Reboot was a technical marvel when it was first released to television viewers in the 1990s. Heralded as the first fully-CGI animated series, it paved the way for future shows to make its mark on television and on the kid’s network Nickelodeon (Butt Ugly Martians, Jimmy Neutron, Fanboy and Chum Chum, Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir).
Though the series was critically acclaimed and is still well-loved and fondly remembered by its diehard fans, it can’t be argued that Reboot has seen some wear and tear as time has gone by. Here are 10 ways the show has not aged particularly well since its inception.
The Graphics
As mentioned above, the show was the first of its kind and paved the way for many similar shows after it. And at the time, the CGI graphics were something to behold – shiny and sleek and model and just flat-out cool.
Now, in the Frozen 2-era of Disney and the How to Train Your Dragon-era of Dreamworks, Reboot is looking a bit rough around the edges. What once looked cutting-edge now looks rubbery and reminiscent of the toys from the first Toy Story. Still, part of its charm comes from its first-generation CGI aesthetic.
Phong
Woof. It’s so easy to forget the existence of this character when viewing the show through the rose-tinted goggles of nostalgia.
But now, re-watching Reboot, it’s hard to deny that one of its few low points was its unfortunate depiction of Phong, Bob’s ally and mentor, as a Fu Manchu stereotypical ancient Chinese secret wielder that would be right at home with Mickey Rooney role from Breakfast at Tiffany’s. While it was a different time, it was also assumed things were a bit more PC in the 90s than they actually objectively were.
That One Dated Anime Pop-Culture Reference
There was that one time in Season 3 episode 15 of Reboot that a character dressed very similarly to Sailor Moon made a brief cameo appearance on the show. That was to be expected; at the time Sailor Moon was one of the few anime series on Western television, and one of the most well-known.
Almost 30 years later, the anime landscape has changed; only the most die-hard nostalgic fans would appreciate the reference, which is a testament to some of the numerous dated pop-culture tidbits and references peppered within the show.
The Company
Reboot was produced by Mainframe Entertainment, a company stationed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Before Reboot, the studio was the mind behind the famous “Money for Nothing” music video by the band Dire Straits. They were also responsible for several Barbie CGI movies, a Popeye special, and Beast Wars.
Sadly, over the years, the studio had fallen on hard times and has rebranded as Rainforest Studios in 2007. Their last project of note was the infamous continuation of Reboot on Netflix, titled Reboot: The Guardian Code. And speaking of which…
The Legacy
Reboot: The Guardian Code did absolutely no favors for the legacy of its predecessor. After much excitement and hype for the return of the series, the live-action/CGI hybrid released on Netflix in 2018 to scathing online reviews. Initially, the series appeared to have nothing in common with the superior, classic 90s version aside from name alone.
But spoiler alert: it actually did have a connection: The plot twist in the season finale revealed not only old fan favorites but the identity of the ubiquitous “User”, further twisting the knife in the backs of outraged fans.
The Games the User played
At the time when Reboot was created, games were rudimentary recreational digital pastimes, known as guaranteed death to the unfortunate binomes caught within its cubed walls. Sure, there were options beyond Solitaire, but most modern games at the time were confined to one user, one computer, and (of course) an AI opponent.
It would be fascinating to see a proper sequel to Reboot in the era of Fortnite, Minecraft, and other online, collaborative open worlds and sandboxes. If only the technology had been available at the time, then the writers would have truly had a toybox, an infinite amount of possibilities to play with.
The Technology Lingo
In the 90s, a villain like Megabyte sounded terrifying. After all, a million bytes of storage was nothing to sneeze at. Even Gigabyte, the fused supervillain combo of Megabyte and his sister Hexadecimal, still may give some pause, with a billion bytes to their name.
But in the modern 21st-century world, all are dwarfed by the terabyte, which is the current standard for expandable hard drive storage. If Reboot were to (properly) return to form, then the main villains would have to upgrade their names to mirror the times; either that or a new character entirely would have to be created.
One-Dimensional Villains
Back to villains. While the character Hexadecimal was a complex villain, complete with her own proper redemption arc in the series, Megabyte was forever the standard malevolent baddie, complete with foreboding Tony Jay-Judge Frollo voice.
Today’s viewers expect more from their antagonists. They need the villains to have more motivation than to blow up the world because it’s Tuesday. Shows like Danny Phantom, Steven Universe and Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir have proven there can be bad guys to fight that is more flawed than outright evil, and that makes for more interesting, unexpected character development.
Scuzzy
Not to be mistaken with the cute little Luna-P-looking cat-thing that followed around Hexadecimal in her evil lair in Lost Angles (after all, cuteness can and will NEVER go out of style). Scuzzy is how SCSI is pronounced, and SCSI is an acronym for a small computer system interface. A SCSI is capable of connecting numerous devices to a computer simultaneously, such as CD drives, printers, scanners, and numerous other computer peripherals.
While not totally obsolete, the SCSI has been replaced by the serial-ATA as the technology of choice for more state-of-the-art systems.
Dot Matrix
Again, not to be confused with the well-loved, strong female protagonist in Reboot that essentially ran the city of Mainframe when the Guardian Bob disappeared, but her namesake tech equivalent.
Dot-matrix printers used to be the norm for getting print jobs done since the dawn of the personal computer in the 1980s; who could possibly forget their annoyingly loud printing noises, their slow speed, and accompanying paper with the little holes on the side that could be torn off? Thankfully, inkjet and laser printers would come and eventually make this archaic piece of computer hardware obsolete.
