Minute 85: “All of a sudden, boom!”

Transcript

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

0:00Welcome back to the Matrix Minute, a podcast where we discuss the first film one minute at a time because we love this movie. Hi, I am Phil. Hello, I am Jake. And with us is... I am Alex from Galaxy Quest Minute. We apologize. No, we don't apologize. I love that theme. It's a good one. It's a good one. It's a great theme. Didn't Galaxy Quest come out in 1999? Yes, it did. It did. Hey, brothers in years. Indeed. 1999. Christmas 99. Oh, wow. All right. Well, ours came out in March 31st.

0:42Wow. Early. Yeah. Crazy, crazy stuff. Sadly, Tim is not with us once more. That is true. We're here solo again. Solo, we can't hear you. Aha. Ah. And Alex is joining us once again. I have a question, Alex. Did you guys yet talk about that video that Sigourney Weaver made for her agent? No, that one has not come up yet. Oh, boy. We are aware of it. I think it's in our Facebook listener group somewhere. I think it's just so funny. I don't think it's come up in conversation yet. The rap. I always liked that one. So, anyway, we're back for episode 85.

1:23And, uh... Like, yeah, 85. That's when Back to the Future came out. You're right. You're not wrong. Phil, why don't you just go ahead and read the description. Oh, yeah, sure. Why not? Let's just get into this minute. I hope everyone's enjoying the new year, by the way. Yes, I hope you're having a good new year, too. And failing those resolutions. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Ha, ha, ha. Oh, yeah. Well, we definitely are. Ha, ha, ha, ha. Just me and Jake, anyway. Um, minute 85. Yeah, I need an exit. Fast. It's Cypher. He's mysteriously able to get away from the SWAT van as it has been in a collision. Somehow. Cypher contacted him from the public phone.

2:05Tank gets him to an exit inside an old abandoned phone shop. The rest of the crew talk to Tank while walking and also wonder about Cypher as well. But luckily, Morpheus is still alive. Cypher is brought back to the real world and looks at the monitors with Tank. Welcome to minute 85. Right off the bat. This minute has some of the strangest dialogue in the movie in terms of the characters not really reacting to each other. I have no idea what's going on. I don't know. I hope Tim's going to listen to this. He has to catch up. Yeah, so he can catch up. It's only three episodes, Tim. But yes, go on, Jacob. Or Alex, if you would like to. I mean...

2:46Well, I just wanted to say that it's strange how... Well, first of all, the whole setup of Cypher somehow escaping on his own and everyone's confused about that. That's not clear at all. So presumably what happens is that he obviously doesn't want to escape with the crew because he wants to get to the Nebuchadnezzar first in order to do his dirty deed. His dark beating. Yes, his dark beating. But the question is, then he sort of escapes. So I guess he's in cahoots with the SWAT team and stuff like that in this version because he somehow gets out of there, the smoked up room, and finds a pay phone.

3:26And then he calls up Tank. He's like, oh, it's a car accident. It's like, what car accident? I don't know what this has to do with anything. All of a sudden, boom. I mean, it could be an alibi. But if it is an alibi, why is there an actual car accident? There is. He saw it. So what? He's setting up that whole alibi so Tank will look at the Matrix and go, oh, there's a car there. Or what? So it sounds like there was a missing step in here where he went from being in the hotel with the rest of them into this car that has just been, I guess, lost. What car is it, though? That's my question. It's the SWAT van. They took him in. Okay. Into the SWAT van. Okay, so you're saying the SWAT guys didn't know that he was, you know.

4:12No. That he was secretly planning something with Agent Smith. I guess not. I'm not sure. And they just took him in. And on the way to wherever, was it truly an accident? Or was that Agent Smith helping him out, blowing up the... Well, yeah, I was going to say, was there truly an accident? I would say probably not. But then did the agents crash the vehicle or did he crash the vehicle? Oh. But if he crashed the vehicle, he had to be driving, which he presumably... Or he was apprehended in the back, escaped capture, and, you know... Why would there be a car right then? Bonked the driver over the head or whatever, you know. Okay. I guess all those are equally plausible.

4:54But it is kind of weird. It's very confusing just watching the agents. It's very strange in this film how they didn't really, like, it just... We're looking at this after the event and... Like, honestly, honestly, this would have been very simple had he just walked out of the building, you know, nodded at Agent Smith or whatever, or one of the SWAT guys, because they all know he's, you know, with them. Sure. Walk out and walk straight to the payphone. And then he can make something up. Like, oh, I couldn't get out in time. I'd take a different route. Or just, like, just put some dialogue in there. That would have been very streamlined. This with the car accident, it just seems like it adds more than is necessary to us as the viewer. We're just going, like, what? What is this car accident? What? That's my opinion, at least.

5:35To be fair, I think it's never stood out to me watching the movie in real time. I think it only seems weird now when we're in our minute-by-minute over-analysis mode. I think, you know, it's all of a few seconds in the middle of a tense scene, so it doesn't, yeah, I guess. I mean, that's true. I mean, I agree. But at the same time, though, I think that I just know that it was never super clear, even when I was watching it. I always wanted to know. I always wanted to know. Maybe the script will show us some secrets. So he calls up Tank, and he's sort of like, he's playing, oh, it was a car accident. Tank's confused. He's like, okay, whatever. He's like, I got an exit for you. He tells him it's an old TV repair shop. And, of course, the map is Chicago.

6:17Right. That's probably one of the neighborhoods or something. What was it called? Lincoln? Wabash. Wabash. No, he mentioned something. What did he say? I got this part out. Wabash does get mentioned at some point in the movie. I know that. It does, yeah. Franklin area. Yeah. Franklin. Sounds like it could be, I don't know, Chicago. Alex, have you ever been? Oh, you have been in Chicago. I have been in Chicago, yes. That's right, because of the, oh. Movie spent minutes in 2017. Yeah. Nice. That's awesome. We always visited Chicago because we lived in Indiana, and we, you know, always had trips to Illinois and Chicago. We did. That's true. It was fun. There you go. That's cool. Nice.

6:57Nice. So, yeah, TV repair shop. So I was like, all right, got it. And then he hangs up. Then we get to Trinity, who's walking with the crew, and she calls Tank. She does. She calls him. And it's confusing because she's like, well, she first asks, is Morpheus alive? He's like, yeah, they're taking him to a different location. And then- How does Cypher know this? What? Cypher knows this? You can- Oh, yeah, no, of course. You can read his bio signals. He's like, yeah, his life signals. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I forgot. Yeah, go on. You meant Tank, not Cypher. Did I say Cypher? Yes, Cypher. Ah, whoops. Then she's like, we need an exit. And he's like, oh, you're close to Cypher. And she's like, Cypher? And he goes, I know. And that's the end of the Cypher conversation.

7:38Right, right. Yeah, just go to the exit. Which is, I don't know. It's just, it's a bit weird how, why would you say I know? That's such a strange response. Yeah, it sort of feels like she could go, Cypher? And he goes, yes, you know, that other person in our crew. Yeah, he's bald, but he's white. He's Joe Pantoliano. Which is odd. Yeah, him. Yeah, he plays like the same character in every movie. Yeah, that's true, isn't it? Yeah. I actually haven't seen many movies. He always plays the same guy. He's like, he's just Joey Pants throughout every film. Yeah, it's amazing. Yeah, so that was weird. So they're just like, okay, and then they go. And obviously when they get there. Well, I just wanted to mention, let's just talk about the photography here.

8:19I love the Steadicam tracking the crew as they're walking in the alley. It just speaks to me on a certain level. I know it's just so unremarkable, but I just love that one where she's like, got it. And it's just, I don't know. I just, it's just, it's just one of those unremarkable things that to me say something more than like, just visually appealing. That makes sense. Thank you. Something I noticed looking at it, it seems like the camera is bouncing a little bit as they are bouncing in stride. Oh, look at that. So you almost feel like you're along for the, you're along with them. Wow, I never noticed that.

9:00That's very true. Yeah, where it's on the closer shots. Yeah. It's sort of like a handycam effect, but like you said, more of like a prospector. Yeah, some, the cameraman is probably handheld and bouncing in a similar stride to they are. To however, however the hell you say that in English. I know what you mean though. That's cool. No, like for the, for the scene that we're, you know, talking about, she's asking if Morpheus is alive. Things are hectic and it just adds to it. Well, it's interesting because then when it cuts to the next version of them walking through down the alleyway, then it's just a classic Steadicam, very stable.

9:40Yeah. Why'd you go, uh? Nothing, just one. Okay. Yep, yep, yep. That's right. So what do you think about this shot of Cypher busting through the wood panels to get into those? Those are some loud wood panels. That's the first thing I wanted to mention. It's like, yeah, they're super loud. In the Matrix, things are louder. Yes. In general. Sure. Especially when you hit them with superhuman strength. Ah, yes, of course. Kung Fu you learn in Construct. It boosts. Yep. Yep. Boost those. So, Cypher has this, the Gate of Judas going on there as he's walking down into the hallway and then the camera. He's very much an evil conniving elf.

10:23Yeah. Yeah. And he makes it back to Nebuchadnezzar. He does. The traitor has arrived. Mm-hmm. And that's pretty much it in the minute in terms of the content. What else can we mention? It's difficult to think of anything. This is more transitionary than I thought it was going to be. I thought we were going to have some... Alex, can you think of anything in this minute? I'm sure you guys have touched on the plot hole of Cypher getting into the Matrix to make the deal with Smith, right? And how he does that alone. Yeah. Yeah, we kind of mentioned possible theories. Yeah. But please share your theory.

11:04It's interesting then that we see that apparently Dozer also has to hit buttons to pop him out. Hey. So it seems like it's actually two people who have to do things. He needs the guy sitting at the desk and then he also needs the guy hitting buttons on the touch screen to get him out of the Matrix. True. It could be that or maybe it could be convenience. It's like Tank doesn't have to stand up and walk to the screen maybe. And so he just has Dozer. Yeah, I guess. I guess. Yeah, I guess Tank could wheel his little wheelie chair over there. Which would be really annoying. True. But yeah, like for an effective in and out of the Matrix, you need two people basically

11:44is what you're saying. Yeah. Well, especially in this case where we're in a hurry and there's agents after us. You wouldn't want like to take forever. Well, one of Tim's bunk theories was that it switches in on it. Oh, switches. Yeah. Part of the. Yeah. No, no, no. Do you have any theories of like how Cypher could have got in by himself? What was ours again? We had some weird theories, like wacky theories. Like he sets up this like mechanical thing that when he puts, he syncs it up with the thing and then it plugs himself in and there's a timer and then it plugs him out and switches the buttons and stuff. What do you call that machine? It's like, you know, at the beginning of Back to the Future with.

12:26Oh, there's a term. Like something. That's an actual thing. Gold. Something. Ah, let's look it up. Okay. I would have said what if Cypher just deploys like a hologram or something. Oh, like a. You know, the Cypher who's interacting with Smith in the Matrix isn't Cypher. Cypher's sitting at the computer, you know, controlling an avatar. Rube. Gold machine. Oh, okay. Rube Goldberg machine. Thank you. Sorry. Okay, go ahead. That's. So hologram. I think that's the. Hmm. Or an avatar or something to that effect. Yeah. That he's. That's an interesting one. That's possible. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's. That's the.

13:06That's the best. That's the best I can do. Yeah. I mean, again, I think I mentioned it earlier. I think that it's just one of those things where they place it in the plot because it's more important that age that Cypher makes a deal than how he gets in the Matrix. Because when you're watching the movie, you really never think about this. Like, unless you're doing a minute by minute podcast, as I mentioned earlier, like you mentioned Alex. Yeah. Mm hmm. Yeah. Well, Cypher gets out and he's like, what's going on? And you can see the look of Judas. You can see Judas all over his face. Yeah. I mean, look, look at those little shots there. It's just, it's just looking with Tank there. And just. And him pretending to be concerned next to Tank. Yeah. Yeah. What do we have? It's like, oh, I'm so concerned.

13:47So it's, you know, props to Joey Pants for doing such a good job of looking like he's interested, but he's not interested. You can tell, you can tell that he is. Yeah. That's hard, man. Yeah. Yeah. That's hard. I'm trying to think of movies where Joey Pants isn't morally ambiguous, if not dubious. That's a good question. The only one that comes to mind is maybe the Bad Boys movies. Oh yeah? Where. Yeah. He's the. I mean, he's the. He's the police chief for Martin Lawrence and Will Smith. I mean, he's, you know, he's very much that sort of the chief archetype. You know, he's yelling and he's got high blood pressure, but.

14:27There's also Daredevil. I think he was in. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Good point. That's right. He's in. He's Ben Urich in Daredevil. Yeah. I guess that, that works too. But I feel like, I feel like he's at least morally questionable. Okay. A lot of the time. Yeah. Yeah. He is. So the casting's like, we need a morally questionable role. Get a morally questionable actor. Joey. He's on top of the list all the time. Yeah. He's a lot like, until very recently in his career, Gary Oldman. In that way. You know? Oh. Like, until recently. I feel like Gary Oldman is always a bad guy or maybe a bad guy. You know, that was part of the, I guess probably part of the reason they cast him as serious black is because you're kind of meant to think he's a bad guy.

15:10Right up until he realizes, oh, he's not. Interesting. You know. Wow. Yeah, you're right. Joey Pants has that same sort of, just like, he shows up and go, something's up with this guy. Right. That is a very good point. Oh, Joey Pants. Yeah. Joey, Joey, Joey. Wow, we made it to the end of this minute. I really can't think of anything else to add unless you guys do. We're speeding through this stuff, man. If no one has anything else to say, I'm going to go into 1996. Alrighty. Let's do it. Alright. Cue the music. Hit it, Johnny. Johnny. Well done. Love that guy.

15:52It's very good. Thanks, Johnny. Yeah. Yeah, Johnny. Awesome. Alright, so. Here's a tip, Johnny. Bing! It's a coin. Okay, okay. So, um, get a milkshake. Okay, stop. Stop, Joker. Ah, a coin. I see what you did there because he's Judas. Oh, nice. Yes, pretend you just thought of that right now, Jacob. That was a new plan all along. I'm pretending. Alright, so. Um, in the 1996 script, what happens is we have a little more explanation on a little more things here. Hmm. For example, um, cuffed and beaten, Morpheus is thrown into a caged transport vehicle. Door clangs shut and Jones talks to Smith and he goes, the others were lost.

16:34And then Smith goes, you've taken care of Reagan? And then Agent Jones nods. And then Agent Smith goes, then the others do not matter. Hmm. I'm taking care of Reagan. Interesting. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. What does that mean? What is that? Um, so, uh, the guys, uh, climb out of the manhole. You know, uh, Morpheus is gone. Trinity needs a phone. And, uh, so the phone rings and Tank says operator and Cypher goes, I need an exit. All right. And here's the thing. Uh, Cypher is standing at a public phone across the street as a burning paddy wagon that appears to have collided with an oncoming car. You know that, right? He's still there. And then, um, uh, Dozer spots, uh, the wreck.

17:21And he goes, there he is. And then Tank got him. And then, okay, that's a little detail. All right. So, um, Franklin and Erie is, this is, um, is still the same exit. And, um, when Cypher hangs up, this is what he says. Then they probably filmed this as well. So after, you know, the whole conversation with the public phone, I mean, Cypher puts down the phone, he goes, an actor. Definitely. Oh, man. So I think that would have been fine in the movie. I think. I don't know. It could be. So that bit of script raises an interesting question. Do you guys think Smith intended to actually honor his deal with Cypher?

18:01Well, we talked about this. My opinion was that I somehow doubt it. Because I, I. What do you think? Would think that introducing someone who, you know, has the, the sort of, uh, the blue pill nature to him back into the matrix. You raise the possibility that he'll, you know, question the matrix again or something. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I think we mentioned that a little bit. Like, that it could be that. But this is a different spin on it. I don't, I don't remember us talking about this. Like, if we put him back, he might cause the same problems that he's done before. We did? Yeah, but just in passing. Like, very briefly. Hmm. But it is a very good point, though. Yeah. Yeah. Um, so yeah.

18:43Um, here, so Trinity goes, they need an exit. And then Tank says, you're not far from Cypher. And then Trinity goes, Cypher? I thought. And Tank goes, so did we. That boy's got nine lives. Hmm. Hmm. Um, and, um, I guess there is no, uh, other explanation. I was wrong. That's it. No, no, no, no, no. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Um, when Cypher gets into the, uh, exit. Into the building? No, when he gets out, when he gets into the real world, he starts, it says, uh, Cypher stands, a raspy cough spewing from his lungs. And then, uh, Cypher holds his chest in the main deck.

19:26And then Dozer goes, you okay? And he goes, eh, goddamn gas. My lungs are killing me. And then he crosses to an overhead bin. And then Cypher goes, we got any painkillers? And then Dozer goes, the first aid kit's over there. And then Dozer stoops for a cabinet. And then Cypher pulls back a heavy blanket, exposing a plasma rifle. Ah, so there's a little difference for you. That's interesting. That would have worked. Yeah, I don't know why that was. A nice little touch. But I guess it's all up to speed here. I mean, like, it just feels like. Yeah, that was a little extra. All these cuts were made just to make it go faster. That's all it looks like. That's kind of cool, though. He goes back to find something. He's putting the gas, and he still has the gas in his lungs.

20:07He's still thinking of it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's cool. That would have been a nice touch. Too bad that's gone. Yeah. Well, I guess we've reached the end of this minute. I think we have. Minute 85 is completed and in the can. Boom. The betrayal. Thanks, everyone, for listening. You can catch us and find us, I mean, at all the usual channels. Are you still sick, Jacob? A little bit, yeah. Yeah, sad. Alex, let everyone know, as usual, where they can find you. Galaxy Quest. So they can listen to your stuff. Yeah, you can find me on the historical documents of Galaxy Quest Minute. Much like this podcast, only looking at the 99 sci-fi comedy Galaxy Quest.

20:49All the usual places. iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, as well as we have a Facebook group and a Twitter. So check us out there. That's killer. Woo-hoo! Go listen to that, everyone. And we'll be back on Friday. Will someone die? Oh, no. Who will die? And luckily, Alex returns with us on Friday. And so we'll catch everyone else on Friday as well. 2018. I hope you're having a great 2018. Yeah. And we'll catch you next time. Bye, everyone. Bye. Bye. Thank you.