Good first episode tonight. I think Christopher will be pleased that "old tech" like the Bit seem to use the original movie's art style.
The cameos by the Bit and the "classic" lightcycle were cute, but I'm still not happy with the look of this show. At least they're working in more colors -- the green armor pieces, the multicolored light show at the dance club, the subtle bits of blue or red or purple livening up the black-and-white costumes (bodies?) of the programs, and the varying hair colors of the programs. But the bizarrely staccato animation and the distorted character design style are still very unappealing to me. And the story didn't do much for me either.
Lance Reddick! Such a great voice. I really like the animation but I can't stand the way the character's heads are drawn. They're way too narrow.
My problem isn't just the shape of the characters' heads, but the way they move, which is often exaggerated to the point of looking painfully awkward (particularly the seductive thief girl who was constantly posed with her rear thrust out). Some of the other character movements are similarly overexaggerated. I dunno, between that and the low frame rate of the animation, it's like they're trying to play up the unreality of the characters, but it just comes off feeling like they're deliberately doing low-quality work.
I've heard that they do the bodies in CG and 2D draw the faces, which might explain why the faces are so freaking huge and wonky and some of the exaggeration in how they move.
Great show last night.. Glad I had it on DVR though.. Having to wait through the kiddie commercials (even for my 11 year old son sitting next to me) would have been torture... I wish they had broadcast the pilot on TV though, perhaps as a full one-hour special.. The condensed version at the beginning was hard to follow if you haven't seen the pilot on-line. I love the animation, to be honest.. It looks slick and futuristic.. Nice nods to the original movie as well as a "preview" nod to Legacy with the women who "dress" the programs in their battle gear. Count me in!
I just saw the new episode last night, and the pilot online. I really liked it. It really captured the feel of the new movie. The music and visuals were excellent, aside from those bizarre character designs. I'll definitely stick with this. I'm guessing the series will end with Clu capturing Tron and Rinzler-izing him...
Just watched the pilot and the first regular episode and enjoyed both. The story is fairly simple (but I didn't expect Babylon 5 considering this is the Disney Channel we're talking about) and the dialogue needs some work, but the animation is absolutely gorgeous. I like mixture of the monochrome color scheme of Tron: Legacy with the small additions of color from Tron (as described earlier by Christopher), but ultimately I'm watching this for Bruce Boxleitner. As others have already said, his rich voice is spellbinding (as is Lance Reddick's and hope he sticks around beyond the two-parter). I also loved the various references to the original film like the classic light cycle and Bit cameos as well as the updated versions of the guards' goalie uniform, Tron's white costume, and the open-spaced prison cells. I'll definitely stick around for this.
I think we're in for a good ride with this, especially if they really flesh it out as a prequel to Legacy.. I will enjoy watching Clu slowly (I hope) turn Tron.. I'm watching Tron: Legacy as I write this. It's on one of the Encore channels, and not in HD.. I have to say that the non blu-ray lower resolution actually makes Clu look more realistic.. Kind of strange, really...
I think the fact that Clu didn't look perfectly realistic was a good thing. He was supposed to be a computer construct, after all. As I've mentioned before, the makers of the original film weren't trying for realism, but just the opposite -- they were trying to make the live actors look as much like computer-generated images as possible given the limited technology of the time. Personally I feel it would've been truer to the original intent if all the Grid scenes in Legacy had been fully CGI with performance-captured characters. So Uprising actually comes closer to how I think the Grid should be rendered, at least in principle, but I'm not happy with the designs and execution.
I forgot to mention that the character animation reminded me of some of animation from The Animatrix and Batman Beyond, particularly in regards to the jerky motion (I'm specifically reminded of the track and field short from The Animatrix). I'm undecided whether or not if I like that take or not.
This I would agree with except for the "flashback" scene at the beginning of the movie when Flynn is talking to his son. It still didn't look right there. For me it was a lack of movement in the upper half of the face. It seemed frozen.
I'm loving this show so much. In many respects it's the kind of story and action I had hoped to see in "Legacy". The animation feels like a modern version of "Aeon Flux" to me and in my book that's a good thing. Looking at the framing of shots and the way the action sequences are done, my gf and I both couldn't take our eyes off the screen (and she's nowhere near as into scifi as I am). The story isn't ZOMG amazing, but nor is it a bad one. It's compelling to see Beck do his thing (trying to avoid spoilers here) and the good and the bad that happens to him and the others around him as a result. POSSIBLE SPOILERS! LOVED the appearance of Bit, he even did his "zoom off the screen" thing! The old Light Cycle looked gorgeous and I noticed they are very careful about their sound effects as the new Cycles seem to have a slightly different sound than the old. Even a name drop of Flynn! All very awesome for us fans who remember what came before. Ben
Anyone still watching this? Olivia Wilde guest-starred as Quorra in flashbacks this week. The animated character design was a very exact likeness for Wilde, a bit incongruous amidst all these hyper-stylized faces; even Tron's face is a caricature of the young Boxleitner's. The story -- by former Star Trek writer/producer Andre Bormanis -- was pretty good, a nice attempt to humanize the antagonist Paige, and her "work together to survive" arc with Beck had an unexpectedly downbeat ending. But I'm getting tired of the character designs. I realized, watching this, that the female characters' legs are something like twice as long in proportion to their torsos as they should be, which makes their movements very awkward and gangly. It's pretty ridiculous.