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- The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian - Special Edition
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian - Special Edition
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Updated
Faneditor Name:
Original Movie/Show Title:
Fanedit Type:
Original Release Date:
2008
Original Running Time:
150 minutes
Fanedit Release Date:
Fanedit Running Time:
122 minutes
Time Cut:
30 minutes
Time Added:
2 minutes
Subtitles Available:
Available in HD:
Additional Links:
Synopsis:
Beyond the normal trims for pacing and likability, this edit removes the most contentious elements of the original film, the Castle Raid and Susan/Caspian “romance” not found in the book.
Intention:
Although I enjoyed The Lion, the Witch and Wardrobe as a child, it was not until many years later that I got around to seeing its sequels, when I was well out of the target audience age range! But even if I had grown up with these two films I don’t think I would have had the same fond memories for them, on my first viewing of Prince Caspian I felt that it dragged a fair bit and that the older siblings were just a bit more surly than they needed to be.
I then came across SoboFilms’ recut, while very interesting I felt that there were certain things I would do differently, and this edit represents my attempt to carry this out. Apart from cutting out half an hour (19 minutes of which is the Castle Raid and its aftermath), there are numerous subtle trims and instances of dialogue muting as well as a little scene re-arrangement. I feel that the film is much more enjoyable now, even quite thoughtful with its themes of attachment to the past now less obscured.
I then came across SoboFilms’ recut, while very interesting I felt that there were certain things I would do differently, and this edit represents my attempt to carry this out. Apart from cutting out half an hour (19 minutes of which is the Castle Raid and its aftermath), there are numerous subtle trims and instances of dialogue muting as well as a little scene re-arrangement. I feel that the film is much more enjoyable now, even quite thoughtful with its themes of attachment to the past now less obscured.
Special Thanks:
Thanks again to TomH1138 and theomega for their interest and assistance, as well as SoboFilms for their edit “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian ~Book Cut~”, which showed me that the ideas I had in mind were achievable.
Release Information:
Digital
Editing Details:
• Even though one of the themes is how the Pevensies are having difficulty adapting to life on Earth after decades as Kings and Queens of Narnia, I felt that the older siblings (Peter and Susan) needed to be a little more likeable. Some extraneous actions and dialogue (such as them talking back) has been removed, by either cutting scenes or muting select parts of the audio.
• Remove the two most complained about non-book additions
o The Castle Raid, as well as dragging the film out (they end up back where they started, only now worse off) it served to make the characters less sympathetic to the audience.
o The “romance” between Susan and Caspian is completely unnecessary and feels very flat.
• Out of the nearly nine minutes of deleted/extended scenes a large portion have unfinished VFX (especially wish that the "Picking Marshals" scene could have been used, SoboFilms included it in their edit but I just found the look too distracting). Out of those remaining, the deleted scene where Peter and Susan discover Caspian's baby cousin occurs during the now-deleted Castle Raid, and the extended scene showing the early part of Caspian's flight at the start went on a beat too long. That left just two, which I think positively contribute to the film.
• Some scenes have been re-ordered to try and pick up the pace of the early part of the film, which I felt dragged heavily in the original. These take place right at the start of the film and about a 30-40 minutes in: interestingly, the first bit of rearrangement increases intercutting between different groups of characters and the second bit decreases it!
Scene re-ordering breakdown:
• Opening (original)
o Caspian escaping on horseback until he hits his head.
o He is dragged for a while until coming loose from his horse in the middle of a clearing.
o He is found by both the Narnians and the Telmarine soldiers chasing him, so he blows the horn.
o The Pevensies are introduced in London.
o The Pevensies are transported to Narnia
• Opening (edited)
o Caspian escaping on horseback until he hits his head.
o (DELETED) He is dragged for a while until coming loose from his horse in the middle of a clearing.
o The Pevensies are introduced in London.
o Caspian is found by both the Narnians and the Telmarine soldiers chasing him, so he blows the horn.
o The Pevensies are transported to Narnia.
• End of first act (original)
o Pevensies and Trumpkin row to the shore.
o Lucy approaches a bear that turns out to be savage.
o Caspian, Nikkabrik and Trufflehunter are ambushed.
o Pevensies and Trumpkin walk to a dead end.
o Night meeting concerning Caspian’s fate.
• End of first act (edited)
o Pevensies and Trumpkin row to the shore.
o (DELETED) Lucy approaches a bear that turns out to be savage.
o Pevensies and Trumpkin walk to a dead end.
o Caspian, Nikkabrik and Trufflehunter are ambushed.
o Night meeting concerning Caspian’s fate.
Exported in Full HD with 5.1 audio.
• Remove the two most complained about non-book additions
o The Castle Raid, as well as dragging the film out (they end up back where they started, only now worse off) it served to make the characters less sympathetic to the audience.
o The “romance” between Susan and Caspian is completely unnecessary and feels very flat.
• Out of the nearly nine minutes of deleted/extended scenes a large portion have unfinished VFX (especially wish that the "Picking Marshals" scene could have been used, SoboFilms included it in their edit but I just found the look too distracting). Out of those remaining, the deleted scene where Peter and Susan discover Caspian's baby cousin occurs during the now-deleted Castle Raid, and the extended scene showing the early part of Caspian's flight at the start went on a beat too long. That left just two, which I think positively contribute to the film.
• Some scenes have been re-ordered to try and pick up the pace of the early part of the film, which I felt dragged heavily in the original. These take place right at the start of the film and about a 30-40 minutes in: interestingly, the first bit of rearrangement increases intercutting between different groups of characters and the second bit decreases it!
Scene re-ordering breakdown:
• Opening (original)
o Caspian escaping on horseback until he hits his head.
o He is dragged for a while until coming loose from his horse in the middle of a clearing.
o He is found by both the Narnians and the Telmarine soldiers chasing him, so he blows the horn.
o The Pevensies are introduced in London.
o The Pevensies are transported to Narnia
• Opening (edited)
o Caspian escaping on horseback until he hits his head.
o (DELETED) He is dragged for a while until coming loose from his horse in the middle of a clearing.
o The Pevensies are introduced in London.
o Caspian is found by both the Narnians and the Telmarine soldiers chasing him, so he blows the horn.
o The Pevensies are transported to Narnia.
• End of first act (original)
o Pevensies and Trumpkin row to the shore.
o Lucy approaches a bear that turns out to be savage.
o Caspian, Nikkabrik and Trufflehunter are ambushed.
o Pevensies and Trumpkin walk to a dead end.
o Night meeting concerning Caspian’s fate.
• End of first act (edited)
o Pevensies and Trumpkin row to the shore.
o (DELETED) Lucy approaches a bear that turns out to be savage.
o Pevensies and Trumpkin walk to a dead end.
o Caspian, Nikkabrik and Trufflehunter are ambushed.
o Night meeting concerning Caspian’s fate.
Exported in Full HD with 5.1 audio.
Cuts and Additions:
• 0:00:00 Added fanedit disclaimer and personal plate.
• 0:01:02 Added sound of baby crying, louder when cutting to indoor shot.
• 0:01:08 Removed birth scene and Miraz giving orders, wanted to cut straight to the action and have a bit more mystery (idea from SoboFilms’ cut).
• 0:01:50 Added shot of Prunaprismia (Capian’s aunt) holding her baby as Dr. Cornelius tells Caspian of the birth, added zoom blur distortion effect to disconnect this visual from the immediate action and hopefully make it jar less.
• 0:06:24 Cut to black when Caspian hits his head on the branch, implying that he has been knocked out and off the saddle (we hear him hit the ground).
• 0:06:22 Cut from black to Lucy nearly being run over, this sacrifices the transition between the two horn sounds but I think the scene of Caspian’s escape originally went on a few beats too long.
• 0:06:30 Added screenwriter credits over Lucy running across the road (originally in now-deleted scene of Caspian being dragged by his horse).
• 0:06:37 Added director credit over Susan reading a magazine (originally in now-deleted scene of Caspian being dragged by his horse).
• 0:06:40 Deleted scene where a boy tries to talk to Susan and she is dismissive of him.
• 0:06:44 Deleted glances between Susan and boy.
• 0:08:13 Deleted Peter’s condescending “No.”
• 0:08:16 Deleted Peter’s “That’s when I hit him.”
• 0:08:25 Deleted Peter’s “But I wasn’t always!”
• 0:08:38 Cut from Susan saying “It’s no use pretending any different.” To Caspian lying unconscious in the clearing.
• 0:09:28 Cut from Caspian being hit by Nikkabrik to Lucy feeling that she has been pinched, the blowing of the horn to the children being summoned should hopefully now play linearly in the mind of the audience rather than feeling fragmented. Cuts out the bit where Susan notices the boy that tried talking her approaching on the platform, shot repurposed at the edit’s end.
• 0:11:48 Added the deleted scene of the children climbing up to the ruins, nice bit of light-hearted interaction, cut slightly short at the end to best blend the music to the next scene.
• 0:13:43 Cut Lucy’s “Don’t you see?” and Peter’s responding “What?”, feels too on the nose and he does sound a bit too oblivious.
• 0:14:11 Deleted wide shot of the Telmarine castle that comes immediately after the one of Cair Paravel, breaks the flow to the upcoming deleted scene. Added extended scene of Miraz and Prunaprismia with their newborn son on the balcony (colour-matched to original), the castle raid has been deleted so this helps justify to the audience why she is eager to leave Narnia at the end of the film.
• 0:24:58 Muted Susan saying “I think you probably could have left off the last bit.”, sounds too modern to me, Trumpkin’s “Probably” is now a remark at Peter’s statement instead of hers.
• 0:26:02 Cut Susan’s “What horn?”
• 0:33:34 Cut out the scene with the wild bear, while it has a basis in the book it slowed things right down here and shows Susan failing to protect Lucy from an obvious threat (takes place over a shorter time period in the book so her hesitation is for a moment rather than about 10 seconds), Narnia has already been well established as heavily changed. We now go from Trumpkin and the children disembarking from the boat to them walking through the forest, the scene of Caspian, Nikkabrik and Trufflehunter being ambushed is pushed later.
• 0:34:17 Cut Peter’s patronising “That explains it then, you’re mistaken.”, he simply turns away and continues after Trumpkin speaks.
• 0:34:47 Cut Peter’s childish “Well we weren’t lost.”
• 0:34:51 Cut Susan’s annoyed “I’d rather that than walking.”
• 0:35:18 Cut Peter mentioning the (now deleted) bear.
• 0:36:09 The scene where Caspian, Nikkabrik and Trufflehunter are ambushed now takes place.
• 0:40:11 Smash cut from Caspian, Nikkabrik and Trufflehunter being met by Reepicheep and the centaurs to the night meeting where Caspian is argued over.
• 0:44:44 Cut Lucy saying “I wish you’d all stop trying to act like grown-ups.”
• 0:44:48 Cut Trumpkins “I am a grown up.”
• 0:49:15 Muted Lucy saying “I missed you so much.” to Aslan.
• 0:52:11 Shortened look between Susan and Caspian.
• 0:52:25 Cut Lucy’s “Oh my gosh” before “...he is so cute.”
• 1:00:32 Trimmed Caspian looking at Susan; cut Susan looking at Caspian and trimmed Peter looking annoyed.
• 1:00:56 Cut segment between Reepicheep’s “You know where I stand sire” and Lucy saying “You’re all acting like there’s only two options.”, Peter no longer asks if the army can handle the guards. The aim of these cuts is to preserve the scene by making it look like they cannot come to a decision, justifying including the scene where the White Witch is nearly resurrected.
• 1:01:20 Cut from end of the meeting to the Telmarines building the bridge and Miraz being crowned, no more castle raid and aftermath.
• 1:02:51 Cut scene where Nikkabrik’s finds Caspian looking at the wall paintings after “You so glad of that magic horn now boy?”, as this mentions the losses incurred in the now-deleted raid and its revelations.
• 1:02:56 Cut Nikkabrik saying “It failed.” after “You tried one ancient power.” these words feel a bit too definitive (even if only in my mind) for describing (in this edit, with the failed raid removed) a meeting that came to a standstill.
• 1:04:01 Cut Caspian asking “And you can guarantee Miraz’s death?” and the reply “And more”. Apart from this question no longer making sense (would now appear suddenly bloodthirsty), it makes the scene feel more like Caspian is being swept up in the moment rather than thinking rationally.
• 1:07:07 Cut the bit with Peter and the White Witch after she says “I’ve missed you.”, he no longer lowers his sword and appears tempted as Edmund intercedes quicker.
• 1:07:38 Cut the scene where Caspian talks to Dr Cornelius (now that the castle raid has been deleted he hasn’t been rescued), fade from the image of Aslan after the Stone Table fight scene to Peter looking at the same image some time later, when Lucy comes to find him and he expresses his self-doubts.
• 1:09:09 Zoomed in on a group shot to remove Dr Cornelius. Upscaled image and added grain to try and make it blend with surrounding footage.
• 1:09:55 Cut Bulgy Bear’s “For Aslan.” As this shot contains Dr Cornelius.
• 1:10:08 Trimmed, cut and pasted Caspian pitching in his idea, hiding Dr Cornelius and he no longer calls Miraz being a murderer (just a tyrant).
• 1:10:35 Remove Miraz’s “No. They are much too noble for that.” since this no longer makes sense with the castle raid removed.
• 1:11:11 Removed Edmund’s “I know, it’s confusing.”, goes that little bit too far.
• 1:12:50 Removed exchange between Susan and Caspian about the horn.
• 1:12:54 Removed dialogue (via AI extraction) during shot where Lucy and Susan are riding out, having just left Caspian.
• 1:16:59 Cut two shots of Susan and Caspian looking at each other (including the dialogue “Are you sure you don’t need that horn?”) so she gets on his horse much faster.
• 1:23:58 Cut Miraz’s dialogue as he is on his knees at sword point before Caspian, makes no sense with castle raid gone and I think it plays more powerfully anyway.
• 1:24:07 Cut Caspian’s “Not one like you.”
• 1:42:58 Softened Aslan roaring at Trumpkin, this just seemed mean on Aslan’s part! Thanks to theomega for the idea.
• 1:42:59 Cut the shot of Trumpkin flinching at Aslan’s roar, it’s much softer now.
• 1:44:19 Cut two shots of Susan and Caspian looking at each other, slightly shortened following shot to get better audio blend.
• 1:46:48 Muted Edmund’s “We will?”
• 1:48:15 Started the ending song “The Call” early by blending different audio elements.
• 1:48:28 Cut Susan and Caspian’s final interaction.
• 1:49:19 Inserted a shot from now-deleted bit (from the beginning) of the boy that tried talking to Susan walking on the platform, to allow for the later shot of him talking on the train to be cut. Upscaled image and added grain to try and make it blend with surrounding footage.
• 1:49:21 Pushed back footage of the train coming to a stop to allow (previously mentioned) deletion of the boy talking, train sounds are off sync compared to image but don’t appear unnatural.
• 1:49:35 Muted centre channel of audio segment with the boy talking “Aren’t you coming Phyllis?” and replaced with side-channel equivalent.
• 1:49:37 Video and audio back in original sync.
• 0:01:02 Added sound of baby crying, louder when cutting to indoor shot.
• 0:01:08 Removed birth scene and Miraz giving orders, wanted to cut straight to the action and have a bit more mystery (idea from SoboFilms’ cut).
• 0:01:50 Added shot of Prunaprismia (Capian’s aunt) holding her baby as Dr. Cornelius tells Caspian of the birth, added zoom blur distortion effect to disconnect this visual from the immediate action and hopefully make it jar less.
• 0:06:24 Cut to black when Caspian hits his head on the branch, implying that he has been knocked out and off the saddle (we hear him hit the ground).
• 0:06:22 Cut from black to Lucy nearly being run over, this sacrifices the transition between the two horn sounds but I think the scene of Caspian’s escape originally went on a few beats too long.
• 0:06:30 Added screenwriter credits over Lucy running across the road (originally in now-deleted scene of Caspian being dragged by his horse).
• 0:06:37 Added director credit over Susan reading a magazine (originally in now-deleted scene of Caspian being dragged by his horse).
• 0:06:40 Deleted scene where a boy tries to talk to Susan and she is dismissive of him.
• 0:06:44 Deleted glances between Susan and boy.
• 0:08:13 Deleted Peter’s condescending “No.”
• 0:08:16 Deleted Peter’s “That’s when I hit him.”
• 0:08:25 Deleted Peter’s “But I wasn’t always!”
• 0:08:38 Cut from Susan saying “It’s no use pretending any different.” To Caspian lying unconscious in the clearing.
• 0:09:28 Cut from Caspian being hit by Nikkabrik to Lucy feeling that she has been pinched, the blowing of the horn to the children being summoned should hopefully now play linearly in the mind of the audience rather than feeling fragmented. Cuts out the bit where Susan notices the boy that tried talking her approaching on the platform, shot repurposed at the edit’s end.
• 0:11:48 Added the deleted scene of the children climbing up to the ruins, nice bit of light-hearted interaction, cut slightly short at the end to best blend the music to the next scene.
• 0:13:43 Cut Lucy’s “Don’t you see?” and Peter’s responding “What?”, feels too on the nose and he does sound a bit too oblivious.
• 0:14:11 Deleted wide shot of the Telmarine castle that comes immediately after the one of Cair Paravel, breaks the flow to the upcoming deleted scene. Added extended scene of Miraz and Prunaprismia with their newborn son on the balcony (colour-matched to original), the castle raid has been deleted so this helps justify to the audience why she is eager to leave Narnia at the end of the film.
• 0:24:58 Muted Susan saying “I think you probably could have left off the last bit.”, sounds too modern to me, Trumpkin’s “Probably” is now a remark at Peter’s statement instead of hers.
• 0:26:02 Cut Susan’s “What horn?”
• 0:33:34 Cut out the scene with the wild bear, while it has a basis in the book it slowed things right down here and shows Susan failing to protect Lucy from an obvious threat (takes place over a shorter time period in the book so her hesitation is for a moment rather than about 10 seconds), Narnia has already been well established as heavily changed. We now go from Trumpkin and the children disembarking from the boat to them walking through the forest, the scene of Caspian, Nikkabrik and Trufflehunter being ambushed is pushed later.
• 0:34:17 Cut Peter’s patronising “That explains it then, you’re mistaken.”, he simply turns away and continues after Trumpkin speaks.
• 0:34:47 Cut Peter’s childish “Well we weren’t lost.”
• 0:34:51 Cut Susan’s annoyed “I’d rather that than walking.”
• 0:35:18 Cut Peter mentioning the (now deleted) bear.
• 0:36:09 The scene where Caspian, Nikkabrik and Trufflehunter are ambushed now takes place.
• 0:40:11 Smash cut from Caspian, Nikkabrik and Trufflehunter being met by Reepicheep and the centaurs to the night meeting where Caspian is argued over.
• 0:44:44 Cut Lucy saying “I wish you’d all stop trying to act like grown-ups.”
• 0:44:48 Cut Trumpkins “I am a grown up.”
• 0:49:15 Muted Lucy saying “I missed you so much.” to Aslan.
• 0:52:11 Shortened look between Susan and Caspian.
• 0:52:25 Cut Lucy’s “Oh my gosh” before “...he is so cute.”
• 1:00:32 Trimmed Caspian looking at Susan; cut Susan looking at Caspian and trimmed Peter looking annoyed.
• 1:00:56 Cut segment between Reepicheep’s “You know where I stand sire” and Lucy saying “You’re all acting like there’s only two options.”, Peter no longer asks if the army can handle the guards. The aim of these cuts is to preserve the scene by making it look like they cannot come to a decision, justifying including the scene where the White Witch is nearly resurrected.
• 1:01:20 Cut from end of the meeting to the Telmarines building the bridge and Miraz being crowned, no more castle raid and aftermath.
• 1:02:51 Cut scene where Nikkabrik’s finds Caspian looking at the wall paintings after “You so glad of that magic horn now boy?”, as this mentions the losses incurred in the now-deleted raid and its revelations.
• 1:02:56 Cut Nikkabrik saying “It failed.” after “You tried one ancient power.” these words feel a bit too definitive (even if only in my mind) for describing (in this edit, with the failed raid removed) a meeting that came to a standstill.
• 1:04:01 Cut Caspian asking “And you can guarantee Miraz’s death?” and the reply “And more”. Apart from this question no longer making sense (would now appear suddenly bloodthirsty), it makes the scene feel more like Caspian is being swept up in the moment rather than thinking rationally.
• 1:07:07 Cut the bit with Peter and the White Witch after she says “I’ve missed you.”, he no longer lowers his sword and appears tempted as Edmund intercedes quicker.
• 1:07:38 Cut the scene where Caspian talks to Dr Cornelius (now that the castle raid has been deleted he hasn’t been rescued), fade from the image of Aslan after the Stone Table fight scene to Peter looking at the same image some time later, when Lucy comes to find him and he expresses his self-doubts.
• 1:09:09 Zoomed in on a group shot to remove Dr Cornelius. Upscaled image and added grain to try and make it blend with surrounding footage.
• 1:09:55 Cut Bulgy Bear’s “For Aslan.” As this shot contains Dr Cornelius.
• 1:10:08 Trimmed, cut and pasted Caspian pitching in his idea, hiding Dr Cornelius and he no longer calls Miraz being a murderer (just a tyrant).
• 1:10:35 Remove Miraz’s “No. They are much too noble for that.” since this no longer makes sense with the castle raid removed.
• 1:11:11 Removed Edmund’s “I know, it’s confusing.”, goes that little bit too far.
• 1:12:50 Removed exchange between Susan and Caspian about the horn.
• 1:12:54 Removed dialogue (via AI extraction) during shot where Lucy and Susan are riding out, having just left Caspian.
• 1:16:59 Cut two shots of Susan and Caspian looking at each other (including the dialogue “Are you sure you don’t need that horn?”) so she gets on his horse much faster.
• 1:23:58 Cut Miraz’s dialogue as he is on his knees at sword point before Caspian, makes no sense with castle raid gone and I think it plays more powerfully anyway.
• 1:24:07 Cut Caspian’s “Not one like you.”
• 1:42:58 Softened Aslan roaring at Trumpkin, this just seemed mean on Aslan’s part! Thanks to theomega for the idea.
• 1:42:59 Cut the shot of Trumpkin flinching at Aslan’s roar, it’s much softer now.
• 1:44:19 Cut two shots of Susan and Caspian looking at each other, slightly shortened following shot to get better audio blend.
• 1:46:48 Muted Edmund’s “We will?”
• 1:48:15 Started the ending song “The Call” early by blending different audio elements.
• 1:48:28 Cut Susan and Caspian’s final interaction.
• 1:49:19 Inserted a shot from now-deleted bit (from the beginning) of the boy that tried talking to Susan walking on the platform, to allow for the later shot of him talking on the train to be cut. Upscaled image and added grain to try and make it blend with surrounding footage.
• 1:49:21 Pushed back footage of the train coming to a stop to allow (previously mentioned) deletion of the boy talking, train sounds are off sync compared to image but don’t appear unnatural.
• 1:49:35 Muted centre channel of audio segment with the boy talking “Aren’t you coming Phyllis?” and replaced with side-channel equivalent.
• 1:49:37 Video and audio back in original sync.
Faneditor Name:
Original Movie/Show Title:
Fanedit Type:
Original Release Date:
2008
Original Running Time:
150 minutes
Fanedit Release Date:
Fanedit Running Time:
122 minutes
Time Cut:
30 minutes
Time Added:
2 minutes
Subtitles Available:
Available in HD:
Additional Links:
Synopsis:
Beyond the normal trims for pacing and likability, this edit removes the most contentious elements of the original film, the Castle Raid and Susan/Caspian “romance” not found in the book.
Intention:
Although I enjoyed The Lion, the Witch and Wardrobe as a child, it was not until many years later that I got around to seeing its sequels, when I was well out of the target audience age range! But even if I had grown up with these two films I don’t think I would have had the same fond memories for them, on my first viewing of Prince Caspian I felt that it dragged a fair bit and that the older siblings were just a bit more surly than they needed to be.
I then came across SoboFilms’ recut, while very interesting I felt that there were certain things I would do differently, and this edit represents my attempt to carry this out. Apart from cutting out half an hour (19 minutes of which is the Castle Raid and its aftermath), there are numerous subtle trims and instances of dialogue muting as well as a little scene re-arrangement. I feel that the film is much more enjoyable now, even quite thoughtful with its themes of attachment to the past now less obscured.
I then came across SoboFilms’ recut, while very interesting I felt that there were certain things I would do differently, and this edit represents my attempt to carry this out. Apart from cutting out half an hour (19 minutes of which is the Castle Raid and its aftermath), there are numerous subtle trims and instances of dialogue muting as well as a little scene re-arrangement. I feel that the film is much more enjoyable now, even quite thoughtful with its themes of attachment to the past now less obscured.
Special Thanks:
Thanks again to TomH1138 and theomega for their interest and assistance, as well as SoboFilms for their edit “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian ~Book Cut~”, which showed me that the ideas I had in mind were achievable.
Release Information:
Digital
Editing Details:
• Even though one of the themes is how the Pevensies are having difficulty adapting to life on Earth after decades as Kings and Queens of Narnia, I felt that the older siblings (Peter and Susan) needed to be a little more likeable. Some extraneous actions and dialogue (such as them talking back) has been removed, by either cutting scenes or muting select parts of the audio.
• Remove the two most complained about non-book additions
o The Castle Raid, as well as dragging the film out (they end up back where they started, only now worse off) it served to make the characters less sympathetic to the audience.
o The “romance” between Susan and Caspian is completely unnecessary and feels very flat.
• Out of the nearly nine minutes of deleted/extended scenes a large portion have unfinished VFX (especially wish that the "Picking Marshals" scene could have been used, SoboFilms included it in their edit but I just found the look too distracting). Out of those remaining, the deleted scene where Peter and Susan discover Caspian's baby cousin occurs during the now-deleted Castle Raid, and the extended scene showing the early part of Caspian's flight at the start went on a beat too long. That left just two, which I think positively contribute to the film.
• Some scenes have been re-ordered to try and pick up the pace of the early part of the film, which I felt dragged heavily in the original. These take place right at the start of the film and about a 30-40 minutes in: interestingly, the first bit of rearrangement increases intercutting between different groups of characters and the second bit decreases it!
Scene re-ordering breakdown:
• Opening (original)
o Caspian escaping on horseback until he hits his head.
o He is dragged for a while until coming loose from his horse in the middle of a clearing.
o He is found by both the Narnians and the Telmarine soldiers chasing him, so he blows the horn.
o The Pevensies are introduced in London.
o The Pevensies are transported to Narnia
• Opening (edited)
o Caspian escaping on horseback until he hits his head.
o (DELETED) He is dragged for a while until coming loose from his horse in the middle of a clearing.
o The Pevensies are introduced in London.
o Caspian is found by both the Narnians and the Telmarine soldiers chasing him, so he blows the horn.
o The Pevensies are transported to Narnia.
• End of first act (original)
o Pevensies and Trumpkin row to the shore.
o Lucy approaches a bear that turns out to be savage.
o Caspian, Nikkabrik and Trufflehunter are ambushed.
o Pevensies and Trumpkin walk to a dead end.
o Night meeting concerning Caspian’s fate.
• End of first act (edited)
o Pevensies and Trumpkin row to the shore.
o (DELETED) Lucy approaches a bear that turns out to be savage.
o Pevensies and Trumpkin walk to a dead end.
o Caspian, Nikkabrik and Trufflehunter are ambushed.
o Night meeting concerning Caspian’s fate.
Exported in Full HD with 5.1 audio.
• Remove the two most complained about non-book additions
o The Castle Raid, as well as dragging the film out (they end up back where they started, only now worse off) it served to make the characters less sympathetic to the audience.
o The “romance” between Susan and Caspian is completely unnecessary and feels very flat.
• Out of the nearly nine minutes of deleted/extended scenes a large portion have unfinished VFX (especially wish that the "Picking Marshals" scene could have been used, SoboFilms included it in their edit but I just found the look too distracting). Out of those remaining, the deleted scene where Peter and Susan discover Caspian's baby cousin occurs during the now-deleted Castle Raid, and the extended scene showing the early part of Caspian's flight at the start went on a beat too long. That left just two, which I think positively contribute to the film.
• Some scenes have been re-ordered to try and pick up the pace of the early part of the film, which I felt dragged heavily in the original. These take place right at the start of the film and about a 30-40 minutes in: interestingly, the first bit of rearrangement increases intercutting between different groups of characters and the second bit decreases it!
Scene re-ordering breakdown:
• Opening (original)
o Caspian escaping on horseback until he hits his head.
o He is dragged for a while until coming loose from his horse in the middle of a clearing.
o He is found by both the Narnians and the Telmarine soldiers chasing him, so he blows the horn.
o The Pevensies are introduced in London.
o The Pevensies are transported to Narnia
• Opening (edited)
o Caspian escaping on horseback until he hits his head.
o (DELETED) He is dragged for a while until coming loose from his horse in the middle of a clearing.
o The Pevensies are introduced in London.
o Caspian is found by both the Narnians and the Telmarine soldiers chasing him, so he blows the horn.
o The Pevensies are transported to Narnia.
• End of first act (original)
o Pevensies and Trumpkin row to the shore.
o Lucy approaches a bear that turns out to be savage.
o Caspian, Nikkabrik and Trufflehunter are ambushed.
o Pevensies and Trumpkin walk to a dead end.
o Night meeting concerning Caspian’s fate.
• End of first act (edited)
o Pevensies and Trumpkin row to the shore.
o (DELETED) Lucy approaches a bear that turns out to be savage.
o Pevensies and Trumpkin walk to a dead end.
o Caspian, Nikkabrik and Trufflehunter are ambushed.
o Night meeting concerning Caspian’s fate.
Exported in Full HD with 5.1 audio.
Cuts and Additions:
• 0:00:00 Added fanedit disclaimer and personal plate.
• 0:01:02 Added sound of baby crying, louder when cutting to indoor shot.
• 0:01:08 Removed birth scene and Miraz giving orders, wanted to cut straight to the action and have a bit more mystery (idea from SoboFilms’ cut).
• 0:01:50 Added shot of Prunaprismia (Capian’s aunt) holding her baby as Dr. Cornelius tells Caspian of the birth, added zoom blur distortion effect to disconnect this visual from the immediate action and hopefully make it jar less.
• 0:06:24 Cut to black when Caspian hits his head on the branch, implying that he has been knocked out and off the saddle (we hear him hit the ground).
• 0:06:22 Cut from black to Lucy nearly being run over, this sacrifices the transition between the two horn sounds but I think the scene of Caspian’s escape originally went on a few beats too long.
• 0:06:30 Added screenwriter credits over Lucy running across the road (originally in now-deleted scene of Caspian being dragged by his horse).
• 0:06:37 Added director credit over Susan reading a magazine (originally in now-deleted scene of Caspian being dragged by his horse).
• 0:06:40 Deleted scene where a boy tries to talk to Susan and she is dismissive of him.
• 0:06:44 Deleted glances between Susan and boy.
• 0:08:13 Deleted Peter’s condescending “No.”
• 0:08:16 Deleted Peter’s “That’s when I hit him.”
• 0:08:25 Deleted Peter’s “But I wasn’t always!”
• 0:08:38 Cut from Susan saying “It’s no use pretending any different.” To Caspian lying unconscious in the clearing.
• 0:09:28 Cut from Caspian being hit by Nikkabrik to Lucy feeling that she has been pinched, the blowing of the horn to the children being summoned should hopefully now play linearly in the mind of the audience rather than feeling fragmented. Cuts out the bit where Susan notices the boy that tried talking her approaching on the platform, shot repurposed at the edit’s end.
• 0:11:48 Added the deleted scene of the children climbing up to the ruins, nice bit of light-hearted interaction, cut slightly short at the end to best blend the music to the next scene.
• 0:13:43 Cut Lucy’s “Don’t you see?” and Peter’s responding “What?”, feels too on the nose and he does sound a bit too oblivious.
• 0:14:11 Deleted wide shot of the Telmarine castle that comes immediately after the one of Cair Paravel, breaks the flow to the upcoming deleted scene. Added extended scene of Miraz and Prunaprismia with their newborn son on the balcony (colour-matched to original), the castle raid has been deleted so this helps justify to the audience why she is eager to leave Narnia at the end of the film.
• 0:24:58 Muted Susan saying “I think you probably could have left off the last bit.”, sounds too modern to me, Trumpkin’s “Probably” is now a remark at Peter’s statement instead of hers.
• 0:26:02 Cut Susan’s “What horn?”
• 0:33:34 Cut out the scene with the wild bear, while it has a basis in the book it slowed things right down here and shows Susan failing to protect Lucy from an obvious threat (takes place over a shorter time period in the book so her hesitation is for a moment rather than about 10 seconds), Narnia has already been well established as heavily changed. We now go from Trumpkin and the children disembarking from the boat to them walking through the forest, the scene of Caspian, Nikkabrik and Trufflehunter being ambushed is pushed later.
• 0:34:17 Cut Peter’s patronising “That explains it then, you’re mistaken.”, he simply turns away and continues after Trumpkin speaks.
• 0:34:47 Cut Peter’s childish “Well we weren’t lost.”
• 0:34:51 Cut Susan’s annoyed “I’d rather that than walking.”
• 0:35:18 Cut Peter mentioning the (now deleted) bear.
• 0:36:09 The scene where Caspian, Nikkabrik and Trufflehunter are ambushed now takes place.
• 0:40:11 Smash cut from Caspian, Nikkabrik and Trufflehunter being met by Reepicheep and the centaurs to the night meeting where Caspian is argued over.
• 0:44:44 Cut Lucy saying “I wish you’d all stop trying to act like grown-ups.”
• 0:44:48 Cut Trumpkins “I am a grown up.”
• 0:49:15 Muted Lucy saying “I missed you so much.” to Aslan.
• 0:52:11 Shortened look between Susan and Caspian.
• 0:52:25 Cut Lucy’s “Oh my gosh” before “...he is so cute.”
• 1:00:32 Trimmed Caspian looking at Susan; cut Susan looking at Caspian and trimmed Peter looking annoyed.
• 1:00:56 Cut segment between Reepicheep’s “You know where I stand sire” and Lucy saying “You’re all acting like there’s only two options.”, Peter no longer asks if the army can handle the guards. The aim of these cuts is to preserve the scene by making it look like they cannot come to a decision, justifying including the scene where the White Witch is nearly resurrected.
• 1:01:20 Cut from end of the meeting to the Telmarines building the bridge and Miraz being crowned, no more castle raid and aftermath.
• 1:02:51 Cut scene where Nikkabrik’s finds Caspian looking at the wall paintings after “You so glad of that magic horn now boy?”, as this mentions the losses incurred in the now-deleted raid and its revelations.
• 1:02:56 Cut Nikkabrik saying “It failed.” after “You tried one ancient power.” these words feel a bit too definitive (even if only in my mind) for describing (in this edit, with the failed raid removed) a meeting that came to a standstill.
• 1:04:01 Cut Caspian asking “And you can guarantee Miraz’s death?” and the reply “And more”. Apart from this question no longer making sense (would now appear suddenly bloodthirsty), it makes the scene feel more like Caspian is being swept up in the moment rather than thinking rationally.
• 1:07:07 Cut the bit with Peter and the White Witch after she says “I’ve missed you.”, he no longer lowers his sword and appears tempted as Edmund intercedes quicker.
• 1:07:38 Cut the scene where Caspian talks to Dr Cornelius (now that the castle raid has been deleted he hasn’t been rescued), fade from the image of Aslan after the Stone Table fight scene to Peter looking at the same image some time later, when Lucy comes to find him and he expresses his self-doubts.
• 1:09:09 Zoomed in on a group shot to remove Dr Cornelius. Upscaled image and added grain to try and make it blend with surrounding footage.
• 1:09:55 Cut Bulgy Bear’s “For Aslan.” As this shot contains Dr Cornelius.
• 1:10:08 Trimmed, cut and pasted Caspian pitching in his idea, hiding Dr Cornelius and he no longer calls Miraz being a murderer (just a tyrant).
• 1:10:35 Remove Miraz’s “No. They are much too noble for that.” since this no longer makes sense with the castle raid removed.
• 1:11:11 Removed Edmund’s “I know, it’s confusing.”, goes that little bit too far.
• 1:12:50 Removed exchange between Susan and Caspian about the horn.
• 1:12:54 Removed dialogue (via AI extraction) during shot where Lucy and Susan are riding out, having just left Caspian.
• 1:16:59 Cut two shots of Susan and Caspian looking at each other (including the dialogue “Are you sure you don’t need that horn?”) so she gets on his horse much faster.
• 1:23:58 Cut Miraz’s dialogue as he is on his knees at sword point before Caspian, makes no sense with castle raid gone and I think it plays more powerfully anyway.
• 1:24:07 Cut Caspian’s “Not one like you.”
• 1:42:58 Softened Aslan roaring at Trumpkin, this just seemed mean on Aslan’s part! Thanks to theomega for the idea.
• 1:42:59 Cut the shot of Trumpkin flinching at Aslan’s roar, it’s much softer now.
• 1:44:19 Cut two shots of Susan and Caspian looking at each other, slightly shortened following shot to get better audio blend.
• 1:46:48 Muted Edmund’s “We will?”
• 1:48:15 Started the ending song “The Call” early by blending different audio elements.
• 1:48:28 Cut Susan and Caspian’s final interaction.
• 1:49:19 Inserted a shot from now-deleted bit (from the beginning) of the boy that tried talking to Susan walking on the platform, to allow for the later shot of him talking on the train to be cut. Upscaled image and added grain to try and make it blend with surrounding footage.
• 1:49:21 Pushed back footage of the train coming to a stop to allow (previously mentioned) deletion of the boy talking, train sounds are off sync compared to image but don’t appear unnatural.
• 1:49:35 Muted centre channel of audio segment with the boy talking “Aren’t you coming Phyllis?” and replaced with side-channel equivalent.
• 1:49:37 Video and audio back in original sync.
• 0:01:02 Added sound of baby crying, louder when cutting to indoor shot.
• 0:01:08 Removed birth scene and Miraz giving orders, wanted to cut straight to the action and have a bit more mystery (idea from SoboFilms’ cut).
• 0:01:50 Added shot of Prunaprismia (Capian’s aunt) holding her baby as Dr. Cornelius tells Caspian of the birth, added zoom blur distortion effect to disconnect this visual from the immediate action and hopefully make it jar less.
• 0:06:24 Cut to black when Caspian hits his head on the branch, implying that he has been knocked out and off the saddle (we hear him hit the ground).
• 0:06:22 Cut from black to Lucy nearly being run over, this sacrifices the transition between the two horn sounds but I think the scene of Caspian’s escape originally went on a few beats too long.
• 0:06:30 Added screenwriter credits over Lucy running across the road (originally in now-deleted scene of Caspian being dragged by his horse).
• 0:06:37 Added director credit over Susan reading a magazine (originally in now-deleted scene of Caspian being dragged by his horse).
• 0:06:40 Deleted scene where a boy tries to talk to Susan and she is dismissive of him.
• 0:06:44 Deleted glances between Susan and boy.
• 0:08:13 Deleted Peter’s condescending “No.”
• 0:08:16 Deleted Peter’s “That’s when I hit him.”
• 0:08:25 Deleted Peter’s “But I wasn’t always!”
• 0:08:38 Cut from Susan saying “It’s no use pretending any different.” To Caspian lying unconscious in the clearing.
• 0:09:28 Cut from Caspian being hit by Nikkabrik to Lucy feeling that she has been pinched, the blowing of the horn to the children being summoned should hopefully now play linearly in the mind of the audience rather than feeling fragmented. Cuts out the bit where Susan notices the boy that tried talking her approaching on the platform, shot repurposed at the edit’s end.
• 0:11:48 Added the deleted scene of the children climbing up to the ruins, nice bit of light-hearted interaction, cut slightly short at the end to best blend the music to the next scene.
• 0:13:43 Cut Lucy’s “Don’t you see?” and Peter’s responding “What?”, feels too on the nose and he does sound a bit too oblivious.
• 0:14:11 Deleted wide shot of the Telmarine castle that comes immediately after the one of Cair Paravel, breaks the flow to the upcoming deleted scene. Added extended scene of Miraz and Prunaprismia with their newborn son on the balcony (colour-matched to original), the castle raid has been deleted so this helps justify to the audience why she is eager to leave Narnia at the end of the film.
• 0:24:58 Muted Susan saying “I think you probably could have left off the last bit.”, sounds too modern to me, Trumpkin’s “Probably” is now a remark at Peter’s statement instead of hers.
• 0:26:02 Cut Susan’s “What horn?”
• 0:33:34 Cut out the scene with the wild bear, while it has a basis in the book it slowed things right down here and shows Susan failing to protect Lucy from an obvious threat (takes place over a shorter time period in the book so her hesitation is for a moment rather than about 10 seconds), Narnia has already been well established as heavily changed. We now go from Trumpkin and the children disembarking from the boat to them walking through the forest, the scene of Caspian, Nikkabrik and Trufflehunter being ambushed is pushed later.
• 0:34:17 Cut Peter’s patronising “That explains it then, you’re mistaken.”, he simply turns away and continues after Trumpkin speaks.
• 0:34:47 Cut Peter’s childish “Well we weren’t lost.”
• 0:34:51 Cut Susan’s annoyed “I’d rather that than walking.”
• 0:35:18 Cut Peter mentioning the (now deleted) bear.
• 0:36:09 The scene where Caspian, Nikkabrik and Trufflehunter are ambushed now takes place.
• 0:40:11 Smash cut from Caspian, Nikkabrik and Trufflehunter being met by Reepicheep and the centaurs to the night meeting where Caspian is argued over.
• 0:44:44 Cut Lucy saying “I wish you’d all stop trying to act like grown-ups.”
• 0:44:48 Cut Trumpkins “I am a grown up.”
• 0:49:15 Muted Lucy saying “I missed you so much.” to Aslan.
• 0:52:11 Shortened look between Susan and Caspian.
• 0:52:25 Cut Lucy’s “Oh my gosh” before “...he is so cute.”
• 1:00:32 Trimmed Caspian looking at Susan; cut Susan looking at Caspian and trimmed Peter looking annoyed.
• 1:00:56 Cut segment between Reepicheep’s “You know where I stand sire” and Lucy saying “You’re all acting like there’s only two options.”, Peter no longer asks if the army can handle the guards. The aim of these cuts is to preserve the scene by making it look like they cannot come to a decision, justifying including the scene where the White Witch is nearly resurrected.
• 1:01:20 Cut from end of the meeting to the Telmarines building the bridge and Miraz being crowned, no more castle raid and aftermath.
• 1:02:51 Cut scene where Nikkabrik’s finds Caspian looking at the wall paintings after “You so glad of that magic horn now boy?”, as this mentions the losses incurred in the now-deleted raid and its revelations.
• 1:02:56 Cut Nikkabrik saying “It failed.” after “You tried one ancient power.” these words feel a bit too definitive (even if only in my mind) for describing (in this edit, with the failed raid removed) a meeting that came to a standstill.
• 1:04:01 Cut Caspian asking “And you can guarantee Miraz’s death?” and the reply “And more”. Apart from this question no longer making sense (would now appear suddenly bloodthirsty), it makes the scene feel more like Caspian is being swept up in the moment rather than thinking rationally.
• 1:07:07 Cut the bit with Peter and the White Witch after she says “I’ve missed you.”, he no longer lowers his sword and appears tempted as Edmund intercedes quicker.
• 1:07:38 Cut the scene where Caspian talks to Dr Cornelius (now that the castle raid has been deleted he hasn’t been rescued), fade from the image of Aslan after the Stone Table fight scene to Peter looking at the same image some time later, when Lucy comes to find him and he expresses his self-doubts.
• 1:09:09 Zoomed in on a group shot to remove Dr Cornelius. Upscaled image and added grain to try and make it blend with surrounding footage.
• 1:09:55 Cut Bulgy Bear’s “For Aslan.” As this shot contains Dr Cornelius.
• 1:10:08 Trimmed, cut and pasted Caspian pitching in his idea, hiding Dr Cornelius and he no longer calls Miraz being a murderer (just a tyrant).
• 1:10:35 Remove Miraz’s “No. They are much too noble for that.” since this no longer makes sense with the castle raid removed.
• 1:11:11 Removed Edmund’s “I know, it’s confusing.”, goes that little bit too far.
• 1:12:50 Removed exchange between Susan and Caspian about the horn.
• 1:12:54 Removed dialogue (via AI extraction) during shot where Lucy and Susan are riding out, having just left Caspian.
• 1:16:59 Cut two shots of Susan and Caspian looking at each other (including the dialogue “Are you sure you don’t need that horn?”) so she gets on his horse much faster.
• 1:23:58 Cut Miraz’s dialogue as he is on his knees at sword point before Caspian, makes no sense with castle raid gone and I think it plays more powerfully anyway.
• 1:24:07 Cut Caspian’s “Not one like you.”
• 1:42:58 Softened Aslan roaring at Trumpkin, this just seemed mean on Aslan’s part! Thanks to theomega for the idea.
• 1:42:59 Cut the shot of Trumpkin flinching at Aslan’s roar, it’s much softer now.
• 1:44:19 Cut two shots of Susan and Caspian looking at each other, slightly shortened following shot to get better audio blend.
• 1:46:48 Muted Edmund’s “We will?”
• 1:48:15 Started the ending song “The Call” early by blending different audio elements.
• 1:48:28 Cut Susan and Caspian’s final interaction.
• 1:49:19 Inserted a shot from now-deleted bit (from the beginning) of the boy that tried talking to Susan walking on the platform, to allow for the later shot of him talking on the train to be cut. Upscaled image and added grain to try and make it blend with surrounding footage.
• 1:49:21 Pushed back footage of the train coming to a stop to allow (previously mentioned) deletion of the boy talking, train sounds are off sync compared to image but don’t appear unnatural.
• 1:49:35 Muted centre channel of audio segment with the boy talking “Aren’t you coming Phyllis?” and replaced with side-channel equivalent.
• 1:49:37 Video and audio back in original sync.
User reviews
1 review
Overall rating
9.3
Audio/Video Quality
10.0(1)
Audio Editing
9.0(1)
Visual Editing
9.0(1)
Narrative
9.0(1)
Enjoyment
10.0(1)
Overall rating
9.3
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
9.0
Visual Editing
9.0
Narrative
9.0
Enjoyment
10.0
Prince Caspian is an interesting adaption, as the book is arguably the worst of the seven Narnia books...so when I sat down in the theater to watch, I actually *wanted* them to diverge from the book's story structure. I was mostly satisfied with the results but there were a few odd adaptation choices that seemed out-of-place. The Pevensies seemed to be much more argumentative and provocative than they were portrayed in the book, and the star-crossed Caspian-Susan romance, while somewhat cute, was a little off-putting and needlessly tragic, given the fate of both characters in the source material.
In this light, this fan edit is a much better adaption of the book than the theatrical, with a lot of these rough edges smoothed down. The main villain is still evil to an almost cartoonish extent and the limitations of the PG rating are perhaps felt more here even than in the previous film, but the edits succeed in bringing the characterization closer to the source material and removing filler. The visual editing and pacing were excellent and there were no distractions, even when I knew something to be cut. Great work in making a Narnia book and film that are somewhat mediocre into a pretty good movie! Recommended!
In this light, this fan edit is a much better adaption of the book than the theatrical, with a lot of these rough edges smoothed down. The main villain is still evil to an almost cartoonish extent and the limitations of the PG rating are perhaps felt more here even than in the previous film, but the edits succeed in bringing the characterization closer to the source material and removing filler. The visual editing and pacing were excellent and there were no distractions, even when I knew something to be cut. Great work in making a Narnia book and film that are somewhat mediocre into a pretty good movie! Recommended!
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched
Digital