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The Chronicles of Narnia is a series of Television Serial's from The BBC that adapt the first four volumes in The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis.The serials aired from November 1988 to December 1990, with The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in 1988, Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader in 1989, and The Silver Chair in 1990.
The main cast included Richard Dempsey as Peter Pevensie, Sophie Cook as Susan Pevensie, Jonathan R. Scott as Edmund Pevensie, Sophie Wilcox as Lucy Pevensie, David Thwaites as Eustace Scrubb, and Camilla Power as Jill Pole.Other notable cast included Ronald Pickup as the voice of Aslan, Warwick Davis as Reepicheep, Samuel West as King Caspian, and Tom Baker as Puddleglum.
The individual episodes have been compiled into films in their DVD releases.
This series contains examples of:
- Adaptational Attractiveness: The Giant Queen of Harfang is substantially better looking than how she was described in the book.
- Adaptational Comic Relief: The Professor in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. When he meets the children at the very beginning, he plays at being military, ordering the children to form a straight line, while he asks their names. He also has touches of comedy when Susan and Peter speak to him later.
- Adaptational Modesty: Downplayed in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, in a non-sexual example. In the book, Edmund forgets his big fur coat when he sneaks out of the Beavers' house, so he has to make his travels in the snow without it, making it a terrible journey for him. In the adaptation, however, he does have his coat. He even tries to take it off when the snow starts melting, until the Witch glares at him.
- Adaptation Expansion:
- The Silver Chair adds an encounter with a dragon on Ettinsmoor, linking to Eustace having been a dragon in the previous story.
- Adaptation Personality Change: The Black Knight is much more aggressive in his cursed state actually threatening Eustace with his sword and roughly handling Jill.
- Adapted Out: From Voyage of the Dawn Treader:
- Burnt Island is cut.
- Lucy doesn't use a spell to eavesdrop on her friend. Consequently Aslan chastises her for her jealously about Susan's beauty rather than the eavesdropping.
- The encounter with the Sea People is omitted. Reepicheep discovers the sweetness of the water from a bucket pulled on broad rather than jumping into the water himself.
- Prince Caspian is very much streamlined, to reduce the story to two episodes. The scenes of the children discovering the ruins of Cair Paravel are omitted entirely.
- In The Silver Chair, several scenes between the death of the Green Lady and returning to Narnia are omitted mainly anything related to Bism.
- Art Reflects Personality: In The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, Edmund finds Lucy sadly drawing a picture of Mr Tumnus, as nobody will believe her story about him.
- Bait-and-Switch: In The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, the scenes with Father Christmas are interwoven with the scenes of the Witch and Edmund. The Witch is shown gasping with horror just before Father Christmas meets the Beavers and the children. Then it turns out the Witch was horrified by something else; some other animals enjoying a banquet from Father Christmas.
- Big "NO!": Jadis gives Edmund one when he asks if he can have more Turkish delight, as opposed to doing it with a laugh in the book.
- Big "WHAT?!": Jadis says this after Edmund has entered her house, and dares to ask for more Turkish Delight.
- Casting Gag: In The Silver Chair, the giant nurse is played by Patsy Byrne, who played "Nursie" in the second series of Blackadder. She has an identical personality, and uses similar terms of endearment, such as "poppet".
- Chewing the Scenery: Thanks to Barbara Kellerman's delivery, the White Witch does this every time she's on screen.
- Cliffhanger: Most of the episodes end in this way.
- Demoted to Extra: Golg thanks to his scenes getting cut, is reduced to just a random Earthman only named in the credits.
- Door-Closes Ending: Each episode of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardbrobe ends with the wardrobe doors closing on the action.
- Double Vision: This is used in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, when Edmund makes his way to the witch's house, and his more "sensible" self appears and talks to him.
- The Faceless: In The Silver Chair, the Black Knight in the Underworld wears a mask obscuring his hair, and most of his face. This is because he is Prince Rilian, who has already been seen by the audience in flashbacks.
- Flashback:
- Used very briefly in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. When Edmund sees two hills in the distance, the Witch's voice is heard telling him that her house is between those two hills, to remind the viewer of this from a previous episode.
- Inverted in Prince Caspian. In the book, the Dwarf tells the children the story of Caspian, almost as a flashback. In the adaptation, these scenes appear before the children travel to Narnia.
- In The Silver Chair, the owl tells story of Rilian as a flashback, which appears on-screen. It is even lampshaded, when Glimfeather tells the children that the owl is a natural storyteller, and can plant the best pictures in their minds. The owl tells the children to close their eyes to hear the story.
- Forgot to Mind Their Head: In The Silver Chair, Trumpkin bangs his head on the roof of his carriage when he meets Eustace and Jill.
- Heroic BSoD: In The Silver Chair, the normally selfless Puddleglum suddenly freaks out about being underground, saying he is a marsh-wiggle, and needs the sun.
- Hollywood Darkness: Used a lot in The Silver Chair. The characters are clearly visible when they first go underground to hide from the giants, despite being in total darkness. Later, however, this is truer to the text when they enter the Underworld, where the the book describes the light as being blue.
- Large Ham:
- Barbara Kellerman as Jadis is definitely one for the ages, shouting her lines with a booming imperiousness. She does tone it down for her role as the Lady of the Green Kirtle.
- Also Richard Henders as the Black Knight in The Silver Chair, especially when Eustace challenges him about the motives of the Lady of the Green Kirtle, and during the scene of his enchantment.
- Leitmotif: Among the show's beautiful music, these are often used for various characters, especially during travelling scenes.
- Medium Blending: Animation is used in Voyage of the Dawn Treader to portray the bees in the Magician's Book, the Albatross at Dark Island, and the birds at Ramandu's island. It is also used in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to show the Witch's evil creatures, and some of Aslan's flying creatures which rescue Edmund.
- Muppet: Here Aslan is portrayed by a lion puppet, who stands on all fours, unlike one of the illustrations in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, where he is seen standing like a human.
- Obscured Special Effects: In the Parliament of owls scene in The Silver Chair, only two owls are actually seen; the others are shown as eyes in the darkness.
- Ominous Pipe Organ: Used briefly in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, when Edmund first enters the Witch's house.
- Overly Long Gag: The scene of Mrs Beaver dithering before leaving the house when they are in danger of being caught by the Witch is much longer than it is in the book.
- Pantomime Animal: Used for Mr. and Mrs. Beaver, Reepicheep, and other talking animal characters.
- P.O.V. Cam: Used in Dawn Treader, to show Eustace's view of the columns of smoke from his nose, as described in the book, and his own claws, before he realises that he has become a dragon.
- Previously on…: Downplayed. While it never happens that the previous episode is recapped, some dialogue is inserted which is clearly there to remind the viewer of an important plot point from a previous episode. Examples are:
- The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe: When Edmund sees the two hills in the distance, the Witch's voice is heard telling him that her house is between those hills.
- The Silver Chair: The signs are occasionally recapped. In the third episode, Jill recites the signs as a voiceover. In the fourth episode, Aslan appears briefly to recap the second and third signs. In the fifth episode, Puddleglum suggests playing a game of remembering the signs, as the final sign is especially significant in this episode.
- Red Filter of Doom: Used during Peter's battle with the wolf in The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe.
- Scenery Porn: Many of the locations are very beautiful. Notable examples are the snowy scenes, Cair Paravel, and the backgrounds in The Silver Chair when Eustace and Jill fly to Narnia.
- Shown Their Work: Aslan was designed with great care, with the producers studying real lions.
- Styrofoam Rocks: The rocks thrown by the giants in The Silver Chair, which bounce a lot as they land near the heroes.
- Throwing the Distraction: In The Silver Chair, just before they disappear under the rock, Puddleglum throws his hat away when they are pursued by the giants and the hounds, and one hound is distracted by it.
- Truer to the Text: This is one of the more faithful adaptations, sticking closely to the books. Especially notable with their version ofThe Voyage of the Dawn Treader compared to the Walden Media film version
- Visible Invisibility: In Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the Dufflepuds are invisible to the audience, but evidence of them is shown by footprints appearing in the sand; and when they are serving dinner, the dishes are seen moving about.
- Voiceover Letter: A visual example. In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe: When the children read the note from Maugrim in Mr Tumnus's ransacked home, Maugrim appears in the middle of the letter, saying the text out loud.
