“I am your father,” a motion-sensing robot told Bostonist the other day. That bot and the rest of the Star Wars exhibit makes the jump from the Museum of Science into hyperspace on April 30th. Sure the Storm Troopers marching through Southie last weekend were great, we thought a day at the MoS would be better - and really let us experience the movies. Beyond motion-sensing, talking robots were models and costumes from the prequel and original trilogies, hands-on activities demonstrating principles behind hovercrafts and robot design, and, of course, an abundance of C-3PO muttering silly British things. While Bostonist has been a bit of a Star Wars geek for ages, the experience on the whole was a little underwhelming. The behind-the-scenes parts were swell, we marveled how actors must have all been sporting the Mick Jagger skinny in the late 70’s, judging from the costumes. “Technology” from Star Wars as current-day innovations was good in theory but robot displays left something to be desired. For example, Bostonist was wowed by a video clip of two teams of little dog robots playing soccer, but the real-life dog robot that followed the clip let out two pitiful barks and pushed a ball with its paw – it was nothing short of lame.
Who was the audience? A true Star Wars super-fan would already know more about anything they could display at the Museum of Science. Maybe it was meant for the kiddies, but hands-on activities were filled with complicated and often confusing instructions (even for our adult selves). The most disappointing part was all the unrealized potential. Where were the light sabers we could actually use? And indeed, if Bostonist had been offered a chance to swing a light saber around and have some computer thing make those cool sounds for us instead of having to make them ourselves, that would have been worth the price of admission right there! So while the exhibit alone may not be worth the trip, added to all the rest the MoS has to offer (especially for those of us who haven’t been there in a while – the electricity demonstration is always *cough* shocking) it does make for a fun-filled day. We wonder what innovations we would have gotten with Benny taking up that space.
Post contributed by Anna Staniszewski.
Photo courtesy Flickr user: gmarcello
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