Seattle Science Fiction Museum

My daughter lives in Seattle, Washington. One of my favorite things to do when I visit her is to go to the Seattle Center, which contains a science museum, the space needle, an IMAX theater and above all the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame. The fun starts even as you approach the building, which looks as though it was built by aliens. Also, if you arrive by monorail, the track goes through the building.

The Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame is one of the two public science fiction museums in the world (along with Maison d'Ailleurs, a science fiction museum in Yverdon-les-Bains (Switzerland). The Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame was founded by Paul Allen and Jody Patton and opened to the public on June 18, 2004. Members of the museum's advisory board include Steven Spielberg, Ray Bradbury, James Cameron, and George Lucas. Among its collection of artifacts are Captain Kirk's command chair from Star Trek, the B9 robot from Lost in Space, the Death Star model from Star Wars, the T800 Terminator and the dome from the film Silent Running. The X Prize trophy is currently on display in the museum's lobby.

The museum is divided into several galleries with a common themes such as "Homeworld," "Fantastic Voyages," "Brave New Worlds" and "Them!" Each gallery displays related memorabilia (movie props, first editions, costumes and models) in large display cases, posters, and interactive displays to sketch out the different subjects. "From robots to jet packs to space suits and ray guns, it's all here."

The Hall of Fame was founded as the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 1996 by the Kansas City Science Fiction and Fantasy Society and the Center for the Study of Science Fiction at the University of Kansas. There you will find listed all your favorite authors of the past and some present and other notables in the world of science fiction.

One of my particular favorites in the museum is the case that contains copies of some of the old pulp magazine that were prevalent from the 1920s to the 1950s. I cut my SF teeth on those magazines.