Syfy’s upcoming TV series based on the iconic 1995 film 12 Monkeys won’t have Brad Pitt or Bruce Willis, but don’t worry — it’ll have something equally awesome. Syfy has partnered up with Philips to release a special ambient light track that will accompany the film.
If you happen to have one or more bulbs from Philips’ color-changing family of Hue lights, you’ll be able to connect them to your television set with the Syfy Sync app (iOS only). Once you’re all synced up, whenever you fire up an episode of 12 Monkeys (which premieres on January 16), your lights will change dynamically, as the show creates a sort of visual soundtrack. Colors will shift to compliment what’s happening on-screen, extending the visuals to the area outside of your TV to create a more immersive experience.
While this isn’t the first time Syfy and Philips have partnered up to create a custom light track (they did it a couple months ago for the release of Sharknado 2), this is the first time it’s been done for an entire TV series, which is exciting.
We’re glad to see both companies expanding and exploring the ambient light track concept, but we’ve also got our fingers crossed that Philips doesn’t keep its wagon hitched to Syfy alone. Don’t get us wrong, we’re big fans of the network and can’t wait for the 12 Monkeys premiere — but how awesome would it be to have a custom-built ambient light track play along with, say, Blue Planet, Avatar, or any other visually impressive movie?
