Star Wars: Original Radio Dramas

The NPR dramatizations of the OT (Original Trilogy) aren’t audio books, but I’ll include them here anyway in my ongoing reviews. I liked all three episodes, though I was disappointed that Mark Hamill didn’t do the voice for Luke on the ROTJ dramatization.

In order to stretch things out, they added a lot of background stuff, such as Luke’s friendship with Biggs on Tatooine, the establishment of the base on Hoth, etc. I was surprised how each radio drama raised and answered questions that I hadn’t considered before:

Star Wars: After the heroes escape from the Death Star, Leia tells Han that there’s surely a tracking device onboard the Falcon, as she does in the movie. However, in the radio show, Han reasonably suggests that, if that’s true, they should definitely not go to the Rebel base -- they should lie low somewhere and scan the ship. Gee, that makes sense! How come that never bothered me before? Anyway, Leia gets them to go to Yavin IV because she feels that the Death Star will just do an Alderaan on planet after planet if they can’t find her. Which is probably correct.

The Empire Strikes Back: Lando’s character is so much better in the radio show, it’s sad. Instead of coming off as a Judas for turning over Han and the others to Vader, he’s depicted as someone who is concerned about the citizens of Cloud City. When Lando comes to see Han after the latter has been tortured, he tells Han, “Look around you. All of these people are trying for a better life, or are on their last chance.” He simply doesn’t want to let his people down.

When the city is finally overrun, Lando gets on the intercom and tells the citizens to flee, but urges them to help each other, to try to preserve the community they tried to build together.

Return of the Jedi: I liked the scene added to the start of the episode that explained how, prior to the rescue of Han from Jabba’s palace, Luke went back to Ben’s house to look for materials and instructions for creating a new lightsaber. When he repeatedly fails to put together a working lightsaber, Luke starts doubting himself and his ability help his friends, much less become the last Jedi, which, considering the ass-whipping and the mental anguish laid down on him by Vader in TESB makes a hell of a lot of sense.

Luke finally has an epiphany and he realizes that Ben’s notes have to be combined with the use of the Force to make a lightsaber – a Jedi needs both skill and intuition. Though some people on Amazon.com complained that the Luke in this dramatization sounded too much like the Episode IV Luke, I didn’t mind at all. I think the subdued Luke of the ROTJ movie would’ve sounded very dull in a radio show.