Woodland banquet sounds a bit to me like an ending perhaps to the film? A wedding and then a big banquet? It could work.

The interview with Mr. Gresham is very interesting. I'm happy that he had emphazied on the question about the compliance between the movies and the books, it is really important. What Mr. Gresham says gives me the hope, that SC will be the next movie .

H'm! Interesting thought, arabesque! That could definitely be it! or it's just as probable as any other suggestions. Yes...that would make a lot of sense now that I meditate upon it. Caspian goes to World's End comes back, get's married, then a big banquet with the crew, Caspian, and Ramandu's Daughter! It would work very well, I think.

As long as it didn't last too long onscreen. Just see them get married and then dance and then a banquet (wedding reception if you will). Then everybody would be happy with the movie (I hope...) and a nice ending !

Though it could very well be Ramandu's Island banquet with the three (or four?) Lords.

The Dufflepuds with Coriakin?

Governor Gumpas?

Or an added scene? Like a banquet in Aslan's Country! Edmund, Lucy, and Eustace with Aslan in a woodland glade.

Quick! Someone feel my forehead. I must be sick. Right now I’m more worried about what Doug Gresham said about society, economy, and the future than I am about VDT. If everyone starts homeschooling their kids and the economy gets worse instead of better how am I ever going to get a job. (Not that homeschooling is bad thing, but if a lot of people start homeschooling their children that means fewer teachers will be needed and there are already more teachers than jobs.) I don’t think I can survive in the woods and / or grow enough food to keep me from starving. I have a small vegetable garden but it consists of store bought plants.
I’m sure when I have time to calm down about the above and stopped stressing about getting 20 cross-stitch ornaments done (I need to finish stitching them, frame them, and wrapped (or gift bagged)) by Sunday and getting cookies baked in time to ship them so that people get them by Christmas I’ll be able to reach the correct level of panic about the Narnia parts.

Sorry about panicking in my earlier post. I tend to overreact when I'm up too late.

I completely understand. I’m exactly the same way. The above was my initial reaction after being up late the night before babysitting (with a three year old who woke up screaming and crying and couldn’t or wouldn’t tell me what was wrong. He did that for about 30-45 minutes. I would have normally been dozing during that time) and then I had to get up to teach Sunday school. I just typed it up today, but I had formed in my head yesterday. I’ve calmed down enough that I’m no longer panicking about what I mentioned above, but I’m still working on getting the correct feeling about the Narnia section.

'Derive the plot' doesn't make any sense but I understand what Gresham means.

Did he say “derive” the plot or “drive” the plot? I heard drive but that could be my ears.

Not sure I agree with the education talk (in regards to Australia at least). What about those people who's parents are tyrants or just not well-educated, or the children who aren't suited to such a thing? I agree that competition is rubbish though.

I wasn’t sure if it was proper to bring up the other parts of his talk her which is part of the reason I didn’t post my initial reaction yesterday. I’m glad someone else brought it up. I had some trouble with the education talk as well. I know the system in the US has some problems but he was a little hard. I also wondered about those types of parents. Homeschooling will not work for everyone. I do agree that kids spend too much time away from their parents, especially, the ones that are in daycare from an early age and ones that are booked after school with activities and/or childcare. I mostly agree that competition is bad. I don’t like competitive sports nor how early children are involved in competition. However, I like board games and card games too much to say that all competition is bad. I can only think of two games that aren’t competitive Solitaire and one of the Lord of the Rings board games I have, as long as the Sauron extension pack isn’t used (the players work together to try to destroy the ring). I do think, however, that these games should be played for fun rather than for the sole purpose of winning. I play to win, but I don’t care if I don’t.

I found myself listening more to his views on education, religion, competition, etc. than anything he said about Narnia.

I did too, hence my initial reaction.

Or it could even be PR. A lot of people have given Gresham grief for telling us not to worry about the changes in PC and letting Suspian and everything slide past him. He could just be covering himself for any changes the purist fans might not like, however minor they may be (like the MLG). Or he's feeling guilty about misleading us and wants to be a little more open about this movie.

I thought about this too and think it likely. He didn’t come right out and say things either way. I think right now most of us also have mixed feelings about the changes. The phrase he used “a lot of differences” is far from specific. It could mean several things. As LG and others have pointed out we do know of some similarities. When I get a chance, I intend to update the Clues and Evidence thread. (It might have to wait until after Christmas). At least many people seem to think that Eustace is going to be well done. I found it very interesting the hard time he had with the names of the actors vs. the names of the characters. I noticed that he said Lucy instead of Georgie when he was listing Ben and Skandar. After LWW, one of the first things my family commented on was how perfect Georgie was for Lucy, so much that she is Lucy. I wonder if that is how he thinks of her too.
I don’t remember him sounding practically excited or upset. He didn’t seem to get really super excited. I’d like to listen to the parts about Narnia again (anyone happen to know approximately the time markings for them or is anyone willing to figure them out? (I think it would be helpful for people who don’t have the hour and five or so minutes to listen to it, and I’m not sure if I trust myself to listen to the whole thing without getting into a panic again )).

I need to find time to listen to the podcast (dialup...) but I noticed that Mr Gresham was mis-introduced.
It said he was Executive Producing again as he did for first two - no, he was just a co-Producer in LWW, learning his craft. By PC he knew a lot more about the task, and is definitely a leading light now.

I finally listened to the whole thing and I highly reccomend it. If you're not a Christian, you might find Douglas Gresham a little in-your-face, but as a Christian myself, I loved it! I'm so glad I didn't just skip to the Narnia parts (well, I did the first time. You know how it is. ) because he has some wonderful points about modern day society. I agree 100% with all he said about schools (home school rules! ) and raising children. I enjoyed his idea of games where everyone works together, but I don't think competitve games need to be eradicated. Like Pattertwig's Pal said, it depends on your attitude. It was still a good point and competition is a problem and that sport that Douglas Gresham suggested should really become a reality. There was one point I disagreed with him though: when he said Christianity is mostly Good Works and Faith is minor. I consider Good Works important, but I also think Faith is important. If you only do good works, well good for you, but you've got to have Faith.

This is just a friendly mod reminder that GMD is reserved strictly for discussion of the Narnia movies. Please refrain from sharing your thoughts on the other topics discussed in the podcast. Thanks!

I'll always be a,
NL101

Finally sat down and listened to this interview, and it was worth it!

For once in my life I wish Narniaweb didn't have a "no politics" rule because I'd love to discuss some of what Douglas Gresham talked about, but I suppose this is not the place.

I think though what he means by "derive the plot" is similar to what Ben Barnes was talking about before - trying to find that "through-line" in the story to link all the individual "episodes" together.

That was my thought exactly. Lady Galadriel assembled a very nice list of what we know is going to be in the movie, and I would add that we're pretty sure the Seven Lords will also be present. I suspect the changes are going to consist of added urgency to complete the voyage. Mr. Gresham probably isn't very excited about this since he thinks the Seven Lords are motivation enough, but people who haven't read the books might appreciate the overarching theme. It will feel less like our heroes are sailing aimlessly around and more like they're overcoming obstacles.

I'll try to keep an open mind although I suspect I won't like the changes. It sounds like the movie will end up having a more typical plot and become less original than the book was. Anyways, I'll have to start thinking of enemies to invite to the movie.

it was either that or not make a movie, so i said "well go ahead and do it"

That was the bit that made me flinch. It is better to not make a movie at all than to make a bad one.

I must say that I think I (in his position) would make the same choice. The changes won't necessarily make the movie bad, just not the way you want it. I think it would be a waste to not make VDT after LWW and PC, and it would be really sad for us fans.

And OF COURSE the book is always better.

Ah, this just makes my little English major heart so very happy. You haven't been hanging with wisewoman in the Mod Chat recently at all, hmmm?

I understand that by just reading the interview I'm missing out on some of the excitement one can hear in the podcast, but does anyone else notice a slight change in his attitude towards the adaptations since the whole Walden series began? I remember interviews like this for LWW and PC where he would say things like "there are changes, but that's because of the difference between books and films" or "this book was less filmable, so the script isn't quite as faithful" - very straightforward and not regretful at all. Now he seems unsure about them. Of course, this could also be my own cynicism speaking.

Ah, this just makes my little English major heart so very happy. You haven't been hanging with wisewoman in the Mod Chat recently at all, hmmm?

I've always said that. In fact I can't think of a single movie off the top of my head I liked better than the book its based on. *cough*MonteCristo*coughcoughcough* (Sorry, inside joke there)

Anyways, the reason I popped into this thread was I started a second thread for this topic to discuss the religious bits and pieces DG brought up in the podcast. You can do so in the Narnia and Christianity thread here. Sorry I didn't start this thread sooner when the interview was fresh in everybody's minds.

I'd have to argue that the book isn't always better but most of the time it definitely is better.