The last five episodes of ReBoot have all been building to this season finale. From the addition of a new character in AndrAIa, to the return of Mouse, to the involvement of the web creature which has managed to infect both of Mainframe’s viruses. And now, Mainframe’s biggest threat has arrived in an open portal from the web, and the creatures of the web set to invade. Mainframe is at war, and in the end, will the system be left standing? Will the web win? And could we lose one of our heroes in the process? Let’s find out by looking at “Web World Wars”.
We open the episode as the giant portal to the web looms over Mainframe. All of the bystanders are being led to safety, and everyone is at their stations. Even Enzo and AndrAIa are manning guns at the principal office. Every CPU guard is in their car and ready to attack. Even at Silicon Tor, Megabyte is working on a weapon to help in the fight. Bob calls in to find out why the weapon isn’t finished up. Bob arrives at the tor and learns that Phong can’t bring himself to work with a virus like Megabyte. Phong tells him that they need the help of the viruses, and to download the hardware necessary to work the weapon.
The weapon is a giant canon that when fully charged will close the portal once and for all. Bob also asks about the power source for the weapon, to which Megabyte replies “She’s the same as always.” That’s right, Hexadecimal is in charge of powering the canon. Bob leaves as Hex meets up with Megabyte. She likes how Bob and Megabyte are working together, and that it’ll be a shame to break up such a winning team. Clearly the virals have some sort of plan, and it doesn’t sound good for Bob.
Meanwhile, Mouse and Dot are in the armory preparing. Mouse is in charge of working the codes to the weapon that will close the portal, and is of course antsy of working with viruses, since as we know from previous episodes, she has had a bit of a history of being screwed over. She also has a bad feeling the viruses will pull a double cross. This scene also shows how much Mouse and Dot have come to respect one another, as Mouse wants Dot to watch her back. The giant hardware that seems like it’s positioned in a phallic manner seems to claim that she plans on doing exactly that.
At the principal office, Enzo and AndrAIa look on at the web portal. Enzo is also finally ready to admit to not being a guardian, but is stopped by Bob. Bob says that he feels that Enzo is ready to be suited up as a first level guardian. Enzo gives Bob his icon, to which Bob downloads the guardian protocol. This changes Enzo’s clothing to that of a guardian uniform. Bob says that after the war, he plans to send Enzo to the supercomputer to train to become a full fledged guardian. He says that if anything should happen to him, Enzo is in charge of defending Mainframe. Bob leaves, as Enzo thanks Bob for having faith in him.
The weapon is moved into position as Megabyte has concerns on how fast Mouse can hack the codes. Mouse tells him that she is also going to block Mainframe’s location from the web after the portal is closed. This pleases the virus. The easier web creatures begin to exit the portal. However, one scared CPU guard fires at them, causing the creatures to scramble, and the guards to give chase. Bob tells the guards to stop the creatures from returning to the portal. They manage to destroy most of the creatures. But two surviving creatures activate a piggyback function and returns to the portal. This causes the attack drones to come out in full force.
The attack drones manage to do massive damage to Mainframe’s guard, as well as attempting to attack the portal gun. Even Dot’s Diner gets completely obliterated. However, the drones are soon defeated with the help of Megabyte’s viral fleet. Hell, even Hack and Slash manage to destroy a web creature without completely botching the thing up. I guess they aren’t total idiots when everything is at stake.
Everything is going according to plan, and the hardware for the weapon is fully charged. But just before the portal gun is activated, Megabyte strikes. First destroying Dot’s bazooka, then disarming Bob, crushing Glitch to ensure that it can’t be used. He sets up a pod and throws Bob inside. Bob tells Megabyte that he’ll never get away with this. Mouse tries to stop the launch, but Hexadecimal stops her. Megabyte has a sinister smile on his face as he presses the button that sends the pod flying into the web portal. He then activates the weapon to close the portal.
Bob… The hero of Mainframe… Is gone.
Dot and Mouse manage to escape before Hex and Megabyte can finish them off too. They return to the principal office. Megabyte tells his fleet to destroy the remaining web creatures, as well as any remaining CPU guards. Hexadecimal also has plan to use to cannon to destroy the principal office. Inside the Principal office, everyone is celebrating, believing that the day has been won. But when they see the “ABC’s” have turned on them (a subtle little reference, and I’ll get to why momentarily), their joy turns to fear.
Dot and Mouse return inside. Phong and the others wonder of Bob, to which a saddened Dot simply gives Enzo the broken Glitch. Enzo screams out in anger over the loss of Bob. But just as that happens, Megabyte and Hexadecimal appear via vid window to gloat about their success, and that there is no one who can stop them now. Welcome to Megaframe.
But AndrAIa tells the two viruses that they do have someone who can save them from the viral scum. And that person is
Guardian Matrix.
For a season finale, “Web World Wars” is truly an epic one. It has plenty of action, and most importantly feels like it builds to the future of the series. From the first moment we see that the viruses have aligned with the Mainframers, you have a bad feeling that this won’t last. That the viruses have a plan in motion, and when its executed it truly feels like it leaves an impact. The show has written off the character that we were led to believe was the hero of the series.
And with that, this episode goes to prove what I had believed all along. This is not Bob’s story. Yes, he’s billed as the show’s hero. The guy in the opening who talks about defending his friends, and saving Mainframe from the bad guys and the user. But all along, he was just a side character to the real main character of the series in Enzo. We’ve seen the character grow from a happy-go-lucky, catchphrase spewing child who idolized his hero, to finally proving himself worthy of following in the footsteps of that very same hero. And now with Bob gone, that he now has to face the toughest challenge of his life as the world he grew up with is facing its ultimate peril.
ReBoot season 2 in general was an epic season. More epic than I had remembered. After such a simplistic first season filled with formulaic plots and fillers with little purpose, to see how the second season keeps practically every episode connected to the other, be it little things like Enzo’s air kart, or the saga of the web creature, is almost crazy in retrospect. It’s definitely where the series truly begins. It starts super strong, and ends with one of the best cliffhangers of any animated series ever.
And the crazy thing is, this could have been where the series ended. You remember when I mentioned the line about “The ABC’s turning on us”? In the middle of ReBoot’s 2nd season production, the ABC network was bought by the Walt Disney company. This buyout meant that Disney had full control of what stayed and went on the schedule. The channel also had plans to completely rebuild their Saturday morning block the following fall as “Disney’s One Saturday Morning”. The end result meant that all of the shows then currently on ABC would be cancelled. Including the end of longtime staple “The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show”. This also meant ReBoot’s cancellation from the network too.
However, this couldn’t be a bigger blessing in disguise as a silver lining for the company would come from their home and native land. in Canada, the show was being aired on YTV, and was a massive success for the network. The show was at one point being aired at least 3-4 times a week, and always saw high ratings. With ReBoot being free from the reigns of ABC, this would lead to YTV working with the show, and allowing the then Mainframe Entertainment to build the show with far less restrictions. It would take a year to do so, but in the end, it would lead to one of the best seasons of any television show ever.