End of line
The previous post has moved me to formally define a sensation familiar to almost everyone:
Tron effect The sickening feeling one experiences after watching a beloved film for the first time in years, and realizing that, in fact, it sucks. Can also be applied to other media or experiences.
It's important to emphasize that you must have still thought you would like it. I watched a lot of Scooby Doo as a kid, but I know it would be awful now. When I saw Tron for the first time in 15 or 20 years, by contrast, it was a complete shock.
With due respect to GreyCell, Footloose and the aforementioned Jeff Bridges vehicle would be two of my top choices. How about you?
I liked (and still like) movies like Footloose, Tron, Flash Gordon, etc. because they are goofy and fun. Yah, they suck in their own special ways-- and I remember liking them because of the crappy acting, stupid story, cheesy effects, etc.
So, this past weekend the wife and I watched Star Wars (the original) again. I have to say I was feeling a little bit of the Tron effect. I can’t even believe it. I’ve seen The Empire Strikes Back many times in the past 20 years or so, and it’s by far my favorite of the series. I also recently saw Sith in the theatres. I found myself constantly comparing SW to TESB and Sith. SW just didn’t seem as great as I had remembered.
Feel free to accuse me of blasphemy.
Posted by: GreyCell | Tuesday, May 31, 2005 at 09:11 AM
Love the new feature, Quasi-Celebrity Deaths.
Bunch of guys on a pole. Whatever.
Not sure I'm feeling the tag line. I know what Miranda is. I know sort of what Credenda is. Perhaps it is to be read generally, like a series of personal protections and religious tenents. Of course, maybe my brain is misfiring a bit after a long weekend.
Posted by: buzz | Tuesday, May 31, 2005 at 09:13 AM
The guys on the pole are trying to watch the first game of the 1909 World Series without buying tickets. Pirates won the game 4-1, and the series in seven.
"Historians speak of two different kinds of sacred artifacts in a society-- miranda, which have virtually no intellectual content (e.g., flags), and credenda, which have specific content, the meaning of which we argue over all the time (e.g., the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Gettysburg Address)." -TNR, 5/16/05
Posted by: FS | Tuesday, May 31, 2005 at 11:08 AM
I'm not opposed to stupid movies, by any means--Buzz's brother-in-law and I watch "Good Burger" every year, for goodness sake. But rewatching "Tron"...it was just so static. Nothing seemed to happen for the first 45 minutes. Even once he got in the computer, it just seemed to drag. Needed more David Warner.
I still think ESB holds up great. SW is seeming slightly dated. ROTJ is verging on unwatchable-it needs at least 30 minutes chopped out.
Posted by: FS | Tuesday, May 31, 2005 at 11:43 AM
Cecil B. DeMille's "The Ten Commandments." That movie gets better with each passing year.
I know the phenomenon you are talking about, though. I experience it with old TV shows. I used to think "MacGyver" and "Knight Rider" were incredibly cool shows. Sitting through some re-runs today while the server in our office was down, I realized they were not as cool as I had thought.
Posted by: Basil Valentine | Tuesday, May 31, 2005 at 09:03 PM
I'm not sure that FS described the depths of the Tron effect. Shortly after we were married (lord, that was almost 8 years ago!), we were renting videos one night and spotted Tron. Neither of us had seen it since it came out and both of us remembered it as a kick-ass movie. My dad took me to see it and I loved it! We pop the movie in and ... ugh. Oh my God it was so bad.
There is a bid difference between knowing a movie is bad and watching it anyway, and remembering it as good and being devestated by the realization that a childhood favorite sucks.
This is why I won't watch Neverending Story again.
I also think I'm experiencing this with Hop on Pop.
Posted by: Yum | Wednesday, June 01, 2005 at 08:41 AM
I have an unusual one to add to the list: Risky Business. It's not that it's dated, exactly. It's just that watching Tom Cruise then, and knowing what Tom Cruise has become, it is hard to watch Joel as this complete innocent. I just keep waiting for Joel's face and neck muscles to tense up, and for him to make that Tom Cruise "I'm showing you that I'm very emotional right now" look. It's hard for me to watch the movie when I'm waiting for that.
I do not have the same feeling watching Bachelor Party. I can believe Tom Hanks as the goofy bus driver without comparing him to his current roles. That is either a compliment to Tom Hanks, or a realization that he has played a lot of those fun-loving, not too stuck on themselves characters (and has appeared that way in public, too, in contract to Tom Cruise).
Posted by: buzz | Wednesday, June 01, 2005 at 09:27 AM
"I hope you like potato salad... it's chunky style."
Tom Cruise's problem is that he's not a very good actor (oh, and that he's had too much plastic surgery). That's not a major issue when he's not doing anything too hard-he was fine in "Mission: Impossible", for example. But when he's actually supposed to act, it's not so pretty.
Discussion: Which Tom Cruise movie is worse, "Losin' It" or "Far and Away"?
Posted by: FS | Wednesday, June 01, 2005 at 10:24 AM
Ah, Neverending Story would disappoint me, I fear. I loved the princess at the end. I wanted to BE her.
Maybe Return to Oz? (With a very young Fairuza Balk, btw) Or The Dark Crystal? I thought those puppets were pretty cool, but now they might just suck.
Posted by: Mer | Wednesday, June 01, 2005 at 10:31 PM
Or Labrynth. I loved that movie.
Posted by: Yum | Thursday, June 02, 2005 at 08:34 AM