@narnian78 They might have used what special effects were available in the early 90s, based on skills, funds, and equipment (eg if the makers and the equipment weren't busy elsewhere).
I can't answer what they would do if suddenly asked to make them now. I don't imagine it ever happening.

@coracle 

Yes, it was very unlikely that they would have received the money to make three more dramas. But even if they could have done it with the old technology I still would have enjoyed it. Having more money and better technology is nice but not essential for me since I am old fashioned in my taste. I am rather disappointed that no more of the productions were made just as I think it was sad that Walden had to quit after only three films. 🙁

The BBC series still has a viewing audience because the DVD’s have remained in print for over a decade. Perhaps people like them for vintage nostalgia reasons, but there are still many who enjoy them.  Probably there are now at least as many people who like them as those who viewed the programs years ago on VHS. I think there will always be fans of the series no matter how dated it is. 🙂

I remember being rather relieved even at the time (early 1990s) that the BBC didn't attempt the last three books... even back then, as a kid, I could tell that whatever their good intentions, they just didn't have the technology (or the money) to do those three stories any kind of justice. As I've said before, the (really not so) special effects in those shows were blatantly cheap and silly-looking even by the standards of the time. We were falling about laughing at the beaver costumes and the hokey flying effects and Aslan's inability to lip-sync and all the rest of it! So it was obvious even then that there was no way they could have managed to make two credible Talking Horses for HHB, or to make a new creation spring up from nothing at Aslan's song in MN, or to capture the horrors of the battle and then the absolute awesomeness of Aslan's country in LB. The four shows the BBC did make were reasonable efforts, and I loved them despite all their drawbacks because they were the only live-action adaptations of Narnia we had at the time. But I've always felt it was for the better that the producers knew when it was time to quit and they did.

@courtenay 

The animal costumes in the BBC series made the show look something like an elementary school play. This was also true of the 1967 production that preceded. But unlike some people I wouldn’t hate the series for that.  It does look kind of ridiculous for a battle scene to have animated creatures placed on a real background. But I guess they didn’t have much choice in the.presentation when they had so little money and technology. If they had people in animal costumes fighting battles it couldn’t have been much better.  

I still liked the BBC series because the acting and the stories’ adaptations were generally alright except for the exaggerated White Witch. Tom Baker was great as Puddleglum and I think he was the best actor to play that role. And I think with the BBC Narnia they got the locations right (the forests and castles in the UK) which also would have worked for the last three books since they have a lot of outdoor scenes. I think there would be still something to like in their presentation of the last three stories. I just wonder what the BBC could have done with the creation scenes in The Magician’s Nephew and the new Narnia in The Last Battle since those are some of the best parts of the books.

@narnian78 Oh, sure, I don't hate the BBC series either — I've always been very fond of it. It was mostly faithful to the books, too, which is more than can be said of some adaptations. But while they managed to make those four adaptations work (just) well enough with costumed actors and a few touches of very early digital animation (which wasn't used again after LWW, so I think they realised it looked a bit too tacky), the scenes of creation in MN and Aslan's country in LB need to reach a whole new level of awesomeness, more so than anything else in all the Chronicles. Even if they'd had a huge budget and an absolutely top director and production team, it would have been nearly impossible to create those scenes on screen in the early 1990s and have them look as breathtaking and convincing as they need to and deserve to. That's why I've always been glad that the BBC didn't even try.  

I think the BBC is good enough to keep entertained. I'll admit that it does has some pacing issues (I've watched them as movies on DVD, and some (like LWW) were a little slow and some (like PC) was a little too rushed).

I'm not saying they're perfect or any better than the Walden. I kind of thought that the battle scene in LWW was a bit too cheesy (Peter and Edmund swinging their swords around at cartoon creatures).

I would say they're pretty close to accurate to books, though there were minor changes. For instance, the scene where the White Witch conjures up a tent for where she and Edmund have their conversation wasn't in the book at all.

All in all, the BBC are good, but not 100% accurate to the books (though I don't think we can expect them to be anyways).

Posted by: @jasmine_tarkheena

I would say they're pretty close to accurate to books, though there were minor changes. For instance, the scene where the White Witch conjures up a tent for where she and Edmund have their conversation wasn't in the book at all.

I was watching that bit recently and assumed it was due to the fact that they were actually filming outdoors in the snow, and it would be easier on the actors to not do it all out in the open. I don’t know how much of winter scenes in the Walden film were actually filmed in snowy weather, but they obviously had the budget to fake it if needed.

@nicemice2023 they definitely filmed in snow in winter, in Scotland. I've seen some background material.

@coracle 

That makes sense! I can't imagine being in conversation that long in the cold winter, especially in the snow!

Posted by: @jasmine_tarkheena

@coracle 

That makes sense! I can't imagine being in conversation that long in the cold winter, especially in the snow!

Yeah it also explains why Edmund has his coat with him when he goes to Jadis’s castle. I guess it could also be a case of making him smarter for actually remembering to bring it, though. Since the Walden version has him embarrassed about having a “girl coat” (I’m a guy and thought it was the nicest-looking one, lol!), he also comes across less dumb there for leaving it behind.

@nicemice2023 Does he take it?

In the book he doesn't. I remember that he has a conversation with himself (effects : he steps out of himself, making two of him), but I'll have to watch the DVD as I can't picture what he's wearing. 

If the BBC would have adapted the last three books they would have make three more television series. In the U. S. the programs would probably be shown as movies. This is better for continuity since cliffhangers are not necessary. It might be harder to get the funding for a weekly TV series since it has to be broadcast in installments. Probably the movie format was better than the brief half hour episodes in keeping the audience interested. One can so easily forget to watch every episode to find out how the story ends.

As one who watched them when they were first broadcast, I can only say I've always preferred them as serials! It's how they were shown on the ABC (Australian equivalent of the BBC) as well, the same as all the other adaptations of children's stories by the BBC — there were lots of them in those days and nearly all of them were on TV in Australia as well. Yes, it could be hard to remember to tune in at the same time each day or each week and very annoying if you missed an episode, but it stretched out the excitement of the story a lot more and gave you something to look forward to for next time.

And in any case — as long as you remembered to set it up to record — there was also that life-transforming recent invention, the VCR...   We missed all or most of the original screenings of the BBC LWW, for some reason, so we bought the video of that one, but we taped the others straight from the TV when they were shown. The original commercial VHS tape of LWW didn't include the episode breaks (I think later releases did), which made for a 3-hour sitting with no really convenient places to hit "pause" if you needed to leave the room. Whereas of course our home-taped ones did have the episode breaks, which also gave one the chance to read the cast credits for each episode — and, best of all, to hear that theme tune again and again...  

@courtenay 

The BBC Narnia was first broadcast here in the U. S. as three movies and the first edition on VHS and DVD offered the dramas in that format. In later editions the DVD’s included the programs as episodic serials. I think I prefer the stories without cliffhangers (they seem like an interruption) and one long drama for each book. I think watching the entire drama from beginning to end makes each story more effective. For me it is better for the continuity of the stories since I don’t like having only a little of the plot at one time. But I guess it’s a matter of personal preference.

Posted by: @coracle

@nicemice2023 Does he take it?

In the book he doesn't. I remember that he has a conversation with himself (effects : he steps out of himself, making two of him), but I'll have to watch the DVD as I can't picture what he's wearing. 

Right, and I could see what they were trying to do there. Obviously, an inner monologue of a character is really hard to do on screen.

I kind of wonder if the BBC had kept going, if they would have done the same with Tirian in LB (where he thinks out loud about what has happened in Narnia's past as he is being tied up to a tree). Then on second thought, having Tirian step out from himself and talk to himself would've been too cheesy.