I just wrote this out earlier tonight for some friends of mine and I wanted to share it with some fellow fans. If you want to know more about me, here's my intro : http://www.tron-sector.com/forums/default.aspx?a=top&id=408023
As a quick background, I'm a control systems engineer from Carnegie Mellon University (hell on earth) who has been building and programming systems for roller-coasters in the amusement industry for over 12 years. So for me, Tron and especially Legacy hit home. Hope you enjoy....

Gonna drown my Steeler sorrows with seeing Tron for the fifth time tomorrow. I really love that movie. Seriously, its not often something comes along to catch my attention like this, but I shouldn't be surprised here. I loved the original when it came out and had so much trepidation in seeing the new one. Lets face it, there have been a lot of let downs with sequels and remakes and I was not wanting to see a cherished movie from my past get destroyed.

Two weeks into it being out, I bit the bullet and went. 5 minutes in, I thought neat beginning....10 minutes in, and I was watching a cool movie....15 minutes in and I was totally utterly hooked. Bitch and moan all you want about CGI, once you're in the grid, you're in a computer...have all the CGI you want because it fits! Visually it was amazing to watch, and the score may well be at the absolute top out of any movie or theatre score ever. Storyline, while some complain about its simplicity, the more you read the backstory of everything and watch for subtle character hints, the more complex you find it actually is. Yes, I am in love.

But its still just a movie, right? Maybe for many but not for me. This may come as a big shock to many of you but I can be a total geek (waiting for shocked gasps). Yes, I have my nerd sides, and as a kid of the 80s and in love with video games, Tron blew me away back then. But it wasn't just the story...it was the concept of programs and machines taking on lives of their own and the ways that we interacted with our computer counterparts. Now more years later than I like to mention, that concept is a part of my own life and has been for years.

I am a programmer and a system a system builder. I have built systems for rides starting from blank documents to full programs, installations, and working machines. Every one of these projects takes on a life of its own to me, including its own quirks and personalities. No I'm not losing it, and I don't expect everyone to understand. But honestly, from the first moment when power is turned on, I start thinking of it as the moment that system has a pulse, the development starts. I program how the system thinks and will act...its brain functions. The wiring to all of the sensors and motors are its nerves and muscles. And when my system has a problem, I picture it as something that needs to be healed. When I am done, it breathes and lives, making decisions according to my programming and feeding from the power we give it. And yes, it does have a personality...some are hard workers, some like to mess with me, I've had my problem children along with my overachievers. I attribute looking at things in this living way has been a big part of the success I've had over the years.

You do start to swear the personalities are real. So in seeing Legacy, for me its a shared view of how I have seen systems for years. I can get lost in a storyline like that so easily because it is so in tune with my own views. I'm a tech person and a subscriber to the digital frontier, and this truly is a movie for people like me. One thing that keeps hitting me over and over is the line from the soundtrack where you hear Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) say "I got in!", after he describes his own imaginitive views on how he sees his systems work. There's this extra point of excitement in his voice as he says that which I could totally relate to...picturing this all your life and then being able to see, to feel, to be a part of it all. God, that gets the imagination flying!!! I can't ask for more than that in a movie.

So no, not everyone will get it or like it. Everyone is different. Some also may feel too nostalgic for the old styles of the original. But this is my world, so I say go see it and welcome to the views of the world from my programmer's eyes.

-Brian