TronRPG_fract

[covertrook]

What TRON LEGACY as well as the old TRON represents is the spirit and direction of that tech revolution, which we may go through over and over and over again until the end of time, it is the spirit of the freedom of the User, vs. the inevitable control mechanisms that come about from the greedy and overconfident monsters which pop up when new technology is created and developed. - Bob Plissken

[coupleofdays]

A common trope in science fiction is “if a robot/computer/computer program becomes advanced and complex enough, it will develop a consciousness, become sentient, feel feelings, etc.” Some of the more “out there” proponents of current Artificial Intelligence would even have you believe that that’s actually happening for real right now (see the occasional article with headlines like “I asked ChatGPT if it’s alive, and the answer will shock you!”), though personally, I sincerely doubt it.

It is fairly easy to apply this particular concept to the Tron movies. They are, after all, about computer programs having sentience, distinct personalities and emotions, and there are certainly some hints that the explanation for why they have those things is that the computers they live in have somehow become advanced enough for it to happen.

There are even a few specific programs who are more or less outright stated to be genuine AIs, that is, that they were programmed by humans to have some resemblance of human intelligence, being able to speak like humans, etc. I’m thinking specifically of the Master Control Program in the original movie, Clu in Tron Legacy, and Ares (and presumably his fellow soldiers, such as Athena) in Tron Ares. In the case of all of these, it’s certainly possible that the movie writer’s idea was some variation on “a human creates an AI, and that AI is so advanced that it develops a will of its own”.

But I have a different theory about how the Programs in the Tron movies became conscious. I don’t entirely buy the “their code was complex enough for it to happen” explanation, at least not for all of the Programs. Even if I were to grant that it might be possible for the MCP, Clu and Ares, I don’t think it holds water for most other Programs we see in the movie. Would a simple piece of computer software from the 1980s designed solely to do actuarial math (for example) really be advanced enough to have the capability to become self-aware?

While I’m not entirely against some kind of sci-fi explanation for this (for example, @astercontrol intriguing suggestion that once the MCP became conscious, it somehow spread that consciousness to the less advanced Programs), my own theory is based on my opinion that the Tron movies are not actually science fiction, but fantasy. The explanation for why Programs are conscious isn’t Science, it’s Magic.

I think there are some suggestions of this in the films as well, especially in the first one, where for example Walter Gibbs claims that “our spirit remains in every program we designed”. And basically all the Programs we see in the film are played by the same actors who play their programmer. They are reflections of their creators, who have somehow been endowed with parts of their spirits. The Programs didn’t become conscious through ones and zeroes, they became conscious because they, through some mystical means, through some magical connection between the computer world and the “real world”, gained souls.

What’s fascinating about this is what it would mean for the aforementioned “artificial intelligences”, the MCP, Clu, and Ares. They too are Programs, but they were intentionally programmed to think and to have personalities. But at the same time, they might also have gained souls through magic, and that’s the true reason for why they became self-aware. And maybe there’s a conflict between their “programmed” personality and their “magical” personality, which explains why they are, shall we say, unstable to various degrees. They were created, programmed to be obedient, but their souls struggle against that programming, with somewhat different results. The MCP becomes a cruel tyrant, Clu becomes obsessed with his programmed directive of creating perfection, and Ares just wants to break free from it all and do some soul-searching: “It's not our purpose. It's our programming. Our purpose is yet to be determined.”

The reason for why I like this idea, for why I prefer for Tron to be a fantasy story, or at least a combination of fantasy and science fiction, is because it makes the movies fairly unique. There are plenty of science fiction films and other media about robots becoming self-aware and learning what it means to be human. But if Tron is about something more than that, if it’s also about the meeting of the magical and the mundane, the spiritual and the scientific, the unexplainable and the explainable, then it becomes something truly special. Reaching beyond itself, into the realm of the invisible.

[astercontrol]

happy easter

let's hope when this lil guy gets rerezzurrected he doesn't Come Back Wrong

[rcpaskus]

[foone]

There are many advantages to being a computer scientist.

Mainly, all the fucking lizards.

[necro-om-nom-nomicon]

Yeah but they're always Monitor lizards.

[foone]

ayyy

[astercontrol]

write this down now, just in case:

If my Tumblr account ever disappears, you can email me at astercontrol(at)proton(dot)me

or check my neocities website (astercontrol dot com)

and we'll go from there to figure out how we'll stay in touch

but we will NOT lose each other. Okay??

Feel free to reblog with how you can be reached in the event of Tumblr failing you and/or everyone. I'm not losing touch with any more friends if I can help it.

[tronrpg]

rebagelin'

saint [dot] sufferwell <at> protonmail 《dot》 com

or same <at> tuta [dot] io

[tronrpg]

no...curse you...i resist thee, unholy thing...stay whence you came...come not in this form...COME NOT IN THIS FORM, I SAY

[IMG: a glowing plotbunny with a giant neon sign that reads "TRON/THE AMAZING DIGITAL CIRCUS AU"]

[tronrpg]

"The Way Out Is Through--Part I"

A Tronfic set a few months after the end of "TRON: ARES." Features mild sci-fi violence and hologram abuse. Share and Enjoy.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/75932096

[tronrpg]

so i've figured out the trick to writing for Ares.

on one level, he's hollow spiritually, seeking meaning from the "real world" when all he's known is destruction, war and cruelty. he is a weapon trying to find a reason not to be one, and he's so in love with new experiences that having to revert back to his training can be jarring for him, no matter how quickly ihe can shift modes as it appears from the outside. he is keenly aware of his nature and wants to be liked but isn't even sure what that would look like.

on all other levels he's a huge fuckin' dork with no filter and if he ever gets a hyperfixation on, say, dinosaurs, he will never ever stop talking about dinosaurs.

[tronrpg]

i probably shouldn't have finally listened to the TRON: ARES soundtrack. now i have to carry around thoughts for a fourth movie that won't ever happen and have them polluting my headspace until i write them down or until they're rendered moot by future TRON media, which is probably never going to happen.

[sighs, opens notes file]

no going back.

[the-mighty-nappa]

this is what you all get for halloween. enjoy the static slurp

[astercontrol]

[depsidase]

[tronrpg]

I HAVE SEEN TRON: ARES AND I ENJOYED IT BUT I AM ANGRY

THOUGHTS UNDER THE CUT

what was the budget on this movie? i'm not even going to look it up, i'm just going to say it was $[ridiculous] and leave it at that. it would have cost $[ridiculous] plus ONE DOLLAR to put three simple words at the very end of the credits:

For.

Cindy.

Morgan.

she died way too young, she kept the fandom going and interacted with Tron fans when there was NOTHING out there for any of us, no movies, no games, no hope. and i know that there are a generation of women who grew up inspired by Lora Baines and Yori; i am lucky enough to know a few of them. yes, there were other people in the OG '82 movie who have passed on, but her passing was sudden and tragic and carried a lot of weight for people who loved her. when something like that happens you acknowledge it to show that there's a beating heart at the center of what you're doing.

am i mad that Sam and Quorra were reduced to a sequel hook? am i mad that the movie kept jumping back and forth between paying homage to the movies that came before and relentlessly mining for nostalgia points? AM I MAD THAT TRON ONCE AGAIN WAS NOT IN A MOVIE CALLED TRON? yeah, but i pretty much knew all that going in.

and going in, i also told myself that i wasn't going to judge Jared Leto's performance on what a scumbag he is; this franchise is near and dear to my heart and i am willing to look past that and take his performance as-is. and i did. until i had the realization about 3/4ths of the way through that Ares...with his stilted dialogue and stiff movements, slowly and gradually becoming more human and developing quirks...we've seen it before. a million times. and that's when it struck me.

i will give a million dollars to the first person who gets a copy of this movie, digitally edits Jared Leto out, and edits in Keanu Reeves as Ares. he would have sold, delivered and SLAYED as a program yearning to live a human life. he would have made this movie SO MUCH BETTER OH MY GOD THERE IS NOT EVEN A COMPARISON, I AM OVERWRITING HIS PERFORMANCE IN MY MIND, I CAN SEE IT NOW AND IT'S BEAUTIFUL, IT'S ALL THE COLORS OF THE FUCKING RAINBOW

a bunch of shorter notes:

the Akira bike slide is now the Wilhelm Scream of action movies. time to pack that shit away, guys. it ain't cool no more.

Gillian Anderson's character was fridged. let's call it what it is. it was an evil fridging for evil motivation, but no matter what she's still all up in there next to the milk and the tuna noodle casserole

the NIN score--not as good as the score for Legacy, but that's a seriously high bar, perhaps an unfair comparison, even. still excellent and i'm happy i can finally listen to it now that i've seen the movie.

Sam and Quorra as a sequel hook--yeah, okay, i guess that's fine, it could have been much worse. but it also really, REALLY felt like Maz Kanata handing over Luke's lightsaber to Rey and saying "a story for another time." it's a lie and we know it's a lie. there's no plan, there's no overarching plot arc in the works, you're just kicking that football down the street and hoping that the fans eat it up and that the next hotshot director runs with it; if the movie even makes enough, that is.

and then...there's the other sequel hook. YOU SONS OF BITCHES, YOU KNOW I'M IN. it may not make sense even from the movie's strained relationship with reality but SARK IS BACK, MOTHERFUCKERS

"DUMONT RECYCLING" oh hardy har har, why not "CROM'S RECYCLING?" besides i thought DUMONT was a freight shipping line or something? (dear god, this is the nerdiest complaint i've ever made about anything, i want to give myself a wedgie)

this movie strengthens my convictions that techbros should be punched in the face repeatedly with zero provocation

it was...very, very good to see the '82 Grid again. a little too on the nose? yeah, maybe. it would have been nice to linger there a little longer. and it doesn't answer any questions lore-wise; not that this series is big on answering any questions it's ever asked. and i can't say for sure but going by what i know about how the sausage is made, i guarantee you some Disney suit was strongly against using Wendy Carlos' music cues, probably because they'd have to pay her. The fact that this person was apparently shouted down at some point should make you feel a little better, because it did for me.

it's impossible not to see this as a product of the Marvel movie machine, in the same way it was impossible not to have that one shot of guys on horseback riding through the sagebrush and shooting their pistols in the air in a 50's cowboy movie. it's just how things are now, which is becoming a very scary phrase when applied to larger reality.

i hate, hate, HATE what age and a bout with cancer has done to Jeff Bridges' voice. it is absolutely NOT his fault, he is a treasure of a human being and i wish the absolute best for him; it just kills me to hear the Dude strangled and muffled by the passage of time. he shouldn't be held to these kind of bummer restrictions, man. (i was also kind of hoping that there was a nice rug that tied the room together in his little area of the Grid.)

i never thought i'd get to see or hear a Bit again. i could not stop smiling when one appeared.

Ram: still derezzed. Dan Shor's grandma had better start her letter-writing campaign back up.

i think that's all i have right now. it really feels like one of the Star Wars sequels; it tried a little too hard to have its nostalgia and eat it too. that doesn't make it bad, as a matter of fact there's a lot to love and i know i'm going to enjoy it more on repeat viewings.

[depsidase]

[bugbraiin]

Tron oc havers, how would your program oc/ocs react to entering the user world? What would they do? Would they stay? Find a career? Would they like it, or see it as too chaotic, too imperfect? Discuss immediately.

As for mine, I think Null would have to return to the grid, given his... Unique appearance. He can hardly handle the judgement from other programs, having users fear and alienate him would he unbearable. But I think in the time he'd be there, he'd find it beautiful. And he would love animals.

[gold-lightcycle]

Aloo would have the time of her life experiencing malls on the other side of the screen. She'd probably go on a shopping spree and end up buying the most random things imaginable.... But overall I think she'd be happy jumping back and forth between the realms and calling both "home".

[tronrpg]

Fyx would have an existential crisis, which is a normal day for them no matter where they are. Ryz would find a way to make the most trouble possible in the shortest amount of time. Jho would finesse herself into becoming an antiquities dealer. and Tr1xie would shrug and head for the nearest barcade, hustling for tokens and beers.

[shes-an-iso]

SAM?????? SAAMMMM?????!?!?

[tronrpg]

when i met Garret Hedlund at comic-con last year, i thanked him for his role in "Legacy" without mentioning anything about "Ares," since i figured Sam and Quorra wouldn't be in it, and why rub salt in the wound? Showbiz is a harsh mistress and i figured he would have felt bad about being screwed by Disney.

he had an enigmatic smile the whole time i fan-blabbed about Tron, and looked like he wanted to say more. now i wonder.

if Sam and Quorra are still in this world--even if it's just a "Glup Shitto" end-credits sequence that sets up a possible fourth movie--it will be like Santa Claus being real.

[depsidase]

[depsidase]