'Tron' Animated Series Feeds the Need of Fans

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             "Tron: Uprising" an animated series that builds on the popularity of the original film

This groundswell led Disney to relaunch the franchise with "Tron: Legacy" in 2010 (It even went so far as to screen test footage for fans at San Diego Comic-Con in 2008).

And now, the franchise has continued, with no less of a fan than Paul Reubens (best known as Pee-wee Herman) taking part in its latest incarnation. Just like his character Pee-wee, Reubens has a pretty impressive toy collection. One of his favorites is a small "Tron" lightcycle.

"I just love looking back" at the time of "Tron's" release, Reubens said.

The comic actor spelled out what made that movie so special.

"We all knew 'Tron' was way ahead of its time," he said. "To some degree, it's ahead of its time still. People know enough about the world of it and have more reference to it that it's way more accessible now."

"Anyone will tell you the villain roles are the more fun roles," said Reubens, who plays opposite Elijah Wood's hero Beck. "I ran into people excited to see it before it happened. In the last six months, people stopped me all the time and said, 'oh, you're working on 'Tron!' I've run into a lot of 'Tron' fans out there."

"Tron" fandom is something just about everyone involved in the series -- a prequel to "Legacy" -- has in common. That was important to executive producer Charlie Bean, a lifelong fan himself, who wanted to avoid "typical action-adventure" casting.

"For anyone who witnessed the onset of computers and the dawn of video games, 'Tron' spoke to a lot of us with concepts about what it was like to be inside a computer or a virtual world," he said. "It always sat inside of my mind. From a design point of view as an artist, it had such an impact on me."

A fan favorite from his time on "Babylon 5," Boxleitner admitted that "Tron" devotees have approached him more often than those for "B5."

"This was the only one that really seemed to resonate over the years," he said.

So it took no convincing at all for Boxleitner to return to that world.

"I think 'Tron' could very well be a mythology for our time. It was born at the age of the Internet," he said. "When Tron and Yori and Flynn destroyed the MCP, we liberated the internet for everyone. You can thank me. Who knew?"

Outside the world of animation, Boxleitner hopes for more live-action "Tron" -- with one stipulation.

"It's my motivation to find a young Tron. I can't fit in those tights. Tron's a young man's game!"

Source:cnn