Customer Reviews

Star Wars: The Complete Trilogy

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'm surprised I've been a Star Wars fan for so long and had never bothered to listen to this. It's actually a great way to relive the movie. It's quite different from the actual film script and includes expanded and deleted scenes. For me, the best part was the beginning, with Luke's friends at Tosche Station. It has such a 1970s flavor and would have started the movie off really differently (although nothing beats the actual opening space battle).

Overall, the case works well. Mark Hamil actually plays Luke Skywalker and does a great job of it. Likewise, Anthony Daniels plays C-3P0. Most of the other characters come off at least similar to their on-screen counterparts. Han is appropriately cocky, although he's also more selfish than portrayed in the films. Leia has a good amount of spunk. Unfortunately, the series didn't quite get Darth Vader right. The torture scene with Leia - not in the movie for good reason - was particularly onerous and Vader sounds more like a shrink than a Sith Lord.

One other thing tat bugged me is the episode breaks. Originally, when this aired as a radio show, it was broadcast as 13 episodes, and each time there was an introductory narration and credits. Unfortunately, these remain on the audiobook version. Thus, every 15 minutes or so you hear another listing of credits, then another introduction. I hope future versions eliminate this and allow listeners to hear just one uninterrupted book.

The ESB episode wasn't quite as strong. Luke, Han, and Leia are all well done. However, Vader comes off as corny and Yoda just doesn't have the majesty he demands. Also, it doesn't have many deleted scenes, aside from the Battle of Derra at the beginning. It's about an hour shorter than the ANH radio show.

The ROTJ broadcast is pretty much like the movie - of course, without the space battles and with audio depictions of the land battles. It's actually fairly short - about 2 hours shorter than the ANH radio show. There aren't really any important deleted scenes, except the beginning when Luke is building his lightsaber. Still, it's well done and faithful to the movie. The Ewoks do get a bit more respect than they usually do.

One other thing that bugged me is the episode breaks. Originally, when this aired as a radio show, it was broadcast as 10 episodes, and each time there was an introductory narration and credits. Unfortunately, these remain on the audiobook version. Thus, every 15 minutes or so you hear another listing of credits, then another introduction. I hope future versions eliminate this and allow listeners to hear just one uninterrupted book.

Overall, this is a great set to listen to during commutes, even if you've watch the movie dozens of times already. Fans will appreciate deleted scenes.

I usually don't write reviews, but this one I think is important enough to write.

Let me begin by stating I am only through A New Hope. I have not begun TESB or ROTJ.

I love the original movies. I grew up with them, the toys and games, and everything else. I'm not as much a fan of the newer movies, et al. Hence, I haven't been on the look out much for new SW stuff. However, I saw these one day while searching for Lord of the Rings stuff, and thought it may be interesting, so I picked this CD trilogy up.

I can't tell you how excited I am I did. The CDs add so much depth to the movies. Not only do you revist every part from the movie, but it's like you found a treasure trove of deleted scenes. Some of these scenes I had heard of or seen before in either books or behind the scenes material, but to see them pefectly fitted in to the story as smooth flowing as it is was just perfect!!

I won't spoil any details for you, but if you are a Star Wars fan, and don't have to have everything presented to you visually, you are going to be in for a huge treat with these CDs. I can't wait to listen through it again just to get more detail. I thought I knew a lot about the original trilogy before, but this just doubled everything I knew. Literally. A New Hope is about 5.5 hours long... 3 or 3.5 hours longer than the movie. That's a lot of extra stuff!! But, it's not time wasting or fluff. It's great detail that adds so much more character depth and so much more to the Star Wars universe at that time.

You won't be disappointed in this gem of a find!!!

I originally owned copies of the first and second radio dramas on audio tape and loved the dramas but not the constant need to flip tapes. Also, the wayward nature of the tapes in their boxes bugged me. The boxes were not very user-friendly or practical. I sold the sets awhile ago but missed the dramas. I decided to check Amazon and see if I could find them in the other, more costly(back in the 90s, anyway), available format. I found my "cds" and they were way more compact then the original cd/tape "individual" dramas were packaged. Now "they" all fit in one very small box. The cds in this set are held securely in little folding books with liner notes booklets for each drama. They slide into their box and don't pop out. So why love the dramas? I grew up listening to "CBS Radio Mystery Theater" in the 70s and loved to use my own imagination to flesh out the stories in my mind. I naturally fell in love with the NPR broadcast of Star Wars radio dramas. Even, the audio special effects and music are carried over from the movies and some of the actors lend their voices to their roles in the dramas. Sure, the movies are great but the dramas are wonderful, too. As for the beginning and ending credits with each chapter, I don't really get bugged about it. Tape flipping was the ultimate "hell" factor for me. Also, you can hear who is doing what parts without pulling out a booklet. I am all ears.

Back in the early eighty's I would rush home from school turn on the radio which was always tuned the KCRW in LA (lived in the valley)so I could hear these radio dramas. It was a high light for me at the thimeI loved the story being filled in with more detail then the movie showed.
I was delighted when I came across this series on Amazon. I loved that I could with my nephews. My disappointment came when I found that there are only six disks and they don't content episode 13. I'm looking for it on line. Still love having what I have. And yes I'm calling the seller.

I'm a StarWars fan and glad I bought these CDs. I remember listening to the original when I was a kid and it was neat to get the whole set. These are great for kids and the average fan and the only reason it didn't get 5 stars was the horrible acting by John Lithgow playing Yoda. He sounds like a mix of a drunken Grover/Cookie Monster/Irishman and almost made Empire Strikes Back unbearable. There was only a small part in ROTJ. The stories and effects themselves are well done and is great to listen to on a long car ride.

I'm part of the generation that literally grew up with STAR WARS, ten years old when it was first released. Like so many young fans I was enthralled by the then limited official adaptations of the work expanding on the STAR WARS universe. I collected the original Marvel Comics, wrote fan fiction and fanatically collected all things published in connection with it like SPLINTER OF THE MIND'S EYE and the Han Solo novels.

I grew up in Canada where the radio series was not to my knowledge broadcast and a friend in the USA kindly alerted me to and taped episodes of the series for me which I listened to for years, practically memorizing them. But I only ever had about three quarters of the STAR WARS episodes and never even knew about the adaptations of THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK or the long delayed RETURN OF THE JEDI.

So when I found them all released in a single boxed set many years after I had to get them and no one buying it will be disappointed. Given that Brian Daley (also the author of the Han Solo trilogy) has his own take on the story he does a fascinating job of expanding on the original stories. He captures, I think, the sense of fun of STAR WARS. It's full of quirky humour and fun asides, like the casual abuse suffered by working robots or the hovering-on-farce confrontations between Han Solo and the creepy minions of Jabba the Hutt.

I think that STAR WARS as a whole released a lot of pent-up creativity in my generation and helped to give it a mythological template that owed a lot to many different sources, not least the story of PARSIFAL and the Grail Knights on which STAR WARS is clearly based in part. The radio series expanded on fascinating elements of the story that had to be left out of the features like the friendship between Biggs and Luke, the story of Leia and her idealism leading to the destruction of Alderaan and the bickering antics of R2D2 and Threepio.

Before the sequels and the long wait for the prequels, these things had an intense hold on the imagination of fans like me and the radio series idea was a clever way of doing this. The use of the original audio effects and music from the features make them a satisfying experience on radio. I think anyone with a strong interest in STAR WARS before all the endless poor quality novelisations and Dark Horse comicbooks and tedious controversy over what's 'canonical' and not will find in them a gem which retains all the original spirit of STAR WARS.

My husband is a die hard Star Wars fan and I bought this for his birthday. He absolutely LOVED it!!!

I enjoyed a lot this series. While I am a fan of the original movie trilogy I loved these CD's; surprisingly they perfectly rectreate in the imagination of the listener the situations, the characters, the atmosphere. I would highly recommend this set.

A VERY HIGH QUALITY CD SET AND THE NARRATION IS EXCELLENT.
WELL WORTH THE MONEY.

I ordered the Star Wars Trilogy radio drama. The CD package was shipped within 48 hours and I received it shortly afterwards. Packing was well done and the CD's arrived brand new as ordered.