The Chronicles of Narnia - The Silver Chair

The final instalment in the trilogy of Narnia sees us finally taking leave of the Pevensie children of the first two books and taking up with Eustace and a school friend of his, Jill Pole. As with the others in the set, the special effects here are the specialty of a TV budget in 1990 and are hopelessly antiquated today in 2004. However, the story is the true rock of the series as C.S. Lewis’ beloved Narnia is brought to colourful life.

I never got as far as this book in my school days when we were made to read the first book, the classic The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The second volumes just didn’t hold the same appeal to me with the original cast members disappearing into the ether. Kinda like watching a series that starts out so well (i.e. Highlander, say) disintegrate into a steaming pile of shit as the characters are re-written and added to in order to make the film fly. Which it rarely does. Which is why you can buy a lot of films on DVD in the bargain bins that feature numerals after their title. Bloodsport 4, for example, or Hellraiser 5 or Friday the 13th Part (insert whatever number they’re up to this week).

"Lie there in ruin, vile engine of sorcery!"

However, this book tells a story in the same manner of the other Narnian tales and while not as well-scripted this time around, is still a pretty cool story. Tom Baker, my favourite Doctor Who, turns up in a sort of amphibian Marvin the Paranoid Android, but is as bland a character as could possibly be devised. And he plays a Marshwiggle, which sounds like fun too.

Before dictating the episode list, I might state that the encounters here for special effects were decidedly lessened which helps the overall modernity of the show. That being said, there are still some totally bogus moments of special effects that are fairly laughable. The over-saturated and spoiled special effects parts of our brains might find it difficult to see through the budget effects here, but any real lover of the series will no doubt be able to ignore this minor foible.

• Episode One: Jill and Eustace arrive in Narnia. Eustace disappears while Jill is given instructions by Aslan to find Prince Rillian, the heir to the dying Prince Caspian’s throne.
• Episode Two: Jill and Eustace meet the Marshwiggle Puddleglum and they begin their quest.
• Episode Three: After avoiding the bad giants, the gang enter the Giant City on the advice of the Lady of the Green Kertle.
• Episode Four: The team go under the city of the giants to avoid being eaten and encounter the dwellers of the Underworld.
• Episode Five: The group are taken to the partner of the Lady of the Green Kertle, a king who suffers fits and must be lashed to a Silver Chair each evening.
• Episode Six: The team discover the secret of the Silver Chair but may be too late to save themselves from the collapsing Underworld.

This show looks pretty much exactly like the others in the series (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian). Made for TV, the aspect ratio is naturally 4:3, and it looks a lot like you would expect from the BBC. There are some moments of light drag and macro blocking, but these are as scarce as they are in the others. Green screen residue is perhaps a little more common here and feels almost as if the whole thing was getting tiresome by now and the creators said, "That’ll do." However, the rest look fine with even colours, true flesh tones and moderate shadow detail.

Dolby Digital 2.0 of course, but this does the job more than adequately. Dialogue is fairly well spoken but, as noted, the scripting seems a little more laboured here, again as if the tiring crew weren’t too concerned with how it sounded in the end. This is perhaps the most disappointing part of the series (OK, after special effects) here on Disc Three; the feeling of "Let’s just get it done". About the only one with any energy is newcomer Camilla Power playing Jill. A very enthusiastic performance from her makes her easily the most interesting character in the whole piece.

Music is again scored by Geoffrey Burgon utilising riffs from an overall score of the whole series and it suits nicely with a medieval sort of whimsical feeling to it. The overall soundscape is pretty much the same as the other releases in the series and sounds okay.

Just a photo gallery which is in keeping with limited extras afforded this set. There are 22 pics of stills and posed promo pieces on top of the nicely animated menus that are all similarly themed.

While this is the last of three six-episode discs, it isn’t the most rounded nor the most enthusiastic. With only three real central characters and two of them being grumpy most of the time, the only range of dynamic comes from Camilla Power as noted above. However, this collection is a nice way to continue the story for anyone following the series (or fondly remembering them from the late ‘80s to early ‘90s). The presentation is equal to that of the other releases, although the mildly hurried effects in parts are slightly less engaging than the first two releases.

All that aside, any kids who have been enthralled by these classic novels will find themselves enjoying this chapter as much as they have the others.