has anyone heard the radio dramas for the original trilogy?

I like the way the plot is presented in the radio dramas better than in the actual movies. Plus it has a lot of the scenes that were in the novel but not in the movies.

 

Yeah. ANH is the best one IMO. I mean the character of Han and his journey from scoundral to hero is almost completely different than its shown in the movie (we won't even get started on ANH:SE). I like the radio Han much better. Much more character growth there.

Same goes for R2-D2. He's actually got purpose - willing to murder anyone who gets in his way, even the innocent droids and Jedi Masters - to achieve his goal.

Leia. The whole thing with Tion shows a lot more about her true character and what she had to go through as well.

Everything. The ANH radio is gold, pure gold.

Much moreso than ESB and ROTJ ones IMO.

 

I have heard A New Hope and Empire, and yes, A New Hope is the best. I think the Return of the Jedi adaptation is only six episodes, not twelve like the others. They were produced by NPR and can be bought in stores.

 

i've only heard parts of them. there was an internet radio station that played them constantly for a while...i don't know if it's still up though.

 

ANH was the best.

You can listen to all three of them online:

www.geocities.com/scenebyscene/

You can use the search to find the drama you want, then spend several hours listening to the whole thing!

 

Genghis12 wrote: "I mean the character of Han and his journey from scoundral to hero is almost completely different than its shown in the movie (we won't even get started on ANH:SE). I like the radio Han much better. Much more character growth there.

Same goes for R2-D2. He's actually got purpose - willing to murder anyone who gets in his way, even the innocent droids and Jedi Masters - to achieve his goal."

Hmmm. I recently listened to the SW radio drama, but I didn't notice these things. How is Han's transformation "completely different"? In both the film and the radio drama, Han is a scoundrel the whole way through until he comes roaring in in the Falcon to save Luke from Vader. Also, what droids and Jedi Masters was R2-D2 willing to murder? I completely missed that.

 

Binary...
As far as Han goes - he was solely interested in the money and was going to leave everyone. It was Chewbaaca who made him realize that he should go back and help the Rebellion. I think it shows how deep the bond between the two of them are and that Han was completely willing to turn against his nature to go along with Chewie. In the movie, he's rather a "nice," trash-talking jester. In the radio drama, he starts out rather cold-hearted and really warms up.

R2 of course trashes R5-D4 by sabotaging his motivator in the radio drama because he saw that as the only way to go on with his mission. R5-D4 is both a droid and possibly a Jedi Master rife with midichloroxians.

 

I have the ROTJ and ESB version's and both are awesome, i heard the ANH version and Luke even asks old Ben Kenobi if there are any other jedi left and ben says yes but none are willing to help us.

 

I heard ANH and ESB when they were first released. I've never heard ROTJ--it wasn't aired where I lived. The local NPR station didn't air it.

 

Thanks for the reply, Genghis12! I see where you are coming from on Han. I think that it is not so much a difference in the way he is portrayed in the film and the radio drama; it is more the case that the latter goes into more detail. In any case, you gotta love how Daley handles Han, both in the radio drama and in his three books! (Didn't I see you post somewhere that Daley's three Han books are your favorite SW novels? After SotME, they are my favorite too.)

Regarding R2: I must admit that I completely forgot about that part.

Thanks again for the info!

 

The ANH and TESB radio dramas were good , and in many ways offers more background and expansion in the characters and the stories than the movies and in some cases, the movie tie-ins and the comic TPBs. It's too bad they (NPR?) cut corners on the ROTJ.

 

I also enjoy the Radio Dramas more than the films - I've just finished listening to ANH for the upteenth time. It still srongly believe the missing scenes from Toshi MUST be reinserted into ANH.
Notice how the SFX for the Hoppers in the Beggars Canyon race were the same noises for the Podrace in TPM? even though the Radio plays were made around 1993!

 

I listened to ANH live in 84 or 85 on NPR, with Mark Hamill and it was so cool.

 

i freaking love the radio dramas.. kind of sucks though because my roomates hate it when i put them i on... they get annoyed. i love to go to sleep by them though.

the extra scenes are awesome and the added character development is great.

 

I've heard most of ANH and one episode of ROTJ and, though they were well-written, explained a lot, and had some good acting, Leia did WAY too much heavy breathing in normal conversation. And every time I hear "Lord Vader, is everything all..." "NO! GET OUT!" I bust up laughing.

 

That's true about the heavy breathing and also about the sounds the radio drama Leia makes when exerting herself (such as in the trash compactor). When listening to the tapes, my wife and I looked at each other and said, "That sounds like sex."

 

I can't get into the debate as to which is the best as I've only heard RoTJ, which is the only one I own.

 

I also love to fall asleep listening to the radio dramas. I hope they do them again for Episodes I, II, III.

 

The heavy breathing, both in the trash compactor and in the torture scene (Especially "Vader, get that thing away from me!" "Hold still, you little fool! There is no escape!") sounds vaguely, well, naughty.

 

I love the audio dramas. Great stuff.

 

I love how Mara Jade was put into the ROTJ radio drama as a dancer in disguise waiting for Luke Skywalker to arrive so she could kill him when he got to Jabba's palace, shes very paranoid talking to Threepio about luke.

 

i hope they do them for the new movies as well

 

Am I crazy, or can't you get these in print? For some reason I thought you could... and if you can't, you most certianly should be able to! Now I have an itching craving to find those fossils!

 

Del Rey released each one in script form, along with interviews with the cast and crew. It also includes a lot of dialogue that didn't make the final cut.

Interestingly, different versions of the radio dramas were in fact released. I got a CD set with ANH and ESB, and a few of the cut lines were actually re-inserted into ANH. Off the top of my head, it was Leia talking to her father about walking through the Alderaan wilderness before arriving at the palace, and Luke and Ben talking about various small things in his home on Tatooine.

There was also a Trilogy release of the 3 radio dramas, with a bonus disc of interviews and such ( $ 120 anyone? ) I've seen this in stores about twice in my life, so far, and a couple times on eBay. I tried e-mailing the eBay winner about making me a cassette of the bonus disc material, but never recieved a reply. The stinky Jawa!

 

As a matter of fact, I bought this collector's CD box with 30% off a few years ago. And here is the rundown of the bonus materials of the RotJ radio drama:

In disc 1:
Comments of Anthony Daniels
Comments of Joshua Fardon (Luke)
Comments of Perry King (Han)
Comments of John Madden (Director)

In disc 2:
Speederbike chase, dialogue only
Speederbike chase, complete
NPR membership spot: Comlink
NPR membership spot: Fair Compensation

In disc 3:
A message for Brian (The one included in Daniels' intro to RotJ NPR Script)

I can convert these tracks to MP3 files. So if there is anyone willing to lend me some ftp or web space, I am more than willing to upload these files there.

Edit: I ordered it at Amazon.com. But it seems that it is out of stock now....