Overall, this news was uplifting for me. I had some concerns about certain things being left out and changes that might be big and annoying.

This article was reassuring about some important spiritual aspects of the story in VDT and the swords angle is not as bad for me as other things I had imagined.

I am sure there will be other changes in the transition from book to screen. But if most of the story elements and characters are there, and the movie is well made, VDT should turn out to be a fairly good adaptation.

If the audience responds well, then that means the changes worked whether or not a book purist likes or dislikes them. And that means we'll get to see The Silver Chair made and we can speculate and agonize about the changes to that story as well.

Yes, I, just like everyone else, was extremely relived to hear this piece of news. Now I am so exited for this film!

As for the seven swords thing, it doesn't bother me to much. It may take a bit of getting used to, but, if taken with the rest of the news, it doesn't distort the overall picture of VDT. The end of the movie still looks like it will be the same. The undragoning of Eustace also looks like it will be the same or close to the book. With all this stuff the "same", the little "differnt" bits that are put in for cinematography purposes, personal adaption purposes, or some mysterious purpose, won't be enough for me to lose sleep about.

Okay, so Fox and Walden also showed some footage to the National Religious Broadcasters Convention last week. One of the guys that saw the footage described some of the scenes he saw, and this was one of them.

“There was a scene that depicted the deck of the Dawn Treader and the camera moved back and a blob appeared on the right side of the screen.”

Could this be our first indication that the island where nightmares come true will be in the film? I can't really think of what else the black bob could be referring to.

I'm pretty sure he was referring to unfinished animation. I could be wrong though.

Well, he did say it was unfinished, but why would it be a black blob. Is that what they do if they haven't finished the animation; just stick black spots on the screen?

Well the quote just said blob, not necessarily a black blob, right?
I would guess what he saw was unfinished animation of some sort... but who knows? It's not a lot to go on.

Hmmm.........maybe. But why are the swords important to the quest? What do the swords being inseparable from the lords have to do with the plot?(my questions are not questioning you, they are merely my own random musings in my confused mind trying to piece everything together into a coherent story) It makes sense that a knight's sword is his best friend, but what does that add to the story? Why did the filmmakers feel that they needed to include this point? If that is the point?

Well, on the iMDB and Coming Soon summaries, they do mention a mysterious band of warriors. In the book there is nothing mysterious about these seven lords, whether you consider them 'a band of warriors' or not, as they were all the aristocratic friends of Caspian X's father, who alone of Telmarines did not fear the sea.

And when men are referred to as 'Top Gun', or simply as guns in the real world, and when warriors equal swords in medieval times, there is no great leap of the imagination to see that the 'sword' might refer equally to the item or the owner of the item who loves wielding it. After all, we call electricians 'sparkies', and teachers 'chalkies' Down Under, so why not refer to a wandering band of warriors as 'swords', rather than, say, 'lords'? Isn't this to appeal to the republican sentiments of the audience? Who might be otherwise a little too sympathetic to Eustace, whose republican sentiments are surely expressed purely to rubbish the Dawn Treader and his cousins being referred to as King and Queen?

I have actually stood on the deck of the Dawn Treader, which was on show at Movieworld on Australia's Gold Coast from Boxing Day (26/12/2009) to Australia Day (26/1/2010), taking in most of our Summer school Holidays. It is quite an experience, and I was at pains to get hold of a photo of the bell, which shows all of the lords, with their names written above them, and all holding swords one way or another. The work on the deck of the Dawn Treader is really intricate, with lovely wood carvings such as the two fauns supporting the bell, and the leadlight glass used in doorways and windows. The Dragon Head prow and stern is detachable, and the sides of the set look as they might after the Sea Serpent attack.

Unfortunately you can't get really close to the bell because there is nothing supporting it below deck, and where the bell is, there is a lot of fretwork which is a bit fragile, and we were warned not to step on it. You see the door to Prince Caspian's cabin with a carved picture of Aslan over the lintel, but lovely as the door is, there would be empty space behind it. On the Dawn Treader's name plate on the stern there is a carving of the face of a dragon, something like the BBC ones.

I don't know what a black blob would be doing on the deck of the Dawn Treader, but Reepicheep at this stage would be a reasonable guess, since he is essentially a CGI character, if the film was still in production. Since there has been a casting announcement for Lord Rhoop, the very suitable Bruce Gyngell, with Lord Rhoop horrified eyes to match, I would assume that Nightmare Island is indeed part of the story in the film.

I think it's a bit of a stretch to say that the seven swords might be the seven lords themselves. It's not conventional to say it that way in our world and surely the film makers would only have used the term if Lewis himself had coined it.

I think that it is amazing that you got to stand on the deck of the Dawn Treader! What an experience! I enjoyed reading your account of it.

Maybe 'swords' was a really bad misspelling of 'lords'? It's clutching at straws but it's possible. We don't know what time of day or night it was written and whether the person was exhausted or not when they wrote it.

Tirian confirmed the added plot about the seven swords, so there is really no chance that it was a typo or that the seven swords are actually the seven lords.

I'll always be a,
NL101

So the grand epic journey of exploration has been transformed into a quest to find some super special magic swords to free Narnia from an evil curse? Is it just me or does this sound like the plot of a Power Rangers TV show?

Urgh, I don't like this whole "lords/swords" business, though I'll be okay with it as long as it doesn't become too quest-y and change the story too much.
Maybe they just want the swords as sort of memorials to remember the lords by?

Ah the power rangers. Lucy, of course, will be the pink one. Maybe Edmund and Caspian will fight over who gets to be the red one. They will use their magical powers in an attempt to kill the witch who will the morph into a giant snake. The power rangers will then morph into a big lion who will with one swing of it's sword destroy the giant snake in a moment of sparks and glory. Yeah that sounds about right.

Ah the power rangers. Lucy, of course, will be the pink one. Maybe Edmund and Caspian will fight over who gets to be the red one. They will use their magical powers in an attempt to kill the witch who will the morph into a giant snake. The power rangers will then morph into a big lion who will with one swing of it's sword destroy the giant snake in a moment of sparks and glory. Yeah that sounds about right.

Who on earth are the Power Rangers? And what are they doing stealing the plot of 'The Silver Chair'? And exactly why should I be even vaguely interested in what colour outfit said rangers are wearing?

Seriously though, whatever happens with the 'seven swords', it can't be all that separate from the 'seven lords'. After all, the Dawn Treader I saw was a real, fair dinkum, stage setting, for the purposes of the film, which the tour guides were pleased to let us know about. And this stage setting had a real, fair dinkum, bell to go with it, with the 7 lords all lined up around it. Check out the photo of that bell I posted on one of my earlier posts, and then tell me that the story isn't being adhered to, at least to a point!

The building where the Dawn Treader was kept was quite dark, without good lighting. But we did get a few good pictures, like the one I am posting below, not only the bell. We also bought postcards to back up what we saw. However the 'seven swords' are factored in, I still believe they are a side issue, not the main part of the story. I did see that bell after all.

Ah the power rangers. Lucy, of course, will be the pink one. Maybe Edmund and Caspian will fight over who gets to be the red one. They will use their magical powers in an attempt to kill the witch who will the morph into a giant snake. The power rangers will then morph into a big lion who will with one swing of it's sword destroy the giant snake in a moment of sparks and glory. Yeah that sounds about right.

Caspian can be the red ranger. Edmund is the white ranger, obviously. Though I would see Lucy more as the yellow ranger than the pink one. Of course, I'm comparing to the original series, so we might have different perceptions...with me showing my advanced age by the fact that I only watched the first...two series?

To answer waggawerewolf, Power Rangers was a kid's show using footage from a Japanese tv show, about a group of teenagers who are given the ability to 'morph' into rangers and fight evil aliens. Inevitably, as the bad guy of the week is losing the battle he'll 'morph' into a giant form of himself. The Power Rangers then call upon their giant robot creatures who combine to make a robot warrior who inevitably kills the bad guy with a sword. I think there were magic weapons involved as well.

Oh my goodness, talk about a nostalgia trip. That was my childhood. Please stop mixing it with Narnia.

To get back on topic...I really hope the swords are just a side issue. I don't see the point of changing the voyage to find magic swords instead of fulfilling a promise and making up for the wrongs of the Telmarines.