12 Monkeys, 3 editors, 2 Philips Hue lights
Syfy has partnered with Philips to sync Philips' Hue color changing LEDs with on-screen action of its new "12 Monkeys" ongoing TV series. Here's what it was like.
We could have been home with our families.
From the bowels of the other CBS Interactive office here in Louisville, KY (the one with cable) Megan Wollerton, Ry Crist, and I elected to spend our Friday evening reporting on the experience of syncing your Philips Hue color-changing LED bulbs with the premiere of the new "12 Monkeys" ongoing TV series from Syfy.
If you follow this kind of thing, you may recall Syfy pulled a similar stunt with the Sharknado series.
Let the following collection of Tweets bring you along if you somehow didn't watch the light-enhanced spectacle yourself.
Excited for this. I've always wanted to know what color time is. #12Monkeys
— Ry Crist (@rycrist) January 17, 2015
Powerin' up the Syfy Sync app for #12monkeys...let there be light! pic.twitter.com/ekXz7bBH9x
— Megan Wollerton (@meganwollerton) January 17, 2015
Got some eerie green lights goin' now pic.twitter.com/GOxXkT3b4B
— Megan Wollerton (@meganwollerton) January 17, 2015
@meganwollerton Eerie...pukey. Main character has the plague, so kind of a nauseating pairing.
— Rich Brown (@rh_brown) January 17, 2015
@rh_brown Imagine Sharknado was more fun. Sudden red for blood spatters, what have you.
— Ry Crist (@rycrist) January 17, 2015
If anything, this light show showcases the appeal of a mature smart gadget with an open API. Lots of cool, creative integrations. #12monkeys
— Ry Crist (@rycrist) January 17, 2015
Nice light transition to blue, brown and back to plague green on #12monkeys just now
— Megan Wollerton (@meganwollerton) January 17, 2015
These sorts of color-changing integrations can work really well with video games. Would love to see some from Hue.
— Ry Crist (@rycrist) January 17, 2015
Kind of an out-of-nowhere orange now. Characters outside a brick mansion about to try to kill a guy at a party, I think.
— Rich Brown (@rh_brown) January 17, 2015
I'm liking this purple color a lot... pic.twitter.com/xOZPLY4bKo
— Megan Wollerton (@meganwollerton) January 17, 2015
There's a moodiness to the show, so I guess subtlety makes sense. But I keep waiting for something exciting to happen on both lights and TV.
— Rich Brown (@rh_brown) January 17, 2015
I'll take this commercial break to remind you of Philips' previous TV mood light attempt, Ambilight: http://t.co/Cw80LBjTG2
— Rich Brown (@rh_brown) January 17, 2015
Police lights flashing, but the Hue lights average out to purple. Kind of disappointed. http://t.co/RuFIOLrGkS
— Ry Crist (@rycrist) January 17, 2015
This is a cool transition. 2 watches doing a time paradox thing, lights changing to blue. This was the demo I saw. Looks good here too.
— Rich Brown (@rh_brown) January 17, 2015
Cool little climactic moment in the premiere. Probably the busiest the lights got all night. http://t.co/ZqOpNbVWE2
— Ry Crist (@rycrist) January 17, 2015
"Stay hidden. They're going to be looking for you." pic.twitter.com/tOk6lxHE8p
— Megan Wollerton (@meganwollerton) January 17, 2015
Welp. Not sure what I wanted from these lights. Wouldn't buy expressly for this, but I suppose if I already owned them it might be fun.
— Rich Brown (@rh_brown) January 17, 2015
We hope the above gives you at least some idea about what it was like.