Star Wars

By Dave
May 25, 1977

As construction nears completion on the Empire’s awesome new battle station, the moon-sized Death Star, members of the Rebel Alliance procure its construction plans, entrusting them to Princess Leia Organa. But Darth Vader is quick to capture her ship, kill much of the crew, and take her prisoner. But she has already passed the plans on to the adventurous R2-D2, who abandons ship along with C-3PO, landing on nearby Tatooine. Scavenging Jawas salvage the two droids and auction them off to Owen Lars, who hands them over to his nephew, young Luke Skywalker, to get the droids into shape to serve around their farm. Luke accidentally activates a recorded message from Leia, a desperate plea for the assistance of Obi-Wan Kenobi. When Owen forbids Luke to track down Kenobi to ask him about the message, R2-D2 sets out on his own to find him. Luke and C-3PO catch up to the determined droid, but are attacked by desert-roving Tusken Raiders, and saved at the last minute by the cloaked hermit, Ben Kenobi. Upon seeing Leia’s message, Ben admits that he is actually Obi-Wan Kenobi, one of the very last Jedi Knights, and tells of how he witnessed the murder of Luke’s father, Anakin.

Imperial forces trace the two droids to Tatooine, following their trail to Owen’s farm. When Luke discovers that his uncle and aunt have been killed by the Empire, he pledges to follow the elderly Jedi Knight to the planet Alderaan. They go to the seedy Mos Eisley spaceport, where they happen upon the renegade space freighter captain Han Solo and his Wookiee sidekick Chewbacca. Solo, desperately in need of money to pay off crime lord Jabba the Hutt, takes Luke, Obi-Wan and the droids on as passengers, but quickly realizes that his passengers have attracted the interest (and firepower) of the Empire. Solo’s ship, the Milennium Falcon, arrives at Alderaan to find the planet has been smashed into lifeless bits – the handiwork of Darth Vader and the Death Star. Solo accidentally runs into the Death Star not far away, which seizes the Falcon in a tractor beam. Han, Luke, Chewbacca and the droids try to evade the Imperial forces and rescue Leia, while Obi-Wan sets out to disable the Death Star’s tractor beam and face Darth Vader one final time. Obi-Wan is cut down in a lightsaber duel with Vader, but the others succeed in escaping, unaware that a homing device has been planted on the Falcon, allowing the Death Star to track the ship down to the Rebel base on the third moon of Yavin.

With only a short time to spare, the Rebels must prepare for a fight to save themselves from extinction – and Luke Skywalker, in becoming the hero of the ferocious battle against the Empire, brings himself to the attention of Darth Vader.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Children's Records Radio & Audio Dramas Star Wars

The Story Of Star Wars

By theLogBook.com
July 11, 1977

In the space of about 54 minutes, with a generous helping of the original dialogue recordings, sound effects and music from the movie itself, Star Wars is retold with narrator Roscoe Lee Browne narrating the more visual parts of the action.

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

Star Wars TV Specials

The Star Wars Holiday Special

By theLogBook.com
November 17, 1978

On the Wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk, Chewbacca’s family awaits his return for the yearly celebration of Life Day. But when he doesn’t arrive on time, they assume the worst and begin secretly contacting members of the Rebel Alliance, including Luke and Leia. Chewie’s wife Malla, his father Itchy, and his son Lumpy begin to fear the worst when the Empire blockades Kashyyyk and stormtroopers begin to search residences. Han and Chewie must battle their way through the blockade, not only to reach Chewie’s family in time for Life Day, but to save them from Imperial troops that could uncover their secret connection to the Rebels.

Cartoon: Han and Chewie return from a mission to recover a magical talisman, but they make no contact with base – and overshoot the rendezvous point at high speed, crash-landing the Falcon on a watery world. Luke and the droids give chase in a Y-wing, also crashing on the planet. Their ship falls victim to a hungry sea creature, but they are rescued by an humanoid, covered from head to toe in armor, who identifies himself as Boba Fett. He leads them to the Falcon, where Han has fallen victim to a “sleeping virus” – and Luke soon succumbs as well. Boba Fett offers to steal the antidote from a nearby Imperial base, but Chewie is suspicious and insists on accompanying the Rebels’ new benefactor. While Boba Fett and Chewie are breaking into the Empire’s stronghold, Threepio and Artoo eavesdrop on a message from Darth Vader – a message intended for Vader’s hired gun, the bounty hunter known as Boba Fett.

LogBook entry & review by Earl Green

Original Trilogy Star Wars

The Empire Strikes Back

By Dave
May 21, 1980

In the wake of their destruction of the Death Star, the Rebels are forced even further into hiding by the Empire’s relentless pursuit, especially now that Darth Vader has learned the identity of the Rebel pilot who toppled the Empire’s mighty space station. Luke Skywalker, while investigating a meteorite which has just crashed near the new Rebel base on the ice planet of Hoth, is attacked by one of the indigenous predators. Luke uses his budding skill with the Force to escape from the creature, but is too badly injured to return to base on his own. The image of Obi-Wan Kenobi appears, urging Luke to go to Dagobah, where he will find the last of the Jedi Masters, Yoda. But before Luke can ask any questions, Han Solo rescues him just in the nick of time.

What Luke doesn’t realize until it is too late is that the “meteorite” he sighted was an Imperial probe droid landing on Hoth. Darth Vader and his task force follow the probe droid’s lead to Hoth and launch a devastating ground attack, killing many of the Rebels and forcing the rest to retreat even further – but Vader’s real quarry, Luke, evades him yet again. Luke and Artoo slip away to Dagobah, while Han, Leia, Chewbacca and C-3PO escape aboard the Millennium Falcon. The Imperial forces pursue the Falcon through a treacherous asteroid field, while Luke crash-lands in the swamps of Dagobah and reluctantly befriends a small green creature who promises to take him to meet Yoda. During the pursuit of the Falcon, the Emperor contacts Vader with a new agenda – Luke Skywalker is to be turned to the dark side of the Force, not killed.

The creature who is helping Luke soon reveals that he is Yoda himself, and despite reservations about Luke’s lack of patience and his anger, both Skywalker pedigrees that led his father to a dark fate, the last living Jedi Master begins Luke’s training. Halfway across the galaxy, Han decides to find a safe haven for the Falcon and its beleaguered crew after too many close calls, ultimately choosing Bespin’s Cloud City, which is run by an old friend of his (and the original owner of the Falcon), Lando Calrissian. But shortly after arriving at Cloud City, C-3PO is blasted to bits, and Lando delivers Han and the others into the hands of Darth Vader and bounty hunter Boba Fett. Worse yet, as a test of a carbon-freezing process which he hopes to use to capture Luke as a gift for the Emperor, Darth Vader has Han frozen in carbonite before handing him over to Boba Fett. Lando, growing worried that the Imperial presence on Cloud City will become permanent, switches sides to join with Leia and Chewie, who are suspicious of his motives, but they trust him when he tells them where to find Fett’s ship.

In the meantime, Luke has experienced a vision of a future in which his friends are being killed by the Empire, and he hastily postpones his Jedi training to go to Bespin to help them, much to the dismay of Yoda and Obi-Wan. Luke arrives just in time to see Han’s frozen body being taken to Boba Fett’s ship, but he is unable to help his friends. Luke has just stepped into a trap carefully orchestrated by Darth Vader, who reveals, after a lightsaber duel with Luke, that he is actually Anakin Skywalker, Luke’s father.

Boba Fett escapes Cloud City with Han in custody, taking him back to Jabba the Hutt. Leia and Lando are unable to stop the bounty hunter, and Luke now faces the prospect that his destiny, like that of his father, may lead him to become a servant to the dark side of the Force.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Children's Records Radio & Audio Dramas Star Wars

The Empire Strikes Back

By theLogBook.com
July 11, 1980

In the latest installment of the Adventures of Luke Skywalker, Luke and his fellow Rebels are on the run from the Empire following the destruction of the Death Star. With Ben Kenobi gone, Luke has nowhere to turn for more Jedi training, until he sees an apparition of Ben on the ice planet Hoth, instructing him to seek out Dagobah and Yoda, the last of the Jedi Masters. Leia and Han, in the meantime, escape an Imperial attack on Hoth and, after a near-suicidal dash through an asteroid belt in the Millennium Falcon, seek help from Han’s old friend (and fellow scoundrel) Lando Calrissian. Luke goes to Dagobah, meets Yoda and begins his training, finding that the path to becoming a Jedi Knight is anything but easy. When Luke uses the Force and sees a vision of Leia and Han in trouble, he leaves Yoda to help his friends, unaware that Darth Vader is waiting for all of them.

LogBook entry and TheatEar review by Earl Green

National Public Radio Radio & Audio Dramas Star Wars

A Wind To Shake The Stars

By theLogBook.com
March 22, 1981

On the distant desert planet of Tatooine, far from either the Galactic Empire or the Rebellion, Luke Skywalker lives the simple existence of a moisture farmer, toiling away on his Uncle Owen’s farm and trying to fit in with his friends at Anchorhead. Ever since his friend Biggs left to join the Imperial Academy, Luke’s been a bit of an outcast, and he doesn’t win many friends by beating the local bully in a high-speed canyon race. While working on the farm, Luke spots a fierce firefight in orbit of Tatooine, and tries to tell his friends about it, but as usual they blow him off. Biggs returns for a visit, and once they’re away from the others, Biggs tells Luke of a momentous decision – despite having graduated from the Imperial Academy, Biggs plans to jump ship on his first assignment and join the Rebellion.

National Public Radio Radio & Audio Dramas Star Wars

Points Of Origin

By theLogBook.com
March 29, 1981

The Tantive IV, a diplomatic ship from Alderaan, is forced to land on Ralltiir by an Imperial blockade. Princess Leia Organa is outraged, but bluffs her way past the Imperials, even using a keen knowledge of Imperial regulations to set Lord Tion, an Imperial officer, against Darth Vader, who has just arrived to crush a rebel uprising. Leia returns to Alderaan, where her father, Bail Organa, sympathizes with the rebellion but doesn’t wish to take up arms. Unfortunately, Lord Tion follows Leia to Alderaan, taken enough with her to propose marriage (with a side offer of Imperial protection for Alderaan), but the meeting turns sour when Tion learns that Leia and her father have not only sympathized with the rebels, but have aided them. In an ensuing struggle, Tion takes a fatal tumble from a balcony in the royal palace, and Bail realizes that Alderaan can no longer escape involvement in intergalactic affairs. He sends Leia, once again in the Tantive IV, to the planet Toprawa to steal the plans for a top-secret Imperial superweapon mentioned by Tion before his death.

National Public Radio Radio & Audio Dramas Star Wars

Black Knight, White Princess, And Pawns

By theLogBook.com
April 5, 1981

The Tantive IV makes a sudden stop in Imperial space, and two droids – astromech droid R2-D2 and interpreter C-3PO – are assigned to perform an important task for Princess Leia: R2-D2 is to act as if performing extravehicular repairs on the ship’s hull, though he’s actually receiving a secret rebel transmission containing detailed plans of the Empire’s top-secret Death Star project. Leia’s next stop is to present those plans – and a plea to come out of retirement – to General Obi-Wan Kenobi, a veteran of the Clone Wars living in seclusion on the planet Tatooine. But before the Tantive IV can make its escape, an Imperial Star Destroyer gives chase, bringing the ship to a halt. A platoon of stormtroopers, with Darth Vader behind them, boards the Tantive IV, killing most of the crew in the process. Desperate to keep the Death Star plans from being found in the ship’s computer, Leia hides them in R2-D2’s memory and instructs him to abandon ship in an escape pod. C-3PO, trying to dissuade the little droid from following those orders, winds up in the escape pod with him – and then finds himself on the surface of Tatooine. But aboard the Tantive IV, Princess Leia cannot escape capture – and interrogation by Vader.

National Public Radio Radio & Audio Dramas Star Wars

While Giants Mark Time

By theLogBook.com
April 12, 1981

On Tatooine, Threepio and Artoo bicker over the smaller droid’s constant chatter about an important mission, and Threepio finally leaves Artoo to his fate and wanders aimlessly through the desert. But the droids aren’t alone – Imperial troops have tracked the escape pod to the planet and have guessed that one or both droids are carrying the stolen Death Star plans. Threepio seeks refuge in a ground-roving transport – but is then picked up by Jawas to be resold as salvaged goods. Threepio gives away Artoo’s position to the Jawas, who pick him up as well. The Jawas take their scaveneged droids and equipment to auction off at the nearest settlement, a moisture farm belonging to Owen Lars. Artoo takes the liberty of sabotaging the only other mechanic droid – an R5 unit – to ensure that he’ll be freed from the Jawas and can then continue looking for General Kenobi. Owen buys both Artoo and Threepio and then entrusts them to Luke for cleaning and repairs before they begin working on the farm. During cleaning, Luke inadvertently triggers a holographic plea for help from Leia, recorded in Artoo’s memory, and Artoo protests that the message is meant for Obi-Wan Kenobi. Luke suspects that a local hermit named Ben Kenobi may have some connection – but while Luke reports his suspicions to Owen, Artoo slips away from the Lars farm to continue his quest.

National Public Radio Radio & Audio Dramas Star Wars

Jedi That Was, Jedi To Be

By theLogBook.com
April 19, 1981

Luke and Threepio leave just before dawn to track down R2-D2. They find the little droid, but quickly come under attack from Tusken Raiders. Luke escapes being killed only when a howling sound scares the Tuskens away – a sound made by Ben Kenobi, who admits that he was once Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi. Ben takes Luke back to his secluded home, helps him repair damage Threepio received during the fight with the Tusken Raiders, and presents Luke with something that belonged to his father: a Jedi lightsaber. When Artoo replays Leia’s message for Ben, the old Jedi resolves to make the trip to Alderaan to help the rebels, but when he asks Luke to join him, Luke is more worried about his uncle’s reaction. But as he gives Ben a lift to Anchorhead to find a ship for the journey, Luke sees the first evidence that the Empire’s search for the missing droids is getting too close to home.

National Public Radio Radio & Audio Dramas Star Wars

The Millennium Falcon Deal

By theLogBook.com
April 26, 1981

With his aunt and uncle dead at the hands of the Empire, Luke accompanies Ben Kenobi to Mos Eisley Spaceport, a disreputable place where Ben hopes to find a ship to Alderaan. A space pilot points Ben in the direction of a huge Wookiee, Chewbacca, who serves as the co-pilot on the Millennium Falcon, a Corellian freighter. Ben is introduced to Han Solo, a cocky space pilot who quickly clears his schedule when Ben promises a small fortune in exchange for a ride to Alderaan. After the deal is closed, Ben and Luke go back into hiding until Solo is ready for liftoff – and Imperial stormtroopers close in on Mos Eisley in their hunt for the droids. But they’re not the only ones being hunted, as a bounty hunter named Greedo is on the trail of Han Solo.

National Public Radio Radio & Audio Dramas Star Wars

The Han Solo Solution

By theLogBook.com
May 3, 1981

Luke and Ben sell Luke’s landspeeder to pay for their passage to Alderaan, while Han and Chewbacca prepare the Millennium Falcon for liftoff. Han’s urgency is now doubled after doing away with Greedo, he’ll be a higher profile target for Jabba the Hutt’s thugs, and Han is most worried about an expert bounty hunter named Heater. Just as Luke, Ben and the droids arrive for liftoff, Imperial troops raid the Falcon’s docking bay and open fire. Han and his passengers blast into space, narrowly evading Imperial Star Destroyers and slipping into hyperspace.

National Public Radio Star Wars

Death Star’s Transit

By theLogBook.com
May 10, 1981

Darth Vader’s Star Destroyer arrives at the Death Star, where the mere sight of the massive battle station causes Princess Leia to say its name – proving to the Sith Lord that she knew of the top-secret weapon’s existence. When a subsequent interrogation session proves fruitless, Grand Moff Tarkin suggests forcing Leia to divulge what she knows by threatening something dear to her, and sets the Death Star on a course for Alderaan. Even when Leia gives Vader and Tarkin a location where they will supposedly find the rebels, the Death Star opens fire on Alderaan anyway, obliterating the planet completely.

National Public Radio Star Wars

Rogues, Rebels And Robots

By theLogBook.com
May 17, 1981

En route to Alderaan in the Millennium Falcon, Ben begins Luke’s training in the ways of the Force, starting with basic lightsaber technique and awareness of the Force. Despite Han’s teasing, Luke practices until he’s able to fend off the attacks of a remote drone while blinded by the blast shield of a flight helmet. But this small victory is short lived as Ben senses something terrible, a cataclysmic disruption of the Force. When the Falcon comes out of hyperspace, Han finds he’s arrived not at Alderaan, but in a dense asteroid field – and despite the fact that the ship has arrived at the right coordinates, there’s no planet to be found. A lone Imperial TIE fighter appears, and Han gives chase – unaware that the pursuit will lead him into the jaws of the Death Star itself.

National Public Radio Star Wars

The Luke Skywalker Initiative

By theLogBook.com
May 24, 1981

Ben, Luke, Han, Chewbacca and the droids hide themselves in the Millennium Falcon’s concealed smuggling compartments – and amazingly, they survive, despite Threepio’s built-in disinclination to stop talking, which nearly gives them away. Through the Force, Ben Kenobi senses a presence aboard the Death Star, and insists that he must go on alone to face it and to disrupt the tractor beam that would end any escape attempts. He leaves Luke, Han, Chewie and the droids to cool their heels in a secure area, but when R2-D2 plugs into the Death Star’s computers and locates Princess Leia on board, Luke changes the plan. After some cajoling, Han and Chewbacca accompany him on a daring raid of the Death Star’s detention block, freeing the Princess – and then plunging into more trouble in a makeshift escape into a trash compactor.

Category: Star Wars

Star Wars

The Story Of Star Wars

The Star Wars Holiday Special

The Empire Strikes Back

The Empire Strikes Back

A Wind To Shake The Stars

Points Of Origin

Black Knight, White Princess, And Pawns

While Giants Mark Time

Jedi That Was, Jedi To Be

The Millennium Falcon Deal

The Han Solo Solution

Death Star’s Transit

Rogues, Rebels And Robots

The Luke Skywalker Initiative

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