'Star Wars: The Radio Drama' Episode Review: 'The Han Solo Solution'
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| (C) 1981 National Public Radio and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL) Poster art by Celia Strain |
Cast:
- Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi (Bernard Behrens)
- Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill)
- See-Threepio (Anthony Daniels)
- Artoo-Detoo
- Han Solo (Perry King)
- Chewbacca (Chewie)
- Dealer
- Heater (Joel Brooks)
- Squeak
- Proprietor
- 1st Trooper
- 2nd Trooper
- 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. In the most desperate crisis of that Rebellion, plans vital to the survival of the Rebel Alliance were secretly placed in the memory banks of the astrodroid Artoo-Detoo. An unlikely group has gathered together to undertake a journey to Alderaan, where Artoo-Detoo and his interpreter-counterpart, See-Threepio, must be safely delivered. Luke Skywalker, a young moisture farmer on the planet Tatooine, and Ben Kenobi. one of the last remaining Jedi Knights, have arranged for passage to Alderaan with a pair of reckless smuggler-pilots, Han Solo and his Wookiee first mate, Chewbacca, in their starship, the Millennium Falcon.
Sound: The streets of Mos Eisley up in background.
Narrator: But in Mos Eisley Spaceport, where the group is about to begin its journey, the streets are aswarm with Imperial stormtroopers and their spies and informers.
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| Luke Skywalker sells his landspeeder to a used-speeder dealer in Mos Eisley. (C) 1977 20th Century Fox Film Corporation |
"The Han Solo Solution" picks up the narrative thread of Star Wars - Episode IV: A New Hope where the previous episode of Brian Daley's adaptation, "The Millennium Falcon Deal," left off. As Han Solo (Perry King) and his copilot Chewbacca head out of the cantina after a deadly confrontation with a bounty hunter named Greedo, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and Ben Kenobi (Bernard Behrens) search the streets and alleyways of Mos Eisley for a dealer that's willing to buy Luke's landspeeder. Ben, who was once known as Obi-Wan Kenobi, knows that the Rebellion will pay Han the bulk of his charter fee, but he doesn't have the promised 2,000-credit up-front payment on him, and neither does Luke.
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| Luke Skywalker and Ben (Obi-Wan Kenobi. (C) 1977 20th Century Fox Film Corporation |
As they make their way along the crowded streets and narrow passageways of the teeming spaceport, Ben's Jedi senses detect ominous signs that the old Knight and his new apprentice are being spied on.
BEN: (COMING ON) Well, Luke, if this Millennium Falcon is as fast as Captain Solo boasts it is, we should be able to reach Alderaan without further complication. I...stop a moment, Luke.
LUKE: Why? What is it?
BEN: I had a feeling I was under observation.
LUKE: I can't see anybody watching us.
BEN: Nor I.
LUKE: Do you think those stormtroopers are still after us?
BEN: No. The Imperials who followed us out the back door at the cantina went the other way.
LUKE: Then you're sure about this feeling?
BEN: The sensation was strong, but less so now.
LUKE: Then maybe whoever it was went away. I'm learning to trust your feelings, Ben. What should we do now?
BEN: We'd better hurry on. The sooner we get Captain Solo's money for him, the sooner we can get off Tatooine.
LUKE: That suits me.
BEN: I promised the captain two thousand in cash, but I've none of my own. You'll have to sell your landspeeder.
LUKE: Sure. I'm never coming back to this planet again.
BEN: I am in your debt, Luke. But if I were you, I wouldn't be so sure about where the future will find me.
After a brief (and comical) reunion with Artoo-Detoo and See-Threepio (Anthony Daniels), Ben and Luke go for a final drive on the landspeeder as they search for a dealership in which to sell it. They talk about Han and Chewbacca. About the seemingly cocky spacer, Ben says, "There is something more to Solo than meets the eye. He's not just another Corellian smuggler or minor outlaw: I can sense that." The two also discuss Chewie; Luke says he had never seen a Wookiee before and seems fascinated by "the rifle-crossbow thing" - the bowcaster.
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| Brian Daley had an obvious affection for Chewie and Han, as listeners will discover in Star Wars: The Radio Drama. Photo (C) 1977 20th Century Fox Film Corporation |
Meanwhile, as Luke, Ben, and the droids have their share of adventures selling the landspeeder and evading Imperial patrols, Han and Chewbacca rendezvous near Docking Bay 94, the dingy launch pit in Mos Eisley Spaceport where the Millennium Falcon is docked. The two friends discuss Han's fateful showdown with Greedo at the cantina and their troubles with Jabba the Hutt. The gangster is still angry with Solo "about that load of Kessel spice we had to dump" when Imperial inspectors boarded the Falcon in the dynamic duo's most recent smuggling run, Now "Jabba's put such a high price on our heads that every professional gun in this part of space'll be hunting for us."
Han tells Chewie that Heater, Jabba's capo in Mos Eisley, is looking for them and expresses his hopes that they can make this charter run to Alderaan and get the money they owe before either Heater or Jabba catch up to them.
And in an all-new scene created by Daley for Star Wars: The Radio Drama, Han's ethics are sorely tested when they run into an old acquaintance with an intriguing proposition:
Sound: Interrupted by the approach of Squeak, a nervous, fast-talking little nonhuman.
SQUEAK: (OFF, CALLING) Solo! Hey, Solo!
HAN: It's Squeak!
CHEWIE: GROWLS A QUESTION.
HAN: How d' I know what he wants? But get set.
SQUEAK: (APPROACHING) Solo, I've been looking all over for you and the Wook!
HAN: And I've noticed you've found us, Squeak. So?
SQUEAK: Big Bunji wants to see you. He's got a job for you.
CHEWIE: LOWS.
HAN: Then why'd he wait until we're chartered?
SQUEAK: It came up all at once....
HAN: Tell Bunji I said, "Who the hell needs - "
SQUEAK: (INTERRUPTING) It pays ten thousand in advance....
HAN: ...an old man and a kid and two droids." Right, Chewie?
CHEWIE: WARBLES IRRITABLY.
HAN: Lead on, Squeak.
CHEWIE: OBJECTS WITH A GROWL.
SQUEAK: What's wrong with the Wook?
HAN: Nothing. Look, wait over there for a second, will you?
SQUEAK: (MOVING OFF) Sure, Han, sure.
HAN: (LOW AND CONFIDENTIAL) What's eating you?
CHEWIE: REPLIES BRIEFLY.
HAN: I don't care what happens to the old man. Or the kid, or the droids. This is real life, not some kinda game. (CALLING) Hey, Squeak!
SQUEAK: (COMING ON) Yeah, Han?
HAN: Tell Big Bunji he's got himself a starship.
SQUEAK: Now you're talking!
HAN: What's the deal?
SQUEAK: A load of chak-root's due in tomorrow. You take it from here to -
CHEWIE: INTERRUPTS WITH A BARK.
HAN: Tomorrow? Look, we're hot and we're rapidly going critical!
CHEWIE: CONCURS.
HAN: Jabba and Heater are on our necks, and the stormtroopers are probably after us, too, by now. Tell Bunji to find someone else. Scram, Squeak. The nerve of some people.
The balance of "The Han Solo Solution" depicts several scenes based on the original fourth revised version of George Lucas's screenplay for Star Wars - Episode IV: A New Hope. These include:
- Daley's version of the confrontation between Han and Jabba, in which Heater is a substitute for the vile Hutt crime lord. Most of the dialogue was adapted from Lucas's script for the deleted Jabba-Solo conference in Docking Bay 94 but spoken by Heater, a human enforcer played by Joel Brooks.
- Another comic relief scene that shows what the droids were doing to evade Imperial patrols while they waited for Ben and Luke.
- An extended version of the "What a piece of junk!" scene in which Han tries to come across as just a "starpilot for hire" and nothing more.
- The shootout between Han, Chewie, and Imperial stormtroopers, and the Millennium Falcon's last-minute escape from Docking Bay 94,
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| "What a piece of junk!" (C) 1977 20th Century Fox Film Corporation |
My Take:
As I have mentioned in some of my previous Star Wars: The Radio Drama reviews. the late Brian Daley became a metaphrast when the series' executive producer Carol Titleman, then a vice president at Lucasfilm, hired the young novelist because she'd liked the way Daley had handled Star Wars material in his Han Solo trilogy. Thus it is not surprising that the author gives actor Perry King so many good lines in both "The Millennium Falcon Deal" and this episode.
Because these episodes are now directly based on the screenplay by George Lucas - think of Star Wars: The Radio Drama as an expanded edition of the 1977 film - most of the scenes and dialogue are familiar to most fans. Certainly six of the main characters - Luke, Ben, Artoo, Threepio, Han, and Chewie are present, and most of the scenes they are in are longer and more detailed versions of the original film sequences. The situations are essentially the same, but because the radio drama has six times as much running time as Lucas's movie, listeners now get to hear how Luke got a better deal for his landspeeder from the used speeder dealer (hint, the insect-like alien was not a Toydarian). They also get to know the clever side of Threepio that the films and TV series never really get to show us.
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| (C) 1993 HighBridge Audio and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL) |
But Daley (who died in 1996 of cancer on the same day that principal recording for the Return of the Jedi Radio Drama ended) is only one of the many talented individuals whose contributions made Star Wars: The Radio Drama such a big hit for National Public Radio when it originally aired in 1981.
For instance, actors Mark Hamill and Anthony Daniels did a magnificent job when they reprised their iconic film roles as Luke Skywalker and See-Threepio. Their performances are so good in this audio-only version of Star Wars that listeners can close their eyes and "see" the young farmboy from Tatooine and the prissy golden protocol droid in their minds' eyes. (Incidentally, Hamill later became a much in-demand voice actor; his best-known role beyond the Star Wars universe just may be the Joker from Batman: The Animated Series and various Warner Bros. Batman animated features.)
Actors Perry King (Han) and Bernard Behrens (Ben Kenobi) stepped into roles that were created by other actors who were either unavailable (Harrison Ford was then filming Raiders of the Lost Ark) or unwilling (Sir Alec Guinness didn't want to be remembered solely for playing an old space warrior-wizard) to participate in the series. As I said in my previous review, it is ironic that King had auditioned for the part of everyone's favorite Corellian space pirate in 1976 and lost out to Ford; his Star Wars: The Radio Drama Han is so good that you wish that Perry King had gotten to play the movie version, too.
And many thanks are owed 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.
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