Editing ReBoot (section)

== Episodes ==
{{Main|List of ReBoot episodes}}

=== Season 1 ===
Each installment of the first season was a self-contained episode except for the two-part finale. When the User loads a game, a game cube drops on a random location in Mainframe, sealing it off from the rest of the system and turning it into a gamescape. Bob frequently enters the games, reboots to become a game [[Non-Player Character|character]], and fights the User's character to save the sector. If the User wins a game, the sector the cube fell in is destroyed, and the sprites and binomes who were caught within are turned into energy-draining, worm-like parasites called nulls. When this happens, they are said to be "nullified".

In the U.S., the show was aired on the ABC Network and had to comply with Broadcast Standards and Practices. This was lampooned in "Talent Night", where almost every act for Enzo's party is banned by Prog Censor Emma See and the [[Village People|Small Town Binomes]] sing their hit ''BSnP'' ("It's fun to play/In a non-violent way").

=== Season 2 ===
The second season was initially as episodic as the first but later featured an extended [[story arc]] that began with the season's fifth episode, "Painted Windows". The arc revealed that [[List of ReBoot characters|Hexadecimal]] and Megabyte are siblings, and introduced an external threat to Mainframe: the [[World Wide Web|Web]], which was set up in fearful mentions in "High Code" and "Painted Windows". The sixth episode, "AndrAIa", also saw a new character in the titular AndrAIa join the cast. Creator Gavin Blair has said the move to a longer arc came from "shrugging off the shackles of ABC and their BS&P" after being cancelled.<ref name="sittingonanatomicbomb.com">{{cite web | url = http://sittingonanatomicbomb.com/2010/09/27/interview-with-reboot-co-creator-gavin-blair/ | publisher=SittingOnAnAtomicBomb.com| title=Interview with 'ReBoot' Co-creator Gavin Blair | date=September 27, 2010 | access-date=July 25, 2015 | archive-date= July 25, 2015 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20150725224357/http://sittingonanatomicbomb.com/2010/09/27/interview-with-reboot-co-creator-gavin-blair/ | url-status=usurped}}</ref> The last episode would reveal Megabyte's ships were called ABCs.
[[File:Glitch - Guardian Bob's Keytool.jpg|alt=The original version of Glitch|thumb|Glitch - Guardian Bob's keytool]]

A creature from the Web entered Mainframe from Hexadecimal's looking glass (which was shattered by Mike the TV), bonding with her. Mainframe's nulls reacted spontaneously and covered her to form a monster named Nullzilla, which was defeated and neutralized by the protectors of Mainframe. The Web creature located Megabyte, took him over and forced him to merge with Hexadecimal, forming a next-gen super-virus called Gigabyte. Gigabyte was eventually neutralized as well, but the Web creature escaped into the bowels of Mainframe, where it began stealing energy to stay alive and grow. Mouse, a mercenary and old friend of Bob's, helped to find the Web Creature, but was almost destroyed by a bomb set by her employer, Turbo. The explosion created a "tear" (an unstable energy-based anomaly) which the Web creature used to create a portal to the Web. The protectors of Mainframe had to team up with Megabyte and Hexadecimal to close the portal. An army of CPU police clashed with an invasion of creatures from the Web. In the midst of the chaos, Megabyte betrayed the alliance (with the CPUs calling the ABCs "treacherous dogs!"), crushing Bob's keytool, Glitch, and sending him into the Web portal before closing it.

=== Season 3 ===
Initially, Mainframe thought they would follow up the second season with a film. The treatment was called ''Terabyte Rising'' and was to include flashbacks to the destruction of Mainframe's Twin City. This was dropped but much of it would be used for the fourth season.<ref name="sittingonanatomicbomb.com"/>

The show's third season exhibited a marked improvement in modeling and animation quality due to the advancement of Mainframe Entertainment's software capabilities during the time between seasons. Subtle details, such as eyelashes and shadows, as well as generally more lifelike polygonal characters, were among several visual improvements. The show's target audience shifted to children aged 12 and older, resulting in a darker and more mature storyline.<ref name="animag"/> After severing ties with ABC following the second season, the show reached a greater number of households through syndication.<ref name="takeone97"/>

Enzo, freshly upgraded into a Guardian candidate by Bob during the Web incursion, defends Mainframe from Megabyte and Hexadecimal, with Dot and AndrAIa at his side. When Enzo entered a game he could not win, he, AndrAIa, and Frisket changed their icons to game sprite mode and rode the game out of Mainframe. The accelerated game time resulted in Enzo and AndrAIa's aging. Subsequent episodes follow adult versions of Enzo and AndrAIa, who are now in a romantic relationship, as they travel from system to system in search of Mainframe. The older Enzo adopts the name "Matrix" (his and Dot's surname), carrying a weapon named "Gun" and Bob's damaged Glitch. The time spent in games and away from Mainframe hardened both Matrix and AndrAIa: Matrix developed a pathological hatred of viruses, and grew into a muscular, shoot-first-ask-questions-later antihero, while AndrAIa turned into a level-headed warrior. As the season progresses, Matrix and AndrAIa are reunited with Bob and the crew of the ''Saucy Mare'' and return to Mainframe, which has been almost completely destroyed by Megabyte and his forces. The group reunites with Dot and the resistance, then heads to the Principal Office for a final battle with Megabyte. Megabyte is defeated by Matrix, but not before Megabyte's handiwork causes the system to crash. All final problems in Mainframe were dealt with by The User restarting the system, setting everything right and restoring everything as it was again for the protagonists, with one major exception: younger and older Enzo now exist simultaneously, as Matrix's icon was still set to "Game Sprite" mode and was not recognized properly by the system when it rebooted, so that the system restored a copy of his younger self. The season concludes in a musical production put on by the binomes recapping the past two seasons plot events.

=== Season 4 ===
After the end of the third season, two TV movies were produced in 2001: ''[[ReBoot: Daemon Rising|Daemon Rising]]'', which addressed the problem the Guardians were facing in season three (and used much of ''Terabyte Rising''), and ''[[ReBoot: My Two Bobs|My Two Bobs]]'', which brings back a corroded and mutated Megabyte in a cliffhanger ending. The two movies, broken up into eight episodes in its U.S. run on [[Cartoon Network]]'s [[Toonami]], revealed much of Mainframe's history, including the formation of Lost Angles, Bob's arrival in the system, and the origin of Megabyte and Hexadecimal. The films end with Megabyte in control of the Principal Office, and the characters scattered and about to be hunted down. It is revealed that the nulls still possess their old sentience and intelligence: The heroes manage to put the null that was once Dot's father into a robot, enabling him to move and speak like he used to.

Initial plans for the fourth season included three films broken into 12 episodes, followed by a 13th musical-special episode. Due to a change in deals and budget, the series was reduced to eight episodes.<ref name="takeone">Punter, Jennie."[https://web.archive.org/web/20070219062128/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-77613562.html Mainframe Reboots ReBoot]". ''[[Take One (Canadian magazine)|Take One]]''. July 2001.</ref> The following plan was to produce 30-minute episodes. These would be edited down to 21 minutes for broadcast and the extra scenes added to the film versions for DVD release. Against the writer's wishes, these scenes were cut from the scripts. After this decision was made, the eighth episode was rewritten to end on a cliffhanger.<ref name="sittingonanatomicbomb.com"/>

Creator Gavin Blair has publicly refused to reveal the plans for the resolution and final episodes, in case he ever got the chance to resolve the cliffhanger.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpwGTo7tKGg Reboot Reunion Special Presentation (Part 1) video, filmed at 2012 Vancouver FanExpo]</ref>