Like many male adolescents I cultivated several obsessions with sci fi and fantasy narratives in my earlier teenage years. The nigh-apocalyptic conflicts of the later series of Star Trek Deep Space 9, the cheery family melodrama of Star Trek Voyager and the pilgrim's progress tale of Frodo Baggins in Lord of the Rings all held me in their clammy embrace at some point or another as I tripped along the road to adulthood. As I prepared for the press preview for the Star Wars Invasion exhibition I was struck by a strange thought though: the galaxy far, far away never really held me in its thrall in the same way that the universe of the Federation or Middle Earth did. Sure, I watched it and enjoyed it but I just never immersed myself in its imaginative world like I did with the others. Pondering such incosequential matters, I ventured forth and wondered if perhaps the exhibiton could account for this lacuna in my fanboy education.
Greeted by five actors/enthusiasts dressed as Obi Wan, Plo Koon and three different kinds of Imperial trooper at the gates to the RDS two things became immediately apparent. One: the oft made allegation that the Star Wars has all the subtlety and nuance of a sledgehammer in terms of the relation between physical appearance and good moral behaviour (e.g. Luke, Leah, and Han are good looking so they must be good. Darth Vader and Jabba the Hut look repulsive so they must be evil) is rubbish: Plo Koon looks like a distant cousin of both Cthulhu and Predator yet he's a Jedi. This character's good looks, or lack thereof, also underlines point two: in terms of visual inventiveness and imagination Star Wars makes all other comers seem pedestrian by comparison.
Cheered by such a pleasant augury, a giant head shot of Darth Vader on a cardboard cut out with a Daily Mail (coming clean about their sympathies maybe?) logo plastered above it greeted us, continuing the strong introduction by playing up to their most iconic character. In the exhibition hall proper the atmosphere was Dagobah-esque with its gloom and dry ice (well, actually, that's about all the two have in common) while a disco rendition of John Williams' mercilessly evocative score blared out from the speakers. With a stall for a Comic book seller and another for a purveyor of "lightsabers" (glow sticks with fancy handles, as far as I could tell) and t-shirts lining the left hand side of the entrance the overall impression was not, it has to be said, a good one.
Upon closer expection, however, things did pick up with the darkness obscuring much of what was interesting. Stalls to the righthand side would enable fans to meet the men who incarnated the roles of R2D2 and Boba Fett as well as Lucasfilm guru Steve Sansweet, while two installations enabling Star Wars related photo opportuities will have delighted facebok users eager to spruce up their profile pictures. Elsewhere, visitiors who arrived on the following days would be able to participate in a Q and A session and a table quiz with afficinados and participants of the franchise. A Jedi training school described to me by Obi Wan also sounded interesting: it would apparently instruct aspiring adepts in light saber use and force manipulation before finishing with a fight against a Sith Lord. Done well, this could undoubtedly be very enjoyable for its target market of younger enthusiasts.
For me though, what was probably the highlight of the whole thing were the prop and set re-constructions put together by the Emerald Garrison team organising the whole thing. In terms of scale, level of craftsmanship, and general sense of spectacle these were the most interesting by far. An enormous ATAT, an ATRT, a bi-wing, and a vehicle bearing a load of Sand People all vie for your attention on the re-construction side of things while a series of helmets and facial prosthetics featuring Emperor Palpatine, Nien Numb, Admiral Ackbar and Darth Vader himself all gave me the strongest sense of the films' appeal: it's visual richness and its fairly straightforward good guys versus bad guys moral.
Indeed, regardless of the ugly/good dichotomy that afflicts poor old Plo Koon it's hard to escape the fact that, although not as crushingly obvious as its strongest detractors may claim, there is still a large degree of truth in the claim that, visually, Star Wars is not the most subtle of moral universes. Having last seen episode 3 on its cinematic release and not revisited the older films at all since then I was still able to immediately recall where peripheral characters and props belonged in the moral framework of that distant galaxy. If it's right to claim that this intricately realised, morally simplistic view of the Star Wars imaginative world is what appeals to fans then I feel that the Invasion exhibition is a success as it delivers on this front with aplomb. The props and prosthetics give a pleasing sense of recognition for a comforting world overflowing with moral certainties while also bearing testament to the passion that their makers exhibit for their craft. Although admission prices may be steep (from €12 to €25), I feel the props and prosthetics will delight any burgeoning Star Wars fan eager to see how engaged they can become as they let their passion take them further into its imaginative world. Ditto for any nostalgia seekers hoping to rekindle the flame too. As for me, I enjoyed the exhibition (not sure if I'd pay full whack to attend though) and wasn't too lost amidst its esoteric arcana. Maybe I was a bit of a Star Wars fanboy after all.
