Dreaming in 3D (TV): Looking Ahead to 2011

With all the “Top 10” and “Best of…” end of the year lists floating I thought I’d look ahead and consider what we might see on our 3D Home Theaters in the year to come.

Actually acquire a 3D TV (and a pair of those really cool active shutterglasses)

It’s one thing to dream, and quite another to experience. My ABT Electronics Sony Store sales staff are getting tired of my gawking (and sharing their 3D glasses with me)!

Bowling in 3D

Call me crazy (or extremely lazy), but I’d really like to try a bowling game in 3D on a huge 3D TV screen. I’d see the lane looming before me and (whether with a game controller or wired up virtual bowling ball) let loose—pins fall where they may. I’ve seen high definition games that simulate the 3D experience, but I can’t help but think actual 3D would be so much more realistic.

Movies

I’ve already written about two movies I’d like to see in 3D for home theater: Lord of the Rings and Star Wars. I’ve also talked a bit in an earlier article about how much I’d like to see Fantasia released for the 3D home market. How wonderful it would be to see a specially rendered edition—interactive, hypnotic and gloriously vivid. I would imagine that Disney’s animation and technology wizards may embrace this newest home-theatre technology and find lots of “limited release” ways to exploit it.

The Wizard of Oz has been re-rendered for Blu-ray, so why not 3D? And I do not mean the controversial remake of the 1939 classic rumored to be in the works. That would be filmic sacrilege! My dream 3D Wizard of Oz would place us right into Dorothy’s dream: from the yellow brick road to the nightmare of the Wicked Witch of the West’s flying monkeys! Like many people, I was introduced to the surreal sci-fi that is Rocky Horror Picture Show when I was in college. It’s hard to believe (or maybe it’s hard to actually admit) that it was really 35 years ago. Recently, Fox released the 35^th anniversary Rocky Horror Picture Show edition—on Blu-ray. The high definition transfer upped the ante exponentially. The entire Rocky Horror experience was better than I’d ever remembered it (well, except at a midnight movie theater showing, but the Blu-ray has that covered more or less as well). So, I can completely imagine a 3D Rocky Horror experience that would literally thrust us into the Time Warp (again) and completely immerse us into the world of our hapless heroes and the diabolical Frank-N-Furter.

Television specials and series created with 3D options

Just like in the early days of high definition programming, we had options of watching in either standard or high. Science or science fiction programs, special sports events (besides the obvious), like Olympic skiing and ice skating, might be great candidates, putting us right into the action and breathtaking beauty of these moments. And who wouldn’t watch a made for home 3D TV Super Bowl—right from the 50 yard line?

The IMAX 3D Documentary Library—I’ve been an IMAX movie geek ever since I saw my first at Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry. The technology was so full of cool, right from the hokey introduction, demonstrating with simulated tornadoes on onrushing trains, everything from the special screen to the placement of the various speakers.

The movies have always been breathtaking, educational, each one a roller coaster ride of a film—whether diving into glacier crevasses or soaring with the eagles high above the highest mountain peaks. Diving into the Great Barrier Reef with the most colorful of corals and other ocean life or riding the world’s best roller coasters, the IMAX offerings are as diverse as they are thrilling. Although several of these movies are already availabIe for 3D TV, I would love to see the entire IMAX 3D library available for the home market.

My last item on this wish list for 2011, is that producers don’t rush into madness and create everything in 3D. Some features are just as good—if not better—rendered in good old high definition. Visually intense blockbusters—yes. Yogi Bear—not so much. The 3D experience has to be worth the extra cost, the extra technology buys—and not overpower the movie—or TV—going experience.

Thanks for reading and a Happy 3D New Year to you all!