How many of you remember how the original "TRON" ended? With Tron battling the MCP (i.e. Master Control Program) ...
Copyright 1982 Walt Disney Productions. All rights reserved
... and ultimately defeating it. Which then resulted in all of the MCP's extremely restrictive security measures being shut down. Which meant that information could once again flowing freely through cyberspace. Which - in the virtual world - is about as close as you're going to get to a Disney-style happy ending.
But if the original "TRON" ended with virtually blue skies and everything seemingly made right in cyberspace ... Then what the hell happened between 1982 and 2010? I mean, given the virtual world that we've seen so far in all those ads & trailers for "TRON: Legacy," the cyber universe now seems to be this dark and forbidding place.
Copyright 2010 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved
And what's the deal with those two versions of Jeff Bridges that appear in this Joseph Kosinski film? One appears to be a Kevin Flynn (i.e. the name of the character that Bridges played in the original "TRON") who has aged naturally ...
... while the other version of Jeff Bridges ... Well, he looks just like the Kevin Flynn character did back in 1982.
Well, if you want to find out what actually went on in the "TRON" world between 1982 and 2010, might I suggest that you pick up a copy of Jai Nitz & Starlight Runner Entertainment's "TRON: Betrayal" (Disney Press, November 2010) ...
Copyright 2010 Disney Press. All rights reserved
... an original graphic novel which serves as a prequel (of sorts) to "TRON Legacy." At the very least, "TRON Betrayal" does an excellent job of filling in that gaping plothole that sits between the 1982 "TRON" film and its soon-to-be-released follow-up.
Copyright 2010 Disney. All rights reserved
(Interesting side note here: The "TRON Evolution" video game - which hits store shelves on December 7th -- will cover some of the same turf as this graphic novel. But there are pieces of the storyline leading up to "TRON Legacy" that will only be revealed if you play the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii and/or Sony PSP versions of "TRON Evolution."
And to make matters worse for all you completists out there, there are chunks of the "TRON" back story / mythology that have been parceled out to individual game systems. So the only way to know everything that went on inbetween the original "TRON" film and "TRON Legacy" is play all of these video games PLUS the "TRON" phone apps that are out there.
Copyright 2101 Disney. All rights reserved
Now as to what happened, story-wise, between "TRON" and "TRON Legacy" ....
WARNING, PROGRAMS ... There be spoilers ahead. So if you want to walk into "TRON Legacy" without knowing some key plot points for this motion picture in advance, now would be a very good time to derezz.
Still there? Okay. Here it comes ...
"TRON Betrayal" picks up a few months after the end of "TRON." Kevin Flynn is now the CEO of ENCOM. And he's trying to do right by the company he's in charge of, his new friends in the virtual world as well as his brand-new family ...
But there are only so many hours in a day. And what particularly complicates things is that time in the virtual world (which is measured in cycles, rather than days) moves much more quickly than it does in the real world.
And since Kevin can't be in two places at the same time ... Well, he creates a second version of Clu. A program that you may recall for the opening moments of the original version of "Tron." This was that tank-driving version of Jeff Bridges which Flynn sent into ENCOM systems. With the hope that Clu would then be able to uncover proof that Flynn had actually invented the super-popular Space Paranoids video game and had subsequently been robbed of this credit by the company's sinister senior executive, Ed Dillinger (played by David Warner).
However, since the original version of Clu had been derezzed in the opening moments of "Tron," Kevin now had to create an all-new Clu. A new & improved virtual version of himself ...
... who could then serve as his proxy in cyberspace while Flynn was out in the real world raising his young son, Sam as well as trying to appease ENCOM's board of directors.
But what Kevin hadn't counted on was that the programs that he created would continue to grow & mutate while he was away. More to the point, that the citizens of this virtual world that Flynn watches over would eventually grow frustrated with their absentee landlord.
Which would then turn to resentment.
As for the rest of the story contained in "TRON Betrayal" (which features some absolutely beautiful art by Jeff Matsuda & Andie Tong), this graphic novel does a pretty terrific job of setting up the back story for "TRON Legacy" without giving all of the surprises in this Joseph Kosinski film.
Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved
But what this 128-page paperback does reveal is really quite intriguing. So if you just can't wait 'til December 17th to find out what happened between the original "TRON " and "TRON Legacy," go pick yourself up a copy of "TRON: Betrayal."
Your thoughts?
Kevin Flynn created CLU in the original TRON movie. CLU was a program used to hunt down proof that Kevin created Space Paranoids and was robbed of the credit (and subsequent fame/fortune) by ENCOM exec Ed Dillinger.
SPOILER (based on a guess):
There's been speculation that CLU 2.0's henchman Rinzler was actually Tron; the basis for this was the "T" pattern that appears on the upper chest of Rinzler's bodysuit, which looks like the one that Tron had in the original film. Judging by the panel from the graphic novel shown above (2nd picture from the bottom of the page), that appears to be the case: Tron is seen at the End of Line Bar, wearing a black bodysuit with the "T" pattern visible.
I'm rather curious as to where Tron: Killer App fits into this time sequence. In it, Alan Bradley's son goes into the virtual world of Tron. Does the film ignore this?
Comic books, video games, etc. are almost always ignored by the filmmakers when the time comes to make the next installment. (see Tron 2.0)
I can guarantee that there's nothing in these items that are needed to see Tron: Legacy and that nothing in them will be referred to in this or any other film.
Move along...move along...