In 1994, a Canadian company called Mainframe Entertainment released a television programme called ReBoot. This show was the first television programme to be completely computer-generated. It aired in the USA on ABC and in Canada on YTV from 1994 - 1996, for two seasons. However, the third season wasn't aired in the USA until the show was picked up by Toonami, an anime1 programme produced by the Cartoon Network, in 1999. The show has continued to run on the Cartoon Network, except for a brief hiatus, ever since.
Plot
ReBoot takes place inside a brilliantly-realised computer world. Most of the action is to be found in the city of Mainframe, a backwoods system with a thriving population, but little connection with the outside Net. The city is constantly threatened by the schemes of two viruses, Megabyte and Hexadecimal. Luckily, Mainframe is protected by a Guardian named Bob.
Bob is admired by the young boy Enzo Matrix and his sister Dot Matrix. In addition, Bob seeks advice from the mystic, Phong. Various other characters abound, most of them references to other pieces of cinematography, everything from Star Trekto HMS Pinafore.
In the middle of the series, Enzo meets a friend named AndrAIa. Soon afterwards, a series of events starts that causes Bob to be lost in the Web and Enzo and AndrAIa to be lost in the Games, travelling from system to system. The two become formidable enemies just in time to find Bob, return to Mainframe, and liberate the city from the evil clutches of Megabyte.
The Future
Here the show ends, leaving several plot lines open, such as the infiltration of the Supercomputer by a virus named Daemon. Mainframe Entertainment has announced that it will be releasing two made-for-TV movies in the spring and autumn of 2001 that will (hopefully) resolve the cliffhangers and bring the series to a close.
1 Anime is the Japanese style of animation.
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