 |
The Matrix
"Bits and Pieces of Information"
The Matrix Comics, Vol. 1
Burlyman Entertainment
Story by Larry and Andy Wachowski (now known as Lana and
Lilly Wachowski)
Art by Geoff Darrow
Published 1999 |
In the early 21st Century humans invent intelligent machines. It
all goes well for a while…until the first time a robot gains a
will of its own and intentionally kills a human being.
Notes from the Matrix chronology
This story takes place during the period of time referred to as
the
Second Renaissance in the Matrix series, 2090-2139.
Didja Know?
This story was written by
Larry and Andy Wachowski (now known as Lana and Lilly Wachowski;
they were brothers who transitioned to sisters), the writers and
directors of
The Matrix film. When working together,
they are often credited and referred to simply as the
Wachowskis.
This story originally appeared on the official Matrix
website in 1999. It was later printed in
The Matrix Comics, Vol. 1 published by Burlyman
Entertainment, a comic book publisher founded by the Wachowskis.
The title of this story comes from a line of dialog in
The Matrix film by Morpheus: "We have only bits and pieces of
information but what we know for certain is that at some point
in the early twenty-first century all of mankind was united in
celebration. We marveled at our own magnificence as we gave
birth to AI."
This story is retold in brief as part of
"The Second
Renaissance" on the Animatrix DVD.
Characters appearing or mentioned in this story
Gerrard E. Krause (dies in this story)
Martin Koots (dies in this story)
B1-66ER (sentened to termination in this story)
Kurt Maloy
Clarence Drummond
William Mann
Senator Gunrich
Didja Notice?
The computer screen seen on page 1 of the story has brand
and model names based on writers,
the Wachowskis (Wachowski-f5) and artist Darrow
(Darrow-2v).
According to the computer screen, the Zion Archives lists the
Second Renaissance as taking place from 2090-2139.
On pages 1 and 2 of the story, the news sources
USA
Today,
New York Post,
L.A. Times,
New York Times, and
Washington Post are all
real world newspapers.
The Nation is a real world
weekly political magazine. Tough Copy seems to be a
fictitious forensics journal.
The first murder by a robot takes place in
New York
on an unknown date sometime during the
Second Renaissance.
Murder victim Martin Koots was said to have worked for the
salvage and repair company ReTool and Die. This is, of
course, a fictitious business. Though we see here how
Gerrard Krause was murdered, we don't see Koots' death until
security camera footage is shown in
"The Second
Renaissance" of
B1-66ER ramming the toilet bowl brush down his throat.
The B1 series domestic robots were manufactured by Leyland
Enterprises. Although there are currently a number of
companies going by that name in different countries, none of
them appear to be manufacturers of robots. The one presented
here is presumably fictitious.
The text file of the New York Post entry has the
subtitle "Mechanical 'Geeves' Serves Master...His Own Head!"
"Geeves" (sic) is a reference to
the fictional valet Reginald Jeeves who appeared in novels
and short stories written by British author P.G. Wodehouse
(1881-1975) and also appearing in radio, films, and television.
The stories were so popular that the name "Jeeves" has come
to associated with any valet or butler.
B1-66ER is represented in its murder trial by an attorney
named Clarence Drummond. The name is a play on that of
Clarence Darrow, a renowned civil rights lawyer of the early
20th Century, "Clarence" for obvious reasons and "Drummond"
from the character of Henry Drummond, the stand-in character
for Clarence Darrow in the 1955 play and 1960 movie
Inherit the Wind.
On page 2 of the story, William Mann's article for The Nation
quotes Descartes, "I think therefore I am."
Rene Descartes (1596-1650) was a French philosopher.
The Washington Post
article quotes Senator Gunrich's opposition in Washington
D.C. to even having the trial of
B1-66ER. Washington
D.C. is, of course, the capitol of the United States.
On the double-page spread of pages 4-5, Gerrard Krause's
many dogs all appear to be Chihuahuas or a similar breed.
Notice the dogs appear to enjoy peeing all over his home.
And on
the far left edge of the spread, one of the dogs is sniffing
another one's butt.
B1-66ER's surface is pitted all over, implying not only age,
but possibly also mistreatment throughout its lifecycle.
Not mentioned in the news article excerpts, the double-page
spread of pages 6-7 shows that
B1-66ER killed not only Krause and Koots, but also most or
all of Krause's dogs.
On page 9 of the story, Drummond compares the trial of
B1-66ER to the Dred Scott vs. Sandford trial and
the opinion in that trial of Chief Justice Roger Brooke
Tanny (sic). This was a real U.S. Supreme Court trial of
1857 that ruled that no member of the black race could be
considered a citizen of the United States. Taney was the
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court at that time.
Page 10 of the story features excerpts from
60 Minutes,
Associated
Press, and Popular Mechs. Popular
Mechs appears to be a fictitious magazine about
robotics; the title is an obvious play on the real world
magazine Popular Mechanics.
The Popular Mechs excerpt states that due to the
B1-66ER incident, the V-chip technology which failed to work
in the entertainment and cyberspace industries is being
resurrected to hamper violent behavior in robots. The V-chip
(viewer-control chip, though a popular public conception is
that the V stands for "violence") is used in televisions in
the United States, Canada, and Brazil to allow parents to
block certain programming from being accessed by their
children based on the program's rating. The V-chip has been
in use since the mid-1990s and still in use today. The
Popular Mechs article would likely be using the
"V-chip" term ironically, as a chip meant to prevent violent
behavior in a robot would have to be a very different
technology.
Back to The Matrix
Episode Studies
