User reviews

I have commented more than once about my love for the books. And in general, I like these BBC adaptations. They aren't perfect, but they are very enjoyable, and I concur with those who say the best is The Silver Chair, in my view it is absolutely. The book is wonderful with a great story, and this adaptation did it justice. Any changes that were made actually worked, particularly Rillian's iron mask. One or two parts may have dated slightly though, and there is a rather weak scene with the committee of owls and eyeballs in the dark. On the whole, the production values are an improvement, with the sets and costumes good enough and the effects much better than previously. The music is still as beautiful as ever, the writing has also improved and the story is wonderful, the whole Rillian story especially is brilliantly done. And the acting is fine. Camilla Power is very good, as is David Thwaites. Barbara Kellerman is a stunning and imposing Green Lady, and Aslan is majestically voiced by Ronald Pickup. The standout though is easily Tom Baker, who is simply brilliant as Puddlegum, and I too think he gives the best performance of the entire series. All in all, very enjoyable even with its limitations. 8/10 Bethany Cox

I've grown up watching this and the other three Narnia movies (TLTW&TW PC & TVotDT). I fell in love with them. As far as adaptations go, they were wonderfully done. The child actors used did a great job of portraying Eustace and Jill, and Caspian at the end. it was all brought together wonderfully, and when watching it, you can almost believe that you will entr Narnia yourself. i wish they could've done all 7.

I'm not to fond of writing long reviews. I like to keep things short, so this will be a quick one.

This one is amazing! Ever since I had been watching it on VHS as a toddler and eventually watching it on DVD, I've always loved this one and I don't think I need to say that Tom Baker steals the show as Puddleglum.

Mty son (7 years old) lovs this one and all of the series. I like this one in particular, largely because of Tom Baker's brilliance.

I just have a question for anyone who has watched it.

Did anyove notice that Puddleglum says the magic word (ie f*ck)?

In the scene where he gets drunk and he is picked up by the fat lady giant, Puddleglum makes some incomprehensible protests. Among this, pretty clearly, he says the magic word. My 7 year old first noticed this and told me. I told him he must be wrong. But I watched/lisstened to the offending bit and I had to tell my son that he was right. It was one of the funniest things i've ever seen / heard.

Anyway, Tom Baker is brilliant as always and he can do no wrong in my eyes.

While I would largely agree with the sentiments as expressed by the below gentleman, I would contend a few cases. This chap claims it was a "trilogy"? Well, he's fallen prey to the IMDB-shared delusion that Prince Caspian & Dawntreader are one story, when in fact they are and were intended as two separate books and dramatisations! Also, I think "Loach10" is grossly misrepresenting the below commentators when he tars them with the mantle of "cynicism"; the reviews are, on the contrary, wholly favourable if rather short and indeed make little reference to special effects. I would also suggest that by no means does the "trilogy" "more than adequately cover" the whole Narnia saga - heavens, they didn't make "The Last Battle", frankly my favourite book of them all and a great close to the series. Oh, and the perhaps not so small case of "A Horse and His Boy"; a fine little contrast of a book, fleshing out Calormen, featuring good characters and generally offering refreshing, derring Arabian Nights-esque "do".

Anyway, enough of such quibbling, however required it be. May I declare I know the below reviewer "in real life" and the said Chris Loach is a fine, if contrary fellow. He indeed even lent me the video of "The Silver Chair" last year, from which I am able to type this addled review. I too was revisiting it after around ten years, after liking the whole Narnia shebang as a child. Beady eyed folk may know if they've read my "Caspian/Voyage" joint review that my feelings were mixed regarding those two, with "Caspian" very mediocre and "Voyage" wonderful. "The Silver Chair" stands somewhere in between for me, albeit closer to the quality of "Voyage of the Dawn Treader".

"The Silver Chair" is one of my favourite of the stories, with a fairy tale plot proving a nice contrast to the mystical, Homeric journey of "Dawn Treader". The whole Rillian story is most enjoyable and yes, could even be viewed as a potential adult fairy tale, though it's not truly intended that way. Tom Baker is wonderful yes, as Puddleglum, but it is perhaps more a job of excellent casting than acting: anyone who has seen as many Tom Baker "Dr Who" episodes as I have, not to mention other stuff he's been in, would know he has got a limited range. It is however a range that centres around a comic flair and otherworldly eccentricity; his early Dr Whos I suppose show him in a slightly more restrained, mixed vein. That's not to say Baker is unwelcome when going a little OTT; his mid-late Dr Whos are wonderfully enjoyable although he could often tend to overshadow the stories and guest casts in some of those... Oh, and his Puddleglum is certainly eccentric, if I suppose restrained in the sense that he's dour. No doubt, anyway, that his presence is more than welcome and he's really the only member of the cast to match the high standards as set by Samuel West and John Hallam in the previous dramatization. Camilla Power, who I see is still acting in British TV, is very good as Jill, certainly convincing as this slight misfit of a girl, less cloying than Lucy and certainly more damn substantial than the "here today, gone tomorrow" Susan! She's a good 13 or so, and so seems to be playing younger than she is - but that could be just the changing times that have brought the perspective that girls of 12/13 are not so innocent as they once were. Jill Pole is certainly a lot more likeable than most of the other Narnia children; lol, perhaps as she's from a "Secondary Modern" school...! Yes, I do see that the adaptation to TV diluted many of C.S. Lewis' hilarious thinly-veiled attacks on comprehensive school education... I was really taken aback by this when reading the book fairly recently, certainly a sign of a slightly jaundiced, conservative view towards "Progressive Schools" that manifests itself in these lower class variants on the "Tom Brown's Schooldays" bullies. Eustace, the mellowed sort that he now is, works pretty well in this story, though he is a trifle bland - his preposterous indignation was very amusing indeed early in "Dawn Treader" I feel. The "Har Fang" episode is in many ways the best part of it, and certainly the part I remembered most; who could forget the giant, amazingly sinister, smiling face of Patsy Byrne? She is indeed playing an oddly similar role, as some sort of nanny, to that she played in the fine sitcom, "Blackadder II". Tom Baker shines in the scene where Puddleglum's (maybe) pretending to be drunk, and when he realises the mess they are in it's hilarious. There's some great comedy also at some meal part where Jill beams, "Oh! I've never tasted vension before! Isn't it scrumptious!?" Puddleglum says in relation to her acting, "The giants all seem to love her", Eustace goes, "Girls are always much better at that sort of thing than boys..." and then Baker delivers it wonderfully: "Even boys are better at it than Marshwiggles..." The whole section is well filmed, as really, is most of the rest of it. Only the scenes actually set in Narnia are a little unsatisfying, though there is of course... the snake! Yes, the Narnia scenes, as with "Prince Caspian" do not show the place in sufficiently sublime a light for me - is it me or were the BBC unlucky with the weather they got? They also could have chosen less mundane areas of the British countryside I feel, not that it's bad; it's just that Narnia should look like something special and magical. Again, you also have a few of the comedy Yorkshire accents - "Ah! The boy's useless!" - attributed to animals who, well, are not the greatest costumed perhaps. Also, the aged Caspian element is not so well conveyed as it should be.

Old Babs Kellerman - practically the only mature female lead performer the series ever used - is better than in "Prince Caspian", though she admittedly does have more screen time here, and a role central to the plot. Oh, and she doesn't have to don the ageing make-up to play such an "Old Hag" as her "Prince Caspian" character is billed. We perhaps have a little make up of a different kind, as we are treated to this Green Lady, a dame who quite clearly has a sexual as well as magical hold over Rilian. It is undeniably implicit in the story at a few points I would say. Kellerman is slightly hammy but not to so large a degree as with "Prince Caspian" and from my distant memories, her role in "The Lion, The Witch...". The actor who played Rilian is indeed excellent, giving much credibility and a dangerous edge to his character. Come to think of it, when the Underworld part of the story does not involve the Lady or Rilian, it does get slightly more dull... The "Old Father Time" bit and more of it, was better done in the book. Of course, the climatic "There never *was* such a world as Narnia..." scene, including Puddleglum's passionate speech, is stirring, effective stuff with atmosphere and pathos. I love Tom Baker's delivery of the speech, and Kellerman's "Over... *world*?" giddily questioning tones, trying to make reality appear a dazed dream. Speaking of intonations, Ronald Pickup masterfully voices the immobile Aslan - Pickup really has got a rich, lovely voice.

On a final note, I feel a certain lack of confidence in any likely project to bring the Narnia series to film. Certainly some stray animal costumes and the like would be more visually up to standard, but indeed, would the charm be preserved? For every thoughtful "Lord of the Rings" film adaptation you get myriad anaemic mummifyings - "Harry Potter" - and on the chance occasion you even get adaptations of charming British originals like "The Avengers" TV series that are frankly cringeworthily misguided...! I'm sure we would get a British cast largely for Narnia films, but that is no guarantee you're going to get the right people. The choice of director would be important - no ill-plying hack like Jeremiah S. Chechik or that Columbus feller. To conclude, I feel such a project would be highly risky, and the idea of "a modern adaptation" of Narnia is surely missing the point entirely, as much of their charm is grounded in the past. You cannot have the children as anything other than 1940s English public school stock, for example. Besides, what I want is for the BBC to finally do "The Last Battle"... or failing that, let someone like David Lynch or budding director Tom May take have a stab at doing a dark if still recognizable film of it! "The Silver Chair"; certainly a TV adaptation excellent in most regards that matter...

Rating:- ****/*****

The Silver Chair is perhaps the most consistent of the commendable trilogy of BBC Narnia adaptations of the late 80's, back in those dim distant days when the BBC was committed to quality children's drama. Revisiting the production Ten years after first viewing I found myself warmed anew by the charm of Narnia, which the trilogy more than adequately conveys, and am quite frankly saddened by some of the cynicism of some reviewers towards the economical budgeting. The acting is excellent throughout, Tom Baker much deserving of praise for is simply superb performance as the perennial pessimist 'Puddleglum'; a truly crafted and nuanced portrayal of one C.S Lewis' most endearing characters. Equally the respective child actors put in commendable performances, I much liked the slightly more forceful interpretation of the character of Jill, and Ronald Pickup's Aslan remains resplendent. Perhaps Kellerman's Green Lady is a little OTT for any mature viewer, but the younger viewer will revel in her pantominesque acting.

The atmosphere of the TSC is altogether more dark than some of the earlier outings, Richard Henders manic performance as the crazed Rillian as his the child actors almost visibly reeling in horror, and the scene where Kellerman's Green Lady bewitches the children, "There never was a Narnia", is seditiously sinister. What a shame the tension of the scene was somewhat dispelled when Kellerman transforms into a very unthreatening rubber snake which, despite my defence of the budgeting, really was palpably absurd.

The Chronicles of Narnia really are crying for a modern adaption, to captivate a whole new generation of children bored into catalepsy by inane 'S-Club 7' type melodrama. Indeed, I'm heard whisperings of a Movie production of 'The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe', inspired perhaps by the movie success of Tolkien. A Hollywood Narnia would indeed by very interesting, perhaps at last Aslan will bound across the screen to remedy my memories of the all to static Aslan of the BBC productions, and the Green Lady will actually turn into a serpent! I only hope the casting and acting is as good as is in these BBC classics!

This is the best one. However, I will say that these movies never have achieved that sense of wonder and amazement that I feel the books always have. But, when the 2005 version came out, and I watched it, I was FLOORED! The 2005 version is better than all of the BBC TV presentations put together. The 2005 version holds your attention throughout, even in the parts when they are just playing hide-and-seek or talking about Aslan, and has that sense of wonder and amazement correctly portrayed throughout, also. Tom Baker was good as Puddleglum- he gives the best performance! But when I read the book, I pictured him to be, well, to be like he was in the illustration that is in my edition of the Silver Chair- taller and thinner, and smoking his pipe most of the time. But otherwise, Tom Baker is "quite up to snuff". When the queen is bitten by the snake, she does not look very concerned, or very hurt, or very worried about screaming for help, or very worried about dying, for that matter. And I thought Pole would be a lot prettier. In the scene where Puddleglum is "drunk", it was not nearly as funny as it was in the book. In the movie, that scene was humorous. In the book, that scene was laughable, hilarious, and I just about died laughing the first time I read that page in the book, and I just about die laughing every time I read it.

So this is it. The best of the 3 BBC Narnia Series, and ironically the last (We never did find out why the latter 3 books were never created by the BBC).

If the 1st 2 series had their flaws, this was near perfect ! Gone was the twee childish amateur pantomime of the Lion... (if by all means basically a good series), as were the pseudo-heroics of Reepacheep and the equally aggressive royal arrogance of King Caspian (and everyone else) in Series 2.

This series felt more mature, professional and generally down-to-earth, like it might have been marketed to a slightly older age category (sure, they didn't mind portraying Tom Baker in drunken mode !). Gone were the slightly poncey Pevensey children, replaced with 'Pole' and Eustace, 2 more neutral and modest children with no royal 'superiority' to their names. Sure Kings and Princes persisted, but without their being arrogantly portrayed as heroic deities.

The actors and their characters were a marked improvement:-

Camilla Powers portrayed schoolgirl Jill Pole as both strong and vulnerable, as obvious right from the series' 1st scene where she is bullied by a circle of peers and appears both self-assured and feisty; "I thought this was a modern school where people were respected for their rights...if I don't even have a right to my own name!"

David Thwaites portrayed Eustace as a boy of newfound integrity and subsequent vulnerability; his transformed nature and softly-spoken voice come as a surprise to Jill, who accepts him right from the start, while accepting the bully among the pack that he once was.

Tom Baker's casting as the cynical 'Puddleglum' may have come as a slight surprise; who could have guessed that an actor infamous for playing so paramount a BBC hero as Dr. Who would be cast in an ultra-low-budget children's production !

Barbara Kellerman reappears as another cute and stunning but evil woman. If the 'queen' she portrayes here is perhaps a tad generic - perhaps too similar the the White Witch, it came as a shock in the last episode when she suddenly transforms into a giant snake !

Warwick Davis reappears, this time as an owl. Fellow little actor Mike Edmonds (AKA 'Little Ron' from Maid Marian and her Merry Men) also plays an owl. Both masked actors are distinctively present through their voices; even Warwick's movements appear distinctly his !

As the last series of the BBC Narnia production, the end of the final episode is when Aslan finally confirms his allegorical presence as Jesus Christ; "You will see me again in your world, but there I go by another name...learn it well, that's why you were sent to Narnia." Sure this could possibly be looked upon as a disappointing anti-climax to non-Christians - as if they've been watching 3 whole series just to be deceived and unsuccessfully brainwashed ! I guess you have to not take that 'climax' too seriously or literally !

So lets give it 9/10 for its professional acting, integrity of characters, down-to-earth vibe and obviously for being another simple, low-budget BBC childrens' fantasy series; perhaps a warm-up for the BBC's excellent adaptation of Mary Norton's 'The Borrowers' 2 years later !

The last post was less than honest in it's claim that CS Lewis did not blatantly make his books Christian books. He is right in claiming that "The book {Silver Chair} does NOT include Aslan's ending line from the film where he says that he also exists in the human world, but that the kids MUST learn his 'other name.'" What this person neglected to say, either through ignorance or dishonesty, is that the line does appear in the books, although it is at the end of "Voyage of the Dawn Treader", not "Silver Chair." While Lewis was fond of saying "What we want is not more little books about Christianity, but more little books by Christians on other subjects -- with their Christianity latent", he didn't often follow his own advice.

On the movie, it is a fairly faithful film, but was done in the late 80's released in 90, so it did not, alas, have the benefit of computer graphics. Still, it's well worth watching.

This is much better than the BBC's earlier forays into Narnia, partly due to the book it's based on. It's set in the bare, unpopulated wastes to Narnia's north, so the drab scenery is not a defect. Nor is the absence of extras. Puddleglum, C.S. Lewis's best Narnian creation, is played by Tom Baker, who fits the role as well as anyone on Earth. In general the acting is better in `The Silver Chair' than it was earlier on. Direction is crisper, costumes are more convincing: everything has improved. I have commented harshly on `The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe', and most of those comments apply here as well, but never to the same extent. This is actually okay television. Of course, an adaptation of the Narnia books should be much more than that.

The Silver Chair, BBC's final journey into Narnia, is a solid and enjoyable entry.

Visually and Technically it is the series greatest achievement. The Underground World and it's people have been created excellently, as well as other sequences such as the giant's bridge. Of course we're still going to have those animals in costume. I really don't have much of a problem with this, but still, we don't need to flaunt hedgehogs that have no relation to the story. The Silver Chair is the only film in the series that has areas where the writing needs a little perk up. The pacing is fine until the last 30 minutes. It becomes almost hard to follow, and lost my attention a bit. Despite that the first 2.5 hours are absolutely addictive.

Locations, as always, are perfect. They are dead on to C.S. Lewis' books. I hope to get to some of these places in my travels. The locations for all the Narnia films are perfect.

Its kind of a shame that finale of the Narnia series is a bit of a let down, but a message still comes through. "I have different names in your world..." Probably one of the rare times children's entertainment actually gives you chills.

Acting- 2/2

Locations- 2/2

Script- 1.5/2

Visuals- 1.5/2

Total---> 7/10

One of the most intriguing and unsettling things about the NARNIA books is the way lifelong bachelor C.S. Lewis tends to portray evil witches not as hideous crones but as stunning and sophisticated young women. Not surprisingly, the most memorable character in this film is the Emerald Witch, portrayed with subtle sensuality and aristocratic charm by regal and dark-eyed Barbara Kellerman.

Kellerman's Emerald Witch is a forceful, intelligent, and thoroughly attractive villainess. As the daughter of the White Witch brutally slain by the insufferably pompous do-gooder talking lion Aslan in the first book, the Emerald Witch is not so much a villain as passionate woman bent on revenge. Note her entrance on Ettinsmoor, riding by the side of the dazed and clearly besotted Prince Rilian. While the child actors mumble and screech about their quest, Kellerman underplays her evil intentions, popping off snappy one liners like "What do you hear, what do you say?" Only when alone with Aslan's image staring out at her from a crystal ball does she reveal her true agenda, pulling a Cagney face and sneering, "you . . . dirty cat . . . you killed my mother!" The allusion to Cagney is reinforced later, when she is cornered by Prince Rilian. Instead of dodging his sword point, she grabs the blade and drives it into her own bosom, shrieking "Top of the world, Ma!" exactly like Cagney in WHITE HEAT.

C.S. Lewis's masterpiece certainly deserves better than this. This production occupies a narrow range beginning at quite poor and topping out at lower mediocre.

Let's begin with the acting. The principal lead characters, Eustace Scrubb and Jill Pole ("Scrub and Pole" might have been a bluegrass banjo duo, which probably would have been more entertaining than the acting), were portrayed woodenly, as if these children hadn't quite internalized their acting class lessons. Puddleglum, the third lead, is somewhat better, but that's probably because his character calls for odd behavior, always inherently more entertaining. The rest of the acting is more or less passable but certainly nothing to excite even a small town acting awards committee.

The animation is really amateurish, including the entirely fake-looking Aslan and his up-and-down-only mouth movement. The owls in flight are nearly embarrassing, the animation is so poor. The special effects are another sorry area. A number of these take place over a "green-screen," with the adjustment not well done so that the shimmering around the edges of the actors so positioned is often quite pronounced. That this production was shot on video tape, with the stark and artificial look it has, might have saved money, but it didn't improve the production any.

The music is particularly poor. It almost seemed as if whoever did this wrote a score without viewing the video. There is not much linkage between the two, and the nature and quality of the score isn't very good in any case. The sets are better, many being pretty well done. Locations are nice, too. Costuming ranges from pretty good to bizarre.

Perhaps strangest and most amateurish is the lagging nature of the dialogue, as if the director was trying to stretch out the production length another 20 percent. There is nearly always too much time between elements of dialogue. It gives the whole production a really phony-sounding quality.

It is disappointing to see a BBC production, particularly of an English classic, this poorly done. The highest possible use for the video tape masters of this effort would be to use them to kindle a fire in a land fill.

Well done! Tom Baker was marvellous! Nick Brimble as "The Giant Porter" was great and I wished I could have seen more of him. This series does a great job of bringing some children's classic books to the small screen. Good acting and good special effects! For what seemed to be a small budget production, they've (BBC?) done a great job!

I agree that this last in the series was an improvement over the others, though still a bit slow moving. I bought the DVD mainly because it had Tom Baker in it. He seems a bit uncomfortable in the role at first, but gradually sinks into it. The trouble is that Baker's version of "the Doctor" in Doctor Who was so upbeat that when attempting to play the glum Puddleglum, I actually caught him suppressing the big toothy smile that he is famous for. His frog-like frown worked very well, though it took him a while to integrate the glumness naturally into his speaking performance. There are actually two others that I think could play that role quite nicely. One is Ozzy Osbourne. The other is Joey Ramone of the Ramones(though he passed away a while back).

I would also like to comment on one other note that others have ignored so far. While C.S. Lewis intended the books to have a Christian message, he at least had the decency to be subtler in execution so that more general audiences could enjoy the books. The BCC films, on the other hand are as subtle as a New Testament smacked across your forehead.

Just out of curiosity I checked the original ending of Silver Chair against the film, and I was correct in my guess that the screenwriter had changed it. The book does NOT include Aslan's ending line from the film where he says that he also exists in the human world, but that the kids MUST learn his "other name."

There wasn't a moment in the series where the screenwriter didn't go out of his way to remind adult viewers that this is about Jesus, and not magic as would be the case with a movie like Harry Potter or Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. The nice thing about Lord of the Rings is that I could just sit back and enjoy it as a story without feeling preached at. Sometimes the Narnia books did that, but the BBC films boiled too much of it down to the preaching.