I'm about to embark on the adventure of listening to the Focus on the Family radio dramas for the first time and I am VERY excited. I've heard so many great things about them over the years!!

I was going to start the series with The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, but I saw some Narnia fans say that the best one to start with is The Magician's Nephew. *cough* @impending-doom *cough* Anybody want to weigh in on this and help me decide?

Well, you can argue that it's better to start with The Magician's Nephew because, unlike with the book series, I believe it was actually produced first and always intended to be the beginning. (In the opening narration, they refer to Narnia as if the listener hasn't heard anything about it where Lewis referred to it as if readers had.) I'd still probably start with The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe though out of "party loyalty." (And that actually was the audio drama to which I listened first.) Since you're already familiar with the stories, I don't think it's a huge deal.

I’m sure you’ll love the focus on the family dramas! They are a favorite of mine. Seeing as how you aren’t new to Narnia, I don’t think it’ll matter too much in what order you listen. 

I sort of remember listening to the Focus on the Family adaptations when they first came out; but not well enough to know which one I heard first, apparently. I do know I've listened to them all multiple times since then, so I'm going to say @rose should start with Voyage of the Dawn Treader. It's rather like you, the listener, are pulled through the painting with Edmund and Lucy and Eustace.  

The Rose-Tree Dryad, did you end up listening to all 7, and if so what did you think? The Focus on the Family radio dramas are my favorite adaptions of the Chronicles, and I would even argue John Campbell's 10 hours of music for the radio dramas are even better than Harry Gregson William's music, (but that's just my opinion). I put together a website recently showing 26 of the themes I could find, (there might be more), themes for Aslan, Lucy, Reepicheep, Eustace, Puddleglum, Rilian, Tirian, Polly, etc. While I'm fairly good at spotting musical themes, I don't know much about music itself, and I would love if someone who is passionate about these radio dramas and knows some things about music would be willing to write a short paragraph about each theme. If so, you can reach me at narnianmusic@gmail.com, and if you just want to visit the website, here is the link: https://matthewsmediamusings.home.blog/

 I have streamed both the BBC Radio 4 and Focus on the Family Radio Theatre online. It might well be worth to compare the two, to see which one is better.

@Matthew-Musgrave, sorry for the belated reply, and welcome to NarniaWeb Forum! Unfortunately, I  still have not listened to the FotF radio dramas, to my great dismay and extreme busyness. I had almost no free time during the latter half of 2020 and it hasn't been much better in 2021. Except for Talking Beasts, I have fallen behind on all my podcasts as well. Terrible state of things. I am still very keen on listening to them and am hoping to start them over the holidays when there's a little more free time.

Your website about John Campbell's themes is a neat project! I hope you can find another Narnia fan with more musical knowledge to lend a hand. I'm not extremely knowledgeable about music myself, but I find reading the Wikipedia pages about various hit songs helps me understand the instrumentation, progression, et cetera. Usually they're written by someone who knows their stuff and can break the song down into words, and I'll learn new music words and ways to describe music this way. 👍 

@matthew-musgrave Cool website! That's a really neat idea. I love the music John Campbell did for Narnia. You can also go to his own site to hear music samples without voices in the "fantasy beautiful" section. 

@rose Whenever you do get to listen, I hope you'll share your thoughts! 

I'll get on the record with the casting between the adaptations.

Both Stephen Thorne and David Suchet have powerful voices as Aslan. He's perhaps the hardest character to get right.

Camilla Power, who also portrayed Jill in the BBC-Series of The Silver Chair, and Elizabeth Eaton both brought out the innocence in Lucy.

Polly March voiced Mrs. Beaver in both versions. So there really no need to compare the two.

Both Sylvester McCoy, who is Radagast in The Hobbit Film Trilogy and Robert Benfield, who also voices the adult Edmund, did Reepicheep so well.

Paul Rhys and Gwynne Beech played Tirian so well.

Honestly, I don't know why Ginger was voiced by a woman, Janet Maw; she was fine, but I think Paul Ewing was better.

While I enjoyed Philip Jackson as Rishda fine, I think Stash Kirkebride was the better Rishda. Maybe Netflix will bring him back as Rishda (just kidding. Don't fall for it).

Kim Wall was good as Emeth (my favorite character), but I think Charlie Burnell was better. Maybe Netflix will bring him back as Emeth (just kidding. Don't fall for it).

I could go on and do the comparison of the cast, but I think it would take too long. It could be more of a podcast or a YouTube discussion.

I love the Focus on the Family Audio Theater adaption of the Chronicles. I listened to the books in Chronological order so my first experience with this version was The Magician's Nephew. I was 100% sold on the adaption when I heard the sound effects for Aslan creating Narnia.

I have listened to all 7 books multiple times but my favorite Focus on the Family adaptions, at this moment, are The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, and The Magician's Nephew. I love listening to this adaptions with headphones because I am feel as though I am another character going on the Narnian adventures.

@jasminetarkheena I bought the set of FotF CDs the year that Walden's LWW came out, and bought a new copy online about two years ago. It's good not to have to rely on streaming.   I had loved hearing HHB and LWW serialised on our Christian radio station in the late 90s and I have to admit that these adaptations sometimes seem canon (but then I make myself check the books again).

I'd like to hear the BBC audio series - did Camilla Power voice Lucy? Wow.

@coracle I will possibly get a set of both the BBC Radio 4 and Focus on the Family Radio Theatre to do a comparison between the two.

I think I would recommend buying the audiobooks of Focus on the Family on CD over any download version of the stories.  The quality of the audio is far better, and you can experience a real soundscape of Narnia.  I bought the audiobooks of each drama separately, although I think now you can get all seven stories in one set.  I recommend starting with the The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, just like the preferred reading order of the books.  But of course the order of listening is up to you.:)

I love most of John Cambell's score for the Focus on the Family version(and his work on Adventures in Odyssey), but one point in the Last Battle uses a little piece of music very similar to one that was used extensively in the Lord of the Rings movies. Does anyone know which was made first?  *puts conspiracy theory hat on.

The last battle scene:

Lord of the Rings Uruk Hai music:

Just something I've noticed before when listening to The Last Battle on CD.