Star Wars Exhibit in Brussels
Feb. 25th, 2008 10:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
janestarzRagar came to pick us up at eight, but it wasn't until eight-thirty that we were driving.
I still think it's rather a miracle that we found the exhibition hall after all. I had printed a route description from Google maps, which said something to the extent of "go onto the R10" and "go onto the N260". It didn't say anything about left or right and the main problem was that Belgian people don't call streets by their numbers, but just by their names. Also, the great ring of highways around Brussels all lead to Zaventem, even if you're going into the complete opposite direction (Gent).
In the end we passed by the Atomium (aha!), the Royal Palace (aHA!) and we found the only water that runs through Brussels. "AHA!" I thought, checking my mini-map. "Go left!"
Turns out that we had indeed come from the North but had come to the water from the other way around. Some nice blokes washing their cars at a closed petrol station*) told us "la-bas" and "au gauche". So we turned back, crossed the bridge and found the exhibit!
*) On Sunday, all petrol stations in Belgium are closed. I shouldn't be telling you this, but they are. Especially if you need to pee very badly.
Parking cost a mere € 2,50 and we could park quite close to the entrance. We went inside, and saw the following Naboo Fighter. A promising entry!
There was a small line and we went into the exhibit soon enough. NoKey and I paid for Ragar, who had driven us all the way there. The first room of the exhibit showed the Star Wars galaxy, including hyperspace runs, and had a timeline with things that happened before, during and after the movies. It was good to read that Mara and Luke did get married, because I never got around to reading all the Star Wars novels.
The exhibit itself was very dark, forcing me to use a flash on almost every picture, and started off pretty grand with a couple of life-size models. Anakin's podracer was in the first room after the timeline, and in the next room was another podracer. And then I spotted the first costumes.
I took quite a lot of pictures of Queen Amidala's Red Invasion and Return to Naboo costumes, but I was more impressed with the yellow handmaiden outfits that were displayed. Etched silk velvet! I took some detailed pictures of those things you never quite see in the movies. The handmaiden battle costume, which I liked in the movies, was a disappointment in real life. The trousers looked like they were worn by a man, and the overall finishing of the costume betrayed a hint of laziness. Like they were thinking "After all, we can fix it in CGI."
Queen Amidala's Red Invasion costume from "The Phantom Menace"
with the handmaiden Throne Room in the background.
All of a sudden, while I was peering at a miniature, I saw a reflection in the glass case. It was a stormtrooper in Endor costume! I turned around to look for him and there were several people animating the exhibit. Three Jedi accompanying Princess Leia (love the wig, babe, really do). There was an Imperial Guard, an Emperor Palpatine, and three different stormtroopers. One of them struck a pose as he saw me with the camera. That was fun.
When we came to the end of the exhibit, with a Green screen and a rack of children-sized jedi costumes, NoKey plopped down for a cup of tea while Ragar and I dove back in for some "Dolle Griet on location" shots.
We went through the entire exhibit in two hours flat and escaped Brussel soon afterwards. We ate some lunch at a Belgian restaurant near Antwerpen at the highway and returned to Rotterdam in less than two hours more.
It was nice, and I was glad I had a chance to see the costumes up close. I noticed some details you can't see in the movies and figured out some new ways of construction. The costumes and props from the original trilogy (Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi) were a lot more detailed than those of the second and most recent trilogy. The room for Mustafar, for instance, held nothing other than Anakin's Jedi costume, a movie theatre for one of the extra's of the dvd and a print of the CGI the entire world was made of.
We've seen a few really nice things (Boba Fett!) but there were also some gaping holes. No Chewbacca, for instance. There was an Ewok, there was a Darth, but there was no Chewbacca nor anything of the Emperor or Chancellor Palpatine. Four costumes of Amidala, four costumes of Jedi/Sith, and some side-characters.
The entire set of pictures are at my scrapbook, here!
I still think it's rather a miracle that we found the exhibition hall after all. I had printed a route description from Google maps, which said something to the extent of "go onto the R10" and "go onto the N260". It didn't say anything about left or right and the main problem was that Belgian people don't call streets by their numbers, but just by their names. Also, the great ring of highways around Brussels all lead to Zaventem, even if you're going into the complete opposite direction (Gent).
In the end we passed by the Atomium (aha!), the Royal Palace (aHA!) and we found the only water that runs through Brussels. "AHA!" I thought, checking my mini-map. "Go left!"
Turns out that we had indeed come from the North but had come to the water from the other way around. Some nice blokes washing their cars at a closed petrol station*) told us "la-bas" and "au gauche". So we turned back, crossed the bridge and found the exhibit!
*) On Sunday, all petrol stations in Belgium are closed. I shouldn't be telling you this, but they are. Especially if you need to pee very badly.
Parking cost a mere € 2,50 and we could park quite close to the entrance. We went inside, and saw the following Naboo Fighter. A promising entry!
There was a small line and we went into the exhibit soon enough. NoKey and I paid for Ragar, who had driven us all the way there. The first room of the exhibit showed the Star Wars galaxy, including hyperspace runs, and had a timeline with things that happened before, during and after the movies. It was good to read that Mara and Luke did get married, because I never got around to reading all the Star Wars novels.
The exhibit itself was very dark, forcing me to use a flash on almost every picture, and started off pretty grand with a couple of life-size models. Anakin's podracer was in the first room after the timeline, and in the next room was another podracer. And then I spotted the first costumes.
I took quite a lot of pictures of Queen Amidala's Red Invasion and Return to Naboo costumes, but I was more impressed with the yellow handmaiden outfits that were displayed. Etched silk velvet! I took some detailed pictures of those things you never quite see in the movies. The handmaiden battle costume, which I liked in the movies, was a disappointment in real life. The trousers looked like they were worn by a man, and the overall finishing of the costume betrayed a hint of laziness. Like they were thinking "After all, we can fix it in CGI."
Queen Amidala's Red Invasion costume from "The Phantom Menace"
with the handmaiden Throne Room in the background.
All of a sudden, while I was peering at a miniature, I saw a reflection in the glass case. It was a stormtrooper in Endor costume! I turned around to look for him and there were several people animating the exhibit. Three Jedi accompanying Princess Leia (love the wig, babe, really do). There was an Imperial Guard, an Emperor Palpatine, and three different stormtroopers. One of them struck a pose as he saw me with the camera. That was fun.
When we came to the end of the exhibit, with a Green screen and a rack of children-sized jedi costumes, NoKey plopped down for a cup of tea while Ragar and I dove back in for some "Dolle Griet on location" shots.
We went through the entire exhibit in two hours flat and escaped Brussel soon afterwards. We ate some lunch at a Belgian restaurant near Antwerpen at the highway and returned to Rotterdam in less than two hours more.
It was nice, and I was glad I had a chance to see the costumes up close. I noticed some details you can't see in the movies and figured out some new ways of construction. The costumes and props from the original trilogy (Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi) were a lot more detailed than those of the second and most recent trilogy. The room for Mustafar, for instance, held nothing other than Anakin's Jedi costume, a movie theatre for one of the extra's of the dvd and a print of the CGI the entire world was made of.
We've seen a few really nice things (Boba Fett!) but there were also some gaping holes. No Chewbacca, for instance. There was an Ewok, there was a Darth, but there was no Chewbacca nor anything of the Emperor or Chancellor Palpatine. Four costumes of Amidala, four costumes of Jedi/Sith, and some side-characters.
The entire set of pictures are at my scrapbook, here!
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no subject
Date: 2008-02-25 11:14 am (UTC)about how the handmaiden's hood stays on her head... probably hairpins, big ones. and don't move. "cut! the hood fell off again, let's start over."
no subject
Date: 2008-02-25 11:59 am (UTC)