Narnia Fans » The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Book News

NarniaFans Mailbag #43: Dragons Prow really Dawn Treader? Horse and His Boy contradiction?

Paul Martin — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 01:35:45 +0000

Wow, it’s funny how a week can get away from you. Especially when you’ve got a talkative painter working on your house, and you’re working from home simultaneously. It’s been a busy week, and people have been informing me about my Harry Potter question from last week. The interesting thing is that they pointed out some very interesting things. See the previous mailbag for more details of that. We’ve also had some very exciting things happening in the way of set photos and things.

Filming on The Voyage of the Dawn Treader should be starting in the next week or so. I had heard rumors pointing this way, instead of having filming start on July 15th. My thoughts? I think the actors had to get there earlier to start training, table reads, and costume fitting and the like. It takes more to make a film than showing up a week before filming. Especially on a film as big as this: you need more time for preparation.

Time to answer some letters from the last week:

Q: I’m curious about a possible contradiction between “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” and “A Horse and His Boy.” In the end of the LWW, the Kings and Queens come across the lantern in the forest and try to recall why it seems so familiar. However, in H&HB it mentions Queen Lucy telling the familiar story of how the 4 children originally came into Narnia.

I’m a huge fan of the Chronicles of Narnia, and was curious if anyone had noticed this as well!

ASlan

Paul: Very good question, I believe that this is the passage that you’re talking about:

“And Lucy told again (they had all, except Aravis and Cor, heard it many times but they all wanted it again) the tale of the Wardrobe and how she and King Edmund and Queen Susan and Peter the High King had first come into Narnia.” (The Horse and His Boy)

And it was set the same year as the Hunt for the White Stag. If you take a look at the following dialogue at the Lamp-post, you’ll see something interesting:

And as soon as they had entered it Queen Susan said, “Fair friends, here is a great marvel, for I seem to see a tree of iron.”

“Madam,” said King Edmund, “if you look well upon it you shall see it is a pillar of iron with a lantern set on the top thereof.”

“By the Lion’s Mane, a strange device,” said King Peter, “to set a lantern here where the trees cluster so thick about it and so high above it that if it were lit it should give light to no man!”

“Sir,” said Queen Lucy. “By likelihood when this post and this lamp were set here there were smaller trees in the place, or fewer, or none. For this is a young wood and the iron post is old.” And they stood looking upon it.

Then said King Edmund, “I know not how it is, but this lamp on the post worketh upon me strangely. It runs in my mind that I have seen the like before; as it were in a dream, or in the dream of a dream.”

“Sir,” answered they all, “it is even so with us also.”

“And more,” said Queen Lucy, “for it will not go out of my mind that if we pass this post and lantern either we shall find strange adventures or else some great change of our fortunes.” (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe)

There are two things that can almost be surmised about this apparent contradiction:

First, that Lucy did remember the lamp-post for her story, though it was not as she remembered when they came upon it in the woods.

Second, that Lucy did not remember the lamp-post part of the story as she re-told it. We, as an audience, do not hear Lucy re-tell the story, and can only make our own assumptions of the story that she told. It could, or it could not, include the lamp-post.

But that’s only my own quick analysis of it. Does anyone else have some thoughts that I can add to this? You can either comment below or use the contact form and I’ll add it to the answers here.

Q: Did they start filming VTD on the 15th? Also, is it certain that the film “Invisible Army” is The Voyage of the Dawn Treader?

-Arvan

Paul: Personally, there is little evidence to suggest that filming did, in fact, start on the 15th. The actors did show up prior to that date, but, as I said above, they had a lot to do, and later schedules that I’ve heard had filming start toward the end of July or early August. Either way, shooting is happening, if not now then soon, and it’s very exciting.

And yes, Invisible Army is certainly The Voyage of the Dawn Treader’s filming pseudonym, created by the temporary filming company called Dragons Prow.

And that’s it for this week. I’ll try to be on time next week, but I’m going to have company from Florida, so we’ll see!

NarniaFans Mailbag #40: Douglas Gresham on Lewis’ inspiration for Lucy Pevensie; Film Scores

Paul Martin — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 05:44:24 +0000

The last two weeks have been some of the busiest weeks I’ve had since re-launching the mailbag. Last week, in fact, was so busy that I didn’t get a chance to do the mailbag. I usually do it on Wednesdays, but there was something important that came up last week. You see, there was a movie that came out that has made nearly a half of a billion dollars worldwide, so far. Being a child of the 80s, I had to see it. Twice. On opening day. Yes, I am a geek, and no, I don’t recommend this movie for children to see. But I won’t be reviewing it entirely unless I am asked to write further on it, the film is Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, and I loved it. Not every minute, but I thought it was great overall.

Now for an update that many of you asked me to give. For those that didn’t know, my sister was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, and was to have surgery this week. The surgery lasted twice as long as the doctors had anticipated, and they wound up taking the entire thyroid out. Apparently she isn’t entirely in the clear, as of yet; but she’ll be having radioactive iodine treatments soon that should take care of the rest. Prayers are welcome. She also has a convent of 250 nuns praying for her. She plans on entering the convent this fall.

We’ve got some great letters this week, so let’s get to it.

Q: In the LWW Extended Edition, on disk 4 (Visualizing LWW, The Complete Production Experience) Douglas Gresham states that when Jack and Warnie were living at the Kilns during WWII, several children were sent to live with them, and that one of them was the basis for the character of Lucy Pevensie, and that she became a well-known actress in England, and was still alive today.

Anybody know who he’s talking about?

-Islandgeek

Paul: I went straight to the source on this one, and got word directly from Mr. Gresham himself!

Douglas Gresham: The girl who was the model for Lucy was June Flewett, later to be known as Lady June Freud when her husband Clement Freud (Grandson of Sigmund Freud) was knighted. He died just a couple of weeks ago. June was an evacuee at The Kilns, and later volunteered to stay on there to help out.

Q: I was wondering if Harry Gregson-Williams was doing the soundtrack for The Voyage of the Dawn Treader film? I feel like I heard somewhere that he isn’t, since it has been taken over by Fox. If then he isn’t doing the soundtrack does that mean that all new music (with no recurring themes) would have to be created? I’m not sure if there are copyright issues there..?

Thanks!

~Marie

P.S. I thought of this question because I know that when a new composer did the soundtrack for the new Pirates of the Caribbean the old music was copyrighted and he couldn’t even use the old themes anywhere on the soundtrack.

Paul: Great question Marie, though this one is going to take some time for me to answer. Bear with me as I expound upon my knowledge of the film soundtracks to which you are referring.

Long ago, David Arnold was announced to be the composer for The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Harry Gregson-Williams won’t be back for this film, but that doesn’t mean that his themes won’t be reprised in some way. I don’t believe there are copyright issues, as the Narnia franchise isn’t Disney’s, it’s Walden Media’s; and Walden Media is still on the project.

When it came to the soundtrack for Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, which was attributed to Klaus Badelt, it turns out that is a slightly misleading. There was actually a team of composers behind the soundtrack of the first Pirates film, and all of them did so as part of Hans Zimmer’s Media Ventures. Ramin Djawadi, James Dooley, Nick Glennie-Smith, Steve Jablonsky, Blake Neely, James McKee Smith, and Geoff Zanelli each composed snippets of music for the score. Klaus Badelt served as the music supervisor on the project, with Hans Zimmer acting as over-producer. Zimmer, himself, couldn’t take credit for having composed the score, because of an agreement with with another studio at the time.

Side note before I move on to the next film in that series: Alan Silvestri was the original composer on Curse of the Black Pearl, but his score didn’t match what producer Jerry Bruckheimer had in mind for the music. The movie’s score was written from the ground up by Media Ventures at a break-neck speed, with only two or three weeks to complete. They started with stock-music that Media Ventures already had, and built on that to complete the score.

Now, for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, Hans Zimmer had far more time to actually work on the score. He wrote themes for characters like Jack Sparrow and Davy Jones, as well as the Kraken. In much the same way that Prince Caspian had his own theme that didn’t appear in the first film, Davy Jones had his. There were rehashes of musical ques from the first film in both of the sequels, but Zimmer wanted to create defined themes.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End did the same thing, expanding themes established in the first two films, while also establishing some new ones, such as the Will Turner / Elizabeth Swann love theme.

As you can see, it was never a case of copyright infringement. It could never be, as the same company and composer worked on all three films. What you witnessed was a progression. Think of it like a favorite band. A band such as Skillet or Relient K. Every album they release sounds like them, but it’s new music. If all they did was change the lyrics, but not much else, they’d be Nickelback. And that gets very boring, the more it is done.

There are many great examples of things like this throughout the film world. The Lord of the Rings is an obvious example, as it’s quite possibly the greatest music written for film in the history of the motion picture. But one film series in particular always starts the same, but different: Star Wars. John Williams will even tell you, the theme music that plays over the opening crawl is different for each film. He uses different instruments to emphasize different emotions for each film. It’s very subtle, yes, but it is intentional.

A good example to look at, though, is the Harry Potter series. John Williams was acting composer in the series for the first three films. The theme has been used, though, in all films since. The same will likely be true of Narnia, though each book is entirely different from the last, so it’ll probably sound pretty different each time.

And that’s all that I have time for, this week. I have a lot of projects to finish tomorrow, so I need some sleep! Contact us with your questions!

Who will Rescue the Narnia Gas Lamps?

Paul Martin — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 16:48:20 +0000

Academic fans of Narnia creator C.S. Lewis could come to the defence of Malvern’s gas lamps, which served as the inspiration for a famous scene in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The future of the gas lamps has been raised after parish councils around Malvern were hit with unexpected top-up bills to pay for their maintenance and running.

The president of the Oxford C S Lewis Society, lecturer Judith Tonning, told the Malvern Gazette yesterday that the society is prepared to speak up if the lamps were threatened.

She said: “It would be a very sad day indeed for admirers of Lewis if these lamps were to go.

“As a non-profit organisation, we don’t have any funds ourselves which we can use to pay to preserve the lamps, but we can raise our voice.

“We have spoken out in the past, not without success. There was a proposal to demolish The Kilns, Lewis’s house here in Oxford, and that was withdrawn after a campaign in which we played our part.”

Malvern currently has 102 gas lamps, split between the parishes of Malvern town, the Wells and West Malvern.

The three councils were shocked to receive bills for maintaining the lamps from Malvern Hills District Council, over and above the previously-agreed figures. The Wells was charged an extra £1400, Malvern town £639, and West Malvern £798.

Wells parish chairman Malcolm Victory is promoting a suggestion that the lamps could be sponsored to keep them going. He hopes the idea can be put on the agenda at the next parish council meeting on June 24.

Interested in sponsoring one of the lamps?

-via Malvern Gazette

Narnia Limited Edition Giclee Prints of BBC Paintings by Andrew Skilleter

Paul Martin — Thu, 21 May 2009 23:42:32 +0000

Andrew Skilleter is the artist behind the covers of the BBC radio editions of The Chronicles of Narnia. He asked me to mention that he’s made available, by popular demand, a limited run of 250 of each title as special prints of his artwork. If you missed it, we posted a story about the exhibition that is still going on, along with some of the art work, here: BBC Narnia Cover Art Exhibition UK. The art is available to purchase at the artist’s website, here: Andrew Skelleter’s Narnia BBC Paintings.

The depth and impact of the originals are brought to life for the first time and are a unique collector’s item for now and the future. Each approved, numbered and signed by Andrew Skilleter.

Fine Art Lifetime Giclee Prints privately produced by, and only available directly from, the Artist.

Each is reproduced to the highest standard from the original acrylic paintings, which are the copyright of the artist, and first commissioned for the BBC Radio Collection, UK, between 1990 and 1997. Please see the Narnia Gallery. The work is currently on exhibition. For the story behind the prints, please click here.

Lifespan of over 75 years.

Reproduced with white surround on the renown Hahnemuhle heavyweight archival acid-free matt paper

Each produced, approved, titled, numbered and signed by the artist.

Each comes with a stylish certificate of authenticity signed by the artist

Each print is wrapped in acid free tissue, sealed in a plastic bag and mailed flat with robust reinforced rigid packaging to guarantee delivery in perfect condition, so you can order in complete confidence.

Narnia Book Cover Redesigns by M.S. Corley

Paul Martin — Thu, 21 May 2009 23:21:43 +0000

There’s an artist that has become quite well known for his redesigns of book covers. Most notibly, the Harry Potter series. Unfortunately it doesn’t appear that they’ll ever see publication, but that doesn’t mean we cannot hope that some of his designs will one day see print. I had been watching his blog to see if he was ever going to do his take on The Chronicles of Narnia books. Well, last weekend he posted them. I’ve included a glimpse of one of the covers, as it is my favorite book in the series: The Last Battle. You can see his art work on his blog (Narnia Redesign) or at his flickr account.

NarniaFans Mailbag #33: Updates on Anna Popplewell, William Moseley, Andrew Adamson’s past, and C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien

Paul Martin — Thu, 07 May 2009 07:21:57 +0000

This week’s mailbag features a topic that is very interesting to me: that of the relationship of J.R.R. Tolkien and his writing to C.S. Lewis and his. Other topics include what Anna Popplewell and William Moseley are up to next, and Andrew Adamson’s past in Papua New Guinea. I’ll see if I have the time to reach back into the mailbag archives after the five letters that I received this week. Be sure to look through the comments from last week’s mailbag for some fascinating follow-up information as well! Let’s get started!

Do you know what Anna Popplewell and William Moseley are up to these days? Are they working on any new films?

-jediash1

Paul: Both are in school right now. Anna Popplewell just ran a charity race, and has been attending Oxford, where she has not only acted in some plays, but she’s also directed! She’s not currently attached to any film projects.

William has auditioned for other roles and is rumored to be joining the film Ironclad where he would act along side Megan Fox, Robert Carlyle, Paul Giamatti, James Purefoy, Richard Attenborough, Bob Hoskins, Pete Postlethwaite and Angus Macfadyen among others. The film is set in the year 1215, the rebels of England forced the tyrannical King John to put his royal seal on the Magna Carta, but months later he broke the seal and assembled an army to take over the country again. In his way was the Rochester castle, a place that would become the symbol of the rebel’s struggle for justice and freedom.

THIS QUESTION CONTAINS SPOILERS FROM THE LAST BATTLE

If Fox gets a big hit with Voyage of the Dawn Treader and they continue to make the rest of the books, will they include Susan in The Last Battle even though C. S. Lewis does not? Will they keep her in for the sake of the audience?

-C.S. Layman

Paul: This is a question that is much like one that I was asked last week, to which my answer is practically the same. If they were to include Susan, which I would do were I to direct the film (hint hint!), it should only be on Earth, so that the audience has a good feel for why she’s not coming back. This is something that is taken care of only in a few lines of the book, but in movie form would require a little more to it.

THIS QUESTION CONTAINS SPOILERS FROM THE MAGICIAN’S NEPHEW

I would like to point out something about the question posed by Manasi Lad. In The Magician’s Nephew, Uncle Andrew accidentally drops some coins into the young Narnian soil which grow into two trees, one silver and one gold. Later on in the book, Aslan commands that these trees be chopped down and made into crowns for the first King and Queen of Narnia, Frank and Helen. That is why they are not in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. They had been chopped down hundreds of years ago.

-Maggie

Paul: Thank you, Maggie! This is something that I had forgotten, and I appreciate the help!

Is Ben Barnes returning as Prince Caspian in VDT since Prince Caspian is supposed to be older in the third movie?

-Walter Dodd

Paul: There are two answers to your question. The first answer is no, he will not be returning as Prince Caspian. However, he will be returning to the role of Caspian. This time as King. This is one reason why the cast an older actor. There wasn’t the need to establish a new actor in the role who is supposed to be only 3 years older.

Hi all, it’s been so long since I last sent in a query about 3 years ago, its been great to watch this site flourish. I’m so glad you brought the mailbag back. First of all i just wanted to say for anyone who didn’t know. On the Prince Caspian DVD with special features, on the menu there is a golden lion in the top left corner. Its easier watching on a computer but you can click on it to see some short film footage. When using the DVD remote you scroll down to the last topic and click left and it should highlight the lion. On the first menu it has a short movie made by Skandar showing ‘Blonde cam’, on the second menu its the Pevensie’s fighting over who actually saved Trumpkin, and the third is just a cameo of a stage worker. I just wanted to say this in case someone hadn’t noticed yet.

My real question is, on the DVD features (the first one I think) Andrew Adamson says that he lived in Papua New Guinea for his childhood years which helped inspire the new film’s message. I am currently in Papua New Guinea (16 years old)myself, at the International school and I was wondering about his history here? What school he went to? where he stayed? Hope its not to hard but i think it would be interesting to learn. Thanks, and don’t give up on the mailbag! it rocks.

-Jason Fotheringham

Paul: Thanks for writing in again, Jason! I remember your letters and am happy to have the mailbag back as well! As for Adamson, I recently learned of this myself, and had not known about it before either. I wish that I could answer this for you, but the simple fact is: I don’t know how to do that. Perhaps someone that knows can write in?

What is the current status report on production for Dawn Treader? I know we are in pre-production, but what are they actually doing right now? Also, when does filming begin?

-Jonathan Fletcher

Paul: Take a look at the news about the Gold Coast. It’s nearly completely secured, which means that set building will start happening shortly. They’ve been actively seeking out filming locations for some time now. They’re also in the middle of the screenplay re-write. Filming begins in late July.

Where did C.S. Lewis get his inspiration for all of ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’? Also, I thought I heard that C.S. Lewis encouraged J.R.R. Tolkien in continuing to write ‘The Lord of the Rings’. Do you know anything about this? Thanks a lot!

-Tarwe, the Narnian Elf

Paul: I wish I could tell you where Lewis got inspiration for all of the Narnia series, but I will tell you this. It started with a picture that was in his head of a lamp-post in the woods and a fawn next to it carrying parsels, and an umbrella.

He couldn’t get the image out of his head, and began writing. There are many many books that delve into Lewis’ inspiration for the series, and it’s far too many books to list here. If anyone has suggestions, feel free to comment the titles along with the author as well as a short synopsis, if possible, of what the book is about.

As far as The Lord of the Rings, yes: Lewis did encourage Tolkien to write the sequel to The Hobbit. They were contemporaries and friends, both teaching at Oxford and both part of a group called The Inklings. You can read about that group and the impact that each had on the other’s writings in a book called “The Company They Keep” by Diana Pavlac Glyer. It’s got the most complete listing of all of The Inklings that you’ll ever find in one place. This book is the culmination of 50 combined years of research and hard work. It is well worth your time.

I heard the writer, Diana Glyer, speak last year at LionCon, and boy did she ever have great insight into both Lewis and Tolkien. She even spoke about how Tolkien’s famous quote about his dislike of Narnia is blown way out of proportion, and it was based on only having read a few chapters of the first book in the series: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Tolkien was asked, as The Hobbit was a big hit, if he had a sequel to the story that could be released. He didn’t have one at the time, but people were encouraging him to continue the story. So Tolkien sat down to write it. At first it was a light and easy story, very similar in style to The Hobbit. But then the Wraith appeared in Hobbiton. And the rest is history.

Is there any Lewis / Tolkien Scholar that would like to either comment more on this, or even contribute an essay about this for the site? Feel free to e-mail us!

And with that, it’s late, and I apologize for not getting to more of the old e-mails this week. I’ll keep trying. We’ll get there!

The Lions Narnia Braille Trail Opens in Kingsport

Paul Martin — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 02:58:08 +0000

Today was the grand opening of a new part of a playground meant for children with and without disabilities. It’s called The Lions Narnia Braille Trail. It is a new addition which surrounds the existing playground in Kingsport, located at Warriors’ Path State Park. The park is called Darrell’s Dream Boundless Playground, which is described as a place where children of all abilities can enjoy nature.

The new addition is a Braille trail featuring eight sensory stations telling a story based on C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

“We think it’s important to provide….remove barriers for people who are blind and vision impaired and to removed those barriers so they can play right alongside and learn from one another and their friends,” said Lions Club President Doug Haseltine.

The Lions Narnia Braille Trail won’t be the last of the additions, as plans for additional features include a treehouse, opening this fall, that will be accessible to children with and without disabilities!

If you go to this park and would like to share your experience there, or the experience of a loved one with our readers, please contact us!

Skeptical of the Skeptic: Devin Brown’s Review of The Magician’s Book

Paul Martin — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 18:27:29 +0000

Part C. S. Lewis-biography, part literary analysis, The Magician’s Book: A Skeptic’s Adventures in Narnia is, at its heart, the story of a journey. The first step came when its author, Laura Miller, was given a copy of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by her second grade teacher. Today a well-respected writer and literary critic, Miller looks back at the spell this book cast on her and at how it shaped the reader and the person she has become.

Like all journey stories, some parts will be familiar and some will not. Most Narnia fans will be able to relate to Miller’s account of how the Chronicles of Narnia changed the way she looked at the world. They will identify with Miller’s deep desire to be Lucy, “that rare creation, a character who is good without being a prig or a bore.”

But these are side trips, not the main path in a book which promises to reclaim Narnia “for the rest of us,” this meaning readers who, like Miller, loved Narnia as young people but then felt “tricked, cheated, and betrayed” after they discovered that many Narnian themes mirrored themes found in Christianity.

Anyone not belonging to this “rest of us” group may find it hard to understand why this discovery produced so much anger and bitterness in Miller. Although she devotes most of her book to describing her rocky relationship with the Narnia books, she is never able to articulate exactly why learning that they represent C. S. Lewis’s attempt to put his most foundational beliefs into story form “horrified” her.

Would she have felt so horrified had she discovered Lewis was a Buddhist?

Read the rest at the C.S. Lewis Blog

C.S. Lewis, Narnia Books now available for Amazon Kindle 2

Paul Martin — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 22:40:58 +0000

Amazon.com has today announced the release of their new edition of Kindle. With that announcement comes new additions to the library of books available for Kindle, including many works written by C.S. Lewis.

As detailed in the Kindle 2 press release:

The Kindle Store currently offers more than 230,000 books — up from 90,000 when Kindle launched. Books from numerous popular authors have been added since the original Kindle launched, including John Steinbeck, C.S. Lewis, Beverly Cleary, Martha Stewart, Terry Goodkind, and Spencer Johnson.

Available now for Kindle are books written by C.S. Lewis including all seven Chronicles of Narnia, A Year with C.S. Lewis, Spirits in Bondage: A Cycle of Lyrics, God in the Dock, and The Screwtape Letters. More will follow as Amazon is adding more to the service every day.

With this device, you can take Narnia with you, wherever you go. Not only that, but you’ll be able to search the books for your favorite quotes, and quickly find references to things throughout the Chronicles.

Also available for Kindle is Paul F. Ford’s Companion to Narnia, so you’ll have a great Narnia encyclopedia at your fingertips as well.

Narnia Fans » The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Book News

NarniaFans Mailbag #43: Dragons Prow really Dawn Treader? Horse and His Boy contradiction?

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