Tron Legacy: What a disappointment

I'm one of the cultish Tron fans and I was so excited by Tron Legacy that I was fighting with my husband because I wanted to watch the movie at 12:01AM! Kids had school the next day so my husband said to wait until they get off school. I was literally jumping out of my skin wanting to go to the theater so bad.

Then I sat through half the movie and I was so disappointed I had to force myself to sit through all the way to the end. And it went downhill all the way to the last scene.

If any script writer would ever manage to read this, take note: When you're writing a sequel at least understand the concept of the original movie! GRRRR.

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Originally Posted by anatess

I'm one of the cultish Tron fans and I was so excited by Tron Legacy that I was fighting with my husband because I wanted to watch the movie at 12:01AM! Kids had school the next day so my husband said to wait until they get off school. I was literally jumping out of my skin wanting to go to the theater so bad.

Then I sat through half the movie and I was so disappointed I had to force myself to sit through all the way to the end. And it went downhill all the way to the last scene.

If any script writer would ever manage to read this, take note: When you're writing a sequel at least understand the concept of the original movie! GRRRR.

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x9001:tears:

That tells me to wait for the DVD.

I loved it! I think they did a really good job at taking the end of Tron and continuing it. I'd like to hear exactly what you think about the plot that doesn't fit the original.

Wow, three posts and two differing opinions.

Jim Smith

I watched in last night, and loved it. I thought it was better than the first one. It had a great plot, and awesome visual effects. My two buddies said the same.

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Originally Posted by anatess

I'm one of the cultish Tron fans and I was so excited by Tron Legacy that I was fighting with my husband because I wanted to watch the movie at 12:01AM! Kids had school the next day so my husband said to wait until they get off school. I was literally jumping out of my skin wanting to go to the theater so bad.

Then I sat through half the movie and I was so disappointed I had to force myself to sit through all the way to the end. And it went downhill all the way to the last scene.

If any script writer would ever manage to read this, take note: When you're writing a sequel at least understand the concept of the original movie! GRRRR.

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I couldn't disagree more. I thought it was a sequel made for the fans. If you sat down and watched the original with a young adult who has never seen it today they would most likely not love it as much as you. The graphics had to be changed to meet todays standards. Overall I was really impressed. I would love to hear what you didn't like exactly.

Those who are part of the Tron cult understands what the Tron concept is all about. It is not just a willy-nilly fiction story. There's a rhyme or reason to the "grid". This entire concept was made into hodge-podge senseless soup in Legacy!

I'm a programmer. I wrote my very first program (Hello World, of course) in June 1982. I was 12 years old. I didn't know what a computer is. I was in the Philippines - there was not even a single video game arcade in the entire island!

On the first day of programming class, the teacher asked us, what is a computer? And all 8 kids in the class didn't know! So he popped in the Pacman cartridge (yeah there were no hard drives back then) and for the first half of the 3 hour class i played my very first video game. I was crazy hooked on computers since then. By July 1982, i successfully wrote my own Pacman program... Those days you have to program the screen pixel by pixel. There was no such thing as graphical user interface. There was no Windows even, let alone a mouse... The monitor was the T.V., you save your programs onto a cassette tape using your tape recorder. The computer had 16Kb of RAM.

Then Tron came out that summer. Man, it was the movie that defined my programming world! It was so cool that somebody in Hollywood understood my world completely!

See, Tron was a very true to concept movie... The Tron world was simple really - you have "users" who are the real people in the real world who are using the computer.

Then you got the programs inside the computer who are controlled by the users. The awesome concept of Tron is that the programs are represented as people. So the programs take on the image of the user who is either playing the game or created the program (non-game). So that, everything that happens inside the "grid" is controlled by some user somewhere in the real world. In 1982, there was no world wide web. So the grid is limited to the computer network at Encom where Flynn works - or actually got fired from.

So the story is that Dillinger wrote a program for Encom (Master Control Program) for the purpose of controlling all other programs so that Dillinger can do whatever he wants at Encom. Flynn used to program for Encom but he got fired so he started his video game arcade. He found out that Dillinger stole his gaming programs to make it part of Encom (the disk thing, the light cycle, etc.). So he tried to hack into Encom to take it back. That's when he found out about the MCP. So he tries to destroy it. Unfortunately, his friend, Alan, who still works for Encom wrote this security program called Tron so he can't easily kill the MCP.

So Flynn asked Alan to re-program Tron. Alan got Flynn into Encom to hack the network from the inside to re-program Tron but the MCP senses this. To stop Flynn, the MCP used this experimental program that digitizes "real" objects into the computer. That's the suspension of disbelief thing that is easy to accept because it is clearly defined - the real object gets sucked into the computer. The MCP can't control the real world so he digitizes Flynn so he can fight him inside the computer.

Flynn is not a program, he is a user, so he doesn't follow any "rules". Whereas, programs can only do what they are programmed to do. So Flynn goes looking for Tron inside the computer while the MCP tries killing him by making him fight in the gaming programs. Flynn finds Tron and so he takes Tron to the portal (user interface - keyboard basically) so that Alan in the real world can give him the new program to kill the MCP... The program gets written into his disk that he wears on his back. Long story short, Flynn, with the help of Tron kills the MCP, gets out of the computer and lives happily ever after.

See next post for Legacy...

Waiting for the next post, because I have heard lots of bad reviews, and I saw Tron a long time ago when I was younger. I loved it, and I have heard that this plot makes absolutely no sense.

In comes Legacy. I'm only going to hit on the major points here.

If you haven't watched the movie, this may be a big spoiler!

The beginning was very exciting! Flynn's son Sam hacks into Encom which is now all pizzaz with all new technology and webbed and all. Encom is still shown as a big brother-type company wanting to control everything for money... Ok, we thought that ended in Tron 1... But that's ok coz Flynn disappeared in 1989, so his ideas died with him, I can accept that, even with Alan still at Encom.

So the initial skirmish was Sam hacking into Encom to distribute their new OS to the web for free. And Dillinger's son who is a member of the board (yes, I can accept that too) foiling him... Yeay! Exciting! Sets up the movie pretty good! Except that... That story line ended there never to be seen again... And my excitement of taking us into the "webbed" grid died there.

So 20 minutes into the movie I'm still trying to figure out what we were supposed to be fighting here.

So then Sam goes back to the arcade, gets sucked into the computer. Yeay!

Now we find that the fight is supposed to be between his dad and CLU. Ok, sweet! But the grid is confusing now... where is the grid in the real world? It seems that it is stuck in 1989 - isolated from Encom. There are no new games - just amped old games... So I'm understanding this as just the arcade and Flynns secret lab... Totally removed from the world! So, I'm like... How lame is THAT???

The rest is nothing but eye candy. Besides CLU, nobody had any relation to the real world, what the heck is an isomorphic program? It doesn't make sense! They're supposed to end diseases, wars, whatever... HOW exactly? They forgot to mention... So, I'm gonna have to figure this out myself... So an isomorphic program is an exact representation of something real. So, I'm guessing they are digital representation of diseases or whatever? And if so... How did they get into the grid? And what is their purpose? It seems like they are just random glitches in the system that doesn't really have reason for existing. So how exactly they can be made to cure anything nobody - not even the writers- knows. So, the only conclusion I can come up with is these isomorphs are just some willy-nilly creation from the writer's poor understanding of computer systems. Lame.

Tron was still there in a minor role - but he got re-programmed - to what we don't really know for sure - he is not an independent security program anymore he is like a Nazi soldier guy now... But then, of course he changes his programming on the fly.... Remnant programming from Tron I? Ok, I'll buy that. Sigh. I'm running out of money here...

So, the grid has a social network seems like... There's a bar and dance club. Ok. I'll buy that. A social network within a single video game arcade and secret lab? Seriously???

And so they want us to believe CLU tricked Alan/Sam into opening the portal so that he can invade the real world? Yea, they said that in the movie. I can buy that... Get out of the stupid grid that's stuck in the video arcade! So, the portal opens and instead of going through it, CLU goes chasing Sam and Flynn around. Oooohhhhkkkkaaayyyy....

And here's the clincher.... The user-less isomorphic program comes out of the portal.... And became human.

Okay it's too much. It's stupid. Very very stupid.

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Originally Posted by anatess

In comes Legacy. I'm only going to hit on the major points here.

If you haven't watched the movie, this may be a big spoiler!

The beginning was very exciting! Flynn's son Sam hacks into Encom which is now all pizzaz with all new technology and webbed and all. Encom is still shown as a big brother-type company wanting to control everything for money... Ok, we thought that ended in Tron 1... But that's ok coz Flynn disappeared in 1989, so his ideas died with him, I can accept that, even with Alan still at Encom.

So the initial skirmish was Sam hacking into Encom to distribute their new OS to the web for free. And Dillinger's son who is a member of the board (yes, I can accept that too) foiling him... Yeay! Exciting! Sets up the movie pretty good! Except that... That story line ended there never to be seen again... And my excitement of taking us into the "webbed" grid died there.

So 20 minutes into the movie I'm still trying to figure out what we were supposed to be fighting here.

So then Sam goes back to the arcade, gets sucked into the computer. Yeay!

Now we find that the fight is supposed to be between his dad and CLU. Ok, sweet! But the grid is confusing now... where is the grid in the real world? It seems that it is stuck in 1989 - isolated from Encom. There are no new games - just amped old games... So I'm understanding this as just the arcade and Flynns secret lab... Totally removed from the world! So, I'm like... How lame is THAT???

The rest is nothing but eye candy. Besides CLU, nobody had any relation to the real world, what the heck is an isomorphic program? It doesn't make sense! They're supposed to end diseases, wars, whatever... HOW exactly? They forgot to mention... So, I'm gonna have to figure this out myself... So an isomorphic program is an exact representation of something real. So, I'm guessing they are digital representation of diseases or whatever? And if so... How did they get into the grid? And what is their purpose? It seems like they are just random glitches in the system that doesn't really have reason for existing. So how exactly they can be made to cure anything nobody - not even the writers- knows. So, the only conclusion I can come up with is these isomorphs are just some willy-nilly creation from the writer's poor understanding of computer systems. Lame.

Tron was still there in a minor role - but he got re-programmed - to what we don't really know for sure - he is not an independent security program anymore he is like a Nazi soldier guy now... But then, of course he changes his programming on the fly.... Remnant programming from Tron I? Ok, I'll buy that. Sigh. I'm running out of money here...

So, the grid has a social network seems like... There's a bar and dance club. Ok. I'll buy that. A social network within a single video game arcade and secret lab? Seriously???

And so they want us to believe CLU tricked Alan/Sam into opening the portal so that he can invade the real world? Yea, they said that in the movie. I can buy that... Get out of the stupid grid that's stuck in the video arcade! So, the portal opens and instead of going through it, CLU goes chasing Sam and Flynn around. Oooohhhhkkkkaaayyyy....

And here's the clincher.... The user-less isomorphic program comes out of the portal.... And became human.

Okay it's too much. It's stupid. Very very stupid.

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Your entire synopsis is seriously flawed. Let me try to recap.
The first movie sets up that programs are much like humans. They have emotions and complex personalities. It ends with two programs kissing. So lets go through your points.
I think that the first 20 minutes setup the movie nicely. The movie was longer thus more time went into the setup.
I don't think it Lame at all that the Grid is in Flynn's Arcade. I work for a company and I have some of the code that we use running at my house on lesser hardware. This is not a big deal to me.
The iso's are computer programs that popped into the Grid from nothing. Again I don't see the problem.
Flynn thinks that humans can study the DNA like code of the ISO's and learn new ways to deal with disease and stuff.
The entire first movie was just some willy-nilly creation from writer's poor understanding of computers. Your elevating it to something more is misplaced.
Clu reprogrammed Tron to be his enforcer. I don't see the problem given that Flynn reprogrammed Clu to be intelligent.
Again the first movie has programs with human emotions. They have buildings and landscapes. A dance club didn't seem like a stretch to me. Flynn was trying to make the Grid better. How could a place be perfect without a bar.
Clu needed Flynn's disk to get out. Thats why he chased them. When Sam uses the disk to get out Flynn draws Clu back in. Watch the movie closer.

So let me get this straight. You have no problem with a laser being used to transport a human into a computer. No problem with computers from the early 80's running something as complex as a human brain alongside a bunch of programs that are equally complex. For two movies now they have setup that computer programs are just like people but for the life of you, you can't accept that a program could come out of the computer? I reject your entire post.

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Originally Posted by Egapal

Your entire synopsis is seriously flawed. Let me try to recap.
The first movie sets up that programs are much like humans. They have emotions and complex personalities. It ends with two programs kissing. So lets go through your points.
I think that the first 20 minutes setup the movie nicely. The movie was longer thus more time went into the setup.
I don't think it Lame at all that the Grid is in Flynn's Arcade. I work for a company and I have some of the code that we use running at my house on lesser hardware. This is not a big deal to me.
The iso's are computer programs that popped into the Grid from nothing. Again I don't see the problem.
Flynn thinks that humans can study the DNA like code of the ISO's and learn new ways to deal with disease and stuff.
The entire first movie was just some willy-nilly creation from writer's poor understanding of computers. Your elevating it to something more is misplaced.
Clu reprogrammed Tron to be his enforcer. I don't see the problem given that Flynn reprogrammed Clu to be intelligent.
Again the first movie has programs with human emotions. They have buildings and landscapes. A dance club didn't seem like a stretch to me. Flynn was trying to make the Grid better. How could a place be perfect without a bar.
Clu needed Flynn's disk to get out. Thats why he chased them. When Sam uses the disk to get out Flynn draws Clu back in. Watch the movie closer.

So let me get this straight. You have no problem with a laser being used to transport a human into a computer. No problem with computers from the early 80's running something as complex as a human brain alongside a bunch of programs that are equally complex. For two movies now they have setup that computer programs are just like people but for the life of you, you can't accept that a program could come out of the computer? I reject your entire post.

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Before I can reply to this.... I have to ask - are you a programmer?

Because, the answer to that will be the difference to your understanding of the Tron cult.

It's a movie - so, of course, you can make it what you want it to be - I mean - that's what world-building in movies is all about, e.g. Star Wars, Aliens, Avatar, Matrix, etc. etc. But, for ANY of those movies, the world has RULES. For example - in Avatar, the concept is that you can transport your mind into another being. There are rules to that - for example - they established the rule that you need the machine thingee to transport your mind to your avatar - well and good. The writers can CHANGE that, of course, but it still has to follow that Rule - so that when Jake's mind transported to his avatar in the end without the machine, they required the eywa connection to replace the machine. No rule broken. So that, to the movie goers, the suspension of disbelief can be retained because it all still makes sense in an alternative reality - it is still "real" according to the movie.

Okay, in the movie Inception - the architect can build the world of the dream in any shape or form or function. But, if he changes it sooo much that it stops to make sense the subconscious starts to suspect something is not real. This kinda explains suspension of disbelief. I love watching movies. It's what I do when I have time and money. I like being transported into an alternate reality - so that science fiction is one of my favorite genres. But that alternate reality can only be sustained if you put it in a world that makes sense. And "sense" is created using rules.

Tron had a concept that had rules. And you did not understand the Tron concept if you think that the Tron programs gained "human emotions" on their own. That's not the rule. The rule is that all programs are created by their users and all their "personality" is a product of that programming.

Clu (the original, not the legacy version) was Flynn's hacking program that tried to hack into the MCP and got de-rezzed (deleted) - so he looks like Flynn.

RAM was a silly little program who welcomes everybody because he is RAM - a small part of an insurance program running on the computer's Random Access Memory bank.

Bit does nothing but flits around and says Yes or No - because he is just a BIT (okay, non-programmers may not know what that is - it's an on/off toggle state of one electrical data signal).

TRON is a militaristic humorless representation who is suspicious of everybody - because he is a security program written by Allen. Allen has a relationship with Laura in the real world. Laura wrote Yori, a digital simulator program that creates digital representations of real world objects. Because Allen and Laura are shown as having a relationship in the real world - their programs have a relationship - that is, Allen wrote Tron as a security program that will trust Laura's programs.

And... Flynn has emotions and can kiss anybody he wants inside the computer because... FLYNN IS A USER. He doesn't follow any programming. That's why he is like a god in there.

They have buildings and landscapes because it is a computer network - the digital simulation of your computer hardware - although vague on the movie, it is hinted that Laura built those simulations with the Yori program, that's why Yori knows her way around especially the path to the Solar Sailer. If you notice, the grid is composed of box buildings with straight lines passing through them - have you opened up your PC? The grid looks just like your motherboard. The Solar Sailer is your network ports that connect one computer to another. That's how you go to the mainframe.

And yes, I have no problem with CLU re-programming Tron. That's what the MCP was - a program to absorb other programs and re-tool them or de-rez them (delete). That's the MCP's programming. So, CLU getting the programming from Flynn to find imperfections and make them perfect is completely a Tron concept. What I'm iffy on - which I said I can buy it but it's tough to do with everything else I had to buy - is that Tron somehow changed his programming on the fly without the benefit of a programmer (broke the rules) - but I said I can buy this by benefit of a remnant of his security programming from Allen.

A social network doesn't make sense as a program by itself - because nobody would write a program that does nothing but socializes and parties with other programs without benefit to the users. What makes sense is something like Facebook where users interact with other users through their programs/avatars in a social network program... which is hokey in a 1989 defunked video game arcade.

And yes, a program becoming human doesn't make sense in the Tron world without something to propel it there. Because, like I said - the iso's don't make a lick of sense in the computer world, especially when the writers made the grid isolated from everything else.

The experimental digitizer program that Laura created propelled Flynn into the computer. That's sci-fi that makes sense. An iso becoming human without any reasonable means of becoming so doesn't make sense... because, the entire concept of the Tron movie was the user/programs dynamic. You can't abandon that without proper explanation of how that came to be. Especially when you just throw a "whoa" concept there of the iso's somehow curing cancer and ending the war on terror or what-not.

Okay, so you don't understand a word I'm saying... I'm gonna go talk to my fellow geeks and get some love now...

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Originally Posted by anatess

Okay, so you don't understand a word I'm saying... I'm gonna go talk to my fellow geeks and get some love now...

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:tears: that was so well said i couldn't have said it better myself if i would have posted it word for word :clap: very well done and thank you :bow:

now to go back to what i was doing :lurk:

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Originally Posted by anatess

Before I can reply to this.... I have to ask - are you a programmer?

Because, the answer to that will be the difference to your understanding of the Tron cult.

It's a movie - so, of course, you can make it what you want it to be - I mean - that's what world-building in movies is all about, e.g. Star Wars, Aliens, Avatar, Matrix, etc. etc. But, for ANY of those movies, the world has RULES. For example - in Avatar, the concept is that you can transport your mind into another being. There are rules to that - for example - they established the rule that you need the machine thingee to transport your mind to your avatar - well and good. The writers can CHANGE that, of course, but it still has to follow that Rule - so that when Jake's mind transported to his avatar in the end without the machine, they required the eywa connection to replace the machine. No rule broken. So that, to the movie goers, the suspension of disbelief can be retained because it all still makes sense in an alternative reality - it is still "real" according to the movie.

Okay, in the movie Inception - the architect can build the world of the dream in any shape or form or function. But, if he changes it sooo much that it stops to make sense the subconscious starts to suspect something is not real. This kinda explains suspension of disbelief. I love watching movies. It's what I do when I have time and money. I like being transported into an alternate reality - so that science fiction is one of my favorite genres. But that alternate reality can only be sustained if you put it in a world that makes sense. And "sense" is created using rules.

Tron had a concept that had rules. And you did not understand the Tron concept if you think that the Tron programs gained "human emotions" on their own. That's not the rule. The rule is that all programs are created by their users and all their "personality" is a product of that programming.

Clu (the original, not the legacy version) was Flynn's hacking program that tried to hack into the MCP and got de-rezzed (deleted) - so he looks like Flynn.

RAM was a silly little program who welcomes everybody because he is RAM - a small part of an insurance program running on the computer's Random Access Memory bank.

Bit does nothing but flits around and says Yes or No - because he is just a BIT (okay, non-programmers may not know what that is - it's an on/off toggle state of one electrical data signal).

TRON is a militaristic humorless representation who is suspicious of everybody - because he is a security program written by Allen. Allen has a relationship with Laura in the real world. Laura wrote Yori, a digital simulator program that creates digital representations of real world objects. Because Allen and Laura are shown as having a relationship in the real world - their programs have a relationship - that is, Allen wrote Tron as a security program that will trust Laura's programs.

And... Flynn has emotions and can kiss anybody he wants inside the computer because... FLYNN IS A USER. He doesn't follow any programming. That's why he is like a god in there.

They have buildings and landscapes because it is a computer network - the digital simulation of your computer hardware - although vague on the movie, it is hinted that Laura built those simulations with the Yori program, that's why Yori knows her way around especially the path to the Solar Sailer. If you notice, the grid is composed of box buildings with straight lines passing through them - have you opened up your PC? The grid looks just like your motherboard. The Solar Sailer is your network ports that connect one computer to another. That's how you go to the mainframe.

And yes, I have no problem with CLU re-programming Tron. That's what the MCP was - a program to absorb other programs and re-tool them or de-rez them (delete). That's the MCP's programming. So, CLU getting the programming from Flynn to find imperfections and make them perfect is completely a Tron concept. What I'm iffy on - which I said I can buy it but it's tough to do with everything else I had to buy - is that Tron somehow changed his programming on the fly without the benefit of a programmer (broke the rules) - but I said I can buy this by benefit of a remnant of his security programming from Allen.

A social network doesn't make sense as a program by itself - because nobody would write a program that does nothing but socializes and parties with other programs without benefit to the users. What makes sense is something like Facebook where users interact with other users through their programs/avatars in a social network program... which is hokey in a 1989 defunked video game arcade.

And yes, a program becoming human doesn't make sense in the Tron world without something to propel it there. Because, like I said - the iso's don't make a lick of sense in the computer world, especially when the writers made the grid isolated from everything else.

The experimental digitizer program that Laura created propelled Flynn into the computer. That's sci-fi that makes sense. An iso becoming human without any reasonable means of becoming so doesn't make sense... because, the entire concept of the Tron movie was the user/programs dynamic. You can't abandon that without proper explanation of how that came to be. Especially when you just throw a "whoa" concept there of the iso's somehow curing cancer and ending the war on terror or what-not.

Okay, so you don't understand a word I'm saying... I'm gonna go talk to my fellow geeks and get some love now...

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I am a system admin. I was educated as a programmer and do so to this day.

If you were writing a security program would you write it to favor another program because you loved the person who wrote that program. Thats just dumb.

Tron - How about Flynn was able to reactivate Tron's primary function. To fight for the users. Its not a leap, you are just not trying to get there at all.

Social network - Flynn was going to his version of the Grid to make a new world. Its not surprising he would model it after the real world. He also claims to have thought of wifi first. Perhaps he was the first to think of using the computer as a social medium.

Program becoming Human - Flynn's disk is what would propel it. His disk has the information pertaining to his human body. Clu found a way to use that to make a program manifest as a human using the laser and the disk.

ISO - Perhaps ISO's were a result of genetic algorithms. Perhaps they came into the grid from the internet via some as yet to be disclosed means. Regardless they were shown to have DNA like code. Flynn felt that analyzing that code could propel humans to a golden age. Have you hear of the Singularity. Its a widely held belief that when programs can write themselves humans will either be eclipsed or absorbed into a knew golden age. Look it up.

I understand every word you are saying. I am not sure how you can not understand what I am saying. I am a programmer who watched both movies this week. It made perfect sense to me. I am not sure you are going to get your geek love but good luck.

http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/3...erds248412.jpg

[geekrage]

:bolt:

You can "not like" the movie based on feelings, but its pretty sad to beat up the movie on technical merits. I mean they have to update a movie about technology from the 1980's to make some sense with what has happened since then while still preserving the original.

I think people who are arguing that the movie is bad and they can make that call because they are a programmer are lacking taste. That is an aggressive, exclusionary position to take in a potentially good conversation about the merits of a movie.

In my opinion, they worked very well with the challenges they faced. That an iso can come out of the grid is not for the viewer to judge as possible - it is possible in the world of Tron. Granted, it felt rushed, but if you would climb down off the high horse for a moment then you could reflect that there were several instances in the movie where the was clearly heavy script and content writing that were thrown out the window to make sure the movie runtime didn't go so long that it would affect the box office. Unfortunately, that took away from the completeness of the plot and ideological battles. However, in identifying what they WOULD HAVE DONE had they had the time, this movie was very good and was technically complete enough for me to read between the lines and enjoy the film.

I could take your arguments about why the original film was "better" technically and rip those apart to on a PHYSICAL level. Since nastiness has entered the thread, lets all remember the joke:

Failed Mathematicians become physicists.
failed physicists become chemists.
failed chemists become biologists.

The walls between disciplines are breaking these days, and I don't know where programmers fit in there, but its certainly not before mathematicians. We are all not good enough. But I digress into the metaphysical.

Guys... THAT WAS THE PROBLEM WITH TRON... IT GOT STUCK IN THE 80'S!

Of course you have to beat up Tron on its technical merit - THAT'S WHAT THE TRON CULT IS ALL ABOUT - THE TECHNICAL MERIT! IT WAS A GIGANTIC PROGRAMMERS' EXPO!

You watch The Matrix and you're either in the cult for 1.) the geekness of living in a programmed world, 2.) the super-amazing still-spin camera shots and bullet trails, 3.) the martial arts, 4.) you just can't get enough of Carrie-Ann Moss in leather.

You watch Tron and you're in the cult for its geekness. Nothing else. The graphics - although amazing in 1982 - was not stellar. The acting was blah. The concept was "what the heck are you talking about" to movie goers (in the Philippines, especially), because the average Joe in 1982 has no idea what the heck a program is. People like the movie because of the "newness" of the cgi action. But they don't go cultish over it. Well, okay, there are those in the cult who are there for the soundtrack...

Tron followers expected the grid to go WEB and just go crazy! It would have been AMAZING! And it wouldn't have been a big leap to introduce the isos... it would even be really cool to make them go viral! Singularity - heck, I'm a programmer! Of course, I've gone toe-to-toe with a few fellow geeks over the concept of it. But YOU CANNOT even begin to touch singularity WHEN YOU'RE STILL STUCK WITH THE LIGHT CYCLES! Who plays with light cycles anymore??? NOBODY!

It would have been super amazingly exhilirating if Sam ended up playing Modern Warfare 2 to fight his way around the computer!

Geez, egapal! Being a System Administrator - not just a programmer - would have clued you in on that major discrepancy! The first question would have been - OKAY, WHERE IS THE SYSTEM???

Okay, here's what Tron Legacy could have been:
Flynn goes missing - he got stuck in the computer... back in '89.

Sam goes rogue and hands over Encom to the board, but he doesn't like where Encom is going, so he hacks into the server with his fancy PDA to figure out what's going on. Dillinger's son (I never did get his name) foils his attempts at it and kicks his program out... but, he gets a wierd signal on his PDA that looks like it came from his father - the hack program he inserted into the system triggered an event that cracked the Encom firewall for a split second giving Flynn the opportunity to send a signal out...

Because, the grid that became Flynn's prison is still at Encom connected to Flynn's Arcade through the old network, unused since 1989, so it is now buried under new technology - still connected to the rest of the Encom system but is outside the firewall.

So, Sam starts looking into what the signal means and goes to his father's good buddy Allen for an explanation. Allen then takes Sam into Flynn's Arcade to see if it came from there and they find his father's lab and the digitizer. Sam and Allen gets an a-ha moment thinking hey - Flynn still has the digitizer, so Flynn might have gotten stuck in there! So, Sam volunteers to get digitized to see if he can find his father... he instructs Allen to plug his PDA into Encom (because, of course, his PDA can't interface with 1989 computers).

So, Allen then sticks the PDA back at Encom and gets caught by Dillinger's son who then proceeds to hunt Sam's program down. Little did we know, that Dillinger's father was involved in getting Flynn stuck in the computer. That's how Dillinger got enough control of Encom to still make it the "big brother" and even got his son on the board. (Okay, I really don't like Dillinger back - you can go ahead and replace him somebody completely new).

So then Sam goes into the old grid, gets sooo wierded out by light cycles and disk throwers but then he finds his bevy of hack programs that Allen inserted into the system, so he goes shooting at the cycles with his machine gun, or whatever. He finds his dad, and they try to race out of the grid back to the portal... but Dillinger's program catches up with them and blocks the portal, so they had to go through the firewall (opened by Sam's program) and get to the rest of Encom and the Web!

So there Sam fights Dillinger in modern video game era! You name it - first person shooter games, running through the rockband stage and knocking over the drumset, and getting hit by the wii sports golfball, getting lost in facebook - which is this giant dance club/bar thing... they go through systems via wi-fi or 4G, so there's no Solar Sailer anymore - they just get sucked out and fly to the next system.

Man, that would have been really awesome...

And then, of course, Flynn is not without his super-programming-skills - so he goes to get Tron out of the "prison grid", and together they fight modern security programs so that he can get both him and Sam back to the digitizer to get back into the real world. That's when he finds Laura's lab that has evolved so much that they have programs now that can digitize and un-digitize - that is, get humans into the computer and programs out of the computer. And that was the thing that went with the Encom OS release - so that Encom can rule the world - or whatever. The new OS will enable Encom to suck up users into the system and replace them with programs! (Yeah, that would be border-line hokey but it's still cool - it still makes sense). And that's when Flynn realizes that that's the reason he got imprisoned in the computer - because he wouldn't have allowed Encom to do this to Laura's department.

So, Flynn goes chasing after Sam with this new undigitizing program (hey, let's make this that cute iso girl), but Dillinger's son and his army of programs is still chasing after Sam too, so Tron goes to battle Dillinger's army of programs (now, wouldn't this be nostalgic to have Tron fighting with his disc and Dillinger's army shooting him with sub-machine guns.) Flynn and Sam finally meet up and invokes the un-digitizer and goes flying out of a phone app startling the guy using the phone... that would have been really funny and cool at the same time...

But then, Dillinger captures the undigitizer program and forces her to un-digitize him... so Tron ends up blowing up everything killing Dillinger and his army and the undigitizer with it together with the entire Encom OS.

Flynn takes control over Encom once more but then hands the company over to his son...

The end.

Okay, you can put iso's in there now... even have them cure cancer if you want. It's believable now because you're in the modern era - where Filipino teen-agers can bring down the American economy with the I Love You virus.

P.S. I'm getting my love from my fellow geeks (my husband is one of them - he's a server admin). We had fun talking about "how it could have been"...

Your mind is totally controlled,
It has been stuffed into my mold,
And you will do as you are told,
Until the rights to you are sold.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dr del

http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/3...erds248412.jpg

[geekrage]

:bolt:

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That's the guy from Firefly!