Star Wars

Star WarsAs construction nears completion on the Empire’s awesome new battle station, the moon-sized Death Star, members of the Rebel Alliance procure its construction plans, entrusting them to Princess Leia Organa. But Darth Vader is quick to capture her ship, kill much of the crew, and take her prisoner. But she has already passed the plans on to the adventurous R2-D2, who abandons ship along with C-3PO, landing on nearby Tatooine. Scavenging Jawas salvage the two droids and auction them off to Owen Lars, who hands them over to his nephew, young Luke Skywalker, to get the droids into shape to serve around their farm. Luke accidentally activates a recorded message from Leia, a desperate plea for the assistance of Obi-Wan Kenobi. When Owen forbids Luke to track down Kenobi to ask him about the message, R2-D2 sets out on his own to find him. Luke and C-3PO catch up to the determined droid, but are attacked by desert-roving Tusken Raiders, and saved at the last minute by the cloaked hermit, Ben Kenobi. Upon seeing Leia’s message, Ben admits that he is actually Obi-Wan Kenobi, one of the very last Jedi Knights, and tells of how he witnessed the murder of Luke’s father, Anakin.

Imperial forces trace the two droids to Tatooine, following their trail to Owen’s farm. When Luke discovers that his uncle and aunt have been killed by the Empire, he pledges to follow the elderly Jedi Knight to the planet Alderaan. They go to the seedy Mos Eisley spaceport, where they happen upon the renegade space freighter captain Han Solo and his Wookiee sidekick Chewbacca. Solo, desperately in need of money to pay off crime lord Jabba the Hutt, takes Luke, Obi-Wan and the droids on as passengers, but quickly realizes that his passengers have attracted the interest (and firepower) of the Empire. Solo’s ship, the Milennium Falcon, arrives at Alderaan to find the planet has been smashed into lifeless bits – the handiwork of Darth Vader and the Death Star. Solo accidentally runs into the Death Star not far away, which seizes the Falcon in a tractor beam. Han, Luke, Chewbacca and the droids try to evade the Imperial forces and rescue Leia, while Obi-Wan sets out to disable the Death Star’s tractor beam and face Darth Vader one final time. Obi-Wan is cut down in a lightsaber duel with Vader, but the others succeed in escaping, unaware that a homing device has been planted on the Falcon, allowing the Death Star to track the ship down to the Rebel base on the third moon of Yavin.

With only a short time to spare, the Rebels must prepare for a fight to save themselves from extinction – and Luke Skywalker, in becoming the hero of the ferocious battle against the Empire, brings himself to the attention of Darth Vader.

Order the DVDswritten by George Lucas
directed by George Lucas
music by John Williams

Cast: Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), Harrison Ford (Han Solo), Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia Organa), Peter Cushing (Grand Moff Tarkin), Alec Guinness (Obi-Wan Kenobi), Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Kenny Baker (R2-D2), Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca), David Prowse (Lord Darth Vader), Jack Purvis (Chief Jawa), Eddie Byrne (General Millard), Phil Brown (Uncle Owen), Sheelagh Fraser (Aunt Beru), Alex McCrindle (General Dodonna), Drewe Hemley (Red Leader), Denis Lawson (Red Two – Wedge), Garrick Hagon (Red Three – Biggs), Jack Klagg (Red Four – John “D”), William Hootkins (Red Six – Porkins), Angus McInnis (Gold Leader), Jeremy Sinden (Gold Two), Graham Ashley (Gold Five), Don Henderson (General Tagge), Richard Le Parmentier (General Motti), Leslie Schofield (Commander #1), James Earl Jones (voice of Lord Darth Vader)

Notes: The subtitle “Episode IV: A New Hope” was added to the opening crawl for the movie’s 1981 re-release, presumably to be consistent with the labeling of The Empire Strikes Back as Episode V.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

The Star Wars Holiday Special

Star WarsOn the Wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk, Chewbacca’s family awaits his return for the yearly celebration of Life Day. But when he doesn’t arrive on time, they assume the worst and begin secretly contacting members of the Rebel Alliance, including Luke and Leia. Chewie’s wife Malla, his father Itchy, and his son Lumpy begin to fear the worst when the Empire blockades Kashyyyk and stormtroopers begin to search residences. Han and Chewie must battle their way through the blockade, not only to reach Chewie’s family in time for Life Day, but to save them from Imperial troops that could uncover their secret connection to the Rebels.

Cartoon: Han and Chewie return from a mission to recover a magical talisman, but they make no contact with base – and overshoot the rendezvous point at high speed, crash-landing the Falcon on a watery world. Luke and the droids give chase in a Y-wing, also crashing on the planet. Their ship falls victim to a hungry sea creature, but they are rescued by an humanoid, covered from head to toe in armor, who identifies himself as Boba Fett. He leads them to the Falcon, where Han has fallen victim to a “sleeping virus” – and Luke soon succumbs as well. Boba Fett offers to steal the antidote from a nearby Imperial base, but Chewie is suspicious and insists on accompanying the Rebels’ new benefactor. While Boba Fett and Chewie are breaking into the Empire’s stronghold, Threepio and Artoo eavesdrop on a message from Darth Vader – a message intended for Vader’s hired gun, the bounty hunter known as Boba Fett.

written by Rod Warren, Bruce Vilanch, Pat Proft, Leonard Ripps and Mitzie Welch
directed by Steve Binder
music by Ian Fraser
songs by Mitzie Welch and Ken Welch

Cast: Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), Harrison Ford (Han Solo), Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia), Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca), James Earl Jones (voice of Darth Vader), Beatrice Arthur (Aknina), Art Carney (Sundan), Harvey Korman (Video chef/Morphian host/Krelman), Diahann Carroll (Hologram singer), Jefferson Starship (Hologram band), Mickey Morton (Malla), Paul Gale (Itchy), Patty Maloney (Lumpy), Jack Rader (Imperial officer), Stephaine Stromer (Imperial officer), Michael Potter (Imperial officer), The Wazzan Troupe (Hologram performers), Yuichi Sugiyama (?), The Mum Brothers (?), Claude Woolman (?), Lev Mailer (?), John McLaughlin (?)

Appearing in footage from Star Wars: David Prowse (Darth Vader), Alec Guiness (Obi-Wan Kenobi)

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

The Empire Strikes Back

Star WarsIn the wake of their destruction of the Death Star, the Rebels are forced even further into hiding by the Empire’s relentless pursuit, especially now that Darth Vader has learned the identity of the Rebel pilot who toppled the Empire’s mighty space station. Luke Skywalker, while investigating a meteorite which has just crashed near the new Rebel base on the ice planet of Hoth, is attacked by one of the indigenous predators. Luke uses his budding skill with the Force to escape from the creature, but is too badly injured to return to base on his own. The image of Obi-Wan Kenobi appears, urging Luke to go to Dagobah, where he will find the last of the Jedi Masters, Yoda. But before Luke can ask any questions, Han Solo rescues him just in the nick of time.

What Luke doesn’t realize until it is too late is that the “meteorite” he sighted was an Imperial probe droid landing on Hoth. Darth Vader and his task force follow the probe droid’s lead to Hoth and launch a devastating ground attack, killing many of the Rebels and forcing the rest to retreat even further – but Vader’s real quarry, Luke, evades him yet again. Luke and Artoo slip away to Dagobah, while Han, Leia, Chewbacca and C-3PO escape aboard the Millennium Falcon. The Imperial forces pursue the Falcon through a treacherous asteroid field, while Luke crash-lands in the swamps of Dagobah and reluctantly befriends a small green creature who promises to take him to meet Yoda. During the pursuit of the Falcon, the Emperor contacts Vader with a new agenda – Luke Skywalker is to be turned to the dark side of the Force, not killed.

The creature who is helping Luke soon reveals that he is Yoda himself, and despite reservations about Luke’s lack of patience and his anger, both Skywalker pedigrees that led his father to a dark fate, the last living Jedi Master begins Luke’s training. Halfway across the galaxy, Han decides to find a safe haven for the Falcon and its beleaguered crew after too many close calls, ultimately choosing Bespin’s Cloud City, which is run by an old friend of his (and the original owner of the Falcon), Lando Calrissian. But shortly after arriving at Cloud City, C-3PO is blasted to bits, and Lando delivers Han and the others into the hands of Darth Vader and bounty hunter Boba Fett. Worse yet, as a test of a carbon-freezing process which he hopes to use to capture Luke as a gift for the Emperor, Darth Vader has Han frozen in carbonite before handing him over to Boba Fett. Lando, growing worried that the Imperial presence on Cloud City will become permanent, switches sides to join with Leia and Chewie, who are suspicious of his motives, but they trust him when he tells them where to find Fett’s ship.

In the meantime, Luke has experienced a vision of a future in which his friends are being killed by the Empire, and he hastily postpones his Jedi training to go to Bespin to help them, much to the dismay of Yoda and Obi-Wan. Luke arrives just in time to see Han’s frozen body being taken to Boba Fett’s ship, but he is unable to help his friends. Luke has just stepped into a trap carefully orchestrated by Darth Vader, who reveals, after a lightsaber duel with Luke, that he is actually Anakin Skywalker, Luke’s father.

Boba Fett escapes Cloud City with Han in custody, taking him back to Jabba the Hutt. Leia and Lando are unable to stop the bounty hunter, and Luke now faces the prospect that his destiny, like that of his father, may lead him to become a servant to the dark side of the Force.

Order the DVDsstory by George Lucas
screenplay by Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kadsan
directed by Irvin Kershner
music by John Williams

Cast: Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), Harrison Ford (Han Solo), Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia), Billy Dee Williams (Lando Calrissian), Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), David Prowse (Darth Vader), Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca), Kenny Baker (R2-D2), Frank Oz (Yoda), Alec Guinness (Obi-Wan Kenobi), Jeremy Bulloch (Boba Fett), John Hollis (Lando’s Aide), Peter Purvis (Chief Ugnaught), Des Web (Snow Creature), Clive Revill (Emperor Palpatine), Kenneth Colley (Admiral Piett), Julian Glover (General Veers), Michael Sheard (Admiral Ozzel), Michael Culver (Captain Needa), John Dicks (Imperial officer), Milton Johns (Imperial officer), Mark Jones (Imperial officer), Oliver Maguire (Imperial officer), Robin Scobey (Imperial officer), Bruce Boa (General Rieekan), Christopher Malcolm (Zev – Rogue 2), Denis Lawson (Wedge – Rogue 3), Richard Oldfield (Hobbie – Rogue 4), John Morton (Dak – Luke’s gunner), Ian Liston (Janson – Wedge’s gunner), John Ratzenberger (Major Derlin), Jack McKenzie (Deck lieutenant), Jerry Harte (Head controller), Norman Chancer (Rebel officer), Norwich Duff (Rebel officer), Ray Hassett (Rebel officer), Brigitte Kahn (Rebel officer), Burnell Tucker (Rebel officer)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Radio Free Death Star: A Brief History of NPR’s Star Wars

Star WarsWith the advent of television in America, the radio drama – a staple of wartime and post-war American radio listening – gradually became all but extinct. Even if the audience hadn’t shifted toward TV, the talent behind radio was making a beeline for Hollywood to stake a claim on the new medium. Radio drama made a modest comeback in the 1970s via the newly-established National Public Radio, but never quite on the scale of radio drama’s heyday in the war years. Radio theater remained the domain of talented amateurs and occasional public broadcasting showcases. Even NPR found itself leaning heavily on the still-active radio drama scene in England – it was more financially expedient to buy rebroadcast rights to already-produced British radio shows such as The Lord Of The Rings and The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, which instantly gained avid American fan followings. Comedy fared better: Garrison Keillor’s Prairie Home Companion became a mainstay of NPR’s non-news-based offerings.

In 1981, NPR affiliate station KUSC, based at George Lucas’ alma mater, the University of Southern California, hatched a bold plan to adapt Lucas’ Star Wars for radio. Easily the most visual film of the past decade, Star Wars as a listening experience seemed like an unlikely idea, but Lucas sold NPR and KUSC the rights to adapt the hit movie for one dollar, and opened the Lucasfilm vaults to the Star Warsshow’s producers: the Star Wars sound effects would be available to them in their raw form, along with every note of John Williams’ music, including selections that had yet to appear on an album. The somewhat unenviable task of translating a visual-effects-heavy blockbuster to the spoken word was given to writer Brian Daley, who had already produced some of the earliest official Star Wars print fiction that didn’t merely adapt the two movies so far (“Han Solo And The Lost Legacy,” “Han Solo At Stars’ End,” “Han Solo’s Revenge”).

Daley expanded slightly over two hours of movie into thirteen half-hours of radio, primarily by expanding on the events in the movie’s earliest scenes, going further back in time to give listeners Star Warsa “look” into Luke Skywalker’s dull Tatooine life (and constantly being teased by his friends for being a dreamer of far-fetched dreams), and his friendship with future Rebel pilot Biggs. Also explored was Princess Leia’s life on Alderaan with her father, Bail Organa, and their activities with the the Rebel Alliance leading up to the theft of the Death Star plans. If one can overlook a certain naivete on Bail Organa’s part when it comes to the Rebellion (in the prequel trilogy, Organa is shown to be one of the Rebellion’s founding fathers, not hesitating to rescue and shelter the last two Jedi Knights known to have survived the Emperor’s “Order 66”), the events portrayed actually track very well with the story revelations that came in the later movies.

Acting out Daley’s scripts in the KUSC recording studios would be a mixture of original Star Wars cast members, Hollywood veterans, actors who nearly had a shot at intergalactic Star Warsfame, and future TV and movie stars still in the early stages of their careers. Mark Hamill and Anthony Daniels reprised their roles of Luke Skywalker and C-3PO, while familiar sound effects eliminated the need to recast R2-D2 or Chewbacca. Though he lost the role to Harrison Ford on film, Perry King finally got his opportunity to play Han Solo on the radio. Brock Peters took over for James Earl Jones as the voice of Darth Vader. Other future “names” such as David Alan Grier, Jerry Hardin and Meschach Taylor joined Hamill and the others in donating their time for free in exchange for a unique experience: radio Star Wars would almost certainly be one of the most-listened-to NPR broadcasts ever, and might even lead to a resurgence in the medium of American-made radio drama. With such a high-visibility (audibility?) project and their future career profiles to consider, why not?

Star Wars debuted in late 1981 during one of NPR’s “pledge drive” periods, a time during which public radio and TV broadcasters in the U.S. roll out their juiciest offerings, often surrounded by pleas for the listener donations which would fund each station’s ability to afford the next round of nationally syndicated endeavours. To say that it was a hit would be an understatement; Star Wars pulled in impressive numbers of listeners, and resulted in a healthy donation drive. The 13 episodes would frequently reappear for several years, often – coincidentally enough – right around pledge time. (Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy radio series was another radio series one could expect to find repeating during pledge drives. Sci-fi was still hot, even if you couldn’t see it.)

Of course, by 1981, the second Star Wars movie had already premiered, and naturally there were expectations that it, too, would be adapted for radio. Lucasfilm was game for a radio rematch between the Rebels and the Empire, and again the rights Star Warsto adapt the movie script exchanged hands for a mere dollar, though the timing of The Empire Strikes Back would be part of Lucasfilm’s promotional push for Return Of The Jedi: the Empire radio series debuted early in 1983, with its ten half-hour episodes leading up to the premiere of the new movie. Hamill and Daniels were joined by Billy Dee Williams, reprising the role of Lando Calrissian, and John Lithgow joined the cast as Yoda.

Any hopes for a Jedi radio show, however, were dashed for many years. This time, Lucasfilm expected KUSC to fork over more than a dollar for the trilogy’s closing act, and even the political climate provided the Rebel Alliance with a more formidable Star Warsopponent than the Empire. Even as Daley’s Empire adaptation unfolded on Sundays on NPR, President Ronald Reagan was making his first public announcements about a ballistic missile defense shield system that he would later call “Star Wars” (much to Lucas’ chagrin). The sway of Reagan’s conservative administration was at its strongest, and NPR suffered funding cuts perhaps due to its frequent perception as a broadcaster with a liberal bias and an umbilical cord of government funding. The cuts kept NPR or KUSC from spending a significant amount of money on more Star Wars. Jedi would have to wait, for a very long time; NPR’s core news, arts and public affairs programming would have to take priority over something that was already well-documented – and possibly “lowbrow” – pop culture.

One unusual Star Wars audio project that did take place in the interim, however, was the direct-to-retail release of an audio story written by Daley, Rebel Mission To Ord Mantell, bridging the gap between Star Wars and Empire. Released by Disney Star Warssubsidiary Buena Vista Records, Ord Mantell was billed as “A Story from the Star Wars saga,” and was done in a format very similar to the NPR episodic radio dramas. It is unknown if the project was ever considered for public radio, but it seems unlikely: the sound effects are not from the Lucasfilm archives, and the cast is obviously not the same cast that played the parts of Luke, Leia, Han, et al. for NPR. At the script stage, Ord Mantell might have been an attempt at a pilot for a series of between-movie audio stories, but if that’s the case, NPR declined, and it seems that Buena Vista Records had little interest in continuing beyond this single oddball adventure.

Just as the political climate was turning against public radio in the 1980s, the first steps toward completing the original Star Wars trilogy on audio were being taken at that time too, though no one realized it just yet. The Rebel Alliance would eventually be getting backup by way of Lake Wobegon.

In the early ’80s, Minnesota Public Radio started a for-profit offshoot company, Highbridge Audio, primarily to market recordings of the ever-popular Prairie Home Companion. Other NPR productions would be offered in recorded form by Highbridge, eventually including, in the 1990s, Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back, which became two of Highbridge’s perennial bestsellers. It didn’t take long for someone to consider the idea of completing the trilogy, this time as a for-profit project.

The for-profit nature of the Return Of The Jedi audio dramatization, however, had a domino effect on many aspects of the production. Where Mark Hamill had previously donated his time and talent, his schedule was now stacked with animation projects which were paying top dollar for his voice talent, and had Star Warsto be replaced by Joshua Fardon as the voice of Luke. Ever the droid trooper, Anthony Daniels returned as C-3PO, along with radio trilogy veterans Perry King, John Lithgow, Brock Peters, and Ann Sachs as Princess Leia. Billy Dee Williams was unavailable to reprise the role of Lando, and bizarrely the producers recast the part with a white actor. Yeardley Smith, best known as the voice of Bart Simpson, played what was virtually a bit part as one of Jabba’s palace droids. Ed Begley Jr. signed on to play Boba Fett, while veteran British stage and radio actor Martin Jarvis (Titanic, Doctor Who) took the part of one of Jabba’s strongarms. Nia Vardalos (still years away from My Big Fat Greek Wedding) played minor supporting roles. And in perhaps the strangest bit of casting, Ed Asner was cast as Jabba, repeating the Hutt’s alien language now without the benefit of subtitles.

Near the end of the recording sessions, Brian Daley, who had adapted all three of the movies for radio, died of pancreatic cancer. The cast had even recorded a get-well message for him in character; he never got to hear it. Minor rewrites had been carried out on Daley’s scripts by John Whitman, who had adapted audio versions of the Dark Empire comics for Highbridge in 1994. Whitman would continue working with Highbridge on later Star Wars audio plays, based on Dark Forces and Crimson Empire, following Jedi‘s release; these non-movie stories were being produced specifically for the retail market, and were generally made in a long-form format rather than an episodic format suitable for radio.

Star WarsThe Jedi adaptation was shorter than the previous radio series – only six half-hour episodes – and was offered to NPR by Highbridge after its retail release. Perhaps not coincidentally, it was timed to coincide with the resurgence in interest in the trilogy that came with the impending release of the restored/revised Special Editions of the movies in theaters, and the initial announcements that a new series of Star Wars movies was finally in the works.

Considering how much importance Lucasfilm places on the licensing of Star Wars, and the fact that the Jedi adaptation was eventually undertaken as just another licensed product instead of the non-profit aim of the Star Wars and Empire adaptations, there has unsurprisingly been no discussion of adapting The Phantom Menace, Attack Of The Clones or Revenge Of The Sith for radio. Even more visual and effects-dependent than the original trilogy, the prequel trilogy seems destined to remain in movie form only.


Star Wars: The NPR Radio Drama (1981)

  1. A Wind To Shake The Stars
  2. Points Of Origin
  3. Black Knight, White Princess, And Pawns
  4. While Giants Mark Time
  5. Jedi That Was, Jedi To Be
  6. The Millennium Falcon Deal
  7. The Han Solo Solution
  8. Death Star’s Transit
  9. Rogues, Rebels And Robots
  10. The Luke Skywalker Initiative
  11. The Jedi Nexus
  12. The Case For Rebellion
  13. Force And Counter Force

For The Record: Ord Mantell (1983)

The Empire Strikes Back: The NPR Radio Drama (1983)

  1. Freedom’s Winter
  2. The Coming Storm
  3. A Question Of Survival
  4. Fire And Ice
  5. The Millennium Falcon Pursuit
  6. Way Of The Jedi
  7. New Allies, New Enemy
  8. Dark Lord’s Fury
  9. Gambler’s Choice
  10. The Clash Of Lightsabers

Return Of The Jedi: The Radio Drama (1996)

  1. Tatooine Haunts
  2. Fast Friends
  3. Prophecies And Destinies
  4. Pattern And Web
  5. So Turns A Galaxy, So Turns A Wheel
  6. The Blood Of A Jedi

Comics Adaptations (1994-98)

(not produced for NPR)

  1. Dark Forces: Soldier For The Empire – Part I
  2. Dark Forces: Soldier For The Empire – Part II
  3. Dark Forces: Rebel Agent – Part I
  4. Dark Forces: Rebel Agent – Part II
  5. Dark Forces: Jedi Knight – Part I
  6. Dark Forces: Jedi Knight – Part II

Essay and LogBook entries by Earl Green
Episode synopses originally appeared in theLogBook.com’s TheatEar section.


A Wind To Shake The Stars

Star WarsOn the distant desert planet of Tatooine, far from either the Galactic Empire or the Rebellion, Luke Skywalker lives the simple existence of a moisture farmer, toiling away on his Uncle Owen’s farm and trying to fit in with his friends at Anchorhead. Ever since his friend Biggs left to join the Imperial Academy, Luke’s been a bit of an outcast, and he doesn’t win many friends by beating the local bully in a high-speed canyon race. While working on the farm, Luke spots a fierce firefight in orbit of Tatooine, and tries to tell his friends about it, but as usual they blow him off. Biggs returns for a visit, and once they’re away from the others, Biggs tells Luke of a momentous decision – despite having graduated from the Imperial Academy, Biggs plans to jump ship on his first assignment and join the Rebellion.

Order this CDwritten by Brian Daley
based on the screenplay Star Wars by George Lucas
directed by John Madden
music by John Williams

Cast: Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), Ann Sachs (Princess Leia Organa), Perry King (Han Solo), Bernard “Bunny” Behrens (Obi-Wan Kenobi), Brock Peters (Lord Darth Vader), Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Keene Curtis (Grand Moff Tarkin), John Considine (Lord Tion), Stephen Elliott (Prestor), David Ackroyd (Captain Antilles), Adam Arkin (Fixer), Kale Brown (Biggs), David Clennon (Motti), Anne Gerety (Aunt Beru), Thomas Hill (Uncle Owen), David Paymer (Deak), Joel Brooks (Heater), John Dukakis (Rebel), Stephanie Steele (Cammie), Phillip Kellard (Customer #2)

Supporting Cast: James Blendick, Clyde Burton, Bruce French, David Alan Grier, Jerry Hardin, John Harkins, Meschach Taylor, Marc Vahanian, John Welsh, Kent Williams

Freedom’s Winter

The Empire Strikes Back NPR Radio DramaIn the wake of their successful mission to destroy the Death Star, the Rebel Alliance has stirred up an Imperial hornets’ nest. Driven from the relative safety of the Yavin system, the Rebels set up shop on an ice planet called Hoth, which is inhospitable bordering on unsurvivable. This distant outpost requires constant resupply of equipment (and soldiers) capable of surviving sub-freezing temperatures, but the Empire has been tightening the noose by blasting supply convoys out of space. Han and Luke are surveying Hoth’s surface to pinpoint the cause of unusual sensor readings when Luke heads out on his own to investigate what looks like a meteor impact. But before he can reach it, Luke is savagely attacked by a wampa, a vicious carnivore native to Hoth. He’s able to summon the power of the Force to help him escape the wampa’s lair, but even the Force can’t stretch the limits of human endurance – without backup or a way to get back to the Rebel base, Luke is stranded in the frozen wasteland overnight.

Order this CDwritten by Brian Daley
based on the screenplay Star Wars by George Lucas
directed by John Madden
music by John Williams

Cast: Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), Perry King (Han Solo), Ann Sachs (Princess Leia Organa), Billy Dee Williams (Lando Calrissian), Brock Peters (Lord Darth Vader), John Lithgow (Yoda), Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Bernard Behrens (Obi-Wan Kenobi), James Eckhouse (Beta), Peter Friedman (Dak), Ron Frazier (Deck Officer), Merwin Goldsmith (General Rieekan), Peter Michael Goetz (Ozzel), Gordon Gould (Veers), Paul Hecht (The Emperor), Russell Horton (2-1B), James Hurdle (Controller), Nicholas Kepros (Needa), David Rasche (Piett), Alan Rosenburg (Boba Fett), Jay Sanders (Imperial Pilot), Don Scarino (Wedge), Ken Hiller (Narrator)

Supporting Cast: David Alan Grier, Sam McMurray, Steven Markle, Stephen D. Newman, John Pielmeier, Geoffrey Pierson, Gary Tacon, Jerry Zaks

Return of the Jedi

Star WarsLuke sends R2-D2 and C-3PO to the palace of Jabba the Hutt on Tatooine, where R2 plays a recorded message presenting the two droids to Jabba as a gift. A bounty hunter soon arrives with Chewbacca in chains, and a thermal detonator in hand to bargain a higher sale price for the Wookiee. But all is not as it seems. The bounty hunter is Leia in disguise, but mere moments after releasing Han from captivity in carbonite, she is captured by Jabba. Luke soon arrives, telling Jabba in no uncertain terms that Han, Leia, and the droids will be handed over to him – or the Hutt will pay a fatal price. Jabba has Luke thrown into a pit with an enormous, ravenous creature, which Luke manages to kill. Enraged, Jabba now sentences the Jedi apprentice – along with Han and Chewie – to be fed to the sarlacc which lurks in the Dune Sea. However, with the help of Artoo and Lando – who had infiltrated Jabba’s operation as a bodyguard – Luke foils this plan as well, releasing his friends and ending Jabba’s reign over the underworld.

Returning to Dagobah to finish his Jedi training, Luke finds that Yoda is in very poor health. The dying Jedi Master tells Luke that only one task remains before the young apprentice truly becomes the last Jedi Knight – but that task is the defeat of Darth Vader. Obi-Wan appears to Luke, explaining the true fate of Anakin Skywalker and both of his children, who are strong with the Force. Luke knows he must defeat Vader – or win him back from the dark side – but doubts his ability to do so. But Vader is already busy constructing a new and more powerful Death Star, this time under the direct supervision of Emperor Palpatine. The Emperor has arranged for details of the new Death Star’s defenses to be leaked into the hands of the Rebel Alliance, hoping that they will commit their entire fleet to destroy the space station . . . which is already fully operational and well-defended, more than ready for a Rebel onslaught.

Luke joins a Rebel taskforce assigned to destroy the defense shield installation on the forest moon of Endor, which the Death Star orbits. Han almost fatally endangers the mission, but unexpected help arrives in the forms of Endor’s native life form, the Ewoks. Worrying that Vader will sense his presence and capture the entire Rebel team, Luke turns himself over to the Imperial troops as Han and Leia continue their risky gambit to lower the Death Star’s shield in time for a Rebel attack fleet to destroy the station. And aboard the Death Star, the Emperor, with Darth Vader’s help, attempts to lure a second generation of Jedi Knights named Skywalker into the dark side of the Force . . .

Order the DVDsstory by George Lucas
screenplay by Lawrence Kadsan and George Lucas
directed by Richard Marquand
music by John Williams

Cast: Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), Harrison Ford (Han Solo), Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia), Billy Dee Williams (Lando Calrissian), Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca), Sebastian Shaw (Anakin Skywalker), Ian McDiarmid (Emperor Palpatine), Frank Oz (Yoda), James Earl Jones (voice of Darth Vader), David Prowse (Darth Vader), Alec Guiness (Obi-Wan Kenobi), Kenny Baker (R2-D2), Michael Pennington (Moff Jerjerrod), Admiral Piett (Kenneth Colley), Michael Carter (Bib Fortuna), Denis Lawson (Wedge), Tim Rose (Admiral Ackbar), Dermot Crowley (General Madine), Caroline Blakiston (Mon Mothma), Warwick Davis (Wicket), Kenny Baker (Paploo), Jeremy Bulloch (Boba Fett), Femi Taylor (Oola), Annie Arbogast (Sy Snootles), Claire Davenport (Fat Dancer), Jack Purvis (Teebo), Mike Edmonds (Logray), Jane Busby (Chief Chirpa), Malcolm Dixon (Ewok warrior), Mike Cottrell (Ewok warrior), Nicki Reade (Nicki), Adam Bareham (Star Destroyer controller #1), Jonathan Oliver (Star Destroyer controller #2), Pip Miller (Star Destroyer captain #1), Tom Mannion (Star Destroyer captain #2), Tony Philpott, Mike Edmonds, David Barclay (Jabba the Hutt)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Rebel Mission To Ord Mantell

Star Wars: Rebel Mission To Ord MantellIn the wake of the Battle of Yavin, the Rebel Alliance abandons its base and sets up shop on the icy planet of Hoth. Luke and Han are assigned to take two X-Wing fighters to scout a jungle planet instead – to draw the Empire’s attention away from the new Hoth base. Once the Empire is diverted from Hoth, Luke and Han return to the ice planet, where Leia is already planning their next mission. Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie and the droids plan to pull off a heist of Imperial funds on the planet Ord Mantell, with the help of a Rebel informant who also happens to be an insectoid life form. Han is instantly suspicious, since Narithians are capable of instantaneous telepathic communication with their egg-mate siblings, but Leia assures him that this agent’s sibling is dead – the result of a brotherly rivalry turned deadly when one signed up with the Rebels and the other with the Empire. Even using the Millennium Falcon is a risk, since Han and his ship are wanted not only by Jabba the Hutt, but by the Empire as well. But once Leia and her team arrive on Ord Mantell, their carefully orchestrated plan quickly falls apart: Han’s slip of the tongue reveals Leia’s identity, and the insectoid informant turns out not to be a Rebel sympathizer, but a treacherous bounty hunter. Han, Leia, Artoo and Chewie are disarmed by the bounty hunter, leaving Luke and Threepio to carry off the caper by themselves on a cargo dock where weapons are forbidden. Fortunately for Luke, however, no one seems to remember what a lightstaber looks like…

written by Brian Daley
directed by Jymn Magon
music not credited
(combination of John Williams soundtrack cues and generic production library music?)

Cast: not credited; see notes below.

Notes: Mention an adventure at an offscreen location in the Star Wars universe, and sooner or later, somebody is going to chronicle it, somehow. This entire story springs from a throwaway line in The Empire Strikes Back about Han “running into some trouble with that bounty hunter on Ord Mantell.” Rebel Mission To Ord Mantell follows much the same format and length as an episode of National Public Radio’s Star Wars radio series, but there the similarity ends. (There is no indication that Ord Mantell was ever considered for broadcast, or that any Star Wars audio stories not adapting existing movies were ever in the works for radio.) It features none of the NPR series’ cast, not even Anthony Daniels; Brian Daley seems to be the only link between Ord Mantell and the NPR radio dramas (though this may be the same uncredited cast who appeared in a handful of Star Wars read-along storybooks released by the same label, some of whose stories were adapted from Marvel’s between-movie comics). Ord Mantell was actually produced after the first two radio series. Curiously, despite having access to Lucasfilm’s library of Star Wars sound effects (and a cover credit for Ben Burtt), several sound effects from the 1979 Disney movie The Black Hole can be heard, though this may be because Ord Mantell was released on LP in 1983 on Disney’s Buena Vista Records label. Perhaps not surprisingly, there are many conflicting accounts of Han’s trouble with that bounty hunter on Ord Mantell in prose fiction, comics, gaming media and probably even haiku form; this is the only version to be played out as a full-cast audio drama.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

The White Witch

DroidsDumped overboard with the cargo as their smuggler owner saves his own skin, Artoo and Threepio find themselves on a desert planet where two speeder racers happen to be practicing. The small-time racers, Jord Dusat and Thall Joban, pick up the droids. Dusat is particularly enthusiastic to have found an R2 unit, since they’ll need one to help pilot The White Witch, a speeder they’ve been customizing for the upcoming Boonta Race. But they’re not alone on this planet: a woman named Kea Moll is observing the racers and their new droids from a distance, and Tig Fromm, the heir to an interplanetary crime syndicate, intends to destroy Dusat and Joban before they can stumble across Fromm’s secret base of operations.

written by Peter Sauder
directed by Ken Stephenson
music by Patricia Cullen, David Greene and David W. Shaw
theme song by Stewart Copeland

DroidsVoice Cast: Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Peter MacNeill (Jord Dusat), Rob Cowan (Thall Joban), Lesleh Donaldson (Kea Moll), John Stocker (Vlix)

Notes: The Boonta Race is presumably related to the Boonta Eve pod race seen in Episode I (a movie which wouldn’t be made for another 14 years). With Tig Fromm’s mention of Jabba as a rival crime boss, it’s possible that the unidentified desert world is Tatooine (presumably Threepio wouldn’t recognize it as his memory was ordered wiped at the end of Episode III).

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Escape Into Terror

DroidsAt the secluded home of Kea Moll’s family, Thall and Jord continue to make much-needed repairs to their ship; Threepio and Artoo have to contend with the duties and responsibilities of Bantha farming. The droids stumble across a hidden chamber – the control room of a small, secret Rebel base. It’s only now that Kea reveals her sympathies to the rebellion, and the reason she’s been helping the two speeder racers. Sise Fromm’s criminal syndicate has built a powerful weapon called the Trigon One, and his son Tig Fromm’s blundering has given the Alliance a chance to obtain it.

written by Peter Sauder
directed by Ken Stephenson
music by Patricia Cullen, David Greene and David W. Shaw
theme song by Stewart Copeland

DroidsVoice Cast: Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Peter MacNeill (Jord Dusat), Rob Cowan (Thall Joban), Lesleh Donaldson (Kea Moll), John Stocker (Vlix)

Notes: The canon-bending unlikelihood of the droids starting out in Bail Organa’s possession at the end of Episode III, going through the animated series’ progression of owners, and returning to Organa’s service in time for the original trilogy becomes less unlikely if one considers the possibility that the droids were sent to Kea Moll’s family by fellow Rebel Organa in the first place…

LogBook entry by Earl Green

The Trigon Unleashed

DroidsThall and Artoo set out to rendezvous with Jord and Kea’s mother, who have just hidden the Fromm gang’s Trigon battleship. But things don’t go as planned: the rendezvous never happens. Waiting at Kea Moll’s family compound, Threepio intercepts transmissions between Tig Fromm and Sise Fromm, revealing that the compound is surrounded by Fromm henchmen. Thall returns, having guessed that things have gone horribly wrong, to rescue Threepio and Kea, but their attempt to escape from the Fromm gang lands them in a trap. Sise Fromm has two hostages – Jord and Kea’s mother – and wants Thall to tell him where the Trigon is hidden. Even when this information is spilled, however, the droids are ahead of Fromm’s men.

Droidswritten by Richard Beban and Peter Sauder
directed by Ken Stephenson
music by Patricia Cullen, David Greene and David W. Shaw
theme song by Stewart Copeland

Voice Cast: Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Peter MacNeill (Jord Dusat), Rob Cowan (Thall Joban), Lesleh Donaldson (Kea Moll), John Stocker (Vlix)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

A Race To The Finish

DroidsThall and Jord, with Kea Moll and the droids in tow, are well on their way to the Boonta Speeder Race when their ship is attacked. The ship pursuing them, however, has limited speed and weapons – the best that Sise Fromm and the remnants of his crime gang can afford after the costly loss of the Trigon. Thall and Jord escape, so Sise Fromm calls in a favor from a bounty hunter: he wants the speeder racers and their friends captured and brought to him. The bounty hunter who owes him a favor is Boba Fett.

written by Richard Beban and Peter Sauder
directed by Ken Stephenson
music by Patricia Cullen, David Greene and David W. Shaw
theme song by Stewart Copeland

Voice Cast: Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Dan Hennessey (Jord Dusat), Rob DroidsCowan (Thall Joban), Lesleh Donaldson (Kea Moll), Don Francks (Boba Fett), Graeme Campbell (Proto One) John Stocker (Vlix), Winston Rekert (Sise Fromm)

Notes: Droids is divided up into three serialized stories showing Artoo and Threepio working for different masters, and this episode concludes what is essentially a four-part story detailing their service to Thall Joben and friends. Boba Fett is the first original series character other than the droids to appear in the series, and it’s a bit of a homecoming for the bounty hunter: his first appearance was in an animated segment of the Star Wars Holiday Special, and that segment – like the Droids series – was produced by Canadian animation studio Nelvana. Threepio claims that he and BL-17 “graduated from the same production facility,” though it may be a fabrication on the part of BL-17 (a droid taking orders from Boba Fett) to gain Threepio’s trust. If one is trying to work Droids into the continuity of the years between the prequel and original trilogies, Threepio has already had his mind wiped at Bail Organa’s instruction, and whatever “production facility” he might be remembering may be a fabrication planted during that memory wipe to prevent Threepio from remembering that he was constructed by Anakin Skywalker.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

The Lost Prince

DroidsThreepio and Artoo find work at a diner, though they’re not ideally suited to work as servers and find themselves unemployed again in record time, though not before they overhear word that bounty hunter IG-88 is on the trail of someone nearby. Threepio and Artoo are auctioned off, with another dilapidated droid, to a new master, Jann Tosh, to help with his Uncle Gundy’s mining operation. But the third droid isn’t a droid – it’s a living being incapable of speech, but, after eating a king-sized breakfast, is more than capable of working in the mines. But who is this new worker, and why are other parties dangerously interested in him?

Droidswritten by Richard Beban and Peter Sauder
directed by Ken Stephenson
music by Patricia Cullen, David Greene and David W. Shaw
theme song by Stewart Copeland

Voice Cast: Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Don Francks (Jann Tosh), Dan Hennessey (Uncle Gundy / Yorpa / Vinga / Jyn Obah), Taborah Johnson (Jessica Meade), Michel LeFebvre (Mon Julpa), John Stocker (Sollag)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

The New King

DroidsJann Tosh and the droids flee the mining planet, trying to return Mon Julpa to high rightful place on the throne of the planet Tamuzan; they discover that their pilot is none other than Jessica Meade, making this the second time she has saved their skins. But they’re being followed by a bounty hunter: IG-88 is in pursuit. On Tamuzan itself, they’re no safer – in Mon Julpa’s absence, a struggle for power has broken out, with rivals vying for the throne. Artoo and Threepio may have to stage a coup of their own to ensure that Mon Julpa is crowned as Tamuzan’s king.

Droidswritten by Richard Beban and Peter Sauder
directed by Ken Stephenson
music by Patricia Cullen, David Greene and David W. Shaw
theme song by Stewart Copeland

Voice Cast: Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Don Francks (Jann Tosh), Dan Hennessey (Uncle Gundy / Yorpa / Vinga / Jyn Obah), Taborah Johnson (Jessica Meade), Michel LeFebvre (Mon Julpa), John Stocker (Sollag)

Notes: Mon Julpa’s rival for the throne is given a voice performance that sounds uncannily like the voice of Saw Gererra.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Tatooine Haunts

Return Of The Jedi NPR Radio DramaOn Tatooine, Luke Skywalker is occupying Ben Kenobi’s old desert hut, preparing a new lightsaber for himself – to be wielded in the artificial hand that has replaced the one Darth Vader cut off at Cloud City. A carefully orchestrated plan to rescue Han Solo from Jabba the Hutt is finally set into motion, despite Lando Calrissian and Chewbacca having seemingly vanished after coming to Tatooine themselves. Luke sends R2-D2 and C-3PO to Jabba, with orders for Artoo to play a message Luke has recorded for Jabba’s eyes only. But when Artoo plays that message, Threepio is horrified to hear Luke’s voice offering the droids to Jabba as a gift – as a token of his esteem in hopes that a deal regarding Han Solo can be worked out. Artoo is pressed into service as a waiter aboard Jabba’s sail barge, and Threepio is forced to serve as the sluglike ganglord’s interpreter. A new bounty hunter, Boussh, arrives – with Chewbacca in chains. Jabba is delighted by the new arrival and allows Boussh to stay in his palace, but the bounty hunter is not all that he – or she – appears.

Order this CDwritten by Brian Daley
additional material by John Whitman
based on the screenplay Return Of The Jedi by Lawrence Kasdan and George Lucas
directed by John Madden
music by John Williams

Season Three Cast: Joshua Fardon (Luke Skywalker), Perry King (Han Solo), Ann Sachs (Princess Leia Organa), Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Bernard Behrens (Obi-Wan Kenobi), Ayre Gross (Lando Calrissian), Edward Asner (Jabba The Hutt), Paul Hecht (The Emperor), John Lithgow (Yoda), Brock Peters (Lord Darth Vader)

Season Three Supporting Cast: Ed Begley Jr. (Boba Fett), Samantha Bennett (Arica), David Birney (Anakin Skywalker), Peter Dennis (Moff Jerjerrod), David Dukes (Bib Fortuna), Peter Michael Goetz (General Madine), Ian Gomez (Salacious Crumb), Martin Jarvis (Barada), Jon Matthews (Wedge), Natalija Nogulich (Mon Mothma), Mark Adair Rios (Admiral Ackbar), Yeardley Smith (9D9), Tom Virtue (Major Derlin), Ken Hiller (Narrator), with Samantha Bennett, Rick Hall, Andrew Hawkes, Sherman Howard, Karl Johnson, John Kapelos, Ron Le Paz, Joe Liss, Paul Mercier, Steven Petrarca, Jonathan Penner, Gil Segel, Nia Vardalos and Ron West