Episode #1.1
- Episode aired Nov 13, 1988
- 29m
Evacuated to a big house in the country, four children discover a mysterious wardrobe which serves as a portal to another world.Evacuated to a big house in the country, four children discover a mysterious wardrobe which serves as a portal to another world.Evacuated to a big house in the country, four children discover a mysterious wardrobe which serves as a portal to another world.
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Storyline
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- Quotes
Edmund Pevensie: WHY did we have to go? I'd much rather stay in London and see the war!
Peter Pevensie: This war is going to be very nasty, Edmund! Which is why we're all being sent away!
Edmund Pevensie: Spoil-sports grownups...
Susan Pevensie: They're doing it for our sakes, Edmund! When the bombs stop falling on London...
Lucy: [turns to Susan, and clutches her arm] I wish Mother and Nanny could've come with us...
Edmund Pevensie: Well, I don't think it's fair. They'd be right there! In all the excitement!
Peter Pevensie: All that danger, you mean! Don't talk such a tosh...
Susan Pevensie: We are lucky, Edmund! We're going away deep into the countryside, where we'll be safe!
Edmund Pevensie: Yes. And you know WHY we'll be safe! Because in the country, NOTHING ever happens!
BBC's version of 'The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe', the first of four BBC Narnia adaptations, was a big favourite in our whole household when younger. We particularly remembered the main music theme, the music overall, Aslan, The White Witch, that scary ending of the second episode, the first scene between the White Witch and Edmund and Lucy's dream sequence. Have been watching it again every now and again and am still quite fond of it and it still has the memorability factor, but there are elements throughout the adaptation that don't hold up and the faults have been more obvious through adult eyes.
This starts the adaptation off very nicely and does well in introducing one to the characters and the story. This is the episode actually that has the least amount of flaws.
Maybe a bit slow in spots and once Lucy leaves Narnia the episode isn't quite as strong.
Some of the costumes in Lucy's dream sequences did to me come over as under-budgeted.
However, did like the production values on the whole. Narnia looks both wondrous and foreboding, which is the exact effect it should have and one would be very happy living in that manor house. The second world war period detail is suitably evocative too, and it's all nicely photographed. Coming off most memorably here is the music. It is a beautifully orchestrated and charming music score, that comes off best in the introduction to Narnia and the dream sequence. Making even more of an impression is the theme tune, one of those childhood main themes once heard never forgotten.
From this very first episode, it is a very faithfully adapted adaptation. Almost word for word, though the line delivery tends to vary, and all the crucial scenes intact. Lucy and Mr Tumnus is one of the book's highlights and is here, the best thing about this episode. The ending to the episode always leaves a big impression on me too, talk about evoking the chills without saying a thing. The storytelling has a nice charm to it and always has engaged me.
Performances vary, though have never had anywhere near as much of a problem with them as others do. Jonathan R. Scott comes off best of the Pevensie children. Despite being too old for Lucy, am not going to join those who make very personal comments about Sophie Wilcox. The best performances of the episode belong to Michael Aldridge (know him best as Seymour from 'Last of the Summer Wine'), perfect as the professor, and Jeffrey Perry as a similarly textbook, in a good way, Tumnus. Maureen Morris is quite creepy as Mrs MacReady.
In conclusion, nice start to a childhood favourite. 8/10
- TheLittleSongbird
- Jun 28, 2019
Details
- Runtime29 minutes