smell-o-vision
Part of speech: noun
Morphological type: derivation
Topics: broadcasting
film
media
television
Etymology: From smell + -o- (interfix used for ease of pronunciation) + vision, probably popularized by Smell-O-Vision (proper noun) which was recoined in 1959 by Mike Todd Jr. (1929–2002), the American producer of the film Scent of Mystery (1960), as the name of the system invented by the Swiss scientist Hans Laube (1900–1976) used for the film. The term was possibly modelled after terms used in the motion picture industry such as Panavision (a company manufacturing cameras and lenses) and VistaVision (an early widescreen motion picture film format).
The variant spelling smellevision is possibly a blend of smell + television.
Base: smell
Affixes: -o-
Inflected forms:
form: smellevision
pos: noun
tags: alternative
form: Smell-o-vision
pos: noun
tags: alternative
Senses:
gloss: A (supposed) technology consisting of cinematography with the addition of olfaction, often portrayed as far-fetched or futuristic.
pos: noun
tags: humorous
uncountable
examples: "Magnificent!" shouted our supercritical photographer as he leveled his eye at this picture [of a ham]. […] Perhaps "smell-o-vision" is needed to enjoy fully this Easter treat. Or, better still, taste SUNNYFIELD HAM yourself—either smoked or cooked ready-to-eat.
SMELLEVISION REPLACES TELEVISION! Carl Stalling sez, "It will never work!"
New model cars come out each year; the split-T and the soccer kick are new football offensive weapons. Black-and-white, then color TV and pretty soon smell-o-vision—that's progress.
Other techno-mancers forecast fax in the home, "smellevision" (television sets equipped to emit appropriate odors for each scene), and luminescent paints that store sunlight during the day and glow at night. These new products would surely brighten the future.
The film includes some marvelous 3-D special effects as well as flashing lights, a bubblemaker, smell-o-vision, and a surprise from the skies as well as a live actor and a cannon.
Meanwhile, in far-off laboratories of the Military-Infotainment Complex (to advance upon Stuart Moulthrop's phrase) at Disney or—yea, verily, even unto—Apple, some scientists work on synchronous smell-o-vision with real-time simulated fragrance degradation shifting from fresh ink to old mold; […]
So, until Netscape comes up with Smell-o-vision, reading about and looking at food on the Web will have to stave off those hunger pains.
Perhaps someday the SML (smelly markup language) standard will make it possible to connect a smell-o-vision peripheral to my FireWire port, and I'll be able to sniff the circle of boiled dough [a bagel] on the screen.
What will happen to our spiritual senses when the next step is taken, i.e. when rituals are performed purely in the realm of the virtual? […] [I]f the full sensory experience of the ritual is diminished by its reduction to the text, sound, and imagery now possible on the Web (I don't think we're ready for networked smell-o-vision), what in turn may be gained by working within these limitations, and what are the possibilities of transcending them?
The dream of layering smells onto movie-watching is nearly as old as movie-watching itself. This history is a pileup of interesting failures, technical experiments, and overweening optimism in smell-o-vision’s eventual appeal. […] Most interestingly, people who’d bought tickets to see these movies seemed sneakily pleased when smell-o-vision failed.
Translations: