Thursday, September 12, 2019

Intermission - ReBoot's 25th Anniversary



I'm a little behind with this post since I wasn't sure how to tackle it. I was thinking of briefly mentioning it at the start of my post on Sunday about 'Game Over'. However, I felt that wouldn't really do it much justice, so I've decided to write a one off post ahead of Sunday's entry in this retrospective series to celebrate an important milestone of this show that's incredibly near and dear to my heart.

Two days ago, the 10th September, was the 25th Anniversary of ReBoot's debut. This means that the show is almost as old as I am (I'm 26 in October). In case it isn't obvious from this blog, I adore this show. I wouldn't be dedicating an entire blog to discussing every episode if I didn't, of course. In order to commemorate this milestone, I feel I should go into detail about why I love this show so much (I'll possibly be hitting some of the same beats as I did in my introductory post at the start of this blog, but in a little more detail).

I was a bit late to the boat on ReBoot, being a bit too young to watch it when it premiered on CITV in January 1995. I consider myself getting into the show a complete accident, but one I'm incredibly thankful for. My first encounter with the show was sometime in early 1997, when I was three years old (cannot give an exact timeframe on this one given how young I was). I remember browsing my local Woolworths in Bexleyheath for the various toys until I happened upon a micro playset that came with two 'bouncy spacemen' alongside a green skinned boy with a red baseball cap and a red and yellow dog. As someone who was obsessed with space and spaceships at that young age, I was drawn to the toy and ended up buying it. Again, while my memory of this period is hazy, I definitely got a lot of play value from this purchase.

A few months later in early August, me and my mum were channel surfing (this was back in the days when digital/satellite/cable TV was incredibly rare in the UK, so most people only had five channels, and even then, very few areas were lucky to get good reception on Channel 5) and we stumbled across a program that featured the 'bouncy spacemen' from the playset. I believe it was my mum who pointed them out, but I wanted to watch the program, so we watched the rest of the episode. That episode happened to be Game Over, the episode I'm going to be discussing in depth on Sunday (believe me when I say that I have quite a lot to talk about with that episode). 

From that point on, I was hooked, even if I didn't really 100% comprehend the plots at that age. I stuck with the show from that point on, videotaping every episode that aired from that point (which ended up being mostly repeat screenings of episodes I missed, which was beneficial to me as not only did it help me understand the story, but it allowed me to re record episodes that I had accidentally taped over through my childhood antics and unintentionally stepping on the record button on the remote) until the show ended up vanishing from UK airwaves in April 1998. Around this time, the toys were pretty easy to come by, so I ended up collecting the action figures and creating my own ReBoot adventures. 

Even though the show was gone, that didn't mean I forgot about it. I found myself going back to the tape I had recorded off of the TV every so often, and as I got older, I began to appreciate the show more, picking up on the storyline that carried through from episode to episode (something that was a new concept for myself). Eventually, when I reached the age of 13, I ended up finding the episodes the UK was deprived of on YouTube, and watching the end of Season 3 made me fall in love and appreciate the show on a whole different level. 

Sometime when I was 14, I was delighted to discover there was a whole community of ReBoot fans online, particularly on an online forum called 'The Java Hut'. Desperate to discuss the show with people since practically no one I knew was aware of it's existence, I signed myself up, making it the first online fandom that I interacted with. As someone who didn't have a lot of friends at school, being apart of this fandom really helped on some days when things got a bit much for me. The show itself was also a source of light during some dark times, a show I could always dive into and forget all the negativity I was dealing with.

Now, as an adult in my mid 20's, my love for the show has only grown with time. In fact, the only show that has surpassed ReBoot in my list of favourite TV shows is Buffy the Vampire Slayer (although Avatar The Last Airbender came pretty close when I finally got around to watching it all the way through last year, I still prefer ReBoot a little bit more than Avatar). I adore the characters, the worldbuilding, the universe, and the impeccable storytelling. I also admire how the animation evolved from the slightly dated but charming animation of the first two seasons to the animation from the third season which I feel still holds up pretty well today for the most part. 

Now, to sign off, I'd like to give my thanks to those who helped to make this show so special. Gavin Blair, Ian Pearson, and Phil Mitchell for creating this incredible universe and the memorable storylines to go along with it. Brendan McCarthy for the stylish designs that he provided for the world and it's inhabitants. The incredible voice cast who breathed life into these characters and made them feel so real. Bob Buckley for his incredibly memorable music score that really helped to accentuate the action on screen. The animation team responsible for pushing this state of the art animation and everyone else who helped make this incredible show happen. I know that you enjoyed making the show as much as we all enjoyed watching it.

Stay Frosty.

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