"Tron: Legacy" and "Fallen Away"

Wow...all I have to say is, wow. What a great movie! I couldn't be more pleased with Disney's sequel to "Tron." Visually beautiful, musically remeniscent of the original but brand new, a fantastic plotline that kept you involved. Beautifully done! Well done! I'm looking forward to seeing it again.

Some of the most fun parts were seeing things that first appeared in my mind for my fanfiction, "Fallen Away," coming to life on the screen. Let me preface this by saying three things:

1. It is entirely possible that all the stuff I'm about to mention could easily have been thought up by more than one person.

2. The storyline of "Tron: Legacy" is completely different than "Fallen Away."

3. I would be unbelievably flattered if the concepts were indeed found by the writers and creators of "Legacy" by having read "Fallen Away."

Okay, done with that! If you don't want spoilers, stop reading now...

Here we go! Identical visual ideas between "Tron: Legacy" and "Fallen Away!"

1. A program fighting with an identity disk in each hand, who's identity is hidden by a helmet. It was so cool when Rinzler whipped out two disks! My blue warrior, Retribution, first did that in my mind in August 2009. And, yes, she wore a helmet to hide her identity. It looks BRILLIANT on the big screen.

2. The use of lines from the original movie. I love doing this. I try to incorporate them as seamlessly as I can, and I think they did a really good job doing the same thing in the new movie. Loved the repeat of Sark's speech to the new recruits. Identical to "Fallen Away" was Hazel's first line upon entering the computer world, "This isn't happening..." This is a copy of Flynn's original entry line and is also said by Sam upon first entering the digital world in the new flick. That line's iconic, though, and is clearly low-hanging fruit for any fanfic or sequel writer. What is really similar is the attempt to make the re-used lines not incredibly obvious, but slip them in there where they make perfect sense and only hard-core fans would notice them.

3. Mistaken identities between programs and users. This is a major component of "Fallen Away" and is an obvious, but minor, part of "Legacy."

4. Programs attempting to get to the user world. This is a massive plotline in both stories. No getting around this one. It drove "Fallen Away" from day one when I published the first chapter in 2005. It's a gorgeous idea and has been great to work with.

5. Light Jets. Beyond any other similarity between these two stories, this visual one was a thrill to see onscreen. The light jets debuted in "Fallen Away" in August 2009, with Retribution and the freed users leaping out of the cruiser, activating the jets as they were falling, and flying away. In "Legacy," Clu and his bad guys leap from a high tower, activate their light jets while they are falling, and fly away after the good guys. What took my breath away was when Quorra looked back and cried out, "Light jets!" I was like, holy crap, those are my light jets. It was beautiful on the big screen.

6. The datakey around the neck. Mine's at the beginning; Legacy's is at the end. While not a literal key like Hazel's encoded one, Sam ends the movie with a tiny, flat computer storage item on a chain around his neck. I think it's either storing the data of Flynn, Tron or both. That said, he is wearing around his neck critical data connected with the computer world.

Whew! Good, good fun. I have never seen anything that I imagined come to life so clearly on the big screen. The light jets especially took my breath away.

I will post later with my review of the movie. Let's just say, I think they really did the original and the fans justice.