Report on New York Preview Event *Big Plot Spoilers*

[Silver the Wanderer]

First off, there are a lot of positive comments in these interviews. I'm really glad! I got the impression that the press really enjoyed the screening, so hopefully that positive feedback is a foreshadow of VDT's success!

Now, on to the spoilers.

Some things I really liked:
The letter we saw on the bed in the first VBS clip belongs to Susan.
Eustace's abrupt awakening on the Dawn Treader!
The duel between Eustace and Reep is there!
Reep comforting Eustace after he turns into a dragon.
And I know it's not in the book, but I still can't wait to see the battle between Eustace and the sea serpent. (I'm a sucker for dragons )

What I didn't like:
I'm still not buying the seven swords subplot...how is laying them at Aslan's feet going to get rid of Dark Island?
Edmund's reaction to Lilliandil.
THE WHITE WITCH?! Are you kidding me? dotK, I totally want to join that club of yours.

Is it possible that the reporter from Comingsoon.net misspoke or misunderstood Apted? Or maybe, since Dark Island is the island where dreams come true, the WW is somebody's nightmare trying to become real? (Our worst nightmare? )

Maybe the filmmakers really do believe that Jadis and LotG are the same person... *hides from angry mob*

But overall, I'm very impressed by what I read. And I can't wait for the next trailer to come out, because it sounds like it will be soon!

[Josh]

I like most of what I read but there are a few things that anger me.

I'm not worried about the love triangle since it will probably just be played for laughs and because I don't see Edmund getting angry over not getting Lilliandil. And it could set up Lucy's self esteem beauty issues.

But was really gets me mad is the WHITE WITCH!! SHE'S DEAD!! Her reappearing each film is getting old. It was cool to bring her back in PC since it actually fit with the story, but this is just uneccessary and unwanted.

Honestly, it would have been so much better if they used the Lady of the Green Kirtle instead. Not only would it make more sense (since the WW is already dead), but it could have been a good set up to her character. The White Witch has gotten so old by now, but had they had the Lady of the Green Kirtle be the one behind Dark Island it would have actually been kind of interesting and fresh in the audience's minds.

Because if a living witch creates the darkness, it makes sense. What doesnt make sense is an evil darkness just popping up out of nowhere to ressurect a dead witch.

Truth be told, I think they pretty much stuck to the leaked script and just changed the Lady of the Green Kirtle to the White Witch.

[Pattertwigs Pal]

Am I on the Dark Island right now?

That is what it feels like. Aslan if you ever loved us help us now! (I think that is what the line is. I don't have my book handy) I think this nightmare won't go away.

At the moment I am still so overwhelmed by all of the spoilers that I'm not sure this post is going to make any sense. Anyway, the White Witch? Seriously? Again? I once joked in the Town Square about starting a club: "The Society for Witches Who are Dead to Stay That Way." I'm not joking anymore. The White Witch is dead. Dead. Dead. She can't come back. In PC the scene with her almost made sense, but this makes no sense at all.

I agree and if the society is for people who want dead witches to stay dead, I will gladly join. (oh and your post makes perfect sense)

Edmund is acting like a brat.

That he is. Haven't we seen this somewhere before? I must be dreaming because Edmund was a very well behaved boy in LWW and Peter was a perfect example of a High King in PC. *insert sarcasm*

Invisible giants? What ever happened to Lucy wanting to read the spell because it was an honorable and heroic act? *sigh*

At first I didn't realize the full implication of this chance. *sighs* That does take a way from it.

How does Coriakin know everything?

A very good question, since in the book it clearly states he didn't know what they would find ahead.

[DamselJillPole]

I love almost everything I read, especially this:

Lilliandil (played by Laura Brent) appears to them as a star and then in human form. She welcomes the Dawn Treader people, introduces herself as the daughter of Ramandu, and tells them that she is their guide. Caspian remarks, with an awestruck expression, "You are most beautiful!" Lilliandil answers, "If it is a distraction for you, I can change forms." Caspian and Edmund both answer at the same time: "No!" Caspian and Edmund then give each other annoyed glances as they realize that they are both attracted to Lilliandil.

Good Bye Forever Suspian!!!

I mean what actual sweet comments has Caspian given Susan except glance at her like some crushing middle schooler? This is so sweet and romantic! Come on people who cares if Edmund might have a crush on Lilliandil. He's a guy who is 14 or 15, all guys would be lovestruck at any girl at that age. And I also agree with Josh it could help with Lucy's self-esteem. But OMLanta!!! I am so happy right now I feel like throwing a party about seeing this! Long Live Caspian & Lilliandil Forever & Ever & Ever & Ever & Ever & Ever!!!!!!!!!!


One thing that I do not like is the Darkness in this movie is WW trying to come back. When are they going to give it up?! She is dead!

[Lady Galadriel]

A lot of this sounds like good news. I really cannot wait to see Eustace and Reepicheep! Susan sounds good, too, even if that makes three scenes she's in.

I do not like the humor between Caspian and Lilliandil. And I am annoyed at other spots too -- not least is the White Witch! I would much prefer the LotGK at this point. At least that wouldn't be clinging to a long-dead villain.

[wolfloversk]

"It appears that Lucy has been kidnapped by two invisible giants that take her to a strange-looking garden and to an invisible house, where she finds the Book of Incantations. "

Didn't notice this 'till someone else posted it- questions! Take note it says "appears and giants. Did the clip atcually show Lucy being "kidnapped" or is that the conclusion that Caspian and the others came to? Perhaps she wasn't atcually kidnapped, but they thought that she was- and the producers only showed this part of the clip rather than her leaving with them. Also we know that they are making the dufflepuds smaller- don't we? So perhaps this is just the author's interperetation (especially since the dufflepuds have large feet ) Honestly this is leaving me feeling more confused than anything else.

I really wish I could see the clips myself, I hate having to rely on interviews and reviews and articles, because we do not know exactly what the author saw and what they interpereted, and we don't know if what they interpereted was right. That's why I try not to place any judgement on the movie before I watch it, and I always take these things with a grain of salt. There have been many times where I have read articles on upcoming movies, and if I listened to them I'd never bother to watch the movie, but when I watch the movie I end up loving it (To Save A Life, for example is tied with Narnia as my favorite movie, but most reviews would cause me to turn away if I had not watched it first.) I can't wait 'till the week of Dec 20th when I'll be able to watch it, hopefully I can earlier, but it doesn't look promising. (I really hope it stays it theaters that long)

[narnian_at_heart]

It's really annoying how much they changed it. I knew they would change it, they always do, but I never realized how much it was changed until reading that article.

[DamselJillPole]

^ A lot of the changes are not that bad! The only one I'm still trying to get over is the crew having to constantly bring the WW back. But everything else seems smooth and cant wait to see how the changes are portrayed on screen!

[Watziznehm]

"It appears that Lucy has been kidnapped by two invisible giants that take her to a strange-looking garden and to an invisible house, where she finds the Book of Incantations. "

Didn't notice this 'till someone else posted it- questions! Take note it says "appears and giants.

Raises hand! Oh oh, I get it now. Like you said, the key word is 'appear'. If you saw a footprint of a dufflepud, wouldn't you think it was a giant's footprint? They see giants footprints and naturally assume that invisible giants have kidnapped her! Of course, it is really the dufflpuds who have captured her.

[Bookwyrm]

This movie doesn't even sound like the book. Everything up until Coriakin's Island sounded fantastic, but the rest of it is absolute rubbish. The Dufflepuds kidnapping Lucy? Forcing her to enter the house and read the spell? So they've taken a generally harmless group of goofy characters and made them villainous. Coriakin's dialogue sounds horrible.

Words fail to describe the stupidity of the swords plot. So what, Aslan is not capable of destroying the Island without the swords?

Edmund drooling over Ramandu's Daughter sounds like Susaspian all over again. It wouldn't surprise me if she's torn between the two, or some other ridiculously contrived piece of nonsense subplotting.

But the bit about the White Witch being defeated is what makes me think there's no hope of this movie being decent. You can talk about how the WW personifies evil or whatever till the cows come home, but Aslan killed her. If she's capable of coming back whenever she pleases, that means Aslan does not have the power to destroy her. I don't see how you could interpret that any other way than as reducing his power.

Whether or not Eustace earns his transformation back by fighting the sea serpent, the vast majority of the non-book fans will probably assume that he did earn it. Horrible move.

Come on people who cares if Edmund might have a crush on Lilliandil. He's a guy who is 14 or 15, all guys would be lovestruck at any girl at that age.

And this is different from Caspian being lovestruck over Susan how exactly?

[wolfloversk]

Watziznehm, Exactly! How can we be positive she was kidnapped, until we see the finished version? (By the way- did anyone from NW see the clips?)
Anyone else have any thoughts on this?

[DamselJillPole]

Come on people who cares if Edmund might have a crush on Lilliandil. He's a guy who is 14 or 15, all guys would be lovestruck at any girl at that age.

And this is different from Caspian being lovestruck over Susan how exactly?

It's different because Caspian and Susan both acknowledged their glances yet said no devotions on how they felt. At least Caspian is making an effort with Lilliandil first telling her how she looks the "Most beautiful" and then Lilliandil makes a remark about distractions and is prompting to form into her star self or something and then both Caspian/Edmund shout 'No!' The glances that Caspian and Edmund gave each other could be the only thing that the person who wrote this story got mixed up with. Perhaps it's not jealous/annoying glances, maybe Caspian and Edmund only glanced in a "You Ginx" sort of way or Edmund going "oh okay, Caspian likes her so I probably shouldn't stand in the way". How are we to judge this scene without seeing a lot anyways? I don't think anything will happen between Edmund and Lilliandil anyways considering her character may be along the lines of Caspian's age. whatever.

[daughter of the King]

Okay, I think I've gotten over the initial shock now.

And Aslan gives them a choice of going to his country and they refuse? Firstly, Aslan wouldn't give them that choice, and if he did, they would go to Aslan's country not home. I hope they don't learn "there is not place liek home" or something. That moral is in the wrong story. After all, they are searching for they're true home, which would be with Aslan.

Wait, they get a choice? This makes no sense. Why would Aslan let them choose whether to go to His Country or not? And, if given the choice, why would they choose not to go?

Truth be told, I think they pretty much stuck to the leaked script and just changed the Lady of the Green Kirtle to the White Witch.

You took the words right out of my mouth (hands?). Instead of the LotGK using a soul-sucking cave of doom we have the White Witch and her malevolent green mist which creates an unfathomable fate that can only be destroyed by the seven swords of the seven lost lords which glow when the Blue Star is nearby.

Take note it says "appears and giants. Did the clip atcually show Lucy being "kidnapped" or is that the conclusion that Caspian and the others came to?

I'm going to guess that the Dufflepuds do kidnap Lucy. Although I'm not sure how they would manage to do it quietly..........but the others assuming that the Dufflepuds are giants based on the size of their footprints makes sense.

A few other things I noticed this time around:

Eustace has been turned into a dragon as punishment for stealing gold.

Eustace becoming a dragon is a punishment? I guess I can see where that interpretation is coming from, but him turning into a dragon because he had greedy, dragonish thoughts is more unique (and therefore more interesting).

men that arrived at Ramandu’s island "half-mad" and ready to kill each other, so they were "sent to sleep" since "violence is forbidden at the table of Aslan."

Why are the lords half-mad? Who sent them to sleep? Why is violence forbidden?

Aslan suddenly appears and congratulates them.

Congratulates them for what? For destroying the Dark Island?

At the screening, Apted hinted as much to the audience when he said that "Dawn Treader" will have more appeal to girls than the previous "Narnia" films have appealed to girls.

Ooookaaaay. Was not expecting that. How is it supposed to appeal more to girls? Other than whole Caspian/Lilliandil thing.

but his identification card says "Alberta Scrubb" so clearly Edmund is trying to fake his age.

They mean Harold Scrubb, right?

"Note to self: investigate legal ramifications of impaling relatives."

I would never have imagined giving a line like that to Eustace, but I think it will work. Eustace is going to be awesome.

but when she walks away and looks in another mirror in the room, she sees that she's still the same. When she goes back to the book, some dark energy known as Green Mist starts swirling around and that clip ends.

So does Lucy accidentally create the unfathomable fate or does the Mist appear whenever someone is tempted? I'm guessing it's the latter.

he tells her that the one sword they carry must be united with six others

Maybe I am over-analyzing on too little information, but if they didn't know about the Mist before getting to Coriakin, how did they know to bring Lord Bern's sword with them? And how does Coriakin know everything?

Whether or not Eustace earns his transformation back by fighting the sea serpent, the vast majority of the non-book fans will probably assume that he did earn it.

I wasn't even going to get into that, but it's an excellent point. Whether they intended Eustace to earn his redemption or not, by fighting the sea serpent it will look like he did. Which not only ruins one of the best scenes in the story but also the entire point of redemption.

[decarus]

This sounds terrible. A Edmund/Ramandu's daughter crush. Wow. I did not think they would go there.

The whole collecting the swords thing seems really dumb. I mean why would they need to collect these swords. It just doesn't make sense.

What about the slaves and the MLG?

Eustace is earning his grace. Wonderful.

[Clive Staples Sibelius]

So let's get this straight. Caspian needs to find the seven swords and lay them before Aslan's feet. It sounds like a video game task! No wonder they're not putting out a video game: they made the game script into the movie!

[decarus]

Wait so it is just the persons impression that Edmund and Caspian seem annoyed when they look at each other. So we know that they both think she is beautiful, but not really that they are annoyed. Either way it sounds terrible.