Written by James Oyedijo: Everyone remembers the first time they saw Star Wars. The six films have captured the imagination of both young and old. For the avid Star Wars fan, the films transcend entertainment. Simply put, Star Wars is life.

This weekend, Philadelphia’s Franklin Institute launched an interesting exhibition exploring how the universe imagined in Star Wars is influencing the real world. Star Wars: Where Science meets Imagination fully immerses visitors into the mind of George Lucas, showcasing props and artifacts from all six films alongside cutting-edge technologies directly and indirectly influenced by the franchise.

The exhibition is organized around two major themes: getting around (transportation) and getting along with even smarter machines (robotics). Our personal favorites from the exhibition included seeing Luke Skywalker’s original landspeeder from Episode IV and the Maglev exhibit. The Maglev exhibit gave visitors a chance to ride a real hovercraft and levitate momentarily to feel what mass transit might be like in the future.

It was also great to see all the families having a hands-on experience with film and science. It’s rare to see parents and children genuinely interested in the same thing for completely different reasons. Stars Wars: where Science Meets Imagination runs until May 4th 2008. If you’re in Philadelphia, be sure to check it out.

/// Places to Stay.

Loews Hotel Package for Star Wars Philadelphia

/// In store.

Star Wars invades wejetset. Get your mimobots here.

/// Related Links:

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[Photo credits: Jason Smith for GPTMC]