Tron: Uprising

[bullethead]

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.

I thought I saw his name in the credits! It was a very well crafted episode, despite me missing out on a decent chunk due to a power surge.

As for Quorra's face, the show has enough variety in facial styles that it fits in. I didn't find it to be too out of place, although it's obvious that they put a bit more effort into making her look good due to her guest star status.

I have noticed the body proportion issue, but it's only really apparent when the camera is at flat angles to the character, like the end shot with Paige playing her instrument. When the camera is angled up or down at a female character, the proportions even out a bit. It's fairly obvious that the CGI meshes for the bodies were made to look good from certain angles (most likely to make the action shots look good), but as a result, the characters look terrible if not captured from the optimal angles (sort of like how the Aventine looked great in that first calendar spread, then looked bloated in the Fluidic Space one).

 

[Christopher]

As for Quorra's face, the show has enough variety in facial styles that it fits in. I didn't find it to be too out of place, although it's obvious that they put a bit more effort into making her look good due to her guest star status.

Sometimes actors have likeness approval written into their contracts; perhaps Wilde wanted Quorra to look like herself. Or perhaps the producers of the show wanted to take advantage of her star power (much greater than Boxleitner's ever was) and make her as recognizable as possible. Besides, why mess with a face that stunning?

I have noticed the body proportion issue, but it's only really apparent when the camera is at flat angles to the character, like the end shot with Paige playing her instrument. When the camera is angled up or down at a female character, the proportions even out a bit. It's fairly obvious that the CGI meshes for the bodies were made to look good from certain angles (most likely to make the action shots look good), but as a result, the characters look terrible if not captured from the optimal angles... .

As I said, I found it most noticeable when the characters were moving. In conventional, 2D animation, the artists can squash and stretch a distorted character design as needed to produce whatever movement they want. But these are 3D models, essentially virtual marionettes being moved around into different poses with the proportions staying constant, and the abnormally long legs, wasp waists, and outthrust buttocks of this show's female bodies result in unnatural and unwieldy movements.

I suppose the male characters' legs are somewhat elongated too, but their torsos are big and long enough, and their waists and hips close enough to normal proportions, that their movements aren't as unnatural.

 

[bullethead]

I have noticed the body proportion issue, but it's only really apparent when the camera is at flat angles to the character, like the end shot with Paige playing her instrument. When the camera is angled up or down at a female character, the proportions even out a bit. It's fairly obvious that the CGI meshes for the bodies were made to look good from certain angles (most likely to make the action shots look good), but as a result, the characters look terrible if not captured from the optimal angles... .

As I said, I found it most noticeable when the characters were moving. In conventional, 2D animation, the artists can squash and stretch a distorted character design as needed to produce whatever movement they want. But these are 3D models, essentially virtual marionettes being moved around into different poses with the proportions staying constant, and the abnormally long legs, wasp waists, and outthrust buttocks of this show's female bodies result in unnatural and unwieldy movements.

I suppose the male characters' legs are somewhat elongated too, but their torsos are big and long enough, and their waists and hips close enough to normal proportions, that their movements aren't as unnatural.

I'm not really seeing what you're talking about, but I'm willing to take your word for it. I think we can both agree that the body style they've chosen isn't the best (personally, I find they look a bit like Slenderman). To be honest, I'm not that bothered by the character designs (lord knows I've seen worse in anime and cartoons), but it is probably the biggest blemish on the fantastic art design this series has.

 

[Christopher]

I'm not particularly impressed by anything about the art design. It's all too dark and monochrome for me; the Grid in the original film was much more interesting-looking.

And speaking of how dark everything is... am I the only one who found it laughable to hear "Renegade" Beck talking about how good he was at stealth when he was the only person wearing white in a place where almost everything was black? If he was trying to stealthy, why not wear a more normal "outfit?"

 

[sojourner]

Was I the only one to catch both episodes this week? They showed one midnight sunday/monday morning and one in the regular time slot.

The Sunday episode dealt with Beck having his disc stolen and having to get it back. Apparently losing your disc causes your personality/memories to fade. It was an interesting episode because Tron actually went out in the field to help Beck find his disc.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

I really enjoyed the newest episode. I was pleasantly surprised to see Olivia Wilde show up on the show and I liked how they tied Quorra into Paige's background. This episode, along with the episode with Zed's bike race, have developed Paige's relationship with Beck in an interesting way and I look forward to the point if and when she discovers how General Tesler did betray her (and her friends). Speaking of Zed, I think this episode is even better because it didn't have a B-plot involving him and Mara. Don't get me wrong, I like their characters but I find their B-plots that don't directly involve Beck and Tron unnecessary distractions.

I understand why some people don't like skewed body proportions but I don't mind it because it reminds me of "World Record" from The Animatrix.

Was I the only one to catch both episodes this week? They showed one midnight sunday/monday morning and one in the regular time slot.

The Sunday episode dealt with Beck having his disc stolen and having to get it back. Apparently losing your disc causes your personality/memories to fade. It was an interesting episode because Tron actually went out in the field to help Beck find his disc.

The episode with Beck's disc being stolen is last week's episode.

 

[Christopher]

The Sunday episode dealt with Beck having his disc stolen and having to get it back. Apparently losing your disc causes your personality/memories to fade. It was an interesting episode because Tron actually went out in the field to help Beck find his disc.

Oh, I missed that one. I was curious about it. I feel they usually don't make enough use of Tron/Boxleitner.

 

[bullethead]

The Sunday episode dealt with Beck having his disc stolen and having to get it back. Apparently losing your disc causes your personality/memories to fade. It was an interesting episode because Tron actually went out in the field to help Beck find his disc.

Oh, I missed that one. I was curious about it. I feel they usually don't make enough use of Tron/Boxleitner.

Yeah, it was nice to see Tron actually do something, since he's the expert badass and Beck's mentor, but the story really suffered because the ending was all about revealing why Tron's so standoffish and the A plot focused way too much on Beck for that to be perceived by the viewer until Tron came out and said it. If they had dropped the Zed/Mara subplot, they might have had more time to make it feel like a natural development, not a last minute contrivance to resolve Beck's plot.

 

[Sysyphyx]

l'm loving the hell out of this show. lf it keeps it up, l think it has the potential to be one of the greatest animated series' ever. l do agree with some people about the character animations though, mainly the elongated legs. Seems like the show would better lend itself to more realistic designs: realistic for The Grid, anyway. l do like the characters faces though, especially the female ones, Mara and Quorra in particular.

I think it would be awesome to have some sort of flashbacks to the time of the original Grid, and maybe show how the transition into the new one actually occurred.

 

[Beagleman]

I think it would be awesome to have some sort of flashbacks to the time of the original Grid, and maybe show how the transition into the new one actually occurred.

I already love how they incorporated the white suits, so that would be awesome from a visual point of view and definitely an interesting story.

 

[Sysyphyx]

I think it would be awesome to have some sort of flashbacks to the time of the original Grid, and maybe show how the transition into the new one actually occurred.

I already love how they incorporated the white suits, so that would be awesome from a visual point of view and definitely an interesting story.

To actually witness the visual transfer of all that badass data from one server to another would be fantastic, especially if Jeff Bridges' voice acted as the "bridge between the two worlds".

This show has so much potential that it is insane.

 

[sojourner]

The episode with Beck's disc being stolen is last week's episode.

Odd, my DVR didn't catch it at that time.

 

[davejames]

l'm loving the hell out of this show. lf it keeps it up, l think it has the potential to be one of the greatest animated series' ever.

Agreed. I'm not all the way caught up yet, but so far I've been just completely blown away by this series.

The action sequences are some of the coolest and most inventive I've seen in any cartoon, and some of the animation (especially on the bikes) almost rivals the CG in the movie.

 

[Christopher]

...especially if Jeff Bridges' voice acted as the "bridge between the two worlds".

Which doesn't seem likely. They managed to get Boxleitner and Wilde, but in the pilot episode, Clu was voiced by Fred Tatasciore instead of Bridges.

 

[sojourner]

You would think Bridges would be open to doing it occasionally. I've heard him do voice overs for commercials.

 

[Christopher]

You would think Bridges would be open to doing it occasionally. I've heard him do voice overs for commercials.

Maybe he's asking for more money than they're willing to pay?

 

[sojourner]

That bastard!

 

[Christopher]

I just watched "Identity" courtesy of On Demand cable, and it was pretty good, with some strong character stuff and a couple of interesting guest characters. The bad guy, amusingly named Cobol, looked kinda like a cross between Lee J. Cobb and Alan Tudyk. Lux was a nicely designed character herself, and it was nice to see another program in white.

One thing, though -- if the identity discs are so critical to keep with you, then why are they so easy to steal? You'd think that either they'd be kept someplace easier to keep an eye on than behind your back, or that there'd be a locking mechanism to keep anyone but their owners from removing them. At least you'd think the programs could feel the removal of their discs, since they're theoretically part of themselves rather than just something worn on the back as they would be for a human. Okay, maybe the thief had some kind of special trick he used that overrode Beck's disc lock and numbed the area so he couldn't feel the theft, but the way it was presented, it just seemed like anybody could walk up and steal anyone's memory and identity as easily as lifting a wallet.

 

[RAMA]

I'm not particularly impressed by anything about the art design. It's all too dark and monochrome for me; the Grid in the original film was much more interesting-looking.

And speaking of how dark everything is... am I the only one who found it laughable to hear "Renegade" Beck talking about how good he was at stealth when he was the only person wearing white in a place where almost everything was black? If he was trying to stealthy, why not wear a more normal "outfit?"

Nah, too late 70s, I much prefer the color palette used in the movie and animated show.

 

[Christopher]

^I don't think the current incarnation has enough colors in it to constitute a palette.

And I don't understand a concept like "too late '70s." Why should the quality of a design be dated? Fashion isn't about merit, just conformity. If something is genuinely good in one era, it should be good in any era. Do we dismiss the Mona Lisa because it's "too 1500s?"