wtf was that monkey/baby/alien thing?!?
Was it some kind of tribute to Æon Flux, or something else remotely logical - cuz otherwise it's just...eh.
help.
I know what you mean man. That monkey/baby/alien thing was really weird. I mean what was that? Where could they find something like that ? Was it like genetically manufactured? As it seemed the humans had more important things to do (like surviving) then creating little cute/creepy furry things. And it doesn't say anywhere that genetics was so evolved that they could create a whole new species.More, the thing seemed intelliget as it was involved in the transformation process of the robot(well at least more inteligent then your usual buy-at-the-shop house pet).
Well maybe we'll have some answers in the next Matrix or maybe it was just something the director put there.
And actually was that so important ?
It's Peter Chung. Watch his "Aeon Flux" series, and you'll probably be just as confused. The man has really strange philosophical analogies and allusions going on in any story he writes. Some are subtle, some are simple, and some are just outright obvious. Does it matter really what that monkey/baby/alien thing was?
If it does, I choose to think of it as Peter Chung's extension that it was not just humans vs. machines...it's organic vs. synthetic. Notice the complete lack of regard to animal life in "The Matrix" series. When they scorched the sky in "The Second Renaissance," did they ever once think about how their own life stupport would fail? Plantlife, which is so essential to our ability to live on Earth (even in a highly developed futuristic society, I'd like to think that plantlife is still vital...if it's not, then I'm even more scared to think what our future could be like, but then again "Blade Runner" left me with the same questions). Did we think about that? Doesn't look like it. And what about animal life...what'd they ever do to the machines? Nothing, they don't possess the same level of intelligence that humans do (not higher or lower, just different), so they had no malice to machines...they don't understand what they are.
So, if I had to guess, I'd say that creature was Peter Chung's way of saying that all life is affected, not just humans. Even if it is an unidentifiable animal, it still represents something the humans alone do not necessarily convey...organic life. At least, that's my take on it. Otherwise, I just take it as I see it...one of the many weird things that shows up in a typical Peter Chung animation.
Have you ever heared of an tarsier? Compare:
http://www.bohol.net/PTFI/tarsier2.htm
Yeah, the character "Baby" in "Matriculated" was a tarsier, a monkey-type creature from the Philippines. Peter Chung was the same guy responsible for AEon Flux on MTV, which might explain the weirdness of the recruitment program the rebels were using to recruit the "Runner" sentinel.
Baby seemed to be the pet of Alexa, the main character in "Matriculated". If you look carefully, you'll see that Baby was jacked-in to the Matrix, which is how what he saw could be monitored when he and Alexa were "relaxing" on the toxic beach outside in the real world. He was set up in his little jar/cage in the locker room too, and the rebeles seemed to be using him as a surveilance camera, of sorts, which seems a little bit cruel, but is in keeping with Peter Chung's view of how technology and organic life are melded into one.
But when you see baby jacked in later on, you see that he is actually part of the rebel's team, and he is acting as well in the simulated Matrix world. My understanding is that the rebels are trying to "wake up" the sentinel by convincing him that the weird Matrix is the real world and that reality is just a simulated world, so he would defend the friends he recognized in the weird Matrix.
The implications that Chung seems to be making with the existence of Baby is that not only are humans turned into "Copper-Tops", but their pets are, too. How else would a tarsier have a jack-in plug in the back of its head? Either that or Dr. Nanako (played by Dwight Schultz, who also played Reginald Barclay in the Star Trek TNG and Voyager TV series) installed the jack in the monkey. But the "Matrix" seems to imply that jacks are installed by the machines, and the rebels just use it to re-enter the Matrix and use it against the machines. So Baby was a former battery freed by the rebels, too, and other pets are also live subjects in the Matrix...
I just watched it again. The rebels definitely are using Baby as a watchout because of his big eyes and telescopic vision. Also, in the final battle, we see the other 3 already converted Sentinels (w/ green eyes) get awakened to help defend again attacking (bad) sentinels. They are jacked in to the weird Matrix, which is what they believe is reality.
After all, even Baby, are shown to be dead, the smart runner sentinel finally acts, rescuing Alexa from the big (bad) sentinel. Then he plugs Alexa and himself back in, believing he is taking both of them back into the real world. The story is kinda King Kong-ish. At the end the computer breaks down and the weird Matrix goes away, and the smart runner is shown on the beach, believing that all his friends are dead, and he is stuck in an illusionary world and can no longer return to the real world of the weird Matrix. Just a humanoid stuck in a sentinel body, alone in the world killing any evil Sentinels he comes across, with only memories of the the face of the woman he loves. Might make an interesting comic book, except that he can't talk...