Pac-Man in the film Tron

[+Omegamatrix]

I was just watching Tron and I saw there is actually a Pac-Man on the screen in a shot. I laughed my ass off. The screen he is one has some dots and even had the wanka wanka music playing quitely in the background. Never noticed it before. I took a shot. It's about 45 minutes into the film while they are escaping on the light cycles.

 

[+Nathan Strum]

I remembered seeing that in the theater. It got a big laugh. Some people missed it and went back again just to see it. Ah... such was the popularity of Pac-Man. But until the movie came out on widescreen laserdisc (and later DVD) you could never see it, since it's usually cut off in the pan-and-scan version they show on TV. But you could still hear the "waka waka waka".

 

Now then, can you spot Mickey Mouse in the movie? (Hint: it's not in Sark's command center.)

Edited July 11, 2007 by Nathan Strum

[+Omegamatrix]

No, I haven't found any Mickey Mouse. I first watched Tron in my elementary school believe it or not. Once a month they would show a movie after school hours in the gym. You could buy a ticket too for I think 50 cents and they gave you a bag of popcorn. We all sat on the floor. After Tron we were all screaming it was the coolest movie ever. I hope to Hell they never try any Special Edition crap like Star Wars. It's beautiful the way it is and has it's charm pushing the technology of the day. Anyhow I don't remember seeing the Pac-Man as a kid, and having seen the movie ever since on TV would have never seen it. Thank God for widescreen DVD's.

[+Nathan Strum]

Who's the leader of the club that's made for you and me?

 

 

They point it out during the commentary.

[Kripto]

This is really strange as that I was just doing research on early computer animation in film yesterday and came across the "Secret Mickey" in Tron at another site.

 

One interesting thing about Tron is that it is the first appearance of an all-computer-rendered character("Bit") in any film, but not the first use of computer animation in a film, that would either be "FutureWorld" (a sequel to WestWorld) or actually, the wireframe visual explanation of of how to blow-up the DeathStar that was presented to the rebel pilots in StarWars.

[ATARIPITBULL]

I knew about the Pac-Man, but I never spotted the Mickey before, that's great!.

 

[NE146]

Ditto. Yeah the pacman was always there. But that mickey is funny and new to me

[Math You]

I was going to get the 20th anniversary version of the DVD but thought I'd wait and see if they bring out a 25th anniversary version.

Edited July 28, 2007 by MRB

[Vic George 2K3]

That's actually more of a silhouette of Mickey Mouse in the passing shot of the Solar Sailer than it really is a "3d-rendered" Mickey Mouse.

 

Anyway, I also noticed the Pac-Man and a ghost monster on Sark's complicated "view-screen".

[Zwackery]

I was going to buy the 20th anniversary version of the DVD but thought I'd wait and see if they bring out a 25th anniversary version.

Well, considering that July 9th, 1982 was the release of the film, it hit 25 years two days ago, and no special DVD yet, although the 20th Anniversary 2-disc has migrated to a pretty cheap price point. There may be some TRON goodies still on the horizon for 2007. I recommend bookmarking http://www.tron-sector.com/ and checking back there periodically.

[Bentley Bear!]

Dude, that's hilarious, I've seen Tron many times but never noticed those "cameos"! I gotta go watch Tron again and see them! Very cool find Omegamatrix.

[+FujiSkunk]

If you'll forgive the slight tangent...

 

One interesting thing about Tron is that it is the first appearance of an all-computer-rendered character("Bit") in any film, but not the first use of computer animation in a film, that would either be "FutureWorld" (a sequel to WestWorld) or actually, the wireframe visual explanation of of how to blow-up the DeathStar that was presented to the rebel pilots in StarWars.

 

Here's an interesting bit of trivia the IMDb has on Escape from New York that gives an idea of just how expensive (relatively speaking) computer-generated imagery was back then.

 

The wire-frame computer graphics on the display screens in the glider were not actually computer graphics... To generate the "wire-frame" images, they built a model of the city, painted it black, attached bright white tape to the model buildings in an orderly grid, and moved a camera through the model city!

[Draikar]

I never watched TRON before, I did just get the UMD version for PSP.

[RickHarrisMaine]

I just watched that with my 2 boys a few months ago. They absolutely loved it! I thought it was still a pretty cool movie.

 

Let's hope it's never re-released.....or remade...

[Gregory DG]

Let's hope it's never re-released.....or remade...

It was. It was called "The Matrix."

[Albert]

Wow, I never knew about the "hidden" Mickey Mouse in that shot, very cool.

 

..Al

[Foxsolo2000]

Omega I thought it was some bizarre joke but listening to the others has made me rush out and buy the dvd so I can see it for myself

[+SpiceWare]

Knoll on CGI, Tron and 25 years of change

[mos6507]

I'm waiting on it to get rereleased in HD.

[pangasinan]

The Atari is even mentioned in a song in the movie "Elmo in Grouchland" (hey i have a 2 yo daughter ).

[Zwackery]

I just watched that with my 2 boys a few months ago. They absolutely loved it! I thought it was still a pretty cool movie.

 

Let's hope it's never re-released.....or remade...

Well, there is some continuation of the product (narrative/universe) via franchise:

 

TRON 2.0 video game (I really liked it) - this functions as a sequel to TRON (for Windows, retitled TRON 2.0 Killer App for XBox, but the same game)

TRON 2.0 Killer App for the GBA (a really outstanding GBA title) - this serves as an interstitial title between the film and the 2.0 game

TRON comic book by SLG Publishing - this is a sequel to the 2.0 game (how this came about is kind of convoluted, as is the writing)

 

The comic is a 4 issue miniseries, and it is taking them an inordinately long time to get the issues out the door. At this point, 3 out of 4 of the issues have been released. You can order them from their website: http://www.slavelabor.com/product-exec/pro...d/353/nm/Tron_1 as your local comic book dealer probably doesn't have them on the shelf.

 

There was also a TRON 2.0 3D title for mobile phones that was basically a light cycle game, but I haven't played it.

 

SEE THE MOVIE. PLAY THE GAME.

[shadow460]

I never watched TRON before, I did just get the UMD version for PSP.

 

That's what I've got, too, and I never saw the movie until I got that.

[Zwackery]

I never watched TRON before, I did just get the UMD version for PSP.

 

That's what I've got, too, and I never saw the movie until I got that.

 

Well, at first I was a little surprised that some people have expressed not seeing it, but (after checking some ages!) I think that it may be understandable given that some of us were of an age to see it and then for the "younger" folks, since TRON became sort of a cult hit, it may explain why people hadn't seen it since it fell off the radar, and for some time Disney didn't do much with the property. I will, from time to time, show TRON to my film students, and they still seem to relate to it quite well despite it now being older than they are (plus the religious context is a lot more apparent as you get older, IMHO) and being in a post-Matrix world. You really should check out the film on a nice big screen if you've only ever seen it via UMD.

 

And then go play some TRON!

[+Omegamatrix]

Omega I thought it was some bizarre joke but listening to the others has made me rush out and buy the dvd so I can see it for myself

No it's all true. Fox, it's money well spent. I got the 20th anniversary DVD real cheap at Walmart recently. I think I paid $10 or $12 dollars can't remember. Tron to me is a timeless movie.

[A.J. Franzman]

If you'll forgive the slight tangent...

One interesting thing about Tron is that it is the first appearance of an all-computer-rendered character("Bit") in any film, but not the first use of computer animation in a film, that would either be "FutureWorld" (a sequel to WestWorld) or actually, the wireframe visual explanation of of how to blow-up the DeathStar that was presented to the rebel pilots in StarWars.

 

It all depends on your interpretation. www.your3dsource.com lists five "firsts", of which Futureworld and Star Wars are listed third and fourth. Personally, after seeing the wireframe with surfaces shown in Futureworld, I would regard the bare wireframe animation in Star Wars as a step backward -- but the more "techy" look it gave was right for that film.