david_prophet

So back at the beginning of the summer, during the San Diego Comic Con, Disney surprised everyone by revealing unannounced test footage of what they refer to as "Tr2n" - a direct sequel to the 1982 Disney flick with the cult status.

At the time the footage was leaked out onto the internet, nobody knew a whole lot about the sequel. There had been quiet and unassuming news from Disney earlier in the year suggesting that Steven Lisberger was set to write and/or direct the movie. Lisberger has since been replaced by Joseph Kosinski as the director, but is still involved in writing the screenplay - which is pretty much exactly the same position he held during the making of the original movie.

Oh - and we know Jeff Bridges is back and that John Lasseter - the founder of Pixar - is involved from a production standpoint. All good news.

But what can we expect from a new Tron movie? The original film, though visually stunning and stunningly imaginative, suffered from a less-than-perfect story. And anyone old enough to recall might point out that Tron didn't do all that well at the box office when it was first released. That didn't stop it from capturing the imagination of 7-year old me and many other kids around my age who were more impressed with the concepts (and the light-cycles) to notice any technical problems.

Times change, however, and we all grew up. The first Tron still gets away with a lot because it's the comfortable old movie that we all remember from our childhood. The sequel is going to have to do a lot better on every front. We don't have to look farther than the new Star Wars movies to realize that while nostalgia does go a long way, it takes something extra to really revisit an old favorite I.P. and really do it justice.

The original Tron was, first and foremost, a fantasy movie. Although the bulk of the movie took place inside the world inside the computer, we recognize now that most of the "rules" that one might ascribe to such a place were largely ignored. The simplest of computers could not only think, but emote and even feel pain. Bits were nifty little omnipotent pets that were able to answer any yes or no question accurately. Arcade systems integrated seamlessly with corporate ones, giving the evil MCP a "game grid" on which to test its new conscripts - all long before anything was truly networked in any sense. And for some reason, Kevin Flynn's excessive tank programs were hoarded away to work as the MCPs own armored corps. We didn't ask why or how because we were seven years old and our willing suspension of disbelief was not challenged. So when Kevin Flynn says "Elementary Physics: A beam of energy can always be diverted." we just say "Cool!"

So acknowledging that the original movie was a fantasy film that appealed uniquely to children (or the child-inside in the case of grownups who enjoyed the film), the question becomes - do you try to do the same thing in the sequel? Will we swallow it? Can they create a fantasy genre movie that will appeal to adults who loved the original?

The brief footage we saw leaked from Comic Con held a few hints at the direction the project might take. First and foremost, the footage spoke of an almost cyberpunk level of darkness. Though the environments were immediately recognizable as "Tron", the shadows were a lot deeper and the setting was more ominous. The light-cycle chase seemed a lot more desperate and panicked than the arcady version we saw 26 years ago. And finally, the cold-blooded derezzing of the vanquished cyclist by who we assume is Flynn's old program Clu was made only more so by the dialog:

"It's only a game", the prostate program begs.

And after glancing up toward his User, Clue responds through a sinister grin, "not anymore."

All I can do, from a fan's perspective, is hope that the creative forces involved in the project recognize the pitfalls that can easily befall a project like this and steer clear of them. In other words, I hope they've learned from Lucas's mistakes.