A/V The Radio Dramas

Rooting around at my local used-book store, I made some finds: the script of the ANH Radio Drama, and a audio-cassete set (actually four, but I only bought one ) of the ESB Radio Drama.

All the Radio Dramas are chalk full of little EU goodies, so I propose a thread to catalogue them---namely, this one. This includes all of the Radio Dramas (including the Dark Empire, Dark Forces, and Tales of the Jedi ones) and also the audio-adaptations of the novels (sometimes EU tidbits can be gleaned from them, such as what type of accent a species has, or what those darn Killik noises actually sound like.) I expect to start going through the ANH script more thoroughly this week, and I'll post anything interesting I find. Feel free to bring you're own observations to the table, too!


From my first cursory read-through, one of the big things I noticed is that the ANH Drama is the first source to mention Shatterpoints. Not by that name, of course, since that was invented much more recently, but there is a concept that sounds very, very similar:

[Vader, speaking to Tarkin that he suspects that Obi-wan is aboard the Death Star]

Vader: "Patterns are emerging that have great meaning for the Jedi. This is a nexus of events brought about by the Force itself. I must face Obi-Wan Kenobi alone."

This "nexus of events" sure sounds like a Shatterpoint to me...

[Later, as Vader and Ben battle...]

Vader: "Why don't you stand your ground? Patterns of the Force have reached a nexus! Do you think you can retreat all the way into the hangar? You've learned fear in your old age."

Again, this "nexus" sounds exactly like a Shatterpoint.

My conclusion? Obi-Wan's self-sacrifice was a Shatterpoint!

 

Niiiiiiiice.

 

What about Han finding out about Threepio flying the Falcon in ROTJ?

 

Sounds like new script was added. Aren't people going to moan about canonical abrogation?

What are these dramas like, voice and supplement effects wise?

 

I've got all three (ANH, ESB, & ROTJ) on CD, and they're great. The sound effects and all that are done by Ben Burtt, so its the original stuff from the movie, and Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels and Billy Dee Williams lend their voices. It's also got the original John Williams movie music.

There are some significant changes to the script, though, that were necessary to explain the action, since you're hearing it and not seeing it. It's also really wierd hearing some famous lines and familiar characters with totally different voices. (Han was the wierdest for me; he sounds a little more sinister and weazelly.) All in all though, they're a lot of fun. I love to listen to them on long car trips or the like.

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The scripts of the ESB and RoTJ radio dramas are also available in book format - I have the ESB one. There is some art in the ESB one - mostly pen-and-ink drawings. The title page for Episode Eight has a rather nice Slave I drawing..

 

Something that caught my ear in the ANH drama was that Vader says some very PT-esque lines revolving around the senate etc to Princess Leia.
I could really hear Anakin Skywalker behind the mask nearly thirty years before RotS
Lucas might very well have been inspired by them (or vice versa, the character could have been inspired by Lucas' notes).

 

My friend had the Dark Empire and Dark Empire II dramas. Really well done works.
TTT really needs a dramatization. Or at least SotE.
For that matter, the PT needs one!

 

At the start of the ANH drama, Luke is listenting to an Imperial recruiting tape, which has some interesting insights.

Tape Voice: "...so don't just dream about applying for the academy, make it come true! You can find a career in space: Exploration, Starfleet, or Merchant Service. Choose from navigation, engineering, space medicine, contact/liaison, and more! If you have the right stuff to take on the universe and standardized examination scores that meet the requirements, dispatch your application to Screening Office, c/o the Commandant, Imperial Space Academy, your sector, and join the ranks of the proud!"

This shows that the Empire was recruiting in multiple areas, not just the military. Also, it seems to imply that there is an Imperial Space Academy in every (or at least multiple) sector. Any other observations?

What I like is that this tape is very similar to one played in Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike during an Imperial-sanctioned AT-ST training course on Tatooine, which Luke attends. Therefore, I propose a retcon that Luke got this recruiting tape (called dthe "Applicant's Information Packet, Imperial Space Academy") during his participation in that AT-ST training course. Anyone have the text of the Rebel Strike tape?

Other obvservations from the first few pages:

-The skyhopper can seat at least two. Over time, we've seen a number of T-16 variants and size ranges; some can only seat one, while others can seat two or even more.

-Luke heads over to a party with Windy (others present include Cammie, Fixer, and Deak.) Cammie brings along some "juice" (called malt ferment in the script.) Perhaps this is short of Jawa Juice, or Jet Juice?

-Here's something interesting:

Luke: "Sometimes in my sleep I think I see my parents. I don't remember them, but..."

 

I agree, I think the woman from the NPR version of Star Wars is my favorite Leia, surpassing even Carrie Fischer.

I think the most interesting EU aspects come from the assault on Raltiir and the events leading up to the Tantative IV getting captured on Tatooine.

 

I love audio dramas.

"What's that? A secret passageway? Let's walk into it... wow, it's dark! Here we go, walking down the tunnel... look, a door! Artoo, let's go through it! Alright, we're through... what's that? It's a hologram of some sort! It's the Emperor! Gee whiz Artoo, do you see that? He's blue and glowy!"

 

The ANH and ESB dramas were made in the eighties, ANH before the movie premier of ESB and ESB before the ROTJ movie, well before the EU really came about so any EU references in the first two dramas are coincidental. The ROTJ came out in 96/97 and does contain EU references including Threepio flying the Falconin SOTE and Mara Jade as Arica getting info out of Threepio.

The new Han was weird at first and took much longer for me to get used to than any of the other characters. I think he appeared in the sixth episode but didn't seem to work until the ten or eleventh episode. His performances in ESB and ROTJ were much better with no adjustment time.

The ANH had lots of extra scenes ranging from the backstory on how Leia ended up being sent after the Death Star plans to a bit where Luke is put through a Rebel flight simulator by Biggs. Bail Organa is actually a character in one part.

ESB was shorter but had some great bits. Most of the extra scenes feature Hoth, though the ambush at Derra VI and Luke's subesquent promotion to Command are also touched on. The Han and Luke in the tent waiting to be rescued is a classic.

John Lithow still sounds like Yoda with a head cold to me, but Brock Peters does a fine job as Vader.

ROTJ had its moments, but felt incredibly compacted, especially toward the end. Still, the Emperor manages to be even creepier in the radio drama.

 

>The ANH and ESB dramas were made in the eighties, ANH before the movie premier of ESB and ESB before the ROTJ movie, well before the EU really came about so any EU references in the first two dramas are coincidental.<

Actually, not. Big Bunji, a character from Brian Daley's Han Solo novels, is mentioned in the ANH drama. The EU was actually out in force; they had novels, children's books, the comics, the newspaper strips, magazines, the radio dramas themselves, and yes, even the Holiday Special. That's actually quite a lot of meterial.

TC

 

I'm stunned I've never thought to ask this before!

What's the age for these things?

 

I love the radio dramas. An amazing wealth of material to be found in them. There are two contradictions with recent Dark Horse material, though:


1) The trip to Yavin IV is most certainly Han's first visit to the moon in the radio drama, though Underworld: The Yavin Vassilika would have us believe it is his second.

2) The radio drama shows us that the reunion between Luke and Biggs is BEFORE Dodonna's briefing, while Darklighter (and the Special Edition film, for that matter) show us that it happened AFTER.

 

>1) The trip to Yavin IV is most certainly Han's first visit to the moon in the radio drama, though Underworld: The Yavin Vassilika would have us believe it is his second.<

Actually, Han's lines do work in light of Underworld, IMO. Take this one for example:

"Fourth moon of someplace called Yavin. It's where all the idealists hang out, I hear."

He emphasizes all because he met up with Dodonna and Bria there just days before, and now Leia is taking them there..

>2) The radio drama shows us that the reunion between Luke and Biggs is BEFORE Dodonna's briefing, while Darklighter (and the Special Edition film, for that matter) show us that it happened AFTER. <

That one's tricky, but the scene can (I think) be slipped inbetween the panels of Darklighter, right after "Let's be sure for Hobbie..." Still, the comic does read oddly considering that Biggs already knows that Luke is on the base...

TC

TC

 

Interesting... I just listened to the beginning of A New Hope, and it seems like the "Star Wars tune" is actually, in-universe, the theme music for Imperial Academy advertisements.

 

Daley wrote the audio dramas. Even if they came out before the books, Daley knew about the character beforehand and added him in intentionally.

 

Bwah! I never knew Leia killed Tion. She's a mur-der-er, and of nobility to boot. I'm digging this audio drama.

 

I hadn't thought of it like that, Talon. Good work!

 

Kinda ironic considering that Luke's character theme is also the SW theme but in a higher key.

I know this really isn't a radio drama, but I was listening to the audio book version of The Joiner King (Which did not have the Padme scene BTW) and was actually quite annoyed at how they freely used ROTS score such as Battle of the Heroes and The Birth of the Twins (this happens when Jacen talks to Tenel Ka).
SW is very rich musically, why couldn't they use something else as IMHO those tracks are really meant ONLY for that film.

And for the person who mentioned TTT, the TTT audiobook isn't that bad and Anthony Daniels narrates it. Bel Iblis comes across as how I always viewed him: the British army man who has been to India or South Africa though Talon Karrde sounds like a wimp.

 

He is a wimp. We've hardly seen Karrde do anything but talk. His jacket lapel getting ripped by Bombasaa's swoopies in VOTF is the most injury he's suffered. Unless he got something in Conquest. Not sure; I'm not mnenomic when it comes to fluffy NJO books.

 

>Daley wrote the audio dramas. Even if they came out before the books, Daley knew about the character beforehand and added him in intentionally.<

I realize that--that was my point, actually, that the reference was made to another EU source intentionally--it was no coincidence.

TC