Tron in 3-2-1 Contact Magazine (1982)

Did you sing the show theme when you read the post title? Then you remember the PBS science show 3-2-1 Contact. It's kind of funny how you can trace my growth as a human through the PBS shows I watched growing up. Contact was an instant favorite as they explored science principles in fun ways and also introduced The Bloodhound Gang, a group of teen detectives that solved crimes using science.

 

 

I could probably go on about the show but, as the title says, I'm talking about the accompanying magazine. I recently discovered there's about 90 issues uploaded to the Internet Archive. Being a fan of the show, I did get the occasional magazine and it's crazy how many covers I recognize. Me being me, I keyed in on the cover of the October 1982 issue which mashes up two of my favorite things: computers and Halloween. I was thrilled to see this "Special Computer Issue" has a story about Tron. 

 

  

 

Tron had just come out in July, which was probably bad news for any kid just finding out about the movie in October! The article spends time with Larry Elin, one of the computer graphic artists that worked on the movie. He worked at MAGI (Mathematical Applications Group, Inc) one of the first 3D computer animation companies.

 

Not only was he an animator, but also the VP in charge of hiring some of the other folks that worked on the movie. He worked on the iconic vehicle sequences in the movie including the Lightcycles, Tanks, and Recognizers. 

 

MAGI was located in NY and this page mentions how Disney execs in CA wanted to see how the effects scenes were progressing every day. They had a "computer link" to share the scenes coast to coast. I'm curious what that involved in the early 80s!

 

 The last page of the article shows someone programming a Grid Tank into the computer. Another article in this issue features a young girl named Cori Grimm that makes computer graphics for some educational games. If you want to browse the full magazine, you can find it here.

 

I'll leave you off with the theme here but there's also plenty of full episodes up on YouTube if you want to dive down a nostalgia rabbit hole.