In the films, the only person we see recovering after being freed is Neo. The sequence is shot with Neo fading in and out of consciousness to suggest his disorientation and trauma, so it's impossible to tell how much time has elapsed before he is able to move on his own. Meanwhile, the opening sequence of MxO - which takes a number of liberties with the story, imo - seems to suggest that you're able to return to the Matrix almost immediately after being unplugged.
So - how long should it take for a newly freed redpill to recuperate and be ready for duty? We know that there's a period of intensive medical treatment to rebuild the atrophied musculature. Also, wouldn't there need to be a least a day or so for a person to wrap their mind around what just happened?
I'm wondering because I'm thinking about a storyline involving brand new redpills, and wanted to get a sense of what happens immediately after rescue from the pods. Any thoughts are greatly appreciated!
I would think there is weeks of recouperation involved, you haven't used any of your body bofore that so you would be too weak to do anything. I think they just missed that part out of MxO as how would you explain that? I think the animation of the machine freeing you at the pod and then the tutorial involves a long break in the middle.... how long that is up to your RP but I highly doubt it is awake and straight in to the training.
If you were to stop using your legs for a year or two, you will see that they would waste away, the muscle would deteriorate and you would need time to slowly build them back up before you could use them properly again, same goes for your mind.
Good points. It would definitely be a massive undertaking to physically rehabilitate severely atrophied musculature, but what about all those futuristic acupuncture needles that were stuck into Neo in the film? I'm pretty sure that Morpheus told Neo that they were there to re-grow the muscle. I assume it's faster/more efficient than physical therapy would be, but you still think this would be a matter of months?
The rehabilitation of Neo suggests that it can all happen on board a hovercraft if necessary, but I'm further wondering whether, in light of the Truce, Zion hovercraft now simply perform the extraction, stabilize the new redpill, then shuttle them back to Zion to complete their rehabilitation. The Truce allows for a much faster rate of extractions, so it would seem more efficient for the hovercraft to dedicate as much time as possible to the actual identification and extraction instead of just sitting around while a new redpill takes up space on the recovery/surgery table - particularly if the recovery time is months, as you suggest.
Just thinking outloud. Thanks for your input!
Good points. It would definitely be a massive undertaking to physically rehabilitate severely atrophied musculature, but what about all those futuristic acupuncture needles that were stuck into Neo in the film? I'm pretty sure that Morpheus told Neo that they were there to re-grow the muscle. I assume it's faster/more efficient than physical therapy would be, but you still think this would be a matter of months?If I remember correctly, one of the original drafts of the script -- probably the early 1997 draft -- had a lot of expository stuff that was trimmed out in later drafts... and part of that expository stuff included a bit with Neo in recovery post-extraction asking Morpheus and (I think) one of the ship's medics about what they were doing.The rehabilitation of Neo suggests that it can all happen on board a hovercraft if necessary, but I'm further wondering whether, in light of the Truce, Zion hovercraft now simply perform the extraction, stabilize the new redpill, then shuttle them back to Zion to complete their rehabilitation. The Truce allows for a much faster rate of extractions, so it would seem more efficient for the hovercraft to dedicate as much time as possible to the actual identification and extraction instead of just sitting around while a new redpill takes up space on the recovery/surgery table - particularly if the recovery time is months, as you suggest.Bolding mine: Extremely good point, and it was something I'd wondered about myself.
If I remember correctly, one of the original drafts of the script -- probably the early 1997 draft -- had a lot of expository stuff that was trimmed out in later drafts... and part of that expository stuff included a bit with Neo in recovery post-extraction asking Morpheus and (I think) one of the ship's medics about what they were doing.
Bolding mine: Extremely good point, and it was something I'd wondered about myself.
