Episode 18 - Painted Windows

In spite of appearing in one of the strongest episodes of the previous season, Hexadecimal has sadly been sidelined since that episode. Sure, she made a brief appearance in Infected (where we find out there's some kind of family link between her and Megabyte, although it's not established what that is), but she's not been the full focus of an episode for a very long time. This changes with this weeks episode, as she makes her long awaited return, and she's back with a bang.

Much like last week, we start with a long tracking shot that stops at the Principle Office. However, this time we start at Hexadecimal's Lair and stop at the entrance to the archives. Hexadecimal's theme plays in the background, setting up that Hexadecimal is going to play a major role in this episode. Outside the archives, three CPU's are discussing The Web. Apparently it’s gone out of control and started to invade systems. One of the CPU's asks the question that we're all thinking, 'What’s The Web?', prompting the other two binomes to burst into laughter. However, this euphoric mood is quelled once Hexadecimal appears outside the archives.

Meanwhile, Dot is leading a jog round the park with several binomes and a very worn out Number 8 who points out how much he '8's exercise'. At the Diner, Bob is in the process of purchasing a new bike from the biker binome we saw last episode. This gets interrupted by a very bright light, the source of which is coming from a brush painting a sun in the sky. Several binomes stop in amazement to observe this phenomenon. Bob contacts Phong, who tells him that Hexadecimal has infiltrated the archives and hijacked the system's paint program. She’s currently running it from an alias in her lair. As Phong explains the situation, we cut to a CPU informing Dot that she’s also destroyed the archive's security system. When Dot enquires what happened to the guards, he tries to tell her that they’ve been kidnapped by Hexadecimal, but finds himself trapped in a painting within her lair mid sentence.

Hexadecimal monologues about being an artist searching for recognition. She then begins to wreck havoc on Mainframe with her painting, causing several buildings to melt into tidal waves of paint that engulfs all binomes it catches up to. Hex then decides to spice up Silicon Tor, turning it into a plant pot and placing giant sunflowers inside. Megabyte is visibly displeased about this, and Hex responds by sealing his mouth shut, painting him up like a jester and suspending him in the sky.

Back at the Diner, Enzo shows up to tell Bob what happened. Phong tells Bob that the changes Hexadecimal makes will become permanent once the scheduled system back up occurs, and while he can break the link from the archives, he needs Bob to go to Hex's lair and undo her creations. As he's explaining this, Hexadecimal removes Phong's head and replaces it with an apple.

Hex then places Phong in the sky by the Tor and Megabyte. Bob and Enzo decide to contact Dot and see if she can break the link. They aren’t able to do so since Glitch gets melted and the vid windows get painted over. Then Hexadecimal takes out both all the zip boards and Bob's new bike (much to his displeasure). Bob reaches the conclusion that Hexadecimal has a plan of some kind, something which is very uncharacteristic for her. He tasks Enzo with finding Dot, getting her to break the link. He also points out that they aren’t to break the link until they get Bob's signal. He’s not sure what this signal will be, but assures Enzo that they’ll recognise it when they see it. Enzo and Frisket then head off.

Elsewhere, Mike the TV is filming a documentary on Hexadecimal's works. This gets interrupted by Bob showing up and taking the camera. He takes Mike with him, saying he’s part of Bob's plan. Meanwhile, Enzo and Frisket are walking through Hexadecimal's warped version Mainframe, eventually stopping when they see Dot falling down a slide and Frisket gets shrunk to pocket size. Enzo places him on his hat and follows Dot down the slide. This slide leads to the archive entrance where we see that the security system is completely wrecked, something Dot points out that not even Megabyte would be capable of achieving. Once she’s joined by Enzo, the two of them set off inside the archives.

At Los Angles, Bob and Mike the TV encounter several nulls wearing warped masks of Bob's face. Then they discover that cardboard cut outs of Bob are appearing after every step he makes. After realising this, Bob aims his camera to make one more, then knocks the rest of them down like dominoes. Inside the archives, Enzo passes on his message from Dot, then proceeds to jump on a constantly spinning spiral staircase. Eventually, he falls off, hitting several vid windows that trap him inside with each part of him now being made up of several vid windows.

Back at Los Angles, Bob and Mike run into Skuzzy guarding Hexadecimal's lair. They laugh about this at first, but their laughter dies down once they realise that Scuzzy has been enlarged. They flee in terror from the giant Scuzzy, eventually splitting up. This doesn’t help matters since Scuzzy is able to split in two. Back at the archives, Enzo finds out he can manipulate the vid windows, allowing Dot to safely traverse across the archives and find the link.

Eventually, Bob and Mike get cornered by Scuzzy, but before Scuzzy can reach them, Hex cuts him off, reminding him that 'The Guardian is mine'. Hex initially accuses Bob of trying to spoil her fun, to which he says that him and Mike are here to interview her. She’s pleased by this, and then goes back to her lair, using the paint program to transport both Bob and Mike inside.

At the archives, Dot eventually spots the link and directs Enzo over there. Enzo asks if Bob will be okay, and Dot responds that he wouldn’t have gone to meet Hexadecimal without a good plan. This is when we cut to Mike the TV and Bob, the former of whom is not too happy with this plan. Before they can discuss it further, Hex joins them and the interview begins. Shortly after this, Hex asks for a close up, but then discovers that Bob, who she assumed was filming the interview, was in fact the cardboard cut out from earlier.

Hexadecimal is obviously distressed about this, and has a massive meltdown. Bob uses this opportunity to undo her artwork, returning everything in the system to normal. This includes the archives, which Dot interprets as Bob's signal. She gets Enzo to rush her over to the link before this happens. At Hex's lair, an angry Hex eventually finds Bob. Filled with panic, Bob uses the paint program to remove her face, placing it in a blank vid window. This causes energy to burst out of her face. The masks on the vid window tell Bob that he’s removed the one thing keeping her power in place, and without the masks, Hexadecimal will be destroyed. Before Bob can undo the program, Dot breaks the link to the lair. With no other choice, Bob sends Glitch over, and then uses it to cut and paste Hex's face back onto her body. Bob then leaves Los Angles, informing Dot and Enzo that everything's back to normal and that Hex will be okay, adding that he’s provided her with help. We cut back to the lair and see that Bob has tasked Mike the TV with keeping Hexadecimal sane.

Much like Bad Bob, this is one of the most memorable episodes of the show. Seeing Mainframe completely warped by Hexadecimal's handiwork makes for some incredibly fascinating visuals including several references to famous paintings such as the Screaming Man and the Mona Lisa. However, this is far from a case of style over substance since it has the story to back up the unforgettable imagery presented throughout. The fact that this episode ended up having to be animated twice speaks to the overall quality of this episode.

Of course, this episode's star is Hexadecimal herself. After her notable absence from the majority of the previous season, in this episode she's back with a vengeance. Much like in Medusa Bug, we get to see how much power Hexadecimal has in comparison to Megabyte. Within the first minutes of the episode, she manages to successfully infiltrate the archives and destroy the security system, something which Megabyte was only just able to achieve a couple of episodes back, and even then, he required energy from the Game Cubes acquired through an elaborate scheme in order to even access the archives.

In this episode, she turns Mainframe on it's head much like Megabyte did in Infected. While a little less apocalyptic than Megabyte's scheme, she does successfully manage to recreate Mainframe in her image through her work with the paint program. Unlike with Megabyte, though, she's not trying to take over the system; she's simply causing chaos for the fun of it and wants to show it off in a very grand gesture.

We also find out the purpose of Hex's masks. Not merely a means for her to express her emotions, they're there in order to keep her power contained within her, and if removed, she will die. It's an interesting concept, for sure, and something that gets touched on a little bit in the next season.

As well as this, Bob gets separated from Glitch once again, this time through Hexadecimal melting it with her paint effects. Again, this means that Bob needs to use his initiative to reverse the effects of Hexadecimal's damage. However, with Hex being as powerful as she is, it's likely that even with Glitch to hand, Bob would still struggle against Hexadecimal. Of course, Bob uses Glitch at the end in order to restore the masks to Hexadecimal, but it's something that only Glitch would be able to fix with the paint program being back at the archives.

This is definitely one of the best episodes of not just this season, but the entire series. Coming right after the glorious Bad Bob, the show is clearly getting into a groove with each episode being of such high quality. Of course, Hexadecimal is traumatised by the end of everything, so it could be a while until she's causing havoc within Mainframe again. Luckily she's in the good hands of Mike the TV, and nothing bad will happen as a result of this...

Next week: A new permanent addition to the main cast makes her debut in 'AndrAIa'

Episode 17 - Bad Bob

This is a very interesting episode of the show. Not just because it was initially rejected by BSNP (something we'll get onto later), but because it's origin story is rather fascinating. Amongst several drawings that he had been asked to do by Gavin and Ian, production designer Brendan McCarthy handed them a picture of Megabyte as a truck. Perplexed, the two asked McCarthy what this was for, to which he replied he just thought it was cool. The show's creators then built an entire episode around the 'Megabyte as a truck' concept, and the end result was one of the most memorable episodes of the entire series.

The episode begins with a shot that zooms in on the Principle Office from Ghetty Prime. At first, things seem peaceful but that peace is soon disrupted by Megabyte's tanks attacking the Principle Office. This causes an alert to sound, and one of the CPU's, Mainframe's Security Defence Force, orders the troops to scramble. They all climb into their vehicles and take to the skies to begin the dogfight. Meanwhile, at Dot's Diner, Bob is driving in his car only for it to break down just outside where a biker girl binome enquires about the issue. Then, Enzo arrives in his air cart that he mentioned he was building in High Code, excitedly telling Bob that he modelled it on an XMP 38, the number one method of transportation in the Super Computer. This is when Dot comes out, asking to have a word with Bob. She scolds him for telling Enzo his tales of the Super Computer since it’s bad enough that he follows Bob into Games. The conversation is then halted by an explosion as Phong contacts Bob to inform him of the attack only to be cut off. Luckily, one of the security binomes contacts Dot to inform her of the incident. Bob takes off in his car, and Dot decides to run ops from the Diner.

At the Principle Office, one of Megabyte's tanks fires missiles at the Principle Office energy sphere as Megabyte pulls up in his limo. Herr Doctor, Megabyte's chief doctor informs him that one more hit will destroy the sphere, allowing them to steal the core energy. Once the sphere has been destroyed, Hack and Slash move a device into position that stores the core energy. This is when Bob shows up, and Megabyte orders Hack and Slash to go after him. This doesn’t go well as Bob sneaks up behind the two of them and deactivates their jet packs, sending them crashing to the ground. Bob then uses Glitch to disable Herr Doctor's monitor, sending it crashing onto his fingers. Megabyte taunts Bob, telling him that he won’t be stopping him this time. This is when they’re interrupted by the system announcing a Game. However, unlike normally, the system voice is stuttering a lot.

Back at the Diner, Dot is monitoring the situation and giving orders. She tracks movement from the Baudway sector where she sees Enzo and Frisket flying towards the battle. She orders her troops to hold fire. Meanwhile, the Game Cube is snaking through the sky rather than dropping straight down as normal. Enzo knocks Megabyte into the vat of core energy by riding his air cart directly into him. Bob takes off in his car just as the Game drops directly on half of the Principle Office.

The Game takes place in a desert wasteland, where Bob's car has taken on a more post apocalyptic aesthetic. Bob ReBoots into Mad Max before driving off in his car. As he pulls away, we can see that the Principle Office is within the Game as well. Captain Quirk then references Planet of the Apes, stating 'The Maniacs, They Blew It Up!' We then pan round the Principle Office until we're outside the Game. A CPU contacts Dot and tells her that Megabyte has corrupted the Game. Dot orders him to monitor the area and attempt to get a new sub sphere from the archives, also pointing out that all of Mainframe has been affected by power surges.

Back in the Game, Phong is now the Gyro Captain from The Road Warrior. He contacts Bob and tells him that Megabyte stole the core energy, which is now in the game with them. Bob points out that even if he wins, the energy will leave in the game. Phong then gives him the order to keep the game going until they can get the energy back to the Principle Office, also informing him that Enzo is also in the Game, and is trying to beat The User.

Enzo has ReBooted as a feral kid, and is trying to overtake The User's car, which looks a little like the Batmobile. He eventually manages to do so upon exiting a valley, and now he only has to overtake a truck to reach first place. Upon catching up with this truck, he discovers that the truck is shaped like Megabyte's face. Enzo decides to go and find Bob, and we see that Hack and Slash are atop the truck, and are in a state of panic.

Bob's car has broken down, but Enzo quickly finds him and lets him know about the Megatruck, also telling him that it looks like it’s towing the core energy. Bob asks Enzo to get him to that truck, but he’s forced to sit in the back since a Frisket isn’t giving up his passenger seat. They eventually catch up to the truck, and Bob climbs on with Hack and Slash helping him up. Bob takes the wheel to find Herr Doctor in the passenger seat, who chastises him for injuring 'mein didgets!'  Bob is able to stop the truck and turn it around just before it reaches a massive power plant. Bob then begins to head back towards the Principle Office where he’s spotted by The User, who turns around in pursuit.

Outside The Game, Dot's 'Number One' (a literal Number One and a clear parody of Star Trek The Next Generation's Commander Riker) informs her that there’s not long until the core energy dissipates. A couple more CPUs ponder that Bob should have stayed outside the game to help evacuate the city. This angers Dot, and she orders them to be ready for when Bob wins the game and saves Mainframe's energy.

Back in the Game, the truck is heading back through the valley where it’s about to collide with the front of a jet plane being driven by Binky and Algy, two British Air Force binomes. Frisket takes the wheel of Enzo's car to swerve out the way, but Megatruck crashes straight through Binky and Algy's vehicle, leaving them unharmed but the vehicle has a massive hole in it.

Frisket navigates Enzo's car through a mine field, eventually reaching the top of a cliff. They end up driving right off, but luckily they are rescued by Phong in his Gyro Copter. Bob orders Herr Doctor to go out and give Hack and Slash the command to release the energy when he toots the horn. He’s reluctant to do so, so Bob throws him out the truck, giving him no choice but to comply. The User catches up and starts shooting Megatruck's tires. Luckily, Frisket is able to slow down the User enough for Bob to release the energy, transferring it back to the Principle Office and crushing the User, ending the game.

Outside the game, Megabyte is very displeased, declaring to Bob that it’s the last time he destroys his work, extruding his claws from his wrist ready to kill Bob. However, Dot, backed up by the entire Mainframe defence fleet, informs him that it’s best that he leaves. Knowing he's outnumbered, Megabyte flees in his limo. Enzo then shows up, and after checking if he’s okay, Dot angrily tells him to never pull a stunt like that again. Once she’s left, Bob tells Enzo that he shouldn’t follow him into games. Enzo is very downtrodden about this, but then Bob cheers him up by saying that he couldn’t have succeeded without him.

It goes without saying, but this is an incredibly good episode of the show, potentially the best we’ve had so far. The plot is incredibly action packed and full of great action sequences, with the main bulk of the episode centering around a parody of the Mad Max film series, specifically The Road Warrior. Much like with later references of this ilk, understanding the reference isn’t mandatory in order to enjoy the episode since it’s enjoyable in its own right, but if you’re familiar with Mad Max, the experience is enriched through the references.

Bob in this episode is given a lot to work with, finding himself in a situation he isn’t experienced in dealing with means he is out of his comfort zone for a lot of this episode, having to take a different approach to winning the game by ensuring the safe return of Mainframe's energy. He’s not separated from Glitch like he has been in previous episodes, but this is a situation where having Glitch wouldn’t fix the problem, hence why he doesn’t use it within the Game.

Another high point of this episode is Megabyte. His plan is fairly clever: draw the fire of Mainframe's security forces so he can sneak in and steal the core energy while the security forces have their attention diverted elsewhere. We also get another glimpse at the menacing side of his character at the end where he’s fully prepared to kill Bob in order to ensure the success of his future plans. The only thing stopping him from following through is the presence of the  CPU's at the end. He knows he won’t be able to take them on himself, so he flees. However, the next time him and Bob encounter each other, things might not end so pleasantly.

As great as this episode is, it didn't go over too well with BSNP initially. Sick of the mile long list of restrictions they had to comply to, the show's creators opted to put as many of the things they weren't supposed to do as they possibly could into the script. BSNP responded by sending back a note which simply stated 'Show Completely Rejected' (which Ian later framed). Ian then got on the phone with BSNP and explained that 'We made this show just for you. All the things you told us not to do are in this episode as an example of what we're not supposed to do' as well as pointing out that this was supposed to be their version of Wacky Races, referring to a previous meeting with the BSNP person who said she loved Wacky Races when asked by Ian what they'd like them to parody. With that, the episode was then approved with no alterations made.

This episode's legacy also extends beyond ReBoot, since it also lead to the creation of 2015's 'Mad Max: Fury Road'. Following the production of this episode, Brendan McCarthy got in touch with George Miller, the creator of the Mad Max franchise. The two then worked together to craft the story for Fury Road.

The only real downside to this episode is that Dot is kind of sidelined in this episode. While it's great to see her in charge of Mainframe's CPU security force, she doesn't really have a stake in the plot overall. It's not something that really hurts the episode too much, but it's a little disappointing given how involved Dot was in previous episodes.

In spite of that tiny nitpick, this is possibly the best episode of the show so far, giving us an engaging, high adrenaline plot full of great action sequences. This is a pretty good indication of where this show is heading going forward. Also, Enzo is now forbidden from going into Games. No big deal, I'm sure this will be forgotten about by the time of the next Game...

Next Time: Hexadecimal makes her long awaited return in 'Painted Windows'

Episode 16 - When Games Collide

This episode's origins are kind of interesting. While this is an episode within the show's second season, this episode was intended for the first season of the show. However, there were issues with the episode's script as you can see from this screenshot below. This resulted in the episode being held off until now, and this episode kind of feels like a middle ground between the two seasons.

The episode opens with a new title sequence. It’s incredibly similar to the intro for the previous season with the only difference being that the clips utilised are taken from the later episodes of last season as well as the previous two episodes. However, there’s also two brief glimpses of episodes we haven’t seen yet. The first of these is Bob and Megabyte running from a T-Rex with a tank for a head which we'll be getting in this week's episode, and the second is of Bob wearing a leather jacket, something we'll be seeing next week.

Following the title sequence, we cut to an alien battleground where a strange looking yellow vehicle is floating around. We see that Bob, Dot and Enzo have ReBooted as chrome plated robots. They sneak behind some wreckage and then open fire on the User, although it’s clear that they are outgunned. Outside the game, we see Hack and Slash putting a strange device in position atop the Game Cube. Once it’s in position, Megabyte contacts them via vid window to check if the operation is going according to plan, and tells them to activate the command. After some brief bickering over who pushes the button, the device is activated and wires connect to the cube. Inside the game, the User has slowed down significantly. Bob does a scan with Glitch and discovers that something is slowing the game down. Enzo takes this opportunity to take on the User, using his gun as a baseball bat to hit the User's energy blast back at him, exploding him and ending the game. Enzo is excited that he won a game, but Bob and Dot are perplexed. Dot contacts Phong who informs her that there was an energy surge just before the game ended. Shortly after this, a security binome contacts Dot requesting that she comes to the archives. Bob and Dot take off on their zip boards with Enzo following along behind.

On the way there, Enzo enquires with Bob what Games are like in the Super Computer. He tells him that they’re a lot faster and some games are networked. Enzo is amazed at the prospect of there being multiple systems. This might not seem like a huge deal right now, but the concept of other systems is something that gets explored a lot more next season. Eventually they reach the door of the archives, the place where all of Mainframe's old data is stored. Dot opens the door with a voice command, prompting the door to open and disable all other security measures. Bob, Dot and Enzo enter and we see the Archive is a bottomless room filled with vid windows. Dot checks with the security binomes what happened, and they inform Dot the security field almost lost power during the game. Dot finds this perplexing since only the Mainframe Core has more power. Bob confirms that something happened based on readings picked up by Glitch.

Then we cut to a binome in a trench coat informing Megabyte that they would have succeeded if they had a little more power. Megabyte commands Hack and Slash to prepare for the next game, and to set the leech command to maximum drain once it hits. Back in the archives, we see that Bob and Dot picked up this transmission. Bob goes off to find Megabyte while Dot stays to assist with realigning the archives. Enzo wants to come with Bob, but Bob tasks him with patrolling the perimeter and reporting any strange happenings to Dot. Shortly after Bob leaves, Enzo is joined by Frisket.

At Silicon Tor, we see Megabyte overseeing his henchmen constructing a Stargate. At the archives, Frisket finds a drain cover. He opens it, and Enzo looks inside, although we don’t see what’s inside yet. Bob is on his way to see Megabyte when a Game Cube drops right on top of Silicon Tor. The game is a typical military combat game called Basic Combat. Bob ReBoot's into a Rambo Esque soldier and gets on with the game. Then Hack and Slash activate the leech command. Instead of turning it off, they leave it, draining so much energy that the game crashes. Phong tries to reroute some power to the game, but it’s too late. The User inputs another game that lands right on top of the first one, merging the two to create a hybrid Jungle/Dinosaur and Military Combat game.

This causes a surge of energy to erupt down the wire from the leech command. This wire goes all the way through the sewers where Enzo discovers it. He begins to follow it, and we see that the source of the wire is the device being used by the trench coat wearing Viral binome. Once the energy surges through the device, he declares that they’re through and orders more binomes to go through. Back in the game, we see that Megabyte is also inside. He curses Hack and Slash for draining too much energy. Bob comments that he should have known Megabyte was behind this, to which he responds that he is as displeased about this predicament as Bob is. The two then get ambushed by a T Rex who has a tank replacing the upper half of his head.

Back in the sewers, Enzo spies on the Viral binomes stealing from the archives. We then cut back to the game where Bob and Megabyte are fleeing from the T-Rex. They eventually reach a valley, and Megabyte knocks down a tree to act as a bridge for them to cross. Megabyte throws Bob out of his way, leaving Bov to hold on for dear life. Once Megabyte reaches the other end, he throws the tree trunk down into the valley. Bob gets saved mid fall by a binome piloting a hybrid jet plane pterodactyl. Megabyte ends up in a tar pit where the Dino tank is firing at him while he sinks into the tar. He swallows his pride and admits that he needs Bob's help. Bob decides he needs to help Megabyte as he can’t go against his Guardian programming, much to the disbelief of his binome pilot.

In the sewers, Enzo tells Frisket that they need to tell Dot what’s going on only to be ambushed by the virals. They freeze Frisket within a green cuboid and the leader orders them to place Enzo in the back of the van. Back in the game, Megabyte has almost become fully submerged within the tar. Bob uses Glitch to fire a cable into the tank's turret barrel, swinging from it to kick the emblem on the T–Rex's neck, ending the game. Once the game has ended, Dot informs Bob that Megabyte stole a gateway command from the archives and that Enzo is missing.

At the Tor, one of Megabyte's binomes loads the gateway command into the Stargate. Some more binomes manage to generate a portal with it, but they report that it’s unstable. Because of this, Megabyte steals a harness onto Enzo and orders him to go through. If the portal works, he’ll go to the Super Computer, and if it doesn’t, he’ll be deleted. Bob and Dot then show up and after Bob observes the situation, they begin intervening. During this commotion, the portal stabilises but Enzo's cable snaps. Bob flies into the portal and Megabyte orders Hack and Slash to stop him. They pick up the Stargate, but they end up splitting it in half, causing the portal to crash to the ground and shatter, but not before Bob flies out clutching Enzo. Enzo is amazed about his brief visit to the Super Computer, but then we see Hack and Slash have captured Dot. Megabyte orders them to release her and let them go after Bob points out he owes him one. Once they’ve left, Megabyte comments that he and Bob are now even.

This is a fun adventure which wouldn’t feel too out of place in Season One, which makes sense given that the idea for this episode was conceived for that season. Story wise, it’s not as strong as the previous two episodes, but it makes up for that through some great ideas and fun action sequences.

The introduction of the archive, a place where all files are stored is a cool concept. It makes sense that Megabyte would try and use an old portal command to access the Super Computer, but since there’s no guarantees it will even work, it’s almost as if this is his last resort as he’s seemingly exhausted all other plans to access it. It’s also great to see that Dot is somewhat in charge of Mainframe's security forces, showing that she has a position of significant power when it comes to keeping the system safe.

The merged Game Cube is also a pretty cool concept that is sadly not explored too much in spite of being the title of the episode. It’s a shame as it looks really cool and imaginative and it would have been great to have more of the episode set within it. It’s also cool to see Megabyte in the Game, something we haven’t had since The Tearing. We also get a rare instance where Bob and Megabyte have goals that are on a similar path, even though, of course, Megabyte doesn’t resist betraying Bob for the sake of his own survival.

While this is the weakest episode of this season, it’s still an enjoyable ride and the fact that this is the season's low point speaks volumes about the quality of the rest of the season as a whole.

Next week: The episode that was infamously initially rejected by BSNP, 'Bad Bob'

Episode 15 - High Code

Last season, a lot of the action was centred around Mainframe with little glimpses here and there of the world outside through both the software pirates and Mouse. This episode continues that trend while also showing a more sinister side to the show's universe.

After an establishing shot of Mainframe, we start the episode at the top of the Principle Office where we see an insect like creature appear out of a portal as western themed music plays. We then cut to Bob's apartment where he and Dot are trying to fix his car to no avail. Dot suggests getting it looked at by a professional, but Bob scoffs at the idea due to the Guardian tradition being 'To Mend and Defend'. Cutting back to the stranger on top of the Principle Office, he jumps off into a small portal he created. Bob is clearly spooked by something, which doesn’t go unnoticed by Dot. Bob tells her that he feels 'something is here'.

Phong is in the read only room when the stranger appears in the room through the portal. He says that he’s seeking a Codemaster named Talon. After Phong tells him there’s no one in Mainframe with that name, the stranger gets aggressive, firing an energy blast out of his staff that encases Phong in a stasis field just before he can initiate safety procedures. At Old Man Pearson's Data Dump, Enzo and Frisket are searching for parts that Enzo can use for an air cart he’s building. Enzo eventually finds something that he feels would make a good stabiliser, but he’s interrupted by Old Man Pearson who scolds him for breaking and entering. Then the stranger makes a system wide announcement, which clearly disturbs Mr Pearson.

The Stranger announces that if Talon turns himself in, no harm will come to Mainframe. Bob and Dot show up, and Bob demands that he releases Phong. He does so, but comments on how Bob is not Talon, but is a Guardian. Bob recognises the stranger as a Codemaster, initially believing him to be somewhere called The Web (the mention of which scares the onlooking crowd). The Codemaster says that they are fortunate as he is from The Net. He attacks Bob and sends him into the air. While Bob is able to use Glitch to paraglide to safety, the Codemaster then fires another blast at Bob. Once Bob is free, he aims Glitch but then notices a strange forcefield surrounding it. The Codemaster then vows to find Talon himself even if it means tearing Mainframe apart sector by sector before teleporting away. After some brief respite from his attack, several explosions can be heard in the distance as buildings begin to topple.

Dot begins to evacuate the citizens of the city, and decides to ask Megabyte to loan some transports to assist with the effort. He refuses since Codemasters and Viruses have an unpleasant history. Back at the Principle Office, Phong diagnoses that Glitch has been time locked, but this can only be removed by a Codemaster. He then says that the Codemaster won’t stop until he has what he is looking for. After Bob accuses him of hiding something, Phong brings him into the Read Only Room. Here he explains that Codemasters are deadly eliminators who delete whoever or whatever they are contracted to. He says that a Codemaster named Talon came to Mainframe for refuge, changing his identity, although he won't reveal who Talon is due to being sworn to secrecy. We then see that Enzo was listening in, and he realises something after hearing Phong discuss the Codemaster's signature weapon: the Gibson Coil Pike.

Enzo goes back to the Data Dump and accuses Old Man Pearson of being Talon since he owns a Gibson Coil Pike. He then tries to persuade him to come and defeat the Codemaster and save Mainframe. He declines the request since he made a vow to never delete another living thing. Enzo eventually gives up, saying that Mr Pearson is just a cowardly old binome. Within the ruins of part of the city, the Codemaster is offlining more buildings before being interrupted by a vehicle with a large claw attached to the front being piloted by Bob. The Codemaster catches this with his pike, and threatens to delete Bob before getting interrupted by an incoming game. He asks Bob what this is, and Bob goes onto explain that it’s a power greater than a Codemaster. Calling his bluff, the Codemaster releases Bob and joins him as he pilots the vehicle into the game. This is being observed by Dot and Phong on a vid window. Dot is confused as to why Bob is taking him into the game, and Phong explains that he’s going to help the User win, nullifying the Codemaster as well as himself.

The game is a Wild West themed game. Bob asks the Codemaster to remove the time lock on Glitch, but he’s unable to as his weapon doesn’t function within the game. Bob then ReBoots into a cowboy. A train then drives past with the User riding it. The Codemaster grabs Bob and climbs onto the train. Bob explains the objective is to beat the User to the next station. The two race along the train, and eventually, Bob is able to prevent Lens from beating the User. Bob explains to the Codemaster that they will get nullified, but muses that he’ll miss the games as well as Mainframe and his friends. The Codemaster is intrigued that Bob would sacrifice himself for his friends. However, Bob soon hears Enzo shouting coming from the front of the train where the User is. He instantly springs into action, using his whip to swing to the front of the train, removing the User's scarf to end the game.

Outside Dot's Diner, Bob scolds Enzo for entering the Game, but Enzo points out the Codemaster appearing through the portal. Not long after, Old Man Pearson appears through another portal in Codemaster Gear. The new Codemaster refers to himself as Lens, and challenges Talon to High Spire. He declines and snaps his pike in two, declaring himself out of the guild. However, Lens won’t relent since tradition states 'once a Codemaster, always a Codemaster'. His limbs extrude, increasing him in size and he fires a beam of energy at the sky to cause a paradigm shift. He starts menacingly walking towards Talon, preparing to step on him. At he last moment, he’s prevented from doing so by Bob, Dot, and Enzo standing in his way. Amazed by this display of honour, Lens declares that he’ll tell the guild that Talon is no more, releasing Glitch from its time lock and leaving Mainframe, causing the paradigm shift to stop and ending the episode.

Much like the previous episode, this is a great episode with an interesting high stakes plot and some interesting ideas. The whole concept of the Codemasters is a really cool idea that there’s a sinister society of hired assassins within the show's universe. It’s another step that the show's taking towards darker, more sinister territory. There’s also a clear western influence to this episode, from the music to the theme of an old warrior coming out of retirement to defeat a foe threatening his home.

Much like last week, Glitch is incapacitated somehow, meaning that Bob has to use different strategies to defeat Lens. I get the feeling that Gavin and Ian might have realised that Glitch was essentially a dues ex machina device that allowed Bob to easily resolve conflict, so this season, they appear to be finding ways to temporarily offline Glitch in order for Bob to use his wits to save the day instead of relying on Glitch. It makes him a better character in the long run as it shows that he’s more than capable of saving the day without the use of Glitch.

The only real downside to this episode? While the Codemasters are a cool concept, unfortunately this is the only time they make an appearance. This episode gives us a great glimpse into this sinister society, and foreshadows that there’s two different types of Codemaster, those who operate in The Net and those who operate in The Web. We also get hints that there’s a history between Viruses and Codemasters, so it makes sense that Megabyte keeps silent throughout the episode since he doesn’t want to draw attention to the Codemaster. Given what we're going to be getting later, it’s not a massive downside, but if the show were to ever be revived properly (I.e. with Gavin and Ian onboard), I’d be happy if they revisited the Codemasters.

This is yet another great episode that builds a picture of the world outside of Mainframe, and much like with Mouse, shows that there’s a slightly shady side of this universe. One that the show is going to be diving headfirst into relatively soon. But much like the previous episode, there’s nothing really if note that’s going to be brought up late... wait, what the heck is The Web?

Next week: We witness an awesome combination of T-Rex and tank in 'When Games Collide'

Episode 14 - Infected

While the first season of ReBoot was full of charm and excellent humour, the main thing that I felt was holding it back was the lack of engaging stories in the majority of the episodes. Of course, the season finale stepped things up ten fold with a two part season finale that showed off a dark alternative universe where Megabyte was in control. With the first episode of the show's second season, the show continues with the trend of compelling storylines with a greater focus on action while still keeping the humour.

At the Principle Office, we see Dot and Phong standing on a platform atop the Principle Office's energy sphere. We then cut to various binomes around Mainframe as the system voice announces 'Attention! Incoming File!'. The blue sky turns to yellow static as a small black hole appears in the sky. Enzo is excited about this potential upgrade, and excitedly tells Frisket about what he hopes this upgrade will bring him. He waves at Bob as he flies past on his zip board. Dot contacts him to enquire where he is, and Bob informs her that he’s on his way, but he had to mend a minor tear in Kit's Sector on his way over. He arrives just before the upgrade does, and Phong ponders that it’s arrived earlier than he expected.

From the hole in the sky, a blue light shoots down to the Principle Office, stopping once it reaches the platform, revealing the upgrade as a large grey cylinder. Bob isn’t impressed with its primitive nature, and Dot reminds him that this isn’t the Super Computer. Phong lowers the platform into Mainframe's core in order to install the upgrade. Dot contacts a security binome to get him to ensure the sectors are clear. Once that’s done, Phong opens vid windows around the Principle Office to tell citizens to prepare for the city to power down and upgrade. Bob presses a button to start the powering down of the city, which causes the Principle Office shields to raise, the sky to dim to a sunset and all the lights around the city to go out.

Once the city has powered down, Phong attempts to take the lid off the upgrade, but finds it too heavy. Bob offers to do this for him, and he succeeds, although the lid sends him flying. Phong peers inside the cylinder, and Megabyte's hand grabs hold of his face, surrounding him with a green force field. Dot tries to free him but touching Phong causes her to experience a slight static shock. Bob attempts to throw the lid at Megabyte, but he catches it. Megabyte says he should have expected Bob to be there too, and he responds by saying that he should have known that Megabyte would create a fake upgrade. Megabyte prepares to throw the upgrade canister at Bob, but he escapes using a zip line from Glitch. Megabyte then throws the canister at the end of the line, knocking Bob off and causing him to fall. Megabyte then picks up Phong, who tells him that he can’t infect him. While this is true, Megabyte is able to copy his read only memory and gain the access codes to the core. He then orders the platform to descend into the core as Bob comments that 'This is bad, this is very bad!'

As the platform lowers, we see that Bob is hanging onto the hatch as it closes. Megabyte comments about how the core is more magnificent that he imagined as Dot attempts to send out a distress signal. At the Diner, Enzo is disappointed as nothing has changed. A security binome shows up on a vid window to inform him about the situation, and that no communications can get through to the Principle Office until the shield is down, also ordering Enzo to keep everyone within the Diner calm.

Back in the core, Megabyte states that he he hasn’t felt this good since his first infection, ordering vid windows to appear to give him a view of the whole city. This gets interrupted by Bob knocking him over by swinging on a line from Glitch. Bob and Megabyte briefly battle, but this is halted when Glitch runs out of charge, causing Bob to flee. Meanwhile, a weak Phong tells Dot that she has to leave him to save the city before passing out. Bob grabs her as he runs past and they reach a nearby corridor. Bob regrets leaving Phong behind, but he couldn’t have done anything more due to Glitch's low charge. Dot states that they need to find a charging station. Megabyte monologues about how he’ll deal with Bob and Dot later, but he has to destroy the city first. He gives the command to begin erasing the city.

The Diner gets sent into a frenzy as the system voice announces the environment shutdown. Megabyte switches the view to Bob and Dot, and sets Pong pucks after them. These are energy seeking and loaded with electromagnetic detonators. Bob and Dot attempt to flee, but end up getting pinned between two sets of pucks heading towards them from both directions. Bob connects Dot's organiser to Glitch in order to give it a temporary charge, shielding both of them as both sets of pucks crash into each other and explode.

Back at the core, Hexadecimal contacts Megabyte via vid window, letting him know of her appreciation for the chaos, and that she hopes that he wasn’t planning to erase her. Megabyte rhetorically asks if that’s any way to treat family, and Hex suggests striking a deal. At the Diner, we can see that all the patrons are starting to fade, and then the whole city starts to shake. We see buildings collapsing as well as the 8 ball from Bob's apartment tumbling off. Hex and Megabyte manage to end up with a deal where each gets 50/50 control of the city. After Hex signs off, Megabyte monologues about his plan to destroy Mainframe and rebuild it in his image.

Dot ends up at the armoury and discovers an exo skeleton suit. At the Read Only Room, Bob searches for a recharge zone, prompting a charging device to appear. While Glitch is charging, a ghostly hologram of Phong appears, telling Bob 'you’ve got what you need, now use his greed' before vanishing. At the Diner, we see that Enzo is in pretty bad shape as Megabyte shows up to gloat. In the midst of this, Dot shows up behind him in the exo suit. While she initially has the upper hand, Megabyte eventually overpowers her, throwing the suit off the edge by the foot. Luckily, Dot is able to grab on with the suit's large hand, but Megabyte extrudes claws from his hands, and prepares to strike.

Luckily, he’s stopped last minute by Bob using Glitch to hold Megabyte in a beam of light. Dot then grabs Megabyte, and asks Bob to reverse the rasher command. He’s prevented from doing so by Megabyte, who infects the exo suit and uses it to grab Bob. He demands that Bob provides him with a portal to the Super Computer, preparing to crush Bob's head with the suit if he doesn’t comply. Just before his head gets crushed Bob agrees.

We cut to a small chamber where Bob activates a portal. Megabyte walks inside and orders the exo suit to hold him. Once Megabyte is inside the chamber, Bob deactivates the portal and seals Megabyte inside, revealing this to be where the Principle Office breaks down viruses. Megabyte then opens a section if his wrist and activates a self destruct sequence. Bob then orders the chamber to eject, causing it to land next to Silicon Tor. Following this, the system voice announces the arrival of the real upgrade, and the fallen buildings begin to rise. Phong comments how he hopes this upgrade will bring him a new modem, and the episode ends.

As a season opener, this sets things off to a great start. We get an excellent plot with plenty of action and suspense as well as great moments from the characters. This episode is probably the darkest we've had so far. Sure, the prospect of Megaframe in the previous episode was pretty dark, but that wasn’t real in the context of the show. This time around, we're dealing with the potential destruction of the city at the hands of Megabyte, and this time, it’s real unless Bob and Dot can put a stop to it.

Speaking of Megabyte, this episode has him at his most menacing. While we saw how menacing Megabyte was last season, his schemes always ended with failure due to passing all his dirty work onto his far from competent minions. This changes with this episode. He’s acting alone, and he came incredibly close to achieving his goal. His downfall was through Bob taking advantage of his greed rather than through incompetence.

Bob and Dot are both great in this episode. Not only do they have great chemistry, but they also have their time to shine. Without Glitch, Bob is forced to find other means to solve the episode's conflict without relying on his key tool. He learns to use Megabyte's weakness of his own greed against him to stop him from destroying the city. Likewise, Dot gets her own awesome battle with Megabyte while using the incredibly awesome exo skeleton. This model was so complex, that it had to be simplified in order for the animators to animate with it.

Speaking of the exo suit, it’s a clear reference/parody/homage of the scene from the end of Aliens with Ripley in the Power Loader fighting the alien queen. This season is where the show begins to utilise more pop culture references. Whereas before, they were a little more subtle, they become a lot more overt, which we will especially see more of once we get to the fourth episode. We also get a subtle reference to Predator through Megabyte's self destruct device.

Overall, this is a very fun episode that opens the show's second season on a high note. We can see that Megabyte is through letting his minions prevent him from his ambitions, and that our heroes will need to use their wits in order to best him. Other than that, there’s nothing of note story wis... wait, what did Megabyte mean when he referred to Hexadecimal as family?

Next time: We find out that Old Man Pearson has a dark past in 'High Code'