Friday 18 November 2016

Movie Prop Exhibition.

OK. So I've been a bit slow in getting this post written. Way back in October 2014, there was a movie prop and costume exhibition (to be followed by an auction) at the Vue cinema in the Westfield shopping centre in Shepheard's Bush, London. As I live just down the road from there, it seemed like a good place to go along to with my camera.

I actually went there twice. Firstly, with my friends, Alex and Dave. That evening, we didn't get to see the exhibition as the gallery was closed for a private viewing. Grumble. So I went back alone as the guys couldn't make it again due to work commitments and other reasons.

I took lots of photos. Way to many to put on this blog. So I've included some of my favourites.

Star Wars.


If you're a fan of Star Wars, you'll recognise these Death Star gun towers.



This is a helmet belonging to an Imperial Biker Scout from Return Of The Jedi.



In very bad condition but extremely cool, these are the actual gloves worn by Anthony Daniels when he played C-3PO.

Aliens.

My all time favourite film.


The head of the Alien Queen puppet as designed by (in my opinion) the greatest movie creature designer of them all, Stan Winston. (Among others, he also designed the Predator and the T-800 Endoskeleton from The Terminator.)


The Fifth Element.

A very good film by Luc Besson with great performances by Bruce Willis, Mila Jovovich, Gary Oldman and Chris Tucker.


The helmeted head of a Mondoshawan, the shambling aliens that you see in the temple at the beginning of the film.


Starship Troopers.

Now, I didn't really like this film. I like other Paul Verhoeven movies such as Robocop and Total Recall but I never really got on with Starship Troopers.


I've included this picture though, as this model, of the starship Rodger Young, is so impressive. It's beautifully detailed and approximately 10' long. The detailing even includes damage from a plasma bug blast on the bow.


Excalibur.

A film of Arthurian Legend based on Thomas Malory's, Le Morte d'Arthur. Now, my friend Jess loves the movie King Arthur starring Clive Owen and hates Excalibur. I have exactly the opposite opinion. I love the epic majesty of the John Boorman's film and think that King Arthur is a steaming pile of poo. Jess doesn't read my blog but now I've written this, she probably will and then leave a comment telling me what an idiot I am!




Above, Gabriel Byrne's Uther Pendragon armour.
Below, Robert Addie's Mortdred armour.

When watching the film, you would be convinced that the armour therein was genuine metal plate. However, on inspecting it, albeit through a glass display case, I found that it seems to be made of fibreglass.



Star Trek.

We've had some Star Wars props, so now it's time for some Star Trek ones.


These are the mag boots worn by the assassin of Chancellor Gorkon in Star Trek VI, The Undiscovered Country. On the left you can see a Next Generation tricorder...

...and here's a better look at it.




Right, this costume is important. It's a Star Fleet cadet uniform from the first J.J. Abrams Star Trek reboot. The return to the original crew (albeit played by younger actors) is supposedly brought about by a Romulan mining ship passing through a quantum singularity and appearing at the time of James T. Kirk's birth. Supposedly, the timeline has been altered and we are to accept this new status quo as cannon. However, you will notice that the uniform has the familiar Star Fleet arrowhead decoration on the collar. In the Original Series, every Star Fleet ship had its own insignia, The arrowhead belonged to The Enterprise. It was adopted by the time of The Next Generation by Star Fleet as a whole, in recognition of the original crew's service. As this cadet uniform comes from a time before even the NCC-1701 Enterprise had been launched (the uniforms in Enterprise with Scott Bakula didn't have the arrowhead), one can only assume that the Abrams Trekverse is an alternate reality altogether and the Prime Universe (from Enterprise through to the end of Voyager) still exists.


Farscape.

One of my all time favourite shows. Absolutely brilliant.


This is the costume of one of the evil Skarran royal family.


For Alex.

These next two pictures are for Alex, one of my friends who originally came with me to see the exhibition when it was closed for the aforementioned private viewing. I'm pretty sure he's seen them before but I thought I'd put them on here nonetheless.


This is Marty McFly's hoverboard from Back To The Future Part II along with Biff's Sports Almanac.


Denny Peters' space suit from Event horizon.


The Coolest Prop In The Whole Exhibition.


From Highlander (Real fans will say that there is only one movie), The Kurgan's sword.