TV Review - Tron Uprising

Every week on Thursday nights Disney XD has been televising an incredible show called Tron: Uprising.  There were many complaints about the poor and simplistic writing of Tron: Legacy, and I think that those complaints would not carry through with this show.  In fact I have heard multiple people say that this is the type of writing that Legacy should have had.

Summary: The show takes place in between the original Tron movie and Tron: Legacy.  C.L.U. has been gradually taking over the grid and his army has reached Argon city.  It mirrors a Nazi-like occupation which subjects the programs to various types of injustice.  As a result of certain events, one program, Beck (Elijah Wood), decides to fight back against the armies of C.L.U.  Taking on the identity of Tron, who is believed to be dead, Beck becomes a vigilante fighting against the unjust occupation.

The story essentially becomes a super hero tale in the world of the grid.  But it's not cheesy, it has many similarities to the Dark Knight series.  Often times there are not happy endings, there are complex situations, and all the episodes connect with one main storyline.

The cast is amazing.  I had the honor of seeing them at Comic Con 2012 along with the show creators and they are all enthusiastic about the show. Elijah Wood, Mandy Moore, Emmanuelle Chirqui, Bruce Boxleitner are the stars of Uprising.

In terms of visuals, I challenge you to find a better example of an animated show.  There is no animated show that comes remotely close to the quality and level of visuals in Tron: Uprising.  The look is right in line with that of Legacy.  It is incredibly cinematic and as the art director has said deserves to be seen in HD on a TV.  The soundtrack is scored by Joseph Trapanese who was one of the producers for Daft Punk's Legacy soundtrack.  Being a music lover (and avid fan of the Legacy soundtrack) I feared that this music would poorly attempt to mimic Daft Punk's, but I stand corrected as Joe has continued in a similar music style and instrumentation, yet has created completely new songs.

Okay so after many paragraphs of praise here are a few things I don't like: some of the character designs are a little odd.  Most of the characters are designed with very long legs wide hips and a short/small torso.  To me this can be distracting at times because of how photorealistic looking the environment is and the characters don't always seem to visually fit.

Another problem is with the writing (and perhaps delivery) of the characters.  At times I feel that the characters are too human for being computer programs.  This helps me connect with them better, but as a Tron fan it is also distracting seeing programs act like a user.  There needs to be more of a clear distinction between being a user and a program.  But now I'm just getting really nerdy about this...

With all that said, Tron: Uprising is an excellent show and I wish more people knew about it.  If it could grow in popularity a little more, it has great potential for soundtracks, toys, comic books, etc.  You can watch the pilot episode here and almost all of the other episodes are available on Disney XD in HD (I highly recommend watching it on a big TV in HD if you can).

My favorite Disney castle.