Fairy Tale Spotlight: Tron [Book Review]

"Tron" is a book written by Brian Daley, and it was published in 1982 as a means to promote the film of the same name. The book is an adaptation of the film which was an original story created by Steven Lisberger and Bonnie MacBird.

So, the movie Tron was one of two movies in my life that introduced me into the extraordinary world of science fiction, the other being The Black Hole. It all had to do with this other world that existed within the processes of a computer. Everything about this movie was ahead of its time. It used animation mixed with early CGI to create a "cyberscape" that still looks great to this day.

But there were some things about the movie that were a little hard to understand, even after watching it over 30 times. I figured it was a fine time to check and see if there was a book available. There was. It was old and dusty. Out of print since the 80's when it came out. But it was still intact and even included some full color photos of the movie right in the middle.

If you are interested in the movie, the book does heavily add extra context to it. And quite frankly, that is the reason to read the book. Why? Because the book entirely follows the movie almost word for word. It is a nearly perfect adaptation of the actual film, and this was likely due to pressure from the movies actual two authors.

But with the book "Tron," Brian Daley makes it very, very clear what and why everything is happening. He puts you in the minds of every single character. You will have a full and complete understanding of why everything happened in the movie. However, there are some very specific things I want to mention before I end this review:

1. Brian Daley has a bad habit of drawing out dialog scenes by pausing them constantly to explain why each character is saying the things they are saying. I've seen this done better in other books. Daley does it in an unfortunately sloppy manner, which frustrated me as I read the book.

2. One of my favorite characters from the movie, Bit, was notable for only saying, "Yes," or "No." This was done wonderfully well in the movie. However, Brian Daley constantly makes him say alternative words and even entire phrases that stand in for the simple replies. This was annoying and unnecessary. Although he does go into the mind of Bit, which was extremely welcome and even explained a scene from the movie that was a little confusing. A mixed bag, I suppose.

3. A deleted sex scene from the film was left in the book and written tastefully. The book is not an erotica. I liked the scene a lot and thought it added much to the book, where the deleted scene from the film really had to be chopped for good reason.

"Tron" by Brian Daley is a recommended read to those who enjoyed the film. If you have not seen the movie, it is much harder to recommend, but there is a chance you may still enjoy it as written. Although I do have some complaints, the author does do a decent job at its writing,

On a side note, I found out that this Brian Daley was the one who wrote the script for the original Star Wars audio drama. This audio drama is overwritten as heck, and I did not like it at all. So at the very least, this guy did something I liked, and that's good. Cheers.

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