Pre-Rendered Computer Graphics (or colloquially "CGI graphics")

Oh wow, memories unlocked. I completely forgot about that show, it used to air on Playhouse Disney IIRC.

 

In the US, Rolie Polie Olie (which my family has fond memories of, or at least my parents and sister) aired on Playhouse Disney (which was a block on Disney Channel), whereas Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends (which I remember more personally) aired on Nick Jr./Noggin (both offshoots of Nickelodeon). I actually have two RPO tapes ("A Rolie Polie Christmas" and "Telling The Truth") that were inherited from my grandparents a few years ago:

Spoiler: Large image

...as well as some recordings from June 2002.

Speaking of "memories unlocked", the other day, I felt like digging into some old memories (and itching a scratch for something that's hooked me like heroin) and sat down and watched my old tape of Hoop Dee Doo: It's a Wiggly Party (a video by the Wiggles). I bring this up because one of the segments I remember(ed) was the "Caveland" segment, which features... rather rudimentary CGI:

Spoiler: Alternatively, a (mostly) full version of the entire Hoop Dee Doo video (skip to 35:52 for "Caveland")

 

I was wondering, when I transferred the June 2002 Rolie Polie Olie recordings myself, whether it was actually 60FPS or the interlacing just made it look like that. Perhaps I could show you all, but I don't want to pirate these things...

Anyway, about that Wiggles video (which I should mention dates to 2001). I actually had those memories reinjected into me, so to speak, by this video, which talks about another CGI Wiggles project (Space Dancing!, from 2003):

Spoiler: If you wish to see the madness of Space Dancing in its full glory, I'll direct you to these uploads, which are split up (and, very recently, unlisted) for some reason

 

I adore the look of circa 1994-1996 CGI renders from Nintendo, like Donkey Kong Country, Super Mario RPG, or Mario 64. They have this other worldly look that is absent from the actual games. That Dario mod that adds raytracing to Mario 64 to try and achieve the look of the renders is an incredible project.

Oh man, I LOVED this show so much, and when I got my HTC Vibe, one of the first things I did was recreate one of the quest world games (the one where they could shoot energy beams from their hands and had energy swords). Such a cool show. Reboot was also awesome, that ending climax where Enzo, now the renegade Matrix, comes back to Mainframe after being lost in the web, and fights Megabyte hand to hand. So goddamn satisfying:



I love the low key triumphant version of the theme that plays as he refuses to kill Megabyte and regains his heroic nature after being violent for so long. Tony Jay was such a badass voice actor. And the season they made recently sucks so badly.

 

I keep meaning to get back to Reboot. I think I binged the first two seasons a few years ago? Kind of like SatAM, I remember not being as crazy about the serialized, apocalyptic nature of the later seasons as a kid, but I'm really intrigued to rewatch them now. There's a nice amount of budget spread between the show's assets of the time, unlike only a couple years later with...

The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest - oh man, I loved it as a kid! That opening got me lost in the sauce ala the old Windows 3D Maze screensaver. I'm afraid to go back and rewatch it, having read about the utter mess of development that went into working on both seasons at the same time! I can tell Quest World is suuuper jaaank and the show as a whole was clearly cutting costs wherever they could. No doubt that adds to the way Quest World can easily give off that certain, uncanny, empty aesthetic we love about this CGI. Just thinking about it is making me smile.

 

Oh man, you basically stopped right where the show got good, season 2 ended with the twist cliffhanger where Megabyte betrays everyone, pushes Bob into a capsule before shooting it into the web, then enslaves his sister to turn her into a weapon pointed at the principal office. Moments before Bob gets shot into the web, he deputizes Enzo as a Guardian in training. Megabyte appears on a screen and taunts them, "You have no defenses, your guardian is lost, nothing can stand in my way!" Then Enzo steps up and give the same speech Bob gave in the first episode, ending with "Two viruses take over my home? I don't think so!"

Season 3 then completely ditches the episodic nature and becomes entirely serial, focusing on Enzo. It's such a good run at that point. The tone is way different, but the story telling is much better. They do a good job of making Enzo's life in the web feel honestly miserable. There are several episodes revolving around him basically giving up hope and threatening to become a full-on anti-hero, and a little arc about his girlfriend AndrAI bringing the fight back to him and pulling him back from the void. The entire series is on youtube, give it a watch.

There's some really cool stuff in Reboot, like the part where Bob meets Hexadecimal again after coming back, and finds her basically broken and defeated:



Season 4 and 5 of Reboot are awesome, too. I like how Hexadecimal and Young Enzo have a Piccolo-Gohan relationship, and how he turns into a benign virus and goes down a completely different path than the Adult Enzo.

 

I assume by season 4 and 5 you mean Daemon Rising and My Two Bobs, both of which are considered season 4.

Season 3 was where the show peaked. It elevated ReBoot from a kids' show with okay writing that was only notable for its CGI, to a masterfully written epic.

Then it went downhill, with season 4 hitting the reset button for no good reason. It regressed Matrix's character development and flanderized him, separated Bob from Glitch and even reverted him to his uncorrupted season 1 design, and undid Megabyte's perfect send-off.

Though at least Daemon Rising had some good parts, like the way it explored the previously hinted backstory. It also solved the Daemon plot point from season 3. My Two Bobs was a total waste of time. The story dragged and felt like filler, the characters acted out of character, and it ended the show on a cliffhanger that still hasn't been properly resolved.