“If you’re a super nerd, you’re going to freak out in five seconds,” promises Laela French, surrounded by more than 200 props, costumes, models and artwork from one of the most popular film franchises of all time.
French is director of archives at the Lucas Museum of Narrative Arts, based at George Lucas’s Skywalker ranch in California. The museum is not open to the public, “which is why we do these touring exhibitions, it is the only way we can share this collection”, she said.
The O2 complex in south-east London is playing host to the UK leg of a Star Wars exhibition world tour, opening to the public on Friday until September next year. The exhibition includes one of the first Darth Vader costumes, the orange jumpsuit and helmet worn by Luke Skywalker on his first rebel mission, and the metal bikini that the gangster Jabba the Hutt forced Princess Leia to wear.
The exhibition, which hosted a preview day on Tuesday, fully expects to attract superfans. In an FAQ section for the show visitors are instructed as to whether they can wear their stormtrooper costumes (yes, but without the helmet), or bring their lightsaber (definitely not, no weapons).
The exhibition offers greater insights into how characters were developed, some of them surprising. For example, it took a year and a half to develop the character of Jar Jar Binks, the goofball Gungan introduced because C3PO had less of a role in The Phantom Menace.
Elsewhere it is revealed that the character of Yoda had a working name of Minch and before that Buffy. He could have looked, according to some of the original concept artwork, like a jolly Christmas gnome rather than a small shrivelled Albert Einstein-based Jedi master.
The show reveals how Lucas got the idea for Chewbacca from his experiences driving around with his faithful dog, an Alaskan malamute, by his side. The voice is based on a blend of sounds from a walrus and a cinnamon bear.
As everybody knows, lightsabers are green, blue or red. Mace Windu’s is purple because, the exhibition reveals, Samuel L Jackson personally asked Lucas for a unique weapon.
The show is more than a collection of objects and offers visitors the chance to “discover the hero inside yourself” with a series of interactive psychological questions.
Most have a Star Wars slant. So do you want to be a Wookiee or a Nautolan or an Ewok or one of another dozen options? Who would you choose as a mentor, Qui-Gon Jinn? Darth Vader? Yoda? Which planet do you want yourself to come from? The snowy expanses of Hoth? The desperate deserts of Tatooine? The stunning lakes of Naboo?
French said she hoped the show would be educational as well as fun. She said: “If we can bring people in because they know and love Star Wars, and come out the other side inspired and having learned something, then it is a win-win for everybody.”
• Star Wars Identities: The Exhibition is at the O2 London from 18 November to 3 September 2017.
