Let's not forget about the Smithsonian Exhibit. There's only a month and a half left, so if you haven't had the chance to see all the incredibly cool stuff on display, you better get on over to the Air and Space Museum in Washington.

From the Washington Times...

Star Wars exhibit shows need for heroes

By Patrick Butters

12/16/98

Star Wars: The Magic of Myth" -- is it a stirring tribute to a legendary adventure film or another money-bleeding black hole for science-fiction fans?

You make the call. Either way, the exhibit will last until Jan. 31 at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum.

When the movie "Star Wars" opened, the world was in the middle of an oil crisis and still reeling from the aftermath of the Vietnam War and the civil rights era.

Gritty movie heroes consisted of the punched-out pug in "Rocky" or the righteous reporters of "All the President's Men." America needed real heroes whose exploits could regale and inspire the masses -- and filmmaker George Lucas had the answer.

His words adorn the wall at the exhibit's entrance: "I have a strong feeling about people in space exploration. And the only way it's going to happen is to have some kid fantasize about getting a ray gun, jumping into his spaceship and flying into outer space."

More than 900,000 people have attended since the exhibit opened on Oct. 31, 1997. This beats attendance for the Smithsonian's 1993 "Star Trek" show, which drew about 885,000, though that exhibit lasted only 11 months.

The Star Wars Museum Shop, which is almost as big as the exhibit itself, draws its share of fans as well. It became the highest-grossing specialty shop in Smithsonian history, selling $1 million of goods in the first six months.

In the background throughout the exhibit is composer John Williams' musical score.

Each episode of Mr. Lucus' space trilogy -- "Star Wars" (1977), "The Empire Strikes Back" (1980) and "Return of the Jedi" (1983) -- is represented with an array of original artwork, concept drawings, production models, props and costumes.

Seven tiny halogen lamps peer out the back of the production model for the Imperial Star Destroyer, the first item in the exhibit. The 7-foot-high model, painstaking in detail, drives home how skilled Mr. Lucas was in pulling off the action.

"Sung, I need you to stand over there for scale again," says graphic artist Brad White, 27, to his friend Sung Kim, 26, placing him next to another production model.

Mr. White recalls seeing "Star Wars" with his father the first week it came out and being "completely blown away by it."

Both men are from Denver, though Mr. Kim first saw the film on video in his native South Korea.

"The story is what connected me to the film," he says.

In the same floor-to-ceiling case is a white imperial storm trooper's outfit. With his black-gloved left thumb in his white utility belt, the storm trooper shows signs of wear -- dust on his white helmet and numerous scuff marks on various plastic joints.

What this costume and the drab, Gestapo-like imperial officer's outfit show is the filmmakers' ability to create villainy just by the costuming. The officers' outfits resemble the Nazis' while the hooded, masked storm troopers with dark eye slits evoke images of the Ku Klux Klan.

"It's not just the costumes, it's all the stuff on the costumes," one visitor says excitedly, peering at the well-worn uniform of a Jedi knight.

Next to the storm trooper stands the white flowing gown of Princess Leia, played by Carrie Fisher. ("Where are the cinnamon buns on the side of her head, man?" one observer asks, referring to the character's braided hairdo.)

In the exhibit, visitors are able to take in the evolution of popular characters such as the comic robots R2D2 and C3P0. The original C3P0 drawings by Ralph McQuarrie show a more human, almost feminine face with realistic eyes, mouth and nose than contained in the final version.

The completed C3PO (in all its golden, scuffed glory in a case next to the drawings) bore black, expressionless dots for eyes, a "nose" of vertical slots and one tiny line for a mouth. It's hard to imagine him any other way.

"You never would've known Chewbacca wore leather gloves," one teen-ager cracks while passing the costume of the tall, hairy, apelike partner to hero Han Solo.

Solo, played by Harrison Ford, appears in an unlikely bas relief, his closed eyes and outstretched hands sculpted into a plastic prop slab. ("The Empire Strikes Back" ended with Solo frozen in carbonite, a prisoner of the evil Darth Vader.) It's a detailed depiction, right down to Mr. Ford's chin scar.