On April 17th I had the opportunity to visit the Smithsonian to experience the Star Wars exhibit. These are some of the pictures that I took, along with some commentary about what these things actually look like up close and personal. One thing I can say is that I probably picked one of the worst possible days to go, being Friday of Easter week. There were many kids running around, and it was hard to take pictures. One thing that really pissed me off was the number of people complaining, "I had to wait in line for this!", and "Who wants to see this crap!" These were adults, without children, who went to the exhibit just because it was there, and didn't give a rat's ass about Star Wars. I thankfully restrained myself from kicking anyone.
One thing that surprised me about the exhibit was that it is much smaller than I anticipated. You can easily see everything in 30 minutes. Anyways, on to the pictures.
I've made my second trip to the exhibit and have a few more pictures that I'm putting up here to ogle. I'm still waiting to finish of another roll of film, so there will be a few more pics added later. (assuming stuff came out good). One difference between my first and second visits is that on the second go here a documentary film was shown, which wasn't the first time that I went.
The Star Destroyer here is the first exhibit in the exhibit. The detail up close is
absolutely incredible. Looking at this thing, you gain incredible respect for the
ILM model makers. I'd go crazy trying to do something like this. This sucker
is about 5-6 feet long.
An X-Wing fighter model, about 2 feet long. You can
see the pilot inside the cockpit there. If Kenner made stuff this good looking I'd
have to get a second and third job to pay for everything I'd be buying.
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I love Stormtroopers, and took about 10 pictures of this guy. I've seen replicas before, and armor for sale, but the real thing is very much different. The first thing that you notice about this guy is how worn he looks. Unlike the replicas he's dirty, scratched, and generally imperfect. He's quite cool none the less (or because of that fact).. | |
| And here's a picture of me with Mr. Stormtrooper from my later trip to the Smithsonian. |
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I'm torn as to which is cooler, Stormtroopers, or Snowtroopers. The snowtrooper most definitely rules though. The mask and cape and leggings and such are all felt and the material that thermal underwear is made out of. Very cool what you can't see on screen. | |
| To go along with the Snowtrooper, here is a Snowspeeder, taken on my second visit. Again, great detail can be seen, although my second set of pics looks a little washed out. |
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Like all of the props and costumes, Boba-Fett is very worn looking. You can see the holes and tears in his cape here. What more can you say? It's Boba-Fett. |
| And life wouldn't be complete without a picture of me with Boba Fett. This picture didn't come out too great, but I'm thinking that there may be another one on my other roll of film. |
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| And here is a pretty cool, yet at the same time kinda dull, Imperial Shuttle. The Imperial ships just don't have the cool factor that the Rebel ships do. |
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| And last, but surely not least, the Millennium Falcon. This is a shot taken from the stairs leading up to the gift shop. So this is a view from the top. In actuality it is about 6 foot long. You can see a much smaller version in the case as well. |
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The speeder bike has to be one of the coolest vehicles in
the Star Wars universe, and here it is, life-sized. Like all of the props, the
detail is amazing. (The Biker Scout ain't too bad either!) Looking at this
thing you wish you could hop on and take it for a spin.
There are quite a few other things on display. A lot of my pictures don't look too good because of flash reflections, people's heads, etc. So this is a small sampling of what you can see. Pictures don't do the stuff justice, you really have to see for yourself. I'd recommend going in the middle of a week that doesn't involve a holiday. So go. Now.
