TRON: Uprising

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

TRON: Uprising is a Disney XD series set in the world of Tron. A prequel to Tron: Legacy, the series takes place during the early cycles of Clu seizing power over the Grid. After defeating Tron and leaving him for dead, he has begun to take over numerous cities in the Grid. In Argon City, a young mechanic named Beck (Elijah Wood) decides to fight back when Clu's soldiers de-rezz one of his friends and takes on the identity of Tron to try and inspire revolution. He soon meets the real Tron, scarred and in hiding. Now with Tron's guidance, Beck fights the forces of one of Clu's top generals, Tesler (Lance Henriksen) and make an attempt at liberating the city.

The series began with a 10 episode microseries alternatively shown as a full thirty minute special, with the series proper run beginning on June 7, 2012.

Tropes used in TRON: Uprising include:
  • All CGI Cartoon: A fact cleverly hidden through a relatively low frame rate and a really good toon-shader.
  • Ambiguous Situation: Due to the premise of the show, there are multiple programs with the identity and appearance of Tron, calling into question the identity of Rinzler in Tron: Legacy.
  • Arbitrary Skepticism: Beck had this towards his own ability to inspire revolution. When he's being interrogated he insists on his ability to inspire the people and fight off Clu. When Tron himself realizes this, he suddenly feels that his act of rebellion was a stupid, spur-of-the-moment prank.
  • Badass: Beck himself, who is able to hold his own against far bigger, stronger, and/or more skilled opponents, using his wits and natural agility; he even has various adventures and successful strike-missions against Clu's army before the show gets off the ground and Beck officially becomes a rebel. Paige and Tessler, too, who never take much damage while throwing around Beck (though Beck did get one very good hit on Tessler).
  • Big Bad: Tesler, even though he's technically The Dragon to Clu.
  • Bigger Bad: Clu
  • Cel Shading
  • Chained Heat: After Beck finds himself stuck in the Games, he attempts to escape with a similarly-minded ISO. Paige catches them and chains them together for their next match.
  • Collapsible Helmet: A feature of most programs' suits.
  • Color Coded for Your Convenience: Departing a bit from traditional Tron convention that characters can only be one color at a time, Beck and his friends have small "highlight" colors other than white to help tell them apart.
  • Convenient Color Change: Beck and Tron are able to switch the color and lighting of their suits fairly easily.
  • Cool Train: The trains in Argon City barrel roll on their tracks to avoid obstacles.
  • Darker and Edgier: much more so than the movies
  • Death by Origin Story: Beck is originally driven to revolt when his best friend Bodhi is murdered by Clu's forces.
  • Doomed by Canon: Sooner or later, Tron will become Brainwashed and Crazy. And if they don't suddenly decide to make this Alternate Continuity, then it may be BECK who winds up like that.
  • The Dragon: Paige to Tessler, and Tessler to Clu.
  • Expecting Someone Taller: Said nearly word for word in "Beck's Beginning".
  • FemBot: All the female characters by definition, but Paige best matches the trope.
  • Gainaxing: Paige, occasionally.
  • Gladiator Games: Tessler decides to force the inhabitants of Argon City to participate in these until the renegade Tron steps forward.
  • Handicapped Badass: Tron's injuries preclude him from actively fighting, but he still hands Beck his ass one-to-one.
  • Just Friends: Mara and Zed, much to the latter's annoyance.
  • Loves My Alter Ego: Mara, if the discussion with Beck on "Tron's" attractiveness is any indication.
  • Made of Iron: Beck, who takes a heck of a beating during his fight with Tessler. This is notable because most programs in Tron: Legacy seem to be Made of Plasticine.
  • Magic Tool: Beck's repair tool from the garage. Simply jabbing it into any device allows him to modify or repair it as he sees fit. It also lets him change his outfit.
  • Mook Face Turn: Beck spares one of Tessler's guard's, who later helps him free a train full of programs. Sadly, Redemption Equals Death with Tessler quipping: "I don't like the effect you have on my people."
  • Le Parkour: Beck uses this.
  • Noble Top Enforcer: Paige to Tessler. Her bio says she feels loyalty to Tessler for saving her in the Backstory, but she's also disgusted at some of his decisions.
  • Paper-Thin Disguise: Beck's Tron disguise is just an altered costume and a helmet, but it fools everyone regardless.
  • Passing the Torch: Tron to Beck.
  • Power Fist: Tesler's Rubber Man abilities also let him hit a lot harder.
  • La Résistance
  • Rubber Man: Tesler's arm-stretching abilities.
  • Sacrificial Lamb: Bodhi
  • Selectively-Lethal Weapon: Identity disks have a non-lethal setting for sparring as seen during Beck and Bodhi's match.
  • Scenery Porn / Technology Porn: And HOW! Well, this is part of Tron: Legacy, but the viewer may be surprised at how much more detail is in Flynn's Arcade Grid, and can be susceptible to... gushing at the lighting.
  • The Schlub Pub Seduction Deduction: It's pretty obvious what Zed's getting into when that hot chick starts flirting with him in the bar.
  • Secret Test of Character: In the first episode, Tron disguises himself as Clu's minion and pretends to interrogate and threaten Beck in order to test his devotion to the cause.
  • Super-Hero Origin: Played with and subverted, Beck is saving lives and kicking ass on his own, just switching his clothes to look like Tron to screw with Clu's regime. It isn't until after he already makes a name for himself, quite incidentally and merely in the process of helping friends and trying to do the right thing, that Tron approaches him and essentially asks him to be a superhero rebel leader.
  • Suspiciously Similar Song: The soundtrack, to the soundtrack of Legacy, though it is being headed by the orchestrator of Daft Punk's music for Legacy.
  • Taking Up the Mantle: Tron, crippled from his encounter with Clu, sees a new hero in Beck.
  • Villainesses Want Heroes: You wouldn't be blamed for thinking Paige's dialogue when fighting Beck to be somewhat flirtatious.
  • Weak but Skilled: Beck has spent a lifetime roof-hopping, dueling, and racing bikes. As a result, he is exceptionally agile and fast enough to hold is own in protracted battles with Paige and Tessler, who are trained combatants with a lot more power to throw around. Beck rarely wins any battles, but he always gets away. And this all before he officially begins his uprising or gets any form of training.
  • Your Princess Is in Another Castle: When Beck accidentally attacks the wrong train car. The guard he spared earlier points him in the right direction.