Product Description

A masterpiece of breakthrough CGI ingenuity, Disney celebrates the 20th anniversary of TRON, a dazzling film at the flashpoint of a continuing revolution in its genre. This special collector's edition showcases an epic adventure inside a brave new world where the action is measureed in microseconds. When Flynn (Jeff Bridges) hacks the mainframe of his ex-employer to prove his work was stolen by another executive, he finds himself on a much bigger adventure. Beamed inside by a power-hungry master control program, he joins computer gladiators on a deadly game grid, complete with high-velocity "light cycles" and Tron (Bruce Boxleitner), a specialized security program. Together, they fight the ultimate battle with the MCP to decide the fate of both the electronic world and the real world!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4241 in DVD
• Brand: BRIDGES,JEFF
• Released on: 2002-01-15
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 2.20:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Collector's Edition, Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Spanish, French
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 96 minutes

Amazon.com
The surprising truth about Disney's 1982 computer-game fantasy is that it's still visually impressive (though technologically quaint by later high-definition standards) and a lot of fun. It's about a computer wizard named Flynn (Jeff Bridges) who is digitally broken down into a data stream by a villainous software pirate (David Warner) and reconstituted into the internal, 3-D graphical world of computers. It is there, in the blazingly colorful, geometrically intense landscapes of cyberspace, that Flynn joins forces with Tron (Bruce Boxleitner) to outmaneuver the Master Control program that holds them captive in the equivalent of a gigantic, infinitely challenging computer game. Disney's wizards used a variety of cinematic techniques and early-'80s state-of-the-art computer-generated graphics to accomplish their dynamic visual goals, and the result was a milestone in cyberentertainment, catering to technogeeks while providing a dazzling adventure for hackers and nonhackers alike. Appearing just in time to celebrate the nascent cyberpunk movement in science fiction, Tron received a decidedly mixed reaction when originally released, but has since become a high-tech favorite and a landmark in special effects, with a loyal following of fans. DVD is a perfect format for the movie's neon-glow color scheme, and the musical score by synthesizer pioneer Wendy Carlos is faithfully preserved on the digitally remastered soundtrack. --Jeff Shannon

Additional features
A new 90-minute documentary on the origins and making of Tron anchors this two-disc, 20th-anniversary set, and does a good job of showing the remarkable odds the filmmakers faced. The 15 minutes of computer graphics in the film were developed when this science was in the infant stages; programming often came down to punching numbers into a spreadsheet. Many fans will be surprised to learn how much of the film relies on backlight compositions and "old-fashioned" hand-drawn animation, not a computer. Hundreds of production stills and two deleted scenes will keep aficionados entranced, while the new motion menus are entertaining in their own right. --Doug Thomas

Customer Reviews

Don't listen to those other reviews, this is a classic!
I've read so many reviews TRASHING the special effects of Tron and its plot. First of all, it's easy with our modern ILM and digital masterpieces like Lord of the Rings and Star Wars, Jurassic Park, etc. to criticize a movie made in 1982 but the bottom line is that the effects, for its time, were amazing!! I remember as a kid watching this movie with my mouth hanging open. I watched it, as a matter of fact, this week, on DVD and it still impresses me.
The key to being thoughtful and critical of movies is to be able to watch them in the context of their time. I could easily watch Star Trek episodes and say, "ha!! Look at that! Since our FX are so much better now days, that series isn't even relevent!!" That's, in a nutshell, what I read one reviewer saying, that the FX of Tron are corney by modern standards to it's irrelevent. Not at all.....
I think the plot, and keep in mind this IS a Disney movie, though simple, is a good one. It deals with a big brother government that wants to make everyone think the same, live under one rule, if you're not with us you're against us, etc. kind of government. To be in good standing with the Master Control, one must not believe in the "users," or, to the computer programs, 'God.' So, atheism is the key to getting good training, promotion and success. Those who oppose the MCP are treated like Roman Gladiators only to perish. Flynn takes on an incarnation of sorts becoming a "user" and a "program" almost resembling a kind of computer Christ. Very interesting notion. Neat parallel. The movie if full of Christian-type allegories and overall is very entertaining.
There is no sex, hurtful violence or garbage. Clean movie, I as an adult still love it, and it's in general a great flick. Give it a break folks!

"Greetings Program!"
When Tron came out in 1982, it was intended to be a visually stunning parable against the powers of computers and technology. More than twenty years later, the movie plays more like a nostalgic ode to the early 1980s, than a simple good vs. evil morality tale. Tron evokes the heady days when video games like Pac Man, Defender and Centipede ruled the arcades and when everyone owned a Commodore 64 or an Atari 2600 -- the eight track of personal computing.

Writer/director Steven Lisberger creates a flashy, neon-drenched world, a cybernetic version of Social Darwinism where lowly computer programs must participate in gladiatorial battles against the Master Control's ruthless minions. Even though the computer effects look primitive now, back then they were considered ahead of their time. Fortunately, Lisberger has not remastered the special effects with contemporary computer graphics (take note George Lucas). There is a certain clunky charm to the effects that makes Tron all that more endearing to its fans.

Tron is one of those rare examples where style over substance works. The computer world that Lisberger and his team worked so hard to create is rich in detail. It also plays on our romantic notions of what really goes on inside our computers -- not a collection of microchips and circuit boards but a vast world where programs fight each other for survival. It's no wonder that visionary science fiction writer, William Gibson once commented in an interview that the cyberworld in Tron is how he envisioned the cyberspace in his novels.

The audio commentary with director Steven Lisberger, producers Donald Kushner and Harrison Ellenshaw, and special effects wizard, Richard Taylor. There is a relaxed feel to the track as these guys reminisce about working on the movie. The commentary does tend to lean more towards the technical aspects of making the movie as opposed to anecdotal content but the documentary on disc two covers this aspect in more detail.

Disc two features a wealth of supplemental material that was mostly carried over from a special edition laserdisc set that Disney released many years ago. The DVD reorganizes all of these extras into several easily navigable sections.

The best extra on the second disc is a comprehensive 90-minute documentary entitled, "The Making of Tron." Every aspect of the movie, from its humble origins to the struggles of getting it made are covered with brand new interviews with Lisberger and his crew and Jeff Bridges and the cast (minus David Warner). Everyone speaks fondly of his or her experiences working on Tron. This retrospective look at the movie 20 years later is a real treat for the fans and is the crowning touch on this excellent set.

--Great Movie / (Somewhat) Disappointing DVD--
--I'm a big fan of this wonderful film, and recomend that people buy it. At the same time I'm disappointed (once again) by the Disney presentation.

--On May 14th I saw TRON in 70mm at the El Capitan theater in Hollywood (the 'real' way it was meant to be seen). When I played this DVD on my system two things struck me.

--#1 The sound is near perfect! It retains a very good dynamic range, making dialog easy to understand, and special effects sound great. I would also like to point out that the sound is not 5.1, as the package is labled. (It's either 5.0 or 4.1)

--#2 The picture is quite a bit different than I remembered it. In the theater the effects looked like computer generated images (CGI), but on DVD they look animated, as if drawn by hand. I also noticed in the theater that scenes shot "in the real world" had a tint to them. (For example, Flynn's arcade is tinted red, Dillinger's office is tinted greenish, and Encom's "laser room" has sort of a blue tint.) This is the way it was intended but seems to have been lost on the DVD. It's also worth noting that this disk is letterboxed, not anamorphic widescreen. Over all, the picture quality is about average for a movie of its age on DVD.

--The real disappointment is the lack of extras. This is absolutely inexcusable! Disney could have easily carried them over from their rediculously priced laser disk CAV special edition. I must say, after having seen the deleted "love scene", they should have left it in the film! I miss it every time I see TRON.