Narnia Radio: BBC or Focus on the Family, which is better?

Soldier of Aslan

Soldier of Aslan

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I've heard the Focus on the Family's Radio Theater Adaptation of all 7 of the Chronicles, originally aired Nation wide in the US during the early 2000s. It's come to my attention that BBC has it's own radio adaptations that followed their well made The Lord of The Rings series (aired on NPR's Earplay), in the 80s. I've found them on amazon, but they are rather pricey. Have any of you folks heard the BBC adaptations? How do they compare to the American versions? Also, It seems they may have only adapted a few of the books. Though I have no proof, Amazon only has listings for LWW, PC, VDT, and I think SC. Thoughts?
 
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I've only seen the LWW BBC movie, I didn't know there were audio ones... The first time I heard about the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe though was when I was about 7-8 years old because Focus on the Family put a comercial on the radio for it's audio version.:p
 
I've never heard the Focus on the Family versions but I have heard all the BBC adaptions and they are superb!

They did adapt all seven books and I will long remember their version of The Last Battle. There were a couple of minor changes (Emeth meets Aslan after Tirian joins the Seven Friends so they all see what happens instead of Emeth recounting it) but in general all the BBC radio adaptions are extremely faithfull to the books.
 
Hermit of Archenland said:
I've never heard the Focus on the Family versions but I have heard all the BBC adaptions and they are superb!

They did adapt all seven books and I will long remember their version of The Last Battle. There were a couple of minor changes (Emeth meets Aslan after Tirian joins the Seven Friends so they all see what happens instead of Emeth recounting it) but in general all the BBC radio adaptions are extremely faithfull to the books.
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I had hoped so! The Focus on the Family Ra- Let's just call them the American version (I hate to type the long show name over again), was extremely faithful as well, and are Hosted by Douglas Gresham.

Here is the Show's website:
http://go.focusonthefamily.com/radio-theatre.aspx
I emailed them a while back (long before joining here), and due to the costs they have canceled the series, but it still runs in re-runs including the Chronicles. I think the last episoide was an Adaptation of Screwtape Letters.

spector mentions it here over 5 years ago:
http://www.narniafans.com/archives/277

Does anyone know where I can find the complete set of the BBC series? Or even listen to them online?
 
I LOVE LOVE LOVE the FOF version. It is soooo amazing! I have listened to them about 20 times each...no joke! My fav is HHB and MN. LB is super too. They are ALL amazing!
 
I can't vote because I've only heard FotF's version, but that version is really really good! I also really like their version of The Screwtape Letters (to me, the person who voices Screwtape and the person who voices Aslan actually sound pretty similar, which I find funny)

You could try to borrow them from a library or through an interlibrary loan, compare them, and then decide. If you do, tell us what you think!
 
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I've listened to both version. I would say the Focus on the Family radio theatre is superior than the BBC Radio 4. The BBC Radio 4 doesn't get a whole lot of attention, but it is pretty decent.
Hermit of Archenland said:
They did adapt all seven books and I will long remember their version of The Last Battle. There were a couple of minor changes (Emeth meets Aslan after Tirian joins the Seven Friends so they all see what happens instead of Emeth recounting it)
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Oh yes, they did. I think they were trying to incorporate Emeth's meeting with Aslan into the narrative. I actually see that as a positive thing. I would like for a movie or a series adaption to flesh out Emeth's character.

Another change I've noticed in The Last Battle that it doesn't start out like it does in the book, where Shift and Puzzle find the lion skin at Caldron pool and Shift manipulating Puzzle into pretending to be Aslan. The BBC Radio 4 actually starts with Rishda praying to Tash in Tashbaan (that's where I'm assuming, but I don't know for sure). Then it goes into the Tisroc bestowing blessings of Tash on Rishda as he is getting ready to lead 30 of his Calormene soldiers to Narnia, disguised as merchants.

All in all, I think the Focus on the Family is superior. It actually follows the books more closely, but were a few minor changes. And who can't forget the prologue and epilogue given by Douglas Gresham? It is a treat to him on there.
 
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