DC -- Natl Air and Space Museum -- Temporary Exhibit: Star Wars: The Magic of Myth (in Gallery 211):
Bruce Guthrie Photos Home Page: [Click here] to go to Bruce Guthrie Photos home page.
Description of Pictures: Star Wars: The Magic of Myth
October 31, 1997 – January 31, 1999
Original props, models, costumes, characters, and artwork from the Star Wars trilogy are used to compare elements of the films to elements of mythology, following a classic mythological "hero's journey." The exhibition commemorates the 20th anniversary of the Star Wars trilogy, which includes Star Wars: A New Hope (1977), The Empire Strikes Back (1980), and The Return of the Jedi (1983). Objects include the characters Yoda, Chewbacca, Darth Vader, Boba Fett, and Jabba the Hutt; production models of a X-Wing, the Millennium Falcon, a TIE Fighter, the AT-AT Walkers, and an Imperial Star Destroyer; and Luke Skywalker's lightsaber, Han Solo's figure frozen in carbonite, Princess Leia's slave-girl costume, and a Speeder Bike. Several costumes and props from the Star Wars Trilogy Special Edition (1997) are also on view.
Recognize anyone? If you recognize specific folks (or other stuff) and I haven't labeled them, please identify them for the world. Click the little pencil icon underneath the file name (just above the picture). Spammers need not apply.
Slide Show: Want to see the pictures as a slide show?
[Slideshow]
Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.
Help? The Medium (Email) links are for screen viewing and emailing. You'll want bigger sizes for printing. [Click here for additional help]
Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
SIAIRS_970108_02.JPG: Arlene James and R2D2
SIAIRS_971113_001.JPG: Air & Space Museum; Star Wars exhibit; Yoda w/Dan & I
Here's a shot of Dan James and I with someone who's roughly Dan's size at the Air and Space Museum's Star Wars exhibit.
SIAIRS_971113_002.JPG: Air & Space Museum; Star Wars exhibit; C3P0 & R2D2
The Star Wars exhibit opened at the Air and Space Museum in October 1997. Shown here are C3P0 and R2D2 who stood guard outside the display for the year that it took them to put it up.
There's some question as to why an exhibit like this was at the Air and Space Museum instead of the National Museum of American History but I'm just glad it was somewhere!
SIAIRS_971113_003.JPG: Air & Space Museum; Star Wars exhibit; Yoda
Here's Yoda, whose popularity I never figured out. I have no idea who the lady is watching him but it looks like he just spoke to her and she couldn't understand a word that he said.
SIAIRS_971113_004.JPG: Air & Space Museum; Star Wars exhibit; Jabba
Here's Jabba the Hutt on his throne.
SIAIRS_971113_005.JPG: Air & Space Museum; Star Wars exhibit; Ewok
This is an Ewok from the Star Wars exhibit. It's in the same case and standing just to the left of an Imperial speeder (another picture).
SIAIRS_971113_006.JPG: Air & Space Museum; Star Wars exhibit; Speeder
Here's another view of the Imperial speeder.
SIAIRS_971113_007.JPG: Air & Space Museum; Star Wars exhibit; Falcon
SIAIRS_971113_008.JPG: Air & Space Museum; Star Wars exhibit; Falcon
Another view of the complete case.
SIAIRS_971113_009.JPG: Air & Space Museum; Star Wars exhibit; Falcon
A little bit closer up on the larger Millennium Falcon model.
SIAIRS_971113_010.JPG: Air & Space Museum; Star Wars exhibit; Falcon
Another shot.
SIAIRS_971113_011.JPG: Air & Space Museum; Star Wars exhibit; Falcon; close-up
Another close-up.
SIAIRS_971113_012.JPG: Air & Space Museum; Star Wars exhibit; Falcon; close-up
Another close-up.
SIAIRS_971113_050.JPG: Dan James and a storm trooper
SIAIRS_971113_053.JPG: Dan James, Yoda, Bruce Guthrie (probably taken by Eric Long)
SIAIRS_971113_054.JPG: Dan James, Yoda, Bruce Guthrie (probably taken by Eric Long)
SIAIRS_971203_01.JPG: Air & Space Museum; Star Wars exhibit; Gallery; Entry way
Here's part of the entry area into the Star Wars exhibit. The figures in this first room are all from "Star Wars" itself.
In the case on the right, you see a Stormtrooper and an interrogation robot (which Darth turned on Princess Leia). In the case on the far left is a Tusken Raider with Jawa at his feet. The costume of Old Ben Kenobi is hidden behind them. In the partially hidden case on the left is a reflection of the Stormtrooper from the first case but you can also see R2D2.
SIAIRS_971203_02.JPG: Air & Space Museum; Star Wars exhibit; Stormtrooper
Here's the Stormtrooper with the Imperial interrogation robot.
SIAIRS_971203_03.JPG: Air & Space Museum; Star Wars exhibit; Falcon; Overhead
Another view of the Falcon from on high. The bald-headed man on the left gives you an idea of the size of the model.
SIAIRS_971203_04.JPG: Air & Space Museum; Star Wars exhibit; Falcon
Another fairly big shot of the craft.
SIAIRS_971203_05.JPG: Air & Space Museum; Star Wars exhibit; Falcon; close-up
More detail of that central turret gun.
SIAIRS_971206_001.JPG: Air & Space Museum; Star Wars exhibit; Gallery; Entry way
Another shot of the entry way from a different place. The large woman saw me getting ready to take a picture but continued on her way anyway. More people were coming in so I couldn't wait. Oh well!
The case on the far left has Jawa and the costume of Old Ben Kenobi. Next to that case is the case with Han Solo's costume and the Chewbacca outfit.
The case on the far right has the Stormtrooper (and you can see the top of the Imperial interrogation robot). Next to that are R2D2 and C3PO.
The room in the distance is the "Empire Strikes Back" room which is covered later.
SIAIRS_971206_002.JPG: Air & Space Museum; Star Wars exhibit; Tusken Raider
Here's the head of the Tusken Raider.
SIAIRS_971206_003.JPG: Air & Space Museum; Star Wars exhibit; Yoda
Here's His Greenness.
SIAIRS_971206_004.JPG: Air & Space Museum; Star Wars exhibit; Yoda
Another shot of Yoda. I love those nails!
SIAIRS_971206_005.JPG: Air & Space Museum; Star Wars exhibit; Gallery; Hoth
This picture was taken while laying on the floor (I have this cute little six-inch tripod). The figures in this room are all from "Empire Strikes Back".
The case on the far left contains a Rebel Snowspeeder. The big case in the middle contains a Stormtrooper in winter gear and an AT-AT walker. Yoda of course is all by his lonesome in the case in the middle. The small case on the right contains a Probot (the unmanned droids that were dumped on the various planets and which alerted Darth Vader to the rebel camp on Hoth).
SIAIRS_971206_006.JPG: Air & Space Museum; Star Wars exhibit; Snowspeeder
Here's a front shot of the rebel Snowspeeder. Keep in mind the exhibit hall was dark and flash photography, while allowed, usually just caused flashing cases. You really needed a tripod to take many of these pictures. Due to not having a real tripod, this and some other shots were taken by putting the camera against the case and holding it there. This allowed for a great amount of detail and no flash effect at all. Unfortunately, it also means that you don't get as many mid-distance shots.
SIAIRS_971206_007.JPG: Air & Space Museum; Star Wars exhibit; Snowspeeder
Another view of the Snowspeeder.
SIAIRS_971206_008.JPG: Air & Space Museum; Star Wars exhibit; Stormtrooper (Hoth)
Here's the costume for the Stormtroopers when they were winterized for Hoth weather.
SIAIRS_971206_009.JPG: Air & Space Museum; Star Wars exhibit; Stormtrooper (Hoth)
Another shot of the winterized Stormtrooper. Next to him is an AT-AT walker.
SIAIRS_971206_010.JPG: Air & Space Museum; Star Wars exhibit; AT-AT
Here's the AT-AT walker. In front of it is a scale model of a flying rebel Snowspeeder.
SIAIRS_971206_011.JPG: Air & Space Museum; Star Wars exhibit; AT-AT
Another view of the AT-AT walker. In front, you can see the rebel Snowspeeder. Behind it, if you look closely at the right foot, you'll see a miniature AT-AT walker. This one was about three inches tall.
SIAIRS_971206_012.JPG: Air & Space Museum; Star Wars exhibit; Chewbacca
Another shot from the floor.
Behind Chewbacca is the costume for Han Solo. Between them, you'll see a "seeker", which is the floating opponent which Luke tested his powers of the Force on when he was talking to Han and Ben Kenobi about the Force in the first movie. With Ben's help, Luke managed to deflect the seeker's beams from the seeker even after closing his eyes.
In front of Chewbacca (and out of the picture) is the Yoda case. To the right, you can see a rebel flight costume.
SIAIRS_971206_013.JPG: Air & Space Museum; Star Wars exhibit; Chewbacca
A close-up of Chewbacca.
SIAIRS_971206_014.JPG: Air & Space Museum; Star Wars exhibit; Y-wing fighter
You didn't see many of these in the movie.
SIAIRS_971206_015.JPG: Air & Space Museum; Star Wars exhibit; Rancor
This was the creature in the pit that Luke defeated while rescuing Han in "Return of the Jedi". Behind him is probably the costume that Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams) wore as a fake skiff pilot during the rescue.
SIAIRS_971206_016.JPG: Air & Space Museum; Star Wars exhibit; Leia's Harem Outfit
Here's the outfit Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) wore while in Jabba's entertainment company. With the black manniken underneath, they've succeeded in making it totally non-sexy.
SIAIRS_971206_017.JPG: Air & Space Museum; Star Wars exhibit; Jabba
Another shot of Jabba. Notice the badly stitched cut that extends most of the length of his body just above the floor line. Nice little character addition, that one.
In the background, you can see the skiff that was used to try to dump Luke Skywalker down into the mouth of the sand creature.
SIAIRS_971206_018.JPG: Air & Space Museum; Star Wars exhibit; Han In Carbonite
Here's Han Solo in carbonite. I've always loved the drool coming out of the side of his mouth!
SIAIRS_971206_019.JPG: Air & Space Museum; Star Wars exhibit; Gallery; Return
This room contains various artifacts from "Return of the Jedi". On the far right, the case with the person in front of it contains people from Jabba's entertainment crew. (You'll see more of that later so relax!) In the middle, the red figure is an Imperial guard; they were present when the evil emperor showed up on the Death Star to be present during the Rebel Alliance's presumed final destruction.
The figure in the middle left is Admiral Ackbar, the salmon-colored Mon Calamari. Off camera on the left is where the Imperial speeder and the Ewok are.
SIAIRS_971206_020.JPG: Air & Space Museum; Star Wars exhibit; Admiral Ackbar
Here's the Mon Calamari Admiral Ackbar and his command ship. The painting in the back shows various Rebel leaders planning the destruction of the second Death Star.
SIAIRS_971206_021.JPG: Air & Space Museum; Star Wars exhibit; Imperial Guard
The figures in red are the Imperial Guard, who watch over the Emperor when he travels. The picture in the back shows them on review with the white Stormtroopers when the Emperor visited the second Death Star. You can see a white structure in the painting as well as a very small model of it; that's the craft the emperor flies in.
SIAIRS_971206_022.JPG: Air & Space Museum; Star Wars exhibit; Jabba's Musicians
This is Max Rebo's band and dancers in Jabba's throne room. This is another of those shots taken while lying down on the floor. The female characters were added for the Special Edition.
SIAIRS_971206_023.JPG: Air & Space Museum; Star Wars exhibit; Falcon
This shot was taken on the stair case above the Falcon.
SIAIRS_971206_024.JPG: Air & Space Museum; Star Wars exhibit; Falcon; close-up
Another shot of the cockpit. The red object in the central pane is a rather large light that lit the cockpit during some external shots. In scale, it's about the size of someone's chest.
SIAIRS_971206_025.JPG: Air & Space Museum; Star Wars exhibit; Falcon; close-up
I love the burn marks!
SIAIRS_971206_026.JPG: Air & Space Museum; Star Wars exhibit; Darth Vader
Here's Darth Vader. His light saber is in front of him. The picture makes it look like the display room was light but this is far from the case; this wouldn't have worked without a time exposure.
The stairs in the back lead up to the gift store.
SIAIRS_971206_027.JPG: Air & Space Museum; Star Wars exhibit; Darth Vader
A closer view of him.
AAA "Gem": AAA considers this location to be a "must see" point of interest. To see pictures of other areas that AAA considers to be Gems, click here.
Bigger photos? To save server space, the full-sized versions of these images have either not been loaded to the server or have been removed from the server. (Only some pages are loaded with full-sized images and those usually get removed after three months.)
I still have them though. If you want me to email them to you, please send an email to guthrie.bruce@gmail.com
and I can email them to you, or, depending on the number of images, just repost the page again will the full-sized images.
Directly Related Pages: Other pages with content (DC -- Natl Air and Space Museum -- Temporary Exhibit: (name) (in loc)) directly related to this one:
[Display ALL photos on one page]:
2020_DC_SIAIR_Tranquility: DC -- Natl Air and Space Museum -- Temporary Exhibit: 50 Years from Tranquility Base (26 photos from 2020)
2019_DC_SIAIR_Armstrong: DC -- Natl Air and Space Museum -- Temporary Exhibit: Neil Armstrong's Apollo 11 Spacesuit (20 photos from 2019)
2018_DC_SIAIR_Spruce_Goose: DC -- Natl Air and Space Museum -- Temporary Exhibit: Hughes H-4 Spruce Goose (18 photos from 2018)
2018_DC_SIAIR_Barmecide: DC -- Natl Air and Space Museum --Temporary Exhibit: The Barmecide Feast (2001: A Space Odyssey room) (in Gallery 104) (105 photos from 2018)
2017_DC_SIAIR_Artist: DC -- Natl Air and Space Museum -- Temporary Exhibit: Artist Soldiers: Artistic Expression in the First World War (in Gallery 211) (199 photos from 2017)
2015_DC_SIAIR_Outside: DC -- Natl Air and Space Museum -- Temporary Exhibit: Outside the Spacecraft: 50 Years of Extra-Vehicular Activity (in Gallery 211) (35 photos from 2015)
2015_DC_SIAIR_Elephant: DC -- Natl Air and Space Museum -- Temporary Exhibit: Why Is This Elephant In This Room? (10 photos from 2015)
2015_DC_SIAIR_Airport_Tower: DC -- Natl Air and Space Museum -- Temporary Exhibit: Art of the Airport Tower (in Gallery 104) (49 photos from 2015)
2015_DC_SIAIR_Above: DC -- Natl Air and Space Museum -- Temporary Exhibit: Above and Beyond (in Gallery 211) (54 photos from 2015)
2014_DC_SIAIR_Hawaii: DC -- Natl Air and Space Museum -- Temporary Exhibit: Hawaii By Air (in Gallery 104) (64 photos from 2014)
1997 photos: Since 1984, I've lived in Silver Spring, Maryland.
From 1981 to 2002, photos were taken using a Pentax ME Super camera.
From 1989 to 2002, I was doing all pictures as prints (instead of slides which I had grown up on).
In 1997, at the age of 40, my photo obsession began and I started taking thousands of photos per year.
In September, 2002, I switched to digital cameras and the number of photos exploded.
Image quality is going to be variable because these are scans of slides and/or prints.
The images shown here were scanned in two phases. In the early years of the website, I rescanned a selection of pre-digital images, all at fairly low quality settings. During the COVID pandemic, I launched the Great Rescanning Effort, rescanning ALL of my pre-digital images from various media (prints, slides, negatives, etc) at higher resolution and quality settings. Mutilple versions of images -- some from the initial scannning phase, some from prints, some from slides/negatives -- were posted so there are frequently duplicate images on the same page. At some point, I hope to have time to do a final review and get rid of the duplicates but that'll have to wait until all of the pre-digital images are finally posted.
Trips this year: North Carolina (Dad), Florida (Mom), using a time share in Arkansas to visit Civil War sites in Missouri, Georgia, Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee. The Civil War became my excuse to see places I'd never been to in my life and it was a great motivator for 20 years or so.
Connection Not Secure messages? Those warnings you get from your browser about this site not having secure connections worry some people. This means this site does not have SSL installed (the link is http:, not https:). That's bad if you're entering credit card numbers, passwords, or other personal information. But this site doesn't collect any personal information so SSL is not necessary. Life's good!
Limiting Text: You can turn off all of this text by clicking this link:
[Thumbnails Only]