A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

In Star Wars: The Radio Drama, there are episodes that tell how the Death Star plans were stolen in detail. Why weren’t these ideas used in Rogue One? © 1981 National Public Radio and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL) There are several reasons why the Brian Daley-created bits of  Star Wars: The Radio Drama  were ignored when John Knoll, Lucasfilm’s VP for Creative Affairs and former special effects head at the studio pitched his idea for   Rogue One: A Star Wars Story  to his boss, Kathy Kennedy. One of them is purely conjectural on my part, but the others are based on the movie industry reality. Daley’s expository material for  Star Wars’  Princess Leia was not cinematic enough: Sure, the Imperial invasion of Raltiir, Leia’s initial encounters with Vader and Lord Tion, and Tion’s subsequent (and fatal) visit to Alderaan work well as a radio story, but it’s hard to see Lucasfilm shelling out a huge budget for a film with not that many action scenes. ...

Have you listened to 'Star Wars: The Radio Drama'?  Does its subplot about the Death Star plans impact 'Legends'? If you’re referring to 1981’s  Star Wars: The Radio Drama,  of course I have! Brian Daley (1947-1996) Photo Credit: Beauregard Simmons, www.briandaley.com So have many other  Star Wars  fans, both at the time that Brian Daley’s 13-part adaptation aired on National Public Radio and later, when Highbridge Audio (a subsidiary of Minnesota Public Radio) released it on audiocassette and compact disc in the early 1990s. In fact, I have two box sets of the  Star Wars: The Radio Dramas.  One is the “as heard on NPR” edition that most people own on tape, CD, or MP3 audio files; the other is the pricier  Limited Collector’s Edition  set that presents the Radio Dramas as they were originally recorded, without the edits asked for by NPR stations for station identification breaks and other industry-related issues. In ca...

"Look at the size of that battle station!" (C) 1977 20th Century Fox Film Corporation Force and Counterforce Cast: Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) See Threepio (Anthony Daniels) Princess Leia Organa (Ann Sachs) Han Solo (Perry King) Artoo Detoo Chewbacca Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi (Bernard Behrens) Lord Darth Vader (Brock Peters) Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin (Keene Curtis) Admiral Conan Antonio Motti (David Clennon) Biggs Darklighter (Kale Brown) General Dodonna Commander Willard Wedge Antilles Crew Chief PA Voice Red Leader Controller Gold Leader Red Four Red Six Gold Five Gold Two Officer Red Ten Red Twelve Rebel 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. Sound: Death Star up in background. Narrator: Now that struggle has come to a decisive moment, as the Empire's h...

"Those Rebels sure picked themselves a planet in the middle of nowhere, didn't they?" (C) 1977 20th Century Fox Film Corporation The Case For Rebellion Cast Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) See Threepio (Anthony Daniels Princess Leia Organa (Ann Sachs) Han Solo (Perry King) Chewbacca Artoo Detoo Lord Darth Vader (Brock Peters) Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin (Keene Curtis) Admiral Conan Antonio Motti (David Clennon) Commander Willard Rebel 2nd Rebel Red Leader General Dodonna Gold Leader Wedge Antilles Biggs Darklighter (Kale Brown) PA Voice 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. In the Rebellion's greatest crisis, the Empire unleashed its ultimate weapon, the Death Star, a spacegoing fortress capable of destroying entire planets. An oddly met group of Rebels have ma...

"You can't win, Darth. If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine." (C) 1977 20th Century Fox Film Corporation The Jedi Nexus Cast Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) See-Threepio (Anthony Daniels) Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi (Bernard "Bunny" Behrens) Han Solo (Perry King) Princess Leia Organa (Ann Sachs) Chewbacca Artoo-Detoo Lord Darth Vader (Brock Peters) Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin (Keene Curtis) Comm Voice 1st Trooper 2nd Trooper 3rd Trooper Narrator (Ken Hiller) Announcer: OPENING CREDITS 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.  Sound: Death Star up in background.  Narrator: Now many strands in the web of galactic events have come together onboard the Empire's ultimate weapon, an enormous spacegoing fortress called the Death Star. At large in its vast interior, pursued by Imperial stormtroopers, is...