I was quite nervous in approaching this radio series (recorded in 1981, 1983 and 1996 respectively, with Return of the Jedi apparently taking so long to finally tape due to a financial dispute) as I was in fear of how the Americans handle and take seriously their radio dramas. I’ve been used to listening to fine dramatisations by the BBC recently, so this felt sure to be quite a novel experience for me.
Much to my relief all three series were directed by skilled British helmer John Madden (Mrs Brown, Shakespeare In Love) and so this adaptation stands out as a fine piece of radio broadcasting, successfully delivering exciting adventure and romance to the best of the medium’s ability much like its cinematic counterparts.
The production company was able to use John Williams’ original score (even parts that didn’t feature in the films) and Ben Burtt’s sound effects, thanks to a charitable Lucasfilm who apparently only charged a peppercorn licensing fee, therefore the quality of this adaptation is immediately given a fighting chance of satisfying the fans.
Whereas The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi are given more straightforward adaptations and never veer too far off course, A New Hope is expanded upon greatly, especially during its first third. We’re treated to the unseen events that led up to the classic opening shot in the film of the Star Destroyer chasing the Blockade Runner, including an explanation of Darth Vader’s line “You weren’t on any mercy mission, this time!” that we didn’t realise we needed and some very dramatic incidents on Alderaan. Return of the Jedi is improved upon slightly by moving the introduction of Darth Vader until after our heroes have finished on Tatooine. In the film there was an expectation to visually start on a certain beat with a Star Destroyer cruising through space, plus there was a story requirement to setup the routine of the Empire’s shuttle docking security procedure that ends up being an integral part of our heroes’ plans later on, but on radio the writers clearly made the decision to have a more honest beginning with a conclusion to the events that ended The Empire Strikes Back.
As a person who’s perhaps a little overly familiar with the film series (along with many people my age) these additional expanded scenes took me out of my comfort zone and forced me to concentrate and follow the storyline for the first time since, well, the day I first sat down to watch the original film trilogy, which was a real gift.
The other tricky thing with over familiarity with something like this is getting used to your favourite lines of dialogue either being changed, omitted or being said in a slightly different way to what you’re used to, sometimes even by the same actor. But you get used to that and, well, the originals are all still there (oh, wait… that is, if you’re lucky enough to have the pre-Special Edition versions) for stress relief.
Fortunately for us we get a very strong cast to guide us through the proceedings, on the whole. Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels and Billy Dee Williams were good enough sports to turn up and go way beyond the call of duty in delivering sterling audio interpretations of their onscreen roles. Hamill, in particular, shows us that he’s far more comfortable as a voice actor than a movie star, with his magnificent work here serving as an indicator of a successful future career as a voice-over artist to come. I’d even go so far as to say that Hamill’s performance here is better than what we get on film, so kudos to him. Daniels is pitch perfect in reprising his role as C3PO and was generous enough to turn up thirteen years later to finish off what he’d started on A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back (with Hamill being replaced by a perfectly acceptable Joshua Fardon and Billy Dee Williams passing on the baton to Arye Gross).
Of the non-film series regulars the best is, without a doubt, Ann Sachs as Princess Leia. Whilst she doesn’t quite have the same youthful spunkiness that made Carrie Fisher’s performance so immortal, Sachs manages to convey the character’s more passionate and politically charged sides; so whilst neither actress is better than the other, I’d say that they were both able to deliver equally successful but unique spins on the same character.
Brock Peters, who served quite a bit of time on Star Trek (including The Voyage Home and The Undiscovered Country), makes a very menacing Darth Vader, although he can never quite delve to the depths of James Earl Jones’ bass rumblings, but he does the best he can with his naturally lighter voice. You can’t be too critical, though, as how many people out there can impersonate James Earl Jones?
Bernard Behrens has the very difficult task of taking the reigns from Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan Kenobi and does an outstanding job. But, of course, one can only try to be as great as Guinness, and Behrens tries very hard indeed and brilliantly evokes the pool of strength and wisdom that Obi-Wan needed to be.
Now the voice I was most worried about was John Lithgow as Yoda. I love Lithgow, but I just couldn’t see where he’d take the character or even if he’d be able to do the voice at all. Thankfully I had nothing to fear as Lithgow is fantastic, in fact you can’t tell it’s him at all through his scenes in The Empire Strikes Back. It’s only during Yoda’s death scene in Return of the Jedi, where he’s having to balance a convincing imitation of Frank Oz with a realistic performance of someone coming to their end, that his Lithgow-isms finally reveal themselves.
And so we come to Perry King as Han Solo. Well. I’m going to be very generous and say that his Solo is perhaps more in keeping with the seedy gambling space smuggler that the character was designed to be, only without the dead-pan charisma and charm that Harrison Ford so effortlessly pumped into the role. King can only struggle to be a ghost of what might have been had Ford agreed to slum it on radio, but his delivery still becomes fun and entertaining once you get used to it and, like Sachs, provides a different take on a much beloved character… just nowhere near as successful. And that’s all I shall say on the matter.
Beyond the actual main body of the drama my only real complaint is that the closing credit sequences for each series seem to take forever, with bafflingly long pieces of Williams’ score playing long after the announcer has finished speaking. In fact, on Return of the Jedi in particular, they feel almost like half the runtime of the actual main drama. I don’t mind these credit sequences being left in, as those who were involved deserve recognition, but they could have at least trimmed them down a bit or stuck them on separate tracks so that the listener has the option to delete them from their playlist. But this is a fairly minor technical gripe.
So if you love Star Wars and want a different and expanded take on familiar events or how they’re delivered then I highly recommend investing in this fantastic boxset. Although, as an aside, I would say that if, like me, you buy radio dramas to listen to in bed at night to help you drift off to sleep then I wouldn’t recommend it solely for that purpose, as it’s far too exciting and stimulating to settle you down… you’ll be prancing around your bedroom fighting imaginary Stormtroopers instead of counting sheep!
Yes, it’s that good.
P.S. If you don’t giggle at the sound of Princess Leia’s bucking bronco showdown with Jabba The Hutt on the sail barge then you’re simply not human…. “JABBA-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A!”
