"Fire and Ice" is the fourth episode of The Empire Strikes Back radio drama. It first aired on National Public Radio on March 7, 1983.^[1] The episode adapts events of Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back, covering the Battle of Hoth and the Rebels' evacuation of the Echo base.

Opening crawl[]

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, 
there came a time of revolution, when rebels 
united to challenge a tyrannical empire. Now,
it is a dark time for the Rebellion. Its one
major base on the ice planet Hoth has been 
located by an Imperial Starfleet commanded by
Darth Vader.

Plot summary[]

General Veers reports to Darth Vader that the imperial fleet has emerged from lightspeed near Hoth only to find the Rebel base protected by a defensive shield. Vader realizes that if the Rebels activated the shield, they must have detected his fleet; he blames Admiral Ozzel for clumsily exiting lightspeed too close to the planet; now Vader willl have to lauch a costly ground attack. He instructs Veers to watch as he contacts Ozzel on a nearby viewscreen. He tells him, "It is pointless to merely punish someone so useless," and, with the power of the Force, chokes Ozzel to death. He orders Veers and Piett to begin the attack at once.

Too-Onebee speaks with Luke Skywalker as he prepares to leave the Echo Base medical center. Luke explains that while most of the medical equipment will be evacuated, the T-47s will need to be demolished so that the Empire cannot use them. Before boarding his own snowspeeder, Luke goes to find Han and Chewbacca, who are still struggling to repair the Millennium Falcon. All three say their goodbyes.

Leia Organa briefs the Rebel pilots on the plan for evacuation: the base's planetary ion cannon and snubfighters will work together to help the transports get past the Imperial blockade. Leia will ride the final transport, protected by the cannon set to fire automatically. Luke finds Leia before boarding a snowspeeder. He asks her to take care of See-Threepio, since Artoo-Detoo will evacuate with Luke in his fighter. Then the two give each other a heartfelt goodbye. Leia thinks that he is afraid that one or both of them will not survive the battle, but Luke does not reveal what he is really planning to do.

Reports reach the base command center that Imperial ground troops have landed and Rebel snowspeeders have launched to engage them. Outpost Beta reports that the ground assault is coming in the form of enormous, heavily armed four-legged metal vehicles—which Leia and General Rieekan recognize as All Terrain Armored Transports. Rieekan orders that the outpost be abandoned. Gunfire breaks out at Outpost Beta and Echo Station 5-7. The snowspeeders of Rogue Flight fly out to relieve them. Meanwhile the ion cannon covers the escape of the first transport and its fighter escorts. Rebels cheer the announcement of the successful escape.

Luke, with his gunner Dak, leads Rogue Flight in their first attack on the walkers. When their blasters prove ineffective, Luke improvises a plan to bring the walkers down with the speeders' harpoons and tow cables. Luke's speeder is hit with blaster fire, killing Dak, so Wedge carries out the plan with his gunner, Wes Janson. They successfully tangle a walker's legs in the cable, bringing it down. While preparing to attack the next one, Luke's speeder is shot down. Back in the command center, Rieekan orders Wedge not to rescue Luke because of the risk involved. But Wedge reports that Luke is taking on the walker single-handedly. Wedge continues to report as Luke pulls himself up to the vehicle's underbelly with a cable and plants a sapper charge inside it, destroying it. Wedge will lead the rest of Rogue Flight to resume their attack, buying as much time as they can for the transports.

Veers reports to Starfleet. Resistance is crumbling, and his walkers are advancing past the Rebels' outer defenses. Inside Echo Base, things are growing more chaotic. Leia orders all ground units to fall back to the central defensive arc. She struggles to keep the evacuation orderly. She tells Threepio to get on a transport; he replies that he has been ordered to board the final transport with her. Han arrives to help Leia get to her ship. Explosions rock the base as word comes that the defenses are collapsing and the base is breached—but she still does not leave her post until Han urges her several times. Leia finally gives the Omega Signal, telling all remainng troops to disengage and evacuate.

Continuity[]

"Fire and Ice" mostly adapts events from the film Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back, but the radio drama adds some new dialogue. Vader makes Veers watch when he kills Admiral Ozzel. When Too-Onebee is speaking with Luke, he reveals a bit of his backstory, explaining that he once worked in an imperial clinic and understands the need to keep equipment out of imperial hands. The droid's full biography and the story of his service to the Empire would be more fully told in Galaxy Guide 3, published in 1989.^[2] In two other short scenes, Luke earnestly says goodbye to Han and Leia. The scene with Leia is entirely new, while the one with Han replaces one in the film where the pair share a moment with few words.^[3] Leia asks Luke why he is acting that way: the next episode "The Millennium Falcon Pursuit" will show that Luke has already decided to to to Dagobah instead of following the rest of the Rebels.

Wedge identifies Luke's explosive as a sapper charge when he uses it to destroy the imperial walker, a device that also appeared in Brian Daley's The Han Solo Adventures books.^[4] In 1996 the Star Wars Customizable Card Game identifies the device's model as a V-59 concussion grenade.^[5]

Credits[]

Appearances[]

Sources[]

• The Empire Strikes Back: The National Public Radio Dramatization

Notes and references[]

External links[]

• Star Wars: the Empire Strikes Back Radio Drama on the Internet Archive