Although Disney is cautiously moving forward with TRON 3, fans can take comfort in the knowledge that that there won’t be another 28-year gap between installments in the sci-fi series. However, progress on the next live-action TRON movie will partially be affected by the reception for TRON: Uprising, a new animated series that is being developed by Disney XD.
The TRON TV show naturally had a presence at the recent 2011 Comic-Con in San Diego, where attendees were treated to some new footage from the show – and now, that material is online for everyone else to check out.
Uprising maintains the visual design and aesthetic of the TRON: Legacy universe, rather than the more dated graphic layout of the original 1982 TRON movie. While that may seem like the obvious route to take, it ought be mentioned that Uprising serves as a precursor to the events of Legacy. So while it could have sought to further connect the two TRON films by featuring a hybrid of their respective visual styles (a la Daft Punk’s “Derezzed” music video), that ended up not being the case.
However, that was arguably the proper way to go, seeing how Uprising takes place in a version of The Grid which was fashioned by Kevin Flynn’s creation-gone-wrong, Clu (here, voiced by TRON: Evolution‘s Fred Tatasciore). So, TRON’s “digital frontier” would have been enhanced and retrofitted from its original design at this point in time.
But enough of that – check out the official TRON: Uprising synopsis and Comic-Con preview below:
Produced by Disney Television Animation, the series follows Beck (voice of Elijah Wood), 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 (Tatasciore) and his henchman General Tesler (Lance Henriksen). Beck will be trained by Tron (Bruce Boxleitner) – 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.
While the test footage and conceptual design stills in the first half of this ‘Con preview are new, the actual show material has been shown before, in the previous Uprising trailer. Nonetheless, it’s fun to just sit back and admire the clever geometrical structure and architectural design of The Grid, which naturally lends itself to an animated medium. That Uprising will feature everyone’s favorite aspect of Legacy (light-cycle races and battle arena disc duels) – not to mention, amp up the action quotient even higher by adding light-tanks and other assorted TRON-style vehicles to the mix – doesn’t hurt either.
Even though the hero’s journey storyline of Uprising doesn’t sound like anything all that innovative, the show should shed some additional light on the history of the TRON universe. Most people agree that both of the previous live-action TRON movies struggled to properly establish said mythos, so the idea of more explanation sounds all the more appealing.
TRON: Uprising begins airing on Disney XD in Summer 2012.
Source: Walt Disney Pictures
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All these shows only being on XD is killing me.
Humph….all I get when I click the video is, “this video is private”
How can ratings be high if we can’t even see it? Putting it oon obscure channels will kill it.