3rd Rock and the Son

[P3D Brad Richmond <galoot@xxxxxxxxx>]

Peering from my lurk located behind a rock on the 3rd Rock,

Although I goofed up a didn't see the first 15 minutes of "3rd Rock From
the Sun", I did manage to experience the last 45. Hey, excuuuse me!!! but I
enjoyed it, and even ordered the video. My eleven-year-old son Tyler, and
I, donned our glasses (free...courtesy Little Caesars Pizza) and "oohed"
and "aaahhed" during the dream sequences. We shared a great time, father
and son, in a nice 3-D bonding experience. Free TV doesn't get much better
than this!

After the show, I grabbed the video camera, and we went to the back yard
and made our own no-budget 3-D Pulfrich video. Tyler gave a tour of the
yard and I continuously dollied to the left dodging dog and dog droppings,
as Tyler described our environment and his mothers labors in her flower
bed. Upon screening our efforts, we realized that our dolly movements
required us to put our free Pulfrich spectacles on upside down to get the
required 3-D effect. It was pretty good actually. We plan to make another
video soon, with much better planning and even more dramatic effects.

Chuck Field, Marvin Jones, and Larry Berlin (among others) enjoyed the
efforts of NBC. So did I. Many others on this list were critical of those
attempts, but hey, this is a tough crowd to please. Following are my
impressions of the recent network 3-D efforts.

Tyler and I watched some of the ABC efforts. The "Ooohh Aaahh" levels were
pretty low. "Home Improvement" did the best, but I am not sure that
anaglyph will ever be effective with contemporary broadcast. Hey! I have
another four pair of 3-D glasses, and they were free, even if they are
backward!

NBC should be commended for the 3rd Rock episode. It was fun if you didn't
have glasses, and far better if you did. Of course it is not a good as a
Realist slide in a Kodaslide II, but what can be cheaply introduced to the
masses that is? At the very least, the sequences that called for the effect
were nicely produced and added an air of quality to the 3-D concept. This
was light years ahead of shoving objects toward the screen as done by ABC.
Hey! I also have another 3 free pair of Pulfrich glasses to play with.

Maybe it is time for the first...drummmmm rollllll....

PULFRICH@xxx EXPO (short subjects under 3 minutes in length - VHS only)

Maybe it is...maybe it isn't. But at the very least you should grab your
video camera and play a little, see if you can make your own Pulfrich
video. I guarantee the kids will love it, and it will give you something to
do with those free glasses you've got sitting around. It's easy, and most
of all, it's fun!

Back to the Lurk,

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                 Brad D. Richmond
              mailto:galoot@xxxxxxxxx
                            
            Check out my 3-D Galoot site:                    
            http://www.kcnet.com/~galoot
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