A computer hacker is abducted into the digital world and forced to participate in gladiatorial games where his only chance of escape is with the help of a heroic security program.
Hacker/arcade owner Kevin Flynn is digitally broken down into a data stream by a villainous software pirate known as Master Control and reconstituted into the internal, 3-D graphical world of computers. It is there, in the ultimate blazingly colorful, geometrically intense landscapes of cyberspace, that Flynn joins forces with Tron to outmaneuver the Master Control Program that holds them captive in the equivalent of a gigantic, infinitely challenging computer game.—Anthony Pereyra {[email protected]}
Marginalised, with his hard work stolen from the ruthless executive, Ed Dillinger, and fired from the mighty ENCOM corporation, the innovative computer engineer, Kevin Flynn, has nothing but time to collect evidence of theft. Up against an ever-watching master control program--the MCP--Flynn's digitised alter ego will unexpectedly find himself transported in an alternate electronic universe, where oppressed small-scale applications are forced to compete with each other or face destruction. Will Flynn ever escape the game grid?—Nick Riganas
Computer hacker Kevin Flynn is a former employee of the software corporation ENCOM, now running an arcade. Flynn has been trying to find proof that five video games he created were stolen by ENCOM's senior executive Ed Dillinger. In response, he is split into molecules by a digital laser and transported into ENCOM's computer. In this computer, a megalomaniacal program called Master Control dominates the digital world like a dictator. Flynn who programmed a number of features of the environment he got into, teams up with a bookkeeping program and his girlfriend, and together they try to replace Master Control with Tron. Tron is a heroic security program who monitors communications between the Master Control Program and the real world.—Ivo Kroone <[email protected]>
Kevin Flynn is a former employee of the software corporation ENCOM, now running an arcade. Flynn has been trying to hack into ENCOM's mainframe computer to find evidence that ENCOM's senior executive Ed Dillinger stole five video games he created. But Dillinger's supercomputer Master Control Program foils Flynn's efforts and dictates and controls most of the computer systems. One night, Flynn's former girlfriend Lora Baines and her boyfriend, ace computer programmer Alan Bradley helps Flynn break into ENCOM to shut down the MCP with Alan's security program Tron. But MCP uses Lora's matter transmission program and converts Flynn into data and sends him into the computer. Flynn finds himself in a electronic world ruled by the MCP and his evil chief henchman Sark, where computer programs are the alter-egos of their creators and are forced to compete in gladiatorial games. With help from Tron, a heroic and fearless security program and his lover, Yori, Flynn sets out destroy the MCP and help Tron liberate the system from the MCP's control, by destroying the MCP is Flynn's only way of returning to the real world.—Daniel Williamson
Programmer Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) has been swindled. When he was employed at the ENCOM Corporation his former colleague Ed Dillinger (David Warner) stole the ideas for several popular arcade games that Flynn had written. Flynn is sure that if he can get inside ENCOM, he can successfully crack the system and find the stolen code -- proving that the program Dillinger stole is in fact his.
His plan goes well at first. With help from Alan Bradley (Bruce Boxleitner) and Lora (Cindy Morgan), he gets into the company, and starts poking around the computer system. But he has not counted on Dillinger's powerful artificial intelligence, the Master Control Program (MCP). The MCP is self-aware and has been stealing other computer programs across the world. Instantly realizing what Flynn is up to, and not wanting to see his human patron ruined, the MCP uses an experimental laser to "digitize" Flynn, turning him into a computer file, which is then in at his mercy.
All of the programs in the System appear to be humans, with the faces of their "users" (aka creators) and glowing lines on their unisex costumes. SARK, a control program (whose user is Dillinger) is tasked with eliminating Flynn. The MCP wants Flynn to be run through a series of game programs, where he will be "de-res'd" (deleted) upon being defeated. Flynn, a pretty good video game player, survives his first challenge.
He is imprisoned with TRON, a monitoring program Alan Bradley wrote, but that the MCP keeps safely locked away. Their next challenge gives them an opportunity to escape, and after defeating their MCP-allied opponents, they flee on "light-cycles." Flynn gradually learns that as a programmer, he has magic powers in this world. He is able to resurrect dying programs, rebuild broken vehicles, etc. Eventually, he decides to confront the MCP directly and heads toward the center of the system.
In a climactic confrontation, Flynn and TRON assault the MCP and ultimately defeat it. At this point, the entire system comes alive, with the MCP's various security measures vanishing. Flynn is rematerialized, and TRON uncovers Dillinger's deceit. Dillinger is unseated from his high position, and Flynn takes his place.
