I just got back from Denver. I figured I should take advantage of Beth being gone this weekend, and so I went to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. I got there around 9:10 and stayed until noon, taking in the new Space Odyssey exhibit, watching a show in the newly remodelled Gates Planetarium, and watching an IMAX film called Jane Goodall’s Wild Chimpanzees.
I think I liked the chimp movie the best. I was disappointed by both Space Odyssey and the planetarium show. I enjoyed them, but had higher expectations for both. I think the Space Odyssey exhibit would probably be great for an 8 to 10 year old, or maybe even someone in the early teens. But I didn’t think it held much for an adult. About 1/4 to 1/3 of the exhibits were shut down with “Out of Order” signs. As if to make up for it, they had a swarm of volunteers there to answer questions about various stuff. After the big remodelling effort, the planetarium is now very different than the old style planetarium. It’s more like a regular theater with a hemispherical screen. You look forward and up at about a 45 degree angle, instead of straight up. Sadly, the picture quality wasn’t great (the stars were blurry), the show felt thrown together (it was a tour of the solar system from the outside in, but stopped at Earth, neglecting Venus, Mercury and the sun), and the seams in the ceiling/screen are distractingly visible. Plus, the visuals need more contrast; the space between the stars, which you’d expect to be very dark weren’t black but just dark grey. Everything they showed in this presentation appeared to be computer graphics, with no real photography built in like they used to do at the old planetarium. So anyhow, it was a nice visit, and I’m glad I got to see the new stuff, but the only thing that really impressed me was the IMAX show.