For the most part they were really good. I listen to them all the time and are a great way to pass time on long trips. Some parts with Aslan are a bit odd for me, but I like his voice for the most part. If you think about it for a few seconds, though, you wonder why they characters are talking to themselves and that makes it seem unnatural but there really is no way around it.

Interesting comparisons, wagga. I'll have to see if I can get my hands on the BBC's audio version.

I recently listened to David Suchet reading an Agatha Christie book. I was amazing at how well he did. He voiced all to the characters differently and convincingly. I had a hard time believing it was the same person who did Aslan. I think I would like his portrayal of Aslan better if the volume were better. So much of the time his voices is so soft I can barely hear him. If I turn the volume up, the other parts get too loud.

I buyed VDT audio (rather it wasn't FotF or BBC translation because there were no sounds another than voices and two persons read, so the BBC chorus for the spell couldn't be done.) and it's great. Even that Caspian had a girl's voice isn't disturbing. There were few changes, for example, when Lucy is guessing what is the shape flying to her on the Dark Island, the word and was added just before she thinks it's a kite. In my book there was no and before she thinks that.

Juzuma, I wonder if the Voyage of the Dawn Treader audio you mention is a separate thing altogether, a tie-in to the recent movie? Because there is no way that there are only 2 voices in either the FOTF or the BBC audio dramas. I've linked you to what I mean by the BBC radio collection, an audio CD, as well as the Voyage of the Dawn Treader Focus on the family radio theatre production.

Interesting comparisons, wagga. I'll have to see if I can get my hands on the BBC's audio version.

I recently listened to David Suchet reading an Agatha Christie book. I was amazing at how well he did. He voiced all to the characters differently and convincingly. I had a hard time believing it was the same person who did Aslan. I think I would like his portrayal of Aslan better if the volume were better. So much of the time his voices is so soft I can barely hear him. If I turn the volume up, the other parts get too loud.

That may be so. I found that on some of my CD's I have to turn it up loud or I miss what is being said. But that applies to not only the heavily used BBC volumes but also the more recent FOTF ones.

I did promise to do a comparison for the Last Battle audios. The Last Battle is probably my least favourite Narnia book for all sorts of reasons, such as it makes me too sad to read this book. The FOTF is a good reproduction of it, however. Unlike the other sets of CD's, it doesn't have any little introductory snippets before David Gresham starts speaking. After that, the narrator launches us straight into a faithful rendition of the book.

It is a worthy production, and some inclusions and features I like very much indeed. There are all the little animals who nurture Tirian when held captive, a bit that I can't seem to find in the BBC edition. And I did like how the FOTF Time Giant sounds his horn. Also, I did note that many of the animal voices do sound appropriate for the animals.

But on the whole, I prefer the BBC radio production for Last Battle. It is not only Aslan being played majestically by Stephen Thorne, but also the othr sound effects. No, the time giant doesn't sound his horn in BBC as in the FotF version. But I missed in the FotF the thunderclaps when Ginger, Shift and Rishda Tarkaan enter the stable. Somehow, Tash's voice also sounds more menacing than the Tash of the FotF version, which could have been croakier. In some ways the BBC version is a bit more aggressive. The BBC dwarves, in contrast to the FotF ones, are more given to schoolyard sing song taunting that 'the Dwarves are for the Dwarves', something like football fans.

The narrative of the 2 disc BBC version of Last Battle is arranged differently to the 3 disc FotF version. It starts out with just the sort of snippet that was missing from the FotF version. Rishda Tarkaan is in the temple of Tash taking his oaths, but says to himself, that he wants the kudos (and governorship) for taking Narnia and as good as says he doesn't believe in Tash anyway. After the opening music, the story takes three strands, the first being Jill and Eustace arriving at a meeting with Professor Kirk and Polly Plummer. Gradually the others arrive, and Susan's absence is duly noted.

The story then goes on to recount Shift's getting the lion skin etc, and shows his interactions with Puzzle. After a return to the meeting where there is a discussion about past adventures, and about their uneasiness about Narnia, we see Tirian's story, up until he is tied to a tree. There is a third discussion about the rings and we hear the train accident starting, before Jill and Eustace find themselves in Narnia, and release Tirian. The rest of the story follows on just as in the book or the FotF.

When Tirian enters the stable after grabbing hold of Rishda Tarkaan, and meets the kings and queens, he asks about Susan, but Peter merely says 'Susan is no longer a friend of Narnia... But let's not talk about that'. And then he walks over to the fruit trees. I'm inclined to prefer this way of dealing with that particular bit of Last Battle. Any comments that Jill or Eustace made, are therefore kept to the meetings where a bit of disappointment at her absence might be more understandable. I don't know if anyone would agree, though.

It really could be a translation of FotF because it seems like the same. Here people like to keep their money. Two voices aren't too bad, there was cool Rhoop's voice. But there were no sounds besides.

My favorites would be, hands down, The Last Battle followed by The Silver Chair. At one point I was OBSESSED with TSC, and listened to the part from where the LOTGK finds Rilian disenchanted to where he kills the serpant, and I can still recite all of the Witch's lines exactly as the actress on the CDs did.

Same here! Sometimes if I need to focus or stay still, like at the dentist or something, I recite her speech and then start quoting the book/cd. I have pretty much all of it memorized. I love the Focus on the Family radio drama. I listen to it every night as I fall asleep. I have been doing this for years! It's what first got me into Narnia.