Pop Culture Happy Hour – Episode Summary

Episode Title: TRON: Ares And What's Making Us Happy
Date: October 10, 2025
Hosts & Guests:

• Glenn Weldon (Host)
• Jordan Crucciola (Writer, producer, host of “Feeling Seen”)
• Candice Lim (Co-host of Slate’s ICYMI podcast, former PCHH producer)

Episode Overview

This episode focuses on the new sci-fi film Tron: Ares, the third installment in the Tron franchise, examining its visual spectacle, narrative choices, performances, cultural footprint, and legacy. The roundtable covers what sets this entry apart, its reception among fans, and broader questions about the franchise’s relevance. The team ends by sharing their weekly pop culture recommendations.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Tron: Ares – Plot & Change in Formula

• [00:23] The film isn’t a direct sequel but a “soft reboot”: you can “go in pretty clean.”
• Main Twist: Instead of humans entering the digital world, now human-shaped AI programs (including Jared Leto’s Ares) enter the real world.
• Greta Lee plays Eve, a programmer using tech to bring digital objects into reality, but with a crucial 29.9-minute survival limit; Evan Peters plays her rival, using the tech for militaristic ends.
• Jodie Turner Smith is Athena, a by-the-books AI soldier.

2. Visuals & Technical Experience

• [02:21] Jordan Crucciola:
  • Praises the film’s “height of visual cool.”
  • “What I needed from Tron Ares was to look like Tron, and it looked like Tron.”
  • Recommends not skipping the 3D: “It’s the first time I've ever said it in my life. The 3D…was a value add. Technical wizardry crushed it.”
• [15:50] Glenn Weldon:
  • Notes how the red and black aesthetic is “slick…giving you serious sinister ladybug energy.”
  • Associates the look with “AI slop”—very modern, muscle-car-like CGI sheen.

3. Comparisons to the Franchise and Its Place in Pop Culture

• [03:35] Candice Lim:
  • Deep affection for Tron: Legacy (2010): “It’s a sick movie. Daft Punk electric.”
  • Observes this entry is the most “marvelly and action-y” so far, embracing bigger set pieces and more destruction.
  • Feels the franchise fits with other modern AI films like Megan 2.0 and MI: Dead Reckoning.
  • Candidly hates the original 1982 Tron: “I gotta be honest, I hate Tron from 1982.”
• [06:48] Glenn Weldon:
  • Feels disconnected from the franchise despite being its apparent target audience (“a 14-year-old indoor kid” at the time).
  • Wonders why Tron never achieved major cultural status:
    • “It is certainly my impression that this franchise has not left a huge cultural footprint…but I’m old and tired. Maybe there’s things I don’t know about. Maybe there’s a TronTok?”
  • About Easter eggs and fan service:
    • “It’s doing it while pelting you, hurling Easter eggs at you, whipping them…like a disgruntled Peter Cottontail.”
  • On the lackluster in-theater response to an original Lightcycle cameo:
    • “It got one sad, lonely woo…Who are you? Can I study you?”

4. Musings on Tron’s Enduring (or Not) Fandom

• [07:57] Jordan Crucciola:
  • Confirms internet-fandom side, especially after the 2010 film:
    • “In the aftermath, the internet has found its home with Tron Legacy.”
  • Expresses confusion over Disney’s decision:
    • “I don’t know where they decided this was a great value proposition. I’m so glad they did. I don’t think they’re right.”
• [08:54] Candice Lim:
  • Tron’s offbeat timing is both blessing and curse:
    • “It doesn’t come around every two years…It competes with other things that do.”
    • “It feels like a passion project to me.”
  • Cites Roger Ebert as an early champion of the 1982 film:
    • “One of Tron 1982’s biggest advocates is this random ass guy named Roger Ebert. Heard of him?”
  • Frames Tron as a series “for the ones who are left off the grid.”
  • Feels later films struggle to find an emotional anchor—missing the “sincerity” of Legacy.

5. Performances: The ‘Leto of it All’

• [11:36] Glenn Weldon:
  • “Disney…here’s how you do NOT entice me into a franchise I haven’t cared about for decades: By making the face of it Jared Leto.”
  • Critiques Leto’s lack of arc:
    • “He is a heat sink of charisma. He gives nothing. He takes a lot.”
• [12:29] Jordan:
  • “My favorite category of performance…is person playing robot playing person, it is so difficult.”
  • Contrasts Leto with Jodie Turner Smith:
    • “She’s giving me so much more [as Athena]…such a negative foil for him…would’ve been cool if she was master control, I guess.”
• [13:38] Glenn:
  • “No, you make this film about her, you fix this film…”
• [13:44] Candice Lim:
  • Struggles with unclear hero:
    • “My thing with this movie is I could not figure out for, like, two acts who was the real hero.”
    • “Are we rooting for [Ares]? Therefore, are we rooting for AI? And that I did not like.”

6. AI as a Theme – and the Ethics of Storytelling

• [14:29] Candice Lim:
  • Says the film wavers:
    • “My biggest issue…is that we now have these three huge studio movies…trying to have nuanced conversations about AI, but they are not taking firm enough sides.”
    • Calls out the sympathetic portrayal of powerful, rich characters.
    • On the recurring “AI wants to be human” trope:
    • “I'm not seeing a lot of movies about humans trying to be AI. Therefore, I say, is it possible we don't need the AI if they're all trying to be human? We already have humans.”

7. Music – Following the Franchise’s Legacy of Iconic Scores

• [15:50] Glenn Weldon:
  • Highlights every Tron film’s “high-profile composer” lineage: Wendy Carlos, Daft Punk, now Nine Inch Nails (Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross).
  • “The omnipresence of this score was giving me 80s films…Blade Runner, Legend…It was giving me Evangelis, Tangerine Dream.”
• [16:43] Candice Lim:
  • Loves how Tron “interacts with music” and gets big-name talent.
  • “To me, this score is very propulsive…add[ing] this techie sonic performance…”
• [17:56] Jordan:
  • Score acts as “a nice trick the movie could play to compensate for things that it didn’t quite have everything of.”

8. Is Tron Just a Music Video or Game Cutscene?

• [18:15] Glenn:
  • Pushes back on the familiar “it’s just a video game/movie” critique:
    • “For decades now people who are older and more out of touch than me have been saying that about everything I love. And I will not be that guy.”
    • But admits “those light cycle chases, they’re kind of a music video.”

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• [02:21] Jordan: “Thank God Jodie Turner Smith was the icy program reconciling with their possible desire for further sentience. And the trauma of it all looked super cool on and off grid.”
• [03:35] Candice: “If you Google map your entire route to dinner just to know where to park, you like Tron.”
• [06:48] Glenn: “It was doing it while pelting you, hurling Easter eggs at you, whipping them at you like it is a disgruntled Peter Cottontail hopping down that bunny trail.”
• [12:29] Jordan: “My favorite category of performance…is person playing robot playing person, it is so difficult…she's giving me so much more [than Leto].”
• [14:29] Candice: “I'm not seeing a lot of movies about humans trying to be AI. Therefore, I say, is it possible we don't need the AI if they're all trying to be human. We already have humans.”
• [17:56] Jordan: “I think it [the score] was kind of putting a nice magic wand over some parts where the magic may not have been giving as much as it needed to on its own.”
• [18:15] Glenn: “Do not call this just a music video. Do not say it's just a video game cutscene, because I will not be baited into doing that.”

Important Timestamps

• [00:23] – Introduction to Tron: Ares’s premise and main characters
• [02:21] – Jordan’s take: visuals, 3D experience
• [03:35] – Candice’s fan perspective; Tron’s appeal
• [06:48] – Glenn’s franchise disconnect and take on fandom
• [11:36] – Critique of Jared Leto’s performance
• [13:44] – Discussion of the film’s unclear hero and AI debate
• [15:50] – Soundtrack analysis, visual style impressions
• [17:56] – Music’s role in masking weaknesses
• [18:15] – “Is this just a music video?” banter

What's Making Us Happy – Recommendations

[21:04]

• Candice: "The Wrong Paris" (Netflix rom com with Miranda Cosgrove, unexpectedly charming Bachelor spoof)
• [22:30] Jordan: Taylor Swift’s album The Life of a Showgirl: “Another really good Taylor album...Opalite, one of the best songs she's ever done.”
• [23:29] Glenn: "Play Dirty" (Amazon Prime) – “Nasty little heist film” by Shane Black; recommends for fans of the genre.

Overall Tone & Final Thoughts

The discussion is playful, irreverent, and affectionate but honest—each host brings a mix of fannish enthusiasm, skepticism, and pop-cultural context. The roundtable agrees Tron: Ares is visually stunning and technically impressive, but split on its emotional resonance and storytelling depth. The film's ambiguity about AI’s meaning and its unclear hero weakens its impact for some. The legacy of Tron is debated, with consensus that it remains a “passion project” with a unique, if fragmented, fanbase.

For listeners new to the episode:

• Expect a lively, skeptical but not unkind exploration of Tron: Ares’s merits and peculiar place in sci-fi culture.
• Insightful breakdowns of visuals, music, and the challenges of franchise filmmaking.
• Personalities shine through: Jordan brings the geek love, Candice the pop context, Glenn the wry meta-reflection.
• If you like sharp, reference-rich movie talk, it’s a fun, deeply informed episode to start with.