New Tron Legacy Trailer

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ravells

I entirely agree with Gtmac…

The musical score to this trailer sounds just like the new star trek score….it’s a process of homogenisation of films which were ground-breaking in their time.

It’s like a bad cover version of a 70′s or 80′s single.

Cheap filmaking by people who don’t have any imagination to make something new so they ‘reboot’ something old and cherished and will probably – I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt until I’ve seen the film – wreck it.

We are in a period of time when we have such great new SF from authors who are more in touch with today…Richard Morgan for example, why not make movies of their work rather than recycling (from the trailer badly) stuff from the eighties?

I can see the pawprints of hollywood execs all over this (It will be just like Aliens!). I don’t buy it.
- akbar56
  
  Why don’t you actually listen to some samples from the score (being made entirely by Daft Punk) and see if you feel the same.
  http://blogs.1077theend.com/internbryce/2010/07/22/new-daft-punk-zomg/
  - mdh
    
    awesome link akbar56!
    
    reminds me a lot of the aphex twin stuff from the pi soundtrack.
- mdh
  
  I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt until I’ve seen the film
  
  no, be honest, you have already entirely denied them the benefit of your doubt. Why pretend otherwise?
Laurel L. Russwurm

Tron was wonderful, in the theatre in its day. It was gorgeous. The idea was well though out, crisply written, the music set the tone, the action was heartstopping, the art direction was original and striking, the effects put me on the floor. Jeff Bridges is a fine actor, in fact the acting was even good in the original.

I was surprised at how well Tron held up when I saw it again on DVD last year. And there’s going to be a sequel. Hot damn.

Even if it’s crap I’d be happy to shell out big bucks to see it in a cinesphere… on a double with the original? Oh wow.

Except.

It’s a sequel. Get used to it. The movie biz isn’t trying to make art anymore, they’re making product, and it’s much easier to sell product that already has a fan base than to take a gamble on something new. The more power the studios get the less chances they’ll take. Everything will be a sequel or a series if they have their way. Less outlay, more profit.

Funny though, my appetite for movies has faded away at the thought of putting first run movie dollars in the hands of any movie company, but especially the one that’s leading the push Disney.

First run dollars help pay for their lawsuits, and support lobbying for bad law like the DMCA, the Digital Economy Act, Bill C-32 and of course ACTA and steeper DRM.

Left unchecked it will ultimately lead to a world that’ll make 1984 look like a safe haven. So no, I don’t want to see it that badly.
Sleepybat

I watched the original quite recently and really enjoyed it. The film was truly ground breaking in its use of computer graphics. They understood what their limitations were and worked within those limits, which is why it still holds up well visually today. It has a retro feel to it and certainly you’d never mistake it for a new film, but I personally feel it has a visual style which is superior to the new super slick visuals.
Anonymous

I probably won’t go to see the movie, but the trailer was worth it for the line “I am not your father’!
LeSinge

Actually I think young Jeff Bridges looks great… except the mouth. Which ruins the whole effect. Assuming it will look worse on a giant 100′ screen.
cinemajay

Doesn’t look animated to me. Looks more like they ‘shopped his wrinkles out a la X-men 3.

Not sure what you mean by “convincing” as it looks just like a young JB.
coaxial

I never understood the appeal of Tron.
- Anonymous
  
  Then you’ll probably like this movie.
EeyoreX

IMO, fake Flynn looks more like a young Gary Oldman than a young Jeff Bridges. Something about the eyes.
But who cares, It’s TRON! Just like in the first movie, the effects are hardly ment to be “realistic” anyway.
Eyecandy to the people! Squee!!!
Rob Beschizza

…..
Baron Karza

Hell yes, I’m in! I was unsure whether they would bring Bruce Boxleitner back for this, but there he is! I was a big Babylon 5 fan, and always thought it was cool that the captain used to be Tron.

To me, the original was two things at once: a fairly lame kids movie with a goofy plot and bad acting (which is mostly hurt by the real-world scenes), and secondly as an Art Film, yes I said it. The coolest thing about the original film was the sound design, that echoey claustrophobic feel to all the voices and sounds in the computer world. Also very artistic was the weird lighting and the glow effects in the people and animations, almost none of which was done using computer technology! It was all hand-stripped into the film optically, which made some of the film stock look weird, but even cooler. I’m sure these elements will be missing but I’m still on board for this, definitely seeing it in 3D!!

End of line.
erratic

I’m thinking (hoping) that the uncanny valley effect that we’re seeing in young JB is intentional. that he’s some sort of digital corruption of the original and the slightly-off look is to make the audience subconsciously uncomfortable about him.
ill lich

“TRON. . . now with special effects!”
- fxq
  
  Even MORE polygons!
Donald Petersen

Well, I bought Tron on DVD several years ago, not having seen it since I was 12 years old. Yeesh, man, it does NOT hold up. I dug it back in ’82, but for me it’s nearly unwatchable now.

So I couldn’t have cared less when I heard about the sequel. I saw the first teaser and struggled to stay awake.

But somehow, this new trailer actually makes me want to see it.
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  Yeesh, man, it does NOT hold up.
  
  I rented it last year and thought that it was even more of a masterpiece than I remembered. The visual style is as original and compelling as Cabinet of Doctor Caligari or Night of the Hunter.
  - Donald Petersen
    
    That visual style was very original and groundbreaking for its day.
    
    But I felt the movie itself relied too heavily on its visuals, which look awfully dated today, and as a story it moved like a constipated glacier.
    
    But my opinion is worth the grain of salt any commenter’s opinion deserves. In 1982, I thought Tron was a far better movie than, say, E.T. I still don’t like E.T., but my relative opinion of each has reversed.
Flying_Monkey

I think it looks great so far as it goes and I am glad it is a properly new movie rather than a remake. However, I can’t help thinking that the only thing that made the original Tron worthwhile was the unique style of the film that was the result of doing a lot with a little. That isn’t the way things happen these days and I suspect that Tron: Legacy will not have that special feel about it. We shall see…
Anonymous

I think it looks pretty amazing. The lighting of the distant tron city captures something eighties but updates it… its fairly dreamlike BUT the action does look depressingly familiar along with the slowmo.

I’ll see for the landscapes and soundtrack (apparently they’ve combined the score and sound effects during key sequences
Anonymous

After seeing the new trailer, it’s becoming more apparent that the Tron: Legacy team didn’t understand the original movie at all. All of the style is gone, and it’s become another Matrix. No, I didn’t expect to see hand-painted glow; I expected to see more intricate costumes, with amazing CGI layered onto them.

Case in point: The Recognizer scene looks more at home in Blade Runner than a Tron movie. Ditto with the Electroluminescent suits. And what’s with the decorations on the shelves? Programs don’t *have* downtime. They’re either running, or they’re suspended.

I’ll be seeing it in the theater, but I’m looking forward more to the Blu-Ray edition of the original.

Play a game of Tron 2.0 if you want to see what this movie should have looked like.
thenextstopwillbe

Trahhhnnn!!!!
Anonymous

Most of this looked like more of the Hollywood same. The one thing that looked as interesting as the original was the fireworks.
Nathaniel

Ugh, it suffers even more from the teal and orange problem* than I was expecting.

*see http://theabyssgazes.blogspot.com/2010/03/teal-and-orange-hollywood-please-stop.html
- I less than three mermaids
  
  You’re right! It totally deviates from the original color palette, which was largely… wait, what?
jackruby1123

If im not mistaken didn’t I read a story somewhere about daft punk doing the music. hopefully that was just the trailer music. can anyone confirm this?
- Anonymous
  
  Yeah hopefully the most exciting and promising thing about the film …isn’t true!? :-/
- Forbes
  
  Daft Punk is doing all the music for Tron Legacy — in fact, the duo actually appear in the film (as “mp3 programs,” no less).
radionactive

What some of you may not realize, is that this trailer is still in a semi-prototype like stage. Barely a week or two before this trailer was released, Disney went back to do 6 days of reshoots and Pixar have been recompositing and, in some cases, even completely re-doing some of the CG effects. Remember that this film is only around 90% finished and Pixar have a reputation of fixing things right up to the very last week before release.

From what I understand, the final version of the film will still look slightly different from the trailers we are all seeing. Don’t believe me? Go and watch the original prototype VFX test trailer that was created back in 2008. The face of Clu 2.0 looked very different in that trailer. So too did the lightcycles, the Tron world, the neon suits and Kevin Flynns beard and even his entire Tron-apartment.

I honestly hope that Disney and Pixar spend every last dollar fine-tuning this film right until it’s release date.
radionactive

… and another thing…

The special effects team that are working on the digital Flynn are the same team that created the ultra-realistic Benjamin Button. This is why I’m of the opinion that we are seeing an unfinished version of the character. If these guys can pull off a convincing looking character that grows younger as he gets older, then I am confident that they will get the character of Clu 2.0 perfected.

Anyway… now that Disney have brought Pixar on board to add real depth, character and presence to the digital world, I think we’re all going to be in for quite a surprise!

*crosses fingers*
I less than three mermaids

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ISEhIQ==CRLF
radionactive

One final thing…

If you want a good way to test the believability of a CG character, then what you should do is watch the character’s face move when it talks, but do so with the sound muted. The human brain is pretty good at picking up all kinds of cues and signals when it comes to facial movement and expressions.

If the effect looks rubbery, fake or like the actor is wearing a mask, then the suspension of disbelief is effectively ruined.
Anonymous

Some of the stuff is sharper. The apparent industrial design, scene design. I’m not sure the plot makes any sense, and at no part in this trailer do they make a point of showing off anyone’s acting skills. This is very Disney.

They are having trouble working up convincing, seemless integration of real people in the virtual world using computer-generated animation sequences.

The one where the virtual jet plane forms around the avatar/human is meh. The audio effects don’t mesh. It seems reminiscent of very early stuff (Tron!) without evidence that they’ve figured out how to do it better.

The _Who Framed Roger Rabbit_, Tron, _The Last Starfighter_ kind of real/virtual integration isn’t easy.

On top of that, scenes in the trailer without any sort of integration have meh choreography, the body language and timing isn’t right.
Anonymous

Just wanted to echo the earlier question: Wondering if TRON is going to even be in thie TRON movie. I’m beginning to suspect he wont:

1. Boxleitner isn’t getting credited for the character in IMDB.

2. Producers are saying this is a father-son story. That’s why YORI isn’t in it.

3. The title is “TRON Legacy”, which could suggest TRON’s not really in it.

That will piss me off, if true.
Anonymous

The new trailer shows Olivia Wilde with two disk weapon thingies effortlessly subduing two big bad guys without even looking – how ridiculous is that?
Snafu

They’ll be working ’round the clock until the last minute to polish him. It’s not unusual to place less-than-perfected FX in a trailer.

I’m a Tron/Black Hole/ST:TMP era guy. I so want them to respect the legacy, and just seeing Jeff Bridges standing there as some sort of recluse Flynn makes me keep the faith.

(And I am so intrigued by the Black Hole remake idea)
- noahz
  
  Seconded on The Black Hole remake!
Anonymous

This is the best trailer yet. Better glimpses of the digital world and vehicles and costumes to tease us with. I do like the new vehicles and some things look very amazing. The one thing that disappoints me about this sequel is the look of the costumes- I prefer the ones in the original movie and the TRON 2.0 video game over these.

The black or white suits are ok- but there is something key to the world of Tron that’s missing- I’m sure many Tron fans who loved the original agree with this- the intricate glowing circuitry patterns that make the characters look as if they are made of simulated shapes floating over a glowing core of energy- and that do neat things like flow, flicker, pulse, shimmer, change color and intensity with the ‘program’ or ‘user’ avatars’ levels of emotion or health.

The glowing lines in the Legacy costumes are crisp and bright- but there aren’t enough of them- the bold lines are great- but the occasional accent of circuit detail would be a nice touch. The solid looking body suits of plastic or rubber just make them look like the hero characters we have come to expect from Batman, Matrix or X-men movies. The look of Tron was very unique- and the uniqueness of the costumes played a huge part.

The live action version of Aeon Flux was a flop partly because they got the wardrobe totally wrong. – compared to the look of the cartoon- the production and costume design of that movie was too dull. I really hope they give us more than Batman/X-men suits with a little neon- because this choice will dull down Tron for fans expecting the vibrant exciting visuals of the original.

Why did they decide to go with these LED lit costumes? I dont expect the old dance ware with sports pads & helmets- I just think the new suits are too simple looking. Maybe if the costumes were cgi animations added over existing footage of the actors- it would add to the unreal look of people in a computer simulated world. The cgi- animated characters in that sci fi turkey, Lawnmower Man, probably came closer to a TRON-like look than the Legacy suits.

The old TRON costumes were hand colored and animated frame by frame on cels in a composite process kind of like rotoscoping to achieve the desired effect- Im sure there has to be a way to achieve something like that with digital animation. Granted different designers worked on this movie- and the movie is after all, made and set over 20 years after the original story where the technology in the electronic virtual world of the Encom ‘system’ is obsolete.- and so has ‘evolved’. No Syd Mead or Moebius this time around! Some fans may have disliked the second wave of Star Wars movies- but at least the designers who worked on them got the flavor of visual aesthetic right.

Regardless, I really enjoyed this latest trailer- and more so than the first two. It’s about time they gave us something new to sink our teeth into. I hope they do more cooking on this movie before they try to serve it up.
- radionactive
  
  Take a look at these concept sketches for Tron, made between 1978 and 1980. You will see that Tron Legacy more closely resembles Steve Lisbergers original vision of Tron than he was able to create back in the early days of CGI…
  
  http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t277/tpucomics/misc/TRON2.jpg
  
  http://www.acmearchivesdirect.com/assets/Image/Product/detailsbig/WDTRON02.jpg
  
  In fact, Steve now believes he has made a movie that almost resembles his original vision (after all, he did write and direct the first one, so it is HIS creation). Most of the early concept art was very neon-like and the costumes and scenery were more like the sequel than the original!
  
  Also, if you look at the conceptual art below for the original lightcycles for Tron 1, you will immediately notice that Syd Mead, head designer of Tron, was originally aiming for a lightcycle design that was nearly identical to the new lightcycles in Tron Legacy. Rather than the final design used in the original film, the original concept of the lightcycle was for the rider to become part of the bike itself and for the bike to stretch and do similar things to the bikes in Tron Legacy. In the second image below one can see the original concept behind the neon-line ‘styling’ that did not make it into the first film.
  
  http://geektyrant.com/storage/post-images/Tron%20Concept%20Art%201.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1271775508553
  
  http://bp3.blogger.com/_7gYNb3GSh4M/SIVclhqejLI/AAAAAAAAFGw/keOogRRz9Fo/s1600-h/show.aspx.jpeg
  
  I think these images should be enough evidence to bring forward the argument that Tron Legacy is more like the original Tron in concept and design than the first movie actually ended up becoming. I also read somewhere that the original designers of Tron were disappointed in that they did not have the technology to make the movie they always intended on making. Therefore, I would go as far as to say that Tron Legacy is as close as Steve Lisberger has managed to get to his original vision of Tron
cstatman

oh cr@p. this is just gonna get that Jay Maynard guy all excited and we are gonna have to see more of his wobblies on the web…..

http://www.tronguy.net/

my EYES MY EYES there is no mental bleach!!!!
Kevitivity

I really hope this movie is good. Wish I could buy the original on BluRay but they seem to be dragging their feet on that.
- akbar56
  
  I think they are holding off on that to closer to the release of the sequel. Sounds logical. HDNet broadcast the film a few weeks ago so the source is there somewhere.
  
  @Knoxblox: I think the fact that we have seen Lightcycles jump and turn on non-right angles proves things are much different in the computer world now.
knoxblox

I hope that when Disney says Flynn’s world is “more advanced” they mean the physics of it has changed to parallel today’s computers.
I’m hoping it’s not just the same story with a lot of new paint and spackle.
snakedart

Slow motion ruins this for me. The game grid portions of the original was crazy and hyperkinetic. In this, every time they hike the frame rate to highlight the CGI explosions, my animal brain loses interest.
Kevitivity

Wendy Carlos, who composed the epic music from the first Tron, is an interesting subject. I’m surprised she hasn’t come up here on BB before. Anyhow, google her name. She/he was an early pioneer of electronic music.
webmonkees

Well, it’s _inside_ a computer, so technically, if young JB it looked real, then well.. it’s a catch-22.
As a owner of a nice DVD copy of the original, I have mixed feelings that the new will be as cool
as the old one,.

I’ve been enjoying the odd swag that flynnlives.com has been giving out. A holographic-embossed ID badge, postcards..
but really want a Flynn’s Arcade shirt.. too bad the big giveaways are in the major cities.

*swag-compensated commenter
Thorzdad

When I saw the very first teaser so long ago, I admit I wasn’t impressed. Now, with each successive trailer, I’m finding I’m getting more and more excited about this movie.

Now, all I need to do is score some blotter and go see it just like I did when the original hit the theaters.
GeekMan

I must admit I’m pretty excited for this movie, and I love the new trailer. Seeing beardy old Flynn compared to (who I can only presume is) Clu seems like a pretty stark contrast in age. Though I’m sure it just trickery, its pretty impressive onto itself.
dagfooyo

I went into this preview not expecting much – usually sequels made decades later are awful, especially when it’s a technology-driven movie like this one. But I was seriously impressed, looks like they’ve stayed true to the original. Very cool, can’t wait to see it!
nerd

Hold on, nerdgasm hitting. YES! YES! OH YES!
Anonymous

GREETINGS USERS!
END OF LINE
Blue

Fake Jeff’s animation isn’t very convincing. :(
- straponego
  
  Agreed. Too twitchy and too rigid at the same time. It’s like adjacent regions of his face are unconnected to each other. And that’s with one view, on a small screen.
  
  Maybe those aren’t the final renders.
- Dave Faris
  
  Yeah. They weren’t able to jump the Uncanny Valley , even with light cycles.
Gtmac

TRON was very much a movie of its time and should not have a sequel.

Hollywood, for pete’s sake would you please stop regurgitating some “enhanced” imitation of my childhood experiences back at me?
- iamameatpopsicle
  
  i think that this will be a movie of ITS OWN time, and the advances in technology are duly represented. the movie isn’t a remake, it’s an honest sequel with it’s own plot not wholly derivative of it’s predecessor.
Anonymous

nobody has asked the truly relevant question. WHERE IS TRON!? I mean the movie is called TRON Legacy. where is the title character?
Anonymous

Star Wars reference, Light Cycles, and 13.

Yes please.
Anonymous

The delicate intro music with zoom into house whispering child moment was more “this is lame” than “what was it”.

The director’s experience is 2 computer game commercials and backed by Disney, I expect this to be a disaster.
Anonymous

I really loved the original ‘Tron’ but this just looks awful!