Old "Tron" Articles
Most of the things on this page are scanned out of copies of Starlog and the lot from the actual time of the movie--1982. Therefore, I apologise for any fadedness, bent page corners, etc...these things really are QUITE old. I mean, for magazines that had been moved around from household to household, tossed on various shelves and actually _read_. If they had been preserved, sure, but we're not the collector type of sci-fi fans, at this house. We get stuff to _use_ it.
Scanned by the Mistress Control Program
The cover of Starlog #62, September 1982 Lookie what was obviously the featured article. This is a _lovely_ picture of Tron himself, I think. Great reference pic.
The inside page. Nice picture of Flynn and Lora here; I left the page whole so you could see the context. My HECK was that a good year for sci-fi...!
First page of a long, nice article about how they did the special effects. You've heard this all in the "Making Of" video, but it's still neat to hear it from THEN instead of looking back at it 20 years later.
Tron goes evil?! This is just a picture, but it is part of the article--it's the picture they refer to at the bottom of the previous page. The detail is gorgeous--but what's with the colours? He's mostly in...red! (And looks...frighteningly appropriate, at least with that dark expression on his face anyway. An alternate universe where he took Sark up on his offer of being partners? Ooh...! (runs off with the fanfic ideas))
Page 3 of the article.
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Page 5.
Page 6 You certainly can't say they gave it short shrift in this issue!
The cover of Starlog's Special Review Issue, November 1982 Our favourite movie is small, but still here.
Heya, Clu! Again, just a picture, but still part of the article. A nice picture, though. (I believe that picture I did of an evil dude inside a tank...this must've been my reference for the tank interior.)
Page 1 of the review. WARNING: This is not that favourable of a review. The guy likes the look of it but is SNARKY AS ALL GET-OUT about the movie itself, the performances, says it has no "heart", etc.--we know better, the problem is he just didn't pay enough attention. If you wish to read it anyway, go ahead. If you don't have a strong constitution, though, then just lookit the pretty pictures. (He hates it, yet he did this picture on purpose to make it look as if he was inside the tank with Clu. Right...)
As a side-note, I find it amusing that one of the cheesy old '50s sci-fi movies he chose to name--out of all the ones available!--was "Rocketship X-M". 'Cos "Flynn"'s daddy was in that one! ;) (It's also one of my favourite episodes of MST3K. As a die-hard MSTie, I now _know_ from bad movies, and I am here to tell you: Rocketship X-M is actually fairly _good_. For a B-movie. Robot Monster is UNBELIEVABLY bad, though.)
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First page of a nice interview with everybody's favourite baddie...David Warner! And yes, they do mention "Tron". A lot. Including with pictures. This is from the exact same issue of the magazine. (They also talk about "The Evil Genius" and Jack the Ripper from "Time After Time", which are two of my other personal favourites of his roles.)
A nice shot of Ed Dillinger, in his helicopter.
Page 3. "I'm a reasonable man..."
Page 4.
Extra Bits: From the same magazine issue, still, little tidbits I thought you might find interesting...
Alan Bradley, intrepid jungle explorer? Okay, show of hands: Who of you out there would _totally_ watch at least one episode of this obscure, now almost lost-to-TV-history show, just because it had Bruce AND Cindy in it, together again? (raises hand) _I_ so would, I know that much.
They THINK they're kidding... I kept the whole page, again, to show the context. Vintage geek humour of '82!
Heeeey....! A goofy little cartoon that is mean to the poor little computer people, but actually rather comes out in _favor_ of Tron's premise...
Side note: The logo on the one guy's shirt is that of "Colossus", from the movie of the same name--a 1969 flick about, um, well......an evil computer that wants to take over the world...(and does a damn fine job of it, too.) Heh.
Awwww...! From my own personal nostalgia. You see, this here, preserved in its entirety, is the TV Guide page with the article that led to me becoming a Tron fan. There's the exact day it happened, right there at the top: August 29, 1992. I saw this...and it led to my entering the digital world and _never_ quite coming back. THIS, my fellow conscripts, was the day I became a program. (bows)
(Side-note: "Really _into_ computers" makes me laugh, heh, and I love that expression on our pixelated protagonist there. He should smile more often!)
Quick review in a book from the late '90s called "Retro Hell". This one was OBVIOUSLY written by "our" kind of people...they even start it exactly the right way.
Side-but-somewhat-related-stuff
The Chip This is from the intro to an issue of _National Geographic_, of all things--lookit the way the authors put themselves into a "digital world" and even gave themselves a glow! Obviously this article--though the actual thing is factual--was written by sci-fi fanboys who just couldn't resist. Obviously.
The article is the cover one for October 1982, and is really quite informative and interesting--both about how microchips are actually made and what computers could do back then, and for the look it gives us at the _attitude_ towards computers at the time, a moment frozen in amber. I would've scanned it but these magazines are smaller and more tightly-bound; they won't lie flat on the scanner. (And I don't wanna beat up the poor defenseless thing.)
Even the fringes of the issue are telling--quite a large proportion of the commercials have to do with computers and videogame systems! (Many of which nobody has even heard of, today.) Complete with really GOOFY over-the-top copy and hyper yelling about how _wonderful_ their technology is! 1982 IS the (first) Year of the Computer, it seems.
Hey...wait... Is anybody else WEIRDED OUT by this picture, or is it just me?
Code word: "Crimefighter" And now, an article about a tall, handsome, blue-glowing program who fights evil and corruption anywhere he finds it...in the REAL world?! Wait a minute...
Page 2.
Page 3. Aww, now that I've finally seen the show, I _like_ this guy, dammit. He's invited to any program-family reunions held in _my_ sector, anyway. (And to think, if a large set of coincidences hadn't happened, I never would've even HEARD of this show.)
