List of Tron characters

This article covers notable characters of Tron.

Bit

Bit is a character from the movie Tron. Representing a bit (binary digit), it was only capable of providing yes or no answers to any question. Despite this it still managed to convey emotion and other levels of complexity.

Physically, Bit was represented within the movie by a blue polyhedral shape that morphed between the compound of dodecahedron and icosahedron and the small triambic icosahedron (the first stellation of the icosahedron). When "at rest" this shape was constantly shifting. When the Bit announces the answer "yes" it briefly changes into a yellow octahedron, and when it announces "no" it changes into the 35th stellation of the icosahedron.

Bit appeared twice in the movie, once at the beginning of the movie as a companion to Flynn's hacking program Clu and once later on as a companion to Flynn himself when he stole a Recognizer. It is not clear whether these were necessarily the same Bit, however, so there could be an entire "race" of these programs within the Tron setting. It could also be surmised that, given their limited interaction style, all bits are interchangeable and thus the same bit.

Bit was originally to have a more extensive role in the film, but it was cut to just two minutes due to scheduling reasons. Despite this, the co-creators of Max Headroom, in their book Creative Computer Graphics, called it "one of the most memorable characters in the film." At the time of the film's release, the character represented an innovative use of computer graphics techniques such as vector graphics and morphing.

Master Control Program

The Master Control Program (MCP), voiced by David Warner, is the main villain of the Buena Vista Pictures movie Tron. It was a rogue artificial intelligence created by Ed Dillinger (also played by Warner) that ruled over the world inside ENCOM's mainframe computer. During the rule of the MCP, many programs were enslaved and forced to play games against its henchmen, led by Sark (also played by Warner).

Dillinger wrote the MCP to administer the company's computer network (in effect an AI Superuser). However, the MCP had the capacity to learn and grew beyond the confines of its original programming. It began to steal data from other systems, and took control of several companies and institutions. Its intelligence - and ambition - grew nearly out of control, and the MCP grew to desire nothing less than world domination; stating "From here I can run things 900 to 1200 times better than any human."

Eventually, however, the MCP caused its own downfall. It digitized former ENCOM programmer Kevin Flynn, who had come dangerously close to uncovering Dillinger's schemes. Flynn, in the computer world, allied himself with Tron, a security program; their combined efforts resulted in the deresolution (death) of the MCP by destroying his heart which is at the center. The MCP then reverted back to its original chess program appearance (which, in the digital universe, appeared as an old man in a control chair) followed by this program vanishing as it was deleted.

The MCP would end most of its conversations with Dillinger and Sark with the phrase "End of line".

He is also seen in Kingdom Hearts II, as the ruler of Ansem the Wise's computer. He is fought as the boss along with Sark as the final fight of Tron's world.

Parodies

• In the Dexter's Laboratory episode "Game Over", a dangerous videogame called "Master Computer" takes over Dexter's Computer. The Master Computer speaks like and resembles the MCP, and forces Dexter to play a game similar to the lightcycles in Tron.
• In an episode of The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, Billy, Mandy, and Grim get locked in a "house of the future" controlled by a computer similar to the MCP with a similar hatred of humanity. There is also another man in there who explains everything about the computer, imitating the scenario of Tron.
• In the cartoon series Captain N: The Game Master (which borrows heavily from Tron), the Mother Brain (of the Metroid game series) spoofs the MCP's role.
• In the South Park animated series episodes "Jewbilee" and "Super Best Friends", Moses appears in the form of Tron's MCP.

Sark

Sark is an evil computer program, one of the main characters in the film Tron. He was played by David Warner in said film and voiced by Corey Burton in Kingdom Hearts II but in a manner uncannily similar to Warner's distinct voice.

Tron

Command Program Sark, as his guards call him, is the henchman and chief lieutenant to the Master Control Program. Both programs were created by ENCOM executive Ed Dillinger, and share Dillinger's voice (and in Sark's case, his physical form). Sark oversaw the training of new programs who were kidnapped and brought to the Game Grid by the MCP. Sark freely admitted that the training he arranged for the conscripts was somewhat substandard, as Sark's own elite force of programs nearly always won every match they took part in. Sark was known to enter the games himself from time to time, and was a grand master at any game he cared to try (when we first meet him, he is victorious in a game of Light Cycles).

Sark was brutally efficient at his work. Furthermore, the MCP himself pointed out that Sark actually enjoyed his job - "brutal and needlessly sadistic", as the MCP put it. Sark took immense pride in being labelled as such.

Nevertheless, Sark and the MCP's reign of terror over the computer world quickly came to a crashing halt when Kevin Flynn, a former programmer at ENCOM, was digitized and brought into the computer world. Sark refused to believe that there was anything special about Flynn, arrogantly dismissing him as "just an ordinary program". Sark threw everything he could at Flynn in an effort to eliminate him, but Flynn (along with Tron, a security program) fought back just as hard. Sark's repeated failure to kill Flynn drew the ire of the MCP, who wondered how Sark would take to working in a pocket calculator. After being threatened with deresolution (death), Sark resolved to wipe Flynn out once and for all. On board his command carrier (which resembles an aircraft carrier), Sark captured Flynn and attempted to use him to lure Tron out into the open where he could kill them both. In a battle with Tron, Sark was mortally wounded but was revived by the MCP, who infused Sark with all of his power - "Sark, All of my functions are now yours". Flynn distracted the MCP, which was subsequently killed by Tron. Upon the MCP's death, Sark derezzed and ceased to exist.

Sark is expected to appear in Tron 2.

Kingdom Hearts II

In the Square Enix/Disney RPG game Kingdom Hearts II, Sark, still the MCP's henchman and now a Heartless commander, is a villain in the Tron world, Space Paranoids. Sora, Tron and company fight Sark in the MCP's stronghold, and defeated him fairly quickly, after which he suggests to Tron that they would have made a great team whereas Tron replies that he is better than Sark; however, he was enhanced by the MCP, growing to giant size and fighting Sora's group yet again with the MCP by his side. Sark's powers were dangerously brutal in his giant size, but, along with the MCP, he was defeated. After the MCP was deleted by Sora and Tron, Sark faded out and disappeared. With the exception of the extra Kingdom Hearts characters and the absence of Flynn, Ram, Yori and Dumont, this scene plays out almost the same as the film's climactic end. David Warner, who played Sark in the movie, was offered the part, but had to decline because of a previous commitment and was only able to lend his likeness to the game. Sark's role was instead performed by veteran voice actor Corey Burton, who gave a near-flawless imitation of Warner's British accent. He would repeat this near-flawless imitation for his reprisal of the Decepticon Shockwave, who he voiced in the original 80's cartoon, for the 2008 series Transformers: Animated, but used his imitation of Warner's voice instead of Shockwave's original voice.

External links

• "Sark" on Kingdom Hearts Wiki