April 23, 2025 • 55 mins
Groundbreaking Digital Frontier or 80s Tech Fantasy?
Join hosts Krissy Lenz and Nathan Blackwell with special guest Joe Malone as they venture into the neon-lit digital world of Tron (1982). This revolutionary sci-fi adventure follows computer programmer Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) as he's transported inside a computer system where he must battle alongside Tron against the tyrannical Master Control Program.The hosts dive deep into what makes this film a landmark in cinema history—it was the first major film to use extensive computer-generated imagery, so groundbreaking that the Academy disqualified it from special effects nominations because they considered using computers "cheating." Despite its commercial underperformance, the film's arcade games became massive hits, showcasing its cultural impact.Joe shares his fascinating journey with the film, initially creating a list titled "Why I Hate It" after his first viewing, only to create a contrasting "Why I Actually Really Like It" list after his second watch. The hosts agree that while the narrative sometimes falls flat and the graphics appear dated by today's standards, the film deserves recognition for pioneering digital filmmaking and presciently exploring AI concerns that remain relevant today.Nathan, a childhood fan, rates it 7.5/10 "frisbees," while newfound Tron defender Joe gives it 7.6, and Krissy lands at 6.5, noting that even her cat refused to watch it with her.Key topics discussed:
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Join hosts Krissy Lenz and Nathan Blackwell with special guest Joe Malone as they venture into the neon-lit digital world of Tron (1982). This revolutionary sci-fi adventure follows computer programmer Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) as he's transported inside a computer system where he must battle alongside Tron against the tyrannical Master Control Program.The hosts dive deep into what makes this film a landmark in cinema history—it was the first major film to use extensive computer-generated imagery, so groundbreaking that the Academy disqualified it from special effects nominations because they considered using computers "cheating." Despite its commercial underperformance, the film's arcade games became massive hits, showcasing its cultural impact.Joe shares his fascinating journey with the film, initially creating a list titled "Why I Hate It" after his first viewing, only to create a contrasting "Why I Actually Really Like It" list after his second watch. The hosts agree that while the narrative sometimes falls flat and the graphics appear dated by today's standards, the film deserves recognition for pioneering digital filmmaking and presciently exploring AI concerns that remain relevant today.Nathan, a childhood fan, rates it 7.5/10 "frisbees," while newfound Tron defender Joe gives it 7.6, and Krissy lands at 6.5, noting that even her cat refused to watch it with her.Key topics discussed:
- Jeff Bridges' performance and undeniable charm
- The revolutionary computer graphics and special effects
- The film's religious undertones with users portrayed as godlike beings
- The iconic Light Cycle sequences
- Similarities to Star Wars' narrative structure
- Connections to modern concerns about artificial intelligence
- The unusual costume designs and world-building
- The surprising romantic "threpple" dynamics between characters
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for tuning in to another episode of the Most
Excellent Eighties Movies Podcast. Want to skip those ads and
get early access, become a member at true story dot fm,
slash join and discover all the other great parks that
come with it.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Hello, and welcome to the Most Excellent Eighties Movies Podcast.
It's the podcast where we light cycle through the eighties
movies we think we love or might have missed with
these our modern grown up eyes to decide if we
love these movies still or not. And today we're talking
about Tron, a movie selection from nineteen eighty two about
(00:51):
which Google says. When talented computer engineer Kevin Flynn played
by Jeff Bridges finds out that Ed Dillinger played by
David Warner, an executive at his company, has been stealing
his work, he tries to hack into the system. However,
Flynn is transported into the digital world, where he has
(01:12):
to face off against Dillinger's computerized likeness Sark, and the
imposing Master Control program, aided by Tron played by Bruce
Bruce box Lightner and Yuri played by Cindy Morgan. Flynn
becomes a freedom fighter for the oppressed programs of the grid,
(01:36):
and that explanation offers me way more insight into this
movie that I gleaned from watching it. Okay, here comes
with the trailer.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
The NCOME five eleven computer, center of the most calculating
intelligence on Earth. Within it, there exists an unknown civilization
where man has never been a startling new word, where
time and distance defy the laws of lodgery. I still
(02:17):
do not understand why you want to break into.
Speaker 4 (02:20):
The system, because man, somewhere in one of these memories
is the.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Abalet Kevin Flynn computer genius searching for answers inside the system.
Speaker 4 (02:31):
Hey, hey, it's the big master control program everybody's been
talking about.
Speaker 5 (02:35):
Stop.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
I'm warning you.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
I'm going to have to put you on the.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
Game brand.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
Propelled into the digital world of the computer itself.
Speaker 5 (02:50):
Oh man, this isn't happening. It always thinks it's happening. Hey,
there's been a mistake.
Speaker 4 (02:58):
I gotta see the guy in charge you.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
With.
Speaker 5 (03:06):
Who's that guy?
Speaker 4 (03:07):
That's Tron.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
Trapped inside an electronic arena where low and escape do
not compute. The journey begins across an electronic sea on
(03:39):
cycles made of light. Tron enter its world, this summer.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Tron, where love does not compute. Oh goodness gracious. I'm
Christy Lenz, one of the directors at the Neighborhood Comedy
Theater and Downtown Mesa, Arizona. And with me as always
is my illustrious, award winning co host who will introduce
himself now.
Speaker 4 (04:54):
I'm Nathan Blackwell, independent filmmaker with Squishy Studios and.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Joining us us this evening or this episode is another
certified young person. He is a performer at the Neighborhood
Comedy Theater in downtown Mice, Arizona. He is an illustrious
volunteer at the snor and All Valley Improv Festival. He
does podcasts and video editing. He's an all around champ.
(05:22):
It is Joe Malone.
Speaker 5 (05:25):
Thank you. That is way nicer of an intro that
I was expecting, so I appreciate it. Thank you, Christy.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
I'm so excited for this one because I know that
I had never seen this movie before, and I know
that Joe, in spite of being a young person, you're
very well versed on eighties movies. Correct, So we tried
to find something you hadn't seen. And yeah, and now
(05:52):
you're all the better off for having watched it.
Speaker 6 (05:55):
Yeah, and now, as of two days ago, not only
have I seen it, I've seen it twice.
Speaker 5 (06:01):
Oh, I rewatched it better.
Speaker 4 (06:04):
I know.
Speaker 6 (06:05):
So I have a list that I made after watching
it the first time, and that list is called why
I hate it that I made after watching the second time,
and the list is called why I actually really like it.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Okay, good figure.
Speaker 4 (06:22):
I feel like we're going to bridge the entire spectrum
in terms of reactions during this podcast.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
That's just by Okay, okay, right, Uh, Nathan, what about you?
Was this a childhood favorite or what? I honestly can't
guess whether or not you love this movie.
Speaker 4 (06:42):
Yes, so this was a childhood favorite. You know, there's
some movies it was tough to be a young person
in the eighties because you you couldn't you know, you know,
you even if you had a VHS player, that doesn't
mean that you're collect was very big and so sometimes
you'd have to rent them or you'd have to tape
(07:04):
them off of TV. But this was one of the
ones that I had probably seen as a young person,
like a couple dozen times. There's like sub sections where
I could, you know all, you know, all these memories
just pop back in terms of like the sound effects
and just actors reactions and takes on things. Having said that,
(07:30):
it's probably been about ten years since I've seen this movie,
and so I feel like I was able to appreciate
it as kind of a return viewer some things, you know,
processing them as one one would assume as like a
first time viewer.
Speaker 5 (07:49):
OK.
Speaker 4 (07:50):
Yeah, So while it well, I you know, while I
have a nostalgic love for it, I certainly can see
some of the the one or two issues.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
With it, some of the flaws, some of the.
Speaker 5 (08:06):
Overall though, is your impression still positive?
Speaker 4 (08:10):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (08:12):
Like did it try downward?
Speaker 6 (08:13):
Having seen it again after someone.
Speaker 4 (08:17):
I would probably not recommend it cold to a lot
of people, as maybe I would too. It's kind of
like it's a recommendation with an asterisk, you know it's yeah,
which is so it would be. So I guess hot take,
it is a recommendation. I did enjoy myself, but some
(08:42):
of the weaknesses became a little pronounced this time around.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Hot take from me, I really liked it, I also
did not know what the hell was happening for, like,
like I usually summarized the movie, but I'm gonna have
to give you just like impressions because my notes are
(09:11):
all over the place. I did not understand what was
happening like a lot of the time, but I was
so into Jeff Bridges's.
Speaker 4 (09:24):
So good, like classic, like you know, in his you know,
like prime Jeff Bridges, prime.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Prime, primo.
Speaker 5 (09:33):
Like.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
I don't think I've been this like into our main
character since it was key for Sutherland and the Lost Boys,
because I so did you lose Bridges?
Speaker 5 (09:47):
Why? I actually really like it.
Speaker 6 (09:48):
On that list at the bottom, it says Jeff Bridges
is pretty hot actually.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
So Jeff Bridges is pretty hot actually, and he does
get shirt off at one point, just like nonchal.
Speaker 6 (10:00):
Oh yeah, every eighties, Yeah, every eighties movie has to
have a shirt off scene.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
You gotta pop off that shirt Jeff Bridges. Oh my gosh. No,
I was that into The Big Lebowski. But I am
so your first impression number one, Joe, was that you
hated it, and then you decided you actually kind of
liked it.
Speaker 6 (10:23):
Well, okay, I feel like saying that the graphics are
bad is just so obvious and low hanging fruit, and
also like that's really easy to say. In twenty twenty five,
this came out in nineteen eighty two, like, yes, this
is a very long time ago.
Speaker 5 (10:40):
And also to the first time I watched.
Speaker 6 (10:43):
It, I was like, this is a lot like Star Wars,
and then the second time I was watching it, like, no,
they're actually trying to make it like distinct from Star
Wars kind of because I mean, it is a very
similar plot in terms of the actual like adventure element
of it, but I feel like they kind of try
to make it their own. And you know, there's a
(11:04):
quote that I heard recently. I don't know, I think
it's attributed to David Bowie actually, but it's no one
made money by doing something first, which is like, yeah,
even though it's not like groundbreaking, like it's still kind
of led the way to like a lot of popular cinema.
Like today they're making movies about like every video game
I feel like, and they're grossing so much. So yeah,
(11:26):
I mean, it's like Nathan said, like a recommendation with
an asterisk, like it's not an objectively groundbreaking movie by
any means, but it also kind of is at the
same time, if that makes sense, because they were really
trying something that was so new.
Speaker 5 (11:44):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 4 (11:44):
Yeah. With I think there's a quote from you know, shoot,
I don't know who, but it was basically without Tron,
there would be no like toy story, you know, like
there was there was not enough. There was not another CG.
This is like the first real CGI movie ever.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
In fact, a fun fact that I learned was that
it got uh in fact, let me look it up,
it got banned from the Academy Awards because they, uh,
they thought that it was unfair. Yeah, it says the
film was just qualified for receiving an Academy Award nomination
for Special Effects because the Academy felt at the time
(12:27):
that using computer generated effects was quote cheating. Oh you imagine?
Can you imagine?
Speaker 4 (12:35):
And I guarantee you that the that the computer like,
you know, it's not like they were able to visualize
the models and then move them around how they wanted.
They had to basically program and do math to do everything.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
That sounds horrible.
Speaker 5 (12:55):
Yes, a math to make a movie. I mean that.
Speaker 6 (13:01):
I want to add that to the list of reasons
why I like it now. Thank you for telling me that, Christy.
That's really interesting, because like that makes me think of
like some like it Hot is another movie that I
love and part of why I love it too is
because for the time it was actually really revolutionary to
have a storyline centered around two men dressing up as women,
(13:22):
and that was like really taboo and pushing the label.
So you're actually taking a pretty big risk by making
that movie, which I think makes it more respectable.
Speaker 5 (13:31):
In a way. I don't know.
Speaker 6 (13:32):
Yeah, yeah, so that's interesting. I didn't know that.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
Yeah, Like it was not, even though the film like did. Okay,
it's twenty sixth on the top one hundred films of
nineteen eighty two, which surprised me. I look that up.
But it was considered a commercial failure. But it says
the arcade video games based on it proved to be
(13:57):
a tremendous hit and outgrossed the film.
Speaker 4 (14:00):
What Yeah, Okay, there was at least two Trond video
games I remember playing it. The one I played the most,
like as of like two years ago at Starfighter Arcade
is the one where you can choose four different games
to play, one being the light Cycle, one being kind
(14:21):
of like a disc duel, another one being like a
tank fight. Okay, but the uh and then I think
there was one that was just about like.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
The Jeah Bridge taking a shirt off.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
Yeah jeez, yeah, and now we're interested. But yeah, it
was like a disc dueling game, and I remember it
being like complicated, like were there two different controllers. I
don't know that that was one that didn't really get
to play much.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
Speaking of video games, our bonus content tonight is going
to be talking about our face video games. So if
you want to hear more from Joe, Nathan, and Chrissy
talking about their favorite video games, become a member a
True Story FM. Okay, commercial over, So this is the
part where I usually start recapping the movie, but like,
(15:15):
because I didn't understand it as we went, like, it's
gonna be tough for me.
Speaker 7 (15:21):
Okay, I feel like I'm an I feel having seen
it as a kid and just accepted things and now
kind of like reinterpreting them as an adult.
Speaker 4 (15:31):
Like I feel like i'm I can be a resource
for questions involving oh good, pretty confusing plot elements.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
Okay, and I want to know what you hated as
we go, Joe.
Speaker 6 (15:43):
Okay, and I did it in chronological order as well,
so as you go along, I can.
Speaker 4 (15:47):
But this movie is very eighties like as eighties go. Yeah,
from from like the from the music to the looks
to the art.
Speaker 6 (15:59):
Does Yeah, I didn't have a problem with that though.
I don't know if you guys can see, but my
phone background is runner. I don't have a problem with that. Like,
I don't have a problem with that vibe at all.
Speaker 4 (16:14):
Okay, awesome.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Yeah, I was into the vibe that they were setting
up for me, even though I thought the costumes were nuts. Yeah, nuts,
Like I couldn't even form an opinion on them because
I was just like, what is all this cloth?
Speaker 6 (16:31):
Yeah, and in the randomest places over a shoulder.
Speaker 5 (16:37):
Uh.
Speaker 6 (16:38):
Yeah, the costumes, I was saying. But the lighting was
really cool. I really liked the combination of red and
blue a lot of the time.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Yeah, I thought that was great, and I was like
I was in the world, even though I was taken
out of it periodically by just how ridiculous it was.
Speaker 5 (16:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
But yes, it's so eighties. It's so emblematic of this
era and like in nineteen eighty two what we thought
the future of computers would be. And I realized that
this movie is why people thought the Internet was a
series of tubes that you could navigate with a stack.
Speaker 4 (17:15):
It's interesting though this movie really in some ways is
about a lot of the concerns we're having right now
about AI.
Speaker 5 (17:25):
Yeah, very much.
Speaker 4 (17:27):
So, you know, the Master Control the MCP, the Master
Control Program. It's basically a super program that is controlling
hundreds of multi other programs. It's basically like a manager
program that's taking over all their functions and absorbing all
the power. And then it's growing exponentially because there's no
(17:48):
you know, there's no borders on it anymore, and so
it's now doing things like infiltrating the CIA or like
the yeah, the Pentagon, and and expanding its its control.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
And it's British and it's oh god, it's so British,
which I loved.
Speaker 5 (18:09):
I did well.
Speaker 6 (18:09):
I liked that it was British as well, but I
didn't like that it was so uh Sark the MCR
or MCP not MCR my Chemical Romance, huh uh those
like all three of those characters were the same guy,
David Warner, And I love David Warner, but I didn't
love that it was all played by him though, Like
(18:31):
that just seems off to me. I don't know if
that struck anyone else the same way, But yeah, I.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Saw David Warner, and I was like, why where do
I know this guy? And why do I not like
this guy? And I realized it was from Time Bandits.
Speaker 4 (18:48):
He was so good, he's so good in everything.
Speaker 6 (18:51):
I know him from Twin Peaks and he's a very
villainous British guy in that too, So this was on
brand for him.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Just really he's got the villainous British guy market cornered.
So we start with him and we're in the light
Cycle game and uh, we're inside like a big like
star destroyer like ship and he is sark and he's like,
oh yeah. The MCP is like, oh yeah, so brutal
(19:19):
and sadistic. You should be worse, and he's like, okay,
I will. And so we realize that inside this computer world,
they're kidnapping programs that have everyday functions, forcing them to
(19:41):
play these games Gladiator or like Running Man style, and
when they eliminate the gay the program, they take over
its functions. Do I have that right?
Speaker 4 (19:56):
I believe? So yeah, okay, because they're they're taking over
very basic stuff like like actuary actuarial programs, and like
defense programs and and things like that and and and
basically the MCP is absorbing their programming. He's basically taking
(20:16):
over their function.
Speaker 5 (20:18):
I don't really understand.
Speaker 6 (20:20):
Oh sorry, I was just gonna say, how do they
They're supposed to be the counterparts of people in the
real world, though, so I don't understand the Yeah, I
understood it the same way as you did, Chrissy, but
I don't understand that element of it.
Speaker 4 (20:35):
Yeah, so that is the crew. So the the interesting
one of the interesting things about Tron is that there's
a religious aspect to it. They've made basically the programs
resemble the people who have made them, and they think
of the users as these these forces that have have
(20:56):
given them missions, and they look to them. They don't
know what they look like, they don't realize that they've
been made in their image, but they look to them
almost as gods, because they've given them a mission, a program,
you know, like the users, they serve them, and I
think it's just creative license that that they look exactly
(21:17):
like the people who have made them. So if Jeff
Bridges had multiple programs there, that they would all look
identical to each.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Other, and I'd be fine with that. I think there
should be more. Jeff Bridges is Yeah, they.
Speaker 5 (21:32):
All simultaneously take the shirt off.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
I would be into that for this movie. So we
cut to the real world and Jeff Bridges is trying
to This scene reminded me very much of The Matrix.
He's trying to hack to find a file and so
he's got a little Jeff Bridges in the computer who's
flying around and being chased by angry Staples and he
(22:01):
gets caught. And did you guys notice that when they
are questioning him the programm version of Jeff Bridges, he
has a single man teer roll down.
Speaker 4 (22:11):
His Yeah, it gets really dramatic in that moment.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
It's like I feel like acting like.
Speaker 4 (22:17):
I'm into it, But at the same time, it's like,
maybe we need like a slightly emotionally safer version because
I think I think I feel like there's a couple
of points where the actors go really hard on the acting.
They go really hard on actors go really hard on
(22:37):
the acting, really trying to make a meal out of
a moment, and sometimes it comes off as a bit much.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
I understand that loved it.
Speaker 5 (22:48):
I understand that I'm on their side.
Speaker 6 (22:50):
It's, you know, two rolls for the price of one,
Like you can't not do it if you have the opportunity,
It's fine.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
Nathan, the director is like wanting to reel them back.
Speaker 6 (23:02):
First, watch Me agrees with you. Second watch Me is like, no,
I'm okay with it. Actually I've come around the other side.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
So we go back to the real world and in
the office, a nerd is looking to get into the
Master Control program but he can't, and the main guy, Dillinger,
who is David Warner, tells him that everyone with level
seven Control has been locked out until they can until
they confront and find who has been doing all this hacking.
(23:31):
And did you guys notice that the sea there was
a sea of cubicles that resembled the computer world, which
I thought was a nice a nice image. And so
we learn about Tron, which is a security program, and
the Master Control is not happy about Tron and wants
(23:54):
to get rid of Tron.
Speaker 4 (23:55):
Yeah, which is a good way of creating this character,
who then is is basically like Captain America inside the
are we calling it the Tron World, Tron inside the
Tron World, inside the computer world, and so he is
basically like a super soldier. He is basically Captain Awesome Yeah,
(24:16):
which is interesting because he's not Jeff Bridges.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
You know, not the main character. Yeah, and the movie
is called Tron, Yeah, it should be called Jeff Bridges
takes his shirt off in this. So he goes to
Laser Bay two where there's an old guy who's trying
to undo an orange and put it into the computer.
Speaker 4 (24:38):
And this is one of those examples. It's like you
see the movie, it's like the everyone is there's like
a mcguffin that everyone something that everyone is fighting over.
And then there's like this bridge. There's like this bridge
invention that is actually way more advanced, and it's like
the ability to actually scan a real object and turn
(25:02):
it into a digital thing. Like the amount of energy
that's actually required. I was actually watching a YouTube video
that was unrelated to this, but the ability to turn
a human being into pure energy is enough energy to
like run the world for days, the entire world for days.
So wow, to turn that so that itself is beyond
(25:27):
human technology, way more than everything else that everyone is
fighting over.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
Right, programs. Yes, So he goes to see his girlfriend
and they're like someone is hacking and he's like it's Flynn,
her ex boyfriend. So they go see him at his arcade,
which is where we fall in love with him.
Speaker 4 (25:57):
It's also my favorite location in the movie. It's it's
it's also the peak eighties, noess is that arcade?
Speaker 2 (26:04):
Love the arcade?
Speaker 5 (26:05):
What.
Speaker 6 (26:06):
One of the reasons why I hated it was when
they got there. There's a giant crowd around Jeff Bridges
and he's playing this video game and it's supposed to
be like he's this this whiz or something, and then
cut to him playing the simplest, lowest point of all time.
Anyone could play this, and every particular.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
The people are like, yay, take your shirt off, Jeff Bridges.
Do it? Just do it, Jeff Bridges. Uh. So we
learn that he's hunting for evidence that these video games
that he invented were stolen by Dyllinger and Mcore was
(26:48):
so in love with the video games that they made
him like the executive vice president of everything. Okay, okay,
do I have that right, Nathan the that's correct.
Speaker 4 (27:02):
Yeah, it's not great, but that's correct. Yeah.
Speaker 6 (27:06):
I think I also watched the movie Blank Check the
other day, and if that isn't far fetched, what.
Speaker 5 (27:14):
Is you know? What is?
Speaker 2 (27:18):
So they're like, oh, if we could put our Tron
program in. That would make everything right. They would shut
it all down. So they're like, great, let's go to
m CON and we'll break in and we will put
Tron into the computer. So there's a moment where they're
(27:43):
literally sneaking into em CON and Jeff Bridges is doing
like big arms. I realized podcast audience that you can't see.
It's like he's doing like a gringe walk.
Speaker 4 (27:54):
Over cartoon characters, sneaky.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
Move It's like Scooby Doo sneaking. And I loved him
all the more for it.
Speaker 5 (28:06):
He is.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
So they go to the girlfriend's computer, which is up
eighteen flights of stairs and several ladders. Oh yeah, he
was confused by this.
Speaker 4 (28:19):
So that's the that's their giant laser array. Yeah, that
was that's a real thing that they were, that was
where they were. That was an actual, real like one
of those like head drawn collider version like lasers.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
No really, m hmm, yeah, that's amazing. So he's hacking, hacking, hacking,
and the MCP comes to life and is like, we
can't have this zip and the zapp at the zoo. Hilarious.
He throws his arms up into the air and like
(28:56):
falls backwards and he has zips.
Speaker 4 (28:59):
Apped digitize the computer world.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
Yeah, okay, now we're off to the races. Uh he
is in the computer computer yes.
Speaker 6 (29:19):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
The computer threatens Sark and is like, you gotta get
this guy, Flynn, and he goes. So Flynn goes to
a prison where he meets Ram.
Speaker 4 (29:31):
Yes, and do you recognize I do not?
Speaker 2 (29:34):
Who's Ram?
Speaker 4 (29:35):
He is Billy, the kid from Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
You are freaking kidding me. I love that. I love
that fact. I did not recognize him because I couldn't
see past this nerdy little costume.
Speaker 4 (29:53):
It's the hat. Yeah, the hat was miss.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
Yay, what a fact. Nathan coming through as always. This
is why you went all the awards. Oh so they
have they have a bunch of the prisoners and they
march them around and they're like, you get this frisbee.
Don't lose it. It's your magic frisbee.
Speaker 4 (30:18):
Yeah. It's like it's like his read write data disc.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (30:25):
So they play high a Liye okay, I was gonna say,
was that did it look like highlight?
Speaker 5 (30:30):
To anyone else?
Speaker 2 (30:31):
It looked exactly like highlight? And he's like, you're gonna
keep playing games until you drop, until you die. They
play light Cycle, which is intense, which is but it's
just like a racing game, but you run at each
other and then turn at the last minute.
Speaker 6 (30:55):
I think it's you are creating a path behind you
and the goal is to create like a barrier for
your opponent that they run into.
Speaker 5 (31:04):
So it's like the game Snake, yeah kind of.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
And I played on my Nokia phone.
Speaker 6 (31:09):
In the phone, I actually really liked the graphics and
animation of the light racing in particular. The rest of
the movie was like a little iffy for me, but
this in particular actually really enjoyed.
Speaker 4 (31:25):
Yeah, this is like, this is like the the pod
race in episode one, where it's like the big event
is in the middle of the movie, you know, like, yeah,
this was the thing that that really this was the
sequence that really excited me, but also like terrified me
because I knew that there was no way that I
(31:46):
would ever be able to win one of these things.
Speaker 5 (31:48):
Okay, the same yeaheah.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
I liked the light Cycles too, but I didn't really
understand what the point was. So they someone dies and
knocks a hole in the wall. So Jeff Bridges Tron
and Billy the Kid escape mm hmm. And then they're
just zooming around and then they're in the computer world.
(32:12):
They're on their own. It's the wild wild West, and
they just get to zoom zoom zoom, zoom zoom and
networks of power. Yeah, once you're out of the light cycle. Okay,
I mean just zoom zoom zoom.
Speaker 4 (32:25):
Around how computers work.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
Okay, Okay, I get it. So they they need to
find they need to go to this tower and that's
the object of that's what they objectify as their mission, right.
Speaker 4 (32:41):
Yeah, So what they're trying to do is they're trying
to communicate with the users. In particular, Tron is supposed
to communicate with his user. And so they're just looking
to make a phone call.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
Right, They just need a phone home. Yes, like our
least favorite eighties movie.
Speaker 4 (32:58):
That was a bigger that was a big deal in
the eighties. Phones. Yeah, you had to spend half a
movie just to make a phone call. So I appreciate this, Joe.
Speaker 5 (33:10):
Oh, I appreciate it. Don't worry. Okay, it's one of
my eighties movies as well.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
Yes, yes, it's vindication.
Speaker 6 (33:21):
It's to over hypes it's to over hyped kids these days. Look,
I don't have a list on ET. I have a
list on Tron. Okay, I'm here to talk about Tron.
Speaker 5 (33:31):
All right.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
So they get separated, and Jeff Bridges somehow has to
kill a guy and absorb his red power. So he's
himself with the bad guys.
Speaker 4 (33:48):
Yeah, the equivalent of just putting on a disguise.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
Yeah, but he kills a guy.
Speaker 4 (33:55):
Well, you have to kill a guy, Okay.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
Meanwhile, Tron has found the girlfriend. They climb a slide.
Speaker 4 (34:08):
Yeah, there is like a romantic triangle or like threatle
in the making.
Speaker 5 (34:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
I say they're a threutle. I'm in them all being together,
you know what.
Speaker 4 (34:20):
I am too ahead.
Speaker 6 (34:23):
But he did not seem phased at all at the
end when I don't know if they were going for
this or if this was just me, but like when
they kiss at the end, when she's like, oh, you're
actually alive, and then Tron kind of laughs and he
was like, oh that was great.
Speaker 5 (34:39):
I thought you were dead, like implying that she made out.
Speaker 4 (34:45):
I wrote this down because there is romance between some
of these characters. I'm just glad that computer programs are horny.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
Yeah, me too, they were more horny.
Speaker 6 (35:04):
I think they So they don't like they don't kiss
before the end. They're just like clearly a couple. So
maybe they're just like very genteel and like very surface.
Speaker 4 (35:16):
Right, Well, they're still kind of you, you know, they
don't know how to process these emotions.
Speaker 6 (35:23):
Yeah, these strange they've got to come along and teach
them all about kissing.
Speaker 2 (35:28):
Yeah, the internet will beat them soon enough.
Speaker 4 (35:31):
Yeah, yeah, they just need to wait like ten fifteen
more years.
Speaker 2 (35:41):
They find the old man sealed in a stone shrine
and they get past him to go to some thing
where he gets the magic.
Speaker 4 (35:52):
Disc right to phone Home.
Speaker 2 (35:57):
Uh, this code disc equals freedom. Say, it's like the
phone number to phone home. They kill a bunch more
guys and steal a ship. They don't realize it, but
they almost knock Jeff Bridges off of it, and he's like, hey,
save me, and they save him, and then it's the
(36:18):
three of them, the threuple on the ship, being sexy,
sexy and just flying for ages and ages and ages.
Speaker 4 (36:29):
All right, So at this point I'm gonna ask Joe,
is there anything on the notes that you took that
you want to.
Speaker 6 (36:36):
Discuss regarding the ship that they're on specifically. It's very strange.
I mean really all of the ships in general, just
any kind of vehicle or aircraft in the movie is
very strange, very interestingly designed. Oh did anyone else find
it funny? The MCP like what it's uh, what it's
(36:59):
talking to David Warner's real world character, Like, it'll occasionally
cut to the screen and there'll be like a fully
typed out paragraph block of what the AI is narrating,
like as it's narrating it, which is just a really
interesting detail. You have to do that on purpose, but
(37:22):
that clearly doesn't make sense. So it's very it's interesting
to me to be intentionally wrong about that. Other than that, though, Yeah, no,
I mean I understood it pretty much exactly as Chursy
did thus far.
Speaker 5 (37:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:43):
So there's a crash and everyone thinks Tron is dead,
but Jeff Bridges and the girlfriend escape the ship. Tron
confronts Sark and they have frisbee fight. The MCP is
(38:06):
abducting and gonna absorb all the quote religious programs who
still believe in their users. So there's probably something that
means something there. Uh, Tron kills sark, but the MP
MCP revives him and gives him power to get huge.
Speaker 5 (38:27):
To him biggin.
Speaker 2 (38:29):
He embiggins himself. There's a smooch, Jeff Bridges and the
girlfriend kiss, and he jumps into the beam, which sends
him directly into the MCP's head, right through the nostrils.
Speaker 5 (38:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:47):
Tron finally hits the middle thing that he's been trying
to hit with his frisbee.
Speaker 4 (38:54):
The the crack in the MCP's armor. Like he's got
this defense.
Speaker 5 (39:02):
That on that part of his armor. I like that.
Speaker 6 (39:05):
Tron does not try to go any higher or lower
than where he's originally throwing. He just stays in that
exact same area. I mean the rules, right, that's true.
That's true.
Speaker 2 (39:19):
Everything one escapes, everything turns blue. It's not very climactic.
Tron and the girlfriend kiss. Flynn gets that back and
gets his data files, he gets the proof. Dyllinger in
the real world sees this and is a little sad
mm hmm yeah. And then we see a helicopter land
(39:45):
and just hops out and he's like, I'm the executive
vice president. Now we would and they had because they're
a throutle.
Speaker 6 (39:56):
Yes, yeah, oh sorry, yeah, time lab shot of a
city skyline then roll credits.
Speaker 5 (40:03):
I forgot about the time lap shot.
Speaker 2 (40:05):
It was nice. I liked it. It took us to
the computer world. Our world is just like the world
of the computers.
Speaker 6 (40:14):
You can walk around those cables just like anything in
real life.
Speaker 2 (40:18):
Yeah, our users are god.
Speaker 6 (40:23):
I personally okay, even after the second watch and being
kind of a tron apologist, the ending still kind of
falls flat for me.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
I feel like, yeah, it just fell flat.
Speaker 6 (40:34):
Yeah, Like you either end it right when they escape
from the computer world, or if you are going to
follow them back into the real world, have like a
little bit more.
Speaker 5 (40:42):
Room to breathe than that. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (40:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (40:45):
David Warner, as Chrissy said, looking sad at his desk,
and then that's it for his character, Like that's it
a little bit more than that. I would say, go
to jail.
Speaker 4 (40:58):
Yeah, I mean, honestly, it's also weird just to have
it's like, oh, the board saying, whoever really invented these
great video games? They get to be our president. You know,
it was weird with David Warner, and it's like, oh,
it turned out it was Jeff Bringes. All right, you
are our president.
Speaker 6 (41:18):
Well see fair being good at inventing video games is
equivalent to being a good businessman.
Speaker 5 (41:23):
So yes, that is true.
Speaker 4 (41:25):
That is true. So okay, the good point.
Speaker 2 (41:31):
So I would go see this if there was a
revival screening and they were gonna let us throw frisbees
at the screen and what have you, like, if they
were going to give me a tron frisbee, I would
go to that screening and throw a frisbee at the screen. Yes,
I liked it. So on a scale of one frisbee
to ten frisbees, how many frisbees? Nathan will start with you,
(41:57):
since you're the most.
Speaker 4 (41:59):
Key, huh, I think I'm going to give it seven
point five frisbees. I think I think it goes on
the seventh scale, Like, at worst it's a seven point
one and at best it's a seven point eight.
Speaker 2 (42:15):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4 (42:17):
Depending on the scene in the moment and how you're feeling.
So right now, I'm just gonna safely say it's seven
point five.
Speaker 2 (42:25):
Okay, perfect, Joe, You've got two lists, where did you land?
Speaker 6 (42:32):
All right, I'm gonna say, calculating my lists together, my
average frisbee rating is probably about the same in the
seventh range. I'm gonna say seven point six. Actually, I'm
coming through there is for the future. I'm pro tron
(42:53):
Actually I was. I was not a fan at first,
but I'm coming through the other side. I really love
like you, Nathan, like touching on like really ahead of
its time, touching on the like aspects of sort of
quote unquote the machine taking over the AI all that stuff,
like very ahead of its time, and at least just
(43:16):
like trying something new, like I appreciate it. I see
what they were going for didn't always work.
Speaker 4 (43:22):
But so I guess we didn't really touch on this,
and I'm gonna kind of, like, you know, deviate from
from the rankings and scorings. So tell us, tell us
some of the things that didn't work for you the
first time around, and what were some of the things
that you found yourself enjoying the second time around.
Speaker 6 (43:46):
So, like Chrissy, I was kind of lost a little
bit at the beginning. I wouldn't start with the video
game worlds first.
Speaker 5 (43:56):
I would start with the base reality.
Speaker 4 (43:58):
It's not like they don't have a lot of emotional
like motivation. It's a lot of informational questing.
Speaker 6 (44:05):
Yeah, and so as an example for your question of
like why I liked it. The second time around, I
was like, well, it really does kind of start to
pick up once we're fully in the video game Worle,
Like the plot actually does get a lot better all
things considered, and so like maybe just some people saw
like the first fifteen minutes and just kind of assumed
that the whole movie was like that. So I guess
(44:30):
I would say, originally that kind of didn't really make
sense to me, And then on the second watch through,
I was like, I'm kind of that kind of makes
me want to stick up for it more because I
wonder if people maybe left because of that. So that
would be an example I would say. Yeah, regarding the graphics, Oh,
(44:51):
I don't know about you guys, but I really like
the sequence. I think it's only like two times, like
at the beginning and the end basically, but the sequence
transferring between I mean the world.
Speaker 2 (45:01):
Yes, I love that, Like it.
Speaker 6 (45:03):
Just looks like kind of like a kaleidoscope, like broken down.
I really liked that particularly, like as an example of
graphics that I liked. But yeah, as I said, like
even on the second watch through, like the like Enemy
Starship things, the Evil Staples as Christy calls them and
(45:24):
like the ship that they're traveling on, that the throttle
is traveling on, just like very interesting design choices.
Speaker 4 (45:34):
A solar sailor ship when there is no sun.
Speaker 5 (45:38):
Yeah, it's like a lighting energy.
Speaker 2 (45:41):
It looks like a dandelion puff.
Speaker 5 (45:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (45:46):
I'm sure there's people who know this, but there's there
was that weird. It's not even it's not even a scene.
It's a moment when they're on the Solar Sailor and
then it cuts to like these anime like not computer
generated but animated, like little spiders that pop up.
Speaker 2 (46:05):
Oh yeah, the bugs. They were so young.
Speaker 4 (46:07):
And then a clearly eighty r line from the actress say,
oh no, we got to be careful about these things.
And am I wrong that they're not in the movie anymore?
Speaker 2 (46:19):
At that point, No, they're not in the movie anymore.
Speaker 4 (46:21):
It's just such a weird edition.
Speaker 2 (46:24):
They were like, we gotta have bugs because everyone knows
about computer bugs.
Speaker 4 (46:28):
Got this footage already, can we put it in? Like
that feels it? It's such a weird edition.
Speaker 5 (46:34):
It's just an incredibly forced pun.
Speaker 4 (46:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (46:39):
I have another fun fact. Many of the Disney animators
refused to work on this movie. Because they they feared
that computers would put them out of business, and boy
were they right.
Speaker 4 (46:52):
But they did have to wait about a little over
ten years, twenty two years.
Speaker 2 (46:57):
They had to wait.
Speaker 4 (46:57):
Twenty two years.
Speaker 5 (46:59):
Has a career com back?
Speaker 2 (47:01):
He brought them back. So I give this movie a
six and a half. And I enjoyed it, I.
Speaker 4 (47:09):
Didn't like it.
Speaker 2 (47:10):
I would watch it again, but I give it a
six and a half because Rocket absolutely refused to watch
it with me, even though I dragged him into the
room three times to be like, watch watch this.
Speaker 4 (47:23):
You're gonna finish your tron.
Speaker 2 (47:26):
You can't leave the table until all your tron is gone.
He refused to watch it with me, and like Dorian
watched it with me, but he looked at his phone
the whole time. So I give you a six point five.
What about a deep cut recommendation? This one was really tough.
I felt like, do you have a good one, Nathan.
Speaker 4 (47:47):
I do, but it's not necessarily something. It's not. This
is more of an intellectual recommendation, so like an interesting
double feature. So this really was like the first I mean,
I mean, I'm sure there's other similar comparisons, but in
a lot of ways, this was kind of like the
(48:07):
first total green screen movie in.
Speaker 2 (48:10):
A life, yeah, which I love.
Speaker 4 (48:13):
Yeah, I do too, But it would be interesting to
watch this in a double feature with Skycaptain in the
World World Tomorrow, which I feel was less successful than
Tron as a green screen movie, Like feeling a little
awkward in them in the space, and I feel like,
(48:37):
if anything, you're you're not necessarily going like you're gonna
appreciate Tron more for watching Sky Captain and just to
see how hard.
Speaker 2 (48:49):
It was, you know, Sky Keptain so much later. Yeah,
I love that. That's a great recommendation, good one. I
like that you went on the green screen because a
lot of the time I was watching the movie, I
was thinking, like I got to ask Nathan, like how
did they do this?
Speaker 4 (49:06):
Yeah, like a good version, Like I don't want to
maybe spoil anyone else's like recommendation, but like kind of
like a a a A like record Ralph too is
kind of like the same kind of thing to where
like living in a a internet computer world and doing
(49:26):
it well.
Speaker 6 (49:28):
Recket Ralph is on my why I really like a
list of like the vein of them sort of setting
the tone of like video game movies which are so
popular now or like you said.
Speaker 2 (49:40):
And the speed Racer guy looks like the light Racer guy.
Speaker 5 (49:47):
Yeah, yeah, I love that.
Speaker 2 (49:51):
So what's your deep cut recommendation, Joe, I.
Speaker 6 (49:56):
Mean, not a deep cut recommendation, but I love Blade
Runner same year. I was thinking about that movie a
lot while watching this movie, just in terms of the graphics.
Obviously the final presentation is very different, but like in
terms of the early eighties sort of everything was reaching
for that new look, that very computerized look, which personally
(50:20):
I think Blade Runner pulls off a lot better.
Speaker 2 (50:22):
Oh hell yeah yeah.
Speaker 6 (50:25):
Also War Games nineteen eighty three. I love that movie.
Speaker 5 (50:29):
Game.
Speaker 6 (50:30):
Yeah, I was thinking about that a lot as well,
also because I think in Wargames they also have a lot.
I was thinking how eighties it is to have like
shots of people typing something out very slowly on a computer.
There was a lot of that in this movie in
the first act, and I was like, oh, I'm pretty
sure Wargames has.
Speaker 5 (50:50):
A lot of that as well. But yeah, if you want,
if you want like a movie that is also very fun,
like very adventurous, but not like not taking itself super seriously,
but also like kind of groundbreaking for the time. I
would recommend War Games. It's a great movie. Yeah.
Speaker 6 (51:09):
Other than that, I can't really think of anything I
don't watch like super sci fi movies, So those were
really the only two that came to mind while I
was watching this one.
Speaker 2 (51:18):
Oh, those are perfect.
Speaker 5 (51:19):
That's great, Thank you, Chrissy.
Speaker 2 (51:23):
I do I want to recommend, based on the fun
light cycle races Segue electric scooters. I own one. I
commute to the neighborhood Comedy theater on one. Wow, to
save our environment, as you know, But I do like
(51:44):
to pretend that when I'm scooting around on my light
up Segue electronic scooter, that I am in a light
cycle race, and that Sark is on my heels that
I can escape him by zips up stopping through the
computer world of downtown Mesa. Okay, okay, I recommend everyone
(52:07):
get one and wherever you can scooter scooter. Of course,
in the months of the year when it is weather
permitting to.
Speaker 5 (52:16):
The scooter that's to scoot, please do so scot.
Speaker 2 (52:20):
Scoot your boot. Yeah, wonderful. So Nathan, where can people
support your filmmaking endeavors and where is the last movie
ever made? Currently screening?
Speaker 5 (52:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (52:35):
So my independent film, The Last Movie Ever Made, is
available on Amazon and Apple TV to rent. But if
you're one of those people who loves to watch things
for free but still suffer through ads, you can see
it on two.
Speaker 2 (52:51):
B wonderful and on what airline?
Speaker 5 (52:56):
Is it on?
Speaker 4 (52:57):
Emirates Airline? Flying Airline? Remember it's included in the entertainment.
Speaker 5 (53:02):
I am buying a play bricket right now just for that.
Speaker 4 (53:06):
Oh thank you, Although I think we get more money if.
Speaker 5 (53:10):
You just buy it on Amazon. Oh okay, but then
I don't get to fly Emirates.
Speaker 4 (53:15):
That's true. Well why not do both? Why not do both?
Speaker 2 (53:18):
Do both? Joe, what would you like to plug? Where
can people find you doing comedy out in the world.
Speaker 6 (53:25):
People can't find me. I live under a rock. Actually no,
I don't live under a rock, but I don't currently
have social media. I say currently because if you would
like to find me, you can find me at the
Neighborhood Comedy Theater. Well not at the moments under construction,
but soon you renovated Neighborhood Comedy Every Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
(53:51):
You can find me occasionally doing stand up here and
there around the valley at small local venues and Instagram
possibly come soon if I ever get off my ass
and actually do it.
Speaker 2 (54:03):
So you young people are going away from the social
media and I appreciate that about you.
Speaker 5 (54:09):
Anytime.
Speaker 2 (54:13):
You can find me at the Neighborhood Comedy Theater right
alongside Joe, doing funny things and cracking you up Thursday,
Fridays and Saturdays. And you can also find me on
my other podcast, Gank That Drink, a supernatural drinking game podcast,
and you'll be able to find me soon back on
Make Me a Nerd Podcast with Mandy Kaplan. In our
(54:36):
most recent episode, we're going to be talking about the
movie Labyrinth, which we discussed on this podcast not too
long ago. And if you're here with us at the
end and you still want to hear more, please consider
supporting this podcast by doing all the things that you
know help a podcast like rate review, subscribe, thumbs up,
(54:56):
five stars. All that helps a lot. And if you
you want even more, if you want to hear about
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(55:17):
directly to us and tell us what you thought of
Tron and why we're right or wrong about it. So
thank you so much, and while you're out there in
the world, please keep the most excellent eighties podcast motto
in mind. Be excellent to each other and party dudes.
Thanks for tuning in to another episode of the Most
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come with it.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Hello, and welcome to the Most Excellent Eighties Movies Podcast.
It's the podcast where we light cycle through the eighties
movies we think we love or might have missed with
these our modern grown up eyes to decide if we
love these movies still or not. And today we're talking
about Tron, a movie selection from nineteen eighty two about
(00:51):
which Google says. When talented computer engineer Kevin Flynn played
by Jeff Bridges finds out that Ed Dillinger played by
David Warner, an executive at his company, has been stealing
his work, he tries to hack into the system. However,
Flynn is transported into the digital world, where he has
(01:12):
to face off against Dillinger's computerized likeness Sark, and the
imposing Master Control program, aided by Tron played by Bruce
Bruce box Lightner and Yuri played by Cindy Morgan. Flynn
becomes a freedom fighter for the oppressed programs of the grid,
(01:36):
and that explanation offers me way more insight into this
movie that I gleaned from watching it. Okay, here comes
with the trailer.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
The NCOME five eleven computer, center of the most calculating
intelligence on Earth. Within it, there exists an unknown civilization
where man has never been a startling new word, where
time and distance defy the laws of lodgery. I still
(02:17):
do not understand why you want to break into.
Speaker 4 (02:20):
The system, because man, somewhere in one of these memories
is the.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Abalet Kevin Flynn computer genius searching for answers inside the system.
Speaker 4 (02:31):
Hey, hey, it's the big master control program everybody's been
talking about.
Speaker 5 (02:35):
Stop.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
I'm warning you.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
I'm going to have to put you on the.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
Game brand.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
Propelled into the digital world of the computer itself.
Speaker 5 (02:50):
Oh man, this isn't happening. It always thinks it's happening. Hey,
there's been a mistake.
Speaker 4 (02:58):
I gotta see the guy in charge you.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
With.
Speaker 5 (03:06):
Who's that guy?
Speaker 4 (03:07):
That's Tron.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
Trapped inside an electronic arena where low and escape do
not compute. The journey begins across an electronic sea on
(03:39):
cycles made of light. Tron enter its world, this summer.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Tron, where love does not compute. Oh goodness gracious. I'm
Christy Lenz, one of the directors at the Neighborhood Comedy
Theater and Downtown Mesa, Arizona. And with me as always
is my illustrious, award winning co host who will introduce
himself now.
Speaker 4 (04:54):
I'm Nathan Blackwell, independent filmmaker with Squishy Studios and.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Joining us us this evening or this episode is another
certified young person. He is a performer at the Neighborhood
Comedy Theater in downtown Mice, Arizona. He is an illustrious
volunteer at the snor and All Valley Improv Festival. He
does podcasts and video editing. He's an all around champ.
(05:22):
It is Joe Malone.
Speaker 5 (05:25):
Thank you. That is way nicer of an intro that
I was expecting, so I appreciate it. Thank you, Christy.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
I'm so excited for this one because I know that
I had never seen this movie before, and I know
that Joe, in spite of being a young person, you're
very well versed on eighties movies. Correct, So we tried
to find something you hadn't seen. And yeah, and now
(05:52):
you're all the better off for having watched it.
Speaker 6 (05:55):
Yeah, and now, as of two days ago, not only
have I seen it, I've seen it twice.
Speaker 5 (06:01):
Oh, I rewatched it better.
Speaker 4 (06:04):
I know.
Speaker 6 (06:05):
So I have a list that I made after watching
it the first time, and that list is called why
I hate it that I made after watching the second time,
and the list is called why I actually really like it.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Okay, good figure.
Speaker 4 (06:22):
I feel like we're going to bridge the entire spectrum
in terms of reactions during this podcast.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
That's just by Okay, okay, right, Uh, Nathan, what about you?
Was this a childhood favorite or what? I honestly can't
guess whether or not you love this movie.
Speaker 4 (06:42):
Yes, so this was a childhood favorite. You know, there's
some movies it was tough to be a young person
in the eighties because you you couldn't you know, you know,
you even if you had a VHS player, that doesn't
mean that you're collect was very big and so sometimes
you'd have to rent them or you'd have to tape
(07:04):
them off of TV. But this was one of the
ones that I had probably seen as a young person,
like a couple dozen times. There's like sub sections where
I could, you know all, you know, all these memories
just pop back in terms of like the sound effects
and just actors reactions and takes on things. Having said that,
(07:30):
it's probably been about ten years since I've seen this movie,
and so I feel like I was able to appreciate
it as kind of a return viewer some things, you know,
processing them as one one would assume as like a
first time viewer.
Speaker 5 (07:49):
OK.
Speaker 4 (07:50):
Yeah, So while it well, I you know, while I
have a nostalgic love for it, I certainly can see
some of the the one or two issues.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
With it, some of the flaws, some of the.
Speaker 5 (08:06):
Overall though, is your impression still positive?
Speaker 4 (08:10):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (08:12):
Like did it try downward?
Speaker 6 (08:13):
Having seen it again after someone.
Speaker 4 (08:17):
I would probably not recommend it cold to a lot
of people, as maybe I would too. It's kind of
like it's a recommendation with an asterisk, you know it's yeah,
which is so it would be. So I guess hot take,
it is a recommendation. I did enjoy myself, but some
(08:42):
of the weaknesses became a little pronounced this time around.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Hot take from me, I really liked it, I also
did not know what the hell was happening for, like,
like I usually summarized the movie, but I'm gonna have
to give you just like impressions because my notes are
(09:11):
all over the place. I did not understand what was
happening like a lot of the time, but I was
so into Jeff Bridges's.
Speaker 4 (09:24):
So good, like classic, like you know, in his you know,
like prime Jeff Bridges, prime.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Prime, primo.
Speaker 5 (09:33):
Like.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
I don't think I've been this like into our main
character since it was key for Sutherland and the Lost Boys,
because I so did you lose Bridges?
Speaker 5 (09:47):
Why? I actually really like it.
Speaker 6 (09:48):
On that list at the bottom, it says Jeff Bridges
is pretty hot actually.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
So Jeff Bridges is pretty hot actually, and he does
get shirt off at one point, just like nonchal.
Speaker 6 (10:00):
Oh yeah, every eighties, Yeah, every eighties movie has to
have a shirt off scene.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
You gotta pop off that shirt Jeff Bridges. Oh my gosh. No,
I was that into The Big Lebowski. But I am
so your first impression number one, Joe, was that you
hated it, and then you decided you actually kind of
liked it.
Speaker 6 (10:23):
Well, okay, I feel like saying that the graphics are
bad is just so obvious and low hanging fruit, and
also like that's really easy to say. In twenty twenty five,
this came out in nineteen eighty two, like, yes, this
is a very long time ago.
Speaker 5 (10:40):
And also to the first time I watched.
Speaker 6 (10:43):
It, I was like, this is a lot like Star Wars,
and then the second time I was watching it, like, no,
they're actually trying to make it like distinct from Star
Wars kind of because I mean, it is a very
similar plot in terms of the actual like adventure element
of it, but I feel like they kind of try
to make it their own. And you know, there's a
(11:04):
quote that I heard recently. I don't know, I think
it's attributed to David Bowie actually, but it's no one
made money by doing something first, which is like, yeah,
even though it's not like groundbreaking, like it's still kind
of led the way to like a lot of popular cinema.
Like today they're making movies about like every video game
I feel like, and they're grossing so much. So yeah,
(11:26):
I mean, it's like Nathan said, like a recommendation with
an asterisk, like it's not an objectively groundbreaking movie by
any means, but it also kind of is at the
same time, if that makes sense, because they were really
trying something that was so new.
Speaker 5 (11:44):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 4 (11:44):
Yeah. With I think there's a quote from you know, shoot,
I don't know who, but it was basically without Tron,
there would be no like toy story, you know, like
there was there was not enough. There was not another CG.
This is like the first real CGI movie ever.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
In fact, a fun fact that I learned was that
it got uh in fact, let me look it up,
it got banned from the Academy Awards because they, uh,
they thought that it was unfair. Yeah, it says the
film was just qualified for receiving an Academy Award nomination
for Special Effects because the Academy felt at the time
(12:27):
that using computer generated effects was quote cheating. Oh you imagine?
Can you imagine?
Speaker 4 (12:35):
And I guarantee you that the that the computer like,
you know, it's not like they were able to visualize
the models and then move them around how they wanted.
They had to basically program and do math to do everything.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
That sounds horrible.
Speaker 5 (12:55):
Yes, a math to make a movie. I mean that.
Speaker 6 (13:01):
I want to add that to the list of reasons
why I like it now. Thank you for telling me that, Christy.
That's really interesting, because like that makes me think of
like some like it Hot is another movie that I
love and part of why I love it too is
because for the time it was actually really revolutionary to
have a storyline centered around two men dressing up as women,
(13:22):
and that was like really taboo and pushing the label.
So you're actually taking a pretty big risk by making
that movie, which I think makes it more respectable.
Speaker 5 (13:31):
In a way. I don't know.
Speaker 6 (13:32):
Yeah, yeah, so that's interesting. I didn't know that.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
Yeah, Like it was not, even though the film like did. Okay,
it's twenty sixth on the top one hundred films of
nineteen eighty two, which surprised me. I look that up.
But it was considered a commercial failure. But it says
the arcade video games based on it proved to be
(13:57):
a tremendous hit and outgrossed the film.
Speaker 4 (14:00):
What Yeah, Okay, there was at least two Trond video
games I remember playing it. The one I played the most,
like as of like two years ago at Starfighter Arcade
is the one where you can choose four different games
to play, one being the light Cycle, one being kind
(14:21):
of like a disc duel, another one being like a
tank fight. Okay, but the uh and then I think
there was one that was just about like.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
The Jeah Bridge taking a shirt off.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
Yeah jeez, yeah, and now we're interested. But yeah, it
was like a disc dueling game, and I remember it
being like complicated, like were there two different controllers. I
don't know that that was one that didn't really get
to play much.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
Speaking of video games, our bonus content tonight is going
to be talking about our face video games. So if
you want to hear more from Joe, Nathan, and Chrissy
talking about their favorite video games, become a member a
True Story FM. Okay, commercial over, So this is the
part where I usually start recapping the movie, but like,
(15:15):
because I didn't understand it as we went, like, it's
gonna be tough for me.
Speaker 7 (15:21):
Okay, I feel like I'm an I feel having seen
it as a kid and just accepted things and now
kind of like reinterpreting them as an adult.
Speaker 4 (15:31):
Like I feel like i'm I can be a resource
for questions involving oh good, pretty confusing plot elements.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
Okay, and I want to know what you hated as
we go, Joe.
Speaker 6 (15:43):
Okay, and I did it in chronological order as well,
so as you go along, I can.
Speaker 4 (15:47):
But this movie is very eighties like as eighties go. Yeah,
from from like the from the music to the looks
to the art.
Speaker 6 (15:59):
Does Yeah, I didn't have a problem with that though.
I don't know if you guys can see, but my
phone background is runner. I don't have a problem with that. Like,
I don't have a problem with that vibe at all.
Speaker 4 (16:14):
Okay, awesome.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Yeah, I was into the vibe that they were setting
up for me, even though I thought the costumes were nuts. Yeah, nuts,
Like I couldn't even form an opinion on them because
I was just like, what is all this cloth?
Speaker 6 (16:31):
Yeah, and in the randomest places over a shoulder.
Speaker 5 (16:37):
Uh.
Speaker 6 (16:38):
Yeah, the costumes, I was saying. But the lighting was
really cool. I really liked the combination of red and
blue a lot of the time.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Yeah, I thought that was great, and I was like
I was in the world, even though I was taken
out of it periodically by just how ridiculous it was.
Speaker 5 (16:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
But yes, it's so eighties. It's so emblematic of this
era and like in nineteen eighty two what we thought
the future of computers would be. And I realized that
this movie is why people thought the Internet was a
series of tubes that you could navigate with a stack.
Speaker 4 (17:15):
It's interesting though this movie really in some ways is
about a lot of the concerns we're having right now
about AI.
Speaker 5 (17:25):
Yeah, very much.
Speaker 4 (17:27):
So, you know, the Master Control the MCP, the Master
Control Program. It's basically a super program that is controlling
hundreds of multi other programs. It's basically like a manager
program that's taking over all their functions and absorbing all
the power. And then it's growing exponentially because there's no
(17:48):
you know, there's no borders on it anymore, and so
it's now doing things like infiltrating the CIA or like
the yeah, the Pentagon, and and expanding its its control.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
And it's British and it's oh god, it's so British,
which I loved.
Speaker 5 (18:09):
I did well.
Speaker 6 (18:09):
I liked that it was British as well, but I
didn't like that it was so uh Sark the MCR
or MCP not MCR my Chemical Romance, huh uh those
like all three of those characters were the same guy,
David Warner, And I love David Warner, but I didn't
love that it was all played by him though, Like
(18:31):
that just seems off to me. I don't know if
that struck anyone else the same way, But yeah, I.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Saw David Warner, and I was like, why where do
I know this guy? And why do I not like
this guy? And I realized it was from Time Bandits.
Speaker 4 (18:48):
He was so good, he's so good in everything.
Speaker 6 (18:51):
I know him from Twin Peaks and he's a very
villainous British guy in that too, So this was on
brand for him.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Just really he's got the villainous British guy market cornered.
So we start with him and we're in the light
Cycle game and uh, we're inside like a big like
star destroyer like ship and he is sark and he's like,
oh yeah. The MCP is like, oh yeah, so brutal
(19:19):
and sadistic. You should be worse, and he's like, okay,
I will. And so we realize that inside this computer world,
they're kidnapping programs that have everyday functions, forcing them to
(19:41):
play these games Gladiator or like Running Man style, and
when they eliminate the gay the program, they take over
its functions. Do I have that right?
Speaker 4 (19:56):
I believe? So yeah, okay, because they're they're taking over
very basic stuff like like actuary actuarial programs, and like
defense programs and and things like that and and and
basically the MCP is absorbing their programming. He's basically taking
(20:16):
over their function.
Speaker 5 (20:18):
I don't really understand.
Speaker 6 (20:20):
Oh sorry, I was just gonna say, how do they
They're supposed to be the counterparts of people in the
real world, though, so I don't understand the Yeah, I
understood it the same way as you did, Chrissy, but
I don't understand that element of it.
Speaker 4 (20:35):
Yeah, so that is the crew. So the the interesting
one of the interesting things about Tron is that there's
a religious aspect to it. They've made basically the programs
resemble the people who have made them, and they think
of the users as these these forces that have have
(20:56):
given them missions, and they look to them. They don't
know what they look like, they don't realize that they've
been made in their image, but they look to them
almost as gods, because they've given them a mission, a program,
you know, like the users, they serve them, and I
think it's just creative license that that they look exactly
(21:17):
like the people who have made them. So if Jeff
Bridges had multiple programs there, that they would all look
identical to each.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Other, and I'd be fine with that. I think there
should be more. Jeff Bridges is Yeah, they.
Speaker 5 (21:32):
All simultaneously take the shirt off.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
I would be into that for this movie. So we
cut to the real world and Jeff Bridges is trying
to This scene reminded me very much of The Matrix.
He's trying to hack to find a file and so
he's got a little Jeff Bridges in the computer who's
flying around and being chased by angry Staples and he
(22:01):
gets caught. And did you guys notice that when they
are questioning him the programm version of Jeff Bridges, he
has a single man teer roll down.
Speaker 4 (22:11):
His Yeah, it gets really dramatic in that moment.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
It's like I feel like acting like.
Speaker 4 (22:17):
I'm into it, But at the same time, it's like,
maybe we need like a slightly emotionally safer version because
I think I think I feel like there's a couple
of points where the actors go really hard on the acting.
They go really hard on actors go really hard on
(22:37):
the acting, really trying to make a meal out of
a moment, and sometimes it comes off as a bit much.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
I understand that loved it.
Speaker 5 (22:48):
I understand that I'm on their side.
Speaker 6 (22:50):
It's, you know, two rolls for the price of one,
Like you can't not do it if you have the opportunity,
It's fine.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
Nathan, the director is like wanting to reel them back.
Speaker 6 (23:02):
First, watch Me agrees with you. Second watch Me is like, no,
I'm okay with it. Actually I've come around the other side.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
So we go back to the real world and in
the office, a nerd is looking to get into the
Master Control program but he can't, and the main guy, Dillinger,
who is David Warner, tells him that everyone with level
seven Control has been locked out until they can until
they confront and find who has been doing all this hacking.
(23:31):
And did you guys notice that the sea there was
a sea of cubicles that resembled the computer world, which
I thought was a nice a nice image. And so
we learn about Tron, which is a security program, and
the Master Control is not happy about Tron and wants
(23:54):
to get rid of Tron.
Speaker 4 (23:55):
Yeah, which is a good way of creating this character,
who then is is basically like Captain America inside the
are we calling it the Tron World, Tron inside the
Tron World, inside the computer world, and so he is
basically like a super soldier. He is basically Captain Awesome Yeah,
(24:16):
which is interesting because he's not Jeff Bridges.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
You know, not the main character. Yeah, and the movie
is called Tron, Yeah, it should be called Jeff Bridges
takes his shirt off in this. So he goes to
Laser Bay two where there's an old guy who's trying
to undo an orange and put it into the computer.
Speaker 4 (24:38):
And this is one of those examples. It's like you
see the movie, it's like the everyone is there's like
a mcguffin that everyone something that everyone is fighting over.
And then there's like this bridge. There's like this bridge
invention that is actually way more advanced, and it's like
the ability to actually scan a real object and turn
(25:02):
it into a digital thing. Like the amount of energy
that's actually required. I was actually watching a YouTube video
that was unrelated to this, but the ability to turn
a human being into pure energy is enough energy to
like run the world for days, the entire world for days.
So wow, to turn that so that itself is beyond
(25:27):
human technology, way more than everything else that everyone is
fighting over.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
Right, programs. Yes, So he goes to see his girlfriend
and they're like someone is hacking and he's like it's Flynn,
her ex boyfriend. So they go see him at his arcade,
which is where we fall in love with him.
Speaker 4 (25:57):
It's also my favorite location in the movie. It's it's
it's also the peak eighties, noess is that arcade?
Speaker 2 (26:04):
Love the arcade?
Speaker 5 (26:05):
What.
Speaker 6 (26:06):
One of the reasons why I hated it was when
they got there. There's a giant crowd around Jeff Bridges
and he's playing this video game and it's supposed to
be like he's this this whiz or something, and then
cut to him playing the simplest, lowest point of all time.
Anyone could play this, and every particular.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
The people are like, yay, take your shirt off, Jeff Bridges.
Do it? Just do it, Jeff Bridges. Uh. So we
learn that he's hunting for evidence that these video games
that he invented were stolen by Dyllinger and Mcore was
(26:48):
so in love with the video games that they made
him like the executive vice president of everything. Okay, okay,
do I have that right, Nathan the that's correct.
Speaker 4 (27:02):
Yeah, it's not great, but that's correct. Yeah.
Speaker 6 (27:06):
I think I also watched the movie Blank Check the
other day, and if that isn't far fetched, what.
Speaker 5 (27:14):
Is you know? What is?
Speaker 2 (27:18):
So they're like, oh, if we could put our Tron
program in. That would make everything right. They would shut
it all down. So they're like, great, let's go to
m CON and we'll break in and we will put
Tron into the computer. So there's a moment where they're
(27:43):
literally sneaking into em CON and Jeff Bridges is doing
like big arms. I realized podcast audience that you can't see.
It's like he's doing like a gringe walk.
Speaker 4 (27:54):
Over cartoon characters, sneaky.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
Move It's like Scooby Doo sneaking. And I loved him
all the more for it.
Speaker 5 (28:06):
He is.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
So they go to the girlfriend's computer, which is up
eighteen flights of stairs and several ladders. Oh yeah, he
was confused by this.
Speaker 4 (28:19):
So that's the that's their giant laser array. Yeah, that
was that's a real thing that they were, that was
where they were. That was an actual, real like one
of those like head drawn collider version like lasers.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
No really, m hmm, yeah, that's amazing. So he's hacking, hacking, hacking,
and the MCP comes to life and is like, we
can't have this zip and the zapp at the zoo. Hilarious.
He throws his arms up into the air and like
(28:56):
falls backwards and he has zips.
Speaker 4 (28:59):
Apped digitize the computer world.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
Yeah, okay, now we're off to the races. Uh he
is in the computer computer yes.
Speaker 6 (29:19):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
The computer threatens Sark and is like, you gotta get
this guy, Flynn, and he goes. So Flynn goes to
a prison where he meets Ram.
Speaker 4 (29:31):
Yes, and do you recognize I do not?
Speaker 2 (29:34):
Who's Ram?
Speaker 4 (29:35):
He is Billy, the kid from Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
You are freaking kidding me. I love that. I love
that fact. I did not recognize him because I couldn't
see past this nerdy little costume.
Speaker 4 (29:53):
It's the hat. Yeah, the hat was miss.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
Yay, what a fact. Nathan coming through as always. This
is why you went all the awards. Oh so they
have they have a bunch of the prisoners and they
march them around and they're like, you get this frisbee.
Don't lose it. It's your magic frisbee.
Speaker 4 (30:18):
Yeah. It's like it's like his read write data disc.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (30:25):
So they play high a Liye okay, I was gonna say,
was that did it look like highlight?
Speaker 5 (30:30):
To anyone else?
Speaker 2 (30:31):
It looked exactly like highlight? And he's like, you're gonna
keep playing games until you drop, until you die. They
play light Cycle, which is intense, which is but it's
just like a racing game, but you run at each
other and then turn at the last minute.
Speaker 6 (30:55):
I think it's you are creating a path behind you
and the goal is to create like a barrier for
your opponent that they run into.
Speaker 5 (31:04):
So it's like the game Snake, yeah kind of.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
And I played on my Nokia phone.
Speaker 6 (31:09):
In the phone, I actually really liked the graphics and
animation of the light racing in particular. The rest of
the movie was like a little iffy for me, but
this in particular actually really enjoyed.
Speaker 4 (31:25):
Yeah, this is like, this is like the the pod
race in episode one, where it's like the big event
is in the middle of the movie, you know, like, yeah,
this was the thing that that really this was the
sequence that really excited me, but also like terrified me
because I knew that there was no way that I
(31:46):
would ever be able to win one of these things.
Speaker 5 (31:48):
Okay, the same yeaheah.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
I liked the light Cycles too, but I didn't really
understand what the point was. So they someone dies and
knocks a hole in the wall. So Jeff Bridges Tron
and Billy the Kid escape mm hmm. And then they're
just zooming around and then they're in the computer world.
(32:12):
They're on their own. It's the wild wild West, and
they just get to zoom zoom zoom, zoom zoom and
networks of power. Yeah, once you're out of the light cycle. Okay,
I mean just zoom zoom zoom.
Speaker 4 (32:25):
Around how computers work.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
Okay, Okay, I get it. So they they need to
find they need to go to this tower and that's
the object of that's what they objectify as their mission, right.
Speaker 4 (32:41):
Yeah, So what they're trying to do is they're trying
to communicate with the users. In particular, Tron is supposed
to communicate with his user. And so they're just looking
to make a phone call.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
Right, They just need a phone home. Yes, like our
least favorite eighties movie.
Speaker 4 (32:58):
That was a bigger that was a big deal in
the eighties. Phones. Yeah, you had to spend half a
movie just to make a phone call. So I appreciate this, Joe.
Speaker 5 (33:10):
Oh, I appreciate it. Don't worry. Okay, it's one of
my eighties movies as well.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
Yes, yes, it's vindication.
Speaker 6 (33:21):
It's to over hypes it's to over hyped kids these days. Look,
I don't have a list on ET. I have a
list on Tron. Okay, I'm here to talk about Tron.
Speaker 5 (33:31):
All right.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
So they get separated, and Jeff Bridges somehow has to
kill a guy and absorb his red power. So he's
himself with the bad guys.
Speaker 4 (33:48):
Yeah, the equivalent of just putting on a disguise.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
Yeah, but he kills a guy.
Speaker 4 (33:55):
Well, you have to kill a guy, Okay.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
Meanwhile, Tron has found the girlfriend. They climb a slide.
Speaker 4 (34:08):
Yeah, there is like a romantic triangle or like threatle
in the making.
Speaker 5 (34:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
I say they're a threutle. I'm in them all being together,
you know what.
Speaker 4 (34:20):
I am too ahead.
Speaker 6 (34:23):
But he did not seem phased at all at the
end when I don't know if they were going for
this or if this was just me, but like when
they kiss at the end, when she's like, oh, you're
actually alive, and then Tron kind of laughs and he
was like, oh that was great.
Speaker 5 (34:39):
I thought you were dead, like implying that she made out.
Speaker 4 (34:45):
I wrote this down because there is romance between some
of these characters. I'm just glad that computer programs are horny.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
Yeah, me too, they were more horny.
Speaker 6 (35:04):
I think they So they don't like they don't kiss
before the end. They're just like clearly a couple. So
maybe they're just like very genteel and like very surface.
Speaker 4 (35:16):
Right, Well, they're still kind of you, you know, they
don't know how to process these emotions.
Speaker 6 (35:23):
Yeah, these strange they've got to come along and teach
them all about kissing.
Speaker 2 (35:28):
Yeah, the internet will beat them soon enough.
Speaker 4 (35:31):
Yeah, yeah, they just need to wait like ten fifteen
more years.
Speaker 2 (35:41):
They find the old man sealed in a stone shrine
and they get past him to go to some thing
where he gets the magic.
Speaker 4 (35:52):
Disc right to phone Home.
Speaker 2 (35:57):
Uh, this code disc equals freedom. Say, it's like the
phone number to phone home. They kill a bunch more
guys and steal a ship. They don't realize it, but
they almost knock Jeff Bridges off of it, and he's like, hey,
save me, and they save him, and then it's the
(36:18):
three of them, the threuple on the ship, being sexy,
sexy and just flying for ages and ages and ages.
Speaker 4 (36:29):
All right, So at this point I'm gonna ask Joe,
is there anything on the notes that you took that
you want to.
Speaker 6 (36:36):
Discuss regarding the ship that they're on specifically. It's very strange.
I mean really all of the ships in general, just
any kind of vehicle or aircraft in the movie is
very strange, very interestingly designed. Oh did anyone else find
it funny? The MCP like what it's uh, what it's
(36:59):
talking to David Warner's real world character, Like, it'll occasionally
cut to the screen and there'll be like a fully
typed out paragraph block of what the AI is narrating,
like as it's narrating it, which is just a really
interesting detail. You have to do that on purpose, but
(37:22):
that clearly doesn't make sense. So it's very it's interesting
to me to be intentionally wrong about that. Other than that, though, Yeah, no,
I mean I understood it pretty much exactly as Chursy
did thus far.
Speaker 5 (37:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:43):
So there's a crash and everyone thinks Tron is dead,
but Jeff Bridges and the girlfriend escape the ship. Tron
confronts Sark and they have frisbee fight. The MCP is
(38:06):
abducting and gonna absorb all the quote religious programs who
still believe in their users. So there's probably something that
means something there. Uh, Tron kills sark, but the MP
MCP revives him and gives him power to get huge.
Speaker 5 (38:27):
To him biggin.
Speaker 2 (38:29):
He embiggins himself. There's a smooch, Jeff Bridges and the
girlfriend kiss, and he jumps into the beam, which sends
him directly into the MCP's head, right through the nostrils.
Speaker 5 (38:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:47):
Tron finally hits the middle thing that he's been trying
to hit with his frisbee.
Speaker 4 (38:54):
The the crack in the MCP's armor. Like he's got
this defense.
Speaker 5 (39:02):
That on that part of his armor. I like that.
Speaker 6 (39:05):
Tron does not try to go any higher or lower
than where he's originally throwing. He just stays in that
exact same area. I mean the rules, right, that's true.
That's true.
Speaker 2 (39:19):
Everything one escapes, everything turns blue. It's not very climactic.
Tron and the girlfriend kiss. Flynn gets that back and
gets his data files, he gets the proof. Dyllinger in
the real world sees this and is a little sad
mm hmm yeah. And then we see a helicopter land
(39:45):
and just hops out and he's like, I'm the executive
vice president. Now we would and they had because they're
a throutle.
Speaker 6 (39:56):
Yes, yeah, oh sorry, yeah, time lab shot of a
city skyline then roll credits.
Speaker 5 (40:03):
I forgot about the time lap shot.
Speaker 2 (40:05):
It was nice. I liked it. It took us to
the computer world. Our world is just like the world
of the computers.
Speaker 6 (40:14):
You can walk around those cables just like anything in
real life.
Speaker 2 (40:18):
Yeah, our users are god.
Speaker 6 (40:23):
I personally okay, even after the second watch and being
kind of a tron apologist, the ending still kind of
falls flat for me.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
I feel like, yeah, it just fell flat.
Speaker 6 (40:34):
Yeah, Like you either end it right when they escape
from the computer world, or if you are going to
follow them back into the real world, have like a
little bit more.
Speaker 5 (40:42):
Room to breathe than that. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (40:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (40:45):
David Warner, as Chrissy said, looking sad at his desk,
and then that's it for his character, Like that's it
a little bit more than that. I would say, go
to jail.
Speaker 4 (40:58):
Yeah, I mean, honestly, it's also weird just to have
it's like, oh, the board saying, whoever really invented these
great video games? They get to be our president. You know,
it was weird with David Warner, and it's like, oh,
it turned out it was Jeff Bringes. All right, you
are our president.
Speaker 6 (41:18):
Well see fair being good at inventing video games is
equivalent to being a good businessman.
Speaker 5 (41:23):
So yes, that is true.
Speaker 4 (41:25):
That is true. So okay, the good point.
Speaker 2 (41:31):
So I would go see this if there was a
revival screening and they were gonna let us throw frisbees
at the screen and what have you, like, if they
were going to give me a tron frisbee, I would
go to that screening and throw a frisbee at the screen. Yes,
I liked it. So on a scale of one frisbee
to ten frisbees, how many frisbees? Nathan will start with you,
(41:57):
since you're the most.
Speaker 4 (41:59):
Key, huh, I think I'm going to give it seven
point five frisbees. I think I think it goes on
the seventh scale, Like, at worst it's a seven point
one and at best it's a seven point eight.
Speaker 2 (42:15):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4 (42:17):
Depending on the scene in the moment and how you're feeling.
So right now, I'm just gonna safely say it's seven
point five.
Speaker 2 (42:25):
Okay, perfect, Joe, You've got two lists, where did you land?
Speaker 6 (42:32):
All right, I'm gonna say, calculating my lists together, my
average frisbee rating is probably about the same in the
seventh range. I'm gonna say seven point six. Actually, I'm
coming through there is for the future. I'm pro tron
(42:53):
Actually I was. I was not a fan at first,
but I'm coming through the other side. I really love
like you, Nathan, like touching on like really ahead of
its time, touching on the like aspects of sort of
quote unquote the machine taking over the AI all that stuff,
like very ahead of its time, and at least just
(43:16):
like trying something new, like I appreciate it. I see
what they were going for didn't always work.
Speaker 4 (43:22):
But so I guess we didn't really touch on this,
and I'm gonna kind of, like, you know, deviate from
from the rankings and scorings. So tell us, tell us
some of the things that didn't work for you the
first time around, and what were some of the things
that you found yourself enjoying the second time around.
Speaker 6 (43:46):
So, like Chrissy, I was kind of lost a little
bit at the beginning. I wouldn't start with the video
game worlds first.
Speaker 5 (43:56):
I would start with the base reality.
Speaker 4 (43:58):
It's not like they don't have a lot of emotional
like motivation. It's a lot of informational questing.
Speaker 6 (44:05):
Yeah, and so as an example for your question of
like why I liked it. The second time around, I
was like, well, it really does kind of start to
pick up once we're fully in the video game Worle,
Like the plot actually does get a lot better all
things considered, and so like maybe just some people saw
like the first fifteen minutes and just kind of assumed
that the whole movie was like that. So I guess
(44:30):
I would say, originally that kind of didn't really make
sense to me, And then on the second watch through,
I was like, I'm kind of that kind of makes
me want to stick up for it more because I
wonder if people maybe left because of that. So that
would be an example I would say. Yeah, regarding the graphics, Oh,
(44:51):
I don't know about you guys, but I really like
the sequence. I think it's only like two times, like
at the beginning and the end basically, but the sequence
transferring between I mean the world.
Speaker 2 (45:01):
Yes, I love that, Like it.
Speaker 6 (45:03):
Just looks like kind of like a kaleidoscope, like broken down.
I really liked that particularly, like as an example of
graphics that I liked. But yeah, as I said, like
even on the second watch through, like the like Enemy
Starship things, the Evil Staples as Christy calls them and
(45:24):
like the ship that they're traveling on, that the throttle
is traveling on, just like very interesting design choices.
Speaker 4 (45:34):
A solar sailor ship when there is no sun.
Speaker 5 (45:38):
Yeah, it's like a lighting energy.
Speaker 2 (45:41):
It looks like a dandelion puff.
Speaker 5 (45:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (45:46):
I'm sure there's people who know this, but there's there
was that weird. It's not even it's not even a scene.
It's a moment when they're on the Solar Sailor and
then it cuts to like these anime like not computer
generated but animated, like little spiders that pop up.
Speaker 2 (46:05):
Oh yeah, the bugs. They were so young.
Speaker 4 (46:07):
And then a clearly eighty r line from the actress say,
oh no, we got to be careful about these things.
And am I wrong that they're not in the movie anymore?
Speaker 2 (46:19):
At that point, No, they're not in the movie anymore.
Speaker 4 (46:21):
It's just such a weird edition.
Speaker 2 (46:24):
They were like, we gotta have bugs because everyone knows
about computer bugs.
Speaker 4 (46:28):
Got this footage already, can we put it in? Like
that feels it? It's such a weird edition.
Speaker 5 (46:34):
It's just an incredibly forced pun.
Speaker 4 (46:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (46:39):
I have another fun fact. Many of the Disney animators
refused to work on this movie. Because they they feared
that computers would put them out of business, and boy
were they right.
Speaker 4 (46:52):
But they did have to wait about a little over
ten years, twenty two years.
Speaker 2 (46:57):
They had to wait.
Speaker 4 (46:57):
Twenty two years.
Speaker 5 (46:59):
Has a career com back?
Speaker 2 (47:01):
He brought them back. So I give this movie a
six and a half. And I enjoyed it, I.
Speaker 4 (47:09):
Didn't like it.
Speaker 2 (47:10):
I would watch it again, but I give it a
six and a half because Rocket absolutely refused to watch
it with me, even though I dragged him into the
room three times to be like, watch watch this.
Speaker 4 (47:23):
You're gonna finish your tron.
Speaker 2 (47:26):
You can't leave the table until all your tron is gone.
He refused to watch it with me, and like Dorian
watched it with me, but he looked at his phone
the whole time. So I give you a six point five.
What about a deep cut recommendation? This one was really tough.
I felt like, do you have a good one, Nathan.
Speaker 4 (47:47):
I do, but it's not necessarily something. It's not. This
is more of an intellectual recommendation, so like an interesting
double feature. So this really was like the first I mean,
I mean, I'm sure there's other similar comparisons, but in
a lot of ways, this was kind of like the
(48:07):
first total green screen movie in.
Speaker 2 (48:10):
A life, yeah, which I love.
Speaker 4 (48:13):
Yeah, I do too, But it would be interesting to
watch this in a double feature with Skycaptain in the
World World Tomorrow, which I feel was less successful than
Tron as a green screen movie, Like feeling a little
awkward in them in the space, and I feel like,
(48:37):
if anything, you're you're not necessarily going like you're gonna
appreciate Tron more for watching Sky Captain and just to
see how hard.
Speaker 2 (48:49):
It was, you know, Sky Keptain so much later. Yeah,
I love that. That's a great recommendation, good one. I
like that you went on the green screen because a
lot of the time I was watching the movie, I
was thinking, like I got to ask Nathan, like how
did they do this?
Speaker 4 (49:06):
Yeah, like a good version, Like I don't want to
maybe spoil anyone else's like recommendation, but like kind of
like a a a A like record Ralph too is
kind of like the same kind of thing to where
like living in a a internet computer world and doing
(49:26):
it well.
Speaker 6 (49:28):
Recket Ralph is on my why I really like a
list of like the vein of them sort of setting
the tone of like video game movies which are so
popular now or like you said.
Speaker 2 (49:40):
And the speed Racer guy looks like the light Racer guy.
Speaker 5 (49:47):
Yeah, yeah, I love that.
Speaker 2 (49:51):
So what's your deep cut recommendation, Joe, I.
Speaker 6 (49:56):
Mean, not a deep cut recommendation, but I love Blade
Runner same year. I was thinking about that movie a
lot while watching this movie, just in terms of the graphics.
Obviously the final presentation is very different, but like in
terms of the early eighties sort of everything was reaching
for that new look, that very computerized look, which personally
(50:20):
I think Blade Runner pulls off a lot better.
Speaker 2 (50:22):
Oh hell yeah yeah.
Speaker 6 (50:25):
Also War Games nineteen eighty three. I love that movie.
Speaker 5 (50:29):
Game.
Speaker 6 (50:30):
Yeah, I was thinking about that a lot as well,
also because I think in Wargames they also have a lot.
I was thinking how eighties it is to have like
shots of people typing something out very slowly on a computer.
There was a lot of that in this movie in
the first act, and I was like, oh, I'm pretty
sure Wargames has.
Speaker 5 (50:50):
A lot of that as well. But yeah, if you want,
if you want like a movie that is also very fun,
like very adventurous, but not like not taking itself super seriously,
but also like kind of groundbreaking for the time. I
would recommend War Games. It's a great movie. Yeah.
Speaker 6 (51:09):
Other than that, I can't really think of anything I
don't watch like super sci fi movies, So those were
really the only two that came to mind while I
was watching this one.
Speaker 2 (51:18):
Oh, those are perfect.
Speaker 5 (51:19):
That's great, Thank you, Chrissy.
Speaker 2 (51:23):
I do I want to recommend, based on the fun
light cycle races Segue electric scooters. I own one. I
commute to the neighborhood Comedy theater on one. Wow, to
save our environment, as you know, But I do like
(51:44):
to pretend that when I'm scooting around on my light
up Segue electronic scooter, that I am in a light
cycle race, and that Sark is on my heels that
I can escape him by zips up stopping through the
computer world of downtown Mesa. Okay, okay, I recommend everyone
(52:07):
get one and wherever you can scooter scooter. Of course,
in the months of the year when it is weather
permitting to.
Speaker 5 (52:16):
The scooter that's to scoot, please do so scot.
Speaker 2 (52:20):
Scoot your boot. Yeah, wonderful. So Nathan, where can people
support your filmmaking endeavors and where is the last movie
ever made? Currently screening?
Speaker 5 (52:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (52:35):
So my independent film, The Last Movie Ever Made, is
available on Amazon and Apple TV to rent. But if
you're one of those people who loves to watch things
for free but still suffer through ads, you can see
it on two.
Speaker 2 (52:51):
B wonderful and on what airline?
Speaker 5 (52:56):
Is it on?
Speaker 4 (52:57):
Emirates Airline? Flying Airline? Remember it's included in the entertainment.
Speaker 5 (53:02):
I am buying a play bricket right now just for that.
Speaker 4 (53:06):
Oh thank you, Although I think we get more money if.
Speaker 5 (53:10):
You just buy it on Amazon. Oh okay, but then
I don't get to fly Emirates.
Speaker 4 (53:15):
That's true. Well why not do both? Why not do both?
Speaker 2 (53:18):
Do both? Joe, what would you like to plug? Where
can people find you doing comedy out in the world.
Speaker 6 (53:25):
People can't find me. I live under a rock. Actually no,
I don't live under a rock, but I don't currently
have social media. I say currently because if you would
like to find me, you can find me at the
Neighborhood Comedy Theater. Well not at the moments under construction,
but soon you renovated Neighborhood Comedy Every Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
(53:51):
You can find me occasionally doing stand up here and
there around the valley at small local venues and Instagram
possibly come soon if I ever get off my ass
and actually do it.
Speaker 2 (54:03):
So you young people are going away from the social
media and I appreciate that about you.
Speaker 5 (54:09):
Anytime.
Speaker 2 (54:13):
You can find me at the Neighborhood Comedy Theater right
alongside Joe, doing funny things and cracking you up Thursday,
Fridays and Saturdays. And you can also find me on
my other podcast, Gank That Drink, a supernatural drinking game podcast,
and you'll be able to find me soon back on
Make Me a Nerd Podcast with Mandy Kaplan. In our
(54:36):
most recent episode, we're going to be talking about the
movie Labyrinth, which we discussed on this podcast not too
long ago. And if you're here with us at the
end and you still want to hear more, please consider
supporting this podcast by doing all the things that you
know help a podcast like rate review, subscribe, thumbs up,
(54:56):
five stars. All that helps a lot. And if you
you want even more, if you want to hear about
our favorite video games and other such discussions after the show,
then become a member at True Story FM. You just
click become a member and you get all sorts of
bonus fun, including a discord server where you can talk
(55:17):
directly to us and tell us what you thought of
Tron and why we're right or wrong about it. So
thank you so much, and while you're out there in
the world, please keep the most excellent eighties podcast motto
in mind. Be excellent to each other and party dudes.
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