Concerns about Netflix's Narnia

Specter

Specter

Meeting the World
Staff member
Knight of the Noble Order
Royal Guard
It's been nearly 3 years since the announcement of the Narnia series being in Netflix's hands. (It's the first time all 7 books have been licensed by anyone, apparently.)

Do you have any concerns?

One thing that definitely must have slowed them down is the ongoing pandemic. A lot of major films have slowed to a crawl when it comes to production. That said, what are some things you hope they include in the movies and series they create?
 
Netflix I hear is loosing audience because of bad programing. Also the fact that Netflix owns the rights to make Narnia programing doesn't mean it has any programing moving forward. I always tell the story of how Disney bought the right to the Oz books after MGM in the 50s and yet did nothing with it for 30 years. I am more optimistic of a Screwtape movie being made than a new Narnia movie being made.
 
TimmyofOz said:
Netflix I hear is loosing audience because of bad programing. Also the fact that Netflix owns the rights to make Narnia programing doesn't mean it has any programing moving forward. I always tell the story of how Disney bought the right to the Oz books after MGM in the 50s and yet did nothing with it for 30 years. I am more optimistic of a Screwtape movie being made than a new Narnia movie being made.
Click to expand...
I wonder what bad programming they are losing audiences from. I still have Netflix because there are several shows that I enjoy that are (or have become) Netflix shows. Stranger Things has always been, and Cobra Kai has become.

I honestly don't doubt that Netflix will make the Narnia projects. They paid a lot for the rights to all seven books (a first for any company licensing Narnia, from what I've heard).

My concerns are that they attempt to modernize Narnia the way that one company wanted to when they were going to replace Turkish Delight with hotdogs. Another is that we have a chance to finally see all of Narnia done, and I'd like to see a studio ACTUALLY finish the whole thing, so I'm concerned that they won't complete all of it.
 
TimmyofOz said:
After seeing the new "Masters of the Universe" series you can't have much hope of a good Narnia series.
Click to expand...
I've seen the first 5 episodes of the series. I am holding out for the rest to see how it goes, moving forward. I've heard the 7th episode is where things are going to be just awesome.

I mean, Netflix also has their own original programs that are hit or miss. Voltron: Legendary Defender certainly has its fans. I couldn't get into that primarily because they didn't use the original theme song. I only watched the first few episodes.

After Masters of the Universe: Revelation's 8 episodes, that series is done, I believe, because the licensing is moving over to someone else who is making a fully CG version of He-Man. Based on the revealed toys, it's looking like the character designs are somewhat reminiscent, to me, of Transformers: Animated. It is odd.

That said... I am always careful not to judge a show based on other shows that a company produces. Different creative teams, writers and directors are in charge of each project. For instance, Nickelodeon had Rugrats and Doug and Avatar: The Last Airbender (which is also coming to Netflix, oddly), and many other cartoons that are very different from each other.

Here are a couple of questions about Masters of the Universe: Revelation for you, because I am curious:

1) Were you a big fan of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe back in the day?

(I was. I have the complete series of both original He-Man and She-Ra, and the 2002 He-Man as well, on DVD. Not that this says anything about my opinion, I don't know how I feel about the new show, and am holding out for the end.)

2) Did you watch the show blind, before the internet had responded, or after?

(I heard all of the negative stuff before I watched it, and even watched a video of someone explaining she first five episodes with spoilers before I watched 1 episode of it, because I am not super invested in He-Man in the same way I am with other shows and movies, like Stranger Things, Ghostbusters, Star Wars, and Cobra Kai, where I avoid knowing anything at all. For the second set of MOTU episodes, I might avoid spoilers, but I won't go out of my way to do so. I have a friend that liked the new show, and he has a friend that hated it, so he asked me if I had watched it yet, so I did.)

I feel tend to avoid reviews or spoilers because I want to have the same experience that critics have going into something new. They get to form their own opinions about something fairly free of the influence of other critics on their opinions, or the mob of the internet. I figure why can't I have the same experience as they get?

I appreciate you taking the time to talk about this. I don't have time, at the moment, to edit this for length or tone. Know that I am genuinely curious and not at all arguing. If we were sitting together talking about this, I think it would be a fun conversation.
 
Spencer, I've been around this forum for a long time. I'm not a troll. I watched the series first then I heard about the negative response by He-Man Fans. I am not a contemporary He-Man fan myself though I did watch it back in the 80's. I am just looking at how the fans are reacting. Sony's The Silver Chair was shot down by fans and the Lewis Foundation because there was fear that Jill Pole would dominate the movie. I was sadden by this actually. Even If He-Man is brought back to life I don't see this series as positive as the 80's series. I just don't see Netflix as a positive venue for Narnia.
 
I didn't mean to imply you are a troll. I apologize for coming across that way.

I gotcha. I am anxious to hear what the showrunner is planning for Narnia at Netflix. I am concerned about it, too. Personally, I have anxiety about it, but I am hoping they prove my own anxieties wrong and make a stunning and beautiful adaptation.

Again, I apologize for coming across poorly.
 
On another note, Amazon's Lord of the Rings first image looks beautiful. Doesn't mean the series will be, and I've read troubling things.. but it makes me wish they were making Narnia.
 
Let me stress, there is nothing wrong with strong female characters. Peter Pan, the Oz series and The Secret Garden are examples of stories which focus on a female character becoming strong enough to save the day. But it is not done by becoming more physically stronger than the men around her or being more independent, Rather by the ability to use friendship to bring out the strength in all.

“Wendy," Peter Pan continued in a voice that no woman has ever yet been able to resist, "Wendy, one girl is more use than twenty boys.”
― J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan
 
The concern is always what are they going to cut out and what are they going to keep, right.
While that's true, my main concern is what happened with ASOUE. Doing something like this means you only plan to do the books and leave it at that, which is fine, but what if by the end of it I want more?
 
Maybe sometimes it is best to leave you wanting more after a perfect series, than to give you more and have it be less than ideal.

I haven't seen, and likely won't see, Game of Thrones. But from what I understand, as soon as they passed George R.R. Martin's own content, it got weird and the final season was pretty widely hated.
 
"I am just looking at how the fans are reacting. Sony's The Silver Chair was shot down by fans and the Lewis Foundation because there was fear that Jill Pole would dominate the movie."

Timmy, can you expand on this. In the book, Jill was more of a focus than any other character, but the thing in TSC was that she was the stranger in the strange place. She wasn't the incredible herione who could do anything, just a bystander who is just participating in a mission with a classmate who had already been in Narnia and an actual Narnian, both of whom were far more experienced in understanding what they were doing.

In fact, her focus was similar to the focus on Digory in TMN, who was similarly just as inexperienced. Neither character really did anything particularly heroic, just that their innocence and goodness led them through their adventures.

As for what concerns I have, as I wrote in the silly ideas page, I fear that Netflix will choose to try to make things too diverse to the extent that it screws up with the characters.

MrBob
 
Specter said:
Maybe sometimes it is best to leave you wanting more after a perfect series, than to give you more and have it be less than ideal. I have heard this argument plenty of times before. It is another matter of preference. I would much rather have more of something good than get something that has just always sucked. For example, would I rather have another season of ASOUE or more Baywatch? The answer is obvious, the worst possible ASOUE trumps any Baywatch every time. I understand where people are coming from when they say this, but good writers can stretch the same story out forever with world building. I mean these things live on through fanfiction anyway.

I haven't seen, and likely won't see, Game of Thrones. But from what I understand, as soon as they passed George R.R. Martin's own content, it got weird and the final season was pretty widely hated.
Click to expand...
I absolutely cannot speak to this, but I will address the way you phrased it. Firstly, Game of Thrones has always been weird, George R.R. Martin is a freak like Stephen King. He has good writing, but you have to make sure to skip the filler, and this is from somebody who does not even really believe filler exists. Secondly, I have learned not to take that much stock in what is "pretty widely" hated or liked. A hard lesson learned after what happened with America's Player on BB8.
 
I know what you mean. I would love to have more of Boy Meets World or Girl Meets World than more of something that is already garbage, too. But with Narnia, we got seven books, and an eighth was written by someone recently (which hasn't been published except for the enjoyment of the author's friends). Back in the late 90s/early 00s, I read an article that the publisher was planning on having more Narnia books written, because of the huge gaps in time in the Narnia timeline that are ripe for stories. I don't know why that didn't move forward, but I have several guesses.

That said, coming up with more Narnia than Lewis wrote is risky.
 
Wow, definitely agree with BMW/GMW. I guess for Narnia, then you might just have to leave it up to whoever Lewis' heir is, they would, after all, retain the rights to the property. No one else could do it even if they wanted to.
 
Yeah, Douglas Gresham is currently the one that is the most active in the C.S. Lewis Company. Yeah, BMW/GMW are two of my favorite shows of all time.
 
Technically, Narnia is public domain in Canada and has been since 2014. In the UK and other countries, Narnia will enter the public domain in 2034. The US will do so in 2045. This is for the first book, the subsequent books would follow based on the year they were published. I would imagine the public domain would render the ownership of the rights to the series moot regarding companies wanting to film the series.

MrBob
 
That's interesting. It's 100 years in the U.S., right? That'll be interesting to see how that goes.
 
That makes sense.

I wonder if the country of origin is respected by copyright law, or if it applies to different places based on local copyright laws.
 
Back
Top