Tron

Until about a year ago I’ve never heard about Tron before. Well, I’ve probably heard about it, I guess I’ve seen something similar on TV but I haven’t really looked into it. Then, with all the hype surrounding Tron Legacy I was pushed into “Flynn’s world”.

This week I’ve finally managed to watch the original Tron. Tron premiered in 1982 and it was a “medium-weak” moving using state-of-the-art 3D CGI images mixed with human actors. Explaining, Tron was one of the first movies (28 years ago!) to combine computer generated images with real live performances. Well, how many movies don’t do this nowadays? 2 out of 10?
At a first glance Tron is a really poor movie. The idea is great, though the dialog is crappy… Nevertheless, Tron was released in 1982!!! And from that point of view this is a fantastic movie! Ok, it’s not Blade Runner or ET or The Wrath of Khan but it’s a very entertaining (Disney) family movie!

Looking at the concept, the plot is focused around a “hacker”, trying to clear is name in a technology company controlled by an evil “Master Control Program”, that gets digitalized into a virtual world and has to help a defense program (Tron) to destroy the Master Control Program. So… evil virtual Master Control Program… Skynet anyone? Agent Smith? Humans inside a virtual world? What? Like the Matrix?

Tron may not be the original source for this hot idea in movies about robotic/digital entities trying to annihilate humanity but it definitely has it’s place in movie history. And such a place has gave this movie a new life. Maybe because of the current hype surrounding 3D or everything digital, Disney is re-exploring Tron with a new movie to release this year. This time it’s focused on Flynn’s son journey into the digital world…

And if you really want to know what evolution is (in movies and in computer graphics), here are the original Tron trailer (from 1982) and the teaser and first trailer for 2010’s Tron legacy. Just look at those lightcycles!

Go and see Tron and get hyped for December’s Tron Legacy prémiere here, here and here.