Tron (20th Anniversary Collector's Edition) [DVD]

If you were amongst those who saw Tron: Legacy in theaters or on DVD, you may be curious to see its predecessor that came out 28 years earlier. Hard to find a few months ago, the original Tron was finally released again by Disney back in April to coincide with the DVD release of Legacy. So how does it hold up?For starters it has a pretty good cast. Leading the cast is Jeff Bridges as computer programmer turned arcade-owing hacker Kevin Flynn whose attempts to prove that his work was stolen by a rival programmer leads to him being sent into the digital world of the movie. Bridges gives Flynn an eccentric yet everyman quality that, while perhaps not serving the character best in the opening part of the movie, works perfectly when the character of Flynn ends up trying to make sense of the digital world he finds himself in. Bruce Boxleitner plays computer programmer Alan Bradley and his creation: the heroic security program named Tron. The two are very different characters and at times it is hard to believe that are being played by the same actor because of the huge differences between them. Aiding them in both the real and digital world are Cindy Morgan (as Lora and Yori) and Barnard Hughes (as Dr. Walter Gibbs and Dumont) who, like Boxleitner, find ways of making each of their characters different from the other. Opposing them, and perhaps giving the best performances in the movie, is David Warner as program stealing executive Ed Dillinger in the real world as being both the digital world menace of Sark and the electronically distorted voice of the the dictatorial Master Control Program. Put all these actors together and the result is that they give this digitally set movie a human grounding.Which brings us to perhaps the most iconic part of the movie: the digital world the majority of the movie takes place in. Given that the nearly thirty years that have passed since the movie was made have seen a true revolution in special effects, one might expect that the effects (including some of the earliest CGI effects) would look rather passe now. The truth of the matter is in fact quite different: the digital world of Tron is a truly immersive, and highly original, one.The production design, costumes and effects all go towards creating that unique world. The production design imagines a digital world that is both alien and yet familiar with its take on tanks, ships and perhaps most famously cars in the form of light cycles. Then there are all of the unique costumes of the digital characters with their stark whiteness contrasted by the illuminations of the apparent circuitry on them with a truly unusual look being the result. Last but not least on this list is all of the effects work. The effects would seemingly be the most dated part of the original Tron and to some extent this is true on the surface. But if you scratch below the surface you'll discover that those seemingly dated effects are surprisingly effective. Two perfect examples can be found in the light cycle gaming sequence where there is a point of view shot that gives the viewer a true sensation of speeding along a maze of lines or during the chase sequence that follows directly on from it when the "camera" follows two ships that are pursuing the escaping light cycles. If you are however looking at the effects of the movie cynically from the viewpoint of today's CGI here is another way of looking at them within the logic of the movie: the film is set and uses early 1980s computers and therefore it makes perfect sense that the digital world reflects the technology of the time rather the more advanced and evolved digital world seen in Legacy. Back to the main point though: the result of all these elements put together is that the digital world setting of the film remains both unique and immersive almost thirty years on.No review of the film though would be complete without a discussion of its script or storyline. The basic plot of Tron are quite simplistic: in the real world Flynn is trying to prove that Dillinger stole his programs to further his own career while in the digital world Flynn and Tron end up on a quest to save to free that world from the tyrannical reign of Dillinger's Master Control Program and its minion Sark. The dialogue too is more often then not as simplistic as the plot and can be at times either corny or cringe-worthy. Yet Tron's script and story are full of fascinating ideas: Programs acting as avatars of their programmers with deletions being their literal death (or derezzing), information and programs being sent along by incredible vehicles with energy or light used as paths, and even religious undertones to the relationship of programs to their users which features throughout the film is various character discussions and is best illustrated in the scene where Tron communicates with his user Alan Bradley. As a result Tron on the script and story level is very much driven by its ideas rather then its own plot.While it may be lacking in plot, Tron makes up for that in other ways. That includes the cast which makes the most of the duel roles that most of them have. Where it does that mainly though is in the immersive digital world it is set in and the ideas that lie behind it. Tron therefore is perhaps more a triumph of style over substance but it more then makes up for that fact.

If you want to hear hours of 'how we did this' then this movie is for you otherwise just watch it on Disney +

Action-packed movie with great special effects for back then.Keith

I was just a kid when this movie came out, but I love it, and it was groundbreaking for its time.

There is just something about this movie that grabs me. Let me explain.The story is probably well known by now. There's the evil Master Control Program (MCP) that is taking over not only all programs at Encom corporation, but also all programs across the world, including those at the Pentagon and Kremlin. Behind all of this is the over ambitious and sneaky Ed Dillinger, played by David Warner, who having stolen Encom's most successful game programs written by brilliant and cocky programmer, Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), has been promoted way beyond his abilities and is being pushed around by the MCP. Of course, the MCP is actually a very advanced artificial intelligence program, smarter than any program ever written, and way beyond today's technology. The same applies to other programs, which are lesser AIs that relate to their users as a mortal would relate to an Olympian god. And that's really the mold of this movie, mere programs (read mortals) struggle to believe in the existence of users (read olympian gods), until Jeff Bridges, as Kevin Flynn (the god of programming), is physically teleported into the world of computer programs. His goal: to liberate all by blowing the MCP to smithereens and to recover evidence that proves that he, and not Dillinger, is the author of Encom's cash cow game programs.This is one of the earliest computer animation attempts that I know of and, admittedly, the animation is limited, consisting of lines and surfaces in monochrome. Yet it works! The look and feel of the computer world is consistent enough that you believe you are in some strange abstract world, maybe not inside a computer, but certainly inside some fantasy world. And there's just enough geeky computer lingo thrown in to make you chuckle, like "Bring in the logic probe," to break down a doorway, or "No microcircuit can contain you, Tron," as Tron's girlfriend says with adoration. Yet another appeal is the play between the real world of the office and the virtual world of the computer, connecting the movie to every day life, though in a wildly exaggerated way. We see Tron's programmer (or user), for example, working in a sea of cubicles stretching as far as eye can see--I could swear there were over a thousand cubicles there on one floor. And the industrial section where the laser device that teleports Flynn is situated looks like some giant power plant ready to spark a fusion reaction.And then there's the nostalgia, not intentional but there all the same. We walk into Flynn's game arcade knowing that the producers at the time thought the place as some cool hip place to hang out with no idea how transient arcades would be. Yet there, in that crowded space of computer games, there is noise and action and energy and romance. And there's that classic little phrase "Klaatu barada nikto" printed on computer paper and tucked away in a cubicle paying homage to the 1951 movie "The Day the Earth Stood Still."In the end, there is a lot here that parallels today's computer dominated world. Freeing the world of some MCP: is that not what people in the world are struggling to do now, to access information free of some Master Control State? And that virtual world: is it not really coming back with a vengeance with the Internet and cloud services? And AI: are we not getting closer to actually having real AI, especially since Watson beat the top Jeopardy champions? So in a strange way, this old film has relevance today more than it did when it was first made, and though the script and acting looks quirky at times, it is these very same rough edges that make the film feel more genuine and real than many of today's highly sophisticated computer animations, including even the new Tron.

Although I have seen and quite enjoyed the remake of this classic science fiction extravaganza (Titled TRON: Legacy), this original 1982 version of TRON, directed by Steven Lisberger, is, in my opinion, still the best version. The film is just as entertaining today as it was back in the 80's when it was made and there are many recognisable actors that are as well known today as they were then (Jeff Bridges, the delectable Cindy Morgan and David Warner who plays the big bad Ed Dillinger, to name a few). The film was nominated for two Oscars (Best Costume Design and Best Sound) and won the SATURN award for Best Costumes. The film also won the Guinness World Record award for the first use of Computer Generated Animation. Interesting fact? The film was actually disqualified from receiving an Academy Award nomination for it's Special Effects, because the Academy felt at the time that using computer generated effects was considered "cheating". I really like this movie. Recommended. Lee, West Sussex UK

Coming from an IT background I was intrigued to watch this film to see how good the graphics were. I was not disappointed from that perspective. Although dated by today's standards, keeping the graphics in context of the time the film was made, they work very well.The story itself is silly and I'm surprised that David Warner, with his standing in the business, would make such films as these.Initially my interest was sparked to see how Cindy Morgan performed outside of Caddyshack and I was pleased with what I saw from her, not another cuty making it on her looks and figure, but on her acting.

If you're old enough to remember the Trace On command in BASIC, you'll still remember the thrill of watching the worlds first movie with a substantial CGI content. This kicked off an innumerable heap of movies, both by it's plot and the new cinematographic methods it introduced. Like Forbidden Planet, the film that inspired Star Trek, it may not seem very special to younger movie goers more used to the jaw dropping effects of today, but with a bit more of the old willing suspension of disbelief employed, it still seems to me one of the best SF films ever.Like the first Elvis album, the first Wendy Carlos Moog-music, the Blues Breakers Beano album,technical firsts may soon seem dated to those who come after, but somebody had to be first, and without them so much might have been lost.

Surely the storyline of this film is deeply allegorical and metaphysical. "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us".The opening shot, not always shown, establishes the parallel between the computer world and the human world, and the closing shot reinforces this. The human world is the world of the creators, or "Users", and Flynn becomes a messianic figure "made computer flesh" to correct the problems caused by wicked User/s.The evil figures in the computer world know that the Users (or creators) are real, but try to convince others that they are not (see James 2:19 in the New Testament).In the end of course, Flynn as "the word made flesh" corrects the problem and is restored to his proper sphere, also now with the enhanced status he is entitled to as proven originator of important programmes (see Philippians 2:5-11).Overall the film has a strange, subdued, beautiful yet wistful feel about it, due perhaps to the extended section within the computer, and its very particular "look". The mood is also due in no small part, I think, to Wendy Carlos's powerful score.Visually the movie is ground-breaking, but perhaps the pace lags a little in parts. It was not a huge success on its release in 1982. Maybe the timing was not quite right, for people did not yet have PCs and, not being generally familiar with computer terms, perhaps could not relate well to the idea of a world inside the computer. Possibly too, the whole look and feel of the film was too "down-beat" for the time.Overall however, there is a kind of elegance and dignity about the movie, in addition to its pioneering use of CGI effects, that will see it stand the test of time and have an assured place in the movie canon.

TRON was in its time a ground-breaking film and not copied or repeated either by others, probably due to the complexity of creating it with the computers of the time. You could probably do it on your home PC nowadays with the changes in hardware since this was made.Someone stole my first copy after I was burgled, but it was one film that I had to have back in my collection. Some say it's dated now, which is true to some degree, but if you cannot appreciate the technical achievement in creating this film using the equipment of the time, then I feel sorry for you. The story is a typical bad guy needs to be destroyed by the good guy, but in this case both are computer programs and not humans. The twist is that a human, played by Jeff Bridges, has been dragged digitally into this world but ultimately helps to save it.A great film even taking into account its age and the extras disc is a welcome bonus, full of star interviews and "how it was made" type detail which is fascinating and a testament to the creativity of the film makers of the time.