Watch out for the Master Control Program

Franc Morales

It was like nothing we had seen before.

M dHatter

It was like a star wars geek gamer movie, but didn't get much attention because of lack of advertising.

"I do not know with what weapons World War 3 will be fought, but World War 4 will be fought with sticks and stones." Einstein "Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example." Mark Twain

Steve Mayfield

at the time, the CGI was beyond "State-of-the-Art"...FYI, if you look closely while the Light Ship is sailing, you can see a Mickey Mouse Head shape on the ground [^] :thumbsup:

Steve _________________ I C(++) therefore I am

AspDotNetDev

Yeah, I only saw it recently (just before I saw the new Tron). And I just now saw Rain Main. I'm pretty sure I've seen it before, but it was so long ago I didn't really remember it. Funny that he mentions Qantas is the safest airline (unfortunately, Charlie doesn't want to fly to Australia).

[WikiLeaks Cablegate Cables]

Nish Nishant

Broken link.

Regards, Nish

New article available: Resetting a View Model in WPF MVVM applications without code-behind in the view My technology blog: voidnish.wordpress.com

Chris Maunder

I'm in the middle of watching it this weekend as well. No, it wasn't good back then. It was awesome.

cheers, Chris Maunder The Code Project | Co-founder Microsoft C++ MVP

Steve Mayfield

it works for me...hummmm, try this one [^] it has the sequence on the page :cool:

Steve _________________ I C(++) therefore I am

Johnny J

How was the new Tron then?

I'm not heavy - I'm KIDNAP RESISTANT...
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Don't tell my folks I'm a computer programmer - They think I'm a piano player in a cat house...
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Da mihi sis crustum Etruscum cum omnibus in eo!
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Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects - Will Rogers, September 7, 1924

AspDotNetDev

Pretty sweet, though I'm sure nothing compared to what the old Tron was when it came out.

[WikiLeaks Cablegate Cables]

Nish Nishant

Yeah that worked.

Regards, Nish

New article available: Resetting a View Model in WPF MVVM applications without code-behind in the view My technology blog: voidnish.wordpress.com

jim norcal

Tron truly was a work of digital art from that era and even today I love the movie. I love it enough that I own the movie, soundtrack and Tron 2.0 video game (don't knock it - it really is a visually impressive and well done game IMO) as well as the GBA version of the game. The soundtrack is very hard to find and not cheap when you do come across it. Other than the impressive digital work of the time, I really like the whole storyline of the movie. Having an entire world within computers that rivals our own societal complexities including power struggles and even its own religion is a cool concept regardless of which decade it comes out in (and makes me think twice before I kill off a video game character, just in case they really do feel pain - haha). I suppose it's difficult to get the younger generation to appreciate the older movies but I will say that now that I'm older (late 30s), I have been watching older movies (black and white sci-fi movies from the 50s/60s and 70s) and there really are some cool movies out there that you'd probably never know about unless you started watching them just to see (Colossus: The Forbin Project had me thinking about it for days after I watched it). If you can put any dislike you may have for b&w aside (and lack of newer special effects if that's also a problem for you) then you may find that some of your favorite movies are twice or three times your age!

RogelioP EX DE HL

Johnny J. wrote:

I know the film is cult now, but my question is: Was it really any good back then?

I even made an audio tape out of the movie (line out audio I rigged from the TV pc board) as it played on HBO - back in the time when a cable converter had only one button for only one 'super' channel. Would listen to the tape every now and then, no VCR yet... geeky 15 year old :cool: -- RP

Johnny J

I totally agree with you on your point of view on old movies. The reason that I ask is that I found Tron kinda cheesy. It's so full of "errors" when it comes to computer hardware/software... The users write the program? Really? Then I guess that I'm obsolete...

I'm not heavy - I'm KIDNAP RESISTANT...
-----
Don't tell my folks I'm a computer programmer - They think I'm a piano player in a cat house...
-----
Da mihi sis crustum Etruscum cum omnibus in eo!
-----
Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects - Will Rogers, September 7, 1924

jim norcal

Actually, during that day and age, most users were the programmers as well. This comes during a time when most home computer users had to write their own programs (or had to purchase very expensive software otherwise which wasn't typically done). Many of us 'users' would pick up computer magazines of the day which would contain hundreds of lines of code in them and we'd copy, line for line, that code into the computer (using basic or some other language). They were typically cheesy programs like screensaver type code or small games but that was often the only way we could get such things for the system. We didn't have the tons and tons of pre-written software for our computers like we do today. Pretty much all of the pre-written software out there was for big business, not for the home 'user'. So, for all of us nerds watching Tron back then, the concept made complete sense.

Johnny J

I've been there too - I started programming 30 years ago and have done all you describe (and more), but I still don't agree... First of all, typing in program code from a magazine still doesn't make you a programmer in my opinion... And as far as Tron is concerned, we're not talking small home computers - as far as I can tell from the movie, we're talking mainframe. And mainframe computer users sure as heck don't program them as well... That apart, there are still discrepancies when it comes to the computer hardware as well...

I'm not heavy - I'm KIDNAP RESISTANT...
-----
Don't tell my folks I'm a computer programmer - They think I'm a piano player in a cat house...
-----
Da mihi sis crustum Etruscum cum omnibus in eo!
-----
Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects - Will Rogers, September 7, 1924

jim norcal

All points taken and respected. However, for the masses for which the movie was geared, I'm sure it made more sense. And, how many hollywood movies do you know of that are technically accurate? I'm sure there's many, Many discrepancies in the movie but I don't think exactness was its reasoning to exist. I was thinking you're younger than what you appear to now be. If you've been around that long, I'm actually surprised you never saw Tron until now. It was another one of those 80s icons like silly putty, School House Rock and MTV.

Johnny J

jim norcal wrote:

I'm actually surprised you never saw Tron until now

I know, I just never saw it. I think it was due to a bad Disney experience with "The Black Hole" which came out a few years earlier. Apart from those movies, though, I really like Disney...

I'm not heavy - I'm KIDNAP RESISTANT...
-----
Don't tell my folks I'm a computer programmer - They think I'm a piano player in a cat house...
-----
Da mihi sis crustum Etruscum cum omnibus in eo!
-----
Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects - Will Rogers, September 7, 1924

xperroni

Johnny J. wrote:

How was the new Tron then?

I really enjoyed it. I particularly liked four things:

How it mingles early 80's and contemporary movie & design concepts in one trippy adventure;
The music, by my all-time techno favorites The Daft Punk, which sounds as if Vangelis went to a rave party;
The direction's care for small things - like in the scenes portraying command shells, where valid UNIX commands and syntax are always used. You see people actually using computers, not just standing in front of random screens with typing sound effects on the background. Such realism in an ostensibly fantastic movie was quite refreshing;
Last but not least, the characters. Clu is perhaps the best fantasy villain I've ever seen: not so much evil, but rather haunted by his own inner contradictions. He knows what he's doing is horrible, and he hates himself that he can't stop.

I've heard some people complain about an excess of "techno mumbo-jumbo"; don't know what they're talking about. There is a fair amount of technospeak in the movie, but it all sounded fairly tight and consistent to me, when you factor in the fact that Tron is a science fantasy story – it does not have the obligation to explain everything.

BrainiacV

I think it was due to a bad Disney experience with "The Black Hole" Or as the Japanese called it, "Brack Hore" At the end of it, I stated in a loud voice, "I'm glad I dropped acid, otherwise I wouldn't have understood the ending!"

Psychosis at 10 Film at 11

Carlosian

jim norcal wrote:

(Colossus: The Forbin Project had me thinking about it for days after I watched it).

Upvote for "Colossus", very well done for its time, and sets the stage for many of the "machines take over the world" themed movies (see Wargames, Terminator *, Matrix). I find it especially eerie for how cold and plausible the progression is, and it's one of the only ones that show the control slipping away from the engineers in anything like a realistic manner. Plus the leading characters aren't your stereotyped geeks, they are more like real engineers. If anything, Charles Forbin is too cool, not too geeky. After watching Watson win Jeopardy I pulled the movie out so I can watch it again when I get some free time :) If any of you haven't seen it, do so! ** Whoa, just read on Wikipedia the Ron Howard is remaking it, with Will Smith as Dr. Forbin! Anyway, Tron was and is magical. As someone said earlier, it was indeed like nothing we had seen before. And it was the first movie made partly for "us". We loved the little in-jokes that only programmers would get :)