'Star Wars: The Radio Drama' Episode Review: 'The Millennium Falcon Deal'

(C) 1993 HighBridge Audio and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL)

Before Brian Daley was hired by Lucasfilm's vice president for publications Carol Titleman to write the 13-part radio adaptation of Star Wars, he was an established science fiction who was best known for his Coramonde duology and - more relevantly - a trio of novels about Han Solo set before the events of George Lucas's 1977 space-fantasy film. In fact, Daley was given the gig because Titleman liked the way he had written Star Wars material, especially when it came to depicting everyone's favorite Corellian smuggler before he met Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Mos Eisley cantina on Tatooine.

There's no doubt about it. Brian Daley really enjoyed writing the dialogue for Han and Chewbacca in the Radio Drama. Photo credit: (C) 1977 20th Century Fox Film Corporation

I mention this because in "The Millennium Falcon Deal," the sixth episode of Star Wars: The Radio Drama, Daley introduces us to Han Solo, the cynical and down-on-his-luck captain of the fastest ship in the galaxy, and his Wookiee co-pilot Chewbacca. This episode marks the mid-point of the adaptation directed by John Madden and finishes the setting-of-the-stage exposition,

The Millennium Falcon Deal

Cast 

• Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi (Bernard Behrens)
• Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill)
• See-Threepio (Anthony Daniels)
• Artoo-Detoo (Ben Burtt - audio effects)
• Han Solo (Perry King)
• Chewbacca (Ben Burtt - audio effects)
• Bartender 
• Spacer (Meshach Taylor)
• Creature
• Human
• Greedo (Ben Burtt - audio effects)
• Owner
• Sergeant
• 1st Trooper
• 2nd Trooper
• 3rd Trooper
• 1st Customer
• 2nd customer
• Narrator (Ken Hiller)

ANNOUNCER: OPENING CREDITS.

Music: Opening theme.

NARRATOR: A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away there came a time of revolution, when Rebels united to challenge a tyrannical Empire. This bitter struggle brought disaster to the life of young Luke Skywalker, a moisture farmer on the planet Tatooine, when his uncle purchased the astrodroid Artoo-Detoo without knowing that Artoo's memory banks held secret plans vital to the Rebellion. Imperial stormtroopers hunting for Artoo and his interpreter-counterpart See-Threepio, savagely murdered Luke's uncle and aunt. Luke has committed himself to aiding the aged Ben Kenobi, one of the last of the legendary Jedi Knights and a sympathizer with the Rebel Alliance.

Sound: Tatooine winds up, landspeeder engine in the backgroumd

NARRATOR: Now Luke, Ben, Artoo-Detoo, and See-Threepio are bound for Mos Eisley Spaceport in Luke's landspeeder. There they hope to find passage off Tatooine for the planet Alderaan to deliver Artoo and his crucial message. 

"The Millennium Falcon Deal" begins with an extended scene that takes up the story where "Jedi That Was, Jedi to Be" left off. Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) has told Ben Kenobi (Bernard Behrens) that he wants to learn the ways of the Force and become a Jedi Knight like his father. But the deaths of Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru hang heavily over him like a dark cloud, and his grief hampers his navigation as he pilots the landspeeder to Mos Eisley.

BEN: Luke? Luke! You've let us drift off course again

LUKE: What?

BEN: The landspeeder is off course. Mos Eisley Spaceport is that way, over that ridge.

LUKE: Oh, yeah.

Sound: The speeder’s engine changes speed to alter course.

BEN: That’s the third time you’ve strayed, Luke. If you’re tired, I could take over the controls. Or See-Threepio.

LUKE: No, no...it’s just...I can’t get it out of my mind, Ben...what they did to my uncle and aunt. I see it over and over.

BEN: I understand, Luke.

LUKE: I’m all right, really. (CALLING SLIGHTLY OVER ENGINE) How are you two doing back there? Hanging on, Threepio?

THREEPIO: Oh, yes, sir.

LUKE: How’s Artoo?

ARTOO: TWEEDLES A RESPONSE.

THREEPIO: He says he’s very well, thank you, sir..
BEN: Luke, pull up there by the summit of the ridge, I want to take a moment’s pause before we push on to Mos Eisley.

Sound: The speeder maneuvering, decelerating, coming to a stop. Engine dying under:

BEN: We’ll have a good view of the place from up here. (PAUSE) There it is, Luke - Mos Eisley Spaceport.  

THREEPIO: It looks rather shoddy and disreputable for a spaceport, if you don’t mind my saying so, sir.

BEN: You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy in the whole galaxy. Come Luke, we’ll take a closer look.

Mos Eisley Spaceport as seen from the summit of the ridge. Photo Credit: (C) 1977 20th Century Fox Film Corporation

Much of the dialogue in the following scene focuses on Ben's warnings to Luke about the dangers of the rough-and-tumble and seedy spaceport, Luke's feelings about Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen, and the possibility of finding passage to Alderaan in Mis Eisley. Some of it is derived from George Lucas's movie script and the contributions by Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck, of course, but much of it is new material from the creative mind of Brian Daley.

Of course, the main draw of "The Millennium Falcon Deal" is the fateful meeting between Luke, Ben, Han (Perry King), and Chewbacca in the Mos Eisley cantina. But before Han agrees to take on the charter for a quick run to Alderaan, Daley introduces us to a Corellian pilot (Meshach Taylor of Designing Women fame) who reluctantly declines the gig because he's already hired for another flight. He does, however, introduce Ben Kenobi to Chewbacca - and recommends a competitor because "Han ain't doing so well lately."

A fateful meeting. Photo Credit: (C) 1977 20th Century Fox Film Corporation

In this episode, we also hear the Radio Drama version of such scenes as:

• The "These aren't the droids you're looking for" bit where Ben uses the Force to get past an Imperial roadblock
• The "We don't serve their kind" scene where Artoo and Threepio are told they aren't welcome in the cantina
• The confrontation where Luke is accosted by Dr. Evazan and Ponda Baba and is rescued by a lightsaber-wielding Ben Kenobi
• The infamous last meeting between Han Solo and Greedo, which ends up badly for the latter when Han shoots first

No blasters! No blasters! Photo Credit: (C) 1977 20th Century Fox Film Corporation

My Take:

 If you've seen Star Wars - Episode IV: A New Hope, you know that the cantina sequence marks the true beginning of Luke's heroic journey and his rendezvous with destiny. For the first time in the story, we see a cross-section of the wider galaxy's non-human population as Luke first encounters aliens from other worlds, including the hostile Aqualish known as Ponda Baba and the friendlier Chewbacca the Wookiee.

Here too, we finally meet the famous (or infamous) Han Solo, played in the Radio Drama by the talented Perry King. Interestingly, King (The Lords of Flatbush, Riptide) auditioned for the role of Han when Star Wars was cast in 1976 but lost it to Harrison Ford.  In spite of this, or maybe because of this, King steps into Han's space pirate persona with vim and vigor and makes the part his own.

Overall, director John Madden does a great job at the helm of "The Millennium Falcon Deal." He gets great performances from a cast that includes Star Wars film veterans Mark Hamill and Anthony Daniels, who reprise their iconic roles of Luke Skywalker and See-Threepio, Anglo-Canadian actor Bernard "Bunny" Behrens as Ben Kenobi, and several other voice actors, including the aforementioned Meshach Taylor and narrator Ken Hiller,

In addition, credit must be given to Tom Voegeli, the project's sound mixer/post-production engineer. If Madden deserves praise for directing the voice talent, Voegeli earns kudos for blending the voice tracks with Ben Burtt's audio library of sound effects and John Williams' Academy Award-winning musical score. Voegeli's efforts paid off well; Star Wars: The Radio Drama became the most successful production of its type in National Public Radio history, and it set a standard for the genre that few audio-only adaptations of Star Wars material have ever matched.

As Madden says in the making-of liner notes for the CD presentation of the series, "A phrase has ome to mind in working on this project: You may think you've seen the movie; wait till you hear it."