Remember 'ReBoot?' Passionate fans and documentarians reflect on legacy of Vancouver show
ReBoot, a CGI show that was created by Mainframe Studios, based in Vancouver, has had some life pumped back into it in recent months.
The iconic show that was created in Vancouver has been on the receiving end of a lot of love, thanks to some loyal and passionate fans who’ve created and released a ReBoot documentary.
ReBoot, which was technologically well ahead of its time, was a mainstay on YTV in the 90s, when the station was a routine hangout for kids, teens, and young adults.
“ReBoot was just their golden child,” said Jacob Weldon, one of the people behind the recently released documentary about the show called ReBoot ReWind. He’s also a massive fan of the show.
“Somebody said something to me about de-stressing around COVID time, and they said, ‘What’s the show or what’s the thing that brings you back to zero?’ What’s the thing that de-escalates your emotions, your anxiety? Because obviously, COVID was a really hard time for everyone. And so when I really thought about that, ReBoot was one of those things,’ said Raquel Lin, another passionate ReBoot fan and one of the producers behind the documentary.
Lin said that she and Weldon knew some of the behind-the-scenes stories of the show, and said it would be a shame to lose them all.
“I think both of us have been so lucky to know Gavin Blair, who was one of the co-creators of the show, and he’s naturally such an incredible storyteller. We knew some of these stories, not all of them. They’re all just so funny, so entertaining, that, again, it just felt like it would be a shame if they never got passed down,” Lin said.
Warning: Incoming challenge
theoneblackbart/YouTube
So, how do two passionate fans of a TV show embark on creating a full-fledged documentary (that is available to watch online, by the way)?
“I’ve been making short films and working as an editor for many, many years, but this was my first time tackling a documentary like proper. So that was definitely a new challenge for me,” Weldon recalled.
Lin also didn’t have much experience in the process, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t transferable skills.
“My daily job is coordination, operations, HR, management, like, it’s a lot of people skills,” she said.
Lin had to conduct and coordinate interviews for the documentary, something she does in her HR-related work.
She said that with her and Weldon’s powers combined, they were able to make a great team.
Lin reflected on the process of creating the documentary and how it was similar to what the original creators of the show likely went through.
“One of the things that I would say at the end of the screenings of the documentary was, I would always say, ‘I hope that this encourages people to do something creative and something unknown,’ because, again, it’s comfortable to not do that. And ReBoot is a story about people getting really uncomfortable but wanting to pursue a thing, and that’s exactly what we did.”
A groundbreaking feat of television
The creators of ReBoot. (ReBoot ReWind)
Before ReBoot, there was nothing like it. We asked Weldon how groundbreaking it really was.
“The first season of the show came out in 1994, and Toy Story came out in 1995. At that time, there was really only a handful of short films that existed that were full CGI and maybe like a couple other direct-to-video kind of releases, like Veggie Tales, for example,” Weldon said.
“So for ReBoot to come out when it did, and come out on a weekly basis with that amount of animation like that was completely unprecedented at the time,” he added.
“And a lot of these people went on to work on Toy Story, so they will often call it mainframe university, because a lot of them graduated and grew up and learned and honed all their skills and then went out and dispersed into the industry,” Lin said.
Lin said the character she resonated with most was Dot, while Weldon resonated with Bob. Who doesn’t love Bob, though?
Thanks to the cooperation of the creators of the show, including Blair, who was the first to be approached, Lin and Weldon didn’t have to jump through too many hoops regarding copyright in the documentary. There were some issues with music licensing; however, when the documentary was screened at the Rio Theatre earlier this year, they were able to get around those issues.
“And the live audience appreciated that,” Weldon said. Lin concurred.
“People were upset when they didn’t hear that music when it actually released,” she said.
Life after ReBoot ReWind, and could ReBoot be rebooted?
theoneblackbart/YouTube
Even though the documentary has been released, work on the preservation of ReBoot has not stopped. In fact, the team recently hit a significant milestone.
“When we were making the documentary, it was important to us that the footage we show of ReBoot in the documentary is of high quality. We want it to look as good as possible, because we’re really tooting the horn of how impressive the animation was,” Weldon said.
That led to some challenges, as Weldon points out that the home media releases of ReBoot haven’t been great. That led to a bit of a viral moment for the team in December 2023. The team announced that they had found the master tapes for ReBoot, but unfortunately, they did not have the equipment to play them. So they put the word out online, which led to a massive response.
Eventually, they found what they needed in Germany, three machines that were the size of bar fridges.
View this post on Instagram
“It’s just been this crazy series of miracles, one after another, of getting these machines going and keeping them running.”
The team now has a working, transferred copy of every single episode of the show. You can learn more about that achievement on the ReBoot ReWind Instagram page.
Weldon said he’s big on physical media and would love to see a Blu-Ray release, which Lin responded to by saying that the folks at Mainframe are behind the idea.
“It was really something to go to all the screenings that we did for our doc and just see how many times things sold out. How many times I had to say, ‘Okay, I guess we’re doing another screening.'”
Clearly, there’s a loyal fanbase of the show, especially in Canada, who want to see more ReBoot content. Screenings of the doc weren’t just in demand in Vancouver but also in the major Canadian cities.
ReBoot did have a successor. It was called ReBoot: The Guardian Code. However, it wasn’t nearly as successful or as beloved as the original. We couldn’t help but wonder if, based on what Lin and Weldon learned from the creators of the iconic Vancouver show, there could be more ReBoot in the future.
Weldon said he hopes for more and called it the “million-dollar question.”
“It’s something we get asked a lot by fans,” he said.
“I think I’m optimistic that the sort of renewed interest in the show that comes from the documentary, and potentially a re-release of the work we’ve done restoring the show, I think I feel like it has to kind of create a momentum that would lead to more. I’m really optimistic about it.”
“The time is now,” Lin said, adding, “Mainframe’s watching.”