Posted on June 16th, 2008 – 10:04 AM
By Randy A. Salas
The traveling exhibit Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination opened just this weekend at the Scince Museum of Minnesota, but I’ve already seen it three times — twice before the opening date for a big article I wrote about it (be 
sure to watch the video that goes with it) and once after it opened. Obviously, the show holds the greatest appeal to Star Wars geeks like me, but it’s fascinating how the exhibit takes the fiction of the well-loved movies and applies it to the technology and science of our world — robotics, transportation, medicine and more.
If you’re planning to attend the exhibit, here are some tips:
You can blow through the whole thing in half an hour if you just casually read the material and try a few of the interactive stations. But if you take the time to listen to the audio for each of the movie props and experiment with the interactive displays, it will take several hours. (That’s a good thing. You’re paying extra for the exhibit, after all.)
The one-person hovercraft is really fun. The ride lasts only 30 seconds, though. Hit the start button as soon as the first ride ends and you can have another go before anyone realizes you’re going again. (Yes, it’s sneaky, I know.)
Between the hovercraft and the Robot Theater is an interactive station that’s one of the coolest displays, but you might miss it because it’s hidden behind a partition. You lay cards with glyphs on a round tabletop and a camera translates it into virtual structures on a monitor. Place the glyphs to build components for, say, a moisture farm on Tatooine or a spaceport. When you’re done, a computer-animated scene plays out around your structures and you’re scored based on the efficiency of your setup. There are three scenes, and they’re all swell.
Be sure to see the Robot Theater show, which lasts 17 minutes. An animatronic C-3PO serves as your co-host for a multimedia display about how we use robots today. (I do hope the museum has cranked up the audio, which was too low to hear easily over the background noise when I visited.)
The photo booth, where you can have your image superimposed into a Star Wars scene isn’t cheap — prices start at $10 — but the results are absolutely stunning.
Keep in mind that the Millennium Falcon cockpit (pictured above, with special exhibits director Joe Imholte inside) is a separate admission, $3 (including a souvenir pin). The ride last 5 minutes and holds four people at a time, so you can quickly calculate how long your wait is going to be by counting the number of people in line. The ride is worth the $3 (exact change required). It simulates a ride in the Falcon using a projection screen. I’ve never been a fan of Bose’s marketing hype, but the sound that the speaker company provides for the ride is out of this world. The Falcon is physically outside of the Star Wars exhibit, so you can experience it even if you haven’t paid for the big exhibit.
Also, if you haven’t seen the Imax movie Special Effects, it’s worth catching as part of your trip. Yes, it’s another separate admission, but there is a package deal that includes it. The best place to sit (for any Imax movie) is above the halfway point of the theater.
Those are just some quick tips based on my experience. Have fun.
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