'Star Wars: The Radio Drama' Episode Review: 'The Jedi Nexus'
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| "You can't win, Darth. If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine." (C) 1977 20th Century Fox Film Corporation |
Cast
- Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill)
- See-Threepio (Anthony Daniels)
- Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi (Bernard "Bunny" Behrens)
- Han Solo (Perry King)
- Princess Leia Organa (Ann Sachs)
- Chewbacca
- Artoo-Detoo
- Lord Darth Vader (Brock Peters)
- Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin (Keene Curtis)
- Comm Voice
- 1st Trooper
- 2nd Trooper
- 3rd Trooper
- Narrator (Ken Hiller)
Announcer: OPENING CREDITS
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.
Sound: Death Star up in background.
Narrator: Now many strands in the web of galactic events have come together onboard the Empire's ultimate weapon, an enormous spacegoing fortress called the Death Star. At large in its vast interior, pursued by Imperial stormtroopers, is a strange assortment of Rebels: Luke Skywalker, and his droids, Artoo-Detoo and See-Threepio; the Princess Leia Organa; and the veteran Jedi Knight, Ben Kenobi. Allied with them by necessity are Captain Han Solo of the Millennium Falcon and his copilot, Chewbacca, a pair of reckless smugglers. And arrayed against these seven are the powers of a determined and merciless Empire and its most feared agent, Darth Vader.
Sound: Conference room up in background. Vader's respirator.
Vader: I tell you, Governor Tarkin, he is here!
Tarkin: Obi-Wan Kenobi? What makes you think so, Vader?
Vader: I sensed his aura clinging to that starship we captured, a tremor in the Force. The last time I felt it was in the presence of my old master.
Tarkin: If there is anyone on that starship, the scanning crew will detect them. But surely Kenobi must be dead by now!
Vader: Do not underestimate the power of the Force. Kenobi is a Jedi Knight and can use it superlatively well. He can, therefore, do things that would seem impossible to ordinary men, men who understand only their machines and the things they can see and touch.
Tarkin: Men like me; is that what you're implying? I tell you, the Jedi are extinct. Their fire has gone out of the universe, as you should well know, having brought that about. You, my friend, are all that's left of their religion.
Vader: I think not.
Tarkin: Enough! When we captured that starship, I thought the Princess Leia might still be of some use to us in locating the Rebel base, but since the ship appears to be empty, her reprieve is canceled. I'm going to have her executed at --
The Jedi Nexus is the eleventh episode in National Public Radio's 1981 Star Wars: The Radio Drama, a 13-part adaptation of George Lucas's 1977 space-fantasy film set "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away." Written by the late science fiction writer Brian Daley, the radio series is an expanded version of Luke Skywalker's first face-off with the evil Galactic Empire and its most feared enforcer, Darth Vader.
The episode begins in a conference room somewhere inside the Death Star; Lord Darth Vader (Brock Peters) and Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin (Keene Curtis), Governor of the Imperial Outland Regions, discuss the possibility that Obi-Wan Kenobi may be aboard the seemingly-abandoned starship that was recently captured and placed in one of the Death Star's docking bays. Vader, a fallen Jedi who turned to the dark side of the Force decades earlier, informs Tarkin that he senses his former master's presence.
Tarkin, however, is skeptical. The Clone Wars ended years ago, and Kenobi, a Jedi and a general in the Republic Army, disappeared soon after the proclamation of the Galactic Empire. Vader, who was once his pupil. helped the Emperor hunt down and destroy the Jedi Knights during the Great Purge. Surely, Tarkin exclaims, Kenobi is dead by now.
Tarkin, believing that Leia is no longer useful to the Empire, tells Vader that he will terminate her at once. But before he can order the Princess' execution, he receives unexpected - and unpleasant - news:
Comm Voice: Governor Tarkin, we have an alert in detention block AA-23. It seems the Princess has escaped somehow. We're not quite sure yet...
Tarkin: The Princess! Put all sections on alert! Locate her and any other Rebels at once!
Sound: He snaps off the comlink.
Vader: Obi-Wan Kenobi is here. The Force is with him!
Tarkin: If you're right, he will not be allowed to escape.
Vader: Escape may not be his plan. Still, the other Rebels can be of use to us in the manner we discussed. I suggest you make the necessary arrangements at once.
Tarkin: And General Kenobi?
Vader: Patterns are emerging that have great meaning for the Jedi. This is a nexus of events brought about by the Force itself. I must face Obi-Wan Kenobi alone.
The Jedi Nexus follows several subplots centered around the small group of rogues, Rebels, and robots that are trying to escape from the Death Star.
First, we are reunited with See-Threepio (Anthony Daniels) and his astromech counterpart Artoo-Detoo as they finagle their way past through unwitting stormtroopers and the droids' efforts to find if Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Han Solo (Perry King) and Chewbacca were able to rescue Princess Leia Organa (Ann Sachs). To Threepio's horror, the Rebels are in mortal peril: Han, Luke, and Chewie survived a shootout with the Imperials in detention block AA-23 and freed the Princess, but now they are in a trash compactor - and it is about to crush them alive!
Second, Ben Kenobi (Bernard Behrens) has managed to shut down the tractor beam that dragged the Millennium Falcon aboard the Death Star and prevents the ship from leaving. But as he makes his way back to the hangar, the old Jedi senses the evil presence of his former apprentice and realizes that his destiny lies along a different path from Luke's.
Ben: Darth Vader!
Vader: I've been waiting for you, Obi-Wan Kenobi!
Sound: Vader's lightsaber flares on.
Vader: We meet again at last. The circle is now complete. When I left you, I was but the learner...now I am the Master.
Sound: Ben's saber activates. Vader steps back.
Ben: Only a master of evil, Darth.
Vader: Have you finished whatever petty errand has brought you here? The tractor beam, perhaps?
Ben: I have deactivated it, yes.
The Jedi Nexus is perhaps one of the most action-packed episodes of the series. Of course, its major set piece is the fateful lightsaber duel between Ben Kenobi and Darth Vader, but it also includes:
In essence, this episode is as exciting and energetic as The Luke Skywalker Initiative, if not more. It's a natural continuation of the cliffhanger situation in Star Wars: The Radio Drama's tenth installment, and it actually surpasses its action content because listeners get not one but several big action scenes before it ends - of course - with another exciting cliffhanger designed to get listeners to tune in to the next chapter.
The Jedi Nexus is also unique in that it's the only episode in which all nine of the Radio Drama's main characters (seven Rebels, two Imperials) are at the same place (the Death Star) and are heard in dialogue. Of course, they're not all crowded into one scene; as in Lucas's Star Wars - Episode IV: A New Hope, the heroes and villains are spread out throughout the Death Star and have their own subplots. In one part of the huge battle station Vader and Tarkin confer to concoct a clever plot to manipulate the Rebels into leading to the Alliance's hidden base, while Ben, Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie, and even the droids find themselves in separate - and desperate - life-or-death situations as they try to escape from the Death Star.
British filmmaker and radio drama veteran John Madden gets outstanding performances from a cast which includes Star Wars veterans Mark Hamill and Anthony Daniels (Luke Skywalker and See-Threepio, respectively), as well as Brock Peters (Darth Vader), Keene Curtis (Governor Tarkin), Bernard Behrens (Obi-Wan Kenobi), Ann Sachs (Princess Leia), and Perry King (Han Solo). Every line, including the new material added for the series by the late Brian Daley, evokes the personalities of the iconic characters from Lucas's now-classic space-fantasy adventure.
Of course, due to the nature of the medium, Artoo and Chewbacca are the only characters whose performances were added in postproduction by Tom Voegeli, the sound mixer who blended Ben Burtt's original movie sound effects and John Williams' brilliant score to the voice performances recorded at Hollywood's Westlake Audio studio.
The Jedi Nexus proves that Star Wars stories can be told in media that is not visual in nature. With a good script, a fine cast, and some help from Lucasfilm Limited - the company allowed Madden, Voegeli, and production coordinator Mel Sahr to use the Oscar-winning music and sound effects from the original movie - Star Wars: The Radio Drama takes fans - old and new alike - on a voyage of the imagination to that galaxy far, far away.
As director John Madden says in the promotional brochure in the Star Wars: The Radio Drama CD box set:
"Anybody who's ever listened to a radio drama will testify to the fact that a play you hear will [remain] in your mind - twelve years later you'll remember it vividly. And the reason you'll remember it vividly is because you've done the work, is because it lives in your imagination.
"A phrase has come to mind in working on this project: You may think you've seen the movie; wait till you hear it."
Narrator: Now many strands in the web of galactic events have come together onboard the Empire's ultimate weapon, an enormous spacegoing fortress called the Death Star. At large in its vast interior, pursued by Imperial stormtroopers, is a strange assortment of Rebels: Luke Skywalker, and his droids, Artoo-Detoo and See-Threepio; the Princess Leia Organa; and the veteran Jedi Knight, Ben Kenobi. Allied with them by necessity are Captain Han Solo of the Millennium Falcon and his copilot, Chewbacca, a pair of reckless smugglers. And arrayed against these seven are the powers of a determined and merciless Empire and its most feared agent, Darth Vader.
Sound: Conference room up in background. Vader's respirator.
Vader: I tell you, Governor Tarkin, he is here!
Tarkin: Obi-Wan Kenobi? What makes you think so, Vader?
Vader: I sensed his aura clinging to that starship we captured, a tremor in the Force. The last time I felt it was in the presence of my old master.
Tarkin: If there is anyone on that starship, the scanning crew will detect them. But surely Kenobi must be dead by now!
Vader: Do not underestimate the power of the Force. Kenobi is a Jedi Knight and can use it superlatively well. He can, therefore, do things that would seem impossible to ordinary men, men who understand only their machines and the things they can see and touch.
Tarkin: Men like me; is that what you're implying? I tell you, the Jedi are extinct. Their fire has gone out of the universe, as you should well know, having brought that about. You, my friend, are all that's left of their religion.
Vader: I think not.
Tarkin: Enough! When we captured that starship, I thought the Princess Leia might still be of some use to us in locating the Rebel base, but since the ship appears to be empty, her reprieve is canceled. I'm going to have her executed at --
 |
| (C) 1977 20th Century Fox Film Corporation |
The episode begins in a conference room somewhere inside the Death Star; Lord Darth Vader (Brock Peters) and Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin (Keene Curtis), Governor of the Imperial Outland Regions, discuss the possibility that Obi-Wan Kenobi may be aboard the seemingly-abandoned starship that was recently captured and placed in one of the Death Star's docking bays. Vader, a fallen Jedi who turned to the dark side of the Force decades earlier, informs Tarkin that he senses his former master's presence.
Tarkin, however, is skeptical. The Clone Wars ended years ago, and Kenobi, a Jedi and a general in the Republic Army, disappeared soon after the proclamation of the Galactic Empire. Vader, who was once his pupil. helped the Emperor hunt down and destroy the Jedi Knights during the Great Purge. Surely, Tarkin exclaims, Kenobi is dead by now.
Tarkin, believing that Leia is no longer useful to the Empire, tells Vader that he will terminate her at once. But before he can order the Princess' execution, he receives unexpected - and unpleasant - news:
Comm Voice: Governor Tarkin, we have an alert in detention block AA-23. It seems the Princess has escaped somehow. We're not quite sure yet...
Tarkin: The Princess! Put all sections on alert! Locate her and any other Rebels at once!
Sound: He snaps off the comlink.
Vader: Obi-Wan Kenobi is here. The Force is with him!
Tarkin: If you're right, he will not be allowed to escape.
Vader: Escape may not be his plan. Still, the other Rebels can be of use to us in the manner we discussed. I suggest you make the necessary arrangements at once.
Tarkin: And General Kenobi?
Vader: Patterns are emerging that have great meaning for the Jedi. This is a nexus of events brought about by the Force itself. I must face Obi-Wan Kenobi alone.
The Jedi Nexus follows several subplots centered around the small group of rogues, Rebels, and robots that are trying to escape from the Death Star.
 |
| "Didn't we just leave this party?" (C) 1977 20th Century Fox Film Corporation |
First, we are reunited with See-Threepio (Anthony Daniels) and his astromech counterpart Artoo-Detoo as they finagle their way past through unwitting stormtroopers and the droids' efforts to find if Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Han Solo (Perry King) and Chewbacca were able to rescue Princess Leia Organa (Ann Sachs). To Threepio's horror, the Rebels are in mortal peril: Han, Luke, and Chewie survived a shootout with the Imperials in detention block AA-23 and freed the Princess, but now they are in a trash compactor - and it is about to crush them alive!
Second, Ben Kenobi (Bernard Behrens) has managed to shut down the tractor beam that dragged the Millennium Falcon aboard the Death Star and prevents the ship from leaving. But as he makes his way back to the hangar, the old Jedi senses the evil presence of his former apprentice and realizes that his destiny lies along a different path from Luke's.
 |
"The circle is now complete." (C) 1977 20th Century Fox Film Corporation
|
Vader: I've been waiting for you, Obi-Wan Kenobi!
Sound: Vader's lightsaber flares on.
Vader: We meet again at last. The circle is now complete. When I left you, I was but the learner...now I am the Master.
Sound: Ben's saber activates. Vader steps back.
Ben: Only a master of evil, Darth.
Vader: Have you finished whatever petty errand has brought you here? The tractor beam, perhaps?
Ben: I have deactivated it, yes.
The Jedi Nexus is perhaps one of the most action-packed episodes of the series. Of course, its major set piece is the fateful lightsaber duel between Ben Kenobi and Darth Vader, but it also includes:
- Luke, Han, Chewbacca, and Leia's escape from the trash compactor
- Han's reckless charge against the stormtroopers in one of the Death Star corridors
- Luke and Leia's daring swing across a chasm using a grappling hook and rope-like line from a stormtrooper's utility belt
"Now, let's just hope the hook's strong enough...." (C) 1977 20th Century Fox Film Corporation - Ben's death and the Rebels' seemingly-miraculous escape from the Death Star
My Take:
The Jedi Nexus is also unique in that it's the only episode in which all nine of the Radio Drama's main characters (seven Rebels, two Imperials) are at the same place (the Death Star) and are heard in dialogue. Of course, they're not all crowded into one scene; as in Lucas's Star Wars - Episode IV: A New Hope, the heroes and villains are spread out throughout the Death Star and have their own subplots. In one part of the huge battle station Vader and Tarkin confer to concoct a clever plot to manipulate the Rebels into leading to the Alliance's hidden base, while Ben, Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie, and even the droids find themselves in separate - and desperate - life-or-death situations as they try to escape from the Death Star.
British filmmaker and radio drama veteran John Madden gets outstanding performances from a cast which includes Star Wars veterans Mark Hamill and Anthony Daniels (Luke Skywalker and See-Threepio, respectively), as well as Brock Peters (Darth Vader), Keene Curtis (Governor Tarkin), Bernard Behrens (Obi-Wan Kenobi), Ann Sachs (Princess Leia), and Perry King (Han Solo). Every line, including the new material added for the series by the late Brian Daley, evokes the personalities of the iconic characters from Lucas's now-classic space-fantasy adventure.
Of course, due to the nature of the medium, Artoo and Chewbacca are the only characters whose performances were added in postproduction by Tom Voegeli, the sound mixer who blended Ben Burtt's original movie sound effects and John Williams' brilliant score to the voice performances recorded at Hollywood's Westlake Audio studio.
The Jedi Nexus proves that Star Wars stories can be told in media that is not visual in nature. With a good script, a fine cast, and some help from Lucasfilm Limited - the company allowed Madden, Voegeli, and production coordinator Mel Sahr to use the Oscar-winning music and sound effects from the original movie - Star Wars: The Radio Drama takes fans - old and new alike - on a voyage of the imagination to that galaxy far, far away.
As director John Madden says in the promotional brochure in the Star Wars: The Radio Drama CD box set:
"Anybody who's ever listened to a radio drama will testify to the fact that a play you hear will [remain] in your mind - twelve years later you'll remember it vividly. And the reason you'll remember it vividly is because you've done the work, is because it lives in your imagination.
"A phrase has come to mind in working on this project: You may think you've seen the movie; wait till you hear it."
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