ReBoot! (The CGI Animated Series)

[Yukaphile]

Ah, thanks - seems it had gotten a bit out of hand, huh? Mod hath its privileges.

Hell yes. Best fight scene ever! Hope Chuck reviews ReBoot someday! I wonder what he'd think of Season 3. Dear God...

Which is your favorite ReBoot girl, Steve?

[Yukaphile]

@AllanO The thing I suspect is what went into what made B5 so great happened with ReBoot Season 3 too. At least from what I read. At the end, the studio gave up on it, so the creative forces had a free pass (says on TV Tropes that after Season 2, they most likely just left JMS to his own devices). My feeling is that, with their oh so high opinion of us, if they had known ReBoot could sell well, would be popular, then Season 3 would have been hit with far more direct oversight, something similar to Season 1 - in other words, they would have ruined it.

ReBoot is most definitely fitting into my eight-way sci-fi crossover. How? What system does Mainframe belong to? Simple. THE STARGATE PROGRAM'S MAINFRAME. With a lot of the programming code written up by flippin' CARTER. Teal'c was the one playing Immortal Konflict (ouch), since in between periods where they took to the field, instructing SG personnel, providing intel, and training, Teal'c would have been very bored. And the Supercomputer is the Pentagon mainframe. I have a few more ideas, if you wanna hear them in the Foldspace thread.

I really think ReBoot would find a new renaissance in today's world with all the technology we have if it was in the public domain. Fan projects could easily build on what the past had done. Alas...

[Yukaphile]

Also, Internet/technological references before they came about! "GameCube" and "Myspace."

[Mecha82]

I remember watching ReBoot back in day. I wasn't fan of series back then but it was good for it's time so it wasn't fault of series or it's creators but fault of my own taste.

[Yukaphile]

Why weren't you a fan? I love it! It's not just kids' programming done right (at least from Season 2 onward), but Season 3 is arguably made for all ages, since it doesn't talk down to anybody, it had strong, competent, and yet still realistically vulnerable female leads, it had a suave, sophisticated villain, and despite the CGI being dated, the concept (being a world set inside computers) ensures it holds up way better than Beast Wars, which is set in the real world, yet the limitations of technology at the time ensured, say, you can't suspend your disbelief like you can for Green Lantern: The Animated Series, or The Clone Wars.

[Yukaphile]

ReBoot is always deeply immersed in contemporary 1990s computer programming. I wouldn't be shocked if a few kids grew up to become computer designers or software programmers because of it. I'm still finding new ways to appreciate it, and I really wish Gavin Blair and others had come back for the reboot of ReBoot (HA!). Imagine a reboot that is tailored to the interconnected world we have today? Social media, video hosting and streaming sites, where your TV and cell phone and even watch are hooked up? So much potential. What a shame.

[Mecha82]

I just wasn't into story and characters. I mean setting and premise were cool but I didn't find story and characters appealing. Plus I was focusing more on Spiderman TAS and Power Rangers at that time as far as shows that I liked back then went. Also these days as far as early CGI animated shows go I find myself liking Beast Wars more because I find myself liking it's story and characters far more than I did with ReBoot. Then again I am still to this day huge Transformers nerd so that also has something to do with that.

[Yukaphile]

I mean, fair enough, you were a kid, but maybe you should go back and rewatch it. That changes when you're an adult. I think in terms of crafting incredibly complex three-dimensional characters, a refined and elegant villain, strong and competent but realistically vulnerable female characters, it should be the benchmark standard, if that is the creators' goal. I'm sure others here who are familiar with the series might even say it is everything Disney Star Wars is not. Maybe. No idea if anyone will, though.

[Beastro]

The big thing I always liked about the show was the perfect interplay of light-heartedness and seriousness. Even within the first episode Megabyte has a freaky menace to him and the shows gradual shift to dark seriousness came even within the first season (The end two parter with the concentration camp type stuff going on). All of that painted almost a fairy-tale picture with the sharp contrast between the kiddie fun bits and dangerous menace lurking around that took over in Season 3.

Reboot was the very first TV series to be entirely CGI. As dated as it is, it does have its charm.

I find that a big part of the charm in that it contains a bit of that odd bit of early 90s CGI showcased in things like The Mind's Eyes where creativity and oddness were a big part of why those shorts are so fascinating.

The third series Mainframe produced, Shadow Raiders, lasted two seasons before the studio stopped production altogether. It was even more ambitious than reboots prior seasons, but unfortunately struggled to find an audience and ended on a cliff hanger that did manage to provide a small bit of closure.

I've also heard the big nail in the coffin of the show was that poor performance of the toy line. Without that, the foundation of the show was undermined. In retrospect, so much of what made the show so good didn't help the toy line and I never knew it had one unlike Beasties implicit Transformer connection and knowing they threw out a line for ReBoot too.

The end I actually liked even if the whole thing on the prison world annoyed me in ways. For me, it was the right ending where the Beast Planet is something you cannot defeat; it can only be survived and the protagonists worlds are lucky to have gotten away.

Shadow Raiders too struck the last good balance with seriousness and Mainframe's known light heartedness even if it was more serious than the previous two shows. By that I mean that the "maturity" of Beast Machines dominated and came to be a determinant to the show as it seemed to forget it was a kids show in places.

While were on early CGI kids shows, an honourable mention is Insektors. It's more of a younger kids show with a simpler plot and structure, but it has its own neat charm to it so much so I with the show had focused more on the Yuks bickering and hadn't bothered with the Joyces.

It also beat ReBoot out as the first CGI show by mere few months.

[Steve]

Ah, thanks - seems it had gotten a bit out of hand, huh? Mod hath its privileges.

Hell yes. Best fight scene ever! Hope Chuck reviews ReBoot someday! I wonder what he'd think of Season 3. Dear God...

Which is your favorite ReBoot girl, Steve?

Thread derailments happen all the time, that's what we're here for.

Honestly it's been so long I don't have the best mental grip on their personalities anymore. If I wanted to be silly I'd go for freaking people out by saying "Hexadecimal".

Actually, wasn't there a purple lady with a sword and orange hair or something? Purple's my favorite color, so I might go with that.