Sorry it took me so long to get this thing up. I was really busy over the summer and the semester before hand. :p I'm finally getting around to editing and checking this thing because, I'll be honest, Uprising deserves this. ;D
First of all, I'd like to mention that I have a major soft-spot for what is collectively known as "adventure" shows or movies and the stories they produce. This does not mean, however, that I would sacrifice a good story for the sake of action or innumerable explosions. This does mean that I have a low tolerance (more like none at all :p ) for movies or shows that orbit completely around romance and humor. The Marx Brothers is the only exception to this. With that in mind, take this immense worshiping of the show, Tron Uprising, with a "grain of salt" and know that as it pretty much satisfies my story-adventure-scifi-action cravings. ;)
Ugh....I don't even know if I can do this--this awesome thing justice. I just can no longer contain my pure enjoyment of this series and universe. I also want to explain why Tron has joined Cody and Batman on my "awesome characters that I would die if they somehow existed in this world" list. Here goes....
Ok, so you've probably heard about the new Tron movie coming up, Tron 3. Last I heard of it they were about to finish the first draft of the script or something and it was slated for 2015 (along with all the other movies). XD And if you remember back to my previous rants about Star Wars and Disney, you'll remember that I had a problem with Disney never supporting the characters I was interested in, or giving them much screen time. You'll also probably recall my innate dissatisfaction for the general, seemingly-formulated way Disney goes about unfolding other people's stories (dualistic characters, boy meets girl or 'best friends forever!' being central, and just a general 'rosy-lensed' view on everything...)Therefore I was overjoyed (and immediately addicted) when I found Tron Uprising. Why? Because it was like the first time the story was actually about Tron (the character). I also thought it was interesting how that one scene of Tron fighting the Black Guard and Clu so Flynn could escape during Tron: Legacy, the one scene that stuck with me more than any other in the entire film, was basically the basis for Uprising. That alone shows how much in-tune these writers for Uprising were with the parts of the story I liked too (not that we worked together though ;) ). But I'll get to that later. ;D This is how shows are supposed to be. With not just the art, writing, or direction/cast standing out, but ALL of them working together in sync and with excellence to create the show/story. So many shows and even movies today are great in one or two of these areas but seriously lacking in others. Tron Uprising is expounding in all of these groups, making it "practically perfect in every way". ^w^
The writer and the director have done something almost every single "cartoon" on tv fails to do: Have characters that I care about. It's a phenomenon. Did I mention that the cast help? They help. A lot. The thing is, is that these characters--who, need I remind you, are Programs, not even "people"--express more emotion, more character change and development, more realism, more dynamism of feeling and individuality than, say, (I totally had to look these up just now...Just goes to show how much I'm into Disney.... Xp ) Wizards of Waverly Place or Pair of Kings. Even Clone Wars, despite having such rich dynamics with the clone troopers (<3), fell short of this monument many times (especially in season 5 -_- ). You see, with Uprising, every single episode is like delving into a chocolate cake: You keep going back to it and eating some more of it, nibble by nibble, and it never loses flavor or intensity. There flowith creative juices!!! XD I mean, it's like if Commander Cody was in just about every single Clone Wars episode. The art is amazing, the acting is superb to the utmost level of bossness, the music is so refreshing (in a world of pop songs leaking into everything :c), and the story...in my opinion, the key element to everything, is beyond Clu's view of perfection. ;D Like a chocolate cake, it draws you in. The characters are real: you like them, you like what they do, you are interested in what they do, you care about them. The dialogue (except for about two lines) is priceless and marvelously executed (a MASSIVE kudos to Bruce Boxleitner for literally making Tron such a intriguing and complex character. Elijah Wood and all the other actors did a great job too! In contrast, I did not think Elijah sounded like Frodo. I barely even noticed it was him until I took a good look at the credits! Hats off!!) : they create realistic emotion in the characters, they create individuality and depth in the characters....The list goes on and on.
I actually stumbled upon the show by looking for animation videos on Youtube as I am wanting to do some concept animations using GIMP. I came across the first episode, the only one that's free online, and was sucked right in. I remembered the backstory previous, Flynn was the Creator, Tron the Protector/Guardian, and Clu the 'destroyer' (more like jealousy-ridden, frustrated son :c ), so everything fell right into place. And when Tron in his disguise came into the scene, I immediately was satisfied with the entire episode. It was one of those plot devices where the viewer or reader knows something the main character, Beck, doesn't. That made it all the more fun to watch his interaction with Tron when the security program was in his disguise. I and I'm sure many of the viewers of that episode, not yet aware of the time frame the show was operating in nor the actual outcomes of that one definitive scene, would have seriously thought he was Rinzler. I won't spoil it any more for you though. ;D
I remembered later, after seeing that first episode, watching the trailer on the Tron Legacy dvd a few years back. It surprised me that I still could remember that initial trailer clearly and that I had watched it a second time on the dvd because I was so intrigued. It's funny how I remembered that trailer more than I did most of the scenes in the movie with the Flynns. :P
First, the way this thing is shot, you feel like you're watching a movie! The shots have perspective, they have depth, the subjects are shot (no not like that! D: ) in interesting and dynamic ways...I can't even begin to pretend I know all of these terms or catch all the ways the camera is used!! It's better than watching a lot of movies!! If they made an IMAX of this thing I would probably end up in a hospital from my retinas exploding or in a seizure because of the epicness of this thing!!!! I kid you not, if this doesn't continue past the first season, it'll be 'rediscovered' (either by all the awesome, kind people supporting it on Twitter and dA) and everybody will be like, "WHERE WAS I WHEN THIS WAS GOING ON?" or "WHY DIDN'T I SEE THIS?". The way the shots accent the art is just jaw dropping. Each character, even the "sub" ones, get shot about five different ways throughout the season. You've probably heard this before though as it is definitely one of the most overtly distinctive features in Uprising, but it's a massive break from the typical ways a tv show is shot.
Another thing, every single, consecutive time I re-watch any episode, I notice something new. Not like, "Oh hai, that building looks like it has a derp face on it." like I did in Clone Wars but like, "Why the heck is Tron's reflection of him in the blacksuit with the helmet up when he's wearing his white one??" O_____O or (even better) "Tron refused to call Cyrus 'Tron' when they were fighting but called Beck 'Tron' right in the first episode...." :O TuT (I should make a list of all the awesome things I've noticed in here!) The fact that they go out of their way to put in little things like that, or little hints or nods towards Legacy or other Tron related material, makes this show so interwoven (for lack of a better word) with the rest of the Tron history. Like the whole jousting scene in the games with Paige was literally a page right out of Daft Punk's Derezzed song video.
They also just go out of their way to make it soooooo incredibly detailed too. All the reflective surfaces, even the non reflective, textured surfaces, are so well done and so realistically plotted out that you literally cannot absorb everything the first time through. They didn't have to put their time into making it so immersive but they did because they seem to know the value of quality over quantity. ;D They know that detail makes the show even more immersive and interesting, drags us right into the world, right into the story. Kinda like Lord of the Rings or Star Wars drags us right into the world. Shows us how it's different from our own. This kind of detail spits in the face of all the run of the mill, same design-same lack of detail, "kids" (more like infant) shows out there. Also the fact that the world of Tron, the Grid, is one that I feel like we were all dying to see more of since Legacy. Legacy like introduced us to the world but I felt like we never got to really go in-depth with what was going on in the Grid. The Users just blew stuff up of stumbled their way through the games. In Uprising, we see what things are capable of, we begin to grasp at what their purpose or role in the Grid are. And just like Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, or Star Trek, the Tron-universe is really unique and intriguing. They didn't have to make Uprising look this gorgeous but the fact that they did, and that they succeeded, just goes to show not only the skill but the extension of the audience beyond social expectations.
The character design and movement is wondrous too. Disney seems to be on some sort of streak with what I call 'dumb-CGI'. This is where characters or objects, perhaps for the sake of the audience, move in unrealistic, lethargic ways. Eyes blink and move very slowly. Limbs seem stiff and slow in motion as well. And, perhaps worst of all, the characters seem to be unable to stand still. It's not that they're fidgeting or simply breathing, but rather that the animators felt that they somehow had to react to every single second of screentime they had. >:P So they bounce around or shift their limbs like they've got a chunk of toilet paper stuck to an uncomfortable area. }:L
Uprising made the characters move realistically all the way down to the fast, precise movement of their eyes. They placed unique movement on each finger, each bending in relation to the objects or individual action of movement instead of the same three gestures or grips over and over and over again. When a character is limp their arms swing like they're actually limp. When a character is straining their arms and face show it. They paid attention to the individual character's muscle structures right down to those of the face and gave the characters more than one way to frown. You can watch Tron shift his weight around during combat and compare how different it is compared to Beck or Paige or Cyrus....Just the diversity adds to the realism! This is why I say it's like watching a movie: It's that kind of quality.
Another cool thing that I really missed in a lot of other shows is something I call 'continuum'. Continuum is my term for when you can't separate any episode from the next because they're so interlocked. Just like the art/design and camera shooting, bearing witness to the occurrence of details between episodes (like the exchange of Zed's modded bike at the end) just adds to the complete smoothness of the whole season. I think this is an important detail because in shows like Clone Wars sometimes a lack of this connectiveness, even for the small things, added up to a feeling of unimportance. As you may know, I had a lot of problems with some of the Clone Wars characters seeming to forget what had recently occurred in previous episodes, thus repeating the same mistakes they did before. :p In fact, the most character development/continuum that seemed to be occurring happened with mostly secondary characters: the clones.
Not so in Uprising. It is apparent that the writers and director made a point to make the entire season flow together in 'continuum'. The characters reference past occurrences, previous encounters, and show intelligence by being realistically engaged with these occurrences. For example, Mara is a huge Renegade fan and we see that love develop and change throughout the season, even to the point where her affection is shaken by another character's mysterious death. Events and characters blend so well together and so realistically that I am constantly reminded of the individuality and depth of these characters. Even the 'sub characters' pose fascinating depth (the friendship between Hopper and Bartik, Pavel's power hunger, and Link's uncanny knacks)! More on characters in the next paragraphs though. ;)
Also Uprising is like the glue from the Original, Betrayal, possibly Evolution, and especially Legacy. It's holistic and vivid and the images and lines stick with you forever. :o Or at least that's how it feels for me. Kudos for Charlie Bean for being such a master at this art. :D
Like I kept coming back to throughout this (rant) article, one of the coolest things that this show does is give us a set of awesome characters. If you've read any of my Clone Wars rants, you'll know me to be insanely fixated on character portrayal (I blame my writing instincts/ocds :p)
Another thing that I subconsciously felt relief from was the show's lack of a straightforward comment on moral lessons. You interpret your own ideas. You come to your own conclusions on what was meant. It throws all of Disney's regurgitated 'lessons' back in it's face. Supposed 'villains' are shown sympathetically, heroes display faults, practically innocent characters are horribly tortured, and death is permanent. Through all this hope stands the test. I think that simply the fact that when a character dies, they actually die and aren't resurrected in some fluffy feeling afterthought. No, they die. I think it's one of my favorite things about Uprising. It makes the threats real. It makes the characters and their lives precarious and precious. It makes them human.
But a show without true character reaction to death makes that entire act nothing. Hence, the pitfalls of Clone Wars' primary characters watching beings die in front of them with emotionless faces. You might say they've seen so much death that they've become used to it, but I say that if Commander Cody can show so much unspoken emotion in the Slavers Arc (with a freakin' helmet on!) when his brothers die (and practically every time someone dies), then they should too. And I'm not asking for big, extravagant displays of grief of horror like Disney or Hollywood tends to use to punctuate the death. No, I've to hand it to Uprising, just adding such expressions as the looks of terror on Moog and Rasquet's face when they walk over the voxels of dead Programs, or Beck being torn between grief and acceptance when letting his friend go. Even the 'villains' (I don't like using that word; most of them aren't really evil at all) express fear with proximity with death. Even tinges of fear can be read in Clu's body language. All of these are so unique to the individual character and so realistic that the deaths become important to us the viewers. It shows us that these characters care about their fallen friends and themselves.
I guess I just really, really dislike how so many shows brush off death, even the death of the villains, like it was nothing. Sure, everybody doesn't want their kids (or themselves) to be reminded about death and mortality, but I ask, "Which is worse? Knowing about death or not knowing about (or valuing) life?". I guess this probably says something about me, that I'm the type of person that thinks that one really can't take life or the the lives of others for the important things they are until they realize death. If the characters are made to just brush off death or near death like it was simply an inconvenience or bad day, then viewers value those lives (however seemingly insignificant) just as little. I would argue that valuing life is one of the (many) themes of Uprising and is something that follows Beck and Tron throughout the story.
As I've said before, the facial expressions in this show are phenomenal. They're ranged and individualistic to the character portraying them. With that restated, I'd like to diverge into fight choreography. I said before that the characters express in all the ways they should throughout the whole show. In the fights it's a bit harder to catch but the makers of Uprising don't disappoint or fall short from sustaining the characters' emotions continuously. It's one of those things that you might have to watch the episode over again to fully catch and appreciate, but it's definitely there. Their faces aren't glued into some perpetual frown or intense look of concentration. Not only do their faces change throughout the fast paced fighting, but to match the movements they're making. Let's be honest here, nobody looks like an epic cartoon-ninja when they're fighting. Our faces contort and go slack and twitch as we move. Such is the expressiveness of the Uprising characters. Cyrus' loathing expression continues as he beats Tron to his knees but that emotion changes slightly throughout the battle and evolves into an almost animal snarl of rage. And when he sends his elbow into Tron's back emotion fades somewhat into that of vague concentration.
All this talk about emotions and characterization brings me to my next point. I would like to be unnervingly honest, if not a little cliché, and say that Tron Uprising was the show we needed but not the one we deserved right now. I admit, I came to it late, like an entire year late. And that might just be a sign of how poor the promoting of this show was, but the point is that THIS is Tron. As it should be. No strings or bugs attached.
Everything is summed up in what Clu says in Scars, "It was you I was after...". Not Flynn. Not Sam. And not even Quorra. Tron is what Clu was after and what we were after too. To be unflinchingly honest, I didn't really give a rip what happened to the Flynns in Legacy. Not even really Quorra. Their characters were the typical, "I'm gonna do whatever the heck I want" sort of thing and they never really seemed to learn anything in the end. I couldn't relate to their recklessness nor their disregard for life. I mean, think about it, Sam derezzes guards.....which we are shown were once normal, citizens of the Grid. We see even good Programs, like Tron's team, repurposed so it makes Sam's offense even more rank because he doesn't seem to even care who they are. Even Kevin doesn't seem to put very much effort to stop Sam, coming on par with some of his attitude we see in Betrayal and the Original movie. The Flynns are gods and they just don't care about the average-powered Programs who, in essence, represent us. (Which makes Tron's rage and horror in the coup scene so raw. He realizes what happened. He realizes that he is likely killing the Programs he fought to protect. He realizes that Flynn doesn't give a rip about him or anyone else when it comes down to it. You can literally see Tron give up hope, both in Legacy and Uprising, and see him give up living. He wanted to die. If this is not at least a little bit disturbing to viewers I don't know what is. :c
Therefore, I proceeded to ditch the obvious, handsome 'hero' of the movie and become intrigued by and admire the one who wears a mask for nearly the entire movie. :P (Remember this is the same mentality of someone who loves other masked characters: Batman, Commander Cody, Jango Fett....) Tron was the one who we could relate to. Sure he had some powers, powers which we were introduced to little by little in Uprising, but the way he acted, his attitude is more like ours. He tries to help and doesn't always succeed. He gets hurt. He cares about his fellow Programs and even the 'villains'. I said it once and I'll say it again: Tron is like the Batman of the Grid. Think about it. He lost a loved one (Yori) to the old system and though he didn't choose to be the Grid's Protector, he still continued it because he cares. If I had to choose between Flynn or Tron I would choose Tron in a heartbeat. Though Fynn does care about his system and its denizens, there is just some sort of recklessness, some sort of lack of selflessness, that prevents him from truly coming across as deeply caring. The way he throws about his powers, pushing off serious events such as the derezzing happening at the Games, doesn't seem like the sort of genuine compassion of Tron.
And that's why I love Tron. Because he's genuine. And Uprising does an amazing job showing it. He's so much more original than so many other characters I've seen, even in Clone Wars. It was just so much fun and so darn intriguing to learn about. Especially for someone who came away from Legacy and the original thinking, "I want to know more about Tron (and the other Programs he associates with). It is what this series is called isn't it?". He and the other Programs are the reason why I recommend Uprising first before Legacy or any of the other Tron movies. Seriously. Uprising was the way the story about Tron, the Grid, and its denizens was supposed to be.
Something should be said about the music because, quite simply, it's amazing. Where so many shows, and even movies, go to popular music or lyrical music to make up the soundtrack, Uprising brings back themes from Legacy. The orchestral-electronic mix is so neat and honestly, I've never heard anything like it before Legacy's soundtrack. Both the electronics and the orchestra compliment each other perfectly and the themes are rich and deep, more so than I feel a pop song could accomplish. Joe Trapanese was at the helm of the Uprising soundtrack (I believe he helped with the Legacy music) and he wowed us all with bringing those nostalgic themes from Legacy back while creating new, equally memorable themes. This is one of the problems I had with Clone Wars: Apart from having not very memorable themes, I couldn't really hear the story played out through the music. It was just like background noise. There were a few times where there was a brief section in the Clone Wars soundtrack that I was like, "Ooo!", but those moments were quickly gone and mushed back into the background....noise. :p With Uprising, the entire soundtrack is just saturated with good stuff. I have moments memorized from the show where I loved a theme in the soundtrack that I couldn't find in the iTunes album. I listen to the music and can just hear the clash of discs or the grief or epicness of a scene. I hear Cyrus' chilling menace, but also his sad fall into insanity. These songs are memorable.
I see Disney's cancelling of this show, like the cancelling of Clone Wars, its way of controlling the new (torrential) stream of ideas the shows were creating. Sadly, I see this as Disney's (I almost put Dyson ;D ) way of 'collecting' ideas and franchises to add to it's Borg cube/intellect. Too good of a story. Too much deep stuff. Too much death and risk (there's literally no superheroes here!). Excuse me, but you know what? This is the way it should be. Ok, maybe 4 years olds shouldn't be watching this (Cyrus and Pavel have even turned up in my dreams being....creepy and standing outside my door or something. 0___0 ) but 13-15ish year olds should get this stuff. I (and probably many other people) get this stuff and I'm an adult! My Mom watched this with me a few summers ago and enjoyed it. She got so into it that when No Bounds finished and it was like 12 o' clock on a work night, she wanted to see the next episode. She was so into it that when Terminal finished she asked to see the next episode. 0___0 And this is someone who didn't know anything about Tron. I seriously can't understand why they sacrifice legends like this for crap like Step it Up or whatever random song + drama shows they have on now that teach kids that the only important things in life are how many friends you have, relationships, how much drama you can cook up.....ARG! *in Captain Barbosa voice*
While there is still hope ("because Tron lives" lol ;D) that the cancellation has something to do with the new movie coming out, I kinda feel that it was because Disney didn't like the non dualism of it. Like I said before, characters Disney raised up on pedestals and gave entire movies to, (Flynn cough cough) get shown in a more realistic light. They have some serious faults, ones that we all saw if we weren't convinced by the Flynn's charm, power, or recklessness. And though Uprising doesn't hate on them, it definitely shows, subtly that everyone has faults and failings, especially the Users. I mean, come on, Flynn in Betrayal and even Legacy, though painted like a glowing god, under the surface was pretty uncaring about the Programs. All those little inklings were brought together and explored in Uprising. Look how he treated Tron's and even Clu's warnings. Look how he brushed aside Dyson, almost literally, to praise the Isos who really were no different than the Basics. Especially after Dyson literally lost a chunk of his face trying to keep the peace between those two parties, to get them to understand that they were equals. Nope. Flynn just turns around and makes the matter worse by acting like the Isos were more important than everything else. To say that Flynn literally caused the destruction and death, the coup, would probably be true.
I could go on for hours with this ranting but I'll just restate that I think Disney doesn't like seeing so much 'grey area' in movies/tv shows. Good guys are supposed to be the best at everything, wise, kind, luminous with power and righteousness. Bad guys are supposed to be pure evil, nonredeemable villains incapable of understanding or accepting the "truth". Underdogs? Heh, they're invisible. All this is the sort of message Disney proclaims again and again and again. ("Conform my minions!!") I can see how Uprising's stories and characters would make Disney cringe and say, "Tron? He's just a Program. He's practically powerless against Flynn!" "Why do you have them failing so many times? Why do their friends die? Can they come back to life? Can there be more of Flynn and Quorra in there? You should make Paige and Tesler more evil. Why doesn't Tron kill Cyrus or Dyson?". I think Disney separates its movies into some sort of 'better' world. Some world where the 'good guys' always win. Some place where viewers are taught the same 'lessons'/experiences over and over again: Good guys always win. And you know, that might be alright sometimes. But all the time: No. It's ignoring a problem. Sometimes our desire for a 'perfect world' (by whose definition too) causes intolerance. I am surprised that our American culture (with all its cultures) has remained so keen to protect and maintain this 'perfect', black and white world. To me it screams a need for conformity, for people all thinking and doing the same things. Literally pushing people down so a certain, lucky, few can be the 'hero', the pure white champion.
And that totally misses the point. If there's one thing that Tron Uprising shows us it is that the point is not to "win". There is no winning ever that comes with out a cost or a choice, no "happy endings". There is just people who learn and grow wiser. People who realize that it's a test of their morals and ideals. People who realize what they need to change or what doesn't work. People who act like people and not a bunch of robots feigning emotion.
Uprising totally smashing this just world bias in front of their faces is so amazing. Sure Beck and Tron succeed....sometimes, but as I said before, there are costs. Sometimes they seem to wish they hadn't succeeded even. They question their lives and their choices constantly. And the looming fact that Tron eventually becomes Rinzler makes almost everything he does nullify. We know they fail in the end. Or at least their objective of ousting Clu fails. We know Beck and his friends are nowhere to be seen in Legacy. The Grid is consumed by Clu's rule...But do they completely fail? No. Never.
Beck and Tron and all the other characters in Uprising learn and change as people more than the Flynns or Quorra will ever do. And the Flynns always "win"! Heck, the fact that even Tron changes as a character, learns from his experiences and failed plans is enough to topple the just world bias! But in the end, Disney clearly didn't like that message. They didn't like that hope and determination was made more important than good looks or winning. So they shut the show up and shut the Grid down. :c
Anymore (for me) the name Disney signifies taking an idea and turning it into formulated mush to feed to audiences that are becoming more and more addicted to this sort of media. Take 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, it's one of the coolest novels out there with one of the most interesting characters ever: Captain Nemo. Not only is Nemo a paradoxical, what I call a "grey" character, one that has made some not so great decisions, but we still inevitably love and care about him. In the Disney movie, half of Nemo's story is taken away and kinda shoved under the floorboards to make way for the semblance of Ned to sing and dance around as the self-proclaimed, immediate hero of the story. See what I mean? It's like they need all the titles they can get a hold of to Disney-fy them and make it "theirs". The sad part is that all these stories are the same, they're all Borgs off the same Borg cube. You could practically take any Disney princess story and erase the minuscule differentiating details, and you'd end up with the same, old story. That's why people are so surprised when awesome stories rise up through the ranks of the same-old-same-old, Disneyish stuff (Inception, The Dark Knight, Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Tron Uprising.....need I say more?).
In conclusion, I kinda see the end of Tron Uprising like this: "Better to die a hero than live to see yourself become the villain." In other words, I can at least find some solace in the fact that this show was beyond my wildest expectations and imaging and that it ended there, with me still in complete bewilderment of it, rather than teeter into a derelict existence like Clone Wars did. But I still do want it back. X( If there's any show today that can speak to the meaning of humanity and make us think and question who we are and our world, it's this show. I don't know how else to say it.
Thank you to everyone for making it possible.
Thank you for taking your time to read this (rant). ;D It feels good to get everything I loved about this show down and be able to explain it. Nobody paid me anything to do it. I just say what I want to because I think its deserving of my time. :) Remember not to just take my word for it though. If you are in any way intrigued by what you see here, please go check out the series on iTunes or Netflix. Here's the first episode, the only one that was published to Youtube (see below). Thank you. :)
Note: All images were NOT created by me. They were created by the amazing movie and art skills of all the artists of the Tron Uprising crew. They are simply here to show you the masterful art, design, and camera work of the show. :)
My favorite episodes: Scars Part 1 and 2, Identity, No Bounds, and Terminal. These are followed closely by: We Both Know How This Ends and The Stranger.
Episode 1.
Notes: It's not my all time favorite episode, mostly because of Tron not getting much development, but it's kind of the origins story and setting the scene so it's totally necessary and understandable.
