If there’s one thing I noticed when listening vs. watching The Empire Strikes Back, it’s how much of Han Solo’s rogue nature and pigheadedness is exemplified in the radio drama than in the films. Harrison Ford does a great job, but watching the films a long time in a galaxy far, far away he never acted as despicable as the actor playing him in the radio drama. It wasn’t bad, simply different but his character was what stood out the most. Even if some of the lines were the same, the way this actor delivered them was creepy. Like Jake Gyllenhaal in Nightcrawler kind of creepy. Han is a bit of an asshole, but there was charm to his character.

Moving past Han Solo’s ego, Luke begins his training under Yoda. The furry green Jedi master is played by a different actor, but there are still remnants of the original voice. At times it was odd listening to a different interpretation of the voice. Even more so than Darth Vader, whose voice took a while to get used to in A New Hope. I mean let’s face it, James Earl Jones is the voice of the iconic star wars villain. However that does not mean someone else can’t do their own interpretation of the character. It will just be a harder obstacle to overcome for a good portion of the population. By this adaptation I was already sold on this acting interpretation of Darth Vader. To be more specific, it happened in A New Hope.

Perhaps one the most memorable moments in cinema history is when Darth Vader tells Luke that he is his father. That revelation paved the way for sites like TVtropes.com to exist. It’s become a cliche, sure, but back then it was a WTF moment of epic proportions. Of course at this point we already know the revelation is coming. It’s sort of like the Sixth Sense in that once you know the ending it’s hard watch the movie without that reveal in mind, acting as a sort of one trick pony.

All in all Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back is a fun ride with little deviation from the movie. In fact 98% of it was taken straight from the screenplay it seemed.

4.5/5 Stars

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