‘Third Rock’ Season Finale Gets Extra Effects From 3-D
It’s already a stitch, so why is “3rd Rock From the Sun” sewing up its second season with “3-D” dream sequences? As Dick might say, “Because we want to!”
No other explanation is necessary since the effect adds, uh, dimension to Sunday’s hour-long finale without disrupting the usual wacky doings in the Solomon household.
To see the 3-D effects, viewers need special 3-D glasses, which are available at participating Barq’s root beer retailers and Little Caesar’s pizza restaurants. The episode will look normal to viewers who don’t have the glasses.
For those who have been on Mars, “3rd Rock” is the story of four aliens sent to Earth to study us. Once here, they fall prey to human emotions, and since they don’t know any better, their reactions are often childlike. This creates opportunities for some of the best physical and verbal humor on TV.
In tonight’s cliffhanger, Dick, the high commander (John Lithgow) decides he wants to marry the woman he’s been courting, fellow university professor and human Mary Albright (Jane Curtin). Mary’s been accepted into a year-long study program in Bornea and Dick doesn’t want her to leave.
But when Sally, his “sister” and second-in-command (Kristen Johnston), tells him he’ll have to tell Mary his big secret, Dick’s fear of commitment kicks in.
Sally, Dick, Dick’s “son” Tommy (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and “brother” Harry (French Stewart) each have a 3-D dream. Director Phil Joanou (“Final Analysis”) says it was the most complicated shoot of his career, and it shows.
In the first dream, Dick is threatened with a swirling, instrument-laden dental chair if he doesn’t confess to Mary (who’s clad head-to-toe in skintight, shiny leather), then runs through a field of sunflowers before winding up in a bowl of Jell-o.
The other fantasies are equally creative: Sally stars in a black-and-white sequence that features her skipping through a snow-covered forest that turns out to be the inside of a sugar dispenser. Later in the sequence, she dances with her beau, Officer Don (Wayne Knight of “Seinfeld”), who turns out to be a chicken.
Tommy gets seduced by his sexy teacher, but only after enduring a hellish series of obstacles.
Harry sings and dances on both a city street and underwater.
Like at the end of last season, the aliens’ existence on Earth is endangered, which is surprisingly and momentarily moving. The rest of the time, “3rd Rock’s” season finale goes for laughs and gets them.