Jer's Visit To The Smithsonian

Well, finally, here's the photo tour of the Smithsonian that I've promised a few people. Take a look, and enjoy the pictures. There will be more soon, but for now, here's 17 to get you started--and of course, you didn't think I could actually shut up during their presentation did you? Of course not, so, you also have to suffer through my droning commentary as well. ENJOY IT!!

Well, here's the first thing you see when you walk in the front of the exhibition. It looked huge when we first saw it lumber across the screen, and the model is no disappointment. This model HAS to be close to 8 feet long, and the level of detail is nothing short of superb. What was really nice about this was that the model was virtually touching the inside of the glass, so you could press your face right up to it and get as close of a look as you wanted.

To mention the detail again, they say that the special effects crews used to go to toy stores and just buy up entire rows of plastic models so they could use them for parts. What's funny is that you can actually see that, and especially on this model. Most noticeably along the "equator" of the ship, where you can notice engine parts, jet parts and all sorts of other goodies. What really blew me away was that there actually was a little tiny laser cannon every centimetre or so, lending to the authenticity of all the guns firing in the movie.

And of course, here's my second favourite dynamic duo ever created (and if you have to ask who my first favourite is, you don't need to know--and I ain't talkin' about Batman & Robin). I must admit, I expected more out of R2-D2. I don't know why, but he just looked a little cheap to me. He looks fine in this picture, but up close . . . he just lacked something. C-3PO on the other hand was amazing. Even right down to his one silver leg, he was amazingly detailed, and you almost expected him to start jabbering on about how many languages he was fluent in. In the background you can see the escape pod that brought these boys to safety. It was a little disappointing though, because with a model that size, you could see all the paint brush strokes, and even a fingerprint left in the still drying paint.

You can hear the theme music now, can't you? Here's the greatest screen villan of all time. And man, is that boy tall!! The lightsaber in front of him was a little disappointing, as it had obviously went through all the battles we watched on screen, and probably a few more. It was pretty well worn. As was Vader's suit. Scuff marks and scratch marks were especially noticeable on his helmet and armour, and even a few little balls of fuzz on the cape (noticeable on ALL the costumes on display though). And even though there's no one inside this famous costume, it's still a little tough to keep your legs from shaking when looking up into that mask.

Not much to say about these guys. The Jawa was a HUGE disappointment to look at. Although I think that's only because of the way he was displayed. I think they should have hidden his "face" a little better, as you could see the cheap black covered cardboard box with the eye holes. The tusken raider looked okay, but, especially the head, didn't quite look as authentic as he did on screen. Obi-wan . . . well, just a bunch of robes. Still pretty sweet to look at though.

And, towering up there around Vader's size, here's our man Chewbacca. Impressive of course. They even went to the trouble of putting some "eyes" in there. All around a great little exhibit to look at. His shaggy hair even looks like it's over 200 years old. His bandoleir and side pouch even looked like they'd seen a few battles too.

And here's Chewie's shady counterpart, Han Solo. Another excellent costume. He's wearing his pilot gloves and fitted with his famous gun and holster. He truly looked like the wild west gunslinger than Lucas was hoping to portray. It was also a pleasant suprise to look at his belt up close, filled with all sorts of little space aged gagets and pouches. One little toy sitting in his belt looked like an old twinax wire connector.
Beside Han in this picture is the little remote that Luke sparred against with his lightsaber in the Millenium Falcon. Not much to say about it. Neat to look at, but there's better things to see along the way.

Shot 1 of the Millenium Falcon. To say this model was impressive is the understatement of all time. Something like 6 or 7 feet in diameter, I shudder to think of the man hours spent building this model. Every little detail worked out, right down to the working lights in the cockpit to the scrapes and blaster burns on her hull. It looked so real and so huge, you almost thought you could climb in and fly away.

A shot of her underbelly. The other amazing detail I found on these models, and this one especially, was the use of common model decals from cars and airplanes. They're so tiny compared to the model, you'd obviously never see them on screen. Most you could almost believe as having a purpose there like "Warning--Hot Intake" or "No Step", but then I couldn't help but laugh at one found on the upper rear quadrant behind the cockpit. "Champion (a brand of spark plugs for earth cars) Racing Team" No one said those model makers didn't have a sense of humour.

I'm not sure what to say about the model of the X-Wing. It was very nice and very detailed, just not what I was expecting. I'm not sure why. It was very well worn, but it had a lot more of a blue colour to it than I had thought it would have. But, like all the other models, I shudder to think of the time spent on making it, or even how you would go about starting a job like that in the first place. The only bad looking parts on the whole model were the pilot and the R2 unit behind him, both looking a little cheap. However, given how fast the ships flew by on film, and the size of the pilot and the droid, no one would ever notice.

Beside the X-Wing was Luke's pilot uniform. VERY nice to see. The chestplace had a bit of a cheesy look to it. Poor paint job and very cheap looking switches. But otherwise had the texture very reminiscent of a fighter pilot's uniform. A model of a Y-Wing can be seen on the extreme right of this picture.

"I met him in a swamp down in Dagobah where it bubbles all the time like a giant carbonated soda--Y O D A Yoda!!" The greatest Jedi Master of all time. I've heard rumours that all of the original latex Yoda puppets have deteriorated over time, so this may or may not be an original, but, who cares. It was VERY cool to look at. My trusty sidekick Bobo sits above him. Yoda's robes looked very well worn, about the only downside was that he looked a little rubbery, but, it still wasn't nearly as bad as I was expecting from the stories I'd read from the Empire sets.
In the background you can see the imperial probe droid that Chewie and Han destroyed on the snow planet of Hoth--a fine model on it's own if a bit smaller than I was expecting.

Man there's a lot going on in this picture. Boba Fett. What can I say. One of the coolest costumes made for the trilogy. No expense was spared making him look like he's been around the galaxy more times than you can count. The paint is worn, the armour is chipped and dented, the leather is old and dried and cracking and even the cape is torn and frayed. My only complaint is that his cape covered the skull logo on his shoulder pad.
His ship . . . a very detailed model as well, looking every bit as battle worn as Fett himself.
Bousshh, the disguise of Leia (who is VERY short) was an excellent looking costume as well. Nothing really fancy to note however. And beside her is one of two frozen Han Solo's made for the trilogy. SPECTACULAR. The computer equipment on the side is very authentic looking (supposedly taken from HAM radios), and the sculpting is flawless. I didn't think anything could take away from how impressive my lifesized replica looks, but, the original certainly did just that.

The Imperial Royal Guard. Very nice looking. About the only costume that didn't have "fur balls" on it. The only thing I didn't like was that the eyeslit in his mask wasn't as opague as I thought it would be.
Beside him is a model of the Imperial Shuttle. A great looking model. It displayed clear and clean looking "imperial" lines to it, but still had that "used" look as well.

And, the object of every sexual fantasy I've ever had, Princess Leia's Slave Girl outfit. To think, I was THIS close to something that her bare skin . . . never mind. I better move on.
In the back, a very bad mockup of Jabba the Hutt which I can only assume was perhaps an early prototype. Beside him is the model used for his home away from home. It was so far away you couldn't really examine it however it appeared to be a well put together model. Beside it was the costume for Weequay, a guard. Very nice looking, but was like the sail barge in that you couldn't get close to it. Beside him is the model used for the Rancor. Refer to above to explain my lack of further comments on it.

This was the second time I've seen a real speeder bike, as I saw two of them down at MGM Studios in Florida many moons ago, along with the Millenium Falcon's holo-chess table.
Very impressive is the speeder bike and it's pilot. All the switches on the bike are labelled as you'd expect on a military vehicle, just in a language we can't understand. Very worn looking as it's probably grazed a few trees in it's time. To it's left is Wicket the Ewok. And to it's right is a rebel soldier. Both were quite bland to look at.

Finally (for now, until my film from my second trip to Washington is developed), we look at Vader's helmet up close. It never ceased to amaze me there just how much detail they'd put into something that may or may not even get shown on screen. Inside his helmet there was a massive amount of circuitry and wiring. It's too bad that this exhibit wasn't moved away from the wall, as most people didn't realize that behind it was a mirror that could be used to peer inside the helmet, but you had to get down on all fours and creep in from the one side to get an substantial view.

Well, that brings this trip to a close. Hope you enjoyed it, and if what is being rumoured turns out to be true, this exhibit could be taking a road trip, possibly to a city near you. And of course, if it's within driving distance (after all, I drove 11 hours - twice), I'll be there seeing it again too.

Come back soon when I'll have the rest of the pictures up.

How about you check out my wacky short stories?

Want some comedy? Check out Bobo's Vacations

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