'Star Wars: The Radio Drama' Episode Review: 'The Luke Skywalker Initiative'
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| "We've got to figure out a way to get into that detention block." (C) 1977 20th Century Fox Film Corporation |
Cast
- Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill)
- See-Threepio (Anthony Daniels)
- Han Solo (Perry King)
- Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi (Bernard "Bunny" Behrens)
- Princess Leia Organa (Ann Sachs)
- Artoo-Detoo
- Chewbacca
- 1st Crewman
- 2nd Crewman
- 1st Trooper
- 2nd Trooper
- Officer
- 2nd Officer
- 3rd Officer
- Soldier
- Console Voice
- 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 Rebellion's most desperate crisis, plans vital to the defeat of the Empire were hidden in the memory banks of the astrodroid Artoo-Detoo. Artoo and his companion droid, See-Threepio, have come into the hands of young farmer Luke Skywalker and the veteran Jedi Knight Ben Kenobi. Having resolved to deliver Artoo and Threepio to the planet Alderaan, Luke and Ben have hired a pair of daring smugglers, Han Solo and his copilot, Chewbacca. along with their starship, the Millennium Falcon.
Sound: The Falcon's forward compartment in the background, along with the rumble of the ship, without engines, as she's drawn along with her warning sirens, alarms, etc.
Narrator: But forces of the Empire have reached Alderaan's solar system first with their ultimate weapon, a huge spacegoing fortress called the Death Star with which they have destroyed the entire planet. The Millennium Falcon, arriving on the scene only to find Alderaan obliterated, is now being drawn into the Death Star by a tractor beam.
Sound: Distant noise of the escape pods being jettisoned.
Threepio: Listen, Artoo! It seems like Captain Solo is jettisoning the escape pods!
Artoo: CONCURS.
Threepio: But what if they leave us behind?
Artoo: OFFERS NO HELP.
Threepio: Oh, I simply hate space travel! Why is it that every time we're onboard a vessel, somebody seems determined to demolish us?
Luke: (OFF) Threepio! Artoo!
Threepio: We're over here, Master Luke!
Artoo: WHISTLES.
Threepio: Have we reached the planet Alderaan yet?
Luke: (FADING ON) There is no Alderaan, Threepio!
Threepio: I beg your pardon, sir, but I feel it is my duty to point out that you're in error. Why, I was there myself -
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| The Millennium Falcon is captured by the Death Star. (C) 1977 20th Century Fox Film Corporation |
In the tradition of the classic radio serials of the 1930s and '40s, The Luke Skywalker Initiative begins where Rogues, Rebels, and Robots left off; the Millennium Falcon, carrying Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi (Bernard Behrens), Artoo-Detoo, See-Threepio (Anthony Daniels), Han Solo (Perry King), and Chewbacca the Wookiee, has arrived at the Alderaan system. But instead of a peaceful world with a population of billions, Solo and his passengers discover the smoldering asteroid-like remains of an obliterated planet - and a moon-sized space station called the Death Star.
In the episode's opening scenes, Han and Chewbacca jettison the Falcon's escape pod to make it look like the crew abandoned ship and set the ship on autopilot to its intended destination. Han's plan: everyone will hide in smuggling compartments under the starship's deck plates.
Sound: The deck plates being dragged into place, locking into place with a metallic bang. Ship's engines, etc., are muted, and the characters' voices reflect their confinement. Chewbacca's keening to himself softly. All are shifting and moving to try and find comfort.
Han: Quit your griping, Chewie! And get your toe outta my ear!
Chewie: BELCHES.
Ben: What's your estimate of our progress, Captain Solo?
Han: They're probably clearing us through their outer defensive zones right about now. It looked like they had landing bays around the equator of that station. I'd guess they'll dock us there.
Luke: What was all that about the escape pods and the ship logs?
Han: I doctored the log to make it look like we abandoned ship right after liftoff and sent the Falcon along on automatics as a decoy.
Luke: D' you think they'll believe it?
Han: At first, maybe; these compartments are shielded and hidden really well.
The group of "rogues, Rebels, and robots" stays still and quiet in the smuggling compartments as a boarding party of Imperial stormtroopers searches the ship. Han tries to count how many troopers through sound alone, but Ben Kenobi's Jedi senses best the Corellian smuggler's hearing. ("Six stormtroopers came onboard," Ben tells Han matter-of-factly, "and six have left.")
But as Han and Luke express their amazement at the old man's abilities, Ben Kenobi tenses up.
Luke: Ben! What's the matter? Are you all right?
Ben: Yes, Luke, I...recognized a presence just outside the ship. He's gone now, but his being here explains a good deal.
Luke: Who was it?
Han: Never mind that now! We've still got plenty of problems! Let's get outta here.
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| (C) 1977 20th Century Fox Film Corporation |
Sound: The deck plates being pushed aside and closed under as group starts to get up, their voices reflecting the difference.
Luke: Boy. you're lucky you had these compartments!
Han: What'd I tell you about luck, kid? Never thought I'd be smuggling myself in them, though. This is ridiculous! Even if I could take off again, I'd never get past that tractor beam.
Ben: Leave that to me.
Han: Old fool... I knew you were going to say that.
Ben: Who's the more foolish, Captain Solo? The fool, or the fool that follows him?
The rest of The Luke Skywalker Initiative depicts, as one can deduce from the episode's title, how Luke begins his transition from a wide-eyed - and somewhat passive - observer of events around him to the proactive hero of the Rebellion. This change starts when he and his companions overpower the Imperial troops and a scanning crew aboard the Falcon and take over a Death Star command office. (Han and Luke don stormtrooper gear to get close to the office door.)
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| "TX-421, why aren't you at your post?" (C) 1977 20th Century Fox Film Corporation |
- The droids' discovery of how to deactivate the tractor beam and Obi-Wan's decision to handle the task himself
- Artoo finds out Princess Leia is aboard the Death Star, prompting Luke to plan an improvised rescue
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| "She's rich, Han." (C) 1977 20th Century Fox Film Corporation |
- Luke convinces a reluctant Han and Chewie to help him rescue the Princess
- "Aren't you a little short for a stormtrooper?"
- The shootout between the Rebels and Imperials near cellblock 2187 and "Get into that garbage chute, flyboy!"
My Take
Where Rogues, Rebels and Robots was mostly a character-driven episode in which Brian Daley explored the psyches of Han, Luke, and Ben (with a bit of humor added in the dejarik match between Chewie and Artoo), The Luke Skywalker Initiative is action-packed. It begins, of course, with our heroes' clever maneuvers to avoid being captured in Docking Bay 327, followed by a series of cliffhangers in the vein of those seen in Saturday matinee serials from which Star Wars draws many of its tropes.
And although Daley's script is based on writer-director George Lucas's fourth revised draft of the Star Wars screenplay, he tweaks the story slightly to fit the needs - and limitations - of the radio drama format.
As he has done in previous episodes derived from the 1977 film, Daley shows little bits of narrative business hinted at but not seen in the original movie. The Luke Skywalker Initiative starts with a scene in which we hear the droids reacting to Han's jettisoning of the escape pods, an action mentioned in the movie by an Imperial officer after the Imperials' first inspection of the captured Millennium Falcon but not actually seen on screen.
We also get to hear what happens aboard the Falcon as Darth Vader orders a scanning crew to search the starship more thoroughly - especially for the fugitive droids, Artoo-Detoo and See-Threepio. In fact, this particular scene shows us the Rebels' perspective of the Send a scanning crew aboard. I want every part of this ship checked vignette. Instead of cutting to Vader sensing his former master's presence, Daley flips it around and shows us how Ben Kenobi reacts when he senses Vader through the Force. It is, I think, a cool way of getting around the restrictions of the medium and still letting the audience know that the Dark Lord of the Sith is out there, even if we can't "see" him as we do in the film version.
Director John Madden, who years later helmed the Oscar-winning romantic comedy film Shakespeare in Love, gets outstanding performances from a cast which includes Star Wars veterans Mark Hamill and Anthony Daniels (Luke and Threepio, respectively), as well as 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, sounds true to the nature 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 Luke Skywalker Initiative is a fun and exciting Star Wars adventure that still captures the listener's imagination nearly 35 years after its original broadcast on National Public Radio. It is action-packed and full of suspense, with some humorous bits - mostly featuring the droids, but also including some of the tart exchanges between Han and Leia (A garbage dump? Wonderful idea, Your Highness!) that gave Star Wars that Gable-and-Lombard vibe that made their relationship so entertaining to watch. (Or, in this case, listen to.)
As 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."
Truer words were never spoken.
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