Introducing TRON!
Posted by thefraix on August 27, 2010
Imagine a world, where every computer programs we use enter and have life.
A world where these programs are reflections of their users’ image, and this world is as living and pulsing as our own. A world of access, connections, digital data converging.
Tron (1982) is a Disney science fiction film. Written and filmed by Steven Lisberger in 1982, it tells a story of a young man named Kevin Flynn who was facing corporate evil and a villainous artificial intelligence. It dealt with issues of software piracy, hacking, information freedom and digital tyranny.Flynn used to work for Encom (a big software company) and made video games. One day, a colleague of his name Dillinger stole his programs with help of his Master Control Program AI. Months later, Dillinger got a promotion from creating ‘Flynn’s games’, while Flynn was fired from ENCOM and end up working as a video game arcade owner, Flynn spent countless nights trying to hack into ENCOM’s servers to find proof of his software theft. Fortunately, Flynn still has friends in ENCOM: Alan Bradley (a computer security expert) and Lora, Alan’s girlfriend and Flynn’s ex-girlfriend. Together, the three of them broke into the ENCOM building to find the proof.
Bradley said that his program TRON can help restore security access to ENCOM, which was now completely control by the MCP. Not wanting to lose, the MCP unleashed Lora’s project upon Flynn: a digitizing laser that can digitize objects and recreate them in the software world. Being shot by the beam, Flynn finds himself inside the computer world (imagine that for a 1982 story!). Forced to fight gladiatorial games, Flynn allies himself with Tron, who curiously looks exactly like Alan.
At that time, the story was pretty okay, characters were relatable, but the most interesting aspect of this film was its special effects. Many sources would agree that Tron was one of the first films to extensively use CGI (computer generated imagery) for its effects. It was pretty good, that the Motion Picture Academy refused to nominate Tron for Best Special Effects because they considered the CGI usage as cheating. But Tron was nominated for Best Costume and Best Sound. Ah the irony.
There was a video game sequel Tron 2.0 in 2003,which curiously didn’t feature the character Tron.
Jet Bradley from Tron 2.0
The film’s true sequel however will be appearing December this year. The title: Tron Legacy.
Tron Legacy teaser poster
