Audio Novels

Hi there.

I am partially blind and in my early thirties. I have trouble reading although it has always been a great source of excitement for me. That's why I have resorted to audio novels to get my reading done. As a huge Star Wars fan, I just ventured into getting some of the books on tape and was thrilled with the NPR radio dramas.

I was wondering if there were any full cast adio dramas like the radio shows made from the books? I came across one in Dark Empire II and really liked it. I have searched on Amazon, but can't seem to tell whether the lists consist of full cast dramatizations or just a reading of the text. Please fill me in on any information you may all have about this and I'd be greatly in your debt. I don't intend to let a little physical problem keep me from enjoying Star Wars the best way I know how, and with your input, I'll be really thrilled to delve into the franchise from a whole new perspective.

Thank you all.

JOE

 

O.k. Here goes...
Dark Empire and Dark Empire 2 were release individually on cassette.
There was also a C.D. set that included both of them as well as "Epires End" thereby completing the story.
All 3 of the "Dark Forces" graphic novels were made into audio dramas. They are:
"Dark Forces: Soldier for the Empire"
"Dark Forces 2: Rebel Agent" and
"Dark Forces 3: Jedi Knight"
The first "Crimson Empire" comic series was also done as an audio drama. Beyon these and the 3 radio dramas, there are only the books on tape as fas as I know.
Hope I helped.

 

star wars colors and shapes, rare.

Mixed up droid, Rare.

Dark Empire, still Sold

Dark Empire II, still sold.

Empire's end, Rare, only came with the limited edition dark empire collection on CD.

Crimson Empire, still sold

Planet of the hoojibs, rare.

Dark Forces: Soldier for the Empire

Dark Forces: Rebel Agent

Dark Forces: Jedi Knight

droid world, rare.

Rebel Mission to order mantell, rare.

Night Lily: The Lover's tale still sold last I checked.

We don't do weddings: The band's tale, still sold last I checked.

Tales of the Jedi

Tales of the Jedi: Dark Lords of the sith.

Star Wars: Cristmas in the stars, rare.

ANH

ESB

ROTJ

 

Oh yeah, I forgot about the "Tales of the Jedi" stuff.

 

Are "Christmas in the Stars" and "Colors and Shapes" really audio dramas?

 

Color and shapes, is a story about threepio going around getting some kind of component for the millenium falcon, in which he tries to get the right make(color) and model(shape) to assist han. It is full cast with a narrator.

Christmas in the stars is full cast, but full of songs. I would liken it to the chipmunk chrismas album.

 

Wow! Thank you all so much for posting your replies! It really does help and I am looking forward to hearing dome of these, if I can successfully hunt them down. While I see some at Amazon, it never specifies that they are audio dramas. So thanks again.

Of course the ones that sound good are the ones which are hard to find. Is that a cruel law of the universe?

Are there any you'd recommend over others?

I think I can successfully skip the christmas albumn, which I had as a kid, and the colors and shapes routine.

Dark Empire 1,2 and Empire's end sound good. Hopefully I can find these together.
Are the Dark Forces Ones any good? Tales of the Jedi was set so oong before Star wars, it somehow never appealed to me.

Thanks again, you don't know how appreciative I am and it means a lot to get this information.

Joe

 

Valiento

"Night Lily: The Lover's tale still sold last I checked.

We don't do weddings: The band's tale, still sold last I checked."

You serious??? These are on stand alone cassetes fully cast or what?!?!

 

Yes, they're on stand alone cassetes, and have full casts, although much of it is narration.

As for the Dark Empire audio dramas, I'd say they're the most well done out of all of them. They follow the story of the books released some time ago by Dark Horse about Kyle Katarn. I'd recommend any of these dramas, as they all enhance the stories that they tell. When you listen to the audio drama of Dark Empire while reading the comic and looking at the pictures, it's almost like watching a movie!

 

islandjoe:

I love audiotapes too and listen to them at work alot. I know you specified full cast dramas, and they have already been listed. However, I have found other audio books, even some the the abridgeds to be enjoyable listens. (Although I wish there were more unabridgeds!!)

I thought these abridgeds did credit to the books they were taken from:
I,Jedi by Michael Stackpole
The Paradise Snare
The Hutt Gambit
Rebel Dawn all 3 by AC Crispin
All of the Aaron Allston Wraith Squadron books (although if you can get someone to read the originals to you, you will crack up - great adventures & wonderful humor)

Timothy Zahn's Heir to the Empire trilogy was done unabridged through Books On Tape but only the last two are still available. I found the read to be mechanical sounding, but still . . ., they are cool books.

Happy hunting!

 

Everyone else provided a pretty comprehensive list, although you can find a rare cassette of Timothy Zahn's "Hammertong" in a boxed set with the rest of the Thrawn Trilogy audio adaptions. ( I think I have another boxed set of it that I never got around to selling, if anyone wants it...but it's in storage and may not be found for several months. )

islandjoe, I am somewhat of a Star Wars audio drama connesuier, and I reccomend the following...

Dark Empire
Dark Empire II
Empire's End ( as noted before, it's only found in a CD boxed set with the first 2 DE stories, though I can make a cassette if anyone is interested in paying for the cost of shipping and a good blank cassette. )

Dark Forces Trilogy ( can be found individually on cassette or in one CD boxed set )
- Soldier for the Empire
- Rebel Agent
- Jedi Knight

Crimson Empire ( cassette or CD )

The Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi radio dramas by Brian Daley ( cassette or CD )

Tales of the Jedi and Dark Lords of the Sith ( cassette )

And my personal favorites... ( cassette or CD, though getting harder to find these days, try eBay )...

Nightlily : The Lover's Tale and We Don't Do Weddings : The Band's Tale.

 

I didn't like Nightlily so much. It was gross enough in the book when you didn't have to listen to it. The cassette is really gross.

 

Nightlily is full-cast with feltipern travagg narrating if he is thinking to himself, as the story goes along.

Band's tale has alot more narration, but whenever characters talk it is a different cast member for each character.

Is hammertong full cast or just a reader reading it?

I've known about it, but all I could track down knowledge about it was that it was author book on tape read, not full cast. But I could be wrong.

I know that it came with one edition of the complete TTT boxed trilogy.

 

I'm pretty sure Hammertong was not full-cast, but just read.

 

Hi again.

Well I purchased the Dark Forces Trilogy at the recommendation of a few of you, and due to the fact that I never read those books. I sort of recall Dark Empire and I remember a bit about Crimson Empire, so I thought I'd try something totally new.

As for Dark Empire, it seems impossible to find that trilogy available. Only DE II for some reason seems available, and without Empire's End, I don't know if it's worth getting. I can't seem to find that box set amywhere. Of course I looked on Amazon, and then at a few audiobook sites and I come up a bit short each time.

The Thrawn trilogy is available in a big blue bos set, but that's not a fully realized drama, correct?

Sometimes those narrator/dramatizations, can be a little dull. The Godfather was done in this manner by Audiobrilliance and it's painful. Joe Montegna reads the Godfather on another version, and it's preferable. For anyone who loves old time radio, fully realized audio dramas can be great. Although I'm way too young to be part of the generation radio spoke to directly, I love Old Suspense and Inner Sanctum shows. Also, for SF enthusiasts, there's a great collection of SF Golden Agae of Radio presented by Ray Bradbury, and some of those tales, while steeped in 40's and 50's writing, shows great imagination. You can see where Lucas got all of those primal themes from earlier SF writers and Flash Gordon type serials when you go over these. They're great for trips and the like.

Thanks also, to those of you who gave recommendations. Maybe I'll have a lot more on my plate than I can handle.

For anyone who has vision problems, I suggest getting in touch with Reading For The Blind. They can make audiobooks an affordable alternative.

Should I go for Crimson Empire, too?

Joe

 

Look on e-bay for the Dark Empire stuff. I've seen it there a couple of times before.

 

The sad thing about audio books is that they are butchered from the original novels. Many good scenes don't make it to the tape, .

 

Is hammertong full cast or just a reader reading it?

Unfortunately just one person narrating, but there's music and some good sound effects.

islandjoe, definetly stick with the full-cast stories. Those are the best, and they often feature new scenes. For example, "Nightlily" has a 5-minute opening not in the short story, in which Trevagg almost catches Kenobi in the Mos Eisley marketplace.

Try eBay for all of those. I occasionally see the DE box set on there.