As you can probably gather from my thoughts on most the episodes we've had so far this season, the one aspect that ReBoot has struggled is the stories. While the characters are great and there's a lot of charm and funny gags, I've found the plots of episodes (Medusa Bug asides) have been lacking a little. This episode is unfortunately one that follows this trend, as we're stuck with your typical 'two characters have a falling out and then make up at the end' episode, but luckily there's enough in this episode to make it worth watching.
Much like last episode, this episode opens at Dot's Diner. Dot is sat attending to business related matters. Appears angry as Bob and Enzo aren’t there. They eventually arrive, talking about some activity they’ve been playing. Dot isn’t amused, and asks where the two have been. Bob explains that he took Enzo circuit racing. Dot takes issue with this due to it not being on her schedule, meaning Enzo's now late for his ancient languages class and her whole schedule's been thrown out of whack. Bob thinks she needs to relax a little and let Enzo have a little fun. This starts an argument between the two, which culminates in Bob calling Dot 'pre programmed' and Dot calling Bob 'Random', with Bob proclaiming that he’d kiss a null before ever coming to the Diner again. After Bob leaves, Enzo asks Dot if they really mean it, to which she aggressively responds 'Bob? Bob Who?!'
We then cut to Bob's apartment. Bob's working on his car when Enzo contacts him via vid window, saying that him and Dot miss him (even if she won't admit it). Bob responds by saying he doesn’t need Dot, and has so much to do that he doesn’t have time to get it all done. We then see him lounging around his apartment doing nothing with Mike the TV, Bob's anthropomorphic television set. Mike then starts talking, leading to Bob throwing him out the building. This is his first of several appearances in the show, and while he comes across as annoying, the fact that he's intentionally annoying and self aware makes him more humorous than irritating.
Back at the Diner, Dot is refusing to call Bob. A tear shows up, and Enzo gets excited since it means that Bob will show up. However, Dot is content with dealing with this herself, and proceeds to pick up a stool to bat it out of the Diner, causing the Tear to explode along with the entrance to the Diner. Enzo breaks the fourth wall to say he needs to do something before someone gets hurt.
At the Principle Office, Enzo and a group of Binomes are trying to get Phong's advice. Mike commentates on the situation, which causes a mild panic after he suggests that Bob might return to the Super Computer for good. Phong then chimes in to say that broken friendships are best mended by either tragedy or apology. This gives Enzo an idea.
Enzo contacts Bob on a vid window to say he’s been captured by Megabyte at Old Man Pearson's Data Dump, then sends a similar message to Dot. Both leave to rescue Enzo. Enzo gets two Binomes to tie him to a conveyor belt leading towards a trash destroying machine. His plan is, of course, for Bob and Dot to put asides their differences to save him. This doesn’t happen, since as soon as the two meet, they start arguing again, meaning Frisket has to save Enzo at the last possible second. Bob says he would have been there sooner if it wasn’t for Dot, which sparks another row, culminating in Dot smacking Bob round the face. Enzo then decides to attempt the 'apology' option.
Bob receives a 'holomark card' with a hologram of Dot apologising, with Dot receiving a very similar card with a hologram of Bob. We cut to the two of them sitting on a bench as they start reconciling. Enzo and two Binomes observe from behind a tree. A voice then announces 'Warning! Incoming Game' as a game begins to land. Bob and Dot exchange pleasantries about how they can take on the Game together as a team, and Dot brings up the holomark card just before the Game lands.
The game is 'Starship Alcatraz', a space themed prison game where the User takes the form of a prisoner who has to escape and destroy the station. Bob and Dot argue some more as the User escapes his prison cell and activates the self destruct sequence. Bob and Dot decide to deal with the User and put their argument aside for now. Bob and Dot argue about what methods to use, careful planning or acting on instincts. The User cuts the power, so Dot turns on the auxiliary power. The two end up splitting as both believe a different path is the quickest to The User. Bob ends up on a calm elevator ride whereas Dot is on a path surrounded by alien prisoners. They both meet up at the top, and Dot fires her 'PCU's' to trap the prisoners in bubbles. Three prisoners stacked atop each other come up the elevator behind Bob, knocking him off.
One thing to note with 'The Tiff' is that BSNP had issues with the characters using guns. Ian Pearson checked if this would be okay given the context of the game is it's a futuristic prison game. BSNP said they could use guns, but they couldn't shoot bullets. This lead to Gavin and Ian coming up with the idea of having the guns shoot bubbles instead of bullets, which BSNP approved, but Ian said that the guns needed to be 'really big' and have to make aggressive firing noises.
Dot traps Bob in a bubble to break his fall, then spots the User on a higher platform. She fires, but all her shots just about miss. Bob uses Glitch to create cutting tools to get out of the bubble to no avail before using a pin, which successfully pops the bubble. Bob lands at a control panel, and asks Dot for her location. Dot chases the User, and asks Bob to turn the power back on. Bob isn’t sure how to do this as it requires ancient languages, and he admits he was wrong to call them useless at the start of the episode. Dot talks him through the process on her communicator while giving chase, and Bob is eventually able to turn the power back on. Bob then directs Dot to the User through the computer system as Bob uses the system to slow down the User.
Meanwhile, Dot ends up in a corridor full of prisoners. She proceeds to blast away at them, trapping them all in bubbles. She tricks The User into an escape pod, taking his access key. With seconds to spare, Dot is forced to jump down to meet Bob. Bob uses Glitch to make a trampoline to cushion her fall, and Dot puts the access key into the computer, stopping the self destruct sequence and ending the game.
Bob and Dot reconcile once the game leaves, complimenting each other for their skills in the game. Enzo seems to have given up on trying to mend their friendship only to find them getting along, although they quickly start arguing over who performed better in the game, with Bob thinking it was Dot and vice versa.
As said in the opening paragraph, the story is your cliche 'two main characters fall out and then reconcile at the end' episode that is pretty common in cartoons/programs aimed at children. Because of this, the story can feel a bit predictable and lacks stakes. It’s obvious that Bob and Dot are going to realise the error of their ways at the end, so the story suffers as a result of this. The lack of a villain like Megabyte or Hexadecimal kind of means the episode lacks a direct threat. However, where the episode really shines is it's Game. The game this time around makes for a fun set piece with some great action, making the episode worth it just for that sequence. It also makes for a great way for Bob and Dot to have to get out of their comfort zones to win the game. Bob is forced to utilise planning like Dot normally would to keep one step ahead of the User, and Dot is forced to think on the fly like Bob typically does in order to win the game before the station explodes. Overall, while the plot lacks a little this time, the game in the third act makes up for the predictable plot.
Next time: Megabyte is bested by a young child and his dog in 'In The Belly of the Beast'.
In Racing the Clock, we were introduced to the character of Hexadecimal. She only appeared briefly in the episode, but she was easily the most interesting thing about the episode due to how much mystery surrounds her character. We know that she doesn't get along with Megabyte, and isn't averse to killing anyone who gets in her way, but what are her intentions? In this episode, we get to see what Hex is truly capable of, and from this episode, we can see that she's arguably a bigger threat to our heroes than Megabyte.
The episode starts in Dot's Diner. Dot and Enzo are leaving, but Dot is reluctant to leave since she has a lot of business related matters to check up on. Enzo insists that she needs a break, and she eventually relents. Outside the Diner, we see Bob in his car, and Dot is surprised that it’s actually running (although Bob has to hit it in order to keep it in the air). Dot runs back inside while Enzo isn't looking, and Bob and Enzo decide to carry her to the car before leaving.
We cut to the bridge leading to Los Angles, where we see Megabyte's limo going across the bridge away from Los Angles, stopping in front of Hack and Slash. Megabyte gloats about how he now has something called 'The Medusa', some kind of powerful weapon created by Hexadecimal. Hex interrupts them, storming out of the ground in outrage, asking for the Medusa back. After Megabyte refuses, she says that she’ll have to destroy them all, and she commands a barrage of nulls to attack. Hack and Slash break off a section of a bridge, causing the nulls to fall down into the energy sea below. After Hex vows to smite him herself, Megabyte leaves while ordering his forces to show her some of their own toys. Megabyte's tanks get into formation, preparing to fire. Hex seems unfazed by this, but the tanks fire anyway. After the smoke clears, we see Hex is still in one piece, cheerfully waving. Her mask changes to an aggressive, creepy smile as Hex prepares two energy blasts from her fists, causing the tanks to flee in terror.
We then cut to Silicon Tor, where Megabyte's lieutenant giving a report in the battle via a vid window, saying that Hex disappeared after saying she was bored. After he signs off, Megabyte monologues about how Hexadecimal's increased security lead him to discovering and acquiring the Medusa. He then activates it, but then it starts turning his arm to stone. Upon realising that this is a viral bug, he starts searching for a diagnosis on his computer, only to be told this is an unknown file type. Hexadecimal appears on a vid window to gloat, and Megabyte furiously realises that the whole thing was a trap before fully turning to stone along with the rest of Silicon Tor. Hex seems conflicted about if this was the right thing to do before letting out a chilling laugh.
At a park, Dot is relaxing while Bob is trying to fix his car. Turns out he broke down not too far from the Diner. Enzo spots Frisket being chased by the Medusa, which is turning everything in it’s path into stone. It eventually catches up to Frisket, turning him to stone. Enzo tries to rush off after him, but Dot holds him back. Bob tries to get a reading with Glitch, but it comes up as an unknown file type. After realising that they’re going to be next, Bob uses Glitch to start the car, but it’s still not starting. Dot manages to start it just in time, with Bob jumping in at the last minute. Enzo is upset about Frisket, and Dot says that there’s no use trying to help if the same thing happens to them, and that they’ll be back once they know what they’re dealing with. Dot asks Bob what it was, and he responds by saying they need to see Phong immediately.
This time, Phong doesn't insist on them playing pong in order to give advice. Or at least, it's not shown on screen. However, I'm going to assume that considering how drastic this situation is, Phong understands that now is not the time to withhold his knowledge unless they beat him at Pong. He tells them that it’s a bug that will infect everything in its path, but Bob might be immune due to being a Guardian. Enzo believes that Megabyte is behind this, and says that they should crash his tower. Bob isn’t so sure as it’s too unpredictable and dangerous for Megabyte, leading to the conclusion that Hexadecimal is behind this, which backed up by Phong revealing that even the Tor is infected, but Hex's island isn’t. Bob states that he’s worried and will need everything they've got to stop this. Phong reveals that the longer something is infected, the faster it decays, with low energy items being the first to go with Sprites being the last. Enzo panics about Frisket's potential fate. Phong tasks Dot and Enzo with getting the citizens out of the bug's path while he and Bob look for something that could stop this bug. Bob asks Phong for some high tech tools to destroy the bug only to be reminded by Phong that this isn’t the Super Computer. The best they have is a primitive Viral Erase Command (shaped like a rubber), Bob decides that it might work if he boosts this with an add on.
We see loads of vehicles evacuating everyone to the Principle Office. Bob zooms off to try and stop the bug. Hex observes through her looking glass, stating that this will be interesting. Bob throws the erase command, creating a large fire that cures everything engulfed within it. However, this is short lived as everything reverts back to stone once the fire stops. Bob is worried, asking 'Where's a Game Cube when you need one?' Bob returns to the Principle Office as the citizens of Mainframe take refuge inside. The shields are raised, but the Medusa is able to break this down and the building (along with everyone inside it) is turned to stone.
Bob screams ‘NO!' as the stone casing around him comes off. Turns out that Bob is immune after all. Bob says he won’t let Hex get away with this. Inside her lair, we see Hex has decorated the lair with some of the Medusa's victims. She tries to converse with Scuzzy, but he’s been turned to stone as well. Bob arrives, riding in on a zip line and kicking Hex off of her throne. Bob tries to infect Hex with the Medusa by throwing a stone teddy (previously a Bob plush toy) at her. Hex stops this mid air with her powers, commenting on how disappointing it is that Bob is immune to the Medusa before saying she’ll have to kill him the old fashioned way. Bob tries to escape via a line as Hex lunges at him only for Hex to have him suspended in mid air with a choke grip. Bob then tells her how he likes all the changes Hex has made to Mainframe and how predictable and peaceful things will be now. Hex is horrified by this and snaps her fingers to reverse the Medusa's effects. Back at the park, Bob, Dot, Enzo and Frisket are relaxing, but after Bob decides to have a nap, a voice announces 'Warning, Incoming Game!'
When this episode initially aired on ABC, this wasn't the ending that aired. At the time of this episode's airing, there were no other episodes that had been completed. Because of this, ABC decided to show a version of the episode that instead had the Medusa Bug come back at the end of the episode. In the intervening weeks between episodes, ABC aired short bumpers which follow on from this ending. Basically, this new Medusa Bug was created by Megabyte, and Bob needs to go to the Super Computer to find something called the 'Trias Effect' in order to cure it. This is non canon, of course, but it helped to keep the show in the minds of the viewers while they were waiting for new episodes.
YTV aired the episode with the ending we have now, and just re ran those four episodes in the intervening weeks while the next few episodes were in production, and the ratings only got stronger the more the shows aired (in fact, the show performed best in a Prime Time slot). Instead of re running the episodes, ABC decided to air 'Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad', a Power Rangers cash in using footage from the 'Gridman' series spliced with new, American shot footage. This is a little ironic considering what we ended up getting with last year's spin off series 'ReBoot: The Guardian Code' (I'll get more into my thoughts on that at the end of this retrospective, but in short, it's incredibly mediocre).
This is easily the best episode so far in this first season. The stakes here are rather large in comparison to what we've got in previous episodes, and the story is much more engaging than the previous few episodes. We truly get to see how much power Hexadecimal has and we can see that, if she wanted to, she could have control of Mainframe. Even in her first scene this episode, we can see that she has control over the nulls, and that she has access to energy blasts she can fire out of her hands as well as the ability to form a force field around herself to shield her from attacks directed at her. Heck, in this episode, she nearly destroys the whole city. It was only because Bob appealed to her love of chaos and unpredictability that she was convinced to reverse the effects of what she’d done. This is also the first time where we see the show break away from the formula established in the previous three episodes, with the Game Cube not showing up until the end of the episode and isn't seen on screen.
The only real downside is that this is the last we're going to see of Hexadecimal until next season. It's a shame as she’s a great character who potentially poses more of a threat to Mainframe than Megabyte, raising the stakes immensely when she’s involved. While it’ll be a while until Hex plays a major role in an episode again, it will definitely be worth the wait once we get there. On it's own merits though, this episode holds up incredibly well, combining the charm and great characters we've got in previous episodes with an engaging plot.
Next week: Bob and Dot fall out and we get to see guns that shoot bubbles in 'The Tiff'
Nostalgia can be a funny thing. While I didn't see the majority of ReBoot's first season until I was 14, I did see this episode and the next one when I was younger through owning one of the two VHS tapes of the show that were released in the UK (still unfortunately the only home video releases of the show released over here). Because of this, I was expecting to be a bit more favourable towards these two episodes out of nostalgia. However, while this episode does have a lot of charm and fun sequences, the story doesn't really hold up even with my nostalgia glasses on.
This episode starts at Megabyte's fortress Silicon Tor, and we see Megabyte has a giant device shaped like a magnet. This device then extrudes out of the lair before shooting a beam into the sky. This starts to create a giant whirlpool. This is the first time we see that Megabyte has a pet null named Nibbles. Megabyte monologues to Nibbles about how this is his path to the super computer. Bob interrupts, and is then chased by the viral binomes as Bob goes towards the magnet. Megabyte isn’t worried as Bob will be erased if he gets within ten bits of the magnet.
After Bob disposes of his goons by taking their zip boards, Megabyte presses a button on his throne, and his legs appear out of a trap door in the floor. Bob uses Glitch to cut the wiring on the device, causing the beam to stop and the device to collapse. We see Megabyte attach his legs to his torso, and he starts scaling the wall. Bob uses Glitch to collect the small magnet powering the device and places it within a metal casing. Megabyte leaps at him only for Bob to dodge. As Bob flies away, we cut Megabyte clinging to side of the tor.
We then cut to Dot's Diner. Enzo pounces Bob as soon as he enters, excitedly telling him about how he heard about Bob's latest adventure. Dot orders him a drink, and we then see said drink speeding out of the diner as Dot refers to her diner as serving the 'fastest food in Mainframe'. Bob puts the magnet on table which panics the patrons, but they relax once they realise its shielded. Dot suggests to Bob that he should take it to Old Man Pearson's data dump. We won't see this in this episode, but Old Man Pearson will be making an appearance in a few episodes time. Bob lets Enzo have a go of Glitch. It starts of innocently enough with Enzo turning Glitch into a hammer and a flashlight, but things start to get out of hand when Enzo turns it into a jackhammer. Bob orders Glitch to stop, but the casing holding the magnet drops onto the floor, causing it to open. The magnet is released, and latches onto Dot. Bob uses Glitch to reclaim the magnet, but she collapses. Enzo blames himself, but Bob reassures him before panicking himself, asking if anyone knows how to reverse a magnetic erasure. Cecil tells him Phong would know, and Bob rushes off.
Of course, in order for Phong to help Bob, Bob needs to play Pong with him. Bob reminds Phong that Dot needs help now and not later. After Bob wins, it is revealed that there's a binome inside the Pong Puck. Phong tells Bob that he needs to get her something called 'slow food' that will return her to normal. Back at the Diner, Bob tells Dot and Enzo he needs to go to Al's Wait and Eat on Level 31 in order to acquire the slow food. Dot insists that he shouldn't go as it’d be too dangerous, but she can barely finish a sentence in her current state. Enzo asks to come with Bob, but Bob says him and Dot are counting on him at the Diner.
This is where we first see Al's, and this is where we see a few Sprites in the Diner. These sprites appear in the background of a few episodes, but aren't named in the show outside of the 1995 trading cards. We also meet Al and Al's Waiter. Al's Waiter. Al's Waiter speaks in an incredibly low voice, and Al is never seen, and can only be heard saying 'WHAT?!'. Bob speaks to the waiter, who tells Bob to take a number. Bob's number is 4096, but the waiter says that he’s now serving number 3.
At the Tor, we see Megabyte talking to Hack and Slash. He tasks them with retrieving the magnet from Bob. Back at Al's, we see an anthropomorphic Number 7 who has the same tongue as a Xenomorph from the Alien franchise (complete with an egg on the able in front of him). The punchline to this joke is that everyone's afraid of 7 'because 7 ate 9'. While this gag isn't particularly funny itself, the fact that there's an Alien reference in a children's show makes it worth it.
Of course, as we get on through the show these kind of pop culture references/parodies become a bit more elaborate. Bob gets annoyed at waiter, then rushes at Number 8. He won’t give up his food as he’s been 'waiting for this since I was 4'. Hack and Slash arrive, the waiter says 'we already paid Megabyte, don’t smash up the place again'. This gives off the impression that Megabyte is organising a 'protection racket' and is charging the diner money in exchange for leaving them in peace. Megabyte appears on a vid window says he’s looking for a 'dear friend'. Bob makes a deal with waiter - Bob gets slow food in exchange for getting rid of Hack and Slash. Bob appears and heads out the diner on his zip board. Hack and Slash chase through city, and then a voice announces 'Warning, Incoming Game!' Bob stalls them via vid window to say they won’t catch him before the game comes. They crash into the game and smash into pieces as Megabyte orders a clean up crew to Level 1.
This episode's game is a Sword and Sorcery game. Bob ReBoots into a knight in golden armour, but then gets knocked over by the user, who is taking the form of a knight in silver armour. We hear the voice of a damsel in a tower calling for help. Bob believes this to be Dot, and then takes a dragon from a nearby barn. The User tries to jump on Bob's dragon only to be pushed off. The User falls off onto a a dragon of his own and begins giving chase. Bob finds out that Al's waiter is controlling his dragon, with Al controlling the fire breathing. After a brief chase, this sequence ends with Bob and the User jousting on dragons. Bob wins, knocking the user off. He asks Al's Waiter to keep the user busy while he rescues the damsel. Bob uses the command 'Glitch - BSNP' to teleport through the stain glass window of the castle. There's a reason why the command given here is 'BSNP', and this paragraph will be explaining that. BSNP stands for 'Broadcast Standards and Practices', which was the name of ABC's program censors.
In my summary of 'The Tearing', I mentioned that there were a couple of reasons that the show's creators has a couple of restrictions in place preventing them from telling the types of stories they wanted to tell. One of those reasons was BSNP's restrictions on the show. ReBoot Co-Creator Gavin Blair has previously said that BSNP aren't in place to 'protect the kids' as they say they do, but are instead in place to prevent the network from getting sued in case children imitate questionable behaviour. Some of the restrictions in place include not having violence, not allowing characters to be in peril prior to cutting to commercial breaks, banning guns or sharp weaponry such as swords, and Bob not being allowed to jump through windows in case children copied him. Some of the more ridiculous complaints BSNP had includes not allowing Dot to have two breasts (hence why she has the infamous 'monobreast' she sports during these first two seasons) and not allowing the use of the phrase 'hockey puck' since it's apparently slang for 'a mixture of faeces and semen' (there is a shot out there of Bob playing hockey which was created as a birthday card for Mainframe's star Hockey Player which was later released as a wall paper). The show never shied away from making digs at BSNP within the show, and we'll get into a few of these gags when we get to certain episodes in the first couple of seasons. The 'BSNP' command used by Glitch to move Bob through the stain glass window is one such instance of this, but another one that can't be seen in the show is that one of the texture maps used for some of the buildings has 'Fuck You Broadcast Standards' written in binary hidden somewhere in there.
As Bob enters the castle, he's in a room with an impaled skeleton on a stone table. He takes the sword out of the skeleton, and proceeds to the door. This causes the skeleton to awaken and the door to the next room to close. Bob and the skeleton have a sword fight. The skeleton clutches his sword and this causes part of the floor to retract, revealing a pit of spikes. Bob's sword gets knocked out of his hand and he gets knocked down the pit, clinging onto the edge. He uses Glitch to generate a large vid window, the sound of which shatters the skeleton. Bob grabs the skeleton's sword after climbing up, and the runs up tower to find the damsel is....
Enzo, who has a microphone which turns his voice into Dots when he speaks into it. He was calling for help as he's embarrassed about being the damsel, saying he wanted to ReBoot into a knight like Bob. It also turns out that in his current state, Enzo can't move as his feet don't even reach the floor. Dot and The User jump through the window in the middle of a battle. After The User break's Bob's sword, he realises that The User's icon is his weak point. After Dot takes on The User before getting tired, Enzo delivers finishing blow by throwing his microphone, knocking The User out the window and ending the game.
After the game leaves, Bob asks Dot how she managed to return to normal. It turns out that Dot and Al are business partners and she vid windowed for a delivery of slow food. After Bob offers her the slow food he got for her, Enzo is grabbed by Megabyte. He tells Bob he'd like the magnet back, so Bob throws it at him and it lands on his forehead. He falls off the building and Hack and Slash follow suit. Bob remarks that they aren’t even close to Al's before asking Dot I’d there’s anything in Mainframe she doesn’t own as we pan up to a wide shot of Mainframe to end the episode.
This episode further establishes the formula of the show that we've seen in the first two episodes (I.e. a problem needs resolving, then there’s a Game Cube, then the problem is resolved). We get some fun action sequences, namely the opening sequence at Megabyte's lair and the sword and sorcery adventures within the game. We get to see more of Dot being able to handle things herself and not needing to rely on Bob to get her out of trouble, further establishing her as a strong female character. The show's charm also shines through in this episode, and some of the gags we get land pretty well. Much like the previous two episodes,the story is a little weak, but this one is a little more so in comparison. Bob's quest in this episode is essentially pointless since Dot was able to cure herself without his help, plus it was pretty careless of him to allow a child to have control of this incredibly powerful tool. Megabyte ends up with the magnet at the end of the episode, but we don't know what happens in the aftermath of this because the next episode has nothing to do with this. However, this episode has it's moments, and they outweigh the slightly mediocre story.
Next week: A true demonstration of Hexadecimal's power in 'Medusa Bug'.
As we make our way through this first season of ReBoot, you'll notice that the majority of the episodes are self contained, episodic adventures. Normally, these end with the reset button being pushed with all the episode's plot threads resolved ready for the next episode. While this isn't a problem in and of itself since this is what a lot of cartoons were doing at the time, it can make a lot of the episodes in this season feel like filler. In fact, some episodes are only really necessary watching because of later episodes bringing back characters from these episodes, but we'll get to those later. While The Tearing introduced us to the world of Mainframe and provided us with the start of the conflict between Bob and Megabyte, this episode briefly introduces us to a new character but doesn't really have any relevance to the storyline outside of that.
The episode opens at Dot's Diner with a tracking shot going through the doors. There are lots of signs in the diner, which lead up to Enzo sitting at table with Vid Windows in front of him. He gets excited about a call coming through, answering the call as 'Enzo's Overwrite Delivery Service'. The caller is a zero binome named Jean Luc, an obvious parody of Captain Picard from 'Star Trek: The Next Generation'. This is the first of several Star Trek references that we'll get throughout the series. Seeing as I'm more of a casual Trekkie (i.e. I've seen Wrath of Khan, First Contact and a handful of episodes of both TNG and the original Trek series as well as knowing a few details here and there), there's probably a fair few references that I'm going to miss that more die hard Trekkies will probably spot in a heartbeat.
It turns out that the call is a wrong number since Jean Luc is asking for Dot. Cecil gets annoyed about the amount of signs, asking Enzo if this is 'a sign of things to come'. Dot and Bob enter the diner, with Cecil slamming the door in Bob's face as soon as Dot enters. Dot asks about how Enzo's delivery service is going, and he lies about how well it’s going. Bob and Dot go off to mend a tear that appeared after the last game.
Enzo falls asleep at his monitor, only to get a call from none other than Megabyte. He wants Enzo to deliver all his deliveries for him. While Enzo is initially hesitant since Dot hates Megabyte, he’s swayed over by Megabyte's promises of 'daring deliveries to exotic places'. After Enzo agrees, Megabyte gives Enzo a 'Test Program' to prove he’s worthy of delivering Megabyte's goods. He asks him to deliver a parcel to someone called Hexadecimal but he's not to tell her who sends it. Hack passes Enzo the package through a vid window, and then Enzo signs off. We then zoom up through Megabyte's Throne Room to see a round, almost feline like creature spying on him.
In the cellar of the Diner, Bob is using Glitch to locate the tear. After it’s located, the tear starts erupting and causing chaos. Bob quickly mends the tear with Glitch and the issue is resolved. They’re interrupted by Enzo excitedly running to tell them about his first delivery. While they’re equally excited at first, they show concern after Enzo let's slip that he’s delivering the package to Hexadecimal, stopping Enzo just before he heads off. Enzo lies after Dot asks him who sent it, telling her it’s from Jean Luc. Bob suspects it’s a bomb, so uses Glitch to X-Ray the package. It turns out to be a mask with a clock in it. Dot still won’t let Enzo go on account of it being too dangerous. After Enzo gets downtrodden about how his business is ruined, Dot delegates Bob with the task of delivering the package instead.
We then cut to a dark room where we zoom past a row of masks similar to the package Enzo is delivering leading to a mysterious woman sitting in the centre of the room. Her face is silhouetted, but we can see that she’s holding two of the masks, seemingly choosing between the two as she monologues “so many moods, so little time”. She chooses the mask with a smile. This is Hexadecimal, the recipient of Megabyte's package. Hexadecimal communicates by changing masks depending on her mood, only changing masks off camera or when her face is obscured. She’s approached by the feline from earlier, whom she names as 'Scuzzy'. She gets frustrated with him for 'interrupting me while I’m putting on my face'. She makes a hole in the floor underneath him and he falls through. She changes her mind instantly and stops his fall just before he hits the sea below him. Scuzzy shows a recording of Megabyte and Hack and Slash. Hack is holding the package as Megabyte tells them that it’s a delete command disguised as a mask, and that he needs a poor unsuspecting fool to deliver it. We can see a file of Enzo on the vid window he’s looking at. Upon learning this, Hexadecimal says that she’ll delete Megabyte and his delivery boy before letting out a chilling laugh.
Bob goes to Los Angles, an island connected to Mainframe by an elaborate looking bridge. Unlike Mainframe, Los Angles is in a state of ruin and disarray. Enzo breaks the fourth wall to complain about how he 'misses all the cool stuff'. Bob goes through an archway only to vanish and reappear upside down a few metres away. Enzo says if he can’t do the delivery, he can always watch it. Bob is followed by a trail of nulls, small parasitic worm like creatures. This is what sprites and binomes degrade into when the user wins a game and they're caught inside, so essentially, these are all citizens of Mainframe who have lost games.
Bob is then blocked off by a bomb. The nulls approach him, and Bob tells them to 'find someone else's energy to eat' before getting sucked into a hole in the ground similar to how Scuzzy was earlier. He falls through an elaborate tunnel before emerging in Hexadecimal's Lair. They great each other, and Hex says that she didn’t expect the delivery boy to be him (seems particularly happy to see him). Bob gives Hex the package while acting surprised, breaking it open to reveal the delete command. She says that she already has a mask, and that Bob needs to return it to Megabyte. After Bob learns that Megabyte sent the mask, he tries to get Hex to keep it, but she plants the mask on Bob and uses her powers to send her flying out of her lair.
Enzo's standing right by where Bob vanished and sees Bob flying from The now re emerged hole. Enzo uses his Zip Board to stop the hole from closing and listens in. Hexadecimal monologues about how the bomb should go off just as Bob reaches Megabyte. Enzo of course panics, and blames himself for this. Dot sees Bob flying through the air just before Enzo pounces on her ranting about how they need to save Bob and that the mask was from Megabyte. Dot stops him, and then says they need to warn Bob while there’s still a Bob to warn. Bob doesn’t want to deliver the package to Megabyte, and slows down, using Glitch to form a propeller. Dot and Enzo approach just before a voice announces 'Warning, Incoming Game!'
Binomes run in panic and traffic goes haywire as the game emerges. Bob heads towards the game as Dot and Enzo do the same, only just making it. The game is a Formula 1 game. Bob ReBoots, but the mask gets attached to the front of his car. Dot and Enzo ReBoot themselves and give chase (Enzo initially goes in reverse before correcting his mistake). Bob overtakes all the cars with the User's car not too far behind. He’s knocked back by the user knocking another racer out the race as his car faces the racers coming from the other direction. Luckily, they all drive right past him. Bob reverses and turns around just before another racer collides with him.
Bob is now in 18th place, but uses Nitros to catch up. Enzo tells Dot how to use Nitros. They catch up to Bob, and she tells him his car is a bomb. Bob misunderstands, and as Dot tries to explain this to him, she flies up a ramp and off the course, landing on top of a tent. In lap 2, the cars become hover cars. Enzo picks up Dot who falls in. The user leaves mines on the track. Bob manages to swerve past the mines, but the binomes behind aren’t so lucky as they all hit the mines one after the other. Dot manages to avoid most the mines by looping over the track, which impresses Enzo. She gets distracted by this and hits a mine, destroying her hover craft.
Lap 3 has the vehicles turn into jet planes as the track forms loops. Enzo is down about Bob being unaware of the bomb, but Dot has an idea. She takes a truck into the road, getting Enzo to drop its load on the track. Bob ejects just before the plane hits it, detonating the bomb. Dot and Enzo assume the worst. A massive tear appears in the middle of the track as a voice announces 'Warning, Game Corruption!'
Bob levitates down and exclaims that 'This is not good!' Bob yells the others to run as the tear expands and obliterates the game area, creating a hole that sucks everything down. The corrupted game cube shrinks until disappearing, revealing that Bob, Dot, Enzo, and all the binomes are okay. Enzo pounces on Bob as soon as the game ends, telling Bob that he should have 'copied and pasted the truth from the start'.
As they walk towards the Diner, Bob seems happy that Dot risked his life to enter the game and save him. Dot responds by telling him that she couldn’t let anything happen to Bob as Enzo wouldn’t have been able to forgive himself otherwise. Bob quickly chases after her as we see Megabyte appear on a Vid Window to Enzo, telling him that he’s been 'fired' and that he’s now using Hack and Slash for his deliveries. We then see Hack and Slash holding a giant torpedo as they explain to Megabyte that Hexadecimal said she already had one. The torpedo goes off as wee see fire erupt out of Megabyte's fortress, and Megabyte chastises them for this.
Much like The Tearing, this is a pretty fun episode. The game is an interesting take on Formula 1, and there’s some fun jokes and humour to be found. Hexadecimal comes across as ambiguous and creepy. We don’t see much of her this episode, but what we do see gives a lasting impression. We don’t know what her intentions are, but she’s definitely not an ally of Megabyte's. She also seems to be a little unstable, and appears to have a large amount of power, which could become a problem if anyone stands in her way.
However, again, what let’s this episode down for me is the simplistic story. This is probably going to repeat a lot throughout the majority of episodes this season, but while the episode is held together by its charm, the jokes, and Hexadecimal's presence, the story just isn’t super engaging. Plus while it’s great to see Hexadecimal, we'll get a much better demonstration of this character in a couple of episodes time. This makes this episode feel a bit like filler since it doesn't really add anything to the story. At least with The Tearing, we got the impression that it was the first time Bob and Megabyte had an encounter of the sorts and set up future conflicts between the two, but this one just feels like business as usual, and the only time events of this episode are referred to are in a later episode when Megabyte makes a one off reference to Enzo being a delivery boy. With that said, while this episode has it's fun moments, you won't be missing too much if you skip it.
Next week: Magnets, Slow Food, and Dragons in 'The Quick and The Fed'.
ReBoot made it's debut on September 10th 1994 on ABC in the US, airing on YTV in Canada a week later on the 17th September 1994 and eventually airing on ITV during it's CITV block in the UK a few months later on January 4th 1995. Seeing as I was only about one at the time, I didn't see this episode on it's initial airing, and like I said in my introductory post, I wasn't aware of the show's existence until it was partway into it's third season. Because of this, I don't really have much nostalgia for the first season of ReBoot, so this is likely to affect a lot of my opinions as we get through this first season.
While this was the first episode aired and the intended first episode of the entire show, this was actually the second episode produced with the second intended episode 'Racing the Clock' being produced first. The reason behind this was the crew wanted to iron out all the kinks with regards to the animation so that the first episode that people saw didn't have those kinks. So without further ado, let's get started on the episode that started it all, 'The Tearing'.
Like most episodes of the show, we start with the opening sequence. This does a good job of explaining the premise of the show before launching us right into the action. We start with a camera zooming through some platforms floating above what looks like sand dunes heading towards a silver ball in the middle as a voice narrates to us that he comes from somewhere called 'The Net'. As we reach the ball, the camera continues to zoom, but now through a tunnel of lights before panning down to reveal a disc shaped city surrounded by water, which the narrator tells us is 'Mainframe'. He goes onto explain that he's a Guardian, who's function is 'To Mend and Defend'. Following some clips taken from the show, a purple cube falls out of the sky onto a section of Mainframe. The narrator comes back in to tell us that 'They say the user lives outside the net, and inputs games for pleasure'. We then cut to a close up shot of this narrator, who turns out to be a blue man with silver dreadlocks we have already seen several clips of in this intro as he tells us that 'No one knows for sure, but I intend to find out!'
The latter part is a little misleading, considering that the show's characters make no efforts to uncover the mystery of 'who the user is and why he drops games on the city'. This line was not written by the show's creators, but someone in LA. The creators weren't too keen on the line, but it was kept in at the behest of the network. Asides from this misleading line at the end, this is a pretty good intro. It tells us a little about our main character, that he's an outsider who's now living in a place called 'Mainframe', and that his job is to defend the city from danger.
Following the intro, we're flung right into the action. Our hero is being chased by two almost identical robots riding tanks. He's able to trick them into crashing into each other, causing them to smash to pieces. These robots are Hack and Slash, the dim witted henchmen to our main villain, Megabyte.
As for our hero, his name is Bob. While a fair amount of characters are named after computer terminology, Bob is an exception to that. He was named Bob because Gavin Blair and Ian Pearson, the show's creators, liked the way that Rowan Atkinson said the name 'Bob' in the sitcom 'Blackadder'. Bob is not your typical stoic cartoon action hero. He's a little goofy, but can be serious if the situation calls for it.
Following this action scene, Megabyte himself makes his first appearance via a Vid Window. Megabyte is voiced by the late great Tony Jay, who also voiced the villainous Count Frollo in Disney's 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame'. Jay loved playing the role of Megabyte, and would contact Gavin and Ian in between seasons asking when he can do more Megabyte, saying 'You really should do more, it's a good little show'.
Megabyte tells Bob that all he's after is a favour. Bob refuses, saying that he 'doesn't do favours for slime'. This prompts Megabyte to warn Bob that his noncompliance will make things difficult for Bob's friends. Cut to Bob's apartment. Here we get a quick snippet of Bob's morning routine. However, this gets interrupted by a green skinned child appearing on a Vid Window saying that Bob needs to come to Dot's. We then zoom into the Vid Window showing an establishing shot of Dot's Diner in relative dismay. The 'D' in the sign is hanging off it's hinges, the windows are broken, and several chairs are on the floor. When Bob arrives, the entrance is blocked by a red and yellow dog who growls at him, prompting Bob to instead enter through a broken window. The dog's name is Frisket, a feral dog who sometimes joins the characters on their adventures.
Inside the diner, we're introduced to Dot Matrix (named after the old 'Dot Matrix' printers), the green skinned woman who owns the diner and Cecil, a robot who speaks with a French accent and looks like an old Apple Macintosh computer hanging from a brass rail. The reason that Cecil hangs from a brass rail is because he was named after a strip club in Vancouver near where the show was made.
Cecil is complaining about all the clean up that needs doing. As Bob enters the diner, he's pounced on by the child from earlier. This is Enzo, Dot's younger brother. The team behind the show didn't initially want a kid in the show, but Christopher Brough, the show's producer, insisted on having a kid in the show for the audience to relate to, saying that they 'needed a Little Enzo running around', and the name stuck. Enzo explains that goons showed up and offlined the place before spouting loads of computer jargon.
You've probably noticed that the characters are all different colours such as blue and green. The reason behind this was to avoid the stipulations that networks have about having to have a certain number of characters of certain ethnic backgrounds (i.e. these characters have to be white, this one has to be black, this one has to be Asian etc), allowing the shows creators to have the cast of characters they wanted.
Bob reckons that Megabyte was responsible for trashing the diner in an attempt to get to him, but it's his problem to deal with. The Binomes in the diner tell Bob to tell them what the issue is. The majority of Mainframe's population is made up of these binomes, who represent the '1s' and '0s' inside a computer. The production reason behind this is because the binome characters were simpler to model and animate than loads of humanoid characters (or Sprites if we're using show terminology). There is an in universe reason for this, but we won't learn this until the show's second season.
Bob mentions the favour, and Cecil tells Bob that he thinks he should do it. However, Dot shoots that idea down immediately, giving a speech about how 'Mainframer's stick together, and when it comes to Megabyte, the answer is always no'. Bob states that he's going to stay at the diner to ensure that Megabyte never causes trouble again. Enzo then says he'll help claiming to not be afraid of 'Old Megabreath' as Megabyte shows up on a Vid Window behind him, causing Enzo to flee once he notices.
Megabyte taunts Bob, saying that if he'd be able to keep this from happening again if Bob does a simple favour, but won't make any promises. Bob says that he'll be staying put, starting to go into a speech about how he's the new sprite in town, but then he's interrupted by the sky going purple and a voice declaring 'Warning! Incoming Game!' A purple shape then starts extruding from the sky.
Megabyte orders three legions to watch out for Bob and prevent him from getting into the Game. Bob heads off, but is ambushed by Megabyte's tanks blockading his path. He falls off his zip board only to be caught by Dot and Enzo in a car as the shape stops descending and forms a cube over a section of the city. Bob is worried, and rightfully so, as the system voice soon announces 'Game Over, The User Wins!' The cube ascends back into the sky, and we can see the sector is now in ruins as an ambulance approaches. Enzo declares the sector as 'nullified'. Bob is sombre about this, feeling he could have prevented it if he had done Megabyte's favour. Dot suggests that Bob talks to someone named Phong.
We then cut to the 'Principle Office', the building in the centre of Mainframe. Bob and Phong, a small robot with a long neck, are playing 'pong'. Once Bob wins, Phong says Bob is now worthy of his wisdom. This is a little iffy for me, since what if there's a life or death situation, and Phong won't tell anyone how to stop it unless they beat him at Pong?
Bob tells Phong about his issue with Megabyte, who tells him to stay away, adding that the Command Com has tried to erase Megabyte at every upgrade, but he's a 'clever virus'. This is the first time Megabyte is referred to as such in the series, making Bob essentially an Anti Virus program. There's a reason why he doesn't just delete Megabyte, but that's not something that's explored until the fourth season.
Phong tells Bob that Megabyte has 'bad file servers' in almost every sector of the system before informing him of an old readme file he's read that states 'keep your friends close and your enemies closer', urging Bob to be careful and not do anything alone. He reminds Bob that 'Here in Mainframe, we stick together', and Bob tells Phong he'll tell the others before he proceeds.
Cut to Bob going to Megabyte's lair, an imposing building that's shaped kind of like a cobra. Bob rings the door bell, prompting a Vid Window to appear with a door knocker. Megabyte greets Bob via another Vid Window, who says that he can now see that Megabyte is 'the big circuit in town' and that he'll throw his chips in with him. The door then opens, and Bob enters.
We cut to Dot's Diner having it's sign refitted. Dot contacts Phong on her file organiser, enquiring about Bob's whereabouts. Upon learning that he's not with Dot, Phong is worried since this means that Bob is probably with Megabyte... alone.
Bob and Megabyte descend on a platform through his lair. Here's where we get a good look at Megabyte's sizeable army, complete with several tanks and viral binomes. Megabyte's eyes go from green to black, which opens a door revealing a computer system and a big blue glowing ball surrounded by static.
Bob reveals this is a tear leading to the Super Computer as his wrist gadget changes shape to give readings on the tear. This gadget is called 'Glitch', and can do pretty much anything Bob commands it to. Megabyte needs Bob to stabilise this tear into a portal as only Guardians and Games are able to stabilise tears. When Bob points out Megabyte's vast army, Megabyte refers to them as 'colleagues' to make his visit to the Super Computer 'comfortable'.
Bob declares that he won't let Megabyte through, giving us the first use of his catchphrase 'I don't think so!' He asks Megabyte what guarantee he has that Megabyte won't spread to the Super Computer and raid the armoury while a binome hands Megabyte a case holding a gun. He takes the gun out the case and fires it at Bob, attaching a harness supported by rope to his torso, stating that he's now proceeding with 'Plan B'.
Bob is launched towards the tear, and he uses Glitch to stabilise the tear with the command 'Glitch, Key!' The tear turns into a portal just as Bob's about to go though, and Megabyte pulls him back out. Bob then destabilises the tear as Megabyte tells Bob he'll take him with him as insurance. They're interrupted by Hack and Slash carrying Dot. Hack and Slash speak in unison trying to find the word that they're looking for before they eventually reach it (this is part of their shtick). Basically, Dot started a riot outside, and Hack and Slash captured her. Megabyte declares the riot as being 'harmless', but Bob uses this distraction to kick over Megabyte's computer console. Suddenly, the tear is free. An alarm sounds, and there's several explosions, causing some of Megabyte's binomes and tanks to explode comically.
Bob and Dot start to escape, and Dot explains that she thought that if Hack and Slash captured her, they'd take her to Megabyte, and in turn, Bob. This shows that Dot is Bob's equal, and isn't simply just a damsel in distress for Bob to rescue every episode. As the lift starts ascending, Bob is pulled down by Megabyte, but he falls after Bob detaches the harness. Megabyte then starts jumping up the wall in a feral manner, meeting Bob and Dot at the top of the elevator. However, the System Voice yet again announces 'Warning, Incoming Game!' as a game drops right onto Megabyte's lair, Megabyte saying that he 'doesn't need Bob after all!'
Inside the game, we see an aircraft carrier floating in space. Bob and Dot tap the icons on their chests while saying 'ReBoot!' as they're engulfed by a green pillar before it vanishes, revealing them now wearing futuristic fighter pilot uniforms (not to dissimilar to those worn by the characters from 'Buck Rogers in the 25th Century', not sure if that was an intentional reference or not).
Suddenly, a red vehicle comes along and starts shooting at the aircraft carrier. This is the avatar of The User. Megabyte jumps on The User's ship and begins what Bob calls a 'Viral Takeover'. Megabyte is now in the cockpit and the ship's colour changes from red to blue with Megabyte's viral skull emblem being on the ship's hull. He starts heading for the location of the tear.
Bob and Dot get into their own ships and begin pursuit as Bob gives orders for the binomes to 'proceed heading 1138, stay frosty'. Bob says that the tear has been stabilised into a portal on Level 3, and they need to beat Megabyte there. They go through an asteroid field, and upon exiting, they are met by a Star Destroyer like vehicle. Megabyte orders the ship to 'erase those meddlers following me'. Bob orders his fellow pilots to hit the main target on the ship's bridge. Bob covers Dot as she delivers the final blow. They then follow Megabyte to an ice planet, flying into a cave. Bob shoots down Megabyte's ship, and he ejects, landing on Bob's ship. He says that him and Bob would make a great team. After Bob tells Megabyte that he'd rather be erased, Megabyte extends his claws and chops off the wing of Bob's ship. This wing then collides with Dot's ship as she ejects. Bob commands Glitch to fire a safety line and he escapes.
Megabyte declares that he's going to infect the Super Computer before returning to crush Mainframe as Dot lands in her arms. Bob fires another line from Glitch, which in turn hits a nearby icicle forming a makeshift zipline. Bob slides down the line and orders Glitch to disengage just as he's over the portal, which ends the game. The tear returns to it's previously unstable state, and Megabyte approaches Dot, asking if she wants to see how much he hates to lose. He extends his claws, but Bob arrives through the portal in the nick of time, causing the tear to close. Bob says that it was a trick he picked up at the armoury along with two small gold spheres that cause Bob and Dot to vanish. Megabyte presumes that this is a return command and that Bob and Dot have returned to the diner, ordering his men to hurry. It turns out that this was just a 'hidden file command' that has rendered Bob and Dot invisible.
Back at the diner, Enzo tells Bob and Dot that Megabyte and his goons left upon learning that they weren't there. Dot says that Megabyte will probably never forgive Bob for this, and Bob says that he's made it clear to Megabyte that if he messes with one of them, he messes with all of them. Enzo asks Bob about the Super Computer, and we pan out as Bob describes it to him, revealing the diner is yet again in ruins with Cecil ranting about how 'cleanup is not my function!'.
There's definitely a lot to like about this first episode of the show. It's a fun opening episode that introduces us to the world of Mainframe and it's characters. We learn how the Game's work, we learn how much influence Megabyte holds over Mainframe and what his main goal is (to get to the Super Computer). We see the beginnings of Megabyte's conflict with Bob which will persist throughout the series.
As for the other characters, we get to see Bob's more relaxed and goofy nature at the start, but we can see him get serious when he needs to once the plot escalates. Dot is also given plenty to do and isn't there for the sake of having a female character - she contributes to the plot just as much as Bob does. Enzo does come off as being a bit annoying in this episode, but luckily he's not in this episode too much.
I also love the design and look of the show. Sure, by today's standards, the CGI is a little dated, but the look of the city still looks pretty cool. I like how Dot's Diner is a 50's styled American Diner, and Megabyte's lair looks really imposing and has a real sinister feeling about it.
This episode's game is really fun. While it has a couple of Star Wars vibes, it mainly seems to opt for a generic space theme. Not that this is a bad thing, as it still makes for a fun action set piece. As we progress through the series, the games will begin to become more elaborate parodies of other franchises.
However, the story does feel a little simplistic. It works as an introduction to the show and it's premise, but while the story is fun, it's not super engaging. This is something that does persist throughout this first season (at least, in comparison to what we're going to get in later seasons), but there are reasons for why the show is this way which we'll talk about more when we reach a couple of episodes this season. The overuse of computer jargon in speech can feel a bit too much at times, especially when Enzo spouts a load of it in one go. Luckily, this is something that gets smoothed out in later seasons.
Overall though, this is a pretty decent first episode that introduces us to the characters and how this universe operates even if the story itself isn't the most complex.
Next week, we're introduced to another member of ReBoot's ensemble cast and we get an interesting spin on Formula 1 in 'Racing the Clock'.
