Position in Sequence: You'll get more jokes if you read it first.
NOTE: Some of this is stuff I heard from sources I can no longer remember. I believe it to be correct, but if you know any of it to be false, inaccurate, or misleading, please let me know.
Waaaay back in the mid-'80s, a couple of nice British fellows named Gavin Blair and Ian Pearson made the music video for Money For Nothing by Dire Straits. It was an... interesting process, fraught with headaches. A particularly aneurysm-inducing incident: They had a dual computer system, with one housing the programs, the other holding the files, so the one crunched the numbers from the other; at some point, the one with the programs suffered a complete and total meltdown.
Happily, the files survived, and they did eventually get the video done. As they were getting celebratorily drunk, one man said unto the other, "Hey, we should animate an entire TV series!" I strongly suspect that the other hit him, but nevertheless, they joined forces with one Phil Mitchell, moved to Vancouver, and founded Mainframe Entertainment.
They pitched their show, ReBoot, as an action-adventure, and sold it to YTV in Canada and to ABC in the United States. More specifically, they sold it just before ABC was bought by Disney. The result was that, when the show was actually in production, they found themselves under the command of ABC's Broadcast Standards and Practices unit. BSnP proved to be the worst everyone imagines of network censors and then some. Some known rulings they handed down:
Absolutely no on-screen effective violence to any subject that might be considered a person. This one can be inferred from content. There is plenty of gunfire and laser-zappery but it never hits anyone; vehicles are sometimes blown up but the occupants are always visibly blown safely clear or bail out with parachutes. They can do what they like to Users, since those are mere automata, but no sentient character may be seen to get hurt in anything close to a realistic fashion. The one time in two entire seasons someone threw a punch at another character and connected, it happened offscreen, and even then, when they aired it on ABC they cut out the sound effect.
Dot - hardly a sex object - was not permitted to have anything remotely sexual about her, including two separate breasts. (Hex, as the villainess, could of course have differentiated breasts, a sexy walk and even an occasionally seductive manner. This is because sex is evil.)
In a ruling that seems to be traditional, Bob was not permitted to smash through a window, lest the kiddies emulate him and hurt themselves.
They outlawed the word "hockey" - and thus the game itself - because it means something vulgar in some obscure slang that no one but BSnP had ever heard of. (Based on the presence of a desktop wallpaper of Bob playing hockey which used to be available on the official website, I suspect this ruling may have forced them to scrap an entire episode concept.) "Wuss" was likewise forbidden, but that at least could be replaced with a different insult.
During her little chanteuse number on his birthday (the one time she was ever permitted to act even faintly sexy), Dot was not permitted to give her little brother a kiss - they did not even intend it to be on the lips - because it "obviously" suggested incest.
The only two things BSnP seems to have been totally okay with were mockery of BSnP itself, with which the first season was rife, and skull and skeleton imagery.
Finally, at the end of season 2, just when (and probably because) the show was starting to get genuinely interesting and exciting, BSnP dropped ReBoot. It was the best thing that ever happened to the show. Cartoon Network picked it up, and, free of the censors at last, ReBoot was free to live up to its potential.
Countdown to Chaos
Position in Sequence: Although it's officially not canonical, this takes place before Season 1. However, contains references to and spoilers for things all the way through the end of Season 2. I do not recommend watching this first.
NOTE: BSnP had no control over what the creators did outside of actual episodes. The creators may have taken a bit too much advantage of this in places, that's all I'm sayin'.
All four ReBoot Adventure Gamebooks have been transcribed and are available here!
Position in Sequence: Takes place throughout Season 1.
NOTE: These gamebooks are even less canonical than the PlayStation game, and that's saying something.
The Making of ReBoot
Position in Sequence: Doesn't really take place anywhen, but refers only to Season 1.
The first IMAX ridefilm. (The second was "Journey into Chaos", and is sadly unavailable except for one short clip.) For those who can't afford a trip to Vegas and a time machine.
Position in Sequence: Between episodes 2.08 and 2.09, although the continuity isn't perfect.
As it is my own speculation, and not official material, I'm leaving this on a separate page. My analyses, overanalyses, patching of plot holes, and desperate rationalizations may be found here.
Position in Sequence: I attempt to explain things from throughout the series, right up to the last episode. It's sorted alphabetically, not chronologically, so wait 'til the end.
The comic! New pages each Monday at noon Pacific Now complete! (Technically.) Or go look through the blog, which is probably done with but you never can tell.
Position in Sequence: The comic takes up some time after the Season 4 cliffhanger left off, so... very much after. Also, it's of... dubious canonicity.
YouTube glitches sometimes. If a clip won't load properly, try getting it to reload: go to another episode and back, or to the next segment of the same episode and back, or just refresh the page. If it still won't work, let me know.
