It seems that it wasn't too long after the release of "Comin' At Ya!" that Bill was headed west to California. The fact that he went west was probably inevitable; That he stayed there as long as he did was a surprise, since he was true New Yorker at heart.
Unfortunately, the 1980s 3-D craze was short-lived. I'm not sure of when the plug was pulled, but I do know that when I moved to L.A. in 1984, Optimax III was no longer a viable operation. But, before its demise, there were two more significant 3-D projects for Bill - "The Man Who Wasn't There" and an Aerosmith concert film.
Once the 3-D projects had ended I never heard Bill say why it thought the 3-D craze fizzled out. But, I think the article that was posted yesterday pretty much summed it all up. It seems that everyone in the 3-D community was more interested in bad mouthing the competition. Had they worked harder a developing a niche, 3-D would probably be a standard today. As we know, hindsight is 20-20, and 3-D awaits its next period of reemergence.
I've had this month to contemplate whether or not Bill was better off for having been involved in "Comin' At Ya!," and I can't say one way or another. Certainly, it was a highlight of his career, but it was also the event that pointed his life west. In retrospect, while he liked Los Angeles, I'm not sure it was the best place for him to be. The one thing that I do know for sure is if he stayed in New York, I would have had the opportunity to get to know him - and his world - a little better. And, I would have loved that!!!
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