THE HORRORS OF REBOOT

HORRORS is an ongoing series exploring the overlooked darker elements of well known media.

For those that didn’t grow up with it, Reboot was one of the first completely CGI television series, that aired beginning in 1994.it follows the story of Bob, a Guardian who fights “the user” in Games. Along with Bob are Dot and her young brother Enzo, who are later joined by AndrAIa (an-drey-ah), Enzo’s love interest and an enemy AI who joined them from a Game. Essentially Bob’s world of Mainframe is the inside of the computer, including a character who is the COMMAND.COM of the system, there are programs, computer viruses, and glitches. We are the user, by the way. Reboot was a huge part of my younger years. It was one of the first real bonding experiences I had with my Dad, and I rewatched the show constantly. While a lot of Reboot’s episodes parody movies and other TV shows, they cover a huge variety of media while still having its own original story and characters you grow to love. Some of my favourite episodes had a touch of horror to them. Even parts of the main plot had some pretty depressing and horrifying elements! So let’s explore The Horrors of Reboot… 

THE MEDUSA VIRUS

Starting strong in Episode 4, the aptly named Medusa Bug turns everything it touches into stone. Starting from the outside rim and working inwards, it takes over the entire system. We see Enzo’s beloved dog Frisket turned to stone. He pleads with his sister Dot to go to Frisket as she drags him away from the destruction. The population is evacuated to the Principal Office (the command centre/town hall) while Bob goes to try to use a bomb on the virus to no effect. People are screaming, a crying baby is whisked away, dropping its toy that instantly is overtaken by the Medusa. Bob eventually saves the day by convincing the creator of the virus, Hexadecimal, how boring life would be in its current state, as she thrives off chaos. She snaps a finger and everything is normal again. I figure poor Enzo and a lot of other characters would be traumatized after this!!

THE CODEMASTER

This one of mainly the fantastically creepy to me character design. This spindly, insectoid creature named Lens The Reaper appears from a portal demanding to see another Codemaster named “Talon’’. Codemasters are a kind of bounty hunter, destroying anyone or anything that gets in the way of their mark. Talon is revealed to be old man Pearson the junkyard owner. He confronts Lens, snapping his weapon in half and proclaiming he’s retired. Lens almost destroys him and stretches his limbs out twice as long, making him look even creepier!

IDENTITY CRISIS

I used to hate when two part episode came on reruns because it unsettled me so much. Dot becomes depressed and loses confidence after having her computer containing citizen’s data was stolen. They drive in a game called THE FUNHOUSE, which apparently no one has ever won (losing equals death) and is filled with creepy clowns. Dot sees visions of what their home would be like if she failed: Mainframe has been taken over by viruses, everyone has barcodes on their heads and are devoid of freedom. Her mentor, Phong, even lives in a cardboard box and has lost his sanity. Thankfully Dot realizes this is what will happen if she fails, and rushes to complete the Funhouse and prevent this future. This episode also has the memorable “What you are experiencing is a temporary distortion of reality” quote from Phong which still repeats in my head from time to time.

GIGABYTE

Megabyte is infected by a mysterious black entity and attempts to and eventually fuses with his sister Hexadecimal. “I am become Gigabyte, Destroyer of Systems!”  He Towers over everyone else and is now equipped with a claw hand even Freddy would be jealous of. Ruthless in comparison to the separated siblings, he goes on a rampage absorbing energy and killing everyone in his path. Bob and the others lure Gigabyte to an island and open a portal on top of him, separating the viruses. A small black orb flies off which soon leads to…

THE WEB CREATURE

This will always be my number 1 in terms of Reboot creatures. The Web Creature stalks and kidnaps its prey, cocooning them to drain of their lifeforce later. There’s a great parody of Mulder and Scully, Fax Modem and Data Nully (Nully is even voiced by Gillian Anderson) who help investigate the disappearances and they eventually discover the nest of the horrifying creature. It has a mass of black tentacles that move in a hypnotic pattern and a large head comprising glowing eyes and a cavernous maw of teeth. After subduing it with high powered flashlights, it eventually escapes back into the web, leaving a massive hole for other creatures to enter through and attack the system. This is basically the end of the first “era” of Reboot and the beginning of the main, darker plot of the series.

EVIL DEAD PARODY (EPISODE 3.1.1 TO MEND AND DEFEND)

There is SO MUCH here and it’s all incredible. After Bob is tricked into a pod and shot into the Internet, little Enzo has to take over the Guardian’s duties, including going into the games. Enzo and Dot boot into a parody of Evil Dead, where they become zombies trying to stop the User from reading the last page of the Necronomicon. Enzo turns into zombie Michael Jackson, complete with dance movies, and Dot starts as Morticia Addams but soon rips off the lower part of her dress after struggling to move in it and becomes Elvira. Tricking the User into the basement, he is sucked into a tornado of bones and blood! This episode was famously only shown once in the UK before being pulled due to violence. It’s quite tame by today’s standards, but this was pretty out there for 1997 Children’s TV. Groovy…

GAME OVER (MORTAL KOMBAT PARODY)

Probably the darkest game ever showcased, this one revolves around Enzo and Andraia competing in a demons vs angels Mortal Kombat style deathmatch, with the big baddie being a skinless demon with flaming wings and a pitchfork hand. It literally rips the head off an angel it defeats while Andraia looks on and gasps in horror. Enzo spawns as a Scorpion lookalike and does his best but is overcome by the sheer strength of the demon, who even slashes and blinds Enzo in one eye. Knowing their loss is imminent, the two youngsters change their IDs so they will be uploaded into the Net instead of being deleted. Andraia watches Enzo perish in the same gruesome way as the angel, the flesh of his neck ripping as we cut away. Outside of the game, Dot and the Command Centre are preparing to pick them up after the game cube leaves. GAME OVER…..THE USER…WINS. Enzo is lost. The scene is silent and we cut to Dot who wails in grief and the episode ends. PHEW!!

THE DAEMON VIRUS 

The big antagonist of the 4th season, the Daemon virus is a cult-like all encompassing entity that hiveminds those it takes over with the ultimate goal of controlling everyone and setting off an apocalypse. She’s portrayed as a young, spritely woman with blue hair and a delicate crown. Those infected sport blue electric veins on their foreheads and worship Daemon as their queen. When her second in command fails a mission, she calmly tells him to self-destruct and she absorbs his energy. The entire season (released as a movie but separated into 4 parts) revolves around Daemon and the main characters attempts to thwart her plan. They do a really good job of showing how powerful and impossible to resist she is, and it felt like Reboot really raised the stakes and production value here.

Reboot is a very special show and this is only a taste of what it has to offer. I highly recommend checking it out if it strikes your fancy! ※