Michael Jackson in 3D

Another year, another 3D television broadcast. As you remember last year ( see article Was The NBC 3D Super Bowl Event a Hoax? ) it became impossible for millions of viewers to find the 3D glasses needed to watch special commercials on the Super Bowl and a 3D episode of Chuck. I myself had spent days searching for any store that actually had the Sobe display that dispensed the free 3D glasses needed to see the broadcast. Finally after days of fruitless searching Target announced that they would be distributing the glasses the day before the Super Bowl. The closest Target to my home claimed to have run out of the glasses moments after they opened the door. Checking other Target's in the area each also claimed to be out of the glasses. In my own opinion it seems like Target never really had the glasses to begin with, at least not the stores in New York.

A couple of weeks ago Fox announced it would televise a show called The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special: In 3D! On Ice! and there was a panic from confused fans asking where they should pick the glasses up. It turns out the show's title was just a gag. Meanwhile the Grammy Awards were planning to air a 3D segment and for some reason had not done much to publicise it. On Tuesday I noticed one of the promos on CBS for the Grammys quickly mentioned that there would be a 3D Michael Jackson tribute and glasses would be distributed at Target. Well, the Grammys were only five days away which is usually too late to go looking for 3D glasses. I checked out the Target website which said the glasses would be available in the home video section next to the This Is It DVDs and also mentioned "while supplies last". What chance did I have? It was too close to the broadcast date and I was sure collectors would have snatched up all the Michael Jackson 3D glasses by that point. But I went to Target anyway and they had the glasses. It was a small display but it was filled of sheets of four glasses. last year NBC claimed to have distributed 125 million sheets of four glasses that very few were able to find. More reason to suspect that NBC pulled a hoax last year, or at the least a lesson as to how to properly distribute glasses for a televised event in a way that those needing them can find them.

The 3D segment in question was shot for Michael Jackson's planned world tour just days before he died. Jackson had planned it to be projected behind him during the tour as he performed Earth Song. The original footage did not actually have Jackson in it, but some reports say that his image may have been added for the television broadcast. This is not Jackson's first venture into 3D films. In 1986 Jackson starred in Captain Eo, a short film made by Disney Studios for Epcot Center and their other theme parks, Produced by George Lucas and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Eo was eventually removed from the Disney parks, perhaps in reaction to the charges of child molestation brought against him in 1993. Following his death last summer and the sudden resurgence in Jackson's popularity Disney has decided to reopen the Captain Eo movie in Disneyland and possibly return it at their other theme parks.