I haven't seen The Deadly Assassin, so I wasn't aware of that particular aspect of the Doctor Who universe. It'd be funny if they brought it back, just to see what Warner Bros. would do.
Although, I did know that Neuromancer had beaten The Matrix to, well, "the matrix" by fifteen years. Gibson's novel (published in 1984) has cyberpunk hackers able to enter virtual reality with biomechanical implants. And, like Dr. Who and the film, Gibson also calls his VR world "the matrix." I suspect that the Wachowskis "borrowed" from Gibson; it'd be hard to be a sci-fi fan in the '80s without running through Neuromancer. If they're Doctor Who fans...? I don't know. I also don't know if Gibson watched Doctor Who. It's entirely possible.
Star Trek played around with altered realities. Where No Man Has Gone Before, using footage from the failed pilot, goes over Captain Pike's encounter with aliens that trap humans by putting their minds in a pleasant illusion. These aliens use telepathy, though, not computer networks. I believe Star Trek messed around with similar concepts, but almost always using telepathy as the source.
Other than that, I'm not aware of any early film/television with a virtual reality, called the matrix or otherwise.
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Aylmer (539)
a month ago
Ah yes I believe it was the "Star Trek: The Animated Series" which pioneered the concept of a holodeck, and that show was in the early 70's (1973) as well if I recall. This would be the first computer-created VR. The episode "Shore Leave" and "Squire of Gothos" both had similar concepts of reality getting changed around by a computer, but I think both episodes insinuated that the computers were capable of actually transforming matter (like constructing artificial people and environments) rather than just creating an illusion digitally. They probably both drew from "Simulacron-3" for inspiration.
I had heard that The Matrix mainly borrowed from Jean Baudrillard with his 1981 book "Simulacra and Simulation", but he could have been a fan of Star Trek and Doctor Who, not to mention the book "Simulacron-3".
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Ace_Spade (9615)
a month ago
Simulacra and Simulation is in the film, too. You've probably noticed it already, but in case you haven't, it's the book Neo is using to hide his illegal hacker gizmos. He has a hole cut into the book and busts it out to sell to Choi right before following the white rabbit. I think I heard that the cast were supposed to read the book, but I'm not sure if that's true.
I keep meaning to read it, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.
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