I'm Doing an Entire Post About Tron Because That's All I Really Want to Think About Right Now
I'm also thinking about the Buffalo Bills, but that's not exactly new
Hi! How’s your summer going? Fanbase has been on an extended summer vacation, due to, well, my own summer vacation, as well as other family gatherings and various work obligations. So I apologize for falling off for awhile, but I’m hoping to return to regular dispatches as we barrel towards the year’s greatest season: fall.
As the title of this post explains: I’m going long on Tron today. This is a newsletter about fandom, and I am a fan of all things Tron. There is a new Tron movie coming out this October, I’m not sure many people know this. I understand if you’re going to tap out now and not read this, but I’m gonna keep going, because this is my newsletter, damnit!
I randomly became obsessed with the Tron franchise in January of 2020, and looking back, thank God I found Tron when I did (and most important, the Tron: Legacy soundtrack by Daft Punk, possibly the greatest movie score outside of everything John Williams ever did) Other pieces of media that got me through 2020: the Beetlejuice musical cast album, The Phantom of the Opera, and Six Feet Under (sensing a theme…outside of Tron) OK, back to Tron!
How do I even begin to explain Tron…for those uninitiated (to steal a much maligned and overused podcast phrase) Tron (1982) is a motion picture that stars Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn, a computer programmer/video game developer who, as Jeff Bridges described, gets sucked into a video game grid. Explaining this right off the bat: Tron is NOT the place they go. Tron is a character (portrayed by Bruce Boxleitner), a “program” who exists on The Grid, humans are “users.” It’s kind of like how the show Bridgerton is about the Bridgerton family, Bridgerton is NOT the place (that is London, I guess? “The Ton”) I found the original Tron borderline incomprehensible, but I have now seen the sequel, Tron: Legacy (2010), a dozen times, at least. Probably more! And Tron: Legacy is fascinating for a number of reasons (to me).
Tron: Legacy is one of the first big budget, studio sanctioned “lega-sequels” - it’s both a sequel to a semi? well-known piece of intellectual property and a reboot for a modern audience - predating your Star Wars sequels and Jurassic Worlds and every subsequent attempt to make a billion dollars via nostalgia.
Tron: Legacy is extremely accessible, plotwise - Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund) ends up getting sucked into The Grid, searching for his dad (Jeff Bridges) who’s been missing for decades. They have to team up with Quorra (Olivia Wilde, whose eye makeup ROCKS in this) to fight Flynn’s evil avatar C.L.U. (also Jeff Bridges - one of the things you might know and/or remember about Tron: Legacy was its use of deaging technology - which was quite bad in 2010, but we really have not made great advances with it since then, so it actually kind of works within the context of the movie?)
Tron: Legacy was directed by Joseph Kosinski, who went on to direct the biggest movie in the world with the biggest movie star in the world - 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick and most recently directed F1: The Movie with another huge movie star (vroom vroom).
The visuals and production design of Tron: Legacy are spectacular. The Grid is all sleek blacks and grays and whites - punctuated with fluid lines of neon blue or red or orange from things like light cycle bikes or discs - and when the news gets particularly dire, I would like to go there.
The closest to going to The Grid in real life would be to go to Disney World, because at Epcot, they have a Tron ride. I must ride the light cycle bike rollercoaster. Take me to The Grid!!!
I know I mentioned this before, but the Daft Punk soundtrack for this movie is so fucking sick. I listen to it all the time. The vinyl is among my most prized possessions. I’m not even that big of a Daft Punk fan outside of this score, but it kind of encapsulates what Tron: Legacy is all about: the movie looks and sounds REALLY cool, delivers wonderful vibes, but when it comes to things like “plot” and “character,” it’s just…fine. And that’s OK! Sometimes a movie can just be good looking and good sounding and just be vibes. But it also has Jeff Bridges saying, “Biodigital jazz, man!” and I think that’s beautiful.
Why did Tron: Legacy hit so hard for me? I do love 80s movies and franchises, for one thing. In January of 2020, I was also mourning the end of Star Wars since The Rise of Skywalker had just come out and I was…disappointed, to say the least. Tron: Legacy’s plot is not exactly groundbreaking - children and parents working through their familial issues, exploring a new and foreign universe, attempting to save the world from imminent destruction…but whatever the intoxicating combo ended up being found its way into my heart, and now I am a full fledged member of the Tron fandom. I recently found the Tron subreddit and I was quite literally giggling and kicking my feet reading people’s fan theories.
I should also mention: there was a Tron animated series called Tron: Uprising that came out a couple years after Tron: Legacy - I’ve seen a handful of episodes, and have mostly thrown it on to fall asleep. So I’m not a completist. Don’t tell the real Tron heads on the subreddit.
Now, if you’ll recall, I mentioned there is a new Tron movie coming out in a few months. It’s called Tron: Ares. The cast is seemingly made for me. It stars:
Evan Peters (fantastic in Mare of Easttown and fun in Wandavision and a real cutie, if you ask me)
Greta Lee (is anyone else still watching The Morning Show? It is deeply evil and yet I have to finish it)
Gillian Anderson!!! (I have not talked enough about The X-Files in this newsletter and that changes today)
And…Jared Leto. Woof. When this project was first announced, and the plot was described as “a program from the Grid comes to our world” I was pretty skeptical and thought that was a terrible idea. As you’ve read, I’m a Grid Head! Get me to the Grid! Disc Wars! Light cycles! Vroom Vroom! Michael Sheen vaguely cosplaying Ziggy Stardust and dancing around a weird bar with a cane!!! That’s what I want!
However, with each new trailer, my hype has only grown. Nine Inch Nails is doing the score because Daft Punk broke up, but it’s sounding really cool…
Will Tron: Ares be good? I can’t say. I also don’t know who else will see it. But I’ll be there, in IMAX, probably multiple times!
Other things I’ve seen/read/watched this summer that I have Thoughts About:
Superman
Loved! Let superhero movies be colorful and earnest again!
The Gilded Age
LOVING! Best season yet! Can’t wait to see what Clock Boy invents next! Juicy cliffhanger for the season finale!!!!!
The Summer I Turned Pretty
Hating, but the tide could be turning if Conrad gets his act together and if Belly stops acting like a martian???
What are you watching/reading/obsessing over? Are you ready for it to be football season? I’m not sure I am. The Bills are on Hard Knocks this summer, which might need to be a separate post. Happy August!