Re: CHAT: Best/Worst/Missing Scenes in LotR

On Sat, 22 Dec 2001, Christian Thalmann wrote:

> *********************
> *** Spoiler Alert ***
> *********************
>
>
> Phew!  =P
>
> I've just seen the movie, and I'm pretty much blown away, as I expected
> from all the good that the critics said.  However, I was a bit
> disappointed at the quick pace; many chapters in the book were
> compressed into a fleeting scene or two, which gave it a certain
> superficial feel -- but that's to be expected due to the limited
> duration of the film, I'm not making any accusations.
>
> Especially Lothlórien was cut much too short for my taste -- they didn't
> even mention Gimli's change of mind towards Galadriel, and the elven
> cloaks etc...  there was no feeling of recreation and rest as in the
> book, only a run-in in the woods, a glance into Caras Galadhon, the
> (wonderfully enacted) mirror scene, and off they were again.
>
> Another thing I missed was the forging of Andúril -- shouldn't it have
> happened in Rivendell?  We saw the sword in its broken state, but no
> mention that it had been repaired, and that Aragorn now wielded it.
> Though I must say that the exposition of the Ring's history, where the
> mace-wielding Sauron was defeated with the broken Andúril, was awesome.
>
> As for hey dol! merry dol! Tom Bombadillo, I can't say I missed him.
> We have Harry Potter for that kind of audience.  ;-)
>
> The fact that Glorfindel was replaced by Arwen doesn't bother me the
> least bit either -- Liv makes a worthy appearance indeed as the most
> beautiful of elves.  Mmmm, those lips...  (=D
>
> My favorite scene was the attempted crossing of Caradhras, with Saruman
> chanting his spells in a utterly cool operatic voice from the uppermost
> platform of Orthanc amongs the raging stormclouds.  I can't wait to rip
> that scene off someone's DVD.  ;-)
>
> I'd like to hear other opinions on scenes that were missed, hated or
> loved...  anyone?
I agree; the pace was somewhat superficial, but it had to be.  No other
way to do a film; if they had stuck to Tolkein's pacing, the movie would
have been ten times more boring than the books, just because the genre
arouses different expectations.

But I loved it.  Gorgeous scenary, beautiful artwork.  I felt like Middle
Earth existed and I wanted very much to be there.

The languages, I thought, were *very* well done.  I happen to know David
Salo (the fellow who did the trnaslations), and I ripped him that he must
have taught the actors how to do the pronounciations because they were
absolutely careful to get that alveolar tap in Mordor.  He didn't; but he
instructed the speech coaches.

I was pleased, overall, with the whole thing, even the ending -- which
caused some groans in the theater, I think.  I thought the ending was
daring -- and in restrospcect, the only honest, respectful way to do it.

It inspired a friend of mine to work on his role playing world,
Everdarke, some more.  So he wrote me nd asked if I'd do the languages.
He wants a protolanguage for every race, several dead languages, and
modern languages for each nation.

I said "yes."  Sure.  What else do I have to do?  (aside from my
dissertation, my classes, my syllabi, learning Chinese, practicing the
harmonica, and cleaning my apartment).  :)

--Patrick

Replies