Tron: 20th Anniversary Edition

Disney | minutes | | | Standard DVD reviewed by: Christopher Bligh

It was a big summer day in the year 1982. The family wanted to go out to a movie over the bridge in New Jersey. All were enthusiastic to see a big movie they heard about called "Poltergeist". Although one 6 year old out of the bunch was one of the less enthusiastic ones. As luck would have it, they arrived to the theater in Woodbridge to find out they arrived 45 minutes late for their appointed flick. One window usher noted that a little movie called "Tron" had just started. The family went to go see that instead, setting a key moviegoing experience in that six year old's memory for years to come that was only replicated by the last two Matrix movies.

Once upon a time, there lived two worlds. One being the computer world where battle tanks, recognizers and game grids were a common thing for programs in the machine playing video games for survival. These programs were controlled in the other world, the real world, by computer programmers commonly referred to as "users". One such user is Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), a video game designer who's been desperately trying to hack his way into the computer world to find evidence of his missing files that resulted in his termination. Meanwhile, a fellow programmer named Alan (Bruce Boxleitner) has been setting up a security program called "Tron" that would help his company in the computer world. Thanks to Flynn's hacking, Alan had been cut off before his program could even get started. After confronting Flynn, Alan and his girlfriend Lora (Cindy Morgan) set Flynn up to break into the system with alternate access. Little does he realize, that the Master Control Program is onto him and sucks Flynn into the computer world. While in this world, he forms an alliance with the Tron program to take down the MCP. Can a user and a program succeed before it's too late?

Tron was a groundbreaking movie of computer animated effects combined with live action and backlit animation. The story is a little thin and it's not the most hookable, but the visual look and exciting sequences with solar sailers, lightcycles, and disc battles along with the charming performance of Jeff Bridges keep this movie from becoming a disappointment. As Flynn, he will go to any grounds to get the evidence to prove that he designed all the games and almost sacrifices himself to a great extent in both worlds.

Bruce Boxleitner, as the title character, is good and brings himself to life once Flynn gets to the computer world. Cindy Morgan provides good support as both Lora in the real world, and Tron's love interest Yori. It is David Warner, who steals the show as the nasty conglomerate Dillinger and the even more sinister computer world villain known as Sark.

The costumes combining the warrior look with backlit animation are unique and eye popping, although it did lose in 1982 at the Oscars to a little film called Gandhi. Despite all that, looking at it years later, it is still a satisfying visual ride that was the start of the computer revolution in visual effects and one not to be missed in the great movies of the 1980s.

Tron has been released once before on DVD and the transfer was good but not great and not anamorphic. This time around, Tron is given a beautiful new transfer in the aspect ratio of 2.20:1 and corrects the few flaws the previous transfer had. The colors are more vibrant, but this time without bleeding and the look of backlit animation has never looked better.

If the sound on the previous disc was good as well, this disc went from good to great. The Dolby Digital 5.1 track captures the lightcycle race wonderfully balancing the score with the action and the dialogue. The score has never sounded better and the video game sounds pop out more than they did in the early 1980s and even though the sound lost out to "E.T." at the 1982 Oscars, it remains a wonderful track throughout. The disc also has English, French and Spanish subtitles.

On the previous disc, the closest we got to any extras was a trailer (which is fine by me by any minimal standards) On this collector's edition we are treated to a bevy of extras, some of which are held over from the previous Laser Disc release with some new present day additions in the mix as well, like the wonderful animated menus that bring you to all sections as well as the Wendy Carlos score excerpts that are always a pleasure to listen to.

Starting off on Disc 1 is an exciting trailer for a website that is a link to the recent "Tron 2.0" game. You gotta love a trailer with techno music and computer graphics ending with the great phrase "END OF LINE". There are also Sneak Peeks in the Alternate Programs area with trailers of Atlantis and Return to Never Land. Also on this disc is a commentary track with director Steven Lisberger, producer Donald Kushner, Harrison Ellenshaw and Richard Taylor. The four reflect on filming, some good anecdotes about the production with some laughs and not agreeing with some of the resulting decisions of the film and discussing some of the special effects and their origins along with an interesting tale of a famous actor that was almost cast in the film. A entertaining and informative track.

On Disc 2, there is more extras mostly from around the time the film was made in most sections such as the Digital Imagery section and in the Development section. They are not fluff pieces but are there for an interesting watch. One of my favorites in the Development section is the early Lisberger Studios Studio Animation. I do recall one of the rock radio stations in the NY area at the time using the same animations for an ad and it did bring back a memory or 2. Another thing about 1982 footage is the inside of the offices with the figurines and the Star Wars memorabilia. In the Storyboarding area we are treated to some galleries and a storyboarding scene. Like most storyboarding sections on DVD, the scene is played audibly while the storyboards are shown in place of the scene. The Music section goes into 2 alternate scenes. One is the lightcycle race with an elaborate score that does a little but not a lot to the scene. The other one is the end credits which I prefer over their resulting choice (no disrespect to Journey, but it plays better leaving a theater than the song). The Design section has a present day intro, as does Storyboarding, and shows more designs in gallery form. There are 3 deleted scenes with an present day intro and no commentary. The first love scene could've had a place in the final cut but the other 2 are good seperate additions but one viewer can see why they were not in the final product. "The Making of Tron" is a brand new documentary chronicling the events of the filmmakers and the cast from development stage to the finished product and looking back in retrospect today their feeling towards the movie and beyond. It's a great watch and some great comments are given by all, especially Jeff Bridges when speaking about his costume. Finally, in the publicity section, we are treated to 4 trailers, a 5 minute NATO reel and a work in progress trailer along with more photo galleries.

In conclusion, the Tron: 20th Anniversary Collector's Edition 2-Disc is one for all fans of the movie to appreciate and new fans to discover and experience for themselves.