Sunday, September 1, 2019

Episode 25 - Between a Raccoon and a Hard Place


While Season 3 of ReBoot is for the most part a lot darker in tone in comparison to previous seasons, that doesn't mean that the show has lost it's sense of humour. For the most part, there's a decent balance between the darker elements and the more comedic elements. This is necessary since with the story being a bit darker, some humour to lighten the mood manages to prevent episodes from becoming overly dark, depressing and po faced (i.e. Man of Steel). This particular episode of Season 3 is probably the one with the most humour in comparison to the remainder of the season, however, said humour seems to heavily contrast with the darker elements of the story this time around.

We get a new intro for this episode. While it retains Megabyte's narration from the previous episode, it features clips from this season as opposed to the clips recapping Web World Wars that we got in the intro of the previous episode.



Following the intro, we begin the episode in a dark alley, zooming in on a poster of a cross eyed Enzo in his Guardian uniform with the caption 'Guardian Shmardian' scribbled on in graffiti. The camera zooms past the alley into a sector of Mainframe where we see a Gamecube and several binomes running around in terror. The camera eventually reaches the Principle Office where Enzo and Dot are explaining to Phong how they tried to reach the game, but Megabyte's troops blocked them at every turn. After Phong points out that Megabyte has done this to Bob in the past, we hear the system voice announce that the game has ended, and the user has won.



As the Game Cube leaves, Mike the TV starts doing a news report on the incident, pondering to the audience where the Guardian was when the city needed him. However, his report is quickly cut short by Hack and Slash. Back in the Principle Office, Dot orders a med team to go over to the nullified sector. However, Mouse points out that Megabyte's forces are now attacking the nullified sector. Phong regretfully calls off the attack and orders the shields to be raised since Megabyte's forces greatly outnumber their own.

At the nullified sector, we see several binomes searching through the rubble. Megabyte's ABC's swarm the area, and Megabyte appears on a vid window, declaring that this sector is now under his control, and ordering the binomes to surrender their PID's to him. A Captain Picard Binome refuses, saying that they're 'Tired of living in fear! The line must be drawn here!' (a reference to Star Trek: First Contact). Megabyte isn't phased by this, ordering an ABC to delete him. Megabyte tells the remaining binomes that 'resistance is futile', and they all hand him their PID's.



Elsewhere, we see that Cyrus is the one pinning up the 'Guardian Schmardian' posters. A tactic Megabyte is using as propaganda in order to divide and conquer the system. Phong decides that they need to fight fire with fire, and make Enzo a 'living icon' and game champion to lead the city out of the darkness. Dot isn't thrilled with this idea, not wanting her brother to take on the user alone. AndrAIa offers to accompany Enzo, since she's a game sprite, she's used to the games. Dot still isn't happy, but Mouse offers to accompany the duo so Dot can remain at the Principle Office to take on Megabyte. Phong points out that Mouse and AndrAIa's icons aren't formatted to ReBoot, meaning that they would be trapped in a game if they were to enter one. Mouse says that isn't a problem, since all she needs is access to a workstation along with Enzo's icon.

Mouse uses the workstation to copy some code from Enzo's icon to AndrAIa's, reformatting it so she can ReBoot and remain in Mainframe once the game ends. Mouse points out that there's no guarantee that will even work, as well as that Megabyte will try and stop them entering. Enzo isn't worried, since he thinks Dot will think of something. Meanwhile, Dot is talking to Phong about her plan, feeling confident that it will succeed. As Phong goes to leave, Dot says that with Bob gone and the ports to the nets closed, Megabyte can't even think about trying to access the Super Computer. Phong agrees, saying that Bob has effectively 'locked us in the cage with the tiger'.



At Silicon Tor, Herr Doktor is attaching a device to Megabyte's arm when Megabyte's lieutenant contacts him via vid window to inform Megabyte that his troops are prepared for the next game. Megabyte then orders them to not harm Enzo, since he wants him alive... for the moment. As if on queue, a voice announces 'Warning, Incoming Game!'

Some ABC's pick up life forms leaving the Principle Office, which turns out to be Dot and Enzo. The ABC's block them from entering the game, however it turns out this isn't the real Dot and Enzo, but rather two binomes hiding behind life sized cardboard cut outs of the two. The sky is suddenly filled with several Dot's and Enzo's. This is the perfect decoy to allow Mouse, Enzo, and AndrAIa to enter the game. AndrAIa's zip board suddenly starts to slow down and lose power, so Mouse takes a look at it. It turns out this is a rouse, as AndrAIa grabs Mouse's zip board from under her feet, stopping her from entering the game.

Enzo and AndrAIa appear to be in some kind of desert. Enzo asks AndrAIa where Mouse is, and she explains that she stopped her entering the game since their icons are untested, and if she is trapped in the game, she can survive there due to being a game sprite. This conversation is soon cut short by the appearance of a prospector binome, who upon seeing Enzo says the posters he's seen are right, and he's just a kid.

Back in the depths of Silicon Tor, Herr Doktor tells Megabyte that 'all is ready', and then awakens Hexadecimal, who has now been rebuilt with a new outfit, although her mask still remains cracked. While she initially seems displeased about her new look, it turns out she likes it. However, as she goes to leave, Megabyte presses a button on the wrist device Herr Doktor attached to him earlier, and it activates a shock collar round Hexadecimal's neck, knocking her out. He tells Herr Doktor that now he controls Hexadecimals power, he will be able to destroy Mainframe and rebuild it as Megaframe.



Back in the game, Enzo uses Glitch to find out information about the game. However, this proves to be a futile gesture since there's a massive billboard that announces that this game is 'Rocky the Rabid Raccoon'. Enzo and AndrAIa then ReBoot, with AndrAIa becoming a 'biker babe', and Enzo... becomes Elmer Fudd from Looney Tunes, complete with his signature speech impediment. Not long after this, Rocky appears, and attempts to kiss AndrAIa before running off. Enzo attempts to make a shot at him, but his bullet misses. However, this bullet sets off a chain reaction in true Looney Tunes fashion that leads to Rocky being hit by a train and losing the first of his three lives.



Back at the Principle Office, Mouse is explaining what happened to Dot, who isn't happy about Enzo being trapped in a game with a game sprite. Phong chimes in, saying that AndrAIa would never do anything to hurt any of them out of her love for Enzo, and then switches the conversation to how they're going to recover Enzo and AndrAIa once they've won the game. Dot, however, feels that she's 'all out of plans'.

Back in the game, Enzo, AndrAIa, and the Prospector are riding on a motorbike which quickly gets swiped away from them by Rocky. However, the trio still appear to be moving, until they look down and then they tumble straight to the ground. Rocky then sets off a missile before jumping into the entrance to level 2. Enzo tries to urge the prospector to come with them as the rocket will destroy them, but he'd rather take his chances where he is. AndrAIa tries to convince Enzo to leave him, but due to him being a Guardian, Enzo doesn't want to do so. This leads to AndrAIa knocking the prospector out, and the three of them avoid the rocket by jumping off a cliff.



At the bottom of the cliff, there are a couple more binomes, all of whom feel that Enzo is a bit young to be a Guardian. Nearby, Rocky is trying to hit a mole with a giant mallet, but soon gives up and goes into the bonus level. This worries Enzo, since there's an extra life down there, so decides to go and stop him. However, the binomes aren't willing to help. Enzo manages to convince them by saying while he's not Bob, if they don't co operate, they'll all be deleted.

In the bonus level, Enzo manages to grab the extra life token before Rocky is able to get down and grab it. Rocky ends up losing another life in the bonus level after being attacked by a hoard of skeleton binomes. Rocky then finds himself in an area looking like a subway tunnel, and this happens:


After he flees, Rocky finds himself by a vending machine which he repeatedly bashes in order to try and lodge some food free, and then this happens:


Rocky then makes his way outside where he's greeted by an angry mob who chase him into an alleyway where construction works are underway. He ends up getting stuck in tar, and his last remaining life is depleted by a steam roller being driven by Enzo and AndrAIa, ending the game.



Outside the game, the binomes have all been won over by Enzo as their protector. Enzo is initially worried that AndrAIa's icon didn't work. However, it turns out she was behind him, meaning the icon worked. Suddenly, they are greeted by a squadron of Megabyte's ABC's. They order the crowd to surrender or be deleted, but they end up fleeing once Enzo steps forward. Not because of Enzo, but because of some cardboard cut outs of CPU's. Enzo comments how Megabyte is going to be 'vewy vewy angwy', ending the episode.


Overall, I enjoy this episode. It's got some of the funniest moments from the entire series (me and my siblings used to sing the 'Raccoon Hat' song all the time back in the day). However, like I said in the opening paragraph, I feel that the humour and the more dramatic moments don't mesh together as well as they should. The episode opens pretty dark with Megabyte taking over a sector by force after preventing Enzo from entering a game, putting his propaganda campaign to turn Mainframe against Enzo into full effect. Then about halfway through the episode, we transition into a more comedic Looney Tunes romp. Both of these elements are entertaining in their own right, but they can at times feel like completely separate episodes. I do appreciate that it's great to have some humour (especially given how dark things are going to get in a few episodes time), but it can feel a bit jarring going straight from Megabyte putting a shock collar on Hexadecimal in order to control her powers to Enzo turning into Elmer Fudd.

Giving AndrAIa the ability to ReBoot and enter games without the risk of remaining with it is a great way to get AndrAIa more involved with the episodes. Since her introduction last season, she's mainly just served the purpose of being the audience surrogate for the other characters to explain information to that they would otherwise already know, mainly just remaining in the background. Now she's able to accompany Enzo into the games, this means that we get more interactions between the two and providing her more to do. It also adds an interesting idea for future episodes - if it's possible to switch a game sprite icon to a regular one, does that mean it's possible for a regular icon to become a game sprite one?

The game this time primarily appears to be a parody of Looney Tunes, but it also seems to be lampooning the mascot platformers that were popular around the same period such as Crash Bandicoot or Sonic the Hedgehog. Rocky definitely seems cut from the same cloth as those two characters (thankfully not from Bubsy the Bobcat), and is a pretty entertaining user to watch. Enzo being Elmer Fudd for this game kind of echoes the theme of him having to prove himself as a Guardian; Elmer is kind of an ineffectual character, always failing to hunt Bugs Bunny or whoever else he's trying to hunt, so Enzo becoming this "lame" ineffectual character is a slight reflection on how he's being presented in Megabyte's propaganda campaign. This gives him more to prove to the binomes who he's trapped in the game with that he is up for the job of defending the system.

Speaking of Megabyte, this week we learn what his intentions were with repairing Hexadecimal after the events of last episodes; he wants to have control of her power. It's been well established in previous episodes that Hexadecimal is a lot more powerful in comparison to Megabyte, and could easily have control of the system if she wanted to. As someone who craves power himself, Megabyte is of course envious of this, and has used this opportunity to try and obtain and control this power for his own gain. The concept of him using a shock collar to control her is incredibly dark and sinister, as well.

The other note I have about Megabyte in this episode is that he tells his troops that he wishes for Enzo to be alive for the moment. This reinforces the idea that Megabyte is really the one in control at the moment - the only reason Enzo hasn't been killed yet is because he has allowed him to live. His plan is to completely undermine the young sprite's confidence as well as shatter the confidence of those depending on him to defend them.

While this episode does have a few slight plot developments, it doesn't further the story so much. However, Enzo has started to win over the citizens of Mainframe, allowing them to have faith in him to defend their city from the games as well as Megabyte. Megabyte's plans to use his captive sister to take over Mainframe do not sound good, and who knows how the Mainframers will be able to stand against such a threat...

Next week: Our heroes decide to find a way to trap Megabyte in 'Firewall'

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