Walt Disney Studio's Tron: Computer Animation Hits The Silver Screen

Tron, a science fiction film released by the Disney Studios in 1982, written and directed by Steven Lisberg, was one of the first films from a major studio to make extensive use of computer graphics. It boasts a distinctive visual style, and uses computer generated environment for all the action that takes place "inside" the mainframe.

This was heady stuff indeed.

When this movie was released, I was working part-time as a computer proctor to help pay for my education. The university had purchased a fancy new main frame computer that took up most of one whole floor in its climate controlled, glass-walled, hermetically sealed abode. It was dedicated to Computer Assisted Instruction, and part of the many tiny steps being made at that time towards creating computers that could actually think and learn.

One of the perks of the job, which entailed assisting students to access learning modules, and monitoring the tests at the end of each module, was learning how to program, and having access to the main frame to develop our own C.A.I. modules...and an invitation to participate in the online forums for all the programmers who used the Cyber system.

The Cyber mainframe 'spoke' Tutor, a very high level language that was very close to plain English, as are some of the programming languages we use today. What a relief to be able to use an "if, then" argument, or an "else, then". We still weren't all that far from punch cards, even then.

We were just beginning to build our own character sets, and make them jump around and do fun things.The emoticons we use in our email nowadays, run from a laptop, are more detailed and three dimensional than anything we could manage with a huge mainframe back then.

Compared to what we can do now, and how much RAM and sheer power and speed a basic desktop has nowadays, computers were still very much in their infancy in the early eighties.

Tron stars Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn, a gifted young programmer. He worked for the software corporation ENCOM, creating several video games on the company's mainframe after hours. He really dreams of starting his own game company.

Another programmer, Ed Dillinger, locks Flynn out of the system and presents Flynn's work as his own. Dillinger earns a series of executive promotions, while Flynn was relegated to working at a video arcade that features the games he created.

Flynn tries to hack into the ENCOM mainframe to find evidence of Dillinger's wrongdoing, but his program is caught and defeated by the Master Control Program, the MCP.

The MCP shuts down access to the security group Flynn was using, inadvertently locking out another ENCOM employee, Alan Bradley, played by Bruce Boxleitner. Alan goes to speak to Dillinger and reveals that he was working on a security program, Tron, which would monitor communications between the MCP and the outside world.

After Alan leaves, the MCP confronts Dillinger about this, stating that it cannot afford to have programs monitoring it. It reveals its intention to break into the Pentagon and other military mainframes, claiming it can run things "900 to 1200 times better than any human." When Dillinger attempts to assert his authority, the MCP essentially blackmails him into complying with its wishes.

Meanwhile, Alan and his girlfriend, Dr. Lora Baines, warn Flynn that he's been noticed, but Flynn manages to convince them to sneak him into ENCOM's laser laboratory, where he can forge access to a different security group.

Lora, who has been developing a method of digitizing real objects into the computer, sets Flynn down at her terminal in the laser lab, where a laser is pointed directly at the terminal. As Flynn attempts to break into the system, he is confronted by the MCP, who takes control of the laser and digitizes Flynn into the ENCOM mainframe. Flynn finds himself standing in the digital, computer world, where Programs resemble their human creators, the Users.

One of the coolest parts of the movie is still, for me, the amazing Light Cycle Race. Shown in the clip below, this few minutes of computer wonder had us on the edges of our seats, enthralled by the sheer excitement and the how-did-they-do-that factor.

To be sure, we were used to seeing actors in front of carefully matted backgrounds. This was the first truly seamless (for then) and extensive use of a totally computer generated environment. These effects may seem a bit ho-hum in the wake of such films as Star Wars and the amazement of The Lord of The Rings, but they owe a great debt to the developers of such films as Tron.

Meanwhile, back at the mainframe...the MCP has cut off communication with the real world. We learn that some of the programs do not believe that the Users are real; some however, are willing to accept them on faith alone – an interesting comment about faith and the desire to believe in something greater than oneself.

As well, programs are used up, de-rezzed (destroyed) at the whim of the User with no regard for the life of the program. Indeed, the Users seem to be blissfully unaware that every time they "use up" a life during a computer game, they are actually destroying a life that worships them as its creator.

Flynn eventually meets Tron (Alan's program), and escapes from the Light Cycle arena into the system. From there, amid what were then, to us, amazing displays of graphical virtuosity, good does eventually triumph over evil, and Flynn and the others are returned to their world in the best traditions of Walt Disney.

I must admit, though, that my all-time favorite character in the film (besides Tron - I've always had a wee crush on Bruce Boxleitner) is one who appeared only briefly on the screen. His (its?) lines were short, and its screen time even shorter. It didn't add much to the plot, nor impart much information, but it was a significant participant, and much enjoyed.

Of, course, I am referring to the cute little Bit, that changed both shape and color and it flashed from "Yes" to "No". This was a lovely Easter Egg for any budding computer geek, who would immediately turn to his companions (as I did) and explain the significance of the bit (as I did), and why it was so darned funny (as I did) - that a bit is the smallest piece of information on a computer, and it that can only be a zero or a one, positive or negative, "Yes" or "No".

As we left the movie theater, my sister and I were exclaiming over the various character and how much we liked this one or that one. The three kids - her son and daughter along with my boy, were animatedly re-living their favorite moments form the film.

My sister announced she would have liked to see more of the Bit, as we had enjoyed it so much. Her son (I think he inherited his sense of humor from our other sister) replied most seriously that the bit couldn't have been on screen for any longer.

"After all, Mom," he informed her, "...(wait for it...) it was only a bit part".