Reboot The CGI Cartoon That Turned a Child Into a War Veteran
ReBoot looked like a colorful Saturday morning cartoon about video games, computer viruses, and goofy digital puns. But if you stuck with it long enough, you know it became something much darker.
Before Toy Story changed movies forever, ReBoot made history as the first fully computer-animated half-hour TV series. It was strange, ambitious, and way ahead of its time — but behind the scenes, the creators were fighting network censors, impossible technology, and the challenge of making CGI television before CGI television really existed.
And then the show changed.
What started as a fun adventure inside a computer slowly turned into a serialized sci-fi war story about loss, trauma, growing up too fast, and one of the most shocking transformations in ’90s animation: Enzo Matrix becoming the battle-scarred adult known as Matrix.
In this episode of Dial-Up Dayz, we’re looking back at the full story of ReBoot — how it was created, why ABC was nervous about it, how it became darker after the network walked away, and why its unresolved cliffhanger still bothers fans decades later.
Did you watch ReBoot back in the day? Did you make it far enough to see Enzo become Matrix? Let me know in the comments.
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@notrixamoris3318
July 22, 2026 at 2:59 pm
SO WHAT…Them GUNDAM series have been doing that for a generation or two and they are not stopping.
@Elkayra8
July 22, 2026 at 2:59 pm
AndrAIa is spelled With AI and not AL. It's a pun on Artificial Intelligence. There are no la in the name. So it sound like Andrea.
@cesarrivera286
July 22, 2026 at 2:59 pm
Holy crap the memories I forgot I had. This show was a nice fever dream I always watched.
@Larry
July 22, 2026 at 2:59 pm
I missed the episode where it all changed as a kid, so had no idea what was going on when i watched it the following week!
@Gend1e
July 22, 2026 at 2:59 pm
I remember watching this show. The change in Megabyte from a joke villain and to an actual scary threat always stuck with me.
Also for some reason Haxadecimals' "Happy, happy, happy!" line really stuck with my sister and I and we use to say it at each other all the times.
Anyways what a blast from the last.
@marvingoof3675
July 22, 2026 at 2:59 pm
I remember watching this show as a kid and being captivated by it. Especially when Enzo became Matrix. This show deserves more love and recognition. And I want the ending so badly!
@DocGamerGirl
July 22, 2026 at 2:59 pm
Holy shit I wasn't hallucinating this show
@SSJCLIFF
July 22, 2026 at 2:59 pm
You really gonna just ignore the fact that the game Enzo lost was basically Mortal Kombat where he chooses to be Scorpian then loses an eye and gets his head ripped off? In that moment Reboot went from fun little kids cartoon to holy crap this got real dark real quick and it's staying this way!
@bookreport101
July 22, 2026 at 2:59 pm
I wonder if it’ll work now if they used modern tech to tell a new story because there are a lot of network topics they can choose from.
@equalizer47
July 22, 2026 at 2:59 pm
man this was my favorite show when i was a kid.
@jeffro7856
July 22, 2026 at 2:59 pm
As an IT professional who watched this as a kid….I am super curious to rewatch this now.
@JoseDanielGarciaJr
July 22, 2026 at 2:59 pm
Loved this show as a kid every Saturday morning.
@GrillDemTales
July 22, 2026 at 2:59 pm
Good times, Reboot was so much fun to watch.
@timothyalton3821
July 22, 2026 at 2:59 pm
One of my first mental crisis as a child was losing Bob and Optimus primal in the same season
@mitchellstanding5358
July 22, 2026 at 2:59 pm
Man I loved this show as a kid
@GameAlicornLuna
July 22, 2026 at 2:59 pm
This is AI.
Not the show but this video is.
@krel3358
July 22, 2026 at 2:59 pm
I think it was genius as it started off as a typical kids show and then as the main audience grew up a little bit it became darker. I remember in 1997/98 when the 3rd season of reboot and 2nd season beast wars came out shit was hype. Living in Canada I believe we actually got it sooner than the kids in the states. Then a year later we got Shadow Raiders which was ultra hype of mainframe producing 3 god tier animated shows at the same time.
@turtleturtlepower
July 22, 2026 at 2:59 pm
Damn good show. So underrated
@iamdrdevil1
July 22, 2026 at 2:59 pm
Man I loved and miss my reboot toys. This was such a great show and you sum it up greatly.
@rustyshackleford3939
July 22, 2026 at 2:59 pm
why cant he finish Reboot by now? he could do it with a $50 laptop today, what's his problem lol
@MartKart8
July 22, 2026 at 2:59 pm
Phil Mitchel that's the name of a person in EastEnders
@bigfoot904
July 22, 2026 at 2:59 pm
I used to watch this before i went to school in the morning when i was in elementary school. I had to wake up extra early so i could get the tv for 30 minutes or so before my parents turned on the morning news.
@obscuramask7435
July 22, 2026 at 2:59 pm
My favorite band/song got a cameo. "Money for nothing"
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