Everyone knows that the people who make the magic happen at Disney’s studios are extremely creative. They must be. It’s a successful giant that’s been around for nearly a century.
Disney Channel, one of its many successful enterprises, aired a television show called Phil of the Future. It first aired on June 18, 2004 and was successful until it was cancelled on August 19, 2006. The story follows a family from the twenty-second century (year 2121) whose time machine breaks down and lands them in the year 2004. Here they have to adapt to life in the twenty-first century. The parents must buy a house. The father gets a job in a hardware store so that he can eventually fix their machine. The children, Phil and Pim, enroll in the local H.G. Wells Junior/Senior High School. They try to teach their caveman, Curtis, whom they accidentally picked up from a stop they made in the Stone Age, to behave like an average, twenty-first century man. They deal with nosey neighbors, an annoyingly peppy girl, school issues, and, of course, keeping the family secret. The family often uses the gadgets they brought with them from the future.
In one of the episodes, Virtu-Date (aired June 26, 2005), Phil takes his best friend, Keely on a date to a mall that looks like something out of his time. How do they get there? By virtual reality goggles!
In the following clip, the characters have already put on the goggles and are now clothes shopping in the virtual mall. Don’t blame me for the quality of this video clip. It was uploaded by another YouTube user.
Today, I see a post on Facebook that Microsoft is coming out with something called Microsoft HoloLens. “Microsoft HoloLens brings high-definition holograms to life in your world, where they integrate with your physical places, spaces, and things.” I read also read some articles about it here and here.
I know that so many other movies, books and television shows have similar items, but when I saw the photo of Microsoft’s upcoming glasses, my exact thought was “They had these exact glasses On Phil of the Future!” Of course, even Microsoft isn’t as technologically advanced as it one day will be in the year 2121, so the fictional television series covered a few aspects of this gadget that we have yet to look forward to.
From what I’ve read, we will be able to move objects by turning our heads and pointing our fingers while wearing these devices on our heads. We can play Minecraft, make a task list, or watch a movie in the bathroom, but I don’t see us being able to touch anything that obviously isn’t really there.
The television show has the characters sitting on a couch with these goggles on while their minds are visiting a mall together; trying on clothes that are purchased from a vending machine with a holographic display, sitting and consuming tropical drinks at a tropical island themed juice bar. Meanwhile, they never leave living room.
The same would go for the HoloLens; you wouldn’t need to leave the room, if you didn’t want to, that is. I suggest you check out the official website for more information, photos, or to sign up for news and updates on the product from Microsoft.
Leave it to people like the teams at Disney to come up with something like this ten years before the computer companies actually come out with it.
Is Disney the frontier for all things futuristic?
What do you think? Weigh in!
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