Tron Original vs Tron Classic

I watched Tron on TV as a child in the 1980's and loved it to peices. It was the embodyment of my own dreams of a oncoming computer age. It was to me a perfect movie.

Fastfoward to the future where I have a job and enough money spare to buy the DVD's I love and I am recalled to Tron. I go out to buy a copy on DVD and by accident aquire the new Tron, but I am not upset, hurray a sequel! First though I wanted to watch the original classic, so I went out looking to find a DVD entitled just that.

Watching, I was thinking to myself "I feel like I remember this movie looking much better?" at first I worried my childish mind watching then was primary to its past visual enjoyment, but then I saw later sceens and I felt it has been messed about with?

The classic tanks, which I felt sure where the solid ploygon style of the era? where now these awful modern computer tanks and all the charm was GONE. I tried Googling around, because I did wonder if I had remembered the tanks out of the video game Tanks and misremembered them into Tron (where they would belong perfectly):

I felt the original Tron tanks looked lik the above but with just filled polygon surfaces. I still feel convined this is what I saw as a child. I found these online which report to be storyboards for the original Tron:

The tanks shown there more match my memory. Also given the film was made in 1980's where Pologon filled graphics where the pincal of CGI at the time, I suspect the tanks seen in the movie copy I hold aren't original:

 

I found this picture which is maybe an original?

It certainky feels closer to what I remember as a child, though I felt sure the whole tank was pologon with few to none rounded edges?

For me, this mismatch of memory to actual a little mared the movie, fortunately though many parts felt unchanged and like they hadn't given the "must modernise" attention to and where still lovely.

Tron is a movie which is beautifully placed in the era it was made. The Polgyon tanks and other computer sceens (was I imagining it?) made it feel totally believable for that era. Also, it recalled many fine and happy hours playing games with similar graphics and linking the movie into real life experiences.

Now, the version I watched on DVD, makes it feel stupid (or maybe I just miss the version I remember over what was?). The low grade graphics felt accurate back then for a representation of an internal computer make up. Internally a computer isn't all glossy and smart, its all bits, pixels and polygons; Sure the end result on a modern computer is a sharp, believable 3D image, but the mobie is showing the insides of a very early PC/Mainframe.

So the new graphics always pull me out of the action and make me hanker for watching the REAL original movie. Still, enjoyed it and went to the sequel.

Now Tron Legacy felt perfect, its exactly what it should be, not a remake but featuring updated CGI in a really good way to go with the theme of the movie being many years on. The movie and the soundtrack are a complete success.

I just hope that in 20 or 30 years they don't remake Tron Legacy using the latest holographic leaving confused children now adults wondering if they didn't imaginge the better movie lol.

Would sure love to hear from anyone who has pictures of a classic Tron tank, even if I was dreaming.