Star Wars (radio)

An expanded radio dramatization of the original Star Wars trilogy was produced in 1981, 1983, and 1996. The first two radio series, based on the original Star Wars film and The Empire Strikes Back, were produced and broadcast by National Public Radio as part of NPR Playhouse. A dramatization of Return of the Jedi was produced by most of the same team and also broadcast on NPR.

The series was made with the full co-operation of George Lucas, who donated the rights and allowed the use of sound effects and music from the films. They are part of Star Wars canon within its Expanded Universe.

Star Wars
Star Wars is a 13-part (6&frac12; hour) radio drama first broadcast on National Public Radio in 1981. It was adapted by Brian Daley from the film later renamed Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. It was directed by John Madden.

The series fleshes out the storyline by adding a great deal of back story that had probably been created but not used by Lucas. For instance, there is a landspeeder race between Luke Skywalker and his friends that takes place days or weeks before the events of the movie.

Many of the actors involved in the movie were unavailable to reprise their roles (Harrison Ford, for instance, was committed to the first Indiana Jones movie), but Mark Hamill and Anthony Daniels returned to reprise Luke Skywalker and C-3PO respectively. Han Solo was played by Perry King, Princess Leia by Ann Sachs, Ben Kenobi by Bernard Behrens, and Darth Vader by Brock Peters.

The Empire Strikes Back
The success of the series led to a 10-part, five-hour series based on The Empire Strikes Back, again written by Daley and directed by Madden. Billy Dee Williams reprised Lando Calrissian, and John Lithgow played Yoda.

Return of the Jedi
It was not until 1996 that a six-part adaptation of Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi was made by Highbridge Audio, the company that had released the first two series on tape and CD. It used many of the original radio cast, though Joshua Fardon took over as Luke Skywalker. Ed Begley, Jr. was the voice of Boba Fett and Edward Asner, speaking only in grunts, guest-stars as Jabba the Hutt. Scriptwriter Brian Daley died before the series went to air.

Other broadcasts and releases

 * NPR's reruns of the first series had some small timing cuts. Perhaps the most telling of these involves some dialogue in which Leia tells her father about a walk she took in the countryside on Alderaan, which makes the planet's eventual fate seem more of a personal tragedy to her.
 * BBC Radio 1 broadcast the series in the UK, with a key scene in the final episode clumsily cut for timing.
 * All three series were released on tape and CD in the US, in a version retaining NPR's cuts.