A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

The HighBridge Audio Compact Disc set's cover art. (C) 1993 HighBridge Audio and Lucasfilm Limited    On February 14, 1983, thousands of listeners across the nation tuned in to their local National Public Radio (NPR) stations to hear Freedom's Winter, the first episode of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, a 10-part radio drama adapted by Brian Daley from the original 1980 screenplay by Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan. The series was also the sequel to NPR's 1981 Star Wars, which was also adapted for radio by Daley and directed by British stage, radio, TV, and film director John Madden. Madden, along with post-production engineer/sound mixer Tom Voegeli, production coordinator/casting director Mel Sahr, and narrator Ken Hiller reprised their behind-the-scenes roles in the new radio drama. They were joined in the recording studio by a cast that included three actors from the film version of The Empire Strikes Back ( Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, and Billy Dee Willi

"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

I have never understood why  some  science fiction/fantasy fans insist that  there has to be an “either/or” choice  and that one has to like one franchise but not the other. I was three years old and living outside the U.S. when  Star Trek: The Original Series  premiered on Sept. 8, 1966, and the show did not air in the South American country where we were until 1970. Thus my introduction to Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and the voyages of the  Starship Enterprise  was not under the most optimal of circumstances. We only had black-and-white TV (even if you owned a color set, that country didn’t yet broadcast in color), and of course the series was dubbed in Spanish. I was a kid who had forgotten any English that I’d learned as a toddler, but even at the age of seven I noticed one detail about Latin American TV: every imported American show used the same voice actors to dub the Spanish-language audio track. As a result, the US shows, which at the time included  Star Trek, Hogan’s Heroes, T

Because of my long-time interest in the topic of World War II, I have watched countless dramas, action-adventures, biopics and documentaries which focus on history's biggest and deadliest clash of arms. Sometimes, of course, I watch World War II movies merely to be entertained; there are lots of movies set during the war that have no greater "mission" than to raise one's adrenaline levels ( The Dirty Dozen, Von Ryan's Express ) or get guffaws out of the audience ( The Pigeon That Took Rome, What Did You Do in the War, Daddy? ). Most of the time, however, I tend to seek some sort of enlightenment, understanding or inspiration - sometimes in purely fictional accounts of men in combat ( Saving Private Ryan, Memphis Belle ), and sometimes in "based on the true story" films that try, within the paradigm of commercial filmmaking, to recreate historical events that took place during the war. Naturally, to get any understanding about the causes and consequenc