A late-'90s cult favorite among gamers and tech-minded sci-fi fans, ReBoot was the world's first computer-generated animation series, and if the show look has become outdated, the clever, self-referential story lines contained in its first two seasons should retain its freshness for longtime fans. It's set in a computer system dubbed the Mainframe by its inhabitants, and plagued by an outside force called the User, which randomly drops challenges (in the form of games) into its midst. Defending the Mainframe is Guardian Bob, who takes on the User's players in the game, while fending off additional attacks by malevolent computer viruses Megabyte and his sister, the deranged Hexadecimal. Season one established the main characters, including Bob's friends Dot and her brother Enzo, and their various conflicts, while season two expanded the ReBoot universe by merging Megabyte and Hexadecimal into a super-virus/villain, Gigabyte, and with the arrival of a creature from the Internet that threatens to tear Mainframe apart. Though the animation was and remains clunky, ReBoot could boast smart and exciting story lines, especially in its second season, that were filled with fan-pleasing references to all manner of science fiction, from Star Trek and THX-1138 to Forbidden Planet and The X-Files (Gillian Anderson even voices a CGI version of Agent Scully). The show truly found its footing once it left its network parent and moved into syndication; there, it took on a darker and more mature tone and even more complex story lines. Here, the episodes are playful and kid-friendly, which should please nostalgic viewers, though modern young audiences may find the technology off-putting when compared to the sleekness of Pixar and others. Extras are limited to commentary from production team members like producer Christopher Brough and animator Zeke Norton on select episodes. --Paul Gaita
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