Four Torches (Out of Five)

The problem with The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (the book by C.S. Lewis) is that it doesn’t really have an over-arching plot. It’s mostly just a series of incredibly charming and imaginative, but mostly unconnected adventures on board a boat as it visits island after island. Sure, they’re searching for seven Narnia lords, but let’s face it: Caspian might have an investment in this quest, but we the reader don’t.

Movies, of course, need plots – especially hugely-budgeted kids’ action movies that happen to be the latest installment in a franchise whose previous outing, Prince Caspian, didn’t do so well.

So what are the producers of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader to do? Well, they created a plot, sort of out of thin air, rearranging the order of the islands in the book, turning one of those islands into an actual “villain” of sorts, and adding a few other miscellaneous story elements.

Basically, Edmund, Lucy, and their bratty cousin Eustace still join the now-King Caspian on his sea-faring quest on the Dawn Treader to travel east into uncharted waters to find the seven missing lords. But they quickly discover that an evil green mist has invaded the Narnian seas  – and they must discover its source and destroy it before it destroys the world.

Not all of the changes to the book are successful – and some of them are downright clunky.

The whole idea of a generic “evil” invading the world struck me as outright contrived and stupid (and the evil’s source seemed both random and shoe-horned into the story).

Likewise, there’s simply not enough time to develop a subplot about child who sneaks on board the ship, and the whole thing seems like a pander to younger viewers anyway.

As for one of the book’s best characters, Reepicheep, his personality, and his relationship with Eustace, has been too softened. Furthermore, the encounter in Dark Island makes almost no sense at all. Why does only Edmund’s fear become realized – and why is his fear so disappointingly obvious and not-scary? (Answer: so the movie can have an elaborate CGI battle sequence!)

Finally, you could argue that all these additions, along with the other existing plot elements, make the whole movie feel too crammed full. One of the best scenes in the book is the moment that Eustace shares with Edmund after having been turned back from the dragon, and Edmund basically says, “You think you were a stinker? You should’ve seen what I did the first time I came to Narnia!” But the hurried new structure of the movie doesn’t allow time for this wonderful conversation — and it also cuts short the enchanting approach to Aslan’s country, which takes some 60 pages in the book.

On the other hand, as in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, some of the movie’s additions and rearrangements are actual improvements on the book, at least for the purposes of the movie.

It makes real sense, for example, to condense Deathwater and Dragon Island into one island, and also to not have Eustace’s transformation into a dragon be resolved so quickly, giving him a chance to “earn” it.

And it makes sense to move Coriakin’s island a little earlier in the story, so he can be the one to fill them on the specific quest they need to undertake (they almost do away with the Dufflepods entirely, but they do make nice comic relief).

Indeed, several of the movie’s best scenes aren’t in the book at all. As in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the opening sequence is extremely charming, and it nicely sets up Lucy and Edmund’s emotional arcs. Meanwhile, the final scene, where Lucy closes the door on Narnia and, simultaneously, on her own childhood, is downright heartbreaking.

There’s also a subplot about Lucy’s resentment of Susan that is very effective. When Lucy steals a spell from the magician’s spellbook, it enables her to make a wish that has disastrous – but wonderfully chilling – consequences.

(Alas, as in the book, Aslan pops up far too often to save the day. Honestly, the story would be much more interesting if he just stayed out of it and let the kids solve their own damn problems!)

One clever joke made me laugh out loud: Caspian gives Lucy her magic cordial, but he also gives Edmund his magic item. But Edmund doesn’t have a magic item that he left behind, you say? Oh, yes, he does — and it comes in surprisingly handy at times!

Finally, it’s worth acknowledging that the movie’s best assets are Georgie Henley, who is still flat-out terrific as Lucy, and Skandar Keynes who is just as good as Edmund. Will Poulter isn’t bad as Eustace — a truly difficult balancing act of a role — but Ben Barnes basically disappears into the woodwork as an admittedly hunky Caspian.

Reading back on my review, you might be thinking: wow, he had a lot of criticisms! So why’d he give it four torches?

The truth is, it is something of a flawed movie — not in the same category as The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, which mostly worked. But it’s definitely better than the disappointment that was Prince Caspian.

And come on! It’s The Voyage of the Dawn Treader! I live for this s**t!

Looking to buy any of the projects mentioned in this article (or any other media)? Support TheTorchOnline.com by purchasing it through this link.

Follow us on Facebook or Twitter.

• How to Train Your Dragon to become a weekly series on the Cartoon Network.

• You now how “blooper” reels have become such a big part of Star Trek? Apparently, Leonard Nimoy was not a fan — and once sent a strongly-worded letter to Gene Roddenberry telling him so.

• The Lord of the Rings Online became free earlier this year — and their revenues have doubled!
  

• New pictures from The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

• The first photos from the American remake of Being Human.
  

• At ComicCon NY, the executive producer of V showed footage and promised that Season 2 won’t suck. We’ll see, won’t we?

• Danny Boyle “may” direct a second sequel to 28 Days Later.
  

• Lots more gossip about The Hobbit (which I refuse to get sucked into), but this struck me as interesting: the two-part film could cost $500 million, making it the most expensive film project of all time. By contrast, the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy cost $281 million.

• Everyone’s talking about this footage of Eric Stoltz, the original (but fired) Marty McFly in Back to the Future. Cool, but man, that had to have hurt for Stoltz!

Follow us on Facebook or Twitter.

• Some new behind-the-scenes photographs have shown up from Supernatural’s new season. It looks like Sam, Dean, and the car are stuck in a small town. Which is exactly what 98% of the show looks like if you watch it on mute.

• Narnia.com is sporting some new sound effects, a new Lucy picture, and there’s a schedule for the other online “islands” to open. Narrowhaven is September, Goldwater is October, with the rest opening in November.

• Meanwhile, the Dawn Treader itself (if you’re picky, the “Matthew” in drag) is trapped in tiny fishing village in England to ride out some weather, but it let the BBC get some great footage of the ship, which is mostly CGI in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

• IDW is going to give Angel to Dark Horse comics, and the Buffyverses can finally be synchronized. Fans of both Angel and Buffy the Vampire Slayer comics had been dealing with goodie-goodie Angel in his own title, and a decidedly less friendly version in Buffy.

• Star Wars producer Gary Kurtz is going to make a supernatural WWII tank movie called Panzer 88. They say it’s going to be based on real troop movements in 1944 on the Russian front, but will add an occult element that’s not really specified. It’s only got a $20 million budget, but it has WETA behind the effects.

• Rupert Grint says that the old Harry Potter sets in Leavesden are being turned into a theme park, but I don’t think he’s defining “theme park” the same way Disney or Universal Studios does.

• Meanwhile a few more photos from Deathly Hallows have leaked out, but they don’t seem to tell you much about the story, except that England hasn’t invented waterproof Nylon tents yet.

• Wired talked to David J. Peterson who is creating the new language for the nomadic Dothraki horse tribes in A Game of Thrones. He’s create a dozen languages prior to tackling Dothraki, and considers language creation to be an art form. He even found typos in what little of the language George R.R. Martin created in the books. The language currently contains 2,356 words.

• The ballots for the World Fantasy Awards have been announced, and I’m ashamed to admit that in the novel category, not on have I only have I read none of the books, I only know one of the authors.

· Blood of Ambrose, James Enge (Pyr)

· The Red Tree, Caitlín R. Kiernan (Roc)

· The City & The City, China Miéville (Macmillan UK/ Del Rey)

· Finch, Jeff VanderMeer (Underland)

· In Great Waters, Kit Whitfield (Jonathan Cape UK/Del Rey)

• Finally, what would it look like if M. Night Shyamalan spoofed his own upcoming elevator movie with MTV’s Josh Horowitz? You’d have Escalation.

• We’ve previously reported on the casting of the child version of a young Sirius Black in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Well, we now know who they cast as the child version of a character we’ve barely seen until now – Lily Potter. She’ll be played by 10-year-old Ellie Darcey-Alden, and most likely appear in Part 2.

• Forbes has released their list of the Top 10 Earning Authors, and genre authors figure prominently. Stephenie Meyer is #2 with $40 million, and Stephen King was #3 at $34 million. I have some doubts that J.K. Rowling earned “only” $10 million this year, even if her books are past their prime: perhaps she got most of the money for the Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park earlier, but she’s still getting a big cut of the proceeds, I’m sure.

• Genre television is going to be hard to find in the fall. ABC’s No Ordinary Family isn’t getting great buzz, but you can now watch the first episode online and decide for yourself.

• Vampires Suck did all right at the box office over the weekend, raking in $12.2 million for the three-day period, and over $18.6 million since it opened Wednesday. Not bad for a film that  only cost $20 million to make.

• I’m not entirely sure that the world needs another version of The Tempest, but I’ll generally watch anything with Dame Helen Mirren. She’s cast as the sorceress Prospera (yes, a gender change) in the upcoming film, and can be seen casting spells on the front page. What concerns me is that also in the film is Russell Brand, and I have a policy of never watching anything he’s in. I’m fairly certain The Bard himself wouldn’t approve of the casting choice.

• Star Trek’s Walter Koenig is back making comics. He’s starting with a news series called Things To Come, in a post-apocalyptic world where vampires are the dominant species on earth. He’s also doing new editions of his Raver series, where the hero has to travel in nightmare worlds that are born from his own psychosis.

• We’re going to round out the post with The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader news. First, young Arabella Morton, who plays the controversial role of Gael in the film, has started a fan page on Facebook. She’s only got 207 fans as of press time, but she is answering questions about the film, so who knows what you might discover?

• And finally, three short clips from The Voyage of the Dawn Treader have appeared online. In general, they center around young Eustace Clarence Scrubb (Will Poulter), who is, of course, a little brat. The first clip is partly new footage.

• The second clip from The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is almost entirely Eustace, as he finds a mountain of gold treasure. Like most movie gold, this stuff is incredibly lightweight. But there’s a twist to what happens, even if you don’t quite understand it yet.

• If you haven’t read the books, the final clip resolves the second. That said, it reveals an encounter that I wasn’t expecting, and least not quite this way. Clearly, some license has been taken with the source.

• What do you think? Excited for The Voyage of the Dawn Treader now?

• A couple of new stills from The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader have been released, and they seem to mostly exist to highlight the fact that Ben Barnes is the only cast member who can grow a beard (save Aslan).

• Speaking of Treader, for a movie that’s already got two trailers and tons of marketing materials, the fact that it appears that Reepicheep has been recast yet again at this late stage is disturbing. Plus, I like Simon Pegg.

• Has George R.R. Martin written himself into corner on A Dance with Dragons? Is it possible that he’s built such rich characters in his world that he doesn’t have an actual narrative? These are conclusions being reached by people with absolutely no knowledge of the facts.

• Some folks are so impatient for A Game of Thrones (the series) to begin, they have started creating concept art for the characters. I can’t fault the quality of the sketches, but I do think the artist overestimates the ability to sculpt cool facial hair before the advent of stainless steel and electric trimmers.

• Before Denis O’Hare was ripping spines out of newscasters, he was creating a 2,800 old backstory for Russell Eddington, the Vampire King of Mississippi on True Blood. I have to admit, his character has deviated so far from the books at this point, I’m not sure where the story is going.

• New high-res screenshots have been released for Lord of the Rings: Aragon’s Quest, but while the detail is excellent, I’m not sure there’s anything that wasn’t in the trailer.

• Dragon Age 2 won’t let you do character creation, but instead mandates that you fight as Hawke. For a game that’s always played fluidly with gender and sexuality this sounds like dangerous ground. But they have launched a microsite to keep new information flowing.

• So exactly what is in the free-to-play version of Lord of the Rings Online when the switch happens September 10^th? Nearly everything. You don’t get to play as a monster, and you have some limits on what you can earn at a time, but it’s possible to play the entire game for free. Paying opens up some new options, and likely makes advancing easier, but it’s not required. I may have to try this. Who am I kidding? My friends should visit me now, because come September 10^th, I’m off the grid.

• The Torchwood story arc and basic character descriptions for Captain Jack, Gwen, and the new CIA agent Rex Matheson have been posted. The storyline sounds half fairy tale, half Jason Bourne. I’m a little disturbed by: “The only thing that could call Jack Harkness back is his unstated love for Gwen Cooper.” I thought we were past that?

• In Vanishing on 7th Street, Hayden Christensen, Thandie Newton, and John Leguezamo are in a massive power blackout when everyone disappears. Then the world shrinks some more.

• Seth Rogen is set to star in Boo U, an animated tale about a ghost has to return to ghost school in order to learn how to better do his job. So I’m guess half Casper, half Beetlejuice?

• Stan Lee and Ming-Na are both taping guest roles on SyFy’s Eureka. Little is known about the roles, but it has been made clear that, with Ming-Na’s role, this is not a crossover with Stargate: Universe. Unlike Warehouse 13, it exists in its own timeline and universe.

• Sam Worthington has confirmed for Dracula: Year Zero. He’s going to play Prince Vlad, who really existed, though likely not in the form the movie will portray.

• AMC has release five more stills from AMC’s upcoming plague/zombie series The Walking Dead. What does it say of my expectations that I’m truly impressed that there are piles of zombie extras and everything isn’t added digitally after the fact?

I’m long past believing you can tell anything about a movie from its trailer. Or am I? The just-released trailer for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader looks pretty damn impressive: very reminiscent of the book, but distinctive and different enough to be its own thing and justify a feature film.

The movie will be released December 10th.

Have a question about something fantasy-related? Please send an email to thetorchonlineoracle@gmail.com and be sure and include your city and state and/or country.

Q: Will the White Witch appear in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader movie? I know she’s not in the book, but she wasn’t in Prince Caspian either, and she made an appearance in that movie! — MAGPIE, Toronto, Canada

A: Perry Moore, an executive producer on the Narnia movies (and the person most responsible for casting Tilda Swinton in the role of the White Witch in the first place), tells the Oracle that, yes, the witch (and Tilda) definitely make a brief appearance in the upcoming film.

“She — and her evil — weave seamlessly into The Voyage of the Dawn Treader,” he says. “She appears right where you think she would when you read the book — in a surprising way you could never guess that is at the same time true to the core of the book.”

Who are these filmmakers to add something like this to the story?

“C.S. Lewis himself, flip-flopped on the origin of the White Witch,” Moore says. “In the first book written [The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe], Jadis is said to be the descendant of Lilith (Adam’s first wife) and an ice giant (like a jotun, from Norse Mythology). Then in the prequel to that book, The Magician’s Nephew, which Tilda is dying for us to do next, C.S. Lewis shows that she came from another planet, Charn, in another dimension that you can only reach by going through the ‘world between world’ and the many pools there. Her appearance was originally totally different. Seven feet tall, long red hair, and she waged a war with her sister until she destroyed that world and froze it — neutron bomb, anyone? — by uttering the ‘Deplorable Word.’

“We took some creative liberties,” Moore admits, “but they’re hardly transgressions when you consider that Lewis just completely rewrote her origin six books later,” he says.

Moore also points out that Aslan himself says that evil like hers never truly dies.

So will Swinton’s White Witch make an appearance in all seven of the movie adaptations (should they get made), even in those based on books where she doesn’t appear (or in books like The Silver Chair, where The Lady of the Green Kirtle isn’t necessarily the same character as the White Witch)?

It’s under consideration.

Q: Was Xena’s chakram a “magic item,” or was she just really, really, really good a physics? — Mark, St. Louis, MO

A: Really, really, really good at physics (probably).

The chakram is, in fact, an historical weapon, used primarily by the Sikhs of Punjab (though not until many centuries after Xena existed).

That said, Xena’s particular chakram does have a supernatural origin: Xena doesn’t possess the weapon when she’s with Borias in Chin, but when she turns up in Norway and confronts the god Odin, she has it; later, in the “Chakram” episode, we learn it was given to her by Ares, who stole it from the gods.

But there’s still no evidence that it’s a “magic weapon” per se. It only seems to work when wielded by people of exceptional skill — Xena, of course, and Callisto, Eve, and (finally, in the finale) Gabrielle.

In “Chakram,” Xena mixes her original “dark” chakram with a chakram of “light,” creating a new weapon with two parts that can be split apart (much like Xena’s own two sides), with a design that seems based on the yin/yang philosophy of her mentor Lo Mao.

This new weapon restores Xena’s lost memory, implying it does have some magical powers (or maybe not: maybe just the familiar act of using it restored her memory). Either way, it seems to work as a weapon solely as a result of Xena’s skill.

Have a question about something fantasy-related? Please send an email to thetorchonlineoracle@gmail.com and be sure and include your city and state and/or country.

Looking to buy any of the projects mentioned in this article (or any other media)? Support TheTorchOnline.com by purchasing it through this link.

Follow us on Facebook or Twitter.

• The big news out of The Shire is the Lord of the Rings MMO is going free-to-play in the fall as part of the Warner acquisition. I’ve always wanted to try a MMO, but never wanted to subscribe, so maybe I’ll take the plunge into a familiar world.

• French tax dollars are work: French scientists recently spent some time discovering Darth Vader hits six of nine borderline personality traits according to the DSM-IV. I’m curious as to which ones the Sith Lord missed.

• Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen (awesome name) talked a bit about the Three Musketeers movie he’s in (with Orlando Bloom as a villain I’ve never heard of), and he says the of the film, “It’s funny and lighthearted.” More like the chocolate bar than the original story, apparently.

• Why is public art always so strange? Denver International Airport has decided to install a 26-foot-tall, 7-ton statue of Anubis at the airport. Besides the decision to put something tall at an airport where planes fly low, do I really want to be reminded of death right before boarding a plane? Hey, at least mythology is getting some exposure.

• Advertising revenue is up at Realms of Fantasy Magazine, but that’s not really enough to keep it afloat – they need more subscriptions if they’re going to make it. Granted, asking people to pay up front for a magazine that might not make it through a year sounds like an odd marketing tactic, but the content squares with our interests here. Fly, my pretties and save dead-tree media!

• It’s official: The trailer for Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader will premiere before Toy Story 3 in two weeks. As long as we’re talking about Toy Story 3, Pixar is debuting a new short called Night and Day before the movie as well. Here they attempt to explain what it’s about.

• Hollywood got fat on success last year, and are feeling the pinch of lackluster movies this summer. This past weekend saw tickets down 26% vs. last year. Me, I think the fact that attending Shrek Forever After 3D for a family with 2.3 kids costs $88.00 before popcorn in New York City is the problem. In any case, Shrek won the weekend, with Get Him To the Greek edging out Killers for second place.

• Tim Kring says he is indeed meeting with NBC this month to discuss a wrap-up miniseries for Heroes. He thinks the plot is going to be all about Claire becoming the reluctant spokesperson for the heroes, and it will employ the now-extremely-tired time jump plot device.

• Not only does the world get to end in 2012, it seems the DC Comics universe is going keep us all entertained while the world burns. Dark Knight 3 is going to be a summer release, and now they’re touting Superman for “holiday season” just in case they don’t get a summer 2013 to disappoint us with the Man of Steel. I don’t know how Christopher Nolan can manage both films.

• Blond hottie Lindsay Pulsipher talks about growing up Mormon, and her new role as Crystal Norris on True Blood. The big piece of news here is that she reveals that her role is one that Alan Ball is changing from the book plots in a pretty significant (and spoilery) way. At least she still gets to shag Jason Stackhouse. Speaking of True Blood, this promo for HBO June only has five seconds of True Blood at the beginning, but what a five seconds they are!

• Craig Horner, he of Legend of the Seeker fame and abdominal muscles that make me not want to eat for three weeks, sat down and gave a huge, ranging interview, including some fan questions. It was so big that it had a part 1, and a part 2.

• Speaking of the Legend of the Seeker, the Save Our Seeker Campaign is still moving forward. Could the fact that Bridget Regan says she still hasn’t been released from her contract be giving them hope?

• A grouchy old man most famous for being the least successful man in his famous family has suggested that children give up the magic of Harry Potter for the “real world of science.” I suggested that he stick his tongue into one of his famous vacuum cleaners instead of ruining childhood.

• Harry Potter himself fears that, 30 years from now, someone will feel the need to remake his beloved movies. I fear that Daniel is correct, because by then we’ll watch 3D holograms while our hover cars drive themselves.

• Warner Bros. intends to release Lord of the Rings: Aragorn’s Quest for most game systems September 1, meaning you’ll have something to do as the weather turns cold.

• When I’m not consulting with the president about how to fix the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, I enjoy mind games like who would win, Percy Jackson or Ezio.

• The cast for Starz new series Camelot has been announced. I have no problem with Ralph Fiennes as Merlin, Eva Green as Morgana, or Tamsin Egerton as Guinevere, but I’m sorry, there is no way that I can see Jamie Campbell Bower as Arthur.

• We appear to be two weeks away from the release of the first trailer for Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

• The first pictures of Growl have hit the web. I see a lot of muscled tattooed men, and Katee Sackhoff looking like she just saw a werewolf eat someone, but I’m not seeing a lot of werewolves. But since they’re describing this as Fight Club vs. Werewolves, I’m withholding judgment.

• The MIT Science Fiction Society has issued a review of Twilight the novel (worth clicking!).

• It’s not easy keeping boys on the straight and narrow – just ask Angel Coulby, who plays Guinevere in the BBC’s Merlin.

• The trailer for the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows video game has been released, and is jokingly being called Gears of Hogwarts. It’s designed as an over-the-shoulder shooter, err, wander? caster? and I have to admit, it feels just a touch weird.

• In case you were wondering what the Guinness World Record for most people dressed as superheroes is, the number you’re looking for is 1,245 in Melbourne, Australia, last week. I highly recommend the gallery.

• As author of The Magicians, Lev Grossman is painfully aware that fantasy novels don’t generally get taken seriously in literary circles. Even George R.R. Martin, who dominates the best seller lists for weeks at a time, can’t get a decent review. But he’s hopeful his world can start to change that, especially once his sequel, The Magician King comes out next year.