Since I am in general a Narnian
Purist Book fan, you would probably expect me to be against Narnia Netflix spin
off series (Any series that did not follow the Narnia books but, instead
created it’s own story, which I guess they did with the VODT movie but, most people
just say they did a bad job of following the story they started.), but, this is
not exactly true.
I think that you can do it well if
you follow certain rules. As such since it is going to Netflix and I expect
them to eventually do this because of the way Narnia was marketed to them by
having ‘‘3,000 characters’’ (not even close to that many characters named in
the 7 books),and being a ‘‘universe’’.
With that in mind, I would like to
give the Netflix fanfiction spin-off series, a chance to be loved by created a
list of rules, they should follow in keep in mind while they write scripts,
cast actors and film.
C.S. Lewis was not against fan
fiction, in fact, if they ever want to finish Susan’s story (since he never
told us her ending) they would be more than welcome to.
But, here are the rules:
1. Anything unNarnian should be kept out of Narnia. (such as, certain sins that are never mentioned in the series, those would be very weird and come off as trying to send a message about today’s culture in Narnia, when they are not the same.)
2. Flesh out what Lewis left out. (example: Susan's story ending could be a spin off series or most likely a movie.)
3.
All the course of History, Narnia and
Our World must stay the same.
4.
Cannonical to the books Lewis created.
(All of the boundaries that Lewis created in the Chronicles must stay the same,
and no extra trips to Narnia can be made other than the trips mentioned in the
series. Characters can be added as long as they do not change the follow of the
story, the series of events, or the character of other characters in the
series)
(Of
course, I would not want them to make anything like Anne with an E series on
Netflix, but, this can barely be called an adaptation anymore, it strays so far
from the material and changes the characters a whole lot. I am against anything
along those lines.)
Note: Calormens for the most part hate Narnians and Archenlanders, Narnians and Archenlanders have no problems them, as seen in the Horse and His Boy as Susan almost marries one, and Shasta and Aravis marry and their son is the best King of Archenland. (Shasta is an Archenlander Prince and Aravis part of the ruling house of Calormen.)
So, racism does occur (Calormens are a
different shade of skin than the Narnians and Archenlaners but, it is only from
the Calormen’s side, certain evil dwarfs are racist against all Telemarines
because they are Telemarines and there are slaves but, not in Narnia only in
countries that are not Narnia or Archenland, and they are not strickly sold
because of their shade of skin but, rather their social status in the Lone
Islands before it was banished and Calormen. If all of this is understood, racism
may be present in the Netflix series.)
Keeping those rules in mind
here are some ideas for Narnia Netflix Spin-off ideas:
1. King Frank and Queen Helen series (building a
kingdom, raising their kids)
2. The Golden Age of Narnia series (The Pevensies
ruling, Corin gets a girl, Cor and Aravis ruling, Ram the Great, ends with the
Telmarines taking over, Queen Swanwhite. Lord Peridan)
3. The Seven Friends of Narnia series (Living life
in the UK. Jill Pole and Eustace meet the other friends of Narnia, school life,
Jill Pole takes archery lessons, etc.)
4. Susan series(Susan dealing with the aftermath of the traincrash) (this spin-off can be darker and gritter and rated differently than the rest, and since it includes our world can include issues not found in the rest of the series.
It would be best for the series to try to include
Lewis’ salvation story in essence in Susan’s story or have Susan meet Lewis
(the narrator of the books) and tell him about their time spent in Narnia
except for the Last Battle after she realizes they were not just stories they
made up as children. Although, now that I think about it, Lewis or Susan could
see what happens in The Last Battle through a dream and then record all that
happens down in a book.)
