Disney investing in once-failed 'Tron' franchise

More than a month before the release of Disney's "Tron: Legacy" comes news of a planned animated television series, "Tron: Uprising," with a voice cast including Elijah Wood, Mandy Moore, Paul Reubens and Nate Corddry.

It's another sign - along with a years-long marketing campaign and a potential merchandising line of "Tron" action figures, keyboards and iPod docks - that Disney has great faith in its Christmas-season release, due Dec. 17. What's strange is that "Tron: Legacy" is the sequel to a 28-year-old Disney experiment that flopped to begin with.

In 1982, "Tron" sought to capture the computer-and-video-game crowd with a story line about a young programmer who is physically transported into a massive mainframe. There he competes in various games and races (light-discs, lightcycles) while trying to find and destroy the tyrannical Master Control Program (voiced by David Warner). The film used an unprecedented level of computer-generated effects; the synthesizer wizard Wendy Carlos ("A Clockwork Orange") composed the score.

Unfortunately, tech-savvy youngsters found "Tron" silly (why would programs physically resemble their human programmers?), while the older generation felt alienated by its cold, empty look. Responses to preview screenings were so negative that Disney's stock dropped.

So why, decades later, is "Tron" getting a flashy, expensive sequel, in 3-D, no less? Perhaps it's the cult following the film has allegedly gained. Perhaps Disney simply can't abide failure, even a distant one. Perhaps there are so few good scripts that even duds look attractive again. With "Tron: Legacy," Disney faces either vindication or further humiliation.