THE GATE TO THE MIND’S EYE [1994] [DVD] [USA Release]
MIRAMAR’s Next Venture into the Computer Animation Odyssey!
The Year: 2075 and “Alloy” is faced with a vision of doom. There is only one way to reverse the madness: collapse the universe into itself and begin again. Witness the rebirth, the awakening and the future of mankind. The regeneration is neither now or then, but can only be reached through ‘THE GATE TO THE MIND’S EYE.’
‘THE GATE TO THE MIND’S EYE’ is a full-length DVD-Album, synergizes the very latest in computer animation artistry and technology with an original musical score by renowned composer Thomas Dolby, creating a very intense visual-music experience. Prepare yourself for an unparalleled cybertech fantasy.
Director: Michael Boydstun
Producers: Adrian Turcotte, G. Paul Sullivan, Kipp Kilpatrick, Matthew O’Brian, Sean Gleason and Steven Churchill
Composers: Dr. Fiorella Terenzi and Thomas Dolby
Image Resolution: 1080i
Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1
Audio: English: 2.0 LPCM Stereo Audio
Subtitles: None
Running Time: 55 minutes
Region: NTSC
Number of discs: 1
Studio: MIRAMAR PRODUCTION / Simitar Entertainment
Andrew’s DVD Review: ‘THE GATE TO THE MIND’S EYE’ [1994] is brilliant for its time, and still is. For those that remember Thomas Dolby for “She Blinded Me with Science,” you have a real wonderful surprise and definitely a great treat in store for you. Thomas Dolby has moved on and shows how good he really is, especially doing the composed score for this movie ‘THE GATE TO THE MIND’S EYE.’
‘THE GATE TO THE MIND’S EYE’ is a full-length DVD-Album, synergizing the latest in computer animation artistry and technology with an original musical score by renowned composer Thomas Dolby. Prepare yourself for an unparalleled cybertech fantasy.
The 1994 computer animation for ‘THE GATE TO THE MIND’S EYE’ is extremely very well done. It could probably be done in real time with today’s modern computers, but it's certainly still very impressive even today with its graphic detail. The journey starts with the end of the world; moving along through the birth of a new world, following evolution and history, and with Thomas Dolby's brilliant composed music helping set the tone and the pace and it’s out of this world experience.
The featured music by Thomas Dolby and with five of its nine segments including vocals for “Armageddon” a sequence depicting massive devastation; “Neo” an astronomy-themed song; “Valley of the Mind's Eye” a song about the progress of human technology; “Nuvogue” the first jazz track in the series; and “Quantum Mechanic” with guest vocalist Dr. Fiorella Terenzi. ‘THE GATE TO THE MIND’S EYE’ also featured the animations “Delirium Tremendus;” “God and the Quantum” and “Synchronicity” that was produced and conceptualized by visionary artist Beny Tchaicovsky.
‘THE GATE TO THE MIND’S EYE’ has great music and great animation. Very advanced CGI scenes for the time of it’s own making. And the music blends flawlessly with the computer animation videos.
The composed Thomas Dolby music is much more than ambient. It's timeless. Not old, but completely captivating all the same. The computer animation graphics are a wonderful kaleidoscope of moving colours, ranging from digitised dancing figures to hypnotic moving fractals and ‘THE GATE TO THE MIND’S EYE’ has Thomas Dolby stretches his considerable talents into a wide range of styles — far beyond the “New Age” stylings soundtracks.
Just note that if you are expecting the chilled-out tempos of ‘THE GATE TO THE MIND’S EYE’ is a bit edgier and more jarring at points, especially the opener, “Armageddon.” This is a different experience overall, but loaded with fun and whimsy and still plenty of relaxing moments, too. Well worth viewing and listening to the amazing and awe-inspiring ‘THE GATE TO THE MIND’S EYE.’
It rocks man! Perfect stuff to put on your television screen with the sound off and play something on the stereo! The images seem to go with any music! The city landscapes look like ‘Blade Runner.’ It's even better than that stuff in ‘The Lawnmower Man.’
The DVD contains 9 segments that include the following:
01. Armageddon! (Lead Vocal: Thomas Dolby) (Guest Vocalist: Tata Vega)
02. Planet Of Lost Souls (Piano: Thomas Dolby) (Whispers: Alberto Garcia, Lucy Davies and Mona May)
03. Big Bang Backwards (Programming: Thomas Dolby)
04. N.E.O. (Vocal: Dr. Fiorella Terenzi) (Rap: Thomas Dolby)
05. The Ascent of Man (Programming: Thomas Dolby) (Percussion: Iki Levy)
06. Valley of The Mind's Eye (Vocal: Thomas Dolby) (Voice Of Josephine: Claire Praderie) (French Poetry Translated: Catherine Sandbrook)
07. Nuvogue (Vocal: Thomas Dolby) (Trumpet: Oscar Brashear; Trombone: Alan Kaplan; Guitar: Larry Treadwell; Bass and Keyboards: Thomas Dolby; Piano: Mitchel Forman; Clarinet: Don Markese; Drums: David Owens; Flute: Don Markese and Arrangement: Don Makese)
08. Quantum Mechanic (Vocal: Dr. Fiorella Terenzi) (Keyboards and Backing Vocals: Thomas Dolby)
09. Moonbase (Keyboards: Thomas Dolby) (Guitar: Larry Treadwell)
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DVD Image Quality – MIRAMA PRODUCTION presents us the ‘THE GATE TO THE MIND’S EYE’ with a very standard 1080i colour image and of course presented in the standard 1.37:1 aspect ratio. But despite being a DVD release it still exhibits good colour fidelity despite the age and condition of the computer animation shorts. Grain is present in several instances, as expected for film dating back almost six decades. Solid black levels allow for adequate detail. I detected no digital or compression artefacts. Despite it being a DVD release, the animations still looks really good, especially for the younger generation and is very inventive and imaginative.
DVD Audio Quality – MIRAMA PRODUCTION brings us the ‘THE GATE TO THE MIND’S EYE’ and produces an awesome 2.0 LPCM Stereo Audio experience and the songs by Thomas Dolby are truly inspiring, very clean and very natural and certainly blends flawlessly with the amazing computer animation in perfect harmony.
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Finally, ‘THE GATE TO THE MIND’S EYE’ in the early 1990’s computer animation was beginning to take hold and one-hour films like this would feature this new technology. There is supposed to be a story here, but good luck finding it. The fun is in the amazing visuals which range from good to totally outstanding. My favourite segment is the music ones especially the majority is composed by the very talented Thomas Dolby. Speaking of music, not all of it is the standard instrumentals. There are a couple of vocals. There also is some short narration. This may be well over a decade old in a technology that has now grown in leaps and bounds, but it's still good stuff and well worth checking out. Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
