Episode 74: ‘Dawn Treader’ Film Analysis, Part 2
Running time: 48:28
(Sorry for the delay, but there were editing complications. This episode was recorded on January 21)
Our voyage through The Voyage of the Dawn Treader continues. This time, Dr. Elwin Ransom joins Rilian and GlumPuddle as they talk about everything between the ‘Picture in the Bedroom’ scene and arriving at the Lone Islands.
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Our PC analysis was spread across nine episodes. I'm expecting this to be about the same.
Thanks for posting! I really enjoy listening to other people's takes on these movies.
May I "nit-pick" your "nit-picked nit-pick"? 😉 lol it was the comments about being in Narnia at around 11 or 12 minutes into the podcast. While I agree, the children didn't pop up in Narnia the COUNTRY, they were in fact in the WORLD of Narnia. As defined in "Companion to Narnia" by Paul F. Ford, the term "Narnia" is applicable to both the country and the world that the children enter.
Or, if you want a different take on the topic, the filmmakers included that line to help bring the AUDIENCE into the world of Narnia. It would've been maybe a little un-cinematic to for the scene to have gone like this:
Ed: "We're in Narnia!"
Caspian: "Well, technically speaking, your in the middle of nowhere, someplace between the Narnian mainland and the Lone Islands. But yes, if it makes you feel more excited and more at home, you're in NARNIA!"
I'm not sure why Ford said that (I'll have to look that up when I get home), but I can't think of any examples in the books where they referred to that entire world as Narnia.
In LWW, Tumnus says: "This is the land of Narnia, where we are now; all that lies between the lamp-post and the great castle of Cair Paravel on the eastern sea."
So for this episode, I decided to write down thoughts on things the team discussed.
Killing the Pevensie parents would ruin The Last Battle.
Lucy's beauty comment: Maybe Edmund was to into the painting, or thought Lucy was just being crazy?
Barnes needed a better shirt in the water(look at a still of them being lifted from the front).
Eustace's reaction on board: Great; he thinks Narnia is a joke, especially with talking animals, and the minotaur is unaware Eustace doesn't know about talking minotaurs.
Weren't the Lone Islands part of Narnia in the books?
Thank goodness for "Susan!" But High King Edmund=EPIC FAIL
Reep's Intro: Little less respectful, but he didn't lose his cool. Maybe got wet from Eustace flopping?
How were sketches of the Lords done if they disappeared years ago?
I don't think the flashlight ran out of batteries.
Be glad there was no Luspian.
What was up with Caspian eating an apple?
I hope the next podcast will come a little faster. If the episodes are continued at this rate, The Silver Chair will be done filming. :)(No, no, just kidding).
I so totally agree about Reepicheep's song!! I mean there were three beatiful, musical moments in the story that needed to be made real and none of them were achieved!! In order they are:
Reepicheep's song/poem
The singing birds of Ramandu's island
The music that would break your heart (that the boys never spoke of afterwards)
None of these moments were brought to life in the movie at all, and in a way I'm pleased they didn't attempt the other two, as they may have been as bad a Reepicheep's! Glumpuddle, did you notice in LWW that right at the end of the movie, Aslan walks away down the beach and the sun is setting…..in the east. It has always bothered me, and then there was no mention or visual at all of the sun growing physically larger or brighter as they approach the utter east in VDT. VERY disappointing!
I know, the apple thing is a complete Barbossa moment:). There were some serious Pirates of the Caribbean moments in this film which I was hoping would be avoided! Namely, the apple, and the very krakken-ish sea serpent. In a way, I'm kinda pleased they didn't have the reference to the world being flat, and thinking they might just sail off the edge:).
Um, the sea serpent looked nothing like a kraken. Krakens were typically squid-like creatures. The VDT sea serpent was something more akin to a deep-sea creature and a scorpion/cobra thing.
I'm not saying it looked like it, I'm just saying it was very krakken-ish in nature (to movie goers who have seen POTC). For instance it breaks the ship in similar places, has the weird tentacle-like arms when it comes open etc.
Actually, in the movie, Lucy says to Edmund: "Do you think if we keep on sailing…we'll just fall off the edge?" Or something like that.
Not to be a spoiled sport, or anything Glumpuddle. I do really enjoy your takes on things. Lucy says, "tip off the edge." Now everyone's going to think I'm an editor. 😉
I agree with a lot of what you said, but I just wanted to say that I personally think that we're misunderstanding the filmmaker's usage of "High King and Queen". I think that what they mean is that Lucy and Edmund reigned during the Golden Age, and that they are rulers of old, therefore making them "High King" and "High Queen". They've already ruled in the past and therefore they have a different rank. The filmmakers probably thought it would "sound cool" to call them "High King and Queen".
Unfortunately, they used the term "High", which is the term for Peter's rank as THE High King of Narnia; an example of the filmmakers' ignorance on the matter, perhaps. Funny thing, they already touched on this with Edmund conversing with Miraz.
"It's King Edmund, actually. Just king, though; Peter's the high king. I know, it's confusing."
Amazing how the writers can't seem to remember what they wrote a few years ago!
As for the Suspian reference, I knew it was coming, so I only rolled my eyes. But the fact of the matter is, that line gives you the impression that it's been a few years. Caspian's basically over Susan, and it sounds like he's been looking for a queen for a while. They're trying to keep Caspian from looking like some girl-crazy dude who falls in love, bombs, and falls in love a little bit later. In my opinion, they'd have made the movie better not by taking out that line, but rather by not having Suspian in the last film at all!
Wow, that was a lot of nits we had to pick that those producers missed! Most things mentioned makes so much sense! The only thing I'd disagree with is the present pass-down. I liked that, actually, because, as Digory Kirke said in the LWW movie: "You're a family! You might as well start acting like one!" Well, that to me was a sign of a royal family. I agree with all those comments above too, so it seemed like we Narniawebbers have to nit-pick the script before they make the movies!
Blast! I remember it now, I've only seen it twice so it hadn't come to mind, but now that you say that…….ah well. There you go, everyone who had seen POTC and hadn't seen any previous Narnia film will think the whole thing is stealing POTC's thunder (even though we all know that Lewis wrote his story first). Why can't movie directors/writers/producers make things more original? I still reckon they should have mentioned the whole "A star is a ball of flaming gas" thing, would have been cool!
part 2?! what ELSE is there to "analyze"??? lol, just kidding, i can never get enough of nit-picking and other narnia related nerd stuff. 😉
i will definitely try to make time to listen. 🙂
Didn't Reepicheep get wet from trying to expel the water from Eustace's lungs? He didn't really jump in.
I was laughing uncontrollably when you guys were talking about Luspian. Why? Because I did pretty much the same thing, earning me many weird looks. I still cringe every time I think about it… which I try to keep to a minimum, to save myself and those around me from irregular outbursts.
Luspian….blech!
WAit a minute when the sailor said they were still in Narnia, they kinda still were. Cause narnia owns the Lone Islands and they weren't there yet, so the sailor wasn't wrong exactly. And later we find out that Caspian does want to go to the end of the world it is not just reepicheep and Lucy that want to go there.
The High King and Queen this was a bit disappointing but maybe when they do the Horse and his boy they can set Peter up as THE High King.
I was wondering where Lucy got her clothes though. I mean she seemed to tall to wear dwarf clothes now…
I understand, but do you remember in the PC movie, when he says, "Telmarines? In Narnia?" So clearly he didn't think of the whole world as "Narnia."
I agree. He can't call them "King and Queen of Narnia," because he's the King, and there's no Queen. It didn't seem like it was supposed to have anything to do with the High King.
In the book, Caspian does call Edmund "Brother." So they didn't make their relationship up out of nowhere. But I agree that it didn't seem very real.
About the minotaurs, I really, really liked the way they included them. It was kinda weird in the book how in PC, all Narnian humans are evil, and the good ones are creatures. Then in VDT, there's a crew of humans and a talking mouse. It really made it feel so much more real to see some minotaurs and satyrs and a dwarf and so on, mixed in with the humans.
(Sorry for the double-comment, btw)