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."

Lora Baines and Encom

In 1982, Lora Baines invented the SHV Laser, a.k.a. "Shiva" which with the help of original Encom founder, Dr. Walter Gibbs, scanned and transformed an orange (citrus sinensis) into a digitalized form, and stored it on the Encom Mainframe for a few seconds, and returned it back to reality again. "Here goes nothing." There went something, into 'nothing' and then back again.

This is the laser we know which was used to take Kevin Flynn to the Grid. This device in the films essentially is the tornado which takes Dorothy to the land of Oz. It is the DeLorian which takes Marty to the past...or the future. It is the looking-glass through which transports Alice to Wonderland. There is always one of these 'things' necessary to take our characters, and explain through some form of 'magic' or 'hocus pocus' or 'pseudoscience' how our characters get to where they are going. Like some magic vessel or device, it is different in each story, as each story is about something different, however, this 'magic device' also plays a part in not simply exlaining 'how' our characters get to where they are going, but offers a symbol with more meaning than one might first assume. To examine those other stories closer, you might find that the tornado, the looking-glass, the DeLorean, etc, also mean something else as well.

In our case here, our Laser was invented by a scientist in the real world called Dr.Lora Baines, in our story about Flynn, who is seeking to obtain data, evidence, on the Encom computer about the origin of his videogame programs, stolen by the evil Dillinger who essentially made it out to be that he created those games, and he gets to reap the rewards for their success. In this scenario, as the motivation for Flynn's journey, which takes an unexpected turn when the Laser brings him into the world of the Grid, Flynn is seeking justice, and just as in the real world, the Steve Jobs and Bill Gates of the world profit, and take all the credit while the Wozniaks and all the other programmers whose code has been usurped and appropriated, take the back seat, often getting nothing for their contributions. So it is that Kevin Flynn is a hero capable of fighting back, and he can do it inside the computer itself. The adventure becomes a multi-fold meaning, and adventure which takes on a variety of subtexts.

But... for all of Tron Legacy's hype about Kevin Flynn and his great

accomplishments, built on the success of the first movie, as well as Jeff Bridges himself, it could be pointed out that this movie called "TRON" has the character "Tron" in it for only a couple of minutes, and shortchanges him at that. Not only this, though the technology is being 'appropriated' by Flynn in the secrecy of his basement office, and he isn't necessarily getting rich off the thing, our movie makes no mention of one of the three main characters in the first film who built the damn thing in the first place. Perhaps Lora needs to hack into to Flynn's secret computer system to obtain the files to prove that she actually invented the SHV Laser and that Flynn has in fact in a way become like Dillinger, but only so far as we are speaking of Disney itself, or the creators of this movie, TRON LEGACY.

Eh, lots of movies end up leaving out characters in their sequels you say, what's all this nonsense about "TRON" and Yori and all that? Well, other than the fact that TRON LEGACY was actually pretty decent, I liked it a lot more than "AVATAR" though I saw neither in 3-D, the thing is, and we know how sequels sometimes go, this one really did re-energize the Tron 'franchise' in the hearts and minds of the people, the fans, etc. The thing we're doing here is saying, TRON LEGACY was great, but it was missing a few things, "TRON" for one was missing largely throughout a movie called "Tron" Legacy, and was hardly about "Tron's" legacy, but Flynn's, and we see that somebody out there was trying to involve the other beloved characters, and involve 'Alan Bradley,' Bruce Boxleitner more in these 'peripheral' supplemental videos that were made to promote the film itself, because they simply weren't in the film, either very much or at all! Alan Bradley, Roy Kleinberg, Lora Baines...Tron/Ram/Yori were simply not really much in the story... it would seem Alan and Tron were added in some last minute changes... now what we really want to see, is more of the world of the 'promotional videos' such as "Tron the Next Day" and the "Encom Event" videos, with our characters Lora Baines, Alan Bradley and Roy Kleinberg, if you're not going to give us our characters roles in the next movie, then there really isn't a "Tron" franchise here, it's a "Flynn" Franchise.

If this happens my dear Disney readers, then Tron Legacy will henceforth be referred to as "Flynn Legacy" and looked down upon as the Star Wars Prequels are today, as 'in name only' such as some fans view the last Star Trek Remake, and though all this sounds like a bunch of fanboy garbage... guess who makes your damn computers, your damn iphones, your damn cartoons, your damn television shows, your damn video games, that's right, nerds like us, who took astronauts to the moon and made it so you can download all that porn.

This may come down to an ultimatum at some point, if Yori, Ram and "Tron-as-Tron," or at the very least, Lora Baines, Roy Kleinberg and Alan Bradley DO NOT APPEAR in the next film, well I'll tell you Disney, you go ahead and spend that 200 million dollars on that thing, and hire back Hedlund and Wilde, and you see what happens to that 200 million dollars.

In the meantime, if you're paying attention to what we the fans are doing, with what spare time we do throw up something here or there on the web, you might get one or two ideas on this whole thing and where to take it, and how willing these 'Tron Fans' are to spend money on virtually anything "Tron" at all... you ignore that, and you might as well pretend you never made TRON LEGACY, and take that department in your vast corporate enterprise and set it on fire, and collect the insurance money. You'd be fools not to follow this up, even simply for the sake of $$$.

The elements and details are all there, and I don't care what some ridiculous new 24 year old director wants 'his own vision' or 'take' on TRON, that's not how you do sci-fi, sorry, look at the past, remakes seem to only work in the comic-book-superhero department, and sometimes the horror department, but the sci-fi remakes...well, they're usually horrible disasters and embarrassments. (Unless you're doing TV Shows).

So it might be that you can torture Tron with your TRON TV show and survive, it might be you completely disintegrate the TRON story with that cartoon, and you might make it work, who knows, but as far as these films go, there's a certain sense in Hollywood that if you do not pay homage, if you do not play the nostalgia card correctly, and not by cheating, your continuations of these sci-fi franchises go down in flames time after time. Look at both Planet of the Apes revivals, one was horrible and failed miserably, the other worked like a charm, and neither were because of how much money was spent on the films or the special effects. One was simply a total travesty and had virtually nothing to do with the Planet of the Apes series whatsoever, the other departed from the original plot of the series, but because it looked to that series for its main ideas, not simply the skeleton of a plot, or its imagery, but its subtext, and its intellectual foundations, and payed homage heavily to it, it worked. What I'm saying here is that Lora, Alan, Roy are deeply connected to both the original Tron's plot, but its meaning, and its subtext, you cannot surgically remove Lora from the Tron franchise and expect there not to be a reaction from fans, so why do it?

The reaction to "Tron the Next Day" and the Encom Video by fans are of great appreciation for adding back the characters which were not in the movie. Most people actually believe and assume that these characters will ALL be returning, including David Warner, as Dillinger, and his son. It just makes sense to everybody, but we sit here wondering what the hell they're going to do while we still mull over why "Tron" was given so little to do in another movie called "Tron." I've heard the answers from Liberger which sound a little forced and reaching, they know what they did, and they got by, BUT THEY WON'T BE GETTING BY THIS NEXT TIME AROUND BELIEVE ME.

The Trio of Tron, and Techno-Surrealism

TRON: IMAGINES A TECHNO-SURREALISM

The world of TRON is essentially a dual-vision of a not-too-distant-future from 1982. One in which a corporation is exploiting geniuses to make money, from what would be those on the cutting edge of technology, we know this has already happened. In one side of this world, our young brilliant protagonists join together to bring down the 'senior executive' of Encom who is fully corrupt, and strangely enough, being manipulated by an evil artificially intelligent computer system. Today we would call these characters, Flynn, Alan and Lora, "whistleblowers," who sneak into Encom to retrieve evidence of Dillinger's crimes. The villain is a corporate criminal, and this story is reminiscent of the stories of Bill Gates, or Steve Jobs, building a computer empire on the backs of clever software engineers who have entirely different motives than these "Ayn Rand heroes" like Dillinger. These are the heroes of the Cyberpunk era, the anti-establishment underdogs who fight back with technology, and in this case, technology which most people didn't really have access to.

The other side of TRON is a dreamworld. It is a surreal flipside of what these characters are doing, and what their actions represent. However, TRON predicts not specific technology, but this scenario which would occur because of the technology, and not the technology itself. The 'dreamworld' of the Grid is a mirror world of what we are shown taking place at the beginning of the movie. It is a mirror world which has everything to do with the technology in the movie, and takes its form from it, but not in any technical or realistically accurate sense, this is not a 'virtual reality' like the Matrix, this is a surrealistic cinematic device. What is happening inside the Grid, while being the entire focus of the movie, just as Oz is the entire focus of the Wizard of Oz, and not Kansas, the reason for this is not to depict what really happens inside computers, but an allegory of what we might do with our computers when we are faced with such situations such as with Dillinger and Encom.

The Grid also shows us that what we do with our technology has another side to it we rarely think about, and that what happens there in that world, will also reflect back. Tron takes on a tyrannical system, and changes it, and these ideas must find their way back into our real lives as well. It isn't merely some sort of fantasy video game, it is illustrating the philosophy of our human characters in what they are doing in the real world. There is something very wrong with people like Dillinger, they are truly villains in the sense of the fantastic, egomaniacal conniving sociopaths who must be stopped. They are the barrier which holds us all back, from seeing what we need to see, doing what we need to do, in order to change the world.

The world inside the computer in TRON is not really a world inside a computer, not even in the sense of a virtual creation like "the Matrix" it is a parallel dream vision of what the characters at the beginning are trying to accomplish. The strange ironies illustrate and apply unique meanings to everything our 'real world' characters are doing. There is much in TRON that requires reading between the lines, and it is beyond 'political' in its intentions. FLYNN could have been a real person in the 80s, as well as Alan and Lora, there is nothing particularly unlikely or fantastic about them, they could have been any real person working in any number of companies which existed at the time. This also could have been the real story of any of these types of people at any given company at the time as well.

Within the flipside computer generated dreamworld, these archtypes Tron, Clu, and Yori act as mythological versions of their real world counterparts. FLYNN's dream, or journey into this other world is describing and illustrating a set of ideas which are intended to carry us as we face all these new technologies which had their dawn in the late 70s and early 80s.

Alan is decent enough guy, one who finds out that one day even he can be restricted. One day you wake up and your account is closed, your password changed, your access restricted. This is motivation enough to want to fight the system, and when it happens to someone like Alan, you know that we're in a world of trouble.

Lora is consigned to making a device which scans real world objects and transfers them into data, imagine what Encom could do with a device like that in the future...(I refer you to watch "CAPTAIN POWER and the SOLDIERS OF THE FUTURE to follow that train of thought). You know that such huge corporations will do bad things with it. However, Lora's laser also represents something else, this 'thing' she's made which presumably Encom owns, or Dillinger will later re-appropriate, is the thing which brings Flynn into the dreamworld, but more importantly, allows Flynn to get 'in there' and do something important. Flynn is off being a bit immature, and he's caught up in the world of videogames, and he's good at it, at both creating them, and playing them. He needs a shining light that points him to his destiny, and Lora's laser essentially is that light. In another context, Lora's device, something which turns something into nothing and back into something again, has an even greater meaning. People like Flynn are somewhat egomaniacal themselves, hackers can be quite arrogant about their accomplishments, and what they truly need are two things: the moral imperative of people like Alan, and the ego-shattering inspiration of people like Lora. She destroys him, and brings him back to 'something' and that something is heroic. (and he brings her back later as well) This is a mythological archtype.

Alan needs a bit of Flynn, he's a little uptight, and Lora needs someone like Alan to wake up to the fact that she's starting to get lost in work that is basically going to be completely repurposed by people like Dillinger. Alan's straightforward and justified bitching about the MCP and the 'conspiracy' of Dillinger is something she needs to take seriously, and she does, leading Alan to Flynn, so they can all get on with doing the right thing.

There is some brilliance in these characters, though most critics call them 'wooden' and undeveloped. What happens inside the computer dream world, mirrors the above in more literal ways. Yori/Lora is basically hypnotized in her work by Sark and the MCP, Tron wakes her up. Flynn brings her back to life with his energy. These are literal illustrations of what would be happening 'in the real world.'

Yori is seen 'creating' or bringing into existence the Solar Sailer. This 'ship' looks a lot like a butterfly, a creature of transformation, or transcendence. She reclaims it, or steals it, it is hers, it is her transformation, through the inspiration of Tron's crusade and Flynn's energy. When they are caught by Sark, Flynn brings her 'back to life' with his energy or 'hope' and if she can steal and operate this Solar Sailer, why not Sark's ship? What is Sark's ship? Sark is abandoning it to be 'de-rezzed' which is just like corporations and their wasteful and destructive use of resources, and 'built in obsolescence.' She 'recycles' the Carrier, and takes Flynn to the MCP communication beam. Her ability to apply the skill for one program to a completely different one, and 're-purpose' it is the 'idea' which takes Flynn to the 'communication beam.' Everything about Lora and Yori have to do with 'beams of light.'

Flynn, the cocky and somewhat arrogant hacker/gamer/programmer 'sacrifices' himself by jumping into the light. This is his transformation and transcendence. Tron uses a 'data disc' to destroy the MCP. Previously, this disc was nothing but a tool for the 'games' and now it is a weapon to take down the system, a simple disc, in other words, information. Tron doesn't use a laser gun, he uses information, and it is information that Flynn needs to take down Dillinger, and it is information which Alan would be 'freeing' with his program. Information is what Lora's laser points to, when it transforms things or 'people' into 'data.'

TRON is the surreal story of transformation of certain characters which could be anybody in the real world, working at various similar jobs, and how and what they must do to 'free the system.' All of this is still relevant today. The surreal background of the 'computer world' illustrates where this struggle will take place, and that is in some sort of 'technological landscape' something which William Gibson called 'cyberspace.'

You're there right now, if you're reading this. You're staring not at printed words on a page, you're staring at electronic light. You're in the world abstractly imagined by TRON, and so the question is, what are you going to do now, User?