@ami_angelwings That's very fair.

I *do* kind of like Matrix 2 but only stripped of the context of Matrix 3 because it sets up some interesting stuff that just doesn't pay off at all.

@xgranade I agree with this and also I hate when they have "band-aid" rules totally disconnected from the rest of the time travel mechanics to stop it (c.f. the Rose's Dad ep from the first revived Doctor Who season)

@ami_angelwings @nazokiyoubinbou So I know people defend the Matrix sequels on a number of principles, but they're just so unsatisfying from a worldbuilding perspective and also like, looking on from 25 years later, the ending is so unsatisfying. The humans traded their one bargaining chip for a chance at a peace that can easily be unilateraly broken by the machines at any time.

@nazokiyoubinbou @ami_angelwings Yeah, there's a reasonable watsonian explanation for holodeck malfunctions, but a well-reasoned plot isn't a *good* plot, and it means that with like... three exceptions i can think of over the entire 90s trek era, every holodeck malfunction episode is basically exactly the same.

@ami_angelwings "If you die in the Matrix you die in real life"

It's petty but it means that almost nobody is willing to spend a couple hours thinking of a different way to create stakes in a scenario involving a holodeck/vr/whatever. And so every holodeck/vr/whatever story ends up basically exactly the same.

But there ARE ways. Hell, fucking Star Trek Voyager in one of its worst slumps figured out a way.