'Star Wars: The Radio Drama' Episode Review: 'A Wind to Shake the Stars'
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| (C) 1981 Lucasfilm, Ltd. and National Public Radio. Poster art by Celia Strain |
Back in the spring of 1981, National Public Radio aired "A Wind to Shake the Stars," the first episode of Brian Daley's 13-part radio adaptation of Star Wars. At the time, the notion of Star Wars - a movie known for its array of spectacular visual effects - as a radio drama seemed to be, in Obi-Wan Kenobi's words, "a damn fool idealistic crusade." But special effects scenes of space battles or a life-or-death lightsaber duel are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to why Star Wars became a major cultural event; it had a classic coming-of-age/hero's journey plot, a brilliant score by John Williams, and the unforgettable sound effects by Ben Burtt. All of these were the ingredients necessary to adapt the film into a radio drama.
The format also allowed Daley to expand on the characters and situations created by George Lucas for his 1977 movie. In its original movie version, Star Wars (which was renamed Star Wars - Episode IV: A New Hope after the radio drama aired) has a running time of 123 minutes. The 13-part adaptation has a running time of approximately six and a half hours.
Per The Making of Star Wars: The Radio Drama, "Noted science fiction writer Brian Daley prepared the scripts for the 13 radio episodes. The expanded time frame of the radio series allowed him to delve much more deeply into the personalities of the characters, particularly Luke Skywalker, and to include all-new scenes: a rendezvous between Princess Leia and her father on the planet Alderaan before she is kidnapped by the Empire; the first meeting of Artoo Detoo and See Threepio; a clash between Han Solo (accompanied by his Wookiee sidekick, Chewbacca) and the Tatooine underworld, and others.*"
A Wind to Shake the Stars
Cast:
- Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill)
- Aunt Beru (Anne Gerety)
- Uncle Owen (Thomas Hill)
- Windy (uncredited)
- Fixer (Adam Arkin)
- Cammie (Stephanie Steele)
- Biggs (Kale Brown)
- Deak (David Paymer)
- Tape Voice (uncredited)
- Narrator (Ken Hiller
Windy: ....Hey, what are you doing with the tape console?
Luke: Nothing, nothing. How'd you get here?
Windy: My folks came over to see your uncle and aunt. What'd ya mean, "nothing"? Let's see that tape.
Sound: They scuffle over the tape.
Luke: Cut it out, Windy.
Sound: The scuffle breaks off, both of them breathing heavily.
Windy: (TRIUMPHANTLY) Aha! "Applicant's Information Packet. Imperial Space Academy."
Luke: Will you stop, Windy?
Windy: You're still seeing novas, huh, Luke? Looks like this tape's been played a few thousand times.
A Wind to Shake the Stars is a character-driven episode set entirely on Tatooine, the arid desert home world of Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill). As in the film, Luke is a restless 19-year-old who lives with his Uncle Owen (Thomas Hill) and Aunt Beru (Anne Gerety) in their moisture farm/homestead. Although he's devoted to his aunt and uncle, who have raised him since he was a baby, Luke yearns to leave Tatooine and attend flight school at the Imperial Space Academy. Like most teenagers, Luke craves adventure, excitement, and to be something more than a farmer on a backwater planet.
Luke's lofty goals make him a bit of an oddball among most of his contemporaries. His best friend, Biggs Darklighter (Kale Brown), is the only one who understands young Skywalker's dreams, but he has been off Tatooine ever since he was accepted into the Academy. His other associates, including Deak (David Paymer), Fixer (Adam Arkin), Fixer's girlfriend, Camie (Stephanie Steele), and Windy, think Luke's a nice enough guy but too much of a dreamer.
When're you gonna grow up, Luke? You're a farm boy, just like me. - Windy to Luke
Fixer and the rest of the youths are seemingly content with their lot on Tatooine, as boring and insignificant as the desert world might be. They have their hopes and dreams, yes, but they don't involve going off-world or getting involved in the simmering Galactic Civil War.
Fixer, in particular, thinks Luke is a sucker for wanting to go to the Space Academy. Fixer doesn't want to take orders from anyone or "parade around in a fancy uniform. He just wants to run the power station in Anchorhead, be doted on by Camie, and, as he tells Luke, "be my own boss."
Just because you got lucky on a couple of crummy tests, that doesn't make you some kind of junior space explorer. - Fixer to Luke.
Fixer is also tired of living in Biggs Darklighter's shadow, so when Luke challenges him to a skyhopper race out in Beggar's Canyon, Fixer readily accepts.
Luke has not had any formal flight training, but his natural flying skills help him beat Fixer by threading the Stone Needle, a rock formation in one of the bends in Beggar's Canyon. It's a risky maneuver that only the best of pilots can make, but Luke - barely - succeeds, damaging his T-16 skyhopper in the process.
The rest of the episode delves a little bit into his relationship with Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru. Owen is a gruff farmer who only seems interested in keeping Luke at the homestead to work with the vaporators and other tools moisture farming. He tells his nephew to keep his thoughts on his chores and the upcoming harvest and to stop daydreaming about going off-world.
Aunt Beru is more understanding and tries to be the peacemaker between Luke and Owen. She knows why Owen is so adamant that Luke doesn't go off to the Academy, of course, but she wishes her husband would try a bit harder to seem less close-minded and dictatorial.
I...I don't want him getting hurt, Beru. I want what's best for Luke.
I know that, Owen. But it wouldn't hurt to tell him so. - Owen and Beru Lars
My Take
A Wind to Shake the Stars is one of two "setting the stage" episodes that shows what happens to Luke and Princess Leia Organa days, perhaps weeks, before the events of Star Wars - Episode IV: A New Hope. Much of its plot is derived from an early version of Lucas's rough version of the movie, including a few deleted scenes that included British actress/model Koo Stark as Camie and Garrick Hagon as Biggs. Though the scenes in Tosche Station (Anchorhead) and Luke's reunion with Biggs were filmed and are featured in Alan Dean Foster's novelization and Marvel Comics' adaptation of Star Wars, Lucas felt they slowed the narrative down and edited them out of the finished movie.
Daley must have had a tough time incorporating these static scenes into his script, but by adding new material about a skyhopper race, he was able to inject excitement to the story. He also deftly uses the episode to show that Luke is already a good (if rather reckless) pilot and why he had to use the landspeeder instead of the skyhopper to look for a runaway droid named Artoo Detoo.
A Wind to Shake the Stars does, in fact, have one brief moment set within the time frame of A New Hope 's main storyline. It's based, again, on a deleted scene (which can be seen in the 2011 Blu-ray set's Bonus Disc 2). If you have read the novel or have the 1977 Marvel Comics adaptation, you'll probably recognize it right away.
The late Brian Daley (he died of cancer in 1996 just as the recording sessions for the radio adaptation of Return of the Jedi were nearing completion) did a good job with the characterizations, particularly Luke's earnest-but-restless adolescent and his overprotective uncle and aunt. I like the way that he uses the characters' dialog to describe the action as naturally as possible without making it seem too radio-like.
Daley sticks to many techniques used in radio dramas, including "wild lines" and adding small bits of trivial dialog to keep a character in the scene. As he wrote in the 1994 paperback of the Original Radio Drama Script:
[M]ovies and TV can show you who's present even if they're not speaking, but that's a tougher proposition on radio.
Director John Madden, who is best known for his Academy Award-winning film Shakespeare in Love, had considerable experience as a radio director for the British Broadcasting Corporation. He gets great performances from the cast, including lead actor Mark Hamill, who originally played Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars Trilogy and is reprising the role in the current Star Wars Sequel Trilogy.
On the whole, A Wind to Shake the Stars is a good opening chapter to the Star Wars Radio Drama . In spite of its "landbound" setting on Tatooine, Daley's script manages to inject thrills and suspense into a character-driven expository episode. It's fast-paced, and sound mixer Tom Voegli's adroit use of Ben Burtt's sound effects and John Williams' music helps the listener to feel that A Wind to Shake the Stars is worthy of the Star Wars name.
* The booklet was, of course, written in 1993 and was based on promotional material created in '81 to promote the series. Daley, in the scripts, never specifically states that Artoo and Threepio actually met in Star Wars: The Radio Drama. Those of us who have seen Star Wars - Episode I: The Phantom Menace know that the droids met 32 years earlier at Shmi Skywalker's hovel in Mos Espa.
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