THE COMPLETE STAR WARS TRILOGY

Public radio's 1981 faithful expansion and serialization of the first Star Wars epic benefits from the sounds and music tracks of the original film, a fine cast, lush production values, and direction by John Madden, director of the Academy Award-winning SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE. (Lucas sold the rights and the tracks to NPR for $1.) Tom Voegli's engineering is slick, lush, and unimaginative. He tries too hard for an illusion of depth, thus muddying elements that should firmly stand in the foreground. Brian Daley's script sticks to the spirit of the source material. Dialogue and characterization are actually better. However, the writing makes the action often hard to follow. Fans will disagree with this writer who admires neither the cinematic Star Wars saga, nor this knock-off. He finds both derivative and mundane, except for the effects. However, in terms of content and substance, the audio version improves upon the original. Y.R. (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT/ NOV 02]