They cannot, repeat, CANNOT make Puddleglum CGI....
CGI is becoming more hi-tech etc but unless the made him to Avatar standard it will be impossible to create the relationship required between him and Eustace and Jill!!

(I don't know how to quite on this but:)
What you say waggawerewolf27 is making it sound to me that the film makers were trying to keep their options open for the next choice of film.

I rather think that if the Professor was telling a story, it would only be to bring the old characters back into the movie and it could detract from the original story because they book begins from Polly's point of view!!)

On another point, who ever suggested that Eustace should go to the same school as Lucy and Edmund needs to have a lobotomy, now!

What I think they should do is Make the SC then MN and then all characters will be the right age for LB!!! (pity I'm not in charge, eh?)

Just a thing, Puddlecheep there will need to be green mist when the Witch Lady (who better not be Tilda again, sorry) puts the perfume on the fire...
But in all other respects, could you direct the film?

(I don't know how to quite on this but:)
What you say waggawerewolf27 is making it sound to me that the film makers were trying to keep their options open for the next choice of film.

I rather think that if the Professor was telling a story, it would only be to bring the old characters back into the movie and it could detract from the original story because they book begins from Polly's point of view!!)

To quote someone you can either add a post by using the quote button, or else you can highlight the bit you want to quote, using copy and paste on your right mouse button. Then enclose the bit you want in quote brackets. A name can be added by using = then the name enclosed in double quotation marks. I hope that helps.

And yes, I was saying that the film makers were trying to keep their options open for the next film. If MN, I can't see them wanting to introduce Polly Plummer as an adult before LB, but I can see the Professor referring to her and himself having that MN adventure in Narnia, maybe if Lucy, possibly Eustace as well, was visiting her brother Peter, who was staying with the Professor, before school went back in SC. After all, that stay was also mentioned in VDT, the book.

After all, the MN film might have started from Polly's point of view, and her point of view is the one we should look at when Digory is behaving badly in Charn. But the book is still entitled 'The Magician's Nephew', and much of the book is from his point of view.

If SC is done first then another way will be needed to introduce MN as the film after that. But that is their decision. In that case the Professor might be introduced at the end of SC as a cameo, maybe at that party Jill went to or as the new headmaster after the old one was removed.

I don't see why anyone would think for one moment that Lucy and Edmund would be sent to Experiment house in a SC film. Lucy and Edmund were already used to attending different schools as in PC the boys went to one school and the girls went to another. Just like in the book.

And so just because they were staying with Eustace during the war, possibly at weekends and definitely during school holidays, doesn't mean that they would be staying with Eustace at school as well. Whether or not sisters or brothers went to the same girls' or boys' schools, it is also clear from the books that children mixed with their own friends and age groups once at school. Even at co-educational schools, or the one I attended, boys had their own areas separate from girls, and weren't allowed to congregate together outside of class.

That also gets around the name drop and how acquainted with each other Eustace and Jill might have been prior to Experiment House. Jill and Eustace might have been acquainted with each other outside of school. But even in the book Eustace might not have been aware that she was also attending the same school as he was until he fell over her sobbing form behind the greenhouse.

You know, something could make the green mist slightly more tolerable if they worked a concept into SC. Maybe this has been suggested before, but hear me out.

We already know that Apted was mistaken when he said the concept of the green mist capturing people for a planned attack on Narnia was taken from the SC storyline. It was actually the underground Earthmen who were enslaved by the Lady of the Green Kirtle for that purpose.

But what if the filmmakers were to make it so that she was the hidden source behind the mist and was originally intending to enslave overworlders from the Lone Islands to attack Narnia? When her plan is ruined by the Dawn Treader crew, she then goes underground and enslaves the inhabitants of Bism and hopes her plot will be more easily concealed there. The audience would figure out her connection to the evil in VDT when she changes the fire into green at the end of the SC. The mist could smoke out of it and help visualize the spell she tries to cast on them while she plays the mandolin.

While this still wouldn't legitimize the silly green mist plot in VDT, it would fill in two big VDT plot holes. First, it answers where this mist even came from and secondly, it explains why the mist doesn't just kill the people from the Lone Islands once they are fed to it. Keeping them alive to build an army was the whole idea.

But isn't what you posted Skilletdude what Apted might have planned to do with SC if and when he were permitted to make it? Maybe he and the writers (had they been allowed to make SC next) were thinking ahead to have that explanation of the green mist with SC. If whoever ends up doing the film (if Apted and writers did not return) I would really hope they wouldn't spend too much time on it or alter the original SC story too much to have the green mist explained. They could possibly mention it but not go out and out changing the whole original story. It's strange as I was thinking along similar lines recently.... hmmmm.

And yes, I was saying that the film makers were trying to keep their options open for the next film. . .I can see the Professor referring to her and himself having that MN adventure in Narnia, maybe if Lucy, possibly Eustace as well, was visiting her brother Peter, who was staying with the Professor, before school went back in SC. After all, that stay was also mentioned in VDT, the book.

Why can't Lucy and Eustace just visit the professor? The kids went to see the him on their own in LWW. You're forgetting that in the Walden Narniaverse Peter went to America with Susan and his parents, rather than studying. It's mentioned in the scene in the bedroom, right before they go into the painting. I think it makes a lot of sense for Lucy to take Eustace to introduce him to the professor, whether Peter is with him or not.

If SC is done first then another way will be needed to introduce MN as the film after that. But that is their decision. In that case the Professor might be introduced at the end of SC as a cameo.

The Professor was already introduced in LWW. Or are you talking about how they would set up a narrative device where he's talking with one or more of the kids? I still think Lucy could go visit him. Or the Pevensie's could have the Professor over to visit. If his new, smaller accommodations are in the London area, all he has to do is stop over for tea. It would be even better if Eustace happens to be staying with the Pevensies at the time. The filmmakers could also just decide not to use a narrative device.

I don't see why anyone would think for one moment that Lucy and Edmund would be sent to Experiment house in a SC film. Lucy and Edmund were already used to attending different schools as in PC the boys went to one school and the girls went to another. Just like in the book.

I was hypothesizing how they were planning to fit Lucy and Edmund into SC, given that the entire England part of the story takes place at school. One possibility is if they turn EH into a day school, and show Eustace grumbling to Lucy and Edmund over breakfast. Lucy would, in this scenario, also attend a day school. You were right about a comment you made about Edmund's age earlier. In 1940s England, a boy of his age would have just finished his grade school education. Another possibility is that the Scrubbs decide to send Lucy to EH with Eustace. Still another possibility is that they weren't planning on squeezing any Pevensie cameos into SC, but then I can't think of any other reason why they would make up the "til the end of the war" bit, unless it's just their memory of the book.

But even in the book Eustace might not have been aware that she was also attending the same school as he was until he fell over her sobbing form behind the greenhouse.

In the book, he knew about her, he just wasn't friends with her.

I have serious issues with the idea of Lucy and Ed going to Experiment House - they should stick with their own boarding schools. If anyone changed it would surely be Eustace, but not until after SC.
The idea of the Professor taking over as Headmaster is an abomination; retired teachers did go back to fill in for staff who had gone into the armed forces, but he was a university teacher, not a high school head.

As for Apted's idea that he has correctly linked the books by having Narnians disappear off to become the enslaved underground force, I worried that he was either seriously misled [or else someone plans to change the story!] but my new thought it:
Having failed to keep the Narnians by magic, LOTGK gets creatures from Bism instead? They have plenty of time between stories - about 50 years in Narnia, but only a few months in England.

If it is decided The Silver Chair will be the next Narnia film, if made at all, I would actually like Michael Apted back to direct. A lot of people really don't want him back I'm aware, but he might be the key to solving the gaps in the VDT film. He's the man who came up with the idea, and he has to explain in the movie what the green mist is and why it wants to steal people(though I think us book fans already do).

A big concern I still have is the LotGK being the White Witch(insert Aslan face palm). Or even just hinting they are one and the same. If that happens, I'm going to organize a NarniaWeb hunting party to take down who ever's idea that was. The LotGK and WW are two completely different characters with way different personalities and more.

However, I hope that the plot changes can be as minimal as possible, or only make changes that are actually necessary. The green mist plot does not need to be outstanding, but I would rather like it subtle portrayed, as the green mist probably is or related to the actual villain of the book.

..... but my new thought it:
Having failed to keep the Narnians by magic, LOTGK gets creatures from Bism instead? They have plenty of time between stories - about 50 years in Narnia, but only a few months in England.

I like this idea Coracle. It's a subtle explanation and it would segue right into the original SC story.

Agreed, green, coracle's explanation for the green VDT-SC link would only require a line or two of dialogue in the scene where they confront the witch in Underland. Beyond that, the green mist doesn't even need to be mentioned.

The green mist plot does not need to be outstanding, but I would rather like it subtle portrayed, as the green mist probably is or related to the actual villain of the book.

The green mist can't physically be in SC, it was destroyed at the end of VDT.

The green mist can't physically be in SC, it was destroyed at the end of VDT.

Tell that to the movie White Witch then. However, comebacks of enemies are still possible. I have a weird feeling about the sea serpent making a comeback as a snake in SC. Seeing all that green mist leak out made me worry...

Ahem, coracle simply repeated the idea from my post about the LOTGK moving on to the Deep Realm to enslave the Earthmen when she fails to keep the people of the Lone Islands. If we're doling out royalties here, I claim first dibs.

But I agree that if they were to link it to SC, it should be very subtle. We don't want major plot extensions added to this next film!

But what if the filmmakers were to make it so that she was the hidden source behind the mist and was originally intending to enslave overworlders from the Lone Islands to attack Narnia? ......While this still wouldn't legitimize the silly green mist plot in VDT, it would fill in two big VDT plot holes. First, it answers where this mist even came from and secondly, it explains why the mist doesn't just kill the people from the Lone Islands once they are fed to it. Keeping them alive to build an army was the whole idea.

I agree with you, and also coracle that something like this, done briefly and subtly, would be a good idea. I even agree that Michael Apted would be the best one to direct SC, especially if this really was what he had in mind for SC all along.

Crucially, it might also explain why in the book LOTGK, or the Green Witch, or what's her snaky face, had it in for Lilliandil. I know that dotted through my lifetime there were always first aid references to snakebites at picnics, and what to do if it happened to me or you, yes, you also, or someone dear to you. But the general rule of thumb for snakes, unless they are already aggressive, is to leave them alone and to give them no reason for attack. There is nothing to worry about snakes if they are simply minding their own business. The best idea on a picnic is to give snakes a wide berth.

It is only a Narnian shapeshifting Green witch who would go shimmying up to any sleeping humans or partly humans at a picnic with the express intention of poisoning them. It wasn't just to stop her snoring. If Lilliandil had thwarted the Green Witch in some way, such as by stopping her Lone Island plans, then the Green Witch would see her as a menace to be eliminated, and enslaving her son, in particular, the real reason why she would entrap him, so that indirectly she could enslave Narnia as well as the gnomes of Bism.

The idea of the Professor taking over as Headmaster is an abomination; retired teachers did go back to fill in for staff who had gone into the armed forces, but he was a university teacher, not a high school head.

I don't see why a university teacher couldn't be a high school head in principle, though, especially as such teachers often do tutoring jobs for individual students or groups of students, especially at Oxford and Cambridge. I agree that teaching at university is quite different in style from teaching unwilling high school students.

However, at vocational colleges (polytechnics?) there would be a fair overlap between university teaching on one hand, adult vocational training, and high school, especially at senior level of high school or at apprentice level. You would expect a teacher at any of these levels to have a teaching qualification of some sort, though I agree that this might not be compulsory for university professors in days gone by. It would certainly account for some university lectures that are hard to follow. I only thought that if Jill and Eustace meet a new head master with a certain wardrobe or cupboard in his office it might seem a good way to conclude SC and lead in to MN.

On the other hand, there is always that party at the end of SC where Jill wears her Narnian clothes. That would be a good occasion for Jill and Eustace as well, to meet the Professor if he also attended. Obviously by LB they all knew each other, even Polly Plummer, since both Jill and Polly comment about Susan in LB.

Why can't Lucy and Eustace just visit the professor? The kids went to see him on their own in LWW. You're forgetting that in the Walden Narniaverse Peter went to America with Susan and his parents, rather than studying. It's mentioned in the scene in the bedroom, right before they go into the painting. I think it makes a lot of sense for Lucy to take Eustace to introduce him to the professor, whether Peter is with him or not.

Was Peter specifically mentioned in the VDT film as being in America, though? It was only Susan writing to Lucy, and Edmund grizzling that as the younger children they were the also-rans who had to remain with Eustace. Even the sequence where Lucy said the spell was only Lucy's perception of stunningly beautiful Susan being presented and admired by their adoring brothers at some Westpoint function or other. Otherwise I agree that Lucy could go to see the Professor any time, and that, being old enough to serve in the military, himself, Peter could always return from America separately from his parents and Susan at any time necessary for the filmmakers' purposes.

The Silver Chair, in my opinion, is my favorite book besides The Last Battle, in the Narnia series. I also agree with MagicansNephew1 that Portman would be perfect for the part of the witch. I personally think that because of her soft voice. It would be perfect.

I don't like Natalie Portman for LGK. She's just not medieval seductress material. Too scrawny and her voice is too nasal. I think LGK should have a more musical voice and a voluptuous figure.

Tell that to the movie White Witch then. However, comebacks of enemies are still possible. I have a weird feeling about the sea serpent making a comeback as a snake in SC. Seeing all that green mist leak out made me worry...

The White Witch is a very popular villain. That why she's been reused and recycled so much. Miraz was a respectable villain, but he didn't blow people away, so he didn't show up in VDT, except for being briefly mentioned in a bit of exposition near the beginning. The green mist is actively disliked by many fans and critics. There's just no commercial or artistic reason to resurrect it.

EDIT: I just realized my comments on Natalie Portman sounded really negative. I have nothing but respect for her talents when she's in a role that suits her. I just think that LGK would be a bad fit.

The green mist is actively disliked by many fans and critics. There's just no commercial or artistic reason to resurrect it.

I disagree... sort of.

When she had come to a little ark set in the wall not far from the fireplace, she opened it, and took out first a handful of a green powder. This she threw on the fire. It did not blaze much, but a very sweet and drowsy smell came from it. And all through the conversation which followed, that smell grew stronger, and filled the room, and made it harder to think.

Smells are much harder to convey than visuals and though it's not mentioned in the book, I think this would be a good place to show a green mist or smoke slowly filling the room. At least that was how I always visualized this scene, even before the Green Mist of VDT (and I've always wondered if this scene might be what inspired the Green Mist).
Unfortunately, the Green mist in VDT was so over-the-top, undefined, and poorly done, that even if they used it as a good visual medium in SC, I think it would simply bring back reactions to its use in VDT.