So it’s well known that I thought Tron was too dumb to pour piss out of a boot with instructions on the heel, and it’s well known that some of you didn’t. Some of you did, but then maybe your kids didn’t. Between the those latter two groups there are surely some people interested in the continuation of Disney’s modern Tron franchise, which comes in the form of the animated Disney XD show, Tron: Uprising. A trailer for the show will be included on the Tron: Legacy disc releases, and has popped up online today. With studios greenlighting sequels to shit like Percy Jackson regardless of true financial success, perhaps another Tron sequel will come, but for now there’s the cartoon..
As you can see, this is a prequel to last year’s film and will revolve around… I dunno, some uprising that clearly has to fail, since the population of The Grid was still under the thumb of CLU2 in Legacy (at least, we were told as such). Characters from the film will appear, the look of the film is clearly maintained, and the show has an admittedly impressive voice cast including Bruce Boxleitner, Elijah Wood (!…?), Mandy Moore, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Paul Reubens, Nate Corddry, and Lance Henriksen. It will even be partially directed by Joseph Kosinski.
Cameo?
The series will begin as 10-part series that busts out on Disney’s boy channel this fall. The official plot runs thusly:
Beck, a young program who becomes the unlikely leader of a revolution inside the computer world of The Grid. His mission is to free his home and friends from the reign of the villainous Clu 2 and his henchman General Tesler. Beck will be trained by Tron – the greatest warrior the Grid has ever known. Tron will not only teach Beck the fighting skills he needs to challenge this brutal military occupation, but will be a guide and mentor to him as he grows beyond his youthful, impulsive nature into a courageous, powerful leader. Destined to become the new protector of the system, Beck adopts Tron’s persona and becomes the archenemy of Tesler and his oppressive forces.
So I assume that someone involved in this has thought enough about it that the story will make sense, or at least tie things up in that loose, A->B->C plot writing that acknowledges sense, even if it doesn’t genuinely make sense. Still, I don’t know how the hell any of that will reconcile with the film. I also don’t care. And those who will care, will also probably be willing to construct a logical framework for the franchise. Everybody wins.
As for the aesthetic? Frankly, the computer graphics for the vehicles and landscapes aren’t profoundly downgraded from the actual film, which actually makes the traditional animation stand out more. Either way, as much as I was into it leading up to the film, I grew tired of the black glass and neon line aesthetic extremely quickly, and this is obviously much more of the same.
I’ll kill the negative nancyism here. There are certainly dumber cartoons for your kids to be watching.
It will just be your kids, right?
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