Lord of the Rings Theatrical Trailer

BadmanX writes: "The brand new Lord of the Rings trailer that ran on several shows tonight (including the season premier of Angel) is available for download from Apple's Quicktime site." Hmmm. Mirrors definitely needed.

Comments

/.ed?

[Prolixium]

sorensonmedia's site is either slashdotted or down for maintenence? mirrors anybody?

Re:/.ed?

[aldur]

The site (squeeze.sorenson.com) was already dead before Slashdot even posted the news. Poor little Apache, sniff.

Re:/.ed?

[Zonnald]

Why not try downloading the LARGE zip version - I have it download at 400kb/s (not really trying to brag - just noting that the site is OK just too many trying to get the full screen version?!?)

Re:/.ed?

[Xentax]

I think you're just lucky. I've gotten a capacity-related error message every time I've tried, as apparently nearly everyone else has.

Re:/.ed?

[rm-r]

Zonnald seems to be right, I got the fullscreen .zip first try- and v. quickly too. Not much use if your on a modem though I guess

Re:/.ed?

[rm-r]

Modern Humorists take on it all... http://modernhumorist.com/mh/0101/rings/

Re:/.ed?

[bustergrover]

Start hitting the P2P apps folks (WinMX,Gnutella, etc) . I'm currently grabbing a copy from WinMX. It'll take a while - the only copy I could find is via 56k modem.

Re:/.ed?

[dinivin]

I think you both were just lucky... I keep getting a "service not available" when trying to download the trailer in *any* size.

Dinivin

Re:/.ed?

[thor]

wget worked for me...

bash-2.01$ while ( [ $? != 0 ] ) ; do wget --tries 0 http://squeeze.sorenson.com/video/fellowshipofther ing_fs.zip ; done

Re:/.ed?

[davidesh]

anonymous ftp: 63.160.123.201 -i must be a fool...

Re:/.ed?

[Anonymous Coward]

you're a good man, charlie brown.

Re:/.ed?

[Anonymous Coward]

Now it's forwarding to "progressive.st3.com", when you go to www.st3.com it says "st3 is the new streaming delivery media network". Some start, I'm getting no more than 2 KB/sec, and it's not my end that's the bottleneck... They should have stuck with Akamei...

Hmph

[Runt-Abu]

It crashed upon The One spinning Ring and never got up again.

From the trailers I have seen however i'm still incredibly impressed.

Mirrors - DivX and Real Video as well!!

[swordboy]

http://www.tolkien-movies.com/media/officialtraile rs.shtml

Re:Mirrors - DivX and Real Video as well!!

[Xentax]

This is a shorter version of the trailer I saw on the WB last night.

Does anyone have a mirror of the FULL trailer (oxymoron, I know)?

Re:Mirrors - DivX and Real Video as well!!

[mrfiddlehead]

Or,

http://www.tolkien-movies.com/media/officialtraile rs.shtml

Re:Mirrors - DivX and Real Video as well!!

[Anonymous Coward]

will someone convert that quicktime to divx or mpeg and post a link? or what do i play quicktime in linux with ?

Re:Mirrors - DivX and Real Video as well!!

[shut_up_man]

Hang on... that trailer is dated September 6th, people. I've seen it before as well. I don't think it's the same as what is being offered on the official site (although it's completely smoked, so I can't make a comparison).

shut up man

Re:mirror

[OblongPlatypus]

As far as I can tell, that only links to Apple's site... please prove me wrong if you can.

Hopefully it's not all straight from the script

[bonoboy]

I'm not entirely sure if this is still the case, but my buddy working on the FX for this was saying that alot of the stuff in the previous trailers was made specially for them. So the spoilage would be kept to a minimum and guys like me who saw the Phantom Menace trailer and wish we hadn't seen the movie won't be disappointed.

Re:Hopefully it's not all straight from the script

[discogravy]

Doesn't everyone wish they hadn't seen Phantom Menace? I remember before it came out, everyone was so stoked about how cool it was going to be. After Jar-Jar...blah.

Re:Hopefully it's not all straight from the script

[jmu1]

I certainly hope so... the trailers have been somewhat disapointing... I am still pissed about Tom Bombadil!

Re:Hopefully it's not all straight from the script

[bonoboy]

What about Bombadil?

Re:Hopefully it's not all straight from the script

[Curien]

They're cutting all the events in the Old Forest. As far as I know, they're going to jump straight from Crickhollow to Bree.

I don't know if they'll even explain how Merry and Pippin get their Numenorean blades... but my guess is that they will be gifts from Elrond.

Re:Hopefully it's not all straight from the script

[tb3]

Tom's been cut; honestly, no great loss. The whole sequence had nothing to do with the story anyway.

If they tried to film the book accurately, I think the movies would end being 15-20 hours long. The BBC cut out Bombadil for their radio version, and it's still about 13 hours long.

Re:Hopefully it's not all straight from the script

[jmu1]

Ok, then how exactly did the companions get the swords which would ultimately kill the king of the Nazgul?

Re:Hopefully it's not all straight from the script

[Mr.Phil]

Untrue. I've a cd set of the BBC readings of the trilogy (not including "The Hobbit") and Tom is included on that. I never thought he sounded like the wink they had reading his part, but I wasn't disapointed in it either.

Re:Hopefully it's not all straight from the script

[shaka]

Jesus!
You can't cut Bombadil. Bombadil is not unimportant. This almost made me weep, Tom Bombadil is my absolute favorite character in all of Tolkien's book, including Silmarillion and the Book of Lost Tales series.

Bombadil's elvish name, Iarwain Ben-Adar, translates roughly to the oldest without father, because he was in Middle Earth before the elves came the first time. Some even think Bombadil is one of the Maiar or even the Valar.

Personally, I think he might be a Vala, because the other mighty Maiar in Middle Earth were affected by the ring, while Bombadil was not.

Whatever he is, though, things such as Bombadil are in my opinion what makes Tolkien's stories as great as they are. If it wasn't for these "meaningless" passages, The Trilogy could have been any fantasy book out there. It is all the strange, elaborate stuff surrounding the main story that makes Tolkien's universe as magic as it is.

Re:Hopefully it's not all straight from the script

[alexjohns]

The general consensus seems to be that they will get them at the council of Elrond.

Re:Hopefully it's not all straight from the script

[Tychoma]

The poster to which you are refering to is talking about the play, not the readings. I haven't heard the readings, but Tom was indeed cut from the play.

Re:Hopefully it's not all straight from the script

[Van Halen]

That's an excellent point, but consider this: the "strange, elaborate stuff surrounding the main story" just doesn't translate to the medium of film very well. It's not so much that these films are being made for the masses as opposed to the die-hard fans (though that is certainly a factor), but that film tells the story in one fluid, complete package. With a book, you can go back and re-read certain passages and get more out of it, but a film is designed to be viewed straight through.

In that context, I think it makes more sense to cut out things like Bombadil, and perhaps (hopefully?) this is what Peter Jackson and his crew were thinking as well. Hopefully it wasn't just to "dumb it down" for the masses.

Re:Hopefully it's not all straight from the script

[WNight]

Ok, where in the old-forest section does it tell of, let alone explain, Tom Bombadil's elvish name?

Uh huh.

It wasn't until after I read the trilogy and was discussing it with my friends who are serious Tolkein-heads that I discovered all the details about Bombadil. Until then, I thought it was a too-long interlude in a section in desperate need of editing, and it focused on a character who had trouble being coherent. Yawn.

Now, if you focused on that and spent a while, you might do it justice, but really, talking about the Elvish name of a character, and their place in the cosmos, before you actually meet an elf even, is kinda silly.

I think Tolkein's books are best read the second time, after you've read everything else he's written at least once. Unfortunately, the movie can't do it.

But, all hope is not lost, for purists such as yourself... I heard a rumor (said to be fairly accurate) that the movies were ~2 hours for theatre, but the DVD was going to come with that version and a directors cut with an extra hour, all the little snipped bits that they didn't think would play well for the lay-person.

Now, that's likely going to mostly be 30s bits here and there, that they chopped for pacing, but it might also include some scenes which were shot but later cut. And one of those might be Bombadil.

I don't think they'd have shot it, if they planned to not use it, but they might have shot it early on and cut it early.

I didn't see an actor playing Bombadil, so it's not terribly likely, but might be worth paying attention.

Re:Hopefully it's not all straight from the script

[Anonymous Coward]

No.

I skipped seeing that flik.

I saw Star Wars in 1977. I'm avoiding all the knockoffs.

Re:Hopefully it's not all straight from the script

[malducin]

It's not just LOTR but it happens quite often. There are times when studios have to put out trailers when work is still being done on the FX, so sometimes they use test shots, or do stuff specifically for trailers.

The Spider Man trailer was only shots done for the trailer. The Perfect Storm first trailer, the huge wave was specifically done for it and the posters. The first teaser for Twister contained the test reel ILM did for Jan DeBont (and won them the contract). The Lost World also had a specific FX shots done for it, and so did the first T2 teaser. And usually for the Star Trek movies, the trailers contain FX, images from previous ST movies. From what I understand some of the shots in the first trailer were works in progress and test shots, like for their Massive crowd animation program.

Re:Hopefully it's not all straight from the script

[bleyddyn]

Bombadil's elvish name, Iarwain Ben-Adar, translates roughly to the oldest without father, because he was in Middle Earth before the elves came the first time. Some even think Bombadil is one of the Maiar or even the Valar.

Personally, I think he might be a Vala, because the other mighty Maiar in Middle Earth were affected by the ring, while Bombadil was not.

None of my friends are really huge Tolkein fans, so I guess this is just my own delusion, but the second time I read the FOTR (after I had read the Silmarillion) I was suddenly sure that Bombadil was Eru/Illuvatar himself.

I mean, if I went to all the trouble to create this complex world, I'd want to be there to observe it (without directly changing things. Mostly :).

To bring this back on topic a bit more, even though Bombadil is a great character, the whole Old Forest/Bombadil story is so neatly self-contained and can be separated from the rest of the story so easily, that I can easily understand why they would cut it.

Re:Hopefully it's not all straight from the script

[unclei]

Bombadil was entirely cut from the script. It's not that he was in the script, and the scenes cut, it's that the entire segment was cut to make the movie shorter, and more palatable to the audience (without delving into even more of the huge backstory that most of tolkien's work has).

Re:Hopefully it's not all straight from the script

[Kaiwen]

they will get them at the council of Elrond.

Not possible -- Frodo uses his blade to defend himself on Weathertop before they reach Rivendell.

Re:Hopefully it's not all straight from the script

[Anonymous Coward]

They could have Bilbo give Sting to Frodo back in Hobbitton, rather than waiting for him to get to Rivendell.

Re:Hopefully it's not all straight from the script

[Rakarra]

Clearly the BBC didn't know what to trim, but I always thought the BBC version was overrated anyway. The Mind's Eye production was 4 hours long, well done, and no major scenes or characters were cut.

Re:Hopefully it's not all straight from the script

[Rakarra]

And usually for the Star Trek movies, the trailers contain FX, images from previous ST movies.

I recall they did some alternate FX scenes for Star Trek 6... it was the last movie with the old cast and there were lots of rumors flying around that Kirk was going to die in that movie. Paramount took advantage of that, and the trailer showed Kirk being by a phaser and disintegrating. The actual scene filmed in the movie showed Kirk and his shapeshifting duplicate standing side by side, while the phaser hits the duplicate instead.

Re:Hopefully it's not all straight from the script

[JosefK]

One rumor (which sounds most probable to me) says that Strider gives them to the hobbits in Bree. Additionally, Strider is wandering around with a non-broken sword that apparently is *not* Narsil, the shards of which are reportedly waiting for him in Rivendell.

Re:Hopefully it's not all straight from the script

[jcast]

I was suddenly sure that Bombadil was Eru/Illuvatar himself.

Illuvatar?!? How did you get that?

FotR, Chapter 8, ``Fog on the Barrow Downs'', Bombadil speaking: ``Out east my knowledge fials. Tom is not master of Riders from the Black Land far beyond his country.''

So you're telling me Sauron, a mere Maiyar, is capable of defeating the knowledge of Illuvatar? Exactly what in the Silmarillion makes you believe that? Or was Bombadil/Illuvatar just lying, trying to throw the Hobbits on their own resources?

Re:Hopefully it's not all straight from the script

[Kaiwen]

The blade Frodo uses on Weathertop was destroyed, so it couldn't be Sting. It was one of the Numenorean blades from the barrows.

Re:Hopefully it's not all straight from the script

[bleyddyn]

Here's the best analogy i can come up with

I build a bird house on the far side of my property (birdhouse=Arda). I want to watch the birds so I install a camera in the birdhouse. At some point a fox breaks in and starts eating the birds or eggs. I have a gun and could easily shoot the fox, except that, even though I am watching it I'm not actually there, so would have to run out to the birdhouse before I could do anything.

The more I think about this analogy, the less I like it, so I'll try to put it more plainly. My beleif was that Illuvatar was IN Arda only in a very limited fashion. His purpose there was to experience the world as living beings would rather than from the outside. Somewhat like the way Gandalf, Saruman and the other wizards are Maiar sent to oppose Sauron, but are not allowed to use their full power. I'm not saying that Illuvatar couldn't do what he wanted, just that he chose not to when he became Bombadil.

on a related note...

[acoustix]

I have the second trailer on 35mm film.

I'm thinking about selling it on Ebay. Anyone interested?

Re:on a related note...

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't bother. Others have received criminal convictions for illegally obtaining such footage

Re:mirror

[sahala]

lordoftherings.net links to the apple site. don't bother going through there.

or maybe I'm wrong... If so someone correct me.

Re:mirror

[Marcus Brody]

oh sh*t, i lied!

follow the link and it just takes you to the apple site :-(

big DOH

however, it does have a scene by scene account with pictures here:

http://www.theonering.net/

Yes, i know its not the same, but it looks pretty cool just from the pics....

Swedish site

[Pescatore]

http://www.sf.se/sf/sajter/saganomringen/index_fla t.html

Yes, it's in swedish but you'll find it, but hurry up! It already seems to have trouble..

Re:Swedish site

[OblongPlatypus]

Nothing there but the old trailer..

Re:Swedish site

[Pescatore]

Are you sure?

Not the link at the top, but in the middle..

http://ramhurl.film.com/smildemohurl.ram?file=ch an nels/lotr/trailer2_rv7.smi

!mirror

[Stackster]

That site just links to the page at Apple, which links to the (slashdotted, needless to say, but I'll say it anyway) download site.

Re:mirror

[Marcus Brody]

and i've already been modded up, based on false info.

I feel like a cheap karma whore now (probably true ;-)

Anyways, mod me back down if you feel angered by this....

Soz all.

Re:mirror

[johnwbyrd]

This isn't a mirror, just a redirect to the soon-to-be-overwhelmed Apple site. Somebody mod this poorly considered post down.

This, of course ...

[RavinDave]

This, of course, was the 1st draft of Dubya's speech last week. Glad he toned it down.

Spoilage?

[StrawberryFrog]

The last I read is that the movie is quite close to the book(s) - ie the biggest changes are to edit some of the dialog & cut out a few uniportant passages, so in terms of plot there is no possibility of spoilage - If you've read LOTR you know what's going to happen.

But OK, I admit I'm dying to see what the Balrog and black riders look like in this rendition, and will resist watching pirated video files until I've seen it on the big screen.

Re:Spoilage?

[rm-r]

I understand they also play up the love story between Aaragorn and whets-her-name a bit, but hey if this means I get to take a chick to see it that's fine by me ;-)

Re:Spoilage?

[Anonymous Coward]

I understand they also play up the love story between Aaragorn and whets-her-name a bit

Nope, just what's in the book, in this case Appendix A, part I, section v.

Re:Spoilage?

[Curien]

Actually, they will be increasing Arwen's role in the movies. She will replace Glorfindel at the Fords of Bruinen, and I wouldn't be surprised if she joins Aragorn just before the Paths of the Dead (along with Elladan, Elrohir, Halbarad, et al). And, of course, putting the two of them together during the War of the Ring would require expanding the love story a bit. All the events in the appendix you mentioned occur *prior to* the War.

Re:Spoilage?

[Saint Stephen]

Cutting Bombadil and increasing Arwen means they're no longer making a Lord of the Rings Movie. It's just going to be another Dungeons & Dragons movie.

Honestly, I am so disappointed that the story is altered. I don't want to go see what some hollywood producer wants to say -- I want to see what the author has to say.

It's like a movie about Jesus that decides to leave out that "tedious Palm Sunday" bit.

Re:Spoilage?

[L-Train8]

A movie and a book aren't the same thing, and unfortunately, there are artistic and commercial trade offs in the translations. If you put in ever word in the 400 pages of FOTR, you'd have a really long movie that would not interest enough people to justify the expense involved in making it. I think the film makers have been making an excellent attempt to be as true to the book as they can.

I don't think it's possible to please all the fans of the books. Everyone has an image in their mind of what scenes should look like, and the movie can't match everyone's imagination. The Balrog is an excellent example. Fans can't even agree whether it has wings or not. If Tolkein's words don't make it clear enough, someone will always take exception to what's on the screen. I guess deviating from his words here and there doesn't help, but it's an unfortunate reality when you are dealing with the amount of money necessary to bring the world of Middle Earth to life.

Re:Spoilage?

[Tetsujin28]

Honestly, I am so disappointed that the story is altered. I don't want to go see what some hollywood producer wants to say -- I want to see what the author has to say.

You can -- by reading the originals. Tolkein didn't make movies, he wrote books, and thus there is no way that a movie could possibly be "what the author had to say." The movie is a different work of art, created by different people.

Re:Spoilage?

[Morbid Curiosity]

Honestly, I am so disappointed that the story is altered. I don't want to go see what some hollywood producer wants to say -- I want to see what the author has to say.

Peter Jackson, a Hollywood producer? *snicker* Yeah, he's a regular Mr Hollywood. Have you seen his films? None of them say "Hollywood" in the least to me.

And if you thought the story was going to stay verbatim, you're silly. No-one is ever going to make a movie from a book that everyone's happy with. A picture may paint a thousand words, but give a thousand words to a number of painters, and no two paintings will be exactly the same.

In the end, you're a storyteller. You've got a story to tell, and a limited amount of time to tell it in. Peter Jackson knows the story, loves the story, and realises there's a lot of fans out there who love the story just as much as he does (if not more). He's got a story that needs to be told, but he knows he can't tell it exactly the same way as Tolkien did. Different media, different constraints.

Some of those hard decisions are going to piss people off, no matter what he does, but I'm fairly confident that he's trying to make the best damned movies he can. Anything else would be in Bad Taste, and completely Brain Dead. If you want to see what the author has to say, read a book.

Re:Spoilage?

[JimPooley]

Cutting Bombadil means the adaptors thought "Hey, this bit is fucking tedious and completely irrelevant to the main storyline. Cut it!"

It's only a great shame that Tolkein's editors didn't think the same thing.

I swear...

[Raymond Luxury Yacht]

... I bet Jobs is sitting at a desk somewhere just watching hits pile up and giggling like a school girl at all the people trying to watch.

Damn you! Damn you for toying with out hopes and emotions!!! *sob* Don't you think next time it might be a good idea to use something more powerful than an LCIII and an Appletalk cable for a web server, you sadistic bastard!?!?!

/me bangs head on desk/

Re:I swear...

[theMacDude]

Actually, the web server that is server the trailers is: . it appears to be throttled at 8K.

According to NetCraft, it's running Apache/1.3.20 (Unix) mod_throttle/3.1.2 on Solaris.

Perhaps it would be faster on an OSX box. ;-)

Re:I swear...

[Geek In Training]

Are you sure that that's the webserver running Solaris?

And not one of the hundreds of Akamai multimedia servers that Apple uses to serve/stream QuickTime?

Be gentle with me.

[RavinDave]

What am I missing here? Why is this generating so much anticipation? Is it merely that they are going into much more detail than the somewhat feeble version that came out several years back? (I don't recall such anticipation for that). Is it the people who are to be in it? Is it the fact that special effects have matured to a suitable stage to handle this subject matter? Is Pauley Shore doing a cameo?

Honestly -- this isn't a troll. I know we all read the books, but I can't quite grok how much of the anticipatory hype is grass-roots and how much is media manipulation. (I also recall a similar feeling before the release of "Dune", so I don't wanna get my hopes up too much).

Re:Be gentle with me.

[Marcus Brody]

OK. I'll be gentle...

Why is this generating so much anticipation?

One word: Marketing.

It works though - I'm salivating with anticipatory excitement as much as the next sheep......

The cartoon from a few years ago (underrated in my opinion) was unfinished, because they ran out of cash. Hence no marketing, hence a flop.

Re:Be gentle with me.

[Blackneto]

I believe there is anticipation this time because of that feeble attempt.
At least for me.
I can't wait to see the Ent's go to battle.

Re:Be gentle with me.

[pointwood]

This is a major thing - I believe it's going to be as big as (or bigger than) Star Wars.

The book (Tolkiens trilogy, The Lord of the Rings) has been awarded as the book of the century. The previous trailers has been the most downloaded trailer ever, beating The Phantom Menace. It will, IIRC, have premiere in more than 10.000 cinemas all over the world - again, many more than The Phantom Menace.

For more info - hit the fansite TheOneRing.net.

Re:Be gentle with me.

[Zocalo]

Actually I have these concerns about over-hype as well, especially since I read somewhere that the Tolkien family members are having nothing to do with it. On the other hand, this may to more to do with the fact the more fanatical fans of the books give them some serious grief, to the extent that Christopher always travels to the UK under an assumed name.

Let's face it, unless a film follows the book exactly as the specific fanatical fan viewer expected then they are going to be disappointed and whine. "Lord of the Rings" was written as a book, not a screenplay, so it'll have to be an adaptation, so a percentage of viewers are bound not to like the result.

Hmm. Maybe /. could rate some movies that way; work out the percentage of good vs bad film posts and grade accordingly...

Re:Be gentle with me.

[Old Wolf]

Not at all!
It generated so much anticipation when it was still Slash-style rumours and whispers back in 1997 (or earlier) that they were thinking of making LOTR movies.

The reason is simply because the source novels are by far and away the greatest fantasy work of all time (in fact, they created the genre), and it has won countless large readers' polls as Best book of all time.

Re:Be gentle with me.

[Steeltoe]

It's going to be big alright, but you didn't answer his question. Neither can you before the movie gets out: Will it r0xoR my pants 0ff? ;-)

- Steeltoe

Re:Be gentle with me.

[Steeltoe]

The trouble is that the more anticipation you build up for something, the more chance of being disappointed and the less you enjoy it. So falling for the hype is like shooting yourself in the foot. Twice, if you fell for Star Wars I before it came out. Surprises work the opposite way.

A movie simply CAN'T beat imagination from reading a book. Pictures and sound limits possibilities. All in all, it's just about a couple of hours of entertaintment. It's typical of man to await something for months, even years, without appreciating the present moment. What you can do today. Now. Live life.

- Steeltoe

Re:Be gentle with me.

[Steeltoe]

People want to relive the time they read LOTR. I personally think many will be disappointed. Those hardcore fans I know will probably not admit to being disappointed, but it's really rather inevitable when you build up so much anticipation. Then they'll blame it on whoever created it or some other outside factor. Rather sad, really, but the bastards deserves it for being so fanatical ;*)

One sure prescription for this is to read LOTR just before seeing the movie for instance. You bet alot of stuff will be omitted. No matter how good the movie is, I'd probably go out of it in a rage. If I didn't know better now that is :)

- Steeltoe

Re:Be gentle with me.

[Rand Race]

in fact, they created the genre

Robert E. Howard, C.L. Moore, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and L. Sprague de Camp would probably disagree with you there. Homer might as well.

Tolkein did, admittedly, bring the genre up to literary heights never before seen... since Homer at least.

Re:Be gentle with me.

[Anonymous Coward]

For the masses apparently not in the know, LOTR is directed by Peter Jackson, who has made some remarkably well known films, most notably "Bad Taste", "Meet the Feebles" and "Dead Alive".
If this discourages you, I'd HIGHLY recommend renting "Heavenly Creatures", one of the most amazing fantasy-like films I've ever seen. Jackson has a amazing flare for surreality.
Why should you be excited? Because he's probably the best choice for someone who could pull off this movie and keep the beauty and magic of the story.

Have fun.

Re:Be gentle with me.

[Rogerborg]

• • Why is this generating so much anticipation?
  One word: Marketing.

That's three words, and it's not true anyway from where I'm sitting. I haven't seen one paid ad for this anywhere, and yet I'm still twitching like a loon.

Re:Be gentle with me.

[d80god]

Speaking of award winning trilogies, one that I've never seen mentioned as a possible film conversion is the Foundation series by Asimov.

Probably had something to do with the lack of a central character/actor (book jumps around a lot in time), but I always thought it would be awesome to see.

Re:Be gentle with me.

[F452]

Speaking of award winning trilogies, one that I've never seen mentioned as a possible film conversion is the Foundation series by Asimov.

I love the foundation stories, but I'm not sure if they would translate into good movies. There is a lot of talking and not that much action.

Re:Be gentle with me.

[F452]

Great post. I absolutely agree with you. Sadly, maybe my imagination is failing, because when I saw those towers on the river it took my breath away. I'm pretty sure there were towers described in the book, but I never imagined them being so impressive. I tend to gloss over some descriptions and focus on the plot, unfortunately. So, after reading the books so many times, it will be fun to see images put to the words.

mirror

[Anonymous Coward]

ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/ringcentral/

Why the sorensen site?

[Midnight Thunder]

I'm surprised that it is being hosted by Sorenson when most of the Quicktime trailers are usually hosted at akamai.net and the later usually fairs bit better.

Re:Why the sorensen site?

[yakfacts]

Sorensen recently got their own computer room. Their computers had been colocating before, so they did not want to pay for as much bandwidth.

Re:Why the sorensen site?

[handygeek]

Actually, Sorenson redirects through Akamai. I went through their trial period and was not impressed. Basically, Sorenson has become the middleman for smaller companies. Why Apple would do this? I have no idea at all.

Oops!

[Pescatore]

It's the same, sorry.

Recommended fansite

[pointwood]

If you are in search for more information - I highly recommend TheOneRing.net. It's a really cool site, updated very often.

General Tolkein Info

[the_guru_D]

As I understand it - though I'm not the fantasy buff I used to be - Tolkein actually wrote the Lord of the Rings as a by-product of his experimentations and work on socio-linguistics. His work on developing what is known, to fans and readers of the Lord of the Rings, as the Elven language which is spoken by Galadriel and also by Elrond (and others as well). You can generally find reasonable notes by Tolkein in the back of the books on how to decipher the script. What will be interesting - with this in mind - is how closely the movie will keep to Tolkein's intended pronunciation, and also how they will deal with the songs that are used as ambience at the council of Elrond. The songs however arent actually spoken during the council, but are inserted by Tolkein for background to the story of the legends behind the quest beginning. But it looks promising so far !!

Re:General Tolkein Info

[Anonymous Coward]

The movie will have the proper pronunciation of Tolkiens languages. Peter Jackson brought in serveral language specialists including two fluent in elvish just to make sure of it. There have been audio clips on the official site of at least one of these experts speaking in elvish. Also I believe that Philipa Boyens(sp?), one of the screenwriters speeks a bit of elvish.

Re:General Tolkein Info

[Ian_Bailey]

Firstly, I would like to note that LotR was originally conceived by Tokien as a bedtime story for his son (actually, I think the Hobbit was made with that purpose - why don't they make a movie out of that book?).

Secondly, while I cannot tell about the elven words, I did translate the runes used in the books when I was in high school and had nothing else to do. It wasn't a terribly complicated cypher, merely "symbol A = B" plus a few special characters for particular sounds, e.g. 'th'. Some runes were even fairly obvious. (For anyone who had the Hobbit, the Runes read, "The Hobbit, or There and Back Again, by J.R.R. Tokien")

Finally, I would like to agree with you on the issue of the elven songs. They were grand poems that just felt like they were being butchered being put down on paper.

Your comment violated the postersubj compression filter. Comment aborted

Lesson In Distribution

[shut_up_man]

I really wish big companies would GET A CLUE when it comes to distributing popular content on the net. They just keep on screwing it up, over and over, during the WTC attack and every time anything to do with LoTR or Star Wars gets posted.

• Mirroring is essential. And NOT like having three web servers in the same building, you fools. Scatter them all over the world, and provide links from the official site so people can make choices about where they slurp from.
  
  
• Choose providers who can handle this sort of load balancing, like Akamai. What the hell piddly server is squeeze.sorensen.com? No wonder it exploded a nansecond after it got posted.
  
  
• Allow downloads, instead of streaming-only distribution. Golf claps for doing this for the latest LoTR trailer, but big boos for messing the rest up.
  
  
• Let people mirror the files themselves - in fact, ENCOURAGE it. People want to help, let them. Don't get all caught up in legal crap, in case you haven't realised it, we're making copies for our friends already.
  
  
• Throw files on a P2P service like Kazaa. P2P is PERFECT for this kind of distribution.
  

It's all freaking simple, people.

shut up man

Re:Lesson In Distribution

[pointwood]

Just one comment - it is actually available for download - in several versions/sizes.

Re:Lesson In Distribution

[davidesh]

and the streaming version is coming from Akamai...

Re:Lesson In Distribution

[shut_up_man]

Yep, like I said... golf claps for them this time around (usually they make it streaming and nothing else) but since the site has gone all melty, no-one can download anything. :-(

Re:Lesson In Distribution

[shut_up_man]

Meh... I'll have to stand corrected on that one, none of the streaming ones got to the point where I could see they were from Akamai. :-)

Re:Lesson In Distribution

[purplemonkeydan]

Well,

• Mirroring is essential. And NOT like having three web servers in the same building, you fools. Scatter them all over the world, and provide links from the official site so people can make choices about where they slurp from.

and

• Choose providers who can handle this sort of load balancing, like Akamai. What the hell piddly server is squeeze.sorensen.com? No wonder it exploded a nansecond after it got posted.

are the same, really. Akamai provides a great network for posting stuff like this. Akamai is your friend.

Allow downloads, instead of streaming-only distribution. Golf claps for doing this for the latest LoTR trailer, but big boos for messing the rest up.

I agree with this. It's very inefficient. If you want to play the trailer again, you have to request all the data again, and I don't believe many places proxy and cache streaming media requests.

P2P distribution is also a good idea, but I don't think the studios want to look like they are legitimising the practise. It's all about appearances.

Re:Lesson In Distribution

[shut_up_man]

You're prolly right, "distribution" is best left to the experts (like Akamai). But if a company isn't willing to commit to that kind of resource, even a bunch of decent servers all over the world would be better than a single one. Something like europe.cnn.com, australia.cnn.com, africa.cnn.com, etc. At least it would spread the load.

Re:Lesson In Distribution

[Anonymous Coward]

Clearly someone from New Line Cinema need a lesson in distribution as it was THIER decision not to use Akamai and I bet many people at Apple and in the QuckTime Team are not very happy about the current situation...

And what made the guys at Sorenson think they can provide enough bandwidth???

Re:Lesson In Distribution

[Anonymous Coward]

Okay you have answered the easy questions. Now the hard one. Where do you come up with $175,000 for Akamai?

Re:Lesson In Distribution

[Rakarra]

Allow downloads, instead of streaming-only distribution. Golf claps for doing this for the latest LoTR trailer, but big boos for messing the rest up.

I agree with this. It's very inefficient. If you want to play the trailer again, you have to request all the data again, and I don't believe many places proxy and cache streaming media requests.

The problem with this is -- control. The company doing the streaming wants control. They want to know exactly how many people are downloading the clip, how often they are watching, and the last thing they want is for people to be passing this stuff around on P2P networks where they have no control at all. Hell, if they had their way they'd likely abolish P2P networks completely! The above suggestions all make sense from a technical perspective, but there are social/business decisions that override the best technical solutions.

Re:mirror

[Xentax]

This link is bogus; the folder is empty...

Grrr ... QuackTime

[purplemonkeydan]

Why must they use Quacktime? Has Jobs paid off all the studios or something?

Why not something open and widespread like MPEG, MPEG2 or MPEG4? That way people on all kinds of platforms can see it without having to install crap software.

It's not as if Sorenson is any better than the various MPEGs.

Re:Grrr ... QuackTime

[Spruitje]

Why not something open and widespread like MPEG, MPEG2 or MPEG4? That way people on all kinds of platforms can see it without having to install crap software.


Well, actually.. quicktime is less crappy than windoze mediaplayer.
Second, believe it or not but the official MPEG4 standard is based on.... quicktime!!!
Not that not standardised crap like DVIX or so.

Re:Grrr ... QuackTime

[Anonymous Coward]

Quicktime is utter cr*p

Re:Grrr ... QuackTime

[purplemonkeydan]

Well, actually.. quicktime is less crappy than windoze mediaplayer.

Well, that's a matter of taste, really. I don't think either of them are particularly great. Same with RealWhatever. Roll on DiVX and MPEG!

Second, believe it or not but the official MPEG4 standard is based on.... quicktime!!!

IIRC, they didn't use the codec, just the data format. Most QT movie trailers use the Sorenson codec.

Personally, I think they should release trailers in as many format as possible. MPEG1, MPEG4, WinMedia, Real and QT. Cover all the bases, and you get some form of inherent mirroring as well (MSN would host the WM on their site, Apple would host the QT, and so on)

Re:Grrr ... QuackTime

[AdamHaun]

You haven't used a quicktime player lately, have you? Even the slow, bloated, WMP 7 is better than *that*. I'm running WMP 6 right now and it takes me less than 2 seconds to go from double-click to start of movie. Quicktime takes longer than that just to *load*, and the quality is almost invariably worse.

Re:Grrr ... QuackTime

[levik]

I actually think it's a great move on their part. Not of course as far as the users' benefit is concerned, but things like this are great killer-apps for software upgrades. I downloaded QT3 to see the starwars episode one trailer, QT4 to see the original LOTR teaser, and I've just installed QT5 today to get a glimpse of this latest offering. Too bad the servers turned out to be swamped.

In any case, this is a great partnership idea from Apple's standpoint. I'm not sure what their end of the bargain was for the exclusive QT5 release, but I sure hope it wasn't handling the distribution, because if that's the case, New Line got the short end of that stick.

Re:Grrr ... QuackTime

[delus10n0]

Because Quicktime is a good "all-around" solution, for streaming and for download, as well as having primitive "copy protection" (You're not able to re-save protected Quicktimes, etc.) Sorenson is an amazing codec, which can provide excellent quality for it's size.

I suppose they could release it in MPEG or MPEG2, but the bitrate require to attain the quality you see in the quicktime would easily make this not worthwhile. I'd rather download a 30 meg Quicktime than a 150 meg MPEG or MPEG2.

Why not DiVX? For one, it's not a "consumer" codec or solution. How many average joes out there do you think really have the DiVX4 codec installed, or even know what a codec is? And secondly, it lacks the features that Quicktime/RealMedia offer (DRM, "copy protection", Streaming, etc.) as well as lacking an overall "professionalism".

Re:Grrr ... QuackTime

[Anonymous Coward]

Quicktime is the choice of many professionals. Quicktime is crap for streaming (well, at 56k anyway) but great for digital video editing using great tools Apple provides like iMovie, Final Cut Pro, DVD Studio etc...

Re:Grrr ... QuackTime

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh, please.

Professionals??

Ever heard of mpeg?

Re:Grrr ... QuackTime

[Erik Fish]

Well, actually.. quicktime is less crappy than windoze mediaplayer.

Media Player v6 isn't bad, but this isn't about players -- this is about a format that locks you into a player. Ask anyone (dumb the question down to baby talk if you have to) and they'll tell you that they'd rather have the option of using whatever player they damn well please rather than being locked into one -- no matter how bad or good it is.

Second, believe it or not but the official MPEG4 standard is based on.... quicktime!!!

Oh great! So does that mean I can play QuckTime flicks using Sasami2k? Oh wait, no it doesn't. It means that buried deep in the heart of the QT format is some small morsel that hasn't been savagely fucked up. Or possibly it means that Apple sucked a lot of dicks up MPEG way so now we all get to pay for it.

Not that not standardised crap like DVIX or so.

Look down your nose at DIVX all you want but at least their strategy isn't based on locking you into any particular player.

Re:Grrr ... QuackTime

[Anonymous Coward]

Hmm, so you do all your editing in MPEG.

Interesting.

Try uncompressed in Final Cut. I think you'd think twice.

Re:Grrr ... QuackTime

[Anonymous Coward]

The reason QuickTime was chosen as the basis of MPEG-4 is that MPEG-4 is much more than just a codec. It's an extensible, interactive architecture. QuickTime is light-years ahead of Windows Media and Real in this regard.

Thankfully, both Apple and Sorenson are working on MPEG-4 compliant codecs (not like the MPEG-4 v1-3 crap M$ tried to pass off as compliant).

I'm still waiting for M$ to come down hard on DivX ;-) since it "borrows" their code. (Why are you guys so enamored with is product, it's not even open source.) :-)

I suppose time will tell.

What's the deal with LOTR?

[eellis]

Right, I need an answer to this question from a Lord of the Rings fan.

The question is this: Given that the Ring was so goddamned important, and that its destruction was literally the central event of the entire history of Middle-Earth, why did the supposedly wise Elves entrust this mission to a young hobbit with no military experience, supported by any friends he happened to pick up along the way? Particularly as the hobbit in question had never previously been more than a few miles from his native village.

Surely, the obvious solution would have been to assign a company of elven cavalry with magic swords, supported by Ents, and accompanied by guides familiar with the terrain. It's clear from the book that the elves could raise a huge military force when they had to -- why not use it for this mission?

The really annoying thing is that there *is* a reason why this was not an option, and a Lord of the Rings fan told me what it was three years ago. I forgot it, though, and it's been driving me mad ever since.

Re:What's the deal with LOTR?

[Anonymous Coward]

How are your Elves going to get into Mordor? They can't raise nearly enough troops to do it by force (the days of the Last Alliance are long gone, many Elves have gone to the West and the line of Numenor has declined). Sauron's forces are far stronger than they have ever been. Doing it by force is doomed to failure.

You'd also have trouble convincing the Ents to help - they only marched on Saruman because he was a direct threat to them, they didn't help against Mordor.

What you need is someone who is small, tough and good at sneaking and hiding. It'd help if they already possessed the Ring, as it's difficult to transfer ownership of the Ring and you really don't want people like Gandalf or Elrond touching it. Where oh where can we find one of them?

Re:What's the deal with LOTR?

[Diomedes01]

Right, this could be way off... but worth a shot.

As far as I can recall (it's been a while), they entrusted the ring to Frodo because he was innocent - of all of them, he would be the least tempted to use the ring for himself and become the new Dark Lord. Also, a huge force of elven cavalry headed into Mordor would attract Sauron's attention, and he would then use all his power to wrest the ring from them. The Fellowship's only hope lay in secrecy and speed. Sauron could not know that the ring had even been found until the instant it was destroyed. Unfortunately, it didn't quite work out that way - Smeagol alerted him to the fact that the ring was still around, and so Frodo and company were hounded by the Nine for much of their journey.

Re:What's the deal with LOTR?

[Xentax]

Hmm, can we say "flamebait"?

If you _read_ the Ring Trilogy (I have to actually wonder), you'd know that circumstances suggested any OVERT action relating to the ring would likely meet overwhelming opposition from Sauron and his forces. Frodo and the companions represented the ultimate in a covert operation, in many ways (though Gandalf just by being Gandalf draws attention).

It's a classic strategy (in fiction anyway) -- do what the enemy least expects, which often also involves doing something the Enemy thinks you'd be either stupid or suicidal to even try.

Elrond and Gandalf (and others) understood Sauron's psyche enough (scary thought) to realize that he'd never expect them to _destroy_ the Ring, but to use it against him in their own rise to power (as several parties suggested or pondered at various points).

Anyway, that's probably just going to touch off a flame war or a oft-repeated debate, so it'll be my last posted thoughts on the subject (hopefully).

Re:What's the deal with LOTR?

[MavEtJu]

They should have organized it in a committee!
Naaah... it's easier to sneak a hobbit in, let him make the standards. Later, when the big armies have stopped fighting, they'll see that the whole idea was already implemented while they were bickering over details.

Rough consensus and working code, that's what life is about!

Re:What's the deal with LOTR?

[lythari]

Surely, the obvious solution would have been to assign a company of elven cavalry with magic swords, supported by Ents, and accompanied by guides familiar with the terrain. It's clear from the book that the elves could raise a huge military force when they had to -- why not use it for this mission?

Because any such attempt would have been smashed to pulp by Sauron's own army. Also, the nature of the ring is such that those who possess it for any length of time, however short are unable to destroy it. Sauron, in his lust for the ring was unable to imagine that anyone would want to destroy it. Thus the decision was to try and sneak the ring into Mordor. That means low key, powerful elves with magic swords aren't exactly low key.

Also there was an element of fate in it. Elrond said as much in the council. I'd give you a quote now but my copy of LOTR is an 8 hour flight away and I can't recall it off the top of my head.

That's my (in my opinion) pathetic attempt to answer your question. Hope it helped.

Re:What's the deal with LOTR?

[Anonymous Coward]

1. Nobody wants to carry the ring, because they are afraid of the effect that will have on them... Thus, the only one that can bring the mission to an end, is the current owner of the ring...

2. The whole mission is supposed to be SECRET. No army can go in the lair of Dark Lord without Sharron discovers what is going on (that the ring is going to be destroyed. Sharron thinks that the Elves want it for themselves.)

READ THE BOOKS.

Re:What's the deal with LOTR?

[Old Wolf]

The forces of Mordor would have crushed the army. The might of Gondor had been waning for decades -- the nations were much much weaker than they were at the battle of the Last Alliance. You will see this at the scene "The Black Gate Opens" (probably near the start of the third film), and perhaps sooner if they play it up.

The only way to victory lay in sneaking undetected into Orodruin and depositing the ring. The hobbits were chosen because they were hardy and the most likely to overcome the temptation of the ring. Gandalf, Elrond, Galadriel etc. declined to take on the ring because they thought they would be unable to resist the temptation to use it.

Also, the elves had departed from the affairs of men after the Last Alliance (it wasn't call the _Last_ one for no reason). Many of them had already departed Middle-Earth; there were only a few left and they certainly had no plans to engage in a war.

Re:What's the deal with LOTR?

[osiris]

Not only was the fact that it was to be a low key mission, there was also the fact that the ring had power upon itself and had the ability to affect where it went. Just like when it was first lost, it managed to find its way back to civilisation through golem. So part of the reason why Frodo is entrusted with the ring is because he was _chosen_ by it as Bilbo had been chosen by it in the hobbit. The ring, as decribed in the book, is trying to get back to its master.

That is how i had intepreted it anyway.

Re:What's the deal with LOTR?

[Anonymous Coward]

Here's a 'mind-blurt' from a possibly-underqualified lotr fan:

- The very nature of the ring was that of hostility, combat and victory by force. Sauron himself could not percieve any other direct use of the ring. He expected a confrontration; a struggle for power for which the ring ultimately was a tool.

- Had the ring been used for its purpose, it and its creator would have prevailed. It could only exist on one finger alone, and that would have been the finger of a (if new) darklord.

- The elves, less concearned with the dealings of mortalmen, considered this a conflict of theirs. They knew their time was fleeting, and middleearth was not to be their future home. They might even have predicted/known the outcome, and felt that this conflict was the dawn of a new age, where the "new people" was to mature.

- The hobbits that had existed seperately from the "dealings of the great", had been ignored by nearly all considerable forces in the conflict, or so it seems; The truth however is that their faith is closely interviened with that of the ring. Smeagol/Gollum (hobbitkin) found the ring, and lost it to Bilbo who then, despite an innerstruggle passed it on to his nephew, frodo. Granted, even in their dealings with the ring, there was deciet and murder, for this was the nature of the ring, but innocence and kindness prevailed as if willed by greater forces at play.

It is as if gandalf could see some of these things, faintly.. he acted in the tale of the ring, by guiding events - yet never the ring directly. The choices, faith and nature of the real bearer was crucial - they were the only hope for its destruction.

Thats my take on the whole anyway.. Now I just wish i could find a mirror where I could dl the trailer

Re:What's the deal with LOTR?

[Anonymous Coward]

Sharron being of course the Evil Dark Lord of Essex. What happened to Tracey?

Re:What's the deal with LOTR?

[Anonymous Coward]

Sauron had enough resources that he could easily destroy any army, even an elven one, that stood against him. Granted, Gondor stood against his attack, but that was only a fraction of his force, the lion's share of his military force was still sitting and waiting in Mordor. What they needed was a covert operation that wouldn't be noticed by the Eye of Sauron. This is why Aragorn faced him boldly through the stone, and why after a victory in Gondor, Gandalf gathered troops and marched boldly off to Mordor. They wanted Sauron to think that they had the Ring and planned to use it, so he wouldn't notice a pair of hobbits hiking up Mount Doom. If a host of elves and Ents accompanied the Ring, it would have been noticed immediately, and Sauron would keep throwing hosts and hosts of armies at them until they were destroyed. I hope that answers you question. I just got done reading the last book last night, so I'm still familiar with everything.

Re:What's the deal with LOTR?

[Anonymous Coward]

Hmm, can we say "flamebait"?

Only if you're a fat, greasy, no-life fanboy who is personally offended by someone who doesn't know how to write in runes, speak Elvish, or have the trilogy memorized.

Re:What's the deal with LOTR?

[gimbo]

Also, can you imagine trying to mobilise a force of ents for this purpose? Hoom...

Re:What's the deal with LOTR?

[Croaker]

Actually, the truth was they were overbudget already, and could only afford cheap hobbit contractors.

Re:What's the deal with LOTR?

[Anonymous Coward]

I loved this comment but contractos...cheap?!? What Middle Earth are you from?!? ;)

Re:What's the deal with LOTR?

[Anonymous Coward]

Point of clarification: The ring never chose Frodo... the ring was given to frodo by Bilbo.

This was perhaps the only time in the ring's history when it had ever been freely given.

Re:What's the deal with LOTR?

[alexjohns]

Sharron and Tracey are the whiny, bitchy girlfriends of Sauron. See, they didn't know about each other, then Sharron saw Tracey leaving Minas Morgul one day and figured out that Sauron was two-timing her. So then, in order to quiet her down, Sauron had to give her a ring and promise to marry her. She didn't want just any ring, she wanted the One Ring. So Sauron had to send out his Riders to find the Ring. (They were all glad to get out, Sharron's whining was getting on their nerves.) Of course, I've given away about 90% of the movie now, but the ending where Tracey shows up and there's this big oil wrestling finale between her and Sharron is worth the price of admission alone.

Re:What's the deal with LOTR?

[bhudda]

From what I gathered in the book, if the ring didn't want to be carried by you, you wouldn't be able to carry it. It describes a long history of the ring causing the downfall of it's owner and being lost. It was lost in a river and the owner killed, so Gollem could find it. Bilbo happened upon it before Gollem could recover it. Bilbo felt it wanted to be lost from him at times. Heck, Frodo didn't even destroy the ring, but rather lost it when Gollem bit his finger off. So the ring was sort of destroyed in accident, when it tried to loose itself from Frodo.

Remember also, the elves, men and dwarves had rings designed for their races. The One ring was an aberation for something like a demon/mage. As it has been stated in other posts, the ring was deadly. It's usage was corupting and others did fear it. Besides, as is also pointed out, while hobbits are little creatures, they have solid souls. Out of all the races, they were the least effected by the ring's evil.

Also, I would guess, even if an army was raised they could not have stormed Morador. There were many more orcs, wargs and evil humans. So, even if the battle was won, both sides would be dead. Remeber how many died just defending attacks from Morador. Where is the victory if everyone died. Also, in the story, there were petty disputes. Some people wanted the ring, to lead them into battle against Morador, others wanted it for personal power. All in all, how do you get an army, when there are 4 or 5 major plans of attack and there is internal fighting?

Re:What's the deal with LOTR?

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow.

You've really thought this all through.

Impressive.

ummm, maybe not.

Re:What's the deal with LOTR?

[Croaker]

Hey, think of it like shipping work overseas... the Shire is obviously backwards compared to (uh... wheverever it is the Elves are from).

I mean, jeez, they just picked up the ring and stomped off. Did you hear word one about health benefits? If I were going to stomp through Sauron's turf with the one thing he wanted most of all, damn straight I'd be asking about death and dismemberment benefits.

Re:What's the deal with LOTR?

[Fortmain]

What you say is true, but....

IIRC, in Chapter two (The Shadow of the Past), As Gandalf explains about the Ring to Frodo, he says something to the effect of:

Bilbo was meant to find the Ring, and not by its maker! And therefore you were meant to have it also.

(That's the gist of it. I would quote it directly, but my books are at home by the bed.)

Re:What's the deal with LOTR?

[bhudda]

Not really, just less than 5 minutes of writing and a good memory of a book series I haven't read in several years. Schmuck.

Bhudda

Re:What's the deal with LOTR?

[Coryoth]

Gandalf, Elrond, Galadriel etc. declined to take on the ring because they thought they would be unable to resist the temptation to use it.

I was under the impression that Gandalf would not weidl it because, well, that wasn't what he was there to do. Gandalf was eventually shown to be Maiar, and an agent of the Valar. As such his job was to guide, not to do - ever notice that for all the impact that Gandalf has, he never actually does anything, but rather counsels others to act?

Jedidiah

Re:What's the deal with LOTR?

[Erik Fish]

This exact text was posted the last time a LOTR trailer was released.

FOAD, troll.

Re:What's the deal with LOTR?

[Rakarra]

Holy shit, I wish I had points to mod the above up. "can we say 'flamebait'" fellow reminds me a little too much of the comic book guy from the Simpsons.

Re:What's the deal with LOTR?

[Rakarra]

All of this was documented in one of those appendices at the end of the Return of the King. G, I think. Christopher Tolkien got drunk one night and mysteriously "found" the old manuscript of JRR's that explains all of this.

Re:What's the deal with LOTR?

[Rakarra]

There was a time in the Fellowship at the beginning where Frodo asked Gandalf to take the ring, and Gandalf leaped back as if the hobbit was charging him with a knife. He specifically said not to tempt him, that he would have too much power with the ring, and the temptation to use its corrupting influence in mercy and pity would be maddening.

Re:What's the deal with LOTR?

[Rakarra]

They should have organized it in a committee!

They did, sortof.. the Council of Elrond. :)

Re:What's the deal with LOTR?

[Xentax]

Ahh, gotta love the peanut gallery, as usual.

First, I was far from personally offended.

Although the post I replied to seemed to be TRYING to provoke an argument rather than asking a serious question (which is why I mentioned flame-bait), I answered his question with my 2 cents' worth.

Having said that, I'm not fat or greasy, I _do_ have a life (I don't sit around working up one-line wisecracks to /. posts ALL DAY unlike some others, apparently), and I can't write in runes, speak Elvish, nor do I have the trilogy memorized. Thank you, drive through.

I'll give you credit for living up to the name, Anonymous Coward, though :)

Who needs web-download...

[erlando]

...when you have tools like Kazaa and Morpheus? Downloading now @ 140K/sec.. :o)

Re:Who needs web-download...

[Curien]

Hehe... you can keep your Morpheus and Kazaa with your 140K/sec downloads. I'll take my web downloads at 2.13 MB/s (yes, that's a capital 'B' -- as in "bytes") :-}

This will be a mirror...

[Anonymous Coward]

Whenever I get the new trailer, this FTP can be used as a mirror, nice and fast. If anyone else find it, upload it for others.

132.177.76.231 login: lotr pw: trailer

Re:This will be a mirror...

[Nintendork]

Thanks a lot!

if indeed you are wondering what the big deal is..

[motherhead]

Well I could plagiarize it for the free karma, or I could just point out the obvious and mention there is a ten page feature in this month's Wired about Tolkien the man, the author, the professor, his books, his legacy... and why this movie is going to be such a big f**king deal.

hell, half the posts i have read already quote it word for word... interestingly without giving credit...

"theatrical" trailers

[amlutias]

theatrical trailers are those played in theaters. not on TV. i presume 50 other people already pointed this out.

Re:"theatrical" trailers

[Sheridan]

"Theatri cal" trailers are those played in theatres, by live actors, not in a cinema (US: theater) or on television!
</REAL_(I.E._NON_US)_ENGLISH_TRANSLATION>
;-)

the hobbit

[Anonymous Coward]

was at borders for like 6 bucks. some special promotion.i thought it would suck. still a great book. Tolkien reminds me of Stephen King. never use too many advectives

MIRROR: I just put it on Morpheus

[BenHmm]

search Morpheus for "fellowshipoftherings_fs.mov"

it's the full screen version, and *hell*yes*it*rocks*

I've throttled the max uploads to save myself, if you get it, spread it around...

Re:MIRROR: I just put it on Morpheus

[abe ferlman]

This is exactly the point of p2p networks and why they have legitimate uses- to overcome short-term bandwidth bottlenecks. Take note, napsta-haters.

Bryguy

Re:MIRROR: I just put it on Morpheus

[JustinLong]

Now it is impossible to download Morpheus from Download.com. Do we need to begin having mirrored distribution of the software that distributes widely-desired titles?

Re:MIRROR: I just put it on Morpheus

[BenHmm]

oh *No* We've broken the internet.

Re:MIRROR: I just put it on Morpheus

[linzeal]

poor musiccity.com is slow

general accent giggle - US or what?

[fantomas]

Yup, the pronunciation is always fun, fits in with that whole thing about reading a book first and having the film shatter your imagined choices on how the characters would look and talk...

It will be dead funny as per usual for all the heroes to have American accents (though I guess the money came from the USA and they made the film so why not, and it's no more or less valid than any other accent). The best bit though is I hear a lot of the filming was done in New Zealand, for the big scenes they pretty well rounded up anybody who could ride a horse to be in it, some of our pals got jobs. So, imagine the scene from the film:

A battle, outside the gates of Mordor (or summink)...

Gandalf (our hero, in a Texas accent): "I will vanquish thee, oh evil spawn of darkness, back to whence thy came!"

Evil orc dressed in gothicky black wielding dead big axe (in broad Kiwi accent): "No worries mate! Choice!"

Not sure what the answer is but it always cracks me up...

Re:general accent giggle - US or what?

[Anonymous Coward]

Gandalf (our hero, in a Texas accent)

Oh dear. You really haven't seen any of the trailers or read anything about the cast, have you? Gandalf is British, as God intended him to be.

Re:general accent giggle - US or what?

[tb3]

Heh, heh. For some reason I picture John Wayne playing Gandalf in your version; pity he's dead.

Re:general accent giggle - US or what?

[pointwood]

LOL

But you are wrong - they will not have an American accent.

Re:general accent giggle - US or what?

[null_session]

I agree, the pronunciation will be really interesting. Expecially since none of the names sound like you think they sound untill you read the Appendexes. Then you find out that all trailing f's are pronounced as v's (so Gandalf is actually pronouced Gandolv) and all C's are hard - as in they sound like K. I'll be interested to see if they stick with the pronunciation as Tolkien imangined it or if they use what you would find from normal english pronunciation. And to whomever said that Gandolf was British? No, he was Istari. I have no idea what their accent sounds like, though.

Re:general accent giggle - US or what?

[Grab]

By nationality:-

British
Sean Bean (Boromir)
Ian Holm (Bilbo)
Ian McKellen (Gandalf)
Billy Boyd (Pippin)
Dominic Monaghan (Merry)
Orlando Bloom (Legolas)
Christopher Lee (Saruman)
John Rhys-Davies (Gimli)
Bernard Hill (Theoden)
The voice of Andy Serkis (Gollum)

Australian
Cate Blanchett (Galadriel)
Miranda Otto (Eowyn)
Hugo Weaving (Elrond)
John Noble (Denethor)
David Wenham (Faramir)

New Zealand
Martin Czokas (Celeborn)
Karl Urban (Eomer)

American
Elijah Wood (Frodo)
Sean Astin (Sam)
Viggo Mortenson (Aragorn)
Liv Tyler (Arwen)
Brad Dourif (Wormtongue)

As for pronouncing it as Tolkein put in the appendix, the purists have lost that one - the trailers definitely pronounce Gandalf as Gandalf, not Gandolv.

It's a shame only the Americans will invest in movies. Since half the actors are Brits, the top Hollywood cinematographers are Brits, and the book was written by a Brit, you'd reckon you could drum up some finance in Britain. But no... Silly buggers, money-men.

Grab.

Re:general accent giggle - US or what?

[Curien]

Then you find out that all trailing f's are pronounced as v's (so Gandalf is actually pronouced Gandolv) and all C's are hard - as in they sound like K.

Actually, that appendix applies *only* to the Elven words. Tolkien very specifically states that the (human) languages of the north of Middle-earth(from which the Rohirrim, the men of Bree, the Beorningas, and the Hobbits all came) were meant to be more Old English.

So Gandalf is pronounced correctly by Frodo in the trailer ("Do they... do they Gandalf").

And not all 'C's are hard. Scatha the Worm is pronounced "Shatha". But Celeborn is certainly pronounced "Keleborn" and Celebrian is pronounced "Kelebrian".

And to whomever said that Gandolf was British? No, he was Istari.
The person was refering to the *actor* who plays Gandalf as being British... not Gandalf himself.

Re:general accent giggle - US or what?

[Master_Wu]

Actually, there is information (and I believe sound bites) on http://www.lordoftherings.net/ that talks about working on the accents for the Hobbits at least. Check out the film section for info about the crew and other behind the scenes goodies ....

Re:general accent giggle - US or what?

[Rogerborg]

• New Zealand : Martin Czokas (Celeborn); Karl Urban (Eomer)

(plus, among other Kiwis): Robert Gillies (armour/weapons technician), Ngila Dickson (costume design) and Weta SFX productions, all of whom worked on Xena: Warrior Princess or Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. Battle on, Frodo! ;)

Re:general accent giggle - US or what?

[Rogerborg]

• the trailers definitely pronounce Gandalf as Gandalf, not Gandolv.

Off the top of my head, isn't that how it would be pronounced if it were an elven name, but it isn't, so it isn't?

Besides, Christopher Lee is a rabid LotR fanatic, pronounciation and all, and was actually correcting the dialogue coaches on set, so I doubt if we'll hear too many fox paws. At least, not in any scenes with him in them. ;)

Re:general accent giggle - US or what?

[Grab]

Oh yeah, plus half the crew, and nearly all the extras... :-)

Grab.

You are all nerds

[robvasquez]

What, trekkie conventions and star wars boxed sets getting old? No more time for RTS games or Everquest?

It is a film made by AOHell Time Wanker

[Anonymous Coward]

And that means that, no matter how much the DMCA or the proposed SSSCA is the product of AOHell Time Wanker, we will go and see it. Just to be able to nod ones head and go 'uh huh, I saw that'

Try this link

[Anonymous Coward]

http://homepage.mac.com/johnemdall/.Movies/lotr-tv 240.mov

Re:Try this link

[ratguy]

This is a link to the trailer that aired during the MTV Music Awards, and not the new trailer that aired last night. This one is about 30 seconds, whereas the new one is nearly 3 minutes long, and much much better!

Ratguy

Mordor = Afghanistan?

[Anonymous Coward]

Both ringed by mountains and deserts.
Both in the "southeast".
Both run by unspeakable evil.

Star Wars for adults

[dbowden]

What am I missing here? Why is this generating so much anticipation? Is it merely that they are going into much more detail than the somewhat feeble [imdb.com] version that came out several years back? (I don't recall such anticipation for that). Is it the people who are to be in it? Is it the fact that special effects have matured to a suitable stage to handle this subject matter? Is Pauley Shore doing a cameo?

Speaking as one who eagerly stood by with the remote last night, waiting to tape the preview as it came on, and watching my wife literally jump up and down in excitement when it did, this is a big thing.

This is the fantasy story that started a whole genre. Try and find a fantasy novel today that doesn't have _some_ type of resemblance to LOTR. It can be done, but it isn't easy. I started reading the books for the first time when I was 10, and I haven't stopped since. They are that good.

The reason everyone is so excited by this is that, as far as we've been able to determine, they're doing it right. The casting looks right. The look of the characters, of the land, of the people (elves, dwarves, hobbits, wizards), looks right. It looks like they're finally going to make this story get up, and walk out of the pages of the book, and work on the big screen.

In regard to casting, I think they made an excellent choice by NOT casting big stars -- this way the audience doesn't have a preconcieved notion of who the actors are, and can see them as only Tolkien's characters. In much the same way that Mark Hamill will always be Luke Skywalker, and Carrie Fisher will always be Princess Leia, I suspect that these actors will be typecast by this movie.

Another reason people are excited is that the state of special effects has finally arrived to the point where the special effects can be seamlessly integrated into the movie. We can watch Gandalf fighting the Balrog without being impressed by how real the Balrog looks, or by how impressively they were able to model the caverns. We've become used to seeing the impressive effects, and we can now watch them as part of the movie, without wondering how they're done, or being jarred by their unreality.

With regard to the screenplay, we already know that they've decided to take a bit of license with the story line, and increase Arwen's role (she's a lead character's love interest). They decided to do so because she really doesn't have much of a role in the story -- with the possible exception of Galadrial, no female character does. I personally don't think it'll be a big problem, and if it's the only concession they're making to the "normal" movie going public (as opposed to the geeks & uber geeks that are eagerly watching every move leading up to this production), I'll be happy.

I also recall a similar feeling before the release of "Dune", so I don't wanna get my hopes up too much.

Dune wasn't the same - I don't think we'll ever see a really good theatrical interpretation of Dune (the recent Sci-Fi channel series was pretty good, but I still think it missed a lot). The reason for that is that Dune is a very complex story. There is a lot of background, a lot of character development, and a different culture to assimilate. LOTR is essentially a good vs. evil story. The story line is very simple. We won't have to worry about extensive flashbacks, or narratives to explain complex plot points. There are good guys, and bad guys. The bad guys appears stronger, but the good guys eventually win in the end. That means that it will translate a heck of a lot better into a movie medium.

I'm really looking forward to this movie.

Re:Star Wars for adults

[SuiteSisterMary]

This is the fantasy story that started a whole genre.

Actually, I'd say The Illiad, The Odyssey, and the derivation, The Aenid. :-)

Re:Star Wars for adults

[TZA14a]

With regard to the screenplay, we already know that they've decided to take a bit of license with the story line, and increase Arwen's role (she's a lead character's love interest). They decided to do so because she really doesn't have much of a role in the story -- with the possible exception of Galadrial, no female character does.

No? I believe that Eowyn is a pretty substantial character. After all, she kills the Nazgul king and stuff. She also has a love story to offer, though hers is not as teenage-stupid-girl-goes-wooh as the Arwen-and-Aragorn thing is going to be.
I'm also looking forward to the movies, but focussing a bit more on Eowyn instead of putting in a cheesy happy ending with the Elven girl would have been better IMO.

Re:Star Wars for adults

[Anonymous Coward]

This is the fantasy story that started a whole genre. Try and find a fantasy novel today that doesn't have _some_ type of resemblance to LOTR.

Tolkien was using themes, character traits and fantasy races from European folk tales and myths, which was his area of study. Any modern fantasy novel would also use these themes, races, etc. Overall though, I think the book has underlying Christian themes, I understand that Tolkien was a devout Catholic, and you can see in the book the polalrity between the "good" and the "evil" characters. Hobbits, Elves, etc. are always good and altruistic, Orcs are self centered and even kill thier own kind over small trinkets. There is no metion of God or Gods in the book, but the Christian ideal that good will triumph in the end, even if it takes a long struggle, is the main thread of the trilogy.

Re:Star Wars for adults

[Rogerborg]

• they've decided to take a bit of license with the story line, and increase Arwen's role (she's a lead character's love interest).

Well, she is a lead character's love interest, we just don't get to see her in the book.

• with the possible exception of Galadrial, no female character [has much of a role]

Eowen? If Minis Tirith falls, what's anybody coming home to? Actually, when I heard that Kate Blanchett was featured, I thought "Wow, great casting for Eowen!". When I found out she's playing Galadriel, I had a bit of a think, and came up with "Wow, great casting for Galadriel!". I love when films feature actual actors rather than stars.

• This is the fantasy story that started a whole genre

Yup, and in response to the poster below who points out Homer, I'd have to say that Lord of the Rings is much closer to the Norse sagas in terms of setting, character, language and ambience. Gutteral lyricism, cleaving and hewing. You never feel that the characters are safe, and when [spoiler deleted] is killed, it feels grim and right. Oooh, I have to go and read it again! ;)

Re:Star Wars for adults

[bryanp]

With regard to the screenplay, we already know that they've decided to take a bit of license with the story line, and increase Arwen's role (she's a lead character's love interest). They decided to do so because she really doesn't have much of a role in the story -- with the possible exception of Galadrial, no female character does.

I don't object to them increasing the role of Arwen a tad. I object to them turning her in to "Arwen, Warrior Elven Princess" instead of the mild-mannered minor character she was in the book. While we're at it why don't we cast Arnold Schwarzeneggar as Frodo? It's just as true to the story as an aggressive Arwen.

There is already one hell of a strong female character in the story, namely Eowyn. But I guess since she doesn't end up with one of the "Main" characters romantically she doesn't count.

I don't expect them to try to mimic the book 100%, but I do expect them to keep Tolkien's characerization at a minimum.

Bryan
(who will still see the movie, but is dreading the inevitable changes)

Re:Star Wars for adults

[Black Parrot]

> I don't object to them increasing the role of Arwen a tad. I object to them turning her in to "Arwen, Warrior Elven Princess" instead of the mild-mannered minor character she was in the book.

At least they finally caved in and cut the scene where she gets drunk, dances on the tabletop, wrestles a dragon (in the mud), and blows 120 Elven warriors on solstice eve.

Though I think it was more out of concern for the ratings than for faithfulness to the novel.

Re:Star Wars for adults

[Veritan Drelor]

Admittedly, I don't have a degree in classical literature, but you're well of the mark in comparing Homer and Virgil to Tolkein. The Iliad is a semi-historical account of the fall of Troy. The actions of the various gods and goddesses, what we consider mythology, were intimately related to the religion of the day. The Iliad did not "create" a universe as such; it simply represents the pinnacle of it's own literary tradition. The Odyssey can be treated in much the same way.

Now, when it comes to the Aeneid, Virgil was merely attempting to link the founding of Rome to the fall of Troy. This pseudo-historical was little more than Virgil endeavouring to glorify Rome from from its very beginning. In effect, it is a work of propaganda.

Tolkein, on the other hand, "created" a world from scratch, or at least from a couple of languages he developed (Sindarin & Quenya). While the basic laws of physics and biology appear to be the same, with a bit of magic thrown in, Middle Earth is an entirely fictional creation. That is where the originality, the brilliance, of Tolekein's work's lie.

Re:Star Wars for adults

[Anonymous Coward]

"LOTR is essentially a good vs. evil story. The story line is very simple. We won't have to worry about extensive flashbacks, or narratives to explain complex plot points."

yeah.. riiiiight...

Re:Star Wars for adults

[glebfrank]

Yeah, but she doesn't appear until The Two Towers.

Re:Star Wars for adults

[kiwaiti]

I don't think you are doing Homer justice. In fact, his works were to ancient Greeks what the Bible is to us, or rather, what the Bible was to, say, medieval people to whom it was not just a revered source of deep wisdom, but a factual account of the history of the world and trustable to such an extent that doubt would only be considered folly (besides constituting glaring heresy), and research in the Bible the most obvious way to find things out.

We do not know what their religion may have been like before Homer collected their myths to assemble his version.

Kiwaiti

Re:Star Wars for adults

[Anonymous Coward]

There is already one hell of a strong female character in the story, namely Eowyn. But I guess since she doesn't end up with one of the "Main" characters romantically she doesn't count.

Oh dear. Someone's forgotten Faramir.

Re:Star Wars for adults

[Mandelbrute]

In regard to casting, I think they made an excellent choice by NOT casting big stars.

I think so too. Instead of using stars they're using people who can act! Many of the actors have been in so many different roles that you know that they will be playing the characters and not "Arnie", and we won't know exactly how they will be playing then until we see it. A lot of the cast have spent a lot of time on the stage and thus logged more hours of actual acting time than the typical Hollywood big name - and it shows.

As for the director - "Frighteners", "Beautiful Creatures", "Forgotten Silver" (an april fools day joke imitation documentary having a go at jingoistic nationalism), "Braindead" and "Meet The Feebles" are all very different movies, and among the best of their respective genres. Just don't have a big meal before the last two.

As for the scenery, in New Zealand you don't need a matte background for Mordor - just shoot the scenes in a moon-like landscape near a great big volcano.

Laurence Olivier to Dustin Hoffman after Hoffman had gone without sleep and washing for a few days to get into a role: "Can't you just act?"

the easiest way to get these files is always P2P

[Kraft]

1. Get Morpheus.
2. Install and run it.
3. Select "Video" and search for "Lord of the rings"
4. then you should be able to get in a few mins. The problem is figuring out what the hell the file is called.

With apples shit site, I have to upgrade to a new version of quicktime, which took me forever and it still doesn't work. I wanted to get the zip file from the sorensen server... but it's dead.

... or you can just view the file here:
http://homepage.mac.com/johnemdall/.Movies/lotr- tv 240.mov

do not bother, folks

[esbjorn]

this trailer does not show anymore than the last... (luckily December is here soon... ;)

you sir

[Anonymous Coward]

You sir, deserver a +1M insightful as hell, too bad Slash doesn't support such a thing.

This works.

[Anonymous Coward]

This works, small screen, don't know if it is the full trailer, but it seems ok, some great scenes, now I'm like a kid again and can't wait until Christmas. Elbereth e Glothonel.

Re:the easiest way to get these files is always P2

[Uncle Thumpy]

That is not the trailer that aired during Angel last night. It's a small, edited version with lots of footage from the previous trailers. I have also got morpheus waiting to share the file (if I can get it), but the trailer you have posted, while new, is not the /awesome/ one from last night.

I agree, people should grab morpheus and get this thing going peer to peer.

Re:mirror

[Anonymous Coward]

of course it is
why should I contribute to slashdot which is run by the idiots for the idiots (see your reply)

As have I.

[Raereth]

I've just put it on morpheus as well, although I've limited it to three simultaneous uploads, since my connection only has 640kbit/s upstream bandwidth.

9/6 Trailer is not 9/24 Trailer

[Gregoyle]

Thanks to all those posting links to tolkien-movies.com and Ain't it Cool News, but the trailers they have from Sept 6th are not the same as the one from last night, Sept. 24th.

To my knowledge none of the mirror sites have it yet (although that could change). TheOneRing.Net just posts a link to the broken Apple/Sorenson server. They may be available on the Morpheous/Kazaa network; I'm at work and haven't been able to check. I'd post a mirror, too, except I haven't been able to get the latest trailer myself :-).

Re:9/6 Trailer is not 9/24 Trailer

[Black Parrot]

> To my knowledge none of the mirror sites have it yet (although that could change).

If someone would hurry up and finish the Linux driver for palantiri, we could all just watch someone else watching it.

Re:9/6 Trailer is not 9/24 Trailer

[Tin Weasil]

Open Sourced Palantiri drivers would be a very bad idea.

small version is UP!

[Anonymous Coward]

Located in uploads and /Previews/LOTR

--=lordoftherings_trailer2.mov

Re:small version is UP!

[Chris Pimlott]

Thanks for the site, it's nice and fast, but why did you have to name it like that? I makes it difficult to download with a command line ftp client...

Regarding Tom

[danila]

Actually the first translation of LOTR (into Russian) that I read, didn't include Tom. For me it wasn't a great problem and I didn't find that Old Forest part adds much to the story.

Danila

They ARE using Akamai!!

[CaseyB]

"Choose providers who can handle this sort of load balancing, like Akamai."

Here's the HTML of the link to the file:

<a href="http://squeeze.sorenson.com/video/fellowship ofthering_fs.zip"><IMG SRC="http://a772.g.akamai.net/7/772/51/a8a1a3fc413 633/www.apple.com/trailers/newline/fellowship_of_t he_ring/images/index_18.gif" WIDTH=99 HEIGHT=23 border="0"></a>

Note that they ARE using Akamai -- for the 449 byte image used for the link. It's only the 30 Meg movie that's on the dial-up iMac.

Re:They ARE using Akamai!!

[Ryano]

"It's only the 30 Meg movie that's on the dial-up iMac."

I can't comment on the bandwidth available to them, but that's no iMac. Netcraft say:

The site squeeze.sorenson.com is running Apache/1.3.20 (Unix) mod_throttle/3.1.2 on Solaris.

Having said that, they could probably achieve similar results with an iMac running OS X, or indeed a 386 running Windows 3.1, serving a "Server Unavailable" page.

veni, vi... eh

[Anonymous Coward]

guys I just downloaded the movie but to no use, looks like I can't play it...Are there any .mov players avaible for linux? And I mean native movie players no wine mockups.

thanks for help

The new trailer isn't mirrored on this page.

[Multiple Sanchez]

If anyone has a real mirror, please post it.

I've set up a mirror...

[infernix]

I mirrored the Large version (480x204), it's 18MB. If I find the fullscreen version I'll put it up there too. Grab it here:

http://lotr.infernix.net/

Note: PLEASE SATURATE THIS LINK.

I repeat: PLEASE SATURATE THIS LINK.

It's our (yet) unused new uplink and I'd like to stress-test it.

Thanks ;)

infernix

Re:I've set up a mirror...

[Uncle Thumpy]

I think you're saturated...;)

-L

Re:I've set up a mirror...

[infernix]

I think it is, yes :)

It don't matter though. I'm pleased enough to see it used to its fullest extent for a little while :)

It's a Debian box with a Cyclades PC300 card in it (e.g., hooked up to the E1 2MBit line directly). I tweaked apache a bit to cope with the users, so it should be fine for a while.

Thanks /.ers :)

Re:I've set up a mirror...

[Anonymous Coward]

I can't get better than 4k/s on 1536k dsl, I'd say it is saturated as well.

Re:I've set up a mirror...

[RudeDude]

I've managed to get the full screen version (30MB) and Infernix is adding it to his page.

while [ ! -s fellowshipofthering_fs.zip ]
do
snarf http://squeeze.sorenson.com/video/fellowshipofther ing_fs.zip
done

I will risk saturating our connection here later today... I know I'd get completely swamped if I posted right now. (Dual T1's)

Re:I've set up a mirror...

[infernix]

It's up. Thanks ;)

Re:I've set up a mirror...

[psychos]

Fullscreen .mov file

This is a fast mirror (the one in the parent message is horribly saturated).

Re:I've set up a mirror...

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm getting 65K/sec on this. I love you.

Re:I've set up a mirror...

[Drestin]

Thanks, I'm getting it now (480 KB/s) and will post mirror shortly ...

Re:I've set up a mirror...

[davidesh]

510KBytes/sec... gratzi!

Re:I've set up a mirror...

[Anonymous Coward]

126 KB/s -- You da man.

Many thanks.

Re:I've set up a mirror...

[Anonymous Coward]

Dude, I must add my thanks to you for providing such a super fast mirror! Downloaded it in 3 minutes at work, faster than it took me to grab QuickTime 5 from Apple. Then ssh'ed into my FreeBSD box at home to grab it so I can watch it on my Mac when I get home. You rock!

Re:I've set up a mirror...

[Moofie]

Dude. This server rocks ass. Thank you!

Damn /. makes me type this because I want to thank the person posting the badass mirror. No content here, folks.

Re:I've set up a mirror...

[Anonymous Coward]

I am grateful for people who mirror these kinds of things (thank you!), but I am also afraid. I just know that some day I'm going to spend all night downloading some 30 MB preview from some helpful person's mirror, only to discover that the file contains Goatse.cx: The Motion Picture.

Re: I've got more bandwidth...

[Drestin]

Tell ya what, get it to me and I'll host it up on our Gigabit ethernet connection to Level 3, capped at 100 mb/s by the router but it'll pony up the bandwidth. Just gotta get the original first! damn!

WAIT!

[Rackemup]

I'm still reading the first book (1 of 3)... can you hold off showing the movies until I finish? =) ... j/k ...

I'm 24 and reading LOTR for the first time. I was hesitant at first because fantasy books arent really my thing but I'm actually enjoying the read. When I was younger the size of the books would have put me off (even though I was an avid reader), but now I'm able to approach it as both a first-time reader and as an educated individual. Now I see why there's such a following, the characters don't have a huge amount of depth just yet but it's easy to identify with them.

Once I finish with the book(s) I'll see the movies, the order things were intended to happen. Perhaps the movies will add to the story instead of destroying it like so many other book-into-movie projects.

Re:WAIT!

[Anonymous Coward]

Just wait till you get to the second book, time will hve never moved SO slowly!

Re:WAIT!

[Rogerborg]

• the characters don't have a huge amount of depth just yet but it's easy to identify with them.

Don't hold your breath. LotR is an astonishing work, but it's in the saga tradition where characters are defined by their deeds, not by their introspections.

Quick Time support for Linux

[BabyPlas]

I am running redhat7.1 and using netscape6.1... When I go to Apple's site... my browser hangs AND, I tried to load a plugin for QuickTime but did not find one... What are Linux users doing to view QuickTime vids?

Re:Quick Time support for Linux

[Sloppy]

Although I haven't tried it with this movie yet, you might want to check out Codeweavers' CrossOver Plugin. It's a hacked version of WINE that serves as an environment for running MS Windows plugins on x86 Linux. Costs $20 or $30 if I recall. I'll give it a try tonight on this particular clip and post a followup regarding success (assuming I remember to do it, am successful at downloading the clip, etc).

Re:Quick Time support for Linux

[Anonymous Coward]

Buy a Mac?

Re:Quick Time support for Linux

[dinivin]

The CrossOver plugin works great for me... I'm able to view every video trailer on Apple's Quicktime site (though netscape will hang for the longest time when loading that page... Mozilla handles it much better)..

Dinivin

Re:Quick Time support for Linux

[BabyPlas]

Is the plugin free?

Re:Quick Time support for Linux

[blakestah]

There is no support for the sorenson codec for linux.

Apple OWNS the licensing rights to the codec, and they are doing EVERYTHING they can to retain control of video distribution on the internet. They have NOT released Quicktime for linux, unix, FreeBSD, or anything other than Windows and MacOS. Nor will they.

Quicktime supports many codecs, and few are protected like the Sorenson codec. Apple uses this specifically, because there are other equally good unprotected codecs in use. So they KNOW a priori that when they get something released using the Sorenson codec, then the consumer may only view it using software that Apple chooses to provide. And they choose to provide NOTHING for linux.

Xanim, for example, is a quicktime player for linux. But whereas it can play Radius and Intel codecs, it cannot play apple sorenson codecs.

And that is how Apple wants it. Contacts with Sorenson result in them stating bluntly that Apple has ALL the rights. I am wholely against patent protection of common media distribution format. It was screwed up with GIFs, and it is screwed up with Quicktime.

If someone could save the movie as an MPEG, I would be mighty thankful. I really want to see it, but I do not have access to a Sorenson compatible Quicktime viewer.

Re:Quick Time support for Linux

[Anonymous Coward]

You can play Sorenson movies on Linux using the CrossOver plugin.

Granted, you have to pay for it (just $20 for the download version) but it is possible.
CrossOver will also let you use other plugins like Shockwave (also known as director!=flash) and the Word/Excel/Powerpoint viewers. Also you will have the satisfaction to have helped a company that contributes a lot to Wine (which is open-source).

Re:Quick Time support for Linux

[Sloppy]

Alas, no. It is commercial software available from CodeWeavers.

As I understand it, revenue from the sales of this plugin is an important source of funding for their work on the WINE project. So if you want to help WINE or if you really want to see Sorensen QTs (and other things) play on x86 Linux or you just want to marvel at a hack, and $20 isn't too much for you, head over to their web site with your credit card number and you'll be downloading it in just a few minutes.

If $20 is too much for "just a browser plugin" and WINE development is not of interest to you or you refuse to "pollute" your system with non-free software, then CrossOver will not be useful to you.

As with many things, we all share the powers and responsiblities.

Re:Quick Time support for Linux

[blakestah]

It requires the Windows version.

I do not own a copy of Windows.

If you do not own or license a Microsoft or Mac operating system, you cannot play the Sorenson codec Quicktime movies. There are no work-arounds that are free.

It would be against patent law otherwise.

Re:Quick Time support for Linux

[Sloppy]

It requires the Windows version.

I do not own a copy of Windows.

It is true that it requires the Windows version of the plugin. But you do not need a copy of Windows in order to use it. Codeweavers' installation software will help you download (or if you buy the CrossOver CD, it comes on that) the Windows version of the plugin, and then it will install that plugin for you, into it's weird hacked internal WINE environment.

If you do not own or license a Microsoft or Mac operating system, you cannot play the Sorenson codec Quicktime movies.

Not true. I do not own or license (or pirate) MS (and didn't use anything from my MacOSs that I have sitting around somewhere), and I played Sorenson codec Quicktime movies on my x86 Linux box.

There are no work-arounds that are free.

That is correct, as far as I know. CrossOver is not Free.

It would be against patent law otherwise.

Nay. While it is true that no one can independently implement a Sorenson decoder w/out breaking patent, there's nothing in patent law that prohibits what Codeweavers did: write an OS emulator wrapper, so that you run Apple's licensed decoder for MS Windows under Linux.

IMHO what they did was very clever, and it's a way of using/abusing WINE that I never would have thought of. ..Which is why I'm shamelessly plugging this plugin all over this thread. :-)

Re: I've got more bandwidth...

[mkeeley]

Why don't you use morpheus or similar to get it, then those of use without morpheus, or aren't allowed to install apps like that, can download it?

Cheers,
MikeK.

Got it from Gnutella in 5 minutes

[fils]

Use Limewire, what I think is the best and now open source gnutella client.

http://www.limewire.com
http://www.limewire.org

Search on fellowshipofthering

several t3 speed sites have it....

Re: I've got more bandwidth...

[Drestin]

I don't have Morpheus but I guess I'll have to get it

I have a port that needs some stressin' :)

What is the music for the trailer?

[JohnTheFisherman]

Does anybody know? I've found some apparently wrong links on discussion boards.

Re: I've got more bandwidth...

[halcyon22]

I could probably FTP it up to you soon, if possible. I'm using wget from a mirror, so it'll probably be done in 30 mins or so, hopefully. I'll check back here when it's done.

Re:the easiest way to get these files is always P2

[Anonymous Coward]

May be the easiest, but not for everyone, as in myself. Our entire school has blocked many of those P2P ports for the abuse that students do to them and the network. Try getting some conventional mirrors up that can't be blocked, FTP, HTTP, Gopher even. :)

Mirror on FTP:

small version up

132.177.76.231 login: lotr pw: trailer

Re: I've got more bandwidth...

[RudeDude]

Send me your e-mail addy and I'll get the full screen version to you for posting. (Like I mention in the later reply... I can't risk saturating my company link yet today, later. :)

MOD parent up!

[Anonymous Coward]

Amen, brutha!

ROFL!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

Crap, man, somebody mod this up, +5 Funny!

*ROTFLMAO*

[Denny]

*applause*

New moderation flag needed

[Denny]

This new crop of well considered posts makes me think Slash should add a "So incredibly stupid that it's really funny to read" moderation flag... I'm not sure whether it should be +1 or -1 though :)

Regards,
Denny

Mirroring Advice - Post in a binary newsgroup!!!

[DiveX]

How about another idea. When files like LOTR trailers, Counter-strike updates,, or new Quake engine game tests are released, the few mirrors (usually just fileplanet) are bogged down to almost nothing. If you somehow are able to get the file early, then post it to a binary newsgroup and then post on the forums where it is located. There can be no better mirror than a local server...your news server! I did this for the HL and CS updates recently and got a ton of thank you replies. I tried to get it from fileplanet before I found a small mirror elsewhere and started at like 650 in line with 80 minutes to *start* the download.

Mythology

[totallygeek]

...why did the supposedly wise Elves entrust this mission to a young hobbit...

Remember, this is mythology. Look at other stories throughout history. You see mortal men beating gods in Greek mythology.

Zeus defeated the undefeatable titans.

Noah had never built a boat when asked by God to save all the animals. Why, then, did God not just doom the planet and put animals and Noah in Heavenly protective bubbles?

Why wasn't Jesus born into an astute house with wealth and knowledge?

David was puny against Goliath.

It is a story, and teaches that even those that think the weight of the world is too much to bear can do extraordinary things. All that follows is a light-hearted story about an imaginary place. Just enjoy it...

Mac User, now it is time for a boner.

[Anonymous Coward]

It pleases me that Mac user will now get a boner. Perhaps he will propagate.

There's plenty of time - 1/3 per year.

[StrawberryFrog]

There's plenty of time. All you have to do is finish part 1 of 3, and get a bit into part II by November-ish when the first movie comes out. Then you've got another yeat to finish vol 2 before the second movie comes out, and another year again for vol 3.

The FULLSCREEN version is UP (and it's DIFFERENT!)

[infernix]

The 480x204 version i grabbed from Morpheus starts with the golden ring and a lot of fire. It's nothing more than a quicktime movie.

The fullscreen version starts with a storyteller while viewing a horse and wagon walking on a bridge. It's 2:51 long and has a nice progress bar (some Quicktime feature I think).

I think the 480x204 version is some other (older?) trailer, but one thing is for sure:

The FULLSCREEN version and the 480x204 version on my mirror http://lotr.infernix.net/ are DIFFERENT!

And I like the fullscreen one a whole lot better, so you better get 'em both :)

Regards,

infernix

---> Note to moderators: please mod this up as high as my first post. Thanks :)

morpheus / kazaa / p2p

[trueimage]

you people want this to spread? then share this file on morpheus or kazaa? you talk about p2p and not restricting free sharing, but the file isnt on there, except for 2 people.. out of 65k+ people?

share the original file, then it will spread quickly!

fellowshipoftherings_fs.mov

Re:morpheus / kazaa / p2p

[fils]

There are over a dozen hosts so far (several at t3) sharing this file on gnutella.

The more open nature of gnutella is more atractive to me than the morpheus type systems. It's just my personal opinion.

I agree with you that this is a good example of how p2p can address an issue and I encourage all p2p users, gnutella, morpheus etc to host the file to spread the load around the p2p net.

Some good p2p sites for those of you looking for some.

http://www.openp2p.com/
http://www.gnutellanews.com/

Re:Mirroring Advice - Post in a binary newsgroup!!

[infernix]

I'm posting the fullscreen version on my Euronet news server in alt.binaries.multimedia and alt.binaries.movies so it should be delegated all over within a few hours.

Regards,
infernix

Put it up on the gnutella network people

[chiguy]

If you got it, put it up. Let's use the tech like it's meant to be used.

Vanguard

FTP Mirror with Full Screen up!

[Anonymous Coward]

located in /upload and /previews/lotr/new full screen

132.177.76.231 port:21

login: lotr pw: trailer

Thanks to he who uploaded it!

Re:FTP Mirror with Full Screen up!

[davidesh]

*wink* *wink*

Re:FTP Mirror with Full Screen up!

[Anonymous Coward]

Say no MORE! :)

2 reasons:

[Galvatron]

First of all, this is not animated. That makes it a much bigger deal right there. The animated version was clearly meant as a child's cartoon, whereas this is potentially going to appeal to people of all ages.

Second, when have you EVER seen a good fantasy movie? There are legions of people who have grown up on Tolkien, Dungeons and Dragons (and its assorted spawn), and King Arthur, but never has a truly good movie been made with these elements. Excalibur was passable, I think (or maybe I just think that because it's one of the first movies I saw with nudity as a pre-teen), but this has the potential to be downright GOOD.

Those are the reasons I'm interested in it anyway.

Re:2 reasons:

[Rogerborg]

• Second, when have you EVER seen a good fantasy movie

Conan the Barbarian. Pared down, no bullshit. Conan the Destroyer to a lesser extent, but you have to give credit for the line "Enough talk! [thunk, aargh!]"

I'm hoping for a similar "less is more" feel to LotR. In fact, it's looking so good right now that if anyone grins or cracks a witty quip or goes "Uh oh!" (or "Now this is pod racing!") in any of the combat scenes, I might very well throw up.

Re:2 reasons:

[plastik55]

Second, when have you EVER seen a good fantasy movie?

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Re:2 reasons:

[SpryGuy]

Conan the Barbarian BARELY passes, MAYBE. Conan the Destroyer is pretty bad, and can't possibly count. Excalibur was the best thing so far, imho.

Re:2 reasons:

[Rogerborg]

• Conan the Barbarian BARELY passes, MAYBE. Excalibur was the best thing so far, imho

Just to clarify, I do a lot of living history stuff, and really hate watching broadswords being used for Errol Flynn style fencing, complete with witty quips. So, I ding any fantasy that has cheesy moments (Barbarian only had one), and credit for every scene where it's made clear that steel weapon combat is brutal and nasty (big ticks for both Conan films and Excalibur). Good talky bits are nice, but really, I prefer my fantasy like a Norse saga: deeds, not words.

Re:the easiest way to get these files is always P2

[Anonymous Coward]

whoever you are you are a saint!
Thanks!!!!!!

Unfuck^H^H^H^Hsorensenize it!

[mcelrath]

Will someone please transcode the file to a reasonable format that real people (those unwilling to sell their souls) can actually watch? And post the URL? mpeg, or something...

--Bob

Re:Unfuck^H^H^H^Hsorensenize it!

[Anonymous Coward]

"Unwilling to sell their souls"? Are you kidding me? You must NOT be talking about Mac users. It's their very unwillingness to do so that makes them what they are. Linux users, too. Only windows users do that.

Re:Unfuck^H^H^H^Hsorensenize it!

[Anonymous Coward]

Ah, the mantra of the Linux luser: "Waaah...Gimme!"

Re:Unfuck^H^H^H^Hsorensenize it!

[Rakarra]

"Unwilling to sell their souls"? Are you kidding me? You must NOT be talking about Mac users. It's their very unwillingness to do so that makes them what they are. Linux users, too. Only windows users do that.

Come off it. Mac users have sold their souls as well, just to Apple, not Microsoft. Hell, Apple requires more soul-selling than MS does.

Something has to give

[Sloppy]

You can't cut Bombadil.

Then what do you cut?

Art is about constraints. Moviemakers have different contraints than book writers. Peter Jackson gets to use CGI, but Tolkein didn't. Tolkein got to use hundreds of pages for whatever he wanted, but Jackson has time limits carved in stone. Something has to give, and whoever is doing it, has hard choices to make. I guess Jackson's choices were different than yours. Probably after I see the movie, I'll decide his choices were different than mine too. But it's really a no-win situation; no matter what he cuts, it's going to make someone unhappy.

Maybe it is theoretically possible to make a 30 hour LOTR movie that has everything from Tolkein's story and is all things to all fans. But that wouldn't fit the patterns and traditions (as arbitrary as they may be) for theatrical movies, which means that even then it won't be all things to all people: it won't serve the people who are funding it.

Re: wrong file name

[Drestin]

It's ONE ring so fellowshipoftheringS.mov is not quite right eh?

The road goes ever on?

[Black Parrot]

Sorry; just thought it was funny that for a story about JRRT the Slashdot fortune cookie is saying -

You are at the end of the road again.

Re:if indeed you are wondering what the big deal i

[Anonymous Coward]

Wired is tired.

Remember, they're so bad even Katz doesn't write for them anymore.

Re:The FULLSCREEN version is UP (and it's DIFFEREN

[Drestin]

I'm trying to convert from .MOV to anything and I'm getting conversion errors using Blink and Smack. Anyone got a way to convert this .MOV into MPEG or something else. I want to mirror it in MPG and streaming AVI format (Divx and/or WMV).

I GOT A MIRROR!

[JoeLinux]

http://shaz.dhs.org/~joe/fellowshipoftherings_fs.m ov

Check it out!

Re:I GOT A MIRROR!

[Anonymous Coward]

Thanks!!!!

Re:I GOT A MIRROR!

[smsisko]

Thanks, I finally was able to download it :-)

What good is all that bandwidth when you can download the important things :-)

Re:I GOT A MIRROR!

[HappyDrgn]

thank you much... good speeds too :)

true fullscreen mirror

[ti-gars]

http://www.psychosis.net/lotr/fellowshipoftherings _fs.mov
and
http://lotr.infernix.net/fellowshipoftherings_fs.m ov

DAMN!

[JoeLinux]

You people know how to suck bandwidth. That is/was a 100bT connection to an OC3...now I can barely SSH into my own box.

Another /. victim,

JoeLinux

Umm... don't we know the plot already?

[L-Train8]

I know there are some minor changes (Sorry Tom Bombadil), but I believe the movie follows the book's plot pretty closely.

Phantom Menace was a different deal. The trailer showed the fabulous visuals, but didn't clue you in to the fact that the plot sucked and the dialog was lame. With FOTR, we know the story is great. The trailer sure shows that the visuals are great, too.

yeah...

[crayz]

use Quicktime. You can export to MPEG or some other standard formats, after which I assume you could get it into whatever you want. It'd take a while though.

Remember, everyone bitches about Quicktime, but us Mac users love it. WMP for Mac sucks and there's no OS X version. Same for Real. DivX on Mac is a joke(though a new Quicktime component for OS X shows promise). Sorenson 3 is close to DivX quality if you encode right, and it plays great on a Mac, unlike those other formats.

Re:yeah...

[infernix]

You can't export the fullscreen version in Quicktime Player.. it's not just a movie file, it has a nice interface with functions in it too.

perhaps there's a ripping tool which can take the movie data out?

Re:yeah...

[crayz]

Just open it up and delete the extra tracks. I haven't finished downloading it yet, so I'm not sure what the tracks are. It might be audio/video/flash, in which case you just delete the flash, or there might be a bunch of tracks, in which case you need to play around to see which are necessary. Once you save the extracted movie file, convert.

Re:yeah...

[Drestin]

"This movie does not support saving" is the error I get when I try the export function. I can turn off the tracks I don't want but I can't get the video/audio out.

Re:yeah...

[crayz]

Yes, I just found this out too. If you use Snapz Pro(on Mac, I'm sure there are similar PC products), you might be able to capture the audio/video. Not sure what kind of quality you'd get though.

help

[chaztobaz]

I still can't get it to down load anywhere, and I have to leave school soon. we have a t1 here. But at home I only have dial up. Any advice? Please? I only have 1/2 our to download and veiw.

David v. Goliath

[Anonymous Coward]

Hey, David had superior weaponry (a ranged weapon). Goliath could have won if he had had a decent helmet.

How do I watch trailer fullscreen...?

[antdude]

I got the fellowshipoftherings_fs.mov file. I watched and enjoyed it. However, is there a way to remove the border, buttons (e.g. volume, start, exit), etc.? I would like to watch the trailer in true full screen. I am using Winblows 98 with QuickTime v5.0.2.

Thank you in advance for a reply. :)

Don't read too deep into it

[Anonymous Coward]

There is no metion of God or Gods in the book, but the Christian ideal that good will triumph in the end, even if it takes a long struggle, is the main thread of the trilogy.

I believe I have seen Tolkien being quoted as saying that he really hates allegories. And assured the person that LOTR was NOT an allegory and just a fantastic story. I don't know whether this is true or not, but I think the bottom line is not to read too deep into it. Tolkien wrote stories not religions.

Sorenson commended for easy download link

[Krellan]

IMHO, Sorenson is to be commended for providing an easy download link.

Many popular movie trailers in the past have been buried behind JavaScript, Flash, or other ways of obfuscating the true download URL. With this trailer, all that's needed is one click. There's not even a need to wade through multiple pages, and it's available in multiple screen sizes and compression formats!

I remember having to use a packet sniffer and wget to download movie trailers in the past. Big hassle. Considering that I don't view movie trailers at work (computer has no sound card), it's great to download now and view later! Very flexible. It would be wonderful if more companies would follow the footsteps here.

Mirror on FilePlanet

[Warrior-GS]

http://www.fileplanet.com/index.asp?section=1360&f ile=69802

Registration required.

Well, you'll need an odd-shaped screen...

[epeus]

As the trailer is not 4:3, you'll get black bars where the UI is unless you have an Apple Cinema Display or something similarly rectangular.

Anyway, if you have QT player Pro, you can turn off that stuff by choosing 'Enable Tracks' from the 'Edit' menu, and turning off everything but 'Video 1' and 'Sound 1'. Then you can play full screen with Present Movie.

Re:Well, you'll need an odd-shaped screen...

[antdude]

Darn! Thanks, epeus!

Re:Well, you'll need an odd-shaped screen...

[Anonymous Coward]

Use QuickTime3 Pro to delete all the tracks except Video and Sound.

Select all, Copy. You may get an error message, ignore it.

Open a new QT3 window, and paste. Save this new movie.

The reason for using QT3 is because it ignores the 'protection'. Simply removing the borders and saving it won't help, you gotta copy and paste the video to a new file.

You can then edit it all you want in QT4/5. But more importantly, you can export it to AVI.

You can then re-encode the AVI to your format of choice :D
-Snaarf

Re:the easiest way to get these files is always P2

[CvD]

Hmm... looks like Musiccity is slashdotted too. It doesn't work for me, anyways.

would be nice if quicktime worked

[sunconscious]

the stupid POS quicktime doesnt work on any of my computers. just sits there like a dumb shit.

Meh, not bad!

[berniecase]

Not a bad trailer, but now I really want to see it in a theater... but for now I'll live with watching it here.

You rock!

[Xenious]

Thanks for the mirror, awesome bandwidth! :)))

DivX version

[Anonymous Coward]

Could anybody convert the _new_ trailier to DivX or Mpeg4, so that I at least can view it on linux?

no no no

[Anonymous Coward]

use nerve gas instead

that's the only way to get to them in their caves

as a side benefit, both nerve gas and dead ragheads are biodegradable.

I have DIVX Version!

[danwatt]

After many hours of figuring out how to unfux0r^H^H^H^H^H^H^H convert Quicktime -> DIVX, I have done it and created 3 versions:
DIVX3 (the old format) at 900k/s : 19MB
DIVX4 (new format) at 800k/s VBR : 35MB
DIVX4 at 400k/s VBR : 20MB

All look very good, and the DIVX3 version is on par with the DIVX4 400k version in terms of quality.

Yes, the numbers are skewed (DIVX3 doesnt have good rate matching), but I have the 3 versions available. Could somone offer a mirror for me to upload these three to, since I have very limited bandwith? E-mail me at danwatt@NOSPAM.home.com if you have a mirror available.

Re:I have DIVX Version!

[Canar]

How exactly did you manage that?

Just curious, and maybe if you get the info out someone will be able to do more.

-=Canar=-

Re:I have DIVX Version!

[Erik Fish]

Dan also created an MPEG version which I have put up on Grokster (same network as KaZaa and Morpheus so you should be able to find it using either of those).

Search for:

Lord of the Rings - Fellowship of the Ring Trailer 2.mpg

I'll be leaving it up this afternoon and tommorow during the day.

Thank you

[Anonymous Coward]

Whay did they not make use of Akamai?

OT (Pedantic, Annoying)

[angst_ridden_hipster]

Attribution of that second quotation to Oppenheimer is incorrect. Oppenheimer was quoting from memory from the Mahabharata (specifically, from the Bhagavad Gita). The Mahabharata is attributed to Sage Vyasa, among others.

And actually, Oppenheimer quoted it as "the Shatterer or Worlds."

Re:OT (Pedantic, Annoying)

[alexjohns]

http://www.hackvan.com/pub/stig/life/i-am-become-d eath"
Oppenheimer ain't around to ask anymore, but I believe he said 'destroyer'. Since the Bhagavad Gita wasn't written in English, it is doubtful that anyone can definitively say that the correct word is shatterer. Shatterer is more poetic to me, but pretty much everything I can find on the subject says that Oppenheimer said the words I'm quoting.

If I had more than 120 characters to work with, I might have the quote followed by "J. R. Oppenheimer, leader of the Manhattan Project, (possibly mis-)quoting Vishnu in the Baghavad Gita, upon successful first test of a nuclear device at Trinity test site, Alamogordo, New Mexico". If I had more room, I would likely also include Bainbridge's quote, which I really like.

Now we're way off topic and the only reason that I'm posting this is because I've had several questions about it. I don't mind the questions. I think it's a relevant quote even for Lord of the Rings. It's easy for me to think of the ring as a nuclear device. None of the good guys want to use it except Boromir. How many of us would be able to resist the temptation to put on the ring? Think of all the good you could do with it. :) Think of all the evil that you would unleash if you did use it. Tolkien was teaching us, as do all good storytellers. Power corrupts. Ultimate power corrupts absolutely.

I'm out. Peace.

Re:Arwen

[ahde]

I've just got this spooky feeling that we're going to hear Aerosmith as it fades into the closing credits. It wouldn't be so bad if it were Led Zeppelin's Ramble On

Errr..... here are the correct sizes. Need mirror!

[danwatt]

Change that.... for some reason one of the programs I used outputed at 60FPS, though the video is only 24FPS, so the file sizes are way off. I added a new version. Here are the 4 versions and their correct sizes:
DIVX 3 @ 900k/s : 11.8MB
DIVX 4 @ 800k/s : 11.2MB
DIVX 4 @ 400k/s : 7.2MB
DIVX 4 @ 300k/s : 6.5MB
All versions have 128k mp3 audio, except the DIVX 4 @ 300k/s, which has 112k mp3.

I am still looking for mirrors, so please let me know if you have a FTP account for me to upload to. (danwatt@No.Spam.home.com)

Hugo Weaving is Elrond?

[ahde]

Mr. Anderso-- er Baggins

Simple...

[Balinares]

Well, I think Apple discovered that Quicktime playing was an Economical Asset(tm) of Macs. From them on, they:

• Made sure the Windows version of Quicktime didn't *quite* perform as well as the Mac one;
• Trashed they own Quicktime player for Linux, which had been in development for some time, to keep the Mac's advantage there (geeze, I know I read that on /. but I can't find it in the archives...);
• Forbade open source developpers to write a player for the Sorenson codec;
• Started hosting movie trailers for free with a big big smile, so as to draw public interest to Quicktime.

Or so I hear anyway (someone knows more?)

What can we do about it? Nothing. I know it sucks. If someone has any constructive idea... (And no, modding down as 'troll' someone who's just rightfully angry doesn't count as 'constructive' in my book. Sorry.)

The trilogy

[Vantigo]

I wonder how long it will be until the second movie comes out. What with the whole two towers fiasco.

Post mirrors for ALL trailers!

[Anonymous Coward]

Can someone put up a list of all available trailers (from the first up to now) and their mirrors?

Corrections

[kimihia]

First of all, Apple have always used Akamai. (For the benefit of readers: Akamai have servers here, there and everywhere, and you are directed to the most local mirror.)

When I heard the call for mirrors, I thought someone had to be kidding. Apple always use Akamai!

And it is true. If you stream the movie then you are using Akamai. On the other hand if you go to download the compressed file you aren't. Silly.

Anyway, the magic of wget isn't hard to master. With a simple squid proxy and half a second you can figure it out. (Remember to hit STOP after clicking on the "Click here to play" Quicktime movie referer.)

P.S. - The Quicktime 5 Netscape plugin keeps crashing Mozilla 0.9.4. Any clues?

Works with CrossOver on x86 Linux

[Sloppy]

Just got home and confirmed it. With the CrossOver plugin installed, I just opened the .mov file with Netscape Navigator (I assume it would work with Mozilla, Galeon, etc too) and it played flawlessly.

This situation is, of course, not as good as them using a standard codec, but at least x86 Linux users do have a way to watch it.

i'm sorry

[kometes]

O-Sauron bin Laden

I ring my own neck.

OH my GOD !!

[Vanguard(DC)]

well, i just am finishing up he books for the fourth time in my life, and I actually talked my girlfriend into reading the hobbit and then lotr.

i am so damn psyched..
that trailer has me drooling... i've watched it 10 times in a row now.. it gets me pumped up...

YOU HAVE TO READ THE BOOKS AGAIN RIGHT BEFORE YOU SEE THIS MOVIE.. it's a must! it makes it so exciting seeing the recent thoughts in your head put on the screen...

man... i need more trailers... i just hate the fact i have to wait 2 years before i se Frodo hit Mount Doom...

-vanguard

MOD THE PARENT UP!

[Canar]

Hay, everyone... This guy claims to have a DIVX version. Perfect for any system compatible. Better than Quicktime. Et cetera.

-=Canar=-
--In his first mod parent up post...

ARWEN for Glorfindel

[child_of_mercy]

I cannot BELEIVE they can claim they're claiming to be faithful to the book when they swapped ARWEN for Glorfindel at the Rivendell Ford.

One is a woman who does nothing being played by liv tyler, the other is the hero of the Gondolin Pass.

But having tits gets you in the movie it would seem

Re:ARWEN for Glorfindel

[Anonymous Coward]

Not the same Glorfindel, unfortunately. There's a discussion about that in (I think) "Unfinished Tales".

And I can certainly live the Arwen changes. As for being faithful - much as I love him, is the general movie going public going to sit through 30 minutes of Tom Bombadil? I think not.

Changes are going to happen. It's a movie not a book, and all the stuff we've seen so far suggests they have been more faithful to the books than anyone ever thought was possible.

Oh, and since over 50% of the worlds population "have tits", I'd suggest that was a pretty weak casting basis ;-P

I.

Mirror now available

[danwatt]

http://lotr.infernix.net/

There is a common audio skip problem, which has been fixed, but my ISP has caught on to my large quantity of upoloading and they are limiting my speed, so I can't reupload. Its NOT a big deal though.

As for how I did it:
http://planet.danwatt.dyndns.org/Computer/Articl es /2001/QuicktimeDivx/

Windows Media Mirror Site

[Drestin]

http://node2.callihq.net/ has got the full screen version of this trailer in a high and higher bandwidth Windows Media streaming format. Go ahead, /. it...

Re:Windows Media Mirror Site

[Anonymous Coward]

NO, it doesn't. WTF? All you've got is the freaking QT video, which I fucking can't watch. It's the next fucking day. You haven't had a chance to put it up, but you've got plenty of time to post to /. that it's up. Wanker.

Note that I'm not complaining about you not providing the video, per se. It's up to you to provide it or not, as you wish. I'm complaining about your getting my hopes up and then providing nothing.

Re:Windows Media Mirror Site

[Drestin]

Sorry, it's there now. AND the MPEG version AND the Divx version!! And both streaming media versions!

Re: I've got more bandwidth...

[Drestin]

Thanks to your help Dan I finally got it converted and mirrored up at http://node2.callihq.net - check it out...

MPEG and Divx Version here

[Drestin]

http://node2.callihq.net/ - And windows media format too.

MPEG and Divx Version & Windows media mirror h

[Drestin]

http://node2.callihq.net/ - come and get it!