Return of the Jedi Books

I have loved this since I was a kid. I only have it on tape (I'm old). Once you get used to the actors and once you stop trying to compare it to the movie, you will like it.

The only scene I hate is the one where Vader is torturing Leia. It is laughable. Actually, you should listen to it because I guarantee you will laugh it is so poorly done.

I remembered listening to this production on NPR when I was a kid and now that my own children have discovered Star Wars I decided to share this version with them on a recent trip to visit grandma. We loved it! The Star Wars story is expanded and the writing and voice acting is so well done that it will keep the kids and adults entertained. Our trip seemed almost too short because we enjoyed listening so much.

Don't waste money on a DVD player in the car. Stories like this one are much more entertaining and leave the special f/x to the imagination.

I recently wrote a review for the Return of the Jedi adaption on NPR which I gave a mere three stars. I cited poor directing, acting and lack of added material.

These complaints cannot be levelled against this, the first of the NPR dramatisations.
The acting is spot on, with Perry King providing a rougher verion of Solo that goes over well, as opposed to the next two adaptions where it begins to grate. Mark Hamil and Anthony Daniels are naturally perfect at the characters that defined them for a decade and more after the original trilogy finished. Bernard Behrens does a surprisingly good Ben Kenobi, and Brock Peters likewise with Vader. They are not Alec Guinness and James Earl Jones, but they're good enough not to cause problems.

The direction is great, and I never found myself noticing the obvious radio 'cues' which tell the listener what is happening. THe music and sound effects are good and the pacing is not rushed, unlike ROTJ.

And as for added material? Deducting front and end credits gives us roughly five and a half hours, nearly triple the length of the film. The vast wealth of extra material is great and never seems out of place.

In all I would recommend this to anyone with an interest in the Star Wars original trilogy.

In 1981, the phenomenally popular movie Star Wars was adapted into a radio drama. The series ran as 13 half-hour episodes. This being about three times as long as the movie, a lot of extra scenes were added, especially back stories for many of the characters. The only actors from the movie that reprised their roles from the movie were Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker and Anthony Daniels as C-3PO, but most of the actors taking over the other roles do a good job. Most Star Wars fans will probably enjoy this.

I have fond memories of myself eagerly awaiting each installment of this fantastic radio drama adaptation of the original "Star Wars" film back when it aired originally in 1981. Brian Daley did an excellent job via his superb scripts giving us more details of the relationships between Luke Skywalker and his Tatooine friend Biggs Darklighter and between Princess Leia and her father on Alderaan. We also learn here how Princess Leia obtained the technical plans for the Death Star. Both Mark Hamill and Anthony Daniels give superb performances of their screen characters, Luke Skywalker and C3PO respectively. However, the rest of the cast is just as fine with a fine - if somewhat restrained - Darth Vader voiced by Brock Peters and Ann Sachs as Princess Leia. Both the sound effects by Ben Burtt and of course the original film score by John Williams are absolutely splendid. This is a spellbinding radio drama that should appeal to diehard fans of "Star Wars".

Thank you Mr. Brian Daley for expanding a good story and making it GREAT!
If I haven't heard it on NPR when I was young or read the book years later, I
would not have created my own radio drama. If you love radio dramas and
science fiction, please visit my web site below. May the force be with you,
always.....

Mark McLaughlin - [...]

My main purpose in ordering this book was to find out what had been cut from the series after its first airing. I have only heard the second version that was aired, which was released on cassette and CD. I must say the small edits that were made, and they were all infinitesimal, actually make the audio series better. They're little excesses that when removed clearly improve the flow of the series. The one bit I wish they had left in was an extended exchange between Han and Luke before the turret sequence. Han tells Luke to lead his targets and "Invest in the future", a classic Han-sounding line.

It should be noted that this appears to be a first or second draft of the script. This becomes obvious when Heater is referred to several times as "Preacher" which I assume was the first name of the character in the script. Also, the dialogue overall is not as polished as it is in the series. Editing may have been done by someone other than Daley, or even the actors themselves, which would explain why Daley only had this version to give to the publisher.

If you've never listened to the series, do so before buying the book. I think it's much more interesting as an example of how editing can turn good writing into great writing than as a piece of writing itself.

After reading the books and listening to the audio adaptions, I can't watch the movies anymore. Buy the CDs/Cassetes...to borrow a line from Garrison Keillor, the pictures are better. Anthony Daniels intro and insight was worth the jacket price.

I am a Star Wars fan, like most everyone else in my generation. If you are like me, having lived and breathed Star Wars at one time or another during your life, you really owe it to yourself to listen to the Star Wars Radio Drama casettes, available from Amazon. Click here, here and here to link to the casette versions, although I found a boxed set of CDs from Amazon that really kicked. These audio versions are terrific, offering tons of material not in the movies, background on all characters, great acting by Anthony Danielt and Mark Hamil, great audio and sound effects, and much more. Recommended to all Gen X'ers. END

I am a Star Wars fan, like most everyone else in my generation. If you are like me, having lived and breathed Star Wars at one time or another during your life, you really owe it to yourself to listen to the Star Wars Radio Drama casettes, available from Amazon. Here is the casette versions, although I found a boxed set of CDs from Amazon that really kicked, but you have to search the Amazon database forever to find it. These audio versions are terrific, offering tons of material not in the movies, background on all characters, great acting by Anthony Danielt and Mark Hamil, great audio and sound effects, and much more. Recommended to all Gen X'ers.

This books was excellent, considering the kind of book it is, and it really gave a clear picture of what it might have been like to be there. Return of the Jedi has always been my favorite Star Wars movie, so this book, perhaps for that reason alone it is better than the other two. However, I still don't like that they turned "me" into a self serving idiot, with no courage or moral values, certainly not the sort of character I want to be. I also didn't like that they specified several times that "I" am a boy, when I (and many other readers I'm sure) am a girl. And why did they have to make up this other character for "me" to be anyway? I would much rather have been Luke or someone, especially since Return of the Jedi has always been my favorite because it has many deep turning points for Luke, and I always wondered what he might have been thinking and feeling during that time. This book would be best for children twelve and under, though older people could read it as long as they keep in mind that it is a Choose Your Own Adventure book, and they don't expect an epic.

I loved this, and all of Mr. Goldens choose your own adventure books and am hoping very much that he writes more choose your own adventure books like a Shadows of the Empire one.

All Star Wars books\movies are cool. And Choose you're own adventure books are cool and more real than other books. Put them together and you get one AWESOME book! Thank you.

With Return of the Jedi Being my favorite Star Wars movie, I was very eager to sit down and become part of the story in one of these "Choose your own adventure" stories. In the book, you play the role of Luke's Best friend, as you attempt to rescue Han and defeat the evil galactic Empire. Along the way, depending on the choices you make, you will zoom along with Leia on speeder bikes, join (Reluctantly) forces with Bobba Fett, set the rancor monster free in Jabbas palace, and my personal favorite, Go with Luke up to the Death Star and decide the fate of the galaxy. There are lots of really neat endings and plot changes in the book depending on what choices you make. There are lots of good and Happy endings, and of course, some very deppressing ones, but thankfully, there are not so many this time (Unlike the Empire strikes back one). One thing that really suprised me are the types of choices in the book. For instance in one critical part, if you choose the good bath, you get a bad ending, but if you take the good path, you get a good ending. My only gripe with this book is that you are considered a weakling too many times by Han and the Others. But it is still the best in the series of Adventure books. Dont miss it!

The good: You are a main charachter in Star Wars! Lots of happy endings, really cool scenarios

The bad: Some dissapointing endings

And the ugly: You are often reduced to the role of "Idiot" a lot.

I read the three Star Wars choose your own adventures and this book is my favorite of the three. It is like having an adventure sitting down.

This is a very strong book fitting all the characteristics into one great story that fits the star wars mold beautifully. I only gave this book an 8 because I though it lacked some explanation of some important features in this book.

My 3 year old loves this book. He carries it around with him, spending at least 20 minutes a day looking at the pictures asking me to read it to him. The art work in this book really brings the characters to life. I highly recommend this book for children and Star Wars Collectors.

The final book in this special edition Golden Books series of the first STAR WARS trilogy. RETURN OF THE JEDI finishes the saga begun in A NEW HOPE and continued in THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. Like the other two books in the series, this book successfully condenses the plot of the movie into a small children's book. Contains some great pictures. Alas, there is no mention of the speeder-bike chase and there are no pictures of the Sarlacc. That's about the only negative aspect of this book. If you've read the first two, this one is a must.

This children's book is a great introduction to STAR WARS. The book successfully compacts most of the important plots of the movie. It also contains some great pictures to go along with the words. A few of the words are difficult for real-young, youngsters to understand, but other than that, that's the only drawback.

This 1983 book is 292 pages long, and it has everything in it that you would want to know about the making of this film. It includes a detailed, diary account of the day-to-day making of "Jedi." It includes actual telex messages (before the email/Internet era) between the filmmakers, set schedules, actual call sheets, and much, much more! This will make any Star Wars fan drool, but it's also for students of the filmmaking process. The sheer detail of the information inside will satisfy even the most demanding Star Wars fan.

This 1983 book is 292 pages long, and it has everything in it that you would want to know about the making of this film. It includes a detailed, diary account of the day-to-day making of "Jedi." It includes actual telex messages (before the email/Internet era) between the filmmakers, set schedules, actual call sheets, and much, much more! This will make any Star Wars fan drool, but it's also for students of the filmmaking process. The sheer detail of the information inside will satisfy even the most demanding Star Wars fan.

Este el primer libro que lei de comienzo a fin. ya que nunca pude ver la pelicula, ni en el cine ni la televisión. Porque siempre me pasaba algo malo. incluso cuando re-editaron la pelicula me dormí en el cine. Cuando la lei me dio una buena perpectiva de lo que era ser un caballero Jedi y el valor que significado dentro de la cabeza de su director George Lucas. El personaje que lo describio bien el escritor James Kahn fue para mi gusto Luke por su extraordinaria transformación de los otras dos libros anteriores. ¡Este libro es el mejor de todas las novelas de ficción!

this was a great read. it is a large comic to put it bluntly. it has cool drawings and is well written. most of your favorite lines from the movie are in in unadultrated. it is narrated quite well and is a great book to add to your star wars collection.

My 7 year old (and of course mee too) loves all three of these. He'll actually sit still for hours and listen to them, and race to the CD player waiting for me to change discs. It was dissapointong to see these broadcasts get progressivly smaller with each movie. From 7 in the first, to 5 in the second, and the Return only three CD's long. The last is almost nothing but the movie, with very little additional material. It's still good, but after lstening to A New Hope, The Return of The Jedi feels very short. I would highly reccommend these. They're great for those cold or raining Saturday acfternoons.

...this is a great collection of original art. Ralph McQuarrie's prints are stunning and evocative, and are suitable for gallery-style framing. This is one of three portfolios that I have, one for each of the three original movies, and they are all equally beautiful. If you have any fondness for Star Wars, or just enjoy science-fiction-themed art, take a look at this collection.

A great collectible for fans of the film series. A beautiful trade paperback that looks nice on the shelf next to your collector's box set.