On the fourth floor of the Tomás Rivera Library in the Special Collections & University Archives (SCUA), the Eaton Collection, one of the world’s largest cataloged collections of Science Fiction (SF), Fantasy and Speculative Literature, is holding the Eaton at the Movies Exhibit. The event showcases a variety of materials from the collection, unveiling and showcasing the various points of Science Fiction (SF) film and television history and featuring many important and compelling pieces of media such as intimate photographs and rare books.
Dr. Phoenix Alexander, the Jay Kay and Doris Klein Science Fiction Librarian, gives The Highlander the ins and outs of preparing the exhibit and his perspective in an exclusive interview. Preparations for exhibits are planned around one year in advance and Dr. Phoenix stated, “I’d had the idea to do an Eaton at the Movies Exhibit since I started in my current role in July 2022.” A list of the wide range of rare and interesting items to be showcased was made once the exhibit schedule was established.
The exhibit is running during SCUA’s normal operating hours, Monday – Friday, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m, from dates from Feb. 12 to Summer 2024. The event is also fully run by the Eaton Collection of Science Fiction and Fantasy as the exhibit is not sponsored and a private opening reception catered by the library was held for local curators, faculty and graduate students. In prompting Dr. Phoenix Alexander on what inspired him to create this event, he shared, “It really was to celebrate science fiction film and television and to inspire and excite audiences of all ages and walks of life. The great thing about the Eaton Collection is that you’ll find something that speaks to everyone in there — and it was my job to curate a diverse and exciting range of objects to do just that.”
The exhibit is advertised through Instagram, X (formerly known as Twitter) and Facebook. Group emails were also sent out to and event posters were found around campus as well.
When asked about how the materials were chosen for the exhibit, Dr. Phoenix Alexander explained that he wanted to showcase a variety of items in the exhibit, including media like archival papers, print materials, photographs, chapbooks, rare books and physical objects. Dr. Phoenix Alexander elaborated “[o]nce I’d created a large list of potential items, I then began to group them together thematically. I decided not to do a chronological history of cinema fairly early on in the planning.” The provided Eaton at the Movies Exhibit guide supplements this, as it provides a tour traveling towards multiple vantage points of SF categorization, rather than by time periods.
The exhibit, split into these categorizations, explored topics that would, according to the exhibit guide, “take up the themes of wonder and terror as it relates to SF film and television…” The first category the guide illustrates is “The Voyage Out,” showcasing literary works of the 19th century that inspired early SF film-makers, a time that explored compelling narratives with fantastical settings, technologies and characters. “The Voyage Out” showcases works like Georges Méliès’ “Mage” (1945), “The Will of an Eccentric” (Le Testament d’un Excentrique 1899) and the article “Space: 1999” from The Science Fiction Film journal. (May, 1976). “Cyberfeminine” explores the human-like female automata of SF, tied to both the time period of the 18th and 19th century and the gothic genre. The English transcription of the screenplay of Fritz Lang’s “Metropolis” (1973), novelization of “Metropolis” (1975) and a movie poster of “Beyoncé: Renaissance” (2023) was showcased.
“Your Nightmares will be Televised” is a horror showcase that brings explorers onto a frightening, but fantastic, journey that encompasses multiple mediums. The terrors of SF are explored through works displayed like the Storyboard sketch of “Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation” (2017), which was illustrated by John Jennings, the “Northwest Passage” script for Twin Peaks (c. 1990) and the “The World Next Door” script of “The Twilight Zone” (c. 1986).
“Space Samurai” is a series of displayed items from George Lucas’ infamously popular SF franchise, Star Wars; the exhibit guide stated how “Lucas drew inspiration from science fiction classics such as Flash Gordon, as well as the films of Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa.” Works like the illustrated script of “Star Wars,” “The Art of Star Wars” (1979) and “The Star Wars Portfolio” (1977) featured Ralph MacQuarrie concept paintings of landscapes, costumes, characters and vehicles.
“Martian Chronicles” is a display case dedicated to SF author Ray Bradbury, displaying a small snapshot of his life. “The Martian Chronicles: A Teleplay (1978)” was showcased, the television adaptation of Bradbury’s 1950 novel that first aired on National Broadcasting Company (NBC) in 1980.
“New Frontiers” shows off items from and inspired by another of today’s pop-culture staple of SF, Gene Roddenberry’s “Star Trek.” Some of the items were the script of the tenth episode of “Star Trek: the Original Series,” ‘The Corbomite Maneuver,” second revised final draft (1966) and the Writers/Directors Guide for “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” (1992), a document created pre-production to aid writers that may not be familiar with extensive lor of “Star Trek.”
A challenge faced in preparing the exhibit was narrowing down what items to display. Dr. Phoenix Alexander elaborated how “each exhibit case could only really display between three [to] five pieces, depending on size. I wanted to make sure the cases weren’t overcrowded and told a clear narrative.” Additionally, there were many tasks to carry out overall like printing exhibit labels, choosing the imagery for the exhibit guide and maintaining and looking after every item displayed, in which case his colleagues were cited as a great source of help. He continued, “As you can see, this was a collaborative process; our new conservator, Christina Bean, worked tirelessly to help me install the exhibit — and even built a stand on which we displayed our R2-D2 ‘guest book’!”
The exhibit is a unique and fun event that University of California, Riverside (UCR) students can treat themselves to all the way to summer. Dr. Alexander Phoenix enjoyed “[s]eeing how passionate people are about the texts, stories and franchises on display,” such as the R2-D2 model as a letterbox and unorthodox guestbook where guests can humorously write and put notecards into his mouth. Celebrating the various points of SF, the Eaton at the Movies Exhibit is nothing short of a fun and compelling experience that also brought attention to the collections held at UCR. Dr. Alexander Phoenix’s goal in displaying the exhibit “[was] really to raise awareness of the wonderful collections we have here at UCR Library and — I know it sounds cheesy — but to bring excitement and joy to everyone who visits the exhibit.” For future plans and other events from the Eaton Collection, the next Eaton-related exhibit will be put up next year.
