“Out of this World” Original Movie Prop Exhibit at The California Museum – High Resolution Photography

I had an opportunity this week to visit the touring “Out of this World: Extraordinary Costumes from Film and Television” exhibit, which opened at the California Museum on October 3rd.  As has been reported in the past, this traveling exhibition includes original props and costumes associated with Paul Allen (co-founder of Microsoft) and Science Fiction Museum in Seattle, Washington.

Below is the description of the exhibit from the official empsfm.org website:

EMP|SFM has organized an original exhibition of costumes from Star Wars, Blade Runner, The Terminator, Star Trek and many more of the most popular films and television shows of all time, to tell the story how costumes play a crucial role in defining characters for visual storytelling in media.

The exhibition examines how costume design incorporates color, style, scale, materials, historical traditions and cultural cues to help performers and audiences engage with the characters being portrayed. The exhibition’s purpose is to offer museum visitors new ways of seeing characters as defined by their costumes.

The exhibition is organized into sections based on themes such as “Heroes and Villains,” “Creating the Character,” and “Caped Crusaders” as well as specific franchises such as Star Trek and Star Wars.

Exhibition Includes:

The exhibition includes 43 artifacts. Costume highlights include:

* Hat worn by Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch of the West in the film The Wizard of Oz (1939)

* Robe worn by Sir Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan Kenobi in the film Star Wars (1977)

* Leather jacket worn by Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones in the film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) and Indy’s whip from the film Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

* Leather jacket worn by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the film The Terminator (1984)

* Costume worn by Dan Aykroyd as Dr. Raymond Stantz in the film Ghostbusters II (1989).

* Embroidered robe worn by actor Joe Turkel as Eldon Tyrell, creator of the replicants, in Blade Runner (1982)

* Costume worn by George Clooney as Batman in the film Batman & Robin (1997)

* Darth Vader cape, helmet, and lightsaber from Star Wars (1977) and The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

* Tunic and sash worn by William Shatner as Captain Kirk in the Star Trek episode “Mirror Mirror” (1967)

The same pieces described above are part of the current exhibit.  This article will publish still photography, while a subsequent article will include high definition video of the pieces on display.

A significant number of photos were taken of select pieces:

– The Luke Skywalker lightsaber attributed to Star Wars: A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back (I am aware of some hobbyists having outstanding questions as to the authenticity of this piece)

– The Stormtrooper helmet attributed to Star Wars: A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back (as part of a continuing dialogue and archiving of information about Stormtrooper helmets; there is no question as to the authenticity of this amazing artifact which was publicly auctioned by Christie’s and then Profiles in History)

– The Indiana Jones-related props (again, part of a continuing dialogue and archiving of information, particularly the Staff of Ra headpiece)

Click on any photo below for higher resolution images:

Jason DeBord