#249: Tron, Part I

[Solai]

As a player of the original Tron arcade game (in an arcade, quarters and all) I was intrigued when Chuck mentioned that Tron would be available on Xbox Arcade. Last night I downloaded it and let me tell you…

…Chuck’s concern about the controller translating to Xbox controllers was validated. In the original game your left controller was a dial and your right hand was a joystick with a trigger. Some of the games that don’t require the dial such as light cycles work fine, but I found the tank and spider levels very frustrating. Your brain needs to remap itself from intuitively how it should work to how it actually works. By the time it has done so you have died.

I am sure with a little practice it will work better and I will admit I was such a fan of this game way back when I’ll put in the hours so I can master this.

As a fun aside I finished the podcast yesterday, watched Tron last night and promptly went to my Xbox to download the game. The moment I finished downloading guess who logged in? Audra. Coincidence? I THINK NOT!

END OF LINE

[Tom]

I wish I had a quarter for every quarter I put in that Tron game.

[Pike]

Still working through the cast (Sunday releases kill me.)

Tron isn’t Cyberpunk (that takes more of a punk/dystopian leather and mirrorshades attitude towards the near future.) However, it may well have influenced Cyberpunk. Neuromancer, the proto-cyberpunk novel, had a vision of cyberspace (indeed, invented the term) that looked somewhat similar to Tron’s computer space. The organization of knowledge into buildings is very consistent between the two, and indeed featured into a lot of early attempts at providing a model for how we’d manage the internet, from gopher to geocities. (Google proved you don’t have to organize that tightly.)

I wish I had a quarter for every quarter I put in that Tron game.

Me too. I’d have about fifty bucks and fifteen minutes of my life back.

[Fenatic]

Damn, somebody beat me to the Babylon 5 trivia. It’s pretty funny that 2 main cast members from B5 were in Tron, considering there were only a handfull of people in Tron at all.

END OF LINE

[Tom]

Me too. I’d have about fifty bucks and fifteen minutes of my life back.

Fifty bucks in fifteen minutes? Yeah, that sounds about like my success rate.
I could never get past the cone on like the 2nd or 3rd level.

[frakkintalos]

Me too. I’d have about fifty bucks and fifteen minutes of my life back.

Fifty bucks in fifteen minutes? Yeah, that sounds about like my success rate.
I could never get past the cone on like the 2nd or 3rd level.

Sounds like my day as a prostitute.
.
.
.
.
I don’t want to talk about it. :eek:

[Tom]

Sounds like my day as a prostitute.
.
.
.
.
I don’t want to talk about it. :eek:

giggle If you wanted to game in the 80’s, you had to do what you had to do.

[fastcart]

giggle If you wanted to game in the 80’s, you had to do what you had to do.

He was young and needed the money…for Tron…

[bkitty]

I was an arcade rat in the 80’s- LOVED Tron- the light cycles and annihilating the MCP at the end!

I also loved Pacman and still kind of remember the pattern, though Ms Pacman was more fun! Centipede, Dig Dug, Tempest, Galaga, Joust, Burger Time- had Donkey Kong on the 2600, and Star Trek, too!

Got the first Gameboy as soon as I got paid, and moved on to the Sega Genesis for the back lit screen. The hub bought me the Gameboy Advance to have in the hospital after my c-section for the Puddy- that’s LOVE!

Of course, Puddy had to drop my backlit Gameboy in the toilet, and that was the end of that. le sigh.

Tried to stay with it via Playstation, but family life got too busy for me to be anything but a noob.

We play stuff Puddytat can handle, like Rabbids-related stuff.

And still haven’t made it out of the first room in Terminator- lol!

I have 13, but it made me motion sick. blerg. was so excited when I got it.

I envy those of you doing the xbox live thing. Wish I could join.

Game On!!

[photonutz09]

Well I am all set to go see TRON on Sunday at the Lincoln Plaza IMAX theatre by LIncoln Center Sunday in 3D!!! Yay!!! I’ll watch my Tron DVD tonight to get ready

[Reset]

I set trace on & went to see TRON this afternoon (thanks Fandago!). I was not particularly impressed by the 3D (2D probably would be just as good), but the special effects were fantastic. This is definitely a must see and a see again (many times!). Much like Avatar, it created a fantastic world that drew you in, though I found the scripting on TRON much better and the characters more believable. I liked it very much.

Now I want to go back and see the original, if I can find a copy for less than $200 (what’s going on here?).

[photonutz09]

I set trace on & went to see TRON this afternoon (thanks Fandago!). I was not particularly impressed by the 3D (2D probably would be just as good), but the special effects were fantastic. This is definitely a must see and a see again (many times!). Much like Avatar, it created a fantastic world that drew you in, though I found the scripting on TRON much better and the characters more believable. I liked it very much.

Now I want to go back and see the original, if I can find a copy for less than $200 (what’s going on here?).

200? Are you kidding?

[ShutUpWesley]

I set trace on & went to see TRON this afternoon (thanks Fandago!). I was not particularly impressed by the 3D (2D probably would be just as good), but the special effects were fantastic. This is definitely a must see and a see again (many times!). Much like Avatar, it created a fantastic world that drew you in, though I found the scripting on TRON much better and the characters more believable. I liked it very much.

Now I want to go back and see the original, if I can find a copy for less than $200 (what’s going on here?).

I won’t say for sure but it might be on youtube. If you maybe were to search there for “tron (1982) part 1” then you might find that someone has split it into 7 parts and uploaded it for all to watch.
But then, i’m just guessing.

[PlaneEngnr]

I went to see it at Kennedy Space Center for the IMAX show (8pm) and there were 11 people, including my group of 3. It was a great movie but I hope they have more attendance elsewhere.

[WV_Lou]

This seems relevant. When I went to Lebowski Fest in Louisville in 2009, they played this video that has a Tron tie-in. It was absolutely hilarious at the time. Then again, that was after a few White Russians.

//youtu.be/TSFxC0Xp1L0

Also, it blew my mind a couple years ago to find out that Cindy Morgan who plays Lora was also Lacy Underall in Caddyshack.

[Cackleberry]

I watched Tron 1982 this week, and am impressed with the effects they were able to pull off. And I thought the laser digitising him Flynn was cool. However I was a bit lost with some of the story line. Maybe it’s because I don’t know much about computer programming.

I don’t understand what the archy looking things were, or why there were tanks and light cycles? Or why there were games? I get that the MCP has orders from it’s user to stop certain programs from doing what they are for, is that why they were made to do other things to occupy them?

And I get that the programs look like their user’s but their avatars weren’t digitised, so how come they look like human’s? I’m obviously missing a step somewhere, or is it just for the purposes of the movie?

Little help?

[Uchiha_Daisuke]

I watched Tron 1982 this week, and am impressed with the effects they were able to pull off. And I thought the laser digitising him Flynn was cool. However I was a bit lost with some of the story line. Maybe it’s because I don’t know much about computer programming.

I don’t understand what the archy looking things were, or why there were tanks and light cycles? Or why there were games? I get that the MCP has orders from it’s user to stop certain programs from doing what they are for, is that why they were made to do other things to occupy them?

Recognizer - Created by Flynn as part of “Space Paranoids” it’s used in the film as a sentry unit. They basically just wander the system looking for unauthorized programs.

While the MCP had power to control the system it wasn’t creative. It hijacked other programs and/or their functions to make itself stronger. The Tanks and Lightcycles were also part of the games Flynn created. As programs were captured the MCP would either have them compiled into his code or sent to be killed in the games. By the time the movie starts, the MCP is already out of control and doing its own thing. That’s one reason why Alan wrote Tron, to monitor the system for unscheduled contacts or programs and to shut them down. In the real world Alan write’s Tron’s code to be a security program, what we see in the computer world is a person with amazing fighting skills.

And I get that the programs look like their user’s but their avatars weren’t digitised, so how come they look like human’s? I’m obviously missing a step somewhere, or is it just for the purposes of the movie?

Little help?

The movie is trying to envision what it would look like if the computer world looked the same as ours. Some stuff works very well and others don’t. I think how much bothers you depends on how well one know computers and how they work. There were no avatars back then so I think the solution of making them look the same works best.

Hope this helps.

I watched the special features this week in anticipation for Legacy. A great (and long) “Making of” was part of it and I found it on Youtube. If you are a fan of Tron you must see.

//youtu.be/SsGCcPyj7B4

//youtu.be/RZMKGKtFv5A

//youtu.be/Me8aSe2CyDU

//youtu.be/WcO_XXZMnco

//youtu.be/QDCvfsWh6-8

//youtu.be/euERMlcsH5w

//youtu.be/IH2cJ3VSCK4

//youtu.be/WF8_Z_grTNc

//youtu.be/GguvCH38DJo

[Cackleberry]

Recognizer - Created by Flynn as part of “Space Paranoids” it’s used in the film as a sentry unit. They basically just wander the system looking for unauthorized programs.

While the MCP had power to control the system it wasn’t creative. It hijacked other programs and/or their functions to make itself stronger. The Tanks and Lightcycles were also part of the games Flynn created. As programs were captured the MCP would either have them compiled into his code or sent to be killed in the games. By the time the movie starts, the MCP is already out of control and doing its own thing. That’s one reason why Alan wrote Tron, to monitor the system for unscheduled contacts or programs and to shut them down. In the real world Alan write’s Tron’s code to be a security program, what we see in the computer world is a person with amazing fighting skills.

The movie is trying to envision what it would look like if the computer world looked the same as ours. Some stuff works very well and others don’t. I think how much bothers you depends on how well one know computers and how they work. There were no avatars back then so I think the solution of making them look the same works best.

Hope this helps.

That helps heaps, thanks so much. I didn’t want to go into watching the new one still being so confused. Thanks also for the links.

Reading back over my post I see a large amount of grammatical errors, not something I usually do. Not feeling well, so that’s my excuse

[Uchiha_Daisuke]

That helps heaps, thanks so much. I didn’t want to go into watching the new one still being so confused. Thanks also for the links.

Reading back over my post I see a large amount of grammatical errors, not something I usually do. Not feeling well, so that’s my excuse

Hope you feel better soon.

After seeing Legacy, as with most sequels, it assumes you’ve seen the first movie. It’s good you watched Tron first. If you have any other questions let us know. Just go in focusing on the story, characters and visuals. The symbology is really secondary to everything else.

[Gryper]

This seems relevant. When I went to Lebowski Fest in Louisville in 2009, they played this video that has a Tron tie-in. It was absolutely hilarious at the time. Then again, that was after a few White Russians.

//youtu.be/TSFxC0Xp1L0

Also, it blew my mind a couple years ago to find out that Cindy Morgan who plays Lora was also Lacy Underall in Caddyshack.

OSSIM video! Thanks for posting it WV Lou!