By Laura Christian
Western Herald
The Kalamazoo Valley Museum is bringing the world of science fiction to life with their 2010 blockbuster exhibit, “Out of this World: Extraordinary Costumes from Film and Television.”
Comic book and science-fiction movie heroes and villains unite in this free exhibit. It will last until Sept. 12 and is located in the third-floor gallery of the museum, located at 230 North Rose Street in downtown Kalamazoo.
There are over 40 costumes, artifacts and props from movies such as “Star Wars,” “Batman,” “Star Trek,” “Blade Runner,” “Alien” and more.
“People have been going kind of crazy about this exhibit,” said Paula Metzner, assistant director for collections and exhibits at the museum. “People are really excited about it.”
All the excitement over the exhibit has drawn many different groups of people to visit the museum.
“There has been a huge number of people [visiting the exhibit] and a whole different crowd than we usually get, which is really nice,” Metzner said.
“We get a lot of people who don’t normally come to this museum: college students, older teenagers who are really interested in science fiction and Hollywood costumes and that kind of visitor, which we’re really happy to have,” she said.
The costumes on display are not what they seem to be in the movies and TV shows.
Metzner helped assemble the costumes for the exhibit. While working with the costumes, she noticed the bullet holes in T-1000’s jacket were not made of metal; they were made of silver foam rubber and safety pinned to the back of the costume.
“It’s all smoke and mirrors,” Metzner said.
The costumes are also a lot smaller than what would be expected.
“(Seven of Nine from “Star Trek”) looks very, very, very, tiny; this is an extremely tiny dress form that [the costume] on,” said Karen Koontz, who has been a greeter guide at the museum since 2008. “A lot of time, I think, they don’t want to stress the fabric by stretching it so they’ll put it on something that maybe is a little less curvy and a little smaller than the original actress.”
Before the exhibit was opened to the public, there was a lot of work that had to be done.
“It’s really quite a process bringing these [costumes] in. They bring a special curator that comes to the exhibit and she is here just to make sure everything is unpacked properly and put on the mannequins properly to make sure nothing is damaged in the unpacking and [while] putting it on exhibit,” Metzner said. “So it’s quite an ordeal but it was fun; we don’t always get special curators coming in.”
The exhibit is from the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame in Seattle and has been touring since 2007. Paul Allen owns many of the costumes in the touring exhibit.
“He’s loaned them to the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame in Seattle, but they’re his collection and he’s actually one of the original founders of Microsoft,” Metzner said.
“That’s another reason why I think the curator came … because they’re not owned by the Science Fiction Museum; they’re owned by a private individual and so they take extra special care to make sure they’re all handled properly, so when he gets them back at the end of the exhibit, which maybe another five years from now, they’ll still be in good shape,” she said.
Visitors to the exhibit tell the KVM staff members at the museum trivia about the costumes and movies.
“If you go back to the comic books, the original concept of Batman was a very dark character; he stood for justice, but he also wanted revenge and then the governing board of comic books made him lighten up and it became very much a cartoon type thing,” Koontz said. “But they keep trying to steer the Batman stories back to their original beginning which is a very dark character.”
This was a highly anticipated exhibit for Anna Barnhart, an interpretation specialist at KVM. She did research on the exhibit three years prior to its arrival and she knows many facts about the exhibit.
“The Wicked Witch’s hat is probably the oldest item in the exhibit,” Barnhart said. “(the exhibit is) really cool.”
According to a press release from the Kalamazoo Valley Museum, the exhibit includes:
The Wicked Witch of the West’s hat from the 1939 movie, “The Wizard of Oz.”
Obi-Wan Kenobi’s robe from the 1977 movie, “Star Wars.”
Indian Jones’ leather jacket from the 1989 movie, “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” along with his whip from the 1981 “Raiders of the Lost Ark.”
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s leather jacket from the 1984 movie, “The Terminator.”
Dr. Raymond Stantz’s costume from the 1989 movie, “Ghostbusters II.”
Eldon Tyrell’s robe from the 1982 movie, “Blade Runner.”
Batman’s costume from the 1997 movie, “Batman and Robin.”
Darth Vader’s cape, helmet and light saber from the 1980 movie, “Star Wars” and “The Empire Strikes Back.”
Captain Kirk’s tunic and sash from the 1967 movie, “Star Trek” episode “Mirror Mirror.”
More information about the exhibit or KVM may be found at their webpage at http://kvm.kvcc.edu or by calling 269-373-7990.
About sfryer