TRON (1982)

THE FILM

FILM DIRECTOR: Steven Liesberger

SCREENWRITER: Steven Liesberger and Bonnie MacBird

FILM STARS: Jeff Bridges, Bruce Boxleitner, David Warner, Cindy Morgan, Barnard Hughes, Dan Shor, Peter Jurasik, Peter Jurasik, Stuart Thomas

COUNTRY: USA

THIS BOOK

AUTHOR: Brian Daley

TYPE: Novelisation

PUBLISHER: New English Library

THIS EDITION PUBLISHED: 1982

COUNTRY: Great Britain

COVER: Paperback

THE ORIGINAL BOOK

ORIGINAL AUTHOR: As Above

YEAR FIRST PUBLISHED: 1982

ORIGINAL BOOK TITLE: The film title

NOTES

GENRE: Sci Fi

WORDS: For a while I championed this film. Well, not championed, but thought it deserved more recognition than it had.

I was not alone. I didn’t realise in pre-internet days there were many out there who thought the same … and some of those would be responsible (in the force of will as well as, no doubt, film makers) for the sequel some 28 years later, Tron: Legacy (2010). Tron (1982) was quite the cult film for a while which was, perhaps, inevitable. It sat in the “intelligent sci fi films”, or, at least, “sci fi films that made you think” space that many cultists hold high.

And it did make me think, or at least it did when I was a teen (and given all the stupidities going on now perhaps i should reviisit those thoughts).

The film was an original live action Disney film (when Disney were going through their ‘serious Disney” or “dark Disney” period from the late 70s to the mid to late 80s – and included amongst other films, The Black Hole (1979), Dragonslayer (1981), Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983), Flight of the Navigator (1986)). Disney had tacked difficult subject matter before but always in an uplifting way. Walt Disney had firm views on what entertainment was, and family values, learning through experience, and a positive outlook were central. He died in 1966, and the company continued with his vision, with mixed results. Films made money though they weren’t the blockbusters of earlier times. So, in the late 70s though, they tried to get contemporary and make family films that would also appeal to other people. Generally, the films didn’t do well (no mega blockbusters) but they are an interesting group.

Tron is one of the films they took a chance on.

Here, Kevin Flynn (played by Jeff Bridges) is a brilliant video game maker who hacks into the computer mainframe of his former employer looking for evidence that the video game programs he wrote were stolen by company executive Ed Dillinger (David Warner). Before he can prove his case the Master Control Program of the computer uses an experimental laser to digitize and upload him into the software world of the mainframe computer. His digitised self (his only existence now) aided by Tron (a security programme – Tron is short for electronic) does battle with malevolent software.

Naff it is, but fun it is also.

As computers (and gaming) were breaking into the mainstream as everyday objects films like this and (the charming, and perhaps, unintentionally prophetic) Electric Dreams (1983), WarGames (1983), The Last Starfighter (1984), Weird Science (1985), Prime Risk (1985), Computer Ghosts (1988) were cashing in. never underestimate a contemporary trend to ignite the box office.

Tron delivered though it wasn’t a hit. Looking back at it I still enjoy it though what came after has dated it. The ideas are still there, and there is something pleasant about watching the (now) retro computer animation which was then (1982) cutting edge, much like the retro enjoyment I get when I revisit the Space Wars (1977) video game by Cinematronics which was a regular for me in the arcades of the 80s. Admittedly the graphics in Space Wars are more crude but there is a certain purity and innocence in the simplicity which counters modern computer graphics which have become so much visual noise. Anice touch is the human faces on the digital warriors – to give the film some watchability all the computer programs are living entities appearing in the likeness of the human programmers (characters in the film) who created them

Jeff Bridges I have always had a soft spot for, well before his elevation to “credibility” in The Big Lebowski (1998) and he is fun in this movie. He was still in his loud, over talking acting stage but the loud, hyper persona he utilised works well in this film especially as a contrast to his slightly more solemn computer character later in the film. As a sidebote he was quiet in John Carpenter’s  Starman (1984) a couple of years later and was nominated for a Academy Award for Best Actor, but he otherwise kept yelling till Lebowski. He has been softly spoken or mumbling ever since. Not sure if I prefer that.

David Warner is also excellent, and he was in his “evil” phase which and follows on well from his turn as Jack the Ripper transported into the 20the century in the wonderful Time after Time (1979) and the evil genius of the sci fi fantasy Time Bandits (1981). The rest of the cast are subservient to the graphics.

The story is OK, the visuals are fun but ultimately, what I like is “other world” idea. The film with its “other world” existing at the same time as the “real” world, with its battles and struggles and (digital) star crossed lovers resembles Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927) in theme and perhaps even in the mood of the visuals.

The person inside a computer idea was good enough to use again, with variations, in Ghost in the Machine (1993), The Matrix (1999), Gamer (2009), Ex Machina (2014), Ghost in the Shell (2017), Ready Player One (2018) and other movies and did lead to a sequel, the aforesaid, Tron: Legacy which made the serious mistake of becoming more serious.

Tron: Legacy suffers from the same fate as Star Wars (1977), Alien (1979) and other films … they must grow up with their audience. The teens who loved them at the time, can’t love such frivolous childish stuff as they grow up, so they update and “mature’ the stories by adding meanings and concepts that weren’t there in the original, or, if they were there were just background. In doing so they ruin the new films who (unsuccessfully) try to balance the escapism that made the originals successful with the prenotions of being an adult.

Cest la vie.

This was directors Steven Lisberger’s first film and he went on to a spotty infrequent career. He wrote the film with Bonnie MacBird and the novelisation is by sci fi writer Brian Daley (who wrote many Star Wars spin offs). It is simply written but interesting as it is based on an earlier version of the script (a script that went through a lot of hoops). Shall I read it? Nup.

But ….

Since the book was based on an earlier version of the screenplay, it includes several scenes which were omitted from the movie, such as Sark’s jai alai match against a hapless conscript and the much-referenced deleted love scene between Tron and Yori. There are also outright differences, such as Ram’s light cycle being green instead of red and the Bit’s ability to say “yes” or “no” in numerous different languages. The book also delves further than the movie into Flynn’s state of mind and his observations of the basic nature of the computer world and the beings living in it:

“[Flynn] leaned against the door, looking down at his hands. They glowed and pulsed. He was willing to bet that he was no longer seeing in the 3700-to-7000-angstrom range and wasn’t particularly eager to think about the rest of his bodily functions. […] He forced himself to confront the things he’d heard and seen and felt, without self-deception. If reality was the product of mind — if awareness shaped existence — then, might not other intelligences fashion other worlds? Reality’s a matter of opinion, Flynn’s mind pounded at him. We’re all wave fronts on this bus.”

The novel ends with an additional scene set in the computer; it shows Tron and Yori on the Solar Sailor across the Sea of Simulation looking at the grid.
https://tron.fandom.com/wiki/TRON_(novelization)

OTHER

scenes from the book / film …

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