Tron (film)

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Tron
Tron Movie Poster
Directed by	Steven Lisberger
Produced by	Donald Kushner
Written by	Steven Lisberger & Bonnie MacBird (story) Steven Lisberger (screenplay)
Starring	Jeff Bridges Bruce Boxleitner David Warner Cindy Morgan Barnard Hughes
Music by	Wendy Carlos (score) Journey (songs)
Cinematography	Bruce Logan
Editing by	Jeff Gourson
Distributed by	Buena Vista Pictures
Release date(s)	July 9, 1982 (USA)
Running time	96 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$17,000,000 (estimated)
Gross profits	$33,000,000 (USA)
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Tron is a 1982 Walt Disney Productions science fiction film starring Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn (and his counterpart inside the electronic world, Clu), Bruce Boxleitner as Alan Bradley (and Tron), Cindy Morgan as Lora Baines (and Yori) and Dan Shor as Ram. David Warner plays the villain, Ed Dillinger (and Sark), as well as providing the voice of the 'Master Control Program'. It was directed by Steven Lisberger. Being one of the first films from a major studio to use computer graphics extensively, Tron has a distinctive visual style.

Tagline: A world inside the computer where man has never been. Never before now.

Contents 1 Plot summary 2 Cast 3 Reception 4 Technical 5 Music 6 Trivia 7 Comic book 8 Legacy 8.1 Direct Parodies 8.2 Other External References 9 Video games 10 See also 11 References 12 External links

[edit] Plot summary

Kevin Flynn is a young and gifted programmer who once worked for the software mega-corporation ENCOM. Flynn created several video games on the ENCOM mainframe while working after hours with the aim of eventually creating his own games company. Before he is ready to present his projects to senior management, his work is stolen by another programmer, Ed Dillinger. Dillinger locks Flynn out of the system and goes on to present the games as his own work, thus earning himself a series of promotions. Flynn either quits or is fired from ENCOM (this is not made clear in the backstory, although at one point, Flynn would quip "They never should have gotten rid of me"), and is reduced to running his own video game arcade, which ironically features several of the games he created.

Three years later, Dillinger is now a senior executive of ENCOM, and the company is run mainly by the Master Control Program (MCP), an artificial intelligence that started as Dillinger's chess program. The MCP catches one of Flynn's computer programs, Clu, attempting to hack into the mainframe and find sensitive information. It successfully "de-rezzes" (kills) Clu and summons Dillinger to discuss the matter. Dillinger authorizes the MCP to shut down access to all personnel in Flynn's former security group, inadvertently locking out a current ENCOM employee, Alan Bradley.

Alan goes to speak with Dillinger, and in the process reveals that he is working on a security program named Tron, which would be used to monitor communications between ENCOM and outside systems. He states that it would not be a part of the MCP, but rather that it would serve as a watchdog for the MCP. Dillinger dismisses him quickly, only to be confronted by the MCP about Alan's project. The MCP informs Dillinger that it plans to take over the Pentagon's computer systems, having calculated that it can run things "900 to 1200 times better than any human." When Dillinger attempts to reassert his control over the MCP, it essentially blackmails him into keeping quiet and complying with its wishes.

Meanwhile, Alan goes to speak with his girlfriend, Lora, an ENCOM laser lab technician and Flynn's ex-girlfriend. In the lab, Lora and her coworker have just successfully digitized an orange using a powerful laser (causing it to disappear and reappear intact). Alan and Lora later set off to Flynn's arcade/apartment to warn him that Dillinger knows about his hacking. After being convinced that Flynn is looking for evidence that he was cheated by Dillinger, Alan and Lora sneak him into the laser lab, where he works on forging an access code for a different security group. This would allow him to find the information he is looking for, and would also allow Alan to finish his work and get Tron online.

Flynn settles down at Lora's lab terminal, where her laser points directly at the terminal. As Flynn tries to gain access to the system, he confronts the MCP. While he "chats" with the MCP, it takes control of the laser and suddenly digitizes Flynn into the world inside the computer, where programs are physical characters that resemble their creators.

Flynn materializes in the digital world and is taken to a holding pit. There, a financial program, Ram, tells Flynn that he is a "guest" of the Master Control Program, and that he is going to be made to play games. Flynn, who is convinced that he is dreaming, seems excited about this at first, saying "I play games better than anybody."

Flynn and a number of other Programs are soon taken to meet Sark (Dillinger's counterpart in the digital world). Sark tells each of the Programs that they can either join the MCP willingly, or they will be forced to compete in gladiator-style games that will result in their eventual elimination. Each Program receives an identity disc that stores their actions and experiences, and also doubles as a powerful weapon. On their way back to the holding pen, Flynn sees Tron fighting a number of other Programs, and Ram tells him that Tron fights for the Users.

Before he can return to the holding pit, Flynn is taken to his first game. The game is essentially a vertical version of Jai Alai, except that the players stand on platforms made up of concentric rings that disappear when the ball hits them, forcing them to jump over the gaps. Flynn is forced to face Crom, "one of his own kind" according to Sark. After several volleys, Crom falls off his platform and struggles to climb back up. When Flynn refuses to finish off his opponent, Sark terminates the game and sends Crom plummeting to his death. However, he spares Flynn, recalling the MCP's admonition: "I want him in the games until he dies playing."

Flynn returns to a holding area where Ram and Tron are waiting for him. Flynn immediately mistakes Tron for Alan, and Tron reveals that Alan is his User. Feigning disorientation, Flynn says that he's starting to remember "all sorts of stuff", including that his "User" wants him to take out the MCP. Tron states that that is his goal as well, but before they can talk much more, the three are taken to the Light Cycle arena. In here, the three must attempt to guide their opponents into their trails. They team up and manage to force one of their enemies into the side of the arena, opening a large crack in the wall through which they escape. Sark quickly launches his security forces (which consist of Flynn's Tank and Recognizer programs) to seek them out.

The three locate an I/O tower that Tron needs to access in order to communicate with Alan, but on the way, Flynn's and Ram's Light Cycles are destroyed by a Tank and Tron is separated from the group. Flynn takes the injured Ram to a pile of junk, which turns out to be a damaged Recognizer. He activates it and starts for the I/O tower, but on the way, Ram begins to die. Ram asks Flynn if he is a User, and then he asks Flynn to " please help Tron " just before he dies and de-rezzes.

Meanwhile, Tron breaks into a simulation chamber where a Solar Sailer is being constructed. There, he finds Yori, a program written by Lora. After Tron breaks Yori out of her reporting routine, the two programs make their way to the I/O tower and confront Dumont, the keeper of the tower. He grants Tron access to the port, and Tron receives the critical instructions he needs from Alan in order to destroy the Master Control Program. They then make their way back to the Solar Sailer, narrowly escaping Sark's forces, and set off for the MCP. Along the way, Flynn rejoins them, having accidentally disguised himself as one of Sark's troops. He explains to Tron and Yori at this point that he is actually a User.

Sark eventually captures Flynn and Yori, ramming the Solar Sailer with his ship. Sark then disembarks and begins de-rezzing the ship. Although Yori and the ship begin to fade away around him, Flynn manages to keep her alive and the ship intact. Yori believes Tron to be dead, but in reality, Tron has escaped on Sark's shuttle, which lands nearby the MCP's core. Here, a number of captured programs, including Dumont, are locked against a wall to face the MCP, which appears as a giant red face on a huge spinning cylinder. The MCP senses Tron's presence and sends Sark out to battle him, and then the MCP begins to tell the Programs of their impending fate: "You will each become a part of me, and together, we will be complete."

Sark and Tron battle on the mesa, until Tron gains the upper hand, severely damaging Sark and destroying his disc. The MCP then transfers his functions to Sark, causing him to grow many times Tron's size. Tron begins to attack the MCP directly, attempting to break through the shield protecting its core. As the battle continues, Yori guides the remains of Sark's ship toward the core, where Flynn jumps inside. This distracts the MCP long enough for Tron to throw his disc through a gap in the shield, destroying the MCP.

The digital world comes alive after the MCP's defeat. I/O towers light up all over the landscape, and the Programs rejoice in the fact that their world has become a free system. They ponder Flynn's fate, but Flynn is sent back to the real world, the laser re-materializing him at the terminal. A nearby printer then begins printing the evidence that Flynn's programs were "annexed" by Dillinger.

Dillinger arrives at the office the next morning to discover a message on his computer's screen showing the evidence of his wrongdoing. The movie closes with a brief scene where Alan and Lora greet Flynn at the helicopter pad on top of the ENCOM building. Flynn is now the chief executive of the company.

[edit] Cast

Note: Many of the actors played people in the real world and the programs they have written which appear in physical form in the digital world; for example, Bruce Boxleitner plays programmer Alan Bradley and his program Tron.

• Jeff Bridges ... Kevin Flynn/Clu
• Bruce Boxleitner ... Alan Bradley/Tron
• David Warner ... Ed Dillinger/Sark
• Cindy Morgan ... Lora/Yori
• Barnard Hughes ... Dr. Walter Gibbs/Dumont
• Dan Shor ... Ram
• Peter Jurasik ... Crom
• Tony Stephano ... Peter/Sark's Lieutenant
• Craig Chudy, Vince Deadrick ... Warriors
• Sam Schatz ... Expert Disc Warrior
• Jackson Bostwick ... Head Guard
• Dave Cass ... Factory guard
• Gerald Berns, Bob Neill, Ted White, Mark Stewart, Michael Sax, Tony Brubaker ... Guards
• Charles Picerni ... Tank Commander
• Pierre Vuilleumier, Erik Cord ... Tank gunners
• Loyd Catlett, Michael J. Dudikoff, III ... Conscripts
• Richard Bruce Friedman ... Video game player
• Loyd Catlett ... Video game cowboy
• Rick Feck, John Kenworthy ... Boys in video game arcade
• David Warner* ... Voice of Master Control Program

* Not credited on-screen.

[edit] Reception

Although the film was initially unsuccessful, only grossing approximately double it's budget in the USA ($33,000,000) it has remained a cult favorite mainly due to its innovative use of computer graphics and its computer and video-game plot line. Tron's light-cycle race is one of the movie's best-remembered action sequences. Critical reviews were mixed for example, Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film four out of four stars and described the film as "a dazzling movie from Walt Disney in which computers have been used to make themselves romantic and glamorous. Here's a technological sound-and-light show that is sensational and brainy, stylish, and fun."^[1] however, near the end of his review he noted (in a positive tone) that "This is an almost wholly technological movie. Although it's populated by actors who are engaging (Bridges, Cindy Morgan) or sinister (Warner), it is not really a movie about human nature. Like STAR WARS or THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, but much more so, this movie is a machine to dazzle and delight us."^[2] Variety Magazine disliked the film and said in their review "Tron is loaded with visual delights but falls way short of the mark in story and viewer involvement. Screenwriter-director Steven Lisberger has adequately marshalled a huge force of technicians to deliver the dazzle, but even kids (and specifically computer game freaks) will have a difficult time getting hooked on the situations."^[3]

[edit] Technical

TRON is a command in BASIC, short for "trace on". However, Lisberger touts this as coincidence. In many interviews, he insists he got the name from the word "Electronic", and did not even know about the command until much later.

Despite the appearance, only fifteen-to-twenty minutes of computer-generated animation (intercut with the filmed characters--the technology did not exist to combine computer animation and live action) were used in Tron;^[4] nevertheless this was a huge amount at the time, as Tron was one of the first movies to use any form of extended computer-generated sequence. Though the movie has been criticized for lackluster acting and incoherence of plot, the movie is celebrated as a milestone of computer animation.

To be able to create the film, Disney turned to the four leading computer graphics firms of the day, Information International Inc. of Culver City, CA, who owned the Super Foonly F-1 (the fastest PDP-10 ever made and the only one of its kind); MAGI of Elmsford, NY; Robert Abel and Associates of California; and Digital Effects of New York City.

Renowned French comic book artist Jean Giraud (also known as Moebius) was the main set and costume designer for the movie, while most vehicles were created by industrial designer Syd Mead, of Blade Runner fame. Bill Kovacs worked on this movie while working for Robert Abel before going on to found Wavefront Technologies.

The film, however, contains less computer-generated imagery than is generally supposed. Most of the background images were created using traditional animation techniques, and many of the effects that look like computer graphics were created using traditional optical effects. In a technique known as "backlit animation," the live-action scenes inside the computer world were filmed in black-and-white on an entirely black set, printed on large-format high-contrast film, then colorized with traditional photographic and rotoscopic techniques to give them a "technological" feel. The darkness and blue-hued quality this gave much of the film, however, is also sometimes blamed for the poor box office performance. The process was immensely labor-intensive, and would never be repeated for another feature film; with multiple layers of high-contrast large-format positives and negatives, it required truckloads of sheet film, and a workload greater than even that of a conventional cel-animated feature. In addition, the varying quality and age of the film layers caused different brightness levels for the backlit effects from frame to frame, explaining why the glowing outlines and circuit races tended to flicker in the original film.

"In the year it was released," says director Lisberger, "the Motion Picture Academy refused to nominate Tron for special effects because they said we 'cheated' when we used computers which, in the light of what happened, is just mind-boggling."

[edit] Music

The background music for Tron was written by pioneer electronic musician Wendy Carlos, who is best-known for her album Switched-On Bach and for the soundtracks to many films, including A Clockwork Orange and The Shining. The music featured a mix of an analog Moog synthesizer, GDS digital synthesizer (complex additive and phase modulation synthesis), the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and the large pipe organ in the Royal Albert Hall, London. Two additional musical tracks were provided by the band Journey. They were originally going to be recorded by British band Supertramp. The soundtrack album was released on record and tape by CBS Records. It has been recently re-released by Walt Disney Records.

[edit] Trivia

• Actors Bruce Boxleitner (Alan Bradley/Tron) and Peter Jurasik (Crom) would later team up again in the TV series Babylon 5. While their Tron characters never met, on B5 they had many scenes together (Boxleitner as John Sheridan, and Jurasik as Londo Mollari).
• In the computer world, all programs wear uniforms with colored circuit lines on them. The original concept was to have the 'evil' programs (those loyal to Sark and the MCP) with blue circuit lines, and good programs would have yellow. At some point this was changed to blue for good programs and red for evil ones. Some of the original coloring remains, mostly in tank programs — Clu, who drives a tank, has yellow circuit lines on his uniform, and all of Sark's tank commanders have blue (though in some versions of the movie, the tank commanders appear green). The original coloring can also be seen in the light cycle sequence, where the heroes drive yellow, orange, and red cycles, and Sark's troops use blue ones.
• The original design for the programs was inspired by the Lisberger Studios logo - a glowing man-figure hurling two returning discs.
• The name Clu is likely derivative of the CLU programming language.
• A hidden Mickey makes an appearance in the movie. During the solar sailor sequence about 70 minutes into the movie (right after Flynn tells Tron that Ram "did not make it"), Mickey's head is plainly visible on the plain over which they are flying, which makes this the first known computer rendering of a Disney character in 3D. [1]
• After Tron, Ram and Flynn escape from the Light Cycle arena, Sark is shown in front of a map screen angrily ordering tanks to capture them. In wide-screen, high-definition DVD and theatrical presentations of the film, Pac-Man is visible toward the upper-left corner of the screen. (In TV broadcasts and full-screen video, the video-game character is offscreen.) Also, sounds from the video game can be heard in the background throughout this scene.
• The words "Gort Klaatu barada nikto" appear posted on a sign hanging in Alan's cubicle. This is a reference to the 1951 Cold-War-era science fiction film The Day the Earth Stood Still, in which the phrase "Gort, Klaatu barada nikto" was used to stop Gort, the robot in the film, from destroying the world.
• The PC game Deus Ex uses the password "reindeerflotilla" for a computer logon, the same password used by Flynn to break into the system in the laser bay. This password is also used in the video game Tron 2.0 when activating some computerized tanks.
• The program Tron is a form of Intrusion prevention system.
• This film features parts of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory — the multi-story ENCOM laser bay was the target area for the SHIVA solid state multi-beamed laser. Also, the stairway that Alan, Lora, and Flynn use to get to Alan's office is the stairway in Building 451 near the entrance to the main machine room. The cubicle scenes were shot in another room of the lab. It was the first and only time a movie was filmed in the lab.
• The different computer graphic animation houses producing footage for the film animated completely different objects. The techniques of the day limited the CG animation to geometric forms. The light cycles, for instance were programmed by MAGI. The BIT was programmed by Digital Effects.
• Originally, actor Peter O'Toole was signed on to play lead villain Sark. However, when he visited the studio and did not see any physical scenery or tank props as described in the film's script, he lost interest and dropped out of the project.^[4]
• The name of one of the characters in Tron, Alan Bradley, is an alternate spelling of Allen Bradley, the name of a company which manufactures programmable logic controllers.
• The French radio station TopFM, in 1987, voted Tron the best film with computer graphics. It retained the title every year (the competition was annual) until Titanic came out.
• During the Solar Sailer sequence, a scene depicts Grid Bugs (four-legged spider-like creatures) appearing and multiplying, while Yori's voice is heard warning Tron to watch out for them. Yori and Tron are not seen on screen, nor is the Solar Sailor, and the Grid Bugs are never seen or mentioned again, so it is not clear what danger the Grid Bugs pose to them. This scene was added as a link to the video game, which includes a grid bug level.

[edit] Comic book

In 2003, 88 MPH solicited a mini-series titled: Tron 2.0: Derezzed. This comic was canceled before any issues were released.

In 2005, Slave Labor Graphics announced its comic, Tron: The Ghost in the Machine. The first issue was released in April of 2006, the second issue in November of the same year. The comic book is set 6 months after the events of Tron 2.0, when the video game programmer, Jet Bradley, returns to the computer world against his will. The comic book is written by Landry Walker and Eric Jones, with art in the first two issues by Louie De Martinis. The artist on the third issue is Mike Shoykhet.

The comic from Slave Labor Graphics opens with a detailed history of the Tron universe, providing this previously unseen background on the events that allowed Ed Dillinger and the MCP to rise to power:

In the early 1970s a small engineering company called ENCOM introduced a revolutionary type of software designed to direct and streamline the transfer of data between networked machines. Ed Dillinger, the lead programmer on this project, realized the enormous potential of his teams creation and secretly encoded a secondary function to be activated upon installation: to copy the sub-routines of other programs and absorb their functions. This alteration allowed Dillinger to appropriate research and claim it as his own, and he rose quickly through ENCOM’s corporate ranks. This was the beginning of the Master Control Program.

The comic picks up after the events in Tron 2.0, where Jet Bradley has emerged from the digital universe emotionally scarred and distrustful of technology.^[5]

[edit] Legacy

• On January 13, 2005, Walt Disney Pictures announced a new Tron movie (possibly a remake), with more emphasis on the Internet. This project was also hinted at previously in the new documentary that was filmed for the 20th-anniversary DVD, which was released in January 2002. However, it seems unlikely that this movie will ever materialize.^{[citation needed]}
• Disneyland featured the Tron SuperSpeed Tunnel in its PeopleMover attraction from 1982 until its closure in 1995. During this time, the attraction was officially titled PeopleMover Thru The World of Tron.
• Tron inspired the music videos for the songs "Everyday Formula" by the band Regurgitator (which recreated the Jai-Alai sequence), "12:51" by The Strokes, A1's video for their remake of "Take on Me" (originally by A-ha) and "From Paris to Berlin" by Infernal, which uses vehicles from the light cycle race. Shania Twain's video for "I'm Gonna Getcha Good!" seems to be Tron influenced.
• In 2006, Adidas released a limited-edition line of track jacket and sneakers of various designs featuring obscure popular culture of years past. One of the jackets features Tron. The line features a stripe of the playing field in the computer, the Tron logo, and light-cycle racers on the back.
• Some of the terminology used in Tron was taken from similar terms used by the Burroughs Computer company (since merged with Sperry Univac to form Unisys):
  • "De-Rezzed" refers to "DS", a mainframe console command to "Discontinue" or "Kill" a running program.
  • "MCP" (Master Control Program) was the name given to the operating systems for the Burroughs large systems, medium systems, and small systems respectively.

[edit] Direct Parodies

• The banned Pokémon episode "Dennō Senshi Polygon" extensively spoofed Tron's visual style.
• The lightcycle scene in Tron was parodied in the Family Guy episode "One If By Clam, Two If By Sea". Peter was the "green guy" and his friend was the "red guy".
• In the South Park episodes "Jewbilee" and "Super Best Friends", Moses is depicted as the MCP.
• Tron was mentioned in The Simpsons in Treehouse of Horror VI, where Homer is taken into a 3D world. In a bid to explain where he was, he asked if anybody present in the room had ever heard of the film, only to receive a negative response from everyone (several from Chief Wiggum).
• Tron is also heavily parodied in an episode of Dexter's Laboratory (specifically, the episode "Game Over"), where the MCP is replaced by a game cartridge called Master Computer.
• Part of the VeggieTales video LarryBoy and the Bad Apple parodies the Light Cycle sequence.
• The Light Cycle Race was parodied in an episode of the television series Robot Chicken. In the episode, a young teenager buys a cheap used car, but is instead given a blue rod that turns into a Light Cycle.
• A Daily Show segment on e-voting used the light cycle race to illustrate the "little people" who their e-voting "expert" believed lived inside computers and whose heroism and strength of character could be relied upon to relay an honest vote count to the central server.

[edit] Other External References

• The CGI TV series ReBoot borrowed heavily from Tron for its own depiction of a world inside a personal computer, most notably in the way that its denizens regard "The User" as a distant, deity-like figure.
• The Korean animated feature Space Thunder Kids features a fight scene using the deadly flying discs and a villain that looks like Sark.
• A light cycle race was used in a short animated promo for the television network Teletoon, with the light cycles being replaced by the Teletoon logo.
• The ultimate team from Brandeis University is known as Tron.
• The video clip for the song Soundtropolis by German electronic music band Members Of Mayday is heavily inspired by this movie.
• The video clip for the song 12:51 by the band The Strokes is also inspired by this movie.
• The song "Fly High" by the Japanese rock band The Mad Capsule Markets is accompanied by a music video that was highly inspired by Tron. It uses many elements of the movie, most notably the Light Cycle sequences.
• In the Battlestar Galactica episode "Torn", the famous "End Of Line" sign-off appears when the Cylon basestar hybrid is agitated. A subsequent episode, "Hero", features the same phrase written on an access hatch during a dream experienced by one of the Cylon characters.
• In 2006, a television advertisement for the Honda Civic depicted a scene modeled after the Light Cycle sequence, where three Civics raced around a Game Grid and left digital color trails behind them.
• The entire Sanctuary Fortress section of the game Metroid Prime 2: Echoes for the Nintendo GameCube appears to have been heavily inspired by Tron. In addition, one control panel in this area reads "Shield deactivated. End Of Line."
• In one Halloween-themed cartoon on Homestar Runner, The Poopsmith's Halloween costume is Tron.
• In the Venture Bros. season finale episode for season 2, Showdown at Cremation Creek (Part II), one of the vehicles fleeing from the Monarch's Cocoon appears to be based on a recognizer vehicle. It's presumably piloted by the character who has a floating computer chip for a head.

[edit] Video games

Because games play an important role in the film, it is not surprising that a number of Tron-inspired video games have been made over the years:

• Atari, Inc. had plans to develop a real Space Paranoids game, but this was scrapped with the video game crash of 1983, along with the Superman III and The Last Starfighter arcade adaptations.
• In 1982, Midway Games released the Tron arcade game, which consisted of four mini-games based on sequences in the movie. This game earned more than the film's initial release. In 1983, Midway released Discs of Tron, a sequel that focused on disc combat.
• Mattel Electronics released three separate Tron games (unrelated to the arcade game) for the Intellivision game console in 1982: Tron Deadly Discs, Tron Maze-A-Tron, and Tron Solar Sailer. Deadly Discs was later ported to the Atari 2600 (along with an original Tron game for that platform, Adventures of Tron), and a version also appeared for the short-lived Aquarius home computer. A special joystick resembling the Tron arcade game joystick was also created as a free giveaway in a special pack that included both Atari 2600 Tron video games.
• Tron 2.0, a computer game sequel, was released on August 26, 2003. In this first person shooter game, the player takes the part of Alan Bradley's son Jet, who is pulled into the computer world to fight a computer virus. Versions of this game were released for Windows, Macintosh, and Xbox, the XBox version is known as Tron 2.0 Killer App and features new multiplayer modes.
• In the Game Boy Advance version of Tron 2.0 Killer App, Tron and a character from the computer and XBox versions of the game, a Light Cycle program named Mercury, fight their way through the ENCOM computer to stop a virus called The Corruptor. The game includes light cycle, battle tank, and recognizer battle modes, several security-related minigames, and the arcade games Tron and Discs of Tron. While the game is minimally connected to the PC game, one of the 100 unlockable chips shows a picture of Jet Bradley.
• A world for the Disney/Square Enix video game Kingdom Hearts II is based in the world of Tron and called "Space Paranoids" after one of Flynn's games in the movie. The character of Tron is a world-exclusive partner in battle and light cycles (which strongly deviate from the movie light cycles, gameplay-wise; for one, they do not produce walls of light) are featured as well. None of the human characters in the movie appear or are referenced in the game due to the fact that the world is in fact set inside original Kingdom Hearts character Ansem's computers in Hollow Bastion (although Tron states that the system is actually a copy of the original system created by ENCOM. Tron also states that the original system was destroyed). It is also the most important Disney-based world in the game plot-wise, being directly tied in to Hollow Bastion's story (one of the game's many worlds that deviate from the main game plot). Tetsuya Nomura (the director of the Kingdom Hearts series) stated in an interview that Tron was the first Disney movie that was suggested to be used in the game. He got his inspiration after seeing a game designer working on Tron 2.0 Killer App on a computer during a visit to Disney in the United States. Bruce Boxleitner reprises his role as Tron in the English version, while Sark and MCP are voiced by veteran voice actor Corey Burton.
• Several unofficial Light Cycle games exist on the Internet, the most prominent of which are Armagetron Advanced and GLTron.
• Two of the levels in Shadow the Hedgehog (2005) are named Digital Circuit and Mad Matrix. The visuals and background music in these levels bear a strong resemblance to those of Tron.
• In September 2006, Virtual Magic Kingdom (VMK), an online world created by Disney, held a "Tron Month" in which players could purchase a Tron outfit and various items to use in their virtual game.
• The 2005 game Darwinia (by Introversion Software) bears a strong visual resemblance to Tron. Some of its characters, such as an "Engineer" that looks remarkably like a sentinel, also look very similar to characters in the Tron universe.
• The 2001 game Super Smash Bros. Melee for the Nintendo GameCube features a bonus level resembling the visual design of Tron's computer world, with an accompanying music track that was evidently inspired by the movie's soundtrack.

[edit] See also

• Simulated reality

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Tron at the Internet Movie Database
• Tron at Rotten Tomatoes
• Tron's World at Tom's Hardware Guide
• Article about the CGI in Tron
• "Tron Guy": Jay Maynard's Tron-inspired costume
• The Making of Tron
• "TRON-Sector" The world's largest TRON fan site.