Toon Talk: Tron: 20th Anniversary Collector's Edition
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Disc 2:

The Making of ‘Tron’ Featurette:

Actually, at ninety minutes, it’s more a feature. This documentary, produced solely for this DVD set, is loaded with behind-the-scenes information, and is best viewed prior to all the other extras on disc two, even though they list it at the bottom of the main menu.

Divided into four sections, the first focuses on the ‘Origins of Tron’, wherein it stretches the facts a bit to connect the dots between this movie and Walt the Man himself. But you do get to see Mickey and Pluto in Tron outfits and what became of all those old robots from The Black Hole.

‘The Warriors of Tron’ focuses on the film’s cast, including new interviews with Jeff Bridges (who comments on how his character Clu here was later mirrored in his Oscar-nominated turn in Starman two years later), Bruce Boxleitner, Barnard Hughes (Gibbs/Dumont), Cindy Morgan (Lora/Yori) and Dan Shor (who’s grandmother initiated a ‘re-rez Ram’ campaign to reincarnate his character).

‘The Wizards of Tron’ shines the spotlight on all the computer graphics companies that were recruited to create the world of Tron. Revealed here is how much traditional animation was used in this film as well; all the effects animation, such as the lights emitted by the discs, were done by hand.

In the ‘End of the Line?’, the after effects of the film’s release are discussed. Lisberger reveals that the Academy Awards refused to consider Tron for the visual effects Oscar, stating that they were ‘cheating’ by using computers. (The film was nominated for two other Oscars, for Costuming and Sound.) Also seen briefly is early, Borg-like concept art for Tron 2.0.

In the Development section, discover the genesis for the movie that became Tron:

• Early Development of ‘Tron’: ‘Home movie’-like footage of Lisberger and Kushner.
• Early Lisberger Studios Animation: Through conventional animation, see the first character named Tron.
• Early Concept Art and Background Concepts: In this gallery, you’ll see that the comic magazine Heavy Metal was an early influence, intentional or not.
• Computers Are People Too: Excerpt from a May, 1982 television program which included a preview of Tron. Murky video, not to enlightening.
• Early Video Tests: Lisberger shot this test video to prove to the bigwigs at Disney that the movie could be done the way he was saying it could be done. Actors in light gray costumes against white backgrounds were shot in Vista Vision and 65 mm formats.

Storyboarding shows how the traditional process for animation was adapted for this live action film.

• The Storyboard Process: The Light Cycle scene (which you’ll see a lot of in these supplements) seen through flip cards of the storyboard artwork.
• The Creation of Tron Main Title: Famed comic artist Moebius’ storyboards for this sequence.
• Moebius Miscellaneous Storyboarding Artwork: Moebius redid most of the storyboards for Tron, seen here represented in several scenes, including the Tron vs. Sark battle and Clu’s tank.
• Early Storyboard Artwork: Gallery shows different looks for different aspects of the film, such as the program holding area as a locker room and more alien/cartoony characters. Originally, Flynn kept his ‘real world’ appearance after being transported to the computer world, the other characters had more individualized, fanciful looks and the MCP floated around like the Legion of Doom.
• Storyboard to Film Comparison: Use the angle button on your remote to toggle through the original storyboards and the final footage for the Light Cycle scene.