I've seen episodes 1-3 and episode 10 as of writing this. If the upcoming episodes or in-between episodes change my mind, then I will change my review. Thus far the show has been mediocre to average with the exception of episode 10. I will get to that in a moment.
Let's' start with the positive. The show is passable. Stereotypical teens in a high school saving the world in a computer. For its concept it is competently done with some clever concepts and the lines did get a couple laughs out of me. There are a few decent designs, and the animation ranges from "okay" to "good." The way places and programs are handled are interesting and there was clearly effort and thought to put into the conflicts and how they are handled. The actors are obviously trying very hard and having quite a bit of fun in their roles. Such as Vera, whose sass I think is written very well and the hacker villain who is basically ham, cheese, the plate, and the counter it sits on. In the best way. Additionally the actor they got to replace Tony Jay as Megabyte is doing a really good job (no easy feat) and Hex's old VA is back which is just a treat. Additionally whomever wrote their dialogue exchanges was clearly a fan and the quick witted humor and banter is outstanding. More of this please.
Now for the bad... Which is pretty much everything else. Though the show is passable as a whole, the down times are extremely boring. While the actors are clearly good, the direction and script is not and it causes the show to drag painfully at times. On top of that the graphics of the digital world are boring, generic, and downright ugly. The approach to the whole "teens save the digital world" concept is far too much like power rangers crossed with code lyoko and doesn't have enough different to stand on its own. And finally... It's just not reboot. Not the spirit of the show, not the plot of the show. None of it. The only relation to the original show itself are some buzzwords and what happens in episode 10.
Speaking of Episode 10, it alone knocked 2 stars off of this review. Very mild spoilers ahead. I was excited to see the old cast again and groaned (in a good way) when they fit Bob's speech about coming from the net and mending and defending from the show's intro into normal dialogue. This FELT like reboot. Everyone came back to reprise their role and it was just great all around. And it had Hex! Objectively one of the best characters from the original and she was written perfectly... The problem is they show the user. And it comes off as hugely insulting to fans of the original. Additionally the episode ends with a "the net is in good hands" kind of line as if the original characters are passing the torch to the new ones which was absolutely not earned even a little bit.
I wouldn't rate the show so harshly if the original didn't leave us on a cliffhanger for twenty years. If the show was standing on its own and not digging up Reboot's corpse (and episode 10 wasn't a huge insult) I would give it a solid 6/10. Unfortunately, that's not the case. It is my hope that Rainmaker learns from its mistakes and gives us the closure reboot fans want. And I hope the actors of this show understand that the poor reviews and hate this show is getting is not their fault. It's because this show is not Reboot.
