Goliath both in his pod and the Matrix
Goliath was a short story about a genetically engineered man trained and sent on a mission to destroy a ship of attacking Aliens.
Probably set the furthest in time of any story in the Matrix franchise, it understandably contained differences in continuity from the others.
Goliath was written by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by Bill Sienkiewicz and Gregory Ruth for The Matrix Comics Series 1. It was re-illustrated when it was included in The Matrix Comics Volume 1, and was later included in Neil Gaiman's short story anthology Fragile Things.
Story
In an unknown date, an alien spaceship attacked the Machine controlled Earth by hurling asteroids. One of these asteroids hit a human tower in London, killing 200,000 people.
Heartbeats in time: the death of Goliath
The Machines retaliate by producing a spacecraft to destroy the aliens, which the protagonist is trained to fly. He completes his mission only to be told there is no return to Earth. Granting his final wish, he is reconnected to the Matrix, living out fifteen years during the last hour of his life.
Development
Neil Gaiman was one of the authors contacted by Warner Brothers to write a story or comic for the website WhatIsTheMatrix.com to promote The Matrix before it was released. He agreed, and it was announced on the site that he would write a short story for it on January 10 1999. They sent him the script and some photocopied storyboards, which he read, and was well into writing Goliath by February 15, when an announcement to that effect was made on the site.[1][2]
The day before The Matrix was released, March 30, the title Goliath was first mentioned, with the announcement on the site that it would be posted on the 31st to coincide with the opening of the film. On April 1 it was announced that four new stories had been added to the website, with Neil Gaiman as the first author mentioned, followed by Vince Evans (Wrong Number), Tim Sale/Jim Krueger (Farewell Performance) and Bill Seinkiewicz (Sweating the Small Stuff).[2]
Gaiman has said "it was definitely written for the movie, and based on the world of the movie, or at least, what I took from it from that first script. It's a story I'm very fond of".[1]
Differences
- The alien invasion
- Humans linked to the Matrix are used as secondary computer processors rather than batteries
Characters
- Unnamed protagonist
- An Agent-like program
References
See also
Notes
External links
- Fragile Things on neilgaiman.com