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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.)
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?
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.
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.
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.
Completely agreed.
While I'd love to own this movie, especially on DVD, I refuse to give another cent to Disney. After what I read about what Eisner had to say at the Senate hearing, I will NEVER purchase another Disney product, and I encourage others to do the same.
Check out this quote from the above link:
"Eisner confessed that the only reason he could think of for Michael Dell not to build in ubiquitous copyright-policing functions in his products was that Dell wants to sell his products to infringers."
In the face of such blatent corporate doublethink, how can anyone who's at all concerned about Fair Use justify the future purchase of even a single Disney product?
The Free desktop that Just Works
> 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
No Tron for me because I bought the DVD when it was first released. It's quite a racket to release a barebones edition, have all the diehard fans buy it up, then wait a few years and release a bigger version to sell to the same audience again.
No thanks.
Sometimes I think the geek worldview would depress me if it weren't so f*cking pathetic I had to laugh...
That is all.
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.
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.