The original Tron is a Disney ground-breaking classic and it is a little surprising it took nearly 30 years for the sequel, Tron: Legacy to come around. But once they did finally green light the project Disney wasted no effort nor expense in making sure the world knew this was a big film. The marketing hype machine worked in overdrive and by the time it was finally released I was right there waiting in line on the first Saturday night to see it in Imax 3D with hundreds of others chomping at the bit to enter the Tron world and experience this blockbuster. So perhaps it was inevitable that I would be disappointed … and I was. I didn’t think it was a bad movie, but a little boring and a little too in love with the world it created. I had a similar feeling about the final Pirates movie – just not very much fun to watch.
Nevertheless, I jumped at the opportunity to get the Tron: Legacy / Tron: The Original Classic Five-Disc Combo Blu-Ray / DVD / Digital Copy. If the world felt the original Tron was a classic and Disney felt Tron: Legacy was starting a franchise (and all the related comics, TV and merchandise show that), it needed to be in my library. And the bottom line is, I’m glad it is.
So if you’re at all like me and were disappointed in Tron: Legacy, here are some reasons you should still go out and get this Combo Pack and add Classic Tron and Tron: Legacy to your library.
- First and foremost – seeing Tron: Legacy in 2D on a small screen gives a chance to look at it in a different light. 3D Imax was in a lot of ways overwhelming. I’ve seen other films in the same environment and been fine but not this one. This may be the first special effects laden film that I enjoy better on the small screen.
- The coming out event at Comic-Con where a lightcycle race on the game grid was shown to the audience is presented in its entirety including audience reactions. As they tell it, the filmmakers were very nervous as if it didn’t play well, the movie might not get made. Needless to say, the crowd went wild. (From Launching the Legacy bonus feature)
- Tron being set in within a computer and with the prevalence of computer generated films, my feeble mind had combined the two and intuitively I thought everything in the Tron world was pretty much a computer. So I really appreciated the bonus feature that showed just how much – much more than I would’ve guessed – of the world was a real set and not computer generated. (from the Visualizing special feature)
- Within the world, costumes are generated and therefore don’t need to have seems. In the real world of creating a movie, this presented a challenge. Never thought of that … it was interesting to see how they worked it out. And speaking of the costumes – the light within them isn’t computer generated either. It’s actually wires within the costumes using a battery pack on the costume. (from the Visualizing special feature)
- My favorite bonus feature was Installing the Cast. For a film where the World is really the central figure, seeing how they casted it and their interactions was far more interesting to me. My favorite was Michael Sheen who to me is Tony Blair from the Queen. I didn’t even know it was same actor playing Castor until I watched this feature. Seeing his as Castor then a second later giving an interview as himself (with a full beard looking nothing like Tony Blair) was very much fun. Some other interesting stuff learned here…
- Michael Sheen saw and loved the classic Tron at age 11 and as he put it, speaking of being on the Tron: Legacy set “…sitting here in Flynn’s Arcade – I’m on the edge of freaking out all the time”
- Olivia Wilde was the first actress the director looked at for the role of Quorra. After looking at 50 or 60 more, they ended up using her.
- Olivia Wilde (Quorra) and Garrett Hedlund (Sam Flynn) knew each other for seven years prior to filming but were cast completely separately.
So for me, the bonus features and small screen are enough reasons to own this set. But Tron: Legacy / Tron: The Original Classic Five-Disc Combo Blu-Ray / DVD / Digital Copy includes much, much more (including the much marveled at Disney Second Screen technology). Here’s the complete rundown:
- Visualizing TRON
- Installing the Cast
- Fire Look at TRON :Uprising – the Disney XD animated series
- The Next Day: Flynn Lives Revealed
- Disney Second Screen – TRON: Legacy
- Launching the Legacy
- Disc Roars
- Music Video “Derezzed” writted, produced and performed by Daft Punk
Plus from Tron: The Original Classic Edition
- The TRON Phenomenon
- Audio Commentary
- The Making of TRON
- Development
- Digitial Imagery
- Music
- Publicity
- Deleted Scenes
- Design
Storyboarding - Galleries
- Photo Tronology