History Awesome / Tron

* The Light Cycle battle. Arguably the most famous sequence from the first film, making the Light Cycles the coolest bikes ever on film, and done with such incredible detail and pacing that it holds up thirty years later.

-->'''Sark''': Busy dying, you worn-out old excuse for a program?
-->'''Dumont''': Yeah, I'm old. Old enough to remember the MCP when he was just a chess program. He started small, and he'll end small!
* The scene where Tron makes contact with Alan. You hear through the film that Users are to the Programs what Gods are to us. The bright light, and the sheer ''joy'' on Tron's face drives home the analogy.

* Walter Gibbs proving how much of a CoolOldGuy and HonestCorporateExecutive he is by being the only guy brave enough to confront Dillinger directly. Dillinger rubs the fact that he's pretty much locked Walter out of his own company in his face, saying "ENCOM isn't the business you started in your garage anymore." In response, Gibbs then says "Sometimes I wish I were back in that garage." When Dillinger then says "that can be arranged, Walter", Gibbs fires back with this:

** RealitySubtext: According to Lisberger, there was still a question of who computers would belong to: the businesses or the artists. This movie helped the artists win (and in fact, gaming drives processing power to this day!)

* When Tron and Yori are stealing the solar sailer, [[CurbStompBattle Tron takes on all the security forces]], almost killing [[DressingAsTheEnemy Flynn]] in the process. When Tron draws down on the last warrior - a staff-armed heavy - the guard shrugs, throws down his staff, ''[[ScrewThisImOuttaHere and jumps to his death]]''.

-->'''Ram''': So long, sucker!

* A quiet, understated moment of badassery, but how many can invoke a XanatosGambit as their EstablishingCharacterMoment? Alan approaches Dillinger, asking why he's been locked out of his software. As established in the {{Novelization}}, Dillinger is disdainful of this nerdy, Boy Scout-like programmer, [[BeneathSuspicion figuring Alan is far too naïve to actually be a threat.]] Just to placate Alan, Dillinger asks him what he is working on. Oh, it's just some security software. Oh yes, he submitted all the proper memos and kept his conduct above reproach. Why yes, Tron will run independently of Master Control. Yes, Tron will watchdog the AI. And Tron ''is'' capable of shutting down the AI if needed. [[DidntSeeThatComing That's not going to be a problem, will it?]] It's a testament to Creator/DavidWarner as Dillinger's face and body language go from SmugSnake to borderline VillainousBreakdown to OhCrap as he realizes Alan has completely and utterly ''played'' him and Master Control.

* There is a scene where Tron defiantly catches a disk ''behind his back''. Bruce Boxleitner '''actually did that'''. That's the take they put in the movie.

!!Meta:
* One has to give Creator/WaltDisneyPictures itself props for commissioning this film. Remember, at the time of this film's production, the company was sinking even more into irrelevance as Creator/GeorgeLucas, Creator/JimHenson and Creator/StevenSpielberg seized the culture zeitgeist the way Walt did in his prime. Furthermore, the company's one attempt to imitate them, ''Film/TheBlackHole'', proved an embarrassment in 1979 and their animation department was barely surviving with new talent still suffering the loss of Creator/DonBluth and his team and vision. Out of this despair, the company was approached by Steven Lisberger on this idea for a film with a radically different look with revolutionary visual effects technology, and ''took a chance'' in saying "yes" to producing it. Maybe it didn't work out all that well, but it was a gamble worth taking and a CultClassic franchise was born regardless ([[VindicatedByHistory albeit after the fact]]).
** And the fact that so many little (and not-so-little) kids looked at this and went "Cool!" Then, some of those folks went on to found Creator/{{Pixar}}, including Creator/JohnLasseter, who stated during the "Making of ''Tron''" feature on the DVD that "without ''Tron'', there would be no ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory1''".
** Also the fact that this was something of a "coming out" album for Music/WendyCarlos after her gender reassignment surgery.
* The film also inspired [[http://www.gamechangers.com/barneys-law-part-one/ Barney's Law]]: "Data expands to fill a network."

!!As for the movie itself:

* When Tron and Yori are stealing the solar sailer, [[CurbStompBattle Tron takes on all the security forces]], almost killing [[DressingAsTheEnemy Flynn]] in the process. When Tron draws down on the last warrior - a staff-armed heavy - the guard shrugs, throws down his staff, ''and jumps to his death''.

----

As for the movie itself:

* Walter Gibbs proving how much of a CoolOldGuy and HonestCorporateExecutive he is by being the only guy brave enough to confront Dillinger directly. Dillinger rubs the fact that he's pretty much locked Walter out of his own company in his face. In response, Gibbs then says "Sometimes I wish I were back in that garage." When Dillinger then makes a highly dickish remark about how "that can be arranged, Walter", Gibbs fires back with this:
-->'''Gibbs:''' That was uncalled for. You know, you can remove men like Alan and me from the system, but we helped create it, and our spirit remains in '''every''' program we design!