Reboot (fiction)

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Reboot, in serial fiction, means a discarding of much or even all previous continuity in the series, to start anew. Effectively, all previously-known fictive history is declared by the writer(s) to be null and void, or at least irrelevant to the current storyline, and the series starts over.

Contents

[edit] Etymology

The term originates from its use in computer science.[citation needed] After a computer is rebooted, nothing (except non-volatile storage, such as on a disk drive) of the computer's previous operating session has any bearing on its new session.

[edit] Comparison to remakes and prequels

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A reboot differs from a remake and a prequel, in that the latter two are generally consistent with the canon (previously-established continuity) of the series; with a reboot, the older continuity is largely discarded and replaced with a new canon.[citation needed]

Additionally, prequels are often developed by the same creator as the original series it leads up to, while a remake is often produced by a different author to the original series, and can be seen as retelling of the same story and essentially sticking to the same canon. The term remake often applies to films or film adaptations of TV shows, like The Fugitive, whereas the term reboot is ascribed to franchises such as Batman Begins, Get Smart, Land of the Lost, The Pink Panther, and The Incredible Hulk.[citation needed]

[edit] Rationale

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This term is often applied to comic books, where the prevailing continuity can be very important to the progress of future installments, acting (depending on circumstances and one's point of view) either as a rich foundation from which to develop characters and storylines, a box limiting the story options available to tell, or even an irreconcilable mess of contradictory history. Such large continuities also become a barrier to introducing newcomers to the fandom, as the complex histories are difficult to learn, and make understanding the story very difficult. A reboot gives the chance for new fans to experience the core story by reintroducing it in smaller and easier-to-understand installments and/or by refocusing the story on its most important elements and abandoning many subplots and an overgrowth of minor details. Reboots may also serve changing audience expectations as to storytelling style, genre evolution, and sophistication of material.

[edit] Examples

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[edit] Film

  • The Godzilla (ゴジラ - Gojira) film franchise has been rebooted several times since its inception in the 1950s. The most notable deviation from the original production was the 1998 American remake entitled Godzilla. Godzilla continuity reboots are as follows:
  • 2001 saw the end of the cult children's hit Chiquititas but saw it rebooted into the feature film Chiquititas: Rincón de Luz.
  • The Sum of All Fears (2002) was a reboot of the Jack Ryan series, with Ben Affleck as Ryan. The film is set in the present time with Ryan just beginning his career at the CIA. As commented by producer Mace Neufeld in an interview on the DVD, the film is neither a sequel nor a prequel to the other three Ryan films, and should not be seen as such.
  • Home Alone 4: Taking Back the House (2002) is a reboot of the film series. It brings back the original characters from the first two films, yet in a different approach with the main character portrayed as being younger than in the first two films.
  • Batman Begins (2005) is a reboot of the Batman film series. It was done to not only start a new continuity that was more faithful to the tone of the comics, but also to distance itself from the Joel Schumacher films.
  • The Pink Panther (2006) was a reboot of the Blake Edwards/Peter Sellers. The Pink Panther series, starring Steve Martin as Inspector Clouseau and directed by Shawn Levy. This film made no references to the events in the previous series.
  • Casino Royale (2006) was a reboot of the James Bond film series, although that it was also considered the 21st Bond movie. It stars Daniel Craig as James Bond, and it shows how he got his 00 status. It also shows a weaker Bond, and it aimed mostly for a realistic tone. It excludes Q and Moneypenny, but includes M.
  • Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998) is a "partial reboot" and a sequel in the Halloween film series as the film is a continuation of the first two films but ignores all plot elements which occurred in all films after Halloween II.
  • Halloween (2007) is a total reboot of the Halloween series, directed by Rob Zombie.
  • The Incredible Hulk (2008) is a reboot of the previous Hulk film (2003). It was originally written to be a sequel to the first film (but more faithful to the Hulk comics), but after rewriting it, star/screenwriter Edward Norton established it as a reboot. The film is set five years after Bruce Banner first becomes the Hulk, but that backstory is entirely different from the first film.
  • Beethoven's Big Break (2008) is a reboot of the canine family comedy Beethoven. The film removes the entire storyline from the previous five films and starts a whole new story. Beethoven is a stray dog with three puppies who is found by a boy (Moises Arias) whose father (Jonathan Silverman) has a strict "no dog" rule but all that changes when a movie director (Eddie Griffin) wants the dog to be the star of a new film about a reckless family pet and titles the film "Beethoven" and the movie's plot is similar to the original movie.
  • Friday the 13th (2009) is a reboot of the Friday the 13th series, retelling the events previously seen in the original film in a different approach. Though some believe the film is simply a remake of the first film, producer Michael Bay has confirmed that it is a reboot.
  • Star Trek (2009) reboots the entire Star Trek franchise due to time travel which creates an alternate timeline.

[edit] Future film reboots

  • For the 25th anniversary of the Care Bears, American Greetings opted to reboot the franchise. Prior plot elements and devices like Cloudmobiles, the caring meter, and even Care-a-Lot castle was wiped from the universe, the Care Bears Cousins are nowhere in sight, the bears are implied to live in a village with the centerpiece being the Gathering Tree, that they have never met humans or went on caring missions (although this is set to change with the release of the Grizz-ly Adventures DVD which will see the first human enter the new Care-a-Lot), and that they have never met any villains prior to Grizzle, the current franchise's villain. This continuity began with the movie Care Bears: Oopsy Does It!, and continues into the TV series Care Bears: Adventures in Care-a-Lot.

[edit] Television

Several well-known tokusatsu franchises in Japan- notably the sub-genre of Super Sentai, Metal Hero, Ultra series, and Kamen Rider- are based around the similar formula that with each successive year, each new series reinvents itself in style, characters, sets, story & plot lines, and notably the armored suits, weapons, and vehicles (and mecha in some cases); events happening in one series not affecting any of the others (except for movie crossovers). While each season of these saga are considered a separate series unto themselves rather than being referred to as a "season", each has a common formula upon which all series in the saga are based. For example, while Juken Sentai Gekiranger (2007) closely matches the themes seen in Gosei Sentai Dairanger (1993) regarding Chinese martial arts and drawing superhuman powers from controlling one's aura through intensive training and self control, the characters, story lines, and mecha are completely unrelated.

  • An exception to this may be the last two series from the Metal Hero saga. B-Fighter Kabuto (1996) is a direct sequel to Juukou B-Fighter (1995), both feature identical beetle-themed powers, several of the same characters and plot lines carryover into the latter, even though the armored suits, mecha, weapons, and settings are different.
  • Since the Power Rangers saga is an Americanized version of Super Sentai, it too reinvents itself accordingly each year, though from its debut in 1993 to 1998, there was a continuity between the first six seasons which was eventually written out due to the complicated duty of keeping track of that continuity for later seasons and keeping the younger audience involved. The cost of production in having to streamline things between the Japanese versions was also complicated. And so starting in 1999, each succeeding PR series has its own continuity just for that one year. Although each season has its own continuity, they have been shown to exist within the same universe (although not necessarily the same time period or geographic location) through special "team-up" episodes, where the previous team of Rangers teams up with the current team.

[edit] Comic books

  • Arguably, DC Comics rebooted in the late 1950s when it introduced several new versions of superheroes that had been staples of their comics in the 1940s, but had ceased appearing in publication. The Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, and the Atom were all re-introduced with new identities, costumes and powers (mostly with more science fiction-influenced attributes), and seemingly outside the continuity of their predecessors. Later, it was retconned that the 1940s-era heroes existed on "Earth-Two", leading to DC’s complex "multiverse" system.
  • DC Comics’ 1985 maxi-series Crisis on Infinite Earths portrayed a complex sequence of reality-altering events that revised DC continuity. Editors intended to make the DC Universe less complicated and more modern and accessible to readers. This allowed for new origin stories for many characters and drastic changes to Wonder Woman, Hawkman and Superman. It may not be considered a true reboot because Crisis utilized, not discarded, previously existing continuity.
  • DC's Legion of Super-Heroes comic book had its continuity rebooted in the events surrounding Zero Hour in 1994. The characters' stories came to a decisive close, the previous 36 years of continuity were discarded and a new Legion made up of similar characters based on the earlier versions began their careers without any mention of the previous continuity (except for tacit allusions). The franchise was rebooted again in 2004.
  • Marvel Comics published Spider-Man: Chapter One by John Byrne from 1998-1999, which was meant to be a reboot of sorts, modernizing the classic Amazing Spider-Man series to appeal to modern fans. However, the series only lasted thriteen issues, and any continuity to current Spider-Man titles was dropped after fan outcry and a restructuring of the Marvel Comics executive and creative teams in 2001.
  • In 2003, the Robotech universe was rebooted with the launch of Wildstorm's new comic book series. While it does frequently borrow characters and situations introduced in previously existing lore (most notably Robotech II: The Sentinels), Harmony Gold USA now considers only the original 85 episode animated series (and possibly the current Wildstorm comics and animated Shadow Chronicles sequel)[citation needed] as canon and everything else (novels, comics, the aborted Sentinels project) as "secondary continuity". According to Harmony Gold, this secondary continuity was not necessarily completely invalidated but subject to critical review and revision if it comes into conflict with either the original series or possibly it's 2006 animated sequel.
  • In 2005 the webcomic Melonpool featured a complex time travel storyline which resulted in a reboot. This coincided with a change from newspaper style strips to a comic book format and the removal of the previous strips from the site's archives, though the strips were eventually returned to the archive.

[edit] Video games

  • Doom 3 is a reboot of the original Doom's storyline. This time the setting is on Mars itself, rather than on its moons or, in Doom II's case, Earth.
  • In 1997 Star Fox 64 was released, is considered a retelling of the original Star Fox, rewriting some story elements, such as the fate of James McCloud (although it was not portrayed in-game in the first game). This game is regarded as the start of Star Fox canon, and the previous game's story is disregarded. It was not originally intended this way, but the direct sequel Star Fox 2, which introduced many elements that later featured in Star Fox 64 that could have connected it with first game, was unfortunately cancelled and never officially introduced into the canon, and thus cause for calling Star Fox 64 a reboot.
  • The Armored Core series appears to have been rebooted after Armored Core 3. The first five games in the series appeared to be leading the ongoing storyline through humanity's recovery from a catastrophic war known as "The Great Destruction", with the last of the five games, Armored Core 2: Another Age ending quite positively in the rather ambiguous Armored Core series. The next game, Armored Core 3 meanwhile begins with humanity back in self-imposed exile underground after a catastrophic war under the yoke of an omnipresent supercomputer known as "The Controller". The series storyline has recently been rebooted a second time in Armored Core 4 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
  • Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time was initially intended as a rough prequel to the original game, but the two later sequels it spawned ignored the earlier series entirely and began a completely new storyline. Later, the next generation Prince of Persia game is the second reboot in the series, ignoring the original trilogy and The Sands of Time trilogy and establishing new contunity.
  • Need For Speed Underground (2003) is a reboot of the Need For Speed series, discarding the simple race formula and creates a storyline, although it is also considered the 7th Need For Speed game. Also, the new Need for Speed game (2010) in development by Criterion Games possibily can be another reboot to the series.
  • Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend reboots the entire Tomb Raider series, as it features a different personality and completely new backstory for Lara Croft, and disregards all the events from many of the older games.
  • Ninja Gaiden apparently reboots the series and retelling altering the story established in the original games.
  • Resident Evil 4 was a partial reboot of the already successful franchise. Although changing the game play and style of the series, it did not discard the already established story from previous entries in the series. It's sequel, Resident Evil 5, kept this same formula, although Resident Evil 6 has been stated to be yet another reboot.

[edit] RPGs

TSR's Original production of Dungeons and Dragons was updated several times before finally being Rebooted with the release of Dungeons and Dragons (3rd Edition)by Wizards of the Coast. the original series split in 1977, only to effectively be merged in 2000 with 3rd Edition.

Whilst many of the Game's Worlds Settings attempted a continuation as was seen in the transition from the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons and the following 2nd Edition. many fans and players have seen that Wizard of the Coasts/Hasbro's attempt was weak at best favoring for a new line all together.

The newline included a 3.5 edition which rendered some of the rule books released barely 3 years earlier, useless. many found comparisons of this version of the game more like that found in a computer game and lacked much of what made Dungeons and Dragons the success it was, even refering to the edition as "a Rules Lawyers Dream come true". The new edition made it easier for Tournament style game play, and making the whole RPG more generic and less Dungeons and Dragons.

2008 has seen 4th Edition released.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Erik Davis (2007-03-28). "More on 'Mortal Kombat 3': Screw the Prequel, Here Comes a Reboot". Cinematical. http://www.cinematical.com/2007/03/28/more-on-mortal-kombat-3-screw-the-prequel-here-comes-a-reboo/. Retrieved on 2007-03-28. 
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reboot_(fiction)"
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