Tron, which stars Jeff Bridges as a young computer programmer of ENCOM (Kevin Flynn), is really a simple movie inspired by a simple video game - Pong. The result was a visually-regnant movie where human players get to compete with each other in a deadly game using light cycles - virtual motorcycles that leave wall-like trails. A light cycle that crashes on a trail wall loses.

The story of Tron moved around the light cycle competition, but it's really about people entering the electronic world inside the computer, allying with and battling computer programs that are a reflection of the actual people who created them. It's an assumption that computer programs have an inherent intelligence of their own beyond any coded restrictions.

Back in 1982, when Tron was released, people fancied the idea of being "absorbed" by the computer and experiencing the world inside. Steve Lisberger, an animator of his own studio, decided to do something about it and cooked up a story that would bring together live action and computer graphics. That was how Tron came to be and Disney Studios took up the idea.

Tron was controversial in that it divided people. Computer technology in films wasn't exactly accepted as art in the 1980s and was even regarded as a form of cheating when it came to special visual effects. But Tron took the gamble and paved the way for greater films that used computer imagery and animation.

Now there's a new Tron movie - Tron Legacy. It's a sequel to the original where Flynn became CEO of ENCOM. The teaser trailer shown at the ComicCon showed two light cycles racing in an area that's varied and multi-leveled. One cycle crashes in an unexpected ambush staged by the opponent and the rider ends up being killed by a light ring despite his pleas that it's "only a game." The old Flynn seems to be a witness to what's transpired inside the computer and it seems obvious that he's going up against something even greater than what he had faced as a young programmer.

Tron Legacy of course uses the latest in computer graphics and will be released in Disney and IMAX 3D, which would make it a visually spectacular treat. Still, there's something strange in the way the characters' faces are portrayed in the computer game arena. The light cycle rider faces only appear to be projected onto the helmet visors and are disproportionately presented in relation to the body.