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Videogame developer Kevin Flynn, trying to prove that a [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] has stolen his videogame programs, is sucked into the digital world inside the computer, where anthropomorphic programs are consigned to fight for their lives in gladiatorial games. With the help of Tron, an independent security program, Flynn must try to destroy the evil Master Control Program from within, bringing liberty to the cyber realm, and find a way of returning himself to the real world.
Sounds simple enough, right?
Although computer-generated special effects had appeared in film as early as 1974, ''TRON'' (1982) marked the first time that computers were used to create something "real", rather than to just represent computer graphics (sort of "real", anyway, since the story takes place inside a computer). Ironically, a large portion of the special effects in ''TRON'' were actually hand-drawn; even the computer-generated objects and environments had to have their geometry entered by hand for every frame, since no practical method of automating the process existed at the time. In general, the light cycles, tanks, recognizers and the Solar Sail were CGI -- however the huge amount of processing time required versus how much was available at the time required that they be rendered in black and white and hand-colored later.
Despite its bold look and bolder ambitions, especially for how the Walt Disney Company which was sinking further into irrelevance at that time, ''TRON'' was a commercial disappointment (it didn't lose money, but wasn't the hit they had intended it to be). To add insult to injury, [[Academy
''TRON'' appeared as a level in ''[[Kingdom Hearts II]]'' (the game director's admitted first choice for the series, but couldn't find a way to put it in the first game).
''TRON'' has spawned two ([[Canon Discontinuity|mutually exclusive]]) sequels, the 2003 video game ''[[Tron 2.0]]'' (in which Alan and Lora's son Jethro is transported into the cyber-world) and the continuity consisting of (in order of publication) the film ''[[Tron: Legacy]]'', the graphic novel ''TRON: Betrayal'', the video game ''[[Tron Evolution]]'', and the television series ''[[Tron Uprising]]''.
Not to be confused with The Real-time Operating-system Nucleus (which is not related to this movie).
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{{tropelist}}
* [[Advancing Wall of Doom]]: Near the end of the movie, an energy wall slowly derezzes Sark's Carrier, and Flynn and Yori must escape it while being trapped on board the carrier.
* [[
* [[Alternate Universe]]: [[Cyberspace]].
* [[Aluminum Christmas Trees]]: The laser lab and the big big security door are not sets and props, but an actual location, Lawrence Livermore Labs.
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* [[And You Were There]]: The programs are all dead ringers for the people who wrote them: Clu for Flynn, Tron for Alan, Yori for Lora, Sark for Dillinger, Dumont for Gibbs... and, down at the level where you'd need freeze-frame to notice, Sark's henchman for Dillinger's PA and Ram for Alan's cubicle neighbor (''Flynn Lives'' in ''[[Tron: Legacy]]'' gives his name as Roy). The MCP, a product of numerous man-hours by various people, has a geometric abstraction of a face, but {{spoiler|when it falls apart at the end, the original core program can be briefly seen, and it has Gibbs's face}}. [[Word of God]]: All of the programs retain their user's personality. For example, Cindy Morgan was told that Yori retains some vague memory of her user (Lora) having a romance with Flynn at one time.
* [[Anthropomorphic Personification]]: For programs.
* [[Arcade Sounds]]: Justifed for once. [[Journey (band)|Journey]] is also playing on the PA [[The Eighties|for atmosphere]].
* [[Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever]]: {{spoiler|Sark at the climax}}.
* [[Attack Reflector]]
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* [[Brain Uploading]]: [[Word of God]] says that programs' resemblance to their Users is not a result of this, but is simply a reflection of their personalities.
{{quote|'''Gibbs:''' You can remove men like Alan and me from the system, but we helped create it. And our spirit remains in every program we designed for this computer.}}
* [[Color Coded for Your Convenience]]: Blue denotes free programs, red is programs controlled by the system (in this case, the [[Big Bad]] MCP). The different colors of the light cycles is due to a change in the movie's script, where gold was good and blue was bad.
** CLU has the old color scheme of yellow, but might be [[Justified Trope|Justified]] as he was an infiltration program. However, considering what [[Tron: Legacy|his successor]] became, it also works as accidental [[Foreshadowing]].
** Gold/yellow was later retconned into being for independent programs.
** This is also the reason the insides of the tanks chasing the escaped light cycles, and the programs driving those tanks, are blue (actually more blue/green). The scenes were finished before the red=bad blue=good edict was handed down.
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{{quote|'''Flynn:''' I never should have written all those tank programs.
'''Flynn:''' Now ''that'' is a ''big door''!}}
* [[Deep-Immersion Gaming]]: The [[Trope Maker]]?
* [[Deus Est Machina]]: The Master Control Program, obviously.
* [[Did Not Get the Girl]]: Flynn does not get back together with former girlfriend Lora {{spoiler|although he does kiss her counterpart Yori before his would-be [[Heroic Sacrifice]]}}.
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** Inverted. The MCP tortures Sark by "depriving him of cycles". In this case, he RUNS on electricity, so this requires the opposite action to get the desired effect.
** Also played straight, when the MCP captures Clu and threatens him with total de-resolution if he fails to tell the MCP who his User is.
** Dumont the I/O Tower Guardian is also given this treatment when he was captured by Sark and brought on board his Carrier.
* [[Establishing Character Moment]]: Tron gets one, when he is in a 4 on 1 disc battle. He manages to kill all 4.
* [[Even Evil Has Standards]]: Dillinger is horrified to learn that the MCP wants to hack the Pentagon and Kremlin, but continues to appease it to save his own ass.
* [[Evil Brit]]: David Warner plays the trifecta of the movie's villains: Dillinger, Sark and the MCP.
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'''Flynn:''' I hate to disappoint ya, pal, but most of the time, that's the way it is for users, too.}}
* [[God Was My Co-Pilot]]: Flynn himself, from the point of view of his program allies.
* [[Go-Karting with Bowser]]: Implied through MCP's dialogue with Flynn, that they used to have this relationship.
{{Quote|'''Master Control Program:''' Remember all the times we spent playing chess together?}}
* [[Good Colors, Evil Colors]]: Red vs. Blue.
* [[Go Out with a Smile]]: {{spoiler|Ram}} after realizing Flynn is a User.
* [[Healing Spring]]: Doubles as [[I Can't Believe It's Not Heroin!]].
{{quote|'''Tron:''' You forget how good the power feels... until you get to a [[Incorruptible Pure Pureness|pure]] [[Pure Energy|source!]]}}
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* [[Nerds Are Sexy]]. Kevin Flynn, Alan Bradley and Lora.
* [[Nice Hat]]: As is typical of costumes designed by [[Moebius]]. All programs wear helmets, but special mention goes to Dumont's hat, which resembles both a bishop's mitre and the abdomen of an insect.
* [[No OSHA Compliance]]: The digitizing laser should have been constructed and installed in such away that it could never target anything that was outside of a clearly-marked danger area, let alone one of the computer terminals that control it.
* [[No Plot, No Problem]]: Deconstructed -- the games played at Flynn's gaming hall are this trope in the physical world, but once you are inside the Grid you discover that these simple games are surrounded by all kinds of drama.
* [[Oh My Gods]]: The inevitable, "Oh, my User!"
* [[One-Hit Kill]]: When Flynn punches one of Sark's henchmen, it kills him. He then takes the program's [[Dressing as the Enemy|colors for disguise.]]
* [[Pac-Man Fever]]: Flynn's handheld. Justified, since this is the '80s. It's actually Coleco's "Electronic Quarterback" handheld game.
* [[Physical Religion]]
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** Don't forget ''Colossus: The Forbin Project'' (see [[Turned Against Their Masters]] below).
** An old, half-abandoned communications program named DuMont.
** The words "[[The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951 film)||Gort]], [[Klaatu Barada Nikto]]" are visible on the wall of Alan's cubicle.
** "[[Rocky and Bullwinkle|Sherman, set the Wayback Machine for, 3 years ago...]]"
** According to the DVD commentary, Alan was named in honor of computing pioneer Alan Kay.
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* [[Stealth Pun]]:
** Near the beginning of the film, Clu runs his tank into a wall after being attacked by Recognizers. That's right, Clu, the program, [[Incredibly Lame Pun|crashed]].
** All the characters in the Grid (except for Flynn, of course) are computer programs. And they're sometimes [[Incredibly Lame Pun|running]].
* [[Supporting Leader]]: Tron.
* [[Sweater Girl]]: Lara's white angora sweater in the last scene of the movie.
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* [[Technology Porn]]: The ''whole damn movie'' qualifies.
* [[Thank the Maker]]: The blue programs hold their Users in awe in a manner akin to worship; the red-tinted MCP denies the existence of the Users (publicly, anyway), claiming that nobody has ever seen one, and wants to establish rule over the computer system in which "liberated" programs no longer believe in something so archaic as Users.
* [[Threesome Subtext]]: Has to set a minor record, despite being a [[Disney]] flick.
** First, Alan and Lora show up at Flynn's arcade. Flynn acts a little overly familiar to them both (even though Lora's his ex), snarking that "nothing classes up the joint like a clean-cut young couple." Once they're upstairs, he casually changes his shirt in front of them, remarks Lora isn't one for small talk, and asks Alan if she still leaves clothing on the floor. The end of the scene is Lora brandishing a set of car keys and asking, "Shall we dance?"
** Once Flynn's in cyberspace, there's buckets of subtext when he allies himself with Ram and Tron. The scene at the [[Healing Spring|Power Pool]]? Three pretty men in skintight, neon-lit spandex gasping and giggling over how good [[I Can't Believe It's Not Heroin!|power from a "pure source"]] is.
** And after {{spoiler|Ram dies}} and Flynn's found Tron and Yori? Well, see the arcade scene above. Tron and Yori are doppelgangers of Alan and Lora and in an established relationship already. Doesn't slow down any of the subtext from earlier, nor does it stop Flynn from giving Yori a very passionate [[Last Kiss]] before making {{spoiler|what he believes to be}} a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] to save them all.
* [[Trapped in Another World]]
* [[Tron Lines]]: The [[Trope Namer]].
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** In a similar conversation in the real world, Gibbs admits he occasionally wishes he was back in the garage where he started the company. Dillinger darkly implies "that can be arranged, Walter."
* [[World-Healing Wave]]: The MCP's death.
* [[Year Inside, Hour Outside]]: They kind of got this one right; computer processes are so fast that subjectively, the perception of time would be vastly different. Programs reference time in "microcycles" and "nanoseconds".
* [[You Have Failed Me...]]: The MCP keeps threatening to pull this on Sark, but never goes through with it.
* [[You Will Be Assimilated]]: The MCP has expressed an interest in assimilating you.
{{quote|'''Ram:''' ''(on the MCP's directives)'' If he thinks you're useful he'll take over all your functions so he gets bigger.}}
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