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REBOOT: TO MEND AND DEFEND

The setting is a fantasy world, a city named Mainframe within a home computer. From a supercomputer on the Net comes a Guardian named Bob. He's come there chasing viruses, and he finds it in the form of Machiavellian fascist Megabyte (Tony Jay, doing a wicked George Sanders) and his mad sister Hexadecimal (Shirley Millner). He also finds friends and allies among the inhabitants, including Dot Matrix (Kathleen Barr), her young brother Enzo (Christopher Gray), and Mainframe's oldest inhabitant Phong (Michael Donovan), the vaguely Asian custodian of the city's Principal Office.

A highly entertaining mix of sci-fi action, sharp humor, eye-popping graphics and drama, the series was just too darn good to be stuck in the Saturday morning cartoon ghetto. Each episode combined a thrilling adventure with deftly overlapping parody, and even maintained several working subplots that would run for months. The writers also have a fondness for cliffhanger endings, which left fans in shock when ABC cancelled the series after the second season - leaving Bob marooned in the web, and Megabyte poised to take over as Mainframe came under attack by web creatures.

Fortunately, Mainframe pushed on, bringing REBOOT back into production even as they produced several other shows. The 1997 season only played on Canada's YTV - until now. A.D. Vision released season 3 on four volumes of DVDs earlier this year. Currently, these episodes are also playing daily on the Cartoon Network, while episodes from season 4 are running on Friday afternoons. However, the DVDs are about double the image and sound quality of the broadcasts. Also, they contain the new opening sequences created for this season.

This first volume contains the first four episodes of season 3. Catalogue descriptions mark this as "Volume 1," but the discs' packaging fails to identify what order the DVDs should be played in.

Fun animated menus bring you to each episode, or you can let the program of four run straight through. With Bob lost, the series finds itself in the odd position of running without a hero. One-year-old Guardian Cadet Enzo is left as the city's primary defender, and this disc charts his progress as he learns to handle the responsibility, both within the games and out.

The games are one of the most interesting and creative features of the series. The legendary User regularly inputs game cubes into Mainframe. As Guardian, it's part of Bob's duty - and now Enzo's - to enter the game and defeat the User. Otherwise, anyone caught within the game when the User wins is instantly nullified. Players in a game can "ReBoot" into a game character, sometimes with surprising results.

In "To Mend and Defend," we find Megabyte harnessing Hexadecimal's power in an assault on the Principal Office. Fortunately for our heroes, he's interrupted by the arrival of a game cube. This is also fortunate for the storyline, as things had been rather grim and the games often add a needed dose of comedy to the series. As it is, we're tickled to find Dot, Enzo and his feral dog Frisket in the middle of an EVIL DEAD inspired game called "Malicious Corpses," trying to defeat a Bruce Campbell clone User.

The game in "Between a Raccoon and a Hard Place" is even wilder. Bounty hunter Mouse (Louise Vallance) hacks Enzo's Guardian icon for code enabling his game sprite pal AndrAia (Andrea Libman) to ReBoot in games. She and Enzo end up as cartoon characters trying to use up the lives of Rocky the Rabid Raccoon.

"Firewall" is surely the disc's standout episode. Serious business about Enzo overcoming Megabyte's propaganda campaign against him, and a daring plan to trap the virus, are wrapped up in a brilliant 007 send-up (complete with theme song title sequence) - which crosses over into parodies of both TOY STORY and WACKY RACES.

In the collection's wrap-up, "Game Over," Enzo realizes that even though he's learning fast, he's still too young to handle his responsibilities. Sooner or later, a game is going to finish him, unless he takes steps to prevent it. His day of reckoning comes all too quickly when the User inputs a frighteningly tough fighting game.

The disc is rounded out with a helpful pack of extras. Most helpful to new viewers will be the text "Game Guide" and "Character Mainframe," which will bring you up to speed on what's going on. There's also a recap of the first 2 seasons, some animation tests, character designs, etc.

Fans of the series will consider these discs a treasure, while non-fans could find themselves converted. Now, how about putting the first two seasons on DVD too?