The I/O Tower – Details, episodes & analysis

Greetings, and welcome to the I/O Tower: a podcast for all things TRON. I'm your host, David Fleming. As listeners of this podcast know, over the last 4 years I've had the honor of talking with many of TRON's creators, about their experiences on the Disney lot, friendships formed, skills learned and techniques discovered in creating a once-in-a-lifetime film. In 1982, this young crew of filmmakers rendered a look, a story about computers, video games, and our relationship to emerging technology that, truly, no other film since has accomplished. TRON inspired so many up and coming artists - musicians, television producers, and those in the nascent field of digital media. One only need reflect on TRON-inspired art of the past 40 years to see how TRON found its way into the hearts and minds of countless creators. I consider myself to be among them. Much has transpired in the microcycles of the past four decades, and not all of it good. Sadly, we've lost many of TRON's cast and crew. In the past 3 years alone, David Warner, who portrayed Dillinger/Sark, and Cindy Morgan, our beloved Lora/Yori. We also lost Raulette Woods, film cel coordinator, and most recently, animation camera operator Glenn Campbell. I wish I could've talked with each of them on this podcast. But I am humbled and honored to say that I did get to meet and hang out with Cindy, Raulette, and Glenn, and each of them were just the greatest people, so kind and encouraging to be with. Time marches on, and technology advances. From the standpoint of 1982, it would've been hard to foresee where we've gotten today. It feels we are nearly at a point where TRON might be, well, real. Want to go inside the computer? A VR headset makes this easy now. Want the programs to come outside to us? Alexa, Siri, ChatGPT, all getting more lifelike all the time. In today's episode, I want to revisit TRON. How did the idea of it all, ahead of its time, come to be? What does TRON mean today, in a world full of social media and tracking algorithms? Who or what are the users and programs now? And who is fighting for whom? Did TRON's young director, Steven Lisberger, know where all of this might go? I think maybe he did, as evidenced in "Topeka", a thrilling new sci-fi novel cowritten by him and Robert Churchill. My fellow conscripts, we have scored! Today's guest is TRON's writer and director himself, Steven Lisberger. Let's ask him all of this and, oh, TRON: Ares? Do tell! Welcome to the I/O Tower. END OF LINE

Greetings, programs, and welcome to The I/O Tower: a podcast for all things TRON. I'm your host, David Fleming. This is part two of my three-part interview with TRON visual effects supervisor Richard Taylor. Today, Richard picks right up from his work at Robert Abel & Associates, taking us on a deep dive into how that work found its way into TRON and the techniques used to create the special effects of TRON—glowing circuits, light cycles, disc streaks and tails, sparks when the tank crashes, and so many more! We also get to know about many of the people of TRON, from those working behind the scenes to render each of its 24 frames per second, to those leading its creation such as director Steven Lisberger, co-effects supervisor Harrison Ellenshaw, and visual futurists Syd Mead, Jean 'Moebius' Giraud, and Peter Lloyd. In Part 3 to air later, Richard talks about TRON's reception within the film industry, the marketing of TRON, and how TRON has changed the world for so many artists and moviegoers. We also talk about the recent traumatic event in Richard's life when he suffered a stroke, and how he's recovering and moving forward creatively. END OF LINE

Greetings, programs, and welcome to The I/O Tower: a podcast for all things TRON. I'm your host, David Fleming. My fellow conscripts, we have scored! In this and the next two installments of The I/O Tower, my guest is TRON visual effects supervisor Richard Taylor. Richard and his team pioneered the photographic and computer effects techniques that made TRON a visual masterpiece which has only grown more sublime in the minds of TRON fans nearly 40 years on. Today we cover Richard's early years, his light show Rainbow Jam that toured with The Grateful Dead, and how happenstance helped Richard land his first job with Robert Abel and Associates, where he pioneered effects techniques such as "Candy Apple Neon" and made many award winning commercials including the 7 Up bubbles commercial. In Parts 2 and 3 to air later, we deep dive into TRON and how Richard's foundational work led to the conceptualization and implementation of the effects techniques in TRON. We also talk about the recent traumatic event in Richard's life when he suffered a stroke, and how he's recovering and going forward creatively. END OF LINE

Greetings and welcome to The I/O Tower: a podcast for all things TRON. I'm your host, David Fleming. In this episode, I talk with TRON effects animator Chris Casady. Chris had recently finished work on Star Wars before joining the effects animation team on TRON where he crafted 55 effects shots! Chris animated sparks in tank battle scenes. He created electric echos from Flynn's body when the guard jabs him during the entry port scene. Chris did the long streak trailing the disc Tron catches behind his head! TRON was the film in which Chris honed his craft. He created sparks that fall with gravity. He made the scene where Sark's brains spill out after Tron defeats him — you will love Chris's telling of how he decided to do that! And remember Pac-Man in Sark's war room map? That was Chris! Join us as Chris recalls being at Disney, details his effects work for TRON, and closes by telling us about the intro video he made for TRON's 30th anniversary party. END OF LINE

Greetings and welcome to The I/O Tower: a podcast for all things TRON. I'm your host, David Fleming. In this episode, I talk with TRON storyboard artist and computer image choreographer Bill Kroyer. Bill was working at Disney when Steven Lisberger lured him away to work as animator on "Animalympics" (1980), and from there was among the first to begin working with Steven on TRON. Bill describes how TRON was originally conceived of as a hand-animated feature, but once Disney signed on with a bigger budget, computer animation techniques quickly expanded the possibilities. Along with storyboard artists Jerry Rees and the legendary Jean "Moebius" Giraud, Bill had a blast storyboarding TRON. But the inclusion of computer-generated imagery presented the first-ever challenge of moving a story through both hand-drawn and computer-animated scenes seamlessly. To meet this challenge, Bill and Jerry developed a method of conveying 3-space movements of digital objects, writing thousands of numbers on a first-ever form of animation sheet for computer animators. After TRON, Bill worked on the similarly inspired "Automan" TV series, developing Automan's sidekick, Cursor - a character much like Bit from TRON! Bill shares many stories with us from his 40-plus years in Hollywood, including his time at MAGi/SynthaVision, Digital Productions, Kroyer Films, Rhythm & Hues, and Chapman University as head of their digital arts department. END OF LINE

Greetings and welcome to The I/O Tower: a podcast for all things TRON. I'm your host, David Fleming. This is Part 3 in my three-part series with TRON associate producer and co-visual effects supervisor Harrison Ellenshaw. Harrison reflects on conceptual artists Syd Mead, Jean "Moebius" Giraud, and Peter Lloyd, and how their combined talent and vision for TRON was both intimidating and exciting. He describes the casting process, and the challenge of conveying the story of TRON to auditioning actors—a challenge not all would overcome. Harrison details many scenes, such as Jeff Bridges' improvised "big door", Flynn's Arcade, Dillinger's helicopter, and Wendy Carlos' iconic soundtrack. And Harrison was crushed that Yori's "love scene" was left out. We close the interview with funny voices on the set of TRON, and Harrison's film about making a film—"Stardumb (Dead Silence)". END OF LINE

Greetings and welcome to The I/O Tower: a podcast for all things TRON. I'm your host, David Fleming. This is Part 2 in my three-part series with TRON associate producer and co-visual effects supervisor Harrison Ellenshaw. We pick up with Harrison joining the TRON team as they figure out how to do the special effects, what it will cost, and how long it will take. Problems quickly arise, such as inked film cels stuck together and boxes of film being crushed! Harrison discusses his matte painting of the Encom office cubicle "popcorn" scene—the only matte painting in TRON. He also discusses the colors used in backlit scenes that give the electronic characters their glow, and the challenges in working with multiple colors and exposures. END OF LINE

Greetings and welcome to The I/O Tower: a podcast for all things TRON. I'm your host, David Fleming. This is Part 1 in my three-part series with TRON associate producer and co-visual effects supervisor Harrison Ellenshaw. Harrison tells us how he began at Disney as a matte painter, and how that work led him to Industrial Light and Magic to work on "Star Wars" and again later on "The Empire Strikes Back". Before "Empire", Harrison worked on Disney's "The Black Hole" alongside his father, famed matte painter and special effects creator Peter Ellenshaw—an experience Harrison describes as a true blessing. "The Black Hole" was nominated for two Academy Awards for Best Cinematography and Best Visual Effects. After "The Empire Strikes Back", Harrison found himself out of work when a desperate call from Disney led to his next job—and a chance meeting with Steven Lisberger, who had just pitched TRON to Disney. END OF LINE

Greetings, programs, and welcome to The I/O Tower: a podcast for all things TRON. I'm your host, David Fleming. In this episode, I talk with TRON scene coordinator John Grower, who details how he and others made the effects pipeline that brought us so many of our favorites scenes in TRON, such as the light cycles and the MCP! John regales us with stories of good times and hard work at Disney. He recalls long nights, dart gun fights, and playing Asteroids with Jeff Bridges and even Terry Gilliam of Monty Python fame - all from his office at Mickey Mouse Avenue and Dopey Drive! And there was that time he got disinvited from Disney's art department by...uhm...Art. John shares how the story of TRON prefigured the Internet today, and that TRON "lit a fire" under him to create better graphics and animation software for future films. John highlights breakthroughs that followed, such as the very first digital matte paintings! From Robert Abel & Associates, through Disney and onto Wavefront and Santa Barbara Studios, enjoy this ride along with John on TRON and the many films and computer graphics breakthroughs of which he was part. END OF LINE

Greetings, programs, and welcome to The I/O Tower: a podcast for all things TRON. I'm your host, David Fleming. In part 3 of my interview with TRON visual effects supervisor Richard Taylor, we jump in with Jeff Bridges, Cindy Morgan and Bruce Boxleitner playing video games, and hear more about Syd Mead's and Moebius's designs and the challenges of creating the first film ever to take place in a computer environment. Richard shares stories from the making of TRON, like when their massive lights blew out the transformers in all of Burbank, CA! He reflects on the Oscars from that year, and why TRON wasn't nominated despite being the first film to feature 20 minutes of full-frame computer-generated imagery. TRON didn't do very well at the box office, but Richard describes how a key marketing opportunity fell through, leaving much of TRON's potential movie-goers in the dark. He compares the computing power required for all of TRON to that for just one frame of TRON: Legacy, and tells us the best way to view TRON today (spoiler alert: it requires that Blu-Ray disc you already have and a giant projector/screen combo that you probably don't). Richard opens up about the stroke he suffered last August, his greatest fear, his renewed admiration for the human mind and life, and how he's recovering and growing creatively. Lastly, he pays tribute to legendary visual futurist Syd Mead, who passed away in December. Read more about Richard and his vast body of work at richardtaylordesign.com. END OF LINE