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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.
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).
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 !!
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.
Help find a cure for Gidget.
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.