Almost a month before The Phan- tom Menace reaches Irish cinemas, Dublin will be the launch pad for the latest spin-off of the Star Wars phenomenon. Millions of pounds worth of merchandising has reached stores on both sides of the Atlantic, and next Wednesday, the RDS will host the world premiere of the multi-million pound Star Wars roadshow, The Power Of Myth Experience, a hi-tech extravaganza more than a year in the making. It will open to the public on Thursday.
Martial arts expert Ray Park, who plays the red-faced, horned villain Darth Maul in The Phantom Menace, will be at the opening along with assorted Irish actors and VIPs. What exactly is it? Lucasfilm, creators of Star Wars, backed by Kellogg's, has put together a "a movie experience" which combines film memorabilia, interactive computer technology, cinema presentations and a look at how the Star Wars mythology can be linked to epic characters of European lore.
The event is set within eight massive chambers, containing mythological heroes ranging from Fionn MacCumhaill to King Arthur; a purpose-built cinema which will screen anecdotal Star Wars material, clips from George Lucas's archives; a preview of The Phantom Menace; Star Wars props and movie characters; a Darth Vader and Stormtroopers stage show; the actual Naboo fighter and Anakin Skywalker Podracer from the new movie and 100 state-of-the-art Star Wars computerised games.
The Power of Myth Experience will remain in Dublin until June 20th, before moving to London and on to a nine-country European tour, ending in Paris in September.
The brains behind the event are Dublin-based businesswoman Mary Aiken, director of the MegaPrint Group, and David Walker, marketing operations manager for Kelloggs. Mary Aiken worked with husband Peter Aiken, of Aiken Promotions, which has promoted everyone from Luciano Pavarotti to U2, on what she describes as a "hybrid between classic entertainment and an exhibition".
The team came up with what's known in the trade as an "out of the box" promotional idea, and decided they should take Star Wars on the road.
"It normally takes 10 days to go in and build something of this kind. But we wanted to move through Europe in 14 weeks, so we incorporated rock 'n' roll expertise into the event and designed a 20,000 square foot mother grid, which goes into the arena with the whole show suspended from the grid," she says. Raised on motors, it's then formed into eight chambers. "It's huge and yet this is all done in hours rather than days," says Mary Aiken.
David Walker underlines that Lucasfilm has been involved with the project every step of the way - understandable, since they are so very protective of the Star Wars image. So the road-show has been a top secret exercise. Even now, only days before the opening, only a handful of people have seen it in action.
"We have had to work within the constraints of Lucasfilm," says Mr Walker. "But when you are involved with something as big as the Star Wars entity it is very hard to argue with their performance to date."
"It's been the most intensive project on which I've worked," he says, tight-lipped about its cost, admitting only that it is a "very significant" amount.
Will The Force remain with The Power of Myth Experience after this European tour? Well, right now it seems that no one has an answer to that question. According to David Walker, it's a case of waiting to see how the event goes. "Whether it has a life after the tour will be decided in discussion with Lucasfilm. I don't know if it might have a permanent site somewhere. There is no reason why not. But that hasn't been decided yet."
And might the man who made all this possible, George Lucas, Mr Star Wars himself, make an appearance? Again that's an imponderable. "George Lucas has not seen the Experience in action," admits David Walker. "But I guess he could turn up."
The Power of Myth Experience opens to the public at the RDS on June 17th. Tickets: adults £12.50; children, £8.50