Star Wars on National Public Radio:
A myth to withstand the Reagan era
From "A long time ago, in a
galaxy far, far away
Star Wars became the big
gest box office hit in movie
history, making the evil
ambitions of Darth Vader, the
courage of Princess Leia,
and the dreams of Luke
Skywalker the common ex
perience of millions of us on
Spaceship Earth Now the
saga of how the Rebel
Alliance fought back against
the awesome technology of
the Empire is reaching a new
audience as National Public
Radio broadcasts the 13-part
serial Star Wars over its
network stations.
In Eugene NPR-affiiiates
KWAX and KLCC are pre
senting the serial at prime
listening times, and response
has been enthusiastic, say
staff members at both
stations. Don Hein, news dir
ector at KLCC and host of the
“Sunday Morning” show
during the which the Star
Wars episodes play, says that
“for the first couple of weeks
the phones were ringing off
the hook with many listeners
wanting to know how they
could get copies of the
broadcast." Denny Guehier,
promotions director at
KWAX, adds, Star Wars has
brought a lot of younger
people into radio — and radio
drama specifically. The show
makes magic with sound that
we re used to experiencing
visually."
The reliance of the drama
on sound rather than sight is,
of course, one key way the
radio Star Wars is different
from the movie What’s inter
esting, though, is that as the
radio drama unfolds, the
peculiar strengths and
limitations of the radio
medium are making for an
experience more compelling
than the movie's.
Granted for anyone who
was jazzed by the Academy
Award-winning special ef
fects of Luke's light saber or
of the Millenium Falcon
starcruiser accelerating into
hyperdrive, their mere audio
counterparts will probably be
disappointing, (the light
saber's sound is made,
NPR's promotional material
confesses, from a mix of an
old movie projector's whir
and a picture tube's hum).
But the movie's dazzling
special effects and rapid
pace kept attention on things
happening, on the plot The
radio version, coming as it
does in 13 installments a
week apart, puts the empha
sis on the relationships
between the characters, and
gives us a whole richer story
in the process.
While the movie focuses
on the swashbuckling
adventures of its young hero,
Luke, the radio series, at
least through episode 9 to
date, has been much more
interested in the role of Prin
cess Leia Organa From the
film's damsel in distress
saved in the nick of time, Leia
emerges on radio as the
moral heart of the story. It is
Leia, as ambassador from
her home planet of Alderaan,
who attempts to keep alive
the Rebel climaxes in the
most stirring moment in the
series so far
Captured and condemned
to death by the Empire’s
Governor Tarkin, Leia is first
made to witness the Death
Star's destruction of
Alderaan. "Oh, Tarkin,’’ she
cries, "If ever there were a
shred of humanity in you or
these twisted creatures of
yours, it's dead now. You’re
at war with life itself. You are
enemies of the Universe
Your Empire is doomed."
Nothing distracts us, on
radio, from the full conviction
of these words.
“You're at war with Life
itself,’’ Leia reproaches
Tarkin, and powerful rever
berations are set up in us.
One of the reasons the Star
Wars story is so popular is
that it concerns itself with
primal forces embodied in
mythic figures There's Luke,
the unsung youth who
dreams of a woman and a
challenge worth of his hopes;
Leia, the virtuous young
woman, activist for Justice
and liberty; Darth Vader, the
fallen hero, corrupted by de
sire for unbridled power.
What makes this primal Star
Wars a myth for us is the
peculiarly modern terms of
the opposition between good
and evil forces.
The Empire's power is in
the external control sym
bolized by the Death Star,
“the mightiest war machine
that human kind has ever
produced," Tarkin tells Leia
“It’s obscene," she replies
The strength of the Rebel
Alliance is in The Force, a
power inherent in the
Universe which the individual
can learn to channel only
after much discipline Star
Wars is about the revolution
that arises when a govern
ment places such an empha
sis on maintaining control
that it becomes capable of
developing a technology that
can, as Tarkin exults, "des
troy entire planets."
Now does this remind you
of anything7 What tech
nology do we have today that
could destroy an entire
planet7
The radio Star Wars would
appear to be extremely timely
in the face of the Reagan
administration which, in the
guise of "getting government
off our backs," would in
crease spending for warfare
and nuclear power If you
suspect Star Wars might be
more than science fiction,
consider what the former
director of the United States
Defense Intelligence Agency
said about the aftermath of
the Columbia space shuttle
"Eventually we will have a
very significant part of our
military capability in space.
Lt. General Daniel O
Graham told Newsweek
recently. "The shuttle helps
bring that day closer "
Next year alone, the
Pentagon will expand its
space warfare budget by
$5 8 billion.
National Public Radio,
along with its innovative
prgramming like the Star
Wars series, may lose all its
funding under the Admin
istration’s current plan.
"A long time ago, in a
galaxy far, far away, there
came a time of Revolu
tion " Star Wars airs at
7:30 p.m. Saturdays on
KWAX (99 1FM) and 11:30
a m Sundays on KLCC (89.7
FM).
— Joe Cone
dis’ser
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