Tag: Reboot

YTV’s June 4th, ReBoot with The Guardian Code Reviewed

Had ReBoot: The Guardian Code been titled anything else, this television program would not have been so derided.

ReBootBy Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Had ReBoot: The Guardian Code been titled anything else, this television program would not have been so derided. This series is available to most fans to see on Netflix worldwide. In Canada, YTV has exclusive rights and no firewall can stop crackers to use a VPN service to see the series online. It will soon broadcast on June 4th for those living north of the 49th who do not as technically savvy.

By not making this new chapter part of a much-beloved part of animation history would give this product a better chance for love. Also, the fact this series borrowed a lot from Code Lyoko did not help. This series did not do justice to those who loved ReBoot, the original series, like myself. Nothing is followed up on. A few real-world details connecting the past to modern day are offered, but nothing is said to explain how computer programmers know about the Guardians. This backstory is the only reason I’m going to continue watching.

Some decades have obviously passed. The location of Mainframe is revealed to be located in the basement of a school, and this fact strikes me as odd. I do not expect such a computer system which is home to Bob, Dot and Enzo to exist there. Perhaps the system they discovered is a backup server; the real one is lurking in some forgotten hallway at Electronic Arts Burnaby.

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Some Fans Strongly Want A Disney’s Gargoyles Reboot, But…

Should Disney’s Gargoyles be given a reboot? Some fans are against, and others just want a continuation.

Disney's GargoylesThe past few years have shown fond properties remade for a new generation. Duck Tales was one which started broadcasting last year. Now into its second season, Ben10 is going strong. Over the long weekend, ReBoot started streaming on Netflix (USA & other regions other than Canada). Coming later this year is yet another iteration of Transformers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Also on the list is Invader Zim, Muppet Babies and Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?

In a random conversation with fellow older geeks, one pal suggested TailSpin ought to be next. I feel not every show from Disney Afternoon can make that comeback. If Darkwing Duck can appear in Duck Tales, could a spin-off be coming? My show was Rescue Rangers and it was the reason why I never got any homework done (until much later in the day). Gargoyles was also part, and the team behind crafting this fantastic series did a wonderful job. Not only did it tug at many literary allusions but it also pulled from various mythologies to craft a world that was steeped in folklore. Some were in plain sight, watching the ongoing trials of man, and others preferred to remain in secrecy.

Released over the holiday weekend is a fan trailer recreating a few moments from the opening sequence of Gargoyles. This CGI treatment shows the technology is here to bring this show to the next level. Some shots are from New York City proper, and others are digital. The blend worked very well. However, to nail the perfect voice-over is hard; I kept on wanting to hear Keith David’s voice instead of this poor man’s version. This product is a fan film. I had to disengage some filters. This tease ultimately worked. I pulled out my DVDs and started watching the series again .

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ABC’s The Phoenix Needs to be Resurrected!

ABC\'s The Phoenix Promotional Poster

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

Back in the early 80’s, Ken Clark of UPI wrote saying the television series, The Phoenix (1982), could be a classic of its time. But up against the rigid standards set by the networks and perhaps the viewing public, it died within a month of its premiere and is more or less forgotten. More than 30 years later, I feel this program deserves a second chance, especially when many television and film studios are looking at revitalizing old classics. If the success of the new MacGuyyer is any indication and Magnum P.I. is in the works, along with Greatest American Hero, then The Phoenix deserves a look too!

According to the original series bible, the lead character Bennu (Judson Scott) is an alien sent to Earth to guide humanity’s development into becoming the next space-faring civilization. But when he and the other scientists in his expedition arrive on Earth far too early, they decide to put themselves into suspended animation until the primitives have developed far enough in the technological ladder to warrant first contact.

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In Conversation With Actor/Musician Garry Chalk

garrychalk

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

Garry Chalk is one of those actors who created the voice of many of my favourite characters in animation in the 1990’s. As the voice of Turbo and Slash in Mainframe Entertainment’s Reboot and later Optimus Primal in Transformers: Beast Wars / Machines, I really liked how he put his all into those characters. Back then, the Internet was not available and I had to depend on keeping an eagle eye and sharp ear to the credits to recognize what he appeared in. Little did I know he had a vast and rewarding career in film, television and theatre before coming onto the animation scene.

When I spoke to him about his more recent work, especially in O. Corbin Saleken‘s Patterson’s Wager (which is getting screenings in upcoming film festivals around North America and is on VOD), this performer said, “I’m not one of those kinds of method actors who look for characters in other people. I develop what’s within me and who I am and put me in that situation. I know myself better than anyone else. There’s a whole emotional gambit to consider, but in every one of them, there’s a facet of what you’re going to make the character be. So the core essence of any character [I play] is me with a bunch of additional circumstances to shape my response.”

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This Modernizing of Voltron for a New Generation Has This Otaku Giddy with Delight!

maxresdefaultBy Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

Voltron: Defender of the Universe was one of those animated series from the 80’s I absolutely adored along with Robotech. The American producers took the Japanese animated material and successfully adapted them for a North American audience. In both, the heroes have to battle against alien invaders. While Voltron is getting one seriously massive update by DreamWorks to become Voltron: Legendary Defender, which is now on Netflix. This animation company took approximately five years since acquiring Classic Media’s catalogue of titles (which includes Casper and Where’s Waldo?, to name a few) to pump this reboot out. And this amount of time waiting is reasonable to fans in bringing back a love which clearly calls back to other shows like Mobile Suit Gundam.

Any development of the rumoured Robotech live-action movie is languishing. Talks began in 2008 with no word on commitments. According to Harmony Gold’s Kevin McKeever, the Sony Films deal is not finalized.

Voltron certainly saved the day. This reboot is executive produced Lauren Montgomery and Joaquim Dos Santos (better known for their work on Avatar: The Legend of Korra), and they used the same production team to create the style in this series. I am quite enjoying it and binge watched it at least three times since its debut. To improve on what the original series did not do, the producers had a series bible properly developed to outline the development for each of the characters.Pidge gets the most love out. Very rarely do I find myself cheering and I felt like a kid again watching Voltron duke it out with its flaming sword! Lightsaber ho! (yeah, I know, wrong series).

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Mainframe Entertainment Gets Reboot

Proof of this devotion was recorded by Michael Benyaer at Mainframe Entertainment’s Reboot panel during the recent Edmonton Comic and Entertainment Expo.

RebootCastIt is glorious news and perhaps news that dedicated fans have long been waiting for. Mainframe Entertainment, who were responsible for such hit TV series as Beast Wars: Transformers (Beasties in Canada), Weird-Oh’s and Shadow Raiders (War Planets in the USA) is being rebooted.

Now known as Rainmaker Entertainment, the company will use the Mainframe Entertainment name as their television arm. Said Michael Hefferon, President and Executive Producer of Rainmaker, “We are excited to focus our television production activities under the Mainframe brand. We believe this announcement emphasizes Rainmaker’s commitment to the production of animated programming for television.”

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