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Second Episode of The Animatrix Released

murphyslawyer writes "The second episode of Animatrix is now available. Download it here"

58 of 280 comments (clear)

  1. Durn it. by sosedada · · Score: 3, Funny

    I was there not 2 hours ago, and it wasn't up yet! Now I have to compete with all of you.

  2. The HQ variant for download. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    direct download (157MB)

    1. Re:The HQ variant for download. by sosedada · · Score: 5, Informative

      you can save yourself a few MB if you click the "DOWNLOAD FILE" box. They have compressed versions available

    2. Re:The HQ variant for download. by RevAaron · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Apple dropped support for QuickTime under Linux? When did they ever support it?

      --

      Working toward a usable PDA environment in the spirit of Newton OS: Dynapad
  3. mirror by iosmart · · Score: 2, Informative

    lol, i highly doubt the site will experience the slashdot effect...but here's a mirror of the windows medium quality (480x204) file for the heck of it. www.pchopper.com/mirror/matrix.zip

  4. Re:So cool! by Transient0 · · Score: 3, Informative

    for those not in the know:

    What is the Animatrix?

  5. Please wait approximately 27 minutes to download. by Xerithane · · Score: 5, Funny

    At that point my download will be finished. I thank you for your cooperation.

    --
    Dacels Jewelers can't be trusted.
  6. and... by samhalliday · · Score: 2, Offtopic

    just how the fuck am i supposed to view this under gnu/linux or freebsd without buying a crossover plugin? xine doesnt work, nor does xanim, and i have all the binary proprietory libs for both of them :-/

    1. Re:and... by ZaMoose · · Score: 4, Informative

      mplayer is your friend.

      --
      I wish I had a kryptonite cross, because then you could keep Dracula and Superman away.
    2. Re:and... by hazyshadeofwinter · · Score: 3, Informative

      Oh, and you may need to patch MPlayer to play this, the patch is here.

      Unless the patch has made it into the current release/CVS.

      --
      Click here if you just like to click on shit.
    3. Re:and... by ZaMoose · · Score: 2, Informative

      Not pushing another player at all. If you dl the Windows codecs available on the download page and set it up as a plugin (use this to do so) and you're viewing QT files, no sweat.

      --
      I wish I had a kryptonite cross, because then you could keep Dracula and Superman away.
    4. Re:and... by Mignon · · Score: 4, Funny
      If you dl the Windows codecs available on the download page and set it up as a plugin (use this [sourceforge.net] to do so) and you're viewing QT files, no sweat.

      So what you're saying is "The image translators work for the player program. But there's way too much information to decode the Animatrix episode. You get used to it. I, I don't even see the code. All I see is blonde, brunette, redhead. Hey, you eh, want a drink?"

    5. Re:and... by B3ryllium · · Score: 2, Funny

      You get more bang for your buck with Windows XP if you don't pay for it ... but that's wrong and immoral!

  7. .edu rocks by YoJaUta · · Score: 5, Funny

    800k/s from progressive1.stream.aol.com...

    This makes the $30K/yr I pay to go to school almost worth it!

  8. I liked the first episode by Dark+Paladin · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Granted, it was rather short, and it rather thunked you over the head with its message rather than letting the story give it to you - but there were elements that were incredibly well done.

    First, the animation itself - a mix of hand-drawn and computer technology in the realm of Lain and Blood: The Last Vampire, only to an even better and more refined degree.

    Then there were the images within the artwork. Probably the most disturbing scene in the first Animatrix video shows a women having her clothes torn off by a mob, and that sick feeling filling your gut as a man walks forward and bashes her in the head with a club - only to reveal that she's a robot, and as her all-too human looking breasts spill from her town shirt and her metallic head revealed, your both drawn and repelled by the feeling of how horrible to kill a woman in distress - except she isn't a woman at all. And yet, does that make it any more right?

    So far, it's been an interesting lead in to the whole Matrix mythos. I'm downloading the second episode now (90 minutes to go) with high hopes.

    1. Re:I liked the first episode by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Personally, I wasn't particularly impressed with the first Animatrix short. The animation was very nice, but the story itself was too heavy-handed for me.

      The moral issues involving artificially intelligent life forms have been dealt with so many times that the premise just seemed rehashed. Certainly, it would be easy to cite examples of science fiction that deals with questions of robotic intelligence much more subtley.

      But what dissapointed me was that the short failed to touch on the themes of the original Matrix. I think it would have been more interesting to see the origin of the Matrix explore the deep psychological oppression that the Matrix represents.

      But that's just my opinion, and it was an entertaining short movie. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.

  9. Damn! by ksheka · · Score: 5, Funny

    I knew I should have set up that cron job to check for the new episode...

    --
    alias uptime="echo '5:33pm up 22342352324 days, 6:28, 2124315623 users, load average: 2432.40, 12312.31, 123123.19'"
  10. Anyone got the Kazaa dat file? by Salamanders · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Or any other version of a P2P sig for it?

    1. Re:Anyone got the Kazaa dat file? by Salamanders · · Score: 2, Informative

      File:program320_dl.mov
      Length:28798899Bytes,28124 KB
      UUHash:=HNBKAxJJb7mD6JjLFZyHlZL1528=

      Low bandwidth version. (kazaa sig2dat)

  11. Let me rephrase the title of the post by LePrince · · Score: 4, Funny

    The second episode of Animatrix is now available. Slashdot it here.

  12. What is it? by Sanity · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It would be nice to know what it is we are supposed to be downloading here - come on slashdot editors! Not all of us are Anime fans, and for those that aren't, it would be nice to at least have some indication as to what this is without having to download it (thus wasting bandwidth that could be used by someone who is interested).

    1. Re:What is it? by Freezing+Polaris · · Score: 3, Informative

      Animatrix is a series of nine animated movies, from 7 well know anime directors, based on the world of Matrix. The Wachowsky brothers made some of the scripts, and the whole thing is to come to DVD later this year, with the first four movies made available to download, one episode per month. I can't tell for this one, but the first one was well done.

      --

      All generalizations are false, including this one...

    2. Re:What is it? by Sancho · · Score: 4, Informative

      It's an anime short based in the world of The Matrix. The first was posted about a month ago, along with a description. This is the second. There will be another one per month for awhile. And while it is Anime, it's (so far) been precursors to The Matrix, and very interesting in order to get a feel of how things got the way the are (in The Matrix).

    3. Re:What is it? by sweetooth · · Score: 5, Informative

      It's the second installment of the animated Matrix movies. Four of which are going to be released free on the Internet and then all nine episodes will be released on Junk 3rd on DVD. The first episode was released in February, the second today, the next in April and the final episode in May. The first and last episodes are Part 1 and Part 2 of the same story. They deal with various stories taking place in the Matrix, or in the case of the first episode before the matrix.

      Check out all the info here.

      From the site:

      Springing forth from the world of THE MATRIX, THE ANIMATRIX DVD presents nine original short animated stories directed by preeminent anime directors.

      The directors are: Andy Jones (Final Flight of The Osiris), Mahiro Maeda (The Second Renaissance: Parts 1 and 2), Shinichiro Watanabe (Kid's Story, Detective Story), Yoshiaki Kawajiri (Program), Takeshi Koike (World Record), Koji Morimoto (Beyond), Peter Chung (Matriculated).

      Four of the nine episodes were written by Larry and Andy Wachowski, and all of the episodes are grounded in the world of the THE MATRIX.

      DVD Special Features:

      * "Scrolls to Screen: The History and Culture of Anime" documentary
      * 7 featurettes with director profiles, interviews and behind-the-scenes footage of each of the films
      * 4 audio commentaries
      * "Enter the Matrix" videogame trailer
      * Dolby Digital 5.1 Audio
      * Widescreen Format [16x9 2.35:1]
      * Languages: English, Japanese
      * Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

    4. Re:What is it? by tekunokurato · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Nobody can *tell* you what the Matrix is- you have to see for yourself!

      Really, though- be a little more openminded rather than trimming yourself off just because the style doesn't happen to coincide with your tastes. If you enjoyed the Matrix, this is likely worth a try.

  13. Download Format Question by henele · · Score: 2, Insightful

    When you go to the 'Download File' link it offers the same .mov file but in .sit and .zip formats for mac and windows users respectively.

    My question is, why offer what is already a seriously compressed file within another set of, practically useless, compression? I'd guess the time reduced downloading is less than the time it takes to decompress the file (though that is at the user end...). Is there a benefit for the server I'm not geeky enough to know?

    1. Re:Download Format Question by Sgs-Cruz · · Score: 5, Informative

      Um, yes, because even if they can reduce this 150 MB file by, say, 8 megs, then if 100,000 people download it, that's 800 GB (using crappy hard-drive manufacturer base-10 definitions of GB because I'm too lazy right now to convert properly) of traffic they've just saved themselves. Impressive how it adds up when you're talking about popular downloads :)

      --

      Karma: pi (Mostly due to circular reasoning in posts).

    2. Re:Download Format Question by FrostedWheat · · Score: 4, Insightful

      My question is, why offer what is already a seriously compressed file within another set of, practically useless, compression?

      When most browsers see a .mov file, they will try to play it in the browser window. However it will simple download a ZIP file.

      Well that's my guess :)

  14. Overview by Kallahar · · Score: 4, Informative

    For those unaware, the AniMatrix is a collection of Anime short stories about the world of the Matrix. The first one from this free series was an *excellent* protrayal of how the machines were created by man, became self aware, and then realized that the humans were exploiting them as slaves. The full DVD has many more short films about the Matrix universe.

    Travis

    1. Re:Overview by tekunokurato · · Score: 2, Interesting

      This is not true. Anime is defined by an expert at Wellesley College as:

      "Anime is distinct from other forms of animation because it usually has fewer cels per second, giving it a less fluid, more static look. It also has stylistic designs: The characters have large eyes or the backgrounds are fully realized watercolor pictures. Anime is not exclusively for kids, although children may watch anime not targeted for them- part of the cultural differences between Japan and the U.S."

    2. Re:Overview by Kirby · · Score: 4, Informative

      Anime is literally the japanese word for 'animation'. Typically, it's used to mean all animation made in Japan, from Pokemon to Akira. Much like in America, there are several major schools of art, and many of them do have the big eyes, small mouth conventions, which are actually a derivative of early Disney cartoons that inspired early Anime. But there are certainly a number of shows that don't match these conventions. (And even more variety if you try and genre-stereotype - that perception is strongly tied to which shows get translated. There's a lot of anime that has no giant robots or ultra violence or graphic sex!)

      Japanimation is a tricky word. Much like 'trekkie', it's hardly ever used in a positive fashion within the fan community. Commonly, it's used by people who don't know the word anime, and think they're more 'hip' than they really are - the calling card of a poser, per se. While I don't recommend judging people too strongly based on them not knowing the nuances of any fannish vocabulary, I do recommend dropping the phrase 'japanimation' from your personal vocabulary entirely, as it's likely to turn some fans against you in an a priori fasion.

      And, to muddy the waters, there's a rising number of animated and comic titles made outside of Japan that are strongly in the tradition of anime and manga. (Manga is the Japanese word for Comic Book, though without some of the juvenile implications that we (erroneously) attack to the medium.) Like this Matrix. Or, to really walk the line, the fine comic Usagi Yojimbo, written by Stan Sakai. Despite a Japanese Title, and written by an author who is ethnically Japanse, Mr. Sakai is an American. The comic is written in English, and published in the U.S., but artistically and thematically, it's more kindred with Manga than most Manga.

      My feeling is that it's hard to waste time more than arguing over whether or not something is, or is not, anime or manga. There's some content in describing something as in an Anime-style, and even more if one can tell what shows it is similar to, but beyond that, I really want to know if it's good or not. I'd rather spend my time watching great animated work, like Watership Down or Princess Mononoke, than trying to figure out the correct nomenclature. But, geeks love to argue over trivial details, so don't expect good sense to prevail.

      Or, the short version: No, it's not technically anime, but it probably appeals to a similar audience.

      --
      -- Kate
    3. Re:Overview by jacoplane · · Score: 2, Informative

      Actually, "anime" is not a japanese word at all. "Anime" is the french word for "animated", although no japanese person seems to believe this...

  15. How about a link? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative
  16. Re:What Is The Animatrix? by ptomblin · · Score: 3, Funny

    Nobody can be told what the Animatrix is, they must see if for themselves.

    --
    The next Cmdr Taco duplicate will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and see it early!
  17. Agreed. by antdude · · Score: 2, Informative

    The second episode wasn't exciting and cool to watch. I hope the remaining episodes are not like this one.

    --
    Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
  18. Re:What Is The Animatrix? by jon787 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Ah it is just another crappy Matrix Rip-off

    --
    X(7): A program for managing terminal windows. See also screen(1).
  19. XVid AVI conversion by nstrom · · Score: 4, Informative

    I'll download and convert this to XVID AVI, easily playable on Windows with Media Player and Linux with MPlayer. It should be done by tonight, and I'll post it to alt.binaries.multimedia.anime.

  20. Bittorrent Link by Robotech_Master · · Score: 4, Informative

    FYI, Donkax.com is offering a bittorrent download of the large version of the movie.

    --
    Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
  21. It makes me ask... by Anonvmous+Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    ...why aren't the 3 movies animated?

    The world of the 'future' in the first prequal was a much richer setting than the live-action movies.

    Coulda made for a much more interesting story if they could let their imaginations grow.

  22. Grrr. Forget the animatrix... by swordgeek · · Score: 5, Funny

    I thought it said the dominatrix!

    Now I'm all hot and bothered.

    --

    "People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die." -- Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban
  23. Re:I liked the first episode but ..... by wodon · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Although watching anything to do with the matrix is so exciting I cant explain, i cant help but feel disappointed with the first episode.
    Now i have gone back to it and watched it a few times I realise how annoyed I am that the writers tried to explain the rise of the machines. One of the things about the human resistance is that they dont know what happened, and we could all imagine it in out own apocalyptic fashion.

    Im downloading the second part now so I hope it is more like the matrix universe we know.

    One thing that made the matrix more believeable to "geek culture" is that they didnt try to explain or quantify the computers, they just said that they existed. Thus preventing outdating and movie mumbo jumbo.

    Enough of my waffling, im still buzzing while I wait for the clip! only 90 meg to go!!!!

    --
    It's My Tea and I'll Drink it if I Want To!
  24. I think I downloaded the wrong movie... by ptomblin · · Score: 3, Funny

    I tried to download Animatrix, but instead I think I got "Princess Mononoke in Space".

    --
    The next Cmdr Taco duplicate will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and see it early!
  25. Bittorrent by Openadvocate · · Score: 2, Informative

    This is why stuff like BitTorrent (or) would be very cool.

    --
    my sig
  26. Re:I liked the first episode but ..... by rufo · · Score: 3, Informative

    Just as a note, the writers of the first Animatrix episode were Andy and Larry Wachowski. This story has always been part of the Matrix universe - if you look around on the Matrix website you can find some online comics that tell the story of the one droid who was trying to defend himself, and they are also co-written by the Wachowskis. This is a pretty integral part of The Matrix's world, and I wouldn't be surprised if the second and third movies delved into this a bit more.

    --
    My English teacher once told me that two positives don't make a negative. Two words for her: Yeah, right.
  27. Spoilers below by John+Harrison · · Score: 2, Insightful
    I liked it but I thought that the title (Program) gave away the ending. Once the idea of being reinserted was proposed I knew that it was a test.

    That said, the animation was excellent. I especially liked the formation of flaming arrows and the black and white bamboo. Didn't care much for the big hair though. Action wise there was plent of it.

    I can certainly see why she was so angry in the end. She was expecting and revealed that she expected a marriage proposal. Instead it was a test of her loyalty and ability to perform under emotional pressure.

  28. Re:STOP USING FSCKING QUICKTIME! by Drizzt+Do'Urden · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Repeat after me :

    -Quicktime is not closed
    -Quicktime is not a format
    -Quicktime is not closed
    -Quicktime is not a format

    Now do that while bunking you head on the wall until you mother takes you to the hospital :)

  29. Square Animatrix Short With Dreamcatcher by Robotech_Master · · Score: 2, Informative

    Just in case folks didn't know, a fifth Animatrix short, the one animated by Square (the only other animated feature they did besides the FF movie before shutting down), will be showing theatrically with the Steven King movie Dreamcatcher. This animatrix, The Last Flight of the Osiris, apparently ties together the stories of the Matrix console game and the Matrix Reloaded.

    Pretty slick. I think I'm gonna be watching a Steven King movie pretty soon; I don't think I've done that since The Stand.

    --
    Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
  30. Matrix by KoolDude · · Score: 4, Funny


    [Script Kiddie]: Do not try and slashdot the site. That's impossible. Instead... only try to realize the truth.

    [Neo the /.er ]: What truth?

    [Script Kiddie]: There is no site.

    [Neo the /.er ]: There is no site?

    [Script Kiddie]: Then you'll see, that it is not the site that crashes, it is only yourself.

    [Neo the /.er ]: Whoa!

    --
    getSexySig(); /* returns sexy signature */
  31. Re:What Is The Animatrix? by Eristone · · Score: 5, Funny

    Here we are folks, watch Animatrix starring.... the Animaniacs! Or maybe The Matrix sequel should have been called Cinematrix

    Aww.. come on now. That would have been fun. Could you just see...

    Yakko as Morpheus
    "What is The Matrix? Well, it isn't your Father's Matrix, that's for sure.."

    Wakko as Neo
    "Whoa. I just learned Kung Fu. I'm hungry, when do we eat?"

    Dot as Trinity
    "I'm cute."

    Pinky and the Brain as Agents
    "What are we going to do today, Agent Brain I mean Smith?"
    "The same thing we do every day, try to take over Zion!"

    Slappy Squirrel as the Oracle
    "C'mon, here. I ain't gettin' any younger ya know."

  32. Re:For those of you that haven't seen it yet: by fenix+down · · Score: 4, Funny

    Spoilers again--

    Obviously the parent is mistaken, since Vader isn't even in this episode. It was Darth Maul who had his mask cut off and turned out to be Frodo. Get this stuff right or you'll confuse people who might not have understood the story!

    Also, it doesn't matter if Frodo's an Agent, the highlight of this movie is how the talking horse turned out to be a missile in disguise! It's too bad Hollywood can't make movies with this kind of interesting story!

    WEND SPOLER!

  33. Be patient! by wembley · · Score: 2, Funny

    I'm sure the last episode of Animatrix will explain how the evil computers converted anime into live action.

    Remember 'The Simpsons' Halloween episode when Homer fell into 3-dimensions and then meatspace? Something like that...

    --

    Share and Enjoy!

  34. How about another link? by CrocOS · · Score: 3, Informative

    OK So let's give this a go:

    All you Mad Mac fans can click here while all you Insane Windows fans can do the same here

    Later!

    --

    I should really get around to creating a sig.... Nah - too lazy =)
  35. Re:1st Ep 2nd Ep by Viking+Coder · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I thought the two were a great mix.

    1st Episode - Heavy on plot, heavy naration, no lasting characters, lots of gore, not too much fun action, all in the real world.

    2nd Episode - Light on plot, no naration, interesting characters, no gore, lots of fun action, almost all in the Matrix. (Actually the sparring program.)

    I mean, you put them together, and that pretty well describes the first Matrix movie. (Except for the gore - I don't really think the first movie had much gore.)

    (Al Gore: "I invented the Matrix!")

    --
    Education is the silver bullet.
  36. Not Just Kinda by LPetrazickis · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I kind of thought the
    mass robot grave ~= our own historical holocaust(s)


    The bit with bulldozers disposing of robot corpses is plagiarised directly from documentary footage of the real Holocaust. I'm pretty sure that there also borrowed bits from the US Civil Rights Movement and the Tianamen Square debacle.

    --
    Is this a sigs-optional kind of place? 'Cause I am totally down with that if you know what I mean.
  37. Re:STOP USING FSCKING QUICKTIME! by Drizzt+Do'Urden · · Score: 3, Informative

    There is a difference between closed standard and closed source.

    Quicktime is closed source, but it's an open standard. There is a Open Sourced Quicktime player for Linux, what is not Open is the Sorenson Codec. Sorenson != Quicktime, Sorenson != Apple.

    Your post should have been : "Stop using the closed Sorenson Codec".. but you said Quicktime..

    This has been repeated countless times on SlashDot.. but it seams you were not aware of it..

  38. Re:Slashdotted already......... by actor_au · · Score: 2, Informative
    Ausgamers have a mirror up already, only for Windows guys not Mac and they only have the highest quaility one, but its still good.

    --
    Read Errant Story.
  39. Audio format? by Luke-Jr · · Score: 2, Informative

    The first episode played fine, but for some reason MPlayer doesn't like the audio in this one? Anyone know how to fix this problem? Bits and pieces of the log: MOV track #1: 2127 chunks, 18746 samples Audio bits: 16 chans: 2 rate: 44100 Audio extra header: len=103 fcc=0x77617665 Fourcc: mp4a -------------- Opening audio decoder: [faad] AAC (MPEG2/4 Advanced Audio Coding) FAAD: Failed to initialize the decoder! ADecoder init failed :( ADecoder init failed :( *** Try to upgrade /home/luke-jr/.mplayer/codecs.conf from etc/codecs.conf *** If it still does not work, read DOCS/codecs.html! Cannot find codec for audio format 0x6134706D.

    --
    Luke-Jr
  40. Links to the 640x272 downloads of each episode by Enucite · · Score: 2, Informative