TRON Kept A-Rollin’
If good looks was a minute/ You know that you could've been an hour- Smokey Robinson, 'The Way You Do The Things You Do'
With this disc, I thee rule
For those that aren’t in the know, (which puts you only one month behind me) Disney is finally making a sequel to their 1982 cult hit TRON. Can you believe it’s only been 26 years since we last joined the deadbeat Lebowski, Lacy Underall, and umm.. Bruce Boxleitner in their quest to take down a corrupt Master Control program? TR2N, as it has been titled, debuted to the public with 3 ½ minute teaser footage of an updated LightCycle chase followed by a close-up of a pensive Flynn (Jeff Bridges) overseeing the action.
Needless to say, I was pretty jazzed to hear this news. TRON is one of those movies that I loved as a kid, but never understood. (Putting in a class with The Last Unicorn, and Breakin 2: Electric Boogaloo) I was so mesmerized by the glowing lacrosse helmets, the laser-light motorcycles, neon tanks, and the combat Frisbee/backpacks that I didn’t care about the plot what-so-ever. As it turns out, it’s not that shabby of a story either: renegade programs working within a corrupt system in an effort to take it down. The thought of a sequel sounds exciting and marketable, but it raises so many questions:
No, we didn't take this idea from T2!
– Is this sequel too late? When you break it down, the original TRON was basically an early interpretation of story lines in the Matrix Trilogy. It has a LOT of the same elements: “unique” human protagonist, rebelling programs, agents of control, evil Master Control/Main Frame, etc. (I think their scripts may even share a “Whoa!” or two) My point is: Will audiences look at it as a second chapter to an innovative classic techno-adventure, or just a copycat Matrix-ish movie trying to cash in on former glory?
–How will they account for the time lapse between the films? TRON was a story that took place in a time when computers took up a whole room in your house, and when BASIC was the standard CPU language. While it was cutting edge at the time, the entire language of TRON is obsolete by today’s standards. The flying toaster screensaver is more complex than anything mentioned in TRON. Also, Jeff Bridges is OLD. He appears to be the only returning cast member, so does that mean he has an active role? Let’s face it, the only disc that Flynn will throw will be the one in his back when he tries to mount his LightCycle.
–Will I finally be able to make a TRON Halloween costume that people will appreciate rather than ridicule?
While we can speculate and pontificate all we want, the real answers won’t be addressed until the films release date in 2010/2011. Until then, all we can do is sit patiently and watch the load-up screen of our hopes and dreams slowly climb to 100%.
Until then…… 011100101 011011,my friends
O'Hare Arpt., IL
