A while back, I managed to get a hold of a copy of the old Star Wars radio drama. Originally dramatized in 13(!) parts, I think it goes down in history as one of the most padded stories of all time, coming in just a hair under six hours. It starts off reasonably well, although the Imperial troops do not board the Princess' ship until Part 3. The first part centers around Luke's time on his home planet, while the second tells the back story to how the Leia got the Death Star plans.

Then things start to get a bit... funny.

The biggest source of comedy has to be the strange turns of phrases the show seems compelled to repeat, such as in the final part, where they keep referring to Darth Vader's ship as an "advanced prototype tie-fighter". Granted, they don't know it's Vader's ship, but the sheer number of times they say phrase in the space of a couple of minutes is just too funny. It's mostly due to them attempting to translate a very visual movie into audio, but some of it just seems to be them trying to fill the time, so we learn the Death Star will reach Alderan in "two work cycles". Would even the Imperials speak this way?

Also in the padding arena is the series constant need to "explain" everything. It feels like John Byrne has been asked to script doctor Star Wars. Ever wonder why the Empire would allow the Rebels to escape from the Death Star with the plans? Wonder no further, because they spend a couple of minutes on the topic here. Or do you wonder how the Empire was suckered into thinking no one was aboard the Falcon... listen as Obi-Wan and Han explain the plan in minute detail while Luke acts totally confused.

And that guy from Riptide is Han Solo... and there's a couple of future cast members of In Living Color in there, too. Worth the download, but I wouldn't pay for this

i had always heard this was really good.

I think it would have been really good at about half the length. There's not really a lot of point to hearing Luke corner Han in a wash room and debate his decision to leave with the money. It comes across as NPR trying to keep a high anticipated program on the air as long as humanly possible.

I think that the additional material was a main part of the appeal. To be fair I mostly remember that from the initial episodes - perhaps you're right that it becomes more padded later. Still, it's pretty well-done overall, I thought.

I have another audio Star Wars that I enjoy much more: Lux Radio Theater's "The Adventures of Luke Skywalker". This was basically a fan production, done in the style of a 1940's radio drama, with the voice actors mimicking specific famous actors from that period. The "cast" included:

Luke: Mickey Rooney
Han: Humphrey Bogart
Leia: Katherin Hepburn
Ben Kenobi: Jimmy Stewart
C-3PO: Oliver Hardy
R2-D2: Stan Laurel
Chewbacca: Rin-Tin-Tin
Darth Vader: Bela Lugosi
Tarkin: Erich von Stroheim
Uncle Owen: Jack Benny
Aunt Beru: Mae West
General Dodonna: Jack Webb
Red Leader: John Wayne
Red Two (Wedge): Henry Aldridge
Red Three (Biggs): Ronald Coleman
Red Six (Porkins): Orson Welles
Red Nine: Groucho Marx
Red Seven: Harpo Marx
Red Ten: Chico Marx
Gold Leader: Curly Howard
Gold Two: Larry Fine
Gold Five: Moe Howard
Admiral Motti: Edward G Robinson
Commander Tagge: Peter Lorre
Imperial Commander: Basil Rathbone
Imperial Officer: Claude Rains
Imperial Announcer: Boris Karloff
Greedo: Keye Luke

These were all portrayed by six different actors in multiple roles - plus a seventh who was purely a narrator. The performance ran 90 minutes, covering just the first movie. I saw it as a live performance at a convention in San Jose - subsequently I bought a CD recording of it (actually from an earlier performance):





While the cast didn't look anything like the famous actors they were mimicking, they did at least dress up as voice actors might have in that time period. You also got to see the sound effects creating all the sound effects live, which was pretty impressive in itself. I think the only thing they didn't recreate live was the music, which was freely taken from John Williams' soundtrack played on an ancient gramophone. The whole thing was remarkably well-done, and recognizing the voices as they appeared quite a lot of fun. I think Jimmy Stewart as Obi-Wan worked particularly well. And you can never look at Aunt Beru the same way again after you've heard "Luke, come to dinner!" done with the voice of Mae West.

The first five or so parts are quite good, as the radio drama seems to supplement the original tale by providing alternate pathways through the narrative. An example would be following Obi-Wan into the Cantina instead of Luke. And there's a couple of good added scenes of Leia on the Death Star. But once the plot really kicks into gear, the narrative is extremely flabby and many of the added scenes add very little, often just repeating things (such as having two or three debates with Han about him staying with the Rebels). The final Death Star Battle is actually quite good (with the exception of the constant talk of the "advanced prototype tie-fighter"), telling the story from Leia's POV with a couple of Empirial inserts to explain Vader's presence.

probably worked better listening in 13 parts.

I wonder how Jedi is. They did that years after the fact, unlike the other two.

I remember listening to cassette tapes that my Dad had recorded of this during one of our summer road trips down to Florida. I thought Dad brought them to have something that would keep the kid entertained, but it was really because he knew it put me to sleep after about 20 minutes or so.

How about that part where Vader is "interrogating" Leia?
The whole "Yes dear I'm your Father!"
This was before It was revealed that she was Luke's sister, and thus......

It's very, very weak. They couldn't even get Mark Hamill, whose bread and butter these days is voice work, to return as Luke.

As for the first drama--padded though it may be, it's got the infamous Biggs on Tatooine scene in all its glory, so that gets it a win in my book.

My personal favorite Star Wars audio drama was "Rebel Mission to Ord Mantell" that depicts the story behind the throwaway line Han makes at the beginning of Empire Strikes Back.

"Rebel Mission to Ord Mantell"
***
Never heard of that one!

I have this... and I listened to it once... it was a nice shift in view from the actual movie... as if you were watching the movie from a few steps to the left...

I picked up Ord Mantell at whim while I was out with my parents... a shopping mall if I remember correctly... THAT was incredible... loved the inbetween-ing of the two movies...

Well, in that case:

http://theforce.net/timetales/misc/arca ... antell.mp3

I had that Ord Mantell mission story on an old 45 record. They used it in an old audio storybook back in the day.

I've still got mine.