ReBoot: The Guardian Code facts for kids
Quick facts for kids ReBoot: The Guardian Code |
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| Genre | Science fiction Action Adventure Comedy-drama |
| Created by | Michael Hefferon |
| Developed by | Sean Jara |
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| Composer(s) | Rich Walters |
| Country of origin | Canada |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 (YTV) / 2 (Netflix) |
| No. of episodes | 20 (list of episodes) |
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| Cinematography | Vincent De Paula |
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| Picture format | 4K ( UHDTV) |
| Original release | March 30 – September 28, 2018 |
ReBoot: The Guardian Code is a Canadian TV show that mixes live actors with computer animation. It's a new version of the classic computer-animated series ReBoot. The show first came out on Netflix in most parts of the world on March 30, 2018. In Canada, the TV channel YTV aired all 20 episodes from June to July 2018.
Contents
What's the Story?
The show follows four teenage gamers who are really good at an online game. On their first day at Alan Turing High School, they meet in person. They soon discover they were brought together by Vera, a special AI. Vera has chosen them to be "Guardians" who can physically go into cyberspace to protect it.
Early in the series, Vera gets a human body and can no longer enter cyberspace. So, she joins the school as an exchange student. The Guardians must fight a human hacker called the Sourcerer. He uses "dark code" to attack computer systems around the world. To make things worse, the Sourcerer brings back Megabyte, a powerful computer virus from the original ReBoot show. Megabyte helps the Sourcerer from inside cyberspace.
Meet the Characters
Here are the main characters who protect the digital world:
- The Guardians: These high school students enter cyberspace using special names to fight viruses and hackers.
- Ty Wood as Austin Carter (also known as Vector). He's the leader of the team, and his color is red. Austin is the son of Adam Carter, who becomes the Sourcerer.
- Sydney Scotia as Tamra (also known as Enigma). She's super agile, like a ninja, and her color is yellow.
- Ajay Friese as Parker (also known as Googz). He's the smart one and a great hacker. His color is green.
- Gabriel Darku as Trey Davies (also known as D-Frag). He's the strong one, an athlete in the real world, and a powerful fighter in cyberspace. His color is blue.
- Hannah Vandenbygaart as V.E.R.A. (Virtual Evolutionary Recombinary Avatar). She's an artificial intelligence who becomes a human teenager and leads the Guardians.
- Bob Frazer as Adam Carter. He is Austin's father. He gets infected by dark code and turns into the evil Sourcerer. He wants to send the world back to a time before computers. He controls Megabyte.
- Kirsten Robek as Judy Carter. She is Austin's mom and doesn't know about his secret life as a Guardian.
- Luvia Petersen as Special Agent Nance. She works for the Department of Internet Security (DIS). She wants to use the Guardian technology as a weapon.
- Nicholas Lea as Mark Rowan. He is another DIS agent and a friend of Adam Carter.
- Timothy E. Brummund as Megabyte (voice). He's a virus from the original series and works for the Sourcerer. He gets an upgrade from the Sourcerer.
- Alex Zahara as the Alpha Sentinels (voice). These are Megabyte's main helpers.
- Shirley Millner as Hexadecimal (voice). She's another virus from the original series and Megabyte's sister. She loves causing chaos.
Episodes Guide
The show has 20 episodes, split into two seasons on Netflix.
Season 1 (2018)
- Activation: Four teens become Guardians to protect cyberspace. Their first fight with the Sourcerer turns VERA into a human girl.
- Resurrection: The Sourcerer brings back Megabyte, an old virus from the original ReBoot show, and upgrades him.
- Fortress Command: Parker upgrades his weapons and accidentally helps Megabyte take over a mobile game, turning it into his new base.
- Catastrophic: Megabyte uses a cat virus to distract people while the Sourcerer steals a powerful computer.
- Discoveries: Austin and Parker find a mysterious sphere that hints at Austin's dad creating the Guardian Code.
- Emotional Rescue: Vera tries out human emotions, which causes trouble during a mission to stop Megabyte from attacking a bank.
- Game Day: Trey leaves his basketball game to help the Guardians fight Megabyte, who is making copies of himself.
- Artificial Intelligence: The Sourcerer hacks a virtual assistant named Alyx to trap the Guardians.
- Datastorm: The Sourcerer hacks a weather satellite to create a hurricane, but the Guardians stop him.
- Mainframe Mayhem: Megabyte goes back to Mainframe (from the original ReBoot) to get his sister Hexadecimal. The Guardians follow and meet Bob, Mainframe's Guardian.
Season 2 (2018)
- Network Interference: The Sourcerer hacks cell phones to find the Guardians. Hexadecimal is captured. The Guardians learn about Adam Carter's past.
- Zombie Army: The Sourcerer creates a robot zombie army to crash the Internet. Parker and Austin learn about the DIS and Adam's past.
- Bee-Ware: Megabyte infects bee toys to scare children. The Sourcerer learns the Guardians' identities.
- Share Scare: Tamra accidentally uploads a video with Guardian secrets. Agent Nance realizes the Guardian Code is Adam's work.
- Nuclear Confusion: Rowan, a DIS agent, helps the Guardians stop the Sourcerer from launching a nuclear warhead.
- Double Trouble: A classmate, Shari, accidentally enters cyberspace as Tamra's avatar. Megabyte captures them all, but they escape.
- Mega-Viral: Megabyte tries to hijack social media. Agent Nance captures him, but Hexadecimal helps him escape.
- Great Escapes: Megabyte and Hexadecimal break out of prison. The Sourcerer breaks into the school.
- Identity Theft: The Sourcerer finds the Guardians' base, and Austin realizes he is his father, Adam. They learn Adam faked his death and was infected by dark code.
- Black Hole: The Sourcerer tries to destroy the Internet with a cyber black hole. Adam fights for control and sacrifices himself to save everyone.
How the Show Was Made
The show was filmed in British Columbia, Canada, in early 2017. The company Mainframe Studios produced it.
The creators used special computer programs like Autodesk Maya to build the characters and scenes in 3D. They also used Unreal Engine 4 to make the animation look great and render it quickly in 4K resolution. This technology helped them create the virtual world of cyberspace.
Who Was Cast?
Ty Wood, Sydney Scotia, Ajay Parikh-Friese, and Gabriel Darku were chosen to play the teenage Guardians.
Some of the voice actors from the original ReBoot series returned for this show. Michael Benyaer voices Bob, Kathleen Barr voices Dot, and Shirley Millner voices Hexadecimal. Timothy E. Brummund took over the voice of Megabyte because the original actor, Tony Jay, had passed away.
Where to Watch It
A preview for the show came out in February 2018. The first ten episodes of ReBoot: The Guardian Code were released on Netflix worldwide (except Canada) on March 30, 2018. The next ten episodes came out on September 28, 2018. In Canada, all twenty episodes were shown on YTV between June 4 and July 5, 2018.
Other Cool Stuff
After the show came out, the official ReBoot: The Guardian Code YouTube channel released short virtual reality videos. YTV also released live-action shorts with the characters.
A free mobile game called ReBoot: The Guardian Code – Code Hacker was released for iOS and Android phones on March 22, 2018. It's a puzzle game where you match items. If you watched the show on YTV, the game could even use audio to unlock special cards! You could also play a web version of the game on the show's website and YTV's site.
What People Thought
Reviews for the show were mixed. Dave Trumbore from Collider gave it 2 out of 5 stars. He liked Hannah Vandenbygaart's acting and some of the visuals, but felt the animation wasn't great for 2018. He also thought the writing and pacing were slow.
Emily Ashby from Common Sense Media gave the show 3 out of 5 stars. She thought the show had good role models for kids and could make them interested in STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math).
Shamus Kelley from Den of Geek! was very critical of the tenth episode, calling it "one of the worst." However, Charles Pulliam-Moore from io9 thought the tenth episode was "legitimately fantastic" and the only one worth watching, especially because it featured characters from the original ReBoot series.
