Special Edition "TRON: The Original Classic" on DVD/Blu-ray™,

Disney’s “TRON: The Original Classic Special Edition” (Blu-ray™, DVD, Digital Download & On-Demand)

This classic groundbreaking technological film (1982) was made before computers were standard in households. Entertaining and enjoyable to view, the film gives viewers the history of the TRON series and is a nice family edition to your DVD collection.

• The TRON Phenomenon − Cast and crew of the sequel, along with the producer and director of the original, discuss their favorable opinions of the film.

• Photo Tronology − Director Steven Lisberger and his son Carl visit Disney archives. They discuss production photographs of “TRON”. The younger Lisberger serves as an interviewer, asking intriguing questions and drawing conclusions from his father’s answers. They discuss Frisbees, hair, costumes, duct tape, sharpies and much more.

• Audio Commentary − Director Steven Lisberger and producers discuss the original film.

Development features about the film’s preproduction period:

• Early Development − Director Steven Lisberger and producer Donald Kushner

• Early Animation − Shows some test shots.

• Computers Are People, Too − Explains the story, comparing it to being inside a Pac-Man video game.

• Early Video Tests − A silent section of animation.

• Gallery − An interactive section featuring hundreds of photos and drawings which you can view and tag for later reference.

Digital Imagery also features five sections focusing on the computer animation.

• Backlight Animation − Shows the stages of matting.

• Digital Imagery in “TRON” − Richard Taylor explains the four companies who combined efforts for the images in the film.

• Beyond TRON −Discusses the special effects work of the Magi company.

• The Role of Triple I − Features other major special effects.

• Triple I demo

The Making of TRON − An 88 minute documentary starting from pre-production through release and looking back on the film’s influences.

Music − Features two sections with discarded music: the light cycle race and the end credits.

Publicity − Features a 5 minute reel presented at the NATO conference, a work-in-progress trailer, four theatrical trailers and the same interactive art gallery named above.

Deleted Scenes − There are three scenes with an introduction by the director.

Design − Focus on the light cycles and two vignettes on the recognizers.

Storyboarding − Features five sections introduced by Bill Kroyer. He discusses the storyboarding process, the layout of the main titles and the light cycles storyboard.

Galleries − An interactive four-part gallery section offering hundreds of drawings and photographs from the archives on the movie.

Sarah Adamson© April 17, 2011