# What was \[i\]Matrix\[/i\] based upon? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 20, 2003, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-i-matrix-i-based-upon/196471 "2003-08-20T16:30:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2003, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-i-matrix-i-based-upon/196471/41 "2003-08-24T00:58:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by slortar \* > \*\*The actual concept of the Matrix itself reminded me of a part of The Celestial Locomotive, a fairly obscure and old science fiction novel. A lot of the remnants of humanity were plugged into a virtual world simulation and partied away as semigods while their bodies remained in the real world, naked, hairless and oddly baby-like. More Matrix-like than I make it sound, actually. > > It’s doubtful they read it, though. It’s a fairly obscure novel. \*\* Wow! Someone else has read that book! You know, it was supposed to be a series of novels but did so poorly that the author never bothered with the rest of them. Bummer, that. I remember liking the book and was eagerly waiting for the others to come out. ---
**Author:** ![slortar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2003, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-i-matrix-i-based-upon/196471/42 "2003-08-24T01:34:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tuckerfan \* > \*\*Wow! Someone else has read that book! You know, it was supposed to be a series of novels but did so poorly that the author never bothered with the rest of them. Bummer, that. I remember liking the book and was eagerly waiting for the others to come out. \*\* That’s a shame. I actually enjoyed it. It was rather bizarre, but in a good way. Like some of Phillip Jose Farmer’s far future stuff. And admit it–that blind old man was a complete badass. 😉 You wouldn’t happen to know if the author did anything else, do you? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2003, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-i-matrix-i-based-upon/196471/43 "2003-08-24T01:59:22Z")
Michael Coney is the author of The Song of the Earth, a two book series. The two individual titles were _The Celestial Steam Locomotive_ and _Gods of the Greataway_. A previous novel, _Cat Karina_, can be considered a spinoff of the series. He did a great many other novels but very little after the 1980s. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2003, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-i-matrix-i-based-upon/196471/44 "2003-08-24T02:03:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by slortar \* > \*\*That’s a shame. I actually enjoyed it. It was rather bizarre, but in a good way. Like some of Phillip Jose Farmer’s far future stuff. And admit it–that blind old man was a complete badass. 😉 > > You wouldn’t happen to know if the author did anything else, do you? \*\* I believe he did, and it was met with the same spectacular success as his first book. What those books were, and who the author was, I’ve no idea. It’s probably been about 20 years since I read the thing. I’d totally forgotten about it until you mentioned it. ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2003, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-i-matrix-i-based-upon/196471/45 "2003-08-24T03:29:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by AcidKid \* > Anyone have a copy of Matrix on DVD? If so could you please look over the credits? I seem to remember, could be wrong, a credit to a short story. I would be very interested if you’re right, but I’m almost positive you’re misremembering. If nobody else can confirm it, I’ll remember to check for it next time I get the chance. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2003, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-i-matrix-i-based-upon/196471/46 "2003-08-24T03:47:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Achernar \* > \*\*I don’t want to start an argument, but why do people say “poorly remembered” Philosophy 101? Did they get something wrong? \*\* More like not getting it at all. Not that I’ve actually seen _The Matrix_. I have a degree in philosophy, so I consider it beneath me. See, the only advantage to having a degree in philosophy is getting to be snotty about things like this. Well, that and the hot babes. Hot babes are always impressed by my mad f1l0s0f33 skillz. ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2003, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-i-matrix-i-based-upon/196471/47 "2003-08-24T03:57:44Z")
You know, it’s funny, the couple of professional philosophers I know who have strong opinions about _The Matrix_ love it! It seems to me that most of the people who find it trite only have as good an education in and understanding of philosophy as, say, me. I don’t think that disqualifies them from having an opinion, of course. I just think it’s interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2003, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-i-matrix-i-based-upon/196471/48 "2003-08-24T04:15:34Z")
The IMDB entry for [The Matrix](http://www.imdb.com/Title?0133093) credits it as being “written by Andy Wachowski & Larry Wachowski”. If you click on the [link for WGA](http://www.imdb.com/wga) you will discover that > [@](#): > > The Writers Guild of America (WGA) has a well-defined process for determining credits on projects produced under its jurisdiction… > > If there is no source material (novel, play, article, etc.) and the same writers receive credit for both the story and screenplay, the credit is “written by”. > > The “story by” credit is used when the basic narrative structure was originally written with intent to be used for a movie (as opposed to a short story) and the actual screenplay had different authors. A shared “story by” credit is the minimum awarded to the author of an original screenplay. > > If there was previously existing source material but the writer creates a substantially new and different story from the source, then the “screen story” (or “television story”) credit is used. > > Finally, the “screenplay by” (or “teleplay by”) credit is used to denote the screenplay (teleplay) authorship if the story credit had to be separated as above. Since they have a “written by” credit, there is no book or short story upon which _The Matrix_ is based. It’s clear that the movie drew images, ideas, and inspiration from numerous sources, but the actual story and screenplay are completely the Wachowski brothers’ own. ---
**Author:** ![rmbnxs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b9e5f3/32.png) [@rmbnxs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rmbnxs)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2003, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-i-matrix-i-based-upon/196471/49 "2003-08-24T05:38:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Achernar \* > \*\*You know, it’s funny, the couple of professional philosophers I know who have strong opinions about _The Matrix_ love it! It seems to me that most of the people who find it trite only have as good an education in and understanding of philosophy as, say, me. > > I don’t think that disqualifies them from having an opinion, of course. I just think it’s interesting. \*\* I have a Ph. D. in philosophy, I teach at a major university, and I thought _The Matrix_ was downright _silly_. And my wife is a hottie. I’m going to go see if she wants to have sex–with me. ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2003, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-i-matrix-i-based-upon/196471/50 "2003-08-24T05:49:55Z")
Uh… yeah… Let us know how that goes. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Already\_in\_Use](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@Already\_in\_Use](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Already_in_Use)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2003, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-i-matrix-i-based-upon/196471/51 "2003-08-24T10:53:43Z")
warning: spoilers ahead Two inspirations for _The Matrix_ that I haven’t seen mentioned yet are Harlan Ellison’s short story “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream” (although it may or may not be the source of the idea of humans trapped in a world controlled by technology, I’m guessing that it inspired the scene in the first movie where Agent Smith removes Neo’s mouth) and Patrick McGoohan’s TV show _The Prisoner_ (which has a similar theme of a man trying to escape from an artificially constructed world, and might have inspired the scene in the second movie where Neo talks to the Architect). ---
**Author:** ![Will\_Repair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a698b9/32.png) [@Will\_Repair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Will_Repair)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2003, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-i-matrix-i-based-upon/196471/52 "2003-08-24T17:20:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Achernar \* > \*\*I would be very interested if you’re right, but I’m almost positive you’re misremembering. If nobody else can confirm it, I’ll remember to check for it next time I get the chance. \*\* I would appreciate that. **Terminus Est** is the closest to emperical evidence. All else debate Aristotle instead of counting the horse’s teeth. ---
**Author:** ![rmbnxs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b9e5f3/32.png) [@rmbnxs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rmbnxs)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2003, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-i-matrix-i-based-upon/196471/53 "2003-08-25T03:14:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Achernar \* > \*\*Uh… yeah… Let us know how that goes. > > 😕 \*\* She had a headache. Turned out she’d been watching _The Matrix_. ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2003, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-i-matrix-i-based-upon/196471/54 "2003-08-25T05:00:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by rmbnxs \* > She had a headache. Whoa… déjà vu… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-i-matrix-i-based-upon/196471.md?page=2)