Sequels can bring concepts from a past age to the present. Though mostly, it's just for money.
"TRON: Legacy" wouldn't have been made today, were it not for "TRON." And while that may seem obvious, I mean that a film about a secret world inside of computers wouldn't currently be one of the most anticipated films among post-adolescent audiences. It wouldn't even be considered in this day and age; such fantasies would likely be relegated to a Pixar tale or a show like "Reboot." Yet it's got Daft Punk music, respected actors, action, and a vastly cool look going for it and that's just what we've seen from the trailer. It works, because its predecessor came from the age where computers could be magical in ways they can't be today. Computers (as well as almost any new technologies) were a lot like the "soft places" in Neil Gaiman's "Sandman": Until we all became so very familiar with our computers, their innards, how software works, and (often the most obvious) their limitations, we thought they could do anything:
- Give us near-instant response time via a 300 baud modem and respond to conversational English.
- Become sentient due to conditions that would normally fry the thing (like, say, overheating followed by dousing with champagne).
- Generate a force bubble that can carry a home-made spaceship (eventually) with an alien circuit diagram helping things along.
There are films where computers can download information into people's brains or re-write their memories, create living (or at least solid) versions of virtual people, etc. But those are now in the realm of fantasy for the most part (again, outside of comedic stories or ones where the fantastical is expected). But TRON played it straight since, heck, for all we knew there could have been little computer-people in those machines (and I use 'we' defined as 'not computer programmers'). That concept appears to be carried over to the new movie without question, in spite of most of the audience having had first-hand experience with what computer A.I. is incapable of (mostly involving virtual squadmates getting hung up on terrain or jumping in front of your weapon fire for no apparent reason). It's kind of refreshing to see, even though I usually cast a wary eye upon sequels. That said, the original film does make me wonder a few things:
- Programs seemed to be one-of-a-kind, even though backups must have existed. When Clu gets derezzed at the start of the movie, why does he cease to be when Flynn could presumably just re-load him from a disk?
- What happens to programs that are copied or saved multiple times? Peter Jurasik's character, Crom, was an accounting program. Are there earlier versions somewhere, backed up? Or if he's a commercial app, surely there are more of him out there, like a leotard-wearing collective. By the way, I think that if you're talking about your computer and you need to emphasize a point, saying "by Crom!" is entirely appropriate.
- If we assume that the Master Control Program destroyed every iteration of a given program when they got derezzed, that would mean that the program would be gone from wherever it had been running. This makes me think that the MCP was written by a computer programmer who ran a consultancy firm specializing in emergency installations and data recovery.
- If two or more people worked on a program, would it look like a combination of all of them, or would it have multiple heads? Be schizophrenic?
- There should have been a whole area full of programs that were nothing but stuff like:
10 PRINT "I'M AWESOME!"
20 GOTO 10
This would be me overthinking something again, I suspect. Anyway, for a more comprehensive (and somewhat nostalgic, if you're into older machines or can recognize them) list of computers in movies and TV, Starring The Computer isn't a bad place to poke around.
I bring you this next trailer only because Robert Picardo is in it, and you can either be glad to see him again or sorry for where his career has gone, depending on how much you like Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus. This is the same company that was busy making knock-offs of popular films like "Transformers" and "The Terminator." I'm glad they appear to have found their computer-generated shlocky niche. Though every time one of these things appear on the SyFy network, it reminds me that they spent money to air them that could have kept shows they've canceled going.
A segue into the realm of the 'novelty song,' for lack of a better term. I especially love songs that teach us things in a fun way, such as Monty Python's Oliver Cromwell Song, or They Might Be Giants' tune about James K. Polk. It turns out there's a group calling themselves "The History Teachers," and they've produced useful ditties (mostly sung to 80's songs) about Beowulf, the Vikings, and Martin Luther, among others. Their whole channel is worth checking out, especially if you have an exam coming up.
The trade paperback for North 40 has been out for a while, and some reviews have cropped up online, including ones from Wired Magazine's 'Geekdad' and Tales from the Parents Basement, among others. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that someone at DC will call for some more, perhaps from the Vertigo imprint. In the meantime, I'll keep throwing things at the wall and seein' what sticks.
It would appear that the internet has some other things to add to our discussion:
- The Air Force has combined 1760 PS3s to create a supercomputer. Coincidentally, the base on which it resides was home to the world's largest "Call of Duty" multiplayer event.
- Behold the amazing transformation of Camouflage Cat into Vaguely Embarrassed Cat.
- The latest sign that our civilization has accelerated a tad more on its slide into oblivion: A gold plated 'security tag' for your favorite ballcap.
- Police investigate a 'murder scene' only to discover it was a hotel room used in a movie two years ago that nobody ever bothered to clean.
- Alter time (mostly to correct your mistakes) in this rolling-ball platformer, Nimball Rewind.
- For sale: The HMS Invincible, needs work, new engine, new alternator.
- The Japanese have developed a very tiny kinetic generator which doesn't sound like it does much, but could theoretically charge up a button battery just by moving around in your pocket as you carry it. I hate changing those things, so thumbs up if they can do it.
- It's only a concept, it's probably quite messy, but this nutcracker looks like it would relieve stress to use.
- To relieve stress in the meantime, Alert Reader Lloyd brings us the Tonematrix. Click on squares in the grid to generate rhythmic tones and soothing baselines.
- While cool-looking, I think this Uranium Soap would be a great practical joke item to leave in an unsuspecting person's bathroom after a party.
- Just in case your eyeballs and fingers haven't had a workout in a while, try Flyde, a game where you race down a colorful grid-corridor, dodging black areas and using the colored spots to switch between floor and ceiling.