End of Line: Tron in a Nutshell

The wait is almost over.  Since the revealing of a Comic-Con trailer last year, people have been feverishly awaiting the return of the Tron universe, which will take form in the upcoming 3-D powered film Tron: Legacy, set to open in theaters on December 17th. It’s been a long road for the Tron franchise, and you might just be surprised as to where it’s gotten its start – way back in the 80s.

That’s right, long before the age of CG animation or top-of-the-line gaming networks, 1982 was a simpler time.  One where we were happily content hitting arcades to play games or rockin’ away on our Atari 2600/Intellivision units.  With that, writer/director Steve Lisberger released Tron through Walt Disney Pictures.  The film tells the story of Kevin Flynn, played by a young Jeff Bridges, as he’s sucked into a cyber universe where a bullying Master Control Program (MCP) has taken control.  While he’s here, Flynn finds himself fighting amongst other programs, while befriending his newfound friend Tron (Bruce Boxleitner) and Yori (Cindy Morgan, fresh from her appearance in Caddyshack).

While the film wasn’t exactly a huge blockbuster for Disney, it did fairly well, making $33 million overall – nearly double its $17 million budget.  That’s right, a film as technological as the original Tron only cost that much to make – a far cry from the $200 million budget that’s poured into its Legacy sequel.  Since that time, the film has become a cult sensation in a number of ways, attracting people at Disneyland with its World of Tron exhibit and enthralling arcade gamers who have played both the original Tron arcade game and its follow-up, Discs of Tron, both produced at the time by Bally/Midway.  Other home releases also came out, including Tron: Deadly Discs for Atari 2600 and some exclusive Intellivision games, including Solar Sailer and Maze-a-Tron.

Perhaps what’s so enlivening about Tron’s world are the games themselves, which look like they’re taken straight out of a cyber universe. The disc battles are one-on-one affairs where soldiers battle one another with devastating glowing Frisbees; the light cycle races are exciting, mainly because they emit lethal trails of light that destroy anyone who come into contact with them; and even tanks and flying droids have a futuristic look to them, posing a threat to anyone who gets in their way.  The film’s visceral style really shows the excitement behind these sequences, and the games actually let you recreate these activities, throwing discs around and shooting rival tanks with your own.

Tron remained a cult icon favorite throughout the 90’s, but it really began to gain speed again in the 2000’s. Comic books featured the Derezzed subtitle which were supposed to be sold in 2003, telling a new side of the Tron story while keeping fans happily interested in the original, sparked some interest but was cancelled shortly before being released.  The film also came out on DVD, both in an original, feature-less format and a special 20th Anniversary Collector’s Edition, complete with heaping extras. (Surprisingly, both of these are going for well over $70 on eBay these days, since they’re discontinued.)  Another comic book run, sub-labeled The Ghost In the Machine, was produced in 2005, taking people even further into Tron’s universe and took place roughly six months after the events in the game Tron 2.0 and was published by Slave Labor Graphics. The series was written by Landry Walker and Eric Jones and featured art by Louis De Martinis and Michael Shoykhet. 

Video games also got a boost thanks to the Tron license.  Independently made freeware games like Armagetron Advanced and a light cycle type game available on Jeff Bridges' website were available for everyone. The free online game by Disney, Virtual Magic Kingdom, featured a Tron inspired gaming room where players could purchase items before the game was shut down in 2008. Square Enix managed to include a piece of the Tron universe in its popular role-playing sequel Kingdom Hearts II (complete with Bruce Boxleitner voiceover), Tron 2.0 was a first person shooter and was released on the PC and MAC in 2003, and Tron 2.0: Killer App was a separate version of the PC game available for Xbox owners.  While the game wasn’t entirely a success, it didn’t quite fail either, and Xbox/PC owners ate it up.  Another version of the game also appeared for Nintendo’s Game Boy Advanced handheld. Microsoft followed suit years later by working with Disney Interactive (with some help from Midway) to release Xbox Live Arcade versions of both the Tron and Discs of Tron arcade games, both of which are very popular these days.

However, this fever pitch reached an ultimate new level in 2009, when first footage from the proposed Tron: Legacy sequel was shown, featuring an old, worn-out Flynn (once again played by Jeff Bridges) overlooking a devastating light cycle race on an empty street within his cyber universe.  The Comic-Con showcase got even better with a real Flynn’s Arcade open for business, complete with a playable Space Paranoids game unit – a proposed project from the film.  People collected tokens like mad, knowing that they’ve truly gotten a piece of Tron’s universe.

But 2010 is the year that the series truly capitalized.  Tron: Legacy has become a highly anticipated film, garnering even more buzz at this year’s Comic-Con (complete with a reopened Flynn’s Arcade).  Many new factors were introduced for the film, including a soundtrack by electronic/techno duo Daft Punk, dual roles played by Jeff Bridges (including a younger enemy named Clu), a Bruce Boxleither cameo (as his old business partner, rather than Tron) and more extensive trailer footage.  In fact, just a couple of months ago, several fans were treated to a special 3-D preview event, able to see 30 minutes of footage from the film.  (And yes, it looks awesome.)

Furthermore, Tron continues to live on in video games.  Along with the aforementioned Xbox Live games, several Xbox Live Avatar items became available, and PlayStation Home will be introducing a new “Grid” section to its world next week.  Furthermore, Disney Interactive has also released a new game called Tron: Evolution, which takes players on a new whirlwind 3-D adventure based in the Tron universe. (You can buy the normal edition or plunk down extra cash for the Collector’s Edition, including a light cycle replica and a ticket for Tron: Legacy. Guess which one we bought.) A Nintendo Wii version of the game subtitled Battle Grids was also released.

But perhaps the most anticipated thing is the film itself.  Though Lisberger didn’t direct, he wasn’t bitter whatsoever.  He serves as a producer and consultant on the film.  As you can tell, Bridges and Boxleither return, backed by new younger talent, including the lovely Olivia Wilde and newcomer Garrett Hedlund. The film has a huge budget, and bigger and badder effects than the original (with a $200 million budget, as previously mentioned). It will be 3-D enabled in certain theaters as well, and trust us when we say the effect is incredible.

So much is happening with the Tron universe right now, it’s crazy.  The film’s almost here, the soundtrack by Daft Punk is now available (and only $4 at Amazon’s MP3 store – well worth it), a new 10-part CG-animated series entitled Tron: Uprising is in the works and set to debut on Disney XD sometime next fall, a series of books and novels related to the film are being released including the graphic novel Tron: The Betryal written by Jai Nitz with art by Andie Tong, and Disney is already pushing for more top-of-the-line toy sales, gaming peripherals, as well as endorsements through Disneyland and its other theme parks including being featured as a special encore mini show to Disney‘s California Adventure water show, World of Color and a Tron-inspired celebration, ElecTRONica. There’s no question its impact is still huge, 28 years later.

Still, it all comes back to a small, $17 million film that changed the way we look at visuals in movies forever. For its time, Tron was a technical marvel, and while some might think it was a little light on storytelling, it was still hard to turn away from. And that’s why we’re never going to see out DVD copies…

Well, at least until the Blu-Ray comes out next year…

LONG LIVE TRON.  END OF LINE.