Star Wars Dark Empire audiodrama – The Soundtrack Edition

Here’s a little something to celebrate the arrival of Star Wars: The Force Awakens! This is a revamped version of the old Dark Empire audio drama I cooked up, now with the music added it so sorely missed. Enjoy!

Link: https://mega.nz/#!o5dmBCwT!QUkrgCHdq6Zmk-OARQF77d-DIrgmRcEuVOcfn6_PJOM

Password: foreveryoung

Here are some additional info you may want to read:

What exactly is Dark Empire? Does it spoil The Force Awakens?

Second question first: No, it absolutely does NOT spoil The Force Awakens. This is a story from the old Expanded Universe, which was deemed non-canon when Disney took over. Nevertheless, it’s a fun (and rather dark) Star Wars story worth enjoying on its own. What you have here was originally an official full-cast radio drama adapting the Dark Empire comics from the early 1990s. The story takes place six years after Return of the Jedi and features our beloved heroes Luke, Leia and Han facing a terrible threat: the reborn Emperor. In order to understand his enemy, Luke turns to the Dark Side – taking a gamble that, if lost, will not only claim his soul, but also may spell doom for the entire galaxy.

Okay, so what is the problem?

The original audio drama has it all: Great voice acting, the original sound effects – but almost no music, despite advertising the contrary. There IS music, but it is relegated to a handful of short stingers bookending scenes. The total run time of the music in the original amounts to about five minutes – during a total run time of over two and a half hours! No music at all during the actual scenes! I don’t know why this is. Perhaps cost issues stemming from licensing fees (just from the top of my head, I’m not expert on this.)?

And what’s your role? What is this "Soundtrack Edition"?

Well, the name says it all. I took the original and inserted music into it. I love the original, and as an enthusiast of both film music and the Star Wars soundtracks, it broke my heart listening to it, feeling that a vital component was just not there. I am very pleased with the result, and I think the experience is greatly improved. Star Wars was never more larger-than-live and operatic than in Dark Empire, so the music was essential in lending the story its deserved emotional gavitas.

What music did you use?

I hereby guarantee that every note of music used is from a Star Wars source. However, I did not only use music from the six movies but also other sources. Mark Griskey’s score for Knights Of The Old Republic II: The Sith Lords is featured prominently, its dark and foreboding atmosphere fitting like a glove. There are also three instances of Joel McNeely’s Shadows Of The Empire, and I even managed to sneak in a piece from The Clone Wars scores by Kevin Kiner. Oh, and I also used music from the Force Unleashed II video game score, also by Mark Griskey.

Is this official?

Nope, it’s my own inofficial custom-made version. You may say it’s a fan edit, so it comes with the disclaimer that advises you to buy the original. Hey, it was even recently featured in a Humble Bundle for a dirt-cheap price!

What a labor of love! Thank you.

Nothing fancy, but thought you might like a cover to go with this post:

~original

Full-size at my blog (http://kapowdesign.blogspot.com/2015/12/star-wars-dark-empire-audiodrama.html).

Thanks again for the share!

Thank you very much!!! Also for the cover!

You don’t have by any chance other Audiodramas, that are Star Wars related? They are still quite hard to come by her in Europe, at least where I live.

Didn’t even know Dark Empire had been done as an audio.
Looking forward to it.
Cheers

My kind of project. Thanks for sharing!

Oh my god I remember these from childhood. I’ve been looking all over for these thanks!

Thanks a lot!

Thanks for this, mate! Cheers!

Thank you share!

Thank You very much for this, k_bacon 🙂

Wow, thanks a lot!

Thank you for this wonderful share 🙂

Thank you very much! I didn’t see this before.

Thanks

Thank you

Thanks!

Thanks for sharing!

Wow, thanks.

Brilliant thank you

Many thanks! 🙂

Thanks for this!