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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."

33 of 285 comments (clear)

  1. Huzzzah! by Jim+Ethanol · · Score: 4, Funny

    Anime and The Matrix! Two Great Tastes That Taste Great Together! I even Shutdown eMule to download this ;) -JE

  2. I don't get it... by al_fruitbat · · Score: 5, Funny

    Why do robots need to wear safety construction helmets? ;-)

    1. Re:I don't get it... by Flounder · · Score: 4, Funny
      Why do robots need to wear safety construction helmets?

      OSHA regulations, of course.

      --

      No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There's always a boom tomorrow. - Cmdr. Susan Ivanova

    2. Re:I don't get it... by _pruegel_ · · Score: 3, Funny

      Because of the need for cover? Your skull is robust enough most of the time as well so why do humans need to wear safety helmets?
      More interesting: Why does one of the robots watch tv instead of processing the signal itself?

    3. Re:I don't get it... by Apreche · · Score: 4, Funny

      Haven't you ever played Mega Man? Without a hard hat they are totally vulnerable to the mega buster.

      --
      The GeekNights podcast is going strong. Listen!
    4. Re:I don't get it... by Robotech_Master · · Score: 3, Insightful

      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 is a good companion-piece to the current animated short.

      --
      Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
  3. Download link... by Corrupt+System · · Score: 5, Informative
    --
    The solution that has worked best for me...is to avoid public discussion. -- CmdrTaco
  4. wget + $this.url(); by danalien · · Score: 5, Informative

    eeyy.

    for lame masterl, simply do: wget http://progressive.stream.aol.com/wb/gl/wbonline/p rogressive/thematrix/us/med/animatrixlgfinal_dl.mo v

    !note it's mov not mo v :P

    --
    I don't claim I know more than I know, and if you know you know more than I know, then by all means, let me know.
  5. Two more links... by Corrupt+System · · Score: 5, Informative

    And the other resolutions:

    320x136
    480x204
    640x272

    --
    The solution that has worked best for me...is to avoid public discussion. -- CmdrTaco
  6. URL, Impression and Kudos by limekiller4 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Here is a to the 640-width trailer for everyone who would like to perhaps save it locally and not use the imbedded junk. I hate that.

    As for the trailer ...wow. Aren't I articulate? This is, essentially, fanfic. And it is pretty damned good.

    God bless timothy for posting this at 6:49AM. =)

    --
    My .02,
    Limekiller
    1. Re:URL, Impression and Kudos by Flounder · · Score: 3, Informative
      Actually, some of the stories in The Animatrix are created by the Wachowski Brothers. The rest are independantly created, but given approval by the brothers.

      I believe that this one is created by the brothers, as it pretty much gives the origin of The Matrix.

      --

      No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There's always a boom tomorrow. - Cmdr. Susan Ivanova

  7. Damn by dnaumov · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Heh, the first QuickTime movie that MPlayer fails on me with :(

    Starting playback...
    mjpeg: JFIF header found (version: 1.1)
    mjpeg: unsupported coding type (c2)
    VDec: Codec did not set sh->disp_w and sh->disp_h, trying workaround.
    Error while decoding frame!04 ct: -0.000 3/ 3 0% 0% 0.0% 0 0 0%
    mjpeg: unsupported coding type (cf)0.000 5/ 5 0% 0% 0.0% 0 0 0%
    mjpeg: unsupported coding type (cf)

    etc...

    1. Re:Damn by Pathwalker · · Score: 3, Informative

      Hmmm - the codec is Photo-Jpeg.

      Basically a bunch of normal jpegs in sequence, not even Motion-Jpeg. It's about as simple as you can get for a video codec.

      I am amazed that mplayer would have trouble with that...

  8. Interesting but... by tjensor · · Score: 3, Interesting

    ... In the first film it they intimated that they didnt really know much history - they didnt even know the date. This seems to show quite a detailed history of what happened.

    Its also quite sympathetic to the machines. If you are one of the last of a group which has almost been wiped out, you are unlikely to see your history from the point of view of those who did the wiping.

    --
    <fnord>OBEY</fnord>
    1. Re:Interesting but... by jgerman · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Just because "they" as in the characters in the first movie didn't know much of the history doesn't mean that there can't be other stories which do illuminate the history in the setting. Also the humans you meet in the Matrix are initially from humans that had been grown/put to sleep. The seeting of the movie is after the machines enslaved mankind.

      --
      I'm the big fish in the big pond bitch.
  9. Re:heh by Flounder · · Score: 3, Funny

    Recursive Anime?? aaaaiiiieeee!!!!

    --

    No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There's always a boom tomorrow. - Cmdr. Susan Ivanova

  10. Matrix: another film by Hollywood Luddites Assoc. by magarity · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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.

  11. Matrix 3 by ag3n7 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I can just see it now...

    Morpheus: Neo, we now have the ultimate weapon against the machines... a weapon so powerful that our victory is insured...

    neo just stands there with his mouth hanging open

    Morpheus: The Slashdot effect. Named after cyber attack (per the DMCA in the early 2000s), it harnests the power of millions of overweight single geeks checking out the newest movie clip at the same time. This will allow us destroy the machines once and for all.

    Neo: whoa
    -- ;-)

  12. Re:Adapting anime for a new feminist millennium by dalassa · · Score: 3, Interesting

    *Yawn* Of course anime is sexist and full of cheesecake, just as much as American shows do. the main difference is that the anime is far more likely to have sexually appealing underage girls.

    As to anime as porn, replace every instance of anime in your previous statement with "movie." We have live action porn movies in this country, it uses a medium that is also used to convey works of art and random schlock. Just like anime. As a feminist should I avoid everything that might be tainted with non feminist ideals or should I just keep that in mind while I watch a damn goos show?.

    If you want disturbing elements though, try reading up on the casual libking of sex and violence in Japanese culture. It gets very disturbing when you delve into it.

    --
    Feminism is the radical notion that women are people.
  13. Here are the direct download URL's by Khyron · · Score: 4, Informative
    Someone please mod these up! Here are the actual URL's for the Quicktime files of episode one. Since the site is pegged at the moment, few people can even navigate the pages. However these links should feed you the movies directly, at least until The Slashdot Effect inspires WB or Apple to move them, hehe.

    I would reccomend using a tool like wget or lftp to grab them, as my connection reset several times while downloading (due to the traffic I imagine).

    Small (30MB+):
    http://progressive.stream.aol.com/wb/gl/wbonline/p rogressive/thematrix/us/med/animatrixsmfinal_dl.mo v

    Medium (90MB+):
    http://progressive.stream.aol.com/wb/gl/wbonline/p rogressive/thematrix/us/med/animatrixmedfinal_dl.m ov

    Large (140MB+):
    http://progressive.stream.aol.com/wb/gl/wbonline/p rogressive/thematrix/us/med/animatrixlgfinal_dl.mo v

  14. This is ANOTHER DUPE. Just ignore the story. by SensitiveMale · · Score: 5, Funny

    Dammit, I can't download the file.

    I gotta stop others from leeching until I can get the file.

  15. Re:Adapting anime for a new feminist millennium by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

  16. Re:Way to download those ? by chamenos · · Score: 4, Informative

    Animatrix Trailer (high res)

    Animatrix Part 1

    just right click and choose "save as" if you're using IE =)

  17. Re:Matrix: another film by Hollywood Luddites Asso by tbmaddux · · Score: 5, Insightful
    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.

    --
    Can't you see that everyone is buying station wagons?
  18. Re:Adapting anime for a new feminist millennium by sam_handelman · · Score: 3, Interesting

    There is a certain substantive portion of the anime produced for which the above is entirely true. It certainly is not a troll. To the extent that japanese women view japanese pornography - which is vile stuff, substantially - this is spot on, and a great deal of anime is merely sexist. American women view slasher movies which might follow in a similar psychological vein; I'm not sure that "internalising oppression" is really what is happening - people have a certain fascination with the horiffic which I think draws women to watch horror movies, and may draw japanese women to watch japanese pornography, such of it as includes a great deal of rape or S&M or what have you. To say that women who view softcore pornography are necesarilly self-loathing is excessively prudish. More apologetics below.

    However, and this has been true for a long time, it is not a recent devlopment, a great deal of anime is not sexist.

    In a lot of anime the female characters are stylised representations with exagerated secondary sexual characteristics - this is often true in material which objectifies women in a sexist fashion, but sylised (cartoony) representations of people do NOT necesarilly objectify them. Any particular work must be viewed as a whole. Having been a teenage boy, I can say that my perception of women at that time was hyper-sexualised; this is pretty much universal among straight teenage boys.

    Is adolescent male sexuality inherently sexist? I think that it is not.

    Is it sexist for artists who were teenage boys to represent female characters in this way, particularly if the protagonist is an adolescent male, as is often the case? It is not. It's an accurate representation of an internal environment, which is what a cartoon is intended to do.

    To the extent that this stylistic element is repeated in works by women, which are about 50% of what is produced - I will not speculate on the internal environment of adolescent girls, but I don't think this arises from self-loathing, I think that would be reflected in the female characters behavior rather than in how they are drawn.

    Finally, in a sexist society (Japan) is it sexist to represent sexist interpersonal relationships in a work of fiction? I agree that it is good and laudible for a work of fiction to attempt to break down popular preconceptions and prejudices, but it is always okay for a work of fiction to reflect one's actual experiences.

    --
    The good and new comes from no quarter where it is looked for, and is always something different from what is expected.
  19. Oh, come on. by Fantastic+Lad · · Score: 5, Insightful
    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!"

  20. The DRMA, of course... by Corrupt+System · · Score: 5, Funny

    Because it doesn't have a license to decode the signal. The same reason it's illegal to watch DVDs on Linux. Plus the additional restrictions introduced in the Digital Rights Management Act of 2005. You know, the one the MPAA demanded passed before making HDDVDs.

    --
    The solution that has worked best for me...is to avoid public discussion. -- CmdrTaco
  21. Re:What exactly is going on? by truenoir · · Score: 4, Interesting

    As already mentioned, the Matrix was *definitely* influenced by anime (and martial arts movies). Story has many similarities to Lain (as mentioned) and also Ghost in the Shell. In fact, there's a website pointing out the similar scenes http://www.geocities.com/tacobelll/matrixgits/ Even the green text stuff was in the opening credits for the GiTS movie. Of course, that's not to say that the animes didn't get influenced by earlier sci-fi works and such, however, the Matrix bears a lot of sylistic similarity to anime, particularly GiTS and Lain (when she starts getting into the Wired, got wires clipped to herself as the interface...).

  22. Re:Matrix: another film by Hollywood Luddites Asso by glesga_kiss · · Score: 4, Insightful
    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.

  23. Sorry, my bad. Not a dupe. by SensitiveMale · · Score: 4, Funny

    I just got the file.

    Leech away :)

  24. Forvere? by Duds · · Score: 3, Insightful

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

  25. Do you people realize what this is? by vidnet · · Score: 5, Interesting
    They've listened to your "If I could try it for free [from a fast server/in good quality/in a non-drm format], I'd be more likely to buy it" comments!

    I've always thought people said that to justify their copyright violations.. well, now's your chance to prove me, and more importantly WB, wrong.

  26. Re:Pretty impressive by Patrick13 · · Score: 3, Funny

    What is the Matrix?

    Slashdotted...

    --
    ::.. check out some Cell Phone Reviews