Now, that scene is not so bad in and of itself. It doesn't fundamentally change the characters, it doesn't really disrupt the storyline at all... the scene itself didn't bother me at all.
But the question is "why?" When time was so limited, why did they include that scene and cut parts that most fans feel were so much more important to the story? Given a 3 hour limit on the movie, we ask why such fluff was put in while key parts were left out.
They explained this in the actor's commentary, and it's pretty simple. They didn't want people to forget who Arwen is. And that makes sense, given the stretch of time between FotR and RotK the casual movie-goer might very well forget who exactly Liv Tyler is supposed to be and why she's so important. Notice that they gave some amount of face time to every important character from FotR in TTT. It was a bridging device to further the trilogy as a whole.
Heck, the council wasn't even really 'called' in the book. They each has their own reasons for wanting to come. Boromir needed to know what his vision meant, he didn't even know about the ring!
And as I recall it wasn't even Boromir's vision, Faramir had it, told Denethor about it and Boromir horned in on the action.
The first time I saw the trailer for Fellowship, I remarked that every single character was perfectly cast - you could name them just from a second of footage. Aragorn in particular; amazing.
But then, they did put a lot of effort into the casting process (curiously with the exception of Viggo Mortensen as I recall - that was serendipity!)
Apparently they initially offered the role of Aragorn to Russel Crowe, who obviously turned them down. Would have been quite a different film with him instead of Viggo. I mean Crowe would have brought a lot to the role, he's a terrific actor, but he looks more like a movie star than Viggo does, and that isn't neccesarily what you want for that part.
But yes, I agree completely that the film was perfectly cast...except that in the books Frodo is around fifty years old, and not the thirty or so he is in the movie.:)
So is Faramir. The House of Stewards was one of the noblest families of the South Kingdom of Gondor (which is why they were chosen to be the Stewards of the Kings)
But Aragorn is a descendent of the House of Elros. He's not just Dunedain, but counts the mightiest heros of men and elves as his ancestors, and the blood of men, elves and maia flow through his veins, albight rather diluted.
All the elves are leaving middle earth because their time was the 2nd age (from the fall of sauron to the other fall of sauron), and the third age is the time of men. They are all departing for some land where everyone lives eternally, and it's across the sea to the west or something. This is what Liv Tyler has given up - she traded her immortality for one life with Aragorn, and she can never cross the sea to the havens. Anyway, frodo eventually goes with the elves.
Nice analysis, but you're off on your ages. The Second Age was the time between the fall of Morgoth/destruction of Beleriand(the Silmarillion) and the Last Alliance of Elves and Men where Sauron was cast down by Elendil and Gil-Galad. The events in the movie take place during the Third Age which ends with Sauron being destroyed and the Rings of Power crossing the sea. The Fourth Age is the Age of Men.
The greatness of the book is shown in the craftsmanship of the props and sets and everything else on the screen.
Yes, the real power of the books comes from the completeness of the world Tolkien created, and Peter Jackson has brought that world to life perfectly. Sure, i've had some doubts about the parts of the book that have been excised, and I've questioned a few of the character decisions, but throughout it all I've felt the movies have captured the look and feel of the books with deadly accuracy. And for that Peter Jackson and his crew deserve heaps and heaps of praise.
I could have done without the Tony Hawk shield slide sceen. I personally felt like it was put in the movie for no better reason than an attempt to appeal to the kiddies. Stuff like that is like having a bucket of cold water dumped over your head. If you had been drawn into the movie, a sceen like that is a quick slap in the face
No, it's to setup the fact that elves possess super-human abilities. Same with the jumping on the horse bit, when he jumped onto the troll in FotR, and whenever he shoots an arrow. It's stuff that's hinted around at in the book, but you're not really aware of without seeing it. What can I say, it didn't bother me. Neither did the changes to Faramir after I saw the Extended Edition and sat down and thought about it.
I think the key quote here is "arcadey play mechanic." This game plays like X-Wing Alliance with WWII fighters! The only "historical accuracy" I've found is the fact that the planes look somewhat like their real-life counterparts.
Considering that Holland designed pretty much every one of LucasArts's flight sims that's not surprising. I haven't had a chance to sit down with the latest incarnation of Secret Weapons, but I played those early LucasArts sims a lot. They were fun, if a bit simplistic. So long as the new one isn't a rail shooter that's good enough for me.
- High Quality Recording: Probably TRUE. Musician friends of mine right now are still using their minidisc players to do recordings of their gigs. Probably a niche, but still a valid point.
And what does Minidisc have to do with High Quality Recording? MD uses a lossy compression scheme just like an iPod.
It is true though that I'd love to have a digital coax in on my iPod; but it's a player, not a recorder. Of course you could always use it as a Firewire HD in a computer-based recording rig.:)
It is news to me that there is a Canadian brigade in Iraq. Do you have any proof of this? Canadians are generally against the war in Iraq and our government has stated that other than a small number of soldiers on exchange with our allies, there are no Canadian troops in Iraq. If your claim is true, this is an incredible scandal.
There aren't any, that's my point. There also aren't any Russians, or Germans, or Egyptians. I was disagreeing with the assertion that World opposition to the US/UK involvement in Iraq was limited to just France. At the same time I was doing a bit of ass covering because there are more countries taking part in the coalition than just the US/UK, very small involvement, but they're there. I just knew some wise-ass would say "what about Poland?"
I guess if you take a "balanced" position that leaves you open for misinterpretation from both sides.
That's my experience as well. My second generation iPod lasts for a full work day, easily. I've had it crap out on the commute home once or twice, but only because I kept it going all day without hitting pause once.
I've found my second gen iPod lasts around 9 to 10 hours easy. Plus, if you've got your Powerbook handy you can always cheat and charge up the iPod a little bit to stretch the battery out farther. And of course the third-gen's have an external battery pack available if you really need it.
Jackson took the cliffhanger ending out of FotR too. I suppose if the audience has sat three hours for a movie and won't see the next one for nearly a year, he figured ending it on a cliffhanger wouldn't sit well with them.
What cliffhanger ending to FotR? Granted it's been a while since I've read LotR but i recall the first book ending with Frodo and Sam walking off towards Mordor, and the second book picking up with the funeral of Boromir.
While this makes Han a "nice guy" because he doesn't kill anyone unprovoked, it doesn't really make sense. #1: Why would a bounty hunter kill his bounty, and therefor lose out on collecting any money?
I worry that whoever is tasked to write this new version will try to be "true to DNA's legacy", and not add anything to the new telling to distinguish it from the old.
of course if they do add something to distinguish it from the old they'll get reamed by the fanboys for "mucking up a perfectly good thing."
The good thing is, in the suckiness of the final episode, perhaps they'll let the matrix phenom die for a few years before bringing out a surprise finale to the unanswered questions
See unanswered questions are in some way the best because the answers are invariably unsatisfactory. It's like the X-Files. Everytime 1013 tried to explain something it just made less and less sense. I was just waiting for the dogs that shot bees out of their mouths.
Bottom line, it's far easier to ask questions then it is to answer them.
Were the great classical composers driven by their own greed?
Yes they were. The great composers were by and large commissioned to write their music. Sure, some of them died penniless, but they were getting paid for their work.
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But the question is "why?" When time was so limited, why did they include that scene and cut parts that most fans feel were so much more important to the story? Given a 3 hour limit on the movie, we ask why such fluff was put in while key parts were left out.
They explained this in the actor's commentary, and it's pretty simple. They didn't want people to forget who Arwen is. And that makes sense, given the stretch of time between FotR and RotK the casual movie-goer might very well forget who exactly Liv Tyler is supposed to be and why she's so important. Notice that they gave some amount of face time to every important character from FotR in TTT. It was a bridging device to further the trilogy as a whole.
-sam
And as I recall it wasn't even Boromir's vision, Faramir had it, told Denethor about it and Boromir horned in on the action.
-sam
But then, they did put a lot of effort into the casting process (curiously with the exception of Viggo Mortensen as I recall - that was serendipity!)
Apparently they initially offered the role of Aragorn to Russel Crowe, who obviously turned them down. Would have been quite a different film with him instead of Viggo. I mean Crowe would have brought a lot to the role, he's a terrific actor, but he looks more like a movie star than Viggo does, and that isn't neccesarily what you want for that part.
But yes, I agree completely that the film was perfectly cast...except that in the books Frodo is around fifty years old, and not the thirty or so he is in the movie. :)
-sam
But Aragorn is a descendent of the House of Elros. He's not just Dunedain, but counts the mightiest heros of men and elves as his ancestors, and the blood of men, elves and maia flow through his veins, albight rather diluted.
-sam
Nice analysis, but you're off on your ages. The Second Age was the time between the fall of Morgoth/destruction of Beleriand(the Silmarillion) and the Last Alliance of Elves and Men where Sauron was cast down by Elendil and Gil-Galad. The events in the movie take place during the Third Age which ends with Sauron being destroyed and the Rings of Power crossing the sea. The Fourth Age is the Age of Men.
-sam
Yes, the real power of the books comes from the completeness of the world Tolkien created, and Peter Jackson has brought that world to life perfectly. Sure, i've had some doubts about the parts of the book that have been excised, and I've questioned a few of the character decisions, but throughout it all I've felt the movies have captured the look and feel of the books with deadly accuracy. And for that Peter Jackson and his crew deserve heaps and heaps of praise.
-sam
No, it's to setup the fact that elves possess super-human abilities. Same with the jumping on the horse bit, when he jumped onto the troll in FotR, and whenever he shoots an arrow. It's stuff that's hinted around at in the book, but you're not really aware of without seeing it. What can I say, it didn't bother me. Neither did the changes to Faramir after I saw the Extended Edition and sat down and thought about it.
-sam
It's all the blue ties that Duhbya wears.
-sam
Considering that Holland designed pretty much every one of LucasArts's flight sims that's not surprising. I haven't had a chance to sit down with the latest incarnation of Secret Weapons, but I played those early LucasArts sims a lot. They were fun, if a bit simplistic. So long as the new one isn't a rail shooter that's good enough for me.
-sam
I'm not going shopping that friday because...I'll be at work.
-sam
You've never seen Fear Factor have you? Oh wait, that's torturing the audience. :)
-sam
And what does Minidisc have to do with High Quality Recording? MD uses a lossy compression scheme just like an iPod.
It is true though that I'd love to have a digital coax in on my iPod; but it's a player, not a recorder. Of course you could always use it as a Firewire HD in a computer-based recording rig. :)
-sam
Russian and German troops in Baghdad? That's news to me. Where did you get that idea?
Like I said before, i know that; of course on reflection I also missed the point of your original post so i think we're just drowning in sarcasm here.
-sam
There aren't any, that's my point. There also aren't any Russians, or Germans, or Egyptians. I was disagreeing with the assertion that World opposition to the US/UK involvement in Iraq was limited to just France. At the same time I was doing a bit of ass covering because there are more countries taking part in the coalition than just the US/UK, very small involvement, but they're there. I just knew some wise-ass would say "what about Poland?"
I guess if you take a "balanced" position that leaves you open for misinterpretation from both sides.
-sam
No, don't think about it! Repeat - it was only France...
Which explains all those German and Russian Peacekeepers in Baghdad,the Canadian brigade in Tikrit, and those Egyptians in Fallujah.
The coalition is more than just the US and the UK, but the opposition is more than just France.
-sam
I've found my second gen iPod lasts around 9 to 10 hours easy. Plus, if you've got your Powerbook handy you can always cheat and charge up the iPod a little bit to stretch the battery out farther. And of course the third-gen's have an external battery pack available if you really need it.
-sam
What cliffhanger ending to FotR? Granted it's been a while since I've read LotR but i recall the first book ending with Frodo and Sam walking off towards Mordor, and the second book picking up with the funeral of Boromir.
-sam
Wanted: Dead or Alive man, dead or alive.
-sam
-sam
of course if they do add something to distinguish it from the old they'll get reamed by the fanboys for "mucking up a perfectly good thing."
-sam
As are Ben Stiller's Tom Cruise and David Duchovney's Jeff Goldblum. But really, it was all about Sean Connery, cracks me up just thinking about it.
-sam
Yeah, but Evil Dead 2 is just Evil Dead with a slightly larger budget, does that count?
-sam
See unanswered questions are in some way the best because the answers are invariably unsatisfactory. It's like the X-Files. Everytime 1013 tried to explain something it just made less and less sense. I was just waiting for the dogs that shot bees out of their mouths.
Bottom line, it's far easier to ask questions then it is to answer them.
-sam
That's what a UPS is for.
-sam
Were the great classical composers driven by their own greed?
Yes they were. The great composers were by and large commissioned to write their music. Sure, some of them died penniless, but they were getting paid for their work.-sam