MovieChat Forums > The Silver Chair (1990) Discussion > I wish they'd done THE HORSE AND HIS BOY...

I wish they'd done THE HORSE AND HIS BOY instead.


If they had to turn exactly four NARNIA books into made-for-TV films, then I wish they'd done that book instead. For anybody who hasn't read it, it's set during the time when the Pevensie siblings ruled Narnia as adult kings and queens, before returning to our world.

It's just that I tend to come to identify with certain characters when I read a book or see a film series, and none of the characters who travel from our world to Narnia who were in THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE or PRINCE CASPIAN are in this story. It's just a bit sad for me that none of the original four are here.

Yes I know that's how it was in the book, but again that's why I wish they'd adapted THE HORSE AND HIS BOY instead.

reply

Honetly, if they did that movies...it'd be very boring. The book, in itself, was very boring and dry. I'm pretty sure this is why the book was never made into a movie.

reply

[deleted]

Meh. To each their own.

http://s13.invisionfree.com/Goodnite_October/index.php <--Ben Moody message board

reply

It doesn't really have any of the children in it. It's a stand alone adventure that could be done anytime. As mentioned it's not a particularly strong story and whilst its obviously drawn from Lewis's love of 1001 Arabian Nights' it's not considered very PC these days. I think a lot of stuff would have to be changed to avoid offending those with delicate sensibilities.

reply

I'm pretty sure they stopped before doing "The Horse and His Boy" because of the implied racist descriptions of the Calormenes as a Middle-Eastern style group. And if you're wondering what I'm talking about, here's a quote from the book:

"In the village he only met other men who were just like his father - men with long, dirty robes, and wooden shoes turned up at the toe, and turbans on their heads, and beards, talking to one another very slowly about things that sounded dull."

I'll be very interested, in the current political climate, if they have the guts to make this one.

reply

Well, correct me if I'm wrong but Eustace Scrubbs was from our world and in the Voyage of the Dawn treader wasn't he?

Twelve times did the iron register of time beat on the sonorous bell metal

reply

I know exactly what you're talking about, but that quote really only illustrates a young boy's perceptions of adults, which is rather similar to that of Jill and Eustace, and even the Pevensies, in the one time we get their opinion on adults other than the Professor or their parents.

I think this book could be made into a movie, and I hope it will be, but it would have to be carefully done.

reply

I think they will film The Horse and His Boy. They want to do all seven Narnia books. Plus, if they wait and do some of the other books first, then the four kids will be old enough to actually play themselves as their older selves in The Horse and His Boy! They will certainly be significantly older than they were in 2005 when they filmed their first trip to Narnia, and The Horse and His Boy takes place during that first trip.

reply

They were following the published order of the books, as the Disney movies appear to be doing

Published Order

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Prince Caspian
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Silver Chair
The Horse and His Boy
The Magician's Nephew
The Last Battle

Chronological Order (Sometimes called Reading Order)

The Magician's Nephew
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
The Horse and His Boy
Prince Caspian
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Silver Chair
The Last Battle

Now there is a big debate about how to read them, I personally read them in published order. My reasoning behind it is because that is how you would have had to read them when they were first published

-- COOOBRAAAA! --

reply

I read them in the published order first, because my books
were older and had that order printed on the back. I also think
it is a lovely surprise when you get to the Magicians Nephew and
find the circle started in the "first" book to be complete (in a sense).
The way the series is set up I really think it flows better that
way.

reply

At the beginning of the movie tie-in edition of Prince Caspian, it states that Lewis himself preferred that the series be read in the chronological order. I'm assuming it's because the reader would get the story of Narnia from beginning to end, not jumping here and there in its timeline.

reply

i'll disagree with that. lewis never stated any preference. as a matter of fact, if you look for it, you'll find statements to both, though always implied.

as for myself, later books hint at books published earlier, but taking place later in the chronological order. i seem to remember there's even a remark about the lantern in "the magician's nephew", to the effect that the reader would already know, that this is where the children will appear later in narnia's history. that wouldn't make sense if on was to read them in chronological order.


I did not save the boy, God did. I only CARRIED him.

reply

Usually when people mention C.S.Lewis "preferring" the chronological order, they're referring to his response to a letter from a child fan. To me his response always sounded like he was simply being polite and admitting the possibility of another order. He didn't petition publishers to change the order, and this only happened after his death. If read in chronological order the books actually make less sense, as that is not how they were written. This is especially true of reading The Magician's Nephew first, as it refers to previous books and characters. I will keep to the original order! It flows better that way.

reply

[deleted]