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Disney is a <i>content company</i> these days, and TRON is <i>content.</i>
Like spak-filla, they're repackaging and reselling a lot of old
retro second-hand tiles - doing the usual Disney "classic"
trade-marking thing - adding that lovely cheap plastic Windows7
bling to old beige. (Channel 7 and 9 do something similar, except
they'll flog twenty year old sitcoms and crass reality TV minge with
aggressive bedroom voices and laughable innuendo.)<br>
<br>
I do believe Disney's retrofitting The Black Hole now. Hm, plenty of
Daft Punk robotry to work with there, not to mention some pre-Wal-E
funky droids, which all look curiously back in fashion now. There's
Wal-Mart shelves to fill, people! <br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://io9.com/5415863/disneys-tron-legacy-team-remakes-the-black-hole">http://io9.com/5415863/disneys-tron-legacy-team-remakes-the-black-hole</a><br>
<br>
I fully expect blanket repackaging of their old "classics" -
everything from gutting big cinematic hits like 20,000 Leagues Under
The Sea to the relatively untapped ocean of material from all their
decades of TV movies they churned out. You've already seen or heard
of Race From Witch Mountain (a flashy update/sequel to Escape to
Witch Mountain) with The Rock, so be prepared for The Cat From Outer
Space, The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes, and many, many more.<br>
<br>
On 20/01/2011 6:41 PM, Andy Hawkins wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:4D381148.2000808@ozemail.com.au" type="cite">Well
as arguably the original TRON's biggest fan eva! except for Tron
Guy (<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/tron-guy">http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/tron-guy</a>) I was fairly Meh
about TRON : Legacy. I'm not even sure why they called it legacy,
until I read Brendan's link about the animated series, and
realised it was bringing the franchise up to date for a new
generation. However the original TRON wasn't meant to be a
franchise. It was interesting seeing the memorabilia in the
beginning of the second film, as if there was a movie/reality ???
I can't figure out which - that generated posters, toys, hats and
pie.
<br>
<br>
"Sherman, set the Wayback Machine for...oh...", the beginning of
the film. Cool bits about the Flynn (ahem) ENCOM OS 12 wanting to
be free etc which kinda kept in touch with the sentiment of
Flynn's ideology of the original film. It's also reiterated when
Flynn explains to Sam how the system was upgraded AD MCP, birth of
CLU 2.0 etc. I feel that was in keeping with the original film.
<br>
<br>
If you are as old as me, you would have seen the original film
started with a slate explaining the term 'user'. This was so
indicative of the time and the impact that TRON had on the
audience - look at Flynn's home terminal - hardly a graphics
workhorse. People were barely gripping on to home computing and
TRON came along to create a massive fantasy about the whole
thing. You could never recreate this kind of cultural impact.
Perhaps Disney knew this and didn't even try in the new film.
Which brings me to the plot...
<br>
<br>
The whole gladiator thing was great and a nice nod to the original
games - I originally thought that TRON couldn't be re-done because
back then we hadn't seen graphics like in the original film, but
now we see them all the time. The only saving grace was 3D - but
they should have made it the first 3D movie to come out for that
plan to work. The thing about TRON back then was showing us
imagery of what it might look like inside the computer. In the
arena this was Disneys chance to say, 'this is how TRON should
have looked'. But they must have realised, 'shit this sequence
was like 200 shots, costing us 20 bajillion dollars - we gotta pan
this out a bit'. So they write in the Sam escapes into the cyber
wastelands (surely cheaper to render and animate) and the pace
slows down.
<br>
<br>
So the film's plot is at the point where Disney has done it's best
to pay hommage to the original and wow the fans - I was certainly
impressed, and then they had nothing. So they just made it - hero
must save the world, save the princess and get home, oh and
explain what Flynn's been doing all this time. The rest of the
film played out without any surprises, it just relied on the
original film plot without making embarressing moments such as the
grid bugs and "do you think we can merge with this memory, BIT?"
<br>
<br>
At the time of writing this, and having read Brendan's link, I am
now of the firm belief the producers did something like this.
<br>
1. Teaser trailer to make the fans go - "I don't care what it
costs I'm gonna see it 15 times"
<br>
2. Teaser trailer to pique non-fans' curiosity .
<br>
3. Gladiator scene at beginning of film to pay hommage to
original (and fans) and make audience feel like they got the TRON
they waited to see.
<br>
4. Budget adjustment when main effects sequences were costed, to
slow down expenditure, and script rewritten to reduce remaining
number of exciting fx shots.
<br>
5. Plan for animated series and use future syndication deals
(future profits) to finish the film.
<br>
6. Forget about plot, and hope to get it back in series.
<br>
<br>
Something I didn't get was why they had the arena anyway? Oh I
get how it was for CLU 2.0's enjoyment or something. If this was
meant to be a free system, why did the populace relish in the
deresolution of others? Were all the people in the arena stands
now warriors of the CLU 2.0 elite? What was TRON and Flynn really
fighting for if everyone was quite happy to see programs have the
bits blasted out them?
<br>
<br>
Why did they call either film TRON??? I know TRON is like TRace
ON, an old computer command to give the film a unique title. The
original film had the amazing (at the time) disc battle with TRON,
"who's that guy", "That's TRON. He fights for the users", and
the light cycle bit, but the film was never about him. It was
always about Flynn. I know, I know, Flynn represents us, like Sam
represents us in the new film. But the second film was even less
about TRON. In the scene where they "set the wayback machine" and
we see TRON working with CLU 2.0 and Flynn inside the system
working to make a better world, you can almost see the
disappointment on Bruce Boxlietner's face - like 'why they fuck
are they always focusing on this Flynn dude??? - I'm the star
right?'
<br>
<br>
Hopefully the series will focus on TRON and make him the hero. In
my mind, they still haven't made a true TRON film yet. I was
going to say 'they still haven't made a true TRON sequel' but the
original TRON film was like, 'look at the awesome graphics
audience ... oh shit... do you think we better write a script?'
<br>
<br>
Andy H.
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<blockquote type="cite">You've hit the nail on the head, Nick.
<br>
<br>
Plus I think Brendan's analysis was quite accurate.
<br>
<br>
<br>
On 20/01/2011 3:36 PM, Nick Lowe wrote:
<br>
<blockquote type="cite">I hadn't planned to chime into this epic
thread, but since Brendan has
<br>
brought it back from the dead...
<br>
<br>
I also got the distinct feeling that it was a rush job (they
either ran
<br>
out of time or money.) There was so many little problems that
should
<br>
have been fixed. (eg. Jeff Bridges old-man voice was a poor
match for
<br>
his young face - why no digital audio editing?).
<br>
<br>
The most overt sign of a rush job is probably this sequence:
<br>
<br>
- Hero bursts into "boss" room. Two enemies prepare to face
him.
<br>
Close-up on hero's face as a confident smirk appears. Cuts
away...
<br>
<br>
- Following scene: Hero tromps into next room saying something
like
<br>
"Man, that off-camera fight was so cool. You should have
animated it...
<br>
er, I mean seen it".
<br>
<br>
Gah!
<br>
<br>
So, I was pretty disappointed by the film. It felt like it was
trying to
<br>
emulate the Matrix and fell flat. Like it was trying to be
science
<br>
fiction, when it should've stayed as pure science fantasy.
<br>
<br>
The characterisations were even more one-dimensional and
immature than I
<br>
expected (and I had low expectations). The protagonist's
reactions to
<br>
events were jarringly inhuman. He was pure caricature - void
of any
<br>
believable emotion, just giddy and excited to be shooting bad
guys.
<br>
<br>
All that being said, I found the music and general aesthetics
very
<br>
appealing. Although not nearly enough to make up for the awful
script,
<br>
casting, and acting.
<br>
<br>
The original teaser trailer was much better. :P
<br>
<br>
- Nick
<br>
<br>
On Thu, 2011-01-20 at 13:17 +0800, Brendan Ragan wrote:
<br>
<blockquote type="cite">Wow.
<br>
<br>
<br>
Okay a few random thoughts:
<br>
1) On the whole "Tron is a long Daft Punk Video Clip" - yes,
it could
<br>
be taken that way (I'm very much in the "Daft Punk did a
great job on
<br>
the soundtrack" camp) - though that's already been done much
better by
<br>
"Interstella
<br>
5555"
(<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstella_5555:_The_5tory_of_the_5ecret_5tar_5ystem">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstella_5555:_The_5tory_of_the_5ecret_5tar_5ystem</a>)
which arguably has a more sensical plot than TRON: Legacy :)
<br>
<br>
<br>
2) TRON: Legacy's script is what you get when you design a
movie by
<br>
committee - there are things that are Chekov'ed early on
that never
<br>
eventuate (Sam Flynn's pickup of the spare
lightcycle/lightflyer
<br>
controls which is never used for example), the Quorra
Character's
<br>
change in personality from kick-ass fighter to helpless
princess, the
<br>
extraordinarily poor exposition at the start of the film.
The Speech
<br>
given by CLU 2.0 to his converted soldiers (!?). CLU 2.0
tracing Sam's
<br>
stolen lightcycle back to the cave, but Flynn never mentions
that this
<br>
could happen and yet yells at Sam later on in the film for
it.
<br>
Normally Disney doesn't do this poor a job - I suspect this
film was a
<br>
rush job.
<br>
<br>
<br>
3) Effects-wise, I think they did a pretty good job *other*
than Clu
<br>
2.0 - which falls into the uncanny valley so badly at points
it
<br>
detracts whenever he's on screen. It's interesting too - the
same
<br>
capture stuff that was used on Avatar was used here - again,
I suspect
<br>
there wasn't enough time given to this film to complete the
effects to
<br>
the required standard.
<br>
<br>
<br>
I liked the film, but it's not a good movie. For me it
traded a LOT on
<br>
the nostalgia I have for the earlier film (which I enjoy, I
have the
<br>
20th Anniversary edition etc.).
<br>
<br>
<br>
Now I'm going to say something that people are probably not
going to
<br>
like :P
<br>
<br>
<br>
For Disney, TRON: Legacy is *all about* trading on that
nostalgia and
<br>
using it to create another new IP to (in Activision
parlance) exploit.
<br>
The video game(s) (yes there are more coming) are an example
of this.
<br>
There are two TV shows in pre-production
<br>
(<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.movieweb.com/news/disney-confirms-tron-legacy-tv-series-in-the-works">http://www.movieweb.com/news/disney-confirms-tron-legacy-tv-series-in-the-works</a>)
(<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1812523/">http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1812523/</a>) etc. Which begins to
explain the mess that is the movie's script and some of the
effects.
<br>
<br>
<br>
I had a lot of time for Tron, time will tell if the
nostalgia is
<br>
enough for me to look past the flaws and buy into this new
Content
<br>
Kingdom Theme Park the mouse is about to open.
<br>
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