Who prefers BBC Narnia?

Princess Frances

Active member
To me, for all the CGI and extra money, the films aren't as good as BBC Narnia in a crucial aspect: the movies make you feel like your witnessing an epic, while because of their lower budget and production values, the BBC Chronicles feel like you're having a cosy, intimate adventure with friends.
 
Well said, Princess Frances. In the Chronicles the battles are not the main point -- yet the climax of Prince Caspian the movie and LWW was all about the fighting.
 
I agree. They're awesome. In fact, back in 2005 when I first heard they were making new Narnia movies, my original thought was that I hoped they were going to pick up right where they left off and film the last three stories BBC style.
 
I received the BBC boxed set as a gift long ago and loved it. The low-budget added to it's charm IMO and from what I remember, was truer to the source material than the latest movies.

The Silver Chair - the actress who plays the green witch did an awesome job. She also played the white witch I believe.

I need to watch these again.
 
The BBC stopped adapting them because the money got pulled. The Horse and his Boy was in preproduction when it was canceled.

I don't know how they'd have done The Last Battle, though. It's pure didacticism in the way the other books are not - although both it and The Horse and His Boy have some Middle Eastern stereotypes that would be seen as pretty racist now. I'm sure they'd have filmed Horse in 1991 if the money had been there - after all, Disney did Aladdin, which is also full of raging stereotypes. But I'm not so sure about now.

Silver Chair, mind you, is one of the best books of the series, and quite inoffensive. It's one of the least messagey, too.
 
Ha, at least Calormen isn't actually supposed to be the Middle East. Aladdin...let's just say that, for a bunch of people who are supposed to be medieval Muslims, they are about as unrealistic as it gets.
 
The BBC Dawn Treador is a phenomenal masterpiece. The sequences in Coriakin's home are perfectly charming.

As for the Calormenes, Lewis was fearlessly prophetic in depicting the most barbaric principles of Islam (I think Tirian's horror at Aslan being called Tash, the god who fed off the blood of his people, summarizes that quite well). I would expect the same fearlessness from the producers of any true adaptation of The Last Battle.
 
In regard to the Calormenes, I do think it's important to keep in mind that Lewis probably was influenced by medieval misconceptions about Islam like The Song of Roland. In the epic, the Muslims are depicted as polytheists who dabble in black magic. I'm sure Lewis knew that is extremely incorrect. But if you're interested in adding color to your fantasy world, the inaccurate descriptions of Islam could serve as a stimulus of sorts, which I'm guessing is what they were to Lewis. At any rate, I don't think he was trying to make any point about Islam as such in how he depicted the Calormenes.

What I hope is that the Calormenes will be depicted accurately to the book if any future movie adaptation is made--Aravis's and Emeth's decisions to oppose their people would take on less meaning if the Calormenes were toned down in hopes of not offending the usual suspects. Filming HHB before TLB might help avoid that problem, as HHB shows broader Calormene culture in a non-apocalyptic context. Not holding my breath, though.
 
"Movie Lucy and the beauty spell... which Movie Lucy doesn't need!"

Princess, remember that it doesn't matter what others think about you, but how you think of yourself. That was the problem with Lucy. In fact, Lewis stated at the end of LWW that Susan and Lucy both grew up to be desirable to the kings and princes.

BBC did a far better job at following the story of PC and VotDT than the movies. We'll have to see how the filmmakers handle TSC, but they do have a great BBC miniseries to look up to.

MrBob
 
Millie Brown is good at playing creepy girls - see Madison or Rachel or Jane/Eleven. The effects of being bullied by Them is something Brown could really bring out if cast as Pole.
 
The BBC stopped adapting them because the money got pulled. The Horse and his Boy was in preproduction when it was canceled.

I didn't know that! I'm pretty saddened at this missed opportunity to adapt all (though perhaps not the final book - a bit sad!).

I prefer the BBC Narnia! When I was very young we owned BBC's TLWATW on video and so it was my first introduction to the world of Narnia. I was pretty darn upset when we lost the video (or did mum just get rid of it? - not sure now), and finding years later that it was on DVD, that was pretty special! (I had not seen the other series until then.) It has very nostalgic meaning for me, though it is not just nostalgia that appeals in my preference; they were nicely made (yes, cheesy costumes and effects in places, but I can forgive that easily!), lovely theme music, and they kept very true to the books.

I'm keen to watch them again very soon once I've finished rewatching the films. :D
 
To me, for all the CGI and extra money, the films aren't as good as BBC Narnia in a crucial aspect: the movies make you feel like your witnessing an epic, while because of their lower budget and production values, the BBC Chronicles feel like you're having a cosy, intimate adventure with friends.

When it comes to the BBC ones, I've only seen The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe -- when I was in the third grade, my teacher read it to the class, and as the other movie was not out yet (they were still working on it -- it came out when I was in the fourth grade), she showed us the BBC version.

Her reading to us and then showing us the BBC version of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was my first real introduction to Narnia, so the BBC one certainly has a special place in my heart and I have a copy of it on DVD...For me, it was technicalities I liked better, like Jadis more closely fitting the description given in the books.

There is also something to be said for the effort that goes into such productions using costumes and animatronics (or whatever Aslan was in BBC...? It's been a long time, for me, lol) and building sets. I have a bigger appreciation for many older films and such because it seems to me that they had to care a lot more about the project, to put that much work in rather than being like "Oh, we'll just put that in with CGI."

To me it's kind of like recording over and over and over to get it right as opposed to fixing it right away with autotune to save time. (Although that can be a helpful timesaver and doesn't always mean the artist isn't genuinely talented, but I digress.)
I have a lot of respect for what they can do with motion capture and CGI and whatnot. (For example, I thought Smaug was absolutely beautifully done in the Hobbit flicks.) I'm just saying, I also have immense respect for some of the beautiful films that were put together in the past WITHOUT relying on CGI. (Like the sets in The Ten Commandments. I'm still impressed with those.)

And I agree, there is much more focus on battle sequences, not just in the Narnia flicks, but in fantasy flicks in general these days. Even if adapted from intellectual plot and/or character based novels, they feel the need to really push the battle sequences...and as one who gets immensely bored during battles in TV/film as well as in books, this is a bit tiresome and annoying. I'd rather see plot and character development than a bunch of people running and yelling and slashing at each other, lol. Just my personal opinion.

I must admit, though, as with many young people, it was the new movies that caused me to become somewhat obsessed with the series, lol. Big part of my late childhood/preteens.

(This is also where I shamefully admit I've only read three of the books. I have the entire set, though. One day, I'll read them all!! I like to think that one day when I have children I'll read them to them, and thus end up finishing them myself, finally, lol. My interests have admittedly shifted, though, as I said, Narnia will always have its place in my heart.)
 
I generally enjoyed the BBC TV adaptions, especially TSC. They were generally very faithful to the books which will always win my sympathy. I do have a couple of reservations though.
1. The puppet realisation of Aslan did not work well ( not even by BBC standards of the time) particularly in LWW and especially in the scene where He kills the Witch, which was very unconvincing.
2. The actress who played Lucy was not well cast, not that the films are perfect in this respect either. One of the many good things about the animation is that they got her hair colour right!

I'm a bit dubious about the claim that THHB was in pre-production. I remember after TSC went out a letter was published in Radio Times asking about the other 3 books with a BBC statement that they were unsuitable for adaption.

On the subject of THHB, I really wish people would give up on the notion that Calormen represents medieval Islam It no more does than Narnia represents medieval Europe. Lewis was not writing allegory. Narnia is his vision of an ideal Christian society and Calormen is its opposite; a very non ideal pagan society. In fact modern Western society (of both Lewis' time and ours) resembles Calormen in spirit far more than it does Narnia. That's probably why in VDT the unreformed Eustace though that Calormen was 'the least phoney sounding of all these countries.' But that's probably a topic for discussion elsewhere
 
My main reservation about Movie Lucy is that she's prettier than Movie Susan so the beauty spell bit in VOTDT doesn't work!
At least BBC Lucy is "plain".
 
I personally wouldn't say movie Lucy is prettier than movie Susan. But I don't see her temptation to use the beauty spell in the book as really being about jealousy of Susan but a desire for admiration and control, understandable if you're back to being a 12 year old after being an adult.

The BBC Lucy certainly was plain. And dumpy and with a horrible haircut!
 
Yeah. Guess that's all they could afford on a BBC budget. Way too old as well...

How old was Sophie Wilcox (that was her name if I remember rightly)?
The ages of the children is one of those things Narnia fans can argue about endlessly. Like some others I disregard the 'official' timeline as unreliable. The only definite fact about their ages in the books is that Edmund is a year older than Lucy.
 
Sophie was thirteen at the time of filming Lion. So old she is probably in a bra or at least a training bra by then. Like I said, not a child like Lucy is supposed to be.
 
Thirteen does seem rather too old for Lucy in LWW, although I have seen it suggested. One thing to bear in mind though is that PC and VDT were produced in the same year (1989). But fourteen is a couple of years too old even in VDT.
Personally I think Lucy was about ten in LWW.
 
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