BCIT Planetarium — Attraction in Burnaby

I planned for 3 shows. It’s been years since I was at the planetarium and I wanted to check out the educational component and the laser shows, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd.

VENUE: it’s an old dome of about 15m in diameter. They’ve pinned up black remay cloth around the circumference to make it dark inside. There are about 50 seats inside, 4 of which are comfortable. Your other choice is to lay on the floor on one of the supplied black bean bag chairs. (Many sweaty old guys were lying on those bags before you…). If you choose the bean bag, make sure you are facing the same direction as the chairs face as the projection is directional. The bean bags are a big hit and they all get used so be quick.

EDUCATIONAL SHOW: This show is created and aimed at about the grade 9 level. But that doesn’t mean it’s not interesting, it is! And this section is a free show. Definitely worth bringing the kids to. However, the technology is old, as is the content. The resolution is very low. It’s less than an hour long so the kids can put up with the low res, biggest challenge will be keeping them off their phones.

LED ZEPPELIN: this show starts with the sound of a Zep cover band. I was thinking , oh no, but when Whole Lotta Love started it was the real deal, as was the balance of the show, except for a little techno thrown in for some unknown reason. The accompanying laser show was, well, awful, terrible, disappointing, and potentially unsafe. If you are subject to migraines or seizures, do not go! There are a ton of flashing lights and gratuitous Uber bright flashes that make it almost impossible to watch. I would not bring kids to this portion as I’d be worried about their retinas. The projectionist insisted it was safe but, I’d be interested in what an optometrist would have to say. The show itself was lacking any creative merit. It consists of very low resolution projection of old European towns and countryside. (Some fabricated) punctuated with multiple flashing, strobing, spinning, and blasting bursts of light. It looked like a drunk version of spirograph (if you remember that old game) If I could have left early, I would have. But due to the nature of the show, everyone must stay in their seats for the duration. I just put on my sunglasses, closed my eyes , and listened to the music. I’d like to say that this made it enjoyable when in reality is was an endurance mission. When it finally ended and they pulled back the cheap black cloth, we escaped.

PINK Floyd: honestly, even though we’d paid, we did not stay for this show. Funny, as this was the show we most wanted to see. But after the Led Zeppelin fiasco there was no way we were subjecting ourselves to another assault on the senses. Perhaps if the projectionist had artistic sensibility, or even a modicum of coordination, we’d have stayed. As it was, we found ourselves walking back to our hotel, laughing out loud at how truly awful it was. The only redeeming thing was the educational portion. But it’s so low res that we were laughing at that too! I thought it’d be at least nostalgic but, not even. The crummy lasers and fog show the laser Floyd in the 70s was actually a better experience and one I’d have preferred.

So if you are hoping for a fun evening of chilling to a laser show, don’t do it! It’s not at...

I’m going to start by saying that this is not at the Vancouver planetarium. Or any proper planetarium. It is in a poorly ventilated claustrophobic basement of a BCIT building. Think more along the lines of your high school friends basement who was very into dungeons and dragons, and had bean bags that smelled like a gym bag, except that friend wouldn’t have a gym bag, but they would have an old projector they would set up and show random shapes out of sync or context to the music. Anyways, you will want to immediately leave as soon as you arrive, and by the time the show starts you realise that you made a terrible mistake, but you feel like you cannot leave because there are sprawled bodies on the ground and you don’t really know where the exit is, because the black curtains are drawn and you actually don’t know how to leave. At one point I thought that perhaps it’s a social experiment, to see how long will the crowd last before leaving the torture chamber. You’ve...

A real planetarium would have seats, seats that recline so you can look up at the ceiling projection.

The BCIT planetarium is not a real planetarium.

This dump has zero adequate seating. A cramped hot room with no airflow, massive structure in the middle room blocking sight lines, and did I mention no adequate seating? If you are lucky you can lay on the dirty floor using sweaty bean bags. Otherwise your option is to sit on standard ass non reclining chairs.

I have a serious neck injury and cannot crane my neck up at an angle for 45 mins. I lasted about 10 mins before I had to leave to go take a pill for my neck pain. I'm sure some people will enjoy but be warned, this is not a planetarium, this is closer to laying in some dudes basement and paying him 17 bucks for...