at the following national and
regional retailers:
* Toys-R-Us * Ames * Hills * Bradlees * Caldor *
* Target * Kay Bee Toys * K-mart * Wal-Mart *
* Clover * Family Toy Centers * FAO Schwarz *
These are the major accounts. There will be literally hundreds of others,
mainly comic book retailers, action figure dealers, and lots of independent
toy retailers.
Irwin USA
Chuck Sakolsky - Toy Sales to Retailers
555 South Federal Highway, Suite 330
Boca Raton, FL 33432
Phone: (407)347-1043 or (800)399-1043
Fax: (407)347-0846
E-mail: FPY...@prodigy.com (MR CHARLES SAKOLSKY)
Irwin Toy Limited
43 Hanna Avenue, Toronto, Ontario M6K 1X6, Canada
Phone: (416)533-3521 or (800)268-1733
Fax: (416)533-3257
E-mail: ir...@irwin-toy.com or ir...@inforamp.net
Scott Irwin - New Toy Product Development - Advertising (ext 4502)
Peter Irwin - International Toy Sales and Licensing
Paul Waxman - Product Manager
Debbie Brown - Publicity
=== June 2, 1995 Irwin Toronto ===
From: Paul Waxman
_
From deep inside the world of Mainframe comes REBOOT. Join Bob as he
teams up with his friends Dot and Enzo battling the evil forces of
Megabyte and his disciples of doom, Hack and Slash. And help this
triumphant threesome overcome the cunning and beautiful Hexadecimal,
another virus trying to destroy the peace of Mainframe. But beware,
because at any moment a game may be dropped into a sector, raising yet
another challenge for the heroes of Mainframe to defeat.
_
See also the Irwin Toy checklist.
It has part numbers for the individual toys.
[ image='irwin/3inEnzoBob.gif' descr='Enzo/Zip Enzo Bob/Zip Bob' ]
== 30000 - Colorful 3-inch Figures (set of 12) ==
The whole Reboot world in your hands. Bob standing, Bob on Zip Board.
Enzo standing, Enzo on Zip Board. Frisket, Dot, Phong and Hexadecimal.
Hack, Slash, Megabyte standing, Megabyte with weapon.
Available- June 1995
[ image='irwin/3inDotPhong.gif' descr='Frisket Dot Phong Hexy' ]
[ image='irwin/3inMega.gif' descr='Hack Slash Megabyte' ]
(See note about misprinted Bob cards.)
== 30001 - 5.5-inch Poseable Action Figures (set of 7) ==
[ image='irwin/5inchToys.gif' descr='action figures' ]
Each figure comes with a collectible 'Slammer Disc'. Assortment includes -
Bob with Glitch; Enzo with Articulated Zip Board; Megabyte with Moving Jaw
and Horrible Extendible Claws; Hexadecimal with Four Changeable Faces; Dot
with her Maitre'd Cecil; Hack with Popping Head and Limbs, Slash
with Popping Head and Limbs.
Ages- 4+
Available- July 1995
[ image='irwin/Playsets.gif' descr='[Three play sets]' ]
== 30002 - Micro Playsets (set of 3) ==
Ages- 4+
Available- August 1995
= Megabyte's Throne Room =
[ image='irwin/PlayMega.gif' descr='[Megabyte's Throne]' ]
Open Megabyte's Laboratory with the hologramed game cube key. Inside Megabyte
sits on top of his throne. Shoot a collectible 'Delete Disc' at Megabyte.
Hit him and release Dot, who is trapped in the dungeon underneath Megabyte's
Throne. Have Bob rescue Dot from the deadly nulls inside. The disc shooter
connects to the playset so it can fire at other playsets. Comes with 3
painted figurines and null pile.
= Hexadecimal's Lair =
[ image='irwin/PlayHex.gif' descr='[Hexadecimal's Lair]' ]
Open Hex's lair with the hologramed computer cube key. Inside, Hex sits on
her throne atop a firing disc shooter. Hex can fire at Bob or you can remove
the disc shooter and fire at Hex. Free Enzo who's trapped by Hex's razor
sharp teeth before dangerous nulls get at him. Includes play environment, 3
painted figurines, null pile, disc shooter with collectible 'Delete Disc'
and game cube key.
= Hack and Slash Vehicle Bay =
[ image='irwin/PlayHack.gif' descr='[Hack and Slash Vehicle Bay]' ]
Open the Vehicle Bay with the hologrammed computer game cube key. Inside
Hack's ABC Vehicle moves ahead and fires a collectible 'Delete Disc'.
Playset comes with moveable "SPIKED" wall, upper holding cell, moveable
weapons, control tower with gangway and other features. Contains play
environment, 4 painted figures, ABC Vehicle with disc shooter, game cube key.
== 30004 - Bob's V262 Turbo Drophead Car ==
[ image='irwin/Bob-Car.gif' descr='red car' ]
Bob is incessantly working on this "beauty" so it will be ready to ditch
Megabyte and his cohorts. The trunk opens up and contains a Zip Board
Launcher. One Zip Board is included. A shooter is attached to the front
hood of the car firing a collectible 'Delete Disc'. The vehicles spring
suspension creates a unique and realistic "hovering" action.
[ image='irwin/WhiteBob.gif' descr='white outfit' ]
== new - White Bob Special Edition ==
There is a new version of the 5.5-inch Bob figure out. It has not been
widely distributed, so keep a lookout for it.
When a toy store receives a shipment, approximately one carton in 10
has the Collector's Edition Bob.
== Misprint ==
Note to collectors: The first batch of 3-inch Bob figures had a misprint on
the packaging. In the process of converting Bob's image from SoftImage format
to Adobe Photoshop to hardcopy, the colors got messed up. Bob's face is a
nice light blue on the TV show and on the action figure, but the first printing
of the card that holds the toy came out with a noticably purple shade. This
mistake was corrected on later print runs - not many exist.
=== August 7, 1995 ===
From: FPY...@prodigy.com (Charles Sakolsky)
Newsgroups: alt.tv.reboot
Subject: Re: Reboot toys/figures
Date: 7 Aug 1995 00:12:30 GMT
The 5-1/2" figures are just getting into distribution now, starting
mainly on the west coast. Within a week or so, you'll be able to find
them in Toys R Us, Kay Bee, Puzzle Zoo, Toy Town, some K-marts, and
several other retailers in California.
By late August or early September we will ship to the other parts of the
country. They will be available in all the above chains plus Ames,
Bradlees, Caldor, FAO Schwarz, Family Toy Centers, Hills, Target, Venture,
Wal-Mart, Army Air Force Post Exchanges, as well as other toy and comic
book retailers.
The Micro Play Sets will be available in September, and Bob's V262 Turbo
Drophead Car will be in very limited distribution in October, and may be
hard to find.
The 3" figures are in all the above retailers in most of their locations.
If you don't see them, ask the toy manager; he may have them in the back
room. Sales have been very strong and some stores can't restock quickly
enough.
If your local dealer doesn't currently have ReBoot on order, ask him or
her to contact our National Sales Office at 1-800/399-1043 for ordering
information. Sorry, we do not sell directly to consumers.
Thanks for asking.
Chuck Sakolsky
Irwin Toys
---------------------------------------------------------------------
=== www.irwin-toy.com ===
[ image='irwin/Irwin180.gif' descr='Irwin' ]
=== ir...@inforamp.net ===
Selected press releases from Irwin Toy in Canada.
== July 7, 1995 ==
From ir...@inforamp.net
The Irwin Toy Home Page is now on-line.
The URL for the Reboot Toys is www.irwin-toy.com/reboot.htm
== January 19, 1995 ==
Alliance Communications Corporation, on behalf of Mainframe Joint Venture,
and Irwin Toy Limited have reached an agreement whereby Mainframe has granted
Irwin the license to manufacture and distribute certain toys based on ReBoot,
the animated television program, in both Canada and in the United States.
== April 28, 1995 ==
Irwin Toy and ReBoot merge to create Terminally Cool action figures.
Irwin Toy has taken the characters from this hugely successful television
program and created a line of action figures, vehicles and mini-playsets.
The ReBoot line includes 3" figures which will be available in June
(assortment of 12). The 5-1/2" action figures (available for Fall
delivery) are fully poseable and each figure is accessorised. Also
available for Fall delivery is Bob's V262 Drophead Car featuring spring
suspension, realistic engine sound and a Zip Board launcher. Three assorted
mini-playsets complete the line - Megabyte's Throne Room, Hexadecimal's
Lair and Hack and Slash Vehicle Bay.
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ReBoot: Card Set
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_Collectable Cards_
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=== Collectable cards, 1995 printing ===
Table of Contents:
* The Promo Card
* Special Advertisement Section in WIZARDS #44 (Apr-95)
* Complete checklist (text only)
See also:
* Steve Staton's Fleer Ultra Reboot Card Checklist (with pictures).
* He runs the ReBoot Trading Card Mailing List.
* Instructions on how to join are on his checklist page.
The cards themselves come in a purple foil package with black and gold ink.
The front has:
Premiere Edition
Fleer Ultra
ReBoot
Computer Generated Images
8 cards
The back says:
ReBoot (tm) & (C) 1995 Mainframe Joint Venture
[ image='images/Logo-bw89.gif' descr='(ReBoot)' ]
Produced and distributed exclusively by
Fleer Entertainment, Mt. Laurel, NJ 08054.
Made & printed in the USA.
Distributed in Canada by Fleer Ltd./Ltee.
Collect the following limited-edition insert cards:
10 Chromium cards, approximately 1:6 packs.
10 Suspended Animation cards, approximately 1:6 packs.
5 Holoblast cards, approximately 1:9 packs.
No guaranteed number of limited-edition cards per box.
With these odds, 5 of every 9 packs have 8 plain cards,
and 4 out of 9 packs will have 7 plain and 1 special card.
The cards are available at comic book stores and shops carrying
baseball cards. Also carried in some Target and K-Mart stores.
== Promo Card and Poster ==
The promotional card that was included in WIZARDS Guide To Comics #44 (Apr-95)
has "Dot Patrol" on the front. The back has:
= The Mega-Hit of Saturday Morning TV in a Mega-Hot Card Set! =
[ image='images/Fleer1.gif' descr='ReBoot logo' ]
150-Card Series, Plus 25 Chase Cards.
* Computer Generated Images
* Terminally Cool Holograms
* High-Tech Suspended Animation
* Totally Tubular Chromium Cards
ReBoot (tm) & (C) 1994
Mainframe Joint Venture
[ image='images/Poster.gif' descr='[JPG: poster]' ]
= Pull-out Poster =
Also included in this magazine (WIZARDS Guide To Comics #44, Apr-95) was
a two-page centerfold. One side was a continuation of the magazine's front
cover - featuring the girls from "Gen 13". The other side has the cast of
_ReBoot_. (1024x600 JPEG, 123K)
[Author's note: This was scanned in two passes with a 5-inch hand scanner.
That explains the subtle discontinuity going across the middle of the image.]
== Special Advertisement Section ==
= Pages 107-110 of WIZARDS Guide To Comics #44 (Apr-95) =
(page 107)
== ReBoot Premiere Edition ==
[ image='images/Fleer1.gif' descr='ReBoot logo' ]
== Fleer Ultra "ReBoot" ==
= Computer Generated Imagery
High-Tech Special Effects
Terminally Cool Characters =
(pictures of #4: "Megabyte", #120: "Glitch Cutter", and #84: "Dot Patrol".)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
(page 108)
= Computer Generated Imagery, =
high-tech stories, and state-of-the-art chase cards
compile to make Fleer Ultra Reboot
March 1995's hottest set!
= The Megahit of Saturday Morning! =
The ReBoot animated series is taking Saturday morning by storm.
Airing at 8:30 AM EDT/PDT on ABC, its tearing up the competition.
Taking today's technology to the limits, ReBoot is displayed
exclusively in CGI -- Computer Generated Imagery. A visually
captivating combination of computer graphics, software lingo
and ping-zing action, ReBoot is a hit with kids and teens.
This high-energy ground breaker is just the right format to
make ReBoot a number one hit with trading card collectors.
(pictures of #19: "Bob Wants You", #52: "Enzo Reboots")
---------------------------------------------------------------------
(page 109)
= Fleer: An Icon in Cards! =
Continuing a long line of successful card sets such as Fleer
Ultra X-Men '94, Marvel Cards Spider-Man, '94 Flair Marvel
Universe, and '94 Marvel Masterpieces, Fleer logs on in
March 1995 with Fleer Ultra ReBoot.
= THIS 150 CARD SET FEATURES: =
* Exclusive computer-generated images.
* Gold foil Stamping
* UV coating
= MEGAHOT CHASE CARDS! =
Three state-of-the-art limited-edition chase card sets featuring:
HOLOBLAST Terminally cool cards featuring
computer-generated images joined with three-dimensional holograms.
CHROMIUM Totally tubular chromium cards
featuring the heroes and villains of Mainframe!
SUSPENDED ANIMATION High-tech images of
Mainframe's key characters.
(pictures of #119: "Megabyte's Grasp" and #1: "Dot Matrix".)
(The pictures on this page and the next are mislabelled; "Compu Boss"
is the one with Dot wearing glasses.)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
(page 110)
(pictures of #5: "Hexadecimal" and #42: "Compu Boss".)
== Fleer Ultra Reboot - Checklist ==
= Note: =
The checklist published in the magazine is wrong. The list of images changed
between the time the ad was created and when the cards came out. Most of
the names printed there did not make the final cut.
The only things right in the magazine's checklist are the "KEY PLAYERS"
(cards 1 through 9 and a half) and the description of the special cards
(HOLOBLAST, CHROMIUM, and SUSPENDED ANIMATION).
See Joe's checklist or
Steve's checklist
for a full list.
Wayne Farmer (wa...@rbdc.rbdc.com) informs me there is an 8.5" x 11" promo
sheet for the Reboot cards with pictures of 9 cards:
* #1. Dot Matrix (with sign to Dot's Diner in background)
* #5. Hexadecimal (in front of an arch, looking fierce)
* #6. Frisket (the dog)
* #42. Compu-Boss (Dot wearing glasses, at the bar in the Diner)
* #84. Dot Patrol (Dot carrying two big guns)
* #52. Enzo Reboots (pressing icon on his cap, red bar in background)
* #119. Megabyte's Grasp (MB holding Enzo, demanding his magnet back)
* #120. Glitch Cutter (Glitch turning into a cutter)
* #???. Dragon Chase (Bob in golden armor with bronze sword and bronze
shield; he's standing, facing front, watching the head of a
large-horned dragon.)
"Dragon Chase" does not appear part of the set any more. This closest I've
seen is #78. "Battle to the Bone", #81. "Armor Clad Bob", and
#C7. "Sir Bob". The labels to "Dot Matrix" and "Compu Boss" were switched;
they printed wrong in the promo.
the complete checklist
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ReBoot: Card Checklist
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_Collectable Cards: Checklist_
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=== Trading Cards ===
== Fleer Ultra Reboot - Checklist ==
= Key Players =
* Dot Matrix (with sign to Dot's Diner in background)
* Bob (on a zip-board in the Data Dump)+
* Enzo (just him)+
* Megabyte (low angle shot lookup up at the big meany)-
* Hexadecimal (in front of an arch, looking fierce)+
* Frisket (the dog)+
* Phong (holding a supercharged Viral Erase Command)+
* Cecil (at a jaunty angle)
* Hack (the red one)
* Slash (the blue one)
= Data File =
(Has name, format, function, and sound byte.)
* Dot (on a leopard-skin picnic blanket)+
* Bob (looking slightly surprised)+
* Enzo (with a smirk)+
* Megabyte (showing sharp fingernails, left arm turned to stone)+
* Hexy (smiling, with claws extended)
* Hack & Slash (blue floor, yellow border)+
* Phong (in the middle of playing a game of Pong)
* Frisket (growling)+
= The Guardian =
(Focus on Bob)
* Bob Wants You (finger pointing, car in background)
* A Job For Glitch (Bob pressing on Glitch)+
* Watchful Eyes (close up of side of his face)
* Hard Driver (Bob in his car, wearing seatbelt)
* Software Scare (Bob looking shocked; mouth wide open)+
* Surge Protector (Grim looking, leaning forward aggressively)
* Mission Man (Bob carrying viral eraser, Principle Office in background)+
* Disarmed Guardian (sneaking up on software pirates, without Glitch)
* On The Hunt (wearing goggles from Starship Alcatraz)
= Megatrouble =
(Focus on Megabyte.)
* Megabyte's Face (showing three rows of sharp teeth)-
* Pumped Up (squeezing Nibbles until it turns blue)+
* Wicked Window (specifications for the UNFORMAT command)+
* The Prize (displaying the Medusa Bug, red background)+
* Mega Threat (crawling up the side of a building)+
* Evil Looks On (looking into holding tank)+
* Powering Up (connected to pink harness)
* Mega Tear (demanding that Bob stabilize the tear)+
* Evil Clutches (showing his claws)+
= Love That Dot =
(Focus on Dot.)
* Cover Girl (close up of face)
* File Manager (wearing glasses, secretary in Vid Window behind her)+
* Dot -- The Eyes (pulling down her shades, out in park)
* Dot's Crew (blond One in a bikini, redhead Zero with green shades)
* Not Again! (Dot looking surprised)
* Compu-Boss (Dot wearing glasses and black+white outfit, at bar of Diner)-
* Picnic Pause (on the leopard skin picnic blanket, up on one elbow)-
* Body Copy (at the gym, white leotard and black leggings)+
This scene is not in any of the first 23 episodes.
* Bombshell (in an out-of-character costume: a red miniskirt!)+
This scene is not in any of the first 23 episodes.
= Mischief Maker =
(Focus on Enzo.)
* Delivery Boy (in Diner, "Enzo's Overwrite Delivery Service")
* Puppy Love (Frisket's head is almost bigger than Enzo)
* Turbo Yo Yo (distracting to Hack and Slash)+
* Thrill Ride (driving an Armored Binome Carrier)+
* Hyper Activity (Enzo sitting on Bob at the Diner)
* En Guarde! (holding a stun saber)
* Enzo Reboots (pressing icon on his cap, red bar in background)
* I'm Not Basic! (he protests)
* Bad Boy (with an evil grin)
= Queen Of Chaos =
(Focus on Hexadecimal.)
* Hexy's Face (close up, very wide open mouth)+
* Mistress Of Mayhem (reaching out to grab you)+
* Lost Angles Lady (standing on Gilded Gate Bridge, shooting fireballs)
* Her Majesty (seated on throne, smiling, holding a happy mask)
* Crocodile Tears (tears of fake sympathy)
* Struttin' Her Stuff (scene from opening credits)+
* Terminal Tease (crouching down near the sea)
* Personality Shift (happy face but threatening claws, on GGB)-
* Fiendish Footprint (standing tall, looking menacing)+
= Bit Parts =
* Mike (looking pumped up)
* Scuzzy (the cat-like critter)
* Binomes (group of eleven)+
* Dino DeHorrendous (the movie director)++
* Captain Capacitor (the Crimson Binome)+
* Mr. Christopher (accountant holding up a clipboard)+
* Princess Bula (at the bottom of the stairs)+
* Software Pirate (a One holding the ship's steering wheel)
* Mouse (close up of face, showing filigree tatoos)+
* Lt. Chauncey (viral One with commander's cap, on an ABC)+
* Stripe (orange and black hair, orange/white/black stripes on shirt)++
* Rasta Mon (scarlet face, control points in his dreadlocks)+
= ReBoot Games =
* Danger Ahead (Dot and Bob after the race, "This is not good")+
* Formula 1 (Enzo driving racecar)+
* Battle to the Bone (Bob in gold fighting skeleton)
* Armor Pile (Dot in gray armor, knocked to the floor)+
* Lady Enzo (Enzo's costume has his legs off the floor)
* Armor Clad Bob (in golden armor standing on top of table)+
* Bone Warrior (skull in old battered helmet)+
* Heavy Metal (Bob falling into pit full of steely spikes)+
* Dot Patrol (carrying two big PCU guns)+
* Command Leader (at control panel of Starship Alcatraz)+
* Corrupt File (the User as escaped prisoner in Starship Alcatraz)
* Hunting The User (Bob at foot of stairs holding a big PCU gun)++
* System Bug (big round prisoner knocking Bob off elevator)
* Quick Draw (Dot holding chip in Alcatraz)-
* Retro Dot (in Star Fighter just outside Ice Cave)+
* Nice Catch! (Megabyte holding Dot after her Star Fighter is hit)+
* Dot's Magic (holding wizard's crystal ball)+
* Sneak Peek (Bob as thief looking around a corner)
* TV Warrior (Mike as a barbarian with big sword)
* Elfin Magic (Enzo with bow and arrow)-
* Skullipede (white worm with yellow teeth and skull head)++
* System Spiker (hefty User with spiked mace)++
* Fu Man Chooser (User as Chinese magic man)+
* Macro Monster (User's green goblin thief)+
* Knightmare (black knight with sword upraised)+
* Super Freak (User's red athlete)+
* Triple Team (User's yellow, orange, and blue athletes)+
* Mega Flop (General Dot after having her fort blown up)
* Biker Babe (in black leather, near white/violet motorcycle)
This scene is not from any of the first 23 episodes
= Program Blips =
* Power Band (Glitch extends an orange bar)-
* Hex Marks The Spot (Enzo and Frisket running from Hex)+
* Prize Possession (Megabyte holding Medusa Bug, blue background)-
* Elbow Room (Bob measures size of tear, Megabyte stands by)+
* The Chase Is On (Frisket and Enzo running away from Hexy's lair)+
* Nose Job (Bob tweaks the supercharged V8 inside Frisket's nose)+
* Sitting Pretty Evil (Hex on throne, legs crossed)-
* Back Seat Driver (Dot driving Bob's car, Bob looking upset)
* Sisterly Advice (Dot talking to Enzo)
* Reigning Champ (Bob looking down)++
* Port of Call (Dot with megaphone)+
* Heavenly Hologram (Dot's apology to Bob)
* Motherly Advise (Dot talking to evacuating binomes)
* Cyber Romance (Bob and Dot at the park after fake apologies)+
* Megabyte's Grasp (MB holding Enzo, demanding his magnet back)+
* Glitch Cutter (Glitch turning into a cutter)+
* Dancing Queen (Princess Bula pops up out of deck of ship)+
* Stun Sabre (Bob holding the file-lockout weapon)+
* Dog Chow (Frisket eating the UNFORMAT command)+
* Hex's Clutches (Hex flying circles around Bob in a noose)
* Dead End (Bob caught by Megabyte's harness gun)++
* Hi Ho Frisket (Enzo riding on Frisket to get away from MB)
* Friendly Foes (Hexadecimal gloating as Megabyte's arm turns to stone)
* Cliff Hanger (Megabyte hanging on the outside of his Tor)-
* Admiral Matrix (Dot with pirate's hat)
* Holo-Dot (fake hologram of Dot making an apology)
* System Bomb (Dot after small tear blows up in her face in "The TIFF")+
(The text on back of the card talks about Enzo being upset with
everyone going 8-bit, but this picture is not from "Enzo the Smart".)
* Software Package (Hexadecimal cozying up to Bob)
* Enzo Captured (Slash and Hack grab him on his way home from school)
* Fetch Format (Enzo is tied up and Frisket has just saved him)
* Stone Cold Mean (Megabyte turned to stone, but his eyes still glow red)
* Power Struggle (Megabyte tries to push Bob off a tower)
* Terrible Twosome (Hack and Slash blocking the way)
* Serious Interfacing (MB taunting Bob and Enzo via a two-sided Vid Window)+
* Best Face Forward (Hexadecimal rejects the mask with timer)+
* Bogey Man (Megabyte running down a tunnel)
* Decimal's Point (Hexadecimal holding a fireball and pointing)
* Playing Catch (Frisket catches cannonball that the pirates fired)+
* Head to Head (Megabyte confronts Enzo, up close and personal)+
* Mega Mission (Slash and Hack executing orders from Megabyte)+
* Binome Squad (viral binomes covered by a B.S.'n P Approved liferaft)++
* Late Night With Mike (Mike interviewing Coach Enzo)+
* Face to Face (Megabyte holding Bob up to his eye level)-
* The Getaway (Bob running from Hack and Slash)+
= Checklists =
* Checklist 1 (cards 1-75, same image as heroes)
(The description of cards 76-83 should be here, but they're not.)
* Checklist 2 (cards 84-150, C1-C10, SA1-SA10, HB1-HB5, same image as
poster)
= Chromium =
(Cards stamped with metallic foil.)
* Circuit Racer (Dot in a Formula-1 car)-
* Interstellar Virus (Megabyte's head)-
* Cosmic Captain (looking pensive, white uniform)
* Damsel in Distress (Enzo looking peeved)
* Space Cop (Dot on patrol with big guns)
* Floppy Driver (Enzo in a Formula-1 car)-
* Track Baller (Bob in a Formula-1 car)-
* Rocket Attack (Dot in white, looking determined)
* Sir Bob (knight in gold armor)
* Armed Guardian (Bob carrying a PCU gun)
= Suspended Animation =
(Transparent cards, image visible from both sides.)
* Dot (in a crouch)
* Bob (falling)-
* Enzo (on a zip-board)-
* Megabyte (on the edge of a platform)-
* Hack (near edge of platform)-
* Hexadecimal (cape open, holding orange ball lightning)
* Frisket (jumping)
* Phong (head tilted, saying something)
* Slash ()-
* Cecil and Mike (Cecil grabbing Mike's rabbit ears)
= HoloBlast =
(The first name on each card is shown as a silver hologram, the second name is
shown as a color image in a Vid Window.)
* Enzo and Megabyte (Enzo on a hallway)
* Megabyte and Hexadecimal (MB sitting in his control chair)
* Hexadecimal and Bob ()-
* Bob and Dot (Bob in his apartment)
* Dot and Enzo (Dot at the Diner)
= Promo Card =
* "Dot Patrol" on front, "Premiere Edition" on back
---------------------------------------------------------------------
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==============================================================
ReBoot: Video Tapes
----------------------------------------
_VHS Tapes_
---------------------------------------------------------------------
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=== _ReBoot_ available on home video ===
== NTSC format in North America ==
So far, these episodes have been released:
* Medusa Bug, Polygram Video "800 635 885-3"
* Wizards, Warriors, and a Word From Our Sponsor,
Polygram Video "800 635 883-3"
* The Great Brain Robbery, Polygram Video "800 636 869-3"
* Talent Night, Polygram Video "800 636 871-3"
[ image='images/videomed.gif' descr='Cover to Medusa' ]
[ image='images/videowiz.gif' descr='Cover to Wizards' ]
[ image='images/videorob.gif' descr='Cover to Robbery' ]
[ image='images/videotal.gif' descr='Cover to Talent' ]
These videos have been spotted in almost all the larger video stores.
Suncoast Video, Tower Video, Sam Goody's, Target, Hollywood Video, etc.
Check the Children's section, Animation section, or Japanimation section.
PolyGram Home Video: Laura Smith (212)333-1455
All four videos are available by mail order from American
CyberSuperStores.
== PAL format in the UK ==
The UK release has two episodes per tape
* Volume 1: The Tearing / Racing the Clock
Polygram Video 6346263
* Volume 2: The Quick and the Fed / Medusa Bug
Polygram Video 6346283
Seen in WH Smiths, Toys'R'Us, HMV - but usually filed in the kid's section.
Note from Fox:
For some reason the spine layout design is completely different between
the two tapes. I can only assume they went through a fast rethink when
they saw the first one. It's not *that* bad. Covers aren't as
inventive as the American edition - just stills and logo.
Vol 2 now seems to be available generally. Vol 1 is
around; though not as widespread as 2. I do consider that it was a
badly missed opportunity to wait until after the show comes off-air
before releasing the video.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
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==============================================================
ReBoot: Fan pages
----------------------------------------
_Fan operated ReBoot home pages_
---------------------------------------------------------------------
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=== Unoffical Resources ===
== Reference pages ==
* References on the Production page.
* ReBoot entry in the Ultimate TV List
* ReBoot entry in the Internet Movie Database
== USENET newsgroups ==
* alt.tv.reboot (primary newsgroup)
* alt.cartoon.reboot (lesser newsgroup)
* rec.arts.animation (all types of cartoons)
* comp.graphics.animation (technical aspects)
== On-line BBS and chat sessions ==
* #ReBoot at irc.dal.net, created by Michael Lu lufa...@ix.netcom.com
* ReBoot Bulletin Board
* ReBoot's Binary Input Forum
[ image='images/ds-reban.gif' descr='Banner' ]
== Viewer's home pages ==
* Web page by David Francis where I snagged the
list of who does what for the voices.
Note: That page was and this one were listed as Spider's Pick of the Day for
30-Jun-95 which caused 2735 hits in one day for this document.
* Dallas Eschenauer's
episode guide with personal comments.
* Travis Illig's MHS Totally Unofficial ReBoot Page.
* The Terrabull Reboot page.
* Benson Yee's Beast Wars page.
* Beast Wars episode guide.
== Scans / WAV samples / screen-shots ==
* Steve Staton's list of collectable cards.
* Dave Smith's screen captures and sound bites
* "Theme" files for Windows-95 can be found in two places:
ftp://ftp.inwap.com/reboot/win95theme/
and as theme01 and theme02.
* Chris Dunam's small collection of screen shots
* Fifo's page of WAV files (audio).
* Dana Foxx's ReBoot page with screen captures and audio clips.
* Doug Vanderhoek's ReBoot page.
See also the Tapers list for people trading tapes.
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==============================================================
ReBoot: Other references
----------------------------------------
_Other ReBoot references_
---------------------------------------------------------------------
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=== Official ReBoot Resources ===
[ image='images/Logo-bw.gif' descr='(ReBoot)' ]
== BLT Productions / MainFrame Entertainment ==
This spot reserved for the URL to BLT Productions.
This spot reserved for the URL to MainFrame Entertainment Inc.
[The new official ReBoot home page may be online in spring of 1997.]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
== Alliance ==
Alliance Television launched the official ReBoot Home Page
on August 4th, 1995. Their site is centered around young Enzo, and it's
alphnumeric! (Last updated in September 1995.)
You can post comments about the show using ReBoot's Binary Input Forum.
In particular, some fan-written fiction involving Mainframe has popped up.
(Other stories are in messages 29/2, 129, and 172.)
To subscribe or unsubscribe to their mailing list, go to
alliance.idirect.com/htnews/edit-subscribe.pl/reboot.html
Here's a shortcut to their QuickTime animations.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
[ image='ytv/YTV-icon.gif' descr='YTV' ]
== YTV ==
The YTV web site will be online soon.
E-mail can be sent to in...@ytv.ca
== Irwin Toy Limited ==
The home page for Irwin-Toy.COM was activated in July, 1995.
Vote for your favorite episode. Play the ReBoot challenge word game.
Toys: www.irwin-toy.com/reboot.htm
Episodes: irwin.hype.com:8001/irwin/reboot/episodes/episode.htm
Word Game: irwin.hype.com:8001/irwin/reboot/challenge/challenge.htm
---------------------------------------------------------------------
[ image='images/sonyhome.gif' descr='Sony-on-line' ]
== Sony Signatures ==
Sony Signatures sells three
ReBoot T-shirts (in children's sizes only).
---------------------------------------------------------------------
== PolyGram Video ==
Producers of the ReBoot Videos
on VHS. Their site has a 34-second AVI movie (2.9 meg).
== American CyberSuperStores ==
Videos of ReBoot are available.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------
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page 74 of 79
Maintained by Joe Smith - jsm...@inwap.com
==============================================================
--
INWAP.COM is Joe and Sally Smith, John and Chris O'Halloran and our cats
See http://www.inwap.com/ for "ReBoot", PDP-10, and Clan MacLeod.
Smith and O'Halloran
Subject: ReBoot FAQ, 3 of 5
Contents: Episode Guide, 1st season
Date: Wed Feb 12 14:06:23 PST 1997
From: Joe Smith <jsm...@inwap.com>
ReBoot: Opening
----------------------------------------
_Saga Cell: Opening_
---------------------------------------------------------------------
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[ image='images/soundbutton.gif' descr='audio' ]
ThemeSong.au (467K, 59 seconds @ 8000 Hz, SPARC format)
[ image='images/soundbutton.gif' descr='audio' ]
Alliance:Introduc.wav (1.36M, 59 seconds @ 22255 Hz, PC format)
Alliance has a 4 megabyte QuickTime movie of the opening sequence on
the official ReBoot home page.
(It may take 53 minutes to download at 14.4Kb.)
== Opening Sequence ==
[ image='episodes/img/01fromnet.gif' ]
[ image='episodes/img/02andcities.gif' ]
[ image='episodes/img/03place.gif' ]
[ image='episodes/img/04mainframe.gif' ]
First Season, 1994-1995
Second Season, 1995-1996
(music starts)
Blue-green skyscrapers on round bases, floating above yellow mountains.
"I come from the Net. Systems, people, cities,"
Smash through shiny sphere to starburst pattern (mostly purple, blue, and
yellow) with turquoise balls in concentric circles and flying octahedrons.
"to this place:"
Round city floating above blue-green sea. Silver and black industrial
areas and a lot of greenbelt park areas.
"Mainframe."
Bob walking into the diner.
Close-up on city.
"My format: Guardian."
Bob and Dot in warehouse facing
brilliant light.
Bob walking past Dot.
"To mend and defend."
Bob zaps light with swirling beam,
several dodecahedrons stacked up.
Dot pressing buttons on numeric keypad.
An angry Bob, shaking with rage.
"To defend my new-found friends."
Close-up of Dot.
Enzo and his dog Frisket, in front
of Dot's Diner.
"Their hopes"
Close-up of Enzo spinning his cap.
Enzo with a goofy grin, popping out of
an armored tank.
"and dreams."
Dot leaning up against Bob.
Momma Binome, Baby Binome, and Papa
Binome, holding a "Bob" teddy-bear.
"To defend them"
Phong standing in front of pictures of Megabyte and his minions.
Bob and Dot, looking pleased
"from"
Binome-one and binome-zero.
Bob swinging on a rope, Dot with
mouth open.
"their enemies."
Megabyte in front of a flaming
breach in the interface.
Close-up of Megabyte's mouth and teeth
(27 seconds of music until next voiceover)
Close-up of Megabyte.
Hack and Slash.
Hack and Slash riding Armored Binome
Carriers in middle of auditorium.
Hexadecimal casting a spell.
Bob. Dot in a dark printed-circuit suit.
(Created by: Gavin Blair, Phil Mitchell, John Grace, Ian Pearson.)
Outside of city.
Mouse (woman with flaming orange hair
and purple skin) displaying her fangs.
Hexadecimal striding forward ("Created by" still showing).
Hex's football-shaped pet, Scuzzy.
Megabyte showing off his sharp claws.
Planet exploding with six fighter ships escaping.
Dot, wearing a powered exoskeleton,
towering over Megabyte.
Bob riding a dragon, dodging a fireball.
Hexadecimal looking angry.
Large semi truck ("Boshbilt").
Driven by Dot with Enzo in uniform.
Megabyte running from a Sega dinosaur.
Hexadecimal playing buddy to Bob.
Enzo upgrading from 01 to 10.
Enzo knocking Bob over in diner
(Calvin Spline sign in background).
Bony creature coming out of a portal.
Landspeeders racing through cave.
Bad Bob in biker leathers and beard.
Enzo flys zipboard into diner.
Enzo and Dot surprised.
Hovercraft racing through semicircular trench.
Something coming out of a flaming tear.
Frisket on top of a binome-one.
Megabyte catching a falling Dot.
Frisket looking at a crazy bagpipe.
Dot, Enzo, and Bob in a confrontational pose.
(Executive Producer: Jay Firestone)
Megabyte being crushed by Dot.
(Executive Producers: Steve Barron,
Stephane Reichel)
Background sky changing drastically.
(Executive Producer: Steve Barron)
Bob and Dot concerned as sky changes.
Purple cube with flashing white lightning descends on city.
"They say The User lives outside the Net"
Close-up on cube (Produced by: Christopher Brough)
"and inputs games for pleasure."
Close-up on Bob.
"No one knows for sure,"
Group shot.
"but I intend to find out."
Disc of green light comes down on each character.
"ReBoot!"
Diamond logo: "R e B o o t".
To do: identify which episode each scene came from.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
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ReBoot: Credits
----------------------------------------
_Opening and Ending Credits_
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The original copyright for ReBoot was in 1991.
= Voice Credits =
Bob: Michael Benyaer
Dot: Kathleen Barr
Enzo: Matthew Sinclair (was Jesse Moss)
Mike: Michael Donovan
Megabyte: Tony Jay
Phong: Michael Donovan
Hack: Scott MacNeil (was Phil Hayes)
Slash: Garry Chalk
Hexadecimal: Shirley Millner
Cecil: Michael Donovan
------------------------
Captain Capacitor: Long John Baldry
Mouse: Louise Vallance
AndrAIa: Andrea Libman
Gigabyte: Blu Mankuma
Data Nully: Gillian Anderson
= Opening credits, late 1st season =
Production for 1st season ended April 1995.
Created by: Gavin Blair, Phil Mitchell, John Grace, Ian Pearson
Executive Producers: Steve Barron, Stephane Reichel
Executive Producer: Ian Pearson
Produced by: Christopher Brough
= End credits, late 1st season =
Directed by: Zondag Entertainment
Executive Creative Consultant: Ian Pearson
Story Editor: Lane Raichert
Starring the Voices of: Michael Benyaer, Kathleen Barr, Matthew Sinclair
(was Jesse Moss), Tony Jay, Shirley Millner, Michael Donovan, Phil
Hayes, Gary Chalk, Louise Vallance
Voice Director: Michael Donovan (was Andrea Romano)
Associate Producer: Jeanie Lamb
Casting by: BLT Productions Ltd.
Talent Coordinators: Gail Fabrey, Jennifer Wilson
Production Design Consultants: Brendan McCarthy, Ian Gibson
Production Designers: Gerald J. Lauze, Chris Bartleman
Storyboard Supervision: Blair Peters
Supervising Animators: Gavin Blair, Phil Mitchell
Computer Animators: Russel Ang, Ken Ball, Steve Ball, Scott
Baltjes, Stephen Cooper, Jeff Cappleman, Andrew Doucette, C. Michael
Easton, Andrew "Spanky" Grant, Walter Hsieh, Gerald J. Lauze, Mark
Lemon, Ezekiel Norton, Colin Raesler, Morgan Ratsoy, Mark Schiemann,
Mike Skorey, Andrew Sokolowsky, Scott Speirs, Ken Steel, Philippe
Theroux, Chris Welman, Adam Wood, Kent Yu, Michaela Zabranska
Production Manager: Helen du Toit
Script Supervisor: Susan Turner
Editors: Dermot Shane, James Boshier, William Lau
Publicist: Carol Tavener (was Cheryl Blakeney)
Director of Technical Operations: Kelly Daniels
Post Production Supervisor: Anne Hoerber (was Chris Gibbons)
Technical Assistant: Alden Williams
Software Development: Chris Welman, Phil Peterson, Albert Ho
Production Assistants: Colin Cameron, Chris Quetsch, Stephen Cooper,
Barbara Dawson, Lorey Barnard
Production Accountant: Giuliana Bertuzzi
Production Secretary: Sharon Bond, Jennifer Scherer
Music Supervisor: Robert Buckley
Dialogue Recorded at: Uptown Studios
Supervising Sound Engineer: Roger Monk, C.A.S.
Sound Effects Editor: Marcel Duperreault
Audio Post Production: Dick & Roger's Sound Studio Ltd.
Video Post Production: SFX MAINFRAME Ltd. - Vancouver, Canada
Recorded in: Stereo Surround
Production Executives: Adam Whittaker, Josanne B. Lovick
Executive in charge of Production: Mark Ralston
Co-Produced in association with YTV
All Rights Reserved Worldwide (C) ATFL (1991) III Limited Partnership
Co-Produced by BLT Productions, Ltd. - Vancouver, British Columbia
and Alliance
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==============================================================
ReBoot: Episode Guide
----------------------------------------
_Episode Guide_
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[ image='ytv/YTV-icon.gif' descr='YTV' ]
[ image='images/ABCsmall.gif' descr='(ABC)' ]
* Air dates for Canada (YTV)
* Air dates international
* Air dates for USA (syndicated 1996-1997)
* Previous dates for USA (ABC 1994-1996)
* Networks in other countries that show ReBoot
=== List of Episodes ===
When _ReBoot_ is syndicated to the new batch of TV stations
in the Fall of 1996, those stations will not have shown the first two
seasons. Since the second season ended in a cliff-hanger, and the
third season is expected to continue the story, the new viewers on the
new stations would be missing out. Therefore, there is a very strong
likelyhood of having the first and second seasons rebroadcast in their
entirity before the third season episodes are shown.
The third season is expected to follow the format that was used at the
end of the second season - four consecutive episodes will combine to
create a four-part story arc. The sixteen episodes have been written
to be four tetralogies.
== Background info ==
Back in January of 1995, the first 10 episodes had been shown, the next 3 were
in production, and the networks ordered 10 episodes for the second season.
[ image='episodes/img/gamecu_s.gif' descr='Game Cube' ]
== Promo spots ==
In the fall of 1994, ReBoot was prempted for several weeks.
During that time, producers offered teasers to
keep audience interest up.
== 1st season (1994-1995) ==
01 "The Tearing"
Megabyte tries to get a tear stabilized into a portal so that he
can invade the Supercomputer.
Game: Outer space simulation
02 "Racing the Clock"
Bob delivers a package to Hexadecimal and gets caught in the
backlash. Game: Multi-level race (Forumla-1 cars, hovercraft,
jet planes)
03 "Quick and the Fed"
Dot gets brain-wiped by a magnet.
Game: White Knight
04 "Medusa Bug"
Hexadecimal unleashes a viral bug, turning everything to stone.
Game: none
05 "The TIFF"
Dot and Bob won't speak to each other.
Game: Starship Alcatraz
06 "In the Belly of the Beast"
Frisket swallows an old UNFORMAT command.
Game: none
07 "The Crimson Binome"
Captain Capacitor, the software pirate, loots Mainframe but is
bested by Admiral Dot.
Game: none
08 "Enzo the Smart"
Enzo is smarter when Mainframe runs at half speed.
Game: Olympians
09 "Wizards, Warriors, and a Word from our Sponsor"
Mike the TV is a winning part of the team.
Game: Dungeon Deep
10 "The Great Brain Robbery"
Megabyte hires Mouse to get inside Bob's brain. She gets Enzo instead.
Game: (has ended as story opens)
== 2nd season (1995-1996) ==
Episodes 11, 12 and 13 were shown on YTV in Canada as part of the 1st season.
ABC showed "Talent Night" on 12-Aug-95, then several weeks of 1st season
reruns, and then broadcast "Identity Crisis" as the first two episodes
of the 2nd season (9-Sep-95 and 16-Sep-95).
The opening was changed for the second season.
11 "Talent Night"
Dot auditions several acts for Enzo's birthday party, including
the guys from "Money For Nothing" and the Small Town Binomes.
Game: none from the User.
"Saturday Morning Preview"
On Friday evening, 8-Sep-95, ABC ran a preview of the new
Saturday morning line-up. Megabyte tried to take over the show.
12 "Identity Crisis, part 1"
Dot is responsible for the safekeeping of the binomes PID codes,
but Megabyte gets a hold of them.
Game: Fun House
13 "Identity Crisis, part 2"
Dot is in a world run by Megabyte. She lost the game (or did she?)
Game: Fun House
14 "Infected"
Megabyte interferes with the scheduled upgrade, infiltrates the Core.
Game: none, but Dot does a neat Sigourney Weaver imitation.
15 "High Code"
A code master comes looking for a master who has left the guild.
Game: Wild West Locomotive
16 "When Games Collide"
Megabyte steals energy from a game cube. The user sends in another
game cube which merges with the first to form an out-of-control game.
17 "Bad Bob"
Megabyte attacks the Principal Office. His theft of the core energy
messes up the game cube.
Game: Mad Max (Road Warrior)
18 "Painted Windows"
Hexadecimal paints the town all sorts of pretty colors.
Game: none, Hex on the loose is worse than any game.
19 "andrAIa" (formerly "Enzo's Friend")
Enzo has no one his age to play with until he meets an AI game sprite.
Game: Undersea Adventure
20 "Nullzilla"
A "web spore" attacks Hexadecimal, the Nulls become monster, and the
Mainframe team combine to form a giant robot.
Game: none - this is start of a four-part story
21 "Gigabyte"
Megabyte is attacked by the web spore. Hexadecimal joins him, the
result is Gigabyte. Mouse saves the day.
22 "Trust No One" (formerly "Energy Vampire")
A visit from the CGI agents, Fax Modem and Data Nully.
The web spore has teeth and gets stronger; the shadow Guardians
are no help at all. "TO BE CONTINUED"
23 "Web World Wars"
Mainframe has to fight an all-out war as the Web invades.
This is the end of the four-part story. It is the last one
shown on ABC - the 3rd season of ReBoot will be on another network.
== 3rd season (1996-1997) ==
24-27 Third season, first 4-part story
This 4-part story has not been shown yet.
28-31 Third season, second 4-part story
This 4-part story has not been shown yet.
32-35 Third season, third 4-part story
This 4-part story has not been shown yet.
36-39 Third season, fourth 4-part story
This 4-part story has not been shown yet.
== Air Dates ==
YTV Schedule (Canada)
international schedule
US Schedule
---------------------------------------------------------------------
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==============================================================
ReBoot: Episode Guide - ABC 1994-1996
----------------------------------------
_Episode Guide: ABC_
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[ image='../images/ABC.gif' descr='(ABC)' ]
=== ReBoot on ABC, 1st and 2nd seasons, 1994-1996 ===
Thanks to Jeff Toschlog for providing the initial list of episodes (March 95).
01 " THE TEARING " 09-10-94
02 " RACING THE CLOCK " 09-17-94
03 " QUICK AND THE FED " 09-24-94
01R " The Tearing " (r) 10-01-94
04 " MEDUSA BUG " 10-08-94
PREEMPTED 10-15
PREEMPTED 10-22
PREEMPTED 11-05
PREEMPTED 11-12
PREEMPTED 11-19
03R " Quick And The Fed " (r) 11-26-94
06 " IN THE BELLY OF THE BEAST " 12-03-94
04R " Medusa Bug " (r) 12-10-94
01R " The Tearing " (r) 12-17-94
PREEMPTED 12-24
05 " THE TIFF " 12-31-94
07 " THE CRIMSON BINOME " 01-07-95
====================================================
03R " Quick And The Fed " (r) 01-14-95
06R " In The Belly Of The Beast " (r) 01-21-95
02R " Racing The Clock " (r) 01-28-95
04R " Medusa Bug " (r) 02-04-95
08 " ENZO THE SMART " 02-11-95
01R " The Tearing " (r) 02-18-95
09 " WIZARDS, WARRIORS AND A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR" 02-25-95
05R " The Tiff " (r) 03-04-95
07R " The Crimson Binome " (r) 03-11-95
10 " THE GREAT BRAIN ROBBERY " 03-18-95
====================================================
03R " Quick & The Fed " (r) 03-25-95
06R " In the Belly of the Beast " (r) 04-01-95
02R " Racing The Clock " (r) 04-08-95
04R " Medusa Bug " (r) 04-15-95
08R " Enzo The Smart " (r) 04-22-95
01R " The Tearing " (r) 04-29-95
09R " Wizards, Warriors and a Word From Our Sponsor" 05-06-95
05R " The Tiff " (r) 05-13-95
06R " The Crimson Binome " (r) 05-20-95
10R " The Great Brain Robbery " (r) 05-27-95
====================================================
03R " Quick & The Fed " (r) 06-03-95
06R " In the Belly of the Beast " (r) 06-10-95
02R " Racing The Clock " (r) 06-17-95
04R " Medusa Bug " (r) 06-24-95
08R " Enzo The Smart " (r) 07-01-95
01R " The Tearing " (r) 07-08-95
09R " Wizards, Warriors and a Word From Our Sponsor" 07-15-95
PRE-EMPTED by Golf 07-22-95
05R " The Tiff " (r) 07-29-95 9:30
06R " The Crimson Binome " (r) 07-29-95 10:00
10R " The Great Brain Robbery " (r) 08-05-95 9:30
03R " Quick & The Fed " (r) 08-05-95 10:00
11 " TALENT NIGHT " 08-12-95 9:30
06R " In the Belly of the Beast " (r) 08-12-95 10:00
02R " Racing The Clock " (r) 08-19-95 9:30
04R " Medusa Bug " (r) 08-19-95 10:00
08R " Enzo The Smart " (r) 08-26-95 9:30
01R " The Tearing " (r) 08-26-95 10:00
09R " Wizards, Warriors ..." 09-02-95 9:30
05R " The Tiff " (r) 09-02-95 10:00
12 " IDENTITY CRISIS (part 1) " 09-09-95 10:30 ET, 9:30 PT
13 " IDENTITY CRISIS (part 2) " 09-16-95 10:30 ET, 9:30 PT
14 " INFECTED " 09-23-95 10:30 ET, 9:30 PT
15 " HIGH CODE " 09-30-95 10:30 ET, 9:30 PT
16 " WHEN GAMES COLLIDE " 10-07-95 10:30 ET, 7:30 PT (football)
17 " BAD BOB " 10-14-95 10:30 ET, 9:30 PT
11R " Talent Night " (r) 10-21-95 10:30 ET, 9:30 PT
04R " Medusa Bug " (r) 10-28-95 10:30 ET, 9:30 PT
18 " PAINTED WINDOWS " NEW 11-04-95 10:30 ET, 9:30 PT
19 " ANDRAIA " NEW 11-11-95 10:30 ET, 9:30 PT
ReBoot is rescheduled on the West Coast for 3 weeks of College Football.
Some stations will be showing it 2 hours early, check your local listings.
12R " Identity Crisis (part 1) " (r) 11-18-95 10:30 ET, 7:30 PT (football)
13R " Identity Crisis (part 2) " (r) 11-25-95 10:30 ET, 7:30 PT (football)
14R " Infected " 12-02-95 10:30 ET, 7:30 PT (football)
PRE-EMPTED by "Twas the Night Before Bumpy" Xmas special 12-09-95
20 " NULLZILLA " NEW 12-16-95 10:30 ET, 9:30 PT (1 of 4)
21 " GIGABYTE " NEW 12-23-95 10:30 ET, 9:30 PT (2 of 4)
ReBoot will be rescheduled on the West Coast 12-30 due to NFL Playoffs.
22 " TRUST NO ONE " (X-Files) NEW 12-30-95 10:30 ET, 8:30 PT (3, NFL)
15R " High Code " (r) 01-06-96
16R " When Games Collide " (r) 01-13-96
17R " Bad Bob " (r) 01-20-96
11R " Talent Night " (r) 01-27-96
18R " Painted Windows " (r) 02-03-96
19R " AndrAIa " (r) 02-10-96
12R " Identity Crisis (part 1) " (r) 02-17-96
13R " Identity Crisis (part 2) " (r) 02-24-96
23 " WEB WORLD WARS " NEW 03-02-96 SEASON FINALE (4 of 4)
14R " Infected " 03-09-96
15R " High Code " 03-16-96
16R " When Games Collide " 03-23-96
17R " Bad Bob " 03-30-96
11R " Talent Night " 04-06-96
18R " Painted Windows " 04-13-96
19R " AndrAIa " 04-20-96
Time change: 11:30am-noon EDT, 10:30am-11:00am PDT
20R " Nullzilla " 1st repeat 04-27-96 (part 1)
21R " Gigabyte " 1st repeat 05-04-96 (part 2)
22R " Trust No One " 1st repeat 05-11-96 (part 3, X-files)
23R " Web World Wars " 1st repeat 05-18-96 (part 4, season finale)
12R " Identity Crisis, part 1 " 05-25-96
13R " Identity Crisis, part 2 " 06-01-96
14R " Infected " 06-08-96
15R " High Code " 06-15-96
16R " When Games Collide " 06-22-96
17R " Bad Bob " 06-29-96
18R " Painted Windows " 07-06-96
19R " AndrAIa " 07-13-96
pre-empted by golf 07-20-96
[ image='../images/ABCsmall.gif' descr='(ABC)' ]
*** Note: ABC had originally scheduled the second repeat ***
*** showing of the tetrology ("Nullzilla", "Gigabyte", "Trust ***
*** No One", "Web World Wars" for July 27 and August 3, 10 and ***
*** 17. But now ReBoot is completely gone from ABC's ***
*** Saturday morning schedule - they are showing "Aliens in ***
*** the Family" instead. (That show bombed in prime time, but ***
*** went over well with 4 to 11 year olds.) ***
---------------------------------------------------------------------
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ReBoot: Episode Guide - United States, 1996-1997
----------------------------------------
_Episode Guide: Claster Television (syndicated)_
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The new fall season starts the week of September 16th in the US.
_ReBoot_ shows on Thursdays, starting 19-Sep-96.
Channel-44 in San Francisco will be showing _ReBoot_
at 7:30am Thursdays; check your local listings for your area.
New episodes (Season III) are not expected to show up until September 1997.
19-Sep-96 01 "The Tearing"
26-Sep-96 04 "Medusa Bug"
03-Oct-96 06 "In the Belly of the Beast"
10-Oct-96 09 "Wizards, Warriors, and a Word from our Sponsor"
17-Oct-96 10 "The Great Brain Robbery"
24-Oct-96 14 "Infected"
31-Oct-96 16 "When Games Collide"
07-Nov-96 15 "High Code"
14-Nov-96 17 "Bad Bob"
21-Nov-96 20 "Nullzilla"
28-Nov-96 21 "Gigabyte"
date unknown 22 "Trust No One"
date unknown 23 "Web World Wars"
Claster currently has the rights to just those 13 episodes.
05-Dec-96 01 "The Tearing"
12-Dec-96 04 "Medusa Bug"
19-Dec-96 06 "In the Belly of the Beast"
26-Dec-96 09 "Wizards, Warriors, and a Word from our Sponsor"
02-Jan-97 10 "The Great Brain Robbery"
09-Jan-97 14 "Infected"
16-Jan-97 16 "When Games Collide"
23-Jan-97 15 "High Code"
30-Jan-97 17 "Bad Bob"
skipped 20 "Nullzilla"
skipped 21 "Gigabyte"
06-Feb-97 22 "Trust No One" X-Files, 1st time on Claster
13-Feb-97 23 "Web World Wars" Finale, 1st time on Claster
20-Feb-97 01 "The Tearing"
27-Feb-97 04 "Medusa Bug"
More details when I get them.
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ReBoot: Episode Guide - international
----------------------------------------
_ReBoot showing in other countries_
---------------------------------------------------------------------
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=== Germany ===
Tina Steiner wrote:
ReBoot started in Germany on the newly founded "Kinderkanal" (Childrens'
Chanel) on January 1, 97. It's on Monday to Friday at 18:30. The repeat
is shown the next day at 12:35. That way they'll be throuhg pretty fast
but they'll probably have reruns.
=== United Kingdom (ITV) ===
Started January 4, 1995.
After-school show: Wednesdays at 4:15pm
Nine consecutive weeks, then a gap before tenth episode was delivered.
pe...@table76.demon.co.uk (Peter Murray) wrote:
Reboot episodes shown this year:
96 01 04 The Great Brain Robbery
96 01 11 Talent Night
96 01 18 Infected
96 01 25 When Games Collide
96 02 01 High Code
96 02 08 Bad Bob
96 02 15 AndrAIa
96 02 22 Identity Crisis part 1
96 02 29 Identity Crisis part 2
96 03 07 Nullzilla
96 03 14 Gigabyte
96 03 21 Trust No One
96 03 28 Web World War
Never :-( Painted Windows
If you have any details about what episodes where shown when in the UK,
please send mail to jsm...@inwap.com
so that I can update this page.
=== Australia ===
Date: Wed, 03 Jan 96 15:28:09 -0800
Organization: Nickelodeon Australia
Subject: nickelodeon australia airings
The newest iternational affiliate of Viacom Inc.'s Nickelodeon has
secured the rights to air "ReBoot." The series premieres Saturday,
February 3 with a four episode marathon to kick off the series premiere.
After the 3rd, ReBoot will air every Saturday night at 8.30pm as part
of the SNICK (Saturday Night Nickelodeon) line up.
Todd Phillips
Director, Commuications
Nickelodeon Australia
=== Japan ===
Date: Tue, 19 Sep 95 14:12:15 0900
From: to...@mew.co.jp (Steve Madsen)
Just for your info . . . "Reboot" was on Japanese TV a few months ago.
As is common practice here, the stereo broadcast capability was used
instead to broadcast bilingually, so that either English or dubbed
Japanese could be heard.
I didn't realize it was a popular Saturday morning cartoon in the U.S.
until moments ago . . .
Steve Madsen
Virtual Reality R&D Lab, IS Center
Matsushita Electric Works, Ltd.
1048, Kadoma, Osaka 571 JAPAN
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ReBoot: Episode Guide - United Kingdom
----------------------------------------
_Episode Guide for ITV_
---------------------------------------------------------------------
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Started January 4, 1995.
After-school show: Wednesdays at 4:15pm
Nine consecutive weeks, then a gap before tenth episode was delivered.
As soon as I get any details about the ITV air dates, I will put them here.
pe...@table76.demon.co.uk (Peter Murray) wrote:
Reboot episodes shown this year:
96 01 04 The Great Brain Robbery
96 01 11 Talent Night
96 01 18 Infected
96 01 25 When Games Collide
96 02 01 High Code
96 02 08 Bad Bob
96 02 15 AndrAIa
96 02 22 Identity Crisis part 1
96 02 29 Identity Crisis part 2
96 03 07 Nullzilla
96 03 14 Gigabyte
96 03 21 Trust No One
96 03 28 Web World War
Never :-( Painted Windows
If you have any details about what episodes where shown when in the UK,
please send mail to jsm...@inwap.com
so that I can update this page.
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ReBoot: Episode Guide - Canada
----------------------------------------
_Episode Guide_
---------------------------------------------------------------------
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Season III will start in March, 1997
[ image='../ytv/YTV-robot.gif' descr='(YTV)' ]
=== Canadian schedule ===
As soon as I get any more details about the Canadian air dates, I will put
it here. Some of the info here came from te...@inforamp.net (in alt.tv.reboot)
and Jeff Bryer (jbr...@watson.mbb.sfu.ca).
If you have any details about what episodes where shown when in Canada,
please send mail to jsm...@inwap.com
so that I can update this page.
== YTV's 1996-1997 season started August 12th. ==
ReBoot is in a new timeslots: Monday at 7:00pm, Friday at 9:30pm,
Sunday at 12 noon, and Sunday at 8:30pm.
Episodes from the first and second season are being shown at this time.
week Mon 7:00pm Fri 9:30pm Sun noon Sun 8:30pm
08/12-08/18 The Tearing Crimson Binome Brain Robbery Trust No One
08/19-08/25 Racing Clock Enzo the Smart ID Crisis, 1 Web World War
08/26-09/01 Quick and Fed Wizards ... ID Crisis, 2 The Tearing
09/02-09/08 Medusa Bug Brain Robbery Infected Racing Clock
09/09-09/15 The TIFF ID Crisis, 1 High Code Quick and Fed
09/16-09/22 Belly of Beast ID Crisis, 2 Games Collide Medusa Bug
09/23-09/29 Crimson Binome Games Collide Bad Bob The TIFF
09/30-10/06 Enzo the Smart Bad Bob Painted Windows Belly of Beast
10/07-10/13 Wizards ... Painted Windows Andraia Crimson Binome
10/14-10/20 Brain Robbery Andraia Nullzilla Enzo the Smart
10/21-10/27 Talent Night Nullzilla Gigabyte Wizards ...
10/28-11/03 ID Crisis, 1 Gigabyte Trust No One Brain Robbery
11/04-11/10 ID Crisis, 2 Trust No One Web World War Talent Night
11/11-11/17 Infected Web World War The Tearing ID Crisis, 1
11/18-11/24 High Code The Tearing Racing Clock ID Crisis, 2
11/25-12/01 Games Collide Racing Clock Quick and Fed Infected
12/02-12/08 Bad Bob Quick and Fed Medusa Bug x-max special
12/09-12/15 x-mas special Medusa Bug The Tiff x-mas special
12/16-12/22 x-mas special The Tiff x-mas special x-mas special
12/23-12/29 x-mas special Belly of Beast Crimson Binome High Code
12/30-01/05 Painted Windows Crimson Binome Enzo the Smart Games Collide
week (1997) Mon 7:00pm Fri 9:30pm Sun noon Sun 8:30pm
01/06-01/12 Andraia Enzo the Smart Wizards ... Bad Bob
01/13-01/19 Nullzilla Wizards ... Brain Robbery pre-empted
01/20-01/26 Gigabyte Brain Robbery Talent Night Andraia
01/27-02/02 Trust No One Talent Night ID Crisis, 1 pre-empted
02/03-02/09 Web World War ID Crisis, 1 ID Crisis, 2 Gigabyte
Season-III to start no sooner than late March, 1997.
== Second season (1995-1996) ==
Thu 8:00p Sun noon Mon 7:30p (1995-1996 schedule)
31-Aug-95 03-Sep-95 04-Sep-95 "Infected" NEW #14
07-Sep-95 17-Sep-95 11-Sep-95 "High Code" NEW #15
^v^v^v^v^ (WGC was swapped in due to a problem with HC)
14-Sep-95 10-Sep-95 18-Sep-95 "When Games Collide" NEW #16
21-Sep-95 24-Sep-95 25-Sep-95 "Bad Bob" NEW #17
28-Sep-95 01-Oct-95 02-Oct-95 "Identity Crisis, part 1"
05-Oct-95 08-Oct-95 09-Oct-95 "Identity Crisis, part 2"
12-Oct-95 15-Oct-95 16-Oct-95 "Infected"
19-Oct-95 22-Oct-95 23-Oct-95 "High Code"
26-Oct-95 29-Oct-95 30-Oct-95 "When Games Collide"
02-Nov-95 05-Nov-95 06-Nov-95 "Painted Windows" NEW #18
09-Nov-95 12-Nov-95 13-Nov-95 "andrAIa" NEW #19
16-Nov-95 19-Nov-95 20-Nov-95 "Bad Bob"
23-Nov-95 26-Nov-95 27-Nov-95 "The Crimson Binome"
30-Nov-95 03-Dec-95 04-Dec-95 "Enzo the Smart"
07-Dec-95 10-Dec-95 11-Dec-95 "Wizards, Warriors, and a Word from our Sponsor"
14-Dec-95 17-Dec-95 --------- "The Great Brain Robbery"
21-Dec-95 24-Dec-95 25-Dec-95 prempted due to Christmas schedule
27-Dec-95 Wednesday at 9:00am "Infected" different day
27-Dec-95 Wednesday at 8:30pm "Nulzilla" NEW #20 diff day
27-Dec-95 Wednesday at 9:00pm "Gigabyte" NEW #21 diff day
28-Dec-95 31-Dec-95 01-Jan-96 "Talent Night In Hell"
29-Dec-95 Friday at 10:00am "High Code" different day
Thu 8:00p Sun noon Mon 7:30p (1996 schedule)
03-Jan-96 Wednesday at 10:00am "When Games Collide" different day
03-Jan-96 Wednesday at 9:30pm "Identity Crisis, part 1" different day
03-Jan-96 Wednesday at 10:00pm "Identity Crisis, part 2" different day
05-Jan-96 Friday at 10:00am "Bad Bob" different day
04-Jan-96 07-Jan-96 08-Jan-96 "Nullzilla" (part 1 of 4)
11-Jan-96 14-Jan-96 15-Jan-96 "Gigabyte" (part 2 of 4)
18-Jan-96 21-Jan-96 22-Jan-96 "Painted Windows"
25-Jan-96 28-Jan-96 29-Jan-96 "Trust No One" (X-files) NEW #22 (part 3 of 4)
01-Feb-96 04-Feb-96 05-Feb-96 "Web World Wars" (finale) NEW #23 (part 4 of 4)
Thu 8:00p Sun noon Mon 7:30p (early 1996 schedule)
08-Feb-96 11-Feb-96 12-Feb-96 "Infected"
15-Feb-96 18-Feb-96 19-Feb-96 "High Code"
22-Feb-96 25-Feb-96 26-Feb-96 "When Games Collide"
29-Feb-96 03-Mar-96 04-Mar-96 "Bad Bob"
07-Mar-96 10-Mar-96 "AndrAIa"
March 11-17 was special programming for spring break
Fri 7:30p Sun 11:30a Tue 7:00p (new 1996 schedule)
19-Mar-96 "Nullzilla"
22-Mar-96 24-Mar-96 26-Mar-96 "Gigabyte"
29-Mar-96 31-Mar-96 02-Apr-96 "Trust No One"
05-Apr-96 07-Apr-96 09-Apr-96 "Web World War"
12-Apr-96 14-Apr-96 16-Apr-96 "Enzo the Smart"
19-Apr-96 21-Apr-96 23-Apr-96 "Wizards, Warriors and a Word from Our Sponsor"
26-Apr-96 28-Apr-96 30-Apr-96 "The Great Brain Robbery"
03-May-96 05-May-96 07-May-96 "Talent Night in Hell"
10-May-96 12-May-96 14-May-96 "Identity Crisis, part 1"
17-May-96 19-May-96 21-May-96 "Identity Crisis, part 2"
24-May-96 26-May-96 28-May-96 "Infected"
31-May-96 02-May-96 04-May-96 "High Code"
07-Jun-96 09-Jun-96 11-Jun-96 "When Games Collide"
14-Jun-96 16-Jun-96 18-Jun-96 "Bad Bob"
21-Jun-96 23-Jun-96 25-Jun-96 "Painted Windows"
28-Jun-96 30-Jun-96 02-Jul-96 "AndrAIa"
05-Jul-96 07-Jul-96 09-Jul-96 "Nullzilla"
12-Jul-96 14-Jul-96 16-Jul-96 "Gigabyte"
19-Jul-96 21-Jul-96 23-Jul-96 "Trust No One"
26-Jul-96 28-Jul-96 30-Jul-96 "Web World Wars"
02-Aug-96 04-Aug-96 06-Aug-96 "Infected"
09-Aug-96 11-Aug-96 "High Code"
YTV's 1996-1997 season started August 12th.
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ReBoot: Teaser clips
----------------------------------------
_Reboot Episode 00_
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Due to production delays, the fifth episode of ReBoot was not complete when
the fourth episode ("The Medusa Bug") was ready to air (8-Oct-94 on ABC).
The first showing of "The Medusa Bug" had a different ending, one not
shown on any of the repeats. It ended with the trees in the park turning
to stone instead of ending with an incoming game. This alternate ending
led up to the teaser clips, and was shown by Claster-TV on 26-Sep-96.
== Teasers ==
From: William Blair x3-2821 (bla...@tac433.med.ge.com)
Date: Tue, 30 May 95 12:29:40 -0500
To: jsm...@inwap.com
Subject: Reboot clips
I'm not sure if it was done on every network, but during the weeks in
which Reboot was preempted (fall of 1994), short Reboot clips where shown.
There was a short (15-30 second) scene shown from (I'm assuming) a
non-existent episode where Megabyte gets ahold of the Medusa virus, and
spreads it over mainframe. There were a total of 5 or 6 of these out-takes.
I haven't seen them mentioned or described anywhere. I'm assuming they're
common knowledge. I don't have access to the alt.*.reboot newsgroup, so
I can't ask there.
--
William G. Blair Phone: 414-896-2821
Service Systems Fax: 414-524-5305
GE Medical Systems Internet: bla...@med.ge.com
P.O. Box 414, W-597
Milwaukee, WI 53201
---------------------------------------------------------------------
== Details ==
Date: Wed, 26 Jul 95 09:46:21 CDT
From: bla...@iscmed.med.ge.com (William Blair x3-2821)
Subject: Reboot clips
Here are the details on the teasters I mentioned.
= TEASER 1 =
The clip starts with the standard Reboot opening sequence.
[ image='img/10virus1.gif' ]
[ image='img/01fromnet.gif' ]
[ image='img/02andcities.gif' ]
[ image='img/03place.gif' ]
[ image='img/04mainframe.gif' ]
[ image='img/11virus2.gif' ]
BOB "I come from the Net. From systems... people...
cities... to this place... Mainframe!" We see the standard
overhead shot of Mainframe when suddenly it starts turning gray from
one edge and heading toward the middle. We pull back from the
image, and we find ourselves beside Megabyte looking at Mainframe
through a Vid Window.
[ image='img/12mbwatch.gif' ]
MEGABYTE "Oh Bob! Did you really think that only Hexadecimal
could create a Medusa bug?" Megabyte glances at his finger tips in
a self-satisfied way.
[ image='img/13mbgloat.gif' ]
MEGABYTE "You'll soon find out hers is quite inferior to mine."
The camera moves to a close up of Megabyte's face.
[ image='img/14end.gif' ]
MEGABYTE "Once Mainframe is offline, who knows which systems
might be next..." The words "To be continued..." appear on the
bottom of the screen.
[ image='img/20logo.gif' ]
= TEASER 2 =
The clip starts with the Reboot icon, but it's gray marble. Bob speaks.
BOB "With Megabyte infecting Mainframe with the Medusa
virus, there is only one place for me to turn...Hexadecimal!" The
scene shifts to a closeup of Hexadecimal sitting on her throne.
[ image='img/21hex.gif' ]
HEXADECIMAL "Why Bob, it's always a pleasure to see you."
Camera shifts behind Hexadecimal to view Bob over Hexadecimal's
shoulder. Scuzzy is watching.
[ image='img/22hexbob.gif' ]
BOB "Listen, I've got no down time for inputting! You
have to help me erase the Medusa virus!" Camera returns to close up
of Hexadecimal.
[ image='img/23gotidea.gif' ]
HEXADECIMAL "As much as I hate Megabyte, I kind of like the
chaos his virus is creating. I've got a better idea. Why don't you
stay here with me, and..." Camera jumps to a closeup of Bob.
[ image='img/24wontstay.gif' ]
BOB "Me, stay here with you?!? I don't think so."
Bob turns away from Hexadecimal.
[ image='img/25leave.gif' ]
BOB "There's gotta be a way to save Mainframe, and I'll
find it...somehow!" The words "To be continued..." appear on the
bottom of the screen.
= TEASER 3 =
The clip starts by displaying the Reboot icon with ominous music in the
background. We then see Bob flying over Mainframe.
[ image='img/30city.gif' ]
BOB "The Medusa virus has turned the entire city of
Mainframe to stone, and if I don't act soon, the effect will be
irreversible!" Suddenly, a beeping noise is heard.
BOB "Glitch, vid window!" A wid window appears, and we
see Phong. We hear the noise of the virus in the background.
BOB "Phong! You're all right!"
[ image='img/31phong1.gif' ]
PHONG "Not for long, young sprite. The virus is
downloading my door as we speak!" The noise of the virus gets
louder.
BOB "I'll be right over!"
PHONG "No time! Besides, I need you to search and find
the Trias Effect."
BOB "Trias Effect?"
The noise of the virus becomes extremely loud.
[ image='img/32phong2.gif' ]
PHONG "Yes, only that can stop..."
Suddenly the background behind Phong, and then Phong himself, turns
to stone.
BOB "Phong!" Bob looks toward the camera.
[ image='img/33oh-no.gif' ]
BOB "Oh no, now what am I going to do?!?" The words "To
be continued..." appear on the bottom of the screen.
= TEASER 4 =
[ image='img/20logo.gif' ]
The clip starts by displaying the Reboot icon with music in the background.
We see Bob standing in the Principal Office. As he speaks, the camera slowly
pans over the frozen forms of Phong, Enzo, and Dot.
[ image='img/43dot.gif' ]
[ image='img/42enzo.gif' ]
[ image='img/41phong.gif' ]
[ image='img/40bob.gif' ]
BOB "Megabyte has infected Mainframe with his deadliest
program of all... the Medusa virus. Now everyone I've ever cared
for has been reformatted to stone. But before he was infected,
Phong mentioned the Trias Effect. It may be my only clue to saving
Mainframe." The camera closes in on Bob's face.
[ image='img/44portal.gif' ]
BOB "There's only one place I can go for the answer.
Glitch, portal!" Glitch flies from Bob's wrist, and a large silver
sphere appears in front of Bob.
[ image='img/45saveyou.gif' ]
BOB "The supercomputer! That's where I'll find the
Trias Effect, and a way to save you Dot. I promise!" The words
"To be continued..." appear on the bottom of the screen.
= WRAPUP =
[This info comes from Infr...@aol.com]
Just before the first NEW show, Bob comes back from the
supercomputer and gets glitch to enact the Trias effect and cure
everything. Everybody adulates Bob. Then he turns to the camera and
says, 'Okay, you can roll the opening now.' Or something to that
effect.
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==============================================================
ReBoot: "The Tearing"
----------------------------------------
_ReBoot Episode 01_
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[ image='img/episo01a.gif' ]
=== "THE TEARING" ===
* Synopsis
* References
[ image='img/episo01b.gif' ]
== Title credits ==
Written by Mark Hoffmeier
Story by Lane Raichert, Mark Hoffmeier
== Synopsis ==
A tear is found in mainframe and Megabyte plans to use it to access the
Supercomputer. But only two things can stabilize a tear into a portal: A
Guardian or a game. Megabyte attempts to strike a deal with Bob, luring
him to his base where an army stands waiting to infiltrate the
Supercomputer. Bob refuses to cooperate and manages to escape, but then
a game cube descends. The game is an outer space spaceship
simulator. Megabyte, Bob, and Dot enter the game, where MB infects the
user and takes control, heading for the tear which has now become a
portal. It's up to Bob and Dot to stop him.
== Story ==
Hack and Slash, each riding on the front of an armored tank, chase Bob into
the city, where he stands his ground. The two henchmen come at Bob from
different directions, and the predictable happens when Bob steps out of the
way. Megabyte shows up and asks for a simple favor. When Bob refuses, MB
tells him to think of his friends.
The story jumps forward to the next day, when the alarm clock goes off,
throwing Bob into the shower and hair styler (where he emerges with gold
plated hair). A panic call comes in from Enzo, who informs Bob that Dot's
Diner has been trashed. (Signs down, windows broken, tables overturned.)
While the group is overlooking the damage, Megabyte shows up in a Double Sided
Vid Window. As long as Bob does one little favor, MB will try to make sure
that this sort of thing won't happen again.
The standoff is interrupted by an incoming game. Megabyte orders his legions
to make sure that Bob does not play a game until the favor is done.
They are successful at keeping Bob out, and this time, the User wins. The
entire sector is off-line and nullified. (There is a big dark hole where
the Game cube had been, and the sprites that had been in the game are no
where to be seen.
Bob goes to see Phong at Dot's request. After defeating Phong at a game of
Pong, Phong explains that COMMAND.COM has tried to eliminate Megabyte at
every upgrade, but the virus is very clever and has bad file servers in
every sector.
Bob shows up at Megabyte's Tor and is very convincing at being impressed
with MB's power. Down in the lower levels, Megabyte has massed an army,
hundreds of tanks and thousands of viral binomes, waiting for a door and a
bridge to be opened. MB has partially controlled a Class 12 tear leading
to the Super Computer. (The tear is a large, nebulous ball of flashing
blue and white light.) The favor is for Bob to stabilize the tear into a
portal. (Only games dropped by the User and Guardians are able to stabilize
a tear.) Bob proves that he can use Glitch to create a portal, but is
yanked back by the leash that Megabyte has put on him. Hack and Slash show
up carrying Dot, and during the distraction Bob knocks over the control
console, allowing the tear to break free.
Just then another Game cube descends, to Megabyte's delight. The Game takes
place on an aircraft carrier, and Megabyte infects the User's fighter craft.
"Alpha wing clear of deck; proceed heading 1138, stay frosty." The tear
has been stabilized into a portal at the end of the third level.
The battle goes through an asteroid field, much like the one in Star Wars,
and Dot fires the shot which destroys the battle cruiser at the second level.
The third level is an ice tunnel, which takes out all but three ships; Bob,
Dot, and Megabyte. During the battle, MB's ship is shot down, he slices the
wing off of Bob's ship, which takes out Dot's ship. Bob ends up hanging
from a stalactite, then uses Glitch as a rope to get over the portal and
drop in. This ends the game and destabilizes the tear. MB threatens Dot
with some really nasty fingernails, but Bob comes back, and the tear/portal
disappears completely. Bob boasts that this was a result of a command that
he picked up at the Super Computer's armory, and sets off another two
commands to make him and Dot disappear. Megabyte assumes it was a RETURN
command and orders everyone back to the Diner. When he leaves, an invisible
Bob says "hidden file commands, ya gotta love 'em."
Later, at the Diner, Bob says that Supercomputer was a nice place to visit,
but he'd rather stay in Mainframe. Cecil complains that it is not his
function to clean up, as more pieces of the Diner fall down.
== References ==
* Phong shading is used to simulate shading and light in 3-D graphics.
* Pong is the original video game that made Atari famous.
* COMMAND.COM - the command processor for MS-DOS. It is the program
that outputs the infamous "C:\>" prompt.
* The sign on a moving van: Two Small Sprites with Big Cpu's Transfer Co.
refers to the Two Small Men With Big Hearts Moving Company of Vancouver.
* THX-1138 is a film by George Lucas, way before he did Star Wars.
* MS-DOS has hidden files (such as IO.SYS and MSDOS.SYS
that do not show up in regular directory listings.
* "There once was an old README file that said, 'Keep you friends close,
and keep your enemies closer.'" is a paraphrase from an ancient Chinese
book of war tactics by Sun Tsu called _The Art of War_.
== Did You Notice ==
(See also the quotes for episode 01)
* The 8-ball, rotating like a Union 76 ball, outside Bob's apartment.
* In a frame marked Home Sweet Home is a picture of The Net.
* The alarm clock is set for 8:08, which almost spells BOB.
* The game is based on Lucas Art's "Rebel Assault". Jim Little
(ji...@teleport.com) says "The donut-shaped asteroid (complete
with Bob winking at the camera) and ice caves make it very obvious."
* When the enemy battleship is blown up, for a single frame, you can see an
x-ray of Dot's face. Noted by Greg Nesmith (gnes...@bugs.uark.edu).
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ReBoot: "Racing the Clock"
----------------------------------------
_ReBoot Episode 02_
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[ image='img/episo02a.gif' ]
=== "RACING THE CLOCK" ===
* Synopsis
* References
[ image='img/episo02b.gif' ]
== Title credits ==
Written by Mark Edens, Lane Raichert
Story by Mark Edens, Ian Pearson
== Synopsis ==
Enzo wants to be successful, like his sister, so he starts up an overnite
delivery service. Megabyte uses the service to send a booby trapped gift
to Hexadecimal, but Bob ends up delivering it instead. Dot and Enzo try
to catch up to Bob before the bomb goes off, and get sucked into a game.
== Story ==
The opening scene is the best view of Dot's Diner that have been shown. It
shows the relationship to Baudway and the buildings with billboards behind it.
Enzo has taken over the Diner with signs pointing to Enzo's Overwrite
Delivery Service. His first customer is Megabyte, who wants Enzo to deliver
a package to Hexadecimal. The contents are a surprise.
Dot and Bob are in a storeroom on the lower level where Bob uses Glitch to
mend a tear. (The tear is a green glowy globe that moves through walls and
causes destruction to pieces of Mainframe.) Just as the tear is mended, Enzo
walks in announcing his first customer. He accidentally lets on that it is
going to Hexadecimal, whereupon Bob and Dot figure it is probably a bomb.
Glitch's x-ray function shows it to be a mask with a clock in it, not a bomb.
Dot refuses to let Enzo go to Hexadecimal's place in Lost Angles (too
dangerous) and gets Bob to deliver the package instead.
Hexadecimal is in her lair, trying on her various masks, when Scuzzy reports
that Megabyte is having Enzo deliver a DELETE command masqued as a mask.
Lost Angles is shown to be a dreary island, connected to the rest of
Mainframe by a creepy looking bridge. As Bob flys his zipboard through one
arch, he is magically transported to another arch heading another
direction. "Why do I always get lost in Lost Angles?", he asks. He gets
surrounded by a pack of Nulls (shapeless, worm like critters) and yells at
them to find someone else's energy to eat. This is when Hexadecimal opens
up a hole in the ground and brings him in. She refuses delivery, slaps the
mask on Bob, and sends him flying in the direction of Megabyte's place.
(The time-delayed DELETE command has been activated.) Enzo overhears HD
gloating, and rushes to get Dot to warn Bob.
They almost catch up to Bob when an incoming game descends on the city. Bob
jumps into the game, and Dot drags Enzo in as well. The game is Formula-1.
The first lap has racing cars, complete with a nitro boost; the second level
has hovercraft doing a slalom through a mine field; the third level is
low-flying jet planes going through tunnels and loop-de-loop. Dot tries to
get Bob's attention by driving a gasoline tanker truck onto the raceway.
Bob ejects in time, but the blast has caused game corruption, resulting in
an infinite DATA/ELSE-IF loop. The implosion starts sucking in everything
from the game. Bob saves a binome from being sucked in, and everyone
ends up safely outside when the game cube implodes.
Enzo appologizes for not "copying and pasting the truth". Megabyte
tells Enzo he's fired, which is just fine with the young sprite. Of course
the replacements that MB has to deliver the next bomb are Hack and Slash.
They return, with the bomb, stating that Hex says she already has one.
Kaboom!
== References ==
* Cifelli Tires - combination of Pirelli (the tire company) and
Benny Cifelli, the sales rep for SGI.
* Plutonium Graphics - play on Silicon Graphics, the company that
makes the workstations used to create ReBoot.
* Boshbilt instead of Peterbilt on the tanker truck. (James "Bosh"
Boshier is the show's Editor.
== Did You Notice ==
(See also the quotes for episode 02)
* "Main Frame Sluggers" on the baseball gloves Hack and Slash are wearing
(while trying to keep an enthusiastic Enzo from pusing the Vid Window in).
* Null Away billboard.
* SL McGinty Motors (billboard at race track).
* Silicon Snacks: Micro-Chips (at race track).
* When Hexadecimal slaps the mask on Bob, and the camera angle changes to
he's looking up at it, it's exactly the same as a scene from the movie
_The Mask_. Even the design of the mask is the same.
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ReBoot: "Quick and the Fed"
----------------------------------------
_ReBoot Episode 03_
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[ image='img/episo03a.gif' ]
=== "QUICK AND THE FED" ===
* Synopsis
* References
[ image='img/episo03b.gif' ]
== Title credits ==
Written by Mark Edens, Lane Raichert
Story by Mark Edens, Ian Pearson
== Synopsis ==
Dot gets partially erased by a magnet. Bob goes to get some really slow
food to help her condition, but gets caught in a dragons and castles game.
The damsel in distress is not who you would expect it to be.
== Story ==
The story opens in Megabyte's cobra-shaped tower, the Tor. Hack, Slash, and
Megabyte's worm Nibbles watch as he fires up a large impressive ray gun and
starts to break though to the Supercomputer. Bob snags the magnet at the
tip of the gun and puts it into a shielded container. Megabyte puts on his
legs and goes bounding up the gun after Bob, but ends up hanging from a
cable outside his tower.
Bob walks into the diner and is bowled over by Enzo. (This is the scene
from the opening sequence.) A delivery to go proves that Dot's diner is the
fastest food in Mainframe. Everyone is upset when Bob mentions that he has
the magnet, but assures them that it is shielded.
Bob lets Enzo play with Glitch for a while. It's a lot of fun until he
tries "jackhammer". The uncontrolled vibrations knock the container off the
bar, the magnet breaks out, and attaches itself to Dot's head. She becomes
sick and semi-transparent. Enzo is distressed, "she's too young to
end-file, too young to quit without saving." Bob does not know how to
reverse a magnetic erasure, the other people in the diner send him to see
Phong.
This appears to be the first time that Bob has met Phong. Bob cannot obtain
Phong's wisdom until he beats the old man at a game of Pong. Phong states
that Dot is in an accelerated condition and needs to access some really,
really, really slow food. Any sudden shock will totally disrupt her system.
Back at the Diner, Bob is told that the slow food is at Al's Wait and Eat on
Level 31. Dot is stuttering badly, and Bob ignores her when she tells him
it's too dangerous and to use a "vid, vid, vid, use a window to ca-ca-ca-call".
Al's place is a seedy joint, the customers include a gray skullhead, a purple
water-cooler with floating eyeballs, a Zero wearing a toque, a woman with
stripes on her shirt and face, a violet Five.
Rasta Mon is a guy small purple shades, dread locks with knives at the
ends, and a dark red face that looks like a specific computer programmer.
The guy running the counter, Al's Waiter, is a dingy
brown and green One. Al, the cook, is out of sight in the kitchen. Bob is
told to take a number. He gets 1000000000000 (four thousand and ninety six).
"Now serving number 3".
Meanwhile, back at Megabyte's Tor, it is clear that MB can't tell
Hack and Slash apart. (The red one is Hack, the blue one is Slash). He
orders them to search and retrieve Bob.
Back at Al's, a large Seven scares a little Zero by burping at it. Bob asks
why everyone is afraid of Seven, and the Toque answers "because Seven ate
Nine!" Barrump-bump!. The counter man says he can't process Bob's order
any faster because he has a partner on his back demanding a take-out order
and Al only runs at three decahertz. Bob tries to talk an Eight out of his
order of food, but no luck. At this point, Hack and Slash burst into the room.
The proprietor's reaction indicates that Megabyte is running a protection
racket.
Bob grabs some food, jumps on his zip-board, and leads Hack and Slash
straight up to the top level (coming out between Baudway and the Terminals).
Just then the User downloads an incoming game; Castles and Knights. Bob
presses the ReBoot button and turns into a knight in gold armor. The User
is a knight in silver armor.
Bob gets a blue dragon from the stable, the white knight gives chase on a
red dragon. (Bob's dragon is operated by Al's waiter, and Al is working
the fire-breathing part.) Bob and the boys best the knight in an aerial
joust. Bob tells Glitch to "B.S.'n P" and they go through a stained glass
window. He has to fight a walking skeleton and almost falls into a pit of
sharp stakes. _(The Broadcast Standards 'n Practices at ABC has asked
that no major character ever be place in mortal danger like this again.
B.S.'n'P. policies tend to cause headaches for many production companies.)_
Bob has Glitch fly up and turn into a VidWindow with large icon. This breaks
the skeleton's bones.
When Bob gets to the tower, he finds Enzo in the Damsel's costume and Dot
as a knight in green armor. They determine that the User can be defeated
by hitting his icon enough times. The final blow is when Enzo throws his
megaphone at the knight. Game over.
Dot explains that she and Al are partners. She just vidwindowed for
delivery. Megabyte grabs Enzo and demands his magnet back. Bob obliges by
having Glitch throw the magnet at MB's head. He falls off the edge and
calls for Hack and Slash, who crash with him at the bottom.
Bob: Speaking of which ... Dot, is there anything in Mainframe
that you don't own?
Dot: Maybe. Who wants to know?
The camera pulls back and shows Dot's Diner all by itself on a small lot.
Three buildings of the multilevel Baudway are in the background. The
billboards to the left (behind the Diner) are unreadable. The billboards in
foreground say "ener G ener", "DeeCee's Powerbar", and something "soundcard".
== References ==
* B.S.'n'P. Does not want imitatable acts, such as throwing a rock
through a stained glass window. That's why the magic spell was used.
== Did You Notice ==
(See also the quotes for episode 03)
* Seven is ready to eat an Egg from "Aliens"; he has the inner jaw as well.
* Just before the game starts, Bob floats past a building marked The
Parameters. (Probably high class apartments.)
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ReBoot: "Medusa Bug"
----------------------------------------
_ReBoot Episode 04_
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[ image='img/episo04a.gif' ]
=== "MEDUSA BUG" ===
* Synopsis
* References
[ image='img/episo04b.gif' ]
== Title credits ==
Written by Lane Raichert
Story by Lane Raichert, Ian Pearson, Phil Mitchell, Gavin Blair
== Synopsis ==
Hexadecimal created a powerful weapon called the Medusa, but Megabyte has
stolen it. The Medusa turns Megabyte to stone, then starts affecting all
of Mainframe. Can the city survive? Is Bob immune to it?
== Story ==
Enzo drags Dot away from her business for a breather. (She had been too
deep in taking calls, looking after the Mitchell account, etc.) She is
amazed to see that Bob has gotten his old car running.
Megabyte's armored stretch limo is seen coming out of Lost Angles. He stops
to show Hack and Slash his latest acquisition; a box with the Medusa inside.
Hexadecimal discovers that her secret weapon is gone, and starts after MB.
She unleashes a crimson hoard of nulls. Hack and Slash, whom everyone agrees
are not kept around for their brains, have to stop this threat. This time
they actually do something intelligent - they lift up a section of the bridge
until is breaks off and falls into the ocean. MB tells H+S to show her some
of their toys as he heads back to the Tor. MB's minions bring up six armored
tanks, with enough rockets and cannons to lay waste to an entire city, but
all the projectiles bounce off Hexadecimal's force field.
Megabyte is proud of having stolen the Medusa, but has not determined
what its power is. He presses the hexagon on the top, and the device
activates. Too late MB realizes it is a viral bug. The bug turns MB arm to
stone, then his whole body, and, with increasing speed, takes over the
entire Tor and surrounding area. Hexadecimal is not sure she has done the
right thing, infecting all of Mainframe with an unstoppable bug, but she
cackles evilly anyway.
Meanwhile, back at the park, our heros are having a picnic.
Unfortunately, it is in median of a freeway, only a block from the Diner.
(Bob's car had broken down.) Enzo notices the nasty thing chasing after
Frisket. Although the viral bug appears to be frightened by Frisket for a
while, the dog soon turns to stone. With a well placed smack, Enzo helps get
the car running. The immediately head to Phong for advice.
Phong states that the bug will affect everything it touches, but Bob may be
immune, since he is a Guardian. The attack is not Megabyte's style; it is
too chaotic, like Hexadecimal. And the longer an object remains infected,
the more it begins to decay. Low energy (like signs) go first then high
energy. (Phong shows a diagram with a Null, a Zero, a One, a Five, Water
Cooler Head, and last a sprite like Dot.)
When Phong lets Bob look at the drawers in the system Vid Window, he asks
for a Level 8 Desktop Rebuilder, but Phong merely goes blink, blink. All
Mainframe has is a viral erase command (in the shape of a pink eraser).
Bob tries an add-on to boost its power, but the eraser reverses the bug
only temporarily.
Phong isolates the Center from the rest of Mainframe. All the links are
taken down, firewalls cover the gateways, the ball on top retreats, and
an impenetrable shield goes up. But the bug breaks through; everyone is
turned to gray marble.
Bob breaks out of his shell and goes after Hexadecimal. She is surrounded
by stone people, including Scuzzy. Bob tries physical fighting, and when
that fails, switches to a logical battle. Now that everything is cast in
stone, Mainframe is very predictable and quiet. No more random occurances.
No fights with Megabyte. This is too much for Hex, who craves chaos.
She counteracts Medusa with a snap of her fingers.
William Graham (wgr...@freenet.calgary.ab.ca) writes:
"Medusa Bug" has 2 different endings, depending on
which network (ABC or YTV) it's on. The ABC ending shows a tree, and suddenly
all the leaves fall off, and Bob says something like "Oh, no, not again!"
The YTV ending starts out with the same picnic scene, but instead, a game
cube appears, and all 4 characters (Bob, Dot, Enzo, & Frisket) snap to
attention and look directly at the camera with shocked looks on their faces.
(This ties in nicely with Bob's line "Where's a game cube when you really
one?" about halfway through the episode.)
On 15-Apr-95, ABC showed the latter ending. The freeze-frame at the end
is the picture next to "Heros" in the Intro page.
On 26-Sep-96, Claster-TV showed the first, interim, ending.
The trees turning to stone really was to set the stage when the teaser
clips were shown due to more episodes not being ready yet.
== References ==
* Medusa Bug - The movie "_The Satan Bug_" is about a virus
that can wipe out all of Los Angeles. From mythology, anyone who even looks
at Medusa (an woman with snakes in her hair) will turn to stone.
* Desktop Rebuilder - When a Macintosh computer gets confused as to
what is where on its disk, it is time to "rebuild the desktop".
* links, firewalls, gateways - when a business on the Internet is
being attacked, some of the defences are: take down the links that connect
the company to the outside world, beef up the gateway routers, and use
firewalls to keep intruders out. Note that Phong down the links (bridges),
and brought down firewalls outside of each gateway.
== Did You Notice ==
(See also the quotes for episode 04)
* Sounds of the original Star Trek transporters are heard when the city is
being evacuated.
* "You Could Be Zipping" on the side of a bus.
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ReBoot: "The TIFF"
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_ReBoot Episode 05_ (code 9404)
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[ image='img/episo05a.gif' ]
=== "The TIFF" ===
* Synopsis
* References
[ image='img/episo05b.gif' ]
== Title credits ==
Written by Lane Raichert
Story by Lane Raichert
== Synopsis ==
Dot and Bob have a bit of a tiff; she thinks he's too impulsive and he
thinks she's too inflexible. Enzo and the others try to get them to
make up, but a Game Cube interferes. Dot and Bob will have to learn to
work as a team to get out of this one.
== Story ==
Dot is in her Diner doing business (checking the Mitchell account,
waiting for the First National Databank) when her secretary reminds
her that she missed a board meeting. Dot is upset that Enzo is late
for his class in ancient languages (Cobol, Fortran). Bob accuses her
of being preprogrammed, stuck to a schedule, and should live more on the
edge, making decisions on the fly like he does. Both get angry and
stop talking to each other.
Dot says she will never call Bob, even when a tear in the interface
causes havoc in the Diner. Enzo decides that he has to do something.
A crowd goes to Phong at the Center, who says that "a broken friendship
is best mended by tragedy or apology". Enzo gets help from the movie crew
to make it look as if Megabyte has him captive at Old Man Pearson's Data
Dump. (On the director's clapboard, the number 9404 is this epidode's
production number.) Enzo sends this phony message to Bob and to Dot, then
is tied to the conveyor belt to the big machine. But Bob and Dot argue so
much that Enzo has to be saved by Frisket.
Enzo sends a fake apology hologram from Bob to Dot and from Dot to Bob and
they almost make up on the park bench in Floating Point Park, but the deceit
is unveiled. This is when the User's game arrives - a dangerous prisoner has
breached the prison cell and has triggered a self destruct sequence on Starship
Alcatraz.
Dot faces down some prisoners; a spider with four legs and a block head.
She uses the PCU (Prisoner Control Unit) to immobilize them in a floating
bubble. Bob dispatches a spider down the elevator, but it comes back up
with a big hairy fuzz ball. They knock Bob down the central shaft, and Dot
shoots him with her PCU. This saves Bob from the fall, but he has to
figure a way out of the bubble. Glitch's hammer and cutter don't work, but
Glitch as a pin does. "Go figure."
Dot carries two big guns as she goes after the User. Bob sits in the
Control chair and tries to get the main power back on-line. It's written
in Turbo YADDA, one of the ancient languages. Dot talks him through the
job of reprogramming it. Once power is restored, Bob starts slamming the
doors ahead of the User and turns the stairs into down ramps.
Dot does some two-fisted shooting as she neutralizes an entire mob, then
knocks out the User with judo. Time is running out, and Dot makes a wild
leap down the central shaft, relying on Glitch and Bob to do something
before she hits bottom. Glitch becomes a big spring, allowing Dot to
somersault to the control panel and cancel the destruct sequence.
Bob complements Dot on living on the edge, and Dot appreciates Bob's plan.
== References ==
* Tiff - a petty argument. TIFF - Tagged Image File Format, a way
of storing pictures on a computer.
* COBOL and FORTRAN are two computer languages from back in the days
of vacuum tubes (before the transistor was invented).
* Turbo YADDA - Turbo Pascal was an affordable compiler that made
Borland famous.
== Did You Notice ==
(See also the quotes for episode 05)
* Instructions on Dot's computer screen: 1) Place palm on reader, 2) Make
choice, 3) Wait for Door to Open.
* When Enzo and the mob are asking Phong for advice, Rasta Mon is in the
background, levitating in a lotus position.
* Clapboard: "The Tiff", 9404, Act:1 Beat:8:1, Version:2 Suite:7,
Beep Numbers 10 - 11, Phil, Frames:175, Set 6, Notes: Data Dump Int.,
"Enzo Calls Dot", Wizzywig Productions.
* The cameraman for Dino DeHorrendous is always hiding behind someone.
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ReBoot: "In the Belly of the Beast"
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_ReBoot Episode 06_
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[ image='img/episo06a.gif' ]
=== "IN THE BELLY OF THE BEAST" ===
* Synopsis
* References
[ image='img/episo06b.gif' ]
== Title credits ==
Written by Mark Hoffmeier
Story by Mark Hoffmeier, Lane Raichert
== Synopsis ==
Frisket eats an old UNFORMAT command, and Megabyte wants it back.
== Story ==
An old UNFORMAT command has been discovered in Old Man Pearson's Data Dump.
Megabyte has Hack and Slash rough up Pearson, and Bob interferes.
During the excitement, they drop UNFORMAT command whereupon Frisket eats it.
Poor Frisket turns greenish gold and semi-transparent as a result of the
old sector-blanking command trying to unformat his stomach. In Dot's Diner,
Bob checks Frisket's supercharged V8 engine, but he and Glitch can't do much
for the dog. Frisket goes looking for Enzo, and meets up with the boy outside
the Algorithm Theater. Hack and Slash kidnap Enzo in order to lure Frisket
to Megabyte's territory.
Frisket gets locked into a large trap that looks just like the one at the
beginning of Jurassic Park. Megabyte pushes him into the Deconstruction Tank.
Enzo distracts Hack and Slash with his yo-yo, then uses it to turn off the
containment field so Frisket can get away. As they are escaping, Enzo says
"Gee, Frisket, these wires look important. It sure would be awful if
something were to happen to them." Frisket does the obvious.
Enzo and Frisket end up in Megabyte's warehouse where the ICBMs and other big
weapons are stored. One really mean looking gun actually fires a
liferaft (marked "B.S.'n P Approved"). They steal an armored shuttle, but
Megabyte can run faster than they know how to drive. After giving Hack
and Slash one more headache, they escape through the mail tubes.
At the top of Megabyte's tower, Frisket leaves a present. They get
clean away, and Megabyte steps in what's left of the UNFORMAT command.
== References ==
* The FORMAT command erases a hard disk. Nicer versions of the FORMAT
program store critical information elsewhere, so that an UNFORMAT
program can undo the formatting.
== Did You Notice ==
(See also the quotes for episode 06)
* Megabyte's legs are detachable.
* "Do Not Taunt" written on the big gun that shoots BS&P rafts.
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ReBoot: "The Crimson Binome"
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_ReBoot Episode 07_
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[ image='img/episo07a.gif' ]
=== "THE CRIMSON BINOME" ===
* Synopsis
* References
[ image='img/episo07b.gif' ]
== Title credits ==
Written by Lane Raichert
Story by Gavin Blair, Phil Mitchell, Ian Pearson, Lane Raichert
= Guest star: Captain Capacitor =
Voice by Long John Baldry. A binome-one with a peg leg, a hook for his left
hand, orange rope mustache, beard, and hair. Wears red tricorn hat.
== Synopsis ==
Mainframe is attacked by Software Pirates. Bob is thrown in the brig, and
Dot has to save the day with fancy verbal fencing.
== Story ==
The story starts at the Dock area of Mainframe, where people are walking around
and riding bicycles - it looks like a boardwalk beach near the turn of the
century (straw hats, handlebar mustaches, bustles, etc). There is a
Punch & Judy style puppet show, called Punchcard and Qwerty. A big pirate
ship arrives, releasing a horde of flying pirates, all going "Arrr!".
Dot is talking to the police chief when the Ethernet goes off line. Phong
tries to pinpoint the cause of the disturbance when Enzo remarks that
Bob has an apartment down by the Docks; he can handle it.
But Bob is oblivious to the citizens being frozen by file locks; he is too
busy singing to himself while repairing his car. The pirates steal his car
while Bob is not looking, and Sally the pirate steals Glitch.
Captain Capacitor recognizes the Guardian's tool, and figures to make a
profit selling it, especially if he can ransom the Guardian as well.
Bob tries to sneak up on the software pirates, but finally realizes that
Glitch is missing. He ends up using his own file lock while riding on
a pair of hover discs.
Princess Bula, a large South Seas maiden, pops up from the deck and grabs
Bob during the exchange for Glitch. Bob is placed in the brig as the ship
leaves harbor. (After deploying its virtual sails, the ship jumps into
hyperspace.)
Dot and the harbor police commandeer a fast private yacht. (The music from
"A Three Hour Tour" plays in the background; the yacht's owner is Mr. Mitchell
but sounds a lot like Mr. Howell.) Dot says "He tasks me, and I
shall have him."
Bob tries to grab the keys from a sleeping guard, but is stopped
by the force field in the bars. "No one escapes from my brig, except for one."
Bob recognizes the signature of the one who got away; Mouse. He throws the
cell's bed against the bars and disappears during the flash.
After the others have gone, Bob comes out from behind a pillar and says
"thanks, Mouse, where ever you are." He then wreaks havoc on the ship,
knocking the rudder and cannons off line, so that Dot can catch up with
the Crimson Binome. Only one cannon is still working, but the yacht is saved
when Frisket catches the cannonball.
The pirates get the upper hand, but Mr. Christian reports that Bob's damage
has caused the profit margin to drop below 200%. Dot and Capacitor exchange
witty repartee, fencing with words, until it is obvious that the pirate has
been outclassed. He goes into business with Dot, who needs someone with his
ability to deliver. The captain reveals that his real name is Gavin.
== References ==
* The title refers to the movie The Crimson Pirate (1952)
staring Burt Lancaster.
* Punch and Judy - a very old puppet show where one puppet hits the
other. The punchcard was used to enter programs into ancient
computers. The English computer keyboard is called qwerty for the
top row of letters on the keyboard. (It's different in France and other
countries.)
* One of the co-creators of the show is Gavin Blair. He has short
copper-colored hair.
* The quote about "He tasks me, and I shall have him" did not originate
with "_The Wrath of Khan_". It comes from "_Moby Dick_".
== Did You Notice ==
(See also the quotes for episode 07)
* Mainframe has two seas - the "A" Sea and the "D" Sea (AC/DC)
* Grafitti on the ship: Capacitor is a Flaccidor
* Grotesque and Arabesque -- Sir.Real
* A pirate version of "Kilroy Was Here" (man with eyepatch sticking his
big nose over a fence; same as in the movie "_Kelly's Heroes_").
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ReBoot: "Enzo the Smart"
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_ReBoot Episode 08_
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[ image='img/episo08a.gif' ]
=== "ENZO THE SMART" ===
* Synopsis
* References
[ image='img/episo08b.gif' ]
== Title credits ==
Written by Mark Hoffmeier, Lane Raichert
Story by Mark Edens, Brendan McCarthy, Ian Pearson
== Synopsis ==
Enzo wants to be smarter than anyone in Mainframe, and gets his wish.
When the Master Clock slows down, everyone else is dumb, and Enzo has
to win the game by himself.
== Story ==
Cannon fire is being exchanged between castles as the story opens.
Dot is wearing a general's uniform with a silly handlebar mustache.
Her attempt to take the User off-line fails as he ducks. The return
fire blows up her rampart. Now it is up to Enzo to fight back.
His first shot is a bit low, so Enzo decides he needs more power.
He enlarges his cannon's bore and brings out the mondo cannonball.
But in this case, bigger is not better, and Enzo is out of the game.
Bob fires off a teeny tiny cannon, but it hits the User's stockpile of
gunpowder. Kaboom! Game Over.
Enzo is bummed that he wasn't smart enough to defeat the User. He doesn't
want to wait for knowledge, he wants to be smart now. He then tries to get
some information from Phong, but the ancient one can only download wisdom
to those who can beat him at his own game.
As a consolation, Phong allows Enzo to look at the Read Only room at the
center of Mainframe, but he is not to touch anything. (They pass by a black
marble statue of a desk lamp; the pedastal reads "JL
SENIOR".) Enzo starts by scanning every README file on the system. He
realizes that this will take too long, possibly millions and millions of
nanoseconds, and asks the computer about a way to make this faster. The
computer reports that Mainframe's clock speed and bit rate determine how
fast sprites can be run. Enzo just wants to be smarter, twice as smart as
everybody else. The computer sends him to the Clock Speed Room.
This room has a large glowing pendulum (bigger than the one in Edgar Allen
Poe's "The Pit and the Pendulum". At his request, Enzo is made twice as
fast as everyone else. Actually, the clock slows down, and everyone except
Enzo becomes slower and dumber. He walks outside and everything has gone
"8-bit". (Instead of thousands or millions of colors in high resolution,
the city is now low resolution in just a few colors.
Phong is beating his head against the wall. All the people in Dot's Diner
are happy when Enzo walks in - they could not find the door. Bob does an
Enzo action - running up to and knocking over his hero. Dot can't even
remember the name of the place. Bob starts acting extremely macho and
attacks the mailman.
Before Enzo can get back to Phong's place, a game cube descends. Enzo is
made coach of the Video Athletes and Mike the TV is there to announce the
games. (Mike was not affected by the change in clock speed; he can't get
any dumber.) When Bob finally presses his ReBoot button, he ends up in a
football uniform, which is a silly thing to wear while playing basketball
and pole vaulting.
Mike interviews Enzo just before the Eliminator round, stating that the
point lead will be almost impossible to overcome, the Mainframers may lose
the game, in which case the entire sector will be wiped out and all the
losing contestants reduced to mindless Nulls. "How do you feel right now?"
Enzo has to run the Eliminator race by himself. Dumb Bob tries to help
out, but ends up circling the track in the wrong direction carrying a pole
vault, and just getting in the way.
The race goes through rotating logs, a 3-D pinball game, powered roller
skates, lava beds, train cars, etc. Enzo gets blocked by all the people on
his team, who claim "we are helping, we are helping". (Everyone, that is,
except Bob, who is still circling the track with his pole.)
Enzo decides that the smart Bob would use his brain, so he assigns all of
his team to the User's team, who "needs a lot of help to make it to the
finish line". They try to help the User's boots go faster, but end up
putting them in reverse, and Bob knocks the User down at finish line.
Enzo wins, and then returns the clock speed to normal. Phong tells him
that good things take time, and Enzo realizes that Phong knew what was going
to happen all along.
== References ==
* "Backspace, backspace!", similar to the Monty Python characters yelling
"Run away, run away!" in "_The Holy Grail_".
* JL Senior - an homage to John Lasseter, who created the award
winning computer animated short "Luxo, Junior". Later, JL went on to
direct the movie "Toy Story".
* In the athletic competition, one User is wearing the yellow and black track
suit that Bruce Lee wore in "Game of Death" and makes a hand sign
similar to Bruce's in "Enter the Dragon".
* The User in blue looks like Grace Jones and is called Graceful Jones.
The User in Orange looks like a professional wrestler from Mexico.
== Did You Notice ==
(See also the quotes for episode 08)
* Ryan Thompson (rbth...@unixg.ubc.ca) says the castle and tower game
is like Atari's "Rampart". The track and field game is like the old
Nintendo "Track and Field" with the special power pad (the one you
could walk on).
* Marquee on the Algorithm Theatre; "twice nightly: Susan Alexander".
* Phong opens the door to his inner sanctum by saying "Yada, yada, yada".
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ReBoot: "Wizards, Warriors and a Word from our Sponsor"
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_ReBoot Episode 09_
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[ image='img/episo09a.gif' ]
=== "WIZARDS, WARRIORS AND A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR" ===
* Synopsis
* References
[ image='img/episo09b.gif' ]
== Title credits ==
Written by Jono Howard, Lane Raichert
Story by Gavin Blair, Phil Mitchell, Ian Pearson, Lane Raichert
== Synopsis ==
Bob, Dot, Enzo and Mike the TV have to play as a team in a Dungeons and Dragons
type game. Mike gets the hero role this time, and proves to be a valuable
asset to the community.
== Story ==
Mike, the announcer TV, won't shut up. "It's yours free for $99.99.99" (His
remote ran away, and no one can blame it.) The User's game, "A Dungeon
Deep", starts up almost immediately, it is a basic role-playing game. Bob
is the Thief, Dot is the Wizard, Enzo is an Elf, and Mike is the mighty
barbarian Warrior. (Dot's star-spangled wizard's costume is the exact color
of bright blue that keeps changing to red and back on typical VCRs.) After
much bickering, they descend through the various levels of the dungeon.
Level 1: The door guardian says, "To win the chalice, listen to me. One in
all, all in one, that's the key". The door slides down a tunnel and floats
on the the Hopeless River of Eternal Imprisonment, going to the Vicious Pit
of Total Oblivion.
Level 2: Greek armor attacks. Dot's "Abracadabra ca watchmacallit" cuts them
in half, then quarters, eighths, etc. until they are small enough to step on.
Level 13: Spiral stairs down a deep well occupied by a nasty spider. (Bob
vanquishes it with a butter knife.)
Level 23: No way out.
Level 31: Attack carrots reduced to Julienne fries.
Level 37: Stuck on a four square foot spire.
Level 42: Water monster; "stay frosty".
Level 53: Enzo shoots head off ghost armor with a clown-face arrow.
Level 58: "Run away!" from flying eyeball with 7 tentacles.
Level 65: They are riding on a flying banana until a white worm with skull
(Skullipede) knocks them off. Race through hallway peppered with arrows,
swinging axes, trap door, and a force field made of pansies.
Level 66: Shadow monster from a bright candle is dispatched by Mike
using his loud mouth to blow out the candle. "Tonight on BMMN, the Bad
Monster Movie Network." The narrow pathway starts falling into the
"bottomlessness-lessness". The key is all pressing the doorknob together.
In the last room, each character meets their own zombie, which is stronger.
(Dot gets turned into a Picasso painting.) The zombies can only be defeated
by teamwork from the other members of the party. As the Users arrive, the
group realizes that they all have to pull together to release the chalice.
They do "and the crowd goes wild."
== References ==
* The game in this episode conforms to the real rules of FRP (Fantasy
Role Playing) games.
== Did You Notice ==
(See also the quotes for episode 09)
* When our four heroes are standing outside the game entrance arguing
about Mike's accompanying them, the background noise is the "alien
planet" sound effect from Star Trek-The Original Series.
* Jim Little (ji...@teleport.com) says the start of the game reminds him
of "Betrayal at Krondor".
* Blooper: After defeating the two animated armor statues, Bob says: "Look,
the only way to find out is to try one!" As he delivers that line,
the beard and broken tooth are gone.
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ReBoot: "The Great Brain Robbery"
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_ReBoot Episode 10_
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[ image='img/episo10a.gif' ]
=== "THE GREAT BRAIN ROBBERY" ===
* Synopsis
* References
[ image='img/episo10b.gif' ]
== Title credits ==
Written by Jono Howard
Story by Jono Howard, Lane Raichert
Guest star: Louise Vallance as Mouse
== Synopsis ==
Megabyte's plan to get inside Bob's brain fails when his miniaturized agents
end up in Enzo instead. Bob has to take a fantastic voyage inside of Enzo
and defeat Mouse (the hacker that was mentioned in "The Crimson Binome").
== Story ==
Megabyte has second thoughts about hiring Mouse. He paid in advance and is
worried, but Mouse shows up on her own sweet time, after slipping unnoticed
past MB's defenses. She and the two goons (Hack and Slash) get into an
Armored Binome Carrier (ABC) and Megabyte compresses it small enough to fit
into a dropper. MB uses a Vid Window to pass the dropper to Sgt. Smiley.
The User's game was finishing up when the story opened. Bob decides to get
some refreshment and they all hop into Bob's hot rod (the car is actually
working this time). The team goes to Al's place on Level 31 where Bob
orders a Quantum Shake.
Sgt. Smiley pretends to be Al, and puts empties the dropper into a shake.
(We don't get to actually see Al; he is a One that is tied up and completely
covered with rope.) Frisket growls when the shake is delivered, then Enzo
asks for a sip. The troop carrier with Mouse inside gets sucked into Enzo.
Megabyte is using Mouse to get to Bob's neural interface, a direct link to
the Supercomputer's access codes. She sets down and activates the remote
that allows MB to control the brain's neurons. This causes Enzo to jump
up and start acting strangely. Bob and Dot are concerned, so they take
Enzo to Phong. Phong determines that Hack and Slash are inside Enzo's head.
Phong uses an old BPEG to compress Bob down small enough to get into Enzo.
By the time they do this, MB has rewound Enzo's memory back to early
grade school. "I'm a little source code, short and stout. This is my
input, this is my out."
Megabyte is extremely upset with being inside Enzo, until he realizes that
Dot has brought him to Phong - they are inside the Principle Office, past
all the security. MB takes manual control and makes Enzo walk to Mainframe's
central system core. This is where Bob and his speeder show up. Hack and
Slash morph into battle mode - rocket packs on their backs and their
forearms replaced with missle launchers. Bob gets the two bozos to follow
him until they run into their own ship. Bob is gloating when Mouse sneaks
up from behind and uses her power ring to immobilize Bob with a stasis
field.
Under MB's control, Enzo opens the locks to the central core.
Bob last saw Mouse when he arrested her for attempting to hack into the
Supercomputer. Bob tells Mouse that MB's actions will cause Enzo to be
erased in a power surge, taking all of them with it. She contacts MB and
asks him about "toasting some little kid". "You know I don't do toast!"
MB tries to sweet talk Mouse, but she decides for self-preservation and
pulls the plug on his operation. Enzo comes to his senses and skeedaddles.
Megabyte strikes back by destabilizing the compression field. Bob and Mouse
pick up the equipment, zap Bob's speeder, and try to get out of Enzo before
they return to normal size. Bob pilots them through a roller coaster ride
through Enzo's body, and get sneezed out just as full size occurs.
Bob greets the gang, saying "we did it", but Dot has a distinct look of
jealousy as she demands "who's that girl". Bob goes to introduce Mouse to
the others, but she is already gone. Nothing left but a Mouse signature
on the door. Hack and Slash are returned to Megabyte after having been
compressed to one half their normal size.
== References ==
* The shrinking of a vehicle and injecting it into a person was brought
to the big screen in the move "_Fantastic Voyage_".
* I don't do toast! - other shows (such as "_Babylon-5_" and "_seaQuest_")
are done using NewTek's Video Toaster.
== Did You Notice ==
(See also the quotes for episode 10)
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Smith and O'Halloran
Subject: ReBoot FAQ, 5 of 5
Contents: Press Releases, Alliance Press kit, Index
Date: Mon Feb 10 14:05:53 PST 1997
From: Joe Smith <jsm...@inwap.com>
ReBoot Press: August 1996
----------------------------------------
_ReBoot mentioned in the Hollywood press_
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=== Daily Variety ===
== Contents ==
* 960819 Beast Wars on DirecTV Pay Per View
* 960814 Claster 'ReBoots' 'Power' pack
* 960809 Imax, Mainframe team on computer-animated pics
* 960309 Beast Wars
* 950515 'Reboot' CD-ROM alliance set
* 950323 Annual 'Toon' issue for 1995
== Beast Wars on DirecTV Pay Per View ==
Daily Variety - Monday, August 19, 1996 - page 7
by Ray Richmond
KidVid 'Beast Wars' sets pre-syndie PPV window
In what may be a first for the ppv industry, the initial three episodes
of a children's series distribbed for national syndication by Claster TV
first will receive a monthlong PPV window (through Sept. 15) for customers
of direct broadcast satellite service DirecTV.
The series, titled "Beast Wars: Transformers", is a high-tech 3-D
computer-animated action saga produced jointly by Alliance Communications of
Canada and Mainframe Entertainment.
Each of the first three segments of "Beast Wars" is being offered to
DirecTV subscribers for $1.99 from mid-August to mid-September in advance of
the show's syndie launch the week of Sept. 16. [Note: each segment is two
consecutive half-hour shows.]
It's the first time a DBS service has premiered an original TV series of
any kind, and points up the sudden trend linking cable and PPV entities with
broadcast.
"Beast Wars: Transformers" (aka "Beasties") tells the story of the battle
between two species for control of a unique energy source called Energon.
Sally Claster Bell, exec VP of of Claster Television Inc., called the use
of an advance pay-per-view window "a terrific vehicle for promoting the new
fall series to an even wider audience."
== Claster 'ReBoots' 'Power' pack ==
Daily Variety - Wednesday, August 14, 1996 - page 18
by Jenny Hontz
Claster Television has added the computer-animated series _ReBoot_ to its
syndicated weekday action animation package called the _Power Block_.
_ReBoot_ joins _Beast Wars: Transformers_,
_G.I. Joe Extreme_ and _VOR-Tech_ in the children's
block, which debuts this fall on 106 stations covering 85% of the country.
Active Entertainment was the previous distributor of _ReBoot_, but
will not longer be involved.
_ReBoot_ is the first half-hour animated series produced entirely by
computer using computer-generated imagery and 3-D animation. The half-hour
series debuted in September 1994 on ABC's Saturday morning lineup. It is
produced by Mainframe Entertainment and distributed internationally by
Alliance Communications.
== Imax, Mainframe team on computer-animated pics ==
Daily Variety - Friday, August 9, 1996 - page 8
by Harvey Enchin
TORONTO -- Giant-screen movie pioneer Imax Corp. said Thursday that
Mainframe Entertainment Inc. will produce two computer-animated movies for
its motion simulator rides under and agreement that calls for the
development of other film projects.
Mainframe, base in Vancouver, produces _ReBoot_, the first television
series completely developed using computer-generated imagery (CGI)
technology and 3-D animation. _ReBoot_ debuted in 1993 and since has been
sold to more than 50 countries.
Initially broadcast Saturday mornings on ABC, _ReBoot_ is syndicated to
more than 100 U.S. stations and airs three times a week on the YTV specialty
channel in Canada. Alliance Communications Corp. of Toronto owns one-third
of Mainframe.
Imax said Mainframe will be responsible for production of the two films
and Imax's Ridefilm Corp. subsidiary will provide creative and production
support.
The films will be base on _Reboot_'s cyber characters, which exist in the
electronic world inside a personal computer. No financial details of the
agreement were revealed.
Imax vice chairman Richard Gelfond said his company is in discussions with
other digital animation houses.
Cosmic Voyage, a $6.5 million Imax film containing 15 minutes of computer
animation effects, was released Thursday in Washington. Narrated by Morgan
Freeman, the film -- a guide through the formation of the universe -- was
produced by the Motorola Foundation, the Smithsonian Institution National
Air & Space Museum and the National Science Foundation.
Imax said another computer-generated file, _L5 -- First City in
Space_, will be released in October. CFI of Britain and Ex Machina
of France were responsible for the 3-D computer graphics.
== Claster does "Beast Wars" ==
Daily Variety, Volume 250, Number 8 (March 8, 1996)
by Jim Benson
CLASTER TO BRING 3-D TO SYNDIE
Animation distributer Claster TV is bringing out a new half-hour kids
strip for fall 1996 that will be the first announced show in syndication to
user the 3-D computer animation employed by the Disney hit "Toy Story."
The Claster strip project, titled "ATV," will use the computer animation
in the high-tech sci-fi adventure series "Beast Wars." It will be produced
in Vancouver at a facility owned by Alliance Communications Corp.
"ATV" also will include the action-fantasy "R.U.S.H." and new episodes of
the "G.I. Joe: Extreme" series. By putting three programs under one umbrella
title, Claster can market them as a strip.
Claster, which also announced plans to launch a "Beast Wars: Transformers"
miniseries in the spring, is offering "ATV" on a straight barter basis, with
stations retaining the most commercial time in the second and fourth quarters.
[22-Aug-96 Editor's node: "ATV" has been renamed to "Power Block",
"R.U.S.H" has been dropped, and "VOR-Tech" and "ReBoot" added.
Also, "Beast Wars: Transformers" is known as "Beasties" in Canada.]
== 'Reboot' CD-ROM alliance set ==
Daily Variety - May 15, 1995
by Harvey Enchin
Alliance Communications Inc. of Toronto has nailed down a deal with
software publisher Electronic Arts to create CD-ROM games based on the
computer-animated TV series "Reboot", which is seen on ABC in the United
States and YTV in Canada. The agreement was signed by Electronic Arts
Canada, a unit of the San Mateo, Calif.-based software company, and
Mainframe Joint Venture, which is owned by a subsidiary of Alliance; Sublime
Films Ltd., controlled by "Reboot" exec producer Steve Barron; and the Hub
Ltd;, owned by "Reboot" creators Gavin Blair, John Grace, Phil Mitchell and
Ian Pearson.
== Annual 'Toon' issue for 1995 ==
Daily Variety - March 23, 1995
[ image='images/Dot-Cecil.gif' descr='Dot and Cecil' ]
March 23rd, 1995 was the annual Toon issue.
(It has on the front cover: Batman & Robin, Pinky and The Brain, Tiny Toon
Adventures, Freakazoid!, Sylvester & Tweety, Taz Mania, The Bugs Bunny Show,
Animaniacs.)
This image of Dot and Cecil was reversed on page A2.
.
Inside is a 39 page "Spotlight: Animation". Page A4 has "CGI revolution hits
television" by Ellen Wolff ('ReBoot,' 'Pigasso' just the start) It continues
on page A34 under the heading "TV gets a case of 3-D". The part on ReBoot is:
But no other place is more involved in establishing a 3-D
animation beachhead on TV than a Vancouver studio called
the Hub, backed by Canada's Alliance Communications and BLT
Prods. That's where the syndicated "ReBoot" is produced,
the first cartoon series consisting of nothing but 3-D
computer animation.
[ image='images/dire.gif' descr='The Dires' ]
Created by the same people who animated the Dire Straits
video "Money for Nothing", "ReBoot" premiered last September
and is a primetime hit in Canada. It airs on ABC in the
United States and is being dubbed for 24 other countries.
The show is produced completely by 30 production people,
including music and editorial, says Cheryl Blakeney, a
spokesperson for the show. "We do two episodes in six weeks,"
which can be grueling, she says, given the amount of
computational time required.
"The outlay of equipment is huge," Blakeney acknowledges,
adding, "We're the only people who do this in any kind of
mass quantity, so we're paying top dollar for everything.
Pretty soon, there will be a whole bunch of people doing it,
and the prices will go down and down, and we'll still be
paying our bills!"
Blakeney believes, "Five years from now, the whole industry
is going to be digital."
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_Comments from the Net_
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=== USENET news ===
The information here was posted to the various USENET newsgroups
* alt.tv.reboot (primary newsgroup)
* alt.cartoon.reboot (lesser newsgroup)
* rec.arts.animation (all types of cartoons)
* comp.graphics.animation (technical aspects)
== Contents ==
* 960815 ReBoot Reincarnations coming
* 960209 More home videos: Brain & Talent
* 960127 Beastie Toys
* 960123 Video Game announced in Game Players mag
* 960117 Ottawa Sun
* 951207 Hack and Slash voice actors
* 950620 ReBoot Movie
* 950606 comp.graphics.animation FAQ
* 950526 Tony Jay
* 950430 Brendan McCarthy
* 950308 Vancouver Sun - March 8/95
* 950321 WIZARD Guide To Comics - April 1995
* 941001 Toon Magazine, Fall 94
== ReBoot Reincarnations coming ==
From: bj...@wanker.com (Bill Joe)
Newsgroups: alt.tv.reboot
Subject: Article in August 15/96 Vancouver Sun Newspaper
Date: 15 Aug 1996 19:16:38 GMT
[3"x5" Picture: Dot, Enzo, Bob; Caption: "ReBoot: created in Vancouver,
seen in more than 50 countries"]
Already deep into merchandising efforts that include lunch boxes, bed
sheets, action figures and lampshades, the Vancouver-based, computer-animated
TV series _ReBoot_ is stretching ever further to produce films for IMAX
Corporation, to be released next spring.
Ian Pearson, one of _ReBoot_'s creators and an executive producer at
Vancouver's Mainframe Entertainment, says the company is currently producing
two short _ReBoot_ episodes to be screened in IMAX Ridefilm locations around
the world.
The Ridefilm theatres, which are actually motion-simulated rides that
pitch and roll with the onscreen action, feature a 180-degree wrap-around
screen and high-quality surround sound that envelopes the viewer.
"It's a totally immersive experience," Pearson said of Ridefilm. "It's
like a roller coaster without the danger."
The closest Ridefilm theatres to Vancouver, however, are Toronto's
Palladium and in Las Vegas.
The _ReBoot_ series, which airs on YTV in Canada three times a week, is
staged in the microprocessor world of a computer mainframe, where the computer
guardians are locked in constant struggle with an evil virus named Megabyte.
The show began a successful run on ABC in 1993, and has since branched
out to air on more than 100 TV stations in the U.S. and in 50 countries. In
animation-crazed Japan, where the show is aimed at adults rather than children,
it enjoys a prime-time slot on the programming roster.
When _ReBoot_ first aired, it was the only three-dimensional animated
program to use computer-generated imagery (CGI) exclusively. Now, Mainframe
produces another CGI show, _Beast Wars: Transformers_, and has a
third in the works.
Television is only one aspect of Mainframe, and Ridefilm could be a
springboard to new opportunities. "It's a good step for us into the realm of
feature films," Pearson said.
He said there's also a good chance _ReBoot_ will end up on the
mega-screens of full-size IMAX theatres. The high-resolution of the
70-millimetre IMAX film may be rendered even sharper by LCD crystal
stereoscopic viewer glasses, currently in development, that will produce a
clarity he described as "unbelievable."
And if that weren't enough to keep Mainframe animators and programmers
working late nights and long hours, Pearson said the company's games division
is working with Electronic Arts, a U.S.-based computer game production company,
to develop a _ReBoot_ game for the Sony Playstation. He hopes it will reach the
market by next February or March.
Despite the success of Mainframe and the widespread popularity of
_ReBoot_, Pearson said it's still hard to lure top-notch senior animators away
from the bright lights of Hollywood based on a TV reputation.
"We just can't get staff, that's the only problem," Pearson said.
"It'll take feature films to get the cream back up here."
== More home videos: Brain & Talent ==
'ReBoot' video library adds cyber-oriented kids' shows
Billboard Magazine, 9-Feb-96
The following children's videos are now available:
* "ReBoot: The Great Brain Robbery"
* "ReBoot: Talent Night"
* (Polygram Video, 25 minutes each, $12.95 each)
The latest two additions to PolyGram's "ReBoot" video library bolster
the growing reputation of these cyber-minded, generation-spanning adventures,
which have earned the ABC series a steady following among children and
Generation Xers alike. Each slickly animated episode chronicles -- in
user-friendly computer jargon -- another virtual adventure in MainFrame,
a hi-tech "city" located within a computer that is controlled by outside
users but susceptible to two dangerous viruses.
== Beastie Toys ==
From SPOTLIGHT VANCOUVER, a feature of the Vancouver BC edition of _TV Guide_.
January 27, 1996
You've already stretched the parameters of computer-generated animation
on television with _ReBoot_, the groundbreaking children's series
seen on YTV and ABC. What's an animator to do for an encore?
The _ReBoot_ team is following up with the tentatively-title
Beast Wars: Transformers, currently in production in Vancouver and
slated for full syndication this fall.
_Beast Wars_ will, however, be based on a line of toys: the
Transformers, by the Hasbro Toy Group.
Mention of Transformers might invoke a sense of deja vu, since viewers
may recall another animated series based on the popular toys, which began
airing about a decade ago.
"The show's a lot different from what _Transformers_ was
in the mid-80's," says producer Chris Brough. "I think what Hasbro
recognized was a changing audience that had perhaps grown more
sophisticated."
Both the show and the toys will have a completely new look. Instead of
mutating from robots to vehicles, the characters now change from robots into
animals. Their challenge is to survive the show's harsh environment, a
Mars-like planet stuck somewhere back in time. "We wanted to show
another look from computers than we had in _ReBoot_," says
Brough.
While it may seem like sheer marketing to twin a toy line to a TV series,
Brough says the intent is to produce a show that can stand on its own merit.
"The product is brilliant," he says, "but a show has to
sustain itself. Just because it's a toy-driven show is not any guarantee of
an audience."
- Guy Saddy
[The TV Guide article showed a picture of a T-Rex-like dinosaur.
The caption was "MEGATRON, star of upcoming BEAST WARS".]
== "Game Players" magazine, Feb 96 ==
From: man...@shell.portal.com (Scott Mankey)
Date: Tue Jan 23 18:12:08 PST 1996
Subject: ReBoot Video Game
I just found this little blurb in the Feb 96 issue of "Game Players"
magazine:
"Winner of this years Gemini Award for Best Animated Program, "ReBoot"
is a computer-generated wonder created in Vancouver Canada by Alliance
Communications Corporation. Recently securing its second season on ABC,
"ReBoot" has been turning heads and making people take an extremely close
look at the art of computer-generated animation. So what do you do with
a hit animated series once the television and merchandising is in order?
You make a videogame, of course. From industry giants Electronic Arts,
"ReBoot" will appear on PlayStation, Saturn, and PC CD ROM. If the game
turns out to be anywhere near as good as the animated series, then
we're all in for a treat!"
== Ottawa Sun - January 17/96 ==
From: mi...@yoho.carleton.ca (Mike McFaul)
Newsgroups: alt.tv.reboot
Subject: Reboot better than a movie
Interesting thing I read in the Ottawa Sun (Ottawa Canada that
is) (Jan 17th paper), a movie reviewer reviewing "Lawn Mower Man
II" said the movie was boring! The last sentence in the review:
"Stay home and watch ReBoot!" :-)
== Hack and Slash voice actors ==
From: ian_b...@mindlink.bc.ca (ian boothby)
Newsgroups: alt.tv.reboot
Subject: hack and slash
Date: Thu, 7 Dec 1995 20:07:19 GMT
Organization: MIND LINK! - British Columbia, Canada
If you want to see Phil Hayes (Hack) he's in the movie Powder. He's Powder's
dad and does a very emotional scene off the top. Gary Chalk (Slash) was
just seen dancing and singing in the tv version of Bye Bye Birdie. Phil's a
very funny stand up and Gary performed for many years with Vancouver
Theatresports. Both damned nice guys.
Ian Boothby
== ReBoot Movie ==
From: mar...@nucleus.com (Martin Bell)
Newsgroups: alt.cartoon.reboot
Subject: Reboot movie?
Date: 20 Jun 1995 15:23:10 GMT
Reboot was the main topic of our local TV guide this week in Calgary
and it mentions a movie is in the works. The article says that it's been
launched in the U.K. So is anyone from the UK of A seen it yet. Better
than Doctor Who eh.
martin
== comp.graphics.animation FAQ ==
Question #010: Has anyone seen or know anything about the cartoon "Reboot"?
Answer:
Reboot is produced by Alliance Communications and BLT Productions in
Vancouver. They use SGI hardware and Softimage software (along with their
own propietary stuff for facial animation and lip sync). They don't use
motion capture. They started production in 1994 (though the show's
copyright lists a 1991 date), and the show is now in its second season. An
"Unofficial" Reboot home page is at: URL: http://www.inwap.com/Reboot.html
[note: Reboot episodes are reportedly available for sale in the UK]
== Tony Jay ==
From: r...@netaxs.com (User Support)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.animation
Subject: Voices on 'The Tick'
Date: 26 May 1995 21:43:38
IBTALKN (ibt...@aol.com) wrote:
And yes, Tony Jay (Chairface) is Virgil on Mighty Max...
BTW, Tony is also the new villain, Dregg (replacing
Shredder) on the coming season of Ninja Turtles on CBS.
Tony Jay's really busy! I guess that's why they killed Nigel St. John on
the season finale of Lois & Clark. In addition to all of the above, he
remains (I hope) the voice of Megabyte on ReBoot. I didn't notice that
he played Chairface Chippendale on The Tick; I'll have to listen for that.
[Also, Paracelus in "Beauty & The Beast" TV series, Shere Khan in "Tale
Spin", and Judge Claude Frollo in Disney's "Hunchback of Notre Dame". -Joe]
== Brendan McCarthy ==
From: "goggans, debi or grant" (GOG...@MUSIC.CC.UGA.EDU)
Newsgroups: alt.cartoon.reboot,rec.arts.animation
Subject: Re: ReBoot: What other projects have the animators worked on?
Date: 30 APR 95 18:26:30 EST
If anyone's keeping track of the behind-the-scenes batch, I note from
the credits that character designs are by Brendan McCarthy and Ian
Gibson. These are two of the biggest pioneers in British comic art since
the 1980s, with their work in 2000 AD, where they, working individually,
created the most distinctive and stunning look Judge Dredd has ever
received. It's good to know they're still busy, and if anyone sees Ian,
tell him to do another Robo-Hunter story sometime soon. We miss him.
== Vancouver Sun - March 8/95 ==
From: cha...@unix.infoserve.net (Andy Hill)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.animation
Subject: Reboot Fans - Info
Date: 20 Mar 1995 16:45:54 GMT
Organization: Infoserve Technology Ltd.
Not a huge Reboot fan myself, but I know some of you are - and we
get some information in the Vancouver dailies that don't make it to the
wire services.
ABC and YTV have ordered two seasons worth, and in Britain - the
show is already number one on the independent British network ITV - with
a whopping 68 percent market share.
There are now broadcast agreements in something like 24 countries,
and Fuji TV in Japan have committed to placing the show in a primetime slot.
32 British and 30 North American companies have signed licensing
agreement in place for merchandise, and Fleer (who is owned by Marvel Comix
along with Malibu) are licensed to produce 200 Reboot trading cards.
There are going to be comforter covers, lunchboxes, underwear, and
games. Irwin toys holds the Canadian rights to the manufacture of the
action figures, and they should hit stores by Christmas if not before.
On the technical side, Reboot employs 44 people (28 of which are
Canadian CGI folks) and they use 28 SGI workstations with Indigo
processors, Silicon graphics hardware, and SoftImage software to create
the show.
(Largely plagiarized from an article in the "Vancouver Sun" - March 8/95)
Chance (DYN that some of these folks created the Dire Straits video
"Money for Nothing" - and the CGI characters from it may appear
in Reboot?)
== WIZARD Guide To Comics - April 1995 ==
[ image='images/Fleer1.gif' descr='Premier Edition' ]
[ image='images/Fleer2.gif' descr='Dot and Enzo' ]
From: dvh_...@iastate.edu (Douglas K Vanderhoek)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.animation
Subject: Re: Reboot Fans - Info
Date: 21 Mar 1995 06:11:47 GMT
Organization: Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa USA
[ image='images/Poster.gif' descr='whole cast' ]
Attention Reboot fans! WIZARD Guide To Comics #44 (Apr-95) comes with a
promotional card from the upcoming ReBoot card set. It looks like a GREAT set,
with plenty of hi-res shots from the show, plus chromium and hologram specials.
Also, there's a small Reboot poster in the magazine, an it's AWESOME!!
It features all the main characters standing around the Reboot logo. It's
about 11" x 17", and a must-have for any fan.
== Toon Magazine, Fall 1994 ==
Vol. 1, No. 5, page 22
This unique new series is for compuer literate "kids" of all ages. Utilizing
state-of-the-art computer animation, the action-adventure series reveals the
imaginative world inside a personal computer, and features as its hero, Bob,
who accidentally winds up in the high-tech metropolis of Mainframe. Bob's
backgound (he's from the fast-paced city of Super Computer) gives him the edge
to battle the power-hungry computer virus Megabyte, his sidekicks Hack and
Slash, and the villaness Hexadecimal, who are determined to outwit him and gain
control of the city. Viral binomes and vexing computer games appear without
warning, thrusting Bob into a battle of wits to protect the digital citizens
of Mainframe from being deleted. Brought to you from Alliance Communications
and BLT Limited.
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ReBoot: Publicity
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_Press Releases_
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== Contents ==
* Press Kit from Alliance
* Profit from Mainframe. [ image='images/new.gif' descr='new' ]
* Beast Wars.
* Second Season (July, 1995).
* ReBoot renewed for second season (Jan, 1995).
* Information about the show
* Details about the characters
* The people who make ReBoot
* Sound Bytes From The Media
* Film Comment Magazine - Jul/Aug 1995
* The Computer Paper for March, 1995
* Animation Magazine - Oct/Nov 1994
== Sound Bytes From The Media ==
"In a relatively short time, the high-tech animated series ... has created
the biggest buzz of any children's programming this new season. Simply put,
it's the coolest kids show on TV."
TV Guide (Canada)
"The spellbinding animation of ReBoot ... evokes a lush world of dense color
and three dimensional movement."
The Los Angeles Times
"Cyber Spunk! Computer animation powers ABC's dazzling ReBoot ... a medium
I usually find stiff and cold but ReBoot is warm and gorgeous. Check it out."
Entertainment Weekly
"ReBoot is a real cyberkick ... a visually captivating combination of
computer graphics, software lingo and ping-zing action ... ReBoot will pull
the upset of the season."
Dallas Morning News
"ReBoot is unlike any other program, with dazzling shifts of perspective in
a futuristic landscape and technicolor characters that look almost real."
US News & World Report
"Best New Cartoon ... It's amazing to think this art is machine made."
TV Guide (USA)
"Clever PC (that's personal computer) oriented lingo and a sleekly
futuristic look along with downloads of action will grab the kids ..."
New York Vue Magazine, New York Daily News
"Computer-literate kids will find ReBoot stimulating, for the show's
dialogue is chock full of high tech talk. Others will be captivated by the
visuals."
Chicago Tribune
"Move over Power Rangers; here's ReBoot!"
Philadelphia Inquirer
"Sharp as a laser printer images ... the next big hit with kids."
Orange County Register
== Film Comment Magazine - Jul/Aug 1995 ==
= Cyberscreens, by Kathleen Murphy =
Rebooting the Bard; hi-tech storytelling
_[This is an excerpt from pages 38-41; the rest of the
article covers pages 37-43.]_
Some months ago, I happened to run on the TV during the Saturday morning
kiddie-cartoon blitz, and found my eyes glued to computer-animated images
that looked and moved like nothing I'd seen before. The half-hour show, I
discovered, went by the name of _ReBoot_, and it takes
place inside a computer, in and about a multilayered city called Mainframe.
The three principal ReBooters are Bob, a blue-skinned, chrome-haired Guardian
program who recently modemed in from the Super Computer's Port Authority;
green-skinned and black-haired Dot Matrix, the entrepreneurial proprietor of
a Fifties diner located on Baudway; and Enzo, Dot's little brother, and
upgraded incarnation of Dennis the Menace. Mainframe and its environs are
populated by data sprites like Dot and Enzo, binomes, viruses, and a variety
of other colorful computer species. It's icing on the cake that
_ReBoot_ is what it's about: The characters who
inhabit Mainframe actually exist only as digital information in a computer.
They come to life, i.e., become visible, when a user downloads data onto
digital tape.
What originally caught my eye that Saturday morning was the unique look of
_Reboot_'s world: simultaneously flat and hyperdimensional,
richly lit yet shadowless. Its palette simmers with saturated, primary
shades, but every color is oddly opaque, as though composed of deep surface
with no substance. This is a believably nonorganic environment, expressed in
metallic, plasticine, and energy forms. Every frame of the world's first 100
percent digital TV series is intellegently busy, designed in deep-focus
planes of action or suggestive land- or cityscapes. The "camera" -- our POV
-- shoots from highly inventive angles or defines great spaces with swoops,
cranes, and pans of Krubrikian assurance. The overall visual style of this
half-hour "cartoon" far surpasses the directorial abilities of many
contemporary nonanimated-feature filmmakers: the tribe of Brits (Gavin Blair,
John Grace, Phil Mitchell, Ian Pearson, et all.) who require three weeks to
meticulously render a single episode of _ReBoot_ out of
computer-generated images and 3-D animation might have turned cyberdud
_Johnny Mnemonic_ into the kind of hi-tech, kick-ass Hong Konger
the original William Gibson short story hinted at.
But digital razzle-dazzle and cutting edge technology can't beat
_ReBoot_'s best resource: those folks know how to tell a
story. The dramatic spines are familiar -- there are, as Willa Cather once
wisely observed, "only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating
themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before." But those
spines are apt to take very different postures in the unclocked, seasonless
environment. A story will lay down interesting tracks: Enzo wants to start
up a delivery service business so as to emulate his successful sister; or a
tiff erupts between the sometimes anal-retentive Dot and Bob, spontaneous,
always ready to ride. Then, suddenly, an incoming game-cube, roiling with
electric-pink current, descends from the sky onto a sector of Mainframe, and
the narrative instantaneously morphs into a brand-new, astonishing context,
with "rebooted" roles, rules, and goals. It's The User, legend has it, who
inputs these games from his/her pleasure. Like the tales and quests that
intersected everyday goings-on at King Arthur's court, these narrative
challenges are critical. If The User wins, that sector of Mainframe where
the game set down goes offline, and its inhabitants are nullified. Further,
whatever crisis arose pregame often finds high-risk resolution on a Formula
One racecar track, in a Dungeon Deep, or on Starship Alcatraz -- each
gameworld a marvel of exhilarating action and hyperreality.
_ReBoot_ banks on viewers who've been around the pop-
and cybercult block a few tiems. But it's not afraid to draw on some mythic
firepower that, although lacking brand-name familiarity, is fueled by
back-brain memory.
Sometimes the stories are jeux d'esprit, satisfying funny excursions such
as "The Crimsom Binome": Mainframe binomes in bowlers and spats stroll along
a Victorian boardwalk, passing the Punchcard and Querty puppet show, taking
the "air". Out of a bright blue sky, with a faint pattern of
computer-circuitry showing through, Captain Capacitor and his colorful
pirate crew attack, stealing as much software as binomes can carry. A
one-eyed stack of three cubes (a "one"), Capacitor is Captain Hook with
copper-wire locks and beard, and a pegleg. Flanked by an ever-present
accoutant-binome (a billiard-ball "zero") who provides a running commentary
on their current profit margin, Capacitor mixes traditional pirate lingo
with computer jargon -- "Shiver me templates!" But he's outgunned -- more
precisely, seduced -- by Dot's rat-a-tat salvo of spreadsheet smarts.
"The Crimson Binome" subliminally touts entrepreneurial acumen over petty
thievery, amid other felicities. There's a visually breathtaking sequence
when the pirate's mutant ship, a graceful combination of old-fashioned
corsair and cybercraft, casts off by projecting free-standing sails and then
warping, Enterprise-style, out over a Technicolor-blue ocean shot through
with electric-pink whorls. And one savors the weirdly telling fictional
dislocation when Dot, her sleet boat under attack by the pirates, suddenly
glowers into the "camera" to paraphrase Ahab: "They task me and I shall have
them!"
"Wizards, Warriors, and a Word from Our Sponsors" hinges on the nuisance
quotient of Mike the TV, who can't be turned off because his remote ran
away. As Bob contemplates tubecide, he, Dot, Enzo, and Mike are rebooted
into a Dungeon Deep game where the Guardian is demoted to a one-eyed thief
armed only with a butterknife. It's Bob's chattering TV, gussied up in
horned Viking helmet, shield, and sword, "who" must act as warrior. As the
group fights its way through the hopeless river of eternal imprisonment, the
vicious pit of total oblivion, and endlessly replicating knights, Mike spews
nonstop Ginsu-knife commercials, running sports commentary, inane talkshow
gab, numbing soap-opera chitchat. The key to the game is "All in one, one
in all," and even in this hilarious spoof there's a genuinely disturbing --
visually and thematically -- take on identity and role-playing.
At journey's end, each of the characters must battle his or her double,
literally mirror images, to achieve the chalice and win the game. These
doubles are blank-eyed, sharp-toothed zombies, without an iota of cuteness.
The flavor here is of _Night of the Living Dead_ or _Invasion
of the Body Snatchers_; the paradox is that the "humans" we identify
with in this nasty skirmish with unsouled doppelgängers are themselves
no more than electronic data.
On its richly mythological side, _ReBoot_ offers a User
who's less a benevolent deity than kin to Thomas Hardy's "purblind
Doomsters," a gaming god who plays his creations to death for fun. His
game-loving "double" within the computer is Phong, a spidery gold-metal
guru. Mainframe's original COMMAND.COM once upon a time, now a
kind of executive doorman for the new COMMAND.COM. (This last may
be a cover to encourage free will and initiative among Mainframers; though
he often pleads impotence in crisis, some suspect Phong is still running the
show.) An ancient, levitating "python," Bob's mentor sports a flat
reptilian head with spectaled Asian eyes and a delicate pharaonic beard. In
order to access advice from this Yoda-Wizard of Oz-Delphic Oracle, the
supplicant must win at Pong (Puck-Oriented Nonlinear Game), to which Phong
is hopelessly addicted.
Bob's format is "to mend and defend the hopes and dreams of his newfound
friends." Still, in the heroic tradition he yearns to lean the truth about
the Super Computer's higher power, using his mastery of the games to get
closer to The User. The Guardian has a dark double who also dreams of
getting up to Super Computer heaven. This is Megabyte, an Mephistophelean
virus created by a mischievous hacker, and his function is ... to grow. A
heavy-metal superwarrior with a gigantized Dick Tracy jaw, green eyes dotted
by red irises, and back-swept, metal wings bracketing his armoured visage, he
also boasts a velvet voice recalling George Sanders at his smarmiest, with
just a hint of Darth Vader thrown in for intimidation. Scheming for
lebensraum, this fallen angel resides in a tower called the Tor and commands
legions of goose-stepping binomes. (The grandeur of Megabyte's plans for
consuming everything is undercut by the character of his ineffectual
binome-minions, Slash and Hack, ludicrous little devils who yammer away at
each other nonstop and get blown to bits at every turn.)
Megabyte's plots run to bombs that contain delete commands; ripe for
action-figure deification, he's rarely a subtle satan. But Hexadecimal, red
queen of the island-city of Lost Angles, is out of older, more potent myth.
Impossibly voluptuous, she wears a crest of red spines, a rigidly outstanding
cape, a body-hugging catsuit, and thigh-high black boots. Changing her
chalk-white masks -- punctuated by her neon-green eyes and blood-red mouth --
to reflect her moods, this inflexible dominatrix is programmed to breed
chaos. Toward that end, the genuinely nightmarish Hexadecimal is assisted
by Nulls -- data sprites offlined into creepy energy-eaters that haunt
Mainframe's lower depths -- and a Scuzzy (SCSI = Small Computer System
Interface), a round binome with whiskers and other feline features.
Scuzzy's a spy, replaying scenes for his mistress's pleasure on a screen in
a top of its dome.
With her familiar, links to the underworld, and hexed program, Hexadecimal
is clearly a clone of Hecate -- ancient fertility godess, Queen of Hades, and
protectress of witches. She's an incomplete Siva, wired only for destruct
mode; regenerative balance is supplied by Dot Matrix, who lives for order and
profit, her very names derives from "womb" and "mother." (In the Starship
Alcatraz game, Dot reboots into a two-CPU-packin' Terminator a la
Sigourney Weaver in _Aliens_ a movie that pitted two "mothers,"
angel and demon, against each other.)
In one of the best _ReBoot_s, Hexadecimal creates a
"Medusa Bug," a virus code that spreads like a killing tide, graying and
turning Mainframe and its populace to stone. Only Bob survives to convince
this primal female she's crashed the very playground that's her hedge against
terminal boredom. As do a number of _ReBoot_'s apocalyptic
episodes, the Medusa's offlining of the world has visual and emotional bite:
as baby-toting binomes and Bob's "family" go dead before our eyes, the effect
generates far more _frisson_ than many of the flesh-and-blood
turkey-shoots that dominate big-budget Hollywood action films these days.
(In a behind-the-scenes documentary, one of the technognomes who "renders"
_ReBoot_ chuckled over the show's scary parts, quoting
possible provenance: "Many's the _Dr. Who_ that was watched from
behind the couch ... .")
Never simply a Saturday morning kid-sitter, _ReBoot_'s a
remarkably sophisticated achievement, the kind of witty, smart fund you'd be
pleased to have any child enjoy and enlightened by -- not to mention those
adults who have burned out on the hi-tech, low-brow "cartoons" that dominate
the 'plexes. The show's creators may be master manipulators of animation
curves and complex mathematical equations -- _ReBoot_'s
flesh -- but their success ultimately derives from the high-octane fictions
that move their data bits -- and us.
_[The rest of the article talks about storytelling,
CD-ROMs, and the VR.5 TV series.]_
== The Computer Paper - March 1995 ==
[ image='images/Bob1.gif' descr='very old picture' ]
"Reboot Combines Dazzling Effects, Engaging Tales"
by Keith Schengili-Roberts
The Computer Paper - Toronto Office
99 Atlantic Avenue
Suite 408
Toronto, Ontario
M6K 3J8
(If Keith's document is unavailable due to DNS problems, you can read the
local copy.)
== Animation Magazine - Oct/Nov 1994 ==
= Fall T.V. Round-Up =
By sheer volume of production alone, the Fall '94 Television Season
stands as a record animation year. There are so many new shows that these
very pages are threatening to burst. Practically the only place on TV you
won't see cartoon chararacters this year is C-SPAN. (Of course, we're
talking about the inked-and-painted cartoon characters.)
But this season promises more than just quantity. There's a sense of
excitement buzzing through the industry. People are getting jazzed about
animation again and it's showing.
First, the time has come to stop using the term "Saturday Morning" as a
perjorative. Things are starting to cook at the daytime divisions of the
three participating networks: ABC, CBS and Fox (as with the prior season,
NBC stands for "Not Broadcasting Cartoons").
The first tangible strike came last February, when Fox premiered
_Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego_. Offering a slick,
multi-media look that combined cel animation, CGI and live animation,
_Carmen_'s premiere had to be postponed from last fall's line-up
because of the prep work.
"It really took us a long time to gear up and do the research," notes
Robby London, vice president of creative affairs for DIC, which produces the
show. "We have more research in that show than anything I've ever worked on
in my life." To ensure geographic and educational accuracy, the series
employs a travel writer, a linguistics consultant and educational
consultants from L.A. Schools and University of California, Los Angeles.
_Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego_ has received an Emmy
nomination for its trouble.
For its part, ABC started drawing battle lines against animated
complacency two years ago by committing to _Bump in the Night_, a
stop-motion show with CGI inserts, and _ReBoot_, the first
all-CGI, fully animated series -- neither of which came in with a toy or
marketing deal. The risks turned out to be greater for _ReBoot_...
"Because it is so technologically new, we're having problems with the
software," says Jenny Trinas, president of Children's Entertainment for
ABC. "However," she adds, "we will be on the air."
Computer technology is being used for animation or effects in several new
shows across the channel spectrum (including _Battletech_,
_Phantom 2040_, _The Marvel Action Hour_ and
_Pigasso's Place_). But even among those which continue to use
the traditional methods, things are clearly evolving.
On Saturday morning and elsewhere, toons are breaking out of the
six-to-eleven age requirement and actively seeking cross-over viewing among
teens and adults. (This might be best termed "The Nick Effect.") The
season's buzz-words through the industry are "hipper," "cooler," "edgier,"
"female-oriented" and "cross-over".
Action-adventure shows, which count for half of all new animated series,
are introducing more complexity, sophistication and -- dare we say it? --
maturity into their characters and storylines (check out _Skeleton
Warriors_ and _Gargoyles_.) This may reflect the influence
of comic books on animation, both as a source of material (_The Tick_,
_WildC.A.T.s_ and MTV's _The Maxx_) and style.
In the realm of kid-range and Saturday morning comedy show, more and more
producers are turning (or returning) to the notion of two 11-minute shorts
to fill up a half-hour, rather than one long story. While there are good
marketing reasons for such as practice (shorts are easier to sell to
European television), most studio execs are citing creative rationales.
"It's a good length to tell stories, you can get enough characters and not
get bogged down," points out Geraldine Clarke, producer of _Aaahh!!!
Real Monsters_.
What can be better than a hot animation season? Maybe on the prospect of
an even more exciting one in 1995. But until next year, toonheads
everywhere are invited on a guilt-free binge of their favorite
entertainment. To put it another way: Toon In, Turn On and Pig Out!
= ReBoot =
[ image='images/Bob-Car0.gif' descr='[JPG: Everyone in Bob's Car]' ]
Ever wonder what all those little buzzes and beeps are when you switch on
your hard drive? _ReBoot_, television's first all-CGI series,
has the answer: they're the sounds of a hero named Bob adventuring inside
the computer, better known as "Mainframe City." It's taken three years, and
at least as many backers, to bring this innovative show to the air, and the
journey has not been easy. "We have been asked in a 12-month period to
generate 300 minutes of full CGI," says _ReBoot_ producer Chris
Brough, of Vancouver's BLT Productions, which is partnered with Alliance
Communications.
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[ image='../images/Allianc1.gif' descr='ALLIANCE Communications Corporation' ]
== Memorandum ==
DATE: July 7, 1995
TO: ABC, YTV, BLT, The Hub, Irwin Toys
FROM: Suzan Ayscough, Director of Communications
RE: _ReBoot_ - Home Page
Hello,
On August 2nd we launch our _ReBoot_ home page with a birthday
party for Enzo. As you all likely know ABC is airing _Talent Night_, which
celebrates Enzo turning one unit old and getting "upgraded"), on August 12
as a sneak preview for season II which officially kicks off Sept. 9 with
_Identity Crisis_ (part 1). They are in the new 10:30 time slot.
(Special one hour rerun "packages" will air between the sneak and the official
launch on ABC.)
Irwin Toys new home page will also be linked to the Alliance ReBoot page.
Do not hesitate to contact me on my publicity coordinator Carol Taverner
for more details.
- Suze
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Suzan Ayscough, Director of Communications
Alliance Communications Corporation
Toronto, Ontario
Telephone: (416)967-1174
920 Yonge Street - Suite 400 - Toronto - Ontario - Canada - M4W 3C7
Tel. 416/967-1174 - Fax 416/960-0971
Montreal - Los Angeles - Paris
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[ image='../images/Allianc1.gif' descr='ALLIANCE Communications Corporation' ]
== The First 100% Computer Animation Series ==
=== _REBOOT_ IS RENEWED FOR SECOND SEASON ===
== ABC and YTV Order Season Two
of Cutting-Edge Animation ==
For Immediate Release:
Toronto, January 11, 1995 - Alliance Communications Corporation announced
today that its first animation venture, _ReBoot_, has been
renewed for a second season by the ABC Network in the United States and YTV
in Canada. Both networks have placed orders for a minimum of 10 additional
episodes of the world's only 100% computerized animation series.
The strongest ratings performer in ABC's Saturday morning lineup, _ReBoot_
airs at 9:30 ET (8:30 CT/PT). The series takes viewers into a magical
electrical world inside a personal computer, to the multi-level city of
Mainframe, populated by computer sprites, an eclectic mixture of digital
information in the forms of machines and combinations thereof.
In Canada, _ReBoot_ is one of YTV's top rated shows with a weekly reach of
more than one million viewers. YTV's J. Kevin Wright, Director of
Programming, said "YTV is delighted to be involved with the second season of
this exciting, Canadian program! Every episode is more spectacular than the
last. _ReBoot_ continues to challenge conventional animation and it's a great
fit for YTV, Canada's network for young people." YTV airs _ReBoot_ Wednesdays
at 7:30 with repeats Friday at 7:30 and Sunday at noon.
"The second season order is a tribute to the team that produces this
cutting-edge show," said Steven DeNure, President of Alliance Productions.
"These artists have gone where no animators have gone before on a weekly
series and have come through with flying colours. That's really what it's
all about."
A world-wide license program is in place and _ReBoot_ merchandise will start
appearing in stores across the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom
in Spring 1995.
_ReBoot_ is a co-production between Alliance Communications and BLT
Productions and is produced in association with ABC, YTV and Meridien.
_ReBoot_ is produced entirely at a dedicated CGI facility in Vancouver,
British Columbia. _ReBoot_ is produced by Christopher Borough and directed
by Zontag Entertainment. Executive Producers are Stehpane Reichel, Steve
Barron and Ian Pearson who is also the Co-creator and Executive Creative
Consultant.
Please contact:
Suzan Ayscough, Director of Communications
Alliance Communications Corporation
Toronto, Ontario
Telephone: (416)967-1174
920 Yonge Street - Suite 400 - Toronto - Ontario - Canada - M4W 3C7
Tel. 416/967-1174 - Fax 416/960-0971
Montreal - Los Angeles - Paris
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ALLIANCE COMMUNICATIONS AND BLT PRODUCTIONS
INVITE YOU TO WITNESS THE FUTURE OF ANIMATION
[ image='../images/Logo-bw89.gif' descr='(ReBoot)' ]
THE WORLD'S FIRST 100% COMPUTER GENERATED
WEEKLY ANIMATION SERIES
January 11, 1995
_ReBoot_ is a television first - a half-hour series produced entirely by
computer - using CGI (computer generated imagery) technology and 3D
animation. Never before in the history of television has such an ambitious
task been undertaken. An never before have you seen a television show quite
like _ReBoot_.
_ReBoot_ made its television debut in September 1994. The show airs Saturdays
at 9:30 AM (ET/PT) on ABC where it has been the strongest performer in their
Saturday morning line-up since its premiere. _ReBoot_ has a huge following in
Canada as well, where it airs on YTV Wednesday evenings at 7:30 PM (ET).
_ReBoot_ started building a large and loyal audience throughout the United
Kingdom in January 1995 and more than 20 television networks around the
world are preparing to launch the series. A world-wide licensing program is
in place and _ReBoot_ merchandise will start to appear on retail
outlets in Spring 1995.
"_ReBoot_ is Alliance's first venture into animation, a strategic growth area
we had previously targeted," said Gord Haines, Chief Operating Officer of
Alliance of _ReBoot_. "We've also been keeping an eye on the expanding role
of computer technology and its possible application for the entertainment
industry. I'd say _ReBoot_ is a very good introduction to both media."
Christoper Brough, President of BLT agrees. "We're breaking new ground with
this show - both in television programming an computer technology. From the
reaction of the young - and not so young - fans across North America and the
UK, we're confident _ReBoot_ will be a big hit with viewers of all ages the
world over."
The series takes viewers into a magical electrical world inside a personal
computer - to the multi-level city of Mainframe populated by sprites, and
eclectic mixture of digital information in the forms of robotic-looking
binomes and human-like data sprites.
Their urban electronic environment is controlled by an unseen character, The
User, the operator of the computer in which Mainframe is located. When The
User decides to play a computer game, and ominous cube descends upon
Mainframe and engulfs a sector of the city. The Games can strike anywhere,
at any time. When trapped inside The Game, the sprites can "Reboot" to
transform themselves into game characters or equip themselves with the
appropriate game gear to compete with The User. Anything is possible inside
The Game. A sprite can find himself behind the controls of a screaming
jetfighter, burning up the track in a Formula One car, or going one-on-one
with the NBA All-Stars.
The central character is Bob, who recently modemed in from the Super
Computer. Bob can usually be found in the company of an attractive
entrepreneur, Dot, an her energetic little brother, Enzo, at Dot's Diner.
Being a Guardian Program from the advanced civilization of the Super
Computer, Bob is a local hero and Enzo's mentor. Bob is a master of the
Games and with the use of Glitch, a multi-functional gizmo he wears on his
wrist, Bob fight to protect Mainframe from any electronic threat - in
particular the wicked schemes of two computer viruses: the eloquent and
malevolent Megabyte, programmed to take control of the computer, and
Hexadecimal, a digital medusa with masks, programmed to create chaos from
her lair on the bizarre floating city of Lost Angles.
_ReBoot_ was created 10 years ago by a creative collective known a The Hub:
John Grace, Ian Pearson, Gavin Blair, and Phil Mitchell. Although John
chose to remain in England to work on other projects, Ian, Gavin and Phil
made the move to Vancouver to ensure that _ReBoot_ became a televised
reality. Ian and Gavin created the first CGI characters ever seen by most
television audiences for the music video _Money For Nothing_ by Dire Straits.
Phil is best know for his award-winning commercials. All three are
respected the world over for their artistic and technological contributions
to the emerging phenomenon of computer animation.
In a strange twist of technology imitating art imitating life, _ReBoot_ was
originally set inside a computer because of the limitations of computer
animation software at the time. Ian Pearson, co-creator and Executive
Creative Consultant of _ReBoot_ explains, "When we first discussed creating a
series that was entirely animated by computer 10 years ago, the technology
as in its infancy. We decided to set the characters inside of a computer so
that they could get away with looking "blocky" and moving with a mechanical
motion."
Ironically, it is the realistic three-dimensional quality of _ReBoot_'s
computer-generated characters that make its animation unique. The member's
of _ReBoot_'s cast behave, move and speak like actors in any television show.
But _ReBoot_'s characters exist only as digital information - complex
mathematical equations that imitate life. Like the concept of the show,
until the digital information is transferred to tape, _ReBoot_'s characters
and the city of Mainframe exist only inside of a computer and it all comes
to life when the members of the crew boot up their machines at the studio.
_ReBoot_'s astounding graphics are created on SGI Silicon Graphics hardware
using Softimage, the revolutionary software that brought the dinosaurs back
from extinction in Jurassic Park. As the show was being developed, the
software was customized in-house to emulate very natural facial expressions,
hand movements and lip synchronization.
Because the computer programs required to execute the animation were being
developed and written during their production, the initial episodes of
_ReBoot_ required 18 months to complete. Now that these programs are up and
running, the studio can create two episodes within a six-week period -
generating up to two minutes of completed animation per day - an
unprecedented achievement.
Producer Christopher Brough has watched the project, the technology and the
characters develop and grow for four years. "One of our greatest
accomplishments is that we managed to combine cutting edge technology and
the age-old art of story telling. _ReBoot_ delivers what you would expect
from a computer - the astounding action sequences as seen from inside a
computer game - with scenes of drama, humour and even a little tenderness,
which you wouldn't generally associate with a product generated by machine."
"When people here the term "computer-generated animation", they tend to
think that the computer somehow does the work. A computer is simply a tool
for an animator. _ReBoot_ is made by people - for people." says Phil
Mitchell, Co-creator and Supervising Animator. "The human qualities
exhibited by the characters and inherent in the storylines reflect the
contributions of everyone involved in _ReBoot_."
_ReBoot_'s scripts are deftly written to be easily understood by children,
with a wink and a nod to the adult viewers. The citizens of Mainframe speak
in a high tech dialect that incorporates computer terms that have crept into
the everyday language of the automated age. Bob complains when a task is
not his 'function'. Enzo is encouraged to 'cut and paste' the truth. When
Enzo gets discouraged, Dot counsels him not to 'quit file' so easily.
_ReBoot_ is the only animation series that is produced entirely in one
location; a dedicated CGI facility in Vancouver, British Columbia where a
crew of more than 30 talented animators busy themselves with the enormous
task of delivering 23 half-hours - more than 600 minutes - of CGI to the
world. The sheer volume of 3D animation used in _ReBoot_ is unprecedented.
No one has ever attempted to produce more than the short snippets of CGI
used to create special effects in commercials, television programs and
feature films that fade out in just a few seconds.
When asked about specific challenges encountered in doing a weekly series
completely in CGI, Brough replied, "It's rendering. It's getting on
enormous volume of animation out of the computer and onto digital tape. And
managing all the data files, which is always a daunting task."
_ReBoot_ is recorded in surround sound, another first for an animated series.
Gavin Blair, co-creator and Supervising Animator explains, "We are using
advanced technology to create animation that looks completely different than
anything that has been seen on television before. The sound had to
complement the visuals and meet the high standards of the animation. So we
decided to use surround sound." It takes about 200 hours to customize the
sound for each episode of _ReBoot_.
_ReBoot_ is also the world's first 100% digital television series. In the
future, digital technology will be the television industry standard. At the
moment, _ReBoot_ stands alone in this category, which has presented some
special challenges. Because _ReBoot_ differs from any production ever done
before, many people have had to adjust their handling of the show.
For instance, usually for an animation series, the networks would receive
storyboards to approve for content. Because the production of CGI animation
is an entirely paperless process, _ReBoot_ doesn't exist on paper. Instead
the producers submit a 'work tape' of the work in progress: a montage of
partially completed scenes, rough sketches that have been scanned in to
suggest what the action sequences will look like.
Unlike other television shows, there are not 8 x 10 glossies of the stars to
hand out to eager fans and media - just printouts from the computer. While
industries around the globe struggle with the challenge of digitizing their
material, _ReBoot_'s digital files had to be converted to traditional media in
order to create publicity materials and merchandising artwork that could be
handled universally.
Such an ambitious undertaking requires the marriage of both creative and
business minds, which led to Alliance's involvement in _ReBoot_. As
co-producer of _ReBoot_, Alliance brings to the project their business acumen,
solid entertainment industry relationships world-wide and valuable
production experience.
_ReBoot_ is not their only television first this year. Alliance's _Due
South_ which airs Thursdays at 8 PM on CBS and CTV is the first
Canadian-originated series to air in prime time on a US network.
The leading entertainment company in Canada, and one of the largest
independents in the world, Alliance produces, distributes and finances
feature films and television programs in all media throughout the world.
_ReBoot_ is an Alliance/BLT Production. _ReBoot_ is produced by Christopher
Brough and directed by Richard Zondag. Co-creator Ian Pearson is Executive
Creative Consultant. Executive Producers are Stephane Reichel and Steve
Barron.
* * * * *
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These descriptions came from Alliance Corporation in February 1995.
== Contents ==
* Reboot
* Bob
* Dot
* Enzo
* Megabyte
* Hexadecimal
* Phong
* Hack and Slash
* Nibbles
* Scuzzy
* Frisket
* Mike the TV
* Glossary
* Bottom of document
== Reboot ==
Ever wonder how a computer really works? What happens when you turn on the
power and boot up? Ask BOB. Bob knows because he lives
inside your PC in the magical city that comes to life when you turn on the
switch and electrical impulses surge through all those microchips and
what-not. The city is called MAINFRAME and its a
bustling super-high-tech metropolis filled with computer
SPRITES just like Bob. Well, sort of like Bob. Bob is
a new arrival to Mainframe having only recently modemed in from the
advanced technology of the SUPER COMPUTER, where
things are even faster, bigger and more complex than in Mainframe.
Since his accidental arrival, Bob has become Mainframe's most popular hero.
With the use of GLITCH, a multi-functional gizmo he
wears on his wrist, Bob can prevent and repair electronic damage in
Mainframe. His Super Computer training also give Bob an edge in fighting
two computer viruses that threaten Mainframe, the eloquently evil
MEGABYTE who is programmed to take over the computer
and HEXADECIMAL, a Medusa with mood-reflecting
masks, programmed to create chaos.
The electronic environment of Mainframe is controlled by an invisible
character, THE USER, the operator of the computer in
which Mainframe is located. When the User decides to play a computer game,
the Game descends from the 'sky' in an ominous dark cube, taking over a
whole SECTOR of Mainframe. THE
GAMES can strike anywhere at any time, forcing the Sprites trapped
inside to compete with The User in a battle against alien invaders, demonic
hedgehogs, jet planes, tanks, ninjas, NBA All-Stars and the Italian guys
with big moustaches. But the Games aren't all fun. Should The User win the
Game, the entire sector goes OFF-LINE, destroying it
and transforming the hapless sprites trapped inside into mindless,
energy-eating NULLS. Bob's masterful performance has
saved many a sector from ruin and its citizens from becoming nullified.
Since Bob's arrival, the peaceful citizens of Mainframe have a champion to
protect and defend them - and they want to keep it that way. They work hard
to make Bob feel welcome and wanted by his new neighbourhood. And as he
struggles to fit into a different life, he grows more and more attached to
his new home, especially to an attractive entrepreneur,
DOT, who owns the local diner, and her energetic little
brother, ENZO.
== Bob ==
Before coming to Mainframe, Bob was a top level Guardian Program at the
Super Computer's Port Authority. He was designed to prevent unauthorized
access and apprehend illegal entries. In the Super Computer, Bob may have
been at the top of his field, but he was still just one of hundreds of
sub-routines.
In Mainframe, Bob is a big hero. This new status makes Bob feel important
and good about himself. Because he hails from the Super Computer, Bob moves
faster than anyone in Mainframe and exhausts his hew friends with his
non-stop energy. Bob is always doing something, initiating action and
taking the lead. He's a hands-on, do-it-now, figure-it-out-later kind of
guy.
His speed and take-charge attitude makes him the best gamester in Mainframe
and the unofficial protector of the other Sprites. Whether he is taking
part in a Game or outwitting Megabyte, you can bet that Bob is fighting for
the underdog and the safety of Mainframe.
Although in Mainframe Bob is a hero, at heart he is an ordinary working
class Sprite with ordinary dreams - and what we would recognize as very
human fallibilities. As he struggles to fit into the slower community-style
family life of Mainframe, Bob finds himself liking it more and more - and
he's grown particularly fond of two of its residents, Dot and her little
brother, Enzo.
== Dot ==
Dot is an irrepressible steady planner or more precisely, a workaholic who
seems to plan everything in advance. Organized and independent, it's Dot's
function to be productive and orderly. Her deep sense of compassion and
community make Dot the de-facto leader and problem solver of Mainframe.
Dot likes to have fun but it's not easy to find the time in her busy
schedule. An ambitious low-key entrepreneur, Dot energetically dabbles in
one business after another. Her favourite enterprise is Dot's Diner, a
popular community hang-out and gathering place located near a busy
intersection on the GROUND LEVEL.
Like Bob, Dot is a bit fearless herself. She doesn't like the Games, but if
trapped inside one, she'll roll up her sleeves and jump in to do her part
without complaining.
Although Dot loves her neighbours and her businesses (and even harbours a
special feeling for Bob), without any competition, her greatest love is her
little brother, Enzo.
== Enzo ==
Enzo is Dot's kid brother, a hyperactive tyke who's two pints of pure
adrenaline crammed into a pint-sized kid. He's a digital Dennis the Menace
- at 1000 RPMs - a whirling bundle of misdirected energy.
Enzo envies his sister for her savvy business abilities. He thinks Dot is
one of the coolest people he knows. But Enzo dotes on Bob. Enzo doesn't
just _like_ Bob - he wants to _be_ Bob. He'd give his left node to
come from the Super Computer like Bob and he follows Bob around Mainframe -
he tackles him and hangs on, hoping to get dragged into one of Bob's
adventures with him.
Enzo is always following Bob into the Game sectors and making a nuisance of
himself with his bubbling enthusiasm and his complete lack of
concentration, caution or practicality. At times, when Bob is trying to
save a whole Sector of the city from ruin, he has to turn his attention to
the hapless Enzo - to save him from a fate worse than homework.
== Megabyte ==
Megabyte is a virus created by a mischievous computer hacker. Megabyte
'invaded' Mainframe by stealth, attached to an innocent word processing
program. Megabyte's function is to grow: to continually gain as much power
and control as is virally possible.
No screaming megalomaniac, Megabyte is a gentleman with an evil grace about
him. He is polite and intelligent, hiding his vicious viral nature behind a
suave English accent and an unctuous feigned concern for others. Megabyte
knows that this smooth style is his best weapon, but beneath the tolerant
surface is a boiling impatience and an insatiable frustrated ambition for
more and more.
Because he is a virus, Megabyte's appetite for power can never be satisfied;
it's his function in life to extend his power indefinitely. Megabyte
controls about one-third of Mainframe and his vision is to expand that to
include all of Mainframe and beyond. He is constantly seeking out new
access routes to the Super Computer. He doesn't really understand how the
Super Computer works, but he knows its BIG and he likes the sound of that.
Megabyte may be the most powerful program in Mainframe, but he isn't
invincible. He knows he has to use caution around clever do-gooders like
Bob and Dot.
== Hexadecimal ==
Hexadecimal is another virus that has infected the Mainframe PC. She lives
in a warped section of the city called the City of Lost Angles, a bizarre
and dangerous floating sector of Mainframe, accessible only by crossing the
horribly distorted Gilded Gate Bridge.
Hexadecimal is Mainframe's queen of chaos and malfunction. Unlike Megabyte,
Hexadecimal wasn't programmed to take over the computer. Like the real live
'Leonardo' virus, she's designed to disrupt the computer's functions. Her
love is not power but chaos.
Hexadecimal has an array of masks with different expressions that she
changes to suit her mood or more often, the impression she wants to create.
As a personality, Hexadecimal is erratic and difficult to track. She is
scary and dangerous because she is completely addicted to chaos and
confusion, even if it means threatening her own existence. She is a
kamikaze villain.
Her influence is strongest in Lost Angles and across the
LOWER LEVELS of Mainframe, the dark and eerie places
infested with Nulls. Hexadecimal has the uncanny ability to exert some
control of the masses of mindless energy-eating Nulls.
Hexadecimal often stirs up trouble in Mainframe for both our heros and
Megabyte. A dislike for her attacks and a healthy respect of the threat she
poses is one of the only things Bob and Dot share with Megabyte.
== Phong ==
Mainframe's spiritual mentor (of sorts), Phong is the oldest sprite in
Mainframe, left over from the days of IBM 360's. In fact, Phong was the
original command.com way back when. His years of
experience have given him an eclectic wisdom which he dispenses while
levitating Buddha-like in his rec room. Unfortunately, Phong's pithy
pronouncements came be more than a little confusing, as if he were
translating them (poorly) from another language. Perhaps it's because he
still thinks in Fortran.
The eccentric Phong was a champion P.O.N.G (Puck Oriented Non-linear Game)
player in his youth. Anyone who comes seeking enlightenment has to beat him
in a game of P.O.N.G. before he'll share his wisdom. This is incredibly
easy for Bob, who, hailing from the Super Computer is about 10 times faster
than Phong.
Though Phong is 'retired' and seems a bit loopy at times, he still holds a
very important position in the Mainframe community. He is the Executive
Secretary to the new command.com who resides in the massive Principle
Office, a large hub-like building in the centre of Mainframe. Phong is the
executive doorman, not unlike the one seen in the Wizard of Oz. The new
command.com is usually so busy that we never actually see him. Phong brings
messages in and out of the Principle Office. He also dispenses all awards
and medals to citizens in the name of the command.com.
Bob and Dot suspect that Phong is still the command.com but the eccentric
Phong will never admit it.
== Hack and Slash ==
Hack and Slash were designed to be Megabyte's muscle machines. They can
suddenly bristle with weapons that can mechanically telescope, extend, and
unfold into shape. Unfortunately, they're so heavily armoured that there
isn't much room inside for things like brains. The have a combined IQ
approaching that of a toaster oven. They're almost unbeatable in a fight,
but laughably easy to confuse long enough to escape from them.
== Nibbles ==
Megabyte's pet Null, a sort of executive toy with an attitude. Nibbles is a
cross between an ill-tempered lap-dog and a balloon. Megabyte loves to
bend, fold, spindle, and mutilate him - it's good for his stress. Nibbles
always bounces back to his original bulbous shape, unhurt despite the
horrendous screeching noises he makes while Megabyte is 'petting' him.
== Scuzzy ==
Scuzzy is Hexadecimal's little pet spy, a speedy wheeled "wotsit" who can
replay scenes it has captured through a domed projector on the top of its
round, somewhat feline body. Scuzzy is devious and slimy - a nasty piece of
work willing to sell out to anyone. Scuzzy can't talk but he can
communicate as well as any Sprite by replaying past recorded images to pull
together patchwork sentences or mean-spirited comments. Whenever Scuzzy
takes off, he spins like a top before zipping at high speed - usually smack
into a wall or a door.
== Frisket ==
Frisket is a tough junk-yard dog, an alley stray who has adopted Enzo and
Dot as his extended family. When the feral dog isn't roaming Mainframe, he
hovers protectively just outside the door of Dot's diner, watching the
comings and goings. To everyone in Mainframe, Frisket is an unapproachable
cur. He'll growl at any Sprite who even thinks about touching him - except
for Enzo. And if anyone tries to give Dot or Enzo a hard time, Frisket will
let them know just how wild an animal he can be.
== Mike the TV ==
Mike is the ultimate in live TV. He doesn't just bring the world into the
Sprites' living room - he walks into the living room himself and tells them
what's showing on his screen, with the voice and mannerisms of an obnoxious,
hyped-up, motor-mouth emcee. And nobody can turn him off because the
remote control ran away. It isn't easy to escape Mike because he can follow
his reluctant audience all over Mainframe, bombarding them with news, talk
shows, bad soap operas and commercials.
== Glossary ==
MAINFRAME The super high tech metropolis that comes to life when
The User boots up his computer. Mainframe is home to all of
ReBoot's characters.
THE SUPER COMPUTER The much bigger city of advanced technology outside
the world of Mainframe where Bob lived before he modemed
into town.
THE USER The human operating the computer that contains the world
of Mainframe. The User is never visible but still competes
in The Games.
COMMAND.COM Mainframe's mayor (of sorts) and mighty leader. He is never
seen as he has his Executive Secretary, Phong, make the
proclamations, dispense wisdom and hand out commendations
on his behalf.
THE GAMES A recurring phenomena in Mainframe. Electronic interferences
caused by The User that descend upon Mainframe and take over
an entire sector. The citizens trapped inside can 'reboot' to
transform into game characters to compete against The User in
the Game.
GLITCH A sort of computerized Swiss Army knife that Bob acquired
while working for the Super Computer Port Authority. It can
change into whatever mechanical object or tool Bob needs to
use.
COMPUTER SPRITES The digital citizens of Mainframe who come to life
when the computer is turned on and booted up. There are two
types of Sprites: BINOMES and DATA SPRITES.
BINOMES The majority of Mainframe's population. Robotic-looking
sprites, most shaped like 0's and 1's and some in the form
of other numbers. They do the physical labour such as word
processing, graphics, and number crunching to keep the
computer functioning.
DATA SPRITES Highly-evolved sprites like Bob, Dot and Enzo. They keep
the Mainframe functioning by operating services such as
buses, shops and restaurants.
SECTOR Mainframe is divided into sectors. Each sector has a
different function devoted to ensuring the smooth running of
the computer. Sectors can be divided into four Levels:
Towers, CAPACITOWERS, Ground Levels,
and Lower Levels.
CAPACITOWER The tallest building in each Sector that oversees daily
activities there.
GROUND LEVELS The freeway running through a Sector providing a
transportation route for the computer commuters.
LOWER LEVELS The desolate and dingy underground industrial areas of a
Sector that Sprites are wary of.
OFF LINE A Sector can go 'off-line' when The User wins a Game or due
to an electronic malfunction. The Sector is completely
demolished and the hapless Sprites inside are transformed
into Nulls.
NULLS Disgusting little energy-eating slugs who dwell in the Lower
Levels. They were once unfortunate Sprites who were
'nullified' when their Sector went 'off-line'.
Back to the table of contents.
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ReBoot: Press Kit, People
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_Press Kit: People_
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prev | up | next
== Contents ==
* Christopher Brough
* Richard Zondag
* Ian Pearson
* Gavin Blair
* Phil Mitchell
* Stephane Reichel
* Steve Barron
== Christopher Brough ==
= Producer of ReBoot =
Chris Brough's extensive experience as a writer, producer and director of
film and television projects and his specialization in animation let him to
become an integral part of the _ReBoot_ team.
Chris's career in animation has included stints as Executive Producer and
Director at Hanna Barbera Studios, Vice President of Motion Picture and
Television at Alchemy II Productions, and Executive Producer at DIC Studios.
Chris has been responsible for many innovative, ground-breaking film and
television projects over the years. He was Executive in Charge of
Production on _Imagine_, the world's first conceptual music
video motion picture, which featured the music and imagery of John Lennon.
He then went on to the rock feature film _Ladies and Gentlemen, The
Rolling Stones_, which covered the Stones on their hugely successful
1973 World Tour. Staying in the newly created rockumentary field, Chris
then produced the feature _Good To See You Again, Alice Cooper_,
which was the first of many rock and roll films that wove concept-driven
concert footage with old feature film footage - the montage rock and
roll movie.
Chris' extensive experience in the TV industry also included his involvement
in projects as varied as _Skateboard Mania_, a live action
multi-media spectacular and _Sports Stop_, a series of 13
half-hour shows with live action coverage and celebrity interviews. He also
worked on _The Time, Rhythms and Rhymes_, a prime time
60-minute black music history special and _The Invisible
Children_, a multi-award winning half-hour documentary focusing on
the future of handicapped children in America. Chris has produced several
feature films, including _The Break_, starring Martin
Sheen and _Kleptomania_, starring Amy Irving and Patsy
Kensit.
Chris has also been responsible for producing prime time series and animated
specials. _Teddy Ruxpin_, which Chris co-created, held
six top ten positions in Billboard's Home Video charts and won a VSDA Award
for the Best Non-Movie Children's Program in 1987.
Chris was Executive in Charge of Production on _The Super Mario
Bros. Supershow_, which was comprised of 65 half-hours of live
action/animated fantasy adventures for the Viacom Syndicate and DIC
Enterprises. Chris was also the sole creator of _The Adventures of
Ronald McDonald - McTreasure Island_, which was the first of the
series of McVideos, a worldwide home video television special featuring the
animated antics of Ronald McDonald and his friends.
As President of Vancouver-based BLT Productions, Chris was introduced to
_ReBoot_ four years before its first airdate, a tribute to
his dogged determination to make this remarkable show a televised reality.
== Richard Zondag ==
= Director of ReBoot =
Richard learned the art of traditional cel animation at Sheridan College in
Oakville, Ontario, considered the finest animation program offered anywhere
in the world. Upon graduating, Richard joined Nelvana as an animator where
he worked on the successful animated feature file, _The Care Bears
Movie_ and animated the adventures of _Strawberry
Shortcake_ and her friends in a television special. He then moved
on to the creative development of George Lucas's animated television series,
_Ewoks and Droids_, based on Lucas's sympathetic furry
little characters from _Star Wars_.
Crossing the pond to Sullivan Bluth Studios in Dublin, Ireland, Richard
directed five animated television commercials, including two that were a
challenging combination of animation and live action.
Turning his attention to Don Bluth's prolific feature film efforts, Richard
supervised the storyboarding, character design and layout for _A
Troll in Central Park_. Richard directed the animation for three
characters, including the celebrated lead mouse, Fievel, for Steven
Spielberg's first animation project, the classic feature film _An
American Tale_. He then went on to direct the animated antics of
four memorable dinosaurs in the _Land Before Time_.
Richard graduated from dinosaurs to dogs. He directed the animated tale of
two classic canine characters, Charlie and Itchy, in the much loved feature
_All Dogs Go To Heaven_. For the ambitious animated
musical feature, _Rockadoodle_, Richard directed the
animation and layout, acted as sequence director and live action reference
director.
Moving from Ireland to London, England, Richard joined Amblimation to work
on Steven Spielberg's most recent animated feature, _We're
Back_, where he directed the storyboarding, character design and
layout, in addition to his role as live action reference director for the
film.
In Richard's experience as a live action reference director for traditional
animation, he ensured animated characters emulated the natural movements of
people and animals. _ReBoot_ provided him with a high
tech directorial challenge - with inspiring results.
== Ian Pearson ==
= Co-creator and Executive Creative Consultant for ReBoot =
Ian Pearson started CAL Videos 3D computer graphics department in th early
1980's. As head of the department, he produced computer graphics for
commercials, industrial films and sequences for the feature film
_Electric Dreams_.
On leaving CAL, Ian joined Rushes Post-Production where he was intrumental
in expanding the company's graphic facility to encompass special effects
compositing using the first Quantel "Harry" in Europe.
While at Rushes, Ian animated the first computer-generated characters ever
seen by most television audiences for the music video classic _Money for
Nothing_ by Dire Straits. He was later appointed to the Board as
Creative Director.
In left Rushes to join a group of liked-minded creative people to found the
world's first fully digital facility, The Mill, where he was named Creative
and Technical Director.
Ian and the The Mill parted company when he decided to devote his attention
to the development of his pet project, _ReBoot_. During
this time, Ian was animation director on the award-winning innovative music
video _Let's Get Rocked_ for Def Leppard. Much of the
technology Ian used in this acclaimed video served as tests of applications
that he would later perfect and use in the successful production of
_ReBoot_.
== Gavin Blair ==
= Co-creator and Supervising Animator of ReBoot =
Gavin attended De Montford University in Leicestershire where he graduated
with honours earning a B.A. in Graphic Design, specializing in animation,
television design and computer assisted design. While at college, he was
shortlisted in the Royal Society of Arts TV Graphics Design Bursary.
In May 1985, Gavin joined Rushes Post-Production as a runner and within two
months he was promoted into their Computer Graphics Department and was
trained to operate the Quantel Paintbox and the BTS Elite Computer Animation
System. He worked as an assistant computer model maker for 18 months before
becoming a full operator/animator, working on more than 200 commercials.
During this period, Gavin won a Creative Circle Award for a successful
Honneywell/Bus commercial.
Gavin moved into the Mill in January 1990, where he continued to work as an
operator/animator. He worked on the BTS Elite Computer Animation System,
the Alias Computer Animation System and the 5D Solutions T-Morph morphing
package. As an operator/animator, Gavin executed animation sequences for
over 150 large scale commercials, and won many respected industry awards.
Along with Phil Mitchell, he worked on numerous award-winning projects
including Glassex's _Clean With Care_ (winner, SpotItalia
Silver Award, Milan 1991), Toblerone's _Madame_ (winner,
Silver Medal, Imagina Pixel-INA, Monte Carlo 1993), Nationwide Building
Society's _Doorbells_ (winner, BAFTA, Best Animation
Effects, London 1993) and _John Smith's Bitter_ (winner,
Bronze Arrow, British Advertising Awards, London 1993).
Gavin is a member of The Hub, the team responsible for the creation an
development of _ReBoot_, the first computer generated
animation series.
== Phil Mitchell ==
= Co-creator and Supervising Animator of ReBoot =
Phil attended De Montford University in Leicestershire where he graduated
with honours with a B.A. in Graphics, specializing in animation, television
design and file and computer assisted design.
After graduating, Phil worked as a special effects director and
animator/special effects co-ordinator on commercials and title sequence
design, while also storyboarding commercials.
In 1985, Phil joined Electronic Arts in London as a computer animator and
worked on all in-house character animation projects with conventional
animators. Among his many projects was the Smarties commercial
_Wembley Stadium_, which went on to win the Golden Arrow
at the British Advertising Awards in 1986.
Phil moved on to Array Productions in London in 1987 as a computer animator,
Phil's award-winning projects included the widely respected commercial for
Smarties, _Classroom_ (winner CG On-line Best Commercial,
London 1989) and the ground breaking commercial for Nintendo _Super
Mario 3_ (winner, CG On-line Best Commercial, London 1990). In
March 1990, Phil was voted Best Computer Artist in _Direction
Magazine_ in London.
Phil was then taken on board by The Mill in London as a senior animator in
1991 where he was responsible for introducing the company to 2D morphing,
making them the first post-production facility in London to have the
technology at the time.
With Gavin Blair, Phil worked on numerous award-winning projects
including Glassex's _Clean With Care_ (winner, SpotItalia
Silver Award, Milan 1991), Toblerone's _Madame_ (winner,
Silver Medal, Imagina Pixel-INA, Monte Carlo 1993), Nationwide Building
Society's _Doorbells_ (winner, BAFTA, Best Animation
Effects, London 1993) and _John Smith's Bitter_ (winner,
Bronze Arrow, British Advertising Awards, London 1993).
Phil is a member of The Hub, the team responsible for the creation an
development of _ReBoot_, the first computer generated
animation series.
== Stephane Reichel ==
= Executive Producer =
Stephane Reichel, a 20-year veteran of the film industry, has been Senior
Vice-President, Production, at Alliance Communications Corporation since
1991. In 1994 he was Executive in Charge of Production for the theatrical
feature _Johnny Mnemonic_ and Executive Producer on
_National Lampoon's Senior Trip_, and the Harlequin
Romance Movies, _A Change of Pace_ and _Treacherous
Beauties_. Responsible for supervision of Alliance's productions,
Reichel acts as Supervising Producer on the TV series _North of
60_, _Due South_, and _ReBoot_.
He was Executive Producer on the series _The Mighty
Jungle_, _The Adventures of the Black Stallion_
and was Producer on the theatrical features _Black Robe_,
_Eddie Lives_ and _Jewellers Shop_.
Reichel was Associate Producer on _Iron Eagle II_ and
_Nowhere to Hide_ and was Executive in Charge of
Production in the MOW _The Return of Ben Casey_.
Born in Grenoble, France, Reichel moved to Montreal, Canada with his parents
in 1956. He studied Electrical Engineering at McGill. He left the
university to become a photographer's agent for a year and entered the film
industry in 1972 beginning his career in the art department where his
credits include _In Praise of Older Women_,
_Popeye_, and _First Blood_. He
subsequently became a Production Manager on such films as _Children
of a Lesser God_, _Quest for Fire_, and
_Bay Boy_ to name a few of the more than 100 film and
television projects he has worked on over the years.
== Steve Barron ==
= Executive Producer of ReBoot =
Steve Barron's contributions to the art of music videos dictated the
medium's future and inspired may other innovators to follow his lead. Among
his many ground breaking works: _Money For Nothing_ for
Dire Straits that featured the first computer-generated characters ever seen
by most television audiences; the award-winning _Take On Me_
for A-HA; and _Billie Jean_, the first single to be
released from Michael Jackson's monsterous _Thriller_ album.
More recently, Dire Straits recalled Steve for _Calling
Elvis_ and he reunited Natalie Cole and her late father, Nat
'King' Cole, for an _Unforgettable_ duet.
Steve's significant talents won him many more awards and accollades for
prestigious advertising campaigns he created and directed for British and
American interests.
His networks television debut garnered him an Emmy for the pilot of his
_Storyteller_ specials for NBC. Two subsequent films in
the series met with reverential critical acclaim.
More awards followed when he directed his first feature film,
_Electric Dreams_. Steve stunned the world with the
success of his second feature, _Teanage Mutant Ninja
Turtles_, the first and only independent feature to break the $100
million theatrical barrier in the US. He recently directed
_Coneheads_ for Paramount and is currently working on an
upcoming feature.
To table of contents.
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Reboot: Engaging Tales
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Original text is at http://www.tcp.ca/Mar95/Reboot.html
=== Reboot Combines Dazzling Effects, Engaging Tales ===
by Keith Schengili-Roberts
I come from the Net. From systems, peoples and cities to this
place: Mainframe. My format: Guardian, to mend and to defend my newfound
friends, their hopes and dreams, from their enemies.
-- Bob's opening lines from Reboot
[ image='../images/Bob1.gif' descr='Bob' ]
Remember Tron, the Disney movie made back in 1982, which boasted
state-of-the-art computer animation? It features Jeff Bridges as a computer
whiz who got sucked into his computer. In the course of the movie, he meets
and interacts with various other characters inside the computer. He spends
his whole time trying to escape from the confines of the computer. The
special effects were great, but the flimsy story and the robotic-acting made
many people want to escape from the confines of the movie theatre before the
show was over. The problem with many "effects" movies is that, while the
effects are great, the characters and plot typically are not.
Enter Reboot, the first wholly computer-generated television show. The show
is all effects, and while it shares the idea of beings living inside your
computer, the stories, rather than the breath-taking visuals, are what keep
you interested. However, you can also expect to be blown away by the quality
of the computer graphics.
Bob is the main character; a Guardian who has traveled across the Net to
settle down in Mainframe. His primary role is to fix and repair the tears
that appear in the reality of this digital world and protect it against
invasions such as computer viruses. His girlfriend, Dot, is a computer
sprite, a consummate entrepreneur who owns and runs Dot's Diner. Dot's
"little brother format" is Enzo, a real scene-stealer who wants to become as
successful as his big sister, but also wants to be able to do the "fun
stuff" that Bob does. There are several other minor characters, including:
Enzo's horse-sized dog Frisket, a wise old program called Phong, and Cecil
the Server, the tip-calculating maitre'd at Dot's Diner. They peacefully
inhabit Mainframe with the other main inhabitants, the "Binomes" --
characters who take the shape of the numbers zero and one, and who do most
of the real work in Mainframe.
Viruses and Villains
But all is not well in Mainframe. Reboot comes bundled with its cast of
nasty characters as well. Chief amongst these is Megabyte, the
smooth-talking, charismatic computer virus who inhabits a cobra-shaped
building at the bad end of town. His deep English accent and outward
politeness barely conceal his vicious nature. His goal is to increase his
powers by infecting the Supercomputer that's only a short hop away on the
Net.
The adjoining town of Lost Angles is the home for Hexadecimal, a masked, and
possibly mad, digital witch who is a nemesis to both Megabyte and the
citizens of Mainframe.
Each villain has their respective side-kicks. In addition to a legion of
binome followers, Megabyte's muscle is provided by Hack and Slash, two
incompetent enforcers who have the combined IQ of a toaster-oven.
Hexadecimal's sole companion is an extremely loyal, computerized floating
cat-like creature named Scuzzy. Then there are the Nulls, are small,
worm-like creatures who survive by feeding off the energy of others. Life in
Mainframe is never dull.
When not dealing with the likes of Megabyte and Hexadecimal, Bob and friends
also have to deal with the hazards posed by games being dropped onto their
world by the user, who lives in the mysterious world beyond the computer
screen. Games always transform the landscape of Mainframe, along with the
hapless Mainframer's who get caught within the boundaries of the game. To
participate in the game, the characters have to "Reboot" into their new
roles for the duration of the game.
Rendering Reboot
The developers of the series have a well-known track record when it comes to
computer animation. Directors Ian Pearson and Gavin Blair created the Dire
Straits video "Money for Nothing" several years ago, in which two
computer-generated characters move TVS and large household appliances while
commenting on the lives of do-nothing rock stars. Their company, BLT
Productions, produces Reboot in conjunction with Alliance Distribution in
Vancouver.
What makes the series stand out from the rest of the Saturday morning
cartoon-fodder is the quality of the stories and the characters, not just
the stunning visuals. The character of Dot is self-possessed, intelligent
and a real "go-getter" -- don't expect to see her appear as the "helpless
damsel-in-distress" in a game anytime soon. Bob has come to Mainframe from
somewhere on the Net (exactly where has never been revealed, though there
are hints that it was a supercomputer) and brings a worldliness of life
beyond Mainframe. Reboot not only manages to convey a sense of what life
inside a computer might be like, but also fleshes out its characters in
non-stereotypical ways.
Alphanumeric!
There's plenty for the kids as well. The constant scene-stealer in the show
is Enzo, the little brother of Dot that many younger viewers will readily
identify with. He yearns for the interesting life of his older friends, and
tries to emulate both his sister's and Bob's actions. He always gets the
best compu-savvy lines to say. If you start hearing the kids on your street
start to come up with exclamations like "alphanumeric!" and "we're talking
high-density here!", you now know where they came from.
While aimed primarily at the "tween-age" (10-14 year old) market, Reboot has
also been attracting older viewers as well. At least part of the reason is
the countless references and bad puns relating to computer and pop culture:
as the "camera" passes a billboard in Mainframe you might see an ad for
"Calvin Spline" Jeans, or for "Dee-Cee's Powerbars".
==============================================================
Unofficial ReBoot Home Page (end)
----------------------------------------
_Index to the unofficial ReBoot home page_
---------------------------------------------------------------------
prev | up | next
=== The End ===
You have navigated to the end of the Unofficial ReBoot Home Page.
Here is a list of all the pages (in case you are trying to get hardcopy
of them all).
== Pages ==
00 intro page
01 editorial page
02 table of contents
03 production
04 request for translation
05 Season III
06 BLT looking for animators
07 characters (imagemap)
08 good guys
09 bad guys
10 voice actors
11 locations (imagemap)
12 in Mainframe
13 specific sites
14 opening sequence
15 credits
16 TV stations in the US
17 ABC not showing ReBoot any more
18 episode guide
19 Canada (YTV)
20 International
21 USA (syndication, 1996-1997)
22 USA (ABC 1994-1996)
23 teasters
24 "The Tearing"
25 "Racing the Clock"
26 "Quick and the Fed"
27 "Medusa Bug"
28 "The TIFF"
29 "In the Belly of the Beast"
30 "The Crimson Binome"
31 "Enzo the Smart"
32 "Wizards, Warriors, and a Word from our Sponsor"
33 "The Great Brain Robbery"
34 "Talent Night"
35 "Saturday Morning Preview"
36 "Identity Crisis, part 1"
37 "Identity Crisis, part 2"
38 "Infected"
39 "High Code"
40 "When Games Collide"
41 "Bad Bob"
42 "Painted Windows"
43 "AndrAIa"
44 "Nullzilla"
45 "Gigabyte"
46 "Trust No One"
47 Gillian Anderson
48 "Web World Wars"
49 Third Season, first story
50 Third Season, second story
51 Third Season, third story
52 Third Season, fourth story
53 Home Video
54 Irwin Toys
55 toy checklist
56 new toy process
57 Puzzle Zoo
58 Brendan McCarthy at Puzzle Zoo
59 trading cards
60 card checklist
61 FAQ = Frequently Asked Questions
62 quotes
63 glossary
64 Hollywood press
65 comments
66 press releases from Alliance
67 Profit from Mainframe
68 Beast Wars
69 second season, Enzo's birthday
70 renewed for second season
71 about the show
72 the characters
73 people who make ReBoot
74 other Web sites (several pages not counted here)
75 other home pages
76 video clips from Alliance
77 The Anti-Gravity Room
78 People who tape the show
79 end index
author's page
== Characters ==
Each of the small pictures on the "Good Guys" and "Bad Guys" is a link to
a much larger JPEG picture (720 x 560 x 24-bit).
andraia.gif 7K 105x88
andraia.jpg 64K 720x540 Showing her claws
binomes.gif 6K 84x112
binomes.jpg 65K 511x727 Eleven of them
bob.gif 9K 108x108
bob.jpg 50K 601x720 Bob's face
cast.gif 8K 108x108
cast.jpg 86K 720x720 Large MB in back, heroes in middle, logo in front
cast2nd.gif 11K 168x127
cast2nd.jpg 67K 672x509 End of 2nd season (Mouse + Andraia)
cast333.gif 46K 333x318
cast3rd.gif 9K 82x108
cast3rd.jpg 45K 360x473 Start of 3rd season (grown Enzo + Andraia)
cecil.gif 7K 108x86
cecil.jpg 48K 720x576 In door of diner
dot.gif 5K 86x108
dot.jpg 29K 576x720 Dot's face
enzo.gif 6K 77x108
enzo.jpg 33K 720x540 Enzo and Frisket running from HD
frisket.gif 6K 110x82
frisket.jpg 66K 1000x750 Dog in warehouse
hack.gif 8K 108x103 Red one
heroes.gif 8K 108x86
heroes.jpg 69K 720x576 Bob, Dot, Enzo, Frisket
hex.gif 5K 64x102
hex.jpg 32K 700x525 Hexadecimal on her throne
hs.gif 6K 108x81
hs.jpg 55K 720x540 Hack and Slash
mega.gif 7K 108x86
mega.jpg 54K 720x576 Megabyte with Nibbles
mermaids.gif 7K 108x81
mermaids.jpg 49K 640x480 Bob and Dot underwater
mike.gif 8K 110x127
mike.jpg 51K 720x540 Mike the TV
mouse.gif 6K 108x86
mouse.jpg 31K 720x576 Mouse, the female hacker
nibbles.gif 5K 64x98 Close up on Nibbles
phong.gif 7K 86x124
phong.jpg 32K 720x540 Phong in his game room
reboot.gif 30K 350x257 Logo
scuzzy.gif 5K 100x100
scuzzy.jpg 38K 720x540 Cat in HD's Lair
slash.gif 9K 108x103 Blue one
vbinome.gif 9K 108x108 Close up of a viral binome
== Episode Stills ==
episo01a.jpg 18K 360x270 Dot in white and yellow game uniform
episo01b.jpg 23K 360x270 Bob's face from below
episo02a.jpg 36K 360x270 Enzo in race car
episo02b.jpg 33K 360x270 Hex giving mask to Bob
episo03a.jpg 27K 360x270 Bob in gold vs skeleton
episo03b.jpg 30K 360x270 Knight Dot on floor
episo04a.jpg 35K 360x270 Principle Office
episo04b.jpg 38K 360x270 Our heroes
episo05a.jpg 38K 360x270 Dot (scowling), Enzo, Bob
episo05b.jpg 32K 360x270 Dot with big guns
episo06a.jpg 27K 360x270 Enzo and MB face to face
episo06b.jpg 25K 360x270 Enzo with evil grin
episo07a.jpg 33K 270x360 Captain Capacitor
episo07b.jpg 28K 360x270 Megaphone Dot
episo08a.jpg 16K 360x270 Enzo the Smart
episo08b.jpg 20K 360x270 Pumped Mike
episo09a.jpg 36K 360x270 Wizard Dot and Barbarian Mike
episo09b.jpg 34K 360x270 Bob is the Thief
episo10a.jpg 21K 360x270 Mouse
episo10b.jpg 27K 360x270 Enzo in sick bay
episo11a.jpg 20K 360x270 Dot singing "Alphanumeric"
episo11b.jpg 22K 360x270 MB and big green guitar
episo12a.jpg 29K 360x270 Megabyte on throne
episo12b.jpg 15K 360x270 Businesswoman Dot
episo13a.jpg 36K 270x360 Punk Enzo, blank Cecil
episo13b.jpg 36K 360x270 Viral Scientist cracking code
episo14a.jpg 42K 360x270 MB running from Dot's exoskeleton
episo14b.jpg 33K 360x270 Fading Enzo looking at same
episo15a.jpg 26K 360x270 Bob hangliding over sea
episo15b.jpg 31K 360x270 Codemaster Pike
episo16a.jpg 30K 360x270 Enzo at shimmering mirror
episo16b.jpg 41K 360x270 Stargate collapsing
episo17a.jpg 29K 360x270 Bad Bob and Gyro Phong
episo17b.jpg 21K 360x270 Megatruck (white background)
episo18a.jpg 28K 360x270 Drooping Glitch
episo18b.jpg 31K 360x270 Dot, Enzo in Vidwindow
episo19a.jpg 26K 360x270 Mermaid and Merman
episo19b.jpg 26K 360x270 Andraia and Captain Enzo
episo20a.jpg 44K 360x270 FAB guys in suits
episo20b.jpg 50K 360x270 Rockem/Sockem Nullzilla
episo21a.jpg 26K 360x270 The Ship retrieving a tear
episo21b.jpg 29K 360x270 Gigabyte (white background)
episo22a.jpg 16K 360x270 Data Nully and Fox Modem
episo22b.jpg 40K 360x270 Web creature in bright light
episo23a.jpg 25K 360x270 Dot fires big strapping gun
== Other Images ==
BizCard.gif 3K 338x194 http://www.inwap.com/Reboot.html
Bob-Car0.gif 5K 177x134
Bob-Car0.jpg 71K 710x538 Bob's car, actually working
Bob1.gif 15K 106x140 Old prototype for Bob
Capacitor.gif 6K 75x108 Captain Capacitor, the Crimson Binome
CityBHills.gif 12K 129x97 Beverly Hills
CityBaud.gif 13K 189x100 Baudway (Dot's Diner)
CityCenter.gif 7K 97x70 Principal Office (Phong)
CityFloat.gif 11K 113x112 Floating Point Park
CityGPrime.gif 8K 192x72 Sector G Prime (Megabyte)
CityKits.gif 16K 171x111 Kits Sector (Bob's apt)
CityLost.gif 6K 86x81 Lost Angles (Hexadecimal)
CityMap1.gif 123K 400x450 Used as imagemap for Locations page
CityMap1.jpg 17K 400x450 Overhead view of Mainframe
CityMap2.gif 18K 640x480
CityMap2.jpg 63K 640x480 Oblique view of Mainframe
CityWallSt.gif 12K 172x80 Wall Street
Dot-Cecil.gif 8K 190x171
Dot-Cecil.jpg 30K 380x342 Dot talking to Cecil at the diner
Fleer1.gif 6K 145x115
Fleer1.jpg 42K 474x349 Fleer Ultra logo
Fleer2.gif 6K 190x115
Fleer2.jpg 94K 768x560 Dot and Enzo from Fleer's card sample
Poster.gif 12K 256x149 Poster with all characters
Poster.jpg 123K 1024x599 Large scan of poster from WIZARDS #44 magazine
Poster512.gif 78K 512x299 Medium size scan (used as imagemap)
Poster512.jpg 12K 512x299 Used as LOWSRC=Poster512.jpg on Characters page
RastaMon.gif 5K 108x70 Guy with dread locks
Stripe.gif 6K 79x108 Gal with stripes
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page 79 of 79
Smith and O'Halloran
Subject: ReBoot FAQ, 4 of 5
Contents: Episode Guide, 2nd season
Date: Wed Feb 12 14:06:26 PST 1997
From: Joe Smith <jsm...@inwap.com>
From: Gavin Blair, co-creator of ReBoot
To: Joe Smith
You may also notice if you have sharp eyes and/or ears (which I know you have)
that in some of the newer episodes we've actually incorporated the number into
the show somewhere. (That got your attention didn't it!)
Season 1
01 Show number 9402 - The Tearing
02 Show number 9401 - Racing the clock
03 Show number 9403 - The Quick & the Fed
04 Show number 9405 - The Medusa Bug
05 Show number 9404 - The Tiff (on movie director's clapboard)
06 Show number 9408 - In The Belly of the Beast
07 Show number 9414 - The Crimson Binome
08 Show number 9411 - Enzo the Smart
09 Show number 9410 - Wizards, Warriors & A Word From Our Sponsor
10 Show number 9406 - The Great Brain Robbery
(11-13 are Canadian 1st season shows, American 2nd season shows)
11 Show number 9416 - Talent Night
12 Show number 9415a - Identity Crisis Part One
13 Show number 9415b - Identity Crisis Part Two
Season 2
14 Show number 9501 - Infected
15 Show number 9502 - High Code (Locomotive: 9502)
16 Show number 9503 - When Games Collide
17 Show number 9505 - Bad Bob (Dot: "security plan 9505")
18 Show number 9504 - Painted Windows
19 Show number 9509 - AndrAIa
20 Show number 9508 - Nullzilla (Dot: "procedure 9508")
21 Show number 9506 - Gigabyte
22 Show number 9507 - Trust No One
23 Show number 9510 - Web World War (Bob: "Emergency code nine five one zero")
ReBoot: "Talent Night"
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_ReBoot Episode 11_ (code 9416)
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[ image='img/episo11a.gif' ]
=== "TALENT NIGHT" ===
=== "TALENT NIGHT IN HELL" ===
* Synopsis
* References
[ image='img/episo11b.gif' ]
== Title credits ==
Written by Lane Raichert
Story by Gavin Blair, Phil Mitchell, Ian Pearson
Fancy guitar work by a guy local to Vancouver
Song _"You're Alphanumeric"_ written by Robert Buckley
Note: In Canada, the title is "Talent Night in Hell" and the YTV robot
shows up. In the US, the title is "Talent Night" and the big red robot
does not have a logo on its chest.
== Synopsis ==
Dot and Bob have a surprise birthday party planned for Enzo. With all the
commotion going on, Megabyte wants to get into the act.
== Story ==
The story opens with Bob and Enzo playing a game against a couple of binomes.
"You're smoke" says Enzo. "In your dreams, birthday boy", replies Bob.
(This scene is included in "The Recording Session #2", a QuickTime movie.)
The game ends in a four-way tie. Enzo goes on ahead while Bob checks up
on Dot. Dot is in the middle of auditioning acts for the surprise party
she is holding for Enzo's birthday.
Things are not going well. Most of the acts are awful, and the interesting
ones are nixed by Miss Emma Fee, the Prog Sensor. Dot tells Bob to keep Enzo
busy until 24:50. The acts being auditioned are:
* "the fabulous, uh, acrobat guys". The One with its hair in an Afro style
is launched into the stratosphere. (His comment to this is something like
"oo, er", and background is a great shot of Mainframe's Baudway sector.)
* A Zero that bugs its eyes and falls to pieces.
* The Dires, Sal and Harv, rather primative looking characters that Mike
gleefully smashes.
* Johnny O'Binome, who does a joke of nothing but "1" and "0".
* Live Null Juggling (clown on red unicycle treats nulls as if they were
balloons and twists them into funny shapes).
* Phong singing "Unforgettable" and forgetting the unforgettable words.
* Small-Town Binomes singing "B.S.'n'P." (to the tune of the Village People's
"Y.M.C.A"). "It's fun to play in a non-violent way".
* The Primatives: a blue sphere, a green cube, and a red cone.
(At the end, the cube rotates to a diamond shape, the cone flattens to
a triangle covering the top half of the diamond, and the sphere becomes
a circle behind them. They form a ReBoot icon.)
* Captain Quirk, doing William Shatner's rendition of "Rocket Man".
* One of Megabyte's viral binome's doing break dancing and moonwalking.
Megabyte notices the activity and tries to get information out of Bob (who
throws Enzo into the goal of a rocket-pack game to keep Enzo from hearing
about the secret activity). MB sends some of his incompetent spies to check
out the commotion around Dot's Diner. They end up being part of the act.
MB is rather pleased to hear that all those people will be gathered in one
place - he decides to put into action "plan code 214".
Meanwhile, Bob takes Enzo to the Data Slides in the Beverly Hills sector.
Enzo is tired and hungry, and wants to go back to the Diner. As he takes off
on his zip-board, the guy with the Afro comes down, and Bob says "oo, er!"
[ image='../ytv/YTV-icon.gif' descr='[robot]' ]
The street near the Diner is filled with just about every single vehicle in
Mainframe. (Some of these are shown in Alliance's Motor Pool,
others can be found by Parsing Mainframe's Database; look for the Data Crane.)
Enzo wanders backstage, past the fat Elvis, past the water-cooler sprite (who
is speaking Robby the Robot's line from the movie _Forbidden Planet_:
"would 64 gallons be sufficient"), past the big red robot, and on to the stage.
Everybody is there, and is counting down the time left. Right at zero,
sparklies start at Enzo's feet, and he gets a new outfit. His shirt says
10 instead of 01. Dot comes out in a torch-singer outfit and performs
"You're Alphanumeric" to a slack-jawed Bob and Enzo.
The fat Elvis gets ready for Aloha from Mainframe via Satellite, but gets
flattened when Megabyte crashes the party (literally). Two A.B.C.s (Armored
Binome Carriers) transform into giant speakers, and Megabyte comes out of
a coffin held up by skeleton hands. (Hack and Slash are his drummers.)
He pulls out a guitar, and turns the volume up to eleven.
Bob counters by telling Glitch to transform into a BFG (Big Fancy Guitar).
The two men perform a wild guitar duet. At the end, MB gives his guitar
to Enzo, and says "I've always wanted to do that". As MB's gigantic
armored limo leaves, Mike the TV tells the crowd "Ladies and gentlemen,
Megabyte has left the building". (Fat Elvis pops up and looks astounded.)
== References ==
* The cars in the opening game are designed to look like floor tile
pullers; two suction cups on a handle, used to pull up 2-foot by 2-foot
squares to get to the cables under the equipment in a computer room.
* Binome Joke: "1010011011101110111001101111001110101100001100101110011101"
Assuming A=1, B=10, C=11...Z=11010, Johnny O'Binome says:
10100 1 1011 101 1101 11001 10111 1001 110 101
T A K E M Y W I F E
10000 1100 101 1 10011 101
P L E A S E
* The co-creators of ReBoot are always being refered to as "the people who
did the _Money For Nothing_ music video for the Dire Straits.
Gavin Blair said they were sick of having only that reference and wanted
to show their displeasure by having the Dires get clobbered on stage.
* William Shatner, aka Captain Kirk, recorded an album including his
rendition of "Rocket Man" as a serious musical number during
the psychedelic '60's. He was apparently unaware that everyone else
in the music industry considered this to be a joke.
* "Live Null Juggling" appears to be a reference to "Live Cat Juggling"
in Steve Martin's movie _The Jerk_.
* The clown on a unicycle is an homage to John Lasseter's computer
animated short film "_Red's Dream_".
* The mock documentary film "_This is Spinal Tap_" has a guitar player
who is very proud that the knob on his amplifier does not stop at ten,
"it goes to eleven!".
* In the PC game "Doom", a BFG-9000 is a very desirable weapon.
* At the end of Prestley's concerts, the announcer would say, "ladies and
gentlemen, Elvis has left the building" to convince people to leave.
== Did You Notice ==
(See also the quotes for episode 11)
* This episode shows the Data Slide in the Beverly Hills sector. A
second Data Slide just like it gets created in "Identity Crisis, part 2".
* Dot says "I like the red, not the blue" when picking out her dress.
* Small town = Village, Binomes = People.
* The sound of old Star Trek sliding doors as Captain Quirk's toupee falls.
* There is no concensus as to which rock star Megabyte is imitating. Could
be Megadeath, Meatloaf, or any one of several other bands. One fan
says "Poison" (based onf the glowing green highlights).
* The guitar duel matches the musical style of one at the end of the
movie _Crossroads_.
* Someone said they saw Megabyte missing his green chest logo during his
guitar solo on the first showing of the Canadian version. (In Canada,
the big red robot has "YTV" on its chest. The version shown on ABC does
not have "YTV".) The missing logo is there on the reruns; BLT has been
known to fix mistakes between the first showing and the first repeat.
* Piano player could be Liberacci.
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ReBoot: "Saturday Morning Preview"
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_Reboot Episode SMP_
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=== ABC special, Friday 8-Sep-95, 8:30pm ===
== Preview of the new Saturday morning line-up ==
On the evening of Friday the 8th of September, ABC ran a half-hour "Saturday
Morning Preview" show, which described the new fall line-up. Two kids hack
into the ABC mainframe to look at the top-secret files there. They attract
the attention of Megabyte, who kidnaps all the Saturday morning shows and
demands: "Bring me the president of Television." "Why?" "I want my own
prime-time series!"
Kid: Where's the can of Rust-Be-Gone when you need it?
Megabyte: Where's the can of Kid-Be-Gone when you need it?
The kids receive a video tape of Mr. Bumpy pleading for his life.
Megabyte sings:
Two bits, four bits, sixty-eight bits strong,
If you think you can fool Megabyte, your motherboard is wrong!
Show the President this tape; he'll see how I am made.
It's a prime time star I'll be, never will I fade
Ha hahahahahahaha
Hastala vista ... Baby.
I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. De Mille.
My delete key is getting itchy.
The kids convince Megabyte to download onto their hard disk, so that he
would be in the room when it came time to make the exchange of hostages.
MB thinks that's a great idea, but when he shows up, he is zapped by
an anti virus program and Saturday morning is saved.
Display screen: "Path Search in Progress", "(*) EOF", "Don't Panic",
"Warning: Route Deallocated"
Megabyte: "I'll get you my pretty ... and your little dog too."
Kid: "Wrong movie."
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page 35 of 79
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ReBoot: "Identity Crisis, part 1"
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_ReBoot Episode 12_ (code 9415a)
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[ image='img/episo12a.gif' ]
=== "IDENTITY CRISIS, part 1" ===
* Synopsis
* References
[ image='img/episo12b.gif' ]
== Title credits ==
Written by Jono Howard
Story by Gavin Blair, Phil Mitchell, Ian Pearson
== Synopsis ==
Dot is trying to make things better for the binomes that are in Megabyte's
sector. Some very important information is stolen, and Dot loses confidence
in herself. She starts losing her sense of reality in "The Funhouse".
== Story ==
As the episode opens, a game cube is already in place on top of the Wall
Street sector. It is an idyllic setting, birds and butterflys along a
stream. Bob is fishing. (He is wearing a commando outfit; plenty of
grenades on a camo vest, and his shiny silicon hair in a black flat-top crew
cut.) Suddenly his revery is interrupted by an Apache attack helicopter, a
Stealth Bomber, and a tank. The tank stops a little too close to Bob, and
out pops Enzo in Desert Storm fatigues. Enzo complains that the game is too
old, it's boring. Bob warns him, "who knows, maybe one day you'll end up in
The Fun House". (Bob knew a sprite in the Supercomputer who's best friend's
cousin got caught in the Fun House, Enzo thinks it is just a fairy tale.)
Off on the side, the User is not doing so well; its tank is stuck between
two buildings. The crew of the Stealth Bomber try to take it out, but the
Bomb gets stuck in the plane. (This is the first time that the British
binomes Algernon Cholmondley-Worthington III ("Sir") and Binky Ffarquarson
lose a plane). Bob decides that it is taking too long, pulls out a handheld
rocket launcher, and takes out the User's tank in one shot. Game over.
It is Dot's big day, so the two guys hurry back to the Diner. (We see a
lot of vehices moving round her place.) Dot is working on a checklist.
"PID containment node, check. CCI display, check." When she calls for
Cecil, everything goes wacky. The colors match Megabyte's viral binomes,
and MB's face is on all the billboards outside. Phong's voice comes
through, "what you are experiencing is a temporary distortion of reality".
Cecil has a blank facescreen and an "EU 26" label. When things get back to
normal, Cecil states that all of the staff and some of the food items are
behind her all the way. [Binary dictionary]
Enzo comes running in, having beaten Bob at a foot race. He is all
excited, but Dot is horrified that Enzo's icon is not on his baseball cap.
Bob picked it up and replaces it. Dot reminds Enzo that his Personal ID
codes are stored in the icon; if anyone gets ahold if them, they can make
him do anything they want.
After a little more dilly-dallying, Dot gets her personal organizer and
prepares herself. She taps her icon to change into her businesswoman
outfit; black and white top, black skirt, gold accessories, round black
eyeglasses.
She and Bob go through a dark tunnel. [MB + HEX; TicTacToe, Binomes
Unite, Smash the Solid State.] Dot is nervous as they go through the final
door into a vast auditorium filled with binomes. The binomes are also
nervous. Megabyte owns everything around those parts; their Personal ID
codes are all they have left. [Mama, Poppa, and Baby binome in audience]
Dot implores them to remember the plans they have to turn the sector into an
Energy Park. [Energy Park seen in Talent Night] One by one, the binomes tap
their icons and allow their PID to flow into Dot's organizer. While Dot
turns around to look at the Vidwindow with the message "P.I.D. File
Aquisitions Completed", her organizer vanishes from the podium. One of the
lead binomes has it and warns Dot to keep close track of it.
At this point, Hack and Slash show up on an Armored Binome Carrier and
demand that everyone surrender. The viral binomes start shooting at
everyone, Dot and Bob sneak out through a trap door with the help of Cyrus,
a One with a white streak in his hair. Cyrus leads them through the
sewers. While talking to Phong via Glitch, Dot refuses to active the
self-destruct mechanism on her organizer. Cyrus points them to a hatchway
that leads to the street, yells "Go, Dot, for freedom!", then goes back to
give them time to escape.
Dot scares up an ABC and commands Bob to get in. She is on a mission.
There is another temporary distortion of reality, but it is over quickly.
["Which way to the border?", "Warning: Route Deallocated"] They are soon in
a heavy battle and Bob gets them out of a head-on collision by turning the
ABC on its side. Dot gives him permission to use the big gun. They make it
past the border to Wall Street.
Megabyte engages his plan to break Dot's spirit by activating big
vidwindows throughout Mainframe and thanking her for delivering the sector's
PIDs to him with such a cunning and inciteful plan. This is when Dot
realizes that the PID file has been removed. Not erased, removed. Phong
agrees, this is bad.
Megabyte is in possesion of the file, but not its contents. The file has
been encrypted, and it will take his scientists 2000 nanoseconds to decrypt
it. In the mean time, MB thanks his new Liutenant; Cyrus.
Dot has another temporary distortion of reality, where peaceful Mainframe
looks like the Berlin Wall during the height of the Cold War. The incoming
game does not help her mood. Bob does not like the look of it either; the
game is the dreaded Fun House!
TO BE CONTINIUED
== References ==
* [need to add stuff here]
== Did You Notice ==
(See also the quotes for episode 12)
* Dot's Binary Dictionary
* 0 (ZEE-roh) Noun: Less than 1
* 1 (WAN) Noun: More than 0
* Bob yells "Cawabunga", much like a teenaged Ninja turtle (mutant).
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==============================================================
ReBoot: "Identity Crisis, part 2"
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_ReBoot Episode 13_ (code 9415b)
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[ image='img/episo13a.gif' ]
=== "IDENTITY CRISIS, part 2" ===
* Synopsis
* References
[ image='img/episo13b.gif' ]
== Title credits ==
Written by Jono Howard
Story by Gavin Blair, Phil Mitchell, Ian Pearson
== Synopsis ==
Dot gets a chance to see how important she is to Mainframe. Without
her help, Bob would be reduced to a blue and silver Null, and Megabyte
would take over Mainframe.
== Story ==
The episode starts with a recap of "Identity Crisis, part 1".
Bob repeats "this is bad, very bad". He reboots into a red haired clown
with big red shoes. "Dot, aren't you going to reboot?" "What for?" "To
avoid getting nullified, to win the game". Dot reboots into a Harlequin;
black and white diamonds on top, black and purple squares on the bottom.
They are bombarded with killer cream pies from the User, who is a very
grotesque looking clown.
In the mean time, the decoding of Dot's password has yielded four
columns. 1000111 (71), 1110101 (117), 1100001 (97), 1110010 (114).
"Everything is going according to schedule".
Bob and Dot get sucked into the Fun House (by a giant tongue). Phong
realizes that Dot has been affected by her failure more than he thought; he
has to do something. Bob and Dot end up in a room with mirrored doors. Bob
tries opening one, but gets turned into a marrionette. It's all up to Dot
now. Phong (or a vision of him) appears and says "I want to show you
something". Everything slows down, "game over; User wins". Blackout.
Dot climbs out of a hole in the ground. It is the same size and shape of
where the game cube used to be. The whole sector has been nullified, but
Dot's still alive. The sky is an ominous gray, not blue any more. Dot sees
that all the binomes now wear Megabyte's blue color. Checkpoint Charlie is
for real now. Frisket has been branded with a UPC zebra code and is leashed.
A big one-eyed spy robot comes after here. Her beautiful diner now says
Nibble's Diner (with the same green and white color scheme as MB's pet null).
Dot walks into what used to be her diner and finds all sorts of lowlifes
hanging around, jumping on the counter, and eating raw nulls. Cecil has
been scrapped, replaced by service Entry Unit Two Six (EU 26). It informs
here that this is not Mainframe, it is Megaframe. Enzo shows up in black
leather, looking about 18 years old. He refuses to recognize Dot since is
sister was nullified when she lost the game. When Dot asks about Bob,
everyone laughs. Bob is living with old man Phong on level 31.
There she finds Phong's voice coming out of a large cardboard box that
has a drawing of Frisket and the label "Databone". A sinister looking
penguin walks past Phong has lost all his luster and
speaks as if he is senile. When asked about Bob, Phong pulls out a cage
containing a blue and silver null. "No one believes me, but truly, Bob
here, used to be a great Guardian".
Dot laments that she destroyed Mainframe, and didn't even try. She wants
another chance. Phong's strong voice comes out, saying "chance has nothing
to do with it, child; the future is not determined by the through of the
dice." Just then Megabyte's minions show up. As soon has Dot hears the
name of Liutenant Cyrus, she is galvanized into action. But they corner
her, and the security spy drone removes her hair and leaves a UPC code
stamped onto her forehead.
Then the nightmare ends; Dot is still in the Fun House. Going though the
right door, she is stuck with a blue tricycle with a flat tire. The user is
on a red tricycle. After dodging bowling pins and a gigantic bowling ball,
the User reaches the final chamber first. His squirt gun has pushed the
ball almost to the top, Dot kinks her hose to build up pressure and blasts
the ball up to the bell first. User loses.
Phong explains that his RDE (Reality Distortion Engine) has distortion
waves that move back into the past and forward into the future to show her
what the conscequences of her actions would be. One side effect shows the
result of the Energy Park being built, including another Data Slide.
MB is still trying to decode Dot's password. The board now shows 1000111
(71=G), 1110101 (117=u), 1100001 (97=a), 1110010 (114=r), 1100100 (100=d),
1101010 (105=i), 1100001 (97=a), and only blank column. The binomes are to
be brought in, but Bob and Dot use an ABC to rescue them. The binomes still
believe in her. The last column is 1101111 (110=n), and this spells
"Guardian". But something is wrong. The file code has been broken, but the
file is not there anymore. Dot had tapped into Megabyte's system and
downloaded the PID file back into her organizer. She thanks Cyrus for his
help, which causes MB to demote Cyrus to shoeshine boy.
== References ==
* The penguin is a character featured in Nick Park's clay-animation
feature "The Wrong Trowsers". What you are seeing is the jewel thief
Feathers McGraw (without his clever chicken disguise). A box with eye
holes was also in that film.
== Did You Notice ==
(See also the quotes for episode 13)
* Minor boo-boo: The password code, in ASCII, spells "Guardjao".
* The Energy Park created at the end of this episode has the Data Slide
which is a clone of the one that Bob and Enzo visited in "Talent Night".
* The sector that was liberated from Megabyte's grasp appears to be
on other than G-Prime. It's location with respect to the other sectors
is not specified.
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ReBoot: "Infected"
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_ReBoot Episode 14_ (code 9501)
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[ image='img/episo14a.gif' ]
=== "INFECTED" ===
* Synopsis
* References
[ image='img/episo14b.gif' ]
== Title credits ==
Written by Martin Borycki
Story by Gavin Blair, Phil Mitchell, Ian Pearson, Lane Raichert
== Synopsis ==
Megabyte takes advantage of a system upgrade to get into the Principal
Office and goes after the energy in the Core Reactor. Dot turns into
one mean mother and fights back.
== Story ==
The story opens with a view straight down on the top of the Principle
Office. The sub sphere opens up to reveal Dot and Phong standing on a
platform atop the main sphere. The "voice of doom" is heard, but instead of
announcing an incoming game, it intones "Attention, incoming file". The
various binomes throughout Mainframe are excited by this. The incoming file
is accompanied by a flashing orange and yellow fog, with a circular tunnel.
Phone comments that the Upgrade File has arrived a little earlier than he
expected.
The file lands on the platform, it is in a sealed drum. Dot hopes for a
new data compression unit, or a quantum business network maximizer. Phong
wants better devices with which to fight the viral evil. The pinnacle
descends into the Core, the very heart of Mainframe.
Enzo is rousing the rabble, demanding upgrades, now. Everyone else is on
the lookout, to keep Megabyte away during the upgrade. Phong announces to
all of Mainframe to prepare for power-down and upgrade. Bob is given the
honor of pressing the big green button, turning it red and starting the
sequence that brings Mainframe to a halt. The sky turns sunset colored, the
flow of bits stops, and the Principal Office is covered with a blue-gray
armor force field. Bob and Phong open the lid, and out pops Megabyte.
MB gives Phong a shock, and avoids Bob's attempt to put him back into the
file container. He knocks Bob off of the wall, causing the Guarding to fall
down the cracks of the Core. Phong won't give into MB, "you cannot infect
me, virus", to which Megabyte agrees. But he can copy Phong's Read-Only
Memory to get the entry codes. During the transfer, both Phong's brain and
Megabyte's brain are visible through their skulls.
MB uses the Pinnacle Elite commands to drop the sphere further inside, to
the Core Control Chamber. (Bob is left hanging several hundred feet up.
His comment: "Megabyte in the Core? I don't think so!") Dot tries to warn
the others outside, but the can't get a message through the armor. Megabyte
plans to erase Mainframe and rebuild it in his image.
Bob comes swinging in (on Glitch as a rope) and almost succeeds in
knocking MB into the Core Reactor. "Glitch: Electopulse" propels Bob over
MB. "You want to play cat and mouse? Maybe we need some cheese" says
Megabyte as he lunges for Dot and Phong. "Glitch: Energy Shield" causes
yellow bands of light to protect his friends. MB bounces off it, heading
straight for Bob. "Glitch: anything" results in an orange light post that
MB clangs into. "Like falling off an analog" gloats Bob. But Megabyte is
quick to his feet. "Glitch: Elevator". Nothing happens, other than
Glitch's display showing a battery with no energy left and a frowny face.
Dot tries to drag Phong away, but does not make much progress. He orders
her to save herself. Phong uses the command "Zip, Zip, Zoom" to enable a
transporter field. Bob grabs Dot and uses the field to get away from
Megabyte, who shows off some really ferocious teeth as he roars in
frustration. Bob and Dot run down a tunnel, looking for a recharge unit,
while MB gives barks out "COMMAND.COM - ERASE".
MB unleashes Phong's game pucks, programmed as weapons. Bob gets Dot to
use the jumper cables on her organizer to give power to Glitch. Glitch's
double header shield moves the two out of the way and allows two groups of
pucks to annihilate each other.
"C.P.U" exclaims Enzo, "I don't like the smell of this" as the
environmental shutdown is announced. The inhabitants of Mainframe start to
turn transparent as their energy is cut off. There is an earthquake, and
various towers start falling. Even the 8-ball above Bob's apartment falls
off.
Hexadecimal complements Megabyte on the delightful mess he is making.
"You wouldn't be trying to delete me, now would you?" she asks. "Now is
that any way to treat family," MB replies. He assures her of 50/50 control.
In the mean time, Dot gets into the Mainframe Armory as Bob goes past the
statue of JL SENIOR to get to the Read-Only Room. As Bob is recharging
Glitch, a hologram of Phong appears. "You have what you need, now use his
greed" it says. Bob is so angry he is quivering. (This is the scene shown
in the opening sequence).
Megabyte checks up on the Diner, were the binomes are reduced to almost
nothing but eyeballs. As he is gloating, Dot sneaks up behind him wearing
the forklift exoskeleton from the movie "Aliens". What follows is very much
like the battle Sigourney Weaver fought against the egglayer. At one time,
Dot has the advantage (Megabyte's eyes fade almost to black) but MB knocks
her off balance. Bob shows up and immobilizes MB, but the master virus
takes over Dot's exoskeleton suit by infecting it,
turning it from yellow to blue. "Sorry Bob, I can't control myself."
"Funny, I've always known that." Megabyte demands access to the Portal, and
Bob agrees to keep from having his head crushed.
The Portal is exposed; it is a shiny sphere reflecting the same scene that
is as the opening of every show - blue and green skyscrapers floating above
a yellow and black sea. It is beautiful. Once MB enters the Portal Room,
Bob commands Glitch to lock the door. But it is really a virus
decontamination chamber. Just before MB is broken apart, it triggers a self
destruct command. (His actions are exactly like the self destruct mechanism
used in the movie "Predator".) To save them all, Bob ejects the chamber,
which deposits Megabyte at the foot of his Silicon Tor. Just then the real
upgrade arrives.
Energy returns to Mainframe, the fallen towers right themselves, and a
loopy Phong shows up. "Who knows, maybe I'll get a new modem".
== References ==
[The code number for this episode is 9501. Did anyone spot it?]
* Megabyte's eyes dimmed while being crushed by Dot's exoskeleton,
much like the robot in _The Terminator_.
== Did You Notice ==
(See also the quotes for episode 14)
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ReBoot: "High Code"
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_ReBoot Episode 15_ (code 9502)
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[ image='img/episo15a.gif' ]
=== "HIGH CODE" ===
* Synopsis
* References
[ image='img/episo15b.gif' ]
== Title credits ==
Written by Martin Borycki
Story by Gavin Blair, Phil Mitchell, Ian Pearson, Lane Raichert
Guest star Don Brown as Lens
== Synopsis ==
A wild West showdown on Main Street - a mercenary Codemaster has come looking
for another member of his guild. Bob is willing to sacrifice everything in
order to get this hotshot out of town before sundown.
== Story ==
The episode starts with a nice side view of Mainframe floating above a
turquoise and purple sea, with a water vortex lined up under the very
center. The camera starts outside of the Kits Sector; the tall buildings of
Baudway are to the right and Hex's Los Angles is floating off to the left.
The point of view zooms in and pans left. As the camera rises, the tall
thin towers of the Kits Sector are to the right, and Floating Point Park
to the left looks like giant pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, covered with grass
and stacked at different levels. The point of view descends slightly
when it is directly over the lightly tinted tiled terraces of Beverly Hills.
It approaches closer as the oval shaped towers of Wall Street come into view,
and then the dark industrial sector of G-Prime. By the time the camera
circles over Baudway, the view is dominated by a close up of the Sub Sphere.
During all this, the background music is reminiscent of "High Noon",
"Bonanza", and particulary, "The Magnificient Seven". Sounds like it is
going to be a showdown.
Suddenly a portal opens up, and from it appears a really mean looking
insectoid creature, one totally unlike anything else seen before.
Meanwhile, back at Bob's apartment, the Guardian is working on his old
car as Dot tries to provide assistance. "Sounds to me like it's a fried
initiator." "No, just a distended turbo lock." Bob is bound and determined
to mend this car ("mend and defend; it's a tradition"), and commands Glitch
to become a multitool, but he pauses as he senses the sinister creature
moving about Mainframe.
Phong is having problems with his Vidwindow in the Read Only Room, when
the creature pulls its thin bony body out of a portal right on top of Phong.
It seeks the Codemaster, "Talon". Phong tries to run away, but the beast
pulls off some fancy martial arts moves, and has Phong in a force field.
Enzo and Frisket are in an out of the way corner of Old Man Pierson's
Data Dump. They enter an old shed [Poster: "Greetings from Sunny Kits"] in
search of parts for Enzo's air cart. There's a lot of neat stuff, including
something that looks like a cross between a muffler and a bagpipe with six
horns. [It plays part of the ReBoot theme song.] The big find is clear
lavender rod with a knob on one end (it looks exactly like part of a
"laser-ray" gun found at many science fiction conventions). Old Man Pierson
barges in, but his lecturing is interrupted by the creature calling for
Talon. The sound of its voice leaves Pierson quaking in fear.
Bob and Dot jump on their zip-boards and the precise path from Dot's Diner
to the Principal Office is shown. When Bob declares "you're a Codemaster.
From the Web?", everyone gasps. "No," replies the creature, "you are
fortunate, I am from the Net". [The Web is a really bad place.]
Bob tries to convince the Codemaster that there is no one named Talon in
Mainframe, but gets knocked several thousand feet into the air. When
he comes down, Glitch has been immobilized. The creature vows to take
Mainframe apart, sector by sector.
Dot starts evacuating Mainframe. All the vehicles are in use, but she needs
more. She tries to rent some from Megabyte, but he refuses to get involved.
"Codemasters and Viruses have a rather unpleasant history." Phong tries to
remove the lock from Bob's arm. (His examining room has readouts exactly
like Dr. McCoy's in the original Star Trek.)
In the Read Only Room, Phong shows Bob a hologram of a Codemaster. They
are mercenaries, intersystem eliminators. They are the most vicious
society to inhabit the Net, even the Web. Their Gibson-coil Pike is deadly.
Long before Bob came to Mainframe, Talon sought refuge, changed his
identity, and now lives amoung the people of Mainframe.
Enzo overhears the conversation, and concludes that Old Man Pierson is
Talon. He flies to the Data Dump, singing "Nano nano nano nano, Codemaster"
(to the tune of "Batman!"). The old man had taken a vow to never again
delete a living being. Unable to convince Pierson to fight, Enzo accuses
him of being a coward.
Bob tries to scoop up the Codemaster with a data retrieval crane, but is
foiled. The Codemaster is distracted by an incoming game, and Bob convinces
it that the game cube has more power than even a Codemaster. [Welly's Data
Retrieval Systems] His plan is to help the User win, which will nullify the
stranger (and Bob too).
It's a Wild West game. The train station is in the town of Spuzzam.
The number on the steam locomotive is 9502. (This is the production
code for this episode - look (and listen) for code numbers in other episodes.)
Bob helps the User, who disconnects the engine from the rest of the train.
He explains to the stranger the consequences of losing the game; total
nullification (times 2), but will allow his friends to live. It is the
Guardian tradition. This impresses the Codemaster.
But then he hears Enzo's cry for help. The boy was the Engineer on the
locomotive, but is now tied up. As the train bends around a switchback,
Bob lassoes its smokestack from across the gorge and pulls himself in
with a "Yee Haw!" (not unlike a current frog/beer commercial). He yanks
on the User's tie, causing "Game Over".
Back at Dot's Diner, Bob is giving Enzo a good talking to, when they are
interrupted by the Codemaster appearing at one end of the street. At the
other end of the street, a second portal opens up, and out steps Old Man
Pierson. (Cue the Spanish guitar.) The stranger declares "I, Lens the
Reaper, hearby do challenge you, brother Talon, to a game of High Spy".
Pierson denies the challenge, "tell the guild masters that I'm out of
circulation". "No one leaves, the Guild; it is tradition" says Lens as
he glares meaningfully at Bob. The stranger grows to enormous size, but
instead of aiming his pike a Pierson, unleashes it into the sky. The
sky becomes roiling blue and red as a result of the paradyme shift.
Bob steps in front of Pierson, blocking the Codemaster. As do Dot and
Enzo. In all his days on the Net, the Codemaster has never seen such a
"dispicable" display of honor. He leaves Mainframe, to tell the Guild that
Talon is no more.
== References ==
* Spuzzam is the name of a real town in Canada; it's north of
Vancouver, past Hope.
== Did You Notice ==
(See also the quotes for episode 15)
* but...@io.com says that the Codemaster staff reminds him of the priest's
weapon in "Horns of Nimon", a "Dr. Who" episode from the Tom Baker era.
== Quotes ==
* "I am Lens; Lens the Reaper; Lens the Clear Unfolding; High Lens of
the Sixty Second Brotherhood."
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ReBoot: "When Games Collide"
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_ReBoot Episode 16_ (code 9503)
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[ image='img/episo16a.gif' ]
=== "WHEN GAMES COLLIDE" ===
* Synopsis
* References
[ image='img/episo16b.gif' ]
== Title credits ==
Written by Jono Howard
Story by Gavin Blair, Brendan McCarthy, Phil Mitchell, Ian
Pearson, Lane Raichert
== Synopsis ==
Megabyte starts leeching energy from game cubes in order to break into
the Archives. Hack and Slash drain too much energy from one cube, resulting
in the User downloading a second game on top of the first. The two games
merge. Then Megabyte activates a "Stargate" to the Supercomputer.
== Story ==
The episode opens in the midst of a game. The setting is in the ruins
of some strange temple on a planet with two moons. A deadly enemy
hovers into to view, looking like a cross between a Samauri warrior's
helmet and an orange umbrella. Dot, Bob, and Enzo are in the game; their
personas have no hair, are covered head to foot with a shiny metallic
lavender covering. Even the binomes are covered with the purple-tinged
metal. The whole thing looks like the futuristic commercials that
Robert Ableman and Associates created for Benson and Hedges in the early
1980's.
Meanwhile, Hack and Slash are positioning a device atop the game cube.
It has a nasty looking leach-like mouth. After their usual bickering
("Push the button", "No, you push it. Everytime I push the button
something bad happens". The device drops its main feeding orifice onto
the cube (and 8 smaller legs), and starts sucking energy out of the
game cube.
Our heros, who had been unfairly outgunned by the enemy, are surprised to
see the orange menace moving at one-quarter speed. It becomes trivial
to dodge its bullets and bombs. Enzo uses his gun like a baseball bat, and
knocks a fireball back to The User's icon, ending the game. Back in Mainframe,
Phong reports a mysterious energy drain, and Security reports a break in
at the Archives.
The Archives merely look like a "tiny little hut", but in reality, are a
memory bank with transfinite parameters. It has a voice-print lock, Dot
simply states her name to get in. The doors open, and open, and open,
just like "Get Smart" and MST3K. Inside are copies of old information.
The security field suffered a major blow during the game; the compression
waves were registering at 0.8.
One of Megabyte's henchmen reports that they could have broken through with
just a little more energy. MB instructs Hack and Slash to use maximum
drain on the next game cube. In the mean time MB's minions are assembling
a Stargate, a ring about 20 feet in diameter with strange hieroglyphs on
the side. [The viral binome operating the crane has a pink bunny slipper
and a brick as shoes, his mouth on the bottom cube, eye and one arm on
the middle cube, and the other arm on the top cube.
Bob is heading for Megabyte's Silicon Tor when another game cube arrives.
This time it's Basic Combat with the User in a tank. Bob reboots into
a generic "Rambo" style soldier. But before he can do much fighting, Hack
and Slash set the energy leech to maximum drain. The game cube is running
out of energy, an is about to crash. Phong tries to reroute power to the
game cube, but to no avail. A manual override occurs; the User downloads
a fresh game cube (swirling with purple and white energy) on top of the
old game cube (which has become flattened and dull gray). This is very bad.
The games merge; Dinosaurs meets Basic Combat. Bob is a cave man with
fossilized eggs as grenades, the F18 fighter/bomber has a beak and bendable bird
wings, and Tyranosaurus Rex is a robot wearing a Nintendo Super Scope.
Megabye is stuck in the game. He helps Bob push a large tree over a deep
canyon, but then tries to knock the Guardian into the gorge. Bob is saved
by the bird/plane; it is piloted by a Binky and his commander
(Binky Ffarquarson and Algernon Cholmondley-Worthington III).
[Bob has a tatoo of a grinning skull on his left shoulder.]
As MB is dodging fireballs from the T-Rex, he lands in a tar pit. As he
is slowly sinking into the mire, Megabyte calls for Bob's help. The
Guardian has been programmed to defend people from outside enemies and
has to save him.
While patrolling the perimeter, Frisket and Enzo investigate a manhole
leading under the Archives. An energy surge from the second game cube
passes down the cable running through the sewers, and allows the virals
to break through. Enzo and Frisket see this, but are captured before they
can report back to Dot.
Glitch becomes a rocket-launched cable, jamming up the dinosaur's Gatling
gun, and allowing Bob to swing in and punch the User's icon. Game Over.
Dot informs him that the virals have stolen an old Gateway command from
the Archives, and that Enzo is missing. They both head for the Silicon Tor.
A rust-colored viral binome arrives with the Gateway command in a bag
marked "SWAG" (stolen booty). MB advises them to be careful with that, the
Gateway command is old and fragile. Frankenbinome lumbers forward with the
Gateway command, and plugs it in. The ring is filled with field that looks
like rippling water. Enzo is at the end of a long cable and is forced to
test out the gateway. If the portal works, he will be transported to the
Supercomputer. Otherwise, he will be deleted. Enzo sticks his face and
hands into the gateway, then goes through. Once it is clear that the
gateway works, Megabyte severs the cable just as Dot and Bob arrive.
Megabyte tells Hack and Slash to "get Bob", and in their infinitesimal
wisdom, they try to catch Bob using the gateway as a net. Bob goes through,
the ring cracks, the silvery surfaces wobbles in slow motion, and before it
shatters on the floor, Bob zips back carrying Enzo. They start to leave,
but notice the henchmen holding Dot.
Bob stares at MB and says "Let her go. You owe me one." Megabyte
reluctantly complies. As Dot, Enzo, and Bob exit, Megabyte says, "Now,
we're even, Guardian."
== References ==
[The code number for this episode is 9503. Did anyone spot it?]
* Stargate - The portal Megabyte is creating looks exactly like the
one in the movie _Stargate_.
== Did You Notice ==
(See also the quotes for episode 16)
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ReBoot: "Bad Bob"
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_ReBoot Episode 17_ (code 9505)
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[ image='img/episo17a.gif' ]
=== "BAD BOB" ===
* Synopsis
* References
[ image='img/episo17b.gif' ]
== Title credits ==
Written by Martin Borycki, Susan Turner
Story by Martin Borycki, Susan Turner
== Synopsis ==
Megabyte assaults the Principal Office. His meddling with the Core energy
causes a Game Cube to bend so far that it engulfs the PO. This means that
Phong is inside the game, which is based on Mad Max, the Road Warrior. Bob,
Phong and Enzo have to make sure that the Core energy does not leave with
the game when it's over.
== Story ==
The engine on Bob's car cuts out. He has a hard landing in front of Dot's
Diner, and a biker-babe binome diagnoses the problem as his interociter.
Enzo shows up with his new air cart, modeled after an XMP-48.
An army of ABCs (Armored Binome Carriers) appear from Megabyte's Sector
G-Prime and start attacking the Principal Office. They overwhelm
Mainframe's Security force and blast the Sub Sphere on top of the main
dome. A floating tank comes in and starts siphoning off the energy
from the Core. Megabyte shows up in his giant limo, and as he is giving
orders to Hack and Slash, Bob sneaks up on them and turns off their
rocket packs. The viral binome scientist with the German accent (assumed
to be Dr. Strangelove) is working on a video console when Bob
commands Glitch to be come a cutter. This cuts through the video console,
smashing the binome's fingers, who then complains about "my digits".
MB boasts that the Guardian won't be able to stop his plans this time,
when there is an in-in-in-com-com-coming g-g-g-game. (Something is
very wrong, the game cube is not acting properly.) "Oh, curses," says MB.
The game cube twists around like a snake, and bisects the white sphere
that is the Principal Office. Enzo shows up, and knocks Megabyte into the
pool of energy. MB's face spreads out just as the cube lands.
Inside the game, Bob's car has wheels. It is a desert scene with an orange
sky, and Bob has a pronounced five-o-clock shadow and is wearing studded
black leather. He is Mad Max, the Road Warrior. (A binome looking like
Charlton Heston comes on screen, and says "they finally, really, did it.
The maniacs, they blew it up".)
Megabyte's actions have corrupted the game. Mainframe is being affected by
power surges. If Bob and the others don't win the game, the Principal
Office will be nullified. If they do win the game, Mainframe's energy will
leave with the game cube. They have to keep the game going until the energy
can be returned to the Core.
In the game, Phong is the Gyro Captain. [A gyrocoptor is similar to a
helicopter, but it has a passive rotating wing on top and a pusher propeller
with engine in back.] Enzo is in the game as the Feral Kid on a go-cart,
and the User's car looks very much like a slot-car racer. The wheels of
the User's black Formula-1 racer sprout nasty knife blades.
Bob picks up speed by touching the rotating cactus coins at the side of
the road. This allows him to pass the biker binomes and a cockpit section of
a 747 airplane (which has tank treads instead of wheels). [The 747 has
longhorn steer horns on front, and graffitti including "Hi There".]
Once again, Binky and "Sir" are doomed pilots.
Enzo gets to the lead position, and is horrified to see that Megabyte is
the tanker truck. The truck has Mainframe's energy and is heading away from
the Principal Office. Hack and Slash are crybabies stuck on top. Enzo
goes back to get Bob, who's car had given out. (Even in the game, the
interociter fails.) Frisket is riding shotgun on the go-cart, which means
that Bob has to ride in back. As Bob tries to jump on the truck, he
almost falls off, but Hack and Slash save him, because they need help too.
Bob succeeds in turning the truck around just before it would have docked
at an oil refinery.
Outside the game, Dot consults with Number 1. (Unlike binome ones, which
have three independent cubes, this Number 1 is a tall digit. He had a
goatee that looks like one that Commander Riker wore in _ST-TNG_, but sounds
like Sean Connery. Dot commands her Security team to "initiate
security plan number 9505" (the production number of this episode
is "9505").
Bob is driving the MB truck as they head back into the canyon. But the
747 is coming through the canyon, which is barely wide enough for the vehicle.
Enzo is heading straight for it when Frisket takes over the steering wheel.
But the British pilot and Binky have nowhere to go. The Megabyte truck goes
through the 747 and knocks the biker binomes flying. [Just before the crash,
each of the characters is featured with a flash and freeze frame.] "Be
still my binomes of war; just walk away," says the one in the hockey mask.
Frisket continues to drive the go-cart through the mine field, using vision
from his nose-cam. But they go over a cliff. Luckily Phong is there to
pick them up. Frisket has to stop the User without deleting him - the dog's
powerful jaws do the job of stopping the User's car in its tracks. Bob has
Hack and Slash unhook the trailer ("Schnell!") and the tanker wipes out the
User. But before the "Game Over" message is spoken, the tank of energy gets
back to the Principal Office, saving the day.
Outside the game, MB threatens Bob, but Dot and the entire Mainframe
Security Force convince him to leave. "You shouldn't follow me into the
game, Enzo", says Bob. "But I couldn't have won it without you".
== References ==
* Interociter comes from the movie "_This Island Earth_"; it
was used to transport people and bug-eyed monsters to Metaluna.
* At one time, a Cray-XMP was the most powerful real supercomputer.
* "The maniacs, they blew it up!" is from the the last scene in
the first "_Planet of the Apes_" movie.
* Knive blades poking out of wheels are from a chariot race
in "_Ben Hur_".
* According to Gavin Blair, the "Hi There" scrawled on the side of the 747
was based on the movie "_Dr. Strangelove_", where "Hi There" and
"Dear John" are graffitti on two nuclear bombs being dropped on Russia.
* The flash and freeze frame when Bob's car crashes into the 747 is
a reference to the other 1963-1964 B&W movie about bombing Russia:
_Fail-Safe_.
* "Zed-Victor-One" is a reference to a British sixties drama series
called "Z-Cars".
== Did You Notice ==
(See also the quotes for episode 17)
* The "digits" binome was playing solitaire just before he got damaged.
* The "_Road Warrior_" movie has a flunky that got his fingers
(digits) cut off by a sharp boomerang, and a big guy with a gruff voice
wearing a hockey mask. ("Be still, my .... of war.")
* Dot's Number 1 sounds like someone imitating Sean Connery, or someone
imitating Patrick Stewart imitating Sean Connery from "_Men in Tights_".
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ReBoot: "Painted Windows"
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_ReBoot Episode 18_ (code 9504)
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[ image='img/episo18a.gif' ]
=== "PAINTED WINDOWS" ===
* Synopsis
* References
[ image='img/episo18b.gif' ]
== Title credits ==
Written by Jono Howard, Susan Turner
Story by Gavin Blair, Phill Mitchell, Ian Pearson, Mark Schiemann,
Susan Turner
== Synopsis ==
Hexadecimal paints the town red, blue, yellow, and all sorts of colors.
All of Mainframe becomes a gallery of her works, and the surreal images
make life difficult for others.
== Story ==
The opening shot from above Lost Angles shows just how twisted the Gilded
Gate Bridge really is. The point of view flies over Mainframe and down
to the vault under the Principal Office. One of the guards says "I've heard
that the Web is out of control; invading other systems." The rookie asks,
"What's the Web?". Just then, Hexadecimal shows up.
Dot, in lilac colored running shorts, leads several Ones and an Eight on a
jog around Floating Point park. (The big guy declares "I 'ate exersize".)
Bob and the biker chick are checking out a V3 Data Cycle. Then a crudely
drawn sun is drawn onto Mainframe's sky. Phong explains that Hexadecimal
has tampered with the system Paint command. And broken through the defenses
of the Archives.
The guards have been kidnapped (into "The Scream"). Hex does a Rod
Sterling imitation; "Picture if you will, an artist". [Woman with blond
hair, colored with big dots, going "Sob!"] Paint can flooding sides of
Baudway skyscrapers with pink. Red ribbon on other buildings. Then a large
blob of multicolored paint swallowing up construction truck and binomes.
Polka dots on round towers. The Zero guard as Mona Lisa. Megabyte's Tor
painted like a yellow vase, with Hexadecimal's name as grafitti and holding
giant sunflowers. Megabyte yells at Hex for destroying his Tor, and she
tells him to not have such a long face, then makes his face short and wide.
She paints him as a harlequin wearing a tutu, then lasso's his outline and
does a cut and paste, leaving him stuck to the sky.
Phong warns that the damage from Hex's painting will become permanent at
the next system backup. Bob has to get to the linked program in Hex's Lair
and perform an Undo operation before Phong can break the link. But before
he can give more details, Phong's head is erased and replaced with a
green apple. "Now you really are the 'Keeper of the Core'" cackles Hex.
Phong gets pasted to the sky opposite MB. Bob tries to contact Dot, but
Glitch melts and falls off his wrist. Vid Windows are covered with black
ink; it's a communications blackout. The buildings and even the zip-boards
are melting. Dot's organizer is kapoot. [Painting of aqueduct or bridge.]
[Skull, melting watches, goofy fish swimming in air, barren trees cut but
standing, Salvador Dali.]
Mike the TV is in Floating Point Park being a pretentious art critic.
[White cube with red dog, green and blue men, eye in diamond.] [Trees
looking like balloons.] [Rodin's "The Thinker" statue and door to the
sky.] [Towers with orthogonal black lines, red, blue and yellow
rectangles.] [Silo with orange ball, blue dumbells, black bow ties.]
[Pastel orange wall covered with posters of Dot's head.] [Simple drawing of
a man in a hat carrying an ice cream cone (Peter Max?).] [Rotating heart
outline with yellow rays.] [Big lips in Traffic Window.] [Leaning Tower of
Pisa.] [Polka dotted wrapping paper.] [Shiny metallic taffy.]
The top dome of the Principle Office has
the hand of God touching Man from the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. HD has
reproduced the Arc de Triumph at the end of the Bridge. [Man with 3 eyes
and upraised arm or giant ear.] [Bull with nose ring, changing colors.]
There are several large slugs (giant nulls) each with a cardboard cutout of
Bob's face. (It's the artist's "blue period".) Bob's path has life size
cardboard images of himself. Except for the final one with Bob holding
a movie camera, they all fall down like dominoes.
Dot is sliding down a wildly looping gold ribbon. When she passes Enzo
and Frisket, the dog shrinks to about 3 inches in height. Enzo puts him on
his cap and jumps onto the slide. When they get inside the Archive, the
tunnel ends as the mouth of a giant Hex face, and instead of stairs, several
Vid Windows are arranged in a double helix of DNA. Enzo tries to walk on
them, but falls, and his image ends up being split among several Vid Windows.
Lost Angles has been turned into a cheerful riot of color. Mike and Bob
think it's funny that Scuzzy is guarding Hexadecimal's Lair, until the little
guy gets close, and is revealed to be 10 feet tall. With teeth, too.
Bob yells to Mike to "split up", but Scuzzy takes the command to heart, and
splits into Scuzzy-1 and Scuzzy-2. Before Bob and Mike get crushed between
the two, Hexadecimal shows up. Bob claims that he represents Mainframe's
local art's program.
Meanwhile, Enzo has figured out how to control the Vid Windows. He
replicates them like stairs for Dot, as they go looking for the system
Paint program. They find it, and sure enough, it has a link.
Bob and Mike interview the reclusive artist. She has several self
portraits. [Blue and white face with sharp angles.] [Blurry one with light
purple background.] [Head only painting.] "The huge impact of her work."
[Painting with red vertical stripe, surrounded by two dark blue stripes.]
[Green painting of girl with black hair.] [Hex face covered by moving
swirls.] [Several overlapping masks.] (Note that Bob has something rolled
up and stuffed into his belt.) "I'm ready for my close up now, Mr. Guardian."
But the cameraman does not move. It is Bob's cardboard image.
As Hex goes berzerk looking for the real guardian, Bob has snuck around
to the link to the Paint command. Clicking on the "help" icon, Bob
navigates through several layers of menus, until he gets to the "Undo All"
operation. This causes the DNA ladder in the Archives to collapse, giving
the signal to Dot and Enzo. Hexadecimal starts coming after Bob, who does
a cut-and-paste job on her face. A Hex without a mask is a dreadful sight
to see. Bright beams of light shine out from the empty spot in her head.
The facemasks talk to Bob: "Guardian, you have removed the only thing
that keeps her power in check. Without the nasks, Hexadecimal will
overload and be destroyed." The faceless Hex curses, "Damn you fool!",
and a mask with a tear in its eye echoes the sentiment, "You silly fool."
Dot has to hurry, as everything is going back to normal. Enzo's ability
to hold her up fails before she gets to the Paint command, but Frisket
is back to normal size, and carries her the rest of the way. Dot clicks
on the "L", breaking the link to the virtual copy on Hex's Lair.
This upsets Bob, who hasn't put Hex back together yet. He calls for
Glitch, and it flys to his arm. Bob commands the multitalented tool to
"close file", then do a "copy and paste". The masks thank him as they
return to her body. Hexadecimal is alive but in shock, curled up in
a fetal position, quivering. Bob tells the others that Hex is in a bad
way, but is getting the best help he could get for her. Mike the TV will
be blathering at her until she pulls out of her comatose state.
== References ==
The code number for this episode is 9504. Did anyone spot it?
* SCSI-1 and SCSI-2 are two standards for connecting disk and
tape drives to a computer.
* Keeper of the Core - the central part of Mainframe and an apple core.
The paintings and artistic styles:
* 3 guards - Picasso, Edward Munch: The Scream, DaVinci: Mona Lisa.
* "Picture if you will, ..." is how Rod Sterling introduced each
episode of _Nite Gallery_.
* Vertical stripes (blue, red, blue) is "Voices of Fire". The National
Gallery in Ottawa paid $1.8 million Canadian dollars for that in 1990.
It is about 20 feet tall and was painted by Barnett Newman is an American.
(A sarcastic duplicate titled "Voices of Ire" is in the University of
Alberta, a farmer created a protest copy with a paint roller and left
it in a wheat field.
* Hex's portraits - Matisse, Van Goh.
* Principal Office - the Sistine Chapel's "Adam touches God" (by
Michaelangelo.
* Statue - The Thinker, by Rodin
* Monet
* Mondrain style colored squares on two of the towers.
* Phong with a green apple as a head is Rene Magritte.
* Enzo in the vid windows ala David Hockney's Polaroid photo montage.
* Wavy, swirling skies from several Van Gogh paintings.
(Starry Night, Sunflowers.)
* DNA double helix (from Mother Nature)
* Andy Worhol
* Keith Haring
* Jackson Pollock
* Georgia O'Keefe
* Roy Lichtenstein (large comic book panels, sliding down the painting
of brush strokes)
* Monet's Waterlilies mapped onto the pavement
* Kenny Scharf
* Melting watches - "Persistance of Memory" by Salvador Dali
* Rembrant painted more self-portraits than any other artist.
* White cube with stylized people and dog = Toyota minivan ad
== Did You Notice ==
(See also the quotes for episode 18)
* "Too bad Bob and Mike didn't have a SCSI terminator handy. (Wayne Morris,
mor...@magic.mb.ca)
* Some of the cardboard cutouts of Bob have Glitch, some don't.
* The Hex masks treat Bob as a peer, not a nemisis, and even say "Thank You."
* After her mask is returned, Hex has a blank "nobody's home" face.
* Hex likes chaotic randomness; Mike the TV is able to provide that sort
of comforting input to her as she recovers.
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ReBoot: "AndrAIa"
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_ReBoot Episode 19_ (code 9509)
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[ image='img/episo19a.gif' ]
=== "ANDRAIA" ===
* Synopsis
* References
[ image='img/episo19b.gif' ]
== Title credits ==
Written by Steve Ball, Phill Mitchell, Ian Pearson, Susan Turner
Story by Steve Ball, Phill Mitchell, Ian Pearson, Susan Turner
== Synopsis ==
Enzo is unhappy that there is nobody his age to play with. But in an
undersea game, he meets an AI game sprite that's just his size.
(Note: the working title of this episode was "Enzo's Friend".)
== Story ==
Out in the parking lot of Dot's Diner, several binomes are re-creating "True
Stories of Mainframe". Two particularly bad actors (binome Ones) are
playing the part of Dot and Bob from the end of "The Quick and the Fed".
Zeros play the parts of Enzo, Megabyte, Hack and Slash. Mike the TV is
playing back this story in an attempt to cheer up the real Enzo. Next
week's episode will be a re-creation of "The Crimson Binome".
Dot asks Enzo why he doesn't go outside and play. "Who with?".
Bob is in the game cube fighting the same ice planet as in "The Tearing".
The other players in the game are not really helping. After the game, a
dejected looking Bob wanders into the Diner, followed by two binomes who had
"helped" in the game. The One is wearing William Shatner's hairpiece and
the Zero kept saying "make it so" and "engage". But Bob is so busy berating
them for making stupid moves (such as setting off a planetary detonation
while still inside the planet) that he misses Enzo's approach.
Bob can see Enzo is unhappy. "He hasn't got any friends because there
aren't any small sprites left in Mainframe since the Twin City was destroyed,"
says Bob. This statement pains Dot, causing her to think of her father.
"It wasn't his fault, Dot. It was just an experiment that got out of control".
[Cecil is confused by the bald binome asking for "tea, Earl Grey, hot".]
Frisket isn't around; he's a feral dog, and could be doing anything. (Enzo
imagines the dog helping the Crimson Binome in a swash-buckling pirate battle.)
"And it's all Dad's fault! If he didn't have to leave with all the sprites
I'd someone to play with."
Bob follows Dot's suggestion of giving the binomes a refresher course on
how to survive a game. [A Zero, in a blue uniform, wearing a hat that
says "Elwood".] A female Zero in pink lace winks at Bob with "I love you"
on her eyelids, much like the first Indiana Jones movie. A One with
wild hair and toolbelt asks how many types of game sprites there are.
* Aggressives - attack Mainframers (knight with mace)
* Defensives - try to block everyone (carrots with swords)
* Chaotic - attack anything, User and Mainframer alike (Skullipede)
* Passives - usually reveal hints about the game (face above door)
* Artificial Intelligence - change their programming based on the
player's actions.
At the end of the lecture, Bob tells the students to read the first five
chapters in the README Room [more dialog from Raiders of the Lost Arc].
Dot and Phong show up to talk about Enzo's problem. "Having no one his
age to play with is really getting to him," says Bob. Again, Dot looks
very pained by this. Phong has a schematic for a robot friend.
Just then a Game cube descends in the Baudway sector, on top of Dot's Diner.
Enzo has been told to not go into a game without Bob or Dot along, but
was not told to get out of the way if a game cube comes to him. Everyone
else clears out (including "Where's Waldo" and a big Five).
Inside the game cube is completely underwater. Enzo reboots into a
Captain with an eye patch, inside a brightly colored flatfish submarine.
Dot has silvery-blue skin, gills on her throat, red eyes, a long mermaid's
tail, shiny blouse, and Poseidon's Triton. Bob's skin is dark green and blue
skin, silver eyes, a long tail like an electric eel, and gloves.
Bob thinks to himself "Dot looks really amazing. What a babe!" Dot scowls,
then smiles, "I heard that." (Their game personas are telepathic.) Dot's
weapon can create a nasty vortex or a piranha mine. Bob can grow spikes
from his glove to unleash an electrical blast. They have to stop the User
from getting to the lost treasure of Atlantis. "Nice tail" thinks Bob.
"I heard that!" "D'oh!".
As a nasty looking shark submarine drifts past, a game sprite unleashes a
throwing-star starfish. The small weapon knocks a hole in the side of the
User's vessel, but does not disable it. It responds by sending out a depth
charge that leaves the game sprite floating helplessly (with a big hole).
Just before the User's torpedoes hit, Enzo swoops by and scoops up the
player. "Pick on someone your own size, you big bully!". Bob gets in front
of the shark, distracting it with electrical blasts, as Dot produces a
piranha mine just in front of the shark's fins. Upon contact, the mine
releases a school of ferocious piranhas, which quickly reduce the submarine
to a skeleton.
But the game is not over. The user has multiple lives, 15 to be exact.
"This is bad, very bad" says Dot this time. And Enzo's friend wakes up,
hissing and threatening the boy with sharp spines.
Bob and Dot keep destroying the User's submarine, over and over, without
much enthusiasm. Enzo comments on the game sprite's cool spines (they're
not poison, just paralyzing) and introduces himself. Her name is Andraia.
She yells for quiet, then commands Enzo to turn to avoid the wolf eels up
ahead. As Bob tries to slow down the User (Dot is running out of power),
Enzo regales Andraia with tales of being a Guardian. The two youngsters
meet up with the User, and quickly take it out with manta rays and sting
rays, but have to duck into a side cave as the User is reincarnated.
Dot and Bob swim into some red-stained water, and are surrounded by
organic sharks. After some close calls, Bob sticks his four-foot long
spike straight up. Everyone is surprised to when a shark swims straight
into the pike and cuts itself in half. The remaining sharks bug out quickly.
But with the sharks gone, there is nothing to stop the User. Luckily
Enzo's submarine collides with the User's before it can get to the treasure.
Bob and Dot try to swim to the treasure, but get caught in the arms of
an iridescent octopus.
Enzo is upset; his ship is damaged and they don't make it in time they
will all be nullified. He has to explain this concept to Andraia, and
that's when Enzo realizes she is a game sprite. There's no way they can be
together - she will disappear when the game cube leaves, win or lose.
"But we can be together," she says, as she pokes him with a paralyzing dart.
Andraia removes her icon (a triangle with the letters "AI" on it) and then
shoots Enzo out of the ship in a torpedo. The unmoving Enzo reaches the
treasure before the User; game over.
Dot and Bob rush up to Enzo, who is dejected at having lost his new
friend. "What's this on your icon?" It's Andraia's icon. When Bob touches
it, the girl pops into being. She had downloaded a copy of herself onto
Enzo's icon, and the game cube let her out. Now she can be with the little
Guardian and his friends. But first, a sheepish Enzo has to explain why
Andraia thinks he is a Guardian.
== References ==
The code number for this episode is 9509. Did anyone spot it?
* AI - Artificial Intelligence, a computer program that is capable
of learning from its mistakes.
* In a torpedo - similar to the way Spock was sent to the Genesis
planet in "Star Trek II".
== Did You Notice ==
(See also the quotes for episode 19)
* Andraia has multiple lives too. Just before Enzo picks her up, she had
a hole in her belly (sort of like "Death Becomes Her"), but she got better.
* The third binome out the door of Dot's Diner is "Where's Waldo".
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ReBoot: "Nullzilla"
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_ReBoot Episode 20_ (code 9508)
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[ image='img/episo20a.gif' ]
=== "NULLZILLA" ===
* Synopsis
* References
[ image='img/episo20b.gif' ]
== Title credits ==
Written by Susan Turner
Story by Susan Turner
New voice for Slash: Scott MacNeil replaces Phil Hayes
New recurring character, Andraia: Andrea Libman
[Note: The software being used by the people at ReBoot has improved. When
the characters talk, their heads and entire bodies move more than before.
Also, objects in the distance are out of focus, like a real camera.]
This is the beginning of a four-part story:
* "Nullzilla"
* "Gigabyte"
* "Trust No One"
* "Web World Wars"
== Synopsis ==
A mysterious black fractal creature comes out of the Web and attacks
Hexadecimal. The Nulls in Mainframe surround her, forming Nullzilla.
Our heroes have to form a giant robot to battle it.
== Story ==
[It starts out with "Next, on ReBoot" - scenes from this week's episode.]
The story opens on the streets of Lost Angles - a blasted, wasted city
inhabited by Nulls (slug-like creatures, each with white markings on
a single dominant color). In the distance, Hexadecimal is in her lair,
having recovered from "Painted Windows". To Scuzzy
and Mike the TV, she is showing off her Looking Glass, which is displaying
images of the Supercomputer (the blue skyscrapers on an orange sea, as seen
in the opening sequence). "If only Megabyte knew how easy it is to find.
But you known what they say: He got the smarts, but I got the power." She
becomes bored of gloating, and demands that Mike entertain her. He displays
a clip of "The Bride of FrankenBinome". HD demands something else,
so Mike shows an opera. But when the fat lady sings, her high note cracks
Scuzzy's dome and shatters the Looking Glass. A web of nasty looking
tentacles is visible behind it - some of them reach out and grab Hex.
Hack and Slash are babysitting Nibbles, the Null. The two bumbling henchmen
appear to have had an IQ upgrade; they are speaking in coherent sentences
now. Meanwhile, back in the lab, Dot, Bob and Phong are trying procedure
number 9508 in an attempt to turn the nulls back into sprites. The idea is that
the defeated player's parameters are stored somewhere in a saved game.
On the other side of the Looking Glass, a circular opening forms, and
something black and menacing comes though it. It has more tentacles than
an octopus, and at the end of each arm are more smaller arms, like a
fractal drawing. It crosses over into Mainframe and takes over Hexadecimal,
turning her completely black (with a nasty looking tongue). The nulls,
Frisket, and Andraia all react when Hex is taken over. The Mainframers
follow the nulls to Lost Angles. There they meet up with the media sprite
and verminous familiar (Mike and Scuzzy) who, along with Hack and Slash,
are fleeing the Null monster: Nullzilla.
Back in the Principal Office, Phong explains that the nulls are isolating
Hex, protecting Mainframe from whatever it was that came through her
Looking Glass (and it wasn't Alice). Even though nulls drain energy, Hex
has transfinite power limits. They will have to contain her. Phong has
prepared for just such an emergency. He goes to a door, and says "F.A.B."
[The rest of this episode is very much like Gerry Anderson's "Thunderbirds
Are Go" puppet animation show.]
Inside a wood panelled office (with pictures of the main players on the
wall) Bob is wearing a suit that looks like a black beetle, Dot is a lady
bug, Enzo is a grasshopper ["Ah, Grasshopper" says the Ancient One], Frisket
is a hornet, and Mike is a gnat. They go through color coded tunnels and
speak the magic words to activate their vehicles. "Black Beetle Turbo Pincher
Force", "Ladybird Accellerator Spotted Carapace Force", "Grasshopper Sig
Pulse Hopping Force", "Woof Woof Woof Woof" (Hornet Force), "Gnat's Slightly
Annoyed High-Pitched Buzzing Force". They have to get the vehicles up to
speed and then form a giant robot, using the phrase "Reboot Robot
Entomologizing Force". [The end result is like Voltran, Dynaman, and
countless other mighty morphing power robots.]
The inhabitants of Mainframe are in a panic, shown as a faded-color
scene of binomes running around in front of a rear-screen projection of
Nullzilla. The giant creature is just about to knock the 8-ball off of
Bob's apartment building, when the giant robot shows up. [During this
scene, the background music is exactly like a cheezy tune from a 1960's
Sci-Fi action show.] Bob tries a sucker punch, which knocks Nullzilla
on top of the the apartment, smashing it. "Oh, no. I've just redecorated."
Phong tells them to use the Destructo-Matic weapon. Bob's body language
is visible as the giant robot pats its pockets looking for the 'Matic, then
changes to Dot's pose as her voice says "Phong, we haven't got a Destructo-
Matic". Back in the PO's basement, the mighty weapon is still in its case.
While waiting for Andraia to fly the 'Matic to them, the team fights the
monster in the form of Rockem Sockem Robots (trying to knock its block off)
and World Wrestling Foundation pro wrestling (jumping up and down on the
opponent). The Destructo-Matic disperses the nulls (smashing a clown).
This leaves a weakened Hexadecimal back in her normal form. Whatever caused
the problem is gone.
Megabyte's pet null, Nibbles, returns to its crib. MB says, "there you
are, Father". [What does this mean? And why did Hexadecimal say "he got
all the brains, but I got all the power? Where these two viruses created
at the same time? Answers in the next episode!] The web crawler bursts
through the roof of the Silicon Tor, swings down and turns MB into a black
creature.
Scenes from next week: A large viral sprite having a combination of
both Megabyte's and Hexadecimal's colors and markings says, "I am become
Gigabyte, destroyer of systems!"
== References ==
* Bride of FrankenBinome - the pronounciation of the
assistant's name (Eye-gor instead of Ee-gor) and the "abnormal" brain are
references to Mel Brooks' "Young Frankenstein".
* Opera - the background for the opera looks very
much like an old episode of "Bugs Bunny".
* black creature, sharp teeth, long tongue - very much like when
Peter Parker got taken over in the Spiderman cartoon.
* Nullzilla - a reference to Godzilla (especially
when the hysterical citizens cast shadows on the buildings) and to Netscape's
mascot Mozilla.
* Alice - in the book "Alice in Wonderland", she gets
there by falling through a Looking Glass (a mirror).
* Transfinite - going beyond or surpassing any finite
number, group or magnitude.
* F.A.B. - phrase used on "Thunderbirds Are Go" instead
of "A-OK". Short for "fabulous", otherwise means absolutely nothing,
according to the creators, Gerry and Sylvia Anderson.
* Grasshopper - reference to the old "Kung Fu" TV series. The Ancient One
(whom Phong sounds like) used this term when addressing his student.
* giant robot - the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers derived from the
English translation of Dynaman, which in turn was based on the Japanese
shows "Dinosaur Task Force Zyuranger", "Five-Star Task Force Dairanger",
and "Ninja Task Force Kakuranger". MMPR includes some of the original
Japanese monster footage, which is just as silly as the Nullzilla fight.
== Did You Notice ==
(See also the quotes for episode 20)
* The book for Nibbles is _ABC of Fairytales_ by M Conley.
* Phong's desk blotter has a game of Hangman, answer is "ReBoot".
* Enzo makes a Bruce Lee noise ("Ee-yaow") when he enters as Grasshopper.
* The Destructo-Matic is in a case that says:
"IN CASE OF GIANT NULL MONSTER THREATENING CITY - BREAK GLASS".
* Megabyte refered to the Null as "Father".
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ReBoot: "Gigabyte"
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_ReBoot Episode 21_ (code 9506)
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[ image='img/episo21a.gif' ]
=== "GIGABYTE" ===
* Synopsis
* References
[ image='img/episo21b.gif' ]
== Title credits ==
Written by Phil Mitchell, Susan Turner
Story by Phil Mitchell, Susan Turner
Guest star: Mouse Louise Valence
Guest Star: Gigabyte Blu Mankuna
[ABC messed up. They showed scenes from next week instead of scenes from
this week at the beginning of the show.]
This is the second part of a four-part story:
* "Nullzilla"
* "Gigabyte"
* "Trust No One"
* "Web World Wars"
== Synopsis ==
Now it's Megabyte's turn to be taken over by the creature from the Web.
He and Hexadecimal merge to form a much more powerful virus: Gigabyte.
Bob has to call for help.
== Story ==
Starting where "Nullzilla" left off, the 8-ball and
Bob's apartment are still on the ground. The giant robot gets picked up by
a Data Crane (but knocks over some buildings on its way out.) Dot
supervises the clean up while Bob looks over Hexadecimal (along with the
entire Mainframe Security Force in green and gold cars.) HD is recovering.
Bob and Phong discuss the thing that came out of Hex's mirror - it is
either gone or not detectable by Phong's sensors. Since it attacked Hex first,
maybe it goes for viruses. "Megabyte," croaks Hexadecimal. "That's right,"
says Bob. "No, Megabyte!". The virus in question is standing right behind
Bob, colored completely black. It shows exceptional strength by knocking Bob
for a loop. Then it picks up Hexadecimal, and its hands start passing through
her body. Glitch's wide-field energy beam knocks the evil MB away, but when
Bob has Glitch fetch the car, MB returns. HD tries to hold him back with
orange fireballs, but she is too weak to keep it up. Just then Dot swings
by and picks up the black one with a Data Crane. MB tries to take over the
vehicle by infecting it (turning it blue) but Dot is prepared and jettisons
the gripper.
While driving Hex to Lost Angles, Bob demands answers. He wants to know
why HD and MB were merging. She explains that they are from the same viral
strain. "The same family?" "Much worse than that, he is my brother!".
Their fighting is just sibling rivalry. "What will happen if you join?"
"The next generation! Ha ha ha..." Just then Megabyte shows up, rips Hex
from the car, and plunges to the street below. After the column of fire
dissipates, a combination creature is visible. It has MB's skull, eyes,
shoulders, and joints, but HD's facemask, arms, and breastplate. The right
hand has long sharp claws (like Freddie Krueger from "Nightmare on Elm
Street"). Hanging off the back of its red spinal column are the black
multifaceted tendrils of the creature from the Web.
Bob: "I am Guardian 452. State your function."
It: "I am become Gigabyte, destroyer of systems".
Bob tries using Glitch as a wide-field energy beam again, but Gigabyte
simply absorbs it. Dot swoops in, but her Data Crane gets cut to pieces.
The creature is stronger than Megabyte, but so far has not used any of
Hexadecimal's higher functions. It appears to have the potential ability to
create its own portal to the Supercomputer. Bob tells Phong to shut down
the city, then he sends out a distress call, stating that they are fighting
a Class-5 (energy absorbing) virus. Bob and Dot try to get as far away
as possible before their zip-boards fail.
Trapped in a dark alley, Gigabyte demands that Bob hand over his Guardian
key tool. Bob has Glitch fly away, and just before GB puts his claws into
our hero, something comes in and chops off Gigabyte's arm. It's Mouse, "Did
you miss me?" Her ship is not affected by the city powerdown. Phong is not
prepared to allow Mouse in the Principal Office, but Mouse hacks through its
defenses.
Out on the streets of Mainframe, Gigabyte is sucking energy out of
binomes, including a One dressed up as Indiana Jones. It continues toward
the Principal Office, but the shield there won't last long once GB starts
absorbing the energy from it. Bob has a plan to overload Gigabyte with an
energy surge from a tear. Mouse and Dot are sent out to capture a tear
while Bob tries to hold GB back with the primitive weapons available in
Phong's armory. Bob is in black, with a black cheek guard that makes him
look like Gambit, one of the X-Men. Hack and Slash show up, and do a good
job of assisting Bob. After GB is lured to Floating Point Park, Phong
releases the sector so that it is far away from the city.
Meanwhile, Dot keeps the ship steady as Mouse uses a video game
console to build an icosahedron around the tear. A sudden surge sends Mouse
flying - Dot flies the ship and catches her before Mouse falls into the Energy
Sea. Bob has things under control until Hack (the red one) gets too close
to Gigabyte and gets all his energy drained. Slash (the blue one) is so
angry that he knocks Gigabyte all the way back to Mainframe, ruining Bob's
plan. With Hack's energy, Gigabyte is able to fly over the moat and attack
the Principal Office directly. The last line of defense is two small sprites;
a girl, a boy, and his dog. Frisket's great strength is no match for Gigabyte,
but his action delays GB until Bob and the tear can arrive. The tear
overwhelms Gigabyte with too much power. Glitch becomes a splitter, and
separates the monster into three portals (Hexadecimal, Megabyte, and the
unknown black thing).
Mouse uses her wrist band, and determines that the unknown presence is
still in Mainframe. [Why was Mouse prepared to track the thing?]
To be continued.
[ABC messed up on the scenes from next week, showing the opener again.]
== References ==
[The code number for this episode is 9506. Did anyone spot it?]
* Hexadecimal holds an orange fireball on the collectable card, SA #6.
* Destroyer - from Hindu mythology: "I am become Shiva, destroyer of worlds".
* Gigabye = 1024 megabytes = 1,048,576 kilobytes = 1,073,741,824 bytes.
According to the producers, the original virus was called Kilobyte, but when
it tried to upgrade itself, it was split into Megabyte and Hexadecimal, with
an uneven distribution of powers.
* Mouse is a hacker who has tangled with Bob before,
as described in "The Great Brain Robbery".
== Did You Notice ==
(See also the quotes for episode 21)
* When Gigabyte is first seen, he is on one knee, in a small crater, much
like "_The Terminator_".
* Writing on Data Crane: "Welly's Data Retrieval Systems" and
"Caution: Motion Overhead".
* The first binome to be drained of energy has a whip, hat, and leather
jacket, just like Indiana Jones in "_Raiders of the Lost Ark_".
* Phong: "I've said it before, and I'll say it again; this is not the
Supercomputer."
* The game console Mouse is using looks just like a Sony Playstation.
* "_A Boy and His Dog_" is the name of a science fiction movie.
* Bob uses his car to get away from Megabyte, but in an earlier episode
("Painted Windows"), he traded the car in for a motorcycle.
* When Gigabyte tears the back of Bob's uniform, there's a grey mesh
pattern visible underneath.
* One of the biNOMES dressed up as Indiana Jones might be named Indiana
NOMES. [Pun courtesy of Mike "Groovy Guy" Pelletier" (sshi...@ionline.net)]
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ReBoot: "Trust No One"
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_ReBoot Episode 22_ (code 9507)
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[ image='img/episo22a.gif' ]
=== TRUST NO ONE ===
* TV Listings
* Background
* Credits
* Synopsis
* References
This episode description is longer than the others in order to cater to
the cross-over audience - the X-Files fans.
[ image='img/episo22b.gif' ]
== Gillian Anderson is a fan of ReBoot ==
She was seen wearing a ReBoot cap while vacationing in Rome.
== From the TV listings ==
Gillian Anderson of "The X-Files" guests as the voice of CGI agent Data Nully
in the computer-generated animated show "ReBoot," Saturday morning on ABC.
In the episode, titled "Trust No One," the Binomes and Sprites of
Mainframe are being terrorized by an energy-siphoning "mouse". Two CGI
agents, Fax Modem and Data Nully, who specialize in cases known at the ASCII
(ask-ee) Files, are called in to solve the puzzle.
From the New York Daily News for Friday, December 29, 1995
'X-Files' voice joins 'Reboot' visuals
by David Bianculli
Before there was "Toy Story", there was "Reboot" --
the ABC Saturday-morning series, now in its second season,
that boasts fully computer-generated visuals and effects
and is unlike anything else on TV.
This Saturday morning, "Reboot" offers viewers a
special kick; a "guest vocalist" appearance by Gillian
Anderson, co-star of Fox's "The X-Files".
"Reboot" is set inside a computer, in a high-tech
place called Mainframe. It tells of the adventures of city
hero Bob, best friend Dot Matrix, and little boy Enzo. In
Saturday's new "Reboot", written by Mark Leiren-Young, Dot
is missing, and there's some sort of serial attacker on
the loose -- so serious that two "outside agents" are sent
into the Mainframe.
Instead of David Duchovny's Fox Mulder and Gillian
Anderson's Dana Scully from the FBI -- the protagonists of
"The X-Files" -- "Reboot" gives us Fax Modem and Data
Nully. Their computerized body shapes are like three
boxes stacked on top of one another; the top box includes
one eye, the middle box includes the lips, and ABC leaves
the rest to our collective imagination.
And while the person supplying the voice of Fax Modem
sounds more like Steven Wright than Duchovny (in reality,
it's neither), Anderson provides her own voice for this
show.
This makes for a very surreal multisensory experience,
because the voice is unsettlingly familiar. Data Nully
may be a blockhead (and a blockbody), but her green eye
shadow looks just right, and her computer-generated lips,
richly red and almost 3-D in their roundness, fullness and
relative largeness, manage to look unmistakably Gillian
Anderson-ish (the red hair atop the top block doesn't
hurt).
To paraphrase a famous phrase: those lips, that eye ...
No sooner do Data and Fax swoop in to investigate
things in Mainframe than Fax suspects a massive conspiracy
involving beings from outside their known world. Bob,
listening politely but skeptically to Fax Modem's theory,
turns to Data Nully and asks sarcastically, "Excuse me,
but is your partner completely random?"
"Not completely", Data says. And it sounds as though
Anderson, in real life in the safety and secrecy of some
isolated sound booth, had a lot of fun saying it.
X-File this week's "Reboot" episode as something worth
watching, at least if you're an "X-Files" fan. The
script is funny, and the guest appearance is a good stunt
-- but the "Reboot" visuals are what will most likely make
your want to return.
== Background ==
"ReBoot" is created in Vancouver, Canada, as is "X-Files". ReBoot is shown
in prime-time by YTV (the network for young people in Canada) and is shown
as a Saturday morning cartoon by ABC in the US. The show is 100% CGI
(Computer Generated Imagery) and tells the story of the sprites that live
in a typical personal computer.
The city is called Mainframe. Most of the inhabitants are binomes: Ones
are three cubes with arms, legs, a mouth, and a single eye. Zeros are
walking spheres. In addition to the binomes are the Numerals (such as Five,
Seven and Nine) and data sprites (Dot, Enzo, Bob, Phong, Mouse, Frisket).
One particularly successful data sprite is Dot Matrix, the owner of Dot's
Diner. She has a younger brother Enzo, and has close ties with Phong (the
ancient one, the mayor who lives in the Principal Office). Dot and Enzo
have green skin, their friend Bob has blue skin. Bob is a Guardian; he
comes from the Supercomputer and wears a multipurpose tool "Glitch" on his
wrist. As opening sequence says, his mission is to protect and defend.
Every once in a while the User downloads a game. When a game cube lands,
the inhabitants of Mainframe tap the diamond shaped icon on their chest in
order to "reboot" as a character in the game.
In the previous episode, Mainframe had been attacked by a mysterious
black multitentacled creature that absorbed energy. Mouse, a female hacker,
showed up right after the distress call went out. Dot hates Mouse for
having almost deleting her brother and for flirting with Bob. Dot and Mouse
cooperated long enough to lasso a "tear in the interface" -- a swirling green
and white ball of energy -- and throw it at the black thing. That solved the
immediate crisis, but eldrich creature went into hiding. Mouse had been
prepared and tried tracking it.
[Portions of the CGI agent's dialog were obtained from alt.tv.x-files. The
full text of Gillian's lines are reproduced here for those that requested it.]
Jackie Hughes <dana...@syix.com> (Doll Artisan) has a
page with screen shots from the show.
From: r...@axionet.com (Ron McMillan)
Date: Tue Jan 02 23:27:42 PST 1996
Newsgroups: alt.cartoon.reboot
Inside scoop - They did ask him, but David Duchovny did not WANT
to do the voice over; he said it's a 'kids' show and he dinnae wanna.
SO they got a guy who could do the voice, and so what if they
'overplayed' it a bit, eh? It's not like they did it 'on purpose'...
[ image='img/episo22a.gif' ]
=== "TRUST NO ONE" ===
This was shown on ABC on 30-Dec-95 and 11-May-96.
It was show on YTV (in Canada) on 25-Jan-96 and 29-Mar-96.
== Title credits ==
Written by Mark Leiren-Young
Story by Gavin Blair, Mark Leiren-Young, Phil Mitchell, Ian
Pearson, Susan Turner.
Special guest appearance Gillian Anderson as Data Nully
Fax Modem Scott McNeill
Turbo Garry Chalk
This is the third part of a four-part story:
* "Nullzilla"
* "Gigabyte"
* "Trust No One"
* "Web World Wars"
== Synopsis ==
The title is not displayed at first - instead, the opening is more like an
episode of the "X-Files" with low-level lighting and weird camera angles. In
the alley behind Al's Diner on Level 31, Al's waiter is seen emptying the
trash ("Garbage in, garbage out") and Al is, as usual, off screen when he
yells "what?". Then the point of view becomes that of "Predator 2" -
something evil is hiding amongst the pipes. The waiter screams, then is
dragged off. Cut to the title, "TRUST NO ONE", (black letters outlined in
flourescent green on a black background).
Mouse (the woman with flaming red hair, filigreed lilac skin, white top,
and black tights) sashays into Dot's Diner where Bob is having an energy
shake. The cops are eating donuts when a One reports that Al's waiter has
been abducted. Enzo bursts in, and tells Bob that his sister, Dot, is also
missing. Miss Brodie, a teacher Zero, confirms the story.
(Enzo's friend is AndrAIa, an AI game sprite.)
Bob goes to Al's "Wait and Eat" Diner on Level 31. This is where the
low lifes of Mainframe hang out. A waiter with an attitude skates
past. Al himself is not much help, he just says "what?". A pair of Ones
notice Bob's interrogation; a man with a squinty eye, wearing a disheveled
black suit and a pretty redhead wearing a blue pantsuit.
[Because Ones don't have noses, the guy does not look as cute as David
Duchovny, but Gillian Anderson's mouth and hair are well rendered.]
Him You ask a lot of questions, Guardian.
Bob Who are you?
Him CGI Special Agent, Fax Modem.
Her CGI Special Agent, Data Nully. We couldn't help overhearing
you. You're looking for a missing person?
Bob Yeah, Dot Matrix is missing. Do you know anything about it?
Fax There's been a rash of disappearances in Mainframe.
Data Phong sent us to investigate the most recent disappearance,
Al's waiter.
Bob We should talk.
(meanwhile) Mike the TV is doing an on-the-scene report. Mouse
is trailing them, and making a report to someone else.
Bob I can't accept that. Mouse is an old friend.
Data Bob, you've got to be reasonable on this. All evidence points
to Mouse. We have eyewitnesses that will testify to her being on
or near the scene of each abduction.
Bob Coincidence.
Data Tell him your theory, Modem.
Fax (very dramatic) Her *fangs*.
Bob Yeah? So? She's got fangs!
Fax I suspect she's a Web-creature.
Bob What! Oh, now *this* is ridiculous. These aren't theories.
These are--delusions!
Fax Listen...(foreboding music starts)...when I was just a little
node, I saw my sister taken by a strange creature. It had fangs...
just like Mouse.
Bob Excuse me. But is your partner *completely* random??
Data (in a tired voice) Not--completely. (gives sidelong glance at Fax)
Bob OK, why didn't it take you too, then.
Fax I don't know. I was reading comic bytes in bed. When I
peeked out from under the covers I saw something hovering over my
sister. Then I pointed my flashlight at it, and a moment later,
it, and my sister were gone. I'll never forget the noise it made.
Bob I don't want to seem insensitive, but next you'll be telling me that
you've see the User.
Fax There is no User. That's just induced mass psychosis engineered by the
Guardians.
Bob What?!? But what about the games?
Fax Sent by the Guardians to promote the User myth.
Data Another conspiracy theory, Modem?
Fax One of many...
Bob So, let me get this straight. There's a web-creature, posing
as Mouse, loose in Mainframe, abducting sprites. For what purpose?
Fax I haven't worked that out yet.
Bob OK. And Guardians are control freaks, willing to sacrifice the
very people they've been sworn to protect by dropping games on them.
Fax That's right.
Bob Tell me - did Phong interview you personally for this job?
Didn't think so.
Data Look, this isn't getting us anywhere. What we need is a plan,
not theories.
Bob You ... remind me of someone.
(meanwhile) Mike the TV finishes up an interview on the scene of
the latest abduction. [A picture of the Five is on a milk carton.]
When he turns around, Mike's camera crew is gone. He starts to run,
then the shadow of a multi-tentacled creature overtakes him.
Mike is heard falling, then a flickering white light shines out.
The creature screeches, then its shadow is seen running away.
Cut back to the diner, where Fax is holding is head, wincing.
Data Are you alright, Modem?
Fax (in pain) That's it ... that's the noise the creature made.
Bob Quick, outside! Now!
(they find) Mouse bending over the unconcious TV, which has
flickering "snow" instead of a face.
Data Hold it, CGI! (The agents pull out some large handguns.)
Mouse hiss (as she bares her fangs).
Bob Mouse, what are you doing?
Mouse It's not what you think. Bob, you've got to let me go.
Bob You know I can't do that.
(standoff) Mouse gets to her feet, then glances behind the
agents. They follow her stare, and are dumbfounded when Mouse
pulls a katana sword from her boot and slices their guns in half.
Bob Don't make me do this, Mouse.
Mouse Trust me. (She kisses him, and runs off while Bob is dazed.)
Bob Glitch: tracer (Glitch sends out a dot which embeds itself
in Mouse's boot.) You two look after Mike; I'm going after her.
(Bob jumps on his zipboard and speeds away.)
Data (taps on Mike's glass until he wakes up.) Are you OK?
Mike Ooo! It bit me!
Fax Calm down.
Mike It was the light. The light I tell you! The light saved me. (babbles)
Data Just like your sister, Modem.
Fax Wait here. I've to get something from the CPU.
Mike I can't think straight. I can take it. Tell me the truth.
Tell me the camera was rolling.
Data (shakes head)
Bob tells Phong that they're dealing with a web-creature, but that it's
not Mouse. Mouse uses her wrist communicator to tell someone named Turbo
that they have confirmation of the web-creature but continues on to free the
Mainframers. She slides down an elevator shaft. At the bottom, there is
more evidence of the creature shedding its skin. She walks past a trash
can, and the cliche happens - a small animal jumps out and runs away.
(Instead of a cat yowling, it is a Null, a brightly colored slug.) She
looks up and sees several bodies encased in cocoons, arranged in neat rows.
Drawing her sword, Mouse advances until she gets to Dot and frees the woman.
After the other abductees are freed (including a Nine and a clown),
Mouse stays behind to get physical evidence that the web-creature exists.
The web-creature arrives. It has jaws bigger than a person, and a near
infinite number of small spheres that make up its arms. One of them grabs
Dot. Fax and Data show up, and use their incredibly bright flashlights to
immobilize the creature. It drops Dot, and Bob catches her.
Data You were right. It can't stand the strong light.
Fax (in a somewhat smarmy voice) I'm sure there's a *very*
scientific reason for it.
Data But...we don't know what it is!
Mouse continues transmitting to Turbo, an imposing man wearing a
Guardian's suit. There are other Guardians around him, half in shadow. One
of them states that creature is Class M, with portal-forming abilities. [We
have never seen any Guardian other than Bob. Is this a cabal, or some sort
of Star Chamber?]
Mouse explains that she has been working for Turbo (that's why she was in
the neighborhood when the distress call went out) and that she's just called
in the cavalry. Bob informs her that the Guardian protocol for discovering a
web-creature is to destroy it and everything around it.
Turbo and the others in the high command release the codes that will
trigger an explosion. Turbo asks the others to leave, "I'd like to be
alone - Bob and I go way back." When they are gone, Turbo turns the virtual
hourglass over again - this gives Bob a little more time.
Data Hurry, Bob. We're running low. We don't have much time.
Bob (uses Glitch to determine that Mouse's communicator is the bomb.)
Data Guardian, we can't hold it for much longer. (Their flashlights
go out just as security team brings up more spotlights.)
The innocent bystanders of Mainframe are shown: Momma binome and her baby
binome, a bunch of binomes on a sidewalk, and the penguin in front of a
Zip-Board refueling station. Bob zooms off in an attempt to get the device
out of Mainframe.
It goes off in a big explosion, and tears a hole in the sky. The
swirling in the hole becomes eight small tears, and then one giant tear.
The glowing green and white ball of plasma illuminates Mainframe like a
carbon-arc lamp. The light is strong enough to reach the lower levels. The
web-creature appears to gain energy from its spectrum, and smashes a hole
through several layers of concrete to the surface.
Bob barely escapes the blast. When Phong tells him that the web-creature
has escaped, Bob is most distraught. "It's a Class-M! It can use the tear
energy to form a portal to the Web!" The web spore merges with the tear and
the portal is formed. It is a sphere as big as Mainframe filled with
radially-symmetric tendrils.
Fax It just broke free.
Data We couldn't stop it.
Fax You see, Nully--the Web *is* out there.
Data No, Modem--it's here.
Bob This is it, Phong. Prepare for war.
Next time, on Reboot: All the security vehicles (police cars) are lined
up waiting for battle with the Web.
== References ==
Some of the character's names are computer puns. This is explained on the
Characters page.
* GIGO - Garbage In, Garbage Out is a programmers mantra;
feeding unreliable data to a computer program produces unreliable results.
* Brodie - Must be a reference to "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie",
a famous play. The title character is a school teacher.
* Waiters with attitudes and rollerskates can be found
in some of the dining establishments in Vancouver.
* CGI - Computer Generated Imagery (which decribes how
ReBoot is produced), or Common Gateway Interface, used to make dynamic
pages on the World Wide Web. An example of the latter does the
"Hello, WebSurfer" message for this site.
* CPU - Central Police Unit = cop car.
* Katana - a type of Samuri sword used by Duncan
MacLeod in "Highlander" (another series that is filmed in Vancouver, Canada).
* Cabal - at one time, the USENET newsgroups (such as
rec.arts.tv) were controlled by a semi-mythical cabal of computer gurus.
== Did You Notice ==
[The code number for this episode is 9507. Did anyone spot it?]
* Miss Brodie is Scottish, but is not wearing the Brodie tartan.
* The customers at Al's Diner: a Seven, and a One with a bone in its hair.
* Data Nully is wearing the same sort of cross that Dana Scully wears.
* The penguin from "The Wrong Trousers" show up again.
* The missing Five already has his picture on a milk carton (which also
has the French word "lait" written on it).
* Mouse might be afraid of heights.
* No, that's not a Six in a cocoon; it's a Nine held upside down.
* One of the beast's victims was the clown that juggled Nulls in
"Talent Night" and was squashed by Nulls in "Nullzilla".
* When Mainframe Security turns their spotlights on, it goes green, green,
green, yellow, red (like the lights at an NRHA drag race).
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ReBoot: Web World Wars
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_ReBoot Episode 23_ (code 9510)
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[ image='img/episo23a.gif' ]
=== "WEB WORLD WARS" ===
* Synopsis
* References
== Title credits ==
Written by Mark Leiren-Young
Story by Mark Leiren-Young, Brendan McCarthy, Phil Mitchell, Ian
Pearson, Susan Turner
This is the end of a four-part story (and season finale):
* "Nullzilla"
* "Gigabyte"
* "Trust No One"
* "Web World Wars"
The third season will be shown in Canada starting in September
of 1996. Hopefully Alliance will have made a deal with another U.S. network
now that ABC has dropped out.
This description is from the Canadian version of this episode, as shown on
YTV. The US version has some cuts; one line of dialog and four scenes
of war were removed by ABC's B.S.'n'P. (Broadcast Standards and Practices,
the program censors.)
== Synopsis ==
The Mainframers are barely able to hold their own against the Web Probes,
and with the very existance of Mainframe at stake, our heroes have to rely on
Megabyte and Hexadecimal for help. The viruses perform their assigned tasks,
then continue on to take of Mainframe. Enzo gets a field commission as a
cadet Guardian.
== Story ==
Mainframe looks strange. The sky is brown instead of blue, there are about
twenty searchlights piercing the gloom, and directly above the city is a
swirling red Web portal; a sphere twice Mainframe's diameter. An extremely
varied crowd of binomes (and penguin) follows an armored tank into
position. Enzo and AndrAIa are on a ledge around the Principal Office,
manning heavy artillery guns. [The background music
is from Holst's "Planets" suite; _Mars, Bringer of War_.]
Several binomes in green and yellow uniforms are waiting around, eating
donuts, when the order to "Scramble" comes in. At least 15 sets of 16 cars
(CPUs) and 20 Data Cranes take to the air. Every one is a bit ansy as a Web
Probe, looking like a four-legged octopus, investigates the assembled army.
Bob tells everyone to hold their fire until the main attack force arrives.
[Continuity error: Bob is not wearing his icon in this scene.]
In the mean time, Megabyte is assembling an impressive piece of hardware in
his Silicon Tor. He is doing his job, but Phong has a problem with the idea
of working with a virus. Bob orders Phong to download the software to run
the hardware. Hexadecimal will be the power source for the weapon, which
includes a transparent energy tank like the one in "Bad Bob".
When Hex shows up, her facemask appears first, then the rest of her, much
like the Cheshire Cat.
Mouse sharpens her katana sword while leaning against a large bomb, in a
room full of ICBM missles. She and Dot discuss working with viruses and
Guardians, as Dot puts on battle fatigues and enters wearing a really big
strap-on gun. "What do you think? Does it make me look too butch?" asks Dot.
[ABC cut Dot's second sentence.]
AndrAIa thinks the Web portal looks beautiful and does not understand why
Mainframers can't simply attack their enemy without planning and forming teams.
Enzo still hasn't told her that he isn't really a Guardian. His attempt to
clear thing up is interrupted by Bob, who starts refering to him as Cadet
Matrix. Due to the crisis, Bob invokes "Emergency Code nine five one zero",
downloads the Guardian protocol from his icon to Enzo's, and gives the boy a
field commission as Guardian, First Level. When Enzo reboots, he is wearing
a Guardian uniform. After the battle, Enzo will be transfered to the
Academy to become a full fledged Guardian. "Should anything happen to me, I
am charging you with the defense of this system." Dot checks in with
"Megabyte, Mouse, Hexadecimal and I are ready. (I can't believe I just said
that!)."
Mouse uses Megabyte's keyboard to hack into the Web. Her plan is to
crack the codes and to erase the location of Mainframe from its memory banks.
When she gets done, it will be impossible to get from the Web to Mainframe
again. Megabyte appears to be absolutely delighted at that news.
Eight Web Probes come out of the portal and start snooping around. Binky
and his co-pilot try to keep a stiff upper lip, hoping that no one will
crack under the pressure. But one binome does when he surprised by an overly
inquisitive Web probe. The CPUs have to destroy the remaining probes before
they can report back. A couple of cars collide and three CPUs go down but
only one parachute is seen. [ABC does not show the two doomed pilots.] The
last two probes team up in a piggyback function, zip back to the Web, and
summon the attack forces.
The Web Creatures have four stubby front limbs, a nasty beak, two
red-orange eyes, a dorsal horn and a tail for swimming through the air.
These enemies are smart enough to lure the fighters to their destruction,
including one car that smashes up against the posts underneath the pier.
[ABC does not show this car crash.]
One pair of creatures pursue three vehicles down a concrete canyon,
destroy one car and cause the Data Crane and other car to wipe each other
out. Things look even worse when the creatures start checking out the
hardware. Even Dot's big gun is not enough to keep them at bay.
A squadron of twelve CPUs is in hot pursuit of two enemy beings, who
split up as they reach the Principal Office. The dogfight follows the
circumference of the main dome, whereupon the bad guys take off straight up
and the good guys collide. All twelve cars are wiped out. [ABC does not
show this part of the battle.] Bob calls on Megabyte for more help, who
obliges by ordering his minions to support the CPUs. At least nine rows of
nine columns of Armored Binome Carriers (ABC tanks) take position.
(Apparently Megabyte did not want to show the full extent of his forces
right away.) The guns on the ABCs are more powerful and more accurate than
the other weapons, and enemies start dropping right and left. Hack and
Slash get into the act.
The battle takes terrible toll on the Mainframe force. One binome
successfully ejects from Data Crane above the Principal
Office, but the disabled vehicle crashes into Dot's Diner and destroys it
utterly; big impressive fireballs. [ABC cut this scene.] (No indication as
to whether Cecil was still in the Diner or not.)
Megabyte urges Mouse to hurry up, and she says "just tell the witch to be
ready". Hexadecimal takes this as a complement. Her expression changes on
screen as she gleefully charges the hardware with energy. Bob says it's time
to shut the portal, but Megabyte steps in. MB cuts Dot's gun in half with is
claws, and silences Bob before the Guardian can give a command to Glitch.
MB then removes the Guardian's keytool, crumples it, and tosses Bob into a
holding chamber. Mouse tries to stop MB, but HD knocks her away. Megabyte
gets a really evil look on his face has he launches Bob into the Web's portal,
then fires the hardware, destroying the portal.
Mainframe is saved, but at a terrible cost. Dot is distracted by Bob's
broken keytool and does not notice Hexadecimal approaching with fearsome fangs.
Mouse disables HD with a blast from her ring, then she and Dot jump into her
fighting ship.
Megabyte lets them get away; he has other plans. He orders his men to
destroy the remaining Web Spores, then turn the guns on the CPUs. Hexadecimal
gets very excited at the idea of turning the hardware around and pointing it
at the Principal Office.
But inside Phong's war room, the binomes are jumping up and down in
celebration. As far as they know they've won. This lasts until Binky and
"Sir" report that the ABC's have turned on them ("The treacherous
dogs!"). MB demands that Phong drop the defenses ("welcome to Megaframe"),
but the ancient one vows to fight to the last. MB states that they have lost
their Guardian, then AndrAIa convinces Enzo to pick up Bob's crushed keytool.
Once on Enzo's wrist, Glitch is able to reconfigure to a smaller version of
itself. "I am Guardian Matrix, charged with defending this system. Two
viruses taking over my home? I don't think so!"
Cut to: The ReBoot logo taking up the entire screen. The words "End Prog."
at the bottom, with a blinking red question mark.
[ image='../images/EndProg.gif' descr='(ReBoot)' ]
?
This is the end of the 2nd season. No more new episodes until September 1996.
== References ==
* CPU - Central Police Unit = cop car.
* Heavy artillery - a moveable chair with 4 big guns like _Star Wars_.
* Dot's strap-on gun is similar to ones used in the movie _Aliens_.
* Picadilly Circuits - the London Underground (subway) has a
major stop at Picadilly Circus.
* The A12 on the trunk of each CPU car matches _Adam-12_.
* The battle in the concrete canyon between skyscrapers matches the
trench in _Star Wars_.
* A binome ejecting just like _DieHard II_.
* "The ABC's have turned on us." ABC Television dropped ReBoot from
its Saturday morning line-up.
== Did You Notice ==
(See also the quotes for episode 23)
* The name "Mark Leiren-Young" is spelled correctly for the "Written By"
credit, but had "ie" wrong in the "Story By" credit.
* Walking with the tank: Ms Debutante, Fat Elvis, Cowboy, kid with baseball
bat and cap, Small-Town binome with hardhat, Mr Afro hair, Mr straw hat.
* The first time we get a good look at Bob, he is not wearing his icon.
* The penguin appears in front of a tank.
* Enzo's updated icon looks like Bob's: gold and black with black triangle
pointing up, instead of white and black with black triangle pointing
down. (Phong's icon has a curved boundary in a Yin/Yang configuration.)
* Just before Enzo reboots into his Guardian uniform, the upgraded one
on his chest, and a bogus one on his cap.
* In Picadilly Circuits: Bowler hat and spats, toddler with pacifier,
Miss Brodie, Mama and baby binome, Green hat, Grey hat, two kids playing
Patty Cake (another tartan and a pageboy haircut), Dredlocks.
* Screamin Donuts.
* The Zero loses his helmet when making a barrel roll while in pursuit.
* When Hex changes from angry to happy, we can see the mask changing
(instead of having the switchover hidden by her hand).
* Mouse's ship is named "Ship".
* The Data Crane piloted by "Sir" and "Binky" (Algernon
Cholmondley-Worthington III and Binky Ffarquarson) emits a drone like a
World War II plane.
* Mouse's soulution to keeping the Web out resembles the solution to keep
enemies (and tourists) out of OZ in "The Emerald City of OZ".
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ReBoot: 3rd season, arc 1
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_ReBoot Episodes 24-27_
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=== The third season of ReBoot is in production ===
The animators at BLT (Mainframe Entertainment Inc.) are busy working
on the third season of ReBoot. The coming season will be shown
in Canada and internationally. Alliance expects to show it in the US by
syndicating it to independent TV stations.
== Unanswered Questions ==
Bob is stuck in the Web without his Guardian keytool. This is going to make
it very difficult for him to get back to Mainframe. How many episodes
will it take before he is seen again? One? Three? Thirteen?
How much time will have passed in Mainframe before the third season starts?
Will Enzo still be a kid, or will he have to grow up quickly while defending
Mainframe from the viruses?
== Story arc 3A ==
The 16 episodes of Season III will be in 4 four-part story arcs.
The following is unverified rumor:
24. To Mend And Defend
25. Between a Raccoon and a Hard Place
26. Terminal Speed
27. Game Over
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