Kind of a weird mix between Star Trek and the Super Friends (the latter of which is appropriate since the episode was written by later-D.C. Comics bigwig Dan Didio). The story has a very Star Trek feel to it, and while that makes it a little campy, it's not a bad thing. There's something warm and familiar about the sprites (including some strange amalgamation of Iron Man, Batman, and Captain Kirk) and the energy beings (somebody page Melvar) finding common ground after being sworn enemies at the beginning of the episode. It's not the deepest story in the world (even with the baggage of Enzo associating Shat-man with Bob or the would-be fight with AndrAIa), but it's simple and neat enough to work well for what it is.
EDIT 11/22/2017: This is an interesting episode to revisit after having watched all of the original 1960s Star Trek. What I didn't know when I first saw this episode is that it was written by outstanding Trek scribe Dorothy Fontana. I'd be lying if I said I thought this was her best work, but it does have a very Star Trek feel to it, even apart from the homages. Something about the premise of dropping into a random world, finding that two factions are fighting, and helping to find the common ground between them as it turns out there's good and bad guys on both sides feels very TOS. On top of that, I get much more of the references to original recipe Trek, between the obvious Shatner parody, Pixel as an homage to Spock (replete with logical bent and nerve pinch) and even the stentorian energy beings who feel pulled from "The Gamesters of Triskelion." That said, I think I'd forgotten how cheesy ReBoot is when I dove back into this one, so it took some getting used to. Interesting in context (both for ReBoot and for Star Trek) if nothing else.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2015-07-30T04:43:50Z— updated 2017-11-23T04:49:14Z
Kind of a weird mix between Star Trek and the Super Friends (the latter of which is appropriate since the episode was written by later-D.C. Comics bigwig Dan Didio). The story has a very Star Trek feel to it, and while that makes it a little campy, it's not a bad thing. There's something warm and familiar about the sprites (including some strange amalgamation of Iron Man, Batman, and Captain Kirk) and the energy beings (somebody page Melvar) finding common ground after being sworn enemies at the beginning of the episode. It's not the deepest story in the world (even with the baggage of Enzo associating Shat-man with Bob or the would-be fight with AndrAIa), but it's simple and neat enough to work well for what it is.
EDIT 11/22/2017: This is an interesting episode to revisit after having watched all of the original 1960s Star Trek. What I didn't know when I first saw this episode is that it was written by outstanding Trek scribe Dorothy Fontana. I'd be lying if I said I thought this was her best work, but it does have a very Star Trek feel to it, even apart from the homages. Something about the premise of dropping into a random world, finding that two factions are fighting, and helping to find the common ground between them as it turns out there's good and bad guys on both sides feels very TOS. On top of that, I get much more of the references to original recipe Trek, between the obvious Shatner parody, Pixel as an homage to Spock (replete with logical bent and nerve pinch) and even the stentorian energy beings who feel pulled from "The Gamesters of Triskelion." That said, I think I'd forgotten how cheesy ReBoot is when I dove back into this one, so it took some getting used to. Interesting in context (both for ReBoot and for Star Trek) if nothing else.