Chronopolis as a Soviet-style "closed city"

[FaustWolf]

I just came across an article on Wikipedia about "closed cities" used for scientific -- often military -- research in ye olde USSR. I've always been curious that Belthasar's research facility should be called Chronopolis, the suffix having an obvious connotation with cities. For example, we're familiar with words like "metropolis" and "megalopolis." When I think of Chronopolis in terms of "metropolis" I feel kind of confused as to why there should be a top-secret research facility in the middle of a bustling and most likely well connected city. The "polis" makes more sense to me in the Soviet "closed city" context, where you'd presumably find a community of researchers living in an off-the-record location.

Perhaps someone familiar with Greek history and the proper meaning of the word "polis" can provide some evidence to disconnect Chronopolis from the closed city example, but I'm tempted to suggest a connection. There's the whole scary-sounding "Central Regime" that overshadowed Chronopolis, and Kato potentially has a proven fascination with top secret government thingies in his work on the NES Ninja Gaiden series, all three of which had scenarios related to the US CIA. It's possible Kato turned to the other side of the Iron Curtain for inspiration later on.

In Soviet Russia, does time travel you?

[utunnels]

I don't see many similarities, the Chronopolis is just an heavily guarded military restrict zone to the outside, but it does time research secretly -- it is not a "city".

BTW, it seems the term is used in many places
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronopolis

[FaustWolf]

One thing led to another after you posted that, and I tracked this down on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeeHO6rWpYw

An 80s French stop-motion animation film entitled "Chronopolis." Even though the probability of influence on Kato may be slight, it's worth checking out just as an art film -- and an incredibly spooky one at that. I love that kinda thing. Lord J Esq pointed out a novel called "The Fall of Chronopolis" earlier. It'd be interesting to know which of these cultural artifacts influenced Kato in the writing of Chrono Cross, or if any of them even did.

[GenesisOne]

Let's break it down (courtesy of dictionary.com and wiktionary.org):

"Chrono" is a prefix term meaning “time,” used in the formation of compound words.  Also, a prefix for words in which there is relation to time.

"Polis" is a suffix term, meaning “city,” appearing in loanwords from Greek (metropolis), and used in the formation of place names (e.g. Indianapolis).

So in this case, Chronopolis could be a city(-state) existing in relation to time (or its passage thereof).