Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft, is among the wealthiest guys on earth. He likes to spend cash on his avocations, and two of his hobbies are science fiction and rock ‘n’ roll. Guess what the outcome is? Seattle’s trippy Experience Music Project nestled within it on two floors and an attraction in its right — the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame.
The real “Hall of Fame” component is tucked into a little corner, with faces of the well-known embedded in luminous blocks of blue glass. Few people paid attention when we were seen. We comprehend why.
Allen’s bottomless bank account has tractor-broadcast many rare SciFi knickknacks, including a 1975 Bionic Bigfoot action figure, and the Gnarly Tree of Life in the already remote The Fountain (2006). Think of an original, iconic prop from a movie or TV show of sci-fi, and it’s probably in the collection of Museum: a Bill Shatner captain’s chair from Star Trek; the “Danger, Will Robinson!”.
We inquired the Museum’s curatorial manager, Jasen Emmons, if one item in the gallery stood apart from the remainder in popularity. The helmet is shown behind a glass door, and Jasen stated that the “people were running right into the door, they were so excited. We’d to place a large image on the glass to let folks understand: first, you come through the door, you then can see the helmet.”
The Museum depends almost wholly on films and TV because of its science-fiction pictures. “That is what can be gathered,” Jasen said. “It is all literature-established, but how can you reveal literature?” The Museum attempts, interspersing first editions of classic novels like Fahrenheit 451 and Neuromancer among the flying saucer versions. But the props get the focus.
The weapons “Armory” display, for instance, is packaged with numerous ray guns, nuclear blasters, and plasma rifles that it is demanding to identify where they all came from. The development of Star Trek phasers gets its display, with versions that range from 1966 to 1991.
Jasen called our focus to another favorite Star Wars program: the only 3D version of the Death Star made for the 1977 original film. “Someone was using it in their shop as a trash can.” In compliance with the show, the lighted windows in the Death Star were created “by scraping holes in the painted surface and putting a light bulb in.”
Some are only casual fans of ET or Wall E, but others are as well informed and enthusiastic as Paul Allen. “They’ll correct you,” Jasen said. “‘Hey, that isn’t correct. The Matrix hovercraft was constructed in 2069, not 2169.'”
The latest update (2013) is that this collection is merged with the EMP Museum.
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