A few months ago my friend Matt gave me radio dramas of four of The Chronicles of Narnia. He had been given a whole set as a gift, and so the four he already owned, he gave to me. These include The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; Prince Caspian; The Horse and His Boy; and The Last Battle. I have been listening to these for the last four or five weeks when I ran on the treadmill. They are well done on the whole. My biggest gripe is that the actor voicing Aslan tends to over-act (he drawsssss out sylablessssss dramatically while changing volume at the same time – it is an odd effect). Of course, since in my mind Aslan clearly has the voice of James Earl Jones, any actor was going to have a hard time playing him.
I’m almost finished with the series, and have two observations about The Last Battle:
1) High King Peter of Narnia keeps the keys that lock the door to Aslan’s country when Narnia ends. He is also the High King above all kings of Narnia. It dawned on me today that his name is not accidental (Peter was given the “keys” to heaven, was the greatest of the apostles and was the “rock” that the church was built on).
2) Having a book dramatized or read to you is interesting. Take this as an example. I heard (when talking about King Tirian, when we first meet him), “There was no one with him that spring morning except his dearest friend, Jewel the eunuch.” That is a very odd thing to have in a book meant to be read by children. I know C.S. Lewis was widely read and all, but it still struck me as a strange choice to have in the book. It wasn’t until a few minutes later that I realized it was Jewel the unicorn.
What does it say that your biblically ignorant brother read the words “Peter” and “keys” and thought – oh, of course! Peter/keys/heaven. Before I even finished the sentence…
My mom read the Narnia series to me 3 times while I was growing up, so Aslan sounds alot like my mom.
Yeahhhhhh….Ashley Quigg and I compared the Aslan voice-actor to Davy Jones from the Second Pirates of the Carribbean. Just you watch! You’ll see, and be ruined forever.
“voice-actor to Davy Jones” Bill Nighy – what a fun actor.
Interesting that most (SPOOONNN excepted) would think of Aslan as deep-voiced. Why? What is it that makes us respect deep, sonorous voices? Why couldn’t Aslan be a reedy tenor with a bronx or Chicago south side accent? “Dat dere witch! Ooo, I’ll show her a thing or two or tree! Right after da Sox game.”
Historical note, only tangentially related: in early cantatas (think Bach Sr.) Jesus was sung by a bass. Over time (thanks to opera), basses came to do more “dark” parts (think Mephitopholes) and tenors became viewed as “heroic”. (Baritones often get the comic relief parts…) So it can be a bit odd, to those used to opera, to hear the part of Jesus sung by a bass.
What I took away from the Last Battle was a real indignation that anyone would thing the fake Aslan was the really him. It really solidified the whole anti-Christ thing for me.