"Star Wars: A New Hope" NPR radio serial 1981

[jefferiestubes8]

I remember being a kid and my mom allowing me to use her clock radio to listen to a program at night that was a radio drama of Star Wars .

An expanded radio dramatization of the original Star Wars trilogy was produced in 1981,
based on A New Hope
produced and broadcast by National Public Radio as part of NPR Playhouse.
The radio serials were made with the full co-operation of George Lucas,
Lucas also allowed the use of original sound effects and music from the films.

Many of the actors involved in the movie were unavailable to reprise their roles...
Mark Hamill and Anthony Daniels returned to reprise their roles as Luke Skywalker and C-3PO respectively.

Star Wars: A New Hope is a 13-part (5hr51m) radio serial first broadcast on National Public Radio in 1981. It was adapted by Brian Daley from the original film, and directed by John Madden, with music by John Williams and sound design for Lucasfilm by Ben Burtt.
They went on to do Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back in 1983 & Star Wars: Return of the Jedi as radio serials in 1996.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_(radio)
These days it's available under the audio books section
perhaps the most ambitious radio project ever attempted
http://www.highbridgeaudio.com/starwars.html
I was only been age 7 at the time and was too young to know the difference of the actors from the film or whatnot but I was totally into it and my imagination ran with it and I loved it.
Remember this was before consumer home video on VHS was widespread as it really took off in the mid-1980s most American's had not really seen Star Wars or The Empire Strikes Back except during initial run at cinema, on TV or at a special cinema screening in 1981. It had only been a year since The Empire Strikes Back was at the cinema.

Now that was obviously created for audio-only but something like that allows you to use your imagination and picture a scifi/fantasy story sometimes even better than what is put on the screen (even with a feature film budget).
crosspost from.


Man I'd love to be able to have a audio-only Trek TOS or TNG episode created of an older series just out of dialogue recordings, sound FX, and older music. It's possible. We were discussing this sort of thing for the computer voice since Majel Barrett-Roddenberry passed away but the idea of using all of her original dialogue recordings to create a huge sample library that could be used for any needed computer voice written.



I've not heard the Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back & Star Wars: Return of the Jedi
radio serials personally. Anyway who here has heard this multi-part radio serial? comments? Memories?

 

[scorpius1701]

I actually had all 3 movies on tape. It was interesting at the time, they added a lot of stuff to the story, like why Luke got his promotion to commander. The problem was a lot of radio dialogue describing the action. Some of it was a bit drawn out. Changing the voice actors from movie to movie wasnt the best thing either.

 

[DarthPipes]

I have all three and they are excellent. A great extension from the films that fills in the gaps. Only the last half of ROTJ is paint-by-the-number.

If you can find it somewhere, I suggest you get it.

 

[RandyS]

^So do I. The CD sets (which I listen to at least once a year, I love them that much) are available on Amazon.

Personally, I'd like them to make three radio serials based on the prequels. The thing I loved most about the originals is that they added material not in the movies. A New Hope for example, the movie doesn't even start until the middle of episode3. Imagine
what they could add to the prequels. Hopefully it would fix some of the story problems. And it would give them a chance to rewrite some (if not all) of the innane dialogue.

 

[Christopher]

^And best of all, they could recast Anakin. Get someone who actually knows how to perform with his voice. Maybe Matt Lanter from The Clone Wars.

(I'm of the opinion that AOTC and ROTS would be greatly improved if all of Hayden Christensen's dialogue were dubbed over by Mark Hamill. Not only is there the "family resemblance" to Luke there, but Hamill's great at doing villain voices.)

 

[jefferiestubes8]

Re: "Star Wars: Ep I" radio serial possibility

^And best of all, they could recast Anakin. Get someone who actually knows how to perform with his voice. Maybe Matt Lanter from The Clone Wars.

I remember when I saw EpII AOTC I felt the production sound was noisy when the edited the dialogue you could hear lots of noise in that center channel under dialogue during the digital screening.
So using the production sound wouldn't be too good for an audio-only radio serial.
Mix magazine had it in the article:

The disadvantage of filming high-definition, or at least the way that it was implemented on Episode II, was the amount of noise-producing equipment added to the set: plasma screen monitors, HDCAM decks, hard drives, associated video testing gear, etc. Supervising sound editor Matthew Wood says, "There was a constant drone. I brought [dialog re-recording mixer] Michael Semanick in early to see how much of the noise we could get rid of. Most of it we could, but sometimes we had to loop lines because the noise was dynamic and broadband.


Production sound was recorded by Paul "Salty" Brincat,

Brincat notes that the noises on the set, including wind machines and mechanical devices, made it "a difficult film to record sound on. George shooting wide and tight [simultaneously] makes it almost impossible to use boom microphones. You can only do so much before getting in the way of the picture."

2002 article in Mix magazine
http://mixonline.com/sound4picture/film_tv/audio_star_wars_episode_2/index.html

Yeah I'd totally be for replacing Hayden Christensen's voice 'for performance' um, oh yeah and that technical thing of noise...too...uh, yeah...

 

[Christopher]

Re: "Star Wars: Ep I" radio serial possibility

^Why would they use production sound? All the previous radio dramas were entirely new dramatizations with mostly new casts. They had access to the music and sound effects created for the film, but otherwise it was all new.

 

[jefferiestubes8]

NPR radio serial

are the 2nd & 3rd radio serials
The Empire Strikes Back & Star Wars: Return of the Jedi
as good as the first?

 

[Stevil2001]

Re: NPR radio serial

The first is the best, but if you liked it, the other two are well worth it.

I love Brock Peters as Vader.

 

[Harvey]

Re: NPR radio serial

I remember RETURN OF THE JEDI being the weakest of the lot. It was recored several years after the film (in 1996), didn't include as many cast members from the film reprising their roles as the other two, and (though I may be recalling incorrectly on this point) didn't have as many additional scenes as the other two.

 

[Greylock Crescent]

Star Wars: The Podcasts!

Actually, I used to own cassettes of "old time" radio dramas. Great fun to listen to. I'm surprised there hasn't been a resurgence of the genre with ability to create podcasts with decent digital productions. Maybe a group of dedicated fans should do the Star Wars prequel honors?

 

[Christopher]

Re: NPR radio serial

I remember RETURN OF THE JEDI being the weakest of the lot. It was recored several years after the film (in 1996), didn't include as many cast members from the film reprising their roles as the other two...

As far as I recall, the other two had only Mark Hamill and Anthony Daniels reprising their roles; everyone else was recast. So you're saying only one of those two returned for the ROTJ adaptation?

 

[I Grok Spock]

Re: NPR radio serial

I remember RETURN OF THE JEDI being the weakest of the lot. It was recored several years after the film (in 1996), didn't include as many cast members from the film reprising their roles as the other two...

As far as I recall, the other two had only Mark Hamill and Anthony Daniels reprising their roles; everyone else was recast. So you're saying only one of those two returned for the ROTJ adaptation?

Hamill did not return for the ROTJ radio adaptation. Neither did Billy Dee Williams. Only Daniels appears in his original role in all three adaptations. They did get the same Han Solo, Leia, Vader, Yoda (John Lithgow), Kenobi, and Emperor. Plus Ed Asner as Jabba!

 

[Christopher]

Oh yeah, I forgot about Williams.

 

[Lonemagpie]

What I find interesting is that Brock Peters' Vader - much angrier and nastier than Jones - actually fits a lot better with the prequel Anakin than the movie Vader does... And consequently the prequel trilogy actually seems to work better as a prequel to the Radio trilogy...

 

[Whofan]

Not quite the same thing, but Dark Horse's Star Wars saga "Dark Empire" was adapted into a full-cast audio drama with Billy Dee Williams returning as Lando. (As oppossed to other SW audio books which mainly have a single narrator).

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Dark_Empire_%28audio%29

Billy Dee also did one of the games in the Jedi Knight series where Lando made an appearance.

 

[I Grok Spock]

This is probably also an appropriate time to mention that these adaptations were written by Brian Daley, who also penned the original Han Solo Trilogy from the dawn of the Star Wars EU. Sadly, he passed away from cancer during the production of the ROTJ serial.

 

[S. Gomez]

I'm surprised there hasn't been a resurgence of the genre with ability to create podcasts with decent digital productions.

There's been some. My favourite is a group called Decoder Ring Theatre (who actually have some of the best sound and production quality out there, in my opinion). They make two main shows and for the summer they have special one-offs that they call Summer Showcase.

The Red Panda Adventures is classic superhero stuff. From the opening monologue (which has been rewritten a couple times to reflect changing character and plot situations: "The Red Panda, mysterious crusader for justice, hides his true identity as one of the city's wealthiest men in his never-ending battle against crime and corruption. Only his trusty driver, Kit Baxter, who joins him in his quest in the guise of the Flying Squirrel, knows who wears the mask of the Red Panda!" It sounds like it's a parody of the genre, and originally they made some episodes that were, but the universe and format was quickly rebooted to be more genuine. The city in question is Toronto.

Black Jack Justice is in the vein of Sam Spade or Philip Marlowe. Jack Justice and his partner, Trixie Dixon, girl detective, give commentary on the story in true private-eye-monologue style. This one tends to prefer standalone episodes, while RPA leans more towards the season-long arcs while still telling individual stories. The style of both is: True to the spirit, but still willing to poke fun at the conventions of their respective genres.

I highly, highly recommend them. http://www.decoderringtheatre.com/

Ahem. Meanwhile, back on topic... I really liked the first Star Wars radio drama, and I've been meaning to get to the other two.

 

[Greylock Crescent]

Thanks! I'll definitely be checking that out.

 

[Marc]

Re: NPR radio serial

I remember RETURN OF THE JEDI being the weakest of the lot. It was recored several years after the film (in 1996), didn't include as many cast members from the film reprising their roles as the other two...

As far as I recall, the other two had only Mark Hamill and Anthony Daniels reprising their roles; everyone else was recast. So you're saying only one of those two returned for the ROTJ adaptation?

Hamill did not return for the ROTJ radio adaptation. Neither did Billy Dee Williams. Only Daniels appears in his original role in all three adaptations. They did get the same Han Solo, Leia, Vader, Yoda (John Lithgow), Kenobi, and Emperor. Plus Ed Asner as Jabba!

Lithgow was the one thing about the Radio adptions I didn't like - he just didn't work as Yoda to my ears at least.

I can remember the first two being broadcast in Australia on ABC FM on Sunday Mornings. Dad recorded them on to open reel tape but we missed a couple of eps of ESB.

I haven't been able to get the ANH on CD yet - at one stage is was $US100 from Amazon and couldn't afford it. The other two I found in a book store back in Australia but can't remember how much I paid.