The Han Solo Adventures

02/19/18 • 79 min

Our Daley Double wraps up with a fond look back at some of the greatest Star Wars novels ever written, The Han Solo Adventures !

It's been 22 years this month since legendary author Brian Daley passed away. Last week, on the anniversary of his death, we paid tribute to his classic Star Wars audio dramas, and this week, we're remembering his beloved trilogy of Han Solo novels.

When Brian Daley pitched a trilogy of Han Solo and Chewbacca novels to Del Rey Books in the 1970s, he was just casually looking to make some fast cash. How very Han Solo of him.

But once Brian started out on this journey, the galaxy opened up to him. Not allowed to use The Force, Vader, the Empire, TIE fighters, the Rebellion, or any established characters save Han and Chewie, he used his ingenuity instead in a trilogy of books that saw Han and Chewie face gunslingers, slavers, corrupt bureaucrats and murderous droids in a colourful backwater of space.

Join us this week as we explore how these books helped shape Han Solo’s character in the early days of the Expanded Universe, and helped shape the childhoods of many a Star Wars fan.

We also discuss the lost art of the movie novelisation; the single worst line in Raiders of the Lost Ark; the surprising ways in which Woody Allen, Bing Crosby and Bob Hope inspired Han Solo; and loads more!

This week's episode refers frequently to an interview Brian Daley gave Alex Newborn at Star Wars Collector in 1995, which can be read in full here.

Our Daley Double wraps up with a fond look back at some of the greatest Star Wars novels ever written, The Han Solo Adventures !

When Brian Daley pitched a trilogy of Han Solo and Chewbacca novels to Del Rey Books in the 1970s, he was just casually looking to make some fast cash. How very Han Solo of him.

Join us this week as we explore how these books helped shape Han Solo’s character in the early days of the Expanded Universe, and helped shape the childhoods of many a Star Wars fan.

This week's episode refers frequently to an interview Brian Daley gave Alex Newborn at Star Wars Collector in 1995, which can be read in full here.

Previous Episode

Star Wars on the Radio

In a week where the internet is aflame with debate about whether Alden Ehrenreich could possibly play Han Solo, let’s take a moment and remember that he’s not the first ‘other guy’ to muscle in on the role made famous by Harrison Ford.

Way back in the 1980s, actor Perry King stepped into Ford’s knee-high boots in a cracking and successful series of radio dramas based on the film series. And he was amazing!

Join us as we explore the surprising history of the project, which started life as a whim of a college theatre director looking for a scandal. We’ll tell you how they scored the rights for the princely sum of $1, how US President Ronald Reagan derailed the project, and more crazy tales from the origin story of NPR’s Star Wars audio dramas!

We also tried to track down the mysterious identity of the other other guy who played Han Solo in a half-hour spinoff audio drama called Rebel Mission to Ord Mantell – the cast list of which has been lost for decades. We made contact with a key figure in the making of that LP – listen in to find out what he had to share.

But perhaps most of all, this podcast is about the late Star Wars scribe Brian Daley – the writer of all these audio dramas, and perhaps the man who knew Han Solo best in the early days as author of the novels Han Solo at Star’s End, Han Solo’s Revenge and Han Solo and the Lost Legacy.

Brian died of pancreatic cancer 22 years ago this week, never getting to hear the last words he wrote committed to tape by his audio drama cast.

This episode of Force Material is dedicated to his memory.

Next Episode

American Graffiti

Where were you in '62? This week on the Force Material podcast, we're celebrating the film that first brought together Ron Howard and Lucasfilm!

When George Lucas was challenged by his mentor Francis Ford Coppola and wife Marcia Lucas to make something more warm and commercial after the failure of THX-1138, he delivered in spades with American Graffiti — his most human, and perhaps most atypical, film.

On this week's episode, we discuss George Lucas' fast and furious teenage years; Ron Howard's initiation into the Lucasfilm family; the unsung heroes who helped make American Graffiti great; and the connections between American Graffiti and Lucas' even bigger hit, Star Wars.

We also explain how a film released in 1973 and set in 1962 sparked a full-blown 1950s revival, and why American Graffiti isn't just a 'nostalgia' film!

We'll be back next week with More American Graffiti!