If it was up to me, I would have made the movies a bit differently. And that would have changed the opening in PC.

I would have done them in a different order than either Publication or Chronological order. It would have gone: LWW, HHB, PC, VDT, SC, MN, and LB. Since HHB would be right after LWW, LWW would not have ended with the Pevensies coming back through the wardrobe. And the HHB film would have ended with them still being in Narnia as well.

At the beginning of PC, the audience would not yet know of the Pevensies' return to their own world. And, like FK, I would have the movie start out with the Nurse and young Caspian, talking about the legends. She would say how Narnia is so different now and that there used to be kings and queens of old. And Caspian would ask the same thing the audience would be asking, "What happened to those kings and queens? Why did Narnia change?"

Then I would have it go back and forth between Caspian growing up, and the Pevensies (not yet at the train station) as children once more in our world. There would be a sort of comparison of how the Pevensies can no longer fit in our world, with how Caspian (a lover of legends and old Narnia) can't fit into his world of Narnia under Miraz. That way, the audience would already feel a connection between Caspian and the Pevensie children, even though their paths haven't crossed yet.

When it came close to the time for the horn to be blown, I would show the Pevensies at the train station. That way, the two stories happen simultaneously, without any backtracking or cutting anyone's story short.

~Riella

I liked most of PC's movie opening (The Chasing Caspian scenes), but I would have changed up a few things to make it closer to the book.
I think everyone has posted wonderful ideas and I really think they would all make great openings to PC!
The only idea I could think of is something like this:

The movie starts off showing flashbacks of the Telmarines invading Narnia and destroying Cair Paravel and driving Old Narnia into hiding.
Maybe see some of the Narnia's find hiding places in the woods and adjusting to life as fugitives from the conquering Telmarines.
Then sort of show time move on, and cut to Caspian and his Nurse.
Caspian could be listening to his nurse before he fell asleep as she told him the The Old Tales, and then Miraz would over hear her and storm into the room and tell the nurse that she could leave the room, and then see Miraz send the nurse away that night.
And then Caspian could tell Miraz about Aslan and the four Kings and Queen's of old Narnia.
Miraz would then tell him that none of them ever existed.
Maybe then it could show a Lion statue in Caspian's bedroom as he drift off to sleep, the camera would focus on the lion and it could somehow transition to the Pevensies waiting on the bench for the train, maybe show Lucy drawing a picture of Aslan, Cair Paravel or of Mr. Tumnus? Just a thought.

They say that the what you start with and what you end with will define everything about the story--once you have these two figured out, the rest will fill itself in. So, assuming the general plot stays the same throughout, we need to figure out how to make all that make sense.

First, this is a sequel, for all intents and purposes. Therefore, a "Previously" is always helpful, and that will be our jumping off point.

The film would open up with a child staring out his window at the moon, his nurse moving quietly in the background. The boy cannot sleep; and so the nurse offers to tell him a story. She pulls a book out, opens it, and begins to read. The camera tilts down to look at a picture on the book: four adults, two female and two male, riding horses. Transition to actual footage of the Pevensies. Nurse's voice over would continue, giving a brief chronicle of the Pevensies' reign (shots of Lucy healing soldiers on a battlefield while Peter guards the area, Peter and Edmund fighting back to back, Lucy and Susan hosting royals from Archenland, Edmund and Susan working with matters of state, Lucy and Edmund working with the Narnians, finally the hunt for the white stag). The nurse's tale ends, and the boy asks what happened to them. The nurse closes the book and says only, "I don't know, Caspian... I don't know."

Transition: Nurse stands, her clothes moving into the camera's view and morphing into the blue of Lucy's jacket.

The Pevensies are on their way to the train station. Everything is fine until Lucy and Peter get separated from Edmund and Susan because of the crowd. During the brief confusion, a boy shoves Lucy to the ground to get her out of his way. Peter rushes to help Lucy up, and sees a fresh cut across her lip. Peter turns away from Lucy dives on top of the aggressor. This is how the fight begins, but in this version Peter is winning, pummeling the boy furiously. This shows that Peter is still fiercely protective of his younger siblings, but no longer goes about it in the right way. Lucy pleads with Peter to stop to no avail, until Susan and Edmund catch up and Edmund manages to talk Peter down, while Susan tends to Lucy (and ignores Peter, clearly furious about the fight). This shows that Edmund is still the Just, and learned his lesson from the last film, and that Susan is still Gentle--but is starting to fall away from her siblings.

The four continue on their way, and the film progresses as normal. This beginning would help clarify some of Peter's antagonism towards Caspian--when they first meet, he believes that this man was a threat to his precious little sister. In addition, it shows that Peter has begun to stop listening to Lucy, it shows how Caspian found out about the four rulers, it makes Susan's warrior stint all the more shocking, and gives a preview of why Peter might choose Edmund to deliver his challenge: he's good with words.

So... yeah. That's a rough idea of how it could've started.

I actually loved the way they began PC, the only thing I would change would be to give Peter a better reason for fighting, as it stands now, it seems rather silly and idiotic that he'd fight just because someone tried to make him apologize.

This shows that Peter is still fiercely protective of his younger siblings, but no longer goes about it in the right way....The four continue on their way, and the film progresses as normal. This beginning would help clarify some of Peter's antagonism towards Caspian...

Interesting. So, you think it's wise to keep in both Peter's immaturity and his rivalry with Caspian, and establish that in the opening scene? Why is that, out of curiosity? To me, those elements in the actual movie's opening scene (and in the whole movie, really) seemed kind of a change from the book. I don't remember him showing any signs of immaturity in the first chapter...

~Riella

Interesting. So, you think it's wise to keep in both Peter's immaturity and his rivalry with Caspian, and establish that in the opening scene? Why is that, out of curiosity? To me, those elements in the actual movie's opening scene (and in the whole movie, really) seemed kind of a change from the book. I don't remember him showing any signs of immaturity in the first chapter...

I really loved Badger's idea, because like I said in my post, I'd change it and give Peter a good reason for fighting and being defensive of his little siblings is a very good reason for him to fight. Also, like I've said elsewhere, him defending his siblinbgs and doing it the wrong way makes perfect sense, because while he is a former king, he's now a teenager again and reliving the same emotional and physical roller-coaster over. With all the problems that come with it.

I really loved Badger's idea, because like I said in my post, I'd change it and give Peter a good reason for fighting and being defensive of his little siblings is a very good reason for him to fight.

Yes, it definitely would help explain things better when it comes to elements that are already in the movie. But are we explaining how we would make the opening scene of the already created movie, along with all the changes the filmmakers added? Or are we explaining how we would do the opening scene if we were directing a PC movie ourselves, from scratch?

~Riella

Well, I said earlier that I'm pretty much down with the opening scenes of PC. I just had a problem with the way the fight was started. I mean, us guys might be emotional and stupid, but we usually don't get into fist fights over stuff like getting bumped. So I was mostly explaining how I was change the changes to the movie.

I would definitely include more dialogue between Caspian and Cornelius. Cornelius could probably take Caspian up to the tower to explain things to Caspian before he left and then have Caspian escape. I would probably have Cornelius explain that all the stories he heard about Narnia were true and that's why the Nurse was sent away, etc. It would probably be very similar to the dialogue in the book when they first meet at the top of the tower. I would also have Cornelius set up the talking trees more and mention dwarves, talking animals, centaurs, etc. and especially the river god. The river god seemed random and was not explained in the film at all, so people who hadn't read the book didn't really understand. I think it would be important to include the part of the dialogue that explains that the Telmarines are afraid of the woods and the sea because of of the myths and how they have tried to suppress the memories of them. Lastly, I would want Cornelius to explain that the Telmarines are afraid of water and the sea because of Aslan because all the stories say, "over the sea He will pass". That helps to set up VDT. I don't think it was completely unreasonable for Lucy to doubt the existence of Aslan's Country because it had never been mentioned or explained. That one line about the Talmarines fearing the sea explains Reepicheep's quest.

Interesting. So, you think it's wise to keep in both Peter's immaturity and his rivalry with Caspian, and establish that in the opening scene? Why is that, out of curiosity? To me, those elements in the actual movie's opening scene (and in the whole movie, really) seemed kind of a change from the book. I don't remember him showing any signs of immaturity in the first chapter...

This opening scene was based on the idea that the movie would stay roughly the same in content and feel, but with the themes better explained and/or foreshadowed. It is a change from the book, yes, but I think that if Peter's frustration had been better explained, it would have come off better.

I tend to see stories as a whole, not in parts, so I went with an opening based off the film. If I thought up one based on a new interpretation of the book, I'd have to decide how I wanted to present the entire thing before settling on a beginning that made sense, and I fear I'd drift far too off-topic in order to do that here.

If another adaptation of Prince Caspian were made, I would like to include a flashback to when the Telmarines captured Narnia and killed or drove the Narnians away. Just a brief battle scene would be excellent.

Louloudi, that sounds like you could start PC in a fashion similar to Fellowship of the Ring, with Trufflehunter narrating instead of Galadriel, and ending with Dr. Cornelius picking up Susan's horn at the end of the prologue. Which could be cool... but I fear it might come off as incredibly cheesy.

I liked the way the BBC started off. They brought them into Narnia and then they played Caspian's back story for a bit. Walden did pretty much the reverse where they started with Caspian. It was dramatic, but I think to make a touchstone back to the previous movie, I would have started with the Pevensies.

What I didn't like about the BBC production is how it diminished PC to two TV episodes, finally ending up as a prologue to VDT with which it has been combined. Yes, I agree the film would have made more sense if there had been more information. The question is, how to put it in?

And Doctor Cornelius up on the tower top definitely would be a good way to do it, rather than his having to wake up Caspian to tell him to flee, because of the new-born baby boy.

Louloudi, that sounds like you could start PC in a fashion similar to Fellowship of the Ring, with Trufflehunter narrating instead of Galadriel, and ending with Dr. Cornelius picking up Susan's horn at the end of the prologue. Which could be cool... but I fear it might come off as incredibly cheesy.

Much as I like your idea, and agree it would be cool to have an explanatory flashback, wouldn't it make the movie far too long, rather than far too short as in the BBC production?

I don't even remember how long the prologue in Fellowship is, timewise, so I'm not sure how what I'm describing would compare. I don't really see it being much more than five minutes in length.

We'd have the vanishing of the Pevensies and the Telmar invasion (which under my direction would take up as little screen time as possible beyond establishing that it happened) and the retreat of the Narnians into the wood and just barely touch Cornelius hunting for relics. Like I said, we'd end with him picking up the horn, which would tie in later when he gives it to Caspian and Susan's comment about, "Oh, bother, I took it with me when we went hunting the stag."