Life Outside the Frame, Episode 1: Star Wars

Julian Palmer’s “Life Outside the Frame” has a lot of potential to be a darkly satirical web series about some of the more insignificant characters affected during some of the more major movie and TV series of all time. Touching on one of the more entertaining minutiae of “Star Wars,” Palmer decides to focus on one of the last remaining storm troopers. After the Empire fell, and the rebels won, a lot of the characters began leading normal lives.

Unfortunately, ex- decorated stormtrooper never got over being a commander and longs for the days of commanding an army. He wasn’t entirely competent, but he loved his work. Here, he’s forced to live a normal life in London, where he’s anxiously looking for a job, and spending his days dating various women. Stephen Chance is fantastic as the somewhat oafish Jarvis who seemed to almost get off on having power over everyone. Now that the empire is gone, he’s a relative no one and he has to figure out if he can deal with living a life as no one once again.

Chance as Jarvis is compelling, and he spends most of the episode thinking back to the good old days while trying to find where he fits in in this world. This is apparently a reality where the “Star Wars” existed, thus Jarvis is forced to look at random sand people and Jawa Traders, all of whom have become minorities. One scene finds Jarvis attacking a sand person at a bar, prompting a defense by patrons for his insensitivity.

I think there could be a lot done with this concept, with a look at the minor characters of maybe “Star Trek,” “Batman,” or “Superman,” even. “Life Outside the Frame” is a neat idea, and if it continues with this momentum, it could become a stellar web series that every geek may want to check out soon enough.

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