Freed from the shackles of BSP, and boasting quite a few technical enhancements like enhanced shadows and character element, ReBoot’s third season was arguably the present that the creators at all times dreamed of creating. The story arc that started within the second season grew to become extra advanced, with Enzo – drafted into the Guardians by Bob earlier than the hero’s pressured exile – feeling the strain of defending Mainframe from viruses and video games. These video games, which had at all times been enjoyable however generic takes on present codecs, grew to become extra particular parodies, together with an prolonged riff on the Evil Lifeless movies that might seemingly have given ABC conniptions. One other episode lovingly homaged traditional Warner Bros. cartoons, whereas James Bond riff “Firewall” even had its personal parody Bond theme, written and carried out within the fashion of Shirley Bassey’s iconic “Goldfinger.”
Season 3 additionally took loads of storytelling dangers. Enzo and his pal AndrAla, each of whom had at all times been cute, immature viewers identification figures, have been unexpectedly defeated by the Person in a Mortal Kombat-esque sport, ending up misplaced on the Internet. Much more shockingly, attributable to time shifting otherwise outdoors of Mainframe, the characters aged into adults – actually between episodes. One week, you have been watching two children with whom you’d spent a number of seasons. The subsequent, they have been abruptly grizzled adults combating their approach by way of more and more weird worlds – together with one notably mind-bending riff on The Prisoner, of all issues.
This was fairly unprecedented stuff for youths TV, and pretty mind-blowing for a younger viewers. The present had come a good distance from the brightly coloured, sanitized standalone adventures of the early seasons – although the staff by no means forgot that ReBoot was imagined to be enjoyable, balancing the darker, extra mature storytelling with loads of jokes. The overall high quality of the writing additionally improved, because the staff drafted in skilled comedian ebook scribes like Marv Wolfman, Lein Wein and Dan DiDio, and even legendary scriptwriter D.C. Fontana – who penned one in all season 3’s highlights, “The place No Sprite Has Gone Earlier than,” an affectionate mashup of Star Trek and superhero comics.
However sadly, regardless of the dramatic highs of the third season finale, the way forward for ReBoot can be bumpy at finest.
Season 4, Reboots, and Past
Accounts of the manufacturing course of for ReBoot’s troubled fourth – and closing – season differ. However in broad phrases, a combination of budgetary issues, altering offers, and cuts imposed from on excessive resulted in a fractured course of, with a lot materials being lower. Two TV films have been finally produced, chopped roughly into shorter episodes to be broadcast on Cartoon Community, with the season ending on a cliffhanger.
A cliffhanger that was, sadly for followers, by no means to be resolved.
