- I was of that generation that saw the first film before it was called A New Hope in theaters when I was six years old and it's first run.

I knew then that it changed my life even as a 6-year-old and sparked my imagination and I just fell in love with it, fell in love with specifically the Cantina.

- [Chris] Saying John loves Star Wars is a galactic understatement.

He has a background in art, and when you infuse art with his imagination, there's no force, imperial or otherwise, that can slow him down.

- From that, I think, just as a journey of who I am led to me becoming an artist, becoming a maker, a creative.

I think realizing what it takes to put on a film like that and all the artists behind it was inspiring in that way.

Created other immersive theater before immersive theater was even a phrase.

- [Chris] John and his rebel alliance of volunteers and friends turned the Tangent Gallery in Detroit into their own space space, including that famous Cantina from episode four, A New Hope.

It certainly is a wretched hive of scum and villainy and hard work.

(saw blade humming) (upbeat music) - Stepping foot into this bar some 20 years ago and just being the type of nerd that knows the Cantina blueprints by heart, I saw it as a space where I'm like, "Oh, I could transform this into the Cantina.

I could figure out a way to create an illusion that creates the horseshoe effect and the specifics of what the Cantina was."

- [Chris] Constructing, painting, coordinating.

They aren't building the Death Star, but it feels like they could.

- Because it's an operating bar, we had to wait till their last event and then started building around the clock the last three days, we never left the building, we didn't sleep.

I was plastering and painting, it's all an Adobe construction and everything is modular and that's kind of become the crown jewel of this entire environment.

But ever since then, we still have to break everything apart, take it apart, store it, and then put it back together, replaster and repaint every year.

And then since then, we add new stuff every year and that stuff ends up having to be replastered, repainted.

The scale and the scope of the project has grown immensely and it's grown because of all of the people and the crew that have come to it and been a part of it and rallied behind it because it's incredible to see this transformation of this space.

We wouldn't be able to do it without the fact that this crew showed up.

There's no way that 12 of us from the beginning would be able to make this happen if people just didn't pour in and lend their hand and whatever expertise they have.

(drill buzzing) It is a shoestring budget to deal with something on this scale.

There's really, nobody is doing any kind of popup on this scale anywhere without sponsorship, without some kind of corporate backing.

This is us putting on credit cards every year in hopes that enough people show up to at least pay that off.

- [Chris] Imagining, creating, improving, all so your senses tell you you're on a Star Wars planet, on the edge of the galaxy without leaving Detroit.

- It was meant to be an unknown experience and it's a little disorienting.

It's like you're traveling to another world and you, while you enter even, you enter the event, it's like you're going through customs and processing.

And as soon as you pass through that gate, even that is a part of this immersive experience.

And as soon as you pass through the gate, you're now in a bustling market.

It's full of vendors.

They're all in costume characters selling in-world goods, or street musicians playing otherworldly instruments.

There's food vendors cooking up ornate and exotic meals that feel like they came from this world.

And the people cooking are in costume.

And it's been so much fun to not only build it, but then live in it and then see people's reactions to it and then seeing the creativity that it inspires in others in the same way that Star Wars has inspired so many people.

- [Chris] Now, costumes are mandatory at Space Dive, but it doesn't have to be Darth Vader or the Mandalorian.

In fact, you're encouraged to grab garb that fits your imagination of the everyday galactic citizen and be ready to explore.

- There's adventures to go on while you're here.

You can go looking for parts to help out an A-wing mechanic.

We have a full size A-wing starfighter.

There's a gambling den on the edge of town where you can play Sabacc, the card game that Han Solo won the Millennium Falcon in.

You can check out a show with bands and other worldly performances.

There's four stages.

There's DJs, there's a couple of outdoor market stages that are very in-world.

There's a main stage in the full imperial hangar that we've built.

It's an imperial base with multiple connecting imperial hallways.

I've been doing an immersive theater for 25 years and it's always, there's always a transformation in people.

There's always a transportation, but I've never been a part of anything that we see so many people smiling like they're transported to another world and they feel like a kid again, it is magic.