terriblevirtue

Congratulations to CBC for picking a real winner for once! Not that I dislike their other shows necessarily, but until now there hasn't been a Canadian series that could compete at an international level (with a couple of possible exceptions). This show is funny, smart, and grabs your attention. It's almost impossible to *not* watch until the end once it's started.

I'm praying real hard that it finds its audience because once it picks up steam, it could actually draw... my god... ratings. And I don't mean acceptable-for-Canadian-made-TV ratings. Actual numbers! Did I just say that? A highly rated CBC show?

Well I can dream, can't I?

Tron is one of those love-it-or-hate-it numbers like Buckaroo Banzai or Logan's Run. Sure it's cheesy, but I think that's forgivable in films that a) don't take themselves too seriously, and b) actually have a brain.

The dialogue is for the most part pretty snappy, which is a welcome relief considering how tempting it must have been to turn it into a melodrama, and the actors manage to say awkward words like "deresolution" without it being too distracting.

Of course the metaphor of programs as little people who live inside your computer is stretched beyond what (in 2003) anyone would buy, but you can still sense that the screenwriters actually knew something about computers. I didn't say a *lot*... but something, which is more than you can say about the subject matter of a lot of movies.

Today, questions like "how can programs designed to perform one specific function compete in computer games operating on terminals they aren't even connected to?" pop to mind. But remember that in 1982, the few home computers there were, were still run by hooking your television set up to a tape recorder and be forgiving. And that same question never did Reboot any harm.

It's a fun adventure story that isn't too insulting to your intelligence, and the special effects were a *lot* better than I would have expected. I was impressed.