Yes! That was really weird, with Caspian ans Susan.

Yes! That was really weird, with Caspian ans Susan.

Since I read PC before watching it, I was utterly shocked when I saw how old Caspian was... I remember my brother joking for me to cover my eyes at their kiss at the end but I really was just surprised they changed it... But because of that, it made me really see how Susan was even older than in the books in my opinion... even though Caspian was obviously older, Susan seems to have been as well...

Actually, since Susan is supposed to have already grown up as Queen once and been courted by Rabadash, I found that part of film inappropriate.

Except it is just for a moment.

Obviously, Caspian is supposed to be younger than Peter who is still a preteen or early teen (whichever fits best with duel).

Actually, since Susan is supposed to have already grown up as Queen once and been courted by Rabadash, I found that part of film inappropriate.

Except it is just for a moment.

Obviously, Caspian is supposed to be younger than Peter who is still a preteen or early teen (whichever fits best with duel).

Yes! That's true! In HHB she didn't want to marry Rabadash if I remember correctly...
It just wouldn't exactly make sense but whatever, Hollywood likes to do it their way!

In HHB she didn't want to marry Rabadash if I remember correctly...

In the end no, as she decided in Tashbaan, but at Cair Paravel she had found him charming.

I mean, after that story, she might have learned a lesson about falling in love with someone in the Narnian world.

Interesting discussion -- but getting back to the book-to-movie speculation:
In terms of production costs, Horse and His Boy would have less cgi and special effects than either Magician's Nephew or last Battle, so it might be more feasible as the next film after the Silver Chair. After all HHB has intrigue, quest, bigger battle scenes (Hollywood seems to like to fixate on such clashes).

Also, I seem to recall, HHB actually was published just after SC*, precisely as the films have up to now been publishing order.

Also, it is a great story, and an Arab or Berber or Persian or Turkish actress for Aravis - or an Indian one - might make the point that Calormenes might have the wrong religion, but there is no wrong skin colour.

How were Calormene traders portrayed in VDT?

* Logically - in one scene Eustace and Jill are listening to the lay of Shasta and Aravis, or sth.

@Benisse: I hadn't thought about the CGI aspect (besides the creation in MN)! And now that HHB is my favourite, I would like to see it done, though I'm now also conflicted on which one would be best to tell next, between telling the story of Narnia and other factors (such as the kids' ages).

@hansgeorg: the VDT Calormenes (at least, we assume they're Calormenes; they're not actually identified) were portrayed as white men in robes (like what one would see in Bible illustrations) and turban-type head coverings.

Ariel - Did we ever actually see the Calormenes' skin colored in? Rather than being the black ink illustrations? And even if so, there is evidence in HHB that there was at least a sizable faction of darker skinned persons in Caloremen... Although that doesn't have to mean anything. Re: India, you do have a number of nations with a large variety of skin tones in their inhabitants, even among groups of inhabitants who have been there a very long time. It's possible that the Calormenes in VDT were a different ethnic group than the dominant group in the region where Shasta was born...

My only exposure to coloured Narnian illustrations are from what I happen to find online, so I'm really not sure if the Calormenes were coloured dark in those.
Hmm, true, I hadn't thought of colour diversity within a nation/people group. Filipinos are the same way.

Re: India, you do have a number of nations with a large variety of skin tones in their inhabitants, even among groups of inhabitants who have been there a very long time. It's possible that the Calormenes in VDT were a different ethnic group than the dominant group in the region where Shasta was born...

I'd say Calormenes are, as per book canon, dark skinned. Whatever the reason. Not just as per "Aracor" mixed race couple, but also because in LB Tirian, Jill and Eustace dye their faces to look Calormene.

(Speaking of "Aracor", it adds up to 440 in upper case ascii code).

I'm not denying that darker skin is probably quite common, but if it were the entirety of Calormen's population, then aside from the improbability of there being no minorities of different skin colors settling locally when you have an empire fond of both conquering and trading with other nations and a sizable portion of the world's humans being descended from English folks, and besides having some memory (I would need to check specifics) of hearing of either a side-note or a draft saying ex-Archenland rebels were some of Calormen's early settlers, it would have been really, really hard for Shasta to have made his escape and gone into villages to purchase food with his would-be-buyer's stolen money and ride accross the countryside on a stolen horse without being really very obvious to all bystanders. "Oh, that one fellow lost both a new foreign slave and a pricey horse. Oh, there is the one pale-skinned boy in the entire countryside, riding a pricey horse he can't possibly own because he's a lone ragged foreigner and coming into villages alone without a master in sight to make purchases with good money. Hmm. I wonder what that means." 😉

They were definitely a let down compared to LWW... however, I just hope that the new crew is going to do it well! I loved the old actors but the whole Caspian and Susan thing turned me off and just some of the changes they made otherwise to VOTDT...

I feel like I have a lot higher hopes for it with a new crew. I hope it doesn't disappoint. I'm not really that attached to any of the actors, so I'm ok with a whole new cast. (Especially since most of these will be new characters anyway.) Yeah, I the Caspian/Susan thing was unnecessary, and I really don't like VODT at all. (No offense meant to anyone who likes the films.)

besides having some memory (I would need to check specifics) of hearing of either a side-note or a draft saying ex-Archenland rebels were some of Calormen's early settlers,

I agree. Dark skinned works even a bit better for Telmarines than for Calormenes if you check origins.

Probably some Telmarine influx to Calormen, plus Telmarines of Narnia becoming light skinned through contact with Islanders and Archenlanders previous to not going out to sea any more?

OR, the family of historic-person-Tash (not same entity as demon, though identified as such by Tash worshippers) included some non-Archenlander? A new arrival from our world?

As much as a movie adaptation of HHB would be loved by the fans, I highly doubt they would be able to adapt it correctly for fear of being called racist and shot down for not being "politically correct".

I'm also really disappointed that they're not keeping the original actors, but is it too much to hope that they'll at least bring them back for cameos in the future?