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TRON 20th Anniversary Edition DVD Reviewed
Review: TRON 20th Anniversary Collector's Edition, 2 Disc DVD set
January 15, 2002, issued a special edition DVD set of TRON. For those of you who have never seen the film, I mention some plot details revealed in the third of the film.
First, the film itself. It's a fantasy about a computer programmer who gets pulled inside the mainframe at the company where he used to work while trying to hack into the system to retrieve evidence that one of the execs stole programs from him. While inside the computer world (on the other side of the video game screen) he's forced to play the games that he's programmed, while trying to keep the computer world safe for democracy. It's an interesting plot premise, and who wouldn't want to go inside his computer and interact with programs as people?
The film is paced reasonably well, the script carries through but is kind of klunky in some places. The computer world scenes are visually stunning, and the DVD is an excellent transfer. If you have the means, I highly recommend watching it on a progressive-scan player. The original film was released in 6-track magnetic 70mm, and the sound track carries through very well. In addition to the back-lit animation for the "program" characters in the computer world, the film has 20 minutes plus of pure CG generated footage, unheard of at that time.
If you like the film at all, the special edition is definitely worth the extra money. Disney's standard DVDs are single-layer letter-box; this is two double-layer disks. The first disk has the film, on a THX certified "Enhanced for Widescreen TVs" presentation. The commentary track on the film is interesting and informative.
The second disc has all the extra material, and there's a huge amount of it. There's a 1 1/2 hour "making of" feature; also many hundreds of storyboards and photographs from the set for comparison. There are shorts talking about specific aspects of the production, and the usual previews, deleted scenes, publicity material, and lots of interviews with production and cast members.
An excellent presentation of an excellent film; a must-have for any science fiction fan.
Film Ratings:
Plot Originality: 8.5
Pacing: 7
Characterizations: 6.5
Dialog and Plot Coherence: 6
Visual Impression: 8.5
Geekness "Cool!" Factor: 8
Overall: 8
DVD Specific Ratings (Special Edition):
Film Transfer: 8.5
Sound Transfer: 7.5
Commentary Track: 7.5
Making Of Feature: 8
Other Additional Material: 8
Overall: 8
(All ratings are from 0 to 10 inclusive, 10 being better, with the ratings 2 through 8 encompassing 99% of all films.)
If you don't like the DVD, you can recreate your own deadly 'Discs of Tron' game in real life!
air and light and time and space
So whether Tron brings back fond memories, or only serves to show you what movies before your birth,
Back before you were born, computer movies were about real computer components with real terms; obviously, they had contracted computer technicians/scientists to ensure they were truely discussing computers so that the computer intelligent would not be offended... Unlike movies like "Hackers" or "The Net" where they didn't even ask a computer person anything, they just made stuff up...
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
This is TRON, for gawd's sake. It's a slam-dunk 10 on the geekiness scale.
Nothing for 6-digit uids?
And again, I have to eat the cost of my fist TRON DVD, purchased before I knew there would be a TRON SE disc. Sigh.
I saw TRON at the theater when it cam out. I was 9 or 10 at the time. We got a Sincalir ZX-81 with 16k RAM about the same time. That movie got me into computers like nobody's business. Imagining the CPU and RAM and electrons flowing through them. WOW! It is a little bit dated now, but when you are 9 years old you absorb the images and ideas like a sponge.
Seeing as how Tron came out before I was born, I only got to see it for the first time recently. Even though it's old and outdated, it still kicks :) I'm definatly going to buy the dvd set and have a girls night out and make all of em watch it *evil laugh
see sig. see sig run. run sig run.
I realise this is slightly off-topic, but is anybody else disgusted with Disney's habit of putting out letterboxed versions, rather than Widescreen"Enhanced for 16x9 Television" editions?
I wanted to buy Hercules the other day - only letterboxed editions available. I have a 16x9 HD-Ready television, and it's either watch a terribly distorted picture, or watch it in 30% of the viewable area of the display.
Thankfully, their "Collectors Editions" (when available) have the enhanced versions, but some are simply not available.
Technology marches on, Disney! I won't buy them
For those of you who have never seen the film, I mention some plot details revealed in the third of the film.
Why are they only releasing a third of the film on DVD? :)
If you want a film to geek out on get the new release of Evil dead. Tron is almost as boring as waiting for the Enterprise to fly all the way through V'ger.
One of the cooler extras: CG animation dating from about 1974(!), developed for advertising purposes. Slightly disappointing: less work-in-progress on some of the famous sequences than I would have liked to see. Well worth the buy nonetheless.
I don't know about everybody else, but I already picked up a copy of Tron. It may not have been as good as the Star Wars movies, but it was one of my favorites when I was growing up. Do you believe in users?
If it won't boot, Fsck it!
I was happy as a clam that only 6 years later, I was doing similar CG on my Amiga (minus the 'light trails' from the flying discs)
I'm convinced it was done earlier as a proof-of-concept or something, but they thought it was so cool they had to work it in.
Can someone who has the new edition comment on that -- were the grid bugs supposed to be important and then cut down, or are they just a funny aside tossed in?
-- q
i remember not going near a computer for a while after seeing that movie, for fear it would bring malicious acts against me. midnight commander had never been so evil looking.......
Raise your hand if you can close your eyes and make yourself "hear" the sound of the cycles warming up from the video-game... if you can make yourself "see" the guy ALMOST losing his balance from Disks Of Tron... if you can perfectly picture the exact shade bright blue that permeated the movie....
Tron!
God is real unless declared integer
gevmage (Craig Steffen) writes with the review below of the new DVD boxed set of Tron, which he says is a "must-have for any science fiction fan." So whether Tron brings back fond memories, or only serves to show you what movies [were like] before your birth, read on for his take on the set. If you're not familiar with Tron at this late stage, beware of a few spoilers within.
Review: TRON 20th Anniversary Collector's Edition, 2 Disc DVD set
January 15, 2002, [Disney] issued a special edition DVD set of TRON. For those of you who have never seen the film, I mention some plot details revealed in the [final] third of the film.
And that's just in the first few paragraphs! Can we have a little copy editing here?
The powerful graphics, the realism, the plot.
Excuse me while I drill my eyes out with a dull screwdriver.
Sig Return: 204 No Content
Yeah, and the review neglects to mention the overpowering hints on the DVD regarding "Tron 2.0".
The sequel is coming.
Hibbert: No.
Lisa: No.
Marge: No.
Wiggum: No.
Bart: No.
Patty: No.
Wiggum: No.
Ned: No.
Selma: No.
Frink: No.
Lovejoy: No.
Wiggum: Yes. I mean... um, I mean, no. No, heh.
I just saw Tron for the first time and... *sob* WHAT HAVE I DONE? All those programs I've deleted over the years... Oh, the humanity...
If you'd like a review with some actual depth, check out DVDFile's, which goes into much greater detail as to the picture & sound quality as well as what the extras are all about. This thread at Home Theater Forum also has more useful feedback about the disc.
IMHO, it's a pretty nice disc. The picture quality is good, the sound is sweet and the extras really show you in great detail how it was all done.
No challenge you say?
Consider that you would still have to bounce the ball off the ceiling. AND that 99.999% of us have never touched and a piece of Jai Alai equipment and even coming close to someone should earn you a point like in horseshoes.
I guess you could use those cheap plastic "scoops" to get a one-on-one game going
Takes me back to when my friend had a "Thundertree" rigged up with tire swings and platforms that was inspired by Beyond Thunderdome...anyways, I'm rambling
---"What did I say that sounded like 'Tell me about your day?'"---
Program: It looks like you're trying to go to MSN.
Me: How do I get out of here?
Program: It looks like you're trying to buy some data. Would you like to use your Passport account?
Me: Do you ever shut up?
Program: It looks like you're trying to access help on help. Please have your Windows activation code ready.
Recently I heard an interview with one of the main guys at Disney who has been with Tron. He described it as being similar to the early "Bill Gates story." Bear with me. The MCP is the classic big iron central computer of the time. It was controlling and monolithic, like say.. IBM. It locks up programs and does mean things to users. In comes a rogue force which strikes back at the monolith. By going inside (like MS getting IBM's contract) it finds the weakness of the monolith and destroys it. This brings happiness to the programs and the users. While I don't think they really intended it to be the "Bill Gates story" (how could they at the time) the themes that made MS successful early on resonate soundly. Tron is a entertaining when you watch it with that perspective.
If you're a big fan of the movie, check out 'Armagetron' over on Freshmeat. Windows and X clients available, BE SURE to get the movie packs for images and sounds. The game is already well done, show some support and it can improve. (LAN play is fine, net play gets a little hairy.)
- billn
...and who wouldn't want to go inside his computer and interact with programs as people?
Uh, me for one. Time to get outside more, dude.
Everybody Wang-Chung tonight!
Bah. A pox on your house.
:Peter
It'd be interesting to see what the computer program inside are like now. Would they have multiple personalities because of all the people involved? Would open source programs be transparent?
Is the MCP still around, only he's calling himself Windows?
I was really excited about this edition and bought it shortly after its release. Unfortunately, there is a flaw in the disc which makes it unplayable on a PS2. In the eighth scene, during a conversation in the holding cell, there as a graphic error that causes a PS2 to totally flip out. Fortunately for everyone with a real DVD player, this is a small enough glitch to go unnoticed on all but the PS2. I did try returning the disc, but the replacement had the exact same flaw and when I took it back again, they guy at the store said there had been complaints at other stores.
The movie is great, if you can get it to play, and the special features are nice. My favorite part of the disc is the menus. I will try purchasing this edition again when either Sony updates their DVD drivers to address issues like this or Disney re-issues the disc with a new master (to remove the flaw).
End of Line
Keep an eye out for the new tron movie.
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0208650
I don't see how this can't be a total flop, given historical sequals/remakes of classics, but we can hope.
"Not knowing when the dawn will come, I open every door." - Emily Dickinson
He wasn't hacking his former work system, he was CRACKING IT!
If the astutue can't get it right, how can we expect the neophytes in the news media to get it right.
The movie is fsck'ing 20 years old.
Are you?
t_t_b
I'm on PJ's "enemies" list! Are you?
with its super duper transvergent multiple crossing psychodellic translucent quadratic multiple attack virus create by a macho programmer at an interface we ALL HAVE, jumping for joy, excited, and programming away like he's in a Quake tournament isn't reality?
.. screwy programmers.
I'm shocked! Now I have nothing to work for.
As for Tron, excellent movie. Just and FYI for anyone who does not know. Watch the landscape when there on "air ship" (with the sails) moving along the "bus" (network cable?). You will see something
-- Knowing too much can get you killed, but knowing who knows too much can make you rich.
fyi. when you play the new tron dvd in ps2. when it switches between layers. it puts little green blocks all over the screen.. you need to fast foward through that part of the movie (10 seconds) and it will play fine... ericxedge
We were living in England and something about the formats was different over there...luckily a friends dad had a GIANT tape collection but it was all on BETA!!! So my dad went over and dubbed Tron but never got a round to anything else...
That music haunts me sometimes though...
---"What did I say that sounded like 'Tell me about your day?'"---
Man, I loved TRON so much when I was a kid. Besides seeing the movie and renting the VHS cassette over and over again, I pumped dozens of dollars into TRON and DISCS of TRON game machines.
When I first heard that TRON was going to get a SE DVD I was ecstatic. Then I remembered who produced TRON. I remembered the fight in congress to introduce the SSSCA, which has been largely fueled by that same company.
So, thank you, Disney, for giving me a wonderful experience in my youth. Thanks, but no thanks, for the TRON SE DVD. I won't spend my money to help a company that wants to surgically remove my rights to do what I want to with my computer or any media I buy.
If you have any feeling at all about the SSSCA don't spend your money on the TRON SE DVD.
The next Slashdot story will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and slashdot the links early!
This is pointed out time and time again, but it bears repeating:
SLASHDOT USER 1: Fuckin' MPAA, man.
SLASHDOT USER 2: Totally.
SLASHDOT USER 1: Fuckin' fascists, tryin' to bring us down.
SLASHDOT USER 2: Yeah... they want to take away our fuckin' civil rights. Jack Valenti is such a fuckin' bastard.
SLASHDOT USER 1: Word.
SLASHDOT USER 2: Word.
SLASHDOT USER 1: So, how about that new TRON DVD?
SLASHDOT USER 2: Fuckin' cool, man.
SLASHDOT USER 1: Hey... what were we talking about?
SLASHDOT USER 2: Dunno. Wanna go see THE TIME MACHINE?
SLASHDOT USER 1: Sure.
SLASHDOT USER 2: Cool.
SLASHDOT USER 1: Fuckin' MPAA, man.
SLASHDOT USER 2: Totally.
Now I got that damn Tron theme stuck in my head.
Everybody must buy this DVD, even if it won't play in your region. Michael Eisner and Jack Valenti need all the money they can get to combat evil movie pirates.
Just trying to burn off karma.
but that movie was never any good. "Ooo a movie about computers!" Puh-lease. That doesn't make up for a weak plot and bad acting. If this movie was released now-days with up-to-date effects, it would bomb badly
You obviously never experienced it in all it's glorious theatrical release.
The Geek factor alone, at the time, made it worth sitting through three times in a row. It was a world previously experienced only by SIGGRAPH attendees, and only then in 10 minute shorts.
This movie was that world delivered to the masses, Drooling Geeks, included. And we loved it!
satire, n: 1) witty language used to convey insults or scorn; 2) a form of humor lost on most slashdot moderators.
I remember tron from when I was a kid, and wanted a
copy since I couldnt remember parts of it too well.
All in all the DVD was well done, but I dont recommend this
for people born after 1980. It will probably bore them.
I'll avoid the natural comments about Disney and the MPAA and SSSCA and all that crap and address the review.
This is kind of a minor nitpick for a rant, but someone has to bring it up.
One of the common elements in DVD reviews that I read is whether or not the video is anamorphic. For some viewers -- especially those with TVs that can take advantage of the enhanced resolution -- that is an issue. Whenever a widescreen DVD is reviewed it should be noted whether or not the video is anamorphic, I've refused to purchase discs because of that issue.
BTW, the video, from what I've read, is anamorphic -- though Disney in the past was notorious about only releasing "letterbox" movies in 4:3, not 16:9.
STOP MISUSING APOSTROPHES, YOU MORONS!!!
PRON 20th anniversary! Let's go check out some nekkid people!
Oh, wait...
+1 Insightful, -1 Troll. What can I say, I'm an Insightful Troll.
I first realized that I was a geek when I was younger programming on my C64 and I was acting like my programs were from the movie TRON. Anytime I couldn't get a program to work I could swear the MCP was behind it.
I reckon there's more information about the film from the "Buy it now" page at Amazon than this "article". What's the point of writing a review if it's only going to be a few hundred lines long. Why not just write "It rocks!" and leave it at that?
I am not a number! I am a man! And don't you
Tron ruled! Its probably still pretty cool. But I have a thing about giving disney my money... Maybe for tron 2.
God spoke to me
What makes you think it didn't bomb in the first place? (-:
TRON supposedly had poor original box office. There have even been jokes about it in both The Simpsons and Freakazoid!.
I personally liked the movie, but the added depth of the movie's novelization makes it clear that Disney was too afraid to pursue the "user as god, program as worshiper" story concept to its fullest. The novel also included the "romantic" deleted scene as a key plot element.
Those who complain about affect & effect on
I've partaken in both of these things. Somehow I managed not to kill myself? Then why do I need little plastic plugs in all of the outlets for kids these days?
Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
It makes for a fascinating story, especially considering the future of classic works -- will they be lost forever when the media disintegrates?
-- We live in a world where lemonade is artificial and soap has real lemon.
The really neat thing about the Jai Alai scene is that Flynn's competitor Pete Jurasick the same guy who would go on to play Londo Mollari in Babylon 5. It really hard to recognize him without Londo's trademark hair.
OBVIOUSLY, to avoid having little 2 year old "lit-up" Tron re-enactors.
Turn off the lights and the kids glow as they fly across the room
ZZhhCK. "Mommy!"
---"What did I say that sounded like 'Tell me about your day?'"---
I bought the 20th anniversary edition the day it cam out, and watched it that night with my 17 year-old son and a buddy of mine. I've got a 36" screen (non-projection) TV, and normally like to watch with some lights on in the room, but I made an exception for this viewing, and it was well worth it. The TRON universe, for those out of the loop, is *black*, with the only light being provided by the inhabitants. It was visually stunning in a dark theater 20 years ago, and it was equally so in my dark living room.
As for the CGI, I was a regular attendee at SIGGRAPH in the early '80s, and I think I recall seeing some previews of the movie's special effects. Of course, as is pointed out in the "making of ..." feature, this was before it was called "CGI". I was doing a far amount of computer modeling back then (which is why I was at all those SIGGRAPH's), so several other parts of the "making of ..." feature resonated with me. At one point they talk about running a program to calculate a trajectory, getting a printout, and then reading it over the phone to someone on the other side of the country who was entering the numbers into a computer at their end. Speaking as someone who once or twice did something similar, that doesn't just make you appreciate the Internet, it makes you appreciate modems!
BTW, there is one complaint that I have with the "making of ..." feature. There aren't any chapters! The show is divided into three sections, but there's no way to skip directly to any of them.
The review doesn't mention it, but the 2nd DVD also has a couple of deleted scenes. While just about everyone interviewed says that, in retrospect, they wish the scenes had stayed in, I have to say that I agree with the decision that was made at the time. The "love scene" doesn't add anything to the plot, and in fact undercuts the later scene where Flynn kisses Yori.
Finally, there's one other surprise on the DVD. These days, most DVD's start with a "Coming Attractions" bit that you have to skip over. This one starts with something that looks and sounds at first glance like the standard Disney previews, except that it says "Coming soon from the scret lab". What follows strongly hints that TRON 2.0 is in productions. I can hardly wait!
Nothing for 6-digit uids?
..read the book! I read the book when I was about 9. It was pretty good (when you're 9). It had a lot more detail, a more romantic relationship between Tron and whassername. It also had them chased by Grid Bugs and a lot more complexity in the solar sailer (?) sequence. I always thought the Grid Bugs were cool.
The movie, game (first game), and book had such an impact on me as a kid that I programmed crappy little text-based Tron games of a complexity a little higher than "Hunt the Wumpus". Of course, that was on an Amdahl mainframe running Sharp APL, so I might be forgiven if they were less than visually stunning (the terminals were Volker-Craig 415 PFs). I personally think that writing in APL set my programming ability back by about three years in the long haul, but I digress.
this DVD just happens to be the Movie pick of the month at http:\\www.dvd-dweeb.com\reviews\pick.htm go figure
...I now present you with the lyrics to Heat of the Moment, combined with some extraneous text to sqeeze by the evil awful "not enough characters per line" filter. Many characters of useless stuff required to bypass this filer. Mary hada little spam. Tweedle deedle dee. Dubm-dilly-um. And all that other good stuff that *they* don't want you to have.
I never meant to be so bad to you
One thing I said that I would never do -
A look from you and I would fall from grace
And that would wipe the smile right from my face.
Do you remember when we used to dance
An incident arose from circumstance.
One thing let to another
we were young
And we would scream together songs unsung.
It was the heat of the moment
Tellin' me what our hearts meant
The heat of the moment shone in your eyes.
And now you find yourself in '82
The disco hot foots hold the jump for you.
you can't concent yourself with bigger things
You catch and pull a ride on the dragon's wings.
'cause it's the heat of the moment
The heat of the moment
the heat of the moment
Shone in your eyes.
And when your looks are gone and your alone
How many nights you sit beside the phone?
What were the things you wanted for yourself -
Teenage ambitions
you remember well.
It was the heat of the moment
Tellin' you what your heart meants
The heat of the moment shone in your eyes.
It was the heat of the moment
the heat of the moment
The heat of the moment shone in your eyes.
Heat of the moment
heat of the moment
heat of the mom
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
I liked this movie when it first came out because of the (then) high-tech graphics. The problem was, being only 12 at the time, and having just bought my first computer (a 16K TRS-80 color computer), I couldn't yet understand some of the concepts being presented in the movie. (What the hell was an I/O port?) Imagine what other, non-geek type people must have felt about the movie.
Now, after having used computers for 20 years, earning a living through computers, and after being exposed to the current 3D games and movie SFX, I realize just how dated the graphics seem now but which probably cost a lot to render back then.
The pacing of the movie is a little slow and will bore people especially if they don't have an affinity for computers. I like computers but I just couldn't wait to see the next scene. They could have sped it up a bit instead of dwelling on one particular area in order to present, fully, the computer world.
I like the girl in the movie though and I can now understand the concepts fully. I love this movie very much because it brings me back to those days of yesteryear when computing was so much simpler. and there still was so much to discover and to explore. This ranks up there with War Games (with Matthew Broderick).
There was an old BASIC command that I used to type just to get the feeling that I was bringing TRON to life. The command was TRON (TRacer ON). TROFF did the opposite which was to turn the TRacer OFF. This basically just listed the number of the program line that was being executed at that moment.
I'll recommend to my rich brother to buy the DVD so I can watch it too.
For the record, I liked Tron too, and I bought the SE, but if you want a movie that really kind of almost tries to get it right, catch "Paper Man" when it runs on late night TV sometime. Everyone forgets this movie, but it has elements of "War Games" and others of that ilk, and came out in 1971! It was a TV movie, but unfortunately it never made video. I'd love to see it uncut.
I bought a copy of the anniversary edition when it came out, and it had one of those annoying manufacturing errors where there's a bubble on the DVD medium. 20 minutes into the movie, everything goes green. I took it back to the store and exchanged it for a new copy, and had the same damn problem in the same damn place. Lousy manufacturing.
Every dollar you spend on buying DVDs these days goes to propping up a regime that is actively trying to take your freedoms away.
I hate extremists almost as much as I hate getting up on a soapbox, but for christ's sake, if you absolutely need to see a DVD, try checking it out from your local public library (if your library has DVDs) or at least rent it from blockbuster instead of buying it. And then, make sure that you rip it to divx format and share it on gnutella so no one else will buy the DVD either. Sure, today you're a pirate if you do that, but in one hundred years, you'll be a patriot! Just remember, the Boston Tea Party was a terrorist act...until they won.
Old enough to understand the in-jokes. Old enough to understand the technology when it wasn't yet kewl.
I haven't watched the Colossus, The Forbin Project for a while (talk about BIG iron) but I recall it as far more intelligent then anything made about computers since despite very dated tech. Colossus ordering the execution of the techies trying to disable it may have seemed a bit overboard but the intelligent firepower currently in use in Afghanistan is only one step away from being able to autonomously identify, target and kill an adversary.
If you don't want to repeat the past, stop living in it.
Of course, as a youth I really enjoyed Switched on Bach (I even have the double CD set of Switched on Brandenburgs in my car right now). It's amazing that she was a personal friend of the Moog family.
However, when I consider her later work (Digital Moonscapes, Beauty in the Beast, and even the Tron soundtrack), I see unrealized potential. I think that the recent "Switched on Bach 2000" is really sad from this perspective. My favorite piece that she actually composed herself was "Country Lane" from her Clockwork Orange soundtrack (I love the Dies Irea theme; I wish that she'd had more time to work on this score).
I don't know much about her decision to get a sex change, but sometimes I wonder what sort of an effect that had upon her musical output.
Still, AFAIK, Switched on Bach was the hottest-selling classical music album of all time...
Fun as it is to watch President Sheridan as a young geek who 'invented' Space Paranoids...
The poll I'd like to see: Considering the MPAA continued attacks on freedom, and the region coding/Macrovision issues, would you like slashdot to cover American DVD releases or not?
Sinclair 4 Sale on eBay
If you don't want to repeat the past, stop living in it.
> An excellent presentation of an
> excellent film; a must-have for
> any science fiction fan.
As big of a science fiction fan as I am, and as much as this film appeals to my inner-geek-child, I consider this movie a must-pass.
Disney is pushing hard for the SSSCA, because (near as I can tell) they consider you, me, world+dog a criminal.
Jon Johansen was indicted for the henious crime of distributing a tool that allowed people to watch the DVD's that they own in a manner that the wish to.
I dislike being treated as a criminal, and I prefer to not do business with organizations that do. I refuse to give any of my money to an organization that might use it to lobby congress for the SSSCA. I prefer to not help any member of the movie industry that would support such draconian acts as Mr. Johansen has endured.
Maybe I'll used the money I might've spent on the DVD and buy one of these
Damn tim robbins. Shawshank best movie ever, Antitrust third worst movie ever. #2 was The Mangler from the King short story. #1 was The Banker a crappy movie like American Psycho, a friend of mine thought it was the best movie ever so we rented it and he later confessed the first time he saw it was at 4:30am on cinimax while tripping acid.
I guess the "grid bugs" were just mentioned to explain why they couldn't afford to jump out of their simulation/ship when they got attacked a few minutes later. But yeah, it would've been nice to see them mentioned more than once.
I have a bigger problem with "Bit", personally. It hangs around Flynn's program at the start of the film. Then it hangs around Flynn. At no point does it offer useful advice to either one. And then it's gone, poof. Why was it even there? Probably just to make the movie look cooler or more "computer-like". *shrug*
(2,3-Benzopyrrole)
...hated this film. It's almost as bad as Last Starfighter - but at least that had real CG.
-- SIGFPE
Tron and Wargames were two of the most ACCURATE computer films of their day. Of course, they are also quite dated technologically, but still fun for us old-timers to watch. I still find myself tuning in just about any time they show up on the tube.
Serving your airship needs since 1995.
Actually, Tron did bomb in the theaters when it first came out... and I'll tell you why. It came out the same time as E.T.
I personally went and saw Tron by myself while my parents took my little sister to see E.T. (which I never bothered to see in the theaters), and I never regretted it.
Yes, there are problems with Tron in the PS2. I work for SCEA and talked to our hardware guys about this problem. They contacted Disney to find out what the problem was and found out that even though Disney had PS2's to test their DVD's on, they forgot to test them...so basically Tron is jacked up on the PS2. Stupid Disney.
Jakobud
If you're not familiar with Tron at this late stage, beware of a few spoilers within.
Mod that one up +5 Funny!
"Take that, MCP ^H^H PAA!"
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
A very talented artist. I was always amazed at what could be produced at 320x200x32. Note, that's 32 colours, not 32k!
:-)
A portfolio of his work is here.
The women in your life will love these gifts [blatent plug link]
Nah, they'll like these better.
If you don't want to repeat the past, stop living in it.
First, it was the logical personification of a computer concept: a "bit" that can only say yes or no. How can you NOT put that in a movie based in a computer world?
Second, comedic value. You can argue if you like if it was funny, but no doubt it tried to be. I can still hear the little guy "NONONONONO" as Flynn crashes his way around
---"What did I say that sounded like 'Tell me about your day?'"---
On a 20 year old movie?
I mean isn't that a weee bit of an oxymoron?
are in both Tron and Babylon 5 anyways?
Bruce Boxleitner and Peter Jurasick make two.
Disney == Bad. I'm hoping AOL tries to buy them out soon like some rumors indicate.
However, that's not the real reason why I won't be buying that movie. Am I the only one here that thinks Tron sucked? I saw it again a few years ago and no, the geek factor is not 8, it's off the charts. In fact, it's so high it ruined the whole movie. I couldn't stand to finish the movie.
In typical Disney fashion, it wasn't a movie written by geeks for geeks, but rather by geeks for geeks' Moms and children who need a personified analogy for all the parts of the computer in order to better understand computers. I could go on about how it could easily be the opening scene in the "Computers for Dummies" puppet show, but this is beginning to bore me...
Ironic that the movie mirrors "Big Blue" IBM vs. "little red" Microsoft, at the time anyway. http://www.angelfire.com/mn/nn/Tron.html
I read the whole (short) review, but where exactly are there spoilers in here, especially from the 3rd act of the movie? The review devotes only a few short sentences to the plot itself, and in most generic of terms. Almost everyone knows the basic premise of this movie, so this does not give anything away. Usually I appreciate the warning about spoilers, but here it's hardly necessary, as no details about the outcome are revealed, or any successes/failures of any of the characters.
Please subscribe to see the more insightful version of th
Flynn=Jesus Christ
According to the New Testament, Jesus was God... then he became Human so that through his sacrifice, all mankind would be saved.
According to Tron, Flynn was a User... then he became a Program, and by his sacrifice, all the user-created Programs were "saved".
Was this parallel on deliberate, or simply coincidental?
If you don't like the DVD, you can recreate your own deadly 'Discs of Tron' game in real life!
Oh, great. See what you just made me do? I'm now having to waste my time playing Deadly Disks of Tron on MAME rather than work on writing the next game...
Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr - looking for something to read? Check out my three free novels at MidnightRyder.org
The DVD really is very good.. I hadn't ever seen Tron properly, but knew that I just HAD to buy it when I heard they were making it into a special edition DVD - the game LightBikes (http://www.lightbikes.co.uk) kinda inspired me :)
:)
:)
It amazes me how the old computer graffix manage to come full circle and look quite impressively retro
Definately reccommend this DVD to anyone with a Sci-Fi interest, and of course it should be a part of ANY geeks DVD collection
"Hey! Unless this is a nude love-in, get the hell off my property!!"
Damnit, the one thing that bothers me about DVDs including deleted scenes is that you are seeing them completely out of context.
DVDs need the option of viewing the deleted scenes as part of the movie. I've seen it done (once, I think) and it was a lot of fun.
Take your favorite movie DVD and picture the option of viewing the extra scenes as part of the movie so it's seamless.
Maybe I just ask for too much...
"All the things I really like to do are either immoral, illegal, or fattening."
- Alexandar Woolcot
Every character responds in turn "No" except for Prof. Frink you lets slip "yes", but then quickly switches to "No".
And you call yourself a geek! Now get out of my comic shop!
and i hate all of you
I gained more appreciation for Tron when I read an article about it some time ago.
Tron is basically a modern day Gladiator flick. Moreso the parallels to Christ are quite numerous (in fact the screenwriter I think admited it was a modern reteling of Christ).
Think about it. The programs (us) are led to believe in the powerfull users (god). So one of the user's becomes a program (Jesus) and then free's the programs by dying and is reborn again (as a user/god). It even has the energy river that acts as a symbolism for babtism. There were a few more, but it's been some years and many beers since then.
"ratings 2-8 encompass 99% of films."
So in Plot Originality, Visual Impression, and Film Transfer, the DVD is better than 995 out of 1000 other DVDs (at least, I suppose his scale must be logarithmic or exponential?)
Sounds a little high.
sure you all love tron, but nothign is more fun than playing it for yourself!
armagetron
mad fun at lan parties, and theirs a linux release!
do i get a +5 for mentioning linux?
-
Sometimes I think the geek worldview would depress me if it weren't so f*cking pathetic I had to laugh...
That is all.
Seeing as it was really one of the first films ever to use Computer Graphics to produce such an impressive end result, I wonder how many of the (apparently few) people watching saw what was going on and realised it was time to change what they were doing and get into the computers in a BIG way?
I have to say.. if Tron wasn't a HUGE advert to show what potential computers had back then, I dont know what else was.
It still astounds me what they managed to do in 1982... I was still using a BBC Micro in 1990 and being really surprised what that could do!
"Hey! Unless this is a nude love-in, get the hell off my property!!"
I'm glad people are concerned about this. What we have is conflicting terminology.
Anamorphic is technicaly a lens system used in film cameras to squeeze an image.
DVDs use two methods to store widescreen movies. One is letterboxing, a-la VHS. This however puts out those that have widescreen TVs.
The other mothod is to stretch the image vertically. When played back by the DVD player on a normal TV, the images is compressed back and the black bars are added on the fly. However, on a wide screen TV, the image is stretched horizontally, filling the whole widescreen TV.
The second process is by far superior, but there is no industry standard way to label movies that have this feature. The mis-nomer "Anamorphic" is sometimes used. However, the term that is starting to become more standard is "Enhanced for widescreen TVs", which I mentioned in the review and that's precisely why I made a big deal about it.
Craig Steffen
http://www.craigsteffen.net
You've got a master control computer (can we say anti-christ) forcing all programs to recant their beliefs in their creator(s). [the users]
Than you have a "user" come down and dwell as a program. He then defeats the anti-christ/master control computer. And ascends into the heavens/users world.
Now, I see two possibilities for TRON 2.
1) The second coming?
2) Reality...this has been my idea and I think this is the one they are going to go with. And if you think about it; it makes sense. Computer graphics are starting to become extremely realistic and hard to tell apart from reality. I could see a dual plot one in which Flynn and Capt. Sheriden, I mean TRON return. And a second plot in which a program enters the world of the users. Think about it. Could be interesting.
TRON was the first "Matrix" and I could see a combination of Matrix/Terminator (think man from past chasing terminator) combo. I just hope they don't #$*&## up like they did with Neverendingstorytwo...
I remember reading somewhere that tron2k is a continuation of TRON with the 20 years that really passed having also passed in the story line.
"Not knowing when the dawn will come, I open every door." - Emily Dickinson
...somebody other than JonKatz putting out movie reviews. Kudos.
One of Steven Lisberger's (writer/director of TRON) constant beefs is that TRON didnt' even get nominated for any Academy awards.
So no, I don't think that's true.
Sorry.
Craig Steffen
http://www.craigsteffen.net
I have to say upon further reflection, the Geekness "Cool!" rating should have been higher, considering that's one of the extrordinary things about the film. I would say it should definintely an 8.5, and I think perhaps a 9.
:-)
When I wrote this, I was trying to stay away from "Oh, it's so great, it gets all 10s!" sort of review that dilutes the effectiveness of a really great review. That's why the end mentions the scaling is designed to make 99% of movies fall in the 2 to 8 range. However, given the Ultra-geekness of this film, and being that's one of the greatest things about it, I think that a 9 is appropriate.
Realize that this the first formal movie review I've ever written, so the scaling needs a bit of work.
Craig Steffen
http://www.craigsteffen.net
There is also some good info here as well, but it's mostly a rehash of other sites. Surprisingly UpcomingMovies.com doesn't appear to have any info on this.
-- null
Sorry you don't like the film--I admit its cheese factor is pretty high.
And the computer world stuff with the people was live action. HOWEVER,
Every scene in the computer world was composited people in the foreground with CG generated backgrounds. All of those scenes were shot on a black set--I don't remember the number, but I think there was about 40 minutes of live+CG footage in the film. Granted, the CG backgrounds and the live action were probably optically composited.
In addition, there was roughly 20 minutes of pure CG in the film. The flying sequences and the MCP sequences in particular.
Craig Steffen
http://www.craigsteffen.net
It looks like slashdot tells it not to access these pages (comments.pl) in its robots.txt
Is there a way of accessing comments without comments.pl?
and tron gets an "8" overall, despite getting 6.5 for some things. So that means Tron which is an 'excellent movie' in the review is encompassed with the other 99%? So 99% of movies are an "excellent movie" and the other 1% are not?
"The commentary track on the film is interesting and informative. " ... Wow that's detailed.
"There are shorts talking about specific aspects of the production, and the usual previews, deleted scenes, publicity material, and lots of interviews with production and cast members. " ... Again, so much detail. Did you even see this disc, or did you just copy everything from the press kit/IMDB entries?
or is it level 5. Confusing, never can tell whether it's the higher numbers or the lower numbers with the better classification
I'm number 1! Uh, no wait, I'm not a number, I am a free man!
Here's a wallpaper I did inspired by Tron (lightcycles) to the original techinician's credit, the 1982 ones look better n' mine, and I'm using a bazillion times more advanced hw/sw, but the wpaper still looks pretty cool on your desktop.......
http://www.customize.org/details/8843
so its 11:5? interesting.
What I meant by the comment at the end was was that I was trying to prevent rating inflation. Making all ratings of reasonably good movies 10s on a 10 point scale dilutes the value. So the idea is TRON is better than 99 other randomly chosen movies, but not 999.
I did, in fact, spend 4 or 5 hours on a laptop going through the various sections of the DVD before writing the review, which is why I've seen it on a progressive display.
Craig Steffen
http://www.craigsteffen.net
I was watching this the other day and noticed something I hadn't seen before. When the protagonists are riding the solar sailer toward the MCP, Mickey Mouse's face shows up in the landscape below the solar sailer. The Disney people just can't help theirselves, can they?
On a completely different note, I've been using insults that I gleaned from TRON 20 years ago. You should see the looks I get when I call someone a "null program." Cracks me up every time!
.sig wanted. Inquire within.
Is the MCP still around, only he's calling himself Windows?
... I seem to remember that "Master Control Program" was a term coined in the late 70s at Burroughs(?) for a program that managed all the other programs. A short while after TRON was released, someone quietly renamed it "Operating System."
...)
Yup -- and Linux, and OS X, etc
(This being Slashdot, someone will of course gleefully correct me if I'm wrong
Which stupid studios do that.
The DVD's I've actually been buying make them something that has to be accessed through the menu. I'd like to keep staying away from the ones that stick them right at the beginning.
You got modded down because... well, I have a lot of trouble believing that you're being serious, simply because your opinions are so, so far from the mainstream.
It's like you said "I think George W. Bush is a clever and articulate man," or "The Shawshank Redemption was a dull and uninteresting movie."
Apologies if you meant that seriously, but it really did smell like you were trolling, given that the overwhelming sentiment 'round here is "Yay Sneakers! Boo Hackers!"
--grendel drago
Not to mention ISN's pics of President Sheridan riding his horse... *sigh* those were the days, when a man could program and ride his horse to his heart's content.
It shouldn't be that hard to add and remove content without having to do weird things with the chapeters and stuff... It's just so un... un... I don't know... I don't have the word for it... It's just UN.
True, Disney's Michael Eisner is behind the SSSCA all the way.
Now, can you watch it on your computer?
Enquiring minds might want to know.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Relatively few triangles (almost all of which
are flat shaded), no textures, etc. As a CG
engineer, I find it difficult enough to watch
on analog TV. Watching sharper artifacts
isn't my idea of a great time in front of the
tube.
SCSG
This seems like a good point to mention Serial Experiments: Lain... Don't know why, but it just does...a in/i pts.h tml
http://www.pioneeranimation.com/titles/l
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Gulf/9755/scr
3 words:
OH MY USER!
There is nothing wrong with giving credit where credit is due as far as the classic nature of Tron goes- but I have no interest in supporting the Empire any more than I'm forced to.
What we call folk wisdom is often no more than a kind of expedient stupidity.-Edward Abbey
Back before you were born, computer movies were about real computer components with real terms;
You mean, perhaps, "The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes" with Kurt Russel?
Go Lakers!
My oh my, the troubles with this review begin with the very first sentence. "Gevmage writes with the review below of the new..."
How does one write with a review below?
The reviewer goes on to warn that he will reveal plot details "in the third of the film."
I give up! Two paragraphs in (counting the introduction), and I cannot make heads or tails of this review. Thanks for making my job easier.
If I've said it once I've said it a thousand times: Proper grammar, spelling, punctuation, and attention to detail are essential, if you want people to take you seriously. This review is merely another case in point. I didn't even bother to finish reading it, because it was crystal clear that the writer is incapable of effective written communication.
Um...hate to burst your bubble here but check out this directory where I've placed a couple screenshots that show almost uncontestable evidence of Mac use. And yes, I did have too much time on my hands.
I send you this message in order to have your advice.
...but it never came back. :(
The Moore-Murphy Law: The number of things that will go wrong will double every 2 years.
Yeah, I felt a little bit of that when I saw it for the first time. I was very interested in computers back then (even if all I had was a Timex Sinclair 1000 and 16K RAM expansion pack). I found it just a little too much that we're supposed to believe that inside a computer is all of this "life", and that you could somehow be beamed into that world to explore it as a person.
I saw it again, not that long ago, on satellite though - and I found it sort of enjoyable. I think it's old enough now that it's easier to smile at it, call it a "classic", and appreciate the advances we've made in computer graphics since then - while still realizing all the work that went into producing it.
Sometimes you just have to "let go" of reality enough to enjoy a movie or a book, and not let believability get in the way. I think this is something it took me a long time to come to terms with, as generally - I prefer movies to tell stories that are fathomable and believable, even if "far fetched".
Good call man. I have spent quite a bit of time trying to find a version of Tron Arcade for download, but to no avail. Does anyone out there know where to obtain such a thing?
Which came fist TRON or the snakes game that someone ported to my Nokia phone?
(B) + (D) + (B) + (D) = (K) + (&)
The only big downside to the DVD is the fact that after about halfway through the showing, it gets "blocky". In other words, the screen is filled with green blocks of color, making it impossible to watch the film. This is not an issue in the XBox or computer DVD drives. *(It however may be an issue with this single PS2 system, as I have yet to find someone else with one to test it out on.) It is at the same spot in the film, and is recreated with multiple DVD disks. If you have had the same experience, I would be interested in hearing about it. My next attempt will be to see if a little "tinkering" with the PS2 internals will correct the problem. I suppose this is something I should have expected as the PS2 is rather limited as part of a home entertainment system. You can't even watch VCD's for crying out loud.
I read somewhere that the director of TRON saw Jeff Bridges character as Bill Gates, fighting the evil empire of IBM in order to bring computing to the masses. Ironic, isn't it?
The Moore-Murphy Law: The number of things that will go wrong will double every 2 years.
http://www.niftyness.com/
I loved that flick, but was amazed at the amount of detail some people can recall. One year at defcon a jeopardy question was "what was the password for the master control computer in TRON"....I was amazed that someone in the crowd actually knew it was "reindeer flotilla"
"Weapons should be hardy rather than decorative" - Miyamoto Musashi
I think that goes for OS's too
With Disney being the benefactor of any procedes from this, let alone that it's a DVD, you're here, on slashdot, advertising their latest warez, after the news of the crap the trying to buy through congress? One or more things in the chain: you, slashdot, .., suck.
A 'Thundertree' huh? Sounds good, I guess, but when I was growing up, I just went over to the municipal thunderdome.
-- This and all my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
That's a big door!
FuzzyHas anyone find it ironic that Disney is now the MCP with their SSSCA ?
Disney make Tron. Disney pushes for SSSCA. Disney put real life people in jail trying to control what they can and cannot do with their computer.
MCP == Disney's SSSCA
The MCP is the classic big iron central computer of the time. It was controlling and monolithic, like say.. Disney (aka MPAA). It locks up programs and does mean things to users.
SLASHDOT USER 1: Fuckin' MPAA, man.
SLASHDOT USER 2: Fuckin' Disney, man.
SLASHDOT USER 1: Fuckin' fascists, tryin' to bring us down.
SLASHDOT USER 2: Yeah... they want to take away our fuckin' civil rights. Jack Valenti is such a fuckin' bastard.
SLASHDOT USER 1: Word.
SLASHDOT USER 2: Word.
SLASHDOT USER 1: So, how about that new TRON DVD?
SLASHDOT USER 2: Fuckin' cool, man.
SLASHDOT USER 1: Hey... what were we talking about?
SLASHDOT USER 2: Dunno. Wanna go see a movie about Hobbits?
SLASHDOT USER 1: Sure.
SLASHDOT USER 2: Cool.
SLASHDOT USER 1: Fuckin' MPAA, man.
SLASHDOT USER 2: Totally.
nm
It might be of interest to geeks that TRON also stands for The Realtime Operating system Nucleus(sucky acronym, I know), a project at the prestegious University of Tokyo that develops software for embedded systems. Their universal character encoding format is also interesting because it isn't Unicode.
Yeah, I had "Thundertree" once. I was in the toilet nearly the whole day.
I was working at a small plastics company, as their programmer / designer. We were using an H-89 that the president of the company had built :) and I was writing their accounting system on it.
:)
We had a company picnic, and I was stuck on the softball team with the guys, wearing our "MCP" tee-shirts (I was #101, binary, for the geek factor). I recall seeing the movie afterwards, and actually catching so many of the little "in" jokes - things like the map of what "sector" Tron was in on the wall, the disk read/write head used to move programs around, and the spindle where the evil MCP lived (the hub on the hard drive).
It was awesome, and the sound track was just as good - yay, Wendy Carlos! I may have to go buy a dvd player for this one
Lemon curry?
Flynn: I have to stop and rest.
Tron: Not here.
Flynn: Hey, wait, I remember this place... but what happened to all the 'water'? Smells like sh*t!
Tron: Everytime we take a big TCP dump, Primary Domain Controller now sends it all down here and fouls the energy.
[Large monstrous creature with glowing body-circuits rises out of the murky depths. A look of recognition crosses Flynn's face.]
Flynn: WordPerfect? What happened to you?
WP [in a deep demonically-possessed voice]: You may call me Word, now. MS-Word.
Flynn: But you're so bloated... and slow.
WP: No, the Redmond PDC made me better and stronger. Redmond gave me more secrets than you will ever dream of, Flynn.
[With a loud burp, two brightly painted easter eggs drop out of Word's writhing, oozing flesh.]
WP: Now you both die. Prepare to be de-res'd.
[With a loud cry, several spider-like creature jump off Word's body, and proceed to advance on Flynn and Tron.
Tron: Run!
Flynn: I don't remember spiders looking like *that*...
Tron: That's because they're Macros! Move it!
[Both characters bend over and form light cycles, which immediately flicker and sputter before coming to a complete stop.]
Disembodied Female Voice: Warning: you have attempted to engage a security circumvention device. Countermeasures are now active.
Tron and Flynn simultaneously: Goddamn DMCA!
[Cut to: another scene approved for spoiler/trailer use.]
Tron: That was close.
Flynn: Can't we rally all your friends? Where's Sybase?
Tron: Gone. Also corrupted by the Redmond PDC. He's known as "SQL Server", now.
Flynn: Lotus?
Tron: Excel.
Flynn: Widget?
Tron: ActiveX. Look, I've told you, they're all gone and twisted into evil version of their former selves.
Flynn: Netscape? [Pauses. Looks up.] I.E....
Tron: Yeah, I.E..
Flynn [frantically]: No, Sark v54.1.23.475.21b (Stable Release) has found us! Aaiiyyeee!
[RPDC forces, AKA 313373 shock troops, close in rapidly.]
Tron: Damn it, Flynn, we probably could've escaped if you didn't spend all that time saying his Version Number! There's no other choice: we must contact my User!
Flynn: You mean Allen?
Tron: No, I have a new user now. Cowboy Neal.
Flynn [jaw drops]: We are so doomed.
Tron: My User isn't answering! We need a miracle now!
[Gigantic pig with glowing body circuits lands on Sark's 313373 shock troops, crushing them to death.]
Tron: Spam! I knew Redmond couldn't corrupt you into their ranks!
Spam: *Oink*!
Flynn: I guess Redmond isn't so bad after all.
Spam: *Oink*!
Tron: Flynn, this is Spam. He can find anyone, no matter where they're hiding.
Spam: *Oink*!
Tron: Wait a second! There must be thousands of Slashdot Users willing to help us! [To Spam] Go boy! Email all of them. Get help!
Spam[Emphatically]: *Oink* *Oink*!
[Four days later...]
Tron[despondent]: No one's responding. I don't get it: I've sent Spam to everyone's email address, dozens of times over, and no one's going to help us.
Flynn: We should keep moving. Keep sending Spam...
"Twice half-assed makes an ass whole." --Solomon K. Chang
Has anyone else noticed how similar Tron was to The Wizard of Oz?
- The main character is transported into a strange, magical world.
- Many of the people in the other world look like people in the real world.
- The characters journey along a golden path (yellow brick road in Oz, the gold power beam the Solar Sailer moves along in Tron).
- The villains have flying beasts to do their dirty work (flying monkeys vs. Recognizers).
- There's a big, powerful wizard figure at the end of the road, but he's ultimately just a little old man hiding behind smoke and mirrors.
- The wizard has the power to send the hero(ine) back to the real world.
Freaky eh?
"Destroy science and religion. Science would re-emerge exactly the same; but not religion." - Penn Jillette, paraphrased
... 10 points if you know what "TRON" stood for.
-- I don't remember if they explained it
in the movie or not.
... 1000 points if you ever used TRON to debug
your program.
Fun times. Now we have purty IDE's and debug
tools that a moron could use... In my day...
That sounds more like something you'd find in the Luftwaffe than a terminal.
It's not worth the $22 for the DVD.
Get the Staargate special edition
Broke my first player when it came out, had to send it in for a firmware upgrade.
Yeah about you and 7 other people will actually buy it. The rest of us assholes will wish you idiots didnt remind us how horrible of a movie it was. I feel dumber now even thinking about that retarded film.
From my understanding, this is a point in the film where the reader is switching "layers" to get to the next scene. Not sure if it's true, but it makes sense I suppose.
Yes, its unfortunate that the majority of the great modern artworks (films, music, games) can only happen with the financial backing of a large corporation. And so, unfortunately the only source for this great piece of geek art is the Disney store...
I'm not if it was in the original, but Pac Man makes an appearence in the movie. You can hear a familiar "waka waka" sound to give you a hint when it is being showed.
Annonymous Cowards(aka "closet geeks who 'think' they're being funny") take heed. This is a classic film.
You idiots are on crack. TRON, for its time, was a cutting edge film. You kids are spoiled with your Jurassic Parks and your Prince of Egypt "2 years to render 7 minutes" CG. When TRON came out, I was around 6 years old. It wasn't untill a few years after that I saw it (the arcades drew me in), but then, it blew my still young and mallable mind.
When you're little, your sense of imagination is much more developed than you AC fools have now. The CG and premise of TRON, for its day, was unheard of. Getting inside your computer, interacting with the machine on a more human level. And let's not forget GAMES GAMES GAMES!!!
You AC fools take what you have for granted, thinking the world owes you something. Truth is you owe the world (and Disney in particular) for giving your kind the imagination to create the computing possibilities you have today. Would Linus Torvalds have created Linux if he weren't first exposed to UNIX? Would the Modern Rock you love exist without bands like Ozzy, Floyd and Zeppelin? Would you ACs still be complete losers without playing D&D, drinking Jolt and downloading hacked pictures (and BAD hacks at that) of Gillian Anderson and Sarah Michelle Gellar? Would you have developed into the "my opinion is king" fanboys you are today?
.Do us all a favor. Stop being a coward, fearing history and get your ass to whatever DVD retail outlet suits you choose (if you want to use the one where you found all of the Urotsukidoji films at once, that's fine) and pick up this disc set. History would do you good. After all, you can't possibly know where you are going when you have either no clue of or respect for what's happening around you instead of being little hemret men with a fraction of what most welfare recipiants call a good life......
Blog Prophyts - Right On, Man
In the source we see:
_mlc="/BVInteractive/Product/Tron"
Buena Vista Interactive makes games. But I can't imagine a game coming out w/o a movie. I can't imagine a movie without a Happy Meal action figure.
As Pac Man, Mickey Mouse (shadow) and some less know figures makes brief aperances in the movie :)
Carbon based humanoid in training.
It brings back embarrassing memories; how could I have liked such a totally unrealistic movie as a kid so much. I saw the movie many times and the book is probably still at my mom's house.
C'mon, computer programs represented as people in costumes with glowing stripes, please!
You my friend are never going to get laid
It's almost as bad as Last Starfighter
Wow, I'd forgotten all about that film, I've seen Tron a couple of times now, but the Last Starfighter was the first film I ever went to see at a Cinema, (I think I was about 8 or 9), so hearing it mentions fills me with nostalgia.
Tron was great at the time I watched it, and I've spent a lot of time over the years merrily playing Tron light-cycle games .. but I can honestly say it didn't make too much of an impact on me.
The Last Starfighter, though, was something that was in the back of my mind for years when I was watching sci-fi films, and probably had a huge affect on me. I'm gonna have to go and see if I can get it on video/dvd now!
Maybe I'm just too young, and got spoilt by later films.. *shrugs*
Annonymous Cowards(aka "closet geeks who 'think' they're being funny") take heed. This is a classic film.
You idiots are on crack. TRON, for its time, was a cutting edge film. You kids are spoiled with your Jurassic Parks and your Prince of Egypt "2 years to render 7 minutes" CG. When TRON came out, I was around 6 years old. It wasn't untill a few years after that I saw it (the arcades drew me in), but then, it blew my still young and mallable mind.
When you're little, your sense of imagination is much more developed than you AC fools have now. The CG and premise of TRON, for its day, was unheard of. Getting inside your computer, interacting with the machine on a more human level. And let's not forget GAMES GAMES GAMES!!!
You AC fools take what you have for granted, thinking the world owes you something. Truth is you owe the world (and Disney in particular) for giving your kind the imagination to create the computing possibilities you have today. Would Linus Torvalds have created Linux if he weren't first exposed to UNIX? Would the Modern Rock you love exist without bands like Ozzy, Floyd and Zeppelin? Would you ACs still be complete losers without playing D&D, drinking Jolt and downloading hacked pictures (and BAD hacks at that) of Gillian Anderson and Sarah Michelle Gellar? Would you have developed into the "my opinion is king" fanboys you are today?
.Do us all a favor. Stop being a coward, fearing history and get your ass to whatever DVD retail outlet suits you choose (if you want to use the one where you found all of the Urotsukidoji films at once, that's fine) and pick up this disc set. History would do you good. After all, you can't possibly know where you are going when you have either no clue of or respect for what's happening around you instead of being little hemret men with a fraction of what most welfare recipiants call a good life...
Blog Prophyts - Right On, Man
I don't see any sign at all of these Tron DVDs for Region 2 - this is extremely poor indeed, there's no excuse I can think of for a 20th Anniversary DVD set to come out at different times in the US vs. UK (Tron didn't get a theatre re-release or anything, so regional differences should be irrelevant).
As for the discs themselves, it's a good 2-DVD set - not quite on a par with the US Terminator 2 Ultimate DVD edition (hey, but that's set a DVD benchmark in extras, sound, branching and picture quality that no-one's beaten yet, IMHO, plus it's a great action movie of course).
I remember seeing Tron in a theater, when it originally came out. I was a little kid then, and it *really* impressed me to the point I *knew* I wanted to do stuff with computers later. I think it had a bigger influence on me than WarGames or any other movies of the kind.
Yeah, Tron turned me into a geek when computers were still a curiosity where I lived back then... People gave me eerie looks, really. After all, I suppose I'd be equally (well, not quite) puzzled if an 8-year old kid came to me and started talking about pretty much unknown technology...
It'll be a pleasure watching it again! Sure beats Starfighter...
/max
-- It's always darker before it goes pitch black.
The commentary track on the film is interesting and informative.
Geez timothy, this sounds like a fourth-grade book report. Can anyone fill in the details here? Who does the commentary? What types of insights does it offer?