STAR WARS - The Exhibition in Brussels

[grafunkel]

I checked it out yesterday with my six-year-old son: awesome. I'll upload some of my crappy piktjoors later.

Who still has to go see it, and who already went? What did you think?

[grievous444]

I have seen it in Paris, butt I will go again here in Brussels.

[jedi knight]

I went the first Saturday and for being the first day of the exhibition it was not to crowed
the exhibition itself was good and had some very nice pieces but there where some minor things that sometimes came out irritating : the lighting first of all wasn't always very good which enabled you to see quite some objects completely and even put some objects in the dark
there also were 2 other problems:(didn't really care about those but for an opening you should expect everything would work)
-the green screen didn't work
-there was no so called lightsabre initiation

[drslump]

typical Belgian"Not my problem"-mentality.

[Barney]

Reviews of the Exhibition are mediocre at best. Most people going there say it was nice to see whatever was on display, but they had expected more. Presentation was found lacking, as also remarked here.

The reason is simple: the Exhibition is a completely private undertaking. UAU International has paid Lucasfilm for the license to be allowed to do this, but aside from that Lucasfilm Ltd is in no way involved. Hence the high standard they set for their own events isn't applied here, causing things to get messed up. Basically, they have the license, much like Hasbro has it for production of SW toys. LFL has dibs on the incomes, but has no control whatsoever.

There are sources claiming that LFL ordered the Exhibition, but that is simply not true. SW.com doesn't mention the Exhibition except for one article which ties it to Celebration Europe and is more a commercial for the latter, which wàs an official LFL event. The site from the Exhibition itself also doesn't mention any involvement of LFL, apart from the logo indicating they have a license. All press messages concerning the Exhibition also never mentioned any official involvement of LFL.
Compared to that, the similar "Where science meets imagination" exhibition which started a week earlier in the States, ís an official LFL exhibition and is therefore thoroughly commercialised as such through LFL's own channels.

It'll draw a lot of people though, but most come back with less than satisfaction, including die-hard SW-fans. A lot of items which were on display in Paris, Tokyo or London, apparentely aren't in Brussels either. And the stormtrooper costume on display also turned out to be the crappy after-market licensed supreme edition made by Rubies (which now also makes the masks), but definately not a screen-used costume. The more I hear from people who went to the Exhibition, the less interest I have in going, saving my 13,50 Euros for something more useful instead.

[Dark Trooper]

The information above is not completely correct. First of all it was indeed LFL that hired a local event agency to take care of the local arrangements to get everything set up over here in Belgium but claiming that LFL only has dibs on the incomes is not correct, otherwise Miss Tabitah Tota from LFL (Lucas Film) and Mr. Don Bies from ILM (Industrial Light Magic) wouldn't have been present during build-up and the official opening as official representatives.

The pieces on display are not all the same as shown in Paris, London, etc. Some pieces disapeared like the wookiees, they needed to be repaired and where returned to the U.S. and also the dagobah, mustafar set up and so on..... and on the other hand some new pieces where added to the collection as well, but yes, basicly this exhibition is for about 85% the same as in London, Lisbon, Paris and so on.

Even George Lucas himself was briefly in Brussels for business during that time and was spotted several times in Brussels but finally didn't visit the exhibition because he had to return the U.S. a.s.a.p. due to his busy schedule.

Even so, real die hard SW fans will not mind to pay the entree fee I think and will still enjoy visiting the exhibition. Of course this experience will be felt differently by everybody who visits the SW expo which can be noticed on this forum where some people like the SW expo and others don't but that is just the way the cookie crumbles I guess.

[Barney]

The info I got came directly from the office of Steve Sansweet, Director of Fan Relations for Lucasfilm Ltd. and has been confirmed by both FISA and also by several inside people I spoke to yesterday when I visited BIFFF, which is also held in Tour & Taxis. Tabitah and Don may have been there to represent Lucasfilm Ltd as per regulations of the license UAU has bought, but that still doesn't mean LFL is behind the organisation. There were plenty of people from LFL on Jedi-Con as well, but that is also not an official Lucasfilm-event. Personally, I'd much rather believe inside sources and the official press releases from LFL themselves.

[steve]

I went with my sister who had seen the Lisabon exhibition , I thought it was OK but was not all that impressed . Darth Vader was the coolest display I saw and I likes the concept sketches and paintings a lot . No Chewie to be spotted anywhere My sis also said that at the Lisabon exhibition there was way more to see .

[Sompeetalay]

Chewbacca was shipped to the US for repairs. You can see pictures from the Lissabon Expo at Rebelscum. When you check them out, you'll find that the Wookiees are the only objects that are missing compared to Lissabon. Isn't it typical to always expect more and see things from the past as being better than things in the present?

[steve]

sompeetalay said:

Chewbacca was shipped to the US for repairs. You can see pictures from the Lissabon Expo at Rebelscum. When you check them out, you'll find that the Wookiees are the only objects that are missing compared to Lissabon. Isn't it typical to always expect more and see things from the past as being better than things in the present?

Could be true , I think the expo was worth its 10Euro and I'm not even a big Star Wars fan .
And I can imagine when you (in this case my sis ) see something a second time it's not as impressive as the first time .

[Barney]

The amount of objects on display varies with each edition of this exhibition and Brussels has the least objects of all. A lot of the stuff has been recalled by Lucasfilm, either for repairs (such as the Wookiees or Yoda) or because they need them on their official exhibitions or other events in the States.

[drslump]

Few days ago, John Cho & Karl Urban were there too with the movie Star Trek XI