Perhaps I am weird, but I thought Drinian was actually pretty close to how I imagined him (except for having no hair, but Gary Sweet pulls off the no-hair look very well).

On his age: He seemed about the right age to me. In the book he couldn't have been close to Caspian's age because Caspian is at most 18. As captain on a long voyage into the unknown Drinian would have to have had several years of experience under his belt.

On the stepping on Edmund: It was Edmund's fault. Edmund should have asked Caspian what he thought instead of trying to prompt Drinian. Besides, Drinian doesn't like taking orders from landsmen anyway.

Also, the Australian accent suits him perfectly because I doubt Drinian was a Telmarine in the book. They had only three years to prepare for the voyage and no one in Narnia would have had enough experience to captain the ship.

To be perfectly honest, I didn't like Drinian at all. For one thing, in the book Drinian was a younger, merry, likable, and noble captain who would sail the Dawn Treader anywhere Caspian ordered. (See some of the quotes from the book that icarus quoted above) In the movie, none of that is captured. Drinian seemed perpetually grumpy, pessimistic, and unwilling to sail anywhere. It made me wonder why on earth he was captain of the ship if he was so grudgingly taking Caspian where he wanted to go. I was also bothered by the scene when Drinian tells Edmund he only takes orders from Caspian. Drinian, like the rest of the Narnians, would have recognized Edmund's authority as one of her four sovereigns and never would have questioned it. I know some people are saying it was because he didn't take orders from land people, but in the book Drinian does listen to Edmund and Lucy and has great respect for both of them. He didn't even seem to have much respect for Caspian in the movie except that he was obliged to take orders from him because Caspian was the king who hired him.

Edmundsdefender said,
It made me wonder why on earth he was captain of the ship if he was so grudgingly taking Caspian where he wanted to go.

That was because they were running out of food, which is quite logical. And he proved his metal several times throughout the voyage.

I think that you don't know enough about Drinian in the book to get emotionally attatched to him. I liked this Drinian, because, for me at least, it felt like I was meeting him for the first time.

Barring that one uncomfortable scene with Edmund, I really like how Drinian is portrayed. And I've never felt any horror at his lack of hair, either. As with Trufflehunter, I never had an emotional attachment to Book Drinian (And I do think he is at least five years older than Caspian).
I feel that Movie Drinian's gruff, to-the-point manner is just right.

Yes, he was a good actor and definatly a good prtrayal, but his accent was a bit steriotypically piratish and reminded be of the crew from 'Pirates of the carribean.' Was that his real voice or an accent? (I havn't read the other posts from other pages 'caus i'm in a bit of a rush, so that might have already been asked)
But, over all I liked him, except from the'chain of command...' part, that was cringy and I felt sorry for Edmund.

No offense to anyone or to the actor portraying Drinian but I just didn't get it. He was not Drinian to me, more like a rough/tough Mr. Clean getting his debute in a movie. Drinian to me was the Drinian in the 1989 BBC VDT. I didn't agree with the actor choice or the character himself. I didn't like it.

Was that his real voice or an accent?

Hey CharlotteRose! I felt sorry for Edmund too. In response to your question, I am pretty sure that was Gary Sweet's real voice that he used. I think he has an Australian accent.

I understand about not reading the previous posts - but I remembered someone mentioning his accent, so I dug a couple posts up for you. Here you go!

Another thing about Gary Sweet as Drinian, he has a genuinely Aussie Strine accent. That isn't just a piratical growl he talks in. When he says words like 'mind', or 'kind', you get the picture. The dipthongs, elisions and pronunciation rattle around in his diction. Sort of... 'moyind'. I'm not saying this lightly. I speak the same way.

Also, the Australian accent suits him perfectly because I doubt Drinian was a Telmarine in the book. They had only three years to prepare for the voyage and no one in Narnia would have had enough experience to captain the ship.

Hope that answers your question!

I can't wait to watch the movie again so that I can figure out my updated thoughts on Drinian. My negative opinions on other things in VDT have lessened considerably since I saw the movie, so I'm wondering if my opinion on Drinian may have changed too. I'll get back to you on that.

MountainFireflower, Thanks! That helped.
I realy did like hisz acting, he is a good actor but like you I think that Drinian in the BBC version was like how I imagined him to be more than Gary Sweet.
Never the less, I didn't really mind him and yeah, when VDT comes out on DVD I can re watch his performance...

I think he was a bit more stern and emotionless than I thought he would be. I never saw him as such a tough, older man (not old, but older than I imagined). I guess him looking tough works since he was an experienced sailor.

Gary Sweet was not what I was expecting, but he was good in the role. I didn't much care for the accent, but I thought it worked well enough and got used to it a few words in. His appearance was fine with me. I hadn't read VDT in more than a year so that my preconceptions were fuzzy. He looked and sounded great.
My one problem was when he turned to Edmund and said (pretty much), "Excuse me. Who died and made you king of Narnia??"
...

...
I wanted Ed to look at him and say, "Aslan?"
I just really wanted Ed to put Drinian in his place, or at least Caspian should have put him in his place. Grrrrr... Drinian was right, but it was badly done... Very badly done and highly disrespectful.
I always assumed that Drinian was a ship's captain from Achenland who was sent over to Narnia as part of a sort peace thing after Cas was made king. Anyhow, that's what I thought of him in the book. Especially as there were no captains in Narnia until Caspian became king. So if he had any prior experience he sort of had to be foreign. In the movie it was the same thing, but add his fair complexion to the mix I really assumed he was foreign.
With that being said, I really liked movie-Drinian and gave him a place in my book next to the awesome characters.

Drinian is awesome! Gary Sweet did an awesome job of playing the kind of rough, yet kind captain that Drinian is meant to be!

I always thought Drinian would talk more. I mean me would be in tune with whats going on. He was acting like he could have been "doing something better" than sailing to the worlds end.

I liked Drinian in the movie-a lot. Next to Eustace he was one of the highlights of the film. He may have been different than he was in the book, but I think his character in the movie had a bit more dimension than it did in the book. I do hope however that they make him grow a bit soft in his old age for SC It will make his scene with Caspian much more believable/ heartwarming

My one problem was when he turned to Edmund and said (pretty much), "Excuse me. Who died and made you king of Narnia??"
...

...
I wanted Ed to look at him and say, "Aslan?"
I just really wanted Ed to put Drinian in his place, or at least Caspian should have put him in his place. Grrrrr... Drinian was right, but it was badly done... Very badly done and highly disrespectful.

I would beg to differ with that assessment. After just replaying that moment, I thought Drinian's tone and choice of words very respectful while also firm: "Forgive me Your Majesty, but the chain of command starts with King Caspian on this ship".

I see Edmund (and Lucy) as visiting royalty. So as a High King he deserved respect and could exercise a degree of authority. But trying to take over or supersede the authority of the current, actual king would be quite wrong. (IMHO)

The way I see it, Edmund just had a slip of the tongue and Drinian corrected him in a firm but gentle way. I think Skandar did a good job of acknowledging that by his slightly embarrassed "Right" response. (Glad he didn't have quite the chip on his shoulder that they gave to Peter in PC.)