Introduction

Tron (stylised as TRON) is a 1982 American science fiction action-adventure film written and directed by Steven Lisberger from a story by Lisberger and Bonnie MacBird.

The film stars Jeff Bridges as a computer programmer who is transported inside the software world of a mainframe computer where he interacts with programmes in his attempt to escape.

Bruce Boxleitner, David Warner, Cindy Morgan, and Barnard Hughes star in supporting roles.

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The development of Tron began in 1976, when Lisberger became intrigued with the early video game Pong. He and producer Donald Kushner set up an animation studio to develop Tron with the intention of making it an animated film. Indeed, to promote the studio itself, Lisberger and his team created a 30-second animation featuring the first appearance of the title character. Eventually, Lisberger decided to include live-action elements with both backlit and computer animation for the actual feature-length film. Various film studios had rejected the storyboards for the film before Walt Disney Productions agreed to finance and distribute Tron. There, backlit animation was finally combined with the computer animation and live action.

A sequel titled Tron: Legacy directed by Joseph Kosinski was released on 17 December 2010, with Bridges and Boxleitner reprising their roles, and Lisberger acting as producer, followed by the animated series Tron: Uprising set between the two films.

Outline

Kevin Flynn is a leading software engineer formerly employed by the computer corporation ENCOM, who now runs a video arcade and attempts to hack into ENCOM’s mainframe system. However, ENCOM’s Master Control Programme (MCP) halts his progress. Within ENCOM, programmer Alan Bradley and his girlfriend, engineer Lora Baines, discover that the MCP has closed off their access to projects. When Alan confronts the senior executive vice president, Ed Dillinger, Dillinger claims that the security measures are an effort to stop outside hacking attempts. However, when Dillinger privately questions the MCP, he discovers the MCP has expanded into a powerful virtual intelligence and has become power-hungry, illegally appropriating personal, business, and government programmes to increase its own capabilities. The MCP blackmails Dillinger with information about his plagiarising Flynn’s games if he does not comply with its directives.

Lora deduces that Flynn is the hacker, and she and Alan go to his arcade to warn him. Flynn reveals that he has been trying to locate evidence proving Dillinger’s plagiarism, which launched Dillinger’s rise in the company. Together, the three form a plan to break into ENCOM and unlock Alan’s “Tron” programme, a self-governing security measure designed to protect the system and counter the functions of the MCP. Once inside ENCOM, the three split up and Flynn comes into direct conflict with the MCP, communicating with his terminal. Before Flynn can get the information he needs to reveal Dillinger’s acts, the MCP uses an experimental laser to digitise and download Flynn into the ENCOM mainframe cyberspace, where programs are living entities appearing in the likeness of the human “Users” (programmers) who created them.

Flynn learns that the MCP and its second-in-command, Sark, rule and coerce programmes to renounce their belief in the Users. The MCP forces programmes that resist to play in deadly games and begins pitting Flynn in duels. Flynn meets other captured programmes, Ram and Tron, between matches. Partnered, the three escape into the mainframe during a light cycle match, but Flynn and Ram become separated from Tron by an MCP pursuit party. While attempting to help Ram, who was wounded in the pursuit, Flynn learns that he can manipulate portions of the mainframe by accessing his programmer knowledge. Ram recognises Flynn as a User and encourages him to find Tron and free the system before “derezzing” (dying). Using his new ability, Flynn rebuilds a vehicle and disguises himself as one of Sark’s soldiers.

Tron enlists help from Yori, a sympathetic programme, and at an I/O tower receives from Alan information necessary to destroy the MCP. Flynn rejoins them, and the three board a hijacked solar sailer to reach the MCP’s core. However, Sark’s command ship destroys the sailer, capturing Flynn and Yori and presumably killing Tron. Sark leaves the command ship and orders its deresolution, but Flynn keeps it intact by again manipulating the mainframe, while Sark reaches the MCP’s core on a shuttle carrying captured programmes. While the MCP attempts to absorb captive programmes, Tron, who turns out to have survived, confronts Sark and critically injures him, prompting the MCP to give him all its functions. Realising that his ability to manipulate the mainframe might give Tron an opening, Flynn leaps into the beam of the MCP, distracting it. Seeing the break in the MCP’s shield, Tron attacks through the gap and destroys the MCP and Sark, ending the MCP’s control over the mainframe and allowing the captured programmes to communicate with users again.

Flynn reappears in the real world, rematerialised at his terminal. Tron’s victory in the mainframe has released all lockouts on computer access, and a nearby printer produces the evidence that Dillinger had plagiarised Flynn’s creations. The next morning, Dillinger enters his office to find the MCP deactivated and the proof of his theft publicised. Flynn is subsequently promoted to CEO of ENCOM and is happily greeted by Alan and Lora as their new boss.

Cast

• Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn:
  • A former programmer and game developer at ENCOM and video arcade proprietor who is beamed into the ENCOM mainframe via a digitising laser by the Master Control Programme.
• Bridges also portrays Clu (Codified Likeness Utility):
  • A hacking programme developed by Flynn to find evidence of Dillinger’s theft in the mainframe.
• Bruce Boxleitner as Alan Bradley:
  • Flynn’s work partner and fellow programmer at ENCOM.
  • Boxleitner also portrays Tron, a security programme developed by Bradley to self-monitor communications between the MCP and the real world.
• David Warner as Ed Dillinger:
  • The Senior Executive Vice President of ENCOM and former co-worker of Flynn’s, who used the MCP to steal Flynn’s work and pass it off as his own, earning himself a series of undeserved promotions.
  • Warner also portrays Sark, a command programme developed by Dillinger to serve as the MCP’s second-in-command.
  • Warner also provides the uncredited voice of the Master Control Programme (MCP), a rogue artificial intelligence operating system (originally a chess programme created by Dr. Gibbs and “improved” by Dillinger) which monitors and controls ENCOM’s mainframe.
• Cindy Morgan as Dr. Lora Baines:
  • Bradley’s co-worker and girlfriend, as well as assistant to Dr. Gibbs on the digitisation experiment.
• Morgan also portrays Yori:
  • An input/output programme developed by Dr. Baines and an ally of Tron.
• Barnard Hughes as Dr. Walter Gibbs:
  • A co-founder of ENCOM running the company’s science division, who creates the SHV 20905 digitising laser with Dr. Baines’s assistance.
• Hughes also portrays Dumont:
  • A “guardian” programme developed by Dr. Gibbs to protect input/output junctions in the mainframe.
  • Hughes also provides the uncredited voice of the Master Control Programme’s original incarnation.
• Dan Shor as Roy Kleinberg:
  • An ENCOM employee.
  • Shor also portrays Ram, an actuarial programme possibly developed by Kleinberg to sort out connections between ENCOM and an unnamed insurance company, who is a close ally of Tron and Flynn.
• Peter Jurasik as Crom:
  • A compound interest programme matched against Flynn on the Game Grid.
• Tony Stephano as Peter, Dillinger’s assistant.
• Stephano also portrays Sark’s Lieutenant.

Production

Origins

The inspiration for Tron occurred in 1976 when Steven Lisberger, then an animator of drawings with his own studio, looked at a sample reel from a computer firm called MAGI and saw Pong for the first time. He was immediately fascinated by video games and wanted to do a film incorporating them. According to Lisberger, “I realised that there were these techniques that would be very suitable for bringing video games and computer visuals to the screen. And that was the moment that the whole concept flashed across my mind”.

Lisberger had already created an early version of the character ‘Tron’ for a 30 second long animation which was used to promote both Lisberger Studios and a series of various rock radio stations. This backlit cel animation depicted Tron as a character who glowed yellow; the same shade that Lisberger had originally intended for all the heroic characters developed for the feature-length Tron. This was later changed to blue for the finished film (see Pre-production below). The prototype Tron was bearded and resembled the Cylon Centurions from the original 1978 TV series, Battlestar Galactica. Also, Tron was armed with two “exploding discs”, as Lisberger described them on the 2-Disc DVD edition (see Rinzler).

Lisberger elaborates: “Everybody was doing backlit animation in the 70s, you know. It was that disco look. And we thought, what if we had this character that was a neon line, and that was our Tron warrior – Tron for electronic. And what happened was, I saw Pong, and I said, well, that’s the arena for him. And at the same time I was interested in the early phases of computer generated animation, which I got into at MIT in Boston, and when I got into that I met a bunch of programmers who were into all that. And they really inspired me, by how much they believed in this new realm.”

He was frustrated by the clique-like nature of computers and video games and wanted to create a film that would open this world up to everyone. Lisberger and his business partner Donald Kushner moved to the West Coast in 1977 and set up an animation studio to develop Tron. They borrowed against the anticipated profits of their 90-minute animated television special Animalympics to develop storyboards for Tron with the notion of making an animated film. But after Variety mentioned the project briefly during its early phase, it caught the attention of computer scientist Alan Kay. He contacted Lisberger and convinced him to use him as an adviser on the movie, then persuaded him to use real CGI instead of just hand-animation.

The film was eventually conceived as an animated film bracketed with live-action sequences. The rest involved a combination of computer-generated visuals and back-lit animation. Lisberger planned to finance the movie independently by approaching several computer companies but had little success. However, one company, Information International Inc., was receptive. He met with Richard Taylor, a representative, and they began talking about using live-action photography with back-lit animation in such a way that it could be integrated with computer graphics. At this point, Lisberger already had a script written and the film entirely storyboarded with some computer animation tests completed. He had spent approximately $300,000 developing Tron and had also secured $4-5 million in private backing before reaching a standstill. Lisberger and Kushner took their storyboards and samples of computer-generated films to Warner Bros., Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and Columbia Pictures – all of which turned them down.

In 1980, they decided to take the idea to Walt Disney Productions, which was interested in producing more daring productions at the time. Tom Wilhite, Disney’s vice president for creative development, watched Lisberger’s test footage and convinced Ron Miller to give the movie a chance. However, Disney executives were uncertain about giving $10-12 million to a first-time producer and director using techniques which, in most cases, had never been attempted. The studio agreed to finance a test reel which involved a flying disc champion throwing a rough prototype of the discs used in the film. It was a chance to mix live-action footage with back-lit animation and computer-generated visuals. It impressed the executives at Disney and they agreed to back the film. The script was subsequently re-written and re-storyboarded with the studio’s input. At the time, Disney rarely hired outsiders to make films for them, and Kushner found that he and his group were given a chilly reception because they “tackled the nerve centre – the animation department. They saw us as the germ from outside. We tried to enlist several Disney animators, but none came. Disney is a closed group.” As a result, they hired Wang Film Productions for the animation.

Pre-production

Because of the many special effects, Disney decided in 1981 to film Tron completely in 65-mm Super Panavision (except for the computer-generated layers, which were shot in VistaVision and both anamorphic 35mm and Super 35 which were used for some scenes in the “real” world and subsequently “blown up” to 65 mm). Three designers were brought in to create the look of the computer world. French comic book artist Jean Giraud (also known as Moebius) was the main set and costume designer for the film. Most of the vehicle designs (including Sark’s aircraft carrier, the light cycles, the tank, and the solar sailer) were created by industrial designer Syd Mead. Peter Lloyd, a high-tech commercial artist, designed the environments. Nevertheless, these jobs often overlapped, leaving Giraud working on the solar sailer and Mead designing terrain, sets and the film’s logo. The original ‘Programme’ character design was inspired by Lisberger Studios’ logo of a glowing bodybuilder hurling two discs.

To create the computer animation sequences of Tron, Disney turned to the four leading computer graphics firms of the day: Information International, Inc. of Culver City, California, who owned the Super Foonly F-1 (the fastest PDP-10 ever made and the only one of its kind); MAGI of Elmsford, New York; Robert Abel and Associates of California; and Digital Effects of New York City. Bill Kovacs worked on the film while working for Robert Abel before going on to found Wavefront Technologies. The work was not a collaboration, resulting in very different styles used by the firms.

Tron was one of the first films to make extensive use of any form of computer animation, and it is celebrated as a milestone in the industry though only fifteen to twenty minutes of such animation were used, mostly scenes that show digital “terrain” or patterns, or include vehicles such as light-cycles, tanks and ships. Because the technology to combine computer animation and live action did not exist at the time, these sequences were interspersed with the filmed characters. The computer used had only 2 MB of memory and no more than 330 MB of storage. This put a limit on detail of background; and at a certain distance, they had a procedure of mixing in black to fade things out, a process called “depth cueing”. The film’s Computer Effects Supervisor Richard Taylor told them “When in doubt, black it out!”, which became their motto. Originally the film was meant to use white backgrounds like in THX 1138 inside the Grid, but it would require such huge amounts of lights that it was decided to use black backgrounds instead.

The computers at the time could not do animation, so the frames had to be produced one by one. In some of the more complex sequences, like the Solar Sailer moving through metal canyons, each frame could take up to six hours to produce. There was no way to digitally print them on film either; rather, a motion picture camera was placed in front of a computer screen to capture each individual frame.

Most of the scenes, backgrounds, and visual effects in the film were created using more traditional techniques and a unique process known as “backlit animation”. In this process, live-action scenes inside the computer world were filmed in black-and-white on an entirely black set, placed in an enlarger for blow-ups and transferred to large format Kodalith high-contrast film. These negatives were then used to make Kodalith sheets with a reverse (positive) image. Clear cels were laid over each sheet and all portions of the figure except the areas that were exposed for the later camera passes were manually blacked out. Next the Kodalith sheets and cel overlays were placed over a light box while a VistaVision camera mounted above it made separate passes and different color filters. A typical shot normally required 12 passes, but some sequences, like the interior of the electronic tank, could need as many as 50 passes. About 300 matte paintings were made for the film, each photographed onto a large piece of Ektachrome film before colours were added by gelatin filters in a similar procedure as in the Kodaliths. The mattes, rotoscopic and CGI were then combined and composed together to give them a “technological” appearance. With multiple layers of high-contrast, large format positives and negatives, this process required truckloads of sheet film and a workload even greater than that of a conventional cel-animated feature. The Kodalith was specially produced as large sheets by Kodak for the film and came in numbered boxes so that each batch of the film could be used in order of manufacture for a consistent image. However, this was not understood by the filmmakers and, as a result, glowing outlines and circuit traces occasionally flicker as the film speed varied between batches. After the reason was discovered, this was no longer a problem as the batches were used in order and “zinger” sounds were used during the flickering parts to represent the computer world malfunctioning as Lisberger described it. Lisberger later had these flickers and sounds digitally corrected for the 2011 restored Blu-ray release as they were not included in his original vision of the film. Due to its difficulty and cost, this process of back-lit animation was not repeated for another feature film.

Sound design and creation for the film was assigned to Frank Serafine, who was responsible for the sound design on Star Trek: The Motion Picture in 1979.

At one point in the film, a small entity called “Bit” advises Flynn with only the words “yes” and “no” created by a Votrax speech synthesiser.

BYTE wrote: “Although this film is very much the personal expression of Steven Lisberger’s vision, nevertheless [it] has certainly been a group effort”. More than 569 people were involved in the post-production work, including 200 inkers and hand-painters, 85 of them from Taiwan’s Cuckoo’s Nest Studio. Unusually for an English-language production, in the end credits the Taiwanese personnel were listed with their names written in Chinese characters.

This film features parts of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory; the multi-storey 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 reach 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. At the time, Tron was the only film to have scenes filmed inside this lab.

The original script called for “good” programmes to be coloured yellow and “evil” programmes (those loyal to Sark and the MCP) to be coloured blue. Partway into production, this colouring scheme was changed to blue for good and red for evil, but some scenes were produced using the original colouring scheme: Clu, who drives a tank, has yellow circuit lines, and all of Sark’s tank commanders are blue (but appear green in some presentations). Also, the light-cycle sequence shows the heroes driving yellow (Flynn), orange (Tron), and red (Ram) cycles, while Sark’s troops drive blue cycles; similarly, Clu’s tank is red, while tanks driven by crews loyal to Sark are blue.

Because of all the personal information about citizens which exist inside computer networks, such as social security number and driver’s licence, the idea was that each real world person has a digital counterpart inside the Grid based on information about them, which is why it was decided to use some of the same actors in both worlds.

Budgeting the production was difficult by reason of breaking new ground in response to additional challenges, including an impending Directors Guild of America strike and a fixed release date. Disney predicted at least $400 million in domestic sales of merchandise, including an arcade game by Bally Midway and three Mattel Intellivision home video games.

The producers also added Easter eggs: during the scene where Tron and Ram escape from the Light Cycle arena into the system, Pac-Man can be seen behind Sark (with the corresponding sounds from the Pac-Man arcade game being heard in the background), while a “Hidden Mickey” outline (located at time 01:12:29 on the re-release Blu-ray) can be seen below the solar sailer during the protagonists’ journey.

Tron was originally meant to be released during the Christmas season of 1982, but when chairman of the Disney board Card Walker found out the release date of Don Bluth’s film The Secret of NIMH was in early July, he rushed it into a summer release to be able to compete with Bluth, and it ended up competing with films like E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Blade Runner and Poltergeist.

Music

The soundtrack 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 the Stanley Kubrick-directed films A Clockwork Orange and The Shining. The music, which was the first collaboration between Carlos and her partner Annemarie Franklin, featured a mix of an analog Moog synthesiser and Crumar’s GDS digital synthesizer (complex additive and phase modulation synthesis), along with non-electronic pieces performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra (hired at the insistence of Disney, which was concerned that Carlos might not be able to complete her score on time). Two additional musical tracks (“1990’s Theme” and “Only Solutions”) were provided by the American band Journey after British band Supertramp pulled out of the project. An album featuring dialogue, music and sound effects from the film was also released on LP by Disneyland Records in 1982.

Release

Box Office

Tron was released on 09 July 1982, in 1,091 theatres in the US and Canada grossing USD $4 million on its opening weekend. It went on to gross $33 million in the US and Canada and $17 million overseas, for a worldwide gross of approximately $50 million, which was Disney’s highest-grossing live action film for 5 years.

In addition, the film had $70 million in wholesale merchandise sales.

Despite the gross and merchandise sales, it was seen as a financial disappointment, and the studio wrote off some of its $17 million budget.

The film was well received by critics.

Cultural Impact

In 1997, Ken Perlin of the Mathematical Applications Group, Inc. won an Academy Award for Technical Achievement for his invention of Perlin noise for Tron.

The film, considered groundbreaking, has inspired several individuals in numerous ways. John Lasseter, head of Pixar and Disney’s animation group, described how the film helped him see the potential of computer-generated imagery in the production of animated films, stating “without Tron, there would be no Toy Story.”

The music video of the song “Abiura di me” of the Italian rapper Caparezza is based on Tron. The two members of the French house music group Daft Punk, who scored the sequel, have held a joint, lifelong fascination with the film. Also, in Gorillaz’ music video for the song “Feel Good Inc.”, Russel, the fictional drummer of the band, can be seen wearing an Encom hat.

Tron developed into a cult film and was ranked as 13th in a 2010 list of the top 20 cult films published by The Boston Globe.

The film heavily inspired the music video for Danish pop/dance group Infernal’s 2006 hit single “From Paris to Berlin”.

The Disco Biscuits, a Philadelphia-based jam band heavily influenced by electronic music, played an entire free-form set to correspond with the movie “Tron”, which was projected onto a partially transparent curtain in the front of the stage for their 31 December 2015 New Year’s Eve show from the PlayStation Theater in Times Square, New York city.

In 2008, the American Film Institute nominated this film for its Top 10 Science Fiction Films list.

The Simpsons reference Tron in Season 7, Episode 6 (Treehouse of Horror VI).

Other Media

Books

A novelisation of Tron was released in 1982, written by American science fiction novelist Brian Daley. It included eight pages of colour photographs from the movie. In the same year, Disney Senior Staff Publicist Michael Bonifer authored a book entitled The Art of Tron which covered aspects of the pre-production and post-production aspects of Tron. A nonfiction book about the making of the original film, The Making of Tron: How Tron Changed Visual Effects and Disney Forever, was written by William Kallay and published in 2011.

Television

Tron made its television debut, as part of Disney Channel’s first day of programming, on 18 April 1983, at 7:00PM (ET).

Home Media

Tron was originally released on VHS, Betamax, LaserDisc, and CED Videodisc in 1983. As with most video releases from the 1980s, the film was cropped to the 4:3 pan and scan format. The film saw multiple re-releases throughout the 1990s, most notably an “Archive Collection” LaserDisc box set, which featured the first release of the film in its original widescreen 2.20:1 format. By 1993, Tron had grossed $17 million in video rentals.

Tron saw its first DVD release on 19 May 1998. This bare-bones release utilised the same non-anamorphic video transfer used in the Archive Collection LaserDisc set, and it did not include any of the LD’s special features. On 15 January 2002, the film received a 20th Anniversary Collector’s Edition release in the form of a special 2-Disc DVD set. This set featured a new THX mastered anamorphic video transfer, and it included all of the special features from the LD Archive Collection plus an all-new 90 minute “Making of Tron” documentary.

To tie in with the home video release of Tron: Legacy, the movie was finally re-released by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on Special Edition DVD and for the first time on Blu-ray Disc on 05 April 2011, with the subtitle “The Original Classic” to distinguish it from its sequel. Tron was also featured in a 5-Disc Blu-ray Combo with the 3D copy of Tron: Legacy. The film was re-released on Blu-ray and DVD in the UK on 27 June 2011.

Sequels

Tron: Urpising

Tron: Uprising takes place during the time period between the story lines of the two movies Tron (1982) and Tron: Legacy (2010). In the series, young programme Beck becomes the leader of a revolution inside the computer world of The Grid, tasked with the mission of freeing his home and friends from the reign of Clu and his henchman, Gen. Tesler. To prepare for the challenge, Beck is trained by Tron – the greatest warrior The Grid has ever known – who mentors Beck as he grows beyond his youthful nature into a courageous and powerful leader. Destined to become the system’s new protector, Beck adopts Tron’s persona to battle the forces of evil.

Tron: Legacy

On 12 January 2005, Disney announced it had hired screenwriters Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal to write a sequel to Tron. In 2008, director Joseph Kosinski negotiated to develop and direct TRON, described as “the next chapter” of the 1982 film and based on a preliminary teaser trailer shown at that year’s San Diego Comic-Con, with Lisberger co-producing. Filming began in Vancouver, British Columbia in April 2009. During the 2009 Comic-Con, the title of the sequel was revealed to be changed to Tron: Legacy. The second trailer (also with the Tron: Legacy logo) was released in 3D with Alice In Wonderland. A third trailer premiered at Comic-Con 2010 on July 22. At Disney’s D23 Expo on 10-13 September 2009, they also debuted teaser trailers for Tron: Legacy as well as having light cycle and other props from the film there. The film was released on 17 December 2010, with Daft Punk composing the score.

Trivia

• The film was a moderate success at the box office, and it received positive reviews from critics who praised the groundbreaking visuals and acting.
• However, the storyline was criticised at the time for being incoherent.
• Tron received nominations for Best Costume Design and Best Sound at the 55th Academy Awards and received the Academy Award for Technical Achievement fourteen years later.
• Tron was not nominated in the Best Visual Effects category because the Academy saw it as cheating to use computers to generate environments and effects.
• Over time, Tron developed into a cult film and eventually spawned a franchise, which consists of multiple video games, comic books and an animated television series.

Tron Series

• You can find a full index and overview of the Tron Franchise here.

Production & Filming Details

• Director(s): Steven Lisberger.
• Producer(s): Donald Kushner.
• Writer(s): Steven Lisberger and Bonnie MacBird.
• Music: Wendy Carlos.
• Cinematography: Bruce Logan.
• Editor(s): Jeff Gourson.
• Production: Walt Disney Productions and Lisberger-Kushner Productions.
• Distributor(s): Buena Vista Distribution.
• Release Date: 09 July 1982.
• Running time: 96 minutes.
• Country: US.
• Language: English.

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