'Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back - The Radio Drama' Episode Review: 'Freedom's Winter'
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| "Sir, Starfleet Headquarters reports that a Rebel convoy has been completely destroyed near Derra IV." |
Cast:
- Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill)
- Han Solo (Perry King)
- Princess Leia Organa (Ann Sachs)
- See Threepio (Anthony Daniels)
- Artoo Detoo
- Chewbacca
- Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi (Bernard "Bunny" Behrens)
- General Carlist Rieekan (Merwin Goldsmith)
- First Rebel
- Coordinator Droid
- Second Rebel
- Deck Officer (Ron Frazier)
- Command Center
- Sentry
- Renegade Four
- Commander Narra
- Renegade Seven
- Renegade Three
- Renegade Two
- Captain Needa (Nicholas Kepros)
- Imperial Officer
- 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. Now, it is a dark time for the Rebellion. Evading the dreaded Imperial starfleet, a group of freedom fighters, led by Luke Skywalker, has established a secret base on the remote ice world of Hoth. But the evil Lord Darth Vader, obsessed with finding young Skywalker, has dispatched thousands of "probe droids" - automated hunting machines - into the far reaches of space.
Sound: X-wings, transports zooming by, under.
Narrator: Now a small space convoy of Rebel transports and snubfighter escorts seeks to bring desperately needed supplies and reinforcements to Hoth.
SCENE 1-1 NARRA'S COCKPIT
Sound: Narra's cockpit sounds come up. All other lines are over comlink.
Narra: Renegade Flight, this is Renegade Leader. I'm getting interference on my sensors. It just might be Imperial jamming, so maintain close visual scanning. Renegade Four, stay closer to your transport.
Renegade Four: I copy, boss. It's probably just the atmospherics, cluttering the sensors.
Narra: Transport ships, keep close together. We go to hyperspace as soon as we're out of Derra IV's gravity field. Fighters, stick close to your transports and keep your eyes open, all of you.
Renegade Seven: Renegade Leader. this is Renegade Seven. Boss, I have a visual sighting - a number of small spacecraft coming at high velocity, from sector four.
Narra: Can you identify them?
Renegade Seven: They're moving awfully - Imperial TIE fighters! Must be twenty of 'em!
Narra: Renegade Flight, this is Renegade Leader. Prepare to engage the TIE fighters. Transport ships, go to hyperdrive as soon as you're clear of -
Renegade Three: This is Renegade Three! Boss, There's another bunch of 'em dead ahead on our course. They're breaking for attack!
Freedom's Winter is the first episode of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, a 1983 radio adaptation of Irvin Kershner's 1980 eponymous space-fantasy film. A sequel to National Public Radio's (NPR) successful 1981 radio drama based on Star Wars - Episode IV: A New Hope, this 10-part series reunited director John Madden, author Brian Daley, and the major cast of Star Wars: The Radio Drama, including Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, Ann Sachs, Bernard Behrens, Perry King, and Brock Peters.
With the exception of several key scenes that set up the episode, including the annihilation of Renegade Flight and a convoy of Rebel transports by Imperial forces at Derra IV, Freedom's Winter is an expanded version of the opening act of Star Wars - Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. With three fewer episodes than the previous Star Wars radio series, The Empire Strikes Back's first episode jumps into the story created by George Lucas, Leigh Brackett, and Lawrence Kasdan following three scenes of new (and possibly non-canonical) material (the Battle of Derra IV and its effects on the fortunes of the Rebels on Hoth, including Luke's de facto promotion to Commander; Imperial HQ's new orders to the Star Destroyer Avenger; and the launch of a new batch of probe droids programmed with new instructions from Darth Vader).
According to Brian Daley's introduction to the 1994 book Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back - The National Public Radio Dramatization, the second Star Wars radio series was shorter because "[w]e decided on ten episodes rather than thirteen, due to both time and budget constraints."
Although George Lucas had once again "sold" the radio rights to The Empire Strikes Back to his film school's NPR station, KUSC- FM Los Angeles, for a symbolic sum of $1, recording a multi-part radio series is expensive, and the Reagan Administration was penurious when it came to funding public broadcasting. In 1982, NPR had just enough money to pay for a 10-part Empire adaptation, but when Daley, Madden, and production coordinator Mel Sahr began preparing to finish the trilogy with a Return of the Jedi radio dramatization, NPR's budget was cut so low that the project was put on hold until 1996.
As a result of the decision to write and produce only 10 episodes, Daley doesn't delve into the three-year span between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. Consequently, the radio drama sticks closer to the source Brackett-Kasdan screenplay (and George Lucas's story) and only tells a few untold stories, such as the fact that Luke is promoted to command Rogue Squadron after the debacle at Derra IV and the Imperial fleet's continuing efforts to find the Rebels' new base.
Scene 1-2 IMPERIAL DESTROYER BRIDGE
Sound: Sounds of Imperial Destroyer bridge come up. Instrumentation, crew's wild lines, etc.
Imperial Officer: (APPROACHING) Captain Needa!
Needa: Yes, Lieutenant?
Imperial Officer: Sir, Starfleet Headquarters reports that a Rebel convoy has been completely destroyed near Derra IV.
Needa: At least someone is seeing a little action. Let's hope that we do before the Rebellion is completely obliterated. What is the status of our probe-droid operation?
Imperial Officer: The probe droids we've launched so far report no Rebel activity - no human activity, for that matter - on any of the planets they've reconnoitered.
Needa: And the next launch group?
Imperial Officer: All the probes are targeted and ready to go. The ship is now in position. Shall I give the order to launch?
Needa: No, Lieutenant. I just received a priority signal from Lord Vader's flagship. We have new information to program into the probes' data banks and sensors.
Imperial Officer: That could delay the launch for some time, Captain Needa. May I ask what the new information is?
Needa: It seems that Lord Vader is more eager than ever to locate this "Skywalker." He has also placed great emphasis on the whereabouts of a starship called the Millennium Falcon.
Imperial Officer: I'll have the new material programmed into the probes immediately, sir.
Needa: Lord Vader has also revised the targeting list. Have the operations people retarget probe droids for the planets Allyuen, Tokmia, and Hoth.
Imperial Officer: Hoth, sir? But Captain Needa, that's an ice planet!
Needa: I am aware of that, Lieutenant.
Imperial Officer: Sir, the Rebels' last base was on a tropical planet. Their equipment and supplies are mostly suited for jungle conditions.
Needa: Are you questioning a directive from Lord Vader, Lieutenant?
Imperial Officer: No, sir, of course not!
Needa: That is very, very prudent of you. Perhaps Lord Vader has information he doesn't deign to share. Or it may be that he is following his intuition. In any case, it is always dangerous to differ with him.
Freedom's Winter then shifts our attention to the goings on at the Rebels' Echo Base on Hoth, where we catch up with some old friends - Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Princess Leia (Ann Sachs), Han Solo (Perry King), Chewbacca, See Threepio (Anthony Daniels), and Artoo Detoo. Inside the deep caverns carved into the arctic ice by Alliance engineers, they learn about the destruction of Renegade Squadron and the supply convoy it was escorting by Imperial forces at Derra IV from General Rieekan (Merwin Goldsmith).
Luke is especially hit hard by the news of Commander Narra's death. Not only was Narra his immediate superior in the reconstituted Red (now Rogue) Squadron, but to the young Skywalker, the veteran pilot was a respected mentor and a friend. Luke's grief is only somewhat assuaged when Rieekan gives him a spot promotion to Commander and gives him command of the now shorthanded Rogue Squadron.
The episode soon matches up with the beginning of Irvin Kershner's 1980 film version of Star Wars - Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, with a closer look into certain off-screen events, such as to the droids' accidental resetting of the thermostat in Princess Leia's chambers, conversations between Luke, Leia, and Han before a pre-patrol briefing, and Luke's fateful encounter with a Wampa ice creature while checking out a "meteor" that struck the ground not too far away from Echo Base.
My Take:
Narra: Transport ships, keep close together. We go to hyperspace as soon as we're out of Derra IV's gravity field. Fighters, stick close to your transports and keep your eyes open, all of you.
Renegade Seven: Renegade Leader. this is Renegade Seven. Boss, I have a visual sighting - a number of small spacecraft coming at high velocity, from sector four.
Narra: Can you identify them?
Renegade Seven: They're moving awfully - Imperial TIE fighters! Must be twenty of 'em!
Narra: Renegade Flight, this is Renegade Leader. Prepare to engage the TIE fighters. Transport ships, go to hyperdrive as soon as you're clear of -
Renegade Three: This is Renegade Three! Boss, There's another bunch of 'em dead ahead on our course. They're breaking for attack!
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| "This is Renegade Three! Boss, There's another bunch of 'em dead ahead on our course. They're breaking for attack!" Art from fantasyflightgames.com (C) Lucasfilm Ltd. |
Freedom's Winter is the first episode of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, a 1983 radio adaptation of Irvin Kershner's 1980 eponymous space-fantasy film. A sequel to National Public Radio's (NPR) successful 1981 radio drama based on Star Wars - Episode IV: A New Hope, this 10-part series reunited director John Madden, author Brian Daley, and the major cast of Star Wars: The Radio Drama, including Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, Ann Sachs, Bernard Behrens, Perry King, and Brock Peters.
With the exception of several key scenes that set up the episode, including the annihilation of Renegade Flight and a convoy of Rebel transports by Imperial forces at Derra IV, Freedom's Winter is an expanded version of the opening act of Star Wars - Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. With three fewer episodes than the previous Star Wars radio series, The Empire Strikes Back's first episode jumps into the story created by George Lucas, Leigh Brackett, and Lawrence Kasdan following three scenes of new (and possibly non-canonical) material (the Battle of Derra IV and its effects on the fortunes of the Rebels on Hoth, including Luke's de facto promotion to Commander; Imperial HQ's new orders to the Star Destroyer Avenger; and the launch of a new batch of probe droids programmed with new instructions from Darth Vader).
According to Brian Daley's introduction to the 1994 book Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back - The National Public Radio Dramatization, the second Star Wars radio series was shorter because "[w]e decided on ten episodes rather than thirteen, due to both time and budget constraints."
Although George Lucas had once again "sold" the radio rights to The Empire Strikes Back to his film school's NPR station, KUSC- FM Los Angeles, for a symbolic sum of $1, recording a multi-part radio series is expensive, and the Reagan Administration was penurious when it came to funding public broadcasting. In 1982, NPR had just enough money to pay for a 10-part Empire adaptation, but when Daley, Madden, and production coordinator Mel Sahr began preparing to finish the trilogy with a Return of the Jedi radio dramatization, NPR's budget was cut so low that the project was put on hold until 1996.
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| Brian Daley (1947-1996) |
Scene 1-2 IMPERIAL DESTROYER BRIDGE
Sound: Sounds of Imperial Destroyer bridge come up. Instrumentation, crew's wild lines, etc.
Imperial Officer: (APPROACHING) Captain Needa!
Needa: Yes, Lieutenant?
Imperial Officer: Sir, Starfleet Headquarters reports that a Rebel convoy has been completely destroyed near Derra IV.
Needa: At least someone is seeing a little action. Let's hope that we do before the Rebellion is completely obliterated. What is the status of our probe-droid operation?
Imperial Officer: The probe droids we've launched so far report no Rebel activity - no human activity, for that matter - on any of the planets they've reconnoitered.
Needa: And the next launch group?
Imperial Officer: All the probes are targeted and ready to go. The ship is now in position. Shall I give the order to launch?
Needa: No, Lieutenant. I just received a priority signal from Lord Vader's flagship. We have new information to program into the probes' data banks and sensors.
Imperial Officer: That could delay the launch for some time, Captain Needa. May I ask what the new information is?
Needa: It seems that Lord Vader is more eager than ever to locate this "Skywalker." He has also placed great emphasis on the whereabouts of a starship called the Millennium Falcon.
Imperial Officer: I'll have the new material programmed into the probes immediately, sir.
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| Captain Needa, commander of the Star Destroyer Avenger. (C) 1980 Lucasfilm Ltd. |
Needa: Lord Vader has also revised the targeting list. Have the operations people retarget probe droids for the planets Allyuen, Tokmia, and Hoth.
Imperial Officer: Hoth, sir? But Captain Needa, that's an ice planet!
Needa: I am aware of that, Lieutenant.
Imperial Officer: Sir, the Rebels' last base was on a tropical planet. Their equipment and supplies are mostly suited for jungle conditions.
Needa: Are you questioning a directive from Lord Vader, Lieutenant?
Imperial Officer: No, sir, of course not!
Needa: That is very, very prudent of you. Perhaps Lord Vader has information he doesn't deign to share. Or it may be that he is following his intuition. In any case, it is always dangerous to differ with him.
Freedom's Winter then shifts our attention to the goings on at the Rebels' Echo Base on Hoth, where we catch up with some old friends - Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Princess Leia (Ann Sachs), Han Solo (Perry King), Chewbacca, See Threepio (Anthony Daniels), and Artoo Detoo. Inside the deep caverns carved into the arctic ice by Alliance engineers, they learn about the destruction of Renegade Squadron and the supply convoy it was escorting by Imperial forces at Derra IV from General Rieekan (Merwin Goldsmith).
Luke is especially hit hard by the news of Commander Narra's death. Not only was Narra his immediate superior in the reconstituted Red (now Rogue) Squadron, but to the young Skywalker, the veteran pilot was a respected mentor and a friend. Luke's grief is only somewhat assuaged when Rieekan gives him a spot promotion to Commander and gives him command of the now shorthanded Rogue Squadron.
The episode soon matches up with the beginning of Irvin Kershner's 1980 film version of Star Wars - Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, with a closer look into certain off-screen events, such as to the droids' accidental resetting of the thermostat in Princess Leia's chambers, conversations between Luke, Leia, and Han before a pre-patrol briefing, and Luke's fateful encounter with a Wampa ice creature while checking out a "meteor" that struck the ground not too far away from Echo Base.
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| Promotional poster art for The Empire Strikes Back - The Radio Drama by Ralph McQuarrie |
My Take:
I am a fan of the late Brian Daley's Star Wars: The Radio Drama, so when that series ended in the summer of 1981, I hoped that NPR and Lucasfilm would follow it up with a follow-up radio drama based on the more complex and darker The Empire Strikes Back. And due to the success of the first show, Daley, director John (Shakespeare in Love) Madden, and the cast and crew were able to revisit that galaxy far, far away in another NPR Playhouse production.
However, Freedom's Winter aired for the first time on Valentine's Day of 1983, which coincided with the second semester of my senior year in high school. I missed that episode during its original broadcast; I finally got to hear it in 1996 when I purchased the entire radio series when HighBridge Audio released the first two radio dramas in audiocassette format. (I upgraded to compact discs in the 2000s.)
Although I was a bit disappointed that Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back - The Radio Drama has a considerably shorter running time (four hours and 15 minutes) than its predecessor (five hours and 57 minutes), Freedom's Winter is an exciting beginning to an audio adventure worthy of the Star Wars name. It begins with an action-packed battle sequence that sets the tone for the rest of the series: the Empire, eager to avenge the destruction of its ultimate weapon - the Death Star - is striking back with all its might. Lord Vader's minions give no quarter to the Rebels, and their victory at Derra IV is only the beginning of our heroes' troubles.
Because Daley didn't have the luxury to write one or two episodes' worth of "backstory" material as he did in Star Wars: The Radio Drama, Freedom's Winter becomes an outright adaptation of the 1980 feature film in Scene 1-4, which depicts Luke's fateful ride on a tauntaun to set up sensors around the perimeter of Echo Base before night falls and the temperatures on Hoth drop to life-threatening levels.
There are, of course, several new scenes, including a comical encounter between Artoo, Threepio, and an officious Coordinator Droid that ends in disaster when the heater in Princess Leia's quarters is adjusted as a result of an argument between the droids. But the balance of Daley's script for Freedom's Winter is based on the movie script, including Luke's use of the Force in the Wampa's cave and his first sighting of Ben Kenobi's (Bernard Behrens) ghostly apparition.
As a fan, I wish NPR had had the resources to produce a longer Radio Drama in which Daley could have told us a bit more about the events between the first Star Wars series and Empire. How, for instance, does Darth Vader learn that Luke Skywalker was the Rebel pilot who destroyed the Death Star? Was Boba Fett the bounty hunter Han and the other Rebel heroes ran into on Ord Mantell? These questions are never addressed in the films or the Radio Dramas; perhaps they could have ben explored a bit more fully in the Empire radio drama if Daley had had a few more episodes to play with.
Nevertheless, Freedom's Winter is a joy to listen to. Lucasfilm's support of the project allowed director John Madden and post-production engineer/sound mixer Tom Voegeli to use Ben Burtt's sound effects and composer John Williams' brilliant score for The Empire Strikes Back to place the audience aboard Renegade Flight's doomed X-wings at Derra IV, eavesdrop on a conversation between two Imperial officers aboard a Star Destroyer, and walk alongside a motley group of Rebel freedom fighters in the chilly passageways of Echo Base on the ice world of Hoth.
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