Sci-Fi Hollywood

Yes, you did see that in a movie somewhere...

• Sci-Fi Hollywood
• http://www.scifihollywood.com
• scifi@scifihollywood.com
• Supports text only

ci-Fi Hollywood touts itself appropriately as "The LARGEST collection of original science fiction prop weapons, spaceships and costumes." Composed of four sections (appropriately titled Weapons, Costumes, Spaceships and Other Props) the collection is ever expanding, and it even offers a $100 reward to anyone who can identify otherwise unidentifiable items. In general, this is an online museum, not a showroom, and items are only offered for purchase when duplicates are available.

Upon entering a section or gallery, users will find the props -- presented as thumbnail images -- grouped by the film or television title to which they belong, and each item is highlighted with a clickable, thumbnail picture. A broad swath of offerings both popular and obscure are here, from Babylon 5 and Buck Rogers to Genesis II and Night of the Creeps. Communicators, cubits and rayguns; vipers, ornithopters, and gorilla flack suits are all here for the curious and insatiable. The thumbnail link to a larger photograph and description, which gives a brief definition of the item, its origins and how the collector acquired it, as well as condition and rarity.

Many of the items are listed as having been acquired directly from the propmasters who made them. One of the more interesting finds is the derelict alien spacecraft from the 1979 movie Alien, a 9x12 foot piece weighing approximately one ton. Before it was acquired by its present owner, it had fallen from a forklift and one of its arms had broken off of the main structure. Nevertheless, James Cameron wanted to reuse the model for Aliens, and felt its broken arm enhanced the forbidding air of the wreck.

This site doesn't sport slick design values and high concepts, but it is heavy on graphics and justifiably so. The collection's sheer variety and strong documentation (although this could use some simple editing and elbow-grease) also warrant the heavy graphical hand; this collector is clearly someone close to the entertainment industry.

There is only a minor, organizational, fault to be found in this site: a lack of cross-referencing. While Sci-Fi Hollywood's contents are nicely divvied up among categories, there is no direct way to link from, say, Planet of the Apes costumes to Planet of the Apes weapons. Even a small index at the top of each gallery describing the page's contents would be an assist.

Ironically, "There should be more..." is a phrase that is both criticism and compliment, depending on the collection to which it is applied. When addressed to a museum of meager means, it means that there's just not enough material there to make a visit worthwhile. When applied to a collection of superior scope, it means that the collection is so good that it has not merely satisfied the appetite of the curious, it has whet it. Sci-Fi Hollywood, definitely, is the whetstone for the connossieur's appetite.

The only thing more I'd like to see on this site is a little more polish. And of course more items. How about a translation of the book of G'Quaan? -- Tamara

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