The Animatrix

File:Animatrix-DVD.jpg

The Animatrix DVD cover.

The Animatrix is a collection of nine animated short films set in the fictional universe of the Matrix series.

Production

Development of the Animatrix project began when the film series' writers and directors, the Wachowski brothers, were in Japan promoting the first Matrix film. While in the country, they visited some of the creators of the anime films that had been a strong influence on their work, and decided to collaborate with them.

The Animatrix was conceived and overseen by the Wachowski brothers but they only wrote four of the segments themselves and did not direct any of them; most of the project was created by notable figures from the world of Japanese animation.

The English language version of The Animatrix was directed by Jack Fletcher who has brought the voice actors who provided the voices for the English version of Square Enix's Final Fantasy X, who are Matt McKenzie, James Arnold Taylor, John DiMaggio, Tara Strong and Hedy Burress. The English version also features the voices of Victor Williams (TV's The King of Queens), Melinda Clarke (TV's The O.C.), Olivia d'Abo (TV's The Wonder Years) and Kevin Michael Richardson of the Xbox game Halo 2 who also plays the voice of the Deus Ex Machina in The Matrix Revolutions.

The characters Neo and Trinity also appear, with their voices provided by their original actors Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss.

Content

Title	Written by	Directed by	Summary
"Final Flight of the Osiris"	The Wachowski brothers	Andy Jones	Set just before the events of Enter The Matrix and The Matrix Reloaded, the crew of the Osiris attempt to send a warning message.
"The Second Renaissance Part 1"	The Wachowski brothers	Mahiro Maeda	A prequel to the Matrix series, explaining how the war between humans and machines first began. It expands on events described in the online comic "Bits and Pieces of Information".
"The Second Renaissance Part 2"	The Wachowski brothers	Mahiro Maeda	Depicts the man / machine war and the initial creation of the Matrix.
"Kid's Story"	The Wachowski brothers	Shinichiro Watanabe	Set between The Matrix and The Matrix Reloaded, a young boy, Michael Popper, becomes obsessed with learning the truth about Neo and the Matrix.
"Program"	Yoshiaki Kawajiri	Yoshiaki Kawajiri	In a Construct training simulation, a male rebel invites a female ally to return to the Matrix.
"World Record"	Yoshiaki Kawajiri	Takeshi Koike	During a 100 metres sprint, an athlete becomes aware of the Matrix.
"Beyond"	Koji Morimoto	Koji Morimoto	Several children investigate a haunted house, which is actually a glitch in the Matrix.
"A Detective Story"	Shinichiro Watanabe	Shinichiro Watanabe	A private investigator is employed by Agents in order to locate Trinity.
"Matriculated"	Peter Chung	Peter Chung	A group of humans capture a machine and plug it into a dreamlike Construct environment in an attempt to recruit it.

Release

Four of the films were originally released on the series' official website (and are still available); one ("Final Flight of the Osiris") was shown in cinemas with the film Dreamcatcher. The others first appeared with the VHS and DVD release of all nine shorts on June 3, 2003. The DVD also includes the following special features:

• A documentary on Japanese animation. The on-screen title is "Scrolls to Screen: A Brief History of Anime", but in the DVD menu and packaging, and on the series' official website, it is referred to as "Scrolls to Screen: The History and Culture of Anime".
• Seven featurettes with director profiles, interviews and behind-the-scenes footage of each of the films.
• Audio commentaries on "World Record", "Program" and both parts of "The Second Renaissance".
• A trailer for the videogame Enter the Matrix.

It was broadcast on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim on April 17, 2004 and has received airplay on Teletoon several months after. In the UK, "Final Flight of the Osiris" was broadcast on Channel 5 just before the DVD release with "The Second Renaissance" parts 1 and 2, "Kid's Story" and "World Record" broadcast after the DVD release.

The Animatrix was also screened in select cinemas around the world for a short period of time, a week or two before the sequel The Matrix Reloaded, as a promotional event.

See also

• Simulated reality

External links

• Official Animatrix website
• Official Matrix website
• X-matrix.net - Home of the Final Matrix Exegesis
• The Animatrix at IMDb
• Animatrix Fansite
• The Animatrix at the Anime News Network