JediTricks
06-18-2012, 07:35 PM
So, I'm betting you haven't seen this. It's on Disney XD, which is I guess "Extreme Disney", it's the action cartoon channel for Disney kids. I'm lucky enough to have it in HD (High Definition :p) but my last place definitely didn't, so it's still hard to find. But Tron Uprising is on it, and Tron Uprising is surprisingly good if you're a Tron fan or need an action/adventure cartoon that doesn't have too much kid-pandering.
First off, Tron Uprising has Bruce Boxleitner as Tron, a mentor for a young mechanic who is trying to fight against Clu's forces as they take over his city. It works well on 2 levels, it's great to have Tron as a character after being such a non-entity in Tron Legacy (he's there but doesn't act like himself or say anything or is even called by his name), and Tron being a wounded mentor feels right the way they've done it so far. And having Boxleitner as the character is gold.
The voice cast is all good in general, recognizable names for major characters: Elijah Wood, Lance Henriksen, Paul Reubens. The voice directing is pretty good if not quite computer-themed enough (though that's more about the original movie's style, the new movie's style was a little more relaxed anyway).
Visually it looks really good, and a lot of care was taken to create environments that feel like they could fit in Tron universe yet still make sense - the had a speedboat and some freight containers in the last episode which just barely got away with it, but they did get away with it in my book (the boat would have been no problem except the sound was that of a real speedboat). There's a lot of thought put into camera angles to tell stories and give senses of scale - the one drawback there is that Disney XD throws a big graphic over the screen for adverts occasionally, and nearly every time they've done it it's covered something important, even once the ENTIRE focus of the scene. But there's definitely a direct connection to the movie's look, it wouldn't surprise me to learn that some of the same software was being used to make this. The characters have stylized faces which work better than you'd think, and the rest of the world is indistinguishable from Tron Legacy except not quite as "solid" (either a style choice, or just not enough money to render that much detail on a weekly cartoon budget).
Story is somewhat akin to Batman Beyond meets Spartacus, young mechanic and his friends are enjoying a free life in a port city far from Clu's capital, until Clu's forces are sent into the port to enact totalitarian rule and bring "the games" - the brutal gladiatorial arena - to the city. Mechanic starts fighting that system under the guise of Tron, who has been absent, until the Real Tron tracks him down and takes him to train to lead. Mechanic wears a "Tron" suit to inspire others and as a disguise, altering and disguising him for a secret identity. Meanwhile, his other young friends have to live their regular lives in a world now marred by violence and Clu's ironfisted rule, brought by a brutal politician-general.
So far, there's been light cycle battles, deadly disc battles, inverted battles, a train battle, Bit made a cameo, light cycle racing in the snow, and LOTS of de-rezzing... and there's only been 2 episodes!
The first episode was a prologue, getting the main character - Beck - into place as the new Tron, and setting up everything. The second ep was a 2-parter where Beck finds a passionate sympathizer for "Tron's" new uprising but they're forced to fight each other in the games. Both had Tron action and standard action stuff, but also a few smart moments and a nice little save-the-day moment from the real Tron despite his wounds.
Anyway, it's worth tracking down. Full episodes are available online as well, but it looks like only 2 episodes are available at a time, so you have to be quick, or watch it broken into clips: http://disney.go.com/xd/tron/videos/
So, anybody watching it? Thoughts?
First off, Tron Uprising has Bruce Boxleitner as Tron, a mentor for a young mechanic who is trying to fight against Clu's forces as they take over his city. It works well on 2 levels, it's great to have Tron as a character after being such a non-entity in Tron Legacy (he's there but doesn't act like himself or say anything or is even called by his name), and Tron being a wounded mentor feels right the way they've done it so far. And having Boxleitner as the character is gold.
The voice cast is all good in general, recognizable names for major characters: Elijah Wood, Lance Henriksen, Paul Reubens. The voice directing is pretty good if not quite computer-themed enough (though that's more about the original movie's style, the new movie's style was a little more relaxed anyway).
Visually it looks really good, and a lot of care was taken to create environments that feel like they could fit in Tron universe yet still make sense - the had a speedboat and some freight containers in the last episode which just barely got away with it, but they did get away with it in my book (the boat would have been no problem except the sound was that of a real speedboat). There's a lot of thought put into camera angles to tell stories and give senses of scale - the one drawback there is that Disney XD throws a big graphic over the screen for adverts occasionally, and nearly every time they've done it it's covered something important, even once the ENTIRE focus of the scene. But there's definitely a direct connection to the movie's look, it wouldn't surprise me to learn that some of the same software was being used to make this. The characters have stylized faces which work better than you'd think, and the rest of the world is indistinguishable from Tron Legacy except not quite as "solid" (either a style choice, or just not enough money to render that much detail on a weekly cartoon budget).
Story is somewhat akin to Batman Beyond meets Spartacus, young mechanic and his friends are enjoying a free life in a port city far from Clu's capital, until Clu's forces are sent into the port to enact totalitarian rule and bring "the games" - the brutal gladiatorial arena - to the city. Mechanic starts fighting that system under the guise of Tron, who has been absent, until the Real Tron tracks him down and takes him to train to lead. Mechanic wears a "Tron" suit to inspire others and as a disguise, altering and disguising him for a secret identity. Meanwhile, his other young friends have to live their regular lives in a world now marred by violence and Clu's ironfisted rule, brought by a brutal politician-general.
So far, there's been light cycle battles, deadly disc battles, inverted battles, a train battle, Bit made a cameo, light cycle racing in the snow, and LOTS of de-rezzing... and there's only been 2 episodes!
The first episode was a prologue, getting the main character - Beck - into place as the new Tron, and setting up everything. The second ep was a 2-parter where Beck finds a passionate sympathizer for "Tron's" new uprising but they're forced to fight each other in the games. Both had Tron action and standard action stuff, but also a few smart moments and a nice little save-the-day moment from the real Tron despite his wounds.
Anyway, it's worth tracking down. Full episodes are available online as well, but it looks like only 2 episodes are available at a time, so you have to be quick, or watch it broken into clips: http://disney.go.com/xd/tron/videos/
So, anybody watching it? Thoughts?