In the end, the five shorts not written by the Wachowskis expand on themes introduced in the movies, such as alternate routes of escape (''World Record'') and what computer bugs look like to humans living inside the Matrix (''Beyond''). The other four segments deviate substantially from the Wachowskis' initial story treatments. Shinichiro Watanabe, creator of the highly rated Cartoon Network series and current movie ''Cowboy Bebop,'' feared the brothers would be upset by his revisions to their ''Kid's Story.'' ''It was almost a total change,'' he says of the short, in which a high schooler outmaneuvers agents and teachers alike. ''In the original story he runs away on foot, but I used a skateboard.'' He also added an eyebrow-raising ending in which the protagonist escapes the Matrix by jumping off the roof of his school. The Wachowskis were unperturbed by the changes, but the jarring finale may be one reason ''Kid's Story'' was pulled from the lineup of films on the Web (it will appear intact on the video).
Here's a short-by-short account of what ''The Animatrix'' has to offer:
1. FINAL FLIGHT OF THE OSIRIS The plot of the ''Enter the Matrix'' videogame (out on all platforms May 15), as well as the first act of ''Reloaded,'' is set up in director Andy Jones' visual marvel, which begins with an erotic swordfight and ends with a swarming mass of robot sentinels.
2. MATRICULATED An abstract psychedelic trip from Peter Chung, creator of MTV's ''Aeon Flux,'' explores a virtual world created by humans and inhabited by machines. Think of it as the anti-Matrix.
3. KID'S STORY In Watanabe's rough-hewn segment, reminiscent of Richard Linklater's ''Waking Life,'' a teenager escapes the virtual world. A live-action incarnation of The Kid reappears in ''Reloaded'' as part of Neo's posse.
4. PROGRAM This short from Yoshiaki Kawajiri, director of the Japanimated cult fave ''Ninja Scroll,'' is drawn in the traditional anime style, with flat tableaux and overly moist eyes. It pits samurai in a duel and shows that not every training simulation looks the way it did in ''The Matrix.''
5. WORLD RECORD Agents attempt to outrun a sprinter who glimpses the real world through sheer physical strength. ''Program'''s Kawajiri crafted it to look like a German expressionist film on steroids.
6. & 7. THE SECOND RENAISSANCE PARTS 1 AND 2 Filled with visual references to the Holocaust, Vietnam, and the Tiananmen Square uprising, Mahiro Maeda's two disturbing segments detail the origins of the Matrix.
8. A DETECTIVE STORY The PI in this futuristic noir tracks Trinity using 1940s technology. Director Watanabe made the film in black and white to evoke photos of the era.
9. BEYOND Children discover a ''haunted house'' in the Matrix where the laws of physics are bendable. Agents in hazmat suits swap the paradise with an empty lot.
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