Yori Returns In TRON UPRISING...sort of...

      In the recent episode of TRON UPRISING,   "We Both Know How this Ends,"  Episode 12 of this Season 1, we get a brief cameo appearance of... Yori's costume... in some sort of 'glass' case. The character, Able, seems to have a fascination with the old "Grid" of the original TRON movie, and some sort of connection with "Tron."

Perhaps there is a story behind all this, and I would assume there is.

How did he get all these old Tron items, bits, old lightcycles, etc? How did he get Yori's uniform, or is that perhaps Yori in stasis? Perhaps she is actually in there, saved in some sort of digital pod, having received similar 'injuries' like TRON?  How did get hold of this? Does it mean anything at all? Perhaps so... we'll have to tune in to find out...

Tron 3: Expectations and Possibilities

TRON 3: EXPECTATIONS AND POSSIBILITIES

The news is out: TRON 3 is in the works officially. So what should we expect? It appears a script was written or being written, and another writer has been hired to perhaps add to, or touch up the script. It could very well be that this new writer has been hired to enhance dialog, to flesh out relationships of the characters, or  other unknown details. While there are always expectations of fans, what might we really expect? 

Well, of course we'd like to see the return of certain characters, but are our expectations realistic? Are they logical? TRON LEGACY ends with the 'death' of  Kevin Flynn, or what appears to be his 'death,' one never knows in science fiction, perhaps he's still in that little flash drive Sam holds in his hand at the end. The  "character" of Quorra is now in the 'real world,' and we have the logical expectation that she will appear and meet characters in the 'real world.' 

We have characters we know she can meet which would perform logical functions in such a story, besides Sam.  Dan Shor, "Ram," Roy Kleinberg is a computer expert who can be trusted to study the Disc from the Grid that likely made its way through with Quorra, how this works we do not know, and whether or not it shows up merely as 'information' which is also on that little flash drive, "Ram" Kleinberg is the obvious hacker who could look at that data. He would be an obvious choice to be a technical exposition provider in the 'real world,' and if they invent a new character to perform this function, I'm out, I'm seriously opting out of the TRON 3 movie  completely. Not to involve original characters which would be obvious, and have 'younger, sexier' characters invented is simply stupid.  Cindy Morgan's character of  "Lora" is also obvious, as she is likely married to Alan Bradley, which we hope would be in the movie as well. He is not only Sam's 'surrogate' father, that might also mean that Cindy Morgan is Sam's 'surrogate mother,' as well, outside his own grandparents. Lora's logical function in the story, if our characters end up being even  remotely interested in the idea, once they learn of the 'GRID' and meet Quorra would be to be part of the investigation, whether it be Alan's personal inquiry, or an  official Encom investigation as to how all this might have happened technologically. (If they decide to go there in the story.) As shown to us in the Tron Legacy Prequel Comic story, Lora Bradley who may have gone to  Washington D.C. to lobby Congress for any number of reasons, whether it be Net Neutrality, the use of Encom tech in Drones, the unethical treatment of workers in  Lithium mines, we have no idea, could play a major role in conveying information which relates to the 'real world' situation involving Dillinger's potential schemes... Lora Bradley and Roy Kleinberg have many logical reasons to be in the story, and not simply there for cameo appearances. If they invent characters which basically replace these older characters, playing roles these older characters could have and should have very well played, then I'm ready to start bashing the film immediately for such stupid decisions, but we won't know until we get there.

Alan Bradley should obviously be in the story, and we would hope, play a major role, because if they decide ONCE AGAIN not to have "TRON" himself, well, why are they still calling this "TRON," and if not, they better have Alan Bradley. David Warner, if they can film this movie before he leaves this world, is the logical antagonist, and with his son, we have the possibility of a nice antagonist plot, which could have twists... will his son ultimately be his ally or his enemy? What evil plot might Dillinger be concocting? Possibly another megalomaniacal scheme involving 'control' of technology, today we have DRONES, the internet, any number of things which could have thrilling and real world consequences to put our characters in jeopardy and keep the audience riveted. Well written plot ideas which connect younger audiences with older ones might include the older generation of hackers, Roy and Alan, with their philosophical comment on today's technology, and younger  hackers, Dillinger Jr, and Sam and their worldview. Quorra gets thrown into the mix to open up a whole new world of questions and possibilities. If this sequel ends up being  nothing more but another rehash action flick, it could be the most disappointing and wasted opportunity in cinema history.  

We also have the possibility of adding even more current events into the mix, by adding Peter Jurasik, "CROM," also known in the real world as the User, "Mr. Henderson," from Wall Street. We know nothing of him, other than that back in the 80s, he was into the Savings and Loan business, and his program CROM was  usurped by the MCP. Possibly, Mr. Henderson could be up to new tricks by screwing with Wall Street computers, the Stock Market, and even being in cahoots with Ed Dillinger, and if David Warner doesn't make it to the year 2014, well we still have this great actor, Peter Jurasik kicking around, who could very well play that major villain.

What will Quorra's role be in the real world? Will our familiar characters, Alan, Roy, Lora, Sam do something with this new revelation of the 'GRID,' and what will  it mean to our antagonists, if they find out about it? What will they do with it/about it? "TRON" himself is somewhere on some hard drive, and it could very well be that he could be resurrected to fight his way inside the computer to defeat some diabolical plot hatched by Dillinger in the real world with some new computerized scheme.

Perhaps there is some aspect of Quorra that is significant to Dillinger that he can use in some master-control project, aimed at taking control of some systems, and only TRON can get to it, inside the internet, inside the world of systems in the data, within the computers.  

Perhaps a whole new version of the "GRID" will be introduced, possibly the idea of a Grid which is somehow more like the internet, rather than an isolated system,  and Lora, Alan and Sam must build a new laser system to transfer people or make it possible for people to get back inside for reasons integral to the plot. We hope  that these elements are not ignored by the new writers, but once again, we won't know until we get there. We would hope that just as TRON LEGACY made comment on our modern world and it's technology, that TRON 3 will attempt to take it even further, and not simply give us a cheap sequel with 'just enough action' and 'new  devices' to simply sell another movie.

Tron and the Future

TRON AND THE FUTURE

Bruce Boxleitner, member of the Board of Governors of the National Space Society, who also played Captain John Sheridan on the television series Babylon 5, and as we all know, "Tron," has often pointed out in interviews that science fiction inspires people to create and develop technology from "the dream that it gives us." Many scientists and engineers at NASA were, for instance, greatly inspired by Star Trek and Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. Science fiction writers often imagine different kinds of technology which might exist in the future, and they also imagine scenarios in which this technology might be used by the characters they also create. One of the motivations for science fiction writers to imagine such possibilities is simply the desire for a 'better future.' The advancement of technology represents 'the future' in many people's minds because through time we see society change through various improvements and advancements in various kinds of technology.

Early in the 20th Century, people dreamed of flying cars, jet-packs, vast utopian cities, computers, robots and interplanetary travel, they imagined that all of this would have most certainly been invented by the year 2000. The truth is that the technology for all these things actually was all invented, but never widely implemented. What all these people dreamed of was a 'better future,' likely because as always, the present is full of problems, and technology we always hope may help solve those problems. A jet-pack or a flying car may represent more personal freedom, but as those things were actually invented, the 'vision' of the future never really happened, and while many writers imagined all these amazing 'things,' they didn't really consider the human dimension to 'the future,' and those who did were writing about futures which were not so happy. George Orwell, Aldous Huxley and Ray Bradbury for instance, wrote about those same kinds of futures, only where all these developments in technology were used against people. The convergence of all the technologies of their time were imagined to come together and make life worse, and as it has turned out the more negative science fiction visions have come true more so than the positive visions of the future.

We have all the things that the science fiction writers dreamed of, but we never came close to the utopian dream of 'The Jetsons' or Star Trek, and most of the technology we have today has come about as a reflection of a kind of collective state of humanity. We do not have robot drones doing our laundry, the initial use of drones is for killing people. We do not have jet-packs or flying cars, we have monster-size gasoline burning vehicles that have GPS tracking devices, and little black boxes that shut your car off if you don't pay the bills. The future imagined by past sci-fi writers is actually getting further and further away each day, and currently any technology or invention that might 'change the world' is carefully controlled, sometimes hidden, banned or abandoned because it actually might, or most often, it does not cater to the whims of the people which are also carefully monitored and influenced by the companies which have the power to create these technologies.

Our own state of culture dictates what technologies we have, and if we are restrictive, oppressive, and violent, that is the kind of technologies we will also have. Technologies reflect our state of mind, our state of cultural being, and if we live a certain way, our technologies will follow. There is scarcely a device or machine or any kind of technology that hasn't already been invented, or at the very least, drafted, tested, but then often abandoned, thrown away, covered-up, or banned. Some for good reason, some for no good reason. Technology simply reflects the state of the User, and if we are unthinking, selfish and unreasonable, so will our technology be as well.

TRON suggests many things about us and our technology, and in 1982, it offered a concept and illustrated a possibility, that of the dream of the personal computer revolution, which would help 'free us' and give people another great tool to create a better future. The conflicts in the story suggested many of the conflicts we now are faced with here in the future year of 2012. Unfortunately, after 30 years of trying this out, we have come to see that this vision of the future is beginning to be restricted. Previously, because IBM and Xerox either had no imagination or they couldn't see the money-making potential of the personal computer or the internet, it took Apple and Microsoft to come along and give us what we now see overwhelmingly influence us every day. Today however, after 30 years of developing this technology, we see that Apple and Microsoft, among the major internet companies such as Google, the new wave of development of this technology has come under the same purview that was IBM and Xerox of the 50s, 60s, and 70s, and that is that they will control and dispense the technology that we shall experience and use, and today, Google and Apple control the experience of computers and the internet, our computers, our internet. They, like IBM and Xerox prior to the PC revolution, cannot see what the next phase of development is, nor are they interested in pursuing it. In TRON LEGACY, it is clearly illustrated that the representatives of the PC and internet revolutions, TRON and CLU, have become evil. We got our personal computers, we got our internet, but now those same two things have begun to turn around and be the opposite of freedom and creativity, they are beginning to reach into our lives and control us, they are turning your personal computers, and smart devices, and your use of the internet into their mainframe, their MCP, their control mechanism to be used against you. Things can be turned around, and as technology reflects us, there you have the visions, not of the positive science fiction authors, but the ones predicted by Orwell.

In TRON LEGACY, we see the heroes must fight against this 'turning to the dark side' of their former revolutionary heroes, and perhaps it's all because WE have lost our way. TRON and CLU are our programs, and they seem to have gotten away from us. The original spirit of TRON was a free system, and increasingly every day, this is just simply no longer the case. What we must do now with our technology is what we must do with ourselves as well. If we do not see this, the implied nightmare of CLU (or the MCP) making it off the GRID and coming into our world to control and destroy us, would in effect take away our technology from us, and create a nightmare so awful, it would likely be more like the TERMINATOR or the MATRIX. It may not take the form of artificial intelligence, it may simply be that the ENCOMs of the world decide to enslave the human race.

There are opportunities out there right now, even still, to not only stop this from happening, but to have yet another PC or Internet revolution, and looking back at the last 30 years, I would argue that there is no other way, the technology that is now being turned against us must be part of that new PC/Internet Revolution. It can even take the form of the purely capitalistic, another money making venture, but we are beginning to see that Apple and Google, the very greed-filled industry that profitted from the PC/Internet Revolution wants nothing to do with, which oddly, doesn't make sense, but it is what it clearly occuring. These companies have become what Steve Jobs and Bill Gates once called the old dinosaurs back in the 70s, they have become what they had to stand up to in order to be what they are today, and they refuse to change and be a part of the next tech revolution, they would more like to CONTROL that revolution, but looking back at the last 30 years, you can see that it came about because of the arrogant ambition and challenge seeking Steve Jobs, the spirit of revolting against IBM and Xerox, it came about from the people's desire for freedom from having to sign on to a mainframe and using 'allowed programs' and waiting turns and being 'denied access.' Now this is beginning to be how the internet works, and it isn't IBM's fault.

It may appear to the average person that the iPad and the iPod and the iPhone are the latest and greatest and only computer-internet devices and platforms in existence out there, and it may appear to the average person that only Apple and Google know anything, or do anything, or create anything, but this isn't the case. They may have control of the market, like IBM once did long ago, but they are seemingly not paying attention to the 'computer geeks' of the 21st Century. They also can't see how to make money off of what could be the next 30 year cycle, because they are not innovating any more, just like IBM, but what was inconceivable to IBM back in the 70s, ("why would the average person want or need a computer?") now applies to these overbearing fossils, Google, and Apple. They are not implementing the most cutting edge developments, though what they roll out to the public seems cutting edge, it is merely the latest packaging designed with 10 new control mechanisms and user-control agreements which prevent anybody from using stuff without their consent, or knowledge, they want to know what you're doing with your computer technology and they want to be able to own or control that. That's not what computers are for!

There are plenty of people working on all sorts of new things, but like the 70s, like little shy Steve Wozniaks, they have no idea that what they have is the next revolution, they're not sure if what they have is anything at all, they're not entirely aware that their latest little nerd-obsession is going to change the world, the only difference between IBM of the 70s and Apple and Google of 2012, is that IBM wasn't spying on every single person in the country. This raises all sorts of concerns, but I won't get into that in this article, the point is, there actually are pioneers out there, working diligently, and slightly oblivious to what they actually have and what it means, and meanwhile Apple and Google are most certainly not going to be implementing these things in their latest iPads and smartphones or tablets, the only things they are concerned with are more control of their customers, they're not concerned with freeing them.

What TRON LEGACY as well as the old TRON represents is the spirit and direction of that tech revolution, which we may go through over and over and over again until the end of time, it is the spirit of the freedom of the User, vs. the inevitable control mechanisms that come about from the greedy and overconfident monsters which pop up when new technology is created and developed. If you are an innovator, it is likely you don't work for Google or Apple today, if you're an Investor, you'd be better off looking toward the future, and for these new and unique "Wozniaks" of today, and you'd be better off becoming your own new Steve Jobs, but as a warning, see what happened? Do you see how the cycle goes? The people who wanted to use computers in the 60s may have had to sign up for 'computer time' on some mainframe, but they dreamed of having their own, today, people begrudgingly use Facebook and Google, and they use iPads or Androids or whatever is currently in fashion, but they secretly dream of something new that gives them more freedom, the technology for this new revolution is as unnoticed and ignored as was the Altair by IBM in the old days, expect Google and Apple to come up with the 'next big thing' and you'll miss out on it, and you'll fail to be a part of the next tech revolution which is already a few days overdue in its inception.

The Users are the center of it all, and now that the control of the Users is getting so tight, and restrictive, it simply pushes the vapors through the cracks, and under the door, you can't stop it, the time has come, fight for the Users, let the next tech revolution begin, it will be a great oversight and shock to the Googles and Apples of the world, but it must be, or we face those science fiction scenarios which, at this point, if we slide into in this next decade, it means the genres of the apocalyptic scene, it means Skynet, it means killer robots, it means Blade Runner, it means Escape from New York. It will make William Gibson novels look like the Jetsons.

email the author of this article:

yorilives@yahoo.com

Fight For the Users

A video edited by Bob Plissken. Not a trailer, not a music video, just watch...

KEVIN O. FLYNN AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE

KEVIN O. FLYNN AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE

In many interviews, Cindy Morgan has compared TRON to THE WIZARD OF OZ, the idea that the characters in 'the real world' have alter egos in 'another world.' This comparison is intriguing because it takes TRON a step beyond the simple concept that people working on computers have 'cyberspace' alter-egos, or avatars as they are called. The concept of 'avatar' comes from the Hindu belief that a god can incarnate into a human being, and operate in a sense as one from 'on high.' In the 'electronic world,' the 'real people' are called Users, as they are the actual users of computer software, but these sentient programs believe them to be like gods. The 'electronic world' or cyberspace as we might call it today is somewhat of an ambiguous concept in TRON, but it isn't accidental.

Inside the 'computer' as it is presented to us, it would seem both literal and digital, the landscapes are a cross between three-dimensional renderings of video games of the time, but also a kind of microscopic physical landscape of circuit boards and wires. The ideas are blurred a little between the purely digital and the 'nanoscopic.' These beings inside the computer are truly the 'little people' of ages past, they are in a sense digital elves, doing the bidding of the Users, running about performing tasks on the other side of the screen like tiny elemental spirits.

In folklore, the "Little People" also known as the elves, the fairies, gnomes, brownies and countless other names, are a mysterious group of mythical beings who exist in some way as if on another plane of reality. W.Y. Evans-Wentz and Thomas Keightley have written extensively academic studies of the folklore of fairies and elves, and in many of the stories they collected in their books, one finds a common one, "those who return from Faerie." Also called "Fey" and "Fairyland,' among many other names, the tales are told of people who have travelled afar to the 'other realm,' the land of the elves. "Somtimes one may thus go to Faerie for an hour or two; or one may remain there for seven, fourteen or twenty-one years..." [Evans-Wentz] The stories often tell of a man who disappeared for a time, and lived with the Fairies, often revealing a moral or some lesson that is learned. It is likely that it is no coincidence that our hero is named Flynn, a very Irish name indeed.

In TRON, this idea that a man is sucked into a computer is generally considered a pretty silly idea, and obviously a science fiction plot device, so that he can end up in 'another world.' The most interesting thing about this, is that it has taken the thing itself, the computer, and made it the 'other world.' Technology is suggested as a 'habitat' for 'little people' who live in 'cyberspace,' another world where strange adventures can be had. What is more interesting is that the metaphors work so well, and that the tale of TRON is essentially a 'fairy tale,' literally, it is the story of Kevin O. Flynn and the "Little People" inside the computer.

As usual, our little fairy-folk are like little workers, doing their duty inside the machine, and as elves are little machinists and builders and technologists themselves, this relationship to fairy-tales gets more and more amusing as one looks into it. The Little People have their politics, and they drink the invisible nectar floating in nature, they sometimes have wars and conflicts, and in this case, the Herle-king is SARK. The MCP works magnificently as the mysterious and 'hidden' dark Lord who is incorporeal, like Pan. The Herle-king, or Herlaquen, is the Chief of all the elves, and is usually a pretty bad guy. Stringing the elves along like slaves to do bad things to mankind. In this digital fairy tale, Flynn comes along and uncovers the whole plot, and is there at the right time to help. Of course, what is even more interesting is that the Little People in TRON look up to humans like gods, while in myths, most often it is the humans who mistake the fairies for gods. This is a new spin, and when technology is taken into account, it has a whole new sense to it.

In TRON LEGACY, Flynn has been away for many years, another common tale of the man who is trapped in the land of Fey. His son comes to break him out. All of these are tales to be found in the folkore. Writers like Evans-Wentz were fascinated by fairie-lore for one of the ideas he uncovered in Buddhism was the possibility that these 'little people' or 'fairies' were parts of the subconscious, which could today be described as operating much the way the invisible scripts on computers work, or 'daemons' as they are often called. Perhaps these Little Programs and the tale of Kevin Flynn are suggesting something even deeper. Perhaps the story when taken as Little People inside the mind, rather than the computer presses another issue, that of course our brains are very much like computers (or rather...since the brain came first: the computers are very much like a brain.) Perhaps unwittingly we design and build the computers out of the depths of our unconscious, and they begin to take shape--though not as a literal brain, but 'the mind.' The mind is something not exactly quantified by science, and is thus, 'an invisible' and intangible thing, but if there were rules, if there were protocols and a mechanics to the operation of the mind, it would be like the complexity of an operating system which is not made of wires and electronic circuits but ones and zeroes... and perhaps the mind has a similar counterpart. Since we don't know, we guess, we write myths, we tell tales, and we speculate, and we speculate comparatively... so in this case, perhaps TRON is also giving us another dimension here to ponder.

TRON is truly a modern fairy tale, in the most ancient sense of fairy tales. It takes us way back, long before Grimms storybook tales, to the almost mystical and original fairy-tales. It blends technology, literally and figuratively, with fairy tale lore, while also bringing many other issues to the table. Perhaps this is why it will last many generations, perhaps longer than Star Wars and the Matrix because of its universality, because it will continue to mean something as we continue to develop our technology and our minds, and we'll keep going back and referring to TRON.

Re-Rezzolutions: A Special Interview with Cindy Morgan for Yori Lives

Yori Lives proudly presents "Re-Rezzolutions" a special interview with Cindy Morgan. We get to ask her about the making of TRON, the character of Yori/Lora, her work on the video game TRON 2.0, deleted scenes and more.

Thanks for supporting YORI LIVES, this interview is a gift back to the fans who have supported the cause since it began, Cindy Morgan is grateful for the support and hopes as we all do that these characters of Yori or Lora will find a 'resolution' in the next chapter of TRON.

Check out the Podcast page, leave comments, like, or you can leave comments here below as well.

DOWNLOAD RE-REZZOLUTIONS HERE

TRON ADDITIONAL MATERIAL PART 3: YORI AND LORA

TRON ADDITIONAL MATERIAL PART 3: YORI AND LORA

In the novel by Brian Daley, there is more information about the characters, as I have written about in Part 2, and fans may find interesting the additional material regarding Yori and Lora. As I have said before, writers hired to make novelizations are provided with scripts and other story details which often do not make it into the film. (As well as additional dialog). In this article, we will look at all the additional information regarding the characters played by Cindy Morgan in TRON.

Dr. Lora Baines is described as the "deputy team leader" of Dr. Walter Gibbs, and she "seemed in marked contrast to Gibbs, they shared values and aspirations." Lora is described as being blond, (described as dark-haired in the script) "in her mid-twenties, not long finished with her postgraduate studies, and already an acknowledged leader in her field; her work in computers had won her international recognition." "She'd occasionally been forced to battle to be accepted for her intellectual accomplishments, but never twice with the same person. She tended to be grave, efficient, and intent when working, but was cordial to those who shared her enthusiasm."

On the LP "Story of Tron," which is different than the Disney TRON Read-Along Record (which is about 11 minutes and the characters are portrayed by different actors), the LP is made from the original recorded dialog from the film, contains an odd line from Lora which is not in the movie, nor on the Read-Along-Record: "The world's largest laser, and if these new memory chips don't work all we're going to get is orange juice." This line is neither in the script, the novel, the film or the "Read-Along Record." It is unclear if this is actually the voice of Cindy Morgan.

YORI AND THE SOLAR SAILER

YORI is described as working inside the Factory Complex, "workers along an observation window manipulated fabrication controls, intent on the most complicated simulation project the Complex had yet attempted. Taking shape before them in a vast hangar was the craft that Gibbs had seen pictured on Dillinger's desk, drawn from the concept of a Solar Sailer. As the workers sat at their boards and screens, defining what the ship would be and how she would operate, the Solar Sailer herself came into higher and higher resolution, generated by the System... One row of workers was made up of female programs, one of whom was checking a diagram listlessly, mechanically." Later when FLYNN meets YORI, he thinks, "she was a revelation to him: her essence was that of Lora, transfigured into a radiant creature, sill very much like the woman he remembered... what a strange mirror the System was."

Like Lora, YORI is described as once being a skilled and talented technician, but in the mirror

world of the electronic world, her talents are reduced, re-directed, "re-purposed" by the tyranny of the MCP. YORI was once a "premier designer-coordinator, recognized throughout the Complex for her exacting and uncompromising work... but now she was reduced to the status of labor automaton. She wore a workers' aspect, her circuitry muted, complete with tight helmet cap and boots." She mindlessly reads off numbers to the Guard as if hypnotized, in the book, TRON has to wake her up with energy from his hands. She and the other programs are controlled, and essentially 'misused,' she describes how this oppression is destroying the System when TRON asks her about the 'stupor' of the other programs, "Those are instructions for shutting down functions... if much more of this goes on the System is going to collapse." She explains that the MCP is not simply re-purposing the programs, it is sapping their energy, the MCP is deriving its 'power' from them literally, as well as controlling their function. The programs are shutting down more and more functions of the System, "conserving" energy for the singular governing Master Control program itself. "TRON regarded the muddled programs with pity and frustration. The USERs had been so free with their power, he remembered, their only aim was to solve problems, to achieve and create. The System had been filled with activity and accomplishments then. But the MCP wouldn't have permitted its subjects full power even if it had been able to do so and still feed itself to satiation. MCP and Sark ruled, in part, by privation, keeping their subjects weak." The stronger TRON had shared his energy with YORI to 'wake' her up, so they could go forward and fight the system. "...things are going to change. I've got to get to ALAN-ONE..."

In the script, as TRON and YORI leave the Simulation station run across "half-gone" programs, ("Inoperative Data Pushers"), and YORI remarks to TRON, "I can't believe how bad it's gotten around here since the MCP started taking over, all the good functions have shut down, everybody looks so dead, I'm afraid to go out during down-time." The novel goes on to describe, "In the City, some habitations were remnants of earlier times, not yet restructured or razed or consolidated. The MCP had been unwilling to divert resources for any such 'extraneous' project, and so these places retained a scant minimum of livability." The state of tyranny and oppression of the MCP has essentially led to what we might call today, "inner-city decay," and the programs, (the people) have become weakened, morose, downtrodden and dysfunctional. Both TRON and YORI clearly see that the System will fail if the oppression continues.

The Solar Sailer, docked in 'Hangar 19' is fully described in the novel, "She was an astoundingly beautiful vessel, speaking of freedom and speed even though stationary. Her forebody was shaped like an artillery shell, with an aperture for the ejection of the Transmission Beam that drove her, situated in her prow. From the waist of the forebody radiated eight sparlike masts securing the great sails that fanned out to either side like immense metallic wings. Three long, thin antennae were set around her bow aperture to maintain beam connection and emission. A single slender catwalk ran aft, the forebody's only connection to the midships. Midships was the bridge, a sort of rounded, bilevel quarterdeck. The Sailer's afterbody, a bulky, heavily shielded segment, served two functions, mounting the reception aperture through which the transmission beam entered the craft, and securing the vessel's rigging. Four long lines connected it to the deployed sails, its only connection to the rest of the ship. The Sailer suggested a dragonfly, delicate in appearance, perhaps 250 feet in length, afterbody included." YORI tells TRON, "This videogame ship--it's very fast."

The Solar Sailer is then stolen by YORI and TRON to get to the MCP. The ship's design was 'appropriated' by the MCP for use on the GRID, and though we are not told who designed it in the real world, perhaps Lora, we don't know, but as the plans were described to be shown on Dillinger's desk, perhaps yet another design stolen by Ed Dillinger. Throughout the story, the characters have to steal back what was taken and 're-purposed' by Dillinger and the MCP, and 're-purpose' it for their own goals, and throughout these 'hacks' have symbolic purposes. FLYNN complains about writing 'all those tank programs,' and has to steal a Recognizer, a vehicle from his "Space Paranoids" game. TRON is a security program who is re-purposed to be nothing but a video game player, to perhaps keep him occupied, as well as destroy resisting programs and keep them occupied while the MCP takes over. He uses his newly re-purposed skills to take down Sark and the MCP. YORI is therefore necessary to steal the ship, because after all, she designed it, or at least performed the function of designing it. I would imagine that similarly within ENCOM, Lora's job, experimenting with the digitizing laser is also not entirely her most fulfilling work, and that Dillinger and ENCOM would immediately take it from her as soon as it is perfected and sell it to the military. Perhaps she actually had more "creative" aspirations in designing the Solar Sailer, and symbolically, she's in the basement, "disintegrating things." The laser is not exactly the same laser as used at Lawrence Livermore Labs where it was filmed, but one sees the vast lab and equipment where it is housed. The Tron Laser is referred to as SHV, where as the real laser is called SHIVA. (The god of death).

She and Gibbs are not exactly 'creating' as they disintegrate organic material and 'digitize' it into a computer, though they do bring it back to reality, "turning something into nothing, and back again." The very ideas of 'creativity' are examined here, and the imagery of the laser, and the introduction of Lora wearing a helmet is foreshadowing FLYNN meeting YORI, wearing her helmet and operating a laser guided vehicle. The movement and purpose of this vehicle, taking them to 'destroy' the MCP, is symbolic of the 'use' of creation in YORI/LORA, as well as throughout the story. Characters' 'creations' are from the very beginning of the story, stolen, re-purposed, and taken back again. ("turning something into nothing, and back into something again.") Flynn, Alan and Lora team up, help eachother out, to set things straight, and stop Dillinger while Flynn, Tron and Yori team up to 'free the system' which will return it to allow the 'creators' (the User gods) to continue to 'achieve and create' and 'solve problems.' The "Macguffin" is the 'missing data' on FLYNN's game creations, but it also represents the 'achievements' of creators who in this new technological age are stolen, 're-appropriated' by greedy power-hungry corporate tyrants which utilize creations like various new popular programs and 'apps' to steal people's personal information, and control their use of the internet, which we know will have the inevitable result of stalling progress and stunt innovation and the very technological applied creativity which 'created' the computers and the internet in the first place. (As also illustrated in TRON LEGACY's CLU). Today we see the eventual result of what was then inevitable, though just as inevitable as the 'digital revolution' itself. The characters play out a narrative that illustrates a 'reality' that we all face now, while we 'navigate' in this world of ubiquitous technology and information. These same narratives take place every day, all one need do is "google the news."

DELETED SCENE

Released on the DVD of TRON is a deleted scene, "Yori's Apartment." This also appears in the novel and there is also more in the script. The scene was cut for what was claimed to be 'pacing' issues, but it offers more character development of TRON and YORI. What transpires is more than a 'love scene,' it shows the characters looking out at the city and pondering it's demise, and it further develops the character of YORI.

TRON and YORI go into her 'apartment,' to rest and hide from the Recognizers, TRON's initial reaction to the apartment is "What's this place? It's terrible." (One is reminded of Flynn's comments regarding Lora leaving her clothes all over the floor at the beginning of the movie), but YORI "extended a palm toward a portion of the wall surface near the door frame. Into it she directed a precise measure of the power he had given her. The door rezzed up, returning them a privacy TRON hadn't known since his capture. He realized now what an ache its absence had been... and the flat images that had been part of the walls and floor were now shifting and changing, growing a third dimension, expanding like orchids opening in time-lapse photography. They took on color and texture, solidity and depth. The harsh illumination became softer, gentler, more subtle and pleasing to the eye. TRON watched, bemused, but enjoying it all enormously. The floor and walls and ceiling altered; lounging surfaces and reclining areas burst forth, inviting relaxation, promising comfort. The entire apartment seemed alive. Decorative shapes and constructions, diverting and artistic, pleasant to behold, blossomed. Great care and thought had been given to the decor; ever last detail proclaimed Yori's hand."

YORI, introduced as mindless automaton, and cold computer design technician is revealed as a highly creative artist, and the apartment's warmth and decor was in effect, also a statement against the tyranny outside. She is the spirit of creativity, and the heart both as literal 'design creation program,' just as TRON is the spirit of courage, as 'warrior security program.' "Now TRON understood why she went through her work phases as did all the others, insensible. How she must have to conserve her energy for even a brief period of this." In the DVD's deleted scene, he says, "Isn't this illegal?" Yori responds, "very." The idea of the MCP controlling every aspect of the lives of these beings down to how they live inside their apartments is fully illustrated in this scene, which also adds some tension to the idea that a love scene will follow. They could get caught, the world outside is oppressive and dark, these programs, these "people" are living in a world that doesn't have time for love. TRON sits and stares out at the city "He was torn between the desire to stay where he was and the knowledge that he must contact ALAN-ONE..." TRON also contemplates the USERs, "he speculated...on what they were like, and what their World was like. So different that it was unimaginable, he concluded; so different that the mind of a mere program could not comprehend it." TRON imagines the life that will continue for YORI as well as himself if they do nothing, and that he needs her to 'sway Dumont' to get him to help. "Leaving her behind would offer her little safety, her life in the Factory Domain was slow death."

TRON: ADDITIONAL MATERIAL PART 2: The Novel

TRON: ADDITIONAL MATERIAL PART 2: The Novel

The TRON Novelization by Brian Daley contains more peripheral information which is not in the film, which may interest a lot of fans. Most often novelizations are written before the movie comes out, and the author doesn't write it while watching the movie. He is given scripts, and other story details from the producers. Many of the details the author is given do not end up in the finished film. What we are left with are additional story details which, if you are a fan, you may find rather interesting.

Alan Bradley pops popcorn in his Encom office cubicle, and he is described as messy; "as he had little time or inclination for housekeeping." The sign in his cubicle "Gort, Klaatu Barada Nikto" is described as being there as it reveals his attitude about Artificial Intelligence. The phrase comes from the movie, THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, and is a voice command for the robot named Gort. Alan's User code is 717, but he is unable to type his password (given in the script as "FREEDOM.") when he is locked out of the system.

The novel introduces the type of characters we are to sympathize with, one of the protagonists as "a User-Believer, a BLUE. Unwilling to give up his commitment to those mystical beings whom all the programs of the System had once served." The character, CROM wonders about the RED antogonists, "Their attitude was

beyond comprehension--a refusal to even concede the existence of the Users. How could that be? He kept repeating to himself." CROM couldn't understand "what the point of functioning could be, if not to carry out the instructions of the Users."

CROM MEETS TRON

As in the script, CROM meets TRON inside the 'Training Complex' prison cell. CROM has already heard of TRON, and he can't believe TRON has been caught by the MCP.

"Tron is a legend come to life. When programs throughout the system spoke among themselves of independence, of loyalty to the Users, of defying the MCP, it was TRON's name that was most often invoked. TRON championed the User-Believers; TRON had defied all the MCP's efforts to enslave or convert him."

CROM is shocked to find TRON inside the cell, but TRON's conviction to escape raises CROM's hopes again. "Sark and the MCP didn't control the System...yet."

Bruce Boxleitner has often related TRON to the movie SPARTACUS, and having just recently watched it for the very first time ever, (shocking, I know) I can see the similarities, and while being a lot simpler in its plot and scale than the 3-Hour, "cast of thousands" epic that SPARTACUS truly is, TRON does in fact share the same qualities of the character of Kirk Douglas' Spartacus. There are many scenes which though highly simplified are most certainly inspired by SPARTACUS. The 'slaves' are captured and forced to fight eachother for the amusement of the Romans, and the various characters hope to break free of this tyranny and perhaps take Rome, and free the slaves, but they do not succeed. Spartacus becomes a legendary hero of the slaves, and as described at least in the book, it is the very same idea, TRON is a legendary hero that the enslaved programs look up to. In TRON, however, the character does in fact succeed in freeing the system...

TRON's thoughts are described while in the prison cell: "...and he had thought, often, of the one he missed most, of she who meant everything to him. Not freedom, not [even] survival meant more than seeing Yori once more. At times it seemed his faith had come near failure. What was the point of it, what did it matter? MCP promised to take over the System without any real opposition but Tron's. Why hadn't the Users intervened? But then TRON knew, they had--he was their instrument. But the cause to set things right and restore order and purpose and safety to the System, seemed lost. Instead there would be the dictatorship of the MCP and the savage spectacles of the beast Sark. But as always, another thought surfaced. Why would Sark and the MCP be so determined to stamp out loyalty to the Users if that loyalty didn't threaten them? The Command Program and the MCP were the fanatics, not the User-Believers; their brutal efforts to suppress belief in the Users only served to confirm convictions vital to TRON. As they increased their oppression, so they reinforced his faith."

When the tyrants build lists of 'opponents' who they want snuffed out, you know then it is because they fear them as a threat to their power and tyranny, not as a threat to the 'safety and order' of the system...

CLU ponders the state of the System being dominated by the MCP in the book as well, "For CLU, as for many other programs still at large in the System, there was no question as to whether or not he should respond to his User. What point was there to program tyrannizing program [program vs. program], rejecting the Users? And certainly there hadn't before the MCP been the sort of cruelty and hatred that threatened the System now. If CLU had his way all that would change..."

Flynn also ponders the tyranny of the MCP, "Even here, he thought, the old, old evil: surrender your beliefs or surrender your life."

While at the plasma-pool, drinking the 'pure energy,' Flynn realizes another strategy of tyrants, "Of course, Flynn thought, the Master Control Program would certainly have governance over all the conventional power sources or outlets. Lower the programs' power and you keep them lethargic, dependent, obedient. But here in this ignored area, this trickle still ran unmonitored. Flynn pondered what it must be like for RAM and TRON; no doubt the MCP kept User-Believers on pretty light rations." [All too familar eh, ladies and gentlemen?]

Each character expresses their frustration with the lack of freedom, their persecution and the encroaching tyranny of the MCP, they all want things to change, they all want things to be different, and wonder if the 'gods' will come to help them.

ENCOM AND SARK

Dillinger's computer desk in the novel is called a 'Superdesk.' ENCOM is described as "a commercial entity that swallowed other corporations as a shark might swallow minnow, that grew and increased its profits and holdings as no other corporation ever had."

Sark is described as "Lord of the System," the "Command Program," also known as the "Red Champion." His code

number is ES-1117821. Sark sees the MCP as his "deity" as opposed to seeing the User as a deity. Besides "Strategic Air Command," and the Pentagon, other government agencies are named to be hacked by the MCP: DARPA and the DIA. In 1982, this would have meant, 'the internet.' (The only real internet that existed).

RAM regards FLYNN as 'being glitched' because of the way he talks. Also, interestingly, RAM is said to be whistling "an eerie, lilting tune that FLYNN couldn't recognize as any User music." RAM ponders his conversations with TRON, "Their quiet solemn talks were in sharp contrast to the merciless drill and combat of the Game Grid. RAM had come to draw great encouragement from TRON, from his loyalty to the Users. And there was TRON's straightforward reasoning: why indeed, would Sark and the MCP militate so viciously against User-Believers if their beliefs didn't present some threat? When he'd thought it through, RAM had finally decided that the demonstrations of power, the taking of conscripts, were a keystone to Master Control's authority. If MCP and Sark could get programs to deny the existence of the User in contradictions to what the programs knew to be true, what then might they not order programs to do? The entire System, and the power to reshape it, would lie within their grasp."

INOPERATIVE DATA PUSHERS:

When Tron leaves Flynn and Ram on the other side of the crevasse where he thinks they are killed, he proceeds to get to the I/O Tower, where he is on his way to finding Yori. There in the "Factory Complex" he comes across "Programs of all sorts walked there, many of them strangely shaped because of their functions. There was a warrior type not known to TRON. He had an energy lance cradled in the crook of his left arm; his right arm and part of his helmet had been blown away, leaving long trailing streamers of glowing filaments. A little light exchage monitor, outmoded and enclosed in his glassy bulb, passed by. TRON had to step around a segmented connectoid that crawling along like a huge, blind worm, nearly bumped into him. He recognized Cryptarithmetic Priests by their circuited cassocks. But there was little animation to anyone, and no enthusiasm. Tron saw one program speaking to another, and stopped to listen. The program spoke in monotone as the two gazed at one another lifelessly.... Shaking his head sadly, he walked along the streets that had once been ablaze with productivity and drive... On the way, he stopped by two more programs to eavesdrop once more, unsure of how the recent changes might have affected local circumstances..." The programs speak mindless numerical jibberish. Later he finds Yori speaking the same mindless mathematical jargon. "TRON regarded the muddled programs with pity and frustration." FLYNN also runs into more programs of this type when he crashes his Recognizer, "Programs passed by him without taking notice, so drained and numbed that they didn't even glance his way..." "He saw that they were different from the programs of the Game Grid, only in part for their odd shapes and sizes. He almost forgot his landing, watching them go by like sleepwalkers." FLYNN speaks to the BIT, "This town's full of live ones, " the BIT responds, "Not a chance."

"A USER? IN OUR WORLD" --Yori

When FLYNN reveals to TRON and YORI that he's a User, he also has this to say in very Jeff Bridges/the-Dude-style, "Man, I haven't had a second to think since I got down here. I mean, in here... Out here. Whatever."

Flynn later thinks to himself: "Good goin' Bradley! thought Flynn, and laughed. "Awright! Thank God Alan stayed awake at least!" Again they were at a loss, the casual use of Alan-One's name, the easy familiarity of it scandalized TRON." "Meantime, Yori considered what Flynn had just said, asking herself, thank who?"

When FLYNN and YORI are captured by Sark, FLYNN seems to realize that SARK thinks he is CLU, and enjoys carrying on a bit because SARK believes it.

The MCP resides upon the "CPU Mesa." The MCP tells the captured Tower Guardians that "You are participating in the creation of the most powerful program in the history of the System--of all Systems! ...An entity with a will! ...With ambition! A superior form of life!" What seems to be the MCP's ultimate plan is a little clearer, that it hopes to gain more power and information and 'intelligence' to take on the 'Real World.' It's goals are not simply to control the System, but the whole world of the Users.

Once the MCP is destroyed, and YORI, TRON and DUMONT are reunited, the BIT has the last word, "YES!"

TRON thinks to himself, "How wonderful it must be in his world..." and "Thank you, Flynn," Yori sent a silent message upward. "

After destroying the MCP, FLYNN is returned to the real world, and the computer prints out his 'evidence.' In the book is a picture of the printout, showing that Flynn's middle initial is "O." It is also more complex than the printout in the movie. The next scene as in the movie is the top of the Encom building with Kevin Flynn landing in a helecopter. There is no dialog from Alan and Lora about "look official, here comes the boss." They tell Flynn about Dillinger: "Dillinger wants to talk to you; he says it's all a mistake." Flynn shook his head, "Can't; bad for the corporate image."

Lora says, "Hey... you've got an executive board meeting." He slipped them a wink. "This is the executive board meeting."

This is the last of Alan, Lora and Flynn, and the book ends with "High over the System soared the Solar Sailer, cruising above the glittering beauty of the radiant Domains and the phosphorescent tides of the Game Sea. Tron stood on the bridge with his arm around Yori. The Sailer changed transmission beams and came into another tack as the Bit shot past them, playing and cutting figure eights, zipping along next to the graceful Sailer, over a System ablaze, a free System."

Continued in PART 3: YORI AND LORA IN THE NOVEL

TRON: Additional Material Part 1

TRON: ADDITIONAL MATERIAL PART 1

It has been said that movies are never really finished, they merely 'escape.' What we have with TRON is a completed film, unlike a certain science fiction director out there who continually 'fixes' his movies, adding things that were never there in the first place, and hiding the things he cut out, Steven Lisberger has never messed with TRON. It still remains as it was originally. However, many fans like the peripheral details of their favorite movies, deleted scenes, original ideas never used, concepts from artwork never used, and scenes which were written and perhaps never filmed for a variety of reasons. One can look at production photos, art design concepts, read the original script to find such details, and often novelizations give away certain details as the authors of these books are given more material as the film is being made, having no idea what will be cut out or not. For TRON, we have three exterior resources to compile more peripheral information about the story, the script, the novel and production photos which show characters and possible scenes which either never made it into the final film, or perhaps filmed and either cut out before post-production or cut out for other reasons. In a series of articles I will try to examine the "Additional Material" of TRON. In Part 1, we look at the 4th Draft Script, which is available to read on the internet here. In Part 2, we will look at the novel by Brian Daley, in Part 3, we will look at all the extra peripheral details of the character Yori and Lora, and in Part 4, we will look at the combined material from alternate sources such as the DVD special features, promotional clips, and audio versions. If you have any additional information please contact me at yorilives@yahoo.com.

-In the original script, teenagers inside Flynn's arcade are playing the videogame called "Berzerk."

-Sark is described as glowing 'ominously blue.'

-Encom was originally called "ICOM"

-CROM has more to say about TRON in his conversation with RAM: "You ever see that guy in action? Hundred-percent independent. MCP couldn't tell him what to [do] ... " Then Tron appears in the cell next to him, "Oh my User...TRON--they've got you in here?" Tron replies... "Not for long, friend."

-The Bit actually says more than yes and no.

-CLU is described as a 'pirate program' by Sark's guards.

-Alan Bradley was originally "Alan Bailey"

-Accessing 'Tron Program,' Alan's user code is 717, his password is "FREEDOM."

-Alan doesn't refer to his abacus at home, he says "I don't even balance my checkbook on downtime, I've got a Honeywell at home for that."

-Lora digitizes a 'polymer sphere' instead of an orange.

-Once Flynn is digitized and into the 'electronic world' he is called Video Game Unit #18.

-Flynn describes his 'Home Sector' as Paramus (New Jersey) to Ram who tries to figure out what PARAMUS means, "PARAMUS, wonder what those initials stand for...probably Program Assist Routine--well, it sounds like a lovely place."

-the 'Inoperative Data Pushers are referred to as "Low Resolution Programs"

-Tron and Yori find Dumont asleep, and they wake him up, also, he has more to say about the 'interface' with the Users:

"You know, not so long ago, you could've come in here and seen programs lined up all the way back to those doors, waiting for communion with their Users. The building fund was doing well too...but now...(sighs)...this so-called Master Control Program is going around cutting programs off from their natural creators, grabbing all our believers and making them ride around on little motor scooters and shoot things at each other and Weiner knows what all-- oh, it's enough to give you a crisis of faith..."

--the Bit follows along all the way until the end of the movie, and is present when Flynn jumps into the MCP Beam.

--A different end scene which was either cut or not filmed, but also described in the Disney Read-Along-Record, takes place in Alan's office at the end of the film and does not imply that FLYNN takes over the company at the end, but that perhaps Alan and Lora will (the novel also has a slightly different ending than the film) :

634 INT. ALAN'S OFFICE - ALAN AND LORA 634

Bleary but excited, they gaze happily at the information on Alan's

CRT screen as Flynn bursts into the room, waving his printout.

FLYNN

Hey -- you guys

Before he can say anything more, Alan turns to greet him, holding up

a seven-inch computer software FLOPPY DISK in its cardboard sleeve.

ALAN

Flynn! I made it. I worked out some

new codes for Tron, put 'em on a disk,

and -- it's running.

FLYNN

I know, I met him.

Alan and Lora look at him -- the same sort of mystified look he got

from Tron and Yori in the other world. He checks himself.

FLYNN (CONT.)

I mean, I saw it read-up -

hey, look at this.

He shows them the printout. It takes Alan and Lora a few seconds of

reading it to figure out its significance.

ALAN

Your old files -- ?

FLYNN

And Dillinger's instructions to

divert them -- it's all there -

look, even his home phone number,

when he logged on.

ALAN

Oh, that is beautiful. You've got

the goods...

Flynn folds up the printout, puts it in his pocket. Alan and Lora

get up, stretch, start wandering slowly toward the door with him.

FLYNN

You're telling me...

As they talk, CAMERA PANS over to Alan's color CRT SCREEN and HOLDS

on it.

635 CRT SCREEN 635

The lines of printed information that had filled it up wipe off, and

are replaced by a number of shapes very much like the ones in a

typical video game:

A BLUE CYLINDER, poised on a BLUE MESA -- resembling the MCP in the

electronic world. And THREE YELLOW ROCKETS. They move randomly at

first, then converge on the blue figure from three different

directions.

FLYNN (V.0.)

you have any idea how much I can sue these

jokers for?

LORA (V.0.)

Well, just don't forget your old friends

when you're rich and famous.

FLYNN (V.0.)

Are you kidding? You guys'll he running

this joint by then...

ALAN (V.O.)

Your friend Dillinger sure won't...

The yellow rockets all hit the blue mesa at the same time. It

EXPLODES in typical video-game fashion -- radiating lines of blue

SPARKS. The yellow rockets fly away from it and form a vertical

formation, heading together toward the side of the CRT screen as we

HEAR Flynn, Lora, and Alan heading for the door.

FLYNN (V.O.)

Hey, you know anybody who wants to

get hold of some video games... cheap?

LORA (V.O.)

You're getting out of the business?

ALAN (V.O.)

Shouldn't you wait till your

lawsuit's settled?

FLYNN (V.0.)

Nah...I decided...I've had enough of

video games to last me a good long

time. I feel like gettin' into some

real life...

at the SOUND of the DOOR to Alan's office closing O.S., the three

yellow rockets leave the CRT screen, sailing off its left-hand edge.

HOLD a moment on the exploded blue figure and

BLACK OUT.