Beyond the Mind's Eye

The sequel to "The Mind's Eye," this computer-generated animation piece has some very inventive stuff in here. In this field, there seems to be a big advancement which was especially true in these experimental years in the late '80s and early '90s. I can't imagine what a 2007 version of "The Mind's Eye" would look like, but I'd like to see it.

This version featured some good music by Jan Hammer of TV's "Miami Vice" fame. Most of the visual material in this 45-minute presentation comes in short 2-3 minute segments, so if you don't care for something stick around because it will change quickly.

I enjoyed most of it and found it very creative, a couple of years after it had been released and liked it even more on the second viewing, some five years after that. It did not appear dated. Some parts of just stunning, real eye-poppers.

For me, however, watching animation with no dialog, is not easy to do for more than 20 minutes at a time so I broke this viewing into two segments. No matter how inventive it may be, your mind can wander after 20 minutes of this.

I was quite interested to seeing 'Beyond The Mind's Eye' strictly to see if the computer animation would hold up. I mean, this was released in 1993 (causing a bit of a fuss if I remember), and of course, computer animation has grown in tremendous leaps and bounds since then. After watching this, I have to say I enjoyed it, the whole thing followed a curious pattern (It seems that 75% of the time we were either following something or going for a ride). About the animation itself, it seemed to flow quite smoothly, with some slow motion happening. Not too sure if this was done intentionally or if this was too much for the computer to handle. The whole thing actually plays out like an extended demo reel, with scenes usually not lasting more then a minute then going to the next "look what else we can do!" moment. I have no idea how influential this was, but I am sure I've seen some of these ideas used since.. Like the running cat? The kissing couple that twist and turn into one abstract being? The instrument players? Someone help me.

I feel "Beyond The Mind's Eye" is the best one out of the series. I know that computer graphics are changing each year & they are getting better & better, but what made this one better than the others is one big thing. The music of "Jan Hammer". It was excellent. From the opening track to the closing credits, this music flows nicely from chapter to chapter.It's a great disc for anyone's collection.

The tracks and ideas in this video are much better defined than in the original Mind's Eye. This series of videos really were on the cutting edge of the ray-tracing technology available. So what you see in this video is probably some of the best ray-tracing/modeling that could be done at that time. But as this series goes on, you can see most of the artists moving towards a style of realism and away from the surreal.

BEYOND THE MINDS EYE is a surreal voyage bridging the gap between reality and imagination. Travel through the inner depths of the human psyche to the outer reaches of the universe. BEYOND explores worlds that may exist in alternate dimensions - or only in the minds of the worlds leading computer animators.

"Brilliant" - Steven Churchill

"Surreal" - Michael Boydstun

"Real, yet imaginative" - Jan Hammer

"As 'modern Fantasia' this video steps BEYOND" - G. Paul Sullivan

Comprised of mini-stories; including Afternoon Adventure, Theater of Magic, and Nothing But Love.

You will have some real afternoon delight.