Minute 1: “Are you sure this line is clean?”

Transcript

Transcribed automatically from the audio, and imperfect for it — names and punchlines suffer worst. Useful for finding a moment, not for quoting one.

0:01Matrix Minute, the micro-podcast where we talk about The Matrix from 1999 in every minute. Every minute goes by, we talk about The Matrix. So hey, I'm Phil. I like Neo. Neo's great. He's a cool guy. Neo's great. Who are you? My name is Jake. I don't have a bit of trivia today. You graduated from Philosophy. Oh yes, well I'm a musician. I study philosophy. That's pretty much it. And you are? I'm Tim. And when I was a teenager, I told everyone that I watched The Matrix a hundred times. Which is probably reality is more about 30, maybe 40. I don't know. I love it a lot of times. But it goes without saying that we all love The Matrix and that's what we're talking about.

0:42And you should look at the intro so you know who's talking because... Right, because in the intro, this is a whole background of our history with The Matrix. If you want to listen to that, feel free. If not, we can just jump straight in to the minute. Episode one. All right, so in this minute, we're shown the studio logos and the title. A woman and a man are heard talking on the phone. While on the screen, we see a search log running. The minute ends with the trace program finishing and the woman saying she has to go. Who is this woman, Philip?

1:42It captured something very mysterious and it made you wonder what exactly you are getting yourself into with this movie. Because I remember at that age, I had seen so little that... I mean, when you're a kid, of course, you're excited and you're interested in more things because everything is new to you. But I think with this film in particular, it completely captivated you and made you wonder, what are we watching? And I have to say that the green tint and the way the Warner Brothers logo and they're famous for having productions customize the logo at the beginning. The Wachowskis wanted to actually intentionally make it look more oppressive and scary.

2:23So it shows like, yeah, we're against the system. We're kind of like, you know, Warner Brothers and Village Roadshow and those big giant companies there. They're, you know, they're like... The police. Oh, no, no. The man. Yeah. Wow. But the machine, we must rage against it. Tim, what do you think? I want to ask a question because... Please. I just realized the little conversational dialogue in the beginning. Listening to it now, I just remembered that I never understood what was that about, nor did I pay attention. I'm just always waiting for what happens next. What the hell are they talking about? They are talking about... So Morpheus, obviously, is on this journey to find the One, which we'll find out about much later on in the film.

3:04Right. Yeah. And what they're alluding to here is that Trinity, I think, is on the phone with Cypher. I don't know if she's in the Matrix yet. I think they're both in the Matrix. Okay. And they're talking across the phone. Isn't he like behind the... I don't know. I just know that they're talking about the fact that they're looking for Neo. Because obviously Morpheus is trying to track down Thomas A. Anderson. And that's how the film starts, like with these two characters talking. Right. And so when I remember watching this for the first time, like Tim said, I also didn't know exactly what they're talking about. But what I loved immediately was that not only were the logos mysterious, but this introduction was mysterious.

3:48Because it actually doesn't start with any shots, visual shots in terms of... The graphics. ...filming. It's just... The Matrix call. The phone call and the code. And you're going, what? What? And it's a tracking call too. Yeah. Something is recording this conversation. Oh, I never noticed that. And that's supposed to like show off the fact that the Matrix is omnipresent. And someone... So when she in the next minute says, asking where this line is tapped, I guess it is tapped then, right? I guess it is. Because we're listening. But who would be listening? Us. Well, yeah. I know that. Well, the agents preferably. The agents, yeah. But here's a funny thing that, you know, once the Matrix came out, I've watched it religiously, like the Holy Gospel for so long.

4:31And then later on, I would just, you know, maybe once a year, maybe. And there was a long gap, maybe five or six years I've not seen this movie. And watching it again, I love this movie, but I have to say, every bit of criticism that I ever heard, I always discarded away as, oh, the stupid people, the stupid people do not understand this movie. What? You know, I've always defended it to the grave. But it's funny that now, after not seeing it for a long time, I do see the cheesiness of it. Really? Like what, the intro? No, just even the intro, just having them sound very important and talking about the secrecy. And I think, you know, I guess.

5:12I can finally see it in the eyes of, let's say, my father or someone who's not into sci-fi, who's not a 10-year-old kid, who's not 18. I agree. That is interesting when you're watching it. I finally can see it as for someone, all the people who didn't like it, that I could not understand as being, you know, younger and just completely worshiping this movie. And I think on top of that, having watched more movies, you obviously have more to compare it with. And definitely seen all the influences as well. You've seen, you know, Ghost in a Shell. You've seen all these movies. Oh yeah, that's how the Ghost in a Shell, at least the American titles look like. The English translation opening titles have the same kind of green code. I have not seen Ghost in a Shell. I'm sorry, I'm done. I have... What? I've not seen that film. What? No. Basically a lot of Matrix is Ghost in a Shell.

5:52But Jacob, Scarlett Johansson. Ghost in a Shell. Yeah, Ghost in a Shell was a huge thing for the inspiration for The Matrix, which is great. Because it's like the next gen Matrix now. Yeah. You mean from the magazine coming? Yeah, Empire Magazine, I think. They wrote Ghost in a Shell, next gen Matrix. Yeah, they gotta write about soundtrack. I wanted to mention that the music is like super mysterious and that's one of the big things that gets you into the mood. It's like half of what the film is. Do you know the instrument name? I'm gonna tell you now. I just wanted to mention that the brass section is making those big, is starting this mood that we have in the... Crescendo. And Don Davis wanted to make it feel like a reflection and that's the theme of what he

6:36was going for with the sound. So that's why he's going... To show the different sides of what The Matrix is. The Matrix in the real world. In the intro, we talked about me writing an essay about the movie that I had to. That my sister made me. Yeah. Because I can watch the movie and I remember now that part of it, part of my whole, you know, that it's a commentary about video games was one of the things I remember hearing them say and me putting in my essay is that the music is so sporadic and there's no melody. It's because it's, you know, like it represents the new generation and how we're all, you know, no attention and there's no theme. It's just sound. Wow, listen to you.

7:17You did this when you were what, 11? Yeah, I was just basically copying whatever people said about it, you know. Well, I mean, you don't, you're not too far off the truth. I mean, it's meant to be that kind of like indistinct sound. And also, yes, we wanted to say that the water phone is the big thing. And I would love to buy myself a water phone. But it definitely, like this movie, even from the beginning, sounds and looks really, really cool. Even now looking at you. It makes you want to see what's going on. What's, you know, what is this strange world with codes? And the green tint was definitely something that is permeating within the whole movie,

7:58especially when it comes to the Matrix itself, because it's a reference to these old green monitors. I wanted to talk about that, yeah. In the early 80s and the late 70s when they had those really ugly. Well, no, over time, as a monitor aged, it would get sort of green tint. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And the funny thing is, I remember learning about that, you telling me about that years later after watching the films. And I think it's just a great idea, because how often does a film take such a subtle idea and implement it? And I really like that in the Matrix, because that's the Matrix look. Yes. That slightly green Matrix look. I don't think before, I mean, Alien doesn't have a lot of... Alien has the same kind of codes. What? The mother computer system.

8:38Not those kind of codes. Yeah, but it has the same kind of... But no, I'm just saying, the only look visually that associates, you know, Alien is much more realistic and doesn't have so many, like, gratings, you know, like, stronger color. But definitely that green, you know, which is, you know, obviously inspired by Giger. What I like, though, in this movie is that the green had a purpose behind it. It wasn't simply visual. There's another thing, you know, you can talk about the most iconic... The most iconic image. Well, I want to talk about that, because this is going to come up a lot in this movie, which is the Matrix code. Here, it's front and center, you know? Front and center, we're introduced to the codes that will be a prominent player in understanding what the Matrix is. And so what can we say about the codes?

9:20Well, it doesn't make any sense whatsoever if you think about it for two seconds. But, I mean, it's like, what? Just random symbols, like, falling? Well, because for me, when I was watching it, I always thought... But it looks so good. But it looks great, and they wanted it to look like rain coming down. And that's what it actually is called. It's called digital rain. They kind of coined the term digital rain. So, do the codes have any... Yeah, they're just... Yeah, they're just, you know, half-width Japanese kana, which is condensed katakana symbols. And the half-width ones mean that they're designed for computer screens.

10:00So that's why they squished them. Because there's some numbers here, too. And there's... Yeah, there's... Arabic numbers, you know, right? Arabic? Arabic. Yes. Arabic. Listen to me. Arabic numbers? And, of course, Latin. And, of course, reverse or upside-down Latin. Right, because I was wondering about that. I remember when I first saw it, I was wondering if there are any Latin letters that were flipped or anything, or squished, or kind of morphed. But it seems like it's a mix. It's a blend. Yeah, so it's a mix of all those three elements. And the Wachowskis are just so meticulous. And I have to say, I don't know what brought it into them to be so meticulous about this and actually be able to pull it off, but they did. And it's great that they have so much, like, depth that they added into it.

10:41Yeah, and what I loved about the codes was that's such an iconic thing for the Matrix. I think most people, if you'd ask them, like... Screensavers. What can you tell me about the Matrix? Screensavers. It would be the codes. Every hacker, every person who knew how to set a screensaver and was a man. We all had the screensaver. Yeah, we did. Oh, of course. Of course. And by the way, you know what's funny? There was a 2D screensaver, like from the movie. Yeah. Oh, that's the one I had. They came out with a 3D. They came out with a 3D screensaver. But we used it for production value. Oh, yes, we did. You're right. But I remember the first time I figured out in PowerPoint how to make the Matrix code, because it was very specific. It just doesn't, like, fade in the text. It kind of lights first. You know, it generates, like, when you see the way that it's rendered, the code is falling,

11:26and every time it kind of lights the first code, and then another one, another one, and I figured that one out. And it was like a PowerPoint thing. I was like, oh, I just made codes. Wow, you just made codes. And PowerPoint. All over the place. Everywhere. There's code everywhere. Yeah. Is there anything else to say about this? Well, there's the sound of the Matrix rain, and that is actually rain. It was Dan A. Davis. Dan Davis and Don Davis. Don Davis doing the music. Dan Davis doing some of the sounds, or most of the sound mixing. And he actually recorded actual rain coming down, and then muxted it, and, you know, edited it to make sound electronic, so that it's actually rain. So it's a wonderful little... We're learning new things.

12:06We're learning new things every day. Another thing. One more thing before we stop. I think we're almost done with this. The way that, as a casual audience member... What? What's so funny? I just like, audience, don't worry. We're done with this. We're done. 30 hours later. Calm down. It's okay. Okay. They've been only here for 10 minutes. They're not from the intro. Okay. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. All right. We've got 15 minutes to do this. Tell us the last thing. All I wanted to say was... We still have a lot of minutes to go. How many? 120, I think the movie is. Yeah, the movie's two hours. So... Never mind. We might as well get cracking. Okay. But, you know, this is important, and I just wanted to mention how...

12:47Tell us the important things. These two pieces of dialogue. You want to hear the actual script? Yes. Read me the script. Because I have a 1996 script. I have a 1996 script. I have a 1996 script. This 1996 script for The Matrix. And the thing is, another credit to the Wachowskis, they are so specific with what they want to create and present and execute, that most of the script isn't very fun to read because there's not many changes, you know? So they're very... They were very good at being so... Oh, okay. So, like... Specific about what they want. Obviously, since you mentioned before, they were so angry that people changed their scripts for the movie, so now they're, like, super...

13:30Yeah. But here's some funny dialogue that happens at the beginning. This is from the beginning? Yeah. So it's like... Hello? Cypher, right? Then Trinity goes, I'm inside. Anything to report? Let's see. Target left work at 5.01 p.m. And then, you know, the entire screen fills with racing columns of numbers shimmering like green electric rivets. Wow. They rush out a 10-digit phone number in the top corner. And then Cypher goes, he caught the northbound Howard line, got off at Sheridan, stopped at a 7-11, purchased six-pack of beer and a box of Cap'n Crunch. Oh, wow. Tim, this is the extreme version of your... Remember? Yes. Thinking how now it's kind of, like, cheesy?

14:11This is... And then we begin... This is pure cheese. Yeah, we begin moving towards the screen, closing in as each digit is matched one by one, snapping into place like the wheels of a slot machine. And then Trinity goes, all right, you're relieved. Use the usual exit. And then Cypher goes, do you know when we're going to make contact? Trinity says, soon. And then the description says only two digits left, right? Mm-hmm. Cypher goes, just between you and me? You don't believe it, do you? You don't believe this guy's the one. And then Trinity says, I think Morpheus believes he is. And then Cypher says, I know, but what about you? And then Trinity goes, I think Morpheus knows things that I don't. And then Cypher says, yeah, but if he's wrong...

14:52And then the final number pops into place. Trinity goes, do you hear that? Hear what? You know, trace complete. Call, origin, so on, so on, so on. Is this line clean? Yeah. Of course I'm sure. And then we move closer and then... I better go. That's actually, like, towards the end, that's very similar. Isn't it? In the film, but the beginning. The beginning is so specific. Even with Morpheus and everything, it's like completely like ramming you into the hole. Okay, here's a question for you guys. You know, when you read, like, a script like this, an early draft, right? Yeah. Compared to the final film. Do you guys think that we're so used to the screened version that this old version is just so strange to us? Or do you think we're actually fairly critiquing the two editions?

15:35I think this is the... I think you're right, Tim, maybe. Yeah. I mean... Because, obviously, it was cut for a reason, so... Right, of course. Don't make a crap, but also we are very biased. For a lot of reasons, yeah. We are very biased to that being the final version and couldn't imagine anything else. Because I've always wondered about that. Same thing with deleted scenes, you know, on films. When you watch a deleted scene, you go, oh, of course that was cut. Like, of course that was, you know. But, yeah, it's just an interesting thing to think about. Yeah, but like the extended cut of Lord of the Rings, I cannot imagine watching those movies without that anymore. That's like, that's a reality for me. Yeah. But anyway, I think that was funny. That intro was funny. I just have one more... Captain Crunch. Yeah, Captain Crunch. I just have one more thing to say.

16:16Go for it. It says, call Transop, receive 2-1998. Oh, okay. So, because at the end of the film, there's going to be a different date. Because this is February 19th, 1998. Okay. Isn't that weird? Three days before my birthday. Oh, nice. Three days before my birthday. Happy birthday. I think that's all I have to say about this beginning. Anything else you want to add, Tim? Are we good to go? No, I think I'm excited for the next minute. All right, we'll see you on the next minute. The Matrix. Hasio. Okay, bye. Bye. Hasio. Bye.