The Matrix: Resolutions
Oct. 18th, 2005 10:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bnewmanEverything that has a beginning has an end — but does it make any sense?
The Matrix was a perfect fable, if you ignore what is ostensibly science fiction ignoring the laws of thermodynamics as they apply to what is ostensibly the real world. I have a theory about this, by the way.
The Matrix: Reloaded opened up the world, and revealed a wider ecology of characters than we had imagined before. It offered us the possibility that there was a world to the Matrix story that was worth exploring. It raised all kinds of intersting questions.
The Matrix: Revolutions answered those questions. In each case, the answer was: "Um, uh... whatever."
I enjoyed Revolutions, except in all the places where the Brothers Wachowski weaseled out of worldbuilding, and I refuse to be satisfied with "Um, uh, whatever." That is why I want to write The Matrix: Resolutions, which will, unlike Revolutions, actually resolve those questions, and also not have all the characters have no idea what is going on for the entire plot.
Ideally, I would obtain an ASCII version of the Matrix: Revolutions screenplay, edit it (i.e. Matrix: Resolutions will be a screenplay), and post it as a diff — as in, the output of diff(1) — or something like that.
(pre-update after writing more of it: actually, I have enough visuals, I should do storyboards instead.)
This would be my first major piece of fanfic, and I'm interested in help/suggestions. Here's an outline of what I know so far:
Minor background, probably not explicitly discussed: Neo, like everyone who has been in the Matrix, has a big hunk of machine hardware installed in his head. When he enters the core at the end of Reloaded, he picks up a firmware update for this hardware, which — among other things — activates the wireless card (I'll bet you didn't know it had a wireless card). This is the physical-layer explanation for all of the powers he subsequently demonstrates in the real world. However, his mental attunement to the Matrix at the content/protocol layer remains a critical factor in his ability to actually make sense of the perceptions thus enabled.
In Revolutions, only Neo really figures out that Smith is the actual threat. The machines continue their assault on Zion as though the Matrix weren't beseiged. The Zionists continue their defense, without ever finding out what is going on. Meanwhile, within the Matrix, characters like Sati are thrown in to show us that machine intelligences can be sympathetic — but apparently not in a way that affects the plot.
In Resolutions, we'll see a bit more of the last defense of the Matrix. After the point in the movie where Neo is rescued, a Zionist hovercraft, stranded without hope of rescue in the physical world (and presumed destroyed by Zion), manages to hack into the Matrix from their position. A cursory survey of the scrolling-text-view reveals that something is very wrong. Captain "Dex" Ogawa is sitting on the bridge of her hovercraft, speaking on the telephone...
So, that's the first major change. It's silly to create a world, and then not explore the moral implications of that world simply because none of the characters are properly informed about it. Dex and her team are not seen again — presumably they did some good before they were assimilated by Smith.
It bothers me that Neo and Trinity's hovercraft is able to clear the permacloud deck — it means that the agrav technology in the Matrix real world is not a ground effect. If so, why can't the machines solve their energy problem by placing lightweight solar panels in the upper atmosphere? Of course, since they're not actually using the humans in the Matrix for energy (an egregious violation of the law of energy conservation), it doesn't matter.
(BTW, what the machines are using the humans in the Matrix for is code — Neo's day job was computer programming, ditto Trinity. For all we know, all the real people in the Matrix are computer programmers. The other "real people" are real people, but they experience an alternate version of the Matrix in which they are a programmer and you are a grocer, or whatever. All productive human-time is spent coding.)
The machine assault on Zion continues. Well, for the sake of the movie, it pretty much has to, but let's think about why. The machines are not simply or boringly evil. They had a reason to destroy Zion, as part of an elaborate plan, which we might well characterize as evil, but not stupid. That plan, however, is out the window. The machine agents in the Matrix know this, and perhaps they were able to get word to the machine city before Smith assimilated the Train Man, capturing the link. Perhaps, then, the link to the machine army in the real world has been cut off, and so those units continue to follow their last instructions, like... well, like machines.
This might risk turning Resolutions into a tragedy of errors, like Romeo and Juliet, but I don't see an alternative. Either the machine civilization is redeemable or it isn't. We can't have redeemable — indeed, good — programmatic intelligences like the oracle and inscrutably amoral machine entities like the Big Giant Head (which I hated), and visualize them differently, and not explain how they are different. It can't just be that the mean people are in charge — machine civilizatioc must be redeemable as a whole, or not at all...
Which brings Neo to the machine city. Trinity is dead, but not in a stupid five-girders-through-one-side-of-the-windshield, none-through-the-other way. Girders go through both sides of the windshield, dammit. And we linger less.
The machine city is an apparently structureless three-dimensional sprawl. From Neo's first vista on it, several tube-like corridors lead inward. He takes the largest. As he continues, machine creatures of various sizes and shapes appear with increasing frequency. They are nimble, crawly things, and do not especially resemble actual insects. (Stargate: SG-1's "replicators" are roughly the look I'm going for.) These creatures appear to be engaged in maintenance tasks.
At last Neo comes to a junction of corridors where there is a relatively large amount of machine activity. The machines continue to ignore him. Neo sits down. Suddenly, a number of them break from their tasks and converge on Neo. Several open up a nearby bundle of cables — none of which resembles a Matrix plug — and modify it until there is a Matrix plug, which they jack Neo into. He does not resist. No words are exchanged.
Machine city virtual space, exterior — the machine city's virtual space resembles the Matrix, of course, but it is a Matrix designed by Escher. Locations shift — mainly by translation along the x, y, or z axis — depending on what needs to be next to what in order for the programs to work efficiently. Gravity varies depending on convenience. Everything is clean, bright, and confusing.
Neo sets off into the MCVS. There is a vertically-striped brightness in the distance that somewhat resembles an office building and seems to be the center. He heads towards it. While it seems that the constant rearrangement of the city is preventing him from reaching it, suddenly he is there. It is an office building. The tasteful, Escherian, gravity-defying square in front of it is busy with people (i.e. programs) coming and going, but they are all time-lapsed, as if they exist in a different time. Neo walks through them as if the square is eerily deserted, and into the building.
He makes his way through the building. As before, the interior is shifting, Escherian, and simultaneously bustling and deserted. Eventually, he finds his way to what seems to be an executive office. Behind a large desk is a high-backed office chair, facing away from Neo and the camera. A deep voice instructs Neo to...
Yada yada, banter banter, etc. — I wrote this conversation once before, but I've forgotten the details, and I'd rather do it over, just not right now. Neo and the Administrator establish, without either admitting weakness, that they both know the real problem is Smith, that everyone is doomed unless Smith is stopped, that each is powerless to act without the other's help, etc.
Neo leaves City Hall, and proceeds generally downward through the MCVS until he comes to a train station. It is well and truly deserted. There is a handcar on a siding. He starts pumping. As he recedes down the tunnel into the distance, cut to...
Neo arrives at the train station between the Matrix and the machine city where he waited before. There is a suitcase lying abandoned on the platform (remember that?). Taking it, he gets back on the handcar and continues down the track.
The Matrix was a perfect fable, if you ignore what is ostensibly science fiction ignoring the laws of thermodynamics as they apply to what is ostensibly the real world. I have a theory about this, by the way.
The Matrix: Reloaded opened up the world, and revealed a wider ecology of characters than we had imagined before. It offered us the possibility that there was a world to the Matrix story that was worth exploring. It raised all kinds of intersting questions.
The Matrix: Revolutions answered those questions. In each case, the answer was: "Um, uh... whatever."
I enjoyed Revolutions, except in all the places where the Brothers Wachowski weaseled out of worldbuilding, and I refuse to be satisfied with "Um, uh, whatever." That is why I want to write The Matrix: Resolutions, which will, unlike Revolutions, actually resolve those questions, and also not have all the characters have no idea what is going on for the entire plot.
Ideally, I would obtain an ASCII version of the Matrix: Revolutions screenplay, edit it (i.e. Matrix: Resolutions will be a screenplay), and post it as a diff — as in, the output of diff(1) — or something like that.
(pre-update after writing more of it: actually, I have enough visuals, I should do storyboards instead.)
This would be my first major piece of fanfic, and I'm interested in help/suggestions. Here's an outline of what I know so far:
Minor background, probably not explicitly discussed: Neo, like everyone who has been in the Matrix, has a big hunk of machine hardware installed in his head. When he enters the core at the end of Reloaded, he picks up a firmware update for this hardware, which — among other things — activates the wireless card (I'll bet you didn't know it had a wireless card). This is the physical-layer explanation for all of the powers he subsequently demonstrates in the real world. However, his mental attunement to the Matrix at the content/protocol layer remains a critical factor in his ability to actually make sense of the perceptions thus enabled.
In Revolutions, only Neo really figures out that Smith is the actual threat. The machines continue their assault on Zion as though the Matrix weren't beseiged. The Zionists continue their defense, without ever finding out what is going on. Meanwhile, within the Matrix, characters like Sati are thrown in to show us that machine intelligences can be sympathetic — but apparently not in a way that affects the plot.
In Resolutions, we'll see a bit more of the last defense of the Matrix. After the point in the movie where Neo is rescued, a Zionist hovercraft, stranded without hope of rescue in the physical world (and presumed destroyed by Zion), manages to hack into the Matrix from their position. A cursory survey of the scrolling-text-view reveals that something is very wrong. Captain "Dex" Ogawa is sitting on the bridge of her hovercraft, speaking on the telephone...
Dex: I'd like to speak with Agent Howard.
Matrix, interior, police station:
Secretary: I'm sorry, there's nobody here by that—
Howard: Speaking. Who, may I ask, is calling?
D: It's Dex.
H (ironically): Miss Ogawa. What a pleasant surprise. I'm afraid I don't have much time to reminisce — we have a bit of a situation here.
D: I know. Um... is there anything we can do to help?
H: Why, yes. You people do have a knack for evacuating civilians out from under our noses. I'll provide you with a safe entrance and see that you're properly briefed.
He hangs up.
Matrix, exterior, checkpoint — a major road meanders into the hills away from the City. Agents and civil police are bustling around a cluster of temporary buildings by the side of the road, and inspecting cars on their way out of the city. There is a general atmosphere of panic.
Dex and her team emerge from an outbuilding and walk over to where Agent Howard is consulting with several civil police officers. Howard explains the situation. While still 100% agent-like, he shows none of the usual agent smugness — he is worried.
H: We'll need to keep in touch with you.
He holds out his hand and opens it to reveal several earbud-antennas — one for each member of Dex's team.
They look at the earbuds, at each other, at Dex. Dex nods. They take the earbuds. A camera cut reveals several police motorcycles that definitely weren't there before. They get on and set off into the city, as dark clouds gather overhead.
So, that's the first major change. It's silly to create a world, and then not explore the moral implications of that world simply because none of the characters are properly informed about it. Dex and her team are not seen again — presumably they did some good before they were assimilated by Smith.
It bothers me that Neo and Trinity's hovercraft is able to clear the permacloud deck — it means that the agrav technology in the Matrix real world is not a ground effect. If so, why can't the machines solve their energy problem by placing lightweight solar panels in the upper atmosphere? Of course, since they're not actually using the humans in the Matrix for energy (an egregious violation of the law of energy conservation), it doesn't matter.
(BTW, what the machines are using the humans in the Matrix for is code — Neo's day job was computer programming, ditto Trinity. For all we know, all the real people in the Matrix are computer programmers. The other "real people" are real people, but they experience an alternate version of the Matrix in which they are a programmer and you are a grocer, or whatever. All productive human-time is spent coding.)
The machine assault on Zion continues. Well, for the sake of the movie, it pretty much has to, but let's think about why. The machines are not simply or boringly evil. They had a reason to destroy Zion, as part of an elaborate plan, which we might well characterize as evil, but not stupid. That plan, however, is out the window. The machine agents in the Matrix know this, and perhaps they were able to get word to the machine city before Smith assimilated the Train Man, capturing the link. Perhaps, then, the link to the machine army in the real world has been cut off, and so those units continue to follow their last instructions, like... well, like machines.
This might risk turning Resolutions into a tragedy of errors, like Romeo and Juliet, but I don't see an alternative. Either the machine civilization is redeemable or it isn't. We can't have redeemable — indeed, good — programmatic intelligences like the oracle and inscrutably amoral machine entities like the Big Giant Head (which I hated), and visualize them differently, and not explain how they are different. It can't just be that the mean people are in charge — machine civilizatioc must be redeemable as a whole, or not at all...
Which brings Neo to the machine city. Trinity is dead, but not in a stupid five-girders-through-one-side-of-the-windshield, none-through-the-other way. Girders go through both sides of the windshield, dammit. And we linger less.
The machine city is an apparently structureless three-dimensional sprawl. From Neo's first vista on it, several tube-like corridors lead inward. He takes the largest. As he continues, machine creatures of various sizes and shapes appear with increasing frequency. They are nimble, crawly things, and do not especially resemble actual insects. (Stargate: SG-1's "replicators" are roughly the look I'm going for.) These creatures appear to be engaged in maintenance tasks.
At last Neo comes to a junction of corridors where there is a relatively large amount of machine activity. The machines continue to ignore him. Neo sits down. Suddenly, a number of them break from their tasks and converge on Neo. Several open up a nearby bundle of cables — none of which resembles a Matrix plug — and modify it until there is a Matrix plug, which they jack Neo into. He does not resist. No words are exchanged.
Machine city virtual space, exterior — the machine city's virtual space resembles the Matrix, of course, but it is a Matrix designed by Escher. Locations shift — mainly by translation along the x, y, or z axis — depending on what needs to be next to what in order for the programs to work efficiently. Gravity varies depending on convenience. Everything is clean, bright, and confusing.
Neo sets off into the MCVS. There is a vertically-striped brightness in the distance that somewhat resembles an office building and seems to be the center. He heads towards it. While it seems that the constant rearrangement of the city is preventing him from reaching it, suddenly he is there. It is an office building. The tasteful, Escherian, gravity-defying square in front of it is busy with people (i.e. programs) coming and going, but they are all time-lapsed, as if they exist in a different time. Neo walks through them as if the square is eerily deserted, and into the building.
He makes his way through the building. As before, the interior is shifting, Escherian, and simultaneously bustling and deserted. Eventually, he finds his way to what seems to be an executive office. Behind a large desk is a high-backed office chair, facing away from Neo and the camera. A deep voice instructs Neo to...
Admin: Sit.
Neo: What if I don't want to?
A: That you are able to function at all in this environment testifies to your facility with the underlying representation — but don't push your luck. You have no power here.
Yada yada, banter banter, etc. — I wrote this conversation once before, but I've forgotten the details, and I'd rather do it over, just not right now. Neo and the Administrator establish, without either admitting weakness, that they both know the real problem is Smith, that everyone is doomed unless Smith is stopped, that each is powerless to act without the other's help, etc.
Without swiveling around or being seen in any way, the Administrator directs Neo's attention to a small object in the center of the desk. It is an agent's earbud.
N: It's his?
A: You know what you have to do.
Neo picks up the earbud and puts it on.
Neo leaves City Hall, and proceeds generally downward through the MCVS until he comes to a train station. It is well and truly deserted. There is a handcar on a siding. He starts pumping. As he recedes down the tunnel into the distance, cut to...
Matrix, exterior, checkpoint. Agents and civil police are fighting a desperate retreat against a seemingly endless tide of Smith. It is beginning to rain. There is no sign of any civilians. We see only a brief glimpse before returning to...
Neo arrives at the train station between the Matrix and the machine city where he waited before. There is a suitcase lying abandoned on the platform (remember that?). Taking it, he gets back on the handcar and continues down the track.
Smith adjusts his ties and smiles smugly to himselves. It is raining heavily
Neo emerges from a subway station in the Matrix and sets the suitcase on a stoop, out of the rain, before setting off down the Smith-lined street. Ensue final battle...
...assimilating Neo. Smith smiles to himselves. Then, he doubletakes, takes a close look at himselves, and reaches for his ear. He is — all of him are — wearing his agent earbud. He screams. Then he explodes.
The Matrix resets.
Matrix, extrior, city street. Sati sees a familiar looking suitcase sitting on a stoop. She sits down next to it and opens it up. It contains a machine artifact, with the same technological look as the belly-button bug from Matrix (in its active form), only less spindly, and about the size of her head. She picks it up, prods it deliberately a couple of times, and hugs in to her chest as it morphs into a teddy bear. She smiles. Then, she sets off toward the park where the Oracle is waiting...
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Date: 2005-10-19 07:35 am (UTC)