Monday, August 1, 2011

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair






The story begins with Eustace Scrubb, who was introduced in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and his classmate Jill. They are unhappy at their school, where bullying is left uncorrected. One day they are beset by bullies, and Eustace suggests that they ask for Aslan's help. They blunder through a temporary gate and find themselves in Aslan's Country, atop an immense cliff. Jill, showing off, moves too close to the edge, and Eustace falls off trying to pull her back.
Aslan appears and saves Eustace by blowing him into Narnia; then he explains to Jill that she and Eustace are charged with the quest of finding Prince Rilian, Caspian's son, who disappeared years before. He tells her that their task has become more difficult because of what she did, but gives her four Signs to guide them on their quest. The fourth and final Sign is that at a key moment they will be asked to do something "in Aslan's name."
According to the Narnian timeline, fifty years have elapsed since The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
Aslan then blows Jill into Narnia, where she arrives a few moments after Eustace. They see a very old King Caspian setting sail to search for Aslan one last time, but fail to realise who he is until it is too late, and are unable to speak to him. However, the elderly Lord Regent, Trumpkin the Dwarf, takes them to Cair Paravel. There they are aided by Master Glimfeather the Owl and a Parliament of his fellow talking owls (a pun on Chaucer's Parlement of Foules, and a nod toward "parliament" as a collective noun for owls, as "exaltation" is for larks). The owls explain that Rilian disappeared while searching for the green serpent that killed his mother; they believe that he is now under the spell of an enchantress he had seen in the forest while searching for the serpant. As Jill and Eustace journey toward the far north of Narnia, they acquire a companion and guide, a gloomy but stalwart Marsh-wiggle, fittingly named Puddleglum.
Aslan makes no further appearance until the end of the story, but his Signs prove central to the quest, and belief in Aslan plays a crucial part in defeating the Lady of the Green Kirtle, who tries to destroy the children's belief in the reality of Narnia. The children manage to rescue Rilian, and they return him to Narnia just in time to meet his father who dies shortly afterwards.
In the end, Aslan sends Jill and Eustace back to our world, and aided by a rejuvenated Caspian, helps them repay the school bullies — and make the school better in the process. Aslan shows himself to the bullies, who, seeing only what they take to be a wild lion, are severely shaken. But no one believes their story, as the only other witnesses are Jill, Eustace and Caspian.


A mission of mercy sends two children to a magical world in another dimension in this made-for-TV fantasy adventure for the family. Eustace (David Thwaites) and Jill (Camilla Power) are two misfit schoolchildren who discover that a garden shed on the school's grounds is actually a gateway to the magical land of Narnia. Eustance had visited Narnia years before, and is troubled to discover King Caspian (Geoffrey Russell) has aged considerably. Caspian is troubled by the disappearance of his son, Prince Rilian (Richard Henders), who had been kidnapped years earlier. With the help of the King's helper Puddlegum (Tom Baker) and the enchanted lion Aslan (voice of Alisa Berk), Eustace and Jill set out to find the lost prince and reunite him with his father. Produced by the BBC (where it originally aired as a mini-series), The Silver Chair was based on The Chronicles Of Narnia stories by C.S. Lewis. Mark Deming.