Star Wars: Putting the Science in Science Fiction

For most of the summer, the Minnesota Science Museum here in the Twin Cities has been hosting Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination. Although a valiant attempt was made to include "real world" science throughout the exhibition (it is a science museum, after all), let's not kid ourselves: most visitors are only there to see actual costumes, props, and models from the Star Wars movies.

With only about a month remaining for the exhibition, my kids and I decided to spend part of our Sunday afternoon checking it out.  Here are some of the highlights (click on the images for a larger view):

Left: The exhibit's attention-grabbing promotional panels displayed on the huge street-facing front wall of the Minnesota Science Museum.

Right: Luke Skywalker's original landspeeder from Episode IV: A New Hope, on public display for the first time (having been stored in George Lucas' private garages for most of that time).

Left: The actual Han Solo and Chewbacca costumes from Episode IV.

Right: A Millenium Falcon model used during the filming of Episode IV. I was surprised by how large it was (which seemed to be about 4 feet long from end to end).

Left: The filming model of Luke Skywalker's X-Wing Fighter.  I don't recall which movie it appeared in, though I think it may have been Episode IV.

Right: The actual model of the Rebellion's Blockade Runner, the first spaceship to appear in Episode IV's unforgettable opening sequence.

 

Left: A Jawa costume from Episode IV (though I was a bit disappointed there weren't any glowing red eyes inside the hood).

Center: An actual, honest-to-goodness Yoda puppet from Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. A major (and mighty surreal) highlight of the exhibit for me.

Right: The hooded Princess Leia costume from the opening sequence of Episode IV, along with a C3PO costume from the most recent Episode III. Sorry, I don't recall which movie this particular version of R2-D2 appeared in.

Left: The Seeker Remote that assisted in Luke's Jedi Training from Episode IV.

Center: An actual-size model of a Droidica, which appeared in Episodes I through III.

Right: An IT-O Interrogator unit, used by Darth Vader in Episode IV to torture Princess Leia.

Left: Another big one for me: An actual Darth Vader costume from Episode IV. I was amused at just how crude many of the costume's elements looked close up, especially the square instrument panel mounted on Vader's chest.  The various buttons were crudely painted and the metallic parts looked random and hastily assembled (which they probably were, actually). Still....what a thrill to see it.

Center: A display of a Tusken Raider (or "Sandperson"), first appearing in Episode IV. To its right is (I presume) a female Tusken Raider, which I don't really recall seeing in any of the films...though I assume the female versions probably appeared in Episode II (during Anakin's raid of the Tusken village).

Right: A Wampa costume from Episode V.

Left: A tauntaun and rider model from Episode V.  The level of detail was amazing, right down to the eyelids and lashes of the creature.

Center: Also from Episode V, an AT-AT unit...and one of my favorite elements from the Star Wars movies (I still own a model of one somewhere in my storage boxes).

Right: A display of guns and lightsabers from various Star Wars movies. Since replicas of this sort of thing have been floating around for years, these weren't as fun to see as many of the previous items were.

Apparently, the Minnesota Science Museum is the final stop of the Star Wars Exhibition tour, so this is the last chance to see any of this stuff for awhile.  Though I'm not sure it was worth the admission price (it was quite a cash-grab by the Minnesota Science Museum), it was still fun being able to see many of these "mythic" Star Wars items up close and personal.

Comments

[Kyle]

Very cool, Mark. Thanks for sharing! (The geeky fanboy in me is more than a bit jealous that you got to go see this exhibit!)

[Mark Engblom]

Nah. No need to be jealous. Like I said, it was kinda overpriced for what we got to see...but fun to see it nonetheless.

I was surprised at just how long this exhibit has been traveling around. Since 2005, I guess. I hadn't heard a peep about it before it hit St. Paul (not that I'm that up on what's going on with Star Wars since Episode III wrapped it up a few years back).

[King Zilch]

I caught this exhibit in Portland and it was awesome!

If you go again, take a look INSIDE the front "window" of the rebel blockade runner. You may need a light; the one on my cellphone did just fine. Inside is the tiny Playboy centerfold the model-makers put in there as an inside joke. I spotted this at the museum in Portland and ended up drawing a small crowd, telling them about inside jokes from the movies.

[Z Ryan]

I was meaning to go to this when it first showed up, but it had completely slipped my mind. Thanks for the reminder, Mark.

[John Nowak]

It's a lot of fun looking at props; but I don't remember much science in this exhibition. I thought the one based on Marvel comics did a better job.

Still, neat stuff.