- Hey, everyone, I'm Steven,
and I have been a fan of Tron for a very long time.
We're here at Tron Lightcycle Run,
and I am, I am super excited.
I'm gonna have with me in just a few moments,
Bruce Boxleitner, who played Tron and Alan Brady
in Tron and Tron Legacy,
and Cindy Morgan, who played Yori and Lora Baines.
You can join me for a conversation we're gonna have
between Cindy and Bruce and myself
just about their experiences working on Tron.
I have to tell you I have been a Tron fan
since I was a little boy.
The film first.
- Me too. - I even brought out
I even brought out my activity book.
(Bruce laughing)
This is my activity and puzzle and game book here.
I mean, I even colored, you know, here,
"Enter into Tron's World."
I'd like to take you back to that.
- Sure.
- 40 years ago.
- This is amazing.
They have this new Tron ride.
It gives heart, it gives me heart because I,
it says that this little movie that we made in 19,
we were shooting it in 1981.
It came out in 1982 in a
in a year full of big epic science fiction and genre films.
- Very much. That summer was a big summer.
- It was a huge summer.
Who knew that it would be 40 years later, talking about it.
- What do you think it is about the story
of Tron that has lasted through these generations?
- Well, I think it's actually
one of the few science fiction,
even in its sort of naive little way.
It's the science fiction that we're actually living.
You know, so many things.
You know, it's kind of Blade Runner-esque.
That came out that year too.
- [Steven] Yes, it did.
- And also, I think there was a lot of brouhaha
about this new
new way of animating,
which I think, appropriately, it was here at Disney.
Because Disney has, to me, always been the home
of the great classic animated films.
Walt Disney certainly got animation going.
But we felt like we were part of a pioneering effort,
and pioneering efforts sometimes failed, you know? And...
- They gained a following though.
- It - this is the thing.
It kind of had a lackluster beginning
as a film out in the public.
But over the years I kept getting messages and letters.
"When is it that they're gonna make another Tron movie?"
And I said, "Oh my God," you know.
(Steven laughing)
But all the while I knew somewhere in the back of my mind
that this thing was just so different,
and I don't think we were quite ready for it yet.
When you look at it there's nothing
that quite looks like it.
That's how the - - It's a unique film.
- Yeah, it's unique.
- Handcrafted.
- Yeah, handcrafted. - So much of it was hand done.
- It was. - And it was old school.
- Old school and the new school.
- And imagination.
I mean, you know, here we are, you know,
at Tron Lightcycle Run, and you literally feel
like you are on a lightcycle, you know?
- Yes.
- But in Tron -
- My original light cycle was -
- You were (laughs)
- a stick about yea high. - You were pretending.
- And a crossbar.
And I had to bend over (Steven laughing)
and look like I was going somewhere.
They did the magic.
- You're here, back at Walt Disney World.
It's been many years since you visited us.
- Yes. Yes.
- This is wonderful.
We're at Tron Lightcycle Run
which is like, where you can literally ride,
- Jaw dropping. (laughs)
- You can ride a lightcycle through the grid,
play the games. It is, like, some -
- You can, you can say those words.
- Back then, probably, like trying to -
- People would go, what do you mean, you know?
And these are pros that you're talking to.
- Trying to act that.
Do you have a favorite memory?
Something surprised you during the production of Tron?
- Yeah. Everything on the Solar Sailer.
- Ah, yes.
- Everything. Because there was no Solar Sailer.
- There was just a set.
- There was a black empty soundstage.
Disney knows how to do it.
You build it so high.
Where's my mark?
Oh, finally at this point, you know,
I had to go, wait a minute.
There is no Solar Sailer.
There is no mark. What?
And they brought out these gorgeous graphics by Moebius.
And said, you're on this. - Brilliant designers.
- You're going there.
Jeff's down there, say hi, you know.
(Steven laughing)
- And you're pretending, you know, whereas, like,
here, we're - - But that's right.
- Bringing it to life.
- People are like, "How did you do that?"
And I said, "Well, when you're a little kid,
you'd go and pretend."
- Yeah. I used to pretend.
I used to, my bicycle was a lightcycle.
I used to, like, pretend - You're kidding me.
- I was riding my 10-speed, you know, going around.
- So I didn't have to explain it all to you.
- No, I mean, again, as a child growing up
- Little ones grab it right away.
- Oh, yeah.
You know, I tell you, it's such a groundbreaking film.
It made such an impression on me when I was little.
I even brought my activity book here,
and I have to open up to a page here.
- Oh my God.
- This is me when I was, you know, seven years old in Ohio,
coloring Yori here - Oh my God.
- and talking about a film.
What are your memories of working on Tron?
- I was actually just there, backing into -
Bruce and I would show up.
There was nothing there.
It was like being in a giant Costco
where there was nothing.
- Nothing. Just a big warehouse.
- Mark, mark it here. Step into it there.
And luckily, he and I were pretty athletic,
so we had to do running steps backwards.
- Oh, wow.
- And you can't look down.
And hit the mark and say a line that makes no sense.
(Both laughing)
Didn't until many years later.
Now it's like, "Oh my God.
That's right on the mark."
- I mean, 'cause personal computers were so, like -
- Do you know what it was like doing
the press junket?
Going to each city?
- Trying to explain -
- Trying, in Chicago -
What is this movie about?
And I, I had to back it up to "Wizard of Oz."
Oh, you're, and it's one thing, black and white.
And all of a sudden, all the people you knew -
- Transported into this other world.
- are over here. You know them.
You've got relationships.
You're happy to see them.
- Yeah.
- Congratulations.
- Thank you very much for being here today.
- Thank you very much.