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List of Tron characters

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This article covers notable characters of Tron media franchise, including all of its various cinematic, literary, video game adaptations and sequels.

Development

For the first film, Richard Rickitt explains that to "produce the characters who inhabit the computer world, actors were dressed in costumes that were covered in black-and-white computer circuitry designs....With coloured light shining through the white areas of their costumes, the resulting characters appeared to glow as if lit from within....optical processes were used to create all of the film's computerized characters..."[1] Frederick S. Clarke reports that "Tron: Legacy" will combine live action with CGI," adding that "several characters...will be completely digital..."[2]

Tron

Bit

Bit is a representation of a bit (binary digit), it was only capable of providing yes or no answers to any question. Despite this it still managed to convey emotion and other levels of complexity.

Physically, Bit was represented within the movie by a blue polyhedral shape that morphed between the compound of dodecahedron and icosahedron and the small triambic icosahedron (the first stellation of the icosahedron).[3] When "at rest" this shape was constantly shifting. When the Bit announces the answer "yes" it briefly changes into a yellow octahedron, and when it announces "no" it changes into the 35th stellation of the icosahedron, colored red.

Bit appeared twice in the movie, once at the beginning of the movie as a companion to Flynn's hacking program Clu and once later on as a companion to Flynn himself when he stole a Recognizer.

Bit was originally to have a more extensive role in the film, but it was cut to just two minutes due to scheduling reasons.[4] Despite this, the co-creators of Max Headroom, in their book Creative Computer Graphics, called it "one of the most memorable characters in the film."[4] At the time of the film's release, the character represented an innovative use of computer graphics techniques such as vector graphics[4] and morphing.[5]

Lora Baines

Lora Baines is a research engineer at Fictional company Encom, and is one of the designers of the matter scanning laser that transports Kevin Flynn into the computer world. She is played by Cindy Morgan.

Lora is the girlfriend of Alan Bradley and former girlfriend of Kevin Flynn. She is also author of the Yori program that befriends Flynn in the computer world.

Alan Bradley

Alan Bradley is a computer programmer at fictional company Encom and a friend of Kevin Flynn. He is played by Bruce Boxleitner.

Clu

Clu is a hacking program created by Kevin Flynn for the purpose of rooting out evidence of the theft of programs stolen by Ed Dillinger that weere created by Flynn. He is played by Jeff Bridges.

Clu is first seen in the opening of the movie operating a tank program in the search to uncover the stolen data. He is eventually captured by a recognizer. He is interrogated by the Master Control Program and eventually de-rezed (erased from the system) when he refuses to give up information.

Ed Dillinger

Ed Dillinger is the CEO of fictional software company Encom and is the main "real world" antagonist of Tron. He is played by David Warner.

Kevin Flynn

Kevin Flynn is the main protagonist in the film, and is played by Jeff Bridges.

A former employee of fictional software company Encom, he is determined to hack the company's computers to find evidence that proves his assertions that CEO Ed Dillinger stole Flynn's work to advance in the company.

Master Control Program

The Master Control Program (MCP), voiced by David Warner, is the main villain of the movie. It was a rogue artificial intelligence created by Dr. Walter Gibbs (as a chess program) that ruled over the world inside ENCOM's mainframe computer (in the comicbook Tron: Betrayal, the program Dumont states that Kevin Flynn created the MCP). During the rule of the MCP, many programs were enslaved and forced to play games against its henchmen, led by Sark (also played by Warner). To gain information and power, as soon as Ed Dillinger (who is Sark's real world counterpart) was promoted due to the video games he pirated from another programmer's file, the MCP immediately began to blackmail Dillinger into doing his bidding.

Dillinger used the MCP to administer the company's computer network (in effect an AI Superuser). However, the MCP had the capacity to learn and grew beyond the confines of its original programming. It began to steal data from other systems, and took control of several companies and institutions. Its intelligence - and ambition - grew nearly out of control, and the MCP grew to desire nothing less than world domination; stating "From here I can run things 900 to 1200 times better than any human."

Eventually, however, the MCP caused its own downfall. It digitized former ENCOM programmer Kevin Flynn, who had come dangerously close to uncovering Dillinger's schemes. Flynn, in the computer world, allied himself with Tron, a security program; their combined efforts resulted in the deresolution (death) of the MCP. The MCP then reverted back to its original chess program appearance (which, in the digital universe, appeared as an old man in a control chair) followed by this program vanishing as it was deleted.

The MCP would end most of its conversations with Dillinger and Sark with the phrase "End of line". In the sequel, Tron: Legacy, the digital world now has a music club called the "End of Line Club" as a tribute to the Master Control Program.

Sark

Sark is an evil computer program, one of the main characters in the film Tron.[6] He was played by David Warner.[7]

Command Program Sark, as his guards call him, is the henchman and chief lieutenant to the Master Control Program. Both programs were created by ENCOM executive Ed Dillinger, and share Dillinger's voice (and in Sark's case, his physical form), though in the case of the MCP, this voice is much deeper. Sark oversaw the training of new programs who were kidnapped and brought to the Game Grid by the MCP. Sark freely admitted that the training he arranged for the conscripts was somewhat substandard, as Sark's own elite force of programs nearly always won every match they took part in. Sark was known to enter the games himself from time to time, and was a grand master at any game he cared to try (when we first meet him, he is victorious in a game of Light Cycles).

Sark was brutally efficient at his work. Furthermore, the MCP himself pointed out that Sark actually enjoyed his job—"brutal and needlessly sadistic", as the MCP put it. Sark took immense pride in being labelled as such.

Nevertheless, Sark and the MCP's reign of terror over the computer world quickly came to a crashing halt when Kevin Flynn, a former programmer at ENCOM, was digitized and brought into the computer world. Sark refused to believe that there was anything special about Flynn, arrogantly dismissing him as "just an ordinary program". Sark threw everything he could at Flynn in an effort to eliminate him, but Flynn (along with Tron, a security program) fought back just as hard. Sark's repeated failure to kill Flynn drew the ire of the MCP, who menacingly wondered how Sark would "take to working in a pocket calculator". After being threatened with deresolution (death), Sark resolved to wipe Flynn out once and for all. On board his command carrier (which resembles a flying aircraft carrier), Sark captured Flynn and attempted to use him to lure Tron out into the open where he could kill them both. In a battle with Tron, Sark was mortally wounded but was revived by the MCP, who infused Sark with all of his power, and making him much larger than before—"Sark, All of my functions are now yours". Flynn distracted the MCP, which was subsequently killed by Tron. Upon the MCP's death, Sark derezzed and ceased to exist (presumably along with all other 'MCP faction' programs.

Tron

Tron is the titular character of the film and one of the main protagonists. He is played by Bruce Boxleitner.

Tron is a security program created by Alan Bradley. In the movie, he stopped the MCP and Sark with the help of the digitized user named Flynn.

Yori

Yori was a program written by Lora Baines and was the romantic interest of Tron. She is played by Cindy Morgan.

She was in charge of the creation of digital simulations (such as the Solar Sailer) and may or may not be responsible for digitization tasks.

Tron: Legacy, Betrayal and Evolution

Tron: Legacy, its comic book prequel Tron: Betrayal and video game tie-in Tron: Evolution are direct, cannon sequels to Tron.

Clu 2

Clu 2 is a program created by Kevin Flynn to oversee the development of the Grid, and the main antagonist of Tron:Legacy. He is played by Jeff Bridges.

Clu was created by Flynn to oversee the development of the Grid, a virtual world that Flynn was developing featuring sentient programs, because Flynn was too busy in the "real world" as CEO of Encom and due to the pending birth of his son Kevin. He eventually came to resent Flynn and betrayed him by kidnapping him and holding him prisoner in the world of the Grid.[8]

Sam Flynn

Sam Flynn is the son of Kevin Flynn and the main protagonist in Tron:Legacy. He is played by Garrett Hedlund

Kaster

Kaster is a night club owner inside the Grid. He is played by Michael Sheen.[9]

Quorra

Quorra is a program on the Grid and an ally of Kevin Flynn in Tron:Legacy. She is played by Olivia Wilde.

Tron 2.0

The video game Tron 2.0 is a non-cannon sequel to Tron.

Byte

Byte is a redesigned Bit but is identical in design and speaks in the same distorted voice. Unlike Bit, Byte is able to speak full English.

Jet Bradley

Jet Bradley is the son of Alan Bradley and Lora Baines Bradley and the main protagonist of the game.

References

  1. ^ Richard Rickitt, Special effects: the history and technique (Watson-Guptill, 2000), 126.
  2. ^ Frederick S. Clarke, Cinefantastique, Volume 35, Issues 1-6 (2003): 60.
  3. ^ Longridge, Mark. "The Character Bit from Tron". Retrieved 2007-06-02.
  4. ^ a b c Jankel, Annabel (1984). Creative Computer Graphics. Cambridge University Press. pp. p. 67. ISBN 0521262518. Unfortunately, Bit's extensive role in the film was curtailed to two minutes for scheduling reasons, but it remains one of the most memorable characters in the film - not bad for a pint-sized polyhedron. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ Sobchack, Vivian (1999). Meta-Morphing: Visual Transformation and the Culture of Quick-Change. University of Minnesota Press. pp. p. 91. ISBN 0816633185. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
  6. ^ Fred Glass, "Sign of the Times: The Computer as Character in Tron, War Games, and Superman III," Film Quarterly 38.2 (Winter, 1984-1985): 20.
  7. ^ Daniel Dinello, Technophobia!: Science Fiction Visions of Posthuman Technology (University of Texas Press, 2005), 157.
  8. ^ Jai Nitz (w), Salvador Larroca, Andie Tong (a). Tron:Betrayal, vol. 1, no. 1 (6 October 2010). Marvel Comics.
  9. ^ "Michael Sheen Confirmed for Tron Legacy". ComingSoon.net. July 29, 2009. Retrieved 2009-08-04.
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