"The Luke Skywalker Initiative" is the tenth episode of the Star Wars radio drama. It first aired on National Public Radio on Monday, May 4, 1981. The episode adapts events of Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope beginning with the Millennium Falcon's forced landing in the Death Star. It brings together the drama's two main storylines, those following Luke Skywalker and the Princess Leia Organa.
As the Millennium Falcon is pulled toward the Death Star, Han Solo and Chewbacca prepare to make the ship appear abandoned: they alter the ship's log, launch the escape pods, and hide with all four passengers in smuggling compartments below the deck. The compartments are shielded against scanners. When the ship lands, the stormtroopers who conduct the initial search do not find them. Ben senses the presence of Darth Vader but does not reveal this to the others.
Han and Chewbacca overpower the scanning crew that come aboard the ship, then shoot two stormtroopers and put on their armor. In a similar fashion they take over the control room adjoining the docking bay. From a computer terminal in the room, Artoo-Detoo locates the power source of the tractor beam that is preventing the ship from leaving. Ben goes off to disable it; he instructs the others to remain with the droids to keep them safe.
Artoo also discovers that Princess Leia is being detained on the station and scheduled to be terminated. Luke immediately determines to go rescue her and convinces Han and Chewbacca to help, offering the prospect of a reward from the Rebel Alliance. Han and Luke put on their stolen armor, make Chewbacca appear to be a prisoner, and go to the detention Level. When their ruse begins to break down, they blast the Duty officer and three guards and retrieve Leia from her cell.
Luke forgets he is in disguise as he enters Leia's cell.
But as soon as Leia is free, a new group of troopers arrive and begin shooting, leaving the the four pinned down in the detention block corridor. Speaking over a comlink, See-Threepio informs Luke that because of them, all systems in the Death Star have been put on alert. Leia takes a blaster and shoots a hole in the wall through which they can enter the nearest garbage chute. They survive an attack by an unseen trash-dwelling creature, which runs away as quickly as it had appeared. The group soon learns why: the trash pit is a compactor, whose walls now begin to close in as the episode ends.
"The Luke Skywalker Initiative" very closely follows the events of the film with only minor adjustments due to the medium of radio. For example it depicts directly Han and Chewie's actions to make the Falcon appear abandoned, while the film has this occur off camera. The stormtrooper designated TK-421 in the film is here called TX-421, which follows the comic book adaptation Death Star.
- Star Wars: The National Public Radio Dramatization
- The Making of Star Wars for Radio: A Fable for the Mind's Eye on archive.org