Narnia Nostalgia Part 9: Radio Plays Part 5

The following article reviews both Radio play versions of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. “RT” indicates the Focus on the Family Radio Theatre version, and “BBC” the British Radio 4 version.

Warning: Mild Spoilers

“You don’t suppose I’d have left my kingdom and put out to sea unless all was well.”
- King Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C S Lewis, chapter 2

As this review is being written, details of the Walden Media adaptation of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader are a bit sketchy. However, the official press release from back in July of 2009, as well as subsequent reports, seem to indicate that in the upcoming movie version not all is well in Narnia. The description of the film seems to indicate the voyage was embarked upon to save Narnia “from an unfathomable fate.”

As was mentioned earlier in this series, adapting a book as a screenplay or radio drama can be challenging. (See especially Narnia Nostalgia Part 3 and Narnia Nostolgia Part 5.) The biggest difficulty is often maintaining the spirit of the story intended by the author. It remains to be seen how well Walden version will capture C S Lewis’s vision.

The Radio adaptations of Dawn Treader follow the book very closely (both include King Caspian’s words that “all is well”), but do make minor changes. While the the RT version uses much of Lewis’s narrative, the BBC radio play does not use a narrator at all. Even the setting of the story is established with a conversation between Edmund, Lucy, and their cousin Eustace. This works fairly well through most of the play, but there are points where those unfamiliar with the story could probably use a bit of narrative explanation.

The narration in the RT version, however, is rather tedious at times. And, unlike previous episodes in the series, the splendid musical accompaniment occasionally overwhelms the narration and dialogue. While still a quality work, RT’s Dawn Treader falls a little under the creative bar set by their first four Narnia dramas.

The two main characters Lewis uses in the book to convey important themes are Lucy and Eustace, who is introduced to the reader in this book. Eustace is presented as annoying and self-centered, which contrasts to the bravery he demonstrates later in the book. RT does an excellent job creating a picture of the boy, taking the time to fully develop his character. The BBC drama omits too much and tires to take shortcuts. Twice Lucy and Edmund react to their cousin’s droning by saying, “Eustace, shut up!” – a phrase which, although it conveys his tendency to be annoying, does not seem in keeping with a King and Queen of Narnia, children though they be. BBC also omits the water stealing incident and rushes through the account of his “undragoning.”

The chapter in the story which gives us the most insight into Lucy is “The Magician’s Book.” Lucy has already demonstrated her courage by being willing to go to the room with the book and say the spell to make the Dufflepuds visible. But there is a flaw in her character which Aslan wants to work on. This is shown in Lucy’s reaction to the pages containing the beautification spell and the spell “which would let you know what your friends thought of you.” The growling face of Aslan in the book keeps her from saying the first spell, but saying the second spell enables her to hear a conversation between her schoolmates back in England – a conversation which was not very flattering to Lucy.

The RT adaption dramatizes both pages from the Magician’s Book, and includes the part where Lucy sees her sister Susan. Aslan’s rebuke to Lucy for eavesdropping on her friends is also left in. The BBC version omits the second spell, and the fact the image of Susan appears in the book. When Aslan appears, he has no rebuke at all, only joyous greetings. Because of these omissions, the importance of what is happening with Lucy is completely lost.

Lewis is conveying, through Lucy’s reaction to the spells, that she is developing a problem with vanity, a fault her sister Susan will be overcome with by the end of the Chronicles. In Lewis’s nonfiction, he distinguishes between the pride of vanity and a more diabolical pride where the person does not care what people think. (See “The Great Sin,” Chapter 8 of CHRISTIAN BEHAVIOUR - Section 3 of Mere Christianity.)

Although Susan will get caught up in vanity, given what the author wrote in Mere Christianity, it appears he was indicating that she had not slipped into “the real black, diabolical Pride [that] comes when you look down on others so much that you do not care what they think of you.” Lucy would apparently overcome her tendency to vanity, and there will still be hope for Susan.

The self-centered pride Eustace was beginning to sink into needed to be dealt with more severely, but Aslan still was able to help him “change his skin.” RT captured the importance of these confrontations with Aslan well. Hopefully Walden Media will, too.

Narnia Nostalgia Part 8: Radio Plays Part 4

The following article reviews both Radio play versions of Prince Caspian. “RT” indicates the Focus on the Family Radio Theatre version, and “BBC” the British Radio 4 version.

Warning: Mild Spoilers

The Walden/Disney movie of Prince Caspian begins with an agonizing cry and the birth of a child. Those who had seen the first movie, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, must have been scratching their heads at that point. It is a full eight minutes into the film before we see any of the characters from the first film.

When Prince Caspian was published in 1951, it was the second book* in the series and was better known by its subtitle, Return to Narnia. As C S Lewis step-son Douglas Gresham reminds us in his introduction to the RT version, the author wasted no time in getting the Pevensies back.

Those who have adapted Prince Caspian for the stage, TV, movies, or radio, have had to decide how to deal with the story within a story. (Chapters four through seven in the book are the telling of the life of Prince Caspian to the point when the Pevensies arrive in Narnia.) Walden chose to begin with Caspian fleeing, while the BBC TV version begins with Caspian in the courtyard of King Miraz. In contrast to the their video counterparts, both Radio Play versions reference Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy immediately.

The BBC version begins with Caspian’s nurse telling him the story of the King Peter, Queen Susan, King Edmund, and Queen Lucy – a sort of reversal of what happens in the book, where the Pevensies are told Caspian’s story. Scriptwriter Brian Sibley decided to deal with the “story within a story” by alternating between the two story lines.

Since the Pevensies are not called to Narnia until late in Caspian’s story, switching back and forth between story lines causes the story to be unbalanced. The Walden movie solved this by putting the call to Narnia near the beginning of the story. The BBC Radio version adds an additional scene at the professor’s home, but most of the story is about Caspian until the Pevensies show up in Narnia half way through the production.

Paul McCusker, who wrote the script and directed the RT production, decided to buck the trend and used the story line as it is laid out in the book. The children are immediately returned to Narnia, and the details about the prince are added when they meet up with Trumpkin, the Dwarf. This actually works very well, and is much easier to follow. Perhaps Lewis knew what he was doing after all.

The RT running time of three hours and twenty minutes also allows time for some details that are missing in all the other recorded dramatizations of the book. Lewis, perhaps mindful of the criticism that his first book did not explain how foodstuffs were provided in a Narnia where it was always winter, was careful to include how food was obtained for the Pevensies’ trip to Aslan’s How. RT includes the apples and the bear meat.

Lewis’s theme of joy also comes through in the RT version by including the celebrations. As in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, they are not afraid to mention Bacchus and Silenus.

Both Radio versions do a fabulous job of portraying Lucy’s first meeting with Aslan. The importance of following what is right despite what others think is an important theme, and both productions give this scene the weight it deserves.

For comments on the relative production quality of the plays, please refer to the last two articles in this series below.

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*For why Prince Caspian is now numbered as book 4, see the Examiner.com article, The order of the Narnia chronicles.

Narnia Nostalgia Part 7: Radio Plays Part 3

The following article reviews both Radio play versions of The Horse and His Boy. “RT” indicates the Focus on the Family Radio Theatre version, and “BBC” the British Radio 4 version.

Warning: Spoilers

Breehy-hinny-brinny-hoohy-hah.

Vocalizing the full name of the first title character (The Horse) is a challenge to both the imagination and one’s articulation skills. Nick Burnell (RT) and Martin Jarvis (BBC) were both up to the task of imagining and imitating a talking horse.

As indicated in the last review in this series, the sound effects in the Radio Theatre adaptation are far superior to the BBC version. However, after a six year hiatus, the BBC version of The Horse and His Boy did make some progress compared to their version of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. The laughable imitations of animal sounds have virtually disappeared. Even Aslan’s roar is much better.

Both portrayals do a good job of staying true to the story C. S. Lewis wrote. However, the BBC version still uses synthesized music, and the overall effect of the RT production, with the full orchestration, is still much superior.

RT also does a better job at the part of the story when Shasta (the other title character – (His Boy) and his traveling companion, Aravis, become separated in Tashbaan, the capital of Calormen, a country to the south of Narnia. When prominent characters become separated, there is always the problem of dealing with how to covey both parts of the story.

C S Lewis’s friend and colleague JRR Tolkien faced this challenge in writing The Lord of the Rings. He dealt with the situation of the separation of the members of the Fellowship primarily by adopting three separate story lines – a few chapters for Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas, a few for Merry and Pippin, and a few for Frodo and Sam, etc. He also uses the device of one character telling his story to another character in order to fill in the details.

The Horse and His Boy is not nearly so complicated as The Lord of the Rings, but dealing with a divided story was still a challenge. Much like Tolkien, Lewis devotes comparatively long passages to what is happening to Shasta, and then to what is going on with Aravis.

The BBC version uses a different tact. The scene cuts back and forth from one character to the other several times. While the playwright, Brian Sibley, does a great job of tying the cuts together using common themes, the overall effect is rather distracting and at times a bit hard to follow.

The RT adaptation basically follows Lewis’s tact. The text first follows the adventures of Shasta, and then of Aravis. This allows some suspense to build as Shasta (and the first-time reader) does not know what is happening to Aravis and if she will make it to their arranged meeting place. In the BBC production, this tension is lost.

As indicated above, both dramatizations do a great job of presenting Lewis’s story and capturing its spirit. One of the main themes of the book is how God is working behind the scenes in our lives, even when we don’t know him or recognize him.

When Shasta talks to Aslan in the wilderness, the Lion tells him,

I was the lion who forced you to join with Aravis. I was the cat who comforted you among the houses of the dead. I was the lion who drove the jackals from you while you slept. I was the lion who gave the Horses new strength of fear for the last mile so that you should reach King Lune in time. And I was the lion you do not remember who pushed the boat in which you lay, a child near death, so that it came to shore where a man sat, wakeful at midnight, to receive you.

Shasta asks why the Lion wounded Aravis. As he does so often in the Chronicles, Aslan responds that he “tells no one any story but his own.”

God has a story for you. You may not like the details, and may wonder about the details of the story belonging to someone else. But, God is only interested in telling you your own story – if you will listen – not debating with you about the details, or telling you why he has dealt with others the way he has.

…Peter… asked, “Lord, what about him?” Jesus answered, “…what is that to you? You must follow me.” (John 21:21-22 NIV)

Narnia Nostolgia Part 6: Radio Plays Part 2

The following are reviews of both Radio play versions of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (BBC Radio 4 version)

So, do mothballs falling on a wardrobe floor really sound like marbles being dumped out on a Formica counter-top? That’s just one of the sound effects in this presentation which interferes with the suspension of unbelief. But it is certainly not the worst.

While the story itself is well written, the performance suffers from skimping on the technical aspects of the audio. And it’s not like the effects people are not capable. The sounds used to enhance the spring thaw are quite well done. They must have recorded actual birds singing, and, with headphones on, the buzzing bee sounds like it is flying around your head.

But the talking animal noises were created by the actors themselves. The snarls of the wolves are quite unbelievable, and the hoots and howls of the evil beasts and ghouls at the Stone Table make it difficult to take the scene seriously.

The roar of Aslan is just plain lame. After Aslan roars, he says, “My, but that was good.” But most listeners will be thinking, or even saying out loud, “No, it wasn’t.” Would it have been so difficult to include the roar of a real lion and blend it in with the actor’s voice?

With all these annoyances, it is surprising how well the actors are able to convey the story. Credit must be given again to Brian Sibley for a good script, and to the actors for being able to “get into” their roles.

Devoted fans will also appreciate the little details that are included. For example, the video versions of the story (See Narnia Nostalgia: Part 1 and Part 2.) omit the Robin which leads the Pevensies from Tumnus’ home to Mr. Beaver. The Focus on the Family Radio Theater version (See below.) also omits it. The Robin is author C. S. Lewis’s first hint that the eternal winter has been broken and that spring is on the way. But the BBC Radio play is the only dramatized recording that includes the bird.

What is missed, though, is the sense of joy and wonder that is found in the book. The Radio Theater version may be missing the bird, but it captures that sense.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (The Focus on the Family Radio Theater version)

The FotF presentation combines a great script (arguably even better than the BBC version) with good acting and absolutely brilliant sound effects. It also emphasizes the joy and wonder of the book. Not only can you sense Lucy’s awe of Narnia as she visits it for the first time, but the joy of the place before the Witch took control, and after Aslan returns, is accentuated better than in any of the dramatizations (audio or video) of the work from the other studios.

Tumnus’ description of the feasting and bliss of Narnia before the White Witch imprisoned it in perpetual winter is superb. And he is not afraid to mention Silvanus and Bacchus – characters which the other presentations avoid. (See this review of the book Prince Caspian for the characters’ significance: Divine Revelers.) There is also an obvious joy in Aslan’s camp at the Stone Table when the three children are brought there.

The creators of the Walden/Disney movie missed the joy and wonder by interjecting the thought that the Pevencies would have needed to be convinced to stay. In the book, Lewis assumes the children would be caught up in the magic and excitement of Narnia, their predilection for adventure having already been established. (They are excited about exploring outdoors, and resort to exploring the house when it rains.)

In the movie, the adventures they get caught in often seem more inspired by a video game (i.e. riding ice in the river) than any “magic” based on what Lewis wrote. The spirit captured by the FotF production is much to be preferred to any action/adventure presented on the big screen.

The climax of this Radio Theater episode is the sacrifice of Aslan on the Stone Table and his subsequent resurrection. The use of Lewis’s narrative, enhanced with sound effects and dramatic music, is “spot on” in capturing the significance of the scene.

In his excellent review of this dramatization, Greg Wright of Hollywood Jesus concludes that the prolonged death scene is not exactly “family friendly.” However, following FotF’s guidelines (“Not Recommended for children Under the Age of 8″ ) parents should not have to worry.

Another inventive touch comes at the end of the movie when the children re-immerge from the wardrobe back in England – but that should be saved as a surprise for the first-time listener.

Narnia Nostolgia 5: The Radio Plays Part 1

BBC Radio 4 aired The Magician’s Nephew and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe in 1988. A few years passed until the series was taken up again in 1994 with The Horse and His Boy, and finished in 1997 with The Last Battle. These were produced originally under the series title “Tales of Narnia.”
Focus on the Family Radio Theatre began their series with the more popular Lion, the Witch in 1998, but went back “to the beginning” with Magician’s Nephew in 1999. The series was completed in chronological order with The Last Battle being aired in 2002. (CD sets of the Focus series are numbered in chronological order, beginning with Magician’s Nephew.)*

The following is an introduction to the radio plays, and a review of both versions of The Magician’s Nephew.

Different mediums require different methods and stratagems. As the old saying goes, “A picture is worth a thousand words,” so it is only natural that differences will arise among the original books, the radio plays, and the videos. Both the books and the radio plays revolve around words – but not words exclusively. A book may also add maps, illustrations, and pictures; a radio play adds voice inflection and sound effects. In a movie, you can have relatively long periods of silence where pictures are conveying the story, but in a radio play, “dead air” kills the story.

An advantage of both the written medium and radio is that it leaves much to the reader’s (or listener’s) imagination. For film, writers and directors must work out the details (usually with a large team of prop designers, special effects people, etc.) of how every detail should look. Instead of hearing descriptions of what everything is like, the viewer sees it.

The difficulty of an audio play is, then, that it must accomplish much in words, while not just feeling like a “reading” of the text – for then it would be just an audio book. Since there are so many words involved, radio plays are usually read directly from the script instead of being memorized. This often results in a rather stilted presentation. Both radio versions of The Magician’s Nephew suffer from this, but the actors in the Focus on the Family version do a much better job of sounding like they are actually “in” the story.

The acting in the Focus version is much better, and the story is helped by appropriate music and sound effects. While the BBC Radio 4 version uses (sparingly) what sounds like synthesized music, the Focus dramatization is backed by a full orchestra. The sound effects in the British version are often poorly done, while those in the Radio Theatre production are excellent. For example, when the children and the Witch are fleeing the ruins of Charn, you mostly hear slow footsteps in the BBC adaptation, while you hear running footsteps and crumbling buildings in the Focus version. This is enhanced further with dramatic music.

An added bonus to the Radio Theatre version is that Douglas Gresham, step-son of Narnia author C S Lewis, shares a few insights at the beginning and end of the story. These short sound bites are almost worth the price of the CD’s by themselves.

A word of appreciation must be given to the writers who adapted the books for these dramatizations. Brian Sibley (BBC) and Paul McCuster (Focus) have faithfully followed the books and should be praised for their fine work as playwrights. McCuster was not afraid to embellish a bit to emphasize a theme in the book. (For example, the scene with Digory and his mother in her room before he ends up in Narnia is added to strike home his desire to see her recover from her illness.) And Sibley’s addition of a grown-up Digory as the storyteller helps to make the narrator’s voice more personal (although Lewis often uses the narrator in later books to let the reader in on things Digory would not have known about).

If you would like to familiarize (or re-familiarize) yourself with The Chronicles of Narnia, either radio drama would do well for that purpose. Focus on the Family does not recommend the Radio Theatre series for those under eight years of age, and that, perhaps, is a good recommendation for the books and videos as well.

The Radio Theatre production can be purchased online through the usual American outlets. For those in the United States, the BBC Radio adaptation may be hard to come by, and usually must be imported from Great Britain (which is rather expensive). There are copies available on the Amazon UK website amazon.co.uk.

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*For a discussion of the “proper” order of the stories, see The order of the Narnia chronicles.

Narnia nostalgia part 4 – The Silver Chair on BBC TV

In November and December of 1990, BBC TV released The Silver Chair in 6 weekly half-hour episodes. These were later edited into a feature-length film on VHS, and later, DVD (now available online in secondary markets like eBay and Amazon Marketplace). The teleplay was written by Australian playwright Alan Seymour.

Those who only have knowledge of The Chronicles of Narnia through the two Walden/Disney movies will not be familiar with Eustace Scrubb, the main character linking The Silver Chair with The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Eustace is a cousin to the Pevensie children, and was pulled into Narnia along with Lucy and Edmund in the previous story

Eustace attends a “progressive” boarding school, and has befriended Jill Pole. He confides in her about his adventures in the other world. Both are brought to Narnia by Aslan, who has a quest for them to accomplish. They are to find the lost Prince Rillian, the only son of the now very old King Caspian.

There are two main themes in the book which are also emphasized in the series. These are the importance of following the four signs which Aslan gives, and learning to overcome deception.

Aslan gives Jill four signs which she is to repeat to herself every day. These signs are important for the quest. This is reminiscent of the instructions God has given about the importance of scripture, such as the words to Joshua after he takes the leadership mantle of Israel upon Moses’ death.

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. (Joshua 1:8 NKJV)

Throughout the story, we see how the children get off track whenever they do not follow the signs. They are also much more easily deceived.

Though a series of events, and with the help of the pessimistic but lovable Puddleglum, they eventually find their way to the Underworld, which is ruled by the Lady of the Green Kirtle. She is the Green Witch who has Prince Rillian under a spell.

As the trio are about to escape with the Prince, the Green Witch finds them, and tries to convince them using her enchantments that there is no Narnia to escape to – that only her world is real. Many see in this a parallel to Plato’s Parable of the Cave, which is an allegory about the nature of reality.

Puddleglum’s logic and quick thinking help them break free from the Witch’s deception, and they eventually make their way back to the surface where Rillian is gladly received as Prince.

The movie follows the book very closely, editing mostly for time and updating of idioms in the dialogue. There is one strange inclusion of a dragon not mentioned in the book, and the “deeper kingdom” of Bism (admittedly a rather confusing interpolation) is left out.

Although the film continues to suffer from special effects antiquated by today’s standards,* the acting is much improved. The three main protagonists, Eustace Scrubb, Jill Pole, and Puddleglum, are especially well played by David Thwaites, Camilla Power, and Tom Baker.

While we are waiting for Walden, partnered now with Fox, to release The Voyage of the Dawn Treader a year from now, the BBC versions of Dawn Treader and Silver Chair are the only videos of those two stories available. The BBC captured the major themes, but the costuming and special effects can be distracting, to say the least. But, for young children, these videos are not a bad way to introduce your children or grandchildren to this part of the series.

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*See Narnia nostalgia part 2 - lion, witch, and wardrobe on BBC TV, including note 2 at the end of the article, for a few words about the limitations of the special effects in the BBC movies.

Narnia nostalgia part 3: Prince Caspian and Dawn Treader on BBC TV

In November and December of 1989, BBC TV released Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader in 6 weekly half-hour episodes. These were later edited into a feature-length film on VHS, and later, DVD (now available online in secondary markets like eBay and Amazon Marketplace). The teleplay was written by Australian playwright Alan Seymour.

As with the Walden Media productions, a decision had to be made about the order in which to make the adaptations of the C S Lewis books. While The Magician’s Nephew is the first book chronologically, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was the first published and the most popular. It was a given that that book should be made first. However, a more difficult decision was what to do about a second production.

Although Prince Caspian was the second book published, and naturally follows the first book, it is one of the least popular. It is also needed to bridge the gap between The Lion and Dawn Treader. Walden attempted to deal with this dilemma by making the story a bit darker and more exciting, trying to appeal to a broader audience. This attempt had mixed results. (See Will the Australian Rating Hurt or Help Caspian? and Mark Johnson Admits Caspian Mistakes.)

The BBC solution was to devote only two 30-minute episodes to Prince Caspian, and the remaining four to The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. The year (England time) between the two books is ignored, and some of the joy of returning to Narnia at the beginning of Prince Caspian is diluted by cutting out the scene when the Pevensies splash in the ocean. The story is moved along more quickly, but important elements of both stories are missed.

The trick in editing a story is to know what details are can be cut so the finished product retains the essence of the original. The scriptwriter must also be conscious of important elements in the narrative not conveyed by the dialogue. Although the script may contain the exact, or nearly exact, words used by the characters, editing for length can completely change the meaning intended by the author.

When Reepicheep gives his speech to Aslan about losing his tail in the battle, Aslan is “conquered” to restore it not by his words, but by the proposed actions of his fellow mice. In the movie, Aslan responds immediately when Reepicheep explains that he will be made fun of if his tail is not restored. But in the book, his associate Peepicheep explains that all the mice are willing to cut off their own tails if their Chief’s honor is not restored. This affects the meaning of Alan’s words:

You have conquered me. … Not for the sake of your dignity, Reepicheep, but for the love that is between you and your people, and still more for the kindness your people showed me long ago when you ate away the cord that bound me on the Stone Table… you shall have your tail again.

Although the screenplay contains some unfortunate editing, it does do a good job of conveying one of the main principles that is repeated throughout the two books. There are dangers and challenges that the voyagers must learn to face, and each must do his part. But, as it is in this world, there are some things that are beyond us, and beyond our control. These may be unyielding storms, trials, or temptations; the books are replete with all three. It is then that Aslan steps in and does what only he can do.

When Lucy is tempted by vanity to use magic to become more outwardly beautiful, Aslan’s appearance in the magician’s book helps her overcome that temptation. When the Dawn Treader is lost near the Dark Island, Caspian cries out to Aslan. An albatross appears and directs them back to the light. Many more instances when the Lion intervenes could be delineated.

Although God expects us to do what we can, he is always there to step in when we need him. That is not the only lesson of the books, but it is an important one, and it is well conveyed in the movie.

Without a doubt, Walden Media’s adaptation of Dawn Treader will have better special effects and will not cut out so many of the details. (See Narnia nostalgia part 2 - lion, witch, and wardrobe on BBC TV, including note 2 at the end of the article, for a few words about the limitations of the special effect in the BBC movies.) Hopefully it will do at least as well at conveying the import themes of the book. About a year from now we will find out.