Star Wars:Legacy of the Force- Audiobooks vs. books?

[JediKnightButler]

I've been working my way through the Star Wars: LOTF series and, with the exception of "Betrayal", I've only read/listened to them on Audiobook CD. After hearing about what they cut out of the NJO:"Star By Star" Audiobook, I'm wondering now if I'm missing anything major from the LOTF series by listening to them exclusively on Audiobook CD, particularly since it seems that 5 discs seems to be the standard for Star Wars books on Audiobook CD. Frankly, I love Audiobooks because I feel more like I'm listening to a movie- that we'll probably never actually see- (plus they keep me from going crazy on my frequent road trips- for my job) but then again I don't want to miss anything important. I remember being somewhat disappointed with the abridgement of Timothy Zahn's "Outbound Flight", which cut out a few good scenes that I enjoyed in the hardcover.

Anybody out there read the book AND listen to the Audiobook that could offer a comparison?

Also, for listeners of the new series, what happened to Jonathan Davis? Was his contract just up after the NJO series (or, I guess, "Dark Lord"?) The new guy who has been narrating all of the newer books, Marc Thompson, is fine but Jonathan Davis narrated most of the Star Wars books I had listened to previously and rather enjoyed him as a narrator.

 

[Broccoli]

Due to my local library (and, subsequently, library system) not have all of them in book form, I went through a couple of the books through CD. I do not recall if they were unabridged (I suspect not), but I was able to follow everything when I went from a book to a CD to a book again.

If anything, it could save you time as you can be listening to the story while doing something else (driving, various paperwork, taxes, eating, etc).

 

[JediKnightButler]

None of the books AFAIK are unabridged. In fact, I'm not sure if any of the books save for "Millenium Falcon" are unabridged (unless you count the unabridged novelization of ROTS). My guess would be is that it is easier for them to mass-produce the standard 5-Disc abridged versions.

 

[Broccoli]

That is what I was thinking. I got through them just fine and understood the story well. If there was anything that was cut from the CD version, then either I didn't notice it or the following books gave enough of job of filling in any blanks.

 

[Captain Worf]

I'm visually impaired, so the audio books were my main mmethod of experiencing the expanded universe back in the day. I really liked the use of sound effects, especially in the X-Wing series. But I haven't really kept up on the expanded universe since midway through the New Jedi Order, and I haven't read most of the books. So I can't tell you what was cut.

This topic reminded me of the radio dramas. I loved those back in the day, almost more than the movies. I might start a thread about them.

 

[JediKnightButler]

I'm visually impaired, so the audio books were my main mmethod of experiencing the expanded universe back in the day. I really liked the use of sound effects, especially in the X-Wing series. But I haven't really kept up on the expanded universe since midway through the New Jedi Order, and I haven't read most of the books. So I can't tell you what was cut.

This topic reminded me of the radio dramas. I loved those back in the day, almost more than the movies. I might start a thread about them.

The radio dramas were quite good IMHO with the exception of ROTJ, which was heavily abridged- and the voice cast sucked compared to the previous two movies. Getting Ayre Gross to voice Lando????!!
The adaptation of ANH was awesome and had TONS of extra stuff in it. Plus, Mark Hamill and Anthony Daniels reprised their roles for it. ESB didn't have quite as much extra stuff but it was well done too- and had Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, AND Billy Dee Williams reprising their roles from the movie.

Other than the OT radio dramas, I have Dark Empire I, which was pretty well done. I believe Billy Dee Williams and Anthony Daniels reprised their roles and most of the voice actors were pretty close to their original counterparts. I'm planning to get Dark Empire II......sometime.

Yeah, I think this deserves its own thread.........