Minute 35: “Welcome to the real world.”
Neo is rescued by the Nebuchadnezzar and Morpheus says that famous line.
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Transcript
0:00Welcome back to the Matrix. Welcome back to the Matrix Minute. And Tim just went, ah, because we're out of the Matrix and actually into the real world. So this is a podcast where we discuss the Matrix one minute at a time. And this minute is minute thirty. Can I introduce myself to you? Five. It's five. Thirty five. Hello. Welcome back. I'm Phil. Is Jake. I am one of three hosts on the Matrix Minute. And with me is Tim. And I did the unnecessary scream. It wasn't funny. Wonderful. Nor was it interesting. It was fantastic. I loved it. Maybe you laughed.
0:42I startled myself and I wasn't able to continue my stream of introducing these fine listeners to this fine program because you had to mess it up. I had to. I... Anyway, we are the three. And the Trinity of this podcast, right? No. Maybe. Who knows? Let's... We are the Trinity trio. We are. We've been on a little break. We haven't done this in a while, so I'm nervous. No one would notice because... You're nervous, really? Yeah, yeah. It's been a while. That's what I'm screaming about. I'm like, oh. I just wish I had a beer, but I don't have a beer. I have some rum. It's okay, but I appreciate the fact that anyone who's listening...
1:25Anyone. Anyone who's listening will... ...is listening. Thank you very much for following us so far. Totally. I would also reiterate that notion. Yes. We looked at numbers. There's people listening. Isn't it fascinating? Yes, and we appreciate this listenership. We ship the listeners. No, we don't. We don't. We appreciate them. We give them virtual hugs. Yeah. Yeah. It's great. So anyway, what can we do? Minute 35. That's what we can do. Minute 35. I was going to say, that's what we're going to do. Let's get to it. Just in the nick of time, as Neo can't keep afloat in the lake of death, a robotic arm clenches itself onto his body, hauling him out of the gloom into a small box of light above.
2:07The exhausted Neo is out. But now inside a room, people huddle towards him, some familiar. He stares into the eyes of Morpheus, who tells him, Welcome to the real world. Fading out. But then Neo looks up from the platform, lying on his back at Trinity and Morpheus, talking to each other about him being the one. Neo asks if he is dead. Morpheus turns down to him and says, Far from it. And thus ends Minute 35, my friends. Wow. So then the claw comes down, and it's like... That's right. The claw comes down, Neo is brought up to the Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar.
2:48Nebuchadnezzar. And Morpheus stares into our eyes, Neo's eyes, and says, Welcome to the real world. And there's a lot to talk about here. Like, the fact that at the very beginning of this minute, the Nebuchadnezzar was actually just right over there. Like, right hovering. You can actually hear the sound effects when Neo is struggling in the water and trying to swim, and you can hear... And the lights come in, and then... Are the orcs hovering? Yeah, they're hovering. And so, just here's a question. Where's the geography of this, and what is the geography of this power plant? How does Neo go down the slide? How far down does he go? And what is that water that...
3:29It's poopoo. It's all the nestiness. It's the sewers, I would assume. So yeah, let's start there. You know, I have some thoughts about that, but you can talk about it. Is it decomposing humans? Ew. Yeah, yeah. It's... The water is probably, like, excess condensed water from, like, the human power plant. It might be just oxygen that's been re... And it's just like... You're saying like a... Like an air conditioner. You know when an air conditioner... An accumulation of moisture? Yeah. And it's just... It's pretty nasty. Also, maybe that's where all the corpses are. Yeah. That's gross. Floating about. Oh, it is, though. Just like it has to be. And the liquid might also be a combination of some kind of sanitizing liquid. So it's kind of...
4:09And then they, like, filter out and make soap. Yep. And sell it to other robots. Clean your pots! My bigger question is, where exactly is this located? That's what I'm saying. Like, I thought it was like some... Area. Maybe it's... Maybe you go down the slide. Wee! Like, go, man. And then that slide goes all the way to, like, some kind of, like, butt area. That's what I think, too. Outside of the power plant. It's completely out. It's like, this is not in their control. Probably because they can access it. So it's like... Yeah, because the ship can come in. I think it's sort of like a dodgy alleyway. That's the way we can look at it. Oh, that's what the robots tell their children. Robots don't go there. Exactly. That's the rough bit. Humans decomposing.
4:49They'll contaminate your circuits. It's the... Elisabeth's graveyard. Oh, no. Of the Matrix. Yeah, they would actually liquefy the dead. I forgot that. That's what they do. Oh, they liquefy them? Like, make a little juice. Oh, yeah. They make a little juice out of them. And then they feed them back. Maybe this is where all the remaining freed people are. Oh, no. They all survived. Now they're in Zion. Crap. Yeah. Definitely out. Did we ever see, like, a map or any sort of geographical... No one made a map. I have not seen a map. ...of the Matrix world. No. I wish there was. That'd be cool. No. Because we just... But it seems people were way more disappointed with Matrix Revolutions that no one had the inspiration
5:29to actually do a map because they thought it was going to be a Matrix within a Matrix and stuff like that. And... Spoilers. It's not. It's not. It's just a bunch of Agent Smiths running around. All plasticky and Play-Doh-y. So, the other thing is, like, why don't the machines stop them? Why don't they stop them from finding out that the Nabucodneser is actually right behind the power plant? Well, answer me this, Philip. When you poo and then you flush, do you go after your poo or you let it go? No, I don't go after the poo. You're right. There you go. Hmm. That is a good question. But then again, Tim, you're missing the point that these aren't machines. Machines, they cover every crevice in every corner. Yeah, but these machines are just cheap machines that only have one...
6:11They have one job. ...function. Oh. I did it. I checked the human. Yeah. They found a little... Oh, that's what you're saying. Check the human. But there has to be an overview machine system central mainframe who's like, check the water. Check the water. But it's too late. He's like, the poop is gone. I don't know. For me, these are so easy solutions. We keep talking about these logical questions. But I think this is just storytelling one-on-one stuff. It's like, just leave it. It's fine. It's good. I think it's good. But then again, you know what? They actually retcon this and make it work because, spoilers for anyone who hasn't seen the sequels, it's all part of the plan. Oh, they're like, the machines let the poop go.
6:52They let the poop go. It's not as the plan. They put these flaws in so the humans can exploit it and think that they're rebelling against the machines when they're actually not. I have a question. Yes. Go. Let us discuss together, how does it work when a person is in the Matrix, learns things? How come they can't perform those actions in the real world? So Neo, in this case, is having trouble swimming. Yes. There are obviously two resolutions to this problem. Number one is that he has, which we'll find out later, problems with his muscles.
7:33Definitely. The plant. But the second thing could be that, let's just say his muscles are working because, I mean, he's flailing his arms and stuff. So clearly, they are. Remember, we saw in the beginning. Yeah. Getting out of the tank, waking up. He's mobile. Why is he having trouble swimming? Well, muscle memory. Right? I guess it's muscle memory. But if your muscles are identical, maybe not in the real world to a T, but, you know, like, it's the same body. It's the same. That's the thing I wonder about. We'll have enough time to talk about that later. Yeah, probably later because I had some thoughts on that. But here's the question. Is mama... Okay. So let's talk about it later. Yeah. Mama me. Mama me. Mama. Mama. I had a good explanation of this a long time ago.
8:16Not a long time ago. A couple of weeks ago, me and Phil were watching The Matrix again. And I forgot what it is. So we'll do it next time when I remember. But no, but the question is, like, does muscle memory work as I think it does? Like, you have nerve endings and in your brain, your nerve endings have actual memory. And what muscle memory is that some of the nerve endings in your body have actual memory? Do the muscles have memories? Do they? We should have researched this. I guess. Yes, that's true. Tell us. Tim, go back on the internet and find the answer. Okay. You guys talk. I'm going to find what muscle memory is. I do the least work on the show, so I'm just going to hang out. Yes. So your final moment.
8:57So anyway, there's the... We are not so good. This break is not helping us. Anyway, it's not. It's definitely not. The claw that takes Neo up. Is the same one using Toy Story. It's a prize grabber claw. Yeah. You know, of course, it's a symbolic image of going into the light, getting out of the cave. Getting out of the cave, I was going to say. Going up into, you know, ascending into heaven. Ascending into... A true philosopher. Yeah. Into another stage of higher learning. Neo's philosophy class. Oh, yeah. One or two. One. A or B. Yep. Yep. But when you first saw this, here's a question. When you first saw this, did you think that it might be just another machine taking him out?
9:40No. No, you immediately knew it was... Look, I was little boy Jake, who believed... Was it maybe that shot of the lights kind of coming up and then the gate opening from above and Neo's reaction to it? Oh, you mean like... Just for a split second. For a split second. I don't think so. I don't know. I can't remember. But it's a good trick. It's a classic trick of, you know... What is that called? We should find out what that's called. You know, where you trick the audience into thinking that it could be something else. So Neo is grabbed... You know, the prize grabber comes up, grabs him, pulls him up. Okay? And there's this shot, like from above, looking down, seeing Neo getting pulled up.
10:21He's all wasted and, you know, just tired. I wouldn't say wasted. I mean, he's... Wasted away. Oh, I see. And his chest. This bugs me and I want someone to answer this. Please, if you could. What is that yellow-orange thing on the middle of his chest? It looks like a leaf. It looks like a dead leaf to me. But what is it? It's kind of a thing, is it? It's a decomposing child. You heard it here first. The Matrix Minute. Revealing all time. The Matrix Minute. A decomposing child. What a great... So... A muscle memory. A muscle memory. Tell us. What did you learn about muscle memory?
11:02Yeah, tell us, please. Remember, it's not stored in the body. It's just all brain. Well, there you go. So Neo should be a professional programmer. He should be. He should be like... Yeah, he should know everything. Like, that's how... That's the problem I've been having for a long time. I found a problem with your theory. Did you? If it's all in the brain, which it is, there should be, obviously, a connection between the muscles in the brain, communicating, which wasn't happening in his tube. Well, okay, here's... Oh, we know something. In his tube, he was like dreaming. And when you dream, you do stuff in your dream, sure. Yes, you get paralyzed. So, you know, the little thing, the little chemical...
11:42Paralysis, sleep paralysis. Sleep paralysis. So, here's the question. Do the machines pump sleep paralysis into him? Or is it natural? Because that would have to, like... If you're in sleep all the time, it would have to be, like, produced the entire time. I don't know what kind of enzyme. I don't know. The rabbit hole is just getting deeper. So, they're pumping him, and now they stop pumping, and he's like, uh, yeah. They're, like, still wobbly from sleep paralysis. But I don't know why we'd need... I think that was my explanation. My explanation was that, like I said, even if it's a brain, which is great, the problem is that there is no experience, physical experience, of practicing these habits. So, that's why you can't do this stuff. That's why you can't do jiu-jitsu, because you're not really doing it, jiu-jitsu. Well, I would definitely, um,
12:25argue with that. Okay, tell me. When we get to the jiu-jitsu part. Okay, yeah, we'll do it later. And hopefully that will be a thing. Um, but yeah, um, I have to say that, um, yeah, I think the controversy still goes on. If you have anything to say, you can go on the discussion group, where nothing happens. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Wait. Wait. There's a rattlesnake in the desert. What kind of rattlesnake? So anyway, as Neo is lifted up. What was yours? Mine was like the, a crow or something. Do crows and rattlesnakes also? No, no, no. It was like, it should have been like a falcon or something. It's like an old lady
13:05talking to a rattlesnake. So anyway, the claw takes Neo up, takes him all the way up, and the door closes. And we're able to breathe and relax and everything. But then the second shot that you see is, um, uh, these rotating barrels, like, that are lifting up the, the claw, moving it up. And it's this wonderful tracking shot where it's moving from there. I like this shot. We see Trinity, we see Morpheus, they're all coming to the, to the aid of Neo, who's just, uh, lying down there. And then there's, we can see Tank, and we can see Dozer. We don't know who they are. Now that's the interesting thing. I don't remember, I can't recall what I felt
13:45when I saw these new people there. And they're all like, lifting him up, and Neo's just all like, you know, crazy and stuff. Like, he's just like, very, very drugged. That's a nasty jelly juice. Yeah, the jelly juice. That's probably like a residue from the tank. From the tank. And the funniest thing is that we didn't notice this until now when I was watching it. You can actually see Mouse in the foreground. He's actually in the foreground peeking out from one of the, um, uh, uh, devices. That was interesting. Did you notice him? I didn't, I never saw him. Well, if I had seen the episode, I would have noticed it. Tim, no revealing of how bad, the only, no, it's because we're on break for so long. Yeah, I know. It's not working like a
14:26well-oiled machine. You need to add some oil. We're not oiled. No. But here it comes. Here comes, here comes the big, here comes another quintessential matrix thing. I'm ready. Are you ready? Yes. All of this is shot in Neo Vision now, so it's like, just first person. Not all of it. Parts of it. But it's zoomed in or either very close up and someone's like, like focusing on something and it's not wide whenever we see Neo's vision because it makes it a little bit more disorienting and, um, more confusing which is perfect and like just excellent for what the movie, what the scene is trying to convey. And then, um, of course we have the classic
15:06Welcome to the Real World. That is beyond classic. Yeah. Great delivery. Title of the episode. Morpheus looking. I'll tell you what hits me when he says that. That's where you know, uh, that there is no going back. Also no glasses. That's where you look at Morpheus and Morpheus goes Welcome to the Real World and you realize, whoa, it all makes sense. Like these, this crazy crew of people Neo's been talking to. Right. Just a bunch of hobos. What I like about it most is that, just a bunch of hobos. That's correct. No makeup. To me, what I like about it best is that in this moment, uh, guys, the hobo thing threw me off. I had such a good point. I'm so sorry, Jacob. I'm sorry.
15:47Let me think here. I'll shut up. Um, I like that he says it in such a very, um, what's that word? Huh. English. I'll help you. Give me some close, give me some close word and I'll guide you. Okay. So, so when you, compassionate way, there you go. Ah. You think? It's not like, it feels detached and smug to me. To me, it's just factual. That's what I expect. It's like, welcome to the real world. You bitch ass motherfucker. That's how I interpret it all the time. That was your interpretation. I like it. Yours is compassionate. Yeah. It's like, welcome. I think mine is mostly middle of the road because here he's basically saying, this is the real world.
16:28Uh, I gave you a choice and now you've accepted that choice. You're sort of in with this now with us, but he's not also saying that it's a bad thing. He's just saying that this is how it is. That's how I saw it. It's just, this is the world. Unfortunately, you might not like it, but this is it, but I'm welcoming because I'm your friend. Right. Okay. So it's sort of blendy. It's funny that, you know, people always like to put this as a parallel to VR or sort of any kind of virtual reality kind of world, but I've never put the two together. Like matrix does not represent what I think modern virtual reality or even future virtual reality world is actually. So it never has that, better watch out.
17:09Play too many computer games. But I wanted to say, I remembered. When we get, when we see Morpheus, right? He's sort of raw, right? Compared to the duded up, the duded up Morpheus. Guys and girls in the matrix. And what I liked about it is that finally, this is again to parallel some of our discussions earlier, Neo wakes up from the dream. And I think what's cool here is because early in the scenes, things were getting pretty funky and they were getting borderline dream states, especially when we got to the mirror. Right. And you weren't sure like what's going on here. But now I think this is a sort of like a clean slate, wake up to the real world. And everything sort of is,
17:49there's a clarity to it. Even though we don't know what's going to happen in the real world, we are definitely in a different place. And it's not anymore what it was. It's not Kansas anymore. Correct. It's blue, isn't it? That's right. And I have to say that most of the visuals for this scene were done by Tani Kunitake, who we talked about before. He did those quick paintings, those wonderful, nice looking, gouache. I think that, no, would it be gouache or would it be acrylic? Looks more like acrylic to me, but I wouldn't be so sure. Oh, you mean those paintings that he did with the real world claw grabbing him. And what was nice about this is that he said he felt very proud that these shots were so similar to what he painted,
18:33which goes to show how concept artists and their work is usually, you know, like they get interpreted and changed. And so concept artists, when they see their actual painting being put on screen, because that's what they were made to do, it's really, it's a nice feeling. Excuse me. I'm going to cry. It's not. Drink some water. Yeah. Drink some water. I'm serious. It's not very common for most people. You can drink some water. For most of the concept art to be portrayed accurately. I understand, yeah. But then again, nowadays it's like a hundred percent because you can, you know, Well, nowadays they make the movie in the computer and they're like, let's go film this.
19:15Yeah. Let's do this. Like I said, like the concept artists now can do 3D concept art and they can actually build the set for you. And then when they film it and when they, they can just take the files. It was very streamlined. Unlike how it was before. Also, all the concept art pieces were framed like comic panels. And they did it without constraints to the, By the way, did we ever mention that on the show? Yeah. Yeah. Well, like how it was framed like concept, like comic panels instead of being reframed to the, the storyboards. Yeah. To the aspect ratio. So that's all, they did that because it gave a better emotional awareness for each bit. But it is true because I never read storyboards, but Phil showed me these storyboards from the matrix and they're very readable.
19:57You can, you can read them like a comic and you go, what's happening? And I think that that's perfect because there's really no reason to be constrained to, um, the aspect ratio because not, none of this will ever meet the final thumb except for the emotional and, uh, um, like vague storytelling aspect. Yeah. Yeah. And so if you can make it more visceral by making it like a big, long, um, because basically you're trying to translate the feel. That's exactly. Not so much the specifics. Well, I mean both the specifics and the feel, but definitely the feel has to be important. Yeah. So that means future concept art artists, you know, just, or people who break out of the box. Yeah. Break out of the box. Literally speaking.
20:38Oh, all right. So that's a box. The only thing that's left is that Morpheus says, we've done a Trinity. We found him. Well, I have things that I wrote one sentence. Okay. Let's, let's, let's hear the sentence. Well, my question for you guys is this. So Trinity goes, sorry, Morpheus goes, uh, Trinity, we found him. And Trinity goes, I hope you're right. Correct. And then Morpheus goes, I don't hope or something like that. And he goes, I know it. So let's talk about why do you think Morpheus is so sure this time? What signs did Neo show to give Morpheus the hands down, he knows it. He's clearly the most handsome man we've ever found. That's what I mean. He's in love.
21:18The, the, the Oracle told him, I know it. The Oracle flipped it, you know, you'll fall in love with someone. Oh, I didn't know I was gay. That's what the Oracle tells everyone except the one. She's like, you'll fall in love with the one. That's what she, she told, uh, Cypher. And he was like, I'm not gay. So maybe somebody got angry. Cause like, you know, I don't know, repressed feelings. What? I don't know. Who knows? I don't know. Everyone fell in love with Neo. Yes. The entire crew. And people took it, you know, psychologically different ways. Whenever Neo was asleep, there were arguments. It's like a big trick. The Morpheus, the Morpheus, the Oracle playing on everyone. Just to tell everyone, that's what he knows. Just to see what the hell happened. No, but seriously. Because she's secretly in love with the one. I think, well, as well, in my, the ones or the one?
21:59In my Charlotte and Morpheus ways, I believe he, he thinks he's the one every time until they die. And then he's like, I was wrong. How could you do this? I have to fall in love with all these men. And then they die. They miss the jump. Wow. I love them all. I love them all. Morpheus, my heart has been chatted too many times. You're making, you're making the Nebuchadnezzar crew sound like a bunch of idiots. Yeah, that is true. But they're so tired. Just stop. They're tired. All of them. They're just like, let's roll it back. Let's roll it back a bit. Roll back. The charlatan thing is obviously an alternate reality. Possibility. Let's roll it back to the story. Okay, let's go. So let's, let's talk about, come on. Are there any things I'm seriously just asking about Neo? Because so far in the film,
22:41to be perfectly honest, there really aren't any sure signs that Neo is the one. I mean, he's a white guy. The Oracle prophesied it. You know, he's a white guy. I know, but the Oracle prophesied, you know, it's usually like a hero. She could say, the one is going to be around six foot tall, have dark hair, be white. And it's all these different characters. It's like, there could be a million people. Well, his first name would be Thomas. His next, his last name would be Anderson. And his middle name, you'll never know, but it starts with an A. What did she say? Did she say like, he'll look like Keanu Reeves? Is that what she told Morpheus? Have you seen Speed, Morpheus? Have you seen it? You know that man? What did she tell Morpheus? It has to be that. But I like though, the idea, I remember we talked about earlier,
23:21that the philosophers talked about in their commentary on the Matrix DVDs, where I think Cornel West always talks about Cornel West. Morpheus being very dogmatic and very sure of himself. And in this film, that's quite evident. He's like, I know it, I know it. He's not even like, there's no room for questioning, which is an interesting thing to think about. And we all bought into him. Into his... But it was interesting, in this movie though, it's true. Yeah. He's totally right. Everyone except Neo. Neo is just like, blank slate. Anyway, there's only... Where the river flows, I... Where the river of standing flows. Today is the beating drum.
24:02Well, there's only one more thing to talk about here. Oh no, I like... You wouldn't answer Jake's question. But I just wanted to say that... Well, I guess there's an answer. The way that Neo says... Right in to the Facebook group. The way that Neo says like, am I dead? Far from it. I like that. I remember our cousin Stan was like, we'll be joining us. Oh! What did he say, Philip? I didn't hear you. Far from it. I know that. And it's just... What did Stan say? He was like, what did Stan say? Ooh. Well, what I liked about it, and I still like about that phrase, is that, you know, it's a nice, you know, encouraging, you know, bit of words from Morpheus. Because that's a great thing to hear when you wake up. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, like, going through all the stuff you went as Neo, you were actually wondering if you're dead, if this is hell.
24:42Exactly. Or Heaven. Yeah. I mean, come on. You know, if both Neo and Morpheus are gay. I don't know, like, slides are great, but those feces-covered slides, I wouldn't consider that Heaven. Maybe. I don't know. What slides? Slides-y slides. Oh, sorry, I thought you meant, like, pictures. Okay, look at these photos. Is this Heaven? This one's covered in poop. Next one. Okay, okay, so, one more thing left to do. And we have a new jingle for it, I believe. Oh, yes, we do. 96, yes. Here we go. Woo! Yeah, we're in the 96 zone. Welcome to the 96 zone. Sadly, it's not much, but here is the only little difference.
25:2396 script zone. Yeah, 96 script zone. There's only a few little differences, and I can read this page for you. So, Trinity, Apoc, and the others, dressed in bizarre, high-tech combat gear, Morpheus smiles. Welcome to the real world, Neo. Neo passes out. Fade to black. We have no sense of time. We hear voices whispering. Man, off screen. Do you think Morpheus is right? Do you think he could be the one? Woman, it doesn't matter now, but if he's wrong. Fade in, Neo's POV. Neo's eyes flutter open. We see Trinity's face above us, angelic in the fluorescent glow of a light stick.
26:03Angle on Neo. Am I dead? Trinity says, far from it. Ta-da! And that's our 90-96 zone. Swap some lines. Well, we're not going to do much begging this time, but we'd like to thank you. No, no, not begging today. Next time begging. Next time we beg. We beg. Next time. Today we thank. Next time we beg. Today we think. I would like to personally thank you. But it's not begging. It is. A couple episodes before, we announced a little survey of our podcast, and we had people take the survey. And we really appreciate it. Everyone who took the survey. And thank you also for all who wrote in answers.
26:44You could fill out some parts. It's amazing to hear. It feels so good. And watch. It's great. Because it's great to hear like opinions and also like what we could do better, or we could change what you want to hear more of. Exactly. That's what we like to hear. Interaction is, we'll make this a much better podcast. Yeah, and we would definitely, if you want me and Jake to do more research, the answer is no. There are no choices. There will be a check mark. It'll just be no. Yeah. You have to click that, and it's obligatory. It's just like The Matrix. It's an illusion of choice. Yeah. But if you want Phil to do more research, there's a check mark of yes. That's the only one that's there as well. Yeah. Yeah. He should do more research, Lazy Plum. I know. I will. I think he's slacking off. I mean. I need to do better. He needs to do more research. He'll read some books,
27:25more books. That would be a good idea. You know? You know. Hey Tim, did you read The Philosophy of the Matrix? No, I don't. I just had it there, and I was like, I was in the mountains of Slovenia. I was too busy hiking and kayaking and all the good things. Well, thank you very much for listening to us so far. Hopefully, the next dozen episodes, next couple of dozen episodes, will be even better. The next Baker's dozen will be even better, but couldn't do it without you guys listening. Thanks. Thank you, everyone, and we'll catch you next time. We love you.