We all love to hate him, but stop and think about it. Was Dillinger really all that villianous?

It seems the two worst things he did was take credit for Flynn's games and fire him. So, if you think about it, Dillinger must have been Flynn's superior at Encom since he had the authority to fire him. With that, Flynn was apparently using the company computers to develop his own personal programs. Alan sure seemed to know company policy in not using company property for personal projects, so it's safe to assume Flynn was not complying and might have deserved getting fired. Nextly, anything on the company computers is concidered company property, especially if he might have been on the clock when he made them, so while the games could be concidered Encom property it's not that much of a stretch that Dillinger had rightful authority over them if it was in his department. Now, this is skipping over any ethical implications, but does that make Dillinger all that bad?

To go further, he seemed to not be very abusive to the other employees. He gets a bit mouthy to Dumont, but Dumont was sure talking trash to his superior too. Heck it's their job to do what he says, so what's so bad if he denies them access to the system when they still get their salary regardless while the company resolves it's own internal matters in it's own way? That's all he did. He seemed to be only building the business to me, not violating any employees outside their job descriptions.

Plus, while the MCP is clearly villianous against computer world characters, it doesn't seem so guilty of illegal activity in the real world. Capable of it, yes. Planning it, yes. Presently guilty? No. Also, there is no implications that any of the so-called 'appropriated programs' weren't Encom programs in the first place and technically company property. While Encom might be networked to other companies, there is no direct implication that the programs are actually stolen from outside Encom domain, not enough to magnify villiany anyway.

To go even further, he seems to have realized the beast the MCP was becoming and didn't plan for it to become any more than a buisiness tool to make Encom money. Once the MCP started acting, well, koo koo, he seemed to want to choke it down, and he seems to me to be willing to pull the plug on it before it did any real worldly damage. Look at his reactions. He doesn't like the MCP any more than Flynn, Alan or Tron. While his complete intentions aren't clear, what does seem clear is that he didn't have conquest in mind, just business.

Anyway, it's just a thought.

What do you think?

I think JediUnit has some interesting observations. When I worked at Disney, it was clear that if I created anything or wrote anything (like a screenplay) while in their employ--even if it was for me and not written on company computers--I still had to give them first dibs on my work. Sounds similar to what Flynn was doing.

Ethically, Dillinger was wrong to claim that he created the games. And I think that was the movie's premise--Dillinger broke some kind of law. But it is clear that he doesn't like what the MCP has become although we don't get to see how Dillinger would've handled it if Flynn and Tron hadn't succeeded.

Interesting topic!

What you are describing Compucore, is something that at the time was indemic to the videogame industry. Alot of game designers never recieved mention or royalties for their work on games for the big companies like Atari and such. It was'nt until some of the third party companies came along like Acitvision and Imagic that the actual designer's names were added to the documentation of the games, which of course created a trend in the industry to the point that not even powerhouses like Atari and Mattel could ignore it and thus they had to credit their designers and begin giving them royalties to compete with the third party houses, lset they loose their top talent. Designers like David Crane and others have wonderful stories about such incidents.

Trace is right about the incident she described as well. I cannot remember the name of the clause but it falls under intellectual property rights I believe (don't quote me though, media law wasn't my strong suit.). I know it isn't always that way, it depends on the company involved.

I guess Encom could have a intellectual property rights clause in their employment contract, but perhaps there was a fair compensation clause in th contract that Dillinger worked around in order to take Flynn' s right to just compensation. I also think this was a subtle point Lisburger was driving home, that alot of the makers of this entertainment were virtually kept unknown by their masters. Hmmmmmm. Tron, is a revolutionary tale on more than one level

Thanks everyone. Disney Trace? Huh.

I'm sort of with Sketch on this. It seems that the computer world characters were exaggerations of their human counterparts. Dillinger wasn't as evil as Sark nor was Alan as true-blue as Tron. Thier personifications were made black and white and no grey areas.

It almost seems to me that Dillinger was something of a Dr. Frankenstien in that he became a puppet of his own creation and Sark included. The MCP was the real evil mastermind while was just "Vader to his Emperor", even though didn't stop the MCP. I think at first he was building the MPC to build a corporation, but later was helping the MPC out of fear of getting in it's way too.

It's like Dillinger became his somewhat reluctant agent, in a way. I almost felt sorry for him in the end. Perhaps he's just in a plush cell next to the Enron CEO's.

HEY, looky there! Enron... Encom.... Interesting.

Thanks Trigger!

You're right too. He DID say he came in after Flynn and could have possibley got his promotions AFTER he stole it from Flynn. I didn't remember that. That does make his villiany more clear.

Thanks Trigger for the great clarification on it.

I like it fine too.

I like the gamblers comparison. I can see that too now that you point it out very well.

I also like your term "electroverse". Is that your concoction or is that canon? I never heard it used before and it's pretty cool.

You know, there's something I've been wondering about Dillinger, ever since I first saw Tron.

First, he's the only character with TWO alter-egos. Namely, Sark and the MCP. Which is another aspect that really sets him apart from the others, aside from his being "bad".

But what really makes me wonder, is if Dillinger wrote the MCP, then who wrote Sark?

Dillinger again? Don't think so.

No, I think it was the .

Redrain85, for some reason I don't see the MPC being an alter ego of Dillinger. Granted, he has his voice, but I don't think so. Firstly, when concured he wasn't the same guy. He was ancient looking, but wasn't David Warner. Plus, the MPC and he talked about old times playing chess like aquaintences, not like he was his own. Also, the MPC said "no one user wrote me." The MPC treated both Dillinger and Sark with tolorance, not respect. If the MPC created any program, he would have been better than Sark, I think. The MPC's relationship with them seemed like he was just using the best he could find to do what he needed, not on of his own design.

Personally.

So I just picture Sark as some kind of security program devised by Dillinger to look after his self-propelled MCP.

But it is an interesting thought anyway.

Rebel tyrant?

Is that a contradiction in terms? Rebels are the cure for tyrants, aren't they?

he he he

...just thought it sounded funny, that's all.