This
was more like it. Star Wars: The Power of Myth Experience
Wembley Conference Centre, 3rd July 1999
This is an extended version of the report which appeared in the Matrix.
The marketing power of Star Wars has spawned many spin-offs - perhaps the largest being this touring exhibition. We caught up with it at it's second stop in the UK - at London's Wembley complex.
Getting to Wembley was not a problem for hardened gig-goers - though the handy signing to Exhibition Hall 1 (taking us the long way round Wembly Arena - to a hall which we would eventually enter - but only after entering Hall 2 to stand in a queue for our allotted trip). Why they couldn't mention the fact that you actually entered the exhibition through Hall 2 none of us could fathom. We should have used the force to guide us I guess...
Perhaps at this point we should have prepared ourselves for the events ahead!
The promotional leaflet gave little away about the contents of the exhibition - which worried us a little on the journey into London. Little was added by the adverts on the London Underground - though we assumed this was to add to the surprise of the Exhibition! I think it's safe to say that we all assumed that an exhibition would be full of EXHIBITS from the movies - with perhaps some people wandering around as Stormtroopers, Rebels etc. but with plenty to walk around and take in. In fact, looking at the images on this page, you may assume this to have been the case.
WRONG.
The event began (after a wait in a long queue in the hanger-like Hall 2) with a talk, from a mildly costumed presenter with little enthusiasm for the subject, about how the Star Wars franchise (sorry, hallowed series of films) was based around the style of ancient legends. I always thought it was pretty well documented that the original Star Wars movie was almost a complete re-enactment of scenes from George Lucas' favourite movie moments, but had never given the mythology references much thought. I guess they had to make the point having named the Exhibition after it but, as was evident by 90 percent of our group anyway, no one wanted to hear about it for 5 minutes. Admittedly, while the talking was going on they projected video extracts from the movies to a screen above. Unfortunately, the lighting was so bright that it was difficult to see it properly. Even this early they used the same footage of Luke looking through his macrobinoculars more than once.
At last they let us loose on what was to be the second of five 'rooms' - a videoshow. This next room had sounded much more interesting than the first - in fact the noise emanating through the curtain during the first talk had whetted our appetite more than the poor unfortunate who was actually talking to us.
All the bangs and loud noise were from the accompanying soundtrack to the video, again projected onto a large screen. This room was more like a cinema, we all had to sit in seats rather than stand - but there was nothing to look at other than the screen. This time they dimmed the lighting right down - so we could see the pictures properly. Unfortunately, haveing seen interview clips on TV a few days earlier, much of this material was familiar (though not exactly the same) - but not as familiar as that clip of Luke, again used more than once.
As with the previous room, the anticipation had been greater than the reality - and again the sound from the next room invaded, distracting from what you were trying to watch. again, we expected more from the next room.
This
was more like it.
The picture to the left shows the empty hall and most of its contents.
This was what we had expected from an exhibition, costumes, props and pictures - but no 'blokes in costume'. The group split up - wandering round for a better look at the production sketches and pictures on the walls around the perimeter of the hall. Also in this area were a number of production sketches of various characters from the films. These pictures can just be made out in the left hand side of the hall picture above.
Moving away from the walls of the hall (and squeezing between everybody crowded into the area) you could have a closer look at Darth's helmet, a group of lightsabres and TIE fighter model under perspex domes. No chance of picking up a little momento here - though I'm sure Robin would have tried if he'd been there!
Along the far wall were a collection of costumed dummies (of which you can see Darth in the background in the photo above) and for once they were NOT GENESIS members. They were protected by brass semi-circular barriers - though you could just reach out and touch the costumes if you dared risk the wrath of the dozen or so staff who kept a close eye on things. The characters on display were: the man in black, one of his white sidekicks, Boba Fett, R2 & C-3PO.
The
highlight (and centrepice) of this room was an authenic prop from The Phantom Menace
(apart from the rather wooden Anakin, that is) - the driver's segment of the winning
Podracer. It proved an obvious choice for a photo opportunity so we took it.
Suddenly, as we milled around the room music bellowed out of the PA, smake drifted into the hall and two stormtrooper marched through the door onto the raised stage area. they chacked the area was safe for the entrance of the big man himself (no, not Jabba) Darth Vader). This certainly commanded everyones attention (and we finally got our 'costumed blokes'. After a bit of a performance mimed to backing tapes Darth exited leaving his two sidekicks to march among us, keeping us in line.
Brave Tracy tried her Southern charm on one of them, but alliance to the Empire - and a large gun - won out with no kisses exchanged. Perhaps if she'd been wearing black leather and a black plastic breathing mask...
Once
again our time was up - around 10 minutes was all we managed in this, by far the most
interesting, room. We were ushered onwards into the fourth hall - which contained
absolutely nothing - or so it seemed. Once we'd all dragged ourselves from the prop
room the music began working its way up the decibel scale as a voiceover began. Smoke
billowed out of the black curtains as we were informed that we were about to see a real
prop from The Phantom Menace move before our very eyes - A yellow Naboo fighter (as flown
by Anakin in the film). This was one of only five ever built and, judging by the buildup
we were expected to be impressed. Unfortunately the booming voiceover was the most
impressive part of the display - and even the billowing smoke could not hide the fact that
this large prop was being slowly moved forward and down on a massive wire and chain pulley
system. This, in itself, would not have been a problem - it was just that it seemed
to go on for longer than the previous room. I was so impressed that I skipped taking any
photos - even when R2 began beeping and whistling at us from his aft depression. This was
all a bit of a disapointment after the previous room. Still, it was an authentic prop I
suppose.
Moved rapidly on to the final resting place - the games room. Here we all had a chance to spend five minutes or so playing the Pod Racer game on the Nintendo 64 machines provided. The more cynical among us checked for coin slots before siding up to the machines. They were free - as were the Kelloggs goodie bags we were handed as we left the exhibition. These contained a plastic bowl, a mini pack of Rice Krispies, a plastic statuette (to begin your collection) and assorted other goodies. Apart from room three - we pretty much all agreed that this was the best value part of the exhibition.
All that was left now was
the (surprisingly) rather small merchandise stall. You can see Jason and Martin showing
off their goodies in front of the Tatooine inspired sales area. Other stalls sold food and
soft drinks - though only the Star Wars merchandise stall pictured was in any way related
to the film. One of the others would take your photo and superimpose you on a still with
famous character - and this seemed to have a longer queue than anything else in this area
- except for the toilets.
So that was the Star Wars: The Power of Myth Experience.
It certainly lived up to part of its title - an Experience indeed.
I think we would rate it above the previous Star Wars outing we had to Starcon's (never a more appropriately named organisation) glorified autograph session - but only marginally.
On the way out, after grabbing a drink to clear the smoke from our throats, we took advantage of some friendly folk who took the group shot below for us.
The company (the smiles may be because we enjoyed ourselves - or just relief that it was all over): Martin, Stormtrooper, Jason, Mark, Darren, Stormtrooper's mate, Jeremy, Tracy, Martin, two men in black: Darth & Doug with hairy buddy, Chewie.
Doug Anderson