'Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back - The Radio Drama' Episode Review: 'New Allies, New Enemies'

(C) 1993 HighBridge Audio and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL)

New Allies, New Enemies

Cast:

• Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill)
• Han Solo (Perry King)
• Chewbacca
• Princess Leia Organa (Ann Sachs)
• See Threepio (C-3PO) (Anthony Daniels)
• Artoo Detoo (R2-D2)
• Lord Darth Vader  (Brock Peters)
• Boba Fett
• Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams)
• Yoda (John Lithgow)
• Imperial Lieutenant
• Admiral Piett (David Rasche)
• Captain Lorth Needa (Nicholas Kepros)
• Sentry
• Cloud City Control
• Droid
• Trooper
• Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi (Bernard "Bunny" Behrens)
• Narrator (Ken Hiller)

Reviewer's Note: All quoted material is from the 1995 Del Rey book Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back - The National Public Radio Dramatization. This edition contains Brian Daley's complete radio play, which differs slightly from the version of the Radio Drama which aired on National Public Radio in 1983 and the original 1990s HighBridge Audio cassette and compact disc editions. The version in Daley's script was recorded, but as with the original 1981 Star Wars Radio Drama, edits were made at the request of NPR due to the needs of the radio format. The longer version is available in HighBridge Audio's more expensive Limited Edition CD collection of Star Wars: The Complete Radio Drama Trilogy.

Announcer:  OPENING CREDITS

Music: Opening theme.

Narrator: A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, there came a time of revolution, as Rebels united to challenge a tyrannical Empire. Now, it is a dark time for the Rebellion. Their fortress on the planet Hoth destroyed, the survivors of the Rebel Alliance are being hunted across the galaxy. Luke Skywalker, moved by the Force, has gone to the mysterious planet Dagobah, to further his Jedi training.

Sound: Falcon zooming.

Narrator: One Rebel starship, the Millennium Falcon, is now being pursued through an asteroid field by an Imperial starfleet. Aboard her are the Princess Leia Organa, the droid See Threepio, Captain Han Solo, and his Wookiee first mate, Chewbacca. Giant warships and swift TIE fighters close in for the capture, at the command of Darth Vader.

(C) 1983 National Public Radio and Lucasfilm Ltd. Poster art by Ralph McQuarrie

SCENE 7-1  FALCON COCKPIT

Sound: Falcon's cockpit comes up, with alarms wailing, etc.

Han: Can'tcha give me more power, Chewie? They're practically on top of us!

Sound: Explosions against the Falcon's shields.

Leia: Han, they're firing!

Han: What'd you expect 'em to do, Princess? Wave?  

The Millennium Falcon Four try to evade Imperial pursuit in "New Allies, New Enemies." (C) 1980 Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL)

Sound: Another explosion.

Threepio: Look, the asteroid field is thinning! Can't we escape into hyperspace now?

Han: Nah, still too much junk floating around us, Threepio.

Leia: Well, we'd better do something, Han! Deflectors are hitting the overload mark!

Sound: More alarms. Chewbacca howls.

Leia: What'd Chewbacca say?

Han: Imperial Star Destroyer, comin' straight at us! Don't those guys ever take a day off?

Leia: Can we stay ahead of it long enough to make lightspeed?

Han: We're gonna find out. If we can't, you'll be among the first to know. Gimme everything she's got, Chewie!

Chewbacca: ROARS,

Threepio: What did Chewbacca say?

Han: He said, "Here's where the fun begins!"

New Allies, New Enemies is the seventh chapter in National Public Radio's (NPR) Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, a 10-part adaptation of the screenplay by Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan. It was written by the late science fiction novelist Brian Daley and directed by John Madden, a veteran of various BBC radio plays in his native England. Madden, who would later go on to direct the Academy Award-winning comedy Shakespeare in Love, had helmed NPR's original 1981 Star Wars radio drama and, in 1996, would complete the trilogy for HighBridge Audio's six-part Star Wars: Return of the Jedi - The Radio Drama. 

In this episode, Daley follows two plot lines. In one, the Millennium Falcon Four (Han Solo, Princess Leia, See Threepio, and Chewbacca)  try to evade an Imperial Starfleet force under the command of Darth Vader (Brock Peters) aboard a modified stock freighter with a balky hyperdrive. Unable to make the jump to lightspeed, Han (Perry King) evades asteroids, TIE fighters, laser barrages from Vader's squadron of Star Destroyers, and a gang of assorted bounty hunters led by Boba Fett in hopes of getting Princess Leia (Ann Sachs) to a rendezvous to the Rebel fleet. 

"Do! Or do not. There is no "try." (C) 1980 Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL)

Meanwhile, as Darth Vader closes in on his friends, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) continues his training as a Jedi Knight under the tutelage of Yoda (John Lithgow), the 900-year-old Jedi Master who once taught Obi-Wan Kenobi (Bernard Behrens). Although he is sometimes impatient and shows "much anger in him, like his father," Luke is making great strides in his journey toward mastering the Force.

But as he is about to find out, he must unlearn what he has learned in the past and trust in that mystical energy field that gives a Jedi his power:

SCENE 7-5A  DAGOBAH EXTERIOR

Sound: Brief transition. Sound of bubbling bog comes up, sucking down the X-wing. 

Luke: (APPROACHING AT A RUN, PANTING) No! Aww - no! Lookit that!

Artoo: WHISTLES A RESPONSE.

Sound: The ship disappears into the bog.

Luke: There it goes. We'll never get it out of there now, Artoo.

Yoda: (APPROACHING) "Never"? So impossible is it? So certain are you?

Artoo: BEEPS MOURNFULLY.

Luke: Master, raising stones into the air is one thing. Raising my fighter out of the swamp...that's totally different.

Yoda: No! No different! Only different in your mind! Unlearn! You must unlearn what you have learned before.

Luke: But this is so much -

Yoda: Do it. Raise it; bring it here, to the shore.

Luke:  I - all right; I'll give it a try.

Yoda: No! Do! Or do not. There is no "try."

Luke: (FALLING INTO CONCENTRATION) Yes. I'll raise it....

Yoda: Know. Feel the ship....

Luke: The ship...

Yoda: Concentrate.

Sound: Waters begin to stir and roll.

Yoda: Mmm! Open yourself to the Force.

Luke: (WITH THE EFFORT) So heavy. Can't - (EXHALING, EXPLOSIVELY) I can't hold it up -

Sound: Swamp gurgles to stillness.

Artoo: (SLIGHTLY OFF) BEEPS DISAPPOINTMENT.

Luke: Master, the fighter is too big,

Yoda: Size matters not! Look at me. Judge me by my size do you?

Luke: Of course not; I never meant that you -

Yoda: And well you should not! For my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is!

Luke: I know that - I'm trying to know that....

Yoda: Life creates it! Makes it grow. Ah! Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we! See this arm of yours?

Luke: (AS YODA PRODS HIM) Uh?

Yoda: We are not this crude matter; not flesh and bone! You must feel the Force around you. Here. Between you...me...this tree...that rock. Everywhere!

Luke: Everywhere.

Production painting by Ralph McQuarrie. (C) 1980 Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL)

Yoda: Yes! Mmm. Even between the land...and your ship. 

Luke: Master, I truly wish I could raise it but...you want the impossible. 

Yoda: Told you, did I not? All things are subordinate to the Force. (DRAWING A DEEP BREATH) Now, see!

Sound: The waters bubble again.

Yoda: (SERENE) Bigger than the stone you are; smaller than the ship am I. And yet....

Sound: Waters boil, part.

Luke: (AMAZED) What...?

Yoda: - what is that, to the Force?

Sound: The ship lifts clear of the water.

Luke: The ship!

Artoo: WHISTLES INCREDULOUSLY.

Sound: Ship dripping. Humming slightly.

Luke: You're doing it!

Yoda: Said I not? The land...and the ship. Ashore, it comes because it will. And so, it is here.

Sound: X-wing coming to rest, landing gear sighing, wings dripping, etc.

Luke: But this! I don't...I just don't believe it!

Yoda: Yes, Luke; that is why you fail. Come.


The balance of New Allies, New Enemies switches back and forth between Luke's training on Dagobah, including the Force vision that impels young Skywalker to leave the bog planet in order to save his friends, and the Falcon's perilous journey from the asteroid field to Bespin's Cloud City. There, Han hopes that an old gambling buddy of his, Lando Calrissian, will give him and his tired crew temporary refuge while the Millennium Falcon's damaged hyperdrive is repaired.

But little do Han and Leia know that on Cloud City, danger awaits. Vader's fleet may be dispersed all over the galaxy hunting for them and has temporarily lost track of the fleeing ship, but the Dark Lord's most feared bounty hunter, Boba Fett, has picked up Solo's trail. And the Rebels' new ally, Lando, may not be their best hope to escape from the evil Darth Vader...and the wrath of the Galactic Empire.

Cloud City, as depicted in an early concept painting by Ralph McQuarrie. (C) 1980 Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL)

 My Take

As I have said in past reviews of Star Wars radio dramas, adapting a movie that is remembered for its stunning visuals and exotic alien locations that are literally out of this world is difficult. It's probably easier to adapt, say, Casablanca or even When Harry Met Sally...from the silver screen to the radio recording studio than a special effects blockbuster along the lines of Star Wars - Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. 

Yet, Brian Daley not only accepted that challenge and created a wonderful and highly successful audio-only rendition of the adventures of Luke Skywalker & Friends, but he did it three times! Starting with Star Wars in 1981, The Empire Strikes Back in 1983, and after a 13-year hiatus caused by Congressional cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting during the Reagan and Bush Administrations, in 1996's Return of the Jedi adaptation for HighBridge Audio, the Minnesota record company which manufactured and distributed the NPR Star Wars radio dramas in cassette and compact discs. 

Like the other episodes in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back - The Radio Drama, New Allies, New Enemies is a showcase for Daley's many talents as a storyteller.

The late author (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 Perry King's wonderful portrayal of Han Solo and Ann Sachs' equally impressive rendition of Princess Leia. 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 for the first Star Wars series:

[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, Anthony Daniels, the slender British actor who has portrayed the fussy, easily flustered protocol droid See Threepio in every Lucasfilm Star Wars film and TV series, and Billy Dee Williams, the cool, smooth, but somewhat shady Lando Calrissian. 

"Clear Skies!" Brian Daley, 1947-1996