'Star Wars: The Radio Drama' Episode Review: 'The Case For Rebellion'
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| "Those Rebels sure picked themselves a planet in the middle of nowhere, didn't they?" (C) 1977 20th Century Fox Film Corporation |
Cast
- Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill)
- See Threepio (Anthony Daniels
- Princess Leia Organa (Ann Sachs)
- Han Solo (Perry King)
- Chewbacca
- Artoo Detoo
- Lord Darth Vader (Brock Peters)
- Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin (Keene Curtis)
- Admiral Conan Antonio Motti (David Clennon)
- Commander Willard
- Rebel
- 2nd Rebel
- Red Leader
- General Dodonna
- Gold Leader
- Wedge Antilles
- Biggs Darklighter (Kale Brown)
- PA 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 greatest crisis, the Empire unleashed its ultimate weapon, the Death Star, a spacegoing fortress capable of destroying entire planets. An oddly met group of Rebels have managed to penetrate to the heart of the Imperial stronghold and escape with information that may be the key to victory.
Sound: Death Star up in background.
Narrator: But disaster looms, too, as the Death Star dogs their tracks, intent on pursuing them to the hidden Rebel base and obliterating the Rebel Alliance forever.
Sound: The Death Star conference room up, with Vader's respirator. Tarkin enters.
Tarkin: (APPROACHING) Are the Rebels well on their way, Vader?
Vader: Their starship just engaged our sentry fighters and fought their way clear. They're about to make the jump to light speed.
Tarkin: Indeed? What were our losses?
Vader: I withdrew all except four TIE fighters from that defensive zone to make the Rebels' escape more plausible. All four of our pilots were killed... These traitors to the Empire are formidable opponents.
Tarkin: We're fortunate that they themselves weren't slain. It's a pity about the casualties, but they're no great sacrifice to make in return for a lead to the Rebel base.
Vader: An insignificant price.
Tarkin: You're sure the homing beacon is secure aboard their ship? I'm taking a considerable risk in allowing them to escape, Vader. Your plan had better work.
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"I'm uneasy about having left the Death Star plans in that droid of theirs...." (C) 1977 20th Century Fox Film Corporation
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Daley begins The Case For Rebellion in the same Death Star conference room in which he opened the previous episode as Grand Moff Tarkin (Keene Curtis) and Lord Darth Vader (Brock Peters) discuss the "escape" they have arranged so the Millennium Falcon can lead the Death Star to the Rebels' hidden base. In this scene we learn that Vader has had a homing beacon installed in the fleeing Falcon and sacrificed four TIE fighter sentry ships to make the Rebels' escape look convincing.
Despite Vader's self-confident vow that his plan will work and that this day will be "long remembered" in the annals of Imperial history, Tarkin is uneasy. Although he is aware of Vader's Force abilities and his position as the Emperor's main enforcer, he worries about the Dark Lord's methods. The Rebels, after all, still possess the Death Star plans...plans that the Sith Lord failed to retrieve when Princess Leia Organa (Ann Sachs) and her blockade runner were captured above the desert planet Tatooine a few days before. Now, Tarkin's future within the Empire's ruling class depends on the success of Vader's scheme, and the ambitious Grand Moff doesn't quite like that.
For the moment, though, the Governor of the Imperial Outland Regions' worries are relieved when Admiral Conan Motti (David Clennon) enters the conference room with good news.
Motti: (APPROACHING) Lord Tarkin!
Tarkin: Well, Motti?
Motti: The homing beacon is transmitting a perfect signal, sir. What are your orders?
Tarkin: Follow it, Motti, and have all personnel on standby alert. We are about to wipe another planet out of existence...the Rebels' base world. Then the galaxy is ours.
The Case For Rebellion segues to the Millennium Falcon immediately after the battle with Vader's TIE fighters as Han (Perry King), Chewbacca, See Threepio (Anthony Daniels), Artoo Detoo, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and Princess Leia (Ann Sachs) repair the damaged YT-1300 freighter and assess their current situation.
Han: Okay, partner, I'll take over here. You run aft and see what you can do about the laterals. We can get by on auxiliaries for now.
Chewie: BARKS.
Sound: He rises from his seat.
Han: I'll punch up the jump to lightspeed.
Chewie: (OFF) GRUNTS.
Han: (CALLING) And get those droids to help! Well, not a bad bit of rescuing, huh? Y'know, sometimes I even amaze myself.
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| (C) 1977 20th Century Fox Film Corporation |
Leia: That doesn't sound too hard. Look, use your head...The Imperials let us go! It's the only explanation for the ease of our escape.
Han: Easy? You call that easy?
Leia: They're tracking us now.
Han: Not this ship, sister!
Leia: Oh, you're impossible! Well, at least Artoo-Detoo is still intact.
Han: What's so important about the droid? What's he carrying?
Leia: The technical readouts of that battle station. I only hope that when the data are analyzed a weakness can be found.
Han: Listen, if you're so afraid we're being tracked, we'll lay over someplace and search the ship.
Leia: There's no time! If the Empire isn't stopped, other planets will be destroyed as Alderaan was. That's why I've got to risk going directly to the Rebel base. This fight isn't over yet.
Han: It is for me, sister! Look, I ain't in this for your revolution and I'm not in it for you, Princess. I expect to be well paid....I'm in it for the money!
The Case For Rebellion is, in contrast to the previous two episodes, focused on the motives of both the protagonists of the Rebel Alliance and their Imperial antagonists. As noted earlier, the 12th episode of Star Wars: The Radio Drama tells us that Vader - and to some degree, Tarkin - are pulling the strings of our Rebel heroes in a risky gambit that they hope will result in the Empire's ultimate victory.
It also delves into the conflicting motivations of the idealistic Princess Leia, the naïve but brave Luke Skywalker, and the cynical and self-centered Han Solo. Leia and Luke believe in the Rebel cause and want to fight against the Imperial juggernaut. Han, on the other hand, simply wants to get his reward for his and Chewie's part in Leia's rescue from the Death Star so he can pay off Jabba the Hutt and get on with his life as an "independent operator."
The Case For Rebellion also features several scenes that set up the climactic final episode, Force and Counterforce, including material that wasn't in the original Star Wars film or is extrapolated from a few short scenes, including:
- Leia introduces Luke to Commander Willard, who is impressed by the Tatooine farmboy's ability to improvise and think on his feet
- Han's self-serving demands to get paid in precious metals, even though he knows the Rebels need them for repairs and to keep weapons and equipment functioning
- Luke's attempts to talk Han into helping the Alliance in the upcoming battle against the Death Star
- Luke Skywalker's reunion with childhood friend - and Rebel pilot - Biggs Darklighter (Kale Brown)
- The Rebels train Luke to fly an Incom T-65C X-wing fighter in a combat flight simulator
- General Dodonna's pre-strike briefing to Red and Gold Squadrons ("Man your ships, and may the Force be with you.")
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| (C) 1977 20th Century Fox Film Corporation |
Though this episode is - like A Wind to Shake the Stars and Points of Origin - expository in both form and function, it does a good job at setting up the series' finale and giving Star Wars fans an in-depth look at the run-up to the Battle of Yavin.
For instance, the 1977 film never showed us how Luke, a farm boy from a desert planet, is able to get into the cockpit of a T-65C X-wing fighter and fly it like a pro during the Battle of Yavin. Yes, Obi-Wan tells Luke that he understands that the boy has become a good pilot, and we heard Biggs tell Red Leader that his friend is the best bush pilot in the Outer Rim. But we never see Luke flying anything until the final act of Star Wars - Episode IV: A New Hope. (Drive a landspeeder? Yeah. Fly a skyhopper? No....)
Daley cleverly fills in this plot hole by creating a scene in which Commander Willard tells Biggs to take Luke to a combat flight simulator and put him through a series of virtual reality flight tests. Luke "flies" a simulated X-wing against what Willard later says is "the entire Imperial fleet" and is "only" killed twice. This, Biggs says, is far better than most of the Rebels who are going to fly alongside them in the coming battle with the real Empire.
Of course, Daley's script includes dialogue from the original film, including Han and Leia's argument about the Rebellion aboard the Millennium Falcon, General Dodonna's last-minute briefing to the Rebel pilots ("Your approach will not be easy..."), and the Vader-Tarkin discussion about the homing beacon aboard the Falcon. Most of the lines are straight from the original screenplay, but there are also new additional lines that add depth and detail that are absent from the film version of A New Hope.
The Case For Rebellion is a Star Wars adventure that still captures the listener's imagination 36 years after its original broadcast on National Public Radio. It is character-driven yet full of suspense, with some humorous bits - mostly featuring the droids. It also includes some of the tart exchanges between Han and Leia (You needn't worry about your reward....) that gave Star Wars that Gable-and-Lombard vibe that made their relationship so entertaining to watch. (Or, in this case, listen to.)
As the series' director John Madden (Shakespeare in Love) 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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