Review: 'Tron: Uprising' Episode 1



Between the events of Tron and Tron: Legacy, a young program named Beck becomes the unlikely apprentice to Tron, the greatest warrior the Grid has ever known. 

The very opening scene of Tron: Uprising makes it look like a feature film and the presentation is fantastic.  A narration over the opening gives it that movie feel too.  The script was written by Tron: Legacy writers Edward Kitsis & Adam Horovitz and they do a decent job of showcasing everything you need to know about what's going down for the next 10 episodes. 

The plot isn't anything to go "HOORAY!" over but it does serve it's basic purpose.  Beck, voiced by Elijah Wood becomes a pupil to the master warrior Tron, voiced by the actual Tron from the films, Bruce Boxleitner, so he can defeat the evil General Tesler, voiced by the perfectly cast Lance Henriksen and the big boss Clu.  It's a familar story but again, serves a purpose.  The story won't win anyone out there.

The animation is pretty solid though nothing to be excited about.  It combines 3D and 2D pretty well and the action sequences are animated well too.

The music is the best part.  Joseph Trapanese, who worked with Daft Punk on Tron: Legacy's music, does a good job of furthering Daft Punk's work by creating a similar vibe to Legacy.  The music was definitely a highlight for me.

First episode does contain a couple "derezzed" scenes but it's just to advance the story and nothing that will shock you.  There was one scene that made me scratch my head -- a train was crashing and was about to hit Beck so what does Beck do -- he just stands there and crosses his arms in front of his face in a shape of an "X".  This is the guy Tron picks to be his student?  You know, he could've just ran out of the way, there was PLENTY of time for that!

Rounding out the voice cast is Reginald VelJohnson, Paul Reubens, Mandy Moore, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Nate Corddry and Fred Tatasciore, who has the task of impersonating Jeff Bridges' voice.

The show is going to be an interesting mini-series/prequel this summer.  How will they tie everything up leading up to the events of Tron: Legacy?  We will find out starting on June 7th.

If you have any time, check out the first episode of Tron: Uprising from Disney XD below!