'Star Wars: Return of the Jedi - The Radio Drama' Episode Review: 'Fast Friends'

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(C) 1997 HighBridge Audio and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL)
Fast Friends

Cast:

  • Han Solo: Perry King
  • Boba Fett: Ed Begley, Jr.
  • Jabba the Hutt: Edward Asner
  • Lando Calrissian: Arye Gross
  • Princess Leia Organa: Ann Sachs
  • Luke Skywalker: Joshua Fardon
  • Bib Fortuna: David Dukes
  • See-Threepio (C-3PO): Anthony Daniels
  • Skiff Guards: Various
  • Sail Barge Guards: Various
  • Barada: Martin Jarvis
  • Narrator: Ken Hiller
Sound/FX Roles

  • Chewbacca
  • Gamorrean #1
  • Gamorrean #2
  • Rancor
  • Artoo-Detoo (R2-D2)
  • Sarlaac
  • Salacious Crumb: Ian Gomez
Reviewer's Note:

All quoted material is from the 1996 book Star Wars: Return of the Jedi - 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 1996 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 and its 1983 sequel, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back – The Radio Drama, edits were made at the request of NPR due to the needs of the radio format. The longer version of this episode 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 the Empire is pressing hard to complete a second Death Star, a planet-killing battle station intended to crush the Rebel Alliance once and for all. But on the desert planet of Tatooine, more immediate disaster looms for the key members of the Rebel leadership. In a grim fortress-palace, Princess Leia, Han Solo, and Chewbacca the Wookiee are prisoners of the vile gangster, Jabba the Hutt. The droids See-Threepio and Artoo-Detoo, sent to Jabba as gifts by Luke Skywalker, are powerless to help. Though Leia has managed to thaw Han from the carbonite slab in which he was imprisoned, he has emerged blinded by hibernation sickness. And as the princess becomes a plaything of the evil Jabba, Han is being dragged to dungeons deep under the palace.

SCENE 2-1  JABBA'S DUNGEONS

Sound: Echoing; dripping water, in the background. Howls, wild lines, and yammering of human and nonhuman prisoners.  Cellblock door rolls shut, off.

Han: (INDICATING EFFORT AND THE SHIVERING, ETC., OF HIBERNATION SICKNESS; MOVING ON) Hey, watch the shovin'. I said lay off, ya stinkin', flat-nosed Gamorrean boneheads. 

Gamorreans #1 and #2: (MOVING ON) CHUFF AND GRUNT, HUSTLING HIM ALONG.

 Han: Real brave against a guy who can't even see, aren't cha? When my eyes come back on-line I'm gonna find you, rip your horns out, and use 'em for coat hooks.

 Sound: Cell door opens.

 Han: Oh, my new accomodations. huh? The Imperial suite? 

 Gamorreans #1 and #2: WHUFFLE AND SLOBBER AS THEY SHOVE HIM INSIDE.

 Han: (INDICATES BEING PUSHED) Ya drooling slobs.

 Sound: Cell door clinks shut, under next. 

 Han: Your mother's a set of matched luggage! (SNIFFS THE AIR EXPERIMENTALLY) Whew! Yeah, smells like a prison cell, all right. 

 Sound: Chewbacca stirs off, under next.

 Chewbacca: GROWLS WARNINGLY, OFF, NOT YET AWARE OF WHO HAN IS.

 Han: Who's that? Who's there?

 Chewbacca: A BARK OF RECOGNITION.

 Han:  Chewie, is that you? Chewie?

 Chewbacca: (MOVING ON) YOWLS AND BLEATS IN EXCITEMENT, OVER NEXT.

 Sound; Chewbacca grabs and pats Han in reunion.

 Han: (INDICATING THE IMPACT) Wait, I can't see, pal. What's goin' on? 

 Chewbacca: RATTLES OFF AN EXPOSITORY STRING OF YIPS, HOOTS, AND ROARS.



Han: Luke? Luke's crazy. He can't take care of himself, much less rescue us.

Chewbacca: GROWLS INSISTENTLY.

Han: He says he's a Jedi Knight? Oh, great! Leia tried to be a one-princess rescue team and now Jabba's got her. I'm out of it for a little while and everybody's having delusions of grandeur.

"Nevertheless, Jabba, I'm taking Captain Solo and his friends. You can either profit by this...or be destroyed." Concept art by Ralph McQuarrie. (C) 1983 Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL)


Fast Friends is the second of six episodes that make up HighBridge Audio's 1996 Star Wars: Return of the Jedi - The Radio Drama. Brian Daley, author of a successful trilogy of Han Solo novels and writer of Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back radio plays that aired on National Public Radio in 1981 and 1983 respectively, adapted the Return of the Jedi script by George Lucas and Lawrence Kasdan for producer Tom Voegeli and director John Madden. Additional material from the Expanded Universe was provided by John Whitman. 

As in the old radio serials that were in vogue in the Golden Age of Radio, Fast Friends picks up the narrative where Tatooine Haunts left off: Princess Leia's (Ann Sachs) attempt to rescue Han Solo (Perry King) from the clutches of the vile Jabba the Hutt (Ed Asner) has failed spectacularly. Now Leia, Han, Chewbacca, See-Threepio (Anthony Daniels), Artoo-Detoo, and a cleverly disguised Lando Calrissian (Arye Gross) pin their hopes on the galaxy's last Jedi Knight, Luke Skywalker (Joshua Fardon).

Fast Friend begins with the reunion of Han and his Wookiee co-pilot and best friend, Chewbacca. It is a bittersweet moment: the cocky smuggler is happy to be reunited with Chewie, but he is still suffering from hibernation sickness and can't see yet. Moreover, he knows that they are all in Jabba's fortress-like palace on Tatooine and that getting out is going to be no cakewalk. Jabba is protected by a small army of bounty hunters, hired swoop gang members, and dim but mean Gamorrean guards, the porcine brutes that shoved Han unceremoniously into his cell in the first scene.

So it's not surprising that Han reacts with great skepticism when Chewie tries to reassure him that Luke Skywalker is now a Jedi Knight and is coming to the palace to rescue them:



Han: (INDICATING THE IMPACT) Wait, I can't see, pal. What's goin' on? 

Chewbacca: RATTLES OFF AN EXPOSITORY STRING OF YIPS, HOOTS, AND ROARS.



Han: Luke? Luke's crazy. He can't take care of himself, much less rescue us.

Chewbacca: GROWLS INSISTENTLY.

Han: He says he's a Jedi Knight? Oh, great! Leia tried to be a one-princess rescue team and now Jabba's got her. I'm out of it for a little while and everybody's having delusions of grandeur.

 And when Chewie tells Han that Lando, the man who betrayed him and his friends to Darth Vader and Boba Fett (Ed Begley, Jr.)  at Bespin's Cloud City, Solo is still less than enthused:

Chewbacca: WOOOS AND UURRRRS.

Han: What d'ya mean "Lando's here, too?" Chewie, I need you - don't start hallucinating on me.

Chewbacca: WOOFS OFFENDEDLY.

Han: Okay, okay, don't get your fur all ruffled.

Chewbacca: YAWPS AFFECTIONATELY AS HE HUGS HAN.

Han: (INDICATES THE POWER OF A WOOKIEE SQUEEZE) Oof! Yeah, I love you, too. Only go easy on the hugs,huh? Cracked ribs are a problem I can do without right now.

Chewbacca: RUMBLES HIS CONCERN.

Han: I'm all right. pal.

Sound: Han pats Chewbacca comfortingly.

Han: I'm all right.

In an expanded version of the Chewie-Han reunion in the film version of Return of the Jedi, Daley  sets up a battle of words between the still blind Corellian smuggler-turned-Rebel hero and the galaxy's most notorious bounty hunter, Boba Fett.

"I've beaten you, Solo." (C) 1983 Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL)

The man in the Mandalorian armor, apparently, has wandered down to the dungeons to gloat at his once-elusive prey. But Captain Han Solo, owner-master of the Millennium Falcon, isn't putting up with it:

Han: C'mon, bounty hunter, you didn't come here just to stare!

 Fett: I've beaten you, Solo. 

 Han: Beaten me? You? Vader captured us. Jabba's got us. All you did was fetch and carry.

 Fett: Tomorrow I'll collect another bounty. And you'll be dead.

 Han: I've bargained with Jabba before - don't worry about me. What about you - you still Jabba's little errand boy?

Fett: Watch your mouth, Solo. I risked my tail to get you here.

Chewbacca: A ROLLING, SARCASTIC GROWL.

Han: Yeah, Chewie, I think you're right. We struck a nerve. I bet he's not as cocky as he wants people to think. In fact, he sounds just a little nervous to me. Are you nervous, Fett? Worried that we'll get out of this hole and track you down?

Fett: (LAUGHS) I'm going to enjoy watching you die.

Sound: Scuffle of boots, then slow, steady footsteps recede, under next.

Han: (SHOUTING AFTER HIM) You think a little thing like death is going to slow us down? You'd better be looking over your shoulder, bounty hunter. 'Cause sooner or later we'll find you! I'm going to rip your helmet off with your head inside!

The rest of the 30 minute, 10 seconds-long episode concerns itself with the arrival of an unarmed Luke Skywalker at Jabba's palace and his attempt to negotiate with the disgusting and evil crime lord for the peaceful release of Han and his friends. As in the movie, Luke uses the Force to get past Bib Fortuna (David Dukes) and his aggressive Gamorreans, but when he tries to convince Jabba to let his captive friends (including a bikini-clad Leia), all the young Jedi gets is a trip down to the Rancor pit, via trap doors in the audience chamber's floor! 


"There will be no bargain, young Jedi. I shall enjoy watching you die."  Concept art by Ralph McQuarrie. (C) 1983 Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL) 

 In addition to Luke's first confrontation with the Hutt crime lord and a nearly-fatal encounter with the Rancor, Fast Friends includes the following scenes:

  • The reunion of Luke, Han, Chewie, and Leia - and Jabba's rage over the death of his Rancor
  • See-Threepio discovers that his astromech friend Artoo-Detoo is serving drinks on Jabba's Sail Barge...and that apparently there's a "plan" that he wasn't told about beforehand
  • On the prisoners' skiff en route to the Pit of Carkoon, Luke reassures Han: "I've taken care of everything."
  • Luke's final ultimatum to Jabba: "Free us - or die."
  • The unexpected final encounter between Han and Boba Fett
  • Lando Calrissian's trials and tribulations with the Sarlacc monster 
My Take:



With a running time of just over three hours, Star Wars: Return of the Jedi is the briefest of the three Radio Dramas that aired on National Public Radio between 1981 and 1996. There are several reasons for this, including the fact that producer Tom Voegeli, director John Madden, and the production team  had a smaller budget to work  with to make the series. Originally, the Jedi radio adaptation was slated for production in late 1983 or early 1984, but Reagan era Congressional cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (which runs the Public Broadcasting System television network as well as National Public Radio) put those plans on hold...for 13 years! 



Chances are that if HighBridge Audio (which is now a division of Recorded Books), a Minnesota recording company which manufactured and sold tapes and compact discs of various NPR shows, including the first two Star Wars radio dramas, had not decided to fund the Jedi series, it would not have been made at all. 



Another reason, I think, for the brevity of Return of the Jedi in comparison to its two precursors was Brian Daley's poor health. In 1996, the 47-year-old novelist was sick; he had been fighting cancer for some time and the news from his doctors was not good; the disease was terminal. He turned in the six scripts in the nick of time; Brian Daley passed away on the same day that the actors completed the recording sessions at LA Theater Works in California. 



Even knowing that a second writer, John Whitman, was brought in to make some adjustments to add a few details from such Legends works as Steve Perry's Shadows of the Empire and Timothy Zahn's Heir to the Empire, it is not an exaggeration to say that Fast Friends shows what good storytelling and fine writing can accomplish Daley cleverly found a way to take an already familiar tale told in another, more visual medium and still make it interesting and suspenseful.



Of course, Daley did not do this on his own. Director Madden, who returned for a third Star Wars radio drama, got outstanding performances from Radio Drama veterans Ann Sachs, Brock Peters, Paul Hecht, Perry King, and, of course, Anthony Daniels, who reprised his iconic role of the always-nervous protocol droid See-Threepio from the Star Wars films. In addition, Madden was able to get Joshua Fardon to step into the role of Luke Skywalker as a replacement for Mark Hamill, who was unavailable for a third go-around as the Radio Dramas' Jedi hero. 

Surprisingly, Arye Gross is also a good stand-in for Billy Dee Williams, who wasn't able to participate in the Return of the Jedi radio drama because of the show's limited budget. Gross captures the essence of the roguish, charming, and flirtatious Lando Calrissian with his witty and lively vocal performance.



As in the previous NPR-produced Star Wars radio adaptations, Lucasfilm Ltd. collaborated in the creation of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi - The Radio Drama. The company not only granted the producers at HighBridge and Tom Voegeli Productions the license rights, but it provided Ben Burtt's library of sound effects and John Williams' 1983 score from Episode VI. This would mark the final appearance of Williams' original "Ewok Celebration and End Titles" track in a Lucasfilm-sanctioned work; in 1997, the Special Edition re-release of Return of the Jedi would feature a new track titled "Victory Celebration and End Titles" composed by Maestro Williams for the "definitive" version of the Classic Trilogy's final chapter. 

 As the publicist for HighBridge Audio writes in the booklet that comes with each Star Wars: Return of the Jedi - The Radio Drama CD set: 

Like its radio predecessors, Return of the Jedi is a remarkable fable for the mind's eye - a spellbinding story of heroes and villains, good and evil, temptation and redemption, all played out in a shimmering, almost palpable, universe of sound. 

 Or, as Yoda might say, "With this Radio Drama, the Force truly is!" 

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