Tron was a Disney movie that came out in 1982. It was very heavily involved with the arcade culture of the time. The idea of programs having a life of their own. A large computer network that kept growing. Kind of seems familiar now :) I mean don't you think the grid bugs could be spider-bots? I remember the geeky programmers in their little cubicles. The movie was released along with an arcade game. This was cool because it was a movie based on an arcade game character and the real arcade game was based on the movie :) There were four parts to the game. The MCP tower, similar to breakout. Grid bugs sort of like robotron. The tank maze that was almost like the Atari 2600 version of combat. And the light cycles. The light cycles inspired a number of clone games. The best of which is a new game called GLTron. Hmm, know who did the music for the movie? Ah, the wait is over. Only took 10 years.

Ok it was the coolest until Tron 2.0 killer app came out.

Jan 2002 and I am the proud owner of the 20th anniversary edition of the Tron DVD. Redone and enhanced and just the best I have ever seen. Watching it on my computer here I have noticed some things I have never seen before. Like the cameo appearance of pacman. All the times I have watched the VHS tape I heard pacman in the one scene. But it wasn't until I got the DVD that I actually got to "capture" pacman :)  And then there are all the deleted scenes and music and Wow. But even with all the historical documentaries and director comments it still does not recreate the experience of seeing this movie in the theater in 1982. There is just too much to compare it to today. Computers are too common. I think the only reference people might miss today is when Flynn says, "C'mon you skuzzy data."  Well actually there are probably a lot more. The whole religious concept behind the users is totally lost today. I want to hear from anyone that knows what batch programming is or ever actually needed to turn a trace on :)

Tron Fans.