SAN JOSE —  Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination, the blockbuster exhibition featuring one of pop culture’s most enduring science-fiction franchises, opens Oct. 19, at The Tech Museum of Innovation , marking the final stop in the exhibition’s hugely popular 20-venue international journey.

Yoda, C-3PO, Obi-Wan Kenobi and the Dark side’s notorious Darth Vader and his dutiful corps of Stormtroopers march into the Silicon Valley museum this fall to share the science behind the epic space film series that spawned a legion of followers of the Force, Jedi Knights and the Chosen One.

Star Wars creator George Lucas said, “I’m happy that Star Wars can help to educate people about technology in an entertaining way. Technological innovation and filmmaking have a lot in common; they both begin with imagination and creativity.”

The 10,000-square-foot exhibition explores the futuristic technologies depicted in the Star Wars films, the real science behind them and the research that might someday lead to real-life versions of those technologies. The expansive exhibition includes an impressive number of authentic props, costumes and models from all six Star Wars films, including the Yoda puppet, R2-D2, and the Chewbacca costume.

The exhibition’s run at The Tech is the last chance to see it in its current incarnation following a tour that began in Boston in October 2005. Since then, more than two million visitors worldwide have seen the exhibition.

Web: www.thetech.org, Phone: (408) 294-8324