It was 1982, and the movie-going world had been recently, and repeatedly, knocked on its collective keister by visual effects masterpieces such as Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and The Empire Strikes Back. Then Ridley Scott came along and slathered a layer of grime on the future with the “truckers-in-space” aesthetic of Alien, and established the look of science fiction films for the next 20 years with the dystopian Blade Runner. I thought I had seen it all, and couldn't imagine how anyone—ever—could top these last two entries in my personal pantheon of science fiction film favorites. Frankly, to date, none have. However, there have been bright blips on my geek radar from time to time. One such blip was a little Disney flick called Tron, which once again re-imagined the science fiction universe, this time within the world of computers.

Tron's story concerns a computer programmer (played by Jeff Bridges) who finds himself digitized and transported into a computer system, where he must engage in vicious gladiatorial contests in his quest to shut down the malevolent Master Control Program and gain his freedom. It was a fun movie, but, really, it was the look of the film that ignited my imagination. The concept design—some of which was by one of my favorite illustrators/artists, Jean “Moebius” Giraud, who had also lent his talents to my beloved Alien—was slick, brightly-colored, high contrast, and unlike anything I had seen before. I loved the clean lines of glowing “circuitry” that adorned the characters’ costumes; the geometric precision of the buildings and gridded digital planes; the sleek, compact lines of the “Light Cycles.” I didn't know it at the time, but the film broadly described an aesthetic which I would continue to admire in my personal and professional lives.

So, why the trip down memory lane? Why this excerpt from “Portrait Of The Geek As A Young Man?” Well, because there's going to be a sequel. That's right—it only took Disney 27 years to get around to it (28 by its slated release in 2010), but it looks as though they're going to reboot the world of Tron, and plug in the imaginations of a new generation of fans with Tron Legacy. Judging from the visual effects test, there will be fans aplenty.