Disclaimer: the following post assumes a familiarity with all five main volumes of Lloyd Alexander's The Chronicles of Prydain series, the first two especially. For those in us cool kids' club, then, enjoy... and for everyone else, you know what to do! 
I've been thinking lately about what a Chronicles of Prydain movie might be like. As I've said before, I don't think The Book of Three alone would make for a terribly good movie adaptation in terms of pleasing a mass audience while remaining true to the spirit and tone of the series. (Well, not feature-length adaption, anyway; a roughly hour-long version might well work splendidly.) Why not, you ask? Mainly, I think the story's second half just doesn't have enough tension or action to work on screen (not dissing the books one bit here, mind). Things are good until Taran and Eilonwy escape from Spiral Castle, around the narrative's midpoint, but what happens then? After fleeing from some Cauldron-Born, the heroes go to Medwyn's Valley, an idyllic and welcoming place, and then get sucked into the Fair Folk's realm, where they get another fairly peaceful and helpful reception, and then they rescue that Gwythaint on their way to Caer Dathyl, which is very noble and all, but doesn't seem to have much immediate relevance to the main plot.
Furthermore, while Doli does object to helping the Gwythaint, the gang of Taran, Eilonwy, Fflewddur, Gurgi and Doli all get along pretty well. To make the obvious Fellowship of the Ring comparison, while the quest to warn Caer Dathyl of the impending attack is certainly important, Taran's group lacks the underlying tension of a Boromir ready to snap. And while Fellowship got away with one scene of peace and respite at Lothlórien, Medwyn's Valley and the Fair Folk encounter constitute two major friendly meetings, which is at least one too many in an race-against-time story's second half.
The Black Cauldron initially seems to offer a more promising narrative structure, in that the destroy-the-cauldron goal is even more important, less help is offered along the way, and there's intra-good-guy dissension in the form of the haughty Prince Ellidyr, but the second half of that book is also pretty light on major changes of scenery, and it's the series' second story, so dropping newcomers straight in would be awkward at best.
It's for these reasons, then, that I've thought for a while now that the best course would be to take a (very small) inspiration from the Disney adaptation and mix The Book of Three and The Black Cauldron together; that way, we get all the introductions and world set-ups of the former as well as the narrative urgency of the latter. This allows for the easy deletions of Medwyn (the Tom Bombadil of Prydain) and Aadon (a Gwydion surrogate, no longer needed with the real one around), but also creates other issues, namely: just what are Awran's and/the Horned King's intentions vis-a-vis the cauldron, and how do they fit into the march on Caer Dathyl? And should Ellidyr feature?
My work-in-progress combined story follows Book of Three through the destruction of Spiral Castle. From there, I definitely want the gang to visit the Marshes of Morva, and even have a swell addition for them to barter (en lieu of the deleted Aadon's brooch) in exchange for the secret of the cauldron's weakness: Gurgi, who in this adaptation (like Taran) fervently desires to know where he came from, agrees to never learn the answer. Metaphysical, man! Having thus bought their needed information, the gang heads to Caer Dathyl, with a Fair Folk encounter of some sort along the way, and in the course of the climactic battle, the cauldron is destroyed when the Horned King falls into it. So far, so good.
As for the gaps in between... okay, how's this. The gang learns from Eilonwy's eavesdropping on Achren that the Horned King has successfully captured Hen Wen, and means to extract from her the hidden cauldron's location. Once they find it, they'll march on Caer Dathyl, because in my script only freshly-killed warriors can become Cauldron-Born. With Caer Dathyl destroyed and its undead ranks now serving the Horned King, there'll be nothing to stop Awran from ruling Prydain forever.
The gang agrees that Caer Dathyl must be warned, but Fflewddur points out that that may not be enough: if the villains get there and find it completely fortified, what'd stop them from roaming the other, now-undefended realms, and slaughtering everyone else to feed the cauldron? He argues that they must therefore learn how to destroy the cauldron, too. Eilonwy suggests consulting the Witches of Morva; the gang agrees and they set out, as Melyngar knows the way.
At Morva, the witches accept Gurgi's tribute and reveal that only a living entrant can destroy the Cauldron. The gang heads off, running into some Cauldron-Born. Cue the Fair Folk episode and Doli. They then resume their rush to Caer Dathyl, which the Fair Folk have also agreed to notify. Once they finally near it, they find a battle already underway.
Taking advantage of the confusion, Taran makes a run for the Cauldron (which the baddies have indeed found); the Horned King sees him and gives chase. Eilonwy, fearing Taran may succeed, pushes the Horned King in, but falls in herself, too. It shatters with a huge explosion just as Gwydion and a backup army arrive and the Horned King's troops scatter. Taran just manages to crawl over to the apparently-dead Eilonwy before passing out.
When he comes to, Gwydion reveals how he survived Spiral Castle, and says that only Eilonwy's enchanted heritage saved her from destruction, but at a price: she will never be able to cast a spell again. Eilonwy shrugs this off, saying that such things always seem to be more trouble than they're worth. The rest plays out as in The Book of Three, except Dalben doesn't say that Eilonwy can stay with them indefinitely; he only says she can stay there a while until arrangements can be made for “her people” to educate her, thus setting up The Castle of Llyr.
So, to sum up, my proposed major changes from the source:
Comments/feedback?
I've been thinking lately about what a Chronicles of Prydain movie might be like. As I've said before, I don't think The Book of Three alone would make for a terribly good movie adaptation in terms of pleasing a mass audience while remaining true to the spirit and tone of the series. (Well, not feature-length adaption, anyway; a roughly hour-long version might well work splendidly.) Why not, you ask? Mainly, I think the story's second half just doesn't have enough tension or action to work on screen (not dissing the books one bit here, mind). Things are good until Taran and Eilonwy escape from Spiral Castle, around the narrative's midpoint, but what happens then? After fleeing from some Cauldron-Born, the heroes go to Medwyn's Valley, an idyllic and welcoming place, and then get sucked into the Fair Folk's realm, where they get another fairly peaceful and helpful reception, and then they rescue that Gwythaint on their way to Caer Dathyl, which is very noble and all, but doesn't seem to have much immediate relevance to the main plot.
Furthermore, while Doli does object to helping the Gwythaint, the gang of Taran, Eilonwy, Fflewddur, Gurgi and Doli all get along pretty well. To make the obvious Fellowship of the Ring comparison, while the quest to warn Caer Dathyl of the impending attack is certainly important, Taran's group lacks the underlying tension of a Boromir ready to snap. And while Fellowship got away with one scene of peace and respite at Lothlórien, Medwyn's Valley and the Fair Folk encounter constitute two major friendly meetings, which is at least one too many in an race-against-time story's second half.
The Black Cauldron initially seems to offer a more promising narrative structure, in that the destroy-the-cauldron goal is even more important, less help is offered along the way, and there's intra-good-guy dissension in the form of the haughty Prince Ellidyr, but the second half of that book is also pretty light on major changes of scenery, and it's the series' second story, so dropping newcomers straight in would be awkward at best.
It's for these reasons, then, that I've thought for a while now that the best course would be to take a (very small) inspiration from the Disney adaptation and mix The Book of Three and The Black Cauldron together; that way, we get all the introductions and world set-ups of the former as well as the narrative urgency of the latter. This allows for the easy deletions of Medwyn (the Tom Bombadil of Prydain) and Aadon (a Gwydion surrogate, no longer needed with the real one around), but also creates other issues, namely: just what are Awran's and/the Horned King's intentions vis-a-vis the cauldron, and how do they fit into the march on Caer Dathyl? And should Ellidyr feature?
My work-in-progress combined story follows Book of Three through the destruction of Spiral Castle. From there, I definitely want the gang to visit the Marshes of Morva, and even have a swell addition for them to barter (en lieu of the deleted Aadon's brooch) in exchange for the secret of the cauldron's weakness: Gurgi, who in this adaptation (like Taran) fervently desires to know where he came from, agrees to never learn the answer. Metaphysical, man! Having thus bought their needed information, the gang heads to Caer Dathyl, with a Fair Folk encounter of some sort along the way, and in the course of the climactic battle, the cauldron is destroyed when the Horned King falls into it. So far, so good.
As for the gaps in between... okay, how's this. The gang learns from Eilonwy's eavesdropping on Achren that the Horned King has successfully captured Hen Wen, and means to extract from her the hidden cauldron's location. Once they find it, they'll march on Caer Dathyl, because in my script only freshly-killed warriors can become Cauldron-Born. With Caer Dathyl destroyed and its undead ranks now serving the Horned King, there'll be nothing to stop Awran from ruling Prydain forever.
The gang agrees that Caer Dathyl must be warned, but Fflewddur points out that that may not be enough: if the villains get there and find it completely fortified, what'd stop them from roaming the other, now-undefended realms, and slaughtering everyone else to feed the cauldron? He argues that they must therefore learn how to destroy the cauldron, too. Eilonwy suggests consulting the Witches of Morva; the gang agrees and they set out, as Melyngar knows the way.
At Morva, the witches accept Gurgi's tribute and reveal that only a living entrant can destroy the Cauldron. The gang heads off, running into some Cauldron-Born. Cue the Fair Folk episode and Doli. They then resume their rush to Caer Dathyl, which the Fair Folk have also agreed to notify. Once they finally near it, they find a battle already underway.
Taking advantage of the confusion, Taran makes a run for the Cauldron (which the baddies have indeed found); the Horned King sees him and gives chase. Eilonwy, fearing Taran may succeed, pushes the Horned King in, but falls in herself, too. It shatters with a huge explosion just as Gwydion and a backup army arrive and the Horned King's troops scatter. Taran just manages to crawl over to the apparently-dead Eilonwy before passing out.
When he comes to, Gwydion reveals how he survived Spiral Castle, and says that only Eilonwy's enchanted heritage saved her from destruction, but at a price: she will never be able to cast a spell again. Eilonwy shrugs this off, saying that such things always seem to be more trouble than they're worth. The rest plays out as in The Book of Three, except Dalben doesn't say that Eilonwy can stay with them indefinitely; he only says she can stay there a while until arrangements can be made for “her people” to educate her, thus setting up The Castle of Llyr.
So, to sum up, my proposed major changes from the source:
- Combine the first two books
- Arawn no longer starts off either possessing the cauldron, nor knowing where it is. Solves the plot hole of why he hasn't been churning out endless numbers of Cauldron-Born this whole time.
- Gurgi yearns to learn what his origins are, but never will.
- No Aadon or Ellidyr, Medwyn's Valley or Gwythaint rescue.
- Eilonwy will never cast a spell again – which explains why she doesn't in the books, either!
Comments/feedback?