Star Wars radio dramas

[Captain Worf]

I loved these as a kid (I'm visually impaired) and I've been meaning to spend some more time revisiting them. Unfortunately, I haven't had the time to listen to more than a couple episodes.

Did others here like them as much? What did you think of the actors who weren't from the movies? I really liked Ann Sachs' performance as Leia. Her voice had an emotional and sensual quality that made me like the character a lot more. I'd love to hear her in another roll or play Leia again if they do any more audio dramas involving the classic characters (which I highly doubt). Thoughts?

 

[JediKnightButler]

I thought that at least the first two radio dramas were great, particularly the first one (which I own), which had LOTS of "deleted scenes" and expanded the overall story. I don't even think that the *beginning* of ANH started until the third episode of the RD. Another plus for the first two, Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, and Billy Dee Williams all reprised their original roles, which made them particularly special. The third one was IMHO awful, mostly because it seemed rushed, had strange casting (Arye Gross as Lando??? WTF???), and didn't add anything extra to the story like the first two.

I also have the Radio Drama that they did for Dark Empire I (1995), which was pretty good as well. It's based on a series of graphic novels by Tom Vietch. The storyline focuses on Emperor Palpatine being reborn into clone bodies and his new weapons threatening the Alliance/New Republic immediately after Thrawn's demise. None of the original voice performers except for Anthony Daniels (he's just about in anything Star Wars-related) and Billy Dee Williams were present for the effort but the guest cast members sounded close enough to the original actors/actresses. If you're into the Star Wars radio dramas, I definitely suggest checking it out. There is a Dark Empire II that is also available but I haven't listened to it yet but it's not looked at very favorably, at least according to most of the reviews on Amazon.com. There is a third part, Empire's End, that makes it another series trilogy but it is no longer available AFAIK. I've seen that that they have some radio dramas available focusing on the original Jedi/Sith conflict 1000 years before ANH but I haven't listened to those either but they should probably be good.

I'd be interested in some radio dramas for the PT but it's somewhat unclear whether that might ever actually happen since the PT is nowhere near as popular as the OT was. But, of course, if there's some more money to squeeze out of the Star Wars franchise, Lucas will definitely find a way to do it. ;-)

What I'd REALLY like to see is another animated series like TCW that features the adventures and exploits of the OT characters in between ANH & ESB, and/or post-ROTJ and wish that they had done either one instead of returning to the PT era. *sigh* Oh well.

 

[Stevil2001]

Sometimes I blaspheme and think that Brock Peters is a better Darth Vader than James Earl Jones.

 

[SeerSGB]

First two were great-- better than the movies in some spots. Return of the Jedi was good, but pretty weak and rushed-- much like the movie.

Sometimes I blaspheme and think that Brock Peters is a better Darth Vader than James Earl Jones.

I always found that a little funny: He played the "Chosen one" and the father to the hope of the galaxy in Star Wars, and in DS9 he played the falter of the Chosen One who was the hope in the galaxy.

 

[Lonemagpie]

ANH is great, ESB is OK, and ROTJ sucks.

What's really interesting is Brock Peters as Vader, who is much more *passionate* than James Earl Jones, and really seems to relish being evil - and in that respect, I find myself feeling that the Prequel Trilogy actually works a lot better as a prequel to the radio Star Wars than to the original movies.

What I mean is, I can really see how Hayden Christiansen's pouty Anakin could grow up to be the snarling Peters' Vader, a lot more than I could see him becoming the smoother Jones' Vader

 

[Basill]

I also really liked the early parts of the first Star Wars Radio Drama for all the exposition of the scenes on Tatooine, and on Princess Leia's ship. Some were filmed but deleted scenes (mostly Luke's) but some were excellent additions to the storyline from other sources. I especially love the interaction between Leia and her father and her first (and almost last) "spy mission" for the Alliance. I love having that background when I see the films now. I haven't listened to the others too intensely. I think I listened to Empire, but I actually don't recall listening to Jedi at all now that I think about it. Did they follow the stories more exactingly?

 

[Christopher]

^"Other sources?" The "source" would be Brian Daley, who scripted the adaptations. He added large amounts of material to the adaptations of both ANH and TESB in order to extend them to a suitable length. I gather the ROTJ adaptation was shorter, and I don't know if Daley wrote that one. I never heard it.

 

[Turtletrekker]

The radio dramas are top-notch productions for the most part. RotJ suffers from being a little shorter than the rest, it's actually not that much longer than the movie itself.

 

[SeerSGB]

^"Other sources?" The "source" would be Brian Daley, who scripted the adaptations. He added large amounts of material to the adaptations of both ANH and TESB in order to extend them to a suitable length. I gather the ROTJ adaptation was shorter, and I don't know if Daley wrote that one. I never heard it.

He wrote it, but died during its production, or shortly after I can't remember which. There's actually a brief "Goodbye" audio bit done by the voice cast of ROTJ, both in and out of character. I've heard it once, but I don't think it was ever included on any of the released.

Edit: Just looked it up, he died during.

And I never noticed this before, he also wrote "Mission To Ord Mandell"

 

[Turtletrekker]

^ Rebel Mission To Ord Mantell was a pretty good story as well. I could've seen it being used as the first episode of TESB adaptation.

 

[Marc]

Have ESB and ROTJ but would love to get SW - but last time I looked it was $US100 and not that widely available.

I don't know if hte ROTJ was every broadcast in Australia but the other two were on about 9:30 Sunday Mornings so my dad would make sure he was up to tape (we put it on to open reel tapes).

 

[davejames]

I remember listening to these on the radio when I was a kid (which makes me sound like I grew up in the 40s or something. lol)

I checked them out again before TPM came out, and they were still pretty fantastic. Especially the first one.

 

[Kryton]

Picked up the entire boxed set a good decade or more ago...good stuff, but I probably spent more than I'm getting use of it.

 

[SeerSGB]

I remember listening to these on the radio when I was a kid (which makes me sound like I grew up in the 40s or something. lol)

I checked them out again before TPM came out, and they were still pretty fantastic. Especially the first one.

My 6 year old loves them. I loaded the mp3 versions up on my player, and we listen to them in the car when we're out.

 

[CaptJimboJones]

I have the first two, and still listen to them occasionally on my iPod. Very well done. I'd love to pick up ROTJ, but as others have said, they tend to be expensive and a bit hard to find these days.

 

[DarthPipes]

I'm a big fan of the radio dramas. The ones for ANH and ESB are outstanding and do a great job fleshing out the story. The voice acting is generally good too, although John Lithgow's cracked-out Yoda really gets on the nerves. The ROTJ RD started out good but became a standard adaptation as it went on. Obviously, that was because Brian Daley was dying when he wrote it.

But if you can find them, particularly the first two, I would seriously recommend them. I only wish they'd put it on CD.

 

[Kryton]

The boxed set I mentioned upthread is all CDs.

 

[Turtletrekker]

I loved Ed Asner's Jabba the Hut. All of the dialogue is in Huttese, and yet they got a celebrity to do it.

 

[Stevil2001]

The ROTJ RD started out good but became a standard adaptation as it went on. Obviously, that was because Brian Daley was dying when he wrote it.

Surely that's more because it was only allotted six 30-minute episodes-- there simply wasn't a lot of space for original material.

 

[JediKnightButler]

Have ESB and ROTJ but would love to get SW - but last time I looked it was $US100 and not that widely available.

Have you happened to check out Amazon.com? http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b_0_15?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=star+wars+radio+drama&sprefix=Star+wars+radio