History Trivia / Tron

* AbilityOverAppearance: Creator/JeffBridges was not the original or intended choice for Flynn. According to Lisberger the character of Flynn was originally envisioned as a thinner, more stereotypical "nerdy" type of guy as one might imagine a computer programmer to look as opposed to Bridges, who is a large, athletic, classically handsome man, but he just brought so much energy to the role that they just had to cast him. Then the NerdsAreSexy trope was born.

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** KlaatuBaradaNikto
** Tropers.TheAdvertisementServer

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece:
** The general look and feel of the computer world is built to resemble the computer displays and games of the time black backgrounds, semi-wireframe 3D graphics, etc.
** The computer technology itself is quite dated, including monochrome CRT monitors, command-line interfaces, teleprinters, and hard drives the size of washing machines. The tablet-like interface of Dillinger's desk surface, however, would still be pretty slick today.
** Flynn's arcade is a hip and happening hang-out for an audience ranging from kids to suit-wearing old couples. It's no wonder that, in the sequel, it's been out of business for 20 years.

** The film was conceived as a fully animated movie but due to limited technology and financial reasons, the film became live-action with ground-breaking [[UnintentionalPeriodPiece special effects...]] [[TechnologyMarchesOn at the time]]. Although they tried to bring that idea back to Disney with an adaptation of ''Literature/WhereTheWildThingsAre'' only for that idea to be scrapped as well.

** SweaterGirl

* ThrowItIn: When the prints came back from Taiwan, there were often errors in the frames that looked like flashes of light. Since it would cost ''way'' too much to have it done over, Lisberger had a EurekaMoment and realized, of ''course'' the computer world would have ''electric glitches''. So, basically, he added a sound effect and it became ''atmosphere''.

* RoleReprise: In the second Japanese dub, Creator/HiroshiTsuchida (Tron), Tetsuo Kaneo (Sark) and Creator/IkuyaSawaki (Master Control Program) reprise their roles from ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII''.

* DuelingDubs: There are two Japanese dubs for the film. The first dub premiered in 1987 as part of Creator/FujiTV's "Golden Screen Theater" programming block. Eighteen years later, a new dub was recorded for a home video release; it was eventually carried over to the Creator/DisneyPlus streaming service.

* RoleReprise: In the second Japanese dub, Creator/HiroshiTsuchida (Tron), Tetsuo Kaneo (Sark) and Ikuya Sawaki (Master Control Program) reprise their roles from ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII''.

* ActingForTwo

** The director asked Creator/PeterOToole to play Dillinger... however, he ''really'' wanted to play Tron and even went so far as to go jumping up and down on beds and furniture just to prove he was still nimble enough for such a physically demanding job.

** The film was conceived as a fully animated movie but due to limited technology and financial reasons, the film became a live-action film with ground-breaking [[UnintentionalPeriodPiece special effects...]] [[TechnologyMarchesOn at the time]]. Although they tried to bring that idea back to Disney with an adaptation of ''Literature/WhereTheWildThingsAre'' only for that idea to be scrapped as well.

** The film was conserved as a fully animated movie but due to limited technology and financial reasons, the film became a live-action film with ground-breaking [[UnintentionalPeriodPiece special effects...]] [[TechnologyMarchesOn at the time]]. Although they tried to bring that idea back to Disney with an adaptation of ''Literature/WhereTheWildThingsAre'' only for that idea to be scrapped as well.

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: By the time of ''Film/TronLegacy'''s release in 2010, the film was hard to find on either DVD or Netflix. Seemed weird, as studios normally use sequels to put some films [[LimitedSpecialCollectorsUltimateEdition back in the market]] (''TRON'' only got that when ''Legacy'' hit shelves in 2011). Eventually averted once [[Creator/DisneyPlus Disney+]] came along.

** Hungary: ''TRON'', or the Rebellion of the Computer''

* InspirationForTheWork: The inspiration for Tron occurred in 1976 when Steven Lisberger, then an animator of drawings with his own studio, looked at a sample reel from a computer firm called MAGI (who would work on the film itself, handing the iconic Light Cycle scene and shots of the Master Control Program) and saw ''VideoGame/{{Pong}}'' for the first time. He was immediately fascinated by video games, and wanted to do a film incorporating them.

** Hungary: ''TRON'', or The Computer Rebellion''

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: By the time of ''Film/TronLegacy'''s release in 2010, the film was hard to find on either DVD or Netflix. Seemed weird, as studios normally use sequels to put some films [[LimitedSpecialCollectorsUltimateEdition back in the market]] (''TRON'' only got that when ''Legacy'' hit shelves in 2011).

* BlackSheepHit: It was a product of the Disney Dark Age [[note]] Lasting from Walt's death in 1967 to the release of ''Disney/TheLittleMermaid'' in 1989, a period where the company was in disarray due to a lack of clear leadership, cut-rate animation, Creator/DonBluth's defection to start his own studio in frustration with the way things were run, and losing their lock on the "family film" market due to Creator/GeorgeLucas and Creator/StevenSpielberg [[/note]] where the studio was throwing anything it could at the proverbial wall and hoping it stuck. A live-action soft sci-fi film with heavy-duty religious themes and an astonishing amount of graphic violence isn't a typical Disney flick (at least not until TheNewTens), and it's one of the only products of the Disney Dark Age that made a lasting impression on pop culture.

* InspirationForTheWork: The inspiration for Tron occurred in 1976 when Steven Lisberger, then an animator of drawings with his own studio, looked at a sample reel from a computer firm called MAGI and saw ''VideoGame/{{Pong}}'' for the first time. He was immediately fascinated by video games, and wanted to do a film incorporating them.

** Debbie Harry of Music/{{Blondie}} was among the actresses who were screen tested for the role of Lora/Yori.

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* AbilityOverAppearance: Creator/JeffBridges was not the original or intended choice for Flynn. According to Lisberger the character of Flynn was originally envisioned as a thinner, more stereotypical "nerdy" type of guy as one might imagine a computer programmer to look as opposed to Bridges, who is a large, athletic and classically handsome man, but he just brought so much energy to the role that they just had to cast him. Then the NerdsAreSexy trope was born.

** The computer technology itself is quite dated, including command-line interfaces, teleprinters, and hard drives the size of washing machines. The tablet-like interface of Dillinger's desk surface, however, would still be pretty slick today.

* AbilityOverAppearance: Creator/JeffBridges was not the original or intended choice for Flynn. According to Lisberger the character of Flynn was originally envisioned as a thinner, more stereotypical "nerdy" type of guy as one might imagine a computer programmer to look as opposed to Bridges, who is a fairly big, rugged, stocky man, but he just brought so much energy to the role that they just had to cast him. Then the NerdsAreSexy trope was born.

* DuelingMovies: Shared one with ''Film/ETTheExtraTerrestrial'' and ''[[Film/Annie1982 Annie]]'' during summer 1982. ''ET'' wins out, but all three remain beloved movies to this day.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: The general look and feel of the computer world, meant to resemble the computer displays and games of the time (black backgrounds! semi-wireframe 3D graphics!), as well as the computer technology itself (command-line interfaces! teleprinters!) must have looked awfully cutting-edge and modern at the time. Now, it looks pretty retro.

** [[Music/{{Blondie}} Debbie Harry]] was among the actresses who were screen tested for the role of Lora/Yori.

* The original TRON animation created by Lisberger Studios was marketed by Steve Lisberger as a television advertisement for various radio stations.
* The TronLines on the helicopter in the opening filmed sequence was neither CGI nor painted cel animation, but reflective tape placed on the helicopter and filmed with red lights from a distance.

** All programs have the same actor as their Users: Flynn and Clu, Alan and Tron, Lora and Yori...[[note]] Three actors in the franchise have had three different roles in it. Warner, as noted above, played a trifecta of villains. Bridges played Flynn and both the good Clu 1.0 and the evil Clu 2.0. Morgan played Lora, Yori, and [=Ma3a=] in VideoGame/TronTwoPointOh [[/note]]

* {{Defictionalization}}

* RetroactiveRecognition: Send this one to the Series/BabylonFive fans. The future Captain Sheridan is obvious. The future Centauri ambassador is a bit harder to spot.
** Looks like Walter Gibbs [[Film/TheLostBoys retired to Santa Clara and doesn't care much for all the damn vampires.]]
** [[Film/BillAndTedsExcellentAdventure And looks like "Mister The Kid" took up accounting.]]
* SameContentDifferentRating: The film originally had a PG rating in Australia, but was reclassified as G in 2010 when the sequel was released in spite of the graphic contents of both films; ''Legacy'' got a PG rating, [[BloodierAndGorier despite]] being more warrant of an M ([=PG-13=]) rating.

* ShoutOut: A double-shot in ''Series/OnceUponATime.'' In a Season 1 episode, Regina burns down a playground, then "makes up for it" by buying her fairy-tale obssessed AgentMulder son a video game system. The kid's game of choice is ''Space Paranoids.'' Emma even looks at the game and comments "it's all in the wrist." Then, in the Season 2 episode "Welcome to Storybrooke," a hapless father and son (Kurt and Owen Flynn) wander into the cursed town. The plotline has a few creepy parallels to the [[Film/TronLegacy filmed sequel]], and Kurt shouts to his boy "find your uncle!" Given the Encom billboard they passed in the opening, the existence of Flynn's games in the OUAT universe, the surname, the ''Legacy''-meets-Creator/StephenKing plot, and the fact that the same team of writers behind the show wrote ''Film/TronLegacy'', it's at least an educated guess said "uncle" was Kevin.

* TalkingToHimself: David Warner plays Dillinger, Sark, ''and'' the MCP. The MCP is shown to interact with the other two on numerous separate occasions.

** Boxleitner and Morgan would go on to do ''Series/BringEmBackAlive'', and a RoleReprise in VideoGame/TronTwoPointOh

* WhatCouldHaveBeen

** Creator/JeffBridges was not the original or intended choice for Flynn. According to Lisberger the character of Flynn was originally envisioned as a thinner, more stereotypical "nerdy" type of guy as one might imagine a computer programmer to look as opposed to Bridges, who is a fairly big, rugged, stocky man, but he just brought so much energy to the role that they just had to cast him. Then the NerdsAreSexy trope was born.

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** Boxleitner and Morgan would go on to do ''Series/BringEmBackAlive'', and a RoleReprisal in VideoGame/TronTwoPointOh