Tron : Perfection

Bad Movies Made Less Bad Presents:
A popcorn flick about the consequences of an entrepreneur who abandoned his family to put his work first. It's not exactly Lawrence of Arabia or Citizen Kane.

Major Changes:

• "Show, don’t tell" principles in effect as much as possible.
• All scenes that show a digitized young "real" Kevin Flynn are removed. Clu is the only one to wear the Young Kevin face.
• Scenes in the real world are extremely trimmed – we are in the world of TRON by the 11th minute of the movie. No sequel bait, no franchise seeds.
• Terrible dialogue is trimmed wherever possible to remove the cringe factor. (Lots of “whats his problem” and “now this I can do” type stuff.)
• Quorra is edited to be less the "born sexy yesterday" trope (a woman defined both by her immense sex appeal and her intense childlike naivety, a figure created almost entirely to be leered over or as a prize to be won by the male protagonist.)
• The “infinitely wise and infinitely naïve” aspects of the ISOs, and that they will “CHANGE THE WORLD,” is downplayed. Kevin simply feels responsible for her life, teaching her and protecting her, like the father he SHOULD have been to Sam.
• Tron’s final change of sides is adjusted slightly. Some of his lines were removed (more mysterious) and his color change happened during the mental change. This allows him to simply “turn off” in the water instead of looking like there's a chance he is coming back when his color changes in the water. That was just confusing.

Editing Intent:

Having worked closely with nutty founders and CEOs in the past and watching how family often came second, the buried message resonated for me. There was a lot to love about the movie. And with the news of Daft Punk's breakup, this movie deserved polishing. 

Ultimately, Tron Perfection is a story about the conflict of man vs himself, and less about Sam Flynn (who is merely our entry-point into the Grid.) Kevin Flynn spent so much in his crusade to get revenge on Dillinger in the original Tron that once he got his revenge, made Clu, and set about to create a new Grid, he was mirroring comparable character flaws that included massive ambition married to a sense of entitlement. The conflict is between old Kevin and Clu, who at the most literal level represents the obsessive ambition of the younger Kevin. Clu can't be destroyed so much as reabsorbed back into Flynn by Flynn recognizing and confronting Clu as himself. Flynn's resentment in the first Tron film is simultaneously understandable, but inevitably sets the stage for his avatar Clu placing his own legacy and self-aggrandizement above the benefit of others. After Clu sets his master plan into action with a page to the outside world, the old Kevin can no longer escape the consequences of this abdication merely by inaction. To save his real and adopted children, Kevin has to embrace both the reality of Clu's propensity for evil (which is his own) AND his own shortcomings as a father, and finally resolve the conflict within himself.

Cut List:

• Intro narration removed, replaces with voiceover of Clu’s surprise attack on Kevin and Tron

• Scenes of Young Kevin giving speech removed.

• New credit text added to the intro “Sam on a motorcycle” shots.

• Removed Sam talking to his dog about how “he earned it” when giving him food.

• Removed Sam changing his shirt and tossing beer to Alan

• All discussion about Encom antic removed from dialogue.

• Reference to being in jail removed

• Trimmed guard dialogue “This program has no disk!” to “No Disk!”

• Removed “He actually did it” line

• Removed Sam talking to other programs in the lineup (he does not reveal his name, doesn’t ask “whats his problem”)

• Removed the Games Outfit Ladies (?) shots where the stand and wait at times, for Sam to simply gaze. They move methodical, do not mention that Sam is different, and Gem only exchanges one major noticeable glance at Sam that will be referenced to later.

• Removed “its got a zipper” line

• When Sam is given his disk, “subject to immediate deresolution” has been trimmed to “subject to deresolution.”

• Shots of the Games Outfit Ladies going back into their “booby” cases are minimized. (I mean, WTF?)

• Sam does not talk to his first Disc Wars opponent, and that opponent does not do any cool spinning jumps, hopefully so it is more believable that Sam beat his first opponent.

• Removed “I won, now let me out!”

• Sam does not beat his second opponent, he is only showing deflecting the disc and escaping

• Announcer does not mention that Sams second opponent was beaten

• Removed Jarvis asking to be included in Clu’s plans

• Dialogue during fight with Sam and Rinzler removed, fight trimmed to remove Sam dualing Rinzler upside-down, now he just gets his ass handed to him thoroughly.

• Clu does not ask Sam to “identify” with the weird voice.

• When Clu meets Sam, removed “let me go” and “freaks” lines

• Removed “is this the Grid?”

• Removed couple frames of Clu when he is circling Sam to remove a few of the most objectionable parts of the digital face, specifically when he loses the top lip.

• Removed Jarvis looking on as Clu examines Sam’s disc

• Tightened time for Sam to remark “that’s a hell of a way to treat your son” to seem more reactionary

• Removed Sam recognizing “Clu”

• Removed Clu calling Sam a ‘User!”

• Removed Sam telling Clu “you wanna play? I’ll play”

• Removed Jarvis asking Clu if he liked the speech

• Removed crowd reaction to Jarvis saying “not that”

• Removed “This I can Do”

• Removed close up face shot of first lightcycle death

• Removed Sam’s “whoa” after first lightcycle kill

• Removed closeup face shot of cyclist on the circular part the gets killed by Clu

• Removed nod to Sam from other lightcyclist about them working together, like it was enough info. Instead, the shot cuts in a way as we only see them split from the opponent’s POV

• Removed “another customer”

• Removed Quorra “gazing” at Sam as she drives

• Removed Quorra “gazing” at Sam in the elevator

• Adjusted Kevin’s line “I dreamed of Tron.” to “I dreamed.”

• Removed “you have no idea” line. Not enough in the movie to emphasize that to Kevin it may have been centuries that he hasn’t seen Sam

• Quorra doesn’t show Sam the lightcycle. Its in the shots enough.

• Kevin’s look to the city trimmed to end with his guilty sadness at the time he missed and his recognition of a life he neglected.

• Removed Quorra asking Sam if he knows Jules Verne

• Removed Sam inspecting his food.

• Removed Quorra “gazing” at Sam again

• Removed Kevin explaining that his partners were so he could leave and see Sam and run Encom. Instead it is just ambition.

• Removed Sam knowing about Tron and Clu

• Removed face shots of Young Kevin in flashbacks

• Removed Sam’s “the miracle” line And kevin’s “You Remembered” line

• Removed “For Centuries we dreamed of gods, spirits, aliens, an intelligence beyond our own… profound naïve, unimaginably wise”

• Removed shots of arm glow marks on ISOs

• Removed “The ISOs shattered it – the possibility of their root code, their digital DNA. Disease: History! Science, philosophy, every idea man has had about the universe up for grabs. Bio-digital jazz, man. The ISOs, they were going to be my gift to the world.”

• Reduced the flashback to Clu’s coup to a few shots of Tron fighting, and a quick shot of Kevin running away, and voiceover only of Kevin’s description of the events.

• Removed “so why didn’t you fight? He did. Clu fed on my resistance, the more I fought, the more powerful he became. It was impressive really. And my miracle?”

• Removed “The purge”

• Removed “it uses massive power and it can’t stay open forever. And like a safe, it can only be opened from the outside.”

• Removed “it activated when I came in”

• Removed “My Disc is everything Sam, it’s the master key. The golden ticket, the way out. And not just for me... our worlds are more connected than anyone knows”

• Removed “whats more perfect than our world”

• Removed “but it is a way. We can go home, don’t you want that? Sometime life has a way of moving you past things like wants and hopes. That’s great dad, keep telling yourself that.”

• Removed “if he refuses to save himself then I will. How?’

• Removed “and my gut says that you don’t wanna be stuck in this place for eternity either. I really think you should consider your father’s wisdom.”

• Removed shots that imply Kevin’s bed is in the living room, the same room Sam gets the lightcycle from.

• Removed Sam meeting the hobo program. (He definitely would have already been rectified, right?)

• Reordered shots of Kevin and Quorra looking out into city, removed “chaos, good news”

• Removed Castor’s discussion with the faction leader.

• Removed Jarvis awkwardness in Kevin’s lair.

• Turned Clu origin flashback into voiceover while he inspects Kevin’s Lair

• Removed “playing all the angles”

• Removed shot of double light saber

• Removed shot of Daft punk “deciding” to start new music for the fight. They just “keep” playing now.

• Removed faction leader’s call to “resist”

• Tightened up Quorra’s arm loss to remove overly dramatic shots.

• Removed “a little help here maybe?”

• Removed “Sam you’re really… you’re messing up my Zen thing man. She’s stable.

• Removed “I don’t know, we do nothing. We do nothing. Be still. Wait.”

• Removed “this will take us there”

• Removed “she’s everything I’ve ever worked for. A digital frontier to reshape the human condition. I always thought that was just a plug line. In our world, she could change everything.”

• Removed “now its time for you to tell me a story”

• Removed “ice caps are melting, war in the middle east, Lakers Celtics back at it, I dunno the rich get richer, the poor get poorer”

• Removed “when Flynn entered the space, everything changed. Ive never seen anything quite like it. The awe was palpable. Was it?” And removed Jarvis getting rejected by Gem.

• Removed “control of the city?”

• Removed “how long have you been searching for this, Clu? About a thousand cycles?”

• Removed “the master key to any and all riddles of the Grid Grid Gird”

• Shot of End of the Line Bar exploding happens just a bit sooner.

• Trimmed Quorra line “standing above me was the creator, your father” to “standing above me was your father.”

• Removed “I guess you could say I’m a rescue”

• Removed “Trust me there’s no comparison. What’s it like? The Sun? Yeah. Man, ah. I’ve never had to describe it before. Warm? Radiant. Beautiful.”

• Removed “What happened? New course.”

• Removed “He’s building an army”

• Removed shots of Kevin’s disc energizing the battle station

• Removed shot of Clu covering up Quorra’s arm ID

• Removed “I have something very special in mind for you”

• Removed “You’ll have to excuse me, you arrive just as I was preparing a little toast”

• Removed “together, we have achieved a great many things. We’ve created a vast, complex system. We’ve maintained it, we’ve improved it. We have rid it of its imperfection. Not to mention, rid it of the false deities that sought to enslave us. Kevin Flynn, where are you now?”

• Removed “and unlike our selfish creator, who reserved the privilege of our world only to himself, I will make their world open and available to all of us. Yes! To all of us!”

• Removed “And whatever we find there, there our system will grow. There, our system will blossom. DO this, do this for me, be loyal to me, and I will never betray you.

• Removed “even if I make it out you won’t last in here, Quorra won’t last. Sam it’ll be alright, come on! Will you let it go, I’m not going home without you. Sam… Same team, remember? I was afraid you were going to say that.”

• Removed “Wheels, whats your plan? I’ll improvise – I’m a user”

• Removed “Out there is our victory, out there is our destiny.” Since the initial Kevin Flynn Speech is cut, this parallel has no relevance.

• Removed “I’m not a program, my name is Sam Flynn”

• Kevin’s reprograming of the guard works the first time, no hit in the head needed

• Removed shot of Sam grabbing the wings, and Kevin saying “radical man!”

• Removed shot of Rinzler running right after recovering from the ledge fall

• Removed “try and hold onto this, you’re gonna need it”

• Removed “you got this Quorra, its all in the wrist”

• Removed “head towards the light, Quorra. Where’d you learn that move back there? Encom tower, couple nights ago. Encom tower, huh.”

• Reordered Lightplane battle to accommodate dialogue removals

• Removed “oh man I’m all over this, yeah!. One down five to go. Nice. We gotta split them up! Have a nice swim! We gotta get behind them!”

• Removed “he’s gaining on us… Yes! It’s jammed!”

• Added “glitch” color change and Rinzler reverts back to Tron

• Removed “oh come on! Flynn, go!”

• Removed “That is, its over, its over! Quorra, theres something I need you to do”

• Re-colored Tron/Rinzler arial battle with Tron’s new “Good” color.

• Removed “lets get you home dad. take her down. Hang on this is gonna be rough”

• Removed “Its impossible but its also right in front of us the whole time”

• Tightened Quorra’s tether maneuver

• Removed “remember what you came for” and shots of Quorra pushing Sam toward portal

• Removed “Dad!”

• Removed “No! Sam, its what he wants. I’m not leaving you! Take her!” and Quorra presenting Sam the disc

• Removed smartphone transfer shots In Kevin’s basement office

• Removed Alan’s pager sound

• Removed discussion about the board and Alan being the new Chairman

• Removed “oh and” line

• Removed Sam hitting the fuse switch

• Removed Quorra and Sam discussion

• Removed Quorra “gazing” at Sam.

• Rescored the ending with Daft Punk’s “Doin it Right”