tronsequel.com

I’ve been watching Tron for the 703rd time or so recently and have noticed many things, but here are a few sequel ideas that crossed my mind:

So, the movtivation behind these ideas is that maybe 25 years ago programs looked something like these circuit board suits in the original, but things have changed since then…

I’ve mentioned some ideas like this before, but I think the getting-sucked-into-the-computer should involve these online worlds like Second Life and the like. Getting sucked into a system like Second Life, which apparently has it’s own economy (I don’t know much about it), and whatever else…here is an idea, maybe the Flynn-like hero character is sucked-into this Second Life, online-person-like world. This world is inhabited by user’s personas/avatars, whatever you call them. But maybe it is also infiltrated by some bad guys of some description, but they are somewhat indistinguishable from the ordinary personas, like drone zombies (by “zombie” I’m referring to something like philosophical zombies). That is just a possibility.

Here is another idea I just had along the same Second-life line: maybe these personas “get wise” (introducing an AI element of this spark of conscious awareness) to the fact that they exist in this Second life world, doing the bidding of their users! Yes, that is a good one. So maybe there is some kind of slave revolt or something. Maybe some bad guy sucks himself into the second life world and enlightens these personas to their lot in life. The possibilities are endless here I think.

You may be wondering, “what the hell does this have to do with Tron?” That is the fun part. How could you make a Tron sequel out of a concept like that above (see my earlier post for my guidelines)? There would have to be some at least nominal reference to Tron. There could be a reference to the characters of the original, like maybe they are some kind of mythic titans from the past (I’m thinking of the Titans of Greek mythology, distant titanic forces of the past, the race of gods before the Olympians). Yeah! That is a good idea too! The story from the original is like a myth like the ancient oral traditions or something, and this is somehow a myth that has been passed down over the last 25 years (which is equal to eons relative to the pace of development in ancient and prehistoric times).

Damn, there is a couple of damn good ideas in there for y’all in the Tron sequel making business. These ideas are available to you. A mention in the credits or something would be nice, but my primary intent is to keep the Tron spirit alive.

I’ve calmed down since I wrote my last couple posts, so this one probably won’t have any caps lock and cursing like last time. I want to start off with a more secularized take on what I was talking about last time: the Tron spirit. Today I want to look at the essential properties for a Tron sequel - what is the essence of Tron. By “essential properties” I mean: a property without which sth would cease to be an x (some thing, or kind of thing). So, what is essential for a movie to be a Tron sequel (apart from being titled as one). What features are necessary for a Tron sequel to be a Tron sequel. So, for example, you couldn’t have an Indiana Jones movie without Dr. Jones and archaeology.

This topic has been largely implicit in this blog, but here I want to state my position more clearly. I take it that what the producers of the Tron sequel, the PC game and the comic, that the essential properties for something to wear the ‘Tron’ name are:

• Glowing suits and discs
• a computer world where everything is permanently darkness
• MCP security program
• light cycles
• religious analogy
• The Flynn family line
• Encom
• etc.

These are exactly the tenets that I’m arguing against. Don’t get me wrong: I have no problem with the original movie. I suppose I’m arguing for a different kind of “sequel”. Here are what I take to be the essential properties of a Tron movie:

• being sucked into video games/computer world
• real world/computer world mirroring
• Some nominal reference to the original Tron movie
• Wendy Carlos

Notice that I have not included the dark computer world and the glowing circuit board suits. Also, I have included Wendy Carlos as essential, whereas the producers of the Tron sequel obviously don’t see it this way. If you want to see how the first 3 of these properties might be worked into a Tron sequel story, see my earlier posts.

Here are a few more ideas that follow from from what I was saying here. It is strange that the arcade games that we see in the original Tron (the tank/recognizer game, and the light cycle game) so accurately resemble the Tron world that Flynn finds after he get sucked in. It would seem that these games are a direct window into the Tron world, but as I discussed elsewhere, that has it’s own ramifications.

My question earlier was: what about all the other video games? Like Mario and Link? Where do they fit into the Tron world? Or are they (Link and Mario) just fluff games and it is only the ‘Tron’ games that actually reflect what is going on inside the computer? This can’t be. All computer games, and the internet and everything must be incorporated into the Tron world.

So how could all of these be reconciled with the Tron world? Here is my preliminary response: all the various characters, monikers, avatars, personas, etc. are all just masking this underlying Tron world reality. So, “Master Chief”, “Mario”, “Link”, etc. are all just personas/masks/etc. Or maybe there shouldn’t be some explicit “underlying Tron world reality” of circuit board suited characters; maybe these circuit board suited characters are just one of these many personas/avatars/etc. in the computer world. I like the later idea. These are personas that are adopted in the computer world. In World of Warcraft III, I am so-and-so. In Yahoo! Games I am known as so-and-so.

So, in the Tron sequel, the characters of the movie could be moving through not just the Tron world, but the World of Warcraft world, through the world of Zelda and Mario, etc. etc. (I don’t really know how this would fit together with the earlier posts about the faux-documentary, but they could be.)

I like the idea of the main characters making their way through all of these other games (like the games I’ve already mentioned), in search of the Tron world. These characters are on some mission, and completion of this mission requires that they find the Tron world, which is in some way the most basic level of reality out of all of these other video games they have been through. Thus such a Tron sequel could also incorporate a best-of/greatest hits/retrospective of past great video games for gamers to geek-out on.

I’ll think about this some more, and try to connect it with the faux-documentary idea next time.

i don’t know if i was very clear in #4. In #4 I was talking about the two levels of reality in the original (computer world and real world), and that the sequel should add an additional (at least one): that of the making of the original movie. So there would be three: that of Kevin Flynn, Alan and Laura; that of Flynn, Tron and Yori; and that of Jeff, Bruce, and Cindy. The last of these is what I was referring to when I mentioned a “faux-documentary” aspect to the sequel.

Ok, I just had a great idea, but I will have to lead up to it a bit, but if follows from the above stuff. So in the above outline of the three levels of reality (Alan, Tron and Bruce), this itself could be divided into two: the real world, and the world of the movie ‘Tron’. So the sequel could be about the actors on the set of the original themselves (the actors) getting sucked into the world of the MOVIE ‘Tron’.

Here is another little side idea, similar to what i was saying in an earlier post, that the world of Bruce Boxleitner wouldn’t have to be a realistic vintage 80’s rendition, but a revamped 80’s, exaggerated and stylized (if that makes any sense). Here is another idea, the sequel could be set in world where the original movie Tron had been made today, so no 1982 Tron, but as if it were/had been made in 2008. The reason for this is that if this faux-documentary element to the sequel were set in a realistic early 80’s, it wouldn’t necessarily invite any revamping of the graphics/visuals/style of the original. So, the sequel could depict a world in which Tron didn’t come out in 1982, but came out in 2008! AND it could be set in the real world set of the MAKING of the ORIGINAL movie Tron as if it were made in 2008! In a sense rewriting history.

I really like that idea.

As I was saying in the last post, it would be cool for the sequel to reference the making of the original Tron. In the original there were two levels of reality: the real world, and the Tron world. This is the idea that should be played off of in the sequel. So, if a re-enactment of the making of the original were to be incorporated into the sequel, this would add another level of reality. So, there could be an element of faux-documentary of the making of the original Tron. And what if we were to treat this reality (the reality of the cast and crew on the set of the making of of the original Tron) as parallel to the world of Alan and Kevin Flynn, as well as to that of Tron and Flynn? This would add a further level of reality: that of the movie ‘Tron’. Into the world of the movie (and then into the Tron world within this), and then out to the world of the early 80’s. This could be carried further, and there are many ways that this could be incorporated into the other traditional elements of Tron, but I will expand on that later.

I realize that this may sound kinda far-out. But if you read the earlier posts, you will see my reasons for this radical re-interpretation.

Here is an idea that I really liked (these ideas are all scattered, and not necessarily a coherent whole): it would be cool if the sequel somehow incorporated a re-enactment of the making of the original (as one setting in the sequel). Here is why: watching the documentary on the re-released 2-disc, it was really amazing to hear about the elaborate process they went through for the effects of the original. That isn’t the only reason - going back to my earlier posts, I don’t think the sequel should follow the same form as the previous chapters (the PC game, and the comic book) of being set in the present day, here and now, real world of someone getting sucked into the computer world. Another reason was that I saw an article somewhere about remaking the original as well as a sequel. This is my justification for the idea of somehow incorporating a re-enactment of the making of the original (as well as a revamping of the visual effects while we’re at it) would be great for the sequel. I will now get into some possibilities of how that could pan out.

In a re-enactment of the making of the original (as an element of the sequel), it would be cool to amplify, and exaggerate, the culture of the 80’s, the arcades, music, clothes, music, etc. I’m imagining this done in some kind of retro-chic bubble-gum vintage style. Enough of that, you get the idea.

I really like the idea of the different levels of reality (tron/real world). I think it would be really cool to play on this even more in the sequel, and possibly even blurring the distinctions (within the movie, hence my reference to David Lynch and ‘Shadow of the Vampire’). This is what I am arguing all of the talk about security programs and Mater Control Programs should be replaced with. (see my earlier posting about ‘why the tron world wouldn’t work in the same way today’) Or rather, security and the MCP shouldn’t be the focus like it has been in its previous incantations.

There are a couple of different ways that it could go from here, but I may have to go into some of them next time.

(See my earlier post as a preamble to this).

When the original came out, computers may have been a bit more mysterious, not so common as they are today. At the time, most people probably had no idea how distant the technology of digitizing a body was and sucking it into a computer - it might not have seemed so ridiculous (I can’t say, I was just a kid at the time). Regardless, the original didn’t do very well anyways, I think it bombed at the time (except for the few fanatics who were kids at the time). Maybe the cultural climate has changed, or something, but I think a Tron sequel done like the original (a guy getting sucked into a neon computer world) would seem really dumb.

Even if it was made for kids, I don’t think it would work. It didn’t work the first time. And sure there are heaps of fantasy movies around, and you might think that this might hint to a public that is ready for the fantasy of Tron, but I think you are wrong. Fantasy films are set in another world, so we can suspend disbelief. Star Trek was set in the future, and likewise we can imagine that anything might happen in the future. But Tron is set in the present day, and I think that is the place for it (this gets into my vision for Tron’s cultural role, which will have to elaborated on later). Like I said, computers were still so new at the time, and so there were these cheesy speculative movies like ‘Electric Dreams’, ‘Flight of the Navigator’, ‘Short Circuit’, ‘WarGames’, and there was another one I can’t remember. Had the original been set in the future, it might’ve been more popular, but Tron belongs in the real world, here and now. So since it must be set the present day, and we are much more savvy then we used to be, I don’t think the Tron world would work (in the same way) today.

These are the foundational arguments to support my ideas for a Tron sequel (which I haven’t really gotten into yet).

A few words on the Tron constituency before I go on to talk about why the Tron world wouldn’t work in the way it has been used up to now. Who is the sequel being made for? If it is being made for the Tron fans, there aren’t many of them. Among the people I’ve ever met, there is not one who seems to approach my level of concern with Tron, and I am in the right age group for running into Tron fans. It’s novelty status among my age group has possibly swelled a little, but not that much. There are certainly some fans, and it certainly isn’t as forgotten as most movies from the time (it does have that going for it).It wasn’t really popular as a kids movie either, even though it was thought of as a kids movie (what with the acade games, trading cards, learn-to-read book+tape, etc.). It would be a serious shame it the sequel were to be even more geared towards kids. But I can’t see this happening really, so we can discard that possibility.

Otherwise, and of course the obvious answer is that it will be made for mass appeal. The original was targeted for mass appeal, so I can’t argue that mass appeal doesn’t fit the spirit of Tron. But why do it? If you are going for mass appeal, then why use Tron? Why not just make up another story with great special effects and action. People will still go see it anyways if it has all these things. Considering the constituency, you don’t fare to make all that much more money by calling the movie a sequel to Tron. And you would risk possibly pissing off the fans by making a stupid action movie, and ending the Tron legacy forever.

Therefore…don’t make a movie for kids, and don’t make a movie aimed at mass appeal. Make a movie tailored for exactly those who saw something in it from the beginning. Believe me (and I know you have no reason to), but if you make it for this constituency, it will have the same lasting effect, and will probably be even bigger. If you make a movie for mass appeal, it will disappear like any stupid ‘Armageddon’ or ‘Battlefield Earth’ or what the hell ever.

(Continued here)

This follows from a point I was making here. The point was that it is strange that the games they are playing in the real world are so accurate to the way things are in the Tron world. The causal ramifications of this will have to worked out elsewhere. It seems like either the video game is a window into the Tron world, or else Flynn is kind of seeing what he wants to see. He is being appeared to in a way that makes sense to him, he is familiar with. This makes me think of the movie Contact, when Ellie meets the aliens on the other side of the universe, she meets her father on a familiar beach, and is told by the aliens that they assumed this appearance to make her feel comfortable or something.

I was also thinking of myths, and the computer as the new paradigmatic myth that we understand things in terms of. Like the computational model of the mind, and artificial life and simulating astronomical goings-on in computer. The matrix and brain-in-a-vat type ideas. The universe used to be a big clock, before that it was gods creation, before that there was a pantheon of gods, but they all assume the guise of the most advanced thinking of the time.

In the original Tron, I think the arcade game is supposed to be a window into the Tron world. But this raises issues: What about the other arcade games? (That would make a good Twilight Zone ending, where they look around and everyone is playing games with these Tron characters, baseball games where they are all Tron characters, fighting games, etc.) Are they all such windows? Or are these Tron games privaleged windows? This just isn’t addressed in the movie. I’m guessing you’d have to say that all such arcade games (computer games these days) are windows into the Tron world. So even when people are playing Guitar Hero III (I don’t actually know what that is), or Tetris, or when junior high girls are playing those cute little pink games about cute punky little characters, this is also a window in. This would be one way to reconcile this problem. But the differences between all of these games would have to be explained in the movie.

Another would be that these Tron games are privaleged windows into the computer world, they are an actual picture of the Tron world, whereas these others are just made up. So, how did these games come about then? Did someone write them? If someone did, then they presumably would have to know how to access this world. Here you could have some Videodrome (the sequel should take some hints from videodrome) like connection with this other realm, but that might be too similar to that movie where those kids are playing a video game, and they are actually getting killed, whatever that was. Anyways, I like the former idea about all games being similarly tapped into the Tron world serves the spirit of Tron better.

I’ll have to continue on these ideas later.

These are just ideas for the rough feel of what an ideal Tron sequel would be:

A cross between ‘2001′ and ‘Shadow of the Vampire’, just to give you the mood and style I had in mind.

Instead of programs battling for freedom against the MCP, the story should be more like a labyrinth, like Alice in Wonderland, Lynchian (David Lynch), etc.

So, possibly someone falling in the rabbit hole in some way (maybe not digitizing lasers), losing themselves, forgetting who you are, the disorientation that is commonly experienced in transport, themes of identity.