I bought tickets months ago for the "
Star Wars Identities" expo at
La Cité du Cinéma in Paris, and as times flies, it's already happened. I didn't know what to expect but it's Star Wars so as long as there were some props and/or artworks it didn't really matter. The idea was to show how the characters in the saga developed and then the visitors could develop their own character by entering certain information at different stations. Hence the subtitle, "What Forces Shape You?".
That wasn't really my interest but how it worked was cool. You wore rubber bracelets with chips inside and placed them over "hot points". The chip collected your data and at the end of the exhibit you touched your chip on a wall and your character appeared. That was a cool idea. Also, their audio tour was well done. First, it was included which is always nice. Second, it was simple. A big volume wheel, a neck strap so you didn't have to hold it, and two channels (French and English). Great. Third, was the coolest part. If you stood in certain areas on the floor, it just started playing. And, the audio clips weren't that long so if you missed part of it, you didn't have to wait that long. Nice.
Although the iPhone takes great pics, this is one of those times I wish I had an SLR. Regardless, here are my shots...
Had to take this picture of R2-D2. My secret hope was proved true - they were the actual costumes! This one is from 1977! The placard read: Costume worn by
Kenny Baker as R2-D2. Several different R2-D2 units were used in the filming of Star Wars: A New Hope. Some, like this one, could be controlled from the inside by Baker; others were operated by remote control.
Although I cannot stand
Jar jar Binks, there was some incredible concept artwork by
Iain McCaig (
personal blog). The amount of work involved in movies like this is simply amazing. Before a character (or spaceship, or landscape, or building) exists there are tons of drawings, sketches and paintings. Then the thing has to be made which takes dozens of hours. It's very impressive to me.
Speaking of characters who made it past conceptual drawings, above are two pod racer pilots. The one on the right,
Sebulba, was the annoying nemesis of Anakin. I didn't like episodes 1-3 nearly as much as 4-6 (probably an age thing) but I thought the pod racing was cool. The low-level, the speed, and the best part, the sound of the engines. That was well done. But I struggled with both young and older Anakin. I can't figure out why Lucas casted these guys for the first three parts of his incredibly successful saga.
Here's a shot of one of the models of
Anakin's podracer (upper left) and on the right, the machine used to test Anakin's midi-chlorian level in his blood. Both were from Episode I.
This
Tusken Raider (less formally referred to as Sand People or simply as Tuskens) was in terrific condition and I always these characters were cool - from that first time Luke saw them in his binoculars (Episode IV). On the right is one of many conceptual drawings for
Jabba the Hutt. This is an interesting character as it shows Lucas's drive and/or determination. There were limitations to getting this character on the screen which is why he doesn't debut until Episode VI. However, Lucus was adamant about Jabba so with technology, we see him with Han Solo next to the Millennium Falcon in Episode V.
A very well made model of
Yoda. The audio guide spoke of the similarity
of Yoda's eyes with those of Einstein. Once you hear it, you see it.
Some fantastic models of world famous spacecraft. Above left is an Emperial Shuttle which I always thought was cool - especially when the lower wings fold up to land. On the topic of wings, at first I thought they were ridiculous as they're in space, but to Lucas' credit, many of the spacecraft also flew in atmospheres where the wings would help. Both the Emperial Shuttle and T-65 X-Wing Starfighter flew in space and air. Above right is, of course, the X-Wing fighter. I can only imagine how many of these models were made. I put the X-Wing next to the F-5 as far as iconic machines. To me, both resemble what a 'fighter' would look like. Not necessarily the best designs (the F-5) but both look like fighter should look.
Above, a couple of shots of a Star Destroyer and Vader's TIE Advanced X1 or TIE/XI. I thought it was so cool when the first time we saw this type of TIE fighter, Vader himself was flying it! The pic on the right is to show the incredible detail of the Star Destroyer (or any of the models). They knew they'd be on camera so they really tried to make them look real.
If you didn't know, the internet has a lot of data and I've learned a lot during this post. First, I didn't know they TIE wings were solar arrays - genius, and second it's the TIE/X1 because Vader and X1 tested the upgraded model. X1 was apparently a clone that wanted to control the galaxy. Lucas wrote a lot of impressive details into his stories. He sold his stories well, too. His net worth is over 7 billion which vaulted when he sold Lucasfilms to Disney for $4.05 billion.
This was cool, it is an ink on vellum drawing of the
Millennium Falcon (1977 or earlier) by Joe Johnston. The associated sign read, "This detailed drawing of the Millennium Falcon shows its signature radial shape, mandibles, and asymmetrical cockpit. George Lucas took his inspiration for the shape from a hamburger; the mandibles were added to give the ship a clear front and back."
Two more shots of a model from
Empire (1980). This was an interesting sign, "The original model of Han Solo's famous pirate freighter built for
Star Wars: A New Hope was too big for the more acrobatic stunts required of the Falcon in
Empire; this one is exactly half the size of its predecessor".
I knew the lighting was bad, but I had to take a picture of Vader's costume from 1983's Return of the Jedi. The placard read, "Costume worn by David Prowse as Darth Vader. The first mockup of the iconic costume was cobbled together from available bits and pieces, including a World War II German helmet, a monk's cloak, and a gas mask. What a great costume!
Some more great artwork - one realized, one not. On the left is Vader's Castle. "An early idea for the second film was to create a castle in the snow to be Darth Vader's headquarters. The idea was eventually scrapped, and Vader's command center was relocated to the Super Star Destroyer Executor". The work is by
Ralph McQuarrie. On the right is Vader's mediation chamber which we did see. "George Lucas and director Irvin Kershner wanted to reveal the human inside Darth Vader, so a meditation chamber was introduced to give the Dark Lord somewhere private to take off his helmet and mask".
On the left is Vader's mask without the helmet which we see quickly in the meditation chamber scene and in more detail when Luke removes both the mask and helmet at the end of
Empire Strikes Back. On the right is a shot of one of the posters. It was a storm trooper mask make from several storm troopers in tight formation. Pretty cool, and overall, I'm glad I visited the exposition as it brought back a lot of great memories, inspired more creativity and was some time well spent with a good friend.
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