So, I'm only one episode into the 80's radio play for Star Wars, but I'm liking the differences from the movie so far. Biggs is one of my favorite side characters, so obviously I like that, but I think that Luke's skepticism about the Rebel Alliance is also a good touch. In his mind, nothing happens on Tatooine, and he wants to join the Imperial Flight Academy just to get out. Biggs, who has been through said academy, realizes that he's likely to be drafted into the military, so he's going to join the Alliance first.
But Luke can't join the Academy or the Alliance just yet, you see. He can't go off on space adventures. He has to stay here and make sure his Aunt and Uncle are okay. But since Luke is so pessimistic about his home planet; since he's so convinced that they're in the middle of nowhere, he doesn't realize that the Empire might even cause problems for him here, and that the Rebel Alliance does matter to him personally.
Naturally, having seen Star Wars, I know how he'll learn his lesson. It's more impactful this way, to me at least. Rather than being just a reason why Luke can leave Tatooine, his aunt and uncle's deaths becomes a major character moment where he has to grapple with the fact that nowhere is too small or out-of-the-way for the Empire to terrorize. There were elements of this in the original movie, but not to this level. Here, Luke actually changed his life course based on this assumption by cancelling his application. In the movie it seems that he just refuses to accompany Old Ben just to accompany him anyways. He doesn't actually lose anything or make any mistakes.
"Wind's rising all over the Empire, Luke. Even Tatooine'll feel it, sooner or later."
