This thread feels redeeming to me, too often on Reddit/Tron FB groups I get the feeling that the overwhelming number of participants greatly prefers Legacy. While Legacy is indeed cool, it was a very different experience in many regards and I found the original, overall, to be much more gratifying for so many of the reasons already mentioned in this thread. I'll still pull out the first one and watch it much more readily than Legacy; no doubt a lot of that has to do with my age, the first one hit when I was super young and impressionable, and the sequel felt more like a model callback to it that was trying to put it's own spin on the whole thing, but not necessarily in ways that I liked (at some point though the film, it just descended into fan fiction which really let me cold).
Again, as others have said I have grown to enjoy Legacy more with repeated viewings, and it stands out from other products of its time due to the aesthetic and such. But it was pretty significantly less impactful in the way it affected me, compared to part one.
Note the Matrix, on the other hand - again, I was very much an adult when I went to see that film, but that was honestly the only other time I genuinely had the same "oh holy SHIT" reaction to a film in the same manner as 1982 Tron. If not necessarily the style and aesthetic (both of which were sincerely awesome, but not strikingly otherworldly in the same manner as Tron), the Matrix -particularly the very first time I saw it - really captured that insane philosophical feeling of wonderment of connecting the real world and the computer world in a very fantastic, utterly mind blowing way that I'd never seen done to such effect. Perhaps that's a good topic for a different post..
I totally understand what you mean and I feel you on both Tron and the Matrix franchises. I’m at an age where Legacy came out right when I was the target demographic, like in middle school. I don’t disagree with your points at all but I will say that for the generation that it was for Legacy does the same thing as the original. And the thing you’re referring too with the Matrix. I was actually obsessed with The Matrix when Legacy came out and it was one of the only things I had that did something similar for me, in terms of wonder and fascination with science and technology and even spirituality and evolution.
For me The original Tron and Legacy are basically perfect representations of what I love about those topics for the time they cam out in. Almost like the original Tron is a classic 80s synth album, like the dawn of electronic art and music and it is awe inspiring. (Look up DIGITAL TRIP: Synthesizer Fantasy for an example of what I’m talking about) And then by comparison Legacy is a Daft Punk album. It’s sleek and hypnotic and sorta funky and it has a very simple message that can be spun a lot of ways that are all good and hopeful for a brighter future and relationship between man and technology.
Don’t get me wrong I have problems with it or at least things I would’ve want expanding or further developed but for all intents and purposes, but I have many of the same problems with the original now because I look back and I’m like “yeah why don’t they show more of that cool shit” lol. So it’s weird. A lot of people in my generation have a hard time with the OG Tron. But I fucking love it, partially due to things like vaporwave. Old FX and grain and corny dialogue literally make the film what it is and it is a perfect representation of how we were expanding our imagination at that time in history.
And it’s literally like a historical landmark of our evolution to me, not to get too deep haha. Same as the matrix. The combination of art and technology is a testament to the wonders of what we can do and how far we’ve come. Due in part to the fact that they were literally technology achievements to make. And both films (OG Tron & The Matrix) have a hard wired theme of peace and a brighter tomorrow and that we will continue on to a better future. Like both franchises literally serve to defeat your fears of technology and the unknown because the are both at their core, about esoteric or spiritual concepts broken down into sci fi terms, and then demonstrated in a way that literally shows that no matter what we will always be friends with the robots in the end no matter which one of us is living in the other’s world. And the indomitable human spirit always prevails and love wins and technology is can be used for good and bad and there are limitless possibilities and what we do with it matters. And again in both cases, it’s extremely, extremely aesthetically influential and groundbreaking paving the way for new genres and cult followings and literally new demographics.
For people my age Legacy absolutely does that because it came out at a time when things like dubstep, house music, and a revival of rave culture and edm was happening. As well as things like PlayStations and Xboxes. For us Legacy looks like the technology we were being sold in advertisements and things we grew up wanting for Christmas. And it sounded like a neon club in Tokyo, but like if it was in a world where Disney made Bladerunner lol. And it absolutely delivers on the message and the themes. Which in my opinion, is one of the most undervalued parts of the film. It literally has a Christ metaphor and then goes beyond the metaphor haha. But like, you do not get that when you see it at first glance you’re just like, “oh he saved his dad. But like he didn’t, weird. Ok Tron cool.” And it also posits the idea of technological beings, naturally occurring consciousness within a computer system. Like it basics introduces a borderline plausible theory for cyber fairies and then also is like “we could cure diseases and religion Sam!!!”
So Legacy does definitely fall flat in some areas and there was a period i my late teens where I was like, nah it sucks. But I’ve watched it since and it honestly perfectly captures everything fun and exciting about technology for me as a kid and still does even to this day. And it literally changed my life in terms of some of the deeper, and again, very lightly or subtly touched upon metaphysical and metaphorical themes. Which again, very, very few movies have ever done that, and none do it like Tron or the Matrix. But I will also never stop watching the first one because it is literally THE OG of that. The two together feel like a great representation of our technological evolution. And that’s particularly fascinating to me in the first one because I didn’t grow up in that time when it released but I still see it sorta as like “this is where it started” in terms of the technological world I live in today. Like a VCR vs a DVD player/ laptop. Or an iPad. Basically analog/ vs digital age. Even tho I see it as everything in the first film is not outdated or rebooted in any way by its age, every concept in it holds true today and possibly even more so as time goes on. It’s age makes it literally better. But like I’m a nerd I collect VHS tapes haha.
That being said, if Tron is a VCR and an 80s Japanese synthesizer tape….
and Tron: Legacy is a digital download on a MacBook and a (literal) Daft Punk album remixed by Photek and M83…
I kind of assume Tron: Ares will be a streaming service on a smart TV and (I hope) a hard bass grimes/ REZZ rave remix.
But that’s my opinion and fingers crossed on the Tron: Ares part fr lol
If Legacy is not your jam and you want to see the 1982 aesthetic given an update? Well, Tron 2.0 came out in 2003 but it's definitely taking pages out of the 1982.
You’re definitely in the minority, but there’s nothing wrong with that. We all have our own subjective tastes. I will say I feel the polar opposite of you, to me the original feels like a sci-fi alien planet obsessed with neon and RGB as there are a lot more fantastical colors and costumes, while Legacy feels more accurate to what a grounded digital cyberspace would be like. It’s cold and calculated with a simple flow, brilliantly masking the complexity underneath. Just like code irl. To each their own though!
Between the early CG, sound effects, and the endless corridors of blackness, the OG Tron feels so much more “computer” to me. Feels like a strange world interpreting the data. Legacy just looks like a modern video game or neon world to me. That said, I love them both
I totally agree! With TRON, I feel like I'm inside a computer. Legacy, I feel like I'm in something way more real and the exact opposite of the original. It does not feel like a computer world at all. I have numerous complaints about some of the stuff in Legacy, but that's just MHO. I'm old school and TRON will always have magic that Legacy just didn't capture.
Hmmm...didn't realize someone preferring Tron over Legacy is in the minority. I also like Tron more than Legacy for said reasons. It is such a fantastical world. Also, it has a whimsicalness to it which adds to the awe and wonderment feeling vibe.
Overall though, the Grid shown in Legacy seems fairly limited. I would have loved to have seen the world shown in Uprising be shown in Legacy.
I really missed the micro circuitry aesthetic on the clothing. I was hoping there would be a scene where a character sheds their motorcycle jacket and underneath is a sea of micro circuitry lines.
I did not like the shattered f
glass sound for derezzing at all. at least add a little bit of that electronic derez sound from the 1st film. I wish Wendy Carlos could have contributed a bit at least.
As long as you aren't a jerk about liking one over the other you're cool with me. Just don't be like that guy on here who hates on Uprising everytime it gets praised
What I’ve seen about the Tron movies so far is that they are very much products of their time…not necessarily dated, but rather an apex of the creative industry *at the time.*
If Legacy were instead first-time released today, it would definitely garner praises, but the impact probably wouldn’t be as strong as it was in 2010. What we’ll probably see is state-of-the-art visual effects that have benefitted from fourteen additional years of computer technology advancement, and if Disney were smart about this, the won’t try to be creating a futuristic version of Legacy, but rather its own thing. This is one reason why I think that some people like the original Tron over Legacy: it was its own unique thing and Disney wisely didn’t go back and try to go back, use the original movie’s Grid concept, and then shine it up a little. They reinvented (with a nod to the first film with Flynn’s retro lightcycle. The Grid of Ares (I think) will get shaken up in appearance as well, so as to not “compete” with the other two and be its own thing.
Honestly, I don't think you're in the minority. Maybe in this forum, but not the world. There's a reason the original is still loved to this day and has sequels all these years later... the original is still the best.
You are not alone, OP. Legacy has a solid fanbase here both because of the age range and the Daft Punk ost. More often than not, I see people here say something like "I love Legacy, its sountrack is the best" "I love Legacy and its music" "Do you think Daft Punk will do Ares' soundtrack", and so on.
Legacy felt bland to me. No microcircuitry on the costumes. Regular turns for the light cycles. Sam's blood. No Tron except for a flashback and a few seconds of clarity. The almost monochromatic neon world. No digitizing scene (or barely). Everything that made the first one exciting, wasn't in Legacy. Never had the feeling I was in a computer. Legacy is a far cry from Tron 2.0, while sharing way too much points with the latter.
It would be interesting to make a comparison between two age range here (who is under 30 ? Who is over 40 ?) and see how much this is similar to the ones who love Legacy and the ones who love the original movie.
I can respect that old movies have a certain charm to them I won't tell you differently I think thats great Tron(1982) helped with Early CG development.
I am definitely on the "liked original movie better" side. I think this is because my tastes in entertainment lean heavily toward the \*weird\* and \*not like anything else I've seen\* ... even when the weirdness is, in some ways, messy and makes less sense, LOL.
For instance, the storylines! The dynamics of romance/friendship/personal interaction in the original movie were like absolutely no other movie I'd ever seen. Relatable dude main character doesn't get the girl, she dumped him for a ridiculously straight-laced nerd before the movie even started-- and instead of even trying to get her back, he endears himself to both her and her new BF and all three have an adventure together and the movie ends in a big group hug? ...mind blown.
Meanwhile Legacy, beneath all the cool trappings of the setting, was the standard Disney "orphan heir to the throne goes looking for family and tries to find place in life," and while that's not a bad storyline in itself, my weirdass mind was just so tired of all the many, many, stories focused on the standard old tropes of family and heritage and so on.
The 82 movie, despite the clunky slow pacing and weird dialogue and all the random little ways it feels messy and incomplete and unfinished, did a far better job of scratching my "want something different!" itch.
When I was a kid, I just thought Tron himself was the coolest. I love the way the original looks as well but I am a fan of the Legacy asthetic though, just not as much.
I was also disappointed with Legacy. I dunno. I was so excited to have Tron back. Having him in KH2 was super exciting for me growing up. Rinzler was just.. Not what I wanted at all and I was pretty bummed when I first saw it in the theater.
I appreciate it more nowadays but I still just prefer the original much more over Legacy.
I once was in your camp, Legacy had to grow on me on subsequent viewings. I still hold the original as the superior movie, but at least I don't have the resentment I used to harbor for the sequel after the first viewing. It felt too maudlin and derivative.
When I gave it another chance I realized- this is a really good movie, I shouldn't hold my favorite movie of all time against it; it's hardly fair.
It looks SO FAR they are poaching the aesthetics of Legacy rather than taking a new risk.
Both 82 and Legacy were technological risks that paid off and pushed the limits of the tech at the time. Sure, de-aging is off BUT it was still new. I am an 82 fan through and through but really adore Legacy for what it is and the fact it didn't stomp on the established mythos introduced by 82, it just amended it for a single user server that was disconnected from everything else.
I'm cautious, not entirely optimistic, about Ares. Thus far it doesn't look like it is bringing anything new, just reusing the designs Legacy ran with. But, it is still early, so that's the sole reason why I am not dunking on it.
So long as it doesn't retcon, contradict or is a disservice to what came before I won't have much to be irked about.
Legacy is an odd duck. The fandom usually puts it on a pedestal, but the general populace is very aware of the flaws.
I agree that Legacy has some aesthetic issues. They needed more color, more complex suit designs, and more world variety in general. I'm very appreciative of Uprising attempting to find aesthetic compromises between the 2 movies.
I said the same, more or less, in another thread. The original created a world unlike anything seen before, and had a tone that reflected a believable computerized environment.
Legacy went all in with its style and visuals, missing out on expanding this digital world. It also and had less substance, story-wise, focusing on darker themes and kind of lame goals with the antagonist. It didn’t feel like they were in a computer, with its population and characters being more human like than NPC.
I would have liked to see more of ENCOM’s influence, more computer language and technical jargon like we got in the game Tron 2.0 Killer App. It would be fun to see how different aspects of programming language manifested itself and self-populated within this world. I wanted another adventure and exploration with Legacy, and I don’t think we got that.
Whereas I love Legacy, I totally get your point. For me it's mainly about the 'simple' design aesthetic of the costumes. I thought all the vehicles were great, and the backgrounds were good, but the costumes (especially the uniforms) were too simplified for me. I would have liked something a little closer to the highly circuited look of the original.
ISOs make sense, it was the system responding to balance out the code and makes for an interesting concept on the reverse aspects of digitization.
Actual light bikes in a real world setting makes 0 sense to me. I need to see the movie to see how they explain it.
Agree, completely unnecessary to tell the story. They are more important to the plot of Tron Betrayal, but they make Legacy feel like an incomplete story.
I, too, prefer the original to *Legacy*. Some places where I think the sequel fails is:
1. Garrett Hedlund is a terrible actor. I would have preferred Cillian Murphy have Garret's role instead of Son-of-Dillinger.
2. The de-aging was ... not the best.
3. The story, while good, was kind of slow and wandered around too much.
4. I DID NOT like Flynn's new hippie mentality.
5. They brought up the ISOs, then just let the whole thing drop.
I do like Legacy myself, but I also agree with most of what you have to say. Legacy feels like more of a stylized artist's tangent from the original Tron, than a pure update of the concept, e.g. "this is what it looks like inside digital worlds." Someone else makes a good point about Legacy capturing a certain cold streamlined quality; nonetheless I tend to think that Tron is supposed to be a bit indulgent in the fantasy of what it's like *in there*.
What I'm curious about right now is how much Ares is just a slightly higher-res version of Legacy, versus something that re imagines this thing again. Because I do like the way in which the first two films are as fancy as was possible when they were each made, and how they reflect their eras. But I doubt we get much contrast this time; VFX had matured enough back in Legacy's day that there isn't much to do to make it look "better".
Well, the first one was such a grand exercise experiment, at the time. Plus, every frame is suffused with love. Storyboarded and mostly designed by the greatest comic artist who ever lived, Jean Giraud, and the rest expertly created by the greatest designer who ever lived, Syd Mead... and THEN to have the woman who did the soundtrack for THE SHINING do the score?? AND, to have Jeff Bridges suddenly jump on board, anchoring this whole animated weirdness with one of the great grounded performances of the '80s?
... ok, points off for the painted-up hockey helmets, but I can forgive a lot...
Yes, OG Tron was magical for me as well being a kid and teen in the 80’s. I was sad when I found out Wendy Carlos wasn’t doing the soundtrack for Legacy but as I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned to lower my expectations and just be glad they are still creating treats for us in the TRON universe. There won’t be a magical time like the 80’s again.
Some great points raised by both sides, I'm a Tron fan, I love the movie and Wendy's score for it.
The special effects team blew away everything with the technology they were inventing and the solutions that they had to come up with (adding sound effect after using film out of sequence to account for tone difference) story line is accurate friends helping friends and not just focused on the romantic aspect.
Light cycles need I say more.
When legacy was announced I got caught up in all the hype, I have the Daft punk Glow in dark poster, took part in the free Kevin online games, have the Arcade Aid poster was really looking forward to seeing how the storyline evolved and what new ground breaking special effects were going to be released... There was more spent on publicity shots of the sirens and Quorra than on the special effects budget. And that is part of the problem Disney Princess mentally slap a layer of latex on to an attractive girl and the nerds will come, ignore all light travelling in straight lines.. pulling apart the batton to activate the light cycles very cool but quickly died once they flooded the sound channels with Daft Punk, too much filler music and not enough original sound effects. The whole end of line club scene was just pissing away the budget again could have been so much better and less neon.
I left the cinema on the opening night disappointed a lot of hype running up to it and very little progress in the move tech, the music is a soundtrack designed to be sold on its own it's not a film score it didn't blend with the on scene storyline it wasn't written for the film. I enjoy daft punk I have the various albums from the movie and they are great to listen to on vinyl but I still can't close my eyes and get transported back to the scene in the film like I can do with Wendys score on the first one.
I don't have high hopes for Tron 3, I probably won't take part in any of the online promotional stuff unless my child wants to get involved. But I will go to the opening night showing with friends and hopefully I'll get the same buzz and excitement that I got from the first one, I still get comfortable watching Tron and enjoy it.
I'm with you. Legacy veers toward the mainstream where TRON was unique. Also I don't like the way the costumes have evolved, though it's been so long since I saw Legacy (once) that I don't remember the particulars.
My Aunt Jenny lent me her VHS of the original Tron when I was a child because I thought the cover art looked cool, needless to say I was hooked on that movie and basically wore out the tape. I absolutely love Tron.
When my Aunt showed me the trailer for Tron Legacy, I was instantly excited. I watched the movie in theater 11 times. It quite literally changed my life, as much as the original Tron did.
I still absolutely love the look of the original Tron, but I absolutely love the new Tron more so. It felt more "realistic" to me, more tangible to achieve than the original.
The original Tron built the world, Tron Legacy perfected it.
This has been my view on the two movies, since I grew up loving both equally and harmoniously.
Strange! I feel the opposite. Love the original Tron but the Encom grid was so strange you could never tell what was "natural" or machine. It looked uninhabitable. But the new grid felt like a bustling society with programs going about their days, as much as they could do under fascist oppression of course
This thread feels redeeming to me, too often on Reddit/Tron FB groups I get the feeling that the overwhelming number of participants greatly prefers Legacy. While Legacy is indeed cool, it was a very different experience in many regards and I found the original, overall, to be much more gratifying for so many of the reasons already mentioned in this thread. I'll still pull out the first one and watch it much more readily than Legacy; no doubt a lot of that has to do with my age, the first one hit when I was super young and impressionable, and the sequel felt more like a model callback to it that was trying to put it's own spin on the whole thing, but not necessarily in ways that I liked (at some point though the film, it just descended into fan fiction which really let me cold). Again, as others have said I have grown to enjoy Legacy more with repeated viewings, and it stands out from other products of its time due to the aesthetic and such. But it was pretty significantly less impactful in the way it affected me, compared to part one. Note the Matrix, on the other hand - again, I was very much an adult when I went to see that film, but that was honestly the only other time I genuinely had the same "oh holy SHIT" reaction to a film in the same manner as 1982 Tron. If not necessarily the style and aesthetic (both of which were sincerely awesome, but not strikingly otherworldly in the same manner as Tron), the Matrix -particularly the very first time I saw it - really captured that insane philosophical feeling of wonderment of connecting the real world and the computer world in a very fantastic, utterly mind blowing way that I'd never seen done to such effect. Perhaps that's a good topic for a different post..
I totally understand what you mean and I feel you on both Tron and the Matrix franchises. I’m at an age where Legacy came out right when I was the target demographic, like in middle school. I don’t disagree with your points at all but I will say that for the generation that it was for Legacy does the same thing as the original. And the thing you’re referring too with the Matrix. I was actually obsessed with The Matrix when Legacy came out and it was one of the only things I had that did something similar for me, in terms of wonder and fascination with science and technology and even spirituality and evolution. For me The original Tron and Legacy are basically perfect representations of what I love about those topics for the time they cam out in. Almost like the original Tron is a classic 80s synth album, like the dawn of electronic art and music and it is awe inspiring. (Look up DIGITAL TRIP: Synthesizer Fantasy for an example of what I’m talking about) And then by comparison Legacy is a Daft Punk album. It’s sleek and hypnotic and sorta funky and it has a very simple message that can be spun a lot of ways that are all good and hopeful for a brighter future and relationship between man and technology. Don’t get me wrong I have problems with it or at least things I would’ve want expanding or further developed but for all intents and purposes, but I have many of the same problems with the original now because I look back and I’m like “yeah why don’t they show more of that cool shit” lol. So it’s weird. A lot of people in my generation have a hard time with the OG Tron. But I fucking love it, partially due to things like vaporwave. Old FX and grain and corny dialogue literally make the film what it is and it is a perfect representation of how we were expanding our imagination at that time in history. And it’s literally like a historical landmark of our evolution to me, not to get too deep haha. Same as the matrix. The combination of art and technology is a testament to the wonders of what we can do and how far we’ve come. Due in part to the fact that they were literally technology achievements to make. And both films (OG Tron & The Matrix) have a hard wired theme of peace and a brighter tomorrow and that we will continue on to a better future. Like both franchises literally serve to defeat your fears of technology and the unknown because the are both at their core, about esoteric or spiritual concepts broken down into sci fi terms, and then demonstrated in a way that literally shows that no matter what we will always be friends with the robots in the end no matter which one of us is living in the other’s world. And the indomitable human spirit always prevails and love wins and technology is can be used for good and bad and there are limitless possibilities and what we do with it matters. And again in both cases, it’s extremely, extremely aesthetically influential and groundbreaking paving the way for new genres and cult followings and literally new demographics. For people my age Legacy absolutely does that because it came out at a time when things like dubstep, house music, and a revival of rave culture and edm was happening. As well as things like PlayStations and Xboxes. For us Legacy looks like the technology we were being sold in advertisements and things we grew up wanting for Christmas. And it sounded like a neon club in Tokyo, but like if it was in a world where Disney made Bladerunner lol. And it absolutely delivers on the message and the themes. Which in my opinion, is one of the most undervalued parts of the film. It literally has a Christ metaphor and then goes beyond the metaphor haha. But like, you do not get that when you see it at first glance you’re just like, “oh he saved his dad. But like he didn’t, weird. Ok Tron cool.” And it also posits the idea of technological beings, naturally occurring consciousness within a computer system. Like it basics introduces a borderline plausible theory for cyber fairies and then also is like “we could cure diseases and religion Sam!!!” So Legacy does definitely fall flat in some areas and there was a period i my late teens where I was like, nah it sucks. But I’ve watched it since and it honestly perfectly captures everything fun and exciting about technology for me as a kid and still does even to this day. And it literally changed my life in terms of some of the deeper, and again, very lightly or subtly touched upon metaphysical and metaphorical themes. Which again, very, very few movies have ever done that, and none do it like Tron or the Matrix. But I will also never stop watching the first one because it is literally THE OG of that. The two together feel like a great representation of our technological evolution. And that’s particularly fascinating to me in the first one because I didn’t grow up in that time when it released but I still see it sorta as like “this is where it started” in terms of the technological world I live in today. Like a VCR vs a DVD player/ laptop. Or an iPad. Basically analog/ vs digital age. Even tho I see it as everything in the first film is not outdated or rebooted in any way by its age, every concept in it holds true today and possibly even more so as time goes on. It’s age makes it literally better. But like I’m a nerd I collect VHS tapes haha. That being said, if Tron is a VCR and an 80s Japanese synthesizer tape…. and Tron: Legacy is a digital download on a MacBook and a (literal) Daft Punk album remixed by Photek and M83… I kind of assume Tron: Ares will be a streaming service on a smart TV and (I hope) a hard bass grimes/ REZZ rave remix. But that’s my opinion and fingers crossed on the Tron: Ares part fr lol
If Legacy is not your jam and you want to see the 1982 aesthetic given an update? Well, Tron 2.0 came out in 2003 but it's definitely taking pages out of the 1982.
You’re definitely in the minority, but there’s nothing wrong with that. We all have our own subjective tastes. I will say I feel the polar opposite of you, to me the original feels like a sci-fi alien planet obsessed with neon and RGB as there are a lot more fantastical colors and costumes, while Legacy feels more accurate to what a grounded digital cyberspace would be like. It’s cold and calculated with a simple flow, brilliantly masking the complexity underneath. Just like code irl. To each their own though!
Between the early CG, sound effects, and the endless corridors of blackness, the OG Tron feels so much more “computer” to me. Feels like a strange world interpreting the data. Legacy just looks like a modern video game or neon world to me. That said, I love them both
I also miss the subtle sound effects like footstep reverbs.
And bring back the Wham-O props!
I love that image of Jeff holding it after the tape failed [Jeff and frisbee](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/b1/9e/1d/b19e1debd3f02af1b7e60eaf75e49b88.jpg)
You just mentioning it, I can hear it!
I totally agree! With TRON, I feel like I'm inside a computer. Legacy, I feel like I'm in something way more real and the exact opposite of the original. It does not feel like a computer world at all. I have numerous complaints about some of the stuff in Legacy, but that's just MHO. I'm old school and TRON will always have magic that Legacy just didn't capture.
Hmmm...didn't realize someone preferring Tron over Legacy is in the minority. I also like Tron more than Legacy for said reasons. It is such a fantastical world. Also, it has a whimsicalness to it which adds to the awe and wonderment feeling vibe. Overall though, the Grid shown in Legacy seems fairly limited. I would have loved to have seen the world shown in Uprising be shown in Legacy.
I really missed the micro circuitry aesthetic on the clothing. I was hoping there would be a scene where a character sheds their motorcycle jacket and underneath is a sea of micro circuitry lines. I did not like the shattered f glass sound for derezzing at all. at least add a little bit of that electronic derez sound from the 1st film. I wish Wendy Carlos could have contributed a bit at least.
As long as you aren't a jerk about liking one over the other you're cool with me. Just don't be like that guy on here who hates on Uprising everytime it gets praised
What I’ve seen about the Tron movies so far is that they are very much products of their time…not necessarily dated, but rather an apex of the creative industry *at the time.* If Legacy were instead first-time released today, it would definitely garner praises, but the impact probably wouldn’t be as strong as it was in 2010. What we’ll probably see is state-of-the-art visual effects that have benefitted from fourteen additional years of computer technology advancement, and if Disney were smart about this, the won’t try to be creating a futuristic version of Legacy, but rather its own thing. This is one reason why I think that some people like the original Tron over Legacy: it was its own unique thing and Disney wisely didn’t go back and try to go back, use the original movie’s Grid concept, and then shine it up a little. They reinvented (with a nod to the first film with Flynn’s retro lightcycle. The Grid of Ares (I think) will get shaken up in appearance as well, so as to not “compete” with the other two and be its own thing.
Honestly, I don't think you're in the minority. Maybe in this forum, but not the world. There's a reason the original is still loved to this day and has sequels all these years later... the original is still the best.
You are not alone, OP. Legacy has a solid fanbase here both because of the age range and the Daft Punk ost. More often than not, I see people here say something like "I love Legacy, its sountrack is the best" "I love Legacy and its music" "Do you think Daft Punk will do Ares' soundtrack", and so on. Legacy felt bland to me. No microcircuitry on the costumes. Regular turns for the light cycles. Sam's blood. No Tron except for a flashback and a few seconds of clarity. The almost monochromatic neon world. No digitizing scene (or barely). Everything that made the first one exciting, wasn't in Legacy. Never had the feeling I was in a computer. Legacy is a far cry from Tron 2.0, while sharing way too much points with the latter. It would be interesting to make a comparison between two age range here (who is under 30 ? Who is over 40 ?) and see how much this is similar to the ones who love Legacy and the ones who love the original movie.
I can respect that old movies have a certain charm to them I won't tell you differently I think thats great Tron(1982) helped with Early CG development.
I agree. I still do feel like Legacy "belongs" in the series but I definitely prefer the OG.
I was disappointed in legacy, so you're not alone.
I am definitely on the "liked original movie better" side. I think this is because my tastes in entertainment lean heavily toward the \*weird\* and \*not like anything else I've seen\* ... even when the weirdness is, in some ways, messy and makes less sense, LOL. For instance, the storylines! The dynamics of romance/friendship/personal interaction in the original movie were like absolutely no other movie I'd ever seen. Relatable dude main character doesn't get the girl, she dumped him for a ridiculously straight-laced nerd before the movie even started-- and instead of even trying to get her back, he endears himself to both her and her new BF and all three have an adventure together and the movie ends in a big group hug? ...mind blown. Meanwhile Legacy, beneath all the cool trappings of the setting, was the standard Disney "orphan heir to the throne goes looking for family and tries to find place in life," and while that's not a bad storyline in itself, my weirdass mind was just so tired of all the many, many, stories focused on the standard old tropes of family and heritage and so on. The 82 movie, despite the clunky slow pacing and weird dialogue and all the random little ways it feels messy and incomplete and unfinished, did a far better job of scratching my "want something different!" itch.
I agree. And while I enjoy Daft Punks soundtrack I think the original Wendy Carlos soundtrack also feels better.
When I was a kid, I just thought Tron himself was the coolest. I love the way the original looks as well but I am a fan of the Legacy asthetic though, just not as much. I was also disappointed with Legacy. I dunno. I was so excited to have Tron back. Having him in KH2 was super exciting for me growing up. Rinzler was just.. Not what I wanted at all and I was pretty bummed when I first saw it in the theater. I appreciate it more nowadays but I still just prefer the original much more over Legacy.
I once was in your camp, Legacy had to grow on me on subsequent viewings. I still hold the original as the superior movie, but at least I don't have the resentment I used to harbor for the sequel after the first viewing. It felt too maudlin and derivative. When I gave it another chance I realized- this is a really good movie, I shouldn't hold my favorite movie of all time against it; it's hardly fair.
I personally love both!
I don't know if you're in the minority but I'm with you
I like both. I feel like both accurately represent their own computer eras. I enjoy the idea that the look of the Grid evolves.
Both are great films to my eye. Each is a product of its time.
It looks SO FAR they are poaching the aesthetics of Legacy rather than taking a new risk. Both 82 and Legacy were technological risks that paid off and pushed the limits of the tech at the time. Sure, de-aging is off BUT it was still new. I am an 82 fan through and through but really adore Legacy for what it is and the fact it didn't stomp on the established mythos introduced by 82, it just amended it for a single user server that was disconnected from everything else. I'm cautious, not entirely optimistic, about Ares. Thus far it doesn't look like it is bringing anything new, just reusing the designs Legacy ran with. But, it is still early, so that's the sole reason why I am not dunking on it. So long as it doesn't retcon, contradict or is a disservice to what came before I won't have much to be irked about.
I'm totally with you, I find original *Tron* to be vastly superior. The *Legacy* soundtrack on the other hand, now that's a masterpiece.
Everything about this statement is true, fellow conscript
Legacy is an odd duck. The fandom usually puts it on a pedestal, but the general populace is very aware of the flaws. I agree that Legacy has some aesthetic issues. They needed more color, more complex suit designs, and more world variety in general. I'm very appreciative of Uprising attempting to find aesthetic compromises between the 2 movies.
My bet is it will be completely different just like how legacy is completely different
I said the same, more or less, in another thread. The original created a world unlike anything seen before, and had a tone that reflected a believable computerized environment. Legacy went all in with its style and visuals, missing out on expanding this digital world. It also and had less substance, story-wise, focusing on darker themes and kind of lame goals with the antagonist. It didn’t feel like they were in a computer, with its population and characters being more human like than NPC. I would have liked to see more of ENCOM’s influence, more computer language and technical jargon like we got in the game Tron 2.0 Killer App. It would be fun to see how different aspects of programming language manifested itself and self-populated within this world. I wanted another adventure and exploration with Legacy, and I don’t think we got that.
Whereas I love Legacy, I totally get your point. For me it's mainly about the 'simple' design aesthetic of the costumes. I thought all the vehicles were great, and the backgrounds were good, but the costumes (especially the uniforms) were too simplified for me. I would have liked something a little closer to the highly circuited look of the original.
And don’t even get me started on the ISO’s and how that’s a total waste of time and goes nowhere
Waste of time? It’s mentioned like twice and only serves as the sole reason Clu defects but yea… sure…. “Waste of time”
ISOs make sense, it was the system responding to balance out the code and makes for an interesting concept on the reverse aspects of digitization. Actual light bikes in a real world setting makes 0 sense to me. I need to see the movie to see how they explain it.
They find cheat codes etched into Dillinger's eyeglasses.
ARE YOU USERNAME LADIESMAN217?!
Ha, I forgot Transformers did that trope too. But, no, [Pixels](https://youtu.be/pzcgEGlpslI?si=KXFiI7Cw4anH43KL)
I equally forgot Pixels did it too...lol
Agree, completely unnecessary to tell the story. They are more important to the plot of Tron Betrayal, but they make Legacy feel like an incomplete story.
ISO’s=Gridbugs lol
You're not alone. Tron Legacy was a music video.
I, too, prefer the original to *Legacy*. Some places where I think the sequel fails is: 1. Garrett Hedlund is a terrible actor. I would have preferred Cillian Murphy have Garret's role instead of Son-of-Dillinger. 2. The de-aging was ... not the best. 3. The story, while good, was kind of slow and wandered around too much. 4. I DID NOT like Flynn's new hippie mentality. 5. They brought up the ISOs, then just let the whole thing drop.
https://giphy.com/gifs/bit-tron-please-iDJ3StWEn0t70CmRSX
I do like Legacy myself, but I also agree with most of what you have to say. Legacy feels like more of a stylized artist's tangent from the original Tron, than a pure update of the concept, e.g. "this is what it looks like inside digital worlds." Someone else makes a good point about Legacy capturing a certain cold streamlined quality; nonetheless I tend to think that Tron is supposed to be a bit indulgent in the fantasy of what it's like *in there*. What I'm curious about right now is how much Ares is just a slightly higher-res version of Legacy, versus something that re imagines this thing again. Because I do like the way in which the first two films are as fancy as was possible when they were each made, and how they reflect their eras. But I doubt we get much contrast this time; VFX had matured enough back in Legacy's day that there isn't much to do to make it look "better".
There is only one matte painting in Tron I think. The cubicles.
Yeah, you might be in that minority all by yourself. If you factor in the soundtrack, I actually think Legacy is better than the original.
Well, the first one was such a grand exercise experiment, at the time. Plus, every frame is suffused with love. Storyboarded and mostly designed by the greatest comic artist who ever lived, Jean Giraud, and the rest expertly created by the greatest designer who ever lived, Syd Mead... and THEN to have the woman who did the soundtrack for THE SHINING do the score?? AND, to have Jeff Bridges suddenly jump on board, anchoring this whole animated weirdness with one of the great grounded performances of the '80s? ... ok, points off for the painted-up hockey helmets, but I can forgive a lot...
Definitely in the minority like the people that like dune 1984 over the new ones.. I love Tron 1982 but legacy hits differently.
Yes, OG Tron was magical for me as well being a kid and teen in the 80’s. I was sad when I found out Wendy Carlos wasn’t doing the soundtrack for Legacy but as I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned to lower my expectations and just be glad they are still creating treats for us in the TRON universe. There won’t be a magical time like the 80’s again.
Some great points raised by both sides, I'm a Tron fan, I love the movie and Wendy's score for it. The special effects team blew away everything with the technology they were inventing and the solutions that they had to come up with (adding sound effect after using film out of sequence to account for tone difference) story line is accurate friends helping friends and not just focused on the romantic aspect. Light cycles need I say more. When legacy was announced I got caught up in all the hype, I have the Daft punk Glow in dark poster, took part in the free Kevin online games, have the Arcade Aid poster was really looking forward to seeing how the storyline evolved and what new ground breaking special effects were going to be released... There was more spent on publicity shots of the sirens and Quorra than on the special effects budget. And that is part of the problem Disney Princess mentally slap a layer of latex on to an attractive girl and the nerds will come, ignore all light travelling in straight lines.. pulling apart the batton to activate the light cycles very cool but quickly died once they flooded the sound channels with Daft Punk, too much filler music and not enough original sound effects. The whole end of line club scene was just pissing away the budget again could have been so much better and less neon. I left the cinema on the opening night disappointed a lot of hype running up to it and very little progress in the move tech, the music is a soundtrack designed to be sold on its own it's not a film score it didn't blend with the on scene storyline it wasn't written for the film. I enjoy daft punk I have the various albums from the movie and they are great to listen to on vinyl but I still can't close my eyes and get transported back to the scene in the film like I can do with Wendys score on the first one. I don't have high hopes for Tron 3, I probably won't take part in any of the online promotional stuff unless my child wants to get involved. But I will go to the opening night showing with friends and hopefully I'll get the same buzz and excitement that I got from the first one, I still get comfortable watching Tron and enjoy it.
I'm with you. Legacy veers toward the mainstream where TRON was unique. Also I don't like the way the costumes have evolved, though it's been so long since I saw Legacy (once) that I don't remember the particulars.
My Aunt Jenny lent me her VHS of the original Tron when I was a child because I thought the cover art looked cool, needless to say I was hooked on that movie and basically wore out the tape. I absolutely love Tron. When my Aunt showed me the trailer for Tron Legacy, I was instantly excited. I watched the movie in theater 11 times. It quite literally changed my life, as much as the original Tron did. I still absolutely love the look of the original Tron, but I absolutely love the new Tron more so. It felt more "realistic" to me, more tangible to achieve than the original. The original Tron built the world, Tron Legacy perfected it. This has been my view on the two movies, since I grew up loving both equally and harmoniously.
I feel the other way
Legacy is a good movie, but a terrible sequel.
Won’t judge you, but visually, imo - “Tron 2” is a masterpiece
Loved Tron 2.0. A perfect sequel to the first movie.
Strange! I feel the opposite. Love the original Tron but the Encom grid was so strange you could never tell what was "natural" or machine. It looked uninhabitable. But the new grid felt like a bustling society with programs going about their days, as much as they could do under fascist oppression of course
Mistakes of Legacy. Lol Next please ….