Posted by: @courtenay

My apologies for this long ramble, if people are finding it boring! I just keep getting carried away with what I wish a "proper" screen adaptation of Narnia could do, if only...  

Oh, no need for an apology. I understand where you're going with this. I'm sure you want a "proper" screen adaption of Narnia, regardless of what order they might do it in.

I actually feel the same way. I'd accept either order.

I've just thought of a great way to put two together, starting with the END of LWW. 

The children tumble out of the wardrobe, look around them, realise what has happened... and all go to tell the Professor about it. Susan starts sensibly by apologising about the lost fur coats, the others chime in, and the Professor asks them to sit down and tell it in the proper order. He asks a servant to bring tea to his study (not Mrs McCready who is still giving a house tour!). 

They take turns narrating the start of episodes... from when they first arrived. 

The last one will end with their coming into his study, and his enigmatic words to them about Narnia. The children look at each other, wondering what he means, asking each other how he knows about Narnia. 

The next series starts from this point. Peter and Lucy ask how he knows that. Aren't they the only humans who've been there? 

Professor begins to narrate, but puzzles them by starting with Polly... when Digory comes into the tale they quickly guess it was him. 

I think he calls for fresh tea at this point.

And so on, with voice-over and some cutting back to the study, throughout the whole of MN. 

The revelation about the wardrobe will be exciting, with Lucy saying something like, "So that's how we got to Narnia!" Then a discussion on whether/when they can all return, and Professor's wise words, ending "once a king or queen in Narnia.. "

@coracle 

There's a thought. I think that's how the BBC Radio 4 adaption did it.

I've just thought of that The Horse And His Boy could start with Eustace and Jill at Cair Paravel in The Silver Chair, and have the blind poet narrate the story of The Horse And His Boy. It would all be told in flash back form.

So it would seem that some of these could be told in flash back forms. That's something we don't see very often in movies or series. So it would be a unique way to do Narnia.

@jasmine_tarkheena my idea too. I've just written this in the Telmarines & Calormenes thread !

Posted by: @coracle

@jasmine_tarkheena my idea too. I've just written this in the Telmarines & Calormenes thread !

I never realize we'd think alike!  

So the idea of starting The Magician's Nephew or even The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe with the Seven Friends of Narnia gathered around from The Last Battle. Digory and Polly tell their story of how it all begun...

@jasmine_tarkheena using The Friends of Narnia throughout would certainly unify it.

Boy am I late to this party!

As far as order is concerned, I'm leaning more towards the MN-First crowd, mainly because I want to see  Victorian London terrorized by a seven-foot-tall maniac wielding a butcher's knife. However, here are a couple of ways I think Netflix could differentiate their version of LWW stylistically and narratively.

1. Show more of what spring means to Narnia. Possibly include the oft-mentioned faun and dryad dances, if only as part of the final celebrations (something similar to this was cut from the Walden film). One small way I felt the Walden version fell short was in showcasing why Narnia is special and worth protecting, and what Narnia at peace looks like. We're given to understand that the kids want to stay and fight the Witch because they feel obligated to help them because of the trouble Edmund got everyone in. In the book, they're already developing a personal connection to Narnia and want to fight for Aslan because... he's Aslan! He has that effect on people.

2. Instead of making the battle an epic scale extravaganza, make it something close to a horror sequence. Set it in a fog-bound forest (closer to the book at any rate, which describes it as being near "a wood"). We don't see much in the way of wide shots of the entire armies. We just hear eerie sounds echoing from the beyond the black trees... then deformed shapes burst into view, and chaos ensues. When Aslan comes on scene, the mist melts before the burning glory of the sun... and the White Witch turns seven shades paler as she beholds her doom. I think the Walden version was trying to avoid resembling a Lord of the Rings battle by having a bright sky as opposed to the cloudy one Andrew Adamson had originally planned, but it's been long enough for that not to be a problem anymore if that was the case. The change in lighting at the end of the battle would of course aid in the storytelling and emphasize Aslan's power. 

@the-mad-poet 

A epic climatic battle would actually work better for The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, The Horse And His Boy, and The Last Battle than it would for Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Silver Chair, and The Magician's Nephew.

Though I would agree on not wanting the battle to be too epic. In the Walden adaption, they cut out Aslan telling Peter that he must have two battle plans ready. Instead, Peter learns of Aslan's death and he is left to decide what to do. Then there was the Night Raid (I think CS Lewis was originally going to write about that in the book, but it got scraped.) It was kind of a knock-off of the Battle of Helm's Deep in The Two Towers. And the battle nearby Aslan's Howe. Then the epic climatic battle with the sea serpent was totally different than the emotional climax of the book.

I don't see big giant battle in The Magician's Nephew (unless they want to show the Battle of Charn, but I see that as more of a back flash). Though no climatic battle there. I think the climax is where what decision Digory is going to have to make. Should he give in Jadis's temptation to steal the apple or should he obey Aslan's instructions? I think that's where the real drama comes in! It's not some "saving the world story" like Walden tried to do. The drama should be, "Is Digory's mother going to die from the illness? Is there fruit from the land of youth that can help heal her?" The Magician's Nephew should be about that!

I would really prefer Narnia not to have "epic battles" at all — except of course for the Last Battle in, well, The Last Battle, and Lewis makes clear throughout that whole episode that the fighting is horrible and nightmarish and heart-wrenching and something you as a reader would really not want to be caught up in. He served in WW1 himself — not for very long compared to some men, but long enough to know very well what war is actually like and to be haunted by it for years afterwards and to hope never to go through anything like it again. Many of his close friends were killed in that war. That's quite probably why, although there is violent conflict in some of the Chronicles, he never dwells on it for too long and never makes out that it's a grand and exciting spectacle or a noble and glorious endeavour.

The huge battle scene in the Walden film of LWW was one of the things about it that I found most off-the-mark — just so totally at odds with the tone of the book and with the way Lewis portrays conflict in general. It was as if the filmmakers were trying to turn Narnia into LOTR, which it simply isn't. And to me it looked very much like they were just trying to show off and to inject a whole lot of extra drama into a story that they apparently felt wasn't exciting enough. Whatever the next adaptations do with Narnia, I just hope and pray they won't make that same mistake.

Even though I won't deny that the battle scenes in the Walden trilogy were well-done (because they were), sometimes I think the word "battle" gets overused, especially in the Hollywood industry.

I think there is a way to add tension without just being physical or action. I understand it may not translate well to screen, especially in the slow moments. Some filmmakers may decide, "Oh, they're walking and talking. This is kind of boring!"

We still can have the First Battle of Beruna (perhaps even a glimpse of it). They perhaps could show Peter making the two battle plans, then cut to Aslan and the girls heading for the White Witch's castle, where he is freeing the statues.

I can almost picture the duel between Peter and Miraz being done in slow motion. Then once the Second Battle of Beruna starts, we can cut to Aslan freeing the school children, and Bacchus and Silenus.

Then there still can be tension between Caspian and Edmund at the gold pond. Then there still can be tension when Caspian wants to see world's end and he is told that he cannot go.

There can be tension where Puddleglum, Eustace, and Jill are heading for the giant castle of Harfang. "Hey, have you seen these stone?" "Oh, stop! We're cold!" Then there can be an exciting scene with the fight against the Lady of the Green Kirtle as a serpent.

Then we can still have the Battle of Anvard (I don't know if they would actually show it or just show a glimpse of it from the pool).

Then we might even see tension between Jadis and her sister in Charn told in a flash back. Then there can be tension when Jadis is on the loose in London. Then we can have tension Digory and Jadis at the Garden of Youth.

Then we can have tension at the midnight meeting. There could be tension between Rishda and Emeth when Emeth volunteers to go into the stable. Then add tension from the dwarfs, "Hey, why are you letting Narnians in and keeping your own people out?!"

So I would be in favor of an exciting scene without being too epic. I don't think we need the Hollywood cliche "saving the world" plot, especially if is the A-plot.

Posted by: @courtenay

(I have, by the way, deliberately stopped mentioning Netflix specifically. In the wake of one or two tantalising rumours about them recently, we have once again had absolutely nothing confirmed by Netflix themselves and not the slightest indication that they are seriously working on Narnia, even after all these years. I personally now do not believe they are going to do anything with it at all. I'd love to be proved wrong, but I'll believe it when I see it... )

A little bit late to the party here....but I must say that it's getting to the point that I don't really want to be proven wrong.  In fact, it would be a relief if nothing ever comes of it.  In 2018 I was over the moon about the prospect of getting a reboot, but Netflix has changed so much since then (and not in a good way).

That being said, I'm not opposed to seeing yet another redo of the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. There are still a bunch of aspects of the book that haven't really made it into an onscreen adaptation yet.  However, it would still be an absolute waste if the series gets cancelled after books 1-3 again, without anything new being adapted.  That's why starting with the Magician's Nephew would be a smart choice, because at least we'd be getting something completely new out of the gate.  On the other hand, the payoff and the reveals are so much more powerful when LWW comes first. 

Is this a "ring the bell and abide the danger, or wonder until it drives you mad, what would have happened if you had" scenario?

I would love to see The Silver Chair made into a new movie or TV series.  But now there isn’t so much chance of that happening anytime soon with the cancellation of the big screen movie. If Netflix ever gets to doing it would probably be years in the future. The Magician’s Nephew would be great too, but somehow I always thought The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was the best beginning.  But of course starting with Magician’s Nephew is better than not doing the series at all. However, it would be a difficult beginning without the wardrobe coming first and perhaps be less effective especially for people who are unfamiliar with the books.

I wonder if we'll actually hear Aslan's roar at the end, like Walden did for The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe and Prince Caspian? I was kind of disappointed it didn't have that in Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

I think yes, it should be a new reboot, with all new cast, and would be weird starting with anything other than LWW. TMN has a dark, world-weary tone that doesn't make it appropriate as the beginning installment. It makes much more sense later in the series, being juxtaposed before TLB, and going back to the very beginning before presenting the absolute end. It adds to the apocalyptic impact and scope of the chronicles overall.

If The Magician's Nephew gets made first, hopefully after The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe, they can move on from the White Witch and NOT keep bringing her back, like Walden did.

I kind of saw what they were trying to do with her in Prince Caspian. It's pretty impressive, visually.

Then in Voyage of the Dawn Treader, they squeezed her too much in there.

In The Silver Chair, don't be all like, "Oh it was the White Witch all along" or "The White Witch and the Lady of the Green Kirtle had somehow joined forces!"

I don't know how you've squeezed her in The Horse and His Boy, so just don't do it!

In The Last Battle, don't be like, "Oh, it was the White Witch Rishda called on" or somehow have the White Witch and Tash joined forces.

No, no no! After The Magician's Nephew and The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe, they should move on from the White Witch!