# What's the deal with TRON? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 27, 2010, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-tron/548172 "2010-07-27T13:01:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-tron/548172/21 "2010-07-28T01:17:13Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Remember – despite the hype, only about fifteen minutes of the film was actually computer animated […] It was essentially a fraud that people bought into. Huh? In what sense could _Tron_ possibly be considered a “fraud?” The CGI bits are discrete and distinctive, and there was no pretense that the other “computery” bits were anything apart from ordinary special effects. They were considered for a Best Costume Design Oscar for the program costumes; it was well understood that these were done through conventional means. (And a good thing, too, because as ground-breaking as the CGI bits were, they weren’t considered “special effects” at all… just something else inserted into the movie, and not worthy of consideration.) Even when I was twelve, I knew that special look of the costumes and set design was just fluorescent materials and black light. Was _2001: A Space Odyssey_ a fraud because it wasn’t filmed in space? ---
**Author:** ![Lobot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@Lobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobot)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-tron/548172/22 "2010-07-28T01:27:20Z")
Regarding Jeff Bridges as Clu, remember: there is still significant post-production to be done. Effects in promos and trailers are often unfinished. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-tron/548172/23 "2010-07-28T01:33:32Z")
I barely remember any ‘hype’ about TRON being computer animated, or any bit of it. The first movie that made a big thing about that was The Last Starfighter. ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-tron/548172/24 "2010-07-28T02:24:37Z")
When I talk about the animation, I mean the process they went through where they would go frame by frame and make several negatives of the film and layer them for the lighting effects. I mean, of course that was a known technique, but the way they talked about it on the Making Of segments was remarkable. ---
**Author:** ![Apocalypso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Apocalypso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apocalypso)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-tron/548172/25 "2010-07-28T03:14:07Z")
I loved this movie when it came out, and still do. There have been at least a few other attempts to make sequels, hopefully this one will pan out. I wish I had my own [TRON costume…](http://www.tronguy.net/TRONcostume/), maybe I’ll make one for halloween. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-tron/548172/26 "2010-07-28T07:20:23Z")
I think everybody who doesn’t like Tron doesn’t understand what Tron is about. It’s a mythological, quasi-religious story. It could have been set on an alien planet, a jungle, in the past, etc. It has a timeless quality, with themes of race, slavery, redemption, faith, etc. When people say they don’t like the graphics, I say, “What graphics?” ---
**Author:** ![Lobot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@Lobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobot)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-tron/548172/27 "2010-07-28T07:25:52Z")
True–it’s very much in the tradition of the Hero’s Journey. But I do think its setting is significant: if _Star Wars_ was myth for the Space Age, _Tron_ was intended as myth for the impending Information Age. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-tron/548172/28 "2010-07-28T07:52:14Z")
I still love the original, but this new one is going to rock, just on the design aesthetic I’ve seen so far. Plus, Olivia Wilde… ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-tron/548172/29 "2010-07-28T13:41:26Z")
Of the 3 trailers released I still think the coolest one is the conceptual test trailer from which I understand won’t be part of the film :(. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-tron/548172/30 "2010-07-28T14:50:32Z")
Link please??? ---
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-tron/548172/31 "2010-07-28T16:05:27Z")
The link is up there in my first post. It’s actually the very first link (it’s in the drop down box). ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-tron/548172/32 "2010-07-28T16:22:57Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > Link please??? They have them mis-labeled on their own website [Official page](http://disney.go.com/tron/index_flash.html#/media-legacy-videos/1) so you actually have to click on the second “theatrical trailer” to view the “concept animation test”. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-tron/548172/33 "2010-07-28T17:24:37Z")
Tron was a fascinating departure from anything else available in its own time, and remains fairly unique. But what would it mean to someone who didn’t see it at that particular age, when home computers first started becoming available for under $500? We were ready for a fantasy that computers could have a world inside of them, and Neuromancer wasn’t to come out for another two years. The film has a certain unity that only works within the film itself. It doesn’t stand up to criticisms based on, say, how computers actually work. But within the frame of reference it sets up all the preposterousness it shows us hangs together seamlessly. The visuals – the high contrast of the clean neon lines setting off dark shapes, the garish lambent red and blue circuit-etchings pushing fuzzily through a heavy film grain, the thick shadows over gray faces – was endlessly fascinating to me long before I had ever heard of chiaroscuro. The music was as epic as any John Williams score, but lent a credible audio analog to the theme of electronic hearts and minds. The elements of Tron taken separately are things I daresay we may take for granted here and there, especially 30 years later. Yet, somehow the likes of Tron as a whole we have never seen since. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-tron/548172/34 "2010-07-28T17:54:21Z")
Wow. I was a bit too old and computer-savvy (I guess) to really enjoy the first film. I will probably get it on Blu-Ray when it released. I hardly ever go to theaters anymore. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-tron/548172/35 "2010-07-28T18:26:18Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > It has cult appeal, and it was visually unique for its time. I imagine ten year olds loved it, and now they’re all approaching 40. This probably helps a lot. I was the right age (I’m 36 now) my brothers were s bit younger, and we watched it almost weekly. My kids love the movie now too, esp. the geekier 7yo one. We will probably all want to go see the new movie if it’s good. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-tron/548172/36 "2010-07-28T23:41:27Z")
If you like Tron and have a bit of programming knowledge, you’ll probably [love this story](http://blog.danielwellman.com/2008/10/real-life-tron-on-an-apple-iigs.html) about a “real life” Tron recreation of sorts. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-tron/548172.md?page=1)