The original 1982 Tron was a very influential film. It's one of the first films to use computer generated graphics to tell its story. It has influenced people like John Lasseter (creator of Toy Story) and Daft Punk. It's considered to be one of the top 20 cult films of all time.
The Motion Picture Academy showed incredible short-sightedness when it came to Oscar time. While the movie wasn't considered particularly good outside the special effects, many people thought it deserved a nomination (and a win) for it's effects. However, the Motion Picture Academy REFUSED to nominate it. The movie's director later said that "The Academy thought we were cheating by using computers."
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