The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is a
fantasyFantasy is a genre that uses magic and other supernatural forms as a primary element of plot, theme, and/or setting. Many works within the genre take place on fictional planes or planets where magic is common...
novel for children by
C. S. LewisClive Staples Lewis , commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis and known to his friends and family as Jack, was an Irish-born British novelist, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian and Christian apologist...
. Written in
1950The year 1950 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Kazuo Shimada wins the "Mystery Writer Of Japan" award for his book Shakai-bu Kisha .*Jack Kerouac has his first novel published....
, it was published in 1952 as the third book of
The Chronicles of NarniaThe Chronicles of Narnia is a series of seven fantasy novels for children written by C. S. Lewis. It is considered a classic of children's literature and is the author's best-known work, having sold over 120 million copies in 41 languages...
. Current editions of the series are numbered using the internal chronological order making
Dawn Treader the fifth book.
Plot summary
The two youngest Pevensie children,
LucyLucy Pevensie is a fictional character in C. S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia. She is the youngest of the four Pevensie children, and the first to find the Wardrobe entrance to Narnia in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Of all the Pevensie children, Lucy is the closest to Aslan...
and
EdmundEdmund "Ed" Pevensie is a major fictional character in C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia. He is a principal character in three of the seven books , and a lesser character in two others .In Disney's live-action films,...
, are staying with their odious cousin
Eustace ScrubbEustace Clarence Scrubb is a fictional character in C. S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia. He appears in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Silver Chair, and The Last Battle. In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, he is accompanied by Edmund and Lucy Pevensie, his cousins...
while their older brother Peter is studying for his university entrance exams with Professor Kirke, and their older sister Susan is traveling through America. Edmund, Lucy, and Eustace are drawn into the Narnian world, literally pulled into a picture of a ship at sea. (The painting, hanging neglected in the guest bedroom that the Pevensie children were using, had been an unwanted present to Eustace's parents.) The three children land in the water near the pictured vessel, the titular
Dawn TreaderThe Dawn Treader was a Narnian ship in the fictional world of Chronicles of Narnia. It was built by King Caspian X and is featured primarily in the book The Voyage of the Dawn Treader...
, and are taken aboard.
The
Dawn Treader is the ship of
Caspian XCaspian X, King of Narnia, Lord of Cair Paravel and Emperor of The Lone Islands, also called Caspian the Seafarer and Caspian the Navigator is a fictional character in the The Chronicles of Narnia series by C. S. Lewis. He is featured predominantly in three books in the series: Prince Caspian, The...
, King of Narnia, who was the key character in the previous book (
Prince Caspian). Edmund and Lucy (along with Peter and Susan) helped him gain the throne from his evil uncle Miraz.
Three years have passed since then, peace has been established in Narnia, and Caspian has undertaken his oath to find the seven lost Lords of Narnia. Lucy and Edmund are delighted to be back in Narnia, but Eustace is less enthusiastic, as he has never been there before and had taunted his cousins with his belief that the country never existed. The talking mouse
ReepicheepReepicheep is a fictional character from C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia series. He appears in Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and also in The Last Battle. He is a large, talking mouse who carries a rapier, and wears a red plume tucked in his golden circlet...
is also on board, as he hopes to find Aslan's country beyond the seas of the "utter East".
They first make landfall in the Lone Islands, nominally Narnian territory but fallen away from Narnian ways: in particular the slave trade flourishes here, despite Narnian law stating that it is forbidden. Caspian, Lucy, Edmund, Eustace and Reepicheep are captured as merchandise by a slave trader, and a man "buys" Caspian before they even reach the slave market. He turns out to be the first lost lord, Lord Bern, who moved to the islands and married a woman there after being banished from Narnia by Miraz. When Caspian reveals his identity, Bern acknowledges him as King. Caspian reclaims the islands for Narnia, and replaces Gumpas, the greedy governor, with Lord Bern, whom he names
DukeA duke is a member of the nobility, historically of highest rank below the monarch, and historically controlling a duchy. The title comes from the Latin Dux Bellorum, which had the sense of "military commander" and was employed by both the Germanic peoples themselves and by the Roman authors...
of the Lone Islands.
At the second island they visit, Eustace leaves the group to avoid doing any work, and hides in a dead dragon's cave to escape a sudden downpour. The dragon's treasure arouses his greed: he fills his pockets with gold and jewels and puts on a large golden bracelet; but as he sleeps, he is transformed into a dragon. As a dragon, he becomes aware of how bad his previous behaviour was, and uses his strength to help make amends. Aslan turns Eustace back into a boy, now a much nicer person. Caspian recognizes the bracelet when Eustace is finally able to get it off: it belonged to Lord Octesian, another of the lost lords. They speculate that the dragon killed Octesian — or even that the dragon
was Octesian.
They make stops at Burnt Island; at Deathwater Island (so named for a pool of water which turns everything immersed in it into gold, including one of the missing lords who turns out to have been Lord Restimar); at the Duffers' Island; and at the Island Where Dreams Come True — called the Dark Island since it is permanently hidden in darkness. They rescue a desperate Lord Rhoop from this last. Eventually they reach the Island of the Star, where they find the three remaining lost lords in enchanted sleep.
RamanduRamandu is a fictional character in C. S. Lewis's The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, part of the series The Chronicles of Narnia.- About :...
, the fallen star who lives on the island, tells them that the only way to awaken them is to sail to the edge of the world and there to leave one member of the crew behind.
The
Dawn Treader continues sailing into an area where
merpeopleA mermaid is a mythological aquatic creature with a human head and torso and the tail of an aquatic animal such as a fish.-Overview and etymology:...
dwell and the water turns sweet rather than salty. At last the water becomes so shallow that the ship can go no farther. Caspian orders a boat lowered and announces that he will go to the world's end with Reepicheep. The crew object, saying that as King of Narnia he has no right to abandon them. Caspian goes to his cabin in a temper, but returns to say that Aslan appeared in his cabin and told him that only Lucy, Edmund, Eustace, and Reepicheep will go on.
These last venture in a small boat through an ocean of flowers until they reach a wall of water that extends into the sky. Fulfilling Ramandu's condition, Reepicheep paddles his
coracleThe coracle is a small, lightweight boat of the sort traditionally used in Wales but also in parts of Western and South Western England, Ireland , and Scotland ; the word is also used of similar boats found in India, Vietnam, Iraq and Tibet...
up the waterfall and is never again seen in Narnia (Lewis hints that he reaches Aslan's country). Edmund, Eustace, and Lucy find a lamb, who transforms into Aslan and tells them that Edmund and Lucy will not return to Narnia – that they should learn to know him by another name in their own world. He then sends the children home.
In their own world, everyone remarks on how Eustace has changed and "you'd never know him for the same boy" - although his mother does not acknowledge this and believes that Edmund and Lucy have been a bad influence on him.
Differences between British and American editions
Several weeks or months after reading the proofs for the British Edition of The Chronicles, Lewis read through the proofs for the American Edition. While doing so, he made several changes to the text. When
HarperCollinsHarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company. The worldwide CEO of HarperCollins is Brian Murray...
took over publication of the series in 1994 they made the unusual decision to ignore the changes that Lewis had made and use the earlier text as the standard for their editions.
In
Dawn Treader, Lewis made two changes; one minor and one of more substance. The minor change appears in the first chapter where Lewis changes the description of Eustace from "far too stupid to make anything up himself" to "quite incapable of making anything up himself". Paul Ford, author of
Companion to Narnia, suggests that Lewis might have felt the need to soften the passage for his American readers or perhaps he was starting to like Eustace better. Peter Schakel, author of
Imagination and the arts in C.S. Lewis, notes that the passage should have been changed in either case as "calling a character 'stupid' in a children's book is insensitive and unwise". Both Schakel and Ford agree that it is not an accurate depiction of Eustace as Lewis describes him, and this too may be the reason for the change.
The more substantive change appears in chapter 12, "The Dark Island", where Lewis rewrote the ending in a way that, Schakel maintains, improves the imaginative experience considerably.
- The reader cannot [in this version] dismiss the island as unreal or as no longer existing: it is still there, and anyone who can get to Narnia still could get caught in it. More important, the inserted analogy, with its second-person pronouns, draws readers into the episode and evokes in them the same emotions the characters experience. This is no laughing matter, as the earlier version risks making it.
A side by side comparison of the ending of chapter 12 follows:
| British Edition |
Pre-1994 American Edition |
In a few moments [...] warm, blue world again. And all at once everybody realized that there was nothing to be afraid of and never had been. They blinked their eyes and looked about them. The brightness of [...] grime or scum. And then first one, and then another, began laughing.
“I reckon we’ve made pretty good fools of ourselves,” said Rynelf. |
In a few moments [...] warm, blue world again. And just as there are moments when simply to lie in bed and see the daylight pouring through your window and to hear the cheerful voice of an early postman or milkman down below and to realise that it was only a dream: it wasn’t real, is so heavenly that it was very nearly worth having the nightmare in order to have the joy of waking, so they all felt when they came out of the dark. The brightness of [...] grime or scum. |
Lucy lost no time [...] Grant me a boon.”
“What is it?” asked Caspian. |
Lucy lost no time [...] Grant me a boon.”
“What is it?” asked Caspian. |
“Never to bring me back there,” he said. He pointed astern. They all looked. But they saw only bright blue sea and bright blue sky. The Dark Island and the darkness had vanished for ever.
“Why!” cried Lord Rhoop. “You have destroyed it!”
“I don’t think it was us,” said Lucy. |
“Never to ask me, nor to let any other ask me, what I have seen during my years on the Dark Island.”
“An easy boon, my Lord,” answered Caspian, and added with a shudder. “Ask you: I should think not. I would give all my treasure not to hear it.” |
| “Sire,” said Drinian, [...] the clock round myself.” |
“Sire,” said Drinian, [...] the clock round myself” |
| So all afternoon with great joy they sailed south-east with a fair wind. But nobody noticed when the albatross had disappeared. |
So all afternoon with great joy they sailed south-east with a fair wind, and the hump of darkness grew smaller and smaller astern. But nobody noticed when the albatross had disappeared. |
Main characters
- Eustace Scrubb
Eustace Clarence Scrubb is a fictional character in C. S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia. He appears in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Silver Chair, and The Last Battle. In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, he is accompanied by Edmund and Lucy Pevensie, his cousins...
- Lucy Pevensie
Lucy Pevensie is a fictional character in C. S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia. She is the youngest of the four Pevensie children, and the first to find the Wardrobe entrance to Narnia in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Of all the Pevensie children, Lucy is the closest to Aslan...
- Edmund Pevensie
Edmund "Ed" Pevensie is a major fictional character in C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia. He is a principal character in three of the seven books , and a lesser character in two others .In Disney's live-action films,...
- Caspian X
Caspian X, King of Narnia, Lord of Cair Paravel and Emperor of The Lone Islands, also called Caspian the Seafarer and Caspian the Navigator is a fictional character in the The Chronicles of Narnia series by C. S. Lewis. He is featured predominantly in three books in the series: Prince Caspian, The...
- Reepicheep
Reepicheep is a fictional character from C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia series. He appears in Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and also in The Last Battle. He is a large, talking mouse who carries a rapier, and wears a red plume tucked in his golden circlet...
Film, television, or theatrical adaptations
- In 1983 the world premiere of the musical stage adaptation of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader was produced by Northwestern College (Minnesota)
Northwestern College is located in Roseville, Minnesota, USA. It is a four-year Christian college accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. The school was founded on October 2, 1902 as Northwestern Bible and Missionary Training School by Dr William Bell Riley, a pastor at...
at the Totino Fine Arts Center. Director: Carol Thomas; Libretto: Wayne Olson; Music and Lyrics: Kevin Norberg (ASCAP).
- The BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation, usually referred to by its abbreviation as the "BBC", is the longest established and largest broadcaster in the world...
produced a TV miniseries of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1989); it was combined with the previous film and released as Prince Caspian and the Voyage of the Dawn Treader. (see The Chronicles of Narnia (TV miniseries)The Chronicles of Narnia is a BBC-produced television serial that was aired from 1988 to 1990, and based on four books of C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia series...
).
- BBC Radio
BBC Radio is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927...
produced a radio play based on the book in 1994.
- Focus on the Family
Focus on the Family is an American evangelical tax-exempt non-profit organization founded in 1977 by James Dobson, and is based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Focus on the Family is one of a number of evangelical parachurch organizations that rose to prominence in the 1980s...
released a longer version as part of its complete production of all the Chronicles of Narnia.
- In 2000 a musical version was written and produced by the Alternative Community School of Ithaca, NY
- BG Touring Theatre company produced a version of the Glynn Robins stage adaptation of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader at the 2006 Edinburgh Festival Fringe
-Events:2006 was the first Fringe following the introduction of the new legislation banning smoking indoors. During a photocall at the Assembly Rooms for a play in which he was playing Winston Churchill, the actor Mel Smith lit a cigar, flouting the ban...
.
Future film adaptation
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader will be adapted as the third film in
Walden MediaWalden Media is a children's film production and publishing company best known as the producers of The Chronicles of Narnia film series. Its films are based on notable classic or award-winning children's literature, compelling biographies or historical events, documentaries and some original...
's
The Chronicles of NarniaThe Chronicles of Narnia is a series of epic fantasy films from Walden Media based on the series of novels, The Chronicles of Narnia written by C. S. Lewis in the 1950s...
film series.
Michael AptedMichael David Apted, CMG is an English director, producer, writer and actor. He is one of the most prolific British film directors of his generation but is best known for his work on the Up series of documentaries....
takes over as director from
Andrew AdamsonAndrew Ralph Adamson MNZM is a New Zealand film director based mainly in Los Angeles, California, U.S., where he made the blockbuster animation films, Shrek and Shrek 2 for which he received an Academy Award nomination. He was director, executive producer, and scriptwriter for C. S. Lewis' The...
, who opted to produce with
Mark JohnsonMark Johnson is a film producer who lives and works in the United States.-Biography:Mark Johnson won the Best Picture Academy Award for producing Rain Man, starring Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise...
,
Perry MoorePerry Moore is an American screenwriter and film director, best known as the executive producer of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.-Early life:Moore grew up in Virginia Beach, Virginia and attended Norfolk Academy...
and
Douglas GreshamDouglas Gresham is a British biographer and film producer, resident in Malta, and one of the two heirs to the literary work of C. S. Lewis, including the Narnia series.- Life :...
.
Will PoulterWilliam Poulter, born 28 January, 1993, is an English actor most famous for his role in the movie Son of Rambow which was made in 2007. He was recently selected to play the role of Eustace Scrubb, a character in the upcoming film, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, scheduled...
joins the cast as
Eustace ScrubbEustace Clarence Scrubb is a fictional character in C. S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia. He appears in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Silver Chair, and The Last Battle. In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, he is accompanied by Edmund and Lucy Pevensie, his cousins...
, while
Georgie HenleyGeorgia Laura "Georgie" Henley is an English teen actress. She is known for her portrayal of Lucy Pevensie in the The Chronicles of Narnia film series, for which she won the Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Performance by a Youth Female in a Lead or Supporting Role in The Lion, the...
,
Skandar KeynesSkandar Amin Casper Keynes is an English actor. He is best known for starring as Edmund Pevensie in The Chronicles of Narnia film series...
,
Ben BarnesBenjamin Thomas "Ben" Barnes is an English actor. He has appeared in the television series Doctors and Split Decision, and in the films Stardust, Bigga Than Ben, Prince Caspian, Dorian Gray and Easy Virtue.-Early life:Barnes was born in London, England to Tricia, a psychotherapist, and Thomas...
,
Peter DinklagePeter Dinklage is an American film, television and theater actor. Since his breakout role in the 2003 film The Station Agent, he has acted in many prominent movies, including Elf, Underdog, Find Me Guilty, Death at a Funeral, and Prince Caspian.- Personal life :Dinklage was born in Morristown, New...
,
Eddie IzzardEdward John "Eddie" Izzard is a two-time Emmy winning British stand-up comedian and actor. His comedy style is expressed in rambling, whimsical monologue and self-referential pantomime. Izzard's works include standup sets Definite Article, Dress to Kill and a starring role in the television...
and
Liam NeesonWilliam John "Liam" Neeson, OBE is an Irish actor, who has been a U.S. citizen since 2009. He is well known for his roles as Oskar Schindler in Schindler's List, Michael Collins in Michael Collins, Qui-Gon Jinn in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Alfred Kinsey in Kinsey and Aslan in The...
are all returning.
Steven KnightSteven Knight is a British screenwriter. Knight has written scripts for numerous British television programmes such as the British version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, BBC's Commercial Breakdown, The Detectives and others...
wrote the script following a draft by
Christopher MarkusChristopher Markus is an American screenwriter who frequently collaborates with Stephen McFeely.-Filmography:*The Life and Death of Peter Sellers *The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe *You Kill Me...
and
Stephen McFeelyStephen McFeely is an American screenwriter who frequently collaborates with Christopher Markus.-Filmography:*The Life and Death of Peter Sellers *The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe *You Kill Me...
.
Richard TaylorRichard Taylor, ONZM, is the creator and head of New Zealand film prop and special effects company Weta Workshop.A close friend of Peter Jackson, he and his company created all of the props, costumes, prosthetics, miniatures and weaponry for Jackson's epic The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. For...
, Isis Mussenden and Howard Berger continue their roles working on the production design and practical effects, while visual effects supervisor
Jim RygielJim Rygiel was the visual effects supervisor on The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy.- Birth & Education :Jim Rygiel was born February 17, 1955 in Kenosha, Wisconsin to parents of Polish descent. His father was employed at American Motors in Kenosha....
, composer
David ArnoldDavid Arnold is a Grammy Award-winning English film composer best known for scoring five James Bond films, the 1994 film Stargate, the 1996 film Independence Day, and the cult television series Little Britain....
and cinematographer
Dante SpinottiDante Spinotti, A.S.C., A.I.C. is an Academy Award-nominated cinematographer.Spinotti was born in Tolmezzo, Italy. Among the more notable films he has worked on are The Last of the Mohicans, Heat, and L.A. Confidential...
are those joining the series. Filming will take place from July to November 2009 on the
Gold Coast, QueenslandThe Gold Coast is a city in the southeast corner of Queensland, Australia. It is the second most populous city in the state and the sixth most populous city in the country. It is also the most populous non-capital city in the country...
, and at Cleveland Point, Queensland, where a giant Dawn Treader has been built on a
gimbal250px|thumb|right|Illustration of a simple two-axis gimbal set.A gimbal is a pivoted support that allows the rotation of an object about a single axis. A set of two gimbals, one mounted on the other with pivot axes orthogonal, may be used to allow an object mounted on the innermost gimbal to...
, which allows it to rock and shift as if on the high seas. The film will be released on December 10, 2010.
When Apted signed on to direct
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader in June 2007, filming was set to begin in January 2008 for a May 1, 2009 release date. Shooting would have begun in
MaltaMalta , officially the Republic of Malta , is a densely populated developed European country in the European Union. The Southern European island nation is an archipelago that includes the inhabited islands of Malta, Gozo and Comino, along with a number of smaller, uninhabited islands...
, and then moved to
PraguePrague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Nicknames for Prague have included "the mother of cities" , "city of a hundred spires", or Stověžatá Praha in Czech and "the golden city" or Zlaté město in Czech.Situated on the River Vltava in central Bohemia, Prague has been the...
and
IcelandThe Republic of Iceland is a European island country located in the North Atlantic Ocean. It has a population of about 320,000 and a total area of 103,000 km². Its capital and largest city is Reykjavík, whose surrounding area is home to approximately two thirds of the national population...
. A few months later, Disney announced that "in consideration of the challenging schedules for [its] young actors", they were delaying the release date to May 7, 2010, and filming was moved to October 2008. Johnson rescheduled the shoot to Playas de Rosarito, Baja California, where two-thirds of the film would be shot at the water tank that was used for
TitanicTitanic is a 1997 American romantic drama film directed, written, co-produced and co-edited by James Cameron about the sinking of the RMS Titanic. It stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack Dawson and Kate Winslet as Rose DeWitt Bukater, two members of different social classes who fall in love aboard the...
and
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the WorldMaster and Commander: The Far Side of the World is a 2003 film directed by Peter Weir, starring Russell Crowe as Jack Aubrey, with Paul Bettany as Stephen Maturin and released by 20th Century Fox, Miramax Films and Universal Studios. It is adapted from three novels in the Aubrey–Maturin series by...
. Filming was also scheduled for
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
. Disney and Walden eventually grew concerned over Mexico's safety, and Australian officials at
Warner Roadshow StudiosThe Warner Roadshow Studios are a set of film production facilities location near the Gold Coast in Australia. The Studios opened June 3 1991 and is located adjacent to the Warner Bros...
in
QueenslandQueensland is a state of Australia that occupies the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory to the west, South Australia to the south-west and New South Wales to the south. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
offered to become the project's base for the whole shoot.
It was announced in January 2009 that
20th Century FoxTwentieth Century Fox Film Corporation , also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox, is one of the six major American film studios...
would replace
Walt Disney PicturesWalt Disney Pictures refers to several different entities associated with The Walt Disney Company:Walt Disney Pictures, the film banner, was established as a designation in 1983, prior to which Disney films since 1954 were released under the name of the parent company, then named Walt Disney...
as distributor. Disney and Walden disputed over the budget after
Prince CaspianThe Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian is a 2008 epic fantasy film based on Prince Caspian, the second published novel in C. S. Lewis's fantasy series, The Chronicles of Narnia. It is the second in The Chronicles of Narnia film series from Walden Media, following The Chronicles of Narnia: The...
grossed far less than
The Lion, the Witch and the WardrobeThe Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a 2005 epic fantasy film directed by Andrew Adamson based on The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the first published novel in C. S. Lewis's children's fantasy series The Chronicles of Narnia. It was produced by Walden Media and...
; Disney wanted to limit it to $100 million, whereas Walden wanted a $140 million budget, for which Disney would only need to provide half. In December 2008, Disney opted not to produce the film because they feared the budget would only grow during filming and post-production. The
Los Angeles TimesThe Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California since 1881. It is distributed throughout the Western United States. It is the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in the United States and the fourth-most widely distributed newspaper in the United States...
also reported "creative differences" led to the split.
Times columnist Mary McNamara further notes leaving the series could have been a mistake, because
Voyage is the most popular Narnia book, while
Caspian was the series' least popular and did not create the anticipation surrounding the first film. Fox had pursued the
Narnia film rights in 2001 and distributed various other Walden projects.
Michael PetroniMichael Petroni is an Australian film writer and director.Petroni worked in the early 1990s as a comedy writer and performer on Australian television, and appeared as "Psycho Bob", an American serial killer character, in The Big Gig and DAAS Kapital .In 1994, he moved to Los Angeles to study...
was hired to rewrite the script, following a draft by
Richard LaGraveneseRichard LaGravenese is a premier American screenwriter and occasional film director. He is best known as the writer of The Fisher King.-Personal life:...
.
Influences
Arguably,
Voyage of the Dawn Treader is the novel which shows the most influence from Lewis' Irish background. It is reminscent of the
ImmramAn immram is a class of Old Irish tales concerning a hero's sea journey to the Otherworld . Written in the Christian era and essentially Christian in aspect, they preserve elements of Irish mythology...
genre of Irish literature.. However, unlike such voyages, The Dawn Treader travels East, rather than West.
External links