Welcome to Mailbag #12. Read on, and then submit your own letters via our contact form. In the September 7, 2006 edition, we posted a letter asking about Richard Taylor's involvement in Prince Castpian. WETA wanted to provide an answer, so we said sure! Here it is (also printed on the September 7 page).
UPDATE FROM WETA WORKSHOP TO NARNIAFANS.COM - Oct. 13, 2006 Q: Is Richard Taylor going to have more involvement in Prince Caspian than
he did in LWW? And if he is, are he and Howard Berger going to join forces
on the project?
A: It's funny that you should mention that . we worked for well over two and
a half years with over 100 Weta technicians on The Lion, Witch and The
Wardrobe. Richard and his team designed the 62 creatures, cultures and
helped designed the world of Narnia. Then onto sculpting the scannable
Marquette's for the digital creatures and the production of all of the
armour, weapons and chainmaille, minotours, centaurs, dwarves, minoboars,
fauns, satyrs, boggles, ankle slicers and the childrens armour, weapons and
a number of hero props.
These included the Turkish delight bowl, Tumnus's flute and keys, the
Professors silver apple tobacco holder, the horns, wands, daggers, shackles
and the Queen's poison vial which was fabricated by our in house Jewelery
maker in sterling silver.
Richard and Weta are excited by the possibility of working with Andrew and
the team again on Prince Caspian. He was thrilled to work in collaboration
with colleague and close friend of the past 15 years, Howard Berger who
created the Oscar winning prosthetics and creatures for Narnia.
Q: Hello!
Me again! Your website is amazing and every week I get so many Narnia questions and it's great that you are so nice and answer mine and everyone else's questions. It really makes the site fun and interactive, unlike other websites which just choose the ones they think are the best.
Okay so here's my thing I want to say:
In LWW, the mice that untie Aslan when he's on the stone table are meant to be small (and so they are in the movie too) but then in PC (I think it's PC) Reepicheep announced that he was one of the mice that freed Aslan from the ropes that bound him. I think this is weird, because Reepicheep is meant to be a big mouse, like all other animals in Narnia that speak.
Do you know of Reepicheep will be in the PC movie? And if he will, do you think they will make him a big mouse or small (lifesized) one? I know he's one of the main characters and all but if Reepicheep is made big then he wont look realistic; so what if they take him out, like some people have taken main characters out of other films?
Thanks for all the answers you have given me to my other questions. ~*~YOU ROCK!!~*~
-Nellie
A: Thanks Nellie, as the Mailbag continues to grow, there may some a time when I have to pick and choose what e-mails to answer. Especially if people ask me the same question that has already been answered in a previous mailbag. That hasn't happened yet, but after some time, it's bound to happen. With regard to your question, I believe you're referring to the passage in chapter fifteen of Prince Caspian:
"Ah!" roared Aslan. "You have conquered me. You have great hearts. Not for the sake of your dignity, Reepicheep, but for the love that is between you and your people, and still more for the kindness your people showed me long ago when you ate away the cords that bound me on the Stone Table (and it was then, though you have long forgotten it, that you began to be Talking Mice), you shall have your tail again."
When it comes to this, Reepicheep was never at the Stone Table. Remember, in the Narnian timeline, that was hundreds, if not a thousand years prior to Prince Caspian. But it was the start of Talking Mice, and, presumably, that was also when they started to grow in size.
Q: Hi! This is a great sight! God bless you! I have a question: I was thinking of writing a letter to a few members of the cast. I heard I have to have something called a IRC. What is it? Where can I get it? How much are they? Is that all I have to put on the envoloupe? Sorry for all the questions. Thanks!
-Aslan's friend
A: I believe that these are all prime questions for the United States Postal Service. However, I looked on Fanmail.biz and got this information:
If you do not live in United Kingdom, add several* International Reply Coupons.
The International Reply Coupons (IRC) will be used by the receiver to purchase english stamps. You can only get them at your post office. Place the IRCs into the envelope, not on it. For more information on reply coupons click here.
*For information on postage prices to receive a letter from UK click here.
Q: Hi! It has been so long since my last letter in you amazing mailbag...but now I have a question for you: do you know more about the song Evanescence wrote for the Narnia Soundtrack? Can I find it somewhere? Thanks!
-ChabeMica
A: I'm sorry, the only information that I have on the song, is what you can find on the page for the Evanescence song called "Good Enough."
Q: *THE LAST BATTLE SPOILERS AFOOT* Hi! I had a quick question about the ages of the Narnia characters. Based on what I read on last week's mailbag, I now know the ages of the four Pevensies. But now I'm really confused about the ages of Jill and Eustace. It seems from the books that Jill and Eustace are the same age, and in the "Voyage of the Dawn Treader" it seems that Eustace is either a little older than or at least as old as Lucy. However, by the time we get to "The Last Battle" Eustace says he and Jill are the only one of the seven friends of Narnia that are still in school. Is Eustace really that much younger than Lucy or was this just a mistake?
-Claire
A: Well, Eustace is kind of a spoiled brat in the books, and it turns out is a year younger than Lucy. However, since you asked, here's the ages of the seven characters in "The Last Battle."
Q: Do you know where we can download or buy the songs featured in the teaser trailer?
Thanks
-Emmy
A: The music found in the teaser trailer can all be found here: Narnia Teaser, Trailer Music. However, if you want the tracks, you'll have to purchase the individual tracks from iTunes. The X-Ray Dog tracks, however, I have had a hard time locating, and usually I can find pretty obscure tracks. Good luck!
Q: I have been looking for an accurate timeline for all the books events. Do you know where I could find one?
-Jennifer Cozart
A: There's actually an excellent one, that you can find here: Narnia Timeline. I think that it'd be great to put something like that here on NarniaFans.com. Perhaps a more detailed one than that. I also very highly recommend Paul F. Ford's excellent Companion to Narnia. It includes character age comparisons, as well as a timeline that displays the Narnian time when compared to Earth time.
Q: I read an article on here that the Narnia special [Extended] edition will go into the Disney vault. Does this include the versions: Fullscreen, Widescreen, and the red cover special edition?
-Aravis
A: According to the press release, it's just referring to the Extended Edition. I don't believe that the theatrical version of the film will be placed in the Disney Vault. Not yet, at least.
Q: Hi Narnia [Fans]! I just have a quick question. Why is the special extended edition of LWW only going to be out for 2 months? Is there a reason that it is going into the disney vault so soon? (Are they only making a limited amount?) Thanks!
-matt-1
A: Okay, here's where the marketing machine comes into play. Believe me when I say, as a business owner, I can totally understand the reasoning for doing something like this. When it comes to a film such as Narnia, and a limited extended edition, it is good business sense to try to get as many sales as possible in as short a time as possible. I'm not sure, and maybe someone can correct me on this, but the film goes into the vault on January 31, 2007. That could be close to the end of the fiscal year, which makes getting a high volume of sales important for Disney and for their investors. It also makes more sales possible, as more people will want to get it before it vanishes from the shelves. It doesn't necessarily mean that there will be only a limited amount, just that they are building up a higher demand. Announcing this also makes a double push for sales. They have a release date and a "vault date." It may have only a fraction of the sales that the release date has, but I'm willing to guess (having no access to the sales figures) that sales rise as the vault date draws near.
Q: I really like this website! Good job! I have a question, though. I am a Chrsitian and I pray for William, Anna, Skandar, and Georgie almost every day. I'd really like to know if they're Christians. I know Skandar's not, but I've looked at the others' fansites and can't seem to find that information anywhere, especially for Georgie. Can you help?
-Jill Pole
A: From what I know, William has said that he's a Christian. However, prayer never hurts and always helps in some way. I really don't think it matters if we know for sure if they are. We should be worried about bettering our own relationships with God, and when it comes to the actors and actresses in Narnia, we can pray that God reveals Himself to them in some way. Remember, being a Christian is more than a title, it's a way of life.
Q: I would really like to be an extra in VODT. Do you know of any way I could do that besides becoming a member of a site like StarsInMyEyes?
-Susan the Gentle
A: It's much too early to talk about Voyage of the Dawn Treader at this time. However, I don't know if it will be possible to get on the film without an agent actively looking for auditions or casting calls for it, when the time does come for casting that film.
Q: All of my friends in school think that Narnia is stupid. We saw it the first day it came out, and we were excited then and all I wanted to do is Narnia. Like plays and short scenes that I could perform, and I still need some help. Any tips? (because none of my friends like it anymore).
-Shellie
A: Shellie, this is a tough situation for a number of reasons. One is that I don't know your friends, and the other is that your friends don't really need to like Narnia for you to still love it. I recommend that you don't try to force the issue. If they don't like it, they don't like it, and nothing you can do could really change their minds about it. However, if you show them your joy for the subject, it may rub off on them. Maybe even try starting a book club to read Narnia or something like that. Also, it could just be that they're just burnt out (read: tired of the subject) for now, and when Prince Caspian is coming, they may get hyped about it again.
Q: Dear Staff,
Did any of you guys worked as a crew member for the movie Narnia? I'm just wondering! Thar's all! Oh by the way, William Moseley has blue eyes! I don't see William Moseley's "color eye" in his biography section!
-Narnia Fan (Lilly's friend)
A: I'm sorry to say that none of us did work as a crew member. I would LOVE to, though. It'd be fantastic to be on the set in any fascet at all. One of my dreams is to direct a movie some day, and I'm currently writing a screenplay, so who knows.
Thanks for the info on William Moseley. I'll update the page soon! I always appreciate the help on the character and cast pages!
Q: WARNING! DO NOT READ THIS UNLESS YOU HAVE READ THE WHOLE CHRONICLES MAJOR SPOILERS!
Hi Paul,
Sorry if my name is getting annoying but I don't quite understand what happened at the end of The Last Battle, did the Pevensie's really all die? What happened? Could you explain for me. Thanks, also how did C.S. Lewis come up with the name for Narnia? I read it somewhere but I've forgotten, thank you so much bye
-Jason Fotheringham
A: That's a very good question. If anyone reading this has a better answer than I do, feel free to write in, and I'll add it to this answer ASAP. But I think that, yes, they did die, but Aslan pulled them into Narnia just in time.
We wanted to keep together as long as we could. Well there we were in the train. And we were just getting to the station where the others were to meet us, and I was looking out of the window to see if I could see them when suddenly there came a most frightful jerk and a noise: and there we were in Narnia and there was your Majesty tied up to the tree." (LB Chapter 5)
We don't really know what would have happened if they went back to England, as Eustace hints at what might have befallen our heroes: "Well when that awful jerk came - the one that seemed to throw us into Narnia - I thought it was the beginning of a railway accident. So I was jolly glad to find ourselves here instead." (LB Chapter 9)
As for the name "Narnia," Wikipedia states the following:
The origin of the name Narnia is uncertain. It is possible that Lewis borrowed the name from his friend Tolkien or possibly vice versa. The latter wrote the Narn i Hîn Húrin or the Lay of the Children of Húrin about his ill-fated hero, Túrin Turambar. Narn is Sindarin for a lay or a poetic narrative, usually intended to be sung.
According to Paul Ford's Companion to Narnia there is no indication that Lewis was alluding to the ancient Umbrian city Nequinium renamed Narnia by the conquering Romans in 299 BC after the river Nar, a tributary of the Tiber. However, since Lewis's first successes at Oxford were in the classics and ancient history, it is quite possible that he came across at least seven references to Narnia in Latin literature. (Ford 2005)
Q: What is the background music for the 2 disc version dvd menu?
Cheers
-Thomas Cunningham
A: I believe that it's from the score to the film and, if you haven't already, I highly recommend picking it up. It's been a long time since I've listened to it (a lot of great cds have come out lately) so I'm not sure of the actual track name or number. But the whole thing is well worth owning.
Hi! I just wanted to update the answer for the last question on Oct. 19th's mailbag. All the songs in the background are from the score. It starts with The Battle (#12), then moves to Only the Beginning of the Adventure (#13) and then continues with To Aslan's Camp (#9). You can buy all of these on iTunes, separately, but I recommend buying the whole soundtrack! -Cait
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