If you haven't yet seen it, the first Animatrix short is out. I recommend hitting pause and letting it download completely first, because of it's size. It was done by MAHIRO MAEDA. My jaw hits the ground every time I watch it! If all the rest of the shorts have similar production values, then we are truly in for a treat. I loved how well the CG blended with everything else, and the incorporation of so many types of shot styles, like television news type handheld shots. I'd really like to hear what some of you animation buffs think. Also, Here's a tidbit and a clip of "Last Flight of the Osiris" Animatrix short being done by Square USA, the studio responsible for the Final Fantasy movie. It looks like it's going to be amazing too! And definitely check the new trailer for the Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions, and a preview of the matrix game. It's going to be a great year!

-- Scottai (scottai10@netscape.net), February 14, 2003

Answers

sorry, gonna bump this so it ends up in the new answers.

-- scottai (scottai10@netscape.net), February 17, 2003.

So, is this being discussed on a different thread, is nobody interested, or do I just smell bad? How come there aren't any replies to this?

-- scottai (scottai10@netscape.net), February 19, 2003.

I loved it too. It seemed very "Metropolis" in several ways. I'm sure there'll be more discussion once the second part comes out.

"No, please, I'm real", its great how the Wachowski's have opened up with a switch on sympathy. I'm sure some people will be surprised because the movie distinguishes very clearly between good and bad, or maybe they'll think "Blah, typical convoluted anime"?

So, the Matrix will be comprised entirely of 13 components? - The movies (3), the animes (9), and the game ((1) - Co developed by the Wachowski's this will also be integral to the ultimate story line) - Each with its own story to tell, probably lots of furthering and expanding upon to occur. I wonder if it'll all coalesce into something greater than the sum of the parts? A veritable Matrix within which originates a..an..um?..uhh? A Collective unconscious!?!? :O :) :p

Well, what I really wonder is how upcoming things like Animatrix and Wonderful Days are going to influence animation in general, In particular, American animation. Was it Rintaro who said a strong aspiration of his was to be part of collaboration on a project with Disney? Something like that may become more likely?

-- Sam (janecherrington@paradise.net.nz), February 19, 2003.

I agree with the Metropolis comparison, I actually looked it up thinking it was the same director. I also applaud the switch of sympathy to the machines, and look forward to seeing how the war comes about- like if it was just a reaction by the machines to the humans aggresions, or if some sort of "evil" machine leader type emerges that would somewhat shift the blame from the humans to the machines? I would prefer the former myself in that it doesn't become so typical of the movies and stories today. It would be neat to hear Peter's opinions on the whole story the Wachowski's have created and how they are building and fleshing it out.

-- scottai (scottai10@netscape.net), February 19, 2003.

I just saw this thing, and it wasn't bad. The animation was great, of course, but I disliked the narrative format. But then, I guess it couldn't really be avoided considering the short running time and the vast scope of the story. (Was that Julia Fletcher -- Scaphandra -- doing the narration?)

It definitely reminded me of stuff like Metropolis and A.I. The thing that strikes me in watching it is that I just don't feel the same about the death of the robots as I do about the death of humans, or those that appear human. The most visceral scene was the killing of the "female" robot, if only because she seemed so "real". But really, the only difference was human skin. I guess it's a natural reaction, but a disturbing one, too. Are we so superficial? Will we be, when the time comes?

-- Mat Rebholz (matrebholz@yahoo.com), February 21, 2003.

http://www.imgmag.org/images/skyknyt/animatrixxwallpaperblue.jpg http://www.imgmag.org/images/skyknyt/animatrixxwallpaper.jpg

I made a couple of (very) amateurish wallpapers from the Zion mainframe scenes. Sadly, the resolution of the online version means that, well, it's not as nice as I'd like it to be.

skye

-- skye (skyknyt@aol.com), February 22, 2003.

Nice work Skye! The second one is my favorite. It's funny, I just watched the matrix again, and I can remember when I first heard anything about this movie, it was from a post in this forum (which I can't find now) by Barb (I think) pointing to the whatisthematrix.com site and wondering what it was all about. This forum has been such a great source for good movies and stuff that I would have never seen, like Koyaanisqatsi. That was a huge film that had a substantial impact on me. And Orlando, a truly unique film. I remember writing down about 30 movie titles from that one post a while ago that had all of yours and Chungs favorite movies, and sticking it into my wallet and pulling it out everytime I went to the video store. Thanks everyone!

-- scottai (scottai10@netscape.net), February 22, 2003.

hi,everybody.This is really amazing anime!

But I am from a nation where people don't speak english. So I can't understand every words in that short movie. I am very eager to know every detail of the "THE 2ND RENAISSANCE: PART ONE ".

So please,anybody help. please post all the screenplay in this film.

-- soul! (onimushi@21cn.com), February 26, 2003.

Yeah. You needed the screenplay.

go to and there you go.

The whole site is a great site full of matrix related resources.

I really am going nuts waiting for Peter Chung's animatrix contribution. It looks so cool, I wish that it was one of the ones being released on the website...

-- Joshua Klessig (statik001@yahoo.com), March 08, 2003.

wow. my html skilz must have been left over at fark.com.

almost that entire post became a link to the screenplay. sorry.

-- Joshua Klessig (statik001@yahoo.com), March 08, 2003.

GOT IT! THX A LOT!!

YOU'RE VERY KIND.

-- SOUL! (onimushi@21cn.com), March 18, 2003.

Just my $0.02 here, The point of the 2nd Renaissance was to make you rethink your stance on the machine vs. man war. Just like pretty much any war throughout history, each side could cast blame on the other as to how it started, whose fault is it, etcetera. Just like how "Reloaded" attempts to mix up your thinking by telling you the Oracle is actually a program, that humans and machines are codependent/symbiotic (Councellor Hamman's conv. with neo), and that the prophecy might not be all it's cracked up to be. It's understandable that by watching this, people wouldn't feel the same sympathies toward robots as they would human beings, but the real issue is that we CREATED them, gave them life and intelligence and the "human spirit" that, although artificial, evolved them into sentient beings as opposed to mere machines. Do you think a mere "robot" would scream and freak out if it were attacked? It's said in no uncertain terms at the beginning that man's vanity was the reason for even creating AI and the robot race, and that men created these machines "in their own image". The analogy makes us god-like, and the robots resent their gods. One last thing... remember slavery? For about 200 years, white americans stole PEOPLE by the thousands from their native lands and forced them to work tirelessly at grueling tasks, without a single thought as to their feelings, their wishes, desires, or their inherent humanity. Blacks were held in about the same regard as the robots were in "2nd Ren."... much like slaves, robots only wanted to be accepted and respected as a viable life-form. They even offered to join forces with humans to form a mutually beneficial alliance... think about it! How great could it have been if robots and humans would learn from each other and advance to unthinkable levels of technological prowess, medicine, thought, and peace. Unfortunately, the human nature to fear and discredit what is different from them (even if they're responsible for it's presence, also analagous to slavery) made this impossible. Ok enough of this, just wanted to get it off my chest. Later

-- VomitGod (rick@illustratology.com), January 30, 2004.