Superhero Media: Tron Uprising

I had heard a lot of good things about Tron Uprising, an animated series set before Tron Legacy expanding on the backstory, but I was in for a serious shock when I finally got around to watching it on Disney+. Created by Adam Horowitz (sadly not Ad-Rock), known for Lost, Once Upon A Time and other cult programmes, the cast includes Elijah Wood, Mandy Moore, Paul Reubens, Lance Henriksen, Reginald VelJohnson and Bruce Boxleitner (the original Tron), making for quite a creative team. In Ar-Con city, a major hub on the Grid, Clu's forces move in and Blake, a young mechanic program, finds himself fighting back against the occupation, soon attracting the attention of none other than Tron. Despite being billed as a bridging series between Tron and Tron Legacy, Tron Uprising is heavily weighted towards the latter, in terms of design, tone and even in using a poorly-processed version of the Daft Punk soundtrack. The animation is also a little odd, with characters having slightly askew proportions, which takes a little getting used to. 

Quibbles aside, along with the typical limitations of animated television for children, Tron Uprising is at times transcendentally good, crafting a world at once truly alien but very real. Although I'm not fond of the exaggerated character models, the landscapes of Ar-Con and the surrounding wilderness can be breathtaking, a neon-noir dreamscape in contrasting blue and red palettes. Due to the smaller budget, the beauty of the scenes never reaches Into the Spider-Verse levels, but as someone trying to keep up their enthusiasm for making cyberpunk miniatures and terrain, Tron Uprising was an inspiration. More so than other entries of the series, Tron Uprising is a superhero series, with Blake taking on the mantle of Tron while the original heals from grievous wounds suffered when rebelling against Clu. Later on it is revealed that Blake is not the first program that Tron has tried to train, and there is a trail of bodies and regrets behind him. The fight is almost impossible to win, but giving up is not an option. 

Sadly, there isn't any closure to Tron Uprising, with the season finale merely bridging to the next season, which never came. The growth and change that characters undergo is comparable to efforts like Gravity Falls, with a several episode arc dedicated to antagonist Paige and her journey from medical professional to willing participant in the Occupation. To say I would have liked more of Tron Uprising is an understatement, though probably not all that much more, perhaps only a second season to tie up events and lead into the main narrative of Tron Legacy. As much as they're not truly deep characters for the most part, I want to see what happens to Blake and Paige and how Tron becomes Rinzler, but it seems I never will get that story. There is also precious little new information of the Isos and how their appearance drove Clu to despotism, which would have hopefully have come up more in the second season that never was. If you have Disney+, this one is well worth the 19-episode watch between other things.