The most beautiful thing about ReBoot was that you could feel the producers were making it as much for their own enjoyment as for the audience. It was practically cult TV by design. ReBoot was not some toy company's IP they were hired to develop, it was their own baby and they loved it. Plus, an episode long homage to cult TV favorite The Prisoner, "for kids".
donjonkeeper The bar scene after he finishes threatening to kill every single person. He meets Turbo and says "Turbo...you ruined my life... Holding his gun and his eye starts glowing" one of the best scenes.
donjonkeeper 10000% I remember as a kid when it first aired man....The whole time thinking theres no way hes gonna lose...but when you see him look at AndraIa & Frisket, then double taps his icon......Geez man.....then the cut to Dot and she's talking about the game almost being over and I'm still thinking "Enzo must have won" then you hear..... The User Wins..............................................
Lol it's like the creators did it on purpose too. So Dot wasn't allowed to have 2 breasts? Ok in just episode 1 not only does she have two breasts but she reboots into Elvira. And AndrAIa? Apparently in the UK, the show was pulled because she was too sexy and because it was getting too dark
season 3 is easily the best of the series, and i love that it is essentially a self-contained story with a cohesive, well-paced narrative and a satisfying, well-earned ending. considering how season 4 ended up going, i kind of wish that it had never been made. i'd much prefer to remember the series ending on this note and leaving daemon to fans imaginations rather than.....all of that plus the massive, needless cliffhanger.
Dude, your Matrix impression and the line, "What happened to the virus who gave me a guitar for my birthday?", had me howling with laughter. Another deadly accurate review of a long unsung series. Gun. Death blossom mode.
Matrix is one of the few heroes I recognize. It has to do with the timing, all of us growing up by the time season 3 came around had grown up quite a lot So we related quite a lot to Matrix, who went back to the kiddy stuff that used to scare us _and gave it a beat down_
Season 3 is actually what made Guardian Enzo my favorite character next to Glitch Bob, because the season felt like it was really addressing how annoying the tag-along character Enzo was in season 1 (which the creators knew he would be but had to add him). Season 3 gives Enzo the actual role he idolized, and what I loved about it was that it felt realistic that he struggled, because Megabyte didnt take him seriously, as just a pretender, the city were showing clear trauma from preferring Bob while prejudiced to Enzo and there was never a time where it seemed like the plot was covering for Enzo's success. Everything he did was him being forced to think. Like how he took charge in the Evil Dead game, because of his new role while Dot still consistently not wanting him to do it, like S1 but not having more conflict with it. It felt very believable that Enzo had to really push himself and yet still felt powerless around Megabyte even when he was successful winning games and when Matrix starts to hate himself from how he useless he felt s a kid, it felt very meta.
"Alright, we're free from a lot of censorship and are now allowed to do all kinds of crazy stuff without restriction. What do we do first?" "MAKE ENZO AN ADULT, CUT OUT HIS EYE, AND GIVE HIM A F**KING GUN!" "THAT'S BLOODY GENIUS!" And thus, Matrix was born.
Season 3 might be the best season of all the tv shows I was watching when I was younger. I'm still shocked by the decision to make Enzo lose in a game.
Interestingly enough, it was actually this plot twist that definitely got me hooked into ReBoot when I first saw it, back in 1999 (I was 10 at the time). Up until that point, I'd only been half-watching the show from time to time, without caring much about it. I'd just started paying more attention to it after To Mend and Defend (mostly thanks to the Evil Dead and Addams Family references, which I really appreciated because I was quite a weird kid - LOL), but when I saw the end of Game Over, I was like: "Wow... did they REALLY just do that?! I NEED to know what's gonna happen next!" And, from there on, I got sucked into ReBoot for life. LOL. Almost 20 years later, that scene still sends chills down my spine every freaking time.
I recently watched the series up to the end of season 3 and forgot just how good this show is. Enzo ended up being my favorite character over Bob towards the end. I loved seeing the journey getting back to Mainframe and seeing it utterly decimated and that sad music playing made me feel something most shows don't do anymore.
Is anyone really surprised that Hexidecimal was into BDSM? I mean, her standard outfit is a corset, with long gloves and thigh high, high heeled boots - and that's even before season three.
Don't forget her Artwork. She loved to include not just her pain in her brushstrokes but a tortured Binome or sprite in it as well. Even in her cookies.
One of my favorite Scenes in Reboot is when Matrix Punches Megabyte (After magabyte challenge him to be be hand to hand) and literally DENTS him. Megabytes face is like "Oh shit, mistakes have been made." I mean given who they are, megabyte might have fared better against Gun.
Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed! Those things you mentioned are all aspects I look for in videos (I don't like when reviews get *too* over the top with jokes).
in season 2 we lost all hope, but in season 3 i felt just as matrix did. this season was freaking awesome, it was dark yet still had some light moments in it
This was a great walk through memory lane. I remember watching Season 3 and just being blown away. The character arc for Enzo was excellent. Never for a moment in the first few seasons would I have foreseen what was coming with this one. Some real shocking moments as a kid like Enzo's group losing the game and just examining his character arc. They really showed how messed up he was by his experiences and the complicated feelings he had about his current and past self. Easily went from a character I didn't care that much about, to probably my favorite character in the cast. Great examination of the show as a whole (and Beast Wars, which I also loved). Season 4 had...things I didn't care about. But Season 3 was outstanding. Just makes me want to try and rewatch the show as a whole.
I'm really surprised Matrix's gun was never re-used in other sci-fi shows or concepts. The idea of a voice-activated gun that can fly, target log onto people using a laser-scoped version of the user's initial(s) and then blast them away seems like a badass concept. It just sucks we never see anything like that in games or movies. I'd love it if Matrix's gun was a weapon in Borderlands or Fallout.
Yea, Matrix' Gun is pretty cool. I didn't mention it in this video because it's not super relevant to the story or characters, but yea; that thing was badass.
That's because Bull Session is the only person who considers Matrix an interesting character. Everyone else just sees Matrix as just another edgelord made to cash in on Spawn. Even Season 4 lampshades how much of a loser and a product of the times and executive meddling Enzo Matrix is deep down.
Spawn only predated ReBoot season three by a couple of months, but due to the lengthy CGI animation process, MFE would have had to start work on the character months beforehand. I suppose technically the Spawn comic was out first, but it wasn't really popular til the TV show. Edgy characters were just "in" at that point in the 90s; doesn't mean there can't also be well written, nuanced characters. Those aren't mutually exclusive concepts. I'd also say that aside from his visual design, Matrix is on the lower end of that spectrum.
Bull Session I knew Spawn from the comics. So I basically use him as a reference point for all that is suck about 90's edgy anti-heroes. Just like Shadow the hedgehog is used as the Edgelord archetype nowadays. And frankly i'm convinced that Bob got written off and Enzo got turned into Matrix partly as a fuck you to ABC and the censors after seeing this retrospective. And Season 4 and the way it treats Enzo just adds more fuel to the fire.
Yeah it’s crazy how dark this season got compared to the light hearted kid friendly first season. Still it showed Reboot knew to grow with its audience. As the audience got more mature so did the show
I think my favorite part of season 3 will always be when they go to the Web. It was such an alien and bizarre location, almost like something from a completely different show. In fact, that's because it was! What very few people know is that the Web arc of ReBoot was originally a plan for a spinoff series called "Webworld". It would focus on Bob in the Web and trying to survive, meeting strange creatures and learning how to use new weaponry. If you've never heard of it, it's probably because it is one of the most obscure pieces of ReBoot facts out there. Webworld was only ever talked about in 2011's ReBoot artbook: ReBoot Forever. It was originally an idea pitched by Brendan McCarthy, that was later incorporated into season 3 itself. It's never explained in the book why the two shows were merged back into one, but I imagine it had to do with manpower and the fact that they were working on other projects at the time. It also probably had to do with the fact that it would be annoying for kids to keep up with both shows. I mean, you'd have two shows set in the same universe with two widely different settings and expect to watch them both to get the full effect. It's kind of a shame in a way, since a lot of the art they made for Webworld never made it into ReBoot season 3. The artbook for this section had some of the most unique and visceral concept art I've ever seen for a kids show. It sucks most of this never got used, it would've made for a great comic book adaptation! Bull (or anyone for that matter) if you have not seen/read the artbook, you need to check it out. Cuz it's so many amazing concepts that could've made for great episodes or shows of their own.
Even as a kid I remember the scene I felt was the most powerful and stuck with me is when Enzo loses the game and there's this moment of silence as all the characters take in what they are hearing and then turn to look at Dot. Then you see this moment where at first it's like Dot not really hearing or facing what has happened by saying quietly Enzo... no... and then when it clicks in you hear the anguish in her voice as she yells no only to have Megabytes laughter coming in as well. It's a very powerful scene and i remember it being something that really stuck with me.
Watching Reboot season3 back during the time it aired in singapore every evening at 6pm(or was it 5.30...) was crazy, back when they played reboot and I thought its just going to be a re-telecast of season2 it but it turn out to be a continuation into season3. that was when my mind was blown again and every week trying to make sure I was there to catch it without missing it was quite a feat esp making sure you come back from school or have no other commitments before 6pm... The wait every week just to see the next episode made it so much better when it came to the final episode of season3...
back when we get a cartoon block from 5-6pm weekdays on public-access TV.... They never do this things anymore. it was an era of media thats now extinct in this generation.
Hearing Matrix say "Bob IS my hero" is doubly interesting because imagine if Matrix didn't meet Bob until he was an adult. He'd find his cheery, dopey, charm insufferable.
I just started watching all of your Reboot videos tonight and omg I'm getting so nostalgic I could cry. Thanks to you I have an epic need to watch this show again and the way you tell the stories of each season has been giving me ideas about a current story I'm working on. Who knew my long time love of my fave childhood TV show would do that for me?? Thanks for doing this, and I hope you so Reboot season 4 soon!
an blu ray version of reboot could happen now with 2 people i saw a video talk how the found the original tapes but need help to play them and hopefully can get them upscaled! and a documentary is coming about the series! im hoping a new generation can see how great this show was
I really liked Enzo's final confrontation with Megabyte, and how you felt his dispite to kill the the virus who destroyed his home, but ultimately spared him, with lead to megabytes failed escape and a date worce than death
The fight between Matrix and Megabyte, for me, is right up there, with regards to quality character development and conclusive impact, with Dinobot’s last stand in “Code of Hero”
3:05 You never know there might be a chance some employee finds copies of some of the models and sets on a floppy disk stuffed in a drawer somewhere. It happened with VeggieTales' Duke and The Pie War episode. Big Idea wanted to put the episode in the same world as the George and The Ducky episode but they lost the files for the models of the sets. Then one day an employee found it on a floppy disk in his possession laying around somewhere with the files.
Either way, really hate such valuable files being lost way too clumsily. Believe me, I've seen such problems with video games like Homeworld: Cataclysm (now Emergence, due to stupid copyright risks with a certain bloody MMO).
Season 3 of ReBoot is absolute perfection. Loved it as a kid and appreciate it more and more as an adult. This was a great video, nice to find other ReBoot fans. Subbed!
Season 3 drew me into Reboot with how mature it was. Its ending was so satisfying as well. I only watched what I could on Toonami, and someday want to watch every bit of the show.
I could go on about how much I love ReBoot Season 3 all day. While I love Season 2 as well, Season 3 was just the absolute pinnacle of storytelling. However, due to living in the UK, I didn't get to see the whole thing until TH-cam came along and someone uploaded the episodes there as they stopped showing it after Return of the Crimson Binome. While it's annoying that I had to wait 9 years to see those last 7 episodes, I think I appreciated them a lot more at 13 than I probably would have if I saw them as the 4 year old I was when I watched the show as it was airing over here.
yea, that's brutal. I originally included a bit where I talked about the censorship in the Uk, but ended up cutting it for time. Did you guys ever even get a dvd?
Unfortunately, the only home video release of ReBoot we got over here was two VHS tapes of the first four Season 1 episodes (two per tape). There's not really a demand for animated shows to be released on DVD over here, so unless it's a really popular show, it's likely to not get a single DVD release (heck, Gravity Falls isn't available on DVD). Actually, the only Mainframe show that was released in full on DVD over here was Shadow Raiders (will you be covering that show as well by the way? It was from around the same time as ReBoot and Beast Wars and it was just as good)
Reboot was already one of my favorite shows by the time Season 2 ended. This season ensured it was probably the most engaging show I'd ever seen. I think what was most impressive in retrospect is that the season featured so many shocking and ballsy developments (starting from the very beginning with Megabyte suddenly doing the intro), but they managed to keep me more interested through all of them. I've noticed lots of shows since then have shown they can do shocking twists, but that doesn't always mean the show is as engaging to watch. Dot's reaction at the end of Game Over is to this day, the greatest and most emotional "NOOOOOO" of all time, in my opinion. I can still go back and see her reaction to losing Enzo and her reaction to seeing him again and potentially get a little emotional.
@Bull Session, Thank you for these Reviews! Like yourself I grew up loving Beast Wars and in particular Reboot. Reboot holds strong place in my youth. You reviews are putting a huge smile on my face as I remember this amazing show! Please keep it up!
It always surprised me that they inserted Maxine (the silver robot lady) from the first ReBoot IMax ride into season 3. I mean, she was a character LITERALLY CREATED just to be an audience avatar for a ride attraction. Here, she gets inserted into a small scene in season 3, has some sarcastic witty dialogue, and provides the biggest piece of exposition in that whole arc. What's crazier is that the ride isn't even really considered canon, but they inserted her into the show regardless just as a nod. It's just proof that you make a good 3-dimensional (pun intended) character out of a bland 1-dimensional one.
I actually didn't learn she was from the ride until after I'd posted this video. It's pretty cool; I guess that's also why her boat says IMAX on it. I do know though that in theses early years, MFE tended not to waste assets whenever possible. For example, when Beast Wars season 1 was being made, they had a Stonehenge model they weren't doing anything with, so they just put it in the show and wrote an episode around it haha
They also never worried about keeping elements they reused up to date. Check out my uploads for Death of Dinobot, Half the people in the first year it was up were complaining about Rat Trap still appearing in pre-transmetal form.
The third season of "Reboot" sure had an interesting set up with all of those mini-arcs, and overall I'd say it did a pretty good job. And yes, there are times where I wish this was the last season of the show, even if there would've been a couple of plot threads hanging (like the backstory of Dot and Enzo's father, the appearance of Daemon, etc.). Great job with this retrospective, man! I can't wait to see more of your stuff.
Thanks! I've been having a blast making these videos and I'm glad you're enjoying them. On the one hand, yes the way that season 4 ends is awful and this season had a much better ending, but on the other season 4 still had some great moments and a lot of other good stuff going for it, and closed the rst of the plot threads from earlier in the series. So its a double edged sword I suppose
You're welcome Bull Session! Oh yeah, season 4 had plenty of good moments, too, especially with Hex's character arc. But yeah, I'm mostly bummed about it not getting the conclusion it deserves, especially with you-know-what mucking up its chances from happening. Still can't wait to hear your thoughts on that season, along with the rest of "Beast Wars."
Yay the 3rd Season Review! I always like watching this season, it's the best! Doesn't mean that other seasons aren't because this season is not the same without them. As a side note: I think I remember somewhere someone saying that the show creators regretted not having the User's RESTORE: Y / N? be instead REBOOT: Y / N? The show's creators thought that was a mistake that they did not do that instead.
I find it funny how ReBoot season 3 tell a better, deeper and more exciting story on "heroes lost across the perceivable world trying to get home" in 8 episodes then ST Voyager does in 7 seasons.
That is just what happens when Paramount insists you not allow any character development. The series resets so often because of Editorial Mandate insisting story arcs were what was driving DS9 ratings down. Forgetting DS9 is a station not a ship and that might play a factor.
I grew up in the 90's, on Beast Wars, Shadow Raiders, Dragon Ball Z, and Spider-Man TAS. I had only watched the occasional bit of Reboot here and there, but due to its serialized storytelling, it never grabbed me since I never knew what was going on. I finally decided to give the series a complete go. I impulse bought the Mainframe DVD set. Just wow. The best of Mainframe's shows, in my opinion, and one of my favorite shows now of all time. Growing up on Mainframe's other CGI shows of that era made it easy to enjoy the graphics and especially the limited facial expressions. But the writing, voice acting, epic scope, and creative humor are just so good. I absolutely love this show.
reboot was a show I watched but never really considered it a favorite until this season, it took alot of guts to do what they did with such a pre-established, episodic series.
I'm still loving this series! You're my favourite reviewer on TH-cam now :) Been sharing your videos and telling everyone I know who grew up with these shows like I did about your channel. You deserve a lot of love and support here. Your work is perfect 👌
I am surprise at this. Most comments I remember reading years ago said Matrix was super cool and had him as the favorite character in most polls, if not all.
Thanks for this great retrospective on reboot. You made me remember how awesome it was. I can't wait to watch the retrospective of my all-time favorite, Beast Wars.
You're very welcome :) The Beast Wars season one video is actually already on the channel; if you go to my channel page, it should be the next video showing after this one under the first playlist. Enjoy!
Matrix and Ray Tracer I think it has more to do with the fact that Enzo doesn't interact with Sprites, or really know how. You even learn this in season 2 episode 19, AndrAIa. Pretty much all his friends blew up with his dad in the twin city. The only Sprites left around him were his sister (workaholic), bob (busy saving the world), and phong (oldtimer). In season 2 his sister becomes the boss, and they're forced to work with Mouse, who tried to fry his brain for Megabyte. Even though there's no indication he dislikes her, it's probable that Dot would be like 'no'. Even throughout season 3, he primarily interacts with Binomes. In episode 28, the one Sprite quickly gets on his nerves for not reminding him of anyone. And he only really does so in a way to tell them to 'git gud'. The one system he DOES find 'Sprites' (season 3, episode 29) he finds one that looks and acts a LOT like Bob and the rest are kind of jerkfaces that want to fite him. Oh, and one's a virus, and not bob died. i'm sure Matrix had a great day that day. The only other times he's ever interacted with Sprites are the infected Guardians, who are trying to kill/capture him, or Turbo, who he still doesn't like. Now introduce Ray Tracer. He's not an enemy. He doesn't look up to Matrix or want to thwart him. He's not really doing anything to get in Matrix's way (at the time). He's not overly rude or malicious (outside of being annoyed at being left in a jail cell). All he says is, "A little help, please?" Matrix would have NO IDEA how to react to a situation like this. Keep in mind, Matrix had to help himself, had to become strong on his own with 'no help.' (aside from AndrAIa and Frisket).
That's a good point. Though I will say he seemed to get along fine with most of the Hero Select, but that could also just be because Rob Cursor reminded him so much of Bob
Actually, weren't the Hero Collective originally Spectrals? So really, Matrix was just palling around with reformatted Spectrals as opposed to actual sprites.
that wasn't the point, but still relevant. The point is Matrix has never really interacted with Sprites. Matrix ONLY got along with the Hero Select (and even the Spectrals themselves) because A: Rob Cursor REALLY reminded him of Bob and B: Virus Hunt. Remember, after talking to Rob Cursor and finally accepting that he wasn't Bob, Matrix did a system scan and called a hunt, not for Spectrals, but for a Virus. THE MOMENT Rob 'wasn't Bob', Matrix lost all interest in the Hero Select and their system EXCEPT for killing viruses.
Man, I miss ReBoot. :/ I remember loving the hell out of that show when i was a little kid. And yeah. I still find it hilarious that Matrix looks like my brother in this day and age. XD I didn't realize that me and my brother were looking at what he would look like in the future face-wise. XD
Reboot Season 3 is still my favourite hands down. I love our poor jaded Matrix to absolute pieces. You did another stellar job reviewing this too, and provided a lot of really good information and insight into things. I'm really appreciating these videos.When it comes to the scene with Matrix and Ray Tracer, my husband brought up an interesting point as he watched this with me; in most cases when Matrix offers to help the binomes and sprites around him, AndrAIa is by his side, or in very close proximity. I haven't seen the episode in a while, so I don't remember if she was close to him then(if she is the whole point I'm coming up with is moot), but it is possible that he's trying especially hard to remind AndrAIa that he has some good left inside him. I don't want to say that he's putting on a mask for her necessarily, since I think he's generally pretty open an honest with her, but I think he tries even harder when she's around not to let that dark part of himself consume him completely. It's just a theory anyway.I eagerly await your review on season 4 though, you've done something pretty awesome here :)
Huh, that's a very good observation. No, I didn't notice that at all. AndrAIa is off letting the guards chase her to distract them while this scene is going.
One of the first television shows to make me cry, specifically Dot’s horrific “No!” And her disbelief when she finally sees her brother again. It’s funny now that I’m older, the psychology that put into how Matrix turned out makes so much sense! Looking on it now as a counselor, they really did their homework! Season 4 I have mixed feelings about. Some of it was really good, some not so much. Ironically I think some of the fanfiction written before Season 4 turned out better than the official product.
Bull Session Truthfully I still go back and read some of them. Some fans also did ones where the first half of season 4 was accepted and not the second half. They were...pretty dam good actually. It’s a shame they never picked up after Season 4; there was no shortage of ideas! Heck, a popular one I remember is “how would you win a game that lasts forever like Sims? Or what happens if a User paused a game?” Lots of things they could have used...
man i'm feeling nostalgic. i got my friend to start watching reboot with me at the end of last year (i actually made a list of all of the plot centric ones so, while i enjoy season one, he didn't have to sit through absolutely all of it), but we got distracted and tbh i'm seeing him tomorrow so i'm definitely going to get him to pick it back up with me. reboot is a show i was basically raised on and can watch on repeat, i've seen it so much. i adore it to this day and i can't wait to see your season four video!!
Thanks for your ReBoot Retrospective, been a fan since its inception when I was ten years old on September 10th 1994! Got the Shout! Studios (formerly known as Shout! Factory) ReBoot: The Definitive Mainframe Edition DVD Release for X-Mas 2019! Watch it religiously ‘TIL this day!!! Keep up the great work!!!
Our favorite shows leave us with conundrums. On one hand, we love the shows so much we don't want them to end. On the other hand, if they stay too long, their quality, what we love about them, risk degradation. And in the case of this season ending, it was so good, wrapped up so well, nothing after will reach that level, and thus feel when the real finale comes, it's a big letdown.
Three favourite shows as a child...Beast Wars, Reboot, Shadow Raiders. Reboot season 3 was great! And I really enjoy your reviews and thoughts in these shows! Thanks!
You had Reboot, where Bob was banished, Enzo and Andraia lost a game and Megabyte won You had Beast Wars where Megatron seemingly successfully killed Optimus and Cheetor had to step in as leader You had shadow raiders, where entire _planets_ routinely get devoured You had Sonic underground, where Sonic and co had to fight a geurilla war against their mechanized friends... Man, the 90's was fucking _depressing_
I thought I caught most of the references but clearly I missed a lot of them just going by the quick flash through of things at the end of the video! Thanks as always for the awesome review! The James Bond opening is probably still one of my favorite things that happened in season 3. It captured the over the top singing so well! I can't tell you how nice it was to find this waiting for me after a very long and awful weekend!
There really are a ton of references; I didn't even scratch the surface! There's a line taken verbatum right from Blade Runner; inflections and everything. The Firewall opening was definitely something special though. Thanks for watching, and I hope next week goes better for you :)
Missed an opportunity to point out that Phong's VA, Michael Donovan, was Conan in the "Conan the Adventurer" series, which also featured Optimus Primal's VA, Gary Chalk. Also, I'd say Enzo's sudden change into an adult was more like the original Lion-O; both get put into a situation where they're rapidly aged into adults, and lose out on their childhoods. The only difference being, Lion-O didn't really lament his lost youth all that much and adjusted to being an adult fairly quickly, while Matrix came to hate himself and was basically a kid pretending to be an adult, made all the more apparent when it turns out AndrAIa and he are still technically kids, but only appeared older because the game-hopping boosted their outward appearances.
Very cool review and have to say your love of the series really shines through in the way you talk about it. Will be sharing this with some other friends of mine who were fans of reboot back in the 90s. keep up the good work mate.
Thanks so much for the support :) ReBoot was one of my absolute favourites growing up, and that new spinoff show made me want to cleanse my brain after watching, so if nothing else, I'm glad that show stoked my love of the series. These videos have been a blast to make!
This was brilliant. Thank you for making it! This is my fav show of all time and you showed me some stuff here I never knew before. Looking forward to your season 4 video *subs*
Just watched season 3 yesterday and today, so good. I love the how they leaned into the whole jaded renegade thing with Enzo especially at the start. I feel like AndrAIa: "We should help them" Matrix: "No" AndrAIa: "Why not" Matrix: "Cause I'm jaded and I have a dark past" could have been actual lines of dialogue. Kind of like if Roger on American Dad was doing some kind of renegade type character. They were able to explore "dark" ideas without being too serious about it.
There is an interesting revelation in season 4 that makes Enzo Matrix decision to spare Megabyte have more meaning, however they don't bring back up or when they some what do he has no reaction. I'm take about how the Virus Megabyte and Hexadecimal consider Welman Matrix (Nibbles) to be there father who is the father of Dot and Enzo and Hex even call Dot sister. It would have been batter to see Matrix reaction that the virus one who he really hates consider them selves some what family to the Martixs'. I found this to have a possible, a big impact on Matrix more on Enzo because it some what had an effect Dot, but they didn't really go all the way with this revelation. Can't wait for the next retrospective, really enjoy your videos.
My personal favourite joke is from the game where Cyrus is stuck in the game and admits he'd never rebooted before. He taps his icon, but says "Beetroot". I always try to use that as a joke reference, but no one ever seems to get the reference, though.
You have to double click. < I have a theory that this exact joke is why the New Guardians can not Reboot in The Guardian Code. No double click on cell phones of course so they try tapping only once.
Tell me about it... Well, at least I got to vent my own frustrations through my videos on the new ReBoot show... not looking forward to the rest of the season.
There’s a few explanations for why Matrix was more harsh to Ray. Maybe the script was rewritten, with a previous version having Ray and Andraia meeting before Ray was imprisioned, and maybe the continuity wasn’t completely ironed out. This happens a lot in modern movies where there seems to be contradictions. Like in Star Trek First Contact, one character says the modern world is destroyed by nuclear holocaust, while a different character is only concerned with global fame, money and partying. Both scenarios can’t be true, and that’s because supposedly the script was partially rewritten without retaining continuity. That’s just a theory here. Also, more realisticly, Andraia has probably been hit on by hundreds of binomes, sprites, etc. A cool good-looking sprite is more of a threat to Matrix’s relationship than a binome. Although this is our first time seeing someone compete against Matrix for Andraia, this is probably not the first time for Matrix. Although I understand the confusion considering how well Mainframe Entertainment set up plots, character development and backstories.
Intorsus Volo I think it was done to remind the viewer that Matrix is a no-joke guy that has trust issues right before he's forced to keep Ray around. The scene also put Captain Capacitor in a role as a friend associated with Dot, that isnt scared of Matrix and will reprimand him when he needs to. As Dot would do. So this one line sets up 3 character roles. I think it's done well.
Going by production numbers it looks like return of the Crimson Binome was made just after the Star Trek themed Where no Sprite has Gone Before. Probably still recovering from that Hero collective friction back when it was a movie script before the other episodes in between were added to pad out the half season timeline.
Just found this series! Amazing work, really enjoy your recaps. I LOVED season 3. It took the series to yeah, pretty enjoyable to all around kickass awesome. Always wished we could have spent more time with Matrix and AndrAia in the Games though!!
I know, right? If it had been 20 episodes long, with another four in there as Enzo and AndrAIa grow up, that would have been dope! You could do one on how he got his scar, one on how he got Gun, etc. You joined at just the right time, too. Season four video should be out next week (hopefully)!
Bull Session YES! Season 3 was by far my favourite season. For all the reasons you mentioned. And it has held up very well 20 years later. I would love a couple more episodes of just Matrix and AndrAia game/system hopping. Or maybe an actual ending to Season 4. Or hell, anything else other than... the Guardian Code. Sigh. Can’t wait for your season 4 recap!
cant wait for season 4. god did i ever love mainframe entertainment shows when i was growing up. I always rushed home to watch reboot and later on beasties and at times shadow raiders
The thing that always annoyed me about the ReBoot franchise as a whole is that it never crossed over with any other series. I guess it's hard to crossover with ReBoot, since it takes place within a cyber-world and there were only a few shows within a similar setting at the time. Still, I would've loved if Bob and friends ended up in the Digital World from Digimon, or in The Matrix, or hanging out with the Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad. I'm surprised there was never a Zixx crossover, especially since that show was worked on by the same company who made ReBoot. However, it may still happen, now that ReBoot has devolved into a Zixx clone..
A Zixx crossover could have been interesting, though might have been a bit tricky. For one, Zixx (like the the Guardian Code) used a video game engine for the CGI segments rather than animating them from scratch as they did on ReBoot, Beast Wars, etc., which would have meant remodeling everything on the ReBoot side of things. If they were planning to bring back ReBoot, then sure (Zixx came out 3 years after ReBoot's fourth season) but it would be a ton of work just for a cameo. The other issue is that Zixx was a co-production with several other companies. If I had to guess, I's say that's why it isn't listed under eithe MFE or Rainmaker on their wikipedia page. You're 100% correct though. I always found myself wishing Bob Dot and Ezno would team up with the Digidestined when I was a kid :P
A rumour I heard through the pipeline while researching this video is that one of the former Rainmaker CEOs flipped their lid one day and ordered it all scrubbed.
It was a CEO that was new to the company after the contract for Escape from Planet Earth came in and he found they were taking longer to render because of the database still having the old animation elements in them. The animators tried to tell him what a mistake it was but that is why half the scenes in the movie have textures that aren't as fluid as main scenes. He had them dump all the old elements, including those they were still using. Leaving out his name to be kind.
I have a bit of trivia involving the show and the UK, During the mid 90’s CITV ‘A show for the UK Kids’ they show ReBoot as well, But things got a bit Hell when S3 started first of all the episodes ‘To Mend & Defend’ & ‘Between a Racoon and a Hard Place’ hasn’t been repeated after it was first aired, Second is pretty much obvious, Some viewers complain that it’s too violence was unacceptable and the characters inappropriate in a children’s program shown at the time, by 1998 on April the last Ep they showed before Meridian ‘One of ITV’s channels’ pull the plug on the show is ‘The Return of the Crimson Binome’ meaning for those who watched the show in the UK back then will never know what happens next, No seeing the rest of S3 and S4 in general, Times have changed since then and now some in the UK such as myself could watch it on TH-cam.
Season 3 was a great season of ReBoot. I like the arc which the Mad Max like Matrix, AndrAla and Frisket travel from system to system as they search for Bob and they set out to try and get home to Mainframe.
That was one of my favorite moments in the show when the computer crashes and the user rebooted and saved the day. What a nice guy. I don't understand how any of that works. They would have to wait while I pay someone to fix it. :P
The original files were found and a reader obtained. Season 1 Episode 1 is available on channel Mainframe Studios at the time of this writing, and one source says 8 are complete.
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The most beautiful thing about ReBoot was that you could feel the producers were making it as much for their own enjoyment as for the audience. It was practically cult TV by design. ReBoot was not some toy company's IP they were hired to develop, it was their own baby and they loved it. Plus, an episode long homage to cult TV favorite The Prisoner, "for kids".
Which is proof this was a 90s show
@@teddybeer6206Bruce Timm's DC was the same way...
Heffer ruined it with guardian code it was such trash!! I miss this show so much
Love the "for kids" running gag.
That moment when Enzo loses the game still bring tears to my eyes. Best. Show. Ever.
donjonkeeper The bar scene after he finishes threatening to kill every single person. He meets Turbo and says "Turbo...you ruined my life... Holding his gun and his eye starts glowing" one of the best scenes.
donjonkeeper 10000% I remember as a kid when it first aired man....The whole time thinking theres no way hes gonna lose...but when you see him look at AndraIa & Frisket, then double taps his icon......Geez man.....then the cut to Dot and she's talking about the game almost being over and I'm still thinking "Enzo must have won" then you hear.....
The User Wins..............................................
donjonkeeper Well he is just a Miner
@@thephilosopher7173 and that dead silent pause, just long enough for realization to sink in before Dot reacts...
@@onorebakasama the way she screams no after she says his name. Heartbreaking. 🥺
The season where Enzo became the best Reboot character.
That season did the "kid hero" archetype right. Better than the corny Guardian code.
That position is reserved for Megabyte.
and AndrAia went from vomit-inducingly deformed to pants-tighteningly hot. Man Toonami in the early 2000s was a wonderful place to go through puberty.
@@GeteMachine Or the entire Code Lyoko casts.
@@KairuHakubi yeah fish right
Finally! The season where everyone in the cast go hot lol.
Haha! That's definitely one way of putting it :p
Lol it's like the creators did it on purpose too. So Dot wasn't allowed to have 2 breasts? Ok in just episode 1 not only does she have two breasts but she reboots into Elvira. And AndrAIa? Apparently in the UK, the show was pulled because she was too sexy and because it was getting too dark
Hello handsome
Hex was already hot, but you're not wrong.
Except Bob ,he has web-acne.
season 3 is easily the best of the series, and i love that it is essentially a self-contained story with a cohesive, well-paced narrative and a satisfying, well-earned ending. considering how season 4 ended up going, i kind of wish that it had never been made. i'd much prefer to remember the series ending on this note and leaving daemon to fans imaginations rather than.....all of that plus the massive, needless cliffhanger.
Dude, your Matrix impression and the line, "What happened to the virus who gave me a guitar for my birthday?", had me howling with laughter. Another deadly accurate review of a long unsung series. Gun. Death blossom mode.
Fans think Megabyte and Hex's fusion into Gigabyte might have been responsible for the former becoming less affable, more responsible.
Matrix is one of the few heroes I recognize.
It has to do with the timing, all of us growing up by the time season 3 came around had grown up quite a lot
So we related quite a lot to Matrix, who went back to the kiddy stuff that used to scare us _and gave it a beat down_
3:03 good news! they have the masters and their being re-rendered!
Season 3 is actually what made Guardian Enzo my favorite character next to Glitch Bob, because the season felt like it was really addressing how annoying the tag-along character Enzo was in season 1 (which the creators knew he would be but had to add him).
Season 3 gives Enzo the actual role he idolized, and what I loved about it was that it felt realistic that he struggled, because Megabyte didnt take him seriously, as just a pretender, the city were showing clear trauma from preferring Bob while prejudiced to Enzo and there was never a time where it seemed like the plot was covering for Enzo's success. Everything he did was him being forced to think. Like how he took charge in the Evil Dead game, because of his new role while Dot still consistently not wanting him to do it, like S1 but not having more conflict with it. It felt very believable that Enzo had to really push himself and yet still felt powerless around Megabyte even when he was successful winning games and when Matrix starts to hate himself from how he useless he felt s a kid, it felt very meta.
"Alright, we're free from a lot of censorship and are now allowed to do all kinds of crazy stuff without restriction. What do we do first?"
"MAKE ENZO AN ADULT, CUT OUT HIS EYE, AND GIVE HIM A F**KING GUN!"
"THAT'S BLOODY GENIUS!"
And thus, Matrix was born.
and turn him into Batman!
& don't forget the tattoo
Add one bionic eye
Season 3 might be the best season of all the tv shows I was watching when I was younger. I'm still shocked by the decision to make Enzo lose in a game.
I'm preeeetty sure I cried the first time I saw that
Interestingly enough, it was actually this plot twist that definitely got me hooked into ReBoot when I first saw it, back in 1999 (I was 10 at the time). Up until that point, I'd only been half-watching the show from time to time, without caring much about it. I'd just started paying more attention to it after To Mend and Defend (mostly thanks to the Evil Dead and Addams Family references, which I really appreciated because I was quite a weird kid - LOL), but when I saw the end of Game Over, I was like: "Wow... did they REALLY just do that?! I NEED to know what's gonna happen next!" And, from there on, I got sucked into ReBoot for life. LOL. Almost 20 years later, that scene still sends chills down my spine every freaking time.
I recently watched the series up to the end of season 3 and forgot just how good this show is. Enzo ended up being my favorite character over Bob towards the end. I loved seeing the journey getting back to Mainframe and seeing it utterly decimated and that sad music playing made me feel something most shows don't do anymore.
Is anyone really surprised that Hexidecimal was into BDSM?
I mean, her standard outfit is a corset, with long gloves and thigh high, high heeled boots - and that's even before season three.
It's true -- the signs were all there.
Don't forget her Artwork. She loved to include not just her pain in her brushstrokes but a tortured Binome or sprite in it as well. Even in her cookies.
nope, not surprised at all
Ever seen the ending of pulp fiction
Wasn't it at Megabyte's request she wears it?
One of my favorite Scenes in Reboot is when Matrix Punches Megabyte (After magabyte challenge him to be be hand to hand) and literally DENTS him. Megabytes face is like "Oh shit, mistakes have been made."
I mean given who they are, megabyte might have fared better against Gun.
That's a great scene, yea
You're a good reviewer. Good level audio, no annoying voice, no cutting the review to add jokey jokes, reviewing this in depth. Can't wait for more!
Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed! Those things you mentioned are all aspects I look for in videos (I don't like when reviews get *too* over the top with jokes).
FreshprinceObelair I second this!
in season 2 we lost all hope, but in season 3 i felt just as matrix did. this season was freaking awesome, it was dark yet still had some light moments in it
This was a great walk through memory lane. I remember watching Season 3 and just being blown away. The character arc for Enzo was excellent. Never for a moment in the first few seasons would I have foreseen what was coming with this one. Some real shocking moments as a kid like Enzo's group losing the game and just examining his character arc. They really showed how messed up he was by his experiences and the complicated feelings he had about his current and past self. Easily went from a character I didn't care that much about, to probably my favorite character in the cast.
Great examination of the show as a whole (and Beast Wars, which I also loved). Season 4 had...things I didn't care about. But Season 3 was outstanding. Just makes me want to try and rewatch the show as a whole.
Do it! It's much shorter than it seems. The whole thing is 47 episodes total
Reboot HD Blu ray release Needs to be available, I'd buy it! Even if it were ninty nine ninty nine nintyyyy ninnneee.
Hell yea, same here!
😂🤣☠
@@BullSession The whole series is on Crave now, I think in HD.
I'm really surprised Matrix's gun was never re-used in other sci-fi shows or concepts. The idea of a voice-activated gun that can fly, target log onto people using a laser-scoped version of the user's initial(s) and then blast them away seems like a badass concept. It just sucks we never see anything like that in games or movies. I'd love it if Matrix's gun was a weapon in Borderlands or Fallout.
Yea, Matrix' Gun is pretty cool. I didn't mention it in this video because it's not super relevant to the story or characters, but yea; that thing was badass.
That's because Bull Session is the only person who considers Matrix an interesting character. Everyone else just sees Matrix as just another edgelord made to cash in on Spawn. Even Season 4 lampshades how much of a loser and a product of the times and executive meddling Enzo Matrix is deep down.
Spawn only predated ReBoot season three by a couple of months, but due to the lengthy CGI animation process, MFE would have had to start work on the character months beforehand. I suppose technically the Spawn comic was out first, but it wasn't really popular til the TV show.
Edgy characters were just "in" at that point in the 90s; doesn't mean there can't also be well written, nuanced characters. Those aren't mutually exclusive concepts. I'd also say that aside from his visual design, Matrix is on the lower end of that spectrum.
Bull Session I knew Spawn from the comics. So I basically use him as a reference point for all that is suck about 90's edgy anti-heroes. Just like Shadow the hedgehog is used as the Edgelord archetype nowadays. And frankly i'm convinced that Bob got written off and Enzo got turned into Matrix partly as a fuck you to ABC and the censors after seeing this retrospective. And Season 4 and the way it treats Enzo just adds more fuel to the fire.
Sure, I still think he's a terrific character though. I'll be going into the whole Little Enzo/Matrix thing in the season 4 video
Yeah it’s crazy how dark this season got compared to the light hearted kid friendly first season. Still it showed Reboot knew to grow with its audience. As the audience got more mature so did the show
To add to the Mad Max connection, Ray Tracer was voice by Mel Gibson's younger brother, Donal Gibson.
Wow, really? I had no idea. That's really cool
I think my favorite part of season 3 will always be when they go to the Web. It was such an alien and bizarre location, almost like something from a completely different show. In fact, that's because it was! What very few people know is that the Web arc of ReBoot was originally a plan for a spinoff series called "Webworld". It would focus on Bob in the Web and trying to survive, meeting strange creatures and learning how to use new weaponry. If you've never heard of it, it's probably because it is one of the most obscure pieces of ReBoot facts out there.
Webworld was only ever talked about in 2011's ReBoot artbook: ReBoot Forever. It was originally an idea pitched by Brendan McCarthy, that was later incorporated into season 3 itself. It's never explained in the book why the two shows were merged back into one, but I imagine it had to do with manpower and the fact that they were working on other projects at the time. It also probably had to do with the fact that it would be annoying for kids to keep up with both shows. I mean, you'd have two shows set in the same universe with two widely different settings and expect to watch them both to get the full effect.
It's kind of a shame in a way, since a lot of the art they made for Webworld never made it into ReBoot season 3. The artbook for this section had some of the most unique and visceral concept art I've ever seen for a kids show. It sucks most of this never got used, it would've made for a great comic book adaptation! Bull (or anyone for that matter) if you have not seen/read the artbook, you need to check it out. Cuz it's so many amazing concepts that could've made for great episodes or shows of their own.
Even as a kid I remember the scene I felt was the most powerful and stuck with me is when Enzo loses the game and there's this moment of silence as all the characters take in what they are hearing and then turn to look at Dot.
Then you see this moment where at first it's like Dot not really hearing or facing what has happened by saying quietly Enzo... no... and then when it clicks in you hear the anguish in her voice as she yells no only to have Megabytes laughter coming in as well.
It's a very powerful scene and i remember it being something that really stuck with me.
Watching Reboot season3 back during the time it aired in singapore every evening at 6pm(or was it 5.30...) was crazy, back when they played reboot and I thought its just going to be a re-telecast of season2 it but it turn out to be a continuation into season3. that was when my mind was blown again and every week trying to make sure I was there to catch it without missing it was quite a feat esp making sure you come back from school or have no other commitments before 6pm...
The wait every week just to see the next episode made it so much better when it came to the final episode of season3...
That's awesome! I wasn't aware it aired in Singapore. Glad to see more people around the world got to experience this great show.
back when we get a cartoon block from 5-6pm weekdays on public-access TV.... They never do this things anymore. it was an era of media thats now extinct in this generation.
Hearing Matrix say "Bob IS my hero" is doubly interesting because imagine if Matrix didn't meet Bob until he was an adult. He'd find his cheery, dopey, charm insufferable.
I guess he's got his own nostalgia googles
I just started watching all of your Reboot videos tonight and omg I'm getting so nostalgic I could cry. Thanks to you I have an epic need to watch this show again and the way you tell the stories of each season has been giving me ideas about a current story I'm working on. Who knew my long time love of my fave childhood TV show would do that for me?? Thanks for doing this, and I hope you so Reboot season 4 soon!
Thanks for watching! I'm glad I could help with your storytelling. Season 4 is in the plans!
"Game over... The User wins..." will never not hit like a tonne of bricks.
In "Icons", they also have Mike Donovan using his Conan voice as the user. He even uses a variation on Conan's catchphrase "By Crom!"
Huh, that's cool; I didn't know that (never actually watched much of Conan The Adventurer). Would have been a neat detail to include in the video.
an blu ray version of reboot could happen now with 2 people i saw a video talk how the found the original tapes but need help to play them and hopefully can get them upscaled! and a documentary is coming about the series! im hoping a new generation can see how great this show was
I really liked Enzo's final confrontation with Megabyte, and how you felt his dispite to kill the the virus who destroyed his home, but ultimately spared him, with lead to megabytes failed escape and a date worce than death
But him sparing Megabyte came back to bite him in the ass later, never go for half measures with ones like Megabyte.
The fight between Matrix and Megabyte, for me, is right up there, with regards to quality character development and conclusive impact, with Dinobot’s last stand in “Code of Hero”
That's a really great comparison actually
3:05 You never know there might be a chance some employee finds copies of some of the models and sets on a floppy disk stuffed in a drawer somewhere. It happened with VeggieTales' Duke and The Pie War episode. Big Idea wanted to put the episode in the same world as the George and The Ducky episode but they lost the files for the models of the sets. Then one day an employee found it on a floppy disk in his possession laying around somewhere with the files.
One can hope!
Either way, really hate such valuable files being lost way too clumsily. Believe me, I've seen such problems with video games like Homeworld: Cataclysm (now Emergence, due to stupid copyright risks with a certain bloody MMO).
I saw this episode was up and i frantically click to watch. That's how good this series on that series is!
Thank you! Hope you enjoyed the video :)
Season 3 of ReBoot is absolute perfection.
Loved it as a kid and appreciate it more and more as an adult.
This was a great video, nice to find other ReBoot fans. Subbed!
Thank you!
@@BullSession No...thank *YOU!*
Season 3 drew me into Reboot with how mature it was. Its ending was so satisfying as well. I only watched what I could on Toonami, and someday want to watch every bit of the show.
I could go on about how much I love ReBoot Season 3 all day. While I love Season 2 as well, Season 3 was just the absolute pinnacle of storytelling.
However, due to living in the UK, I didn't get to see the whole thing until TH-cam came along and someone uploaded the episodes there as they stopped showing it after Return of the Crimson Binome. While it's annoying that I had to wait 9 years to see those last 7 episodes, I think I appreciated them a lot more at 13 than I probably would have if I saw them as the 4 year old I was when I watched the show as it was airing over here.
yea, that's brutal. I originally included a bit where I talked about the censorship in the Uk, but ended up cutting it for time. Did you guys ever even get a dvd?
Unfortunately, the only home video release of ReBoot we got over here was two VHS tapes of the first four Season 1 episodes (two per tape). There's not really a demand for animated shows to be released on DVD over here, so unless it's a really popular show, it's likely to not get a single DVD release (heck, Gravity Falls isn't available on DVD). Actually, the only Mainframe show that was released in full on DVD over here was Shadow Raiders (will you be covering that show as well by the way? It was from around the same time as ReBoot and Beast Wars and it was just as good)
Reboot was already one of my favorite shows by the time Season 2 ended. This season ensured it was probably the most engaging show I'd ever seen. I think what was most impressive in retrospect is that the season featured so many shocking and ballsy developments (starting from the very beginning with Megabyte suddenly doing the intro), but they managed to keep me more interested through all of them. I've noticed lots of shows since then have shown they can do shocking twists, but that doesn't always mean the show is as engaging to watch.
Dot's reaction at the end of Game Over is to this day, the greatest and most emotional "NOOOOOO" of all time, in my opinion. I can still go back and see her reaction to losing Enzo and her reaction to seeing him again and potentially get a little emotional.
Dot's cry after Enzo loses was one of the most traumatic things I had seen on TV at that point in my life.
I honestly wondered what it looked like in the recording booth when the VA did that. Sounded like she really felt that one.
@Bull Session, Thank you for these Reviews! Like yourself I grew up loving Beast Wars and in particular Reboot. Reboot holds strong place in my youth. You reviews are putting a huge smile on my face as I remember this amazing show! Please keep it up!
Thanks for the kind words! Glad you're enjoying the videos :) Beast Wars Season 2 should be out next week!
5:00 It always gives me goosebumps when I watch that seen of Dot yelling.
Yea, that's a great scene
It always surprised me that they inserted Maxine (the silver robot lady) from the first ReBoot IMax ride into season 3. I mean, she was a character LITERALLY CREATED just to be an audience avatar for a ride attraction. Here, she gets inserted into a small scene in season 3, has some sarcastic witty dialogue, and provides the biggest piece of exposition in that whole arc. What's crazier is that the ride isn't even really considered canon, but they inserted her into the show regardless just as a nod. It's just proof that you make a good 3-dimensional (pun intended) character out of a bland 1-dimensional one.
I actually didn't learn she was from the ride until after I'd posted this video. It's pretty cool; I guess that's also why her boat says IMAX on it. I do know though that in theses early years, MFE tended not to waste assets whenever possible. For example, when Beast Wars season 1 was being made, they had a Stonehenge model they weren't doing anything with, so they just put it in the show and wrote an episode around it haha
They also never worried about keeping elements they reused up to date. Check out my uploads for Death of Dinobot, Half the people in the first year it was up were complaining about Rat Trap still appearing in pre-transmetal form.
So there was an amusement ride for the show back in the day. That's admittedly cool.
The third season of "Reboot" sure had an interesting set up with all of those mini-arcs, and overall I'd say it did a pretty good job. And yes, there are times where I wish this was the last season of the show, even if there would've been a couple of plot threads hanging (like the backstory of Dot and Enzo's father, the appearance of Daemon, etc.). Great job with this retrospective, man! I can't wait to see more of your stuff.
Thanks! I've been having a blast making these videos and I'm glad you're enjoying them.
On the one hand, yes the way that season 4 ends is awful and this season had a much better ending, but on the other season 4 still had some great moments and a lot of other good stuff going for it, and closed the rst of the plot threads from earlier in the series. So its a double edged sword I suppose
You're welcome Bull Session!
Oh yeah, season 4 had plenty of good moments, too, especially with Hex's character arc. But yeah, I'm mostly bummed about it not getting the conclusion it deserves, especially with you-know-what mucking up its chances from happening. Still can't wait to hear your thoughts on that season, along with the rest of "Beast Wars."
I absolutely love this series you are doing. We need more of this kind of thing looking at animation history!
Yay the 3rd Season Review! I always like watching this season, it's the best! Doesn't mean that other seasons aren't because this season is not the same without them.
As a side note: I think I remember somewhere someone saying that the show creators regretted not having the User's RESTORE: Y / N? be instead REBOOT: Y / N? The show's creators thought that was a mistake that they did not do that instead.
Ha! Yea, I actually thought of that when the moment came up. That's funny
God I love this season, and I love you for talking about it. Thanks man, you're video is awesome and so are you.
Thank you very much :)
I find it funny how ReBoot season 3 tell a better, deeper and more exciting story on "heroes lost across the perceivable world trying to get home" in 8 episodes then ST Voyager does in 7 seasons.
HA! burn.
That is just what happens when Paramount insists you not allow any character development. The series resets so often because of Editorial Mandate insisting story arcs were what was driving DS9 ratings down. Forgetting DS9 is a station not a ship and that might play a factor.
huh. That's very interesting; I didn't know that.
It kind of helps that Reboot had its heroes be allowed to get home before the end of the show. Voyager was stuck with Gilligan syndrome.
At we got the Elite Force games from that otherwise rough show.
It's cool going back to examine these shows we grew up with. Great series of vids!
Thank you! It's great revisiting all these old gems
I grew up in the 90's, on Beast Wars, Shadow Raiders, Dragon Ball Z, and Spider-Man TAS. I had only watched the occasional bit of Reboot here and there, but due to its serialized storytelling, it never grabbed me since I never knew what was going on.
I finally decided to give the series a complete go. I impulse bought the Mainframe DVD set. Just wow. The best of Mainframe's shows, in my opinion, and one of my favorite shows now of all time. Growing up on Mainframe's other CGI shows of that era made it easy to enjoy the graphics and especially the limited facial expressions. But the writing, voice acting, epic scope, and creative humor are just so good. I absolutely love this show.
i have the vaguest memory of this show watching it on Tunami from 2001 to 2002
reboot was a show I watched but never really considered it a favorite until this season, it took alot of guts to do what they did with such a pre-established, episodic series.
I'm still loving this series! You're my favourite reviewer on TH-cam now :) Been sharing your videos and telling everyone I know who grew up with these shows like I did about your channel. You deserve a lot of love and support here. Your work is perfect 👌
Wow, thank you so much! That's awesome... I really appreciate the support :) Hopefully I can continue to live up to your expectations!
Glad I'm not only one, who liked "Matrix" i knew lot people who didnt like him as a protagonist.
Really?? That's surprising, he's so great! Do you remember why they didn't like him?
I am surprise at this. Most comments I remember reading years ago said Matrix was super cool and had him as the favorite character in most polls, if not all.
Thanks for this great retrospective on reboot. You made me remember how awesome it was. I can't wait to watch the retrospective of my all-time favorite, Beast Wars.
You're very welcome :) The Beast Wars season one video is actually already on the channel; if you go to my channel page, it should be the next video showing after this one under the first playlist. Enjoy!
Matrix and Ray Tracer
I think it has more to do with the fact that Enzo doesn't interact with Sprites, or really know how. You even learn this in season 2 episode 19, AndrAIa. Pretty much all his friends blew up with his dad in the twin city. The only Sprites left around him were his sister (workaholic), bob (busy saving the world), and phong (oldtimer). In season 2 his sister becomes the boss, and they're forced to work with Mouse, who tried to fry his brain for Megabyte. Even though there's no indication he dislikes her, it's probable that Dot would be like 'no'.
Even throughout season 3, he primarily interacts with Binomes. In episode 28, the one Sprite quickly gets on his nerves for not reminding him of anyone. And he only really does so in a way to tell them to 'git gud'. The one system he DOES find 'Sprites' (season 3, episode 29) he finds one that looks and acts a LOT like Bob and the rest are kind of jerkfaces that want to fite him. Oh, and one's a virus, and not bob died. i'm sure Matrix had a great day that day.
The only other times he's ever interacted with Sprites are the infected Guardians, who are trying to kill/capture him, or Turbo, who he still doesn't like. Now introduce Ray Tracer. He's not an enemy. He doesn't look up to Matrix or want to thwart him. He's not really doing anything to get in Matrix's way (at the time). He's not overly rude or malicious (outside of being annoyed at being left in a jail cell). All he says is, "A little help, please?" Matrix would have NO IDEA how to react to a situation like this. Keep in mind, Matrix had to help himself, had to become strong on his own with 'no help.' (aside from AndrAIa and Frisket).
That's a good point. Though I will say he seemed to get along fine with most of the Hero Select, but that could also just be because Rob Cursor reminded him so much of Bob
the hero select were also very 'fighty' and they happened to share the one common interest that Matrix would be on board for teamwork; a virus hunt.
Actually, weren't the Hero Collective originally Spectrals? So really, Matrix was just palling around with reformatted Spectrals as opposed to actual sprites.
that wasn't the point, but still relevant. The point is Matrix has never really interacted with Sprites. Matrix ONLY got along with the Hero Select (and even the Spectrals themselves) because A: Rob Cursor REALLY reminded him of Bob and B: Virus Hunt.
Remember, after talking to Rob Cursor and finally accepting that he wasn't Bob, Matrix did a system scan and called a hunt, not for Spectrals, but for a Virus. THE MOMENT Rob 'wasn't Bob', Matrix lost all interest in the Hero Select and their system EXCEPT for killing viruses.
and as a FURTHER point, the only Sprites that Matrix DOES interact with are Game Sprites. And outside of AndrAIa, he certainly has no love for them.
i love reboot season 3, i miss so much that show, and season 4 like shadow riders men that story, now we will never know how ends
Man, I miss ReBoot. :/ I remember loving the hell out of that show when i was a little kid. And yeah. I still find it hilarious that Matrix looks like my brother in this day and age. XD I didn't realize that me and my brother were looking at what he would look like in the future face-wise. XD
Reboot is one of my favorite TV Shows. It deserves a proper continuation.
But the newest version known as "The Guardian Code"... *sigh*
oh believe me. I feel that pain. About three videos worth of pain.
I didn't even know there _was_ a season 4, I thought that ending musical segment was the end of the entire show
It has a much much better ending than the actual ending does.
Reboot Season 3 is still my favourite hands down. I love our poor jaded Matrix to absolute pieces. You did another stellar job reviewing this too, and provided a lot of really good information and insight into things. I'm really appreciating these videos.When it comes to the scene with Matrix and Ray Tracer, my husband brought up an interesting point as he watched this with me; in most cases when Matrix offers to help the binomes and sprites around him, AndrAIa is by his side, or in very close proximity. I haven't seen the episode in a while, so I don't remember if she was close to him then(if she is the whole point I'm coming up with is moot), but it is possible that he's trying especially hard to remind AndrAIa that he has some good left inside him. I don't want to say that he's putting on a mask for her necessarily, since I think he's generally pretty open an honest with her, but I think he tries even harder when she's around not to let that dark part of himself consume him completely. It's just a theory anyway.I eagerly await your review on season 4 though, you've done something pretty awesome here :)
Huh, that's a very good observation. No, I didn't notice that at all. AndrAIa is off letting the guards chase her to distract them while this scene is going.
One of the first television shows to make me cry, specifically Dot’s horrific “No!” And her disbelief when she finally sees her brother again.
It’s funny now that I’m older, the psychology that put into how Matrix turned out makes so much sense! Looking on it now as a counselor, they really did their homework!
Season 4 I have mixed feelings about. Some of it was really good, some not so much. Ironically I think some of the fanfiction written before Season 4 turned out better than the official product.
I, too was pretty blown away by how bitingly real Enzo's character arc feels.
Never had the pleasure of reading any fanfics though haha
Bull Session Truthfully I still go back and read some of them. Some fans also did ones where the first half of season 4 was accepted and not the second half. They were...pretty dam good actually.
It’s a shame they never picked up after Season 4; there was no shortage of ideas! Heck, a popular one I remember is “how would you win a game that lasts forever like Sims? Or what happens if a User paused a game?” Lots of things they could have used...
man i'm feeling nostalgic. i got my friend to start watching reboot with me at the end of last year (i actually made a list of all of the plot centric ones so, while i enjoy season one, he didn't have to sit through absolutely all of it), but we got distracted and tbh i'm seeing him tomorrow so i'm definitely going to get him to pick it back up with me.
reboot is a show i was basically raised on and can watch on repeat, i've seen it so much. i adore it to this day and i can't wait to see your season four video!!
Thank you! I hope your friend comes to love the show as well!
Thanks for your ReBoot Retrospective, been a fan since its inception when I was ten years old on September 10th 1994!
Got the Shout! Studios (formerly known as Shout! Factory) ReBoot: The Definitive Mainframe Edition DVD Release for X-Mas 2019!
Watch it religiously ‘TIL this day!!!
Keep up the great work!!!
Our favorite shows leave us with conundrums.
On one hand, we love the shows so much we don't want them to end.
On the other hand, if they stay too long, their quality, what we love about them, risk degradation.
And in the case of this season ending, it was so good, wrapped up so well, nothing after will reach that level, and thus feel when the real finale comes, it's a big letdown.
Three favourite shows as a child...Beast Wars, Reboot, Shadow Raiders. Reboot season 3 was great! And I really enjoy your reviews and thoughts in these shows! Thanks!
You're very welcome! Looking forward to Shadow Raiders. From what I understand, I was missing out.
Number 7 was a total mind fuck for me as a kid. Watching the show years later I got much better appreciation for it.
You had Reboot, where Bob was banished, Enzo and Andraia lost a game and Megabyte won
You had Beast Wars where Megatron seemingly successfully killed Optimus and Cheetor had to step in as leader
You had shadow raiders, where entire _planets_ routinely get devoured
You had Sonic underground, where Sonic and co had to fight a geurilla war against their mechanized friends...
Man, the 90's was fucking _depressing_
I thought I caught most of the references but clearly I missed a lot of them just going by the quick flash through of things at the end of the video! Thanks as always for the awesome review! The James Bond opening is probably still one of my favorite things that happened in season 3. It captured the over the top singing so well! I can't tell you how nice it was to find this waiting for me after a very long and awful weekend!
There really are a ton of references; I didn't even scratch the surface! There's a line taken verbatum right from Blade Runner; inflections and everything. The Firewall opening was definitely something special though. Thanks for watching, and I hope next week goes better for you :)
Missed an opportunity to point out that Phong's VA, Michael Donovan, was Conan in the "Conan the Adventurer" series, which also featured Optimus Primal's VA, Gary Chalk.
Also, I'd say Enzo's sudden change into an adult was more like the original Lion-O; both get put into a situation where they're rapidly aged into adults, and lose out on their childhoods. The only difference being, Lion-O didn't really lament his lost youth all that much and adjusted to being an adult fairly quickly, while Matrix came to hate himself and was basically a kid pretending to be an adult, made all the more apparent when it turns out AndrAIa and he are still technically kids, but only appeared older because the game-hopping boosted their outward appearances.
Season 3 is partly why I think this show is so fondly remembered by people who where kids at the time. The show grew up with its audience
This was also the season they slapped in Usagi from Sailor Moon. She appears in a few episodes finally dying in the second last episode..
Perfect! I cannot express it better!!!
Very cool review and have to say your love of the series really shines through in the way you talk about it. Will be sharing this with some other friends of mine who were fans of reboot back in the 90s. keep up the good work mate.
Thanks so much for the support :)
ReBoot was one of my absolute favourites growing up, and that new spinoff show made me want to cleanse my brain after watching, so if nothing else, I'm glad that show stoked my love of the series. These videos have been a blast to make!
This was brilliant. Thank you for making it! This is my fav show of all time and you showed me some stuff here I never knew before. Looking forward to your season 4 video
*subs*
Thanks! Glad to have you aboard!
Just watched season 3 yesterday and today, so good. I love the how they leaned into the whole jaded renegade thing with Enzo especially at the start. I feel like
AndrAIa: "We should help them"
Matrix: "No"
AndrAIa: "Why not"
Matrix: "Cause I'm jaded and I have a dark past"
could have been actual lines of dialogue. Kind of like if Roger on American Dad was doing some kind of renegade type character.
They were able to explore "dark" ideas without being too serious about it.
There is an interesting revelation in season 4 that makes Enzo Matrix decision to spare Megabyte have more meaning, however they don't bring back up or when they some what do he has no reaction. I'm take about how the Virus Megabyte and Hexadecimal consider Welman Matrix (Nibbles) to be there father who is the father of Dot and Enzo and Hex even call Dot sister. It would have been batter to see Matrix reaction that the virus one who he really hates consider them selves some what family to the Martixs'. I found this to have a possible, a big impact on Matrix more on Enzo because it some what had an effect Dot, but they didn't really go all the way with this revelation. Can't wait for the next retrospective, really enjoy your videos.
Hmm. That would have been an interesting direction to go in, yea. Thanks for watching!
My personal favourite joke is from the game where Cyrus is stuck in the game and admits he'd never rebooted before. He taps his icon, but says "Beetroot". I always try to use that as a joke reference, but no one ever seems to get the reference, though.
haha! I was surpsied by how much I liked Cyrus this time around. He never really left much of an impression on me when I was a kid.
You have to double click. < I have a theory that this exact joke is why the New Guardians can not Reboot in The Guardian Code. No double click on cell phones of course so they try tapping only once.
Good talking about Reboot S.3. Do you remember this show was very good too. Call Shadow Raiders. Nice to leasing to you. Bye 🙂
The sheer acting on display when Dot hears "The User Wins" was a punch to the feels. It still is!
Getting into Reboot now. I would totally watch a full video of reference comparisons. Theres not enough Reboot content online.
This retrospect brings back nostalgic memories but reminds me of my frustrations with the Reboot reboot (so weird saying that)
Tell me about it... Well, at least I got to vent my own frustrations through my videos on the new ReBoot show... not looking forward to the rest of the season.
It has been a minute since I have seen this show but I do recall Season 3 being the most memorable.
"Hexidecimal was into BDSM now, it was a fun time all around" okay that joke was pretty funny.
There’s a few explanations for why Matrix was more harsh to Ray. Maybe the script was rewritten, with a previous version having Ray and Andraia meeting before Ray was imprisioned, and maybe the continuity wasn’t completely ironed out. This happens a lot in modern movies where there seems to be contradictions. Like in Star Trek First Contact, one character says the modern world is destroyed by nuclear holocaust, while a different character is only concerned with global fame, money and partying. Both scenarios can’t be true, and that’s because supposedly the script was partially rewritten without retaining continuity. That’s just a theory here.
Also, more realisticly, Andraia has probably been hit on by hundreds of binomes, sprites, etc. A cool good-looking sprite is more of a threat to Matrix’s relationship than a binome. Although this is our first time seeing someone compete against Matrix for Andraia, this is probably not the first time for Matrix. Although I understand the confusion considering how well Mainframe Entertainment set up plots, character development and backstories.
Intorsus Volo I think it was done to remind the viewer that Matrix is a no-joke guy that has trust issues right before he's forced to keep Ray around. The scene also put Captain Capacitor in a role as a friend associated with Dot, that isnt scared of Matrix and will reprimand him when he needs to. As Dot would do. So this one line sets up 3 character roles. I think it's done well.
Going by production numbers it looks like return of the Crimson Binome was made just after the Star Trek themed Where no Sprite has Gone Before. Probably still recovering from that Hero collective friction back when it was a movie script before the other episodes in between were added to pad out the half season timeline.
Just found this series! Amazing work, really enjoy your recaps. I LOVED season 3. It took the series to yeah, pretty enjoyable to all around kickass awesome. Always wished we could have spent more time with Matrix and AndrAia in the Games though!!
I know, right? If it had been 20 episodes long, with another four in there as Enzo and AndrAIa grow up, that would have been dope! You could do one on how he got his scar, one on how he got Gun, etc.
You joined at just the right time, too. Season four video should be out next week (hopefully)!
Bull Session YES! Season 3 was by far my favourite season. For all the reasons you mentioned. And it has held up very well 20 years later.
I would love a couple more episodes of just Matrix and AndrAia game/system hopping. Or maybe an actual ending to Season 4. Or hell, anything else other than... the Guardian Code. Sigh.
Can’t wait for your season 4 recap!
Season 3 became a mix of Mad Max, Stargate Infinity and Return of the Jedi.
cant wait for season 4. god did i ever love mainframe entertainment shows when i was growing up. I always rushed home to watch reboot and later on beasties and at times shadow raiders
What if Mainframe’s user exists in G1 transformers (aka beast wars)
I was thinking that too! Like, what if all the games are being played by Rattrap?
Primus... it all makes sense now!
The thing that always annoyed me about the ReBoot franchise as a whole is that it never crossed over with any other series. I guess it's hard to crossover with ReBoot, since it takes place within a cyber-world and there were only a few shows within a similar setting at the time. Still, I would've loved if Bob and friends ended up in the Digital World from Digimon, or in The Matrix, or hanging out with the Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad. I'm surprised there was never a Zixx crossover, especially since that show was worked on by the same company who made ReBoot. However, it may still happen, now that ReBoot has devolved into a Zixx clone..
A Zixx crossover could have been interesting, though might have been a bit tricky. For one, Zixx (like the the Guardian Code) used a video game engine for the CGI segments rather than animating them from scratch as they did on ReBoot, Beast Wars, etc., which would have meant remodeling everything on the ReBoot side of things. If they were planning to bring back ReBoot, then sure (Zixx came out 3 years after ReBoot's fourth season) but it would be a ton of work just for a cameo. The other issue is that Zixx was a co-production with several other companies. If I had to guess, I's say that's why it isn't listed under eithe MFE or Rainmaker on their wikipedia page.
You're 100% correct though. I always found myself wishing Bob Dot and Ezno would team up with the Digidestined when I was a kid :P
Love Reboot. Season 3 was fantastic!
Ok what is it with Mainframe and losing/tossing all their old material!?
Great video.
Unfortunately, a lot of companies do that or have done that at some point in history.
A rumour I heard through the pipeline while researching this video is that one of the former Rainmaker CEOs flipped their lid one day and ordered it all scrubbed.
It was a CEO that was new to the company after the contract for Escape from Planet Earth came in and he found they were taking longer to render because of the database still having the old animation elements in them. The animators tried to tell him what a mistake it was but that is why half the scenes in the movie have textures that aren't as fluid as main scenes. He had them dump all the old elements, including those they were still using. Leaving out his name to be kind.
I have a bit of trivia involving the show and the UK, During the mid 90’s CITV ‘A show for the UK Kids’ they show ReBoot as well, But things got a bit Hell when S3 started first of all the episodes ‘To Mend & Defend’ & ‘Between a Racoon and a Hard Place’ hasn’t been repeated after it was first aired, Second is pretty much obvious, Some viewers complain that it’s too violence was unacceptable and the characters inappropriate in a children’s program shown at the time, by 1998 on April the last Ep they showed before Meridian ‘One of ITV’s channels’ pull the plug on the show is ‘The Return of the Crimson Binome’ meaning for those who watched the show in the UK back then will never know what happens next, No seeing the rest of S3 and S4 in general, Times have changed since then and now some in the UK such as myself could watch it on TH-cam.
Season 3 was a great season of ReBoot. I like the arc which the Mad Max like Matrix, AndrAla and Frisket travel from system to system as they search for Bob and they set out to try and get home to Mainframe.
Its cool how the intro was different for each story arch. Ive never seen that on a show before!
15:56
Recent News: D.C Fontana has sadly passed away 2 days ago, At the time of my posting this comment.
was waiting on this episode, can't wait for the next beast wars :P
Thanks! I can't wait to get into it either.
That was one of my favorite moments in the show when the computer crashes and the user rebooted and saved the day. What a nice guy. I don't understand how any of that works. They would have to wait while I pay someone to fix it. :P
Ken Pontac ‘co-creator of Bump in the Night & wrote some Sonic games’ wrote the last episode of the third season.
Intresting shame Sega won’t let him fully stretch his creative skills
The original files were found and a reader obtained. Season 1 Episode 1 is available on channel Mainframe Studios at the time of this writing, and one source says 8 are complete.
"Do not provoke me further. It is by my will alone you survive this encounter." Fucking Christ, from Tony Jay, that's such a raw goddamn line.
the firewall intro is better james bond intro than any of james bond intros out there
Yea, I'd say its for sure better than the Goldeneye intro... and that's the one it was primarily parodying haha