Just a heads up... Tron is on tonight......

[Howard_Casto]

If you get HDNET it'll be on at 9:00pm eastern tonight.  That means tron in glorious hi-def!

[RayB]

OH?
(runnning to see if the free preview is still on!)

[Howard_Casto]

DISREGARD LAST TRANSMISSION
PROGRAM RUN TO COMPLETION
END OF LINE

[wp34]

Thanks for posting.   

I've been wanting to see this in HD but did not know it was on.  I'm going to DVR the 11pm repeat and subject my family to watching it yet again.


Because somewhere...in one of those memories...

[ahofle]

I haven't seen it in a very long time and when I started watching it, I couldn't believe how good it looked.  I was expecting the worst.  Even my kids were glued to it.  Then HDNet interrupted it with a hockey game!!   

[Xiaou2]

Ohh man... if that wasnt so tragic, it would almost be funny"

 Tron, based on games,  Interrupted by a game   >.<   heheh

 Of course, now Im trying to imagine what Tron Hockey would play like     hehe

[Howard_Casto]

Ohh man... if that wasnt so tragic, it would almost be funny"

 Tron, based on games,  Interrupted by a game   >.<   heheh

 Of course, now Im trying to imagine what Tron Hockey would play like     hehe

Like regular hockey except all the players wear inappropriately tight spandex covered with glow-wire.

[Howard_Casto]

I haven't seen it in a very long time and when I started watching it, I couldn't believe how good it looked. 

We must have been watching different films then.  Don't get me wrong, I loves me some tron, that's why I told everybody, but visuals were a mixed bag of acceptable to awful.  The cg graphics held up really well, but they definately had that "this is the best they could render in 82" vibe to them.  The traditional animation, which was indestinguishable from the cg in a standard def broadcast, was now pretty noticable, it didn't look bad, but it kind of reminded me of an earlier disney animation... a little "pencil test" looking in the smoothness.  The "bugs" particularly reminded me of the broomsticks in fantasia. I think that part of the film held up pretty well though, the bad part was the actors.  The visual effects applied to the actors to give them that colorless look just turn out awful in hidef.  It looks like a bad 80's video.  There are even some scenes where you can see that the effect wasn't matted properly and you can see a faint outline of the untouched skin underneath.  The sad thing is, this could have been cleaned up.  I know for a fact that the original cg was re-mastered for the hi-def print and that turned out great. 

I really got a chuckle out of the way actor's body-types have changed in 30 years.  Tron had a better ass than the girl!  Try seeing that in a modern film where normal looking people simply aren't allowed to exist.  Oh and one final thing that tickled me was the initial shot of the cubicles, with the 4 or 5 real ones and then the OBVIOUS matte painting behind them making it look like they went on into infinity. 


That being said I really enjoyed watching it again and felt that the film itself (acting and plot) held up amazingly well.  Definately gotta get this one on the blu-ray, but I might wait until the obvious "remastered edition" comes out after the 2011 sequel is released.

[RayB]

So in other words, you're fan of George-Lucasing movies.   

[ark_ader]

So in other words, you're fan of George-Lucasing movies.   

So we are comparing Tron and.....



Howard the Duck?   

[Howard_Casto]

So in other words, you're fan of George-Lucasing movies.   

No I'm a fan of fixing movies using the original source material.  As I said, it was the bad compositing that was at fault and that can be fixed easily asuming the original film still exists. 

[Ginsu Victim]

I like that stuff, though. I got mad when I found out my Raiders of the Lost Ark DVD (which is now called Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark...ugh) had the reflection removed from the scene when he's face to face with the cobra.

The special edition of Star Wars is a complete abomination, so I'm glad to have the laserdisc versions (I still haven't picked up the individual releases that have the original versions).

[ark_ader]

I like that stuff, though. I got mad when I found out my Raiders of the Lost Ark DVD (which is now called Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark...ugh) had the reflection removed from the scene when he's face to face with the cobra.

The special edition of Star Wars is a complete abomination, so I'm glad to have the laserdisc versions (I still haven't picked up the individual releases that have the original versions).

I just picked up the Korean version of the SW Trilogy on VHS at a local thrift store still shrink wrapped.

[Howard_Casto]

I like that stuff, though. I got mad when I found out my Raiders of the Lost Ark DVD (which is now called Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark...ugh) had the reflection removed from the scene when he's face to face with the cobra.

The special edition of Star Wars is a complete abomination, so I'm glad to have the laserdisc versions (I still haven't picked up the individual releases that have the original versions).

Well I get that.  Some people prefer inferior end product because of it's mystic "nostalgic" value.  It puts me in the mind of the episode of everybody loves raymond when ray discovers that his dad has never used the very espensive cd player he bought him that replaces all his old (and destroyed) jazz records.  His dad bitches the whole time about how they are not the same even though they sound great and at the end of the show robert satisfies their dad by buying the records at pawn shops.  His dad puts it on, you can't even recognize the tune due to all the distortion/warping and scratches and yet his dad says "now that's beautiful!" still adiment that the records sound better. 

While most of the star wars special edition edits are indeed terrible (because they alter the plot, not because of the visual differences) stuff like getting rid of the reflection in indy is a case of fixing an error that slipped through years ago.  The fact that some people prefer the original is what I will affectionately call from now on the "Frank Barone Effect"  The scrateches make it worse friend, you just can't admit it to yourself because when you first heard it years ago, the scratches were there.

Hitting closer to home, it reminds me of people here who says things like.  "I like my cab to have scratches on the glass and cigarette burns on the cp, it gives it character."  What?  No it doesn't, it gives it damage!  Being able to live with minor imperfections is one thing, but saying you pefer them is another.

So to bring it home, seeing the reflection in the glass doesn't ruin the move because it's a classic and it is a very minor error, but leaving the error in isn't helping the film in any way.  But that's a minor error anyway.  In Tron nearly every other scene, especially the long shots have some just terrible compositing going on.  Fixing it would go a long way towards giving this film some legs to stand on for a newer generation.  Personally I think the story is engaging enough to hold most people's attention, but with the newer generation's automatic dismissal of anything that doesn't look flawless, I can see the rough visuals throwing some people off.

[Ginsu Victim]

To me, the film is the film, warts and all. I like seeing the limitations of the time.

I would be super pissed if they replaced all the effects shots in The Evil Dead with new "improved" ones.

[Howard_Casto]

To me, the film is the film, warts and all. I like seeing the limitations of the time.

I would be super pissed if they replaced all the effects shots in The Evil Dead with new "improved" ones.

You aren't getting my argument then.  This isn't about replacing shots, it's about fixing errors. 

The reflection in indy isn't a technical limitation at the time.... you were able to film glass at the time without a reflection being shot.. it was a result of POOR FILMING!  That's an error, not a limitation of the time.  The errors in Tron are the same exact kind.  Compositing images has been around since film's invention and there are a TON of movies released in the early 80's that did better compositing than Tron.  It wouldn't alter the effect in any way to go back and fix it, all it'd take is somone to take the original, unaltered film without the effects applied and actually do a good job cutting out the matts for the ORIGINAL effects to be applied on and to actually align them properly.

I hate to tell you guys this, but when they release a film on blu-ray they already do some of this.  Film doesn't age well so every time they re-release a film to a new format they monkey with the colors and digitially remove blemishes and scratch marks. 

Your example is so ironic that I almost literally  for a sec.  Rami was so disappointed with Evil Dead's special effects that he REMADE THE WHOLE FILM.  Ever seen Evil Dead 2?

For the record though, no fix is needed for Evil Dead because there aren't any glaring technical errors in that film.  Again, I'm talking about technical errors, not changing effects.  This involves things like bad compositing of the effect onto the film, mics and cameras in the shot and or reflections of people/ equiptment in the shot... stuff like that.  Removing this stuff simply makes the film look like it was intended to look... it's no different than when they clean the scratches out for a blu-ray release, it simply takes more time and money.

[Ginsu Victim]

For the record though, no fix is needed for Evil Dead because there aren't any glaring technical errors in that film.

They are plenty of goofs. Main one that sticks out right now is the eyeball on a string.

I see what you mean, though. My comparison was a bad one. Doesn't change my mind, though.

[SavannahLion]

WTF are you guys talking about? Everyone knows that Greedo shot first.

Geez

[Xiaou2]

While most of the star wars special edition edits are indeed terrible (because they alter the plot, not because of the visual differences)

  I disagree.

 The re-released SWs movies visuals do not fit.  They look horrid.

 For example, the original, where the aliens are playing their band is cool...  But
it was yanked, and that god awful cgi cartoon crap was added in it place.

 The whole movie has puppets and costumes in it.  We saw it like that, and we
like that about it.   The puppets, costumes, and Real Physical models look
1000x better than any CGI that Lucus has ever produced.

 All the CGI looks awful and out of place.  (Entire cities look like MR.Clean just
stolled by)  Is badly animated. And over the top - slap your forehead bad.

 The prequals made me sick to my stomach.  I only paid to see one, and Im pissed
about that.  The others I saw, merely due to them hitting cable.. and man, I felt
I should have been due Compensation for it.