Dark Empire: The Collector's Edition

The Dark Empire audio adaptations were productions that brought the Dark Horse Dark Empire comics to life in the form of audio dramas, harkening back to the classic Star Wars NPR radio dramas.

In 1994, Time Warner Audio Publishing presented an audio dramatization of Dark Empire on cassette. Like the old NPR radio dramas, it featured a full cast of actors, parts of John Williams' classic score and authentic stereo sound effects.

In 1995, Tim Warner Audio Publishing presented Dark Empire II.

Both adaptations were originally released on cassette, but in 1995 Warner Audio Video Entertainment the entire collection was made available as a collector's CD. As an added bonus, the final book of the Dark Empire Saga - Empire's End - was included and made exclusive to this CD collection.

The scripts for all these audio adaptations were written by John Whitman, who also served as creative director. They were directed and produced by Arthur G. Insana, with sound designing by Russell Burt. The audio content was recorded at West Valley Studios in Chatsworth, CA.

Cast

 * John Cygan - as Luke Skywalker
 * Joe Hacker - as Han Solo, Boba Fett and Empatojayos Brand
 * Ann Patricio - as Princess Leia
 * Nick Jameson - as Emperor Palpatine
 * Jim Ward - as C-3P0 and Kam Solusar
 * Glynnis Talken - as Salla Zend and Vima-Da-Boda
 * Andy Cowen - as Admiral Ackbar
 * Billy Dee Williams - as Lando Calrissian

Trivia

 * This is the only time Billy Dee Williams has reprised his role as Lando.
 * After this project, Nick Jameson went on to provide the voice for Palpatine (both as Emperor and Supreme Chancellor) in many Star Wars projects, such as videos games (Star Wars: TIE Fighter, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith) and cartoons (Star Wars: Clone Wars)

--Quantum Piett 17:13, 20 January 2006 (UTC)