I don’t know about you but while I enjoy a computer or console game now and again I’m not sure that I would want to end up in one actually playing the games in person. This is what happened to poor Kevin Flynn as he was trying to get the rather nasty MCP (Master Control Program) of the company ENCOM to admit that his former fellow programmer Ed Dillinger had ripped off his idea for a major coin operated games machine. To make matters worse, the MCP is getting ideas well above its station and is having some nice chats with military, government and other business control programs about how nice it would be if they ran the world rather than all these squishy humans. As this all happened in the early nineteen eighties the Internet wasn’t around but you can imagine the image problems that ENCOM would have had if all this had got out. Luckily a quick visit to Web Design Yorkshire based company https://www.etempa.co.uk/ would have meant that at least their website would have looked perfect and could have given them some credibility.
When Mr Dillinger objects to the MCP taking over everything he suddenly finds that it is blackmailing him about the stolen game idea. Unfortunately, pulling the things plug out of the socket is not an option as it has cleverly sorted out its own backup power supplier. Inside the ENCOM computer system programs are suddenly finding that they can’t talk to their “users” anymore and if they try and object they end up on “the games grid”. If they fail at the games they get “derezzed” or deleted. It all looks pretty bleak in the real world and the electronic world. Whatever can be done?
Enter Alan. He is a friend of Flynns and he has written a security program called Tron. If he can give Tron the specific codes then Tron can shut down the MCP and all will be right with the worlds again. Flynn, Alan and Lora (Flynn’s Ex, and Alan’s current, girlfriend. Awkward.) break into the ENCOM offices, even though Alan and Lora work there, and Flynn attempts to distract the MCP so that Alan can input the codes to Tron. The MCP decides that, rather than call security, it would be more fun digitising Flynn and turning him into a program.
Disappointingly for the MCP Flynn proves to be very good at games inside the computer system as he is out of it. He effects an escape for Tron and another program Ram using some natty light cycles. Tron is able to get the codes, avoid a big electronic version of Dillinger called Sark and then sticks what looks like a frisbee in the MCP’s innards solving everything.
