It was a welcome sight seeing my screener copy of “Sci-Fi’s Exposure: A Tribute To Star Wars” on the doorstep when I got back from work yesterday. I had to drop everything I had planned to sit down and watch it. The special’s been crafted as a Star Wars fan’s dream, containing 5 segments of some of the best and most famous tributes to Star Wars put on film.
Best of all, it’s hosted by Kevin Smith, who gave tribute to his childhood love of Star Wars by throwing references into all 4 of his films (and counting!). Kevin intros and outtros both the show itself and each of the 5 short film segments that Exposure showcases. Best of all, the crew makes perfect use of their location, the interior and exterior of Kev’s Red Bank comic shop, Jay & Silent Bob’s Secret Stash. Those of you who’ve never had the pleasure of going inside will want to watch this over and over again with the pause button handy to take in the many props in the background from all of the View Askew flicks.
Kevin’s hosting duties really shine in this one. Exposure’s tight MTV-style edits lend themselves perfectly to Kev’s antics and expressions. He smoothly takes the scripted material and runs in his own direction with it, still managing to fit in all the facts while at the same time throw in some clever one-liners and anecdotes from his past. He’s the perfect anchor for the show, and holds it all together just right. Bravo, Kev. Hopefully we’ll see him take on some more hosting gigs in the future once folks see what a great job he does here.
Sci-Fi has kindly asked that we not provide video clips or stills from the show, but we DO have a slew of EXCLUSIVE behind-the-scnenes photos of Kev filming the host segments. You won’t see these anywhere else, folks. Check out a larger version by clicking any of the thumbnails you see here.

Exposure’s format is simple — The host introduces a short film, the creators of said film come on for a couple minutes and discuss the film itself, then the film, in its entirety, is shown (complete with MTV-style credits in the lower left-hand corner when it begins). This episode, which is a tribute to films inspired and created by George Lucas, features 5 segments, some of which you may have seen, some of which you may have missed, and one that no one has EVER seen. Let’s take a look at each of these shorts with a little detail and my opinions of what we saw:

GEORGE LUCAS IN LOVE (OFFICIAL WEB SITE) Probably the most famous (and most recent) of the films in this episode, Jospeh Nusbaum’s tale of a young Lucas strugging to pen the Star Wars scripts has become a cult phenomenon on the web. Amazon.Com’s website posted more interest in this short than the retail release of the Phantom Menace videocassette. That’s how high the demand was for this thing. The 9-minute Shakespeare In Love parody chronicles George in his college days, where all the key elements to a successful script keep slapping him in the face, yet he just can’t seem to notice. When he meets his inspiration, it all starts to flow. How can you not like this short? It’s clever, subtle, funny, and executed just perfectly. The way Nusbaum uses the various students around the campus as inspirations for the film’s characters has you eagerly anticipating the next, and the twist makes it all seem…well…Watch and you’ll see. This marks the television premiere of this instant online classic. Don’t miss it.

TRIPPING THE RIFT (OFFICIAL WEB SITE) Now, we get to the one film that Star Wars junkies couldn’t believe when they heard it was being aired. This CG-animated gem comes from Chris Moeller and Chuck Austen, who created it last year after meeting while working on “The Simpsons”. It runs just 5 minutes or so, quite sad because this was my personal favorite of the episode. It’s that good. In it, a small crew consiting of an irritable purple blob (the captain), a metallic robot, and an ultra-shapely female are boarded by a few unwelcome visitors. Watch the hilarity ensue and cry when it all ends so fast. Listen particularly for the line “BRING IT ON!!!!”, it’s a great read. Sci-Fi is a basic cable channel, and thus couldn’t show the full uncut version of Tripping The Rift, so they’ve bleeped the 10 or so expletives that occur and blurred some CGI-nudity out. Being sticklers for artistic integrity, though, we combed the web and easily found uncut MPEG versions of the film floating around all over the place, even though the creators themselves were asked to remove the film pending a production deal and a possible series based on the characters (sounds sort of “Spirit Of Chistmas”-y to us). Would we watch a weekly Tripping The Rift series? Absolutely. Tripping The Rift, for those who’ve seen the MPEG and yeared for a big-screen version, and especially for those who haven’t heard of the short, is the highlight of the hour and the real gem here.

SEARCHING FOR CARRIE FISHER 24-Year old Indepdendent filmmaker Steve Dooher recorded a love letter to Carrie Fisher when he was seven years old, smitten with the actress after watching the Star Wars films on the big screen. When he discovers the silly tape years later, instead of burning the embarrassing evidence, he comes up with the crazy idea that it would make a wonderful film if he could deliver the audio love-letter to the actress in person, so many years later. I have to admit, I wasn’t looking too forward to this one, but I was pleasantly surprised. Dooher actually documents each and every one of the phone calls he makes in search of the actress, as well as his reactions and thoughts afterwards. It’s interesting to watch. But does he get anywhere? Tune in and find out. This one was the longest of the bunch, and was split up by a commercial break (all the other shorts run uninterrupted).

A GALAXY FAR, FAR AWAY (OFFICIAL WEB SITE) Tariq Jalil was fascinated when a few (obviously jobless) Star Wars fanatics began to gather outside of Mann’s Chinese Theater over 40 days before The Phantom Menace was scheduled to open nationwide. So fascinated, in fact, that he grabbed a camera and started trekking around the country documenting the Star Wars craze. Exposure presents just a smattering of material from this much longer (and still unfinished) documentary to give you a taste for what Jalil captured on camera. If you watched the news around the time of TPM’s release last year, you probably know what to expect — Lots of costumed folks who are so into the entire Star Wars phenomenon that they’ve devoted some, if not all, of their lives to it. The clips shown are definitely interesting, but I can’t help but wonder if I’d want to watch an entire film of this. Then again, I hear “Trekkies” is quite good. Anyway, Exposure does a great job at summing things up here, though, and it’s the perfect opportunity to catch some of Jalil’s work to decide if you’re like to see more.

FREIHEIT As a student at the University of Southern California, George Lucas created this very short film (under 3 minutes) that was inspired by the start of the Vietnam War. The film was completed in 1966 and, while it shows signs of age, is quite watchable, and rarely seen. This is Freiheit’s world television premiere. Believe it or not, for me this was a bit of a letdown. It’s nice to see where Lucas’s roots started (Freheit is credited in its opening as “A Film By LUCAS”), but still, as a student film, seems too much like every other student film you’ve seen. Sure, I’m no filmmaker, and I appreciate how difficult it is to even create something as short and simple as Freheit, just don’t watch Exposure expecting some uncovered gem from Lucas at the end. It’s interesting to see, and that’s about the extent of it.

The folks who put the show together close everything with a nice little outto from Kev, and even a dedication to Sir Alec Guinness. Very timely, and very classy. Good job, folks. Keep in mind that these are just a handful of the multitude of Star Wars-themed parodies out there, with more popping up all the time. Kevin mentions a few of them (Trooper Clerks and Waiting For Anakin‘s websites both get some quick screentime), and there’s plenty of other places on the web to download your own copies for posterity. Perhaps if this episode is successful, Sci-Fi will consider airing a sequel to it. It’d be nice to see Kevin Rubio’s Troops on the television screen, for sure.
Sci-Fi’s really got a slick show with Exposure, and I certainly intend to watch it weekly now that I’ve discovered it. The short film format keeps folks with short attention spans interested, and everything is packaged quite well. The combination of good hosting, comments from the writers/producers/directors, and of course, the films themselves, makes for a very entertaining hour of television. The one-hour Exposure: A Tribute To Star Wars airs on SCI FI Wednesday, August 23 @ 10 pm ET and will re-air four times over the following six days. After that, it will never be seen again. Be sure and tune in, and get those VCRs warmed up so you can add this gem to your collection. Read more at exposure.scifi.com!