6 Scenes We Can’t Wait to See in a Narnia Movie Someday | Talking Beasts
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Walden Media had dreams of bringing all seven Chronicles of Narnia books to the big screen, but pulled the plug after just three. The Silver Chair, The Horse and His Boy, The Magician’s Nephew, and The Last Battle have never been adapted into films. But, hope remains. In this season finale, the podcasters list six scenes they are most looking forward to someday seeing in a Narnia movie – possibly from Netflix.
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Congrats Glumpuddle!
I heartily agree with your selections, especially Tirian’s prayer and Aslan’s tears. Though with Tirian, I wonder if his thoughts could be voiced over, not unlike the way in which many Shakespearean monologues are done. The whole feel of that scene (for me at least) was rooted in the absolute silence and loneliness of it. It always reminds me of the scene in George C Scott’s Christmas Carol when the Ghost of Christmas Present leaves Scrooge alone in a dark place full of wind and echoes, and Scrooge is screaming for the Ghost to come back, but all he gets is the echo of his own voice in reply. Totally spooky, totally hopeless. I’m not sure how well it would work with someone else standing there though.
Some of my honorable mentions:
The moment when they first hear Aslan sing in MN. I can just imagine them staring into this dark expanse from which this enormously deep voice is coming., and then to see the first rising of the sun lighting the empty horizon …. awesomeness.
Also the charge of the Narnians in HHB! I think that’s probably the only truly epic battle scene that gets a full description in the books. I want to get that feeling of suspense just before the wind catches the banner and reveals it to be the flag of Narnia! To see the battle from the eagle’s perspective would also be awesome.
Finally…. Puddleglum’s speech. ‘Nuff said.
Merry Christmas! Long Live the True King!
I find it hard to pick just three scenes. The ones you guys chose (and the honorable mentions and shoutouts,, etc) were great.
I actually have a theory that the most powerful happy endings come right after some sort of narrative descent into Hell. Seasonal examples of climaxes like that would be A Christmas Carol, It’s a Wonderful Life and A Charlie Brown Christmas. Narnian examples would of the darkness before the dawn would be The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (with Aslan death and the girls’ mourning for him followed by his resurrection and romp), The Silver Chair (where Eustace and Jill have to go Underland and see Caspian die before Caspian is revived in Aslan’s country) and The Magician’s Nephew (in which Digory has to accept that there’s no way his mother is going live before Aslan gives him a way to heal her.) Since The Last Battle is technically the ending to the whole series, the first two thirds are depressing and the las third is joyous. Of course, storytellers shouldn’t try to force their stories to fit in this formula. I don’t you necessarily need to do something like to have an effective happy ending but it helps.
Anyway, season 5 was great! I know my tone in the comments has been very critical since I have somewhat, thought not wholly, negative feelings about the main two objects of discussion (the BBC LWW and Planet Narnia.) But that doesn’t mean I thought you shouldn’t discuss those things or that the episodes themselves weren’t great fun. I got a kick out of them. It’s nice that you pay attention to fans in the Facebook group.
P.S.
Christmas is probably my favorite holiday too. I understand why people might dislike it though. It’s a lot of work and it can be very disappointing. But it can also be really satisfying. Sort of a high risk-high reward thing.
I really liked your selections of favorite Narnia moments. I can think of two candidates.
1) You pointed out the beauty of Aslan’s Country. When Jill is blown off the cliff, everything is perfect. The view is beautiful and peaceful. When she goes below the clouds confusion and noise set in. The Lunar nature of the story is displayed. Jill forgets the signs. Jill and Eustace argue. The Lunar nature of Narnia affects the rest of the story and should be told so that people who do not know The Narnia Code will know what is happening. The Narnia Code helps me understand this book more that understanding the other books. Maybe a year ago I sent in a link of a U-2 aircraft flying at 70,000 feet. I want to see that flight (without the aircraft and without the curvature of the Earth). This act sets up the rest of the story, and if done right would be spectacular. Of course, I want to see Aslan talk to Jill.
2) I frequently reread the last several chapters of The Last Battle. I love the scene where Emeth relays his conversation with Aslan. I think those are some of the most profound words ever written. I would like the movie to show that conversation. I think that this is the ultimate scene of the series. Everything after that is a very pleasant ride. The end is really the beginning.
I look forward to next season. Thank you.
The scene in The Silver Chair with Tom Baker as Puddleglum and the underground witch telling the witch how much better Narnia is would be great to do again in a movie. I loved that about as much as the creation scene in The Horse and His Boy. Also, in The Silver Chair, there is the scene where Aslan gives life to the dead King Caspian and gives him youth again (Eustace drives a thorn in Aslan’s paw). This was quite moving in the BBC version and it also would work very well emotionally on the big screen. It actually makes me cry whenever I see it on the BBC series and read it in the book. I think it could move an audience to tears if It were adapted to the cinema. It’s the best part of The Silver Chair.
I’m sorry for the mistake. ( I saw it after it couldn’t be edited). It was Puddleglum telling the underground witch that Narnia was a better world than hers even if it wasn’t real. The scene was Puddleglum’s best and most honest, which would be great on a film in the theater.
Excellent podcast, Glumpuddle and Gymfan! (And thanks for the mention of Rilian, too. I don’t know any of you guys personally, but he has been in my thoughts every time I listen to these podcasts. I hope we’ll hear from him again one day too, when or if he feels ready.)
My own top scenes (which I tried to think of before listening to this episode) mostly weren’t the really dark or tragic ones, except for Charn. I would also definitely love to see Charn portrayed cinematically, both as Polly and Digory are walking through this dead, ruined world AND a flashback to its destruction by Jadis,
Also an obvious one from the same story — the creation of Narnia by Aslan. But gosh (I’ve always wondered this), how could they possibly do such an awe-inspiring, thrilling, amazing kind of scene and make it feel REAL and wondrous and even slightly scary (just because it’s so awesome) and not have it become all cheesy and fall flat?? Now I think about it, this is the only fantasy story I know where the characters actually witness a whole world being created in front of them. Lewis tells it exquisitely. How can a film-maker capture something that is almost beyond imagining?
A few other must-see scenes I’d nominate: the ending of The Last Battle. Obviously very nearly as difficult to do as the creation scene, though. How do you capture heaven itself and make it look and feel real and believable? Again, Lewis manages it in words, but how does that translate to film?
The scene from The Horse and His Boy where Aslan speaks to Shasta in the mist. Again, presents some real challenges for filming — they would probably have to cut down on the dialogue a fair bit — but this is one of the most essential and memorable scenes in the story, and if done right, it could and should be raising-the-hairs-on-your-spine stuff.
The scene in The Silver Chair where the Witch enchants the heroes and Puddleglum breaks the spell — especially his speech after he stamps on the fire. It’s a long time since I saw the BBC version but I’m pretty sure it didn’t really do this scene justice, though Tom Baker was a wonderful Puddleglum!
I would also love to see Jill meeting Aslan at the start of the same story. He needs to be both terrifying and compelling at the same time, again without being overdone.
Thanks for all your great podcasts and I look forward to hearing you again next year! Merry Christmas to you and to your families (and Glumpuddle, congratulations to you and your wife in advance)!!
I actually think the creation scene in The Magician’s Nephew could be great if they put a lot of effort and talent into it but the destruction scene in The Last Battle would be impossible. With the creation, you’d just eed two of each species. (Well, a few more for the nontalking animals.) For the destruction, you’d need billions of animals, humans (of different ethnicities), dwarfs, monopods, etc all fitting through one stable door. Plus you’d need to show some of them reacting positively to Aslan and some reacting negatively and then disappearing into his shadow.
I couldn’t wait to get home so I could respond to the podcast!
First off, congratulations GlumPuddle!
The three scenes/moments I would like to see on Netflix are the following:
I too wish to see the tomb scene in Horse and His Boy. That’s the book I look the most forward to seeing adapted to film. With the issue of flashing back to Aravis’ adventure, I feel Netflix’s episodic nature lends itself very well to flashbacks and showing what happened that we didn’t see in the last episode as the prologue for the following episode.
Yes, the destruction of Narnia in The Last Battle is kind of a go to moment that we’d want to see adapted to a visual medium. A specific moment I would love to see is the moment Father Time reaches up into the sky and destroys the sun, squeezing it like an orange. That image is so vivid in my head; such a striking image. To see it in a movie format would be astounding.
My third scene is cheating, as it’s from Prince Caspian. There’s so many amazing scenes that we didn’t get to see in the Walden Media film; or at least done well, IMO. A scene that has always given me chills is the scene where Lucy walks through the woods at night and talks to the trees. Lucy cries out, “Awake! Come to me, awake!”. Then there’s this moment of silence and then this odd rustling in the woods. Will the dryads awaken!? It’s such a stirring scene. Lucy’s longing for the old Narnia days wells inside her and Narnia itself aches to be set free. You’re holding your breath waiting to see if Narnia will come alive. It’s one of my most favorite moments in all the books. Focus on the Family audio drama did this scene wonderfully and I’d love to see this done well on film. It reflects the awe and wonder that fans love about Narnia.
Interesting note, all these scenes that Narnia fans want to see are emotional character moments, not epic battle scenes. ha
My top 5:
#5 Snow Dance
#4 Aravis in Tashban sequence
#3 Flooding of Underland
#2 Creation of Narnia
#1 Destruction of Narnia
I ain’t ashamed to be simple 🙂
PS. assuming all 4 adaptations will be films. I’m also assuming that all 5 choices will be embellished for all they’re worth, cinematically speaking
Wow, top 3 doesn’t cover it! There are SO many scenes I would like to see, though none will ever truly compare to our imaginations. But if I had to pick 3, here they are:
1. All of the Magician’s Nephew
2. All of the Silver Chair
3. All of the Horse and his Boy
Honorable mention: all of the Last Battle
Just kidding! There’s a lot in LB I want to see too, and that’s not exactly a good list. Let me try this again:
#3. That scene in HHB where BREE finally sees Aslan.
He’s all, “oh, we just say ‘by the Lion’s mane’ because he is LIKE a lion (brave, strong, etc.). If he were REALLY a lion, he would have paws! And a mane! And whiskers!” and then Aslan roars behind him! Walden kind of did this with Trumpkin in Prince Caspian; but Trumpkin didn’t have a fear of lions, was never attacked by lions in the woods, etc. This scene would be awesome!
#2. The flooding of the Underworld
I’m with JFG II on this one. It’s such a cool scene, between the actual flooding and the gnomes celebrating and going home to Bism and all of it! The BBC version kind of skipped over this scene; you see this creepy scene where the gnomes jump into this flaming pit, giggling and chirping away for no apparent reason. It was so much better in the book, and a modern movie could do way better than that. 🙂
#1. The Witch running from Aslan!
I love that scene! The Witch, who is literally worse than the Marvel villain Thanos, is powerless to stop Aslan as he creates Narnia! Considering she ripped that iron bar off the lamppost with her bare hands, the force behind that throw would be enough to kill just about anything – but not Aslan! I just picture her watching, expecting him to fall (or at the very least stop singing), then realizing the bar just bounced off his head as if it were a ping-pong ball. To see this universe-killing monster of a character run away like a scared little kid is just… awesome doesn’t cover it! I can’t think of a word, in English, Spanish, or my kindergarten French, that can fully describe it. Oh wait, yes I can: joy. 🙂
And there are so, so, SO many more, I could go on all night. Guess this should have been a blog post (lol). But anyway, thanks for a great season of podcasts! Merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah, whatever you celebrate, enjoy it! I’ll see you all next year. 😀
PS: Glumpuddle, you nailed it! I’ve often said that Florida is the opposite of Narnia: instead of endless winter, endless summer. 😀
Despair before before joy is an important theme in narnia. It brings to mind with me the hymns sung on Great and Holy Friday (Good Friday) , they are so full of despair and darkness followed by the joyful Victory over death. Easter is my favourite holiday by the way I always feel spiritually rejuvenated. If you can listen to the three stasis’ that is what I imagine the music would be for Narnia when Aslan cries.
Well, almost anything’s possible with CGI these days, so let’s hope they at least have a good go at it…
Good selections, both of you. Honestly with your number one scene, Glumpuddle, could be done very well. The recent ‘Plant of the Apes’ trilogy shows that getting that kind of emotion can be done very well. Will it? Obviously that remains to be seen, just think it could be done and honestly an easier solution than most of the scenes on this list.
What I would love to see perfectly translated is sort of a tie. Both depend on the tone and has to be so delicately played. One is Rabadashe’s transformation into a donkey. Not the effect really, but the scene where it goes from somewhat threatening, to completely awed and terrified when Aslan comes in to pass sentence, to the comedic ending. It would have to be done very well otherwise the scene could just become a comedy scene, but the important thing is to balance the tones properly.
The other scene has to have the opposite affect almost. The ending of ‘Silver Chair’ where Caspian comes back with Eustace and Jill where they are punishing the bullies. Where this scene could almost be done to seriously or taken too seriously(just thinking about all the school shooting over the last decade), but the point is to have a sense of justice without doing serious harm; somewhat like the Gumpas scene in ‘Dawn Treader’.
My personal favorite holiday is Chanukkah, but mainstream holidays would be Christmas or Thanksgiving. I do like the festive look and feel of Christmas, but like the subdued nature of Thanksgiving.
Have a good holiday season guys.
I REALLY hope that they portray the Witch with real, raw power and strength when she’s in our world. Imagining a terrifyingly tall woman crashing through the streets of London seems hilarious to me:)
The creation of Narnia!!! Yes, I need to see that. Right now I’m picturing an episode ends with them falling into the wrong pool. Then the next one, in the emptiness, they start basically a Lion King opening with the sun rising to Aslan’s song. I am curious how they will portray Aslan’s song though, like will he be actually singing, more like humming (please please please don’t make him roaring for dramatic effect, that would ruin Andrew’s entire side story)
NO LASARALEEN?!?!?!? Dishonor! Aravis’ time in Tashbaan is amazing:) I really want to see these locations realized, particularly Tashbaan and Charn.
Also as a side note, I want them to realize the dryads and naiads (Nereids too?) differently from Walden. Something about that just seemed creepy to me, and honestly the stand-ins they had looked better in my opinion.
I agree so much about Charn! Especially since it’s after the wood between the worlds scene. They’re both silent places but with really different atmospheres, looking forward to see how they’re portrayed in a movie.
This is indeed an excellent list. One of the scenes I would be fascinated to see Netflix pull off in a movie or a television program would be the final confrontation between Rilian, Eustace, Jill, and the Lady of the Green Kirtle. The Green Lady couldn’t be as over the top dramatic and overtly violent as the White Witch often is on screen, and would have to use the power of her music, voice, and hypnotic presence to lull the party into thinking for a moment that everything they knew in the world above is an illusion. That would take subtle visual and auditory effects and an actress who can be hypnotic and alluring without it seeming silly.