After the very successful ANH radio drama, NPR decided to go for a repeat two years later with Empire Strikes Back. It's a largely similar affair, most of the writers, directors, etc. come back as well as the majority of the cast (the largest replacement being Wedge), sound effects, music, etc. Billy Dee Williams steps back in as Lando, which was a pleasant surprise.
It's all in all a less inspired affair, in my opinion. Despite Empire being a smidge longer, the production drops over an hour of length. In particular, Ken Hiller's narrator gets the short end of the stick, doing a lot less of the mythology building that's so charming in the original. Overall, it's harder to follow (I think you could keep a good picture of what's going on in ANH in your mind without seeing the movie. ESB is a little confusing at times even having seen the movie a bunch.) Daley continues to lean into his over-characterization of Han (who veers outright into an asshole to Luke and Leia a few times) and 3PO (consistently annoying). Again, a few extra scenes are inserted (primarily in the first few episodes) but they don't feel as useful (a random Rebel convoy getting shot up, and Han and Luke getting more "on air" time after the Wampa attack.) It's not bad, but after the tour-de-Force of the original, it's simply adequate. While I'd argue that the original radio drama is the best adaptation of A New Hope, Empire's much stronger novel edges out the radio production easily.
A few notable moments:
Merwin Goldsmith's General Rieekan really leans into the second syabble of ChewBACKa.
Luke's very determined to walk back from the Wampa's lair , despite explicitly noting his lack of supplies. Why he doesn't try to shelter in the cave is a mystery, and makes him look like an idiot.
In the same sequence, Solo comes back, checks in with the guard, gets waved past a sentry. It's an off combination, that seems to just be there to fill time. Either the Rebellion should have tight security (with Han getting double checked by the sentry) or they should just wave him through to start with (how many Imperials are riding around Hoth on tauntauns?) It's not really clear why the scene needs to be there at all.
As is the case in a lot of early EU stuff, no one (particularly the Empire) seems to know anybody. They spend a fair amount of time (presumably for the audience's benefit) talking about how they need to find a seemingly mysterious Princess Leia, and some weird ship called "The Millennium Falcon". It's really odd that the top terrorists in the galaxy are evidently unknown to most of the Imperial military.
The normally great John Lithgow slips into the "wrong" Frank Oz interpretation for Yoda, doing more of a Grover.
Vader can't seem to get out a line of dialogue to Luke without throwing his first name in. It makes him seem a lot more familiar and hurts the "is he or isn't it?" factor of the (misquoted) "I am your father!)
Next week, I round out the radio dramas with Jedi. (Which wasn't actually produced for radio.)
The Lando Calrissian and the Starcave of ThonBoka How inaccurate is the cover? is a great game to play with the Star Wars novels (even the good ones!) Today we have another appearance of the non-existent DL-44, the Starcave being a literal cave (it's a nebula) and some questionable ship depictions. (Wookiepedia) Summary: Lando and Vuffi Raa find a space stingray starving to death. They feed it literal shit and garbage, and it agrees to make them precious gems (it can/cannot convert matter as the plot demands) and it flies off. A short while later, it contacts them to tell them about a blockade of their nebula by "The Navy" (The Centrality is/is not related to the Empire and is less characterized than the Corporate Sector Authority in the Han Solo books). Lando cons/sneaks his way through the blockade in the one of the book's requisite Sabacc scenes (taking place in the middle instead of the beginning. Smith is stretching his craft to the max here). They meet
Splinter of the Mind's Eye Sweet Ralph Macquarie cover art, courtesy of Wookiepedia! Summary: Luke and Leia crash on a swamp planet. Leia has PTSD. Luke has a crush on her. They go looking for the Kaiburr Crystal with cranky Force grandma and replacement Chewie twins. Darth Vader shows up and mostly kicks their asses, but he falls in a hole. What it introduces: Naming things X of the Y : Which would hold for 4 of the 9 movies, 70ish novels, and numerous video games, comics, etc. The Kaiburr Crystal: Shards of which would become the most desirable lightsaber focusing crystals in the later EU. Kyber crystals would make an appearance in the new canon as both lightsaber crystals and part of the Death Star's superlaser. Commentary: Splinter of the Mind's Eye is widely considered the first book in the Expanded Universe. It was published in 1978, about half a year after the original release of Star Wars/A New Hope. Preceding it are a few of the Marvel Comics (which I'll be
ANH Radio Drama I've talked before about how the radio drama is my favorite adaptation of the OT. In many ways, it serves the role often played by a novelization by expanding on the original story moreso than the actual novels (particularly ANH). If you haven't listened, bounce over to Youtube: Or The Internet Archive and have a listen. George Lucas cut the University of Southern California (his alma mater) a sweetheart dollar deal to license the story, music, and sound effects. Brian Daley (who wrote the Han Solo trilogy earlier) did the scripts. In the modern era of big budget podcasts and audiobooks, it's a little harder to express how freaking cool these were as a kid into Star Wars in the 90s (though the Jedi adaptation wasn't produced until 1996). I literally wore out my cassettes. Long story short, these are professionally produced, well directed, and make great use of John William's score (with a few additional cues recorded for the occasion) and a full cas
Comments
Post a Comment