As readers of TG know, we’re big fans of Tron, and I for one can still remember very fondly when I first saw it back in that magical genre summer of 1982.
Although the film wasn’t a hit when it first came out, the movie has experienced quite a second life with the long awaited sequel Tron Legacy hitting theaters in 2010, and now the Tron: Uprising show.
Now Variety is reporting that Tron: Uprising could be the catalyst for a third Tron because it will bring the magic of the franchise to a whole new generation of fans.
As Variety tells us, the target audience for Uprising is kids from age 6 to 14. (Other shows that will be on the Disney XD network also include The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, and Ultimate Spider-Man).
Charlie Bean, who created Samurai Jack and Powerpuff Girls, as well as Tron Legacy, told writer Marc Graser, “The first film was a massive influence on me. If I was going to do an animated version of Tron, I didn’t want it to feel like a cheap version of the movies. We stylized it in a way you couldn’t in a movie. For the 12-year-old in me, it’s what I would want to see.”
And it’s indeed a trip to see that a kid who loved Tron back in the day could grow up and help lead its revival. And of course with this being Disney, there’s hope the parents will watch with their kids, reviving their Tron memories, and then hoping to take them to another Tron film down the road.
What’s also cool for geeks is that Tricia Helfer from Battlestar Galactica is on board as the voice of The Grid on Tron Uprising, along with providing the voice of Queen of Blades for StarCraft.
At a recent press conference, Helfer said the cartoon was her “first introduction to it. Obviously I’d heard of Tron, but I hadn’t seen the prior movies. They sent me a clip of what they had so far of the graphics and I thought it was phenomenal for a series, so I wanted to jump onboard.”
