Pink Floyd The Dark Side of the Moon Immersive Planetarium Experience
Otago Museum, Perpetual Guardian Planetarium
Thursday, June 22
Pink Floyd The Dark Side of the Moon Immersive Planetarium Experience promises breathtaking visuals and spectacular surround sound that would bring the legendary album to life.
As far as commemorative gimmicks go, this experience was middle of the range.
Watching a command module slowly jettison away from a spaceship to Breathe (In the Air) was a very strong start during the preview screening.
The 360-degree dome transported me to the vastness of space without completely lifting me from my seat.
The music was also well-projected with strong attempts to isolate individual sounds.
However, I was disappointed there was not more of an intentional and consistent attempt to coincide the visuals with the music. For an officially licensed Pink Floyd product, I thought this was a reasonable expectation.
When the iconic gospel vocals of The Great Gig in the Sky began to roar, after a minute of tense buildup, was met with a wide angle shot of a space station idly floating past Earth, I couldn’t help but feel something was missing.
On the other hand, a ticking celestial clock, gears whirring from within the mechanism, was a great visual interpretation of Time.
The visuals were at their best when they embraced the truly psychedelic, which was sadly not that often.
I got a bit tired of watching the same computer-rendered Moon spinning around the Earth and craved more of the unique imagery sprinkled throughout the runtime.
If you are want a fun novelty experience, an opportunity to visit the planetarium and an excuse to listen to the album again, then this event has everything you want.
But just remember — not even a planetarium dome can compete with the theatre of one’s own mind.
The show runs from July 6 to July 20.
