Like its predecessors, this electrifying drama boasts a splendid cast (including Anthony Daniels as See-Threepio and Ed Asner as Jabba the Hutt), a greatly expanded script, with many scenes and characters not found in the movie, and audio engineering of unparalleled excellence.
© and (P)1996 Lucasfilm Ltd.
"Not as good as it should be..."
I loved the National Public Radio productions of both Star Wars and The Empire Strikes back - they really did engage with me as a listener and enhance the well known story into something fresh.
Return of the Jedi is almost there but not quite.
There are some great performances from the returning actors, Perry King as Han Solo, Ann Sachs as Princess Leia Organa, Anthony Daniels as C-3PO & Bernard Behrens as Obi-Wan Kenobi. However Joshua Fardon as Luke Skywalker makes Luke sound like he is ten years old and Paul Hecht as The Emperor is unconvincing.
However, the worst part of this production is that at the end of every chapter is roughly five minutes of SW theme music. Obviously I adore this music, but not at the end of every chapter. Its addition smacks of lack of content to fill up the episodes.
Tragically Scriptwriter Brian Daley died only hours after recording concluded and subseqent changes to fit in with the Star Wars prequels were added by another writer. Therefore for this reason alone, I would suggest that this production was unable to be given the gloss and polish of its predecessors.