MundoNarnia has added to their collection of on-set pictures with 12 new images. One of the shots is of a large, stuffed mouse, and it is safe to assume this is a stand-in for none other than Reepicheep, one of VDT’s prominent characters.
Next to the stand-in is a another stuffed Reepicheep, only that one is green—making it easy to remove (or replace) during post-production.
We made an attempt to get someone to this event, but sadly the one person that might have been available had to work during the event. Thankfully another Narnia fan site was able to have someone in attendance. I would have gone myself, but I had a wedding to go to during the conference. Micheal Flaherty is a great friend of mine, and I would have loved to see him again.
Now for the thirtieth edition of the NarniaFans Mailbag! It’s good to be back, and I’m having a great time at this so far. I just need more letters. Then my esteemed team will be able to help answer questions (the earlier you ask them, the better). It gives us more time to do research and give you the best answer possible on the Thursday release date! This week’s questions cover the qualifications of Michael Apted, if there is any more Dawn Treader promotional material and scenes that a reader feels were missing from Prince Caspian.
Return to the magical world of Narnia in the second installment of C.S. Lewis’ timeless epic, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, coming to market on December 2, 2008 from Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment. Packed with exclusive featurettes, interviews and deleted scenes, the entertainment title of the year is available on DVD and Blu-ray Hi-Def, as well as a special two-disc Collectors Edition perfect for holiday giving. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian packaging also includes a special DisneyFile, a digital copy of the movie that can be viewed on a variety of portable devices for the whole family to enjoy anytime, anywhere.
From the creators of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian features even more groundbreaking special effects and breathtaking action than its predecessor. William Moseley, Georgie Henley, Anna Popplewell and Skandar Keynes return as Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy, the Pevensie siblings, along with Academy Award® nominee Liam Neeson (1993 nominee for Best Actor, Schindler’s List) as Aslan the Lion and Academy Award winner Tilda Swinton (2008 winner for Best Supporting Actress, Michael Clayton) as the White Witch. They are joined by Ben Barnes (Stardust) as Caspian, heir to the Narnian throne, with Sergio Castellitto (Arthur and the Invisibles), Eddie Izzard (FX: The Riches), Warwick Davis (the Harry Potter films) and Peter Dinklage (The Station Agent) appearing as new residents of Narnia. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian is fantasy adventure that will delight the entire family.
Lewis’ seven-book Chronicles of Narnia series is regarded as one of literature’s most enduring classics, selling over 100,000,000 copies in more than 35 languages, making it the second biggest book series the world over.
In The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, the Pevensie children face a perilous mission and a greater test of their faith and courage. They find a world in which 1,300 years have passed. The White Witch is gone, the realm is ruled by a cruel tyrant and Aslan has been missing for over a thousand years.
The four children embark on a remarkable journey to restore magic and glory to the land. Accompanied by Trumpkin, a valiant dwarf, Reepicheep the talking mouse and a suspicious Black Dwarf named Nikabrik, they raise an army of Narnians to rise up against the evil king Miraz.
BONUS FEATURES:
DVD
• Special audio commentary by director and actors
Collector’s Edition DVD
All of the above, plus:
• Special audio commentary by director and actors, a behind-the-scenes interview with the cast and crew, a tour of the film’s locations and sets, inside view of the technology and production behind the movie, bloopers, deleted scenes and much, much more!
Blu-ray Hi-Def Exclusives
All of the above, plus:
• Enhanced Disney’s BD-Live Network exclusives, interactive Narnia game, downloadable features and much, much more!
• Circle-Vision Interactive: Creating the Castle Raid – Walt Disney’s famous Imagineers introduced the world to Circle-Vision in the 50’s and 60’s, which immersed Disneyland visitors in 360-degree film tours of America, and later, China and Canada. Now, through HDRI camera technology and the rapidly-evolving interactive capabilities of Blu-ray, the Disney team has taken the first step towards advancing this unique and memorable experience. Only on THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: PRINCE CASPIAN on Blu-ray Disc can fans take a 360-degree look behind the scenes of the castle raid sequence and get unique access to the secrets of how this latest adventure to Narnia was pulled off. It’s all a part of CIRCLE-VISION INTERACTIVE: CREATING THE CASTLE RAID. First, start off in the CIRCLE-VISION preview lobby, and choose to get a private tour of the castle raid from Director Andrew Adamson, Producer Mark Johnson, or a number of other key filmmakers and artists who brought the latest adventure to NARNIA to life. Then, select one of the exclusive CIRCLE-VISION experiences to be virtually transported to the set in the Czech Republic. The moment you enter these panoramic worlds, you will be able to turn in any direction, and fully-explore how this compelling sequence was painstakingly created. Discover a myriad of progression reels, developmental animatics, 13 audio commentaries, pop-up facts, slide shows, and a treasure trove of behind-the-scenes footage with cast and crew that is revealing, interesting, compelling, funny and exclusively accessed through this new-reimagining of a classic idea. It’s all a part of CIRCLE-VISION INTERACTIVE: CREATING THE CASTLE RAID, only on THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: PRINCE CASPIAN on Blu-ray Disc.
The DVD of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian has a suggested retail price of $29.99 (U.S.) and $35.99 (Canada). The Two Disc Collector’s Edition is $39.99 (U.S.) and $46.99 (Canada). The Blu-ray disc is priced at $35.99 (U.S.) and $45.99 (Canada).
The Early Childhood Parenting section of Chicago’s Examiner.com has chosen the name “Caspian” as the Baby Name of the day. It’s not really a name you hear all that much, but I guess it is gaining in popularity.
I can see plenty of NarniaFans naming their children after characters. However if they do, there are two things two keep in mind. If you name a child ” Eustace Clarence Scrubb” they better deserve it, and if you name a child Reepicheep, well, ” You people have no imagination.”
You can read the rest of the article by clicking the source link. There really isn’t much to the article past the mention of Narnia and the meaning behind the name. However, it is still nice to have the name Caspian get noticed.
Welcome to Tumnus’s Book Shelf where we review any and all books related to Narnia and CS Lewis! For this weeks review, we will be looking at The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian: Fight For The Throne
Title: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian: The Fight for the Throne.
Based on The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian by CS Lewis
Adapted by: JE Bright
Publisher: HarperEntertainment (April 1, 2008)
ISBN-10: 0061231584
ISBN-13: 978-0061231582
Summary of the book:
Late one night in the Telmarine castle in the land of Narnia, Prince Caspian was woken up by his mentor Dr. Cornelius. Caspian’s uncle Miraz had a son, and Caspian had to escape as his uncle was trying to kill him. Before leaving Cornelius gave Caspian a gift, the horn of Queen Susan Pevensie to use to summon the heroes of old.
Fleeing from his Uncle Miraz’s soldiers, Prince Caspian falls into the company of three of the Narnians, Trufflehunter the badger, along with Nikabrik and Trumpkin, two dwarves. Caspian blew the horn to summon the heroes. The three of them were pursued in the woods and Trumpkin was taken captive. Guided by Nikabrik and Trufflehunter, Caspian was led further into the woods where he then meet Reepicheep and other Narnians. They were afraid to trust him at first as they hated the Telmarines because they had stolen their land. He assured them that he would restore Narnia to them if they fought alongside him.
The Narnians agreed and training begun. Sometime during their training Trumpkin returned with the four Pevensies who were only children.SPOILERS! By the urgings of Peter, and despite the protests of Lucy, the Narnians engaged in a futile Night Raid, in which Caspian rescued Cornelius and learned that his uncle Miraz had killed Caspian’s father.
In the process of this night raid many Narnian lives were lost. Nikabrik and some companions of his attempted to convince him to resurrect the White Witch. With the help of the Pevensies he was able to defeat Nikabrik and his two friends.
They at last decided to do the right thing. After sending Lucy out to find Aslan, Peter decided to engage in a duel of single combat with Miraz to by time. Peter won the duel and was given the choice to kill Miraz he refused as it was not his job. To deal out justice He handed over the sword to Caspian who also refused as he would not sink to Miraz’s level. Miraz was then killed by two of his generals and they blamed his death on the Narnians.
A massive battle broke out. The Narnians routed the Telmarine forces to the river where they meet up with Lucy and Aslan. Aslan summoned up the River God and the forces of the Telmarines were defeated. Caspian was crowned king and the Pevensies returned home.END SPOILERS!
Review of the book:
Let’s see if you can follow this. This book, Prince Caspian: Fight for the Throne, is an adaptation of the movie, which is an adaptation of the book Prince Caspian pretty much like most tie-in books dealing with the Narnia books. It’s almost a given fact for a big movie release. With this book, however it does something different. It looks at Prince Caspian’s story through his perspective.
It is meant for readers who are in the early junior high stage. It is meant to be like it were Caspian’s journal so it is written in a very simple, strait forward manner, with no frills attatched to it, much like a journal entry. This, combined with the books choice on limiting the perspective, means that it does not try to be too challenging. The concept itself of telling the story from Caspian’s perspective is interesting and does intrigue a reader enough. However, it also means that many key plot points for the original novel are cut out as it is based on the film.
SPOILERS!Caspian and Peter do butt heads, but on the plus side Peter seems like less of a jerk in this book than he did in the film and more like he’s trying to help free Narnia. This book also does not have the apparition of Jadis appear in the ice or the “kiss that was heard around the world.” In many ways this book flows like a possible fan edit of the film would.END SPOILERS!
The battles are described in detail but they come off as very lethargic. While they are fun to watch on screen they are less enjoyable in print. One becomes grateful that CS Lewis did not focus on battles as much. Readers realize that he knew what he was doing. By not describing the battles in detail he left them for the readers to imagine and choreograph on their own, which when you are reading a book is much more fun than having it spoon feed to you.
There is also much less of Lewis’s symbolism in this book.SPOILERS!The limited perspective features Aslan only briefly at the end and we have no idea what else is going on in the other parts of story, such as with the Pevensies.END SPOILERS!In a small way, the original book’s beauty is taken away and in it’s place is a quick adventure story for adolescent boys to read in between rounds of playing Nintendo Wii. But in another way there is more mystery about Aslan and the Pevensies as no one sees them until they come.
There are no pictures as this is not meant to be a children’s story book. This is a young readers novel. The advantage of this is that it does give the reader more room to imagine what the characters may look like, even though their versions of the Pevensies in their minds may be the ones played by William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Skandar Keynes, and Georgie Henley.
Readers may enjoy this book just for the virtue it looks at a favorite story from one characters perspective. However, in reading it there is one thing that must be kept in mind: this book is not a supplemental book, a replacement, or even an introduction to the story. It’s a companion story. It should only be read if readers have first read ( or heard) the original novel by CS Lewis and then seen the movie, other wise there will be huge blanks left to fill.
Prince Caspian: Fight for the Throne has an interesting premise behind it and does make for a good read for a few times. Next to the original book however, this book is merely the Shadowlands: a good reflection for readers of the wondrous world of Narnia.
3 ½ out of 5 shields.
Title: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian: Caspian’s Army.
Based on The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian by CS Lewis
Adapted by: Sadie Chesterfield
Illustrated by: Justin Sweet
Publisher: HarperEntertainment (April 1, 2008)
ISBN-10: 0061231576
ISBN-13: 978-0061231575
Summary of the book:
Fleeing from his Uncle Miraz’s soldiers, Prince Caspian falls into the company of three of the Narnians, Trufflehunter the badger, along with Nikabrik and Trumpkin, two dwarves. Caspian is taken further into the woods, where he meet up with other Narnians, They were afraid to trust him at first as they hated the Telmarines because they had stolen their land. He assured them that he would restore Narnia to them if they fought alongside him. With a magic horn that could summon the heroes of old in hand and his new army, Caspian was ready to began his quest.
Review of the book:
While this may sound like an apples to oranges comparison, this particular book, Caspian’s Army isn’t as good as the other adaptations of the Narnian Chronicles in this particular series. While the illustrations are just as splendid and the retelling of the tale is nicely paced, this story is a bit lackluster, especially after reading the Tail of Reepicheep.
Part of the problem would be that this book functions like a prologue for Prince Caspian as it’s ending is just left dangling. An old writers adage is to leave the reader wanting more, and this book left you wanting a lot more. While this book may be meant for children, I’m not sure if it’s ending would be as satisfying as the Tail of Reepicheep for them. It would be very easy to picture a little kid sitting up in bed after hearing this story and going ,“is that the end?”
The somewhat disappointing ending of the story aside, it isn’t that badly written. It’s still paced fairly well, and it does contain a good bit of dialogue. One of this books strongest features is it’s use of more “challenging” words like “extinct”. While most reading comprehension courses may teach that kids should skip a challenging word and only read what they know, it is far more important for them to be challenged and improve their skills in order to become better readers, and this book would help with that.
The art is still great. The use of the concept art just helps the story so much more than using a still shot form the film which could easily be blurry from the motion in it, and leave the characters looking rather awkward. This style of art just keeps the story going.
If you are looking for a well paced book for young readers that will challenge their vocabulary skills, with great illustrations this book is certainly worth the try. Certainly, the Narniafans that have to have every book, and parents with younger readers, would like having this in their library. However this story is simply “good” but not “great”, and it is almost better to wait until they are older to read the full story of Prince Caspian to them.
3 1/2 out of 5 shields.
Title: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian: The Tail of Reepicheep.
Based on The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian by CS Lewis
Adapted by: EK Stein
Illustrated by: Justin Sweet
Publisher: HarperEntertainment (April 1, 2008)
ISBN-10: 0061231568
ISBN-13: 978-0061231568
Summary of the book:
Reepicheep was a brave little mouse who lived in Narnia. He wanted to free the land from the Telmarines and help Prince Caspian take his rightful throne. Reepicheep and the other mice took part in a big battle. The brave mouse was wounded in the battle and lost his tail in the process. The other mice were willing to remove theirs in honor of him. For their devotion, Aslan restored Reepicheep’s tail.
Review of the book:
Reepicheep! Yes, he is a mouse. Need I say more for any long time fans of the Chronicles of Narnia? If a fan sees his name on the book alone, they are immediately interested in reading it. Forget any comparisons to him and Puss n’ Boots in Shrek, Reepicheep the mouse is to Narnia what Chewbacca the Wookie is to Star Wars. He’s brave, fearless, courageous, heroic, but at the same time he’s also fluffy, cute and cuddly ( just don’t let him catch you saying that). Irregardless of who their favorite character is, fans will always have a soft spot in their heart for that lovable fur ball.
Naturally, due to his place amongst the vast collective of fans, a tie in book focusing on him would be in order. This book is by no means a brand new story. It is a nice retelling of the exploits of Reepicheep from the book Prince Caspian. It would have been difficult to try and come up with a new story focusing on him. Fans of the Chronicles can be very protective of the series and to many of them adding a brand new story to the legends would be unacceptable. The fact that it is the “same story” just different, doesn’t at all take away from the enjoy ability of the story. It is, afterall meant for the youngest of readers, so young children will finally have a Narnia book that is “just for them” as the novels are better suited for their older brothers, sisters and cousins.
The title of the book is a pun on Reepicheep’s actual “tail” and the type of “tale” that is a story, similar to what was done with the title the animated movie An American Tail with the mouse Fievel. As it is about him loosing his tail in battle and Aslan restoring it is a very natural one to make.
Unlike a lot of tie in books, this one does not feature pictures from the movie. Instead it utilizes some of the concept art and employs the art very nicely. The pictures give the story an almost surreal dream like quality that is missing from other tie ins and make it feel like a children‘s book and not a strict movie tie-in. Younger children may not appreciate it much, but older readers will appreciate the fact that everything doesn’t look “exactly” like the movie.
The story is short as it is meant for little kids and the dialogue is extremely limited. The story’s briskness aside, it is a fun and engaging read with very nice illustrations. Little ones will enjoy it and it is certain to make a good story to share with them for bed-time. I know I’d be glad to share it with a little one.
Four out of Five shields.
Izzard will voice the diminutive Reepicheep in The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, the sequel to CS Lewis classic The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
This is the first image of Reepicheep from the Disney movie, which is a mix of live action and computer-generated animation.
Izzard said of the role: “I didn’t see myself as Reepicheep but then I thought that it may be fun.
“And looking again at Reepicheep I realised that he has always been recorded in a high, slightly camp voice because of the overt language that he uses and his chivalrous nature, but actually he is a murderous little so-and-so of a mouse. I see him as the Mad Max of mice.”
Izzard, 46, fell in love with the Narnia books as a child.
“I read them all and I didn’t really read many things as a kid. The Narnia ones I really got into and I read every single one of them,” he said.
“I think it was the wish fulfillment – you go off and become adults, get swords and horses and fight battles.
I thought you might like to check out the fantastic new game Reepicheep-Run – launched today on the HarperCollins Narnia Microsite www.discovernarnia.co.uk. Using the mouse (no pun intended), direct Reepicheep across the branches to deliver an urgent message to Prince Caspian. Those that score over 2000 points can enter the prize draw to win a treasure trove of Prince Caspian goodies, including:
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