Progress City, U.S.A.

Oh Buzz, get over yourself…

By 1959, Herb Ryman had been working on Disneyland projects at WED Enterprises for several years. Walt’s studio was always big on cross-pollination, though, and when the Studio side needed a fine art painting done for The Shaggy Dog they called Herb. The film was Disney’s first live-action comedy and I’ve been watching it for years without knowing that the famous painting of the sinister Lucrezia Borgia and her sheepdog was a Ryman work.

Another of Herb’s extracurricular projects in 1959 was the following illustration, posted by the great Kevin Kidney, from an issue of Walt Disney Magazine.

This 1959 illustration by Herb Ryman evokes an era when air travel was not only an adventure but an enjoyable one at that

Walt Disney Magazine was a periodical for young readers with a variety of content related to Disney films and television shows. The above illustration was painted to accompany a story featuring Mickey Mouse Club serial stars “Spin & Marty.”

Olivia Wilde and Garrett Hedlund in TRON: Legacy. They’re talking about how excellent Ratatouille was.

It’s been a while since we’ve mentioned anything having to do with Walt Disney Pictures, but there’s a tidbit that’s just emerged from Entertainment Weekly that’s too good to go without comment. According to them, Pixar filmmakers Brad Bird and Michael Arndt (screenwriter for Toy Story 3) signed on briefly last month to script re-shoots for the upcoming TRON: Legacy.

That’s right. Brad Bird. TRON. Together.

Now, typically re-shoots don’t necessarily spell good news for a production, although they’re fairly common. And sometimes it can mean that the filmmakers have really found something that works in the piece and want to develop it further with some re-writes. It’s also true that Bird and Arndt only wrote enough pages for about six days of shooting, so it’s unknown how much they will affect the final film, but the fact that they were hired to punch up scenes to deliver more emotion, character and theme can only be seen as a good thing.

We all know the original TRON wasn’t exactly a character piece, and even those of us who love it unconditionally admit that its script isn’t bulletproof. We proud nerds have been waiting almost thirty years for a sequel, and while there’s so much that makes TRON: Legacy an unknown quantity, mixing in the name Brad Bird brings an extra bit of excitement to the proceedings.

I think it’s pretty cool that TRON: Legacy director Joe Kosinski and the other filmmakers decided to show their work-in-progress to some respected vets at Pixar and in Hollywood for some feedback in advance of last June’s re-shoots. And anything, and I mean anything, involving Brad Bird – who I’ll remind you has directed The Iron Giant, The Incredibles, and freakin’ Ratatouille – demands my full and undivided attention.

Walter Cronkite is one of my heroes. Authoritative yet avuncular, his constant reassuring presence during the events of the later 20th century made him the perfect choice to narrate EPCOT’s Spaceship Earth from 1986 to 1994. So if I love Walter Cronkite, and I love TRON, what would I love the most? Why, Walter Cronkite in TRON!

Wilkommen, bienvenue, welcome… programs!

To promote TRON’s 1982 release, Cronkite recorded a segment about the film’s cutting-edge special effects for his science-related summer series Universe. According to a 1982 issue of Disney Newsreel, “Cronkite was persuaded by ‘TRON’ director Steven Lisberger to appear in a scene shot here at the Studio that was then inserted into the new computer-generated images system used extensively for ‘TRON.’”

Walter Cronkite and TRON director Steven Lisberger

“Cronkite ended the segment with a soft-shoe routine and humming ‘Tea for Two,’ admitting that it had always been one of his unrealized dreams. ‘The reason I did it,’ Cronkite said, ‘was because they [Disney] said it could be done effectively with special effects. And I’m a very amenable guy. But – I don’t know whether it will get on the final show. After all, it might destroy the illusion of a serious newsman.’”

“‘However, I’m anxious to see what they’ll do with it. It’s fascinating out there. Who knows, I might end up at a pinball machine battling ‘Pac-Man.””

Sadly, we didn’t get a battle royale between Cronkite and Pac-Man, but what did result was pretty amazing. In a world where any punk kid with a copy of Final Cut Pro can slap together a sci-fi epic, it’s staggering to think of the amount of work that was required to create a single frame of TRON. Multiple elements were required for each effects shot, with several different exposures and mattes being optically printed onto the final negative. In fact, one wonders how much it cost just to do Cronkite’s simple few minutes of film. This was labor-intensive work; it’s also extremely cool.

Take a look at the final product courtesy of the wonders of Betamax tape. From the summer of 1982, here’s Walter Cronkite battling the electronic scourge with a bit of softshoe.

Rick Heinrichs and Tim Burton with some of the characters from “Vincent” (Disney)

With Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland approaching theaters, it’s good to remember where it all started for Burton – right at the Disney Studios in the early 1980s, alongside a number of talented but underutilized young animators.

The above picture, which shows a 24-year-old (!) Burton alongside artist Rick Heinrichs, comes from a 1982 issue of Disney Newsreel, the cast newsletter for the Disney Studios. The accompanying article promotes Vincent, a short film that the two had made together. The stop-motion short, as you might be able to tell, had more than a tinge of autobiography to it.

“Vincent,” the Studio’s newest stop-motion animation short film, was released with “Tex” at the Westwood Bruin last week. The film was designed as an experiment to test new stop-motion techniques for their possible use in feature films. It was so accomplished that Production Vice-President, Tom Wilhite, decided it should be released theatrically.

“Vincent” is a six-minute story of a little boy who thinks he’s Vincent Price. Tim Burton wrote, directed, and designed the characters for the film, and Rick Heinrichs was Producer and Sculptor for the show. Vincent Price narrated the story.

“Vincent” was entered in the experimental short film category at the prestigious Chicago Film Festival and won first prize, and it will qualify for Academy Award consideration. It will show at the Westwood Bruin for the duration of “Tex’s” engagement.

The studio, of course, didn’t really know what to do with Burton, and he would soon depart along with other young animators like John Lasseter. Burton, who also did conceptual work for The Black Cauldron, would make another short for Disney in 1984; Frankenweenie can be seen on the DVD release of The Nightmare Before Christmas alongside Vincent. Burton is also remaking it as a feature film for his next Disney project.

You can see, though, in the picture from the article that the oh-so-young Burton was already working on several of the key design styles that would emerge in his later work. Rick Heinrichs would make good for himself too, filling various artistic roles on a number of Burton projects and emerging as an art director on major projects like the second and third Pirates of the Caribbean films, the current release The Wolfman, and the upcoming Captain America.

Teaser poster for TRON: Legacy

By now, you’ve probably seen this at any of the hundred other websites that have already posted it, but I’ll be consarned if I’m going to let some TRON news slip by. We finally have our first real look into the world of TRON: Legacy, the forthcoming sequel to Disney’s 1982 cult sci-fi classic. We also have the nifty teaser poster, shown above, which features the film’s iconic lightcycles. I’m glad to see that they did a good job with the poster, although I would have preferred a more graphic-based approach. Still, since the art of film posters has disappeared so completely in recent years I’m just glad to have something cool.

We also get a brief synopsis of the film, which gives us an idea of the plot as well as a name for Olivia Wilde’s character:

Olivia Wilde and Garrett Hedlund in a scene from TRON: Legacy

TRON: LEGACY is a 3D high-tech adventure set in a digital world that’s unlike anything ever captured on the big screen. Sam Flynn (GARRETT HEDLUND), the tech-savvy 27-year-old son of Kevin Flynn (JEFF BRIDGES), looks into his father’s disappearance and finds himself pulled into the digital world of Tron where his father has been living for 25 years. Along with Kevin’s loyal confidant Quorra (OLIVIA WILDE), father and son embark on a life-and-death journey of escape across a visually-stunning cyber universe that has become far more advanced and exceedingly dangerous.

As you can see by the image above, the film’s look is darker than its predecessor. Gone are the white suits with blue piping, and instead we see Matrix-y black bodysuits and even a bit of bare skin. Also gone are the characters’ helmets, with Wilde instead sporting a very “mod” jet-black hairstyle. I have to say that while it definitely looks cool, I hope the final product is more “glowy” and consistent with the world of the original film. TRON had a look all its own, and there’s no need to try and ape The Matrix or The Dark Knight.

That’s a minor quibble, though, especially when judging from a single image. The film continues to look stylish and high-quality, and it will be interesting to see how my long my patience can hold up waiting for its December 17th, 2010 opening.