In an interview about Dorian Gray, Ben Barnes was asked about the Voyage of the Dawn Treader.  Specifically, what may have changed between the book and the film.  This is a question that we all have about the film, and though many fans would like to see the film shot page for page with the book, movies are completely different animals.  Sometimes books don’t translate very well into movies as they are written.  In our own minds they seem as movies, though, and based on each of our own imaginations, when we read Narnia, each of our experiences is going to be different.  So how do you take C.S. Lewis’ very loose, open descriptions to film and make everyone’s version?  You really can’t.  But what about a story like that found in this book?  Well, on film, it needs more than the book has.  Here’s what Ben has to say about it.

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We’ve got a picture of the Dawn Treader, which is currently being built at Cleveland Point in Australia.  It’s a beautiful ship that I look forward to seeing in action.  It’s still incomplete, but it’s really getting close.  Check out the detailing on the side of it.

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In the last few years, we’ve had a lot of lost manuscripts begin to surface from the likes of C.S. Lewis’ friend J.R.R. Tolkien.  From The Children of Hurin to The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun, the wealth of literature from Tolkien has been expanded greatly, and it’s about time that something new from Lewis has been discovered.  Communications Professor Steven Beebe of Texas State discovered a lost manuscript fragment in Oxford University’s Bodleian Library.

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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.
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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.

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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.

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A concept designer was interviewed about his work on Inkheart, and in the process he mentions that he had been hired as a concept artist for The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. 

“After Inkheart I got on to the Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, but it fell through. They pulled the plug on it. We were on our way to Malta, we had or bags packed and all when we heard the news. I’d never been abroad on a movie before either.

“That’s just the nature of the business. It’s up and down the whole time. Work happens in bursts and when you’re working you earn quite a lot of money,” said Norman.

I’m not sure that is the whole story, as production still seems to be moving forward.  Last I had heard, they were planning on shooting The Voyage of the Dawn Treader on location all over the world.  Malta was one of the countries that would have had scenes shot.  However, budget cuts have been made due to the under-performing Prince Caspian, causing the investors to worry if Dawn Treader will have legs.

From what I understand, though: after The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is most fans favorite adventure in Narnia.  Mine is The Last Battle, so I hope we get to that one.

But anyway, don’t get too alarmed by this story.  It’s just that they have decided not to film in Malta.  They’re still filming in Mexico and New Zealand, at the very least.

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We’ve just received the sad news that the original illustrator of The Chronicles of Narnia has just passed away:

Wayne Hammond reports the death of Baynes at her home in Surrey. Pauline Baynes was the original illustrator of C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia series, as well as of Tolkien’s Farmer Giles of Ham (1948), The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book (1962), and Smith of Wootton Major (1967).

Read more .. Wikipedia Entry

Narnia expert Brian Sibley has written a blog entry about Pauline Baynes that you can read here:

Brian Sibley’s Blog on Pauline Baynes: Queen of Narnia and Middle-Earth

And note that obituaries will be appearing in The Times, The Telegraph, The Independent and The Guardian later in the week.

Kind regards,

Brian Sibley

Update 2:

Rem, from the Philippine Order of Narnians, sent us an update with links to the articles posted athe both the Independent and the Guardian:

I thought you’d like to know that, as Mr Sibley said they would, Pauline Baynes’ obituaries have already shown up at the Independent and the Guardian.

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Last month, we informed NarniaFans that CS Lewis’ secretary, Walter Hooper, would be auctioning off signed first edition copies of three of the Narnian Chronicles. We are delighted to report that the books were able to help raise £34,000.

The three Narnian books auctioned were The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Horse and His Boy, and The Last Battle . It was expected that each of the books would only take in £3,000. The Oxford Daily Mail reports that, ” The Voyage of the Dawn Treader raised £10,625; The Horse and his Boy £10,000; and The Last Battle raised £9,375.

The proceeds from the sale of this auction went to the renovation of the Oxford Oratory Church of St Aloysius. Eight other books by CS Lewis were auctioned off as well.

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A former secretary of Oxford author CS Lewis is giving away signed first editions of the author’s Narnia books to raise money to renovate a city church.

The Oxford Oratory Church of St Aloysius, in Woodstock Road, is set to receive the windfall thanks to the generosity of Walter Hooper.

The church is launching a £3m appeal to carry out renovation work and build a new chapel and student accommodation.

Mr Hooper, 77, who lives in North Oxford, briefly worked as CS Lewis’s private secretary in 1963, shortly before the author’s death.

After Lewis’s death, Mr Hooper devoted himself to The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe author’s memory and co-wrote the author’s biography, and edited his letters and diaries.

He said: “I have kept these books close to me all these years but when this appeal came up, I wanted to do something.

“In a way it will be a wrench to part with the books but in another way I’m glad, because they might do some good.

“CS Lewis gave away two thirds of his income and it was wonderfully liberating to see a man who did not seem to amass wealth at all – he really was a good man.”

Mr Hooper will retain a copy of Lewis’s poetry volume Spirits in Bondage, because he still finds inspiration from the verses.

Mr Hooper has donated 11 CS Lewis titles, including three signed first editions – The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader, The Horse And His Boy and The Last Battle.

All 11 books are estimated to sell for up to £3,000 each at auction in London next month, with the hammer price boosted by the release today of the movie version of Prince Caspian. The books will be auctioned by Sotheby’s in London on July 17.

This year marks the 110th anniversary of Lewis’s birth in Belfast on November 29, 1898.

Philip Berrington, books specialist for Sotheby’s, said: “With the film of Prince Caspian coming out, the timing for this auction couldn’t be better. The connection between Walter Hooper and CS Lewis makes these books very collectable.”

The Oxford Oratory was built in 1875. Redecoration will restore marble, stonework and stencilling of the original Victorian design.

A smaller chapel for Masses, pilgrimage groups and baptisms will be added, together with a small garden.

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