Tron: Uprising
Year: 2012-2013
Created by: Charlie Bean
Starring: Bruce Boxleitner, Nate Corddy, Lance Henriksen, Mandy Moore & Elijah Wood
Episodes: 19 (1 Season)
BBFC: PG
Published: 04/05/22
Created by: Charlie Bean
Starring: Bruce Boxleitner, Nate Corddy, Lance Henriksen, Mandy Moore & Elijah Wood
Episodes: 19 (1 Season)
BBFC: PG
Published: 04/05/22
Whilst Tron: Legacy didn’t blow the world away in quite the manner Disney would have hoped, it did provide an excellent expansion to the Tron universe by creating such a fascinating world. In my review of Legacy I said that I wanted to spend more time there and see more of what life in The Grid was like. Much to much surprise then I found that such a thing existed in the form of Tron: Uprising, an animated series that aired on Disney XD two years after Legacy came out. Intrigued, I took a dive into the nineteen-episode series with the hope of learning more about how The Grid operated.
The Grid is a digital world created by videogame developer Kevin Flynn where programs carry out their daily tasks. He had hoped to create the perfect system with the aid of two programs, Tron (Bruce Boxleitner) and Clu (Fred Tatasciore). Clu felt as though Flynn had lost sight of his vision for a perfect system and turned against his creator and Tron.
Many cycles later a mechanic program, Beck (Elijah Wood) takes a stand against Clu’s dictatorial regime. In doing so he is branded as ‘The Renegade’, but also attracts the attention of Tron, long thought dead by Clu. Tron trains Beck so that he may stand a better chance of fighting against Clu’s forces, lead by General Tesler (Lance Henricksen) and in doing so also start a resistance movement using Ton as the figurehead. But Beck must keep his life as The Renegade secret from his friends Zed (Nate Corddry), and Mara (Mandy Moore).
The Grid is a digital world created by videogame developer Kevin Flynn where programs carry out their daily tasks. He had hoped to create the perfect system with the aid of two programs, Tron (Bruce Boxleitner) and Clu (Fred Tatasciore). Clu felt as though Flynn had lost sight of his vision for a perfect system and turned against his creator and Tron.
Many cycles later a mechanic program, Beck (Elijah Wood) takes a stand against Clu’s dictatorial regime. In doing so he is branded as ‘The Renegade’, but also attracts the attention of Tron, long thought dead by Clu. Tron trains Beck so that he may stand a better chance of fighting against Clu’s forces, lead by General Tesler (Lance Henricksen) and in doing so also start a resistance movement using Ton as the figurehead. But Beck must keep his life as The Renegade secret from his friends Zed (Nate Corddry), and Mara (Mandy Moore).
Tron: Uprising only ran for nineteen episodes before Disney cancelled the show due to poor ratings figures. As a result Beck’s story is left unfinished come season’s end, and it is frustrating because the series spends so much time trying to flesh the world out that not much is actually achieved in the main plot by the end of the final episode.
Uprising isn’t worth watching for the story, partly because of this unfinished nature, but also because the writing generally isn’t great. There’s a lot of filler, and most of the dialogue is pretty cringeworthy and flatly delivered.
The characters are, similar to Legacy, underwhelming. The only person I actually formed a connection with in the entire series was Mara, and it’s because she’s probably the only program that thinks rationally (aside from the final two episodes of the series where her opinions change by the scene).
But much like Tron: Legacy, Uprising does present an interesting world that is actually given an opportunity to be fleshed out properly. It gives viewers a much greater understanding of how The Grid functions and what role each kind of program has in that world. There’s still so much more that needs to be covered, but it does a good job at answering most of the major questions posed by Legacy.
What really makes Tron: Uprising special though is the animation. The Tron films were always visually striking and artistically unique with their mostly dark environments illuminated with streaks of coloured light. Uprising is no different, sharing much of Legacy’s artistic design; however, because Uprising is an animation it allows for so much more creativity when designing environments and objects than could be possible in live action.
There are two things that bug me a little about the animation style though. Firstly, is that characters bodies are proportionally weird. Faces are extremely long (usually having massive chins or foreheads), and the vast majority of characters bodies are their legs. It’s a minor issue, but it’s one that never failed to irk me with particular characters who just look wrong. Then there’s the frame rate. The animation isn’t smooth, and definitely runs below the standard for terrestrial broadcasting which is 28FPS. As a result, it can look choppy at times, even jerky in places.
It’s unsurprising that Tron: Uprising was never renewed for a second season as the first has so many issues that I don’t think would have been solved by just giving them more episodes. The writing is dumb, and the animation isn’t as good as it could be. But I do appreciate that Uprising gave me more time in The Grid and expanded upon various things I wanted answers to that Legacy just glossed over. I’d love to see something like it return, but it’s probably a good thing that Uprising didn’t get to go on for too much longer.
Uprising isn’t worth watching for the story, partly because of this unfinished nature, but also because the writing generally isn’t great. There’s a lot of filler, and most of the dialogue is pretty cringeworthy and flatly delivered.
The characters are, similar to Legacy, underwhelming. The only person I actually formed a connection with in the entire series was Mara, and it’s because she’s probably the only program that thinks rationally (aside from the final two episodes of the series where her opinions change by the scene).
But much like Tron: Legacy, Uprising does present an interesting world that is actually given an opportunity to be fleshed out properly. It gives viewers a much greater understanding of how The Grid functions and what role each kind of program has in that world. There’s still so much more that needs to be covered, but it does a good job at answering most of the major questions posed by Legacy.
What really makes Tron: Uprising special though is the animation. The Tron films were always visually striking and artistically unique with their mostly dark environments illuminated with streaks of coloured light. Uprising is no different, sharing much of Legacy’s artistic design; however, because Uprising is an animation it allows for so much more creativity when designing environments and objects than could be possible in live action.
There are two things that bug me a little about the animation style though. Firstly, is that characters bodies are proportionally weird. Faces are extremely long (usually having massive chins or foreheads), and the vast majority of characters bodies are their legs. It’s a minor issue, but it’s one that never failed to irk me with particular characters who just look wrong. Then there’s the frame rate. The animation isn’t smooth, and definitely runs below the standard for terrestrial broadcasting which is 28FPS. As a result, it can look choppy at times, even jerky in places.
It’s unsurprising that Tron: Uprising was never renewed for a second season as the first has so many issues that I don’t think would have been solved by just giving them more episodes. The writing is dumb, and the animation isn’t as good as it could be. But I do appreciate that Uprising gave me more time in The Grid and expanded upon various things I wanted answers to that Legacy just glossed over. I’d love to see something like it return, but it’s probably a good thing that Uprising didn’t get to go on for too much longer.