The Han Solo Solution

"The Han Solo Solution" is the seventh episode of the Star Wars radio drama. It first aired on National Public Radio on Monday, April 13, 1981. The episode adapts events of Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope in which Obi-Wan Kenobi, Luke Skywalker, C-3PO and R2-D2 board the Millennium Falcon and, thanks to flying by Han Solo and Chewbacca, they escape the planet Tatooine. The episode includes a version of a scene left out of the original film.
==Opening crawl==
==Plot summary==
Luke Skywalker and Ben Kenobi rejoin the droids Artoo and Threepio outside the Mos Eisley cantina. Threepio is ashamed to tell them that he used deception to avoid being captured; Luke tells him to think of it instead as "flexibility". The two humans now need to sell Luke's landspeeder in order to get the money that they had promised to pay Han and Chewbacca up front. With imperial stormtroopers sweeping the city, the town center is not safe for the droids. However, Obi-Wan is familiar with standard imperial search patterns and judges that the route to Docking Bay 94 is likely to be safe. Therefore, the humans and droids again have to separate, with the droids going to the ship while the humans look for a buyer.
They drive to a seller of used speeders. The insectoid buyer at the business refuses to consider paying the two thousand credits that Luke and Ben need. Ben again uses the Force to influence the buyer's mind, as he did with a stormtrooper in the previous episode. They get their money and go to the docking bay, leaving the buyer confused and concerned about going senile or experiencing a "second grubhood". 
While Han walks toward the docking bay, a small creature named Squeak approaches him with a job offer. Han is ready to accept the job and abandon his deal with Luke and Ben - but then Squeak informs him that he would not depart until the next day. Han is anxious to get off Tatooine immediately, so he turns down the offer. He arrives at the docking bay to see that the Millennium Falcon is surrounded by Heater and a gang of thugs. Heater confronts Solo about money that Han owes to his boss, Jabba the Hutt. Han assures him that his latest job will pay more than enough to cover his debt. Heater speculates that Han's desperate passengers might have something to do with the imperial crackdown all over the city and suggests that he could make more money by simply turning the pair in to the Empire. Han rejects the idea of working with the imperials. Heater says that if Han does not pay his debt soon, he will send Bobba Fett after him.Star Wars: The National Public Radio Dramatization - the published script uses the spelling "Bobba".
With stormtroopers approaching, See-Threepio and Artoo-Detoo hurry through a doorway to hide inside a shop. Together they concoct a story that they work for a company called "Skywalker Technical Maintenance Service" and will perform any task for the owner for free as a promotional offer. The owner agrees and leaves the droids to their work. The pair leave once the stormtroopers pass by. Outside, they reunite with Luke and Obi-Wan, and the four safely board the Millennium Falcon. Before they can take off, a squad of stormtroopers arrives. They exchange blaster fire with the Falcon. Han and Chewbacca lift off and clear the planet, but in space they face another threat: two imperial warships. The Falcon outruns them and jumps to light speed, evading capture and beginning the next step of the journey to Alderaan.
==Behind the scenes==
Squeak works for Big Bunji, a petty crime lord whom Brian Daley had created for his Han Solo Trilogy of novels.Han Solo at Stars' End
===Continuity===
Two short scenes in "The Han Solo Solution" are original to the radio drama. In the first, an alien named Squeak offers Han an alternative job. Thematically this scene is reinforced by the following one, where Heater also suggests that Han not accept the job and turn his passengers over to the Empire instead. Together both scenes give Han opportunities to back out of his deal, but he chooses to stay with Luke and Ben. In the second scene original to the radio drama, the two droids hide in a shop and fabricate a story in order to escape imperial stormtroopers. This continues a subplot established in "The Millennium Falcon Deal." The very end of this scene - when the droids emerge from behind a locked door - is depicted in the film.
The scene with Heater is derived from one that was removed from the film . In the original, Han is confronted by Jabba the Hutt and his gang. Lucas later said that he intended for Jabba to be an alien character. Declan Mulholland was filmed in the role, but he would have been replaced with a stop-motion creature during post-production if the scene had not been cut.Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope Special Edition Featurette For "The Han Solo Solution," Brian Daley wrote a similar scene but replaced Jabba with Heater, a human henchman. The trading card set 2013 Topps Star Wars Illustrated, which depicted several scenes from the radio drama, used Mulholland's likeness to represent Heater.2013 Topps Star Wars Illustrated: A New Hope After the 1997 Episode IV Special Edition retconned this scene to feature Jabba himself (with the final design from ), the scene with Heater was removed from canon.
==Credits==
==Appearances==
==Sources==
*The Making of Star Wars For Radio: A Fable For the Mind's Eye
*Star Wars: The National Public Radio Dramatization
==Notes and references==
==External links==
*Star Wars: A New Hope The Original NPR Drama on the Internet Archive
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