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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
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? :)
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...
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.
...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 reminds me of the Simpsons Halloween episode where Homer was trapped in the 3rd dimension:
"What's it like in there?"
Homer: "Did you ever see that movie Tron?"
Every character responds in turn: "No."
Of course, by making this Tron reference through a Simpsons reference, I have gone past 10 on the geekiness scale....
Yes, "WarGames" and its ilk were technically accurate to a much greater degree than more recent movies like "Mission: Impossible"...
Uh-oh, the Sarcasm Alert has hit DEFCON 5!
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.
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.
Back in my day, 16K of RAM held a lot more. We got 2-3 people loaded in to that much ram! We were less bloated back then. Somethime we would have to take turns if there were more than 3 of us.
I've seen that episode.....whenever its on, I laugh hysterically, and nobody else has seen tron.
Its like how Moses in South Park is the MCP...nobody ever seems to understand what Moses is supposed to be, I just think its hilarious.
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?'"---
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!
Tron 2.0 ie. Troff .. -love
Heck no.
Everybody knows the geekiness scale goes all the way to "F" (except for you trapped in a merely mortal decimal world)
You either believe in rational thought or you don't
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