The Tolkien Mega-Thread

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I've always said that Fellowship of the Ring is a wonderful live action adaption of Ralph Bakshi's Lord of the Rings cartoon.

I can see a lot of flaws in the LOTR films, and don't mind sitting there picking them apart academically, but....in the end I still really enjoy them. They're still an amazing set of films, and it was an amazing experience at a very important time in my life. It's likely the best we ever could have got from Hollywood - I've read some of the other film treatments throughout the years, and we dodged a lot of bullets.

So they're not perfect - few films are (although there ARE a few that are...)
 
I also pictured Aragorn much more aloof and naturally regal. Viggo's interactions with Eowyn, the attempt to shoehorn in an unecessary love triangle into the film, always kida rubbed me the wrong way too. Like, I dont picture Aragorn flirting with Eowyn.
Well, to be fair, book-Éowyn did get a crush on Aragorn. She reveals it in "The Passing of the Grey Company" and moves on from it in "The Steward and the King" when she realises that she truly loves Faramir and discusses it with him.
 
Well, to be fair, book-Éowyn did get a crush on Aragorn. She reveals it in "The Passing of the Grey Company" and moves on from it in "The Steward and the King" when she realises that she truly loves Faramir and discusses it with him.

Yeah, Eowyn definitely crushes on him from afar. But in the book, Aragorn doesn't reciprocate at all.
 
I've always said that Fellowship of the Ring is a wonderful live action adaption of Ralph Bakshi's Lord of the Rings cartoon.

I can see a lot of flaws in the LOTR films, and don't mind sitting there picking them apart academically, but....in the end I still really enjoy them. They're still an amazing set of films, and it was an amazing experience at a very important time in my life. It's likely the best we ever could have got from Hollywood - I've read some of the other film treatments throughout the years, and we dodged a lot of bullets.

So they're not perfect - few films are (although there ARE a few that are...)

I've read some accounts of the LotR the studios wanted, and the maneuvering Peter Jackson et al did to get to where they did. From one movie, to two and finally 3.

I'm actually mostly pleased with the films, it is the Hobbit where I keep most of my disappointment. That is a tighter, more easily related story, and by then he had the clout to do it right, yet it went so wrong. I like a lot of the added material that explains what Gandolf was up to, but wow the Universal Studios Hobbit ride and the over abundance of elves really ruins what otherwise could have been an epic film.
 
I'm actually mostly pleased with the films, it is the Hobbit where I keep most of my disappointment.


I saw each of the Lord of the Rings films at midnight showings, and each multiple times in the theatre, Fellowship being the record of 17 times during the original theatre run as I dragged everyone I knew at the time to it.

I waited until rental for the second Hobbit film, and never bothered to even see the third all the way through.

The Hobbit films are trash. But, anyone who looked into the behind the scenes stuff knows it wasn't Peter Jackson's fault.
 
I've only seen the extended editions, never caught the theatrical releases. Do people find they improve or worsen the films?
 
I've only seen the extended editions, never caught the theatrical releases. Do people find they improve or worsen the films?
The extended ones are a lot better. There's entire sub plots in them that don't show up in the theatrical ones. I'm of the opinion that the Theatrical releases were just the samplers for the full length DVD.
 
I've only seen the extended editions, never caught the theatrical releases. Do people find they improve or worsen the films?

I think the theatrical cut of Fellowship is mostly better as a viewing experience. I don't find Two Towers is altered either way, and I'd say that ROTK extended is far better except for one unfortunate added scene that completely alters the context of Fellowship
 
It's weird noting that in the theatrical cuts, we never find out what happened to Saruman or Grima - they just disappear completely from the story after Isengard is flooded. I guess Christopher Lee was rather upset about that at the time and boycotted the ROTK's theatrical release
 
I've made it a tradition to watch the LOTR trilogy every Christmas. Sure they have their flaws, but every movie has.

I also like the Hobbit movies. The flaws of those movies, comes mostly from stretching a quite short story into three long movies.

About the books; I think a lot a people forget the big tone difference between the Hobbit and LOTR. The Hobbit was written first as a fantasy story for children. This means, it has a much lighter tone compared to the doom and gloom of LOTR. All the books are great though. Haven't read any of the other Middle-Earth books, other than Silmarillion.
 
Well, as Middle Earth is the mythical past of England, technically that means Farmer Giles of Ham and the Smith of Wotton Major are sequels to the LOTR...
 
My problem with The Hobbit movies isn't with the things they added but the attitude and style in which the whole thing was presented. It's too over the top and I swear the World of Warcraft references are deliberate. And Thorin's company charging Azog's line would have been far more epic than the silly crap they gave us. Though I will give props to Thorin stepping off the ice, the fact that that didn't end the fight underlines why the movies are such a horrible failure. They don't know where to stop. The other day He-Man was telling me how silly an over the top the Hobbit movies were. He wouldn't have been caught dead in them.
 
My main problem more than anything else is beardless dwarves
 
My main problem with the Hobbit movies is how crisp and clean everything looks. The Lord of the Rings had this dirtiness to them. Jackson should have thrown some more grime around the sets. The lighting seemed off too.
 
The dragon looks worse than the dragon in Dragonslayer from 35 years earlier
 
What was del Toro’s vision for the movies?
 
What was del Toro’s vision for the movies?

Hard to say, he left pretty early in, different stories as to why but one thing we know is he was a stickler for only doing 2 films.

Probably less elf porn
 
Okay, so now for the real question: which character assassination was worse? Denathor or Thrandruil?
 
The Hobbit movies were worth it to me for more Orcs on screen.

My main problem more than anything else is beardless dwarves
Weren't you the one noting those were likely Dwarf women? Which I loved, for what it's worth. I can see where it might take them longer to come into their full beards. Does add a new twist to the Elf romance though.

I loved all the movies for the visuals and I treat them as their own thing, inspired by, but not based on, the books. I recommend the extended version in all cases.
 
I think if anything the girl dwarves should have more luxurious and beautiful beards.

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I feel like dwarves should look like Cousin Itt from the Adams family.
 
The dragon looks worse than the dragon in Dragonslayer from 35 years earlier

Well the dragon was about the only good thing about Dragonslayer.

The Hobbit movies were worth it to me for more Orcs on screen.


Weren't you the one noting those were likely Dwarf women? Which I loved, for what it's worth. I can see where it might take them longer to come into their full beards. Does add a new twist to the Elf romance though.

I loved all the movies for the visuals and I treat them as their own thing, inspired by, but not based on, the books. I recommend the extended version in all cases.

The beardless thing bothered me a tad, but then I just wrote it off to maybe they don't get the beard until they reach full dwarf maturity, which considering their relatively long life span could easily mean they don't get a beard until 50+ years of age. Statistically it is likely that there must be some who can not grow a spectacular beard so culturally I could see some choosing to go beardless or with a neatly trimmed beard to avoid the shame of a scraggly beard. Only 2 out of 3 members of ZZ top have beards after all, ironically the guy actually named Beard being the clean shaven one.

Aesthetically not a fan of the dwarf women have beards theory either.
 
I've only seen the extended editions, never caught the theatrical releases. Do people find they improve or worsen the films?
I prefer the Theatrical version of Fellowship and the extended version of the Two Towers and Return of the King.
 
I sat and watched the Hobbit films with my young nephews this week. They are both on the spectrum, so three long movies over six nights is a big investment for them. They enjoyed them, they liked the jokes and loved Goblin Town in it's entirety.

It was the first time watching the non-extended versions since the cinema, and that was jarring to me.

In isolation, I like the Hobbit films. They are flawed as hell... Long, baggy, terribly structured, with some terrible cg and one of the most hilariously misjudged love triangles shoehorned into a film I've ever seen. But Smaug is great, Laketown too. Middle-earth/New Zealand still looks amazing.

Plus, what other movie has Doctor Who, Magneto, Queen Elizabeth, Agent Smith and Count Dracula team up to sword fight ghosts?
 
I sat and watched the Hobbit films with my young nephews this week. They are both on the spectrum, so three long movies over six nights is a big investment for them. They enjoyed them, they liked the jokes and loved Goblin Town in it's entirety.

It was the first time watching the non-extended versions since the cinema, and that was jarring to me.

In isolation, I like the Hobbit films. They are flawed as hell... Long, baggy, terribly structured, with some terrible cg and one of the most hilariously misjudged love triangles shoehorned into a film I've ever seen. But Smaug is great, Laketown too. Middle-earth/New Zealand still looks amazing.

Plus, what other movie has Doctor Who, Magneto, Queen Elizabeth, Agent Smith and Count Dracula team up to sword fight ghosts?

Don't forget Sherlock and Watson.
 
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