Tron: Uprising

Like STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS animated series succeeded where its feature counterparts, EPISODES 1-3, failed the franchise, TRON: UPRISING surpasses the recent film, TRON: EVOLUTION, in nearly every way. The impressionistic art design is unique and evocative. The voice acting is first rate. The story lines are surprisingly layered for an animated series, and it does a good job of telling a complete story each episode while furthering the serialized plot. And I would be remiss if I didn't mention Daft Punk's original score and some of the best action sequences I've ever seen choreographed. At the time of this review, only 7 episodes of the first season have been aired. I have watched them all twice (being a dweeb, obviously) and look forward to seeing how TRON: UPRISING continues to explore and expand the Tron universe.

Thi was an excellent show! The visual effects and animation were very well done. It was quite interesting as well. The character models looked like a mix of claymation and cartoon, and the environment seemed all Computer-Generated. The voice acting was great and the story, though it seems inconsistent with the films, was well-written.

This show managed to delve deeper into life and culture of The Grid, as the films used it as a side-story, just a world for the movie to exist. Elijah Wood did a great job of portraying Beck, and it was awesome how to guy who played Tron in the original film provided the voice in this show. Isure can't wait for season 2 and hope this show goes down as one of the greatest Disney shows ever created.

This show has taken the themes lightly explored in the Tron Legacy movie and continued to build on them with a level of care that shows genuine commitment by the cast and crew of this production. Characters are fleshed out, links are formed to Legacy and the whole thing is knitted together with sneaky plots, a beautiful look and a soundtrack that evokes Daft Punks best sounds. Haven't felt motivated enough to review anything in over a decade on IMDb or other sites but this show made me dig out my login details and make the effort. It's tricky to find on TV (especially overseas), but make the effort and buy the episodes online or just buy the upcoming bluray (fingers crossed) and you won't be disappointed. Kudos to all involved. Hopefully Disney will look past the initial ratings and allow a second season to be made. Like Firefly, it would be a shame if this show were canceled based on ratings.

"Tron: Uprising" is a TV Show meant to fill in the gap between the original "Tron", and the sequel "Tron Legacy." It focuses on the rise of Clu's tyrannic regime across the Grid, a virtual world filled with sentient programs. During the beginning of Clu's oppression, a revolution begins to grow, starting with the rogue program, Beck, a simple mechanic who decides to take on the identity of Tron.

From the very first episode, "Tron: Uprising" feels like an energetic mix between the Batman cartoons and "The Legend of Korra," with one of the most creative styles of animation I have seen, and a technologic score and soundtrack that just hums with the sounds of a virtual city. Character designs are mostly angular and artistic, and backgrounds are mostly geometric. The color palette is limited to mostly blues and oranges. The style is simply amazing, and I cannot believe that Disney only approved of a single season.

This show is also not entirely for children. There are adult concepts of forced memory loss, untrustworthy governments, blind devotion, mass genocide of a race, torture, and public execution. And though there is no blood in the show, they manage to get away with a lot of gore by making the "blood" into pixels. Many characters will brutally be crushed into tiny cubes on screen.

"Tron: Uprising" also has great conflict in it, as you are watching other characters reactions to Beck's secret identity of Tron. Some people are glad he is taking action against Clu's Commanders, Paige and Pavel, and the Supreme General Tesler, while others are afraid his actions will result in more oppression to the people of the Grid. For a TV Show that could so easily be a Good Vs. Evil tale, but it gives every character many layers. Good guys will lie and not apologize for certain actions, and bad guys will believe that they are truly doing the right thing for the citizens. Sometimes, main villains even have bad "dreams" of their own defeat. Almost every primary character has an arc that either ends, or would have ended if only another season was approved.

In my opinion, if this series had gone past one season, I believe this could have been the next "Avatar: The Last Airbender." It holds a special place in my heart. Even though this show ended abruptly, the cliff-hanger ending almost feels as if you can interpret what may tragically happen in the future to nearly all of these characters. It is on Disney Plus right now, and I implore you to watch it with an open mind. I would recommend you watch both of the Tron films before this, but in my opinion, it is better than both. This is in my personal top 5 tv shows of all time (though I am a bit biased).

TRON was a very special movie - combining the earliest efforts of CGI with a storyline that was far too confusing for people of the 80's. It was good; could have been better, but I can't see much to complain. People still remember it three decades after it was made. Very few movies can boast such a claim.

The rest of the franchise has been hit or miss - mostly "miss". TRON 2.0 was a good game, although it was underrated and mostly ignored. TRON: Evolution was a mediocre game with a weak storyline. But TRON: Legacy was the worst of them all - millions of dollars spent on a completely forgettable story with some of the best FX ever made. It was a major disappointment.

Enter TRON: Uprising. I was very intrigued when I saw the teaser trailer on the "Legacy" Blu-Ray - and I was absolutely blown away when I saw the first episodes. This is TRON done right. The animation is nothing short of astonishing - the artistic direction, fluid movements, and incredible set design beat anything that came before on the franchise, and it's quite frankly, the most gorgeous cartoon made for TV I've ever seen. I'd probably not be disappointed if I saw a movie with this kind of quality.

The storyline actually makes sense. What took Disney 1.15 hours to tell during "Legacy", this show tells us in 20 seconds (no exaggeration) - Flynn is nowhere to be found, Clu rules, TRON is missing. That's the way it should have been done in the movies. Each episode is interesting and fills in the details of what happened to the TRON universe during all those years.

Each new episode brings a new surprise - be it story arcs, animation, special effects, music - it's just mind-blowing.

Disney finally did TRON right. It only took them 30 years!