I listened to the ones for the original trilogy a few years ago. They were well produced, it was nice to have the John Williams music and the same sound effects. I thought the one for Star Wars was better than the other two. The audio dramas for The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi felt rushed, especially the one for Return of the Jedi since it was only six episodes. The first one added a lot of scenes that had more character development, so that was interesting. If you want more of Biggs or Luke on Tatooine you definitely get that. The part where Leia gets tortured and sees Alderaan explode are even more intense than in the actual movie.

The different voice actors took a bit of time to get used to. Especially Vader since James Earl Jones is one of those voices that is irreplaceable, although Brock Peters (Tom Robinson from To Kill a Mockingbird) did a good job. Perry King as Han Solo felt a lot sleazier than Harrison Ford’s portrayal, which set him apart. He kind of reminded me of Dennis Reynolds from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. And then for some reason they had John Lithgow as Yoda and Ed Asner as Jabba the Hutt. I was glad they at least had Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, and Billy Dee Williams, but it just didn’t feel the same having so many of the parts recast, although most of them did a good job. And then the one for Return of the Jedi didn’t even have Mark Hamill in it, which was disappointing.

One thing that’s interesting for EU fans is that Mara Jade appears in the one for Return of the Jedi, disguised as a dancer at Jabba’s palace named Arica.

I probably won’t listen to the Empire and Jedi ones again, but I might listen to the first one again sometime. It kind of reminded me of listening to some of those Doctor Who Big Finish audio dramas. I would say listen to them if you’re a huge fan of the Original Trilogy and want more of the story.