Science Fiction: Voyage to the Edge of Imagination
There’s an inspired, and inspirational, point in this exhibit where Darth Vader’s helmet and the Iron Man suit lead you to a video about Tilly Lockey, a double amputee with blinged-out prosthetic arms and down-to-Earth views about her life. This pairing of two of the most iconic mechanically-augmented men in cinema with a savvy, social media star means you can skip the subtitles and droll display text. The connections between silver screen and reality are obvious. It’s one of the highlights of the show.
Unfortunately, not every scientific advancement, whether real or projected, is as easily understood with a simple visual. So, like me, you might find yourself skipping the text and unnecessarily elaborate video displays so you can gawp at the sci-fi props (sadly, they’re mostly reproductions) used as the principle prompt for this show that explores how imaginative storytellers have influenced scientists, and often vice versa.
The entire exhibition is structured as if you’re taking a trip with Pan Galactic Starlines. A.L.A.N.N. — an Algorithmic Artificial Neural Network — will guide you throughout the storyline and “ship” that you’ll be travelling on. The immersive details have been cleverly executed, from the pre-departure email to the queueing & boarding process and the atmospheric lights and sounds humming throughout. I felt like a kid walking into the cargo bay, but it’s worth noting that Gen X seems to be the target audience for most of the movie references.
Other highlights include a scale model of the NCC-1701 from Star Trek, side-by-side comparisons of the Nostromo spacesuits from Alien (1979) with NASA astronaut mobility suits, a video explaining how scientists study humpback whale sounds to learn how we might interpret alien signals, and an interactive display that helps you calculate The Drake Equation, a formula to predict the likelihood of intelligent alien life.
Now to the downsides. In space no can hear you scream, but in this show it’s because of the overly loud ambient spaceship sounds. Not to mention the rambunctious kids who’ve lost patience with painfully slow interactive displays and lack of recognisable references for their generation. Fortunately, those noises also drown out the cries from the sci-fi pedants spotting minor inaccuracies in the many replica props. Which, to be fair, is a fair complaint. I’ve never seen the alien from Alien look so non-threatening, but this was never intended to be a memorabilia exhibition. There’s plenty of visual distractions for even the youngest of audiences but there is a lot to get through, and some of the explanatory video clips (all less than 3 min) are more science class than science fiction. I suggest you just go where your attention is drawn.
At the end you’ll arrive at the Observation Deck, where you can sit and stare at the planet. It’s the perfect place for a slow, meditative moment to digest everything you’ve just taken in… unless you’re in there with a bunch of toddlers smacking the hell out of the fake dashboard control panels. Parents: please set phasers to stun!
Plan your visit
‘Science Fiction: Voyage to the Edge of Imagination’ runs until 20 August.
Tickets from £15 adult. Children, concession and family package prices available. Click here to book tickets.
Visit www.sciencemuseum.org.uk and follow @sciencemuseum on Instagram for more info about the venue.
🖼️ Want more art? Visit the What’s On page to see a list of recommended shows, sorted by closing date. Don’t miss ‘em!