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Title: The Empire Strikes Back: Star Wars/Compact Discs by George Lucas ISBN: 1-56511-007-2 Publisher: Highbridge Audio Pub. Date: 01 November, 1993 Format: Audio CD Volumes: 5 List Price(USD): $59.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.64 (11 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Another Feast For The Imagination
Comment: Following the success of the original Star Wars radio dramatization of A New Hope on NPR, the cast and production team came together again to adapt The Empire Strikes Back. Using the original musical score and sound effects from the film, the team has proved once more that a very visual film can translate to the radio format, if done right.
The cast is once again led by film trilogy stars Mark Hamill, as Luke Skywalker, Anthony Daniels as C-3PO, and SW radio drama regulars, Ann Sachs as Leia, Perry King as Han Solo, Brock Peters as Darth Vader and Bernard Beherns as Obi Wan Kenobi. New to the radio cast is Billy Dee Williams, repising his role from the original film, and John Lithgow as Jedi Master Yoda. Lithgow does an excellent job with his vocal portrayal of Yoda. It's more than just another person imitating Frank Oz from the film. He really delivers, in much the same way that Brock Peters does, in making Vader his own. Following James Earl Jones's footsteps is daunting but Peters rises to the task. Having 3 principals reprise their film roles from Empire is also a plus and makes this production all the better
Directed by John Madden (Shakespeare In Love), and with post production by Tom Voegeli, both of whom worked on all 3 radio adaptations of the series, also helps give Empire a sense of true sense of continuty. Radioplay author Brian Daley returned as well. Athough his adapted script for Empire is shorter by 3 episodes over A New Hope's adaptation, there's still time for a number of additional scenes, not in the film version. The added material stays true to the story and characters Daley was particularly good at having the charaters "describe" the visual action in such a way, as not to slow down the telling of the story.
The CD edition has 10 episodes that are spread over 5 discs The production has an approximate running time of 5 hours. The Empire radio drama is highy recommended and is as good an adaptation as the one created for A New Hope
Rating: 5
Summary: A wonderful radio adaptation of the film.
Comment: The second part of George Lucas' famous STAR WARS saga comes to radio, and it's well worth the wait. Mark Hamil, Anthony Daniels, and Billy Dee Williams are on hand to reprise their film roles, and they are ably supported by Brock Peters, Ann Sachs, Perry King, and John Lithgow (as Yoda). The 10-part script takes the time to flesh out the characters and the setting, making the saga appear more real than ever. After hearing THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK on audio, you just might be tempted to get rid of your video copy--it's really that good! So start up the cassette player, and journey to a galaxy far, far away.
Rating: 5
Summary: The Radio Dramas Strike Back
Comment: The Empire Strikes Back Radio Drama
Following the success of NPR's 13-part radio adaptation of Star Wars, writer Brian Daley reunited with director John Madden and post-production wizard Tom Voegeli to bring The Empire Strikes Back to the airwaves. Having attracted large audiences (for public radio) with the Star Wars Radio Drama, NPR and everyone involved in the ambitious project were anxious to prove that lightning could, indeed, strike twice.
After all, Star Wars films are best known for their visual effects, so many people, including fans, were surprised that Star Wars worked well as a radio serial. But visuals are only part of the movie-going experience, after all. Where would any movie be without characters? Or sound? Or music? Or, for that matter, a coherent narrative thread? (And before someone points out that movies were silent once, I will remind readers that yes, they were silent, but they had musical accompaniment.) Furthermore, expanding the two-hour-plus film into 10 episodes gave familiar characters both depth and color.
The Empire Strikes Back Radio Drama opens with action when a Rebel convoy bound for Hoth is ambushed by waves of Imperial TIE fighters and annihilated near Derra IV. We then cut directly to the opening of the movie, when an Imperial Star Destroyer launches a batch of probe droids programmed to seek out the Rebels' new hidden base. Then we are reunited with our favorite heroes on the icy planet Hoth....and, well, if you have seen the classic trilogy, you know the Empire will definitely strike back.
In addition to the original cast from the Star Wars Radio Drama (which included Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels - both reprising their film roles of Luke Skywalker and C-3PO - Perry King, Ann Sachs, Bernard Behrens, and Brock Peters), Madden was able to enlist Billy Dee Williams to be the voice of Lando Calrissian, the charming but duplicitous Baron Administrator of Cloud City. To round out the major characters from Empire, John Lithgow was cast as Yoda. (He doesn't sound much like Frank Oz, but after a while one gets used to this and gets swept away in the story.)
Although this Radio Drama also expands the story somewhat (it has 10 episodes and runs for roughly five hours), it sticks to its source material and leaves the cliffhanger ending intact. Most of the new material covers the prelude to the battle of Hoth (we get to hear Han and Luke trying to survive that horrible night in an emergency shelter on the ice plains near Echo Base, for instance), and of course Daley and Madden often have to resort to the old radio conventions of characters having to say what they see or are doing.
There were, of course, plans to make a radio adaptation of Return of the Jedi, but it got, as Han Solo says in that film to Jabba, "a little sidetracked" by budget woes at NPR. It did get made at last, but that story will have to wait a bit....
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Title: Return of the Jedi by Brian Daley, Highbridge Audio ISBN: 1565111583 Publisher: Highbridge Audio Pub. Date: 01 November, 1996 List Price(USD): $34.95 |
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Title: Star Wars: The Original Radio Drama by Highbridge, George Lucas, Anthony Daniels ISBN: 0942110994 Publisher: Highbridge Audio Pub. Date: 01 May, 1993 List Price(USD): $39.95 |
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Title: Star Wars: Episode II, Attack of the Clones by R. A. Salvatore ISBN: 0345428811 Publisher: Del Rey Books Pub. Date: 23 April, 2002 List Price(USD): $26.00 |
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Title: Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace by Terry Brooks ISBN: 0345434110 Publisher: Del Rey Books Pub. Date: 29 February, 2000 List Price(USD): $7.50 |
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Title: Cloak of Deception (Star Wars) by James Luceno ISBN: 0345442970 Publisher: Del Rey Books Pub. Date: 25 June, 2002 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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