Comic for Thursday November 6th, 2003

"There's Nothing Wrong With The B-52's" Wednesday - November 5th, 2003

First off I will start off by asking if the release of the Matrix Revolutions caught anyone else by surprise today? Maybe I just don't watch enough TV, but I hadn't seen or heard anything about it being released in the theater. I only found out when I went in to Yahoo to check out my Fantasy Football team. I was like Matrix show times? What? I'll be going to see it this weekend with The Kelly. I've been a fan of the series since the first one, so I'm sure I'll enjoy the experience.

I've talked at length about the Matrix Reloaded. However I think I should both clarify my stance on the Matrix trilogy as well as defend it following the opinion of my friend George, who luckily went to see it already and has come away thinking it was a bad movie.

I know I haven't seen the movie yet, but I am sure it will at least live up to my expectations. My thought of the Wachowski brothers is that they put everything they had into the trilogy. I mean George Lucas had years to come up with the prequels for Star Wars and PM and A of the C's is what we get? Attack of the Clones is the classic example of someone who got too bogged down by the technology and hype to not put in a good enough effort at storyline.

The Matrix trilogy will always be judged in terms of sfx simply because the first movie was that cutting edge. When it came out, it was all people could talk about for months. The Wachowski's acknowledge that they try to up the fx with each sequel, but come on people... How many times can two people reinvent the wheel? Cut them some slack for trying.

In terms of story, we not only get the Matrix trilogy, but the Wachowski brothers had the vision to come up with the Animatrix. We're not talking some third rate production here. Seven of the top anime directors of our time were brought in to create a supplement to a movie. With the exception of two or three of the shorts, the rest of the Animatrix involves fleshing out a universe which was only scratched at in the movie.

I do disagree with George that the last two movies could have been spliced together. Sure I haven't seen Revolutions yet, but I do know that it carries a different theme from Reloaded. At the beginning of Reloaded you start off thinking Neo is The One, a virtual reality superman here to save the day. Everything looks good for humankind. Basing off how Reloaded ended you start Revolutions with knowing Neo has been manipulated the whole time, the humans are F'ed, and Agent Smith is going to really be a pain in the ass in the near future. It's a logical break. Even if you get rid of the objectionable scenes (ie Orgy at Zion) from Reloaded it would still come up at a full length movie. Would a three and a half hour version of Reloaded and Revolutions make sense really? I can't say for sure till I see Revolutions, but I'll go on record by saying it would not.

I'm not saying I'm right or that George is wrong. These are my opinions of what I've seen so far. I think The W bros have done a good job bringing to live an idea that is a little abstract for most people. Let's face it, a lot of people found it hard to grasp the subtleties of the philosophical complexities of Blade Runner. I mean I can sum up the technique I use to create this comic in a few lines, but will anyone who doesn't know anything about Photoshop understand me? No. If I then go into detail to explain what's going on, will people who know Photoshop think I'm a little verbose and haughty? Yeah.

That being said The Matrix like any movie cannot please everyone. I think the W bros tried hard to make something they could be proud of, that they believed in. They didn't go and whore out by trying to be what people expected of them- a martial arts special effects action movie where the philosophy of the Matrix was simply a means to an ends. Instead they focused in on the intellectual ideas, be it philosophy 101 or otherwise. I give them credit for that. I don't think the Matrix will be the greatest movies ever made, but I think they are solid good efforts.

As an afterthought I spend way too much time defending the Matrix. Almost as much as I spend defending Last Action Hero, but that's a whole other story that I'm not about to get into.

Anyway I give George a lot of credit though because he does work with video and film and he knows a lot more movies then I do. Plus he found out about the Predator VS Alien movie that is coming out. Something he and, by proxy I, have been waiting for years.

Today's comic seems to lack something to me. I guess it happens. I didn't have a problem with the art. I liked how P1 came out and rest of the panels aren't too shabby. plus this strip finally mentions tahoe's and that always a good thing. Story wise I guess this is the traditional include the former bad guy into your inner circle of friends strip. I tried to make it funnier, but I don't think I succeeded. Then again, Joe and Yuki arguing back and forth always seems funny to me for some reason.

As you can see though, no twist yet. You'll just have to wait for next week. It'll definitely be the end of Chapter One and not only do you get the twist, but you get a special bonus panel. It's already drawn and it's pretty sweet. Anyway I need to get to bed. Thanks to all of you who continue to vote every day as it seems as if NS seems to be doing well at BcX. Thanks!!

Vote for Ninja Spirit!!

River is going to sleep.