Beyond 2000 ... 1994, CDROM and CYBERSPACE!

YouTube via TomEllard | July 04, 2010

"I thought I had lost this bit of nostalgia. Maybe I should.
Here is the infamous Severed Heads segment from Beyond 2000, one of those TV shows that looked forward at ... well... now. The year is 1994 and I'm showing off the near completed Metapus CD-ROM. I think that's playing on a 486 with a 1Gb drive, but the video segments are definitely playing off an Amiga 4000. This is around the time that the Amiga was dying. The CD-ROM is authored on ToolBook which is more primitive than Netscape 1 - and of course mp3 hadn't been invented yet. Under the Commodore monitor sits two Super VHS machines and the Fairlight CVI. Wotta lotta boxes.

Predictions in this episode: some kind of 'video disc' and the games console as media centre. DVD was formalised about a year after this.

The reason I look really uncomfortable is that I've left my pants in the washer too long and they have a mouldy smell I only just noticed when the crew arrived. There is nothing like being interviewed by a friendly blonde doctor on national TV with mouldy pants.
Not sure if I'm more embarrassed then or now. Anyway this is important historical stuff."