1st Episode Of Animatrix Released

Devistater writes "The official Matrix page has word of the first officially released widescreen Anime episode of the Animatrix for download (in quicktime format). This is the first of 4 free episodes that will be released on the web. A total of 9 episodes will be availible for purchase on DVD within the next few months. The feature-quality anime shorts range in length from 6 minutes to 16 minutes. There's a trailer availible if you want to get a taste for what they will be like."

Pretty impressive

[Hays]

Technically speaking, the trailer was very impressive I thought. You might have to suspend belief for a second to believe the plot, as outlined, but it was very pretty and had some powerful imagery.

Specifal Effects

[gostats]

I wonder if they spent a lot of time trying to figure out the Matrix special effects for this version. :)

Filthy Machine Sympathizers!

[Mantrid]

I watched this last night (the short they released, not the trailer) saw some thing on it while my wife was watching Access Hollywood or ET...), it was neat animation and all, although the large format wasn't working, but the story wasn't that great. In fact it was actually quite disillusioning (is that a word?)- it seems like the humans were very mean to the robots - there was a robot holocaust and they were just defending themselves, trying to be free etc...so really what rights do the humans in The Matrix have to complain??? According to the short, they brought it on themselves.

Oh well, I'm just going to pretend I didn't watch it...

Re:Adapting anime for a new feminist millennium

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow. I have seen ignorance on /. before, but this is just crazy. Anyone who can call the works of Tezuka Osamu or Miyazaki Hayao "no better than pornography" should probably educate themselves before posting. Yes, there is a lot of anime with sex and/or nudity in it. So do American movies and TV. But there is also anime with significantly better feminist messages than just about any Disney film (see any film by Miyazaki, Matsumoto Leiji, etc.), anime which raises interesting questions of gender roles (Shoujo Kakumei Utena, Versailles no Bara), and countless titles which no one could possibly find offensive.
So before you make blanket comments (especially about something as varied as anime), try to have some clue what you're talking about. Or at least give evidence.

Damn, that was cool

[Spencerian]

It's nice to have choices in entertainment, and a market that drives the creation of stuff like this.

While I like the "Star Wars" universe and even enjoy a few meager facets of the worn-out "Star Trek" universe, it's great to find anime used to generate realism and convincing stories within a very intriguing framework like the "Matrix" movies.

It's not extremely original, the story. We've got a basic Arthurian legend story going in the same way in the latter "Star Wars" movies. But, as any writer would tell you, it's all in the presentation. And present this offering does. Very fun to watch, and illuminating.

Re:Matrix: another film by Hollywood Luddites Asso

[tbmaddux]

I don't get why such a blatantly anti-technology movie is so popular with the technology crowd, other than appreciation for the work that went into the special effects.

Exploring the consequences of an increasing dependence upon technology is one of the classic themes of science fiction -- man builds computers or robots (take your pick), computers/robots become self-aware and decide to turn on their creator, man must fight for his freedom. It's right up there with time travel and means of transporting people/stuff faster than the speed of light.

These things are all MacGuffins. Don't let them distract you from the storytelling.

What makes science fiction interesting is not the idea of self-aware computers that want to kill us, or time travel, but the implications of those things for future societies... how people respond to them. Dan Simmons wrote one of the best S.F. stories I've ever read in "Hyperion" and its follow-ups and I'm pretty sure he used all three of those MacGuffins, maybe more. Alfred Bester wrote two incredible novels that, using your analysis, were "anti-telepathy" or "anti-teleportation," but in fact they were much more.

There are lots of bad S.F. books and films out there as well that explore (or try, or maybe don't even try) the same themes. "The Matrix" and the first two "Terminator" movies certainly were not bad. You might argue that one or more (or all) of those episodes of ST:TOS where Kirk blows up the evil computer controlling a society, or his ship, are better examples of how not to do it.

So, to sum up, it's not only Hollywood, it's not really Luddism, and if done right can be really interesting and enjoyable.

Oh, come on.

[Fantastic Lad]

The problem with The Matrix was its message: technology is inherently bad. The dialog places the blame of the whole Matrix world being due to "scientists messing with things they shouldn't" (paraphrased). Other movies, like the Terminator series, are just as bad. I don't get why such a blatantly anti-technology movie is so popular with the technology crowd, other than appreciation for the work that went into the special effects.

Don't be silly. The insistence that people must belong to one camp or another is tiresome in the extreme.

Technology is just technology. It's not something to be For or Against. All it represents is the ability to use the natural elements of the Universe around us. What bothers people is the total lack of regard and responsibility displayed by those who make big, messy displays as they use Technology; as they interact with the Universe in destructive, dirty and dangerous ways which affect the world and everybody around them whether we like it or not. Technology isn't ruining the world. It's the greedy morons who are using technology in the negative who are ruining the world.

Films like The Matrix and Terminator aren't anti-technology. Heck, Frankenstein, the grand daddy of Luddite-style thinking, isn't anti-technology, even if Mary Shelly thought that it was, (and I'm not at all convinced that English professors are correct in their claim that she did!). These are messages which address the very real concerns that technology placed in the hands of greedy assholes is, in no uncertain terms, bloody dangerous!

I don't see anything wrong or misplaced in these concerns, or in being interested in the issues raised by those concerns. And in any case, The Matrix and Terminator were entertaining for more than just their sociological and special effects values. They were exciting films, for flip's sake! Change out of your camp tee-shirt, get on the bus, and come back to reality.

-Fantastic Lad --"Ain't no flies on us!"

Re:Interesting but...

[PenguiN42]

Yes, but this story is from the "Zion archives" ... implying that the humans in the movie-era should have had access to this information.

Re:Matrix: another film by Hollywood Luddites Asso

[glesga_kiss]

was its message: technology is inherently bad.

Were we watching the same film?

It says nothing about technology being bad. If you look past the fact that they are machines and see them as a people you can see many elements of some of the biggest fuckups in human history. The number of references to these were staggering. Off the top of my head (after just seeing it once), I got the following:

• Surpressing other "peoples" civil rights for your own benefits.
• The right to self-determination.
• Slavery (obvious pyramid reference)
• Trade sanctions against a country just because they are successful or you don't like them.
• Inability to accept or listen to someone because they are different.
• Attemping to surpress a people using force will come back and bite you.

They are undoubtably more in there that I missed.

I could cite a dozen references to each of these in the past 100 years alone. So called "modern society" in the west is guilty of most of them, some we are doing right now! Mainly, I thought the short was about how we repeat the same mistakes again and again and never seem to learn. With what is going on in the world at the moment, it's clear that we haven't learned a thing from history.

But nowhere was it implied that technology is "bad". At the most it was a futuristic negative utopia (1984, Brazil, Blade Runner), and it's clear that future human society will be utilising more and more technology, so it goes without saying that AI/machines will feature in it.

Watch it again, this time viewing the machines as people, sort of a "working class" society.

I gotta say, it was one of the most thought provoking things I've seen in a while. Very impressed, and normally I'm not remotely interested in Anime.

Re:Matrix: another film by Hollywood Luddites Asso

[shoptroll]

I wouldn't say its anti-technology. I think it's more about technology gone bad. Not anti-technology in general.

All forms of technology have good/bad sides. A subtle example is the old bow + arrow. Somewhat Good: Kill animals easier for survival and food. Bad: Kill our fellow man easier as well.

How about something more drastic: Atomic fusion. Good: Very powerful energy source. Bad: Very powerful bombs.

I think really one of the points is to make sure we guide the technology, not follow it.

Re:I don't get it...

[Robotech_Master]

Because humans suffer from a regrettable tendancy to anthropomorphize machines. Presumably, they wear construction helmets so you can differentiate them from the remarkably similar domestic-service or other models.

It would be much more sensible to ask what a robot is doing sitting on risers for a "lunch break," or why they have a zillion of them pulling a cargo container up the ramp great-pyramid-construction style.

Incidentally, this Matrix comic strip [warnerbros.com] is a good companion-piece to the current animated short.

Forvere?

[Duds]

So by the same token we should occupy germany forever because they were mean to use several generations ago?

YHBT. YHL. HAND.

[Corrupt System]

This is a repost of a classic troll [dyndns.org] from over two years ago. On Slashdot, trolls provoke moderation wars and many replies. Those signs are both present in this confirmed troll. Whoever is inclined to agree with this bunk ought to rethink his position.