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Reboot (fiction)

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For other uses, see Reboot.

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.

Etymology

The term originates from its use in computer science. 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.

Comparison to remakes and prequels

A reboot differs from a remake or 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.

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, Star Trek, Friday the 13th or the 2006 James Bond film Casino Royale.[dubious – discuss]

Rationale

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.

Examples

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:
    • 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 differant approach with the main character potrayed as being younger then in the first two films.
  • 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.
  • Casino Royale (2006) is a reboot of the James Bond film franchise (although chronologically faithful to the novels, of which the source novel is the first), in which Daniel Craig plays Bond at the start of his MI6 career. Initially some viewers felt that the film was simply a prequel to the previous Bond movies, as (with the exception of Judi Dench being M at the beginning of Bond's career rather than taking the job later and Felix Leiter's ethnicity having changed) very little in it conflicts with or contradicts events seen in them. However the film makers have confirmed that Casino Royale does represent a completely new chronology for the series. Despite this, the film is still referred to as the 21st entry in the Bond series and not the first film in a new series, and the iconography of the old films (such as the opening gun barrel sequence) is still present, albeit given a modern twist.
  • The Incredible Hulk (2008) is a reboot of the previous Hulk film (2003). It was originally written to be a sequel to 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.
  • The Punisher film series has been rebooted twice.
    • The Punisher (2004) was a reboot of the previous 1989 version. It starred Thomas Jane. It didn't do well, but did well in the DVD sales which were successful enough to continue with a sequel
    • Punisher: War Zone (2008) is a reboot of the previous 2004 film. It starred Ray Stevenson in 2008. It didn't do well at the box office although some critics praised Stevenson's performance. Some have also confused it as being a sequel to the 2004 film, despite a slightly differant origin in the film's flashbacks.
  • Beethoven's Big Break (2008)is a rebbot of the canine family comedy Beethoven. The film basically removes the entire storyline from the previous five films and starts a whole new story. Beethoven is a stray dog with 3 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.

Future film reboots

  • Star Trek (2009) is director J.J. Abrams' reboot of the Star Trek film series. It purports to retrace the beginnings of the characters and the franchise's origins.
  • 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.

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. 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 five 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.

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 "multi-verse" 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 13 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) as canon and everything else (novels, comics, the aborted Sentinels project) as "secondary continuity". According to Harmony Gold, this secondary continutity 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.

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 a retelling of the original Star Fox, rewriting some story elements, such as the fate of James McCloud. This game is regarded as the start of Star Fox canon, and the previous game's story is disregarded.
  • 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, 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.
  • Prince of Persia is the second reboot in the series, ignoring the original trilogy and The Sands of Time trilogy and establishing new contunity.
  • Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend reboots the entire Tomb Raider series, as it features a completely different backstory for Lara Croft (as well as a different personality and smaller breast size) 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.

RPGs

See also

References

  1. ^ Erik Davis (2007-03-28). "More on 'Mortal Kombat 3': Screw the Prequel, Here Comes a Reboot". Cinematical. Retrieved 2007-03-28. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
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