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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?
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.
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? :)
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
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
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.
I know I would....
I have an Accounts Receivable balancing application I'd like to slap upside the head....
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
User, you've got some 'splaining to do!
Of course, those are just from my earlier spaghetti code years, not now. No way.
No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There's always a boom tomorrow. - Cmdr. Susan Ivanova
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
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!
It's still available here.
Free Mac Mini
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.
Doh! Of course, I'm now very upset that I missed out on it.
The Blaster Master Fighting for Truth, Justice, and Evil Pie since 1979
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!!!
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?
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.
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?
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
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
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?'"---
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
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
"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.
Sometimes I think the geek worldview would depress me if it weren't so f*cking pathetic I had to laugh...
That is all.
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
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
I did a word search to see if you'd used any terms mentioning the 16:9 ratio of the presentation, and I either mistyped or forgot to search for "widescreen". My apologies.
I am aware of "anamorphic" lenses -- a clear sign of them is when lens flares are oval rather than circular -- but it's become so common to refer to 16:9 presentation on DVD movies as "anamorphic" that it's just another definition of the word to me.
STOP MISUSING APOSTROPHES, YOU MORONS!!!
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
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".
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
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.
Well, I've got a four-year-old, so my buying habits are a bit biased. That said, everything that we own from Disney starts off with a "Coming Attractions", as do, I think, many of the other animated features we have for her. I want to say that some others do to, but I'd have to go home to check.
Nothing for 6-digit uids?
It's 2.20:1 because the whole movie (both "real world" and "computer world" scenes) were shot in 65mm, the quality of which you can really notice on the real world scenes.
Yeah, I had "Thundertree" once. I was in the toilet nearly the whole day.
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
The real solution is to get one's political hands dirty, to do civil disobedience (and be willing to go the course) or to participate in lobbying efforts. Not buying DVD's isn't going to do much.
And the other aspects - plot, for example - much lower. 4, maybe. 3, even. It was a *bad* script. *Bad.* The storyline got soggy towards the end, and the dialogue was cringe-worthy.
As a visual piece though, and in terms of art direction, it was ground-breaking, 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.
By the way, you're probably one of only a handful people on Slashdot who is aware of 5-perf 70mm 6-track. I was just a kid when Tron was release, and it was actually the first time I became aware of 70mm. In later years, I would refuse to go see big summer movies unless I could find a place that was showing them in 70mm. Fortunately, that was very common where I lived in those days, and I believe I was often able to go for months if not a whole year at a time without ever seeing a movie in 35mm.
Boy do I miss those days. I recently saw the 70mm re-release of "2001", and it was the first 5-perf 70mm print I'd seen in years. The way things are going, I may never get to see another one... :-(
Free Hans!