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redirected from Film.Nine

Ladies and gentlemen, our hero.

1 to protect us...
2 to inspire us...
3 to define us...
4 to teach us...
5 to guide us...
6 to lead us...
7 to defend us...
8 to guard us...
9 to save us.

The title 9 refers to two Animated movies, both directed by Shane Acker:
  • The short, released in 2005. You can watch it here.
  • The movie, produced by Tim Burton (who saw the original short and loved it), released on 9th September 2009. You can see the trailer here.

The main characters are sackdolls, or ragdolls depending on who you ask. The creator, Shane Acker, has officially dubbed them "stitchpunks".

In both cases, the plot follows a stuffed sackdoll , simply known by the number 9 painted onto his back, as he attempts to survive in an Alternate Universe where humanity has been wiped out.

The short was released first, and chronicles 9's attempts to defeat an unnamed metal creature, who killed 5, his one-eyed mentor, and the other dolls, and retrieve the machine's soul-stealing device. The film, while ambiguous about the setting, was praised for its storyline and plot.

The movie expands on the short considerably; Nine's companions are still alive, and the team are journeying throughout the wasteland in an attempt to stop the machines that killed humanity from reawakening. Judging by the trailer, it doesn't work.

Now with a Character Page.


Both contain examples of:
  • After The End
  • Apocalypse How: At least a Class 3a extinction but possibly ranging up from a Class 4 extinction event to a Class 5 as the planet appears to be devoid of any life whatsoever besides the dolls and the machines. However, whether the entire planet is like this or just the small portion where the movie takes place is unknown.
  • Cats Are Mean: The Cat Beast in both incarnations, with its movie version's savagery being upped to eleven.
  • Crapsack World: Sucks to be a doll.
  • Desolation Shot
  • Glowing Eyes Of Doom: The Cat Beast has an eye that it uses like a red flashlight.
  • Hyperspace Arsenal: The dolls can pull any tool or weapon required from their innards.
  • Mechanical Lifeforms: The dolls seem to be small sentient robots made out of scrap, possess some form of "soul" and look like they could, say, repair themselves with anything to hand. The machines that hunt them incorporate non-standard building materials, like animal skulls.
  • Nightmare Fuel: Being a puppet doll means dismemberment won't kill you. Think about it. Also, the soul-stealer.
    • This troper was pretty frightened by the Cat Beast as well.
  • Right Behind Me: In abundance in the film, but prominently featured in the original short: as 5 is looking around for the Machine, the camera shifts to show his front and the Machine behind him readying its claws with Audible Sharpness. 5's eye gets wide and he assumes an expression we all know.
  • Scenery Gorn: Multiple buildings reduced to rubble.
  • Ugly Cute: While a lot of people find the stitchpunks adorable, some of their designs are a bit... unusual and creepy to some.
  • You Are Number Six: Even though the characters all had distinct personalities.

The short contains examples of:
The movie contains examples of:
  • Action Girl: 7, for a given value of "girl". The action part is most definitely inarguable, though.
  • Action Survivor: Everyone aside from 7 and 8. 9 and 5 especially.
  • Adam And Eve Plot: Well, more of an Adam And Eve ENDING than anything. Kind of.
  • Adaptation Decay: See Expansion below; the Russian dub adds so many extra elements that directly contradict the English supplements that it's easy to judge it as this.
  • Adaptation Expansion: The original short, which has a single mechanical beast collecting the souls for who-knows-what with a talisman and the silent 5 and 9 out to avenge their friends, is expanded to a voiced feature in which that beast is but a minion planning to use that talisman to revive something much worse, and all nine stitchpunks dealing with it.
    • This also could apply to the Russian dub of the film, which added several new plot elements including each of the stitchpunks having a separate soul identity (the Scientist transferred his soul in it's entirety to 9, 7 and the twins are his wife and children, 1 is the Chancellor, et cetera...)
  • Affably Evil: The Chancellor.
  • Agony Of The Feet: 2 hops around holding one foot after kicking the Beast that 7 killed.
  • AI Is A Crapshoot: The Fabrication Machine.
  • Alchemy: Quite possibly what the Scientist used to create the stitchpunks. In the Magic From Technology or Magitek sense, of course. In the Russian version of the movie it is outright stated by the Scientist
  • Alternative Character Interpretation: Is the Fabrication Machine a spiteful bastard of mad science intent on finishing what it started, or a lost child who desperately wants a soul of its own?
    • Also the stitchpunks themselves, who may each represent specific aspects of the Scientist's soul/personality. This casts a much more interesting light on certain members of the cast.
  • Alternate History: According to the director, the film takes place in a world where the Industrial Revolution never ended, with machines becoming more advanced earlier than our timeline.
    • Oh, I just thought that there was a second Industrial Revolution in the future.
  • Alternate Reality Game
  • All There In The Manual: A lot of backstory and other details are found in the Scientist's journal and Facebook page. This could be argued as a shortcoming because, for anyone who doesn't read them, the film could seem to be full of Fridge Logic.
  • Angst What Angst?: 9 is a remarkably together guy considering that he single-handedly woke up the Big Bad and inadvertantly killed his very first friend
  • Anyone Can Die: And how!
  • Artificial Human: The stitchpunks.
  • Ascended Extra: Every doll except 9 and possibly 5.
    • Actually, to this troper it seemed like every stitch had a specific purpose in the plot.
  • The Atoner: The Scientist, who carries out his atonement before the film even starts.
  • Audible Gleam: During the Winged Beast scene.
  • Automatic Crossbows: 5's weapon of choice, which also becomes a Grappling Hook Pistol when he fires a fishing hook.
  • Badass Labcoat: Tell me that instilling sackdolls with your own life essence isn't badass.
  • Big Bad: The Fabrication Machine.
  • The Big Guy: 8, and how!
  • Big Lipped Alligator Moment: The magnet scene with 8...
  • Big No: It's got Elijah Wood. What do you think?
  • Bittersweet Ending: The machine is defeated, but the world is still no better than before and 1,2,5, 6, and 8 have all passed on. 9's narration says that he has no idea what is left...except that the world now belongs to the few sackdolls that remain.
    • Except for the somethings seen dividing in the raindrops hitting the camera at the end...implying that they've restored life to the world. Or something.
    • This troper figured that the glowing green spots were supposed to be cells, and it was supposed to signify evolution starting over.
  • BFS: 8's got two; a carving knife and half of a pair of scissors (they're big to him).
  • Break The Cutie: 5. In his blog, The Scientist talks about how pure and trusting 5 is... then he loses an eye in an explosion, his best friend gets kidnapped, said friend dies before his eyes minutes after getting rescued due to idiocy on the part of the hero, and when he finally learns to stand up for himself and enjoy life, he dies. Disturbingly. He's happy at the end of the movie, but, still...
  • Break The Haughty: 1. Is the lonliest number that you'll ever do...
  • Butt Monkey: Poor, poor 2...
  • Canon Fodder: By the truckload if you ask most fans.
  • Cassandra Truth: 6, no one seemed to listen to him before 9.
  • Chekhov's Gun: Did you forget about the little box under the scientist's hand with the "9" tag on it?
    • And 9's half of the talisman?
  • The Chick: 5.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: 6, when not drawing out his visions or being chased, seems to be off in his own little world or acting silly. The twins, 3 and 4, may also count.
  • Composite Character: Inverted;
    • 5 from the short film had his role split between 2 and 5 in the Burton-produced film.
    • A second inversion: All the characters are technically the same person.
  • Cool Old Guy: 2. Totally.
  • Creating Life
  • Creepy Children: The twins could be interpreted this way
  • Creepy Twins
  • Crowning Moment Of Awesome: "We're gonna need a full barrel." Even better is his line in the Russian version- "We'll blow this shit up!"
  • Crowning Moment Of Heartwarming: 2 seems to be a living manifestation of this trope. And just try not to smile when 1's soul silently thanks 9.
    • Oh, hell, just the entire scene when the fallen Stitchpunks souls are freed.
  • Crowning Music Of Awesome: The song picked for the trailer is epic.
    • That'd be Welcome Home. And the full song is just as epic as it seems in the trailer.
  • Cute Mutes: The twins
  • Danny Elfman: With Tim Burton producing, of course he'd follow along.
  • Deadly Gas
  • Died Happily Ever After: All the stitchpunks who died return for one final farewell to the survivors before dissipating.
  • Dies Wide Shut: Any doll who dies in the movie dies with their eyes and mouths wide open. Wide open.
  • Dirty Coward: 1. In his defense, there's a reason this film has a High Octane Nightmare Fuel entry. "Sometimes fear is the appropriate response," indeed.
  • Dissonant Serenity: Other than shouting at 9, 6 was awfully calm before his death.
  • Does This Remind You Of Anything: Sometime pre-storyline, the unidentified country of setting was ruled by a dark-haired, stony-faced Evil Chancellor who plasters cities with flags displaying his red, black & white symbol, promises "the dawn of a NEW ERA! " seems to have a decent amount of Mooks in his employ, and is ultimately responsible for many, many horrific deaths. Golly, I wonder who he was inspired by.
  • Doomed By Canon: As with the short film, 5 still gets bumped off, although not in the same order.
  • Dumb Muscle: 8 is big and burly, but none too bright
    • "Subja- what?"
  • Ensemble Darkhorse: 5 seems to be everyone's favorite character.
    • Fangirls looove 6. More fan characters fall in love with him than any other character, despite the fact that he's dead.
    • That's true, 6 is endearing and adorable and therefore attractive to many fangirls. This fangirl is actually a big 1 fan, even though I don't think anyone else really likes him...
      • This female troper assures you that you are not the only one. (I blame Christopher Plummer's gorgeous voice...)
  • Everyone Calls Him Barkeep: The Scientist and the Chancellor.
  • Evil Chancellor: The Chancellor of course. But you wouldn't really know that unless you visited the viral sites.
    • It's still clearly seen without the viral sites, considering the Hitler vibes the propaganda reel gives off, and the scientist says the Chancellor didn't stay to his side of the deal, taking the B.R.A.I.N before it was complete
  • Eye Scream: Though it's not a human eye, and therefore less creepy, the scene of 5 losing his eye is still pretty cringe-worthy. There were frayed wires and sparks coming from his empty socket, fer crissakes!
    • The fact that the souls get sucked out through the eyes and mouth, which shatters the glass in the optics (Or, in 5's case, burns a hole through his patch) could count, too.
  • Face Death With Dignity: If 1's death isn't Redemption Equals Death, than it is this.
    • 6's death MIGHT also count, seeing as he's the only other one not to struggle or scream.
  • Facepalm: 1 does something like this when 8 fails to understand what he meant by "subjugate".
  • Fan Fic Magnet: Name a character. ANY. Heck, the whole movie is this.
  • Fan Nickname:
    • "Mr. Fab," the Fabrication Machine. An alternate to this is "Fab Mac"
    • Petrie for the pterodactyl monster.
    • 1 is, of course, the Sack Pope. He is also known by Pope Doll and 1Pimp.
      • Now there is this ridiciously addictive song for Pope Doll. Pope Dooooooolllllll! He enters the rooooooooooooom . . .
      • "...He's got a big fat... BODYGUARD!"
    • On certain DeviantArt communities, 5 is known as "Angst waffle".
  • Fantastic Drug: While on guard duty, 8 pulls out a horseshoe magnet and holds it over his head. He starts guffawing like an idiot and bubbling can be heard. (By the way, the movie rating got marked up for drug use.)
  • Fingore: Like with 5's eye, it isn't as bad since it's not a human hand, but 1's hand gets mangled in an explosion near the end.
  • Foreshadowing: See Ironic Echo.
  • Freudian Excuse: Watch the Fabrication Machine in the flashback where the scientist creates it. It appears to flail around when the scientist is dragged away from it, almost as if it's trying to reach out to him. After that is when it starts throttling Mooks.
  • Fridge Brilliance: Though you may notice it during if you're thinking about this hard enough... why aren't any of the bodies rotting? "The gas killed everything." Including, say bacteria.
  • The Fundamentalist: 3 guesses who. Or maybe 1.
  • Gadgeteer Genius: 2 and The Scientist who created the sackdolls. The Fabrication Machine has this in it's job description, and can create Killer Robots from pretty much anything that's lying around. This is because it has the Scientist's intelligence.
  • Gainax Ending: The end is left absolutely open to interpretation as to the future of the world.
  • Geometric Magic: The talisman.
  • The Glomp: 2's reaction to seeing 7 alive and well.
  • Gone Horribly Wrong: From the Chancellor's perspective: A sentient frabrication machine created in a time of war ? There's no chance it'll turn against us.
  • Gone Horribly Right: From the Scientist's perspective: The Fabrication Machine is a bit too good in building stuff.
  • Grumpy Old Man: 1
  • Hard Head: 2 get's smacked in the head by 9 with a monkey wrench. Despite how old he seems, he walks around with little trouble after 9 helps him stand. (maybe his hat absorbed some of the blow...?)
  • The Hero: 1 would LOVE to think he is, but... come on, the movie's titled '9'.
  • Hearing Voices: Though it is only slightly hinted at in the viral sites (and almost not in the movie) many fans believe that 6 hears voices in his head.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: 1. 9 attempted it right before that too.
    • 1: "Sometimes one must be sacrificed for the good of many" This is also a case of Foreshadowing, because when 1 originally said it, he was talking about how he sent 2 off.
  • Heterosexual Life Partners: 5 and 2.
  • Hey Its That Voice: Basically it's a parade of this trope.
    • Elijah Wood as 9
    • Christopher Plummer as 1
    • John C. Reilly as 5
    • Jennifer Connelly as 7
    • Crispin Glover as 6
    • Martin Landau as 2
    • Fred Tatasciore as 8.
    • Alan Oppenheimer as the Scientist
  • High Octane Nightmare Fuel: Any mechanical monster.
    • THE SEAMSTRESS AUGH. A giant snake with a porcelain doll's head that grafts the dead body of 2 onto her tail and uses it to hypnotize 8 into submission, before sewing him inside her body and dragging 7 away and boasts numerous appendages just designed for chopping up innocent stitchpunk skin. That thing will haunt my dreams.
      • Also: To silence 8, she sews his mouth shut. Yeah...
    • That "chopping up innocent stitchpunk skin" echoes the original short, wherein one shot clearly shows part of 5's fabric sewn into the body of the original Beast.
    • Just watching the Winged Beast's construction is pure nightmare fuel. You see The Fabrication Machine grabbing random bits of scrap, fabric, and human bones, and pull them together off screen. Then a beaked shadow rises up, it's eyes light up and it starts screaming.
    • The fabrication machine approaching timed to Over the Rainbow was particularly haunting.
    • Anytime someone's soul gets sucked out, but perhaps 5's was the worst, thanks to all his panicked screaming and shouting "No!" over and over again. And the hole burnt in his eyepatch afterwards... brr.
  • Ho Yay: It breathes this trope. Come on, only one character (7) is distinctly female, and two (3 and 4) might be interpreted either way. It's practically canon. 5 especially seems to be a magnet for this.
  • Hoist By His Own Petard: The Chancellor.
  • Idiot Ball: At first, the Talisman seems to be a physical manifestation of this at times. First of all, when 2 has it, he makes 9 hide from the Beast, but makes no attempt to do the same. And then when 9 has it... see Too Dumb To Live.
  • Idiot Hero: Oh 9, you just had to hit every branch on the stupid tree when you fell didn't you? Though one could argue that he is just too curious and extremely unlucky.
  • Impairment Shot: Used when 9 wakes up in the infirmary.
  • Implacable Man: The Fabrication Machine; justified given its size compared to the stitchpunks.
  • Infant Immortality: Brutally subverted when 9 finds the corpses of a mother and infant in a car.
    • Also played straight in that 3 and 4, the most childlike of the bunch, survive the ending.
  • Ironic Echo: See the Meaningful Echo below.
  • It Got Worse: All the time. After 7 kills the Beast, 9 awakens the Fabrication Machine. After they kill the Winged Beast, Mr. Fab sends the Seamstress. When they kill the Seamstress, Mr. Fab sends his spider robot mook things. When they blow the factory up, Mr. Fab pulls a Disney Death, kills 5 and 6, and then kills 1 before they finally kill it. The poor sackdolls just can't catch a break.
  • Jerk Ass: 1 and 8
  • Jerk With A Heart Of Gold: 1 and 8 both show a few signs of being this, but they're pretty good at hiding it until the very end.
  • Kick The Dog: 1 sent 2 to die.
  • Lady Of War: 7.
  • The Lancer: 8 is this for 1, while 5 and 7 take turns being 9's lancer.
  • Life Energy: Some people think that souls are essentially this in this universe.
  • Little Black Dress: Every character in fandom verse. Especially 5. And 7. But mostly 5.
  • Love At First Sight: 9 appeared to have this for 7
  • Mad Artist: 6 spends most of his time drawing.
  • Mad Eye: 6's left eye is slightly larger than his right.
  • Madness Mantra: "The source...the source...go back..."
  • Mad Oracle: 6 has a strong taste of this.
  • Magitek: The dolls and Fabrication Machine. Also a case of Magic From Technology, possibly.
  • Meaningful Echo: "Sometimes 1 must be sacrificed for the good of many."
  • Memetic Mutation: "THIS IS SMASHING!!!" Bizarrely, the line never actually appeared in the film.
    • "Pope Doll is NOT AMUSED."
  • Mentor Occupational Hazard: Both 2 and 5 this time.
  • Mook Maker: The Fabrication Machine itself.
  • Mood Whiplash
  • Nakama: Subverted. If you read the Scientist's journal, the stitchpunks were SUPPOSED to act like this from the start, not the way they turned out.
  • Narm Charm: The "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" sequence is really, really over the top. That doesn't stop the payoff from being terrifying.
  • A Nazi By Any Other Name: The Chancellor, of course.
  • Nice Hat: 1's hat looks similar to a bishop's miter.
    • What, no love for 2's candlestick hat?
    • 7's skullmet is pretty nice, though it may fall under Mask Power as well.
  • Nice Job Breaking It Hero: The first chance he gets, 9 sticks the talisman into an outlet without thinking about it at all. This not only kills 2 but wakes up the Fabrication Machine. As 1 points out, and not inaccurately, "Ever since you got here, things have been unraveling!"
  • Non Action Guy: 9 is mostly pulled along by 7 during the action sequences
  • No Sense Of Personal Space: The twins, 3 and 4. But 5 gets really touchy feely too.
  • Nine Man Band
  • Obstructive Bureaucrat: 1. Totally.
  • Oh Crap: Mostly 5 and 9, but everyone gets their moment.
    • Mr. Fab has one when the Stitchpunks's barrel ignites the chemicals in the factory.
  • Our Homunculi Are Different: The Scientist's soul-transfer device is shown to be based on the alchemist Paracelsus's creation of a homunculus.
  • Outrun The Fireball: At least twice.
  • Psychic Powers: 6 has both precognition and postcognition, turning the visions into drawings.
  • The Quiet One: 8.
  • Redemption Equals Death: 1 sacrifices himself to give the remaining heroes a chance to remove the talisman.
  • Red Eyes Take Warning: The Fabrication Machine and its offspring.
  • Red Herring: The key that 6 carries.
  • Reflective Eyes: 6's death is seen in 9's optics
  • Requisite Royal Regalia: 1's getup seems to be leaning toward this.
  • Relationship Writing Fumble: It's amazing how many fans saw more chemistry between 9 and 5 than between 9 and 7.
  • Robo Cam
  • Rule Thirty Four: And not just for what you'd expect, either. There exists (Not Safe For Sanity) 8/4 porn.
    • Not to mention 1/9, Twins/6, 5/7, 8/9...and Scientist/Chancellor at least once.
  • Samus Is A Girl: 7
  • Science Is Bad: Subverted. Although "Science has turned against us!" is a prominent line, the guy who says it is actually the totalitarian dictator who's really to blame for the whole mess. When 9 finds the Scientist's video message, he learns the Fabrication Machine is simply a neutral technology that was easily corruptible. That said, every other word out of 1's mouth is some condemnation of human science. And regardless of what set it off, the villain is still technological progress.
    • There is also another subversion in that the stitchpunks themselves were created thanks to science.
  • Screw The Rules, I'm Doing What's Right: 9 and 7. And 5, sort of. We later found out 2 was, too.
  • Ship Tease: 7 and 9, 5 and 9.
  • Shrinking Violet: 5 seems to have certain characteristics of this at the beginning of the movie. Which of course only adds to his status as The Woobie.
  • Shout Out: The only female stitchpunk is 7 of 9. Her fighting style and bird's skull helmet make her reminiscent of a Dragon Knight / Dragoon. The Seamstress is a snake / spider monster which hypnotizes it's victims with bright lights and uses the image of a dead friend as a lure, as well as having an eerily familiar baby doll head. The pterodactyl has a head that completely opens up. One character wears a helmet reminiscent of that of a Big Daddy.
  • Single Minded Twins: 3 and 4. Pretty close, anyway.
  • Slash Fic: And God knows there's a lot of it for a movie about sackdolls (sort of). 5/9, 5/2, 5/6, 6/8, 1/2...
  • Slouch Of Villainy: 1 isn't an outright villain, but he does one of these at the end of his introduction.
  • The Smart Guy: 9, 5, 3, 4, and 2 all have their genius moments.
  • The Smurfette Principle: 7 is the only female sackdoll of the group.
  • So Okay Its Average: While the animation is great, just about everyone is in agreement that the story won't be winning any awards. Rounded characters and symbolism make up for a lot of it though
  • Soundtrack Dissonance: "Over the Rainbow" plays as the Fabrication Machine pulls a Disney Death and pursues, and then captures/kills 5.
  • Stupid Jetpack Hitler: The Chancellor, and his "machines of peace and prosperity"...
  • Taking The Bullet: 1.
  • Team Mom: 7 seems to be this to 3 and 4, if not to the rest of the group.
  • Tear Jerker: The whole movie. Especially 2's funeral, what happens right before the end (sad) and the end (happy?).
  • Thank The Maker: The scene when the Seamstress presents 8 to the Fabrication Machine REEKS of this.
  • Throwing Your Sword Always Works
  • Too Dumb To Live: Many fans agree that 9 himself embodies this trope at the beginning of the movie. He gets better later on... kinda
    • In his defense he is LESS THAN A DAY OLD for most of the movie. And you could say he's very unlucky.
  • Trailers Always Spoil: In some cases it's "blink and you'll miss it," but some of the trailers and TV spots actually reveal that some of the main characters will die, and even show which ones.
  • Troubled Fetal Position: After the death of 2 5 is sitting in this position while hiding, even rocking back and forth slightly.
  • Twin Telepathy: Possibly how 3 and 4 can understand each other.
  • Viewer Gender Confusion: 3 and 4. Seriously. Try to figure out what gender they are without the Word Of God, which says "open to interpretation".
  • The Voiceless: 3 and 4 never speak, using lights and film to communicate with each other and others respectively.
  • Waif Prophet: 6 gives off a general impression of being childlike, and is the shortest stitchpunk according to the heights in the scientist's facebook posts; he also doesn't seem to be entirely sane, given the obsessive talisman-drawing and the way he blurts out what his powers tell him without any attempt to explain what he's talking about.
  • Wall Full Of Crazy: 6 fills up a wall of the church attic with scribblings of the talisman. This is ostensibly his purpose, as all his fingers are fountain pen nibs.
  • Well Intentioned Extremist: 1.
  • What Do You Mean Its Not Awesome
  • What Do You Mean Its Not For Kids: A disturbing number of idiots who brought small children along, despite the commercials clearly stating it was not a children's animated movie. Needless to say, most were in tears by the middle of the film.
  • What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic: 2's funeral is very reminiscent of practices in Ancient Greece. Specifically, giving the dead a coin so they could pay passage down the River Styx.
    • The cowardly, constantly in-denial of what's going on around him 1 lives in a church, wears a Pope hat, constantly berates 9 for questioning things, and many of the answers to their problems are found in a large, "bastion of knowledge" type library. Real subtle, guys.
    • And the ragdolls who survived the ending? 9 (Adam), 7 (Eve), 3 and 4 (Cain and Abel. But not the trope, thank God.)
  • What The Hell Hero: Pretty much everyone, after 9 activates the Machine and gets 2 killed.
  • What Were You Thinking: Asked of 9 after the above event. Good question, 7. Very good question.
  • When A Jerk Loves A Tsundere: The trope name, at least, could apply to 8 and 1 respectively, although the "love" in question is moreso unconditional loyalty. Then again they do seem to share some level of trust that the others can't seem to gain...and of course, there was the hug. Awww.
  • The Woobie: At times, 5 could really use a hug.
  • Woobie Destroyer Of Worlds: This is almost purely fan related. Some fans see the Fabrication Machine as an angry little kid who can't control his emotion, leading to a temper tantrum that destroyed humanity. This is supported by the Russian version where the Scientist said the Machine recognized him and let him live.
  • World War One: The trailer seems to hint that the film takes place after the War. Whereas some of the technology seen in flashbacks during the movie proper (four-engined bombers, Molotov cocktails, 1930's-40's styled helmets) seems evocative of World War Two. Perhaps some kind of Alternate History? The film definitely depicts an Alternate History. If you look at the newspapers, you'll notice they were dated sometime in the 1930s. Of course, the setting and general aesthetic is consistent with this as well. The Nazi-like government. The old-style vinyl record phonograph and accompanying music collection. The walkers equipped with Vickers-like machine guns.
  • X Meets Y: "Fallout 3 meets Little Big Planet."
    • The Huffington Post describes it as "The Terminator meets Wall E".
    • "Toy Story vs. The Matrix"...the Fabrication Machine even looks like a Squiddy.
    • "Sackboys fight a steampunk Skynet in a post-apocalyptic Little Big Planet."