Earthbound Reloaded: Rise of the Machines
(Disclaimer: The following article contains spoilers for both The Matrix series and the Terminator trilogy. It has some EB spoilers, but I doubt a warning’s needed for that. In fact, I’m going to have to give you a beat down if you read this article without having seen those. Movies come before articles, especially those ones.)
This summer was an incredible year for movies. For those cop flick guys, there was Bad Boys II, S.W.A.T., 2 Fast 2 Furious and the highly underrated Hollywood Homicide. Superheroes stayed on the big screen with X-2 and The Hulk. Even chick flicks took it up a notch with How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. However, the two most anticipated films were, without a doubt, The Matrix Reloaded and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. Those two seem to have quite a bit in common and have even been compared to each other as sequel and prequel. With all this comparison between the two, many people are forgetting how well Earthbound could factor into these two franchises as well.
The Terminator series takes place in modern times, whereas it is difficult to determine when the Matrix occurs since the Matrix time and the Zion time have completely different meanings. To Matrix dwellers, it’s August, 2003. To Zion, dates probably don’t matter since the sense of time was so screwed up by the Matrix experience. However, in the most common connection theory, the Matrix was created by the Terminators after the fall of John Connor’s army. If Earthbound were to be a part of the entire Terminator-Matrix “series”, it would have to be before everything since Terminator 3, as the title states, ended with the rise of the machines.
So how does Giygas, an alien consisting of energy and evil connect to a bunch of robots? Well, John Connor came to realize at the end of T3 that some things are just inevitable. Maybe not, maybe so. But what if there was something guiding things just a little bit to make sure that some kind of apocalyptic event occurs? Giygas has a knack for possession, he could have steered a few people in the direction he wanted. Buzz Buzz came from the future, so Giygas, who seemed quite superior, going into the past isn’t out of the realm of possibility. Giygas could have provided the terminators himself, or at least the technology for the terminators, in his starmen. They don’t look like terminators, but Giygas is a player. He must have put those sleek shells on himself.
With all those robots Ness and the crew knocked down, there just isn’t time to clean things up, so it’s only a matter of time before someone finds enough of a starman and gets the thing working again, leading to this new world domination by robots mess. The starman kills off the guy who fixed it, builds more starmen/terminators and eventually, you get the bleak future again. Of course, the terminators from the future coming back to kill Sarah Connor brings things back on the Terminator path, which wouldn’t have been possible if it weren’t for Ness saving the world the first time, leaving something for a robotic takeover.
However, unless technology doesn’t change at all between now and 5 years from now, when T3 would take place using this theory, it seems unlikely. But looking back, the basics we saw in EB should still be there. They’re still here 8 years since the game’s conception. There’s still hope in the Terminator prequel theory, but if it doesn’t pan out, EB being a terminator replacement isn’t out of the picture. After all, we never saw Mother 3. Perhaps it was to end with Pokey returning with an army of starmen and a Matrix program as well. Enough humans surrendered and were plugged into the Matrix, where they were promptly brainwashed into forgetting the entire ordeal. John Connor did say that the end was inevitable. So this potential Mother series ending isn’t the most uplifting, but it does lead nicely to The Matrix.
You gotta love that Morpheous. He’s just so sure of himself. ”There is only one way to save our city.”
“How?”
Neo.”
Neo’s the chosen one, Ness is the chosen one and heck, for the Jacksonville Jaguars, Byron Leftwich is the chosen one. Which one really is THE ONE? Throw good old Leftwich back into The Matrix and they might just be the same guy. Sure, Keanu is older, but Morpheous probably had more than an oracle. The whole Earthbound experience could have been Morpheous and his crew wreaking havoc on the Matrix to test out Ness/Neo. Then once the test is done, everyone forgets everything just so Ness doesn’t get cocky.
Keanu isn’t the best actor out there, but he is entertaining. His brief lines in Reloaded were similar to what a RPG hero would say. “Woah.” “Alright.” “Who are you?” He’s brief and to the point. Maybe that’s Keanu’s style, maybe it’s how the Wachowskis wanted it. Besides, doesn’t Keanu look like an older Ness? I doubt many men would be able to wait to free the mind of the chosen one, but who knows what kind of crazy stuff that oracle has been telling Morpheous. Earthbound being wedged in between Terminator 3 and The Matrix is hard to picture but still possible.
Now, try to combine the two theories. The base of the series of events would be Earthbound, leading to Terminator using that first prequel theory. With all the unanswered questions in the Mother series, it’s hard to tell who’s related to who, who everyone’s dad is and all that other stuff people are dying to know. If there’s enough time between Earthbound and the whole rise of the machines deal, there’s a good chance Ness could have seen the birth of his son before getting nuked or surrendering. So while Ness may not be Neo using this third combination theory, he still had something to do with Neo, mostly due to the gene thing. So Neo genetically gains all of Ness’s talents and maybe even more. Were you confused by the end of Reloaded? Neo runs out of the ship, stops, faces those robots and bam, they go down like a pile of bricks. That’s PSI in action, baby.
With enough stretching and modifications of the three series’ plots, Earthbound can be placed just about anywhere in this only speculative Terminator-Matrix timeline. It can be placed before the two movie franchises, assuming that starmen technology led to terminator technology. It can be placed after The Terminator using the test theory. Or with enough stretching, it can start at Terminator and quietly seep its way into the Matrix. Of course, anything can be placed after The Matrix if Neo and the gang pull through, so that’s no fun. With all the plot holes and weird concepts already in these movies, combined with whatever additional questions these additions to the timeline add, your brain must have gone into self-termination by now.
(Disclaimer: The following article contains spoilers for both The Matrix series and the Terminator trilogy. It has some EB spoilers, but I doubt a warning’s needed for that. In fact, I’m going to have to give you a beat down if you read this article without having seen those. Movies come before articles, especially those ones.)
This summer was an incredible year for movies. For those cop flick guys, there was Bad Boys II, S.W.A.T., 2 Fast 2 Furious and the highly underrated Hollywood Homicide. Superheroes stayed on the big screen with X-2 and The Hulk. Even chick flicks took it up a notch with How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. However, the two most anticipated films were, without a doubt, The Matrix Reloaded and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. Those two seem to have quite a bit in common and have even been compared to each other as sequel and prequel. With all this comparison between the two, many people are forgetting how well Earthbound could factor into these two franchises as well.
The Terminator series takes place in modern times, whereas it is difficult to determine when the Matrix occurs since the Matrix time and the Zion time have completely different meanings. To Matrix dwellers, it’s August, 2003. To Zion, dates probably don’t matter since the sense of time was so screwed up by the Matrix experience. However, in the most common connection theory, the Matrix was created by the Terminators after the fall of John Connor’s army. If Earthbound were to be a part of the entire Terminator-Matrix “series”, it would have to be before everything since Terminator 3, as the title states, ended with the rise of the machines.
So how does Giygas, an alien consisting of energy and evil connect to a bunch of robots? Well, John Connor came to realize at the end of T3 that some things are just inevitable. Maybe not, maybe so. But what if there was something guiding things just a little bit to make sure that some kind of apocalyptic event occurs? Giygas has a knack for possession, he could have steered a few people in the direction he wanted. Buzz Buzz came from the future, so Giygas, who seemed quite superior, going into the past isn’t out of the realm of possibility. Giygas could have provided the terminators himself, or at least the technology for the terminators, in his starmen. They don’t look like terminators, but Giygas is a player. He must have put those sleek shells on himself.
With all those robots Ness and the crew knocked down, there just isn’t time to clean things up, so it’s only a matter of time before someone finds enough of a starman and gets the thing working again, leading to this new world domination by robots mess. The starman kills off the guy who fixed it, builds more starmen/terminators and eventually, you get the bleak future again. Of course, the terminators from the future coming back to kill Sarah Connor brings things back on the Terminator path, which wouldn’t have been possible if it weren’t for Ness saving the world the first time, leaving something for a robotic takeover.
However, unless technology doesn’t change at all between now and 5 years from now, when T3 would take place using this theory, it seems unlikely. But looking back, the basics we saw in EB should still be there. They’re still here 8 years since the game’s conception. There’s still hope in the Terminator prequel theory, but if it doesn’t pan out, EB being a terminator replacement isn’t out of the picture. After all, we never saw Mother 3. Perhaps it was to end with Pokey returning with an army of starmen and a Matrix program as well. Enough humans surrendered and were plugged into the Matrix, where they were promptly brainwashed into forgetting the entire ordeal. John Connor did say that the end was inevitable. So this potential Mother series ending isn’t the most uplifting, but it does lead nicely to The Matrix.
You gotta love that Morpheous. He’s just so sure of himself. ”There is only one way to save our city.”
“How?”
Neo.”
Neo’s the chosen one, Ness is the chosen one and heck, for the Jacksonville Jaguars, Byron Leftwich is the chosen one. Which one really is THE ONE? Throw good old Leftwich back into The Matrix and they might just be the same guy. Sure, Keanu is older, but Morpheous probably had more than an oracle. The whole Earthbound experience could have been Morpheous and his crew wreaking havoc on the Matrix to test out Ness/Neo. Then once the test is done, everyone forgets everything just so Ness doesn’t get cocky.
Keanu isn’t the best actor out there, but he is entertaining. His brief lines in Reloaded were similar to what a RPG hero would say. “Woah.” “Alright.” “Who are you?” He’s brief and to the point. Maybe that’s Keanu’s style, maybe it’s how the Wachowskis wanted it. Besides, doesn’t Keanu look like an older Ness? I doubt many men would be able to wait to free the mind of the chosen one, but who knows what kind of crazy stuff that oracle has been telling Morpheous. Earthbound being wedged in between Terminator 3 and The Matrix is hard to picture but still possible.
Now, try to combine the two theories. The base of the series of events would be Earthbound, leading to Terminator using that first prequel theory. With all the unanswered questions in the Mother series, it’s hard to tell who’s related to who, who everyone’s dad is and all that other stuff people are dying to know. If there’s enough time between Earthbound and the whole rise of the machines deal, there’s a good chance Ness could have seen the birth of his son before getting nuked or surrendering. So while Ness may not be Neo using this third combination theory, he still had something to do with Neo, mostly due to the gene thing. So Neo genetically gains all of Ness’s talents and maybe even more. Were you confused by the end of Reloaded? Neo runs out of the ship, stops, faces those robots and bam, they go down like a pile of bricks. That’s PSI in action, baby.
With enough stretching and modifications of the three series’ plots, Earthbound can be placed just about anywhere in this only speculative Terminator-Matrix timeline. It can be placed before the two movie franchises, assuming that starmen technology led to terminator technology. It can be placed after The Terminator using the test theory. Or with enough stretching, it can start at Terminator and quietly seep its way into the Matrix. Of course, anything can be placed after The Matrix if Neo and the gang pull through, so that’s no fun. With all the plot holes and weird concepts already in these movies, combined with whatever additional questions these additions to the timeline add, your brain must have gone into self-termination by now.
