Link to the petition

Due to the poor scheduling and handling of TRON Uprising by Disney, and because there is a real danger of the show being cancelled, fans are banding together and signing a petition to urge Disney XD to reschedule the show back to a better time slot. (The show has recently been moved to 12:00 AM midnight ET on Sunday each week, technically Monday mornings.)

If enough people sign the petition, Disney may rethink their actions. So I'm doing what I can to help out, by mentioning it here on this site and on the various LDSO maintained sites. The petition will be mailed in to Disney by founder Bradley Clarke, once it reaches a high enough signature count.

For those that believe petitions don't do anything: all I can say is, that's not true. There have been plenty of examples where petitions have made a difference. A good example of that was the petition against the design of the characters in the new Loonatics Unleashed cartoon released by Warner Bros. a few years back. A petition can work, as long as it receives enough signatures and gets the right kind of attention.

Back on the 25th Anniversary of the release of the original TRON in theaters, I mailed in multiple copies of a petition I'd created, to various people within the Disney organization. The goal was to show them that there was still interest in a TRON film sequel or a new video game.

Later, I heard through the grapevine that it had a minor influence on getting the ball rolling on TRON Legacy. That Disney saw the dedication of the fans after all these years, and after weighing many factors, decided to at least do a test trailer which was shown at the 2008 Comicon.

So I encourage everyone to sign the TRON Uprising petition. If you don't sign, because you don't think it will work, then it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Take the time out, to try and make a difference.

TRON Uprising is the best animated series I've watched in years. It's been almost universally praised by fans and the media. Executive Producer Charlie Bean, the team of animators, and everyone involved have done tremendous work on the series. To be honest, for me TRON Legacy was a bit of a let down. (You can read my thoughts about it, in a previous article.) But TRON Uprising far exceeded my expectations.

I think the real problem here, is that Disney has misjudged which market demographic they should be targeting the show at. Disney has kept repeating this same mistake with every attempt to revive or further the TRON "franchise", time and again. Right now, they are targeting young children who they hope will become future longtime fans. Which is why putting TRON Uprising on Disney XD made sense, to them.

Disney is ignoring the older fan base, by not putting the show on another Disney owned network with a broader demographic. If TRON Uprising was being aired on the Disney Channel or ABC, older fans would see the show and be gushing about it to all their friends. Getting them hooked on the show, as well. Word of mouth is far more valuable than any form of marketing.

When Disney hired 42 Entertainment to market TRON Legacy, this team knew exactly what they were doing. They targeted old-school fans of the original TRON, tapping into their nostalgia about the original film, when they opened a real-life Flynn's Arcade and created an actual Space Paranoids game. This marketing campaign was a great success. Not only were fans excited, but the press was buzzing as well.

TRON Uprising deserves better treatment, and I hope that a petition will help keep alive the best thing to happen to TRON in quite some time.