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The Matrix Franchise

hbenthow

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As far as I can tell, there was previously no Matrix franchise discussion thread in this section, so I decided to start one.

This intriguing video is as good a place to start as any:

 

Gaith

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So... more Matrix, huh?

...

When the Matrix trilogy came out, it still made sense to differentiate between the "real world" and the digital world of the Internet. Since then, however, Facebook and social media, smart phones, and constant connectivity have blurred the lines between the two worlds that make the movies' binary real world/Matrix reality dichotomy feel almost quaint. So, this movie, which will already have to revive two dead characters (though I guess one could say they left digital copies in the data streams of the virtual world) will either have to totally revamp the series' core concept, or... be an insular sequel to The Matrix Online?

Actually, upon reflection, maybe it'd make sense that the post-peace Matrix world, due to its communication with the real world and less restrictive/policed reality, would be more fluid and Cloud-based than the captive society the movies showed. Maybe people in the Matrix will use their phones to say, order a meal, which will then magically appear in front of them the same way online deliveries work in our current world, only faster and without a human moving molecules in accordance with the laws of physics.

To sum up, one things for sure: this movie'll definitely be an interesting departure from what came before, or it won't. :p
 

matrixgrindhouse

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Some thoughts:

I played MXO from a few months after its launch until the very end.  I want nothing more than the virtual life I led there, the decisions I made, the battles I fought, the sacrifices and indeed the mistakes I made towards advancing that story to remain canon.  But fewer than 300 people were playing by the end.  If it remains canon, I'll be astonished.  Pleased beyond belief, but astonished.

As for dead characters:  Neo's fate was ambiguous.  The Machines never returned his body to Zion.  There was some evidence to suggest he might have been returned to the pods and given a new identity as a woman named Sarah Edmontons ("I thought you were a guy. That was a long time ago...").   Morpheus got himself killed, but there was always evidence that he might have faked his death.  He seemed to return at one point, but it was actually an impostor program created by an exile for the purposes of disrupting peace.  It thought it was the real Morpheus for a while though.  Also, at one point The Machines made a duplicate Morpheus program for some stupid-ass reason I can't remember.  Trinity came back.  It's a very long story, and one that was never resolved before they pulled the plug.  But long story short: she was a program the whole time, inside a human body, but didn't know it at the time.  I loved MXO to death, but some of the plot threads were not great.  Smith was never -completely- destroyed by Neo.  He'd resurface from time to time in a weakened form.  Agent Gray was known to exhibit Smith-like outbursts from time to time, implying that a little bit of the infection lived on in him, but he remained loyal to the System.  The Oracle got herself killed, but she quite literally saw it coming, and was implied to eventually be able to return in a third shell.

Also, the Truce between Zion and the Machines dissolved about two years or so after it began.  Both sides took liberties with the conditions of the peace, but the Architect was the one to call it off... though, it turns out, there were other players pulling the strings of the Machines themselves.  This part is very hazy, and the least resolved of the unresolved material.  But a story outline posted by the final writer before shutdown indicated that there would ultimately have been a new peace.

Point is, there's ample room to bring back anyone, and have the story play out in any sort of backdrop they want, regardless of whether  they toss MXO into the same hole as Star Wars Legends.

If nothing else.  I'm just happy to see one of my favorite fictional worlds again!  It's been 10 years since MXO shut down, and there hasn't been a day that I haven't missed it. 


And at the very least.  I can continue Robots VS Kung Fu for years to come!  I now have ideas that can take this thing through at least a part 5, maybe further, depending on what I'll have to work with when the new one's released.  As soon as I get over this tinnitus and start sleeping again... I have a lot of work to catch up on!
 

matrixgrindhouse

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Oh, also: the Twins came back.  The explosion left them in a fragmented, immaterial state, but eventually, the Merovingian's people were able to reassemble them.  Piecemeal.  At one point, there was a floating torso and a pair of legs that ended at the waist walking around, separately.  It was the goofiest thing ever, but it was sooooo much fun.
 

DigModiFicaTion

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I've always loved Don Davis' soundtrack. This video makes me love it even more. Just a heads up, it delves very heavily into music theory in a few parts, but even if you haven't studied it, I hope you get the same "wow factor". This is right up there with the analysis of Giacchino's Rogue one soundtrack. Anyway, here it is.
 

Driver

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DigModiFicaTion said:
I've always loved Don Davis' soundtrack. This video makes me love it even more. Just a heads up, it delves very heavily into music theory in a few parts, but even if you haven't studied it, I hope you get the same "wow factor". This is right up there with the analysis of Giacchino's Rogue one soundtrack. Anyway, here it is.

I wish Don Davis would get involved in some Star Wars projects.
 

matrixgrindhouse

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The marketing blitz for Robots vs Kung Fu V: Another Time and Space The Matrix Resurrections has begun, with an interactive fourth-wall bending website. Trailer Thursday!


 

matrixgrindhouse

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There is so much Matrix Online being referenced in that trailer. My wish came true. It's canon!

Also. Great choice of music. ...
 

L8wrtr

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There is so much Matrix Online being referenced in that trailer. My wish came true. It's canon!

Also. Great choice of music. ...
So, having only ever seen the three core movies, not even the Animatrix, and certainly not the game, I'm very curious as to what a viewer even needs to know for this movie to work. It seems in many ways that it almost wipes out 2 and 3.

In any case, what I can say from that trailer, is that outside of Neo not remembering who he is, it seems MUCH more in line with what I originally expected with the sequels to the first movie. While there are some really cool sequences (the freeway chase is one of the most epic action chases of all time) I never cared for the actual story of the last 2 films, I felt they abandoned the core concept of where the first movie left off and became a very dumbed down shoot'm up pair of movies. They're still worth watching now and again, just not what I was hoping for or expecting.

But this film.. what they're teasing.. this feels like more of a spiritual continuation of the first movie. I hope he doesn't spend too much time not knowing who he is, I don't want to see just the Matrix remade with new graphics for a newer internet.

Either way, I'm definitely excited for this, and I hope as someone who clearly loves all of the Matrix as you do, it delivers what you want. As a suffering Star Wars fan, and Superman fan, I've been a bit burned by recent returns to things I loved from the big screen.

🤞
 

The Scribbling Man

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I don't like the sequels either, and this does look like a better direction to have gone in that I can't quite marry with what's come before. It also looks dangerously like a soft reboot, which would be disappointing. Back in the matrix, the white rabbit tattoo, a Morpheus-like character, training sequence etc...
 

The Scribbling Man

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^^ As bad as an idea as it would be narratively, I would not in any way be surprised if Agent Smith had a surprise return.
 

matrixgrindhouse

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He already returned in MXO which still seems to be canon. But he returned in a greatly diminished form. One that did not have the likeness of Hugo Weaving for legal reasons. Just a weakened virus that cropped up about once a year, one that could be counteracted through baked goods prepared by The Oracle. You'd think I'd be making part of that up, but...
 

matrixgrindhouse

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I do miss Morpheus and Smith though.

As for Morpheus - it is a complicated story. Spoilers for MXO if it is still canon, and it really, really, really looks to be.

A few months after Neo made peace with the Machines, Morpheus got antsy that the Machines would not return Neo's corpse to Zion. He became convinced they had reinserted Neo into the Matrix and erased his memories. Looks like he was right, wasn't he? Anyway, he went on a crusade to get Neo back, got disavowed by Commander Lock, before getting blown away by an Assassin sent by the Merovingian. Said Assassin manifested as swarms of flies, which appear to be something Neo is staring at in the sky (unless those are just birds?) in the new trailer. I digress.

Morpheus seemed to return later on, but it was a ruse, a program that simply thought it was Morpheus, created by an exile who wanted to stoke the fires of conflict and restart the war. That Morpheus lived on, choosing to be like the man he was based upon. That may or may not be the new Morpheus-like character in the trailer.

There was a *second* Morpheus program, created by the Machines with the intention of unlocking some secret files the real deal had hidden. Despite attempts to reactivate its memories by re-creating scenes from the trilogy, it failed to function properly. And was terminated. Or... so I thought. There's one shot of not-Morpheus in an Agent suit in the trailer. Perhaps they made a third one, or fixed the second?

 

DigModiFicaTion

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Just watched the trailer and thought for a moment that they were going to make the Matrix into a drug induced episode. As stated by others, I'm worried that this is going to end up being a best of action scenes with Keanu and Carrie Anne Moss. Here's hoping it's more and not just a visual explosion.
 

TM2YC

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If you have to have played the games, seen the animations, read the comic books and collected the trading cards to understand this new movie them I'm out. If you just have to enjoy watching people in shades running up walls and firing machine guns then I'm in.
 
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