The Lunar Light: Discovery
The immersive industry has taken a few body blows lately. Galactic Starcruiser, Sleep No More, and Dreamscape Immersive all closed recently. They survived the pandemic, so I thought they were in the clear, but it just shows how tenuous big-budget immersive experiences really are. And if a huge Star Wars adventure couldn’t make it, what chance was there for the future of immersive? I was pretty discouraged, to be honest. Recently I’ve begun to find some signs of hope and The Lunar Light: Discovery is one of them.
Fly Me to the Moon
The Lunar Light bills itself on its website as “A blended reality immersive experience,” and I really like the term “blended reality.” Forget the confusion between virtual, augmented, and mixed reality; blended reality just means there’s a variety of things going on. That variety was my favorite aspect of the…show? Experience? I’m not even sure what to call it (and that’s a good thing). My experience started on their website, which isn’t necessary to enjoy the main event. But I appreciated that it explains the backstory and gives character biographies of the people we’ll meet. I felt like I had a leg up when we began.
The first section is a bit of theatrical on-boarding. Several live characters get a moment to shine, until the main event, when participants suit up in VR headsets, a.k.a. “space suits.” It was nice to have an in-world reason for the gear, unlike many VR experiences that don’t bother with any thematic trappings. Once suited up, we got a brief interlude to play with the settings, like changing the color of our space suit avatars and the lighting of our station. It doesn’t add anything to the story, but it was extra fun, and that’s reason enough for it! Once decked it in my blue and yellow suit (Go Rams!), I was ready to head to the moon’s surface.
Let Me Play Among the Stars
Our leader, General Jackson (GenJack for short) suited up along with us and led us into the moon rover. From there, we departed base and watched the lunar surface and starry expanse of space roll by at a leisurely pace. We were free to roam about the cabin, and the ample windows made for some great views, including the mysterious blue light coming from an asteroid impact crater. This blue light was our raison d’être–it had knocked out a lot of the moon base’s equipment and we needed to investigate it.
Once the rover docked at the site, we picked up special drills to collect samples of irradiated moon rock. This was ostensibly a game to see who can find the most in the allotted time, but two things prevented the competition from feeling tense. Glowing blue light indicated the presence of radiation and let you know where to drill. Thematic, yes, but it took away the searching element of the game. The bigger problem was that the “source” was never depleted, even after the drill was full. So you’d empty the drill, but instead of searching for a new vein of material, the gamer-y thing to do was to hit the same vein over and over again. I wonder if these could be adjusted to vary the difficulty level, depending on the age of the guests.
Let Me See What (Acting) is Like
After depositing our samples, we entered an airlock and took off our space suits in the laboratory. Here we met a new character, Stella, who tasked us with helping her analyze the samples. We ran a couple of experiments with density and electricity, utilizing individual machines that produced a fun light show of miniature lightning bolts around our test tubes. I was hoping for puzzles or challenges, but they were mostly following instructions. This is great for families and bigger groups but lacking challenge for an escape room fiend (note: this is not advertised in any way as an escape room). This section also showed the prowess of the actors…mostly by accident!
There is another major aspect to this scene, an animatronic robot, but it had stopped working right before our arrival. The cast had to cobble together a new scene on very short notice, that would fulfill all the story beats of the robot. They pulled it off spectacularly. Although the scene felt a little disjointed (they didn’t have time to rehearse!), their chemistry was hilarious. At no point did I realize they were covering for a missing element of the show. I loved the extra dialogue between GenJack and Stella and even with the robot back online, I wonder if Lunar Light could implement some of that back-and-forth into the regular performance.
On Jupiter and Mars
The Lunar Light: Discovery is a welcome addition to the Los Angeles immersive scene, wisely starting up before spooky season takes over. The talented and charismatic cast are a pleasure to watch, the story is a good one, and the “blended reality” that mixes in VR but doesn’t solely focus on it, should be a blueprint for the future. VR is a tool, not the final result. Although I wished for more ways to accomplish things on my own, this is inherently a show. It’s appropriate for anyone over 10 years old, and that limitation is due to the VR hardware, not any scary content. Groups as large as 10 are welcome. While I think a bigger group than my two would be better, a full 10 may limit mobility and visibility. Six or seven would probably be best.
In Other Wor(l)ds
The experience feels like a scrappy startup…because it is! If this version can serve as proof of concept for a second iteration, there’s a lot of potential to unlock. A permanent installation wouldn’t have some of the limitations of a traveling show. Instead of being led across a parking lot from the thematically-decorated lobby to shipping containers housing the experience, visitors could transition seamlessly to the moon base without breaking the thematic “magic circle.” The moon rover could travel at a higher (virtual) speed, showcasing more scenic variety out the windows as well as amping up the thrills. In a real blue-sky scenario, mechanisms under the floor would make the rover sway or rumble as it traverses the rocky terrain. The drilling activity could be slightly more challenging and the lab work could involve a puzzle or two. The (lunar) sky’s the limit!
The Lunar Light: Discovery is open Wednesday through Sunday in Santa Monica, CA. The show was previously in Dallas, and its Los Angeles run is scheduled for three months. There’s a chance it’ll be extended but it’s too soon to tell, so don’t wait if you’re interested. Shows start in the afternoon and go through the evening, with an extra hour at night on weekends. The experience lasts just under an hour. Tickets and more information, including the character bios that added a good amount to my enjoyment, are all available on their website here.
