In this months episode of ‘Why don’t you just switch off your television set and go out and do something less boring instead‘ I went to the Science Museum and specifically to visit a temporary exhibition called Science Fiction: Voyage to the Edge of Imagination.
General Exhibits
Before heading to the exhibition I had a wander through the exhibits on the ground floor which mainly consists of things too heavy to put higher up!
There is a fascinating space section with engines, rockets and Apollo mission moon lander and the like. Immediately prior to that is a mechanical section including a miscellany of the oldest train, a stack of cars and a Harrier Jump Jet. All of this is fascinating but a very different science to which I am used to. I consider myself a scientist but a computer scientist and bits and bytes are very different to nuts and bolts.
The other thing that this section had was lots of people half my height wearing fluorescent jackets like an army of child builders. I admire any teacher that takes 30 hyperactive children to a museum. I know that I would bring back fewer kids than went in!
On my way to the exhibition on the first floor I looked at an area that had been set aside for explaining science jobs to help children understand the options. I thought that this was great but sadly wasn’t well visited when I was there.
Science Fiction: Voyage to the Edge of Imagination
There was what can only be described as a paucity of information about what to expect from the exhibition. The following is what it said on the website and so I went in somewhat blind to what I might experince.
The curators of the exhibition probably wouldn’t thank me for this next statement but right from the start it had a very Disney-esque theme park ride feel to it. You queue in front of a set of doors that open through to a shuttle that takes you to the shops where the exhibition is held. On the shuttle you are introduced to the AI guide A-L-L-A-N who features prominently around the exhibition. Then a second set of doors open and you are in the first exhibition space. All of this was right out of the Walt Disney World playbook.
This first area looks good but doesn’t have much in it other than a Mondoshawan which, as a massive Fifth Element fan, meant that I was on board with whatever they had for us next. What followed was a self-guided walk through several ‘rooms’ filled with a curious mix of science fiction props, videos and artifacts interspersed with some science fact.
The part I enjoyed the most was tracing science fiction from its early days right through to contemporary examples starting with the likes of Jules Verne and HG Wells right up to HAL and Iron Man.
While it was very well done the part I enjoyed least was the section on climate change mainly because I am a bit fed up of it being shoehorned into absolutely everything. Yes, I know it’s critical but sometimes I can do with a break from it. That said there were some interesting things there and I particularly liked Planet City by Liam Young which looked at making the world more sustainable by housing all eight billion of us in one mega-city.
You inevitably exit via the gift shop where there was the opportunity to buy science fiction related items from the likes of Dr Who, Star Wars, Back to the Future and others. There was also the obligatory accompanying book which looked good but at £30 was too steep for me.
All in all it was a very interested and well present exhibition so if you are in to science fiction and can get to London it is well worth the trip.
