'Star Wars: Return of the Jedi - The Radio Drama' Episode Review: 'Pattern and Web'

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

Pattern and Web

Cast:

• Luke Skywalker (Joshua Fardon)


• General Madine (Peter Michael Goetz)


• Lando Calrissian (Arye Gross)


• Han Solo (Perry King)


• Princess Leia Organa (Ann Sachs)


• See-Threepio (Anthony Daniels)


• Mon Mothma (Natalia Nogulich)


• Admiral Ackbar (Mark Adair Rios)


• Rebel Controller


• Imperial Scout #1


• Death Star Controller 


• Imperial Scout #2


• Scout #3


• Scout #4


• Narrator (Ken Hiller)

Sound /FX Roles

• Artoo-Detoo


• Chewbacca


• Wicket W. Warrick

Reviewer's Note:

All quoted material is from the 1996 Del Rey 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 final act of this cosmic struggle races toward its climax. The Empire's new and more powerful Death Star nears completion, preparing to unleash planet-crushing power and give its overlords ironclad dominion over the galaxy.

Sound: Snub fighters zazzing fast, and the heavier thunder of the Rebel frigate and other starships of the line.

Narrator: But around the planet Sullust, the total resources of the Rebel Alliance have been marshalled for one ultimate, desperate attempt to smash the Imperial juggernaut. Every spaceworthy snub fighter, every fighting ship and combat unit has been assembled in a makeshift armada. From Sullust, there can be no going back. After Sullust there can only come freedom or oblivion. Aboard the Headquarters Frigate, flagship of the Alliance Fleet, the Rebels await their briefing for the great assault, among them, a group of friends just back from Tatooine. And if there has been little time for rest and recuperation, still the layover at Sullust has brought about some definite changes.

SCENE 4-1  MAIN REBEL BRIEFING ROOM

Sound: Ambient noises of the Rebel main briefing room (war room) come up with sounds of systemry and instrumentation, murmuring voices human and non- , tracking displays and holographics fields, etc.

General Madine: (OFF) If you'll all find your seats, please. Chief Counsellor Mon Mothma and Admiral Ackbar will be here momentarily to conduct the primary briefing. (TO LANDO) Would all Assault Wing pilots report to General Calrissian.

Han: (MOVING ON) Hey there - General?

Lando: Han!

Han: 'Scuse me, I wanted to tell you: If you ever need a double to trick the Imperials, I know this guy Lando who looks exactly like you.

Lando:  What are you babbling about?

Han: This fella Lando's not a general, see? He's a lady's man and a card cheat with a terrible reputation.

Lando: "Cheat?" Every time you pick up an honest deck the face cards start crying.

Han:  Why, Lando, it is you! (TO OFF) Hey, Leia! Chewie! Come and take a look at the man who's gonna pop the Death Star like a balloon!

Chewbacca: WOOFS IN GREETING AND AMUSEMENT, MOVING ON.

Leia: (MOVING ON) Congratulations, Lando. Don't pay any attention to Han. He's just jealous. When he went into the carbonite he was the best-looking pilot in the Rebellion.

Threepio: (MOVING ON) General Calrissian, you cut an extremely dashing figure in that uniform, if I may say so.

Lando: Thanks, Threepio.

Han: So they made you an Assault Wing commander, huh, Lando?

Lando: Someone must've told the general's staff about my little maneuver at the Battle of Tanaab.

Han: Well, don't look at me, pal. I just said you were a fair pilot. I didn't know they were lookin' for somebody to lead this crazy attack. 

Madine: (OFF) Seats, please. Seats. Mon Mothma, leader of our Alliance, will begin the briefing as soon as we're ready.

Concept art by Ralph McQuarrie. (C) 1983 Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL)

Pattern and Web is the fourth episode of Brian Daley's six-part radio play based on the 1983 film Star Wars - Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. It was produced for broadcasting on the National Public Radio (NPR) network in 1996 by Minnesota-based HighBridge Audio in collaboration with Lucasfilm, George Lucas's independent film company and copyright owner of the Star Wars saga.

In this mid-drama chapter, we learn that the Rebellion is about to take its biggest gamble against the Empire in the four-year-old Galactic Civil War. As the Narrator (Ken Hiller) tells us, Rebel leaders Mon Mothma (Natalia Nogulich) and Admiral Ackbar (Mark Adair Rios) have gathered all the warships in the Alliance fleet into a single great armada in orbit over the planet Sullust. Its objective: the incomplete and not-yet-armed Death Star battle station being built near the Sanctuary Moon of Endor. 

Mon Mothma: The Emperor has made a critical error, and the time for our attack has come. The data brought to us by the Bothan spies pinpoints the exact location of the new battle station. We also know that the weapons systems of this Death Star are not yet operational. With the Imperial fleet spread throughout the galaxy, the station is relatively unprotected.

Han: (ASIDE SOFTLY) "Relative" is right, when you're talking about starfleet battle wagons.

Leia: Shh. 

Mon Mothma: But most important of all, we've learned that the Emperor himself is personally overseeing the final stages of the construction of the Death Star. Many Bothans died to bring us this information. (TO ACKBAR) Admiral Ackbar, if you will present the strategic overview, please.

Sound: Incidental noises of the holographic display, computer-driven modeling, under next.

Ackbar: (OFF) As this modeling shows, the battle station's orbiting the forest moon of the planet Endor. Although the weapons systems are not yet operational, this Death Star does have a strong defense mechanism. It is protected by an energy shield that is generated from a large installation on the nearby forest moon. 

Han: (ASIDE) "Strong?" Like a bonded-armor wall two parsecs thick.

Threepio: It does seem impenetrable, sir.

Ackbar: The defensive shield must be disabled by a ground commando operation before any attack on the Death Star can be attempted. Once the energy shield is down, our cruisers will establish a perimeter, holding any opposition at bay while our fighters fly into the Death Star's superstructure and knock out its main reactor. General Calrissian has volunteered to lead the fighter attack.

Crowd: SCATTERING OF APPLAUSE, WILD LINES - MURMURS OF APPROVAL, BUT ALSO OF MISGIVING.

Han: Good luck, General. You're gonna need it.

Lando: It hasn't let me down so far, Han.

Ackbar: General Madine, if you'll recap the commando operation.

Madine: Thank you, Admiral Ackbar. (TO ASSEMBLY) We have stolen a small Imperial shuttle, the Tydirium, disguised it as a resupply ship, and using a secret Imperial code, a strike team will land on the forest moon and destroy the installation there with demolitions, deactivating the shield generator and leaving the Death Star without its protective shield.

Lando: (ASIDE) I wonder who they found to go strolling into that nest of stormtroopers?

Han: Probably some sucker who lost a coin flip.

Threepio: The assignment does seem suicidally dangerous.

Madine: (TO HAN) General Solo, is your strike team assembled?

Leia: Han?

Han: (TO MADINE) Um, yessir, my combat team's ready. 

Leia: Who'd you lose the coin flip to, Han? Yourself?

Han: You could say that. 'N' now look at me. A volunteer. (TO MADINE) General, I don't have a command crew for the shuttle yet.

Chewbacca: INSISTS THAT HE'S GOING.

Han: (TO CHEWBACCA) Well, it's gonna be rough, pal. I didn't want to speak for you.

Chewbacca: REITERATES.

Han: (TO MADINE) Okay, that's one, sir.

Leia: (TO MADINE) Um, General Madine, count me in, too.

Mon Mothma: Well said, Leia.

Threepio: (TO LEIA) While I would not wish to sound presumptuous, Your Highness, I must be included as well. Master Luke would expect no less of me.

Leia: We couldn't get along without you, Threepio.

Han: Welcome aboard, Goldenrod.

Madine: (FROM OFF) Solo, by my reckoning that leaves you one officer short for your command crew.

Han: Right, sir. I was thinking - ["of asking for volunteers after the briefing."]

Luke: (FROM OFF) Han, I'm with you, too.

Han: Luke!

Threepio: And Artoo-Detoo! Oh, my.....

"How do you guys like it in the hot seat?" Concept art by Ralph McQuarrie. (C) 1983 Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL)

Accompanied by his small band of Rebel commandos and his best friends in the galaxy, the cocky smuggler-turned-into-Hero of the Rebellion flies off in the Tydirium to the forest moon of Endor and a rendezvous with destiny. Armed with confidence, a belief that their cause is just, and a sense that the Force is with them Han, Chewbacca, Leia, Luke Skywalker (Joshua Fardon), See-Threepio (Anthony Daniels), and Artoo-Detoo head toward Endor and the unfinished Death Star on a daring mission that, if successful, will lead to an Alliance victory and an end to the Emperor's tyrannical rule.

But our heroes don't know that the Emperor has other plans in store for them - plans that spell doom for the Rebellion...and a final reckoning with the Dark Side for Luke Skywalker, the last Jedi. 

Pattern and Web includes exciting audio-only renditions of exciting scenes from Return of the Jedi mixed in with new scenes that expand on the movie material, including:

• A conversation between Luke and Han about the young Jedi's battle-damaged bionic hand, the Force, and young Skywalker's confidence that the mission will succeed
• Han's "bad feeling" that he may never see the Millennium Falcon again as he looks at his starship from the Tydirium cockpit
• The tense flight past the Super Star Destroyer Executor as the Rebels transmit the stolen Imperial code that will let them pass through the Death Star's protective shield
• The Rebels' arrival on Endor's forest moon, their ensuing "Imperial entanglements" with speeder bike patrols, and Princess Leia's first encounter with Wicket the Ewok

Three cast members (Arye Gross, Ann Sachs, and Perry King) at one of the recording sessions in a Los Angeles studio circa 1996. (From Star Wars: Return of the Jedi: The National Public Radio Dramatization, Del Rey Books, 1996.)

My Take

I've been a fan of Brian Daley's Star Wars fictional works since 1979. That's when I first read Han Solo at Star's End, the first of three novels that chronicle the adventures of a certain Corellian smuggler and space pirate, his Wookiee co-pilot/first mate Chewbacca, a labor droid named Bollux, and his computer-interface counterpart, Blue Max in a part of the galaxy called the Corporate Sector.

This first Han Solo trilogy is set before the events of Star Wars (aka Star Wars - Episode IV: A New Hope) - an edict from George Lucas forbade writers from telling stories set after the original 1977 film; that territory was out of bounds for most media except Marvel Comics so Lucas could tell his story of what happened after Luke Skywalker and his Rebel friends blew up the Death Star at Yavin. As such, Daley had to steer clear of any plot points about Darth Vader, the Empire (except for a few general statements about its relationship with the Corporate Sector Authority), Jedi Knights, and whatnot. 

Even under these strict guidelines, Daley managed to do something that very few Star Wars authors can: he gave readers a rendition of a younger, brasher and slightly less cynical Han Solo that is so vivid, you swear you'll hear Harrison Ford's voice when you read his dialogue in the books. 

Daley's Han Solo books were extremely successful. So much so, in fact, that when National Public Radio and Lucasfilm decided to create a Star Wars radio drama in late 1979, Carol Titleman, Lucasfilm's vice president in charge of literary tie-ins, chose Brian to write the 13-part radio drama that aired on NPR member stations in the spring of 1981.

The HighBridge Audio-produced Star Wars: Return of the Jedi radio series is a monument to the creative talents of a writer who, sadly, was taken from his loved ones and his fans much too young. 

As I have written in previous Star Wars: Return of the Jedi - The Radio Drama episode reviews, Brian Daley was hired by Sallie Neall of HighBridge Audio and Star Wars: The Radio Drama producer Mel Sahr to complete the Radio Drama trilogy over a decade after the completion of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. Daley happily accepted; he had been wanting to finish Luke Skywalker's journey from Tatooine to the Battle of Endor for years. Indeed, in the introduction to the 1994 Del Rey book Star Wars: The National Public Radio Dramatization, Daley expressed his desire to write a Jedi radio serial and that he even had a fitting closing line for Luke in the last episode. 

Unfortunately, by the time that HighBridge Audio and NPR solved the budget issues and green-lit the six-part series, Daley was diagnosed with cancer; throughout 1995 he wrote the six episodes of the Jedi radio drama even though he was too physically ill to join the cast and crew at the recording studio where director John Madden led the actors through the taping sessions. 

Still. Even if one knows that John Whitman contributed additional material that ties the series to Shadows of the Empire and other Expanded Universe/Legends works, Pattern and Web is a showcase of Brian's incredible talent, wit, and indomitable spirit. 

Check out, for instance, Han Solo's lines in the excerpts from the Jedi radio script that I quote above. They were delivered by actor Perry King, who stepped in as everyone's favorite scoundrel when Harrison Ford could not reprise his iconic role for the 1981 Star Wars radio drama, but they were written by a Han Solo fan. Daley's affection for the character, his love of the craft, and his joy that he was writing in George Lucas's galactic sandbox and playing with the Millennium Falcon, marshaling squadrons of X-wings and TIE fighters, and writing dialogue for the evil Darth Vader (played in the radio dramas by the late, great Brock Peters) shows in every word he wrote.

Brian Daley, of course, was not only backed up by John Whitman, but by everyone in the cast and crew, including series director John Madden, a veteran British director of radio plays, stage productions, and plays. If his name seems familiar to you (in case you have not read any of my Star Wars radio drama reviews) it's because he has also directed several films, including Captain Corelli's Mandolin and Shakespeare in Love.

Madden worked with Daley, Lucasfilm, and NPR on the previous two Star Wars radio dramas, and even with a limited budget that (may have) prevented the hiring of Mark Hamill to reprise his role of Luke Skywalker, he, the veteran cast, and co-producer Tom Voegeli created an exciting, suspenseful episode that sets the stage for the final confrontation between Luke Skywalker and the lords of the Sith, Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine (Paul Hecht.)  

As HighBridge Audio's publicists write in the brochure that accompanies every CD set of the Return of the Jedi Radio Drama:

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 pure sound. It's an experience like no other - an adventure that grows richer and more rewarding each time you listen.