If you think science fiction is just for nerds, this big new show isn’t going to change your mind. The Science Museum has pulled together all the robots, spaceships and sexy green aliens it can find. If it’s not for you, it’s not for you.
But it is for me. Science fiction is an incredible cultural phenomenon, a genre of art, literature and film that allows the imagination to go wild and consider where humanity is going, where it is, and where it has come from. It’s about us, the very fabric of life, and it’s amazing. This show is a celebration of that.
It’s full of props, models and costumes from sci fi cinema’s long history: the late Nichelle Nichols' uniform from the genuinely awful first Star Trek film, a spacesuit from the original Alien, Darth Vader’s helmet, a tricorder, a Dalek, Maria from Metropolis, Hal from 2001. It’s a lot of fun, but it’s a bummer that so much of the memorabilia is replicas instead of originals. You can see a replica of the xenomorph from Alien for free at any Forbidden Planet, for £20 you’d expect the real thing.
A genre of art, literature and film that allows the imagination to go wild
But the main mistake is in pushing so hard on the links between science and science fiction. Are people really coming here to see the history of pacemakers or to learn how CRISPR gene editing works? I get it, the Science Museum’s job is to educate, but a lot of this feels tangential and just takes away from the whole celebration of sci fi thing.
Sci fi is so huge, and people are so passionate about it, that it’s inevitable that loads would get missed out, and you spend more time asking why they included x instead of y, but that’s what happens when you’re dealing with a fandom. It still feels way too superficial though, trying so hard to cover every base that it manages not cover any of them
There are some still interesting things here though: a Monseng Shula afrofuturist painting, a Larry Achiampong flag, a great Yao Lu collage. It’s also a properly immersive, high production value show. Kids will probably love it (though it’s also got some of the most confusing wall panels this side of the ICA), but discerning adult nerds will be left a little disappointed. This is meant to be a glorification of the brilliance of sci fi, but eventually, you just feel like you’re walking through a really fancy Laser Quest. I really wanted to like it, but like Hal said, I’m afraid I can’t do that.