BBC Rerunning Radio Lord of the Rings

Motor writes "I'm not sure if I'm doing the BBC website a favour by mentioning this, but BBC Radio 4 is, from Saturday the 5th of January, running their excellent radio serialisation of The Lord of the Rings in thirteen, one hour weekly episodes. I'm not sure how much load the streaming system can handle though :)" Make a note of it, and save 'em. The LotR radio show is very acclaimed.

Comments

Ian Holm.

[dsb3]

I find it very interesting the way Ian Holm plays Frodo in the Radio adaptation, and later Bilbo in the movie.

Re:Ian Holm.

[CatherineCornelius]

I find it very interesting the way Ian Holm plays Frodo in the Radio adaptation, and later Bilbo in the movie.

This isn't the only connection. Longstanding Tolkien aficionado Brian Sibley, who co-scripted the BBC radio adaptation, is producing the official guide to the Peter Jackson movies.

Re:Ian Holm.

[mccalli]

John Le Meserier played Bilbo in the radio version, and he too had been in a Middle-Earth production before. He played Gandalf in the BBC radio Hobbit production.

I personally hoped they'd bring back the person who played Gollum. There's simply no point in anyone else trying - it was done to perfection in this version.

Cheers,
Ian

Ill be lsitening

[utdpenguin]

I ehard a part of this when I was very young and hadn't read the books and had no idea what was going on. But now i shall certainly lsiten and quote along from memory. This is sweet.

You can get them on CD from ZBS

[Pretender R*S]

ZBS and American/Canadian Radio drama company also resells the LotR CDs in the US. So you can watch it anytime you want and at $70 for 13 CDs is a pretty decent deal.

http://216.122.251.79/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Scre en =PROD&Store_Code=ZF&Product_Code=LORD&Category_Cod e=KFCD

They also have the Hobbit and their orignal productions of Jack Flanders and Ruby the Galatic Gumshoe.

Re:You can get them on CD from ZBS

[nomadic]

Amazon has it for $50.

Re:You can get them on CD from ZBS

[Fesh]

Wow... People who have actually heard of Jack Flanders... What an odd day this is.

Re:You can get them on CD from ZBS

[Hes Nikke]

/me can't find it on amazon.com :(

/me wonders how nomadic found it...

Re:You can get them on CD from ZBS

[Hes Nikke]

or i could just scroll down :D

you may ignore above...

Re:You can get them on CD from ZBS

[aka-ed]

Or one might download the whole lot from Usenet. Someone started posting the series in alt.binaries.sounds.audiobooks around the 20th.

Unless, of course, you consider that stealing.

Re:You can get them on CD from ZBS

[Xanlexian]

Not sure how "Nationwide" these folks are, but at 'Sams' (Membership warehouse, kinda like Costco) -- I picked up this box set around Halloween for $37 (plus tax). The sticker on the box said it was indeed a $70 item. I'd suggest getting it there, if possible.

I've ripped them all to MP3, fit all the episodes on a single CD, and the kids and I listen to them at night. I've already read the LoTR books to them.

Shoot your teevee!

--Xan

Re:You can get them on CD from ZBS

[spack]

I own this set and I love it. I happened to pick it up at my local Warehouse club store back in October. However, for those that wish to purchase it, but do not shop at Amazon.com, you may wish to try Barnes and Noble online. Look here.

Ogg Vorbis streams

[AirLace]

For those Free Software enthusiasts of you out there who don't want to install RealPlayer, the BBC is trialling Ogg Vorbis live audio streams. The BBC Radio 4 stream can be found here.
If you use this service, please take the time to tell them that you appreciate their support of open standards as the service is still tentative.

Re:Ogg Vorbis streams

[Anonymous Coward]

For those Free Software enthusiasts of you out there who don't want to install RealPlayer, the BBC is trialling [bbc.co.uk] Ogg Vorbis [vorbis.com] live audio streams.

Oh, so we can download a reliable .ogg player instead instead, is it? Wherefrom exactly...?

Re:Ogg Vorbis streams

[Fweeky]

I use http://www.freeamp.org/

Re:Ogg Vorbis streams

[Anonymous Coward]

Read the instructions on the page. Vorbis is supported natively by XMMS, and with plugins by Windows Media player and Winamp.

Re:Ogg Vorbis streams

[reaper20]

both winamp and xmms have .ogg plugins. .ogg support even back when has always been more reliable than real(anything).

Re:Ogg Vorbis streams

[goul]

Try JOrbis, its pure java, will run from within a web browser (I've tested the BBC streams from within Mozilla) and works with proxy servers.

Re:Ogg Vorbis streams

[Anonymous Coward]

There was a time when the BBC wouldn't consider anything else but open formats, but then again there was a time when the also BBC stood for quality and professionalism, not just in the UK but worldwide.

Now they're just destroying themselves in a quest to emulate the crappy commercial broadcasters. Why they think I'd want to watch "Eastenders", a sad soap set in some grotty, rundown, crime ridden part of London I don't know. Maybe they I think I might enjoy the portrayal of the sad and pathetic lifes' put together by a bunch of intellectually bankrupt script writers who are resentful because they couldn't cut it with the 'big boys' in Hollywood or even Bollywood for that matter. This crappy drama is now on every single night of the week! If they keep wondering why the US sitcom writers are eating them alive then the above is the answer.

BBC Radio remained unscathed until recently, in 2002 the full assault of junk and low standards will begin, they're already planning a new network of mediocre and niche stations filled with junk and of low overall quality, and of course they will bring down the longstanding decent stations with it. They have already started the Audio/Optimod compression on a few of the national networks, killing the little dynamic range FM ever had.

Re:Ogg Vorbis streams

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, but I think he wants to listen to it TODAY, Not tomorrow when the Java VM has finished loading and the java vorbis code has finished decoding it.

Re:Ogg Vorbis streams

[goul]

At the risk of being trolled .....

FUD.

As long as the browser being used supports Java the applet download is around 115K significantly less than installing Real Player etc.

It's a streaming client happily decoding on the fly, I've used it for listening to content from the BBC for three months and found it reliable throughout.

Re:Ogg Vorbis streams

[Julz]

Hey I just went to that stream and it asked me if I wanted to save the stream pointer file. So I told it too open it using /usr/bin/xmms (that's where XMMS is on my system) and hey presto streaming talkback from the BBC.
XMMS had this support from install of Mandrake 8.1.

Easy!

Re:Ogg Vorbis streams

[Anonymous Coward]

Besides being a boneheaded fascist, do you realize that the IQ tests are set to have half the people under 100 and half over? So the scoring would be readjusted.

Anyway, you'd be dead, dumbass.

Re:Ogg Vorbis streams

[smunt]

Or you have an IQ of minus several billion.

It's good, buy it

[nivelo9]

My dad just picked it up through a mail order catalog, and it's really well done.
If you want to buy it, there are two versions on Amazon:
this is the more expensive (US$56) "library edition" which i suspect is no different from this US$49 version.

Full LOTR mp3s here, ALL OF IT

[cb0y]

http://www.saiyajinfury.com/lotr/

download now.

Re:Full LOTR mp3s here, ALL OF IT

[Hes Nikke]

i'm not sure but i think some of that is the BBC version, and some is the US version! i haven't listened to it all the way (setting up an MP3 CD for the car) but i don't think there is a british accent all the way through! :D

Re:You can get them on CD from ZBS - wrong URL

[Pretender R*S]

well just go to http://www.zbs.org select Childrens Favourites, CDs and it will be listed there. The URL didn't seem to work correctly.

Nice story

[Alcimedes]

I burned these to CD's for my long drives between home and school I used to take. Very entertaining. They can be found online pretty easily, and burn nicely to CD's.

Takes a long time to go through 13 CD's worth of story.

Superior Radio Dramatisation

[Gumshoe]

I bought the box set of the LotR radio play many years ago and
have enjoyed it many times. One of the landmark radio
dramatisations featuring a superb cast: Ian Holm as Frodo (who
played Bilbo in the Jackson movie); Sir Michael Horden as
Gandalf; John LeMesseurier as Bilbo; and Robert Stephens as
Aragorn. It also features Peter Woodthorpe as Gollum, who
incidentally also played that character in the animated movie.

A matter of opinion of course, but I consider it a superior
adaptation than the recent film. While Jackson's effort is very,
very good, it (through necessity) betrays the book in many ways
resulting in a superficial version of the story. The BBC
dramatisation on the other hand, leaves the subtleties of the
story intact, resulting in a more rounded experience. The only
ommission of note is the absence, as usual, of Tom Bombadil.

If you have never heard a radio play, do yourself a favour and
have a listen to this.

Re:Superior Radio Dramatisation

[yota]

>The BBC
>dramatisation on the other hand, leaves the subtleties of the
>story intact, resulting in a more rounded experience. The only
>ommission of note is the absence, as usual, of Tom Bombadil.

Why as usual?

Andrea

Re:Superior Radio Dramatisation

[nagora]

While Jackson's effort is very, very good, it (through necessity) betrays the book in many ways resulting in a superficial version of the story.

With 9 hours to play with why does the movie have to betray the book as opposed to abridging it with care?

I'm really getting tired of people saying what a great version the new movie is and then going on to say what a mess of the books it's made. What's going on (I haven't seen it yet)?

TWW

Re:Superior Radio Dramatisation

[Gumshoe]

Because he wasn't in this Radio play, nor the
live action movie, nor the animated movie.

Poor old Tom. No one loves him :-)

Re:Superior Radio Dramatisation

[Gumshoe]

It is a great movie but no movie maker can possibly examine every
nuance of the book. It hasn't "made a mess" of it, and betray is
perhaps too harsh a word, but watching the movie and reading the
book are two different experiences. Listening to the radio play
offers another.

If you can imagine the book as a three-dimensional object, the
film takes a two-dimensional view of the story, the radio play a
different two-dimensional view. However, IMO, the latter's
interpretation captures the more important elements of the book.
In other words, the experience offered by the written word is
more similar to that of the radio play than of the film.

This isn't meant as a critique of either work.

Re:Superior Radio Dramatisation

[Anonymous Coward]

And yet he is the creator of all things. Maybe he is happy to stay in the shadows, just watching things?

Re:Superior Radio Dramatisation

[knobboy]

My main complaint is that scenes and conversations were added to the film that detracted from Tolkien's original material. I think the main problem with the movie is they decided to "show off" some of their CG graphics kung-fu, instead of staying closer to the book. Spoilers below, you've been warned:
1. The whole Arwen-substituted-for-Glorfindel mess. If they wanted to show her in Rivendell and have the talk with Aragorn, that would have been fine (still more than is in the book). But they have her traipsing around, sneaking up on Aragorn and then riding against the Nine. Which leads to...
2. Frodo stood off the Nine at the Ford by himself, not with the aid of any elf, in the book. Much more powerful in my opinion
3. The cave troll in Moria. As someone else mentioned, it's an orc chieftain that stabs Frodo, not the cave troll. All we see of the cave troll in the book is an arm and a leg poking through the door. The rest of the encounter in Moria is different as explained by another poster (Gandalf doesn't try to hold the door, the ceiling of the chamber doesn't come down, they get surrounded by orcs that don't immediately kill them for some inexplicable reason, etc.). Also no dwarf bodies are found when they open the door to get into Moria. Gimli seemed like he would find Balin at home in Moria, I don't think he was that upbeat in the book.
4. On their escape from the Shire to the Buckleberry ferry, a Black Rider is chasing Frodo as the other three get on the ferry. Damn slow horses they have in Mordor, you would think he could have run Frodo down pretty easily.
5. Saruman's and Gandalf's Twister battle in Orthanc. Say what?
6. The whole end of the movie deviated from the book. Boromir never returns to the rest of the Fellowship to tell them that he tried to get the ring from Frodo. Aragorn talks to Frodo and Frodo tells them he is going to Mordor by himself. Pippin and Merry see Frodo as he is leaving and one of them, I guess for the benefit of the slow people in the audience, says "he's leaving." When Sam gets back to their camp, he doesn't see the "empty" canoe leaving by itself, since Frodo is not wearing the Ring. After Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli find Boromir, they return to camp and see that Frodo and Sam have just reached the other side of the river. In fact, one of the things that I thought would annoy people is that part of the Two Towers is told in the first movie since we see Boromir die. However, I think this is probably a better spot to end the movie than the book. I just had to explain to my wife after the movie - "Oops, I guess I should have had you read more than just the first book!"
7. At some point after Frodo was attacked at Weathertop, they were in the glen with the three trolls that were turned to stone in The Hobbit. I knew this scene would be in the movie based on a review somewhere and my wife noticed the trolls, but darned if I didn't. I don't know that a little dialogue here would have hurt so much, especially since Bilbo is telling the story to some hobbit children at his party.
8. At one point in Moria, Frodo thinks they are being followed by Gollum. Gandalf says yea, and you even see Gollum. In the book, you get references that Gollum is about, but Frodo doesn't speak his fears until they are out of Lothlorien.
9. At the Council of Elrond Gimli tries to destroy the Ring with his axe. Also, the Council seemed much more argumentative than the book. I think the film was trying to hint that the Ring was exerting its influence on the members there. Also Boromir's vision is not mentioned and there is not much background on Legolas or Gimli.

I think that sums up my main annoyances with the movie. Overall, it was a really good film if you had never read the book. It just took some liberties with the story that I couldn't understand and added material that could have been cut in favor of a "better" storyline.

Re:Superior Radio Dramatisation

[plunge]

Of course, a lot of other character, some far more interesting (in my opinion) that usually get cut as well: Gildor for one. The Wildmen. The two nasty orcs that Frodo and Sam eavesdrop on in Mordor. Fatty Bolger. And Bill Ferny getting clocked by an apple (though in the movie, Pippin gets clocked by one...) Bombadill is a fun diversion, but the Barrowights are far more important to the story arc and overall history, and they're always missing as well. Which means that no adaption can really make sense of Merry's deed towards the end of the book. We never find out where he gets his sword, or why its so powerful.

Re:Superior Radio Dramatisation

[Restil]

Tom Bombadil is the only character in the story that can be safely removed entirely without affecting the rest of the story. Two events which happen during the time we spend with Tom: Frodo tries the ring for the first time, and we encounter the barrow wights, where frodo is once again tempted AND the four hobbits obtain their swords. However, these are plot elements that can safely be removed without upsetting the story.

The best part of the radio plays is they include a great many of the songs that are included in the books, along with characters expressing some real heartfelt emotions.

-Restil

Play with my webcams and turn on my lights at http://206.54.177.105

Re:Superior Radio Dramatisation

[TopShelf]

Let's have some perspective - points 1-8 are so minor, that if those are main complaints of a book-to-movie translation, then I think Peter Jackson has triumphed mightily. I mean come on, you're pissed that they omitted Glorfindel?

That said, I agree that the council of Elrond could have been handled a little better. Explaining Boromir's vision would have both established him better as a character (his name isn't even mentioned until they're well out of Rivendell) as well has helped develop Aragorn's storyline.

Re:Superior Radio Dramatisation

[nagora]

I don't think point 2 is minor at all. After Frodo's various failures in front of the others (mainly the debacle at Bree and then putting the ring on at Weathertop) the ford is the first time he shows why Gandalf placed so much faith in him. Alone against the Nazgul, including the Witch-King, he defies them. This is a spectacularly important moment of character development/establishment not just for the reader but for the other characters (esp. Aragon) and I would suggest that putting in an extra character to "rescue" him is a sign of someone who has little interest in the structure of the book.

The structure of LotR is very strong, even the language develops from the start to the end and all the Hobbits' characters change quite radically, and we do all like character development, don't we?

TWW

Re:just like the BBC...

[Anonymous Coward]

that was a joke. get it? gonandalf, haha, i crack me up.

copies?

[stiefvater]

i know piracy is bad, and all -

but could someone make copies of these?

i just want to "time shift" is all.

-k

If you get the CD's be sure to get the BBC version

[Kevinv]

There's also a set of CD's from an American dramatization that isn't nearly as good.

The BBC version is awesome.

Kevin

Re:You can get them on KaZaa/Morpheus

[Anonymous Coward]

You can also get it on KaZaa/Morpheus in MP3 format. It is quite listenable (digitised at 64Kbps), but beware, the episodes aren't all labeled correctly.

However with perseverance and unmetered access, you can get all 300MB+ of it.

stream audio

[tomaasz]

Digital audio streaming is good, but why not record the analog broadcast and digitize it later?

Anyway, I have this in MP3 already - it's over 400 megs - I'm not sure what bitrate it is, but the quality is pretty good.

VBR would have been a better choice for speech though (this is fixed bitrate). So if BBC is testing OGG/Vorbis, it is a good thing.

Re:stream audio

[Anonymous Coward]

You can already get Digital Radio in the UK and record the transport stream directly to disk, you end up with the native MP2 format just as it left Radio House, however lately it hasn't been leaving in a very good state, the best you can hope for now is 128kps joint stereo, or even 80k mono in some circumstances. When it was running at 192kbps it was great, but that ended a few days ago.

at what time?

[Hes Nikke]

Saturday 14.30 - 15.30 from 5 January 2002 GMT

or... 6:30 AM PST... oh boy! now i won't even be able to sleep in an the weekends! :D

Re:Very Good Work Mr. Turd Report

[Anonymous Coward]

Stupid... that's so you can script a brute force login attack. It's known as "security"... a feature sadly lacking from the FreeBSD distribution.

Beware!

[John Harrison]

I borrowed the 13-disc set from a friend. I ripped it to mp3 so I could listen to it without having to swap discs.

So I sat down to work one day and fired up the mp3 player. Two hours later I realized that I had done NO WORK! I had simply sat there basking in the glory of this production.

I usually listen to music when I work at home and don't find that distracting at all.

Unfortunately I also found this Lord of the Rings things completely addicting. I found myself looking for excuses to listen to it. Luckily it is only 13 hours long.

I think that I should have saved this for commuting and caused some accidents.

Re:time to kill myself

[Neorefs]

... This post is a mystery even to me ... And I must admit I'm a madman ...

The old Farts are ? - cash in baby baby-oh !

[bushboy]

The photo seems to depict three 'thespian' types.

They have names I have never heard of b4 ? - Am I supposed to know who they are ?

Cash in baby baby-ho !
Oh, sha lala - do the funky dwarf dance grandad !
We three hobbits of e-commerce are !

Cough, erm, getting back to things - I think it's Xmas !

Happy Xmas everyone, and a Most Prosperous New Year !

:-}

Re:The old Farts are ? - cash in baby baby-oh !

[Hes Nikke]

The photo seems to depict three 'thespian' types.

They have names I have never heard of b4 ? - Am I supposed to know who they are ?

you don't reconise Bilbo from the movie?! i spotted him right off the bat! (hint: he played frodo in the BBC production)

Re:The old Farts are ? - cash in baby baby-oh !

[bushboy]

yeah, well, the radio production is total and utter crap - a couple of 'thespian' sounding pratts. No balls at all.

Re:The old Farts are ? - cash in baby baby-oh !

[Anonymous Coward]

I think you'll find that is what's called "acting".

Re:The old Farts are ? - cash in baby baby-oh !

[Anonymous Coward]

Are you supposed to know who they are? Not necessarily, although all three are fine actors (arguably even great ones). You are, however, displaying a tyupically N American insularity - just because they've never appeared in a Hollywood movie or on US tv doesn't mean they're not terrific actors - in fact it tends to indicate that they are. You'd have to search long and hard in Hollywood to find anyone who is even fit to be mentioned in the same breath as, for example, Sir Michael Hordern.

Three-peat thwarted :(

[Anonymous Coward]

Some dude who whacks off to the sound of Ian Holm's voice usurped your three-peat...weak.

"dsb3" has been added to my "is gay" list right below Allan "Rocky" Lane (which pushes Topo Gigio to number 746). I'm taking all the limp-wrists out quick-like as soon as the U.S. goes into a state of Martial Law.

AC

The return of ...an old friend.

[Kirruth]

I was an avid listener when I was 14 (back in 1981), and will be again. Great that it's now being streamed to the world - imagine that, audio being streamed to a global computer network with hundreds of millions of people connected to it. We live in miraculous times.

i just saw the movie yesterday.....

[Anonymous Coward]

could anyone explain the significance of the giant flaming pussy that kept appearing? i thought they did a good job in creating a whole new world but i hate elijah wood. i just cant trust a hero with curly hair like that (exception: superman). and elijah wood is absolutley the last person i would have cast for that role. i thought the colors were kind of drab and washed out compared to other movies like cthd and ep1. i never read the book but i wasnt aware that the hobbits were supposed to be some kind of irish race only more leprechanish. im looking forward to the new star wars a lot more than the new lotr. thats for dang sure.

Re:i just saw the movie yesterday.....

[Anonymous Coward]

Does LOTR have muppets? I hate muppets.
I refuse to see Phantom Menace because it has stupid muppets.

MP3s

[mikeporter]

I have all 13 in mp3 format on 1 cd. Each mp3 is roughly 25mb and all 13 total 337mb.

Re:Very Good Work Mr. Turd Report

[Anonymous Coward]

Of course that makes perfect sense, but should
that be the default behavior at the console?
Is someone going to mount a brute-force login
attack while sitting at the terminal? A more
sensible approach would be to check if it is a
login attempt over a network connection...

Closest to the books I've found..

[Restil]

Between the two LOTR Movies and this radio adaption, the radio plays by far stick to the story line, almost to the letter. Obviously they have to abridge it somewhat, but the most important parts of the story are maintained in excellent detail.

While not disappointed with the new movie, I was somewhat dismayed by their attempt to rush more important aspects of the story and drag out those parts that play little role. LOTR is, more than anything, about the growth of the characters. How these small, fat, lazy hobbits go on an adventure and when they return they run the evil out of their homeland. How a dirty rugged old ranger ends up becoming king, and how a dwarf and an elf, both with much inbred conflict with each other, manage to become lifelong friends.

The cave troll did not take 3 minutes to dispatch in the book. It was an orc chieftan who skewered frodo, not a troll. Frantically, the party ran from that room, carrying Frodo (whom they believed to be dead) with them. Gandalf attempts to seal the door with a spell, only the Balrog fights him back with magic and almost destroys him. All this was missed. Instead they have to spend precious time on the character development of Arwen, who doesn't get more than 5 minutes in the books anyways.

And at the end, we don't have the troublesome Aragorn. In the books, he was distraught because he didn't know what path to follow, and then everybody gets separated, Boromir dies, all the hobbits disappear, and the fate of frodo and sam is unknown. Aragorn is forced to make a decision on who they follow and choose to pursue Merry and Pippin.

Galadriel warned against betrayal in the party. Yet there was no such warning. Oh, the book hinted about Boromir's desire for the ring, but up until the very minute he tried to steal it, Frodo only thought that Boromir wanted them to keep it safe at Minas Tirith, and not to walk it into the enemy's hand. However, the rest of the party did not desire it so, and none of the rest of them were a risk. This is shown most prominantly in the "Samwise the Strong" segue in the third novel when Sam is tempted by the power of the ring while he holds it for a while, and yet manages to overcome it with barely any thought on the matter.

But anyways.. No need to overanalyze this. The radio plays are GOOD. Listen to them if you can.

-Restil

Play with my webcams and turn on my lights at http://206.54.177.105"

Joesph Campbell

[HiyaPower]

I would also reccomend to anyone that they take a listen to the Moyers/Campbell series or read Campbell's book "Hero with a Thousand Faces". The Trilogy is one of the finest of the "quest" gendre that has been produced. It is interesting to disect it in the light of Campbell's exposition of the mythology of the quest. Everything is there: The quest, the companions, the wise old man, the great evil, etc. Aside from being just plain good reading, the Trilogy says many things about who we are and where we want to go in this creation.

Re:Joesph Campbell

[nagora]

Note also that Campbell was as nutty as a fruitcake when it comes to interpretation of myths and folk stories; the introduction to "Hero with a Thousand Faces" is still laugh-out-loud funny even though I've read it four or five times. In the rest of the book, however, the joke wears a bit thin and you really wonder how an adult could ever have written such transparent tripe in all seriousness.

A real blast from the Victorian age of Freudian mumbo-jumbo "psychology".

TWW

Re:Joesph Campbell

[Anonymous Coward]

George Lucas is apparently a great believer is Campbell's analysis. It neatly explains The Phantom Menace.

Re:Joesph Campbell

[MrResistor]

It neatly explains all of Star Wars, which was specifically created as a modern realisation of Campbell's analysis, according to Lucas.

found them on gnutella

[flaez]

i just found & downloaded an audio stream
of the complete bbc production (170M);

for once, gnutella yielded satisfactory
results. I also found the complete text
of LotR, Hobbit, Silmarillion and UT.

still, I am trying to collect the 13
mp3 files and will be sharing them on
gnutella once I get them together

Re:Very Good Work Mr. Turd Report

[Anonymous Coward]

Is someone going to mount a brute force login attack at the console? Yes.

Check for network connection? Why? It makes little or no difference... if you are constantly misentering your password (and it would need to be a lot to make it a problem), then slow down and take more care. If you slow *all* repeated password attempts you remove the problem all together with no fucking about checking for network connections etc etc.

[OT] Did anyone notice..?

[Anonymous Coward]

That's kind of neat, but..

Did anyone else notice that Iam Holm in the movie looked a *lot* like J.R.R. Tolkien himself? And that it got more pronounced the older he got, reaching its most striking at rivendell, when Bilbo is showing Frodo "there and back again".. i thought that was kind of cute, especially given the whole bit about Tolkien thinking of Bilbo as self-insertion, and how the maps on Bilbo's desk were reproductions of Tolkien's originals..

I don't know, maybe i just imagined it, and it isn't quite relevant to any thread on the BBC series. I just thought i'd post this because i was curious as to whether anyone else watching the movie had thought the same thing, and this seemed as good a way as any to take a straw poll.

- super ugly ultraman

These are spectacular

[nickm]

I recommend buying them on CD. I have the 13 CD set, and I keep them ripped to rc2 ogg vorbis files on my laptop. Great stuff, and it only takes up 340MB. Vorbis is beyond leet.

Radio

[Aztech]

If you want to listen over the net make sure you listen to the Ogg stream because it's higher quality than their Real streams, and Linux friendly.

As a nice Christmas gesture the BBC cut the bitrates down across the board on their terrestrial Digital Radio (DAB) service a couple of days ago, LoTR's will be on Radio 4 which is often found at 80kbps Mono MP2 now, instead of 192kbps stereo, the FM signal is now of superior quality.

A note to all those people who are interested in buying a DAB tuner (all 3 of you!), don't bother, unless they resurrect the bitrates you might as well just get a decent FM tuner, the quality will be better. Another decent technology ruined.

Re:Radio

[DSTA]

Perhaps interesting for folks in Europe: Radio 4 is also available via Astra satellite, details here.

This could start a trend...

[Anonymous Coward]

Perhaps in 20 years, Pierce Brosnan will play Q.

a little shocked

[plunge]

I was a little shocked as to how the movie decided to spoil just about every element of uncertainty with a character simply outright SAYING something that was supposed to be discovered later on. The radio shows were far more adriot at keeping things suspenseful.

Spoilers!!!!!

-Gandalf simply TELLS Frodo that Biblo has gone to live with the elves: in the books this is a wonderful surprise to Frodo.
-Gandalf learns of the Palantir early, for no reason, instead of discovering it at the end of The Two Towers
-Galadriel simply tells (or pretty darn strongly implies) to everyone that Boromir will try to take the Ring
-As mentioned, Aragorn feels no confusion as to what to do about Frodo.

I felt that most of this simply drained excitement and mystery out of the plot for no puropse (in most cases WASTING time instead saving it, by requiring more exposition). Maybe they had some reason, but I can't see it yet. I also thought that for a movie short on time, spending whole minutes in slow-mo reaction shots was a bit silly (Frodo getting stabbed by the troll for like five minutes, Sam drowing in slow motion) as well as deadening the pace at crucial moments. Despite Peter Jackson being totally non-Hollywood, it was SOOOO Hollywood.

The radio plays, of course, had no such temptation to cliche, which is interesting: are there really as many major radio-show cliches as there are movie cliches?

Re:a little shocked

[discogravy]

QUOTE:
-Gandalf learns of the Palantir early, for no reason, instead of discovering it at the end of The Two Towers

-Galadriel simply tells (or pretty darn strongly implies) to everyone that Boromir will try to take the Ring
/QUOTE

in TT (and later in ROTK,) Gandalf (when telling everyone about the palatir, esp merry and pippin, says he 'long suspected' that they were around. I saw this more as a good time to foreshadow the palantir's role in ROTK w/ Denethor -- when Gandalf and Saruman start talking about them in FOTR (movie) Gandalf plainly says "they're not all accounted for and can't be trusted"; this is more of a setup for Denethor's scene and Gandalf's expository there.

Galadriel (in the movie,) only tells Frodo outright. The movie can't give that third-person-omniscient point of view ("Boromir thought...") that the book can without doing cheesy voice-overs, so by necessity, I think they felt they had to hammer the point home that Boromir was not to be trusted.

The only things about the movie that i was annoyed by were the total omission of Bombadil (although, what else could Jackson have done?) and the complete fucking of Arwen and Aragorn's roles.

I would have enjoyed more of the incidental dialogue (although they did a fantastic job with it) like Gandalf's "A Balrog! what cursed luck! and I am already tired..." and the whole Bill Ferny thing in Bree...

The sound sucked (someone tell the music guy he's not the fucking star,) and Galadriel's voice during her test ("...set up an EVIL QUEEN!") was just too fucking stupid. But these are minor quibbles and the movie is GREAT.

Re:a little shocked

[overunderunderdone]

...spending whole minutes in slow-mo reaction shots was a bit silly.

I saw one review that said "I wish there were fewer scenes of Frodo staring into the camera like Jodie Foster in Nell (or Contact, or a half-dozen other movies where Foster seems to think that intense, wide-eyed staring is what the academy is looking for)"

The thing that bothered me (and might be related to your complaint about long slow-mo reactions) was what I thought was an over-use of awe inspiring special effects - Not where it was appropriate like the battle scenes in Moria but in segues. Especially all that zooming about up and down the tower of orthanc and into the fantastical (and a little fake & hokey looking) caves and crevices beneath it. By over doing it by so much in such inconsequential scenes Jackson had no way other than just making it longer to make an impact during the really pivotal scenes. I wish he had used a lighter hand which would have not only improved the scenes affected by making them appropriately more subtle but also would have improved the scenes with all the FX that would be improved and given more impact by the contrast.

But that is really my only complaint and it is mere nitpicking. Many of the things that bothered other people didn't bother me at all. It is a movie after all which is a very different storytelling media and many of the changes were necessary and good for the story in movie form. I don't mind dropping Tom Bombadil or Arwen replacing Glorfindel and moving the love story between Arwen and Aragorn out of the Appendix at the back of ROTK and into the main storyline.

Re:a little shocked

[plunge]

Plenty of other scenes established Boromir's wavering, especially the ring in the snow. It wasn't something that needed to be revealed anyway: foreshadowing would have been fine: why simply tell the audience what's going to happen when they're going to find out anyway?

Thanks dude

[gvonk]

I am slurping them off my parental AOL acct. You'll probably see a ton of AOL IPs hitting your server from ppl with the relatives...

Boner to go!

[Anonymous Coward]

How happy it will be for Trekkie to port his boner cd with him around.
Happy day for Trekkie, like Christmas and Lord Of The Ring.

Re:If you get the CD's be sure to get the BBC vers

[hazem]

I would have to disagree that American version is not as good. They are both very good, and have different qualities that for each are quite nice.

1) The American (Mind's Eye Productions) does not omit the Bombadil sequence. The BBC version does. This is important to me because I really like Bombadil. The scenes with the Barrow Wights explain how they get their swords.

2) The BBC version has English accents, which probably sounds more authentic.

3) The BBC version "unravels" the story line to make it more linear. The American version relies more on "flashback" and story-telling, which follows the flow of the books.

4) The BBC version does have Strider telling the story of (oh, I forget her name) the elf that gave up her immortality to live and die with the mortal man she loves - giving a nice foreshadowing of Strider and Arwyn's situation.

5) Of course, the BBC version gives you another hour, which is cool.

They are both excellent, and after listening to both of them several times (I'm a LOTR AND Book-on -tape junkie - don't ask how many times I've listened to Harry Potter on tape). I cannot say that one is better than the other.

LOTR FOTR

[tomaasz]

in Czech, the word "lotr" means "rogue" and "fotr" means "dad".

so the first movie should be called "bad dad"

Save them?!

[abe ferlman]

Are you seriously suggesting we just tape the radio broadcast? How will the artists be compensated? How will we prevent further unauthorized copying? At least the RIAA will get a cut of the blank tapes, but this is most irresponsible.

Don't tape the radio. You don't own anything you hear.

Re:Save them?!

[drsquare]

Fuck off. I already pay through the nose for their fucking licence fee. I'll record whatever I fucking want.

I bought the whole set

[thecoolbean]

Last month I bought the whole BBC 13 CD set at Sam's for about $40.00 It is great. If you REALLY want a see if you can't come across the set.

ISBN 0-553-47228-3

[Mike_L]

A few years ago my parents bought this audio series for me on cassette. It is excellent. I've listened to it a few times and it kept me awake on the long drive home for the holidays. I must say that this radio-series is a lot truer to Tolkien's books than the new movie. Also all voices have authentic British accents. =)

Amazon has it for $41.96
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0553472283/ qid%3D/103-3685064-5132664

-Mike_L

Christmas Gift

[GweeDo]

I got this Radio Show set (13 CD's) for Christmas and must say it is very well done. If you can listen to it, I highly recommend it. It is interesting to see how it differeces from the movie at moments which differs from the book at times. Over all it is a very well done presentation and great for long road trips :)

Or you can find it. . .

[Anonymous Coward]

at www.jezner.com/lord_of_the_rings/.

They are doing something like 3 mp3 files a week.

NOT a good Rendition! Anybody know where the good

[Anonymous Coward]

I remember as a kid (aprox. 1977) listening to the Hobbit on cassete tapes. It was a complete read of the Hobbit and was not abreviated/abridged in the slightest. Also, I believe, that it was just the voice of one person? but who dramatized all of the parts by changing his voice. DOES ANYBODY KNOW THE NAME OF THIS SET OF TAPES? I'd happily pay serious money for them. Also, did the same company hopefully also do the LOTR?
thanks,

Hans

nightowl@nightmoon.inland.net

PAY your licence fee ?

[johnjones]

did you go to a U.K. post office and pay for this ?

alot of the people here did not why should we the british have to put up with the U.S. using the bandwidth that 'I' payed for !

oh and if a record company see's the bbc broadcasting their music for free so that people dont buy their music from the shops they just wont let the BBC play it

regards

john jones

Re:PAY your licence fee ?

[David Thompson]

What the hell are u talking about? If you are referring to the British tax dollars that go towards BBC?s programming get a life. I assume that since you read slashdot you support the open source movement... Ok wait a sec I think I get it now... If you get something for ?free? (open source doesn?t cost anyone anything right? No time or resources are involved it just appears.) that?s great. But if someone uses up .25 cent of the bandwidth YOUR tax dollars paid for you?re up in arms.

Consider this Einstein:
The BCC is selling copies of this broadcast and as a result of their Internet broadcast they have effectively increased the size of their market from Britain to the world. Pretty good way to invest YOUR tax dollars if you ask me.

Also consider this:
Maybe, just maybe, a wonderful organization like the BBC appreciates that cultural programming such as the LOTF broadcast can and should be appreciated be an audience as large as as economicly feesable. Isn?t that the whole purpose of the BBC?

I could go on and on but to be honest with u I think you just wouldn?t get it anyway.

P.S. I?m not an American so is it ok if I tune in?

Psst...

[Catbeller]

Don't mention the Gnutella sources of the mp3's either...

NOT the BBC adaptation

[the grace of R'hllor]

This is completely different from the BBC adaptation.
I can find the BBC files on Morpheus, sure enough, using the following as a guide for the names and file order, though:

Unofficial BBC LotR page

Is this the BBC version, or a different one?

[Anonymous Coward]

IMWTK

Not the BBC version

[spack]

This is an American production. It can be purchased from highbridgeaudio.com.

The BBC unabridged version of the Hobbit

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0807288845/ qid=1009484693/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_3_1/002-0884376-862 6438

This is great. There are some mp3s floating around the net, but it's tricky to find the correct version. Better to just buy it. Besides, the $$ goes to the BBC, not the RIAA !!

also, amazon has some combo packages for Tolien/BBC products.