'Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back - The Radio Drama' Episode Review: 'The Clash of Lightsabers'

Concept art by Ralph McQuarrie for The Empire Strikes Back. (C) 1980 Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL)

The Clash of Lightsabers

Cast:

• Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill)
• Princess Leia Organa (Ann Sachs)
• See-Threepio (Anthony Daniels)
• Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams)
• Artoo-Detoo
• Chewbacca 
• Lord Darth Vader (Brock Peters)
• Too-Onebee (Russell Horton)
• PA System 
• 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, when Rebels united to challenge a tyrannical Empire. Now, it is a dark time for the Rebellion. Deep inside Cloud City, Luke Skywalker fights a desperate lightsaber duel against Darth Vader. Han Solo, encased in a block of carbonite, in the charge of the bounty hunter, Boba Fett. And, attempting to escape to the Millennium Falcon, Leia, Lando, Chewbacca, See-Threepio, and Artoo-Detoo, are trapped by a locked blast door, as Imperial stormtroopers open fire on them.

SCENE 10-1  CLOUD CITY CORRIDOR

Sound: The firefight comes up.

Narrator: Their only hope lies with the astro-droid Artoo-Detoo, who is trying to use Cloud City's computer system to open the door.

Threepio: Artoo, the stormtroopers are closing in on us! If you don't get that door open, we're finished!

Artoo: BEEPS.

Sound: A blaster bolt comes at them.

Threepio: Well, try harder!

Leia: Lando! Stormtrooper by that doorway!

Lando: I see him, Leia!

Sound: Lando fires.

Leia: You got him!

Sound: Another incoming shot.

Leia: That only leaves a dozen or so.....

Ralph McQuarrie concept painting for The Empire Strikes Back. (C) 1980 Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL)

The Clash of Lightsabers is the tenth and final episode of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, a radio drama that originally aired in the spring of 1983 on National Public Radio. Written by science fiction novelist Brian Daley and directed by John Madden, it was based on the hit 1980 film Star Wars - Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back and on the screen story by George Lucas. 

In the exciting series finale, Daley, Madden, and the radio drama cast (which includes Empire movie vets Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, and Billy Dee Williams) revisit the last 20 minutes or so of the film written by Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan and directed by Irvin Kershner.

As The Clash of Lightsabers opens, Cloud City's Baron Administrator Lando Calrissian (Williams) has already made his "gambler's choice" and joined Princess Leia Organa (Ann Sachs), Chewbacca, a still partly disassembled Threepio (Daniels) and Artoo-Detoo in a failed attempt to free the carbonite encased Han Solo from his bounty captor Boba Fett. 

Now, the five Rebels are trapped in a corridor of the city in the clouds of Bespin, blocked from reaching Landing Platform 327 and the Millennium Falcon by a locked blast door and a platoon of Imperial stormtroopers.

Meanwhile, in the control room to Cloud City's reactor, Jedi-in-training Luke Skywalker (Hamill) is locked in a deadly battle with the fearsome Lord Darth Vader (Brock Peters). Haunted by visions of his friends' suffering, Luke has impetuously ignored the warnings of his Jedi mentors, Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi, in an attempt to save Han, Chewie, Leia, and Threepio.

But although so far Luke has acquitted himself well against the Dark Lord of the Sith, Vader is still more powerful, relentless, and in command of the situation. He has, after all, experience in fighting the Jedi Knight order of old. And, tasked with bringing young Skywalker to the Emperor on faraway Coruscant, Vader is determined to break the young Rebel's obstinate resistance by any means necessary.

Scene 10-4 (the fourth segment of the episode) is a long dramatization of Luke's final lightsaber duel with Vader in the reactor shaft at the bottom of Cloud City. The young Jedi has had a few opportunities to step back and walk away from this confrontation, but his quest to avenge the deaths of his Jedi father, his Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru, and his first Jedi teacher, Ben Kenobi, has led him here. And although he now realizes that he may be over his head in this battle, Luke still fights on.

"You can only lose! It is inevitable!" Concept painting for final duel between Luke and Vader by Ralph McQuarrie. (C) 1980 Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL)

Luke and Vader: INDICATE THE FIGHT

Vader: You can only lose! It is inevitable! (WITH EFFORT OF SHOVING LUKE)

Sound: Luke sprawls.

Luke: REACTS.

Vader: Get on your feet. You are beaten, Skywalker!

Luke: You killed Ben and...you still didn't beat him!

Vader: It is useless to resist! Don't let yourself be destroyed, as Obi-Wan did!

Luke: Don't worry - (INDICATING EFFORT OF RISING) I won't. (EFFORT OF SWINGING LIGHTSABER)

Sound: They duel. Burning, searing sounds as Luke's blade scores on Vader's arm.

Vader: Ah-hrr!

Luke: Ha! How do you like it? The fire of a lightsaber blade?

Vader: INDICATING EFFORT OF A VICIOUS ATTACK.

Sound: Quick, furious exchange. Vader's blade explodes instrument pod. Pause.

Vader: I did not wish to damage you, but - you leave me no alternative....

Sound: Another passage-at-arms.

Luke and Vader: INDICATING IT.

Vader: INDICATES A SLASH, TAKING OFF LUKE'S SWORDHAND AT THE WRIST.

Sound: The slash, sputtering, explosive discharge of sword, etc.

Luke: (SCREAMS AS HE'S STRUCK, GROANING) My hand! My hand....

Vader: No sword! No swordhand! No hope left for you, Skywalker! Surrender!

Luke: (SOBBING) No...no...

Vader: There is no escape!

Luke: (MOANS) Yes - yes there is...

Vader: Luke, don't make me destroy you. You do not yet realize your importance. You have only begun to discover your powers!

Luke: You might as well get it over with...

Vader: Join me, and I will complete your training! With our combined strength, we can end this destructive conflict, and bring order to the galaxy!

Luke: Your kind of "order"? I'll never join you! I'll die first!

Vader: If you only knew the power of the dark side.

Luke: I've seen it! Hatred and fear and cruelty!

Vader: Obi-Wan never told you what happened to your father....

Luke: He told me enough! He told me you killed my father!

Vader: No, Luke, I am your father!

Luke: No. No. that's not true! That's impossible!

Vader: Search your feelings. The Force gives you knowledge. You what I say to be true.

Luke: No, oh, no-oo!

Vader: Luke, you can destroy the Emperor. He has foreseen this. It is your destiny!

Luke: I reject it! I renounce it!

Vader: Join me, and together we can rule the galaxy as father and son!

Luke: Stay back....stay back!

Vader: Come with me, Luke. It is the only way this can end.

Luke: There's one other...I can jump...

Vader: Is that the wisdom of a Jedi?

Luke:  I won't be the first to die - to keep you from winning! 

Vader: Luke, no!

Luke: I will never let you win, Vader. (FALLING OFF) Never....

Vader: (UNDER) Luke!

Sound: Transition to underside Cloud City.

My Take

Like the film written by Brackett and Kasdan, envisioned by Lucas, and directed by Kershner, John Madden and Brian Daley's Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back ends on a cliffhanger note. Yes, Leia, Lando, Chewie and the droid duo of See-Threepio and Artoo Detoo save Luke from certain death at the last minute, but the situation is dire for them....and for the Rebel Alliance.

Consider: 

Han Solo (Perry King) is now in suspended animation inside a block of carbonite aboard Boba Fett's ship, Slave I. Destination: Jabba's Palace on Tatooine.

The Rebellion has lost its secret base on the ice world of Hoth and its small fleet of warships, freighters, and medical ships is rendezvousing in a remote region of space, avoiding the dreaded Imperial Starfleet.

Luke Skywalker has lost his hand and his naïve innocence as a result of his duel with Darth Vader. His lost organic hand can be replaced with a bionic one, but now he must wrestle with the thought that someone lied to him about the fate of his father. Was it Vader who lied to him? Or was it Obi-Wan back on Tatooine on that fateful day when the old Jedi gave him his now-lost lightsaber?

And as for Leia Organa?  She has finally admitted that she loves Han, after many years of denying it even to herself. But now that Lando Calrissian and Chewbacca are on their way to Tatooine on the first leg of a rescue attempt, Leia is torn between her commitment to the Rebel cause and her love for the Corellian smuggler-turned-Rebel hero.

When the series originally aired, Star Wars - Episode VI; Return of the Jedi had not premiered in theaters, so Brian Daley and the Radio Drama crew didn't have any idea how George Lucas was going to end the saga. As a result, listeners who heard this in the Spring of 1983 did not get any Easter Eggs or spoilers as to whether Vader was telling Luke the truth about their familial connection, what the Empire was up to in its ultimate plan to defeat the Alliance, or even if Han Solo was going to be thawed out.

All that listeners of the time could do was refresh their memories about what happened in Kershner's 1980 movie and speculate about the fate of their favorite Star Wars heroes and villains. They could also hope that Lucas and his creative team (including Jedi director Richard Marquand would give viewers a satisfying conclusion to the Star Wars trilogy.   

How well was the second radio drama received back in the day? I'll let Brian Daley's  own words tell that story.

The Empire Strikes Back debuted on NPR on Valentine's Day, 1983. Like its predecessor it was well received, despite suffering the same disadvantage. Local NPR affiliates slipped it into their schedules any which way they pleased, so the series was denied the huge advantage of national PR that could mention a specific timeslot.

Still, the series did extremely well. Soon after that, talks began for the Return of the Jedi series. But it was about then that NPR funding took severe hits from Reaganomics cutbacks, and the project had to be abandoned. - Brian Daley, in his foreword to Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back - The National Public Radio Dramatization.

Shortly after Daley's words were printed in the 1995 Del Rey paperback edition of his radio play, HighBridge Audio, the NPR-affiliated company that manufactured and sold the two existing Radio Dramas on cassette (and later, compact disc) sets, offered to pick up the production costs for recording Star Wars; Return of the Jedi - The Radio Drama. The budget, of course, was only a fraction of what the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (through NPR) would have spent on the show, but it was enough for Brian Daley (who by then was stricken by cancer) to write a six-part drama. 

But that, Dear Reader, is a story for another day.

As for this Radio Drama based on what many Star Wars fans consider to be the best entry in the Skywalker Saga (which now includes The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi)?

I think that Brian Daley did a great job adapting the Brackett-Kasdan script and was able to expand its story for the audio-only medium of radio. He is faithful to the source, and avid fans will hear echoes of the original movie's lines, albeit with more detail and depth. 

Overall, John Madden also handles things well as the director of The Clash of Lightsabers. He gets great performances from a cast that includes Star Wars film veterans Mark Hamill, Billy Dee Williams, and Anthony Daniels, who reprise their iconic roles of Luke Skywalker, Lando Calrissian, and See-Threepio, Ann Sachs as the sassy but loving Princess Leia, Brock Peters as the evil Darth Vader, and other voice actors, including Russell Horton, and narrator Ken Hiller,

In addition, credit must be given 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' musical score. Voegeli's efforts paid off well; Star Wars:  The Empire Strikes Back - The Radio Drama became the second most successful production of the series, 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  original 1981 Star Wars series, "A phrase has come to mind in working on this project: You may think you've seen the movie; wait till you hear it." 

 

Brian Daley, 1947-1996. Clear skies, and may the Force be with you.