Beyond the Marquee: The Web-Series (Episode 11): STAR WARS SCIENCE EXHIBITION
March 15th, 2012 Beyond the Marquee
Less than a month is left for Southern Californians to take a trip to a galaxy far far away, or at least to the Discovery Science Center in Orange County for the truly awesome exhibit: Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination. Not only is this exhibit packed full of original props and costumes from all six Star Wars movies, but along the way you can actually learn something about the science and technology that both inspired the film and in turn discover what modern marvels are a product of life imitating art. NOTE: We had a lot of fun on this shoot. Check out some of our hilarious outtakes and bloopers at the end of this article!
DARTH VADER'S Costume on Display
Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination is a traveling exhibition created by the Museum of Science-Boston,and LUCASFILM Ltd., featuring props and costumes used in the Star Wars films, but focusing primarily on the science behind George Lucas’ science fiction-fantasy epic.
Beyond the Marquee was on hand recently for “Fan Day” at the Discovery Museum and host Jon Donahue got the VIP tour from DSC Marketing Manager Dan Nasitka. Costume-cladded members of the SoCal 501st and Rebel Legion, a group of devoted fans who don their costumes and volunteer at Star Wars themed events such as this, were on hand as well to partake in the fun.
Now you don’t have to be a Star Wars fan to appreciate the detail in the models of the ships, the oversized props and elaborate costumes on display, but it sure helps. It’s a great experience to be able to see, up-close, the intricate details of the hull of the Millennium Falcon, the matted coloring of hair on Chewbaccas’ costume or a fan-favorite; the miniature Star Wars poster and an additional ‘adult’ image hidden in the cockpit of the Rebel Blockade Runner model.
Of course it is a Museum, which means there is the obvious tie-in to education and learning, and what better way than with Star Wars as your guide? The primary focus of the exhibit is the introduction of modern science and technology through the lens of Star Wars. Topics ranging from space travel, mechanical prosthetics, robotics, and levitation technology, as seen in hovercrafts and Maglev trains, are addressed through hands-on activities and volunteer demonstrations.
MIllenium Falcon Experience Interior
If you ever were that kid who imagined sitting in the Millennium Falcon with your friends blasting Tie-Fighters, then you have to visit the interactive exhibit-reproduction of the Millennium Falcon’s cockpit. It features a four-and-a-half minute experience about real-world space exploration, particularly the unmanned exploration of the farther planets of our solar system, and the hundreds of exoplanets that have been discovered. The experience is narrated by Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), and with a few added effects in the cockpit (rumbling seats, fans, and lights) is meant to simulate the appearance of actually traveling through space and looking out the cockpit view-screen. It may be as close as you can get to feel like you are trapped in the Death Star’s tractor beam or attempting to successfully navigate thru an Asteroid Field with the odds against you.
Luke's Landspeeder on Display
There are two main theme areas of the exhibition – the “Getting Around” theme area where Luke’s original Landspeeder is on display along with other ships and transporation in the films from an X-Wing Fighter to a Pod Racer. In the “Robots and People” section, a look at the relationship between robots and humans is made in addition to themed props and costumes from Luke’s robotic hand, 2-1B the Medical droid, and the costumes of Darth Vader, R2D2 and C-3PO. The “Living on Tatooine” section of the exhibit features three augmented reality kiosks in which visitors interact with a virtual environment on a large screen. The environment includes reflected imagery of the visitor and computer-generated elements from the Star Wars universe which are attached to the prop in the video. Visitors move physical props in order to complete tasks of increasing complexity to build communities in the three simulated environments. Also included is an interactive presentation on robotics narrated by C-3PO. It provides an interesting insight into some of the current thinking on how to improve the usefulness of robotics and the nature of the interaction between robots and humans.
Droids on Display; R2D2 and C-3PO, Battle Droid, Probe Droid and more...
For the Fan boys and girls, the lure behind the exhibit are most certainly the props and costumes on loan from the LUCASFILM Archives. An impressive number of props, costumes and models, including the Yoda puppet, C-3P0, “Naked” C-3P0, R2-D2, the Chewbacca costume, the three-section Darth Vader helmet from Revenge of the Sith, as well as models of the X-wing, Millennium Falcon and many others are on display. There are also costumes for Mace Windu, Princess Leia, Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi and the stormtroopers, and light-sabers belonging to Luke, Obi-Wan, Darth Maul and Count Dooku, among a great many other costumes, props and models.
A Wampa, Imperial Snowtrooper costume and Miniature Taun-Taun
The Discovery Science Center has one more Fan Day coming up on Saturday March 24th, so kids 3-14 can come dressed in Star Wars costumes and get in for FREE with one paid Adult Admission. Demonstrations on Light Speed, Light-saber building and more also take place on these days too. Next week we’ll be giving away a family 4-pack to the last FAN DAY here on Beyond the Marquee so keep your eyes on BTM for your chance to win!
Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination was developed by Boston’s Museum of Science, in collaboration with Lucasfilm Ltd., with the support of the National Science Foundation. This exhibit is presented nationally by Bose Corporation
For more information about the Discovery Science Center, the #1 children’s museum in Orange County, check out: www.DiscoveryCube.com
CHECK OUT OUR BLOOPERS, BLUNDERS AND OUTTAKES!
Jedi Master YODA puppet on display
An Imperial AT-ST Walker
Costumes of Han Solo the Space Pirate and Chewbacca the Wookiee
Medical Droid 2-1B and the robotic prosthetic hand of Luke Skywalker
[…] Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination exhibit. We got lots of great feedback as well on our featured article and the web-series episode (above) and now want to offer that experience with one lucky Southern […]
Totally geared for kids and FANS…as we shot the episode we (the crew) kept stopping and gawking at the props, costumes, ships, etc. After the shoot we went back in and spent time doing it again. If you have kids they will love the interactive stuff, but yes Star Wars fans will absolutely enjoy this exhibit, especially if you’ve never seen any of this collection on display before, it’s impressive, most impressive!
Cool, we were just talking about going to this exhibit but were concerned that it was geared mainly for kids. Would 4 adult Star Wars fans have a good time?
March 15th, 2012 
Beyond the Marquee 
NOTE: We had a lot of fun on this shoot. Check out some of our hilarious outtakes and bloopers at the end of this article!
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[…] Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination exhibit. We got lots of great feedback as well on our featured article and the web-series episode (above) and now want to offer that experience with one lucky Southern […]
Totally geared for kids and FANS…as we shot the episode we (the crew) kept stopping and gawking at the props, costumes, ships, etc. After the shoot we went back in and spent time doing it again. If you have kids they will love the interactive stuff, but yes Star Wars fans will absolutely enjoy this exhibit, especially if you’ve never seen any of this collection on display before, it’s impressive, most impressive!
Cool, we were just talking about going to this exhibit but were concerned that it was geared mainly for kids. Would 4 adult Star Wars fans have a good time?