Even though I’m an entertainment geek, and entertainment and technology often go hand-in-hand, I’m a technological laggard. There are problems with this, of course, but also some underrated perks, notably the ability to pick up entertainment products in outdated formats for chump change. For example, I recently acquired about 40 “Star Wars” audiobooks for about $40 on eBay. A dollar apiece for items that originally cost as much as $50 each? Not bad. (The seller had upgraded to digital files.)
The 11-disc “Revenge of the Sith” audiobook was a particularly great way to kill 14 hours on my Thanksgiving-week drive from Missouri to North Carolina. In the past, I’ve tried listening to audiobooks of novels I hadn’t previously read, but I find I end up daydreaming and losing the thread of the story. But “Revenge of the Sith,” which I had read (in addition to seeing the movie, of course), plays perfectly on a drive. Jonathan Davis, who reads the vast majority of “Star Wars” audiobooks, is like a friendly traveling companion, and author Matthew Stover’s prose gets so much in the characters’ heads — cynics might say the writing gets pretentious, with chapter introductions like “This is how it feels to be Anakin Skywalker right now …” — that the novelization unquestionably improves upon the often-mediocre movie.
A downside is that audiobooks aren’t quite as richly engaging as radio dramas. Brian Daley wrote radio dramas for the original trilogy that are acted out by full casts of voice actors; the 13-hour version of “A New Hope” is particularly outstanding. Stover’s and Davis’ “Revenge of the Sith” sort of gets into that audio drama territory, but not entirely. On one hand, Stover delves deeper into the machinations of the Jedi Council, Palpatine’s schemes, the founding of the Rebellion, and the characters’ inner monologues. However, Davis is the only voice actor. There are some snippets of John Williams’ music and Ben Burtt’s sound effects and some sound-booth modulation when characters are speaking via hologram or comlink (or when it’s a mechanical character like General Grievous), but just the one actor.
And while Davis is not bad at his job by any means, he’s also no Jim Dale, the guy who did the “Harry Potter” audiobooks and who is regarded as the best in the business. For most of the human characters, Davis is able to modulate or accent his voice just enough that we know we’re hearing Anakin, Obi-Wan, Padme or Palpatine. His Grievous misses the mark, and his Dooku isn’t quite right — those characters’ voices have since become iconic thanks to “The Clone Wars.” He does his best with Yoda, but oh how I wish Tom Kane had stepped in for a day of recording. And for a distractingly poor renditions of Yoda and all of the Gungans, check out “The Phantom Menace” abridged edition recording by Michael Cumpsty. Since these audiobooks have such high list prices, I wonder why they can’t afford to do full-cast recordings like the radio dramas, which cost about the same.
Now that I’m back home, I’m continuing to dip into this crate of CDs and tapes while riding my exercise bike. The thing is, audiobooks — especially abridged editions, which, unfortunately, most of the “Star Wars” offerings are — aren’t the best way to experience a book for the first time. But for a re-read, and as a secondary pursuit when engaged in a non-intellectual activity such as driving or exercising, they are pleasant diversions.
It boils down to this: Audiobooks can’t replace the experience of reading a book — even Jim Dale can’t top J.K. Rowling. But as a travel companion, they do quite nicely. And if you’re a technological laggard and you find some of your favorites for cheap on the secondary market — all the better.
What are some of your favorite audiobooks? And what are your favorite entertainment options on long car trips?