I think it would probably be too early to make a decision either way as to which was better - i would like to see both again before making any sort of judgement - but i could certainly offer some opinions as to their relative strengths and weaknesses.

The obvious big advantage in favour of the BBC version is its faithfulness to the source material. There are a couple of deviations from the plot, both for artistic and budgetary reasons, but when set alongside the Walden Media version and its Green Mist/Seven Swords plot, those changes seem so slight as to be not worth mentioning.

The BBC version also has another very obvious advantage in that as a four part TV Series, the whole issue of the book being "episodic" is not the least bit of a problem. In fact, the whole thing rather works to its advantage as it enables each episode of the TV series to have its own internal narrative and to conclude on a cliffhanger as the set-up for the next. And although the series is not any longer than the Walden version (they both come in around 2 hours) it plays out a much steadier pace, meaning that it never feels as rushed as the Walden version and allows it to retain far more scenes and characters from the books.

As for the Walden version, for me the biggest strength in its favour is Will Poulter's performance as Eustace. The BBC VDT had some pretty decent performances from the likes of Samuel West, Warwick Davis and David Thwaites (especially compared to some of the slightly stilted performances in the earlier LWW and PC TV series), but Will Poulter delivers a truly world-class performance in the Walden production and absolutely nothing from the BBC shows even comes close on that level.

Another strength in favour of the Walden version is the visual effects. They are pretty solid through-out, perhaps not as good as Prince Caspian, but there certainly aren't any of problems that plagued LWW for me, sich as poor blue-screening, day-for-night shots, and very obvious set work. The Walden Dufflepuds also look fantastic (a far cry from the BBC's trampolines-hidden-behind-hedges special effects) and the Sea Monster looks amazing (again, not hard when up against the BBC's puppet, and of course the Walden Aslan looks superior in every way (though they definitely lose points for taking his limited role in the book and reducing it even further).

However, as good as the effects are, i feel the Walden Media version is slightly hampered by the lack of real location shots and the fact that as impressive as the boat was, none of the scenes on board it ever really felt or looked real to me. So in that regard, in spite of its budget issues, the BBC version has to be commended for its greater use of location shooting, which even whilst lacking character at times (all the islands look exactly the same) ultimately always does look more "real" than anything any amount of CGI can.

I think both versions can probably be criticised for lacking any real depth or emotion. In the BBC version it can often feel like the characters are simply going through all the relevant motions from the book, but without really putting the heart or conviction into any of those moments - but as they are steering pretty close to the source material much of the deeper meanings shine through anyway. As for the Walden version, it accelerates so fast through through the opening stages of the voyage that it never really has much time on its hands to correctly establish any sense of emotional investment between the audience and the characters, and so by the time it settles down in the second half with the Dark Island battle scene and the Aslan's Country farewell scene, none of the plot lines or character arcs (bar Eustace) feel sufficiently developed for anyone to care about their outcome. Both productions can therefore at times feel somewhat hollow and lacking, though again both have their moments when they really get the heart right.

As for the Walden version, it accelerates so fast through through the opening stages ...that it never really has much time on its hands to correctly establish any sense of emotional investment between the audience and the characters....

I have not seen VDT yet and only am slightly dipping into this thread out of curiosity , but your statement pretty much confirms what I feel may be wrong with the new VDT film. Of course I can't make my final judgment about it until after I watch it but I would gather that LWW did a better job?.... of establishing the emotional investment and containing enough character development to make one care what happened to the characters by the end? Because I definitely am concerned about how the Eustace storyline is going to come off....I'm sure they've hit all the main stuff with it.....but I want it to be properly developed and not "halfbaked"

BBC VDT is more faithful to the source material. Walden's VDT has so many stand out performances that it's hard to compare. I like both, but for very different reasons.

Hmm... I'll have to see the movie again but strange as this is for me to say it, I enjoyed some of the BBC version much more than the Walden Media version. What the Walden Media version got right, it got very right, what it got wrong - well.

When it came to the Walden and BBC LWW, I was slightly torn -- both were fairly good. Both the versions of PC, on the other hand, were quite weak. But here I feel like the BBC finally triumphs outright. Sure, Henley and Poulter offer the best performances in every version, and I do prefer Walden's end of the world scene, I think (though it is missing the lamb), but the departures from the book were too much for me. BBC wins this match.

BBC hands down. Yes, it has dated special effects. Yes, it has limited locations. Yes, not all of the actors are quite as good. But it is still a good story. The Walden suffers from far too many plot problems for me to ever really like it.

Walden media narnia is much better than narnia BCC version, with all due respected.