Hobbit-hype!

[CatherineOH]

I watched it with a group of 9 companions (myself included) in my dorm

OOh. that is a great idea for a party.
I"m 50, so no ‘dorm’ rooms, but the party could be 80’s themed come as you were…and precede the attendance at the movie.

 

[Razanir]

OOh. that is a great idea for a party.
I"m 50, so no ‘dorm’ rooms, but the party could be 80’s themed come as you were…and precede the attendance at the movie.

The 9 companions part was just an awesome coincidence. We had no clue how many people would show up

 

[CatherineOH]

 

[TimothyH]

It helps me to know that some of the inaccuracies in the movies were oversights on Jackson’s part. The main example I can think of is Glamdring not glowing near goblins/orcs

It did. It glowed.

There was a scene where everyone was in a panic, about to run as orcs approached. Frodo pulled out the sword and it was glowing blue. He looked at the sword, looked at the orcs, and turned and ran. They showed the sword from the perspective of someone standing in front of Frodo, and then showed his face as he looked at the approaching orcs and turned to run.

I forgot which part of the trilogy that scene was in, but it was there. I remember it clearly.

-Tim-

 

[TheRealJuliane]

I’m a great lover of the books myself, and I also had a hard time accepting many of Jackson’s changes to the story in LOTR. However, I would dispute your notion regarding the geographic setting of the stories. The Shire corresponds roughly to England and the British Isles generally; but the action of the stories goes far outside the boundaries of the Shire. Take another look at the maps that are included with the books - the Misty Mountains, the mountains of Mordor and of Gondor are far larger than the mountains of Wales.

Well, of course Tolkien imagined the mountains, b/c there aren’t any in England proper. I know I’m in the minority these days, but I never go see the movie before I’ve read the book, and these books are too dear to me to receive anyone else’s visions of the settings and the characters.

Tolkien said himself that the Hobbits are the English people, especially the people of the countryside and the villages. Once you place yourself in those villages and that countryside, the books come alive in a way they never have before. I had little context for the settings - well, the mountain passes would have resonated, because I grew up in the Rockies - and so I could only make rough guesses in my mind as to what the locations looked like. The writing took on another dimension for me when I actually saw and absorbed where Tolkien lived and wrote his books.

He may have approved of the movies - I know his son Christopher had extensive (name removed by moderator)ut, so these are as good as it gets. I just can’t allow myself to let go of my own characters and “stage,” you know??

 

[louisak]

It did. It glowed.

There was a scene where everyone was in a panic, about to run as orcs approached. Frodo pulled out the sword and it was glowing blue. He looked at the sword, looked at the orcs, and turned and ran. They showed the sword from the perspective of someone standing in front of Frodo, and then showed his face as he looked at the approaching orcs and turned to run.

I forgot which part of the trilogy that scene was in, but it was there. I remember it clearly.

You are thinking of a different sword.

Yes, Frodo’s sword glowed, but his sword was named Sting. Glamdring (the Foe-Hammer) was Gandalf’s sword. It, along with Orcrist (the Goblin Cleaver) was discovered by Gandalf and company in the cave of the trolls early on in The Hobbit. Gandalf took Glamdring for himself and Thorin took Orcrist.

 

[SonCatcher]

The 9 companions part was just an awesome coincidence. We had no clue how many people would show up

It was likewise a happy coincidence that one of the LOTR films happened to be my … birthday present.

 

[louisak]

He may have approved of the movies - I know his son Christopher had extensive (name removed by moderator)ut

Did he? I read that Christopher disliked the very idea of a film adaptation and would have nothing to do with it.

 

[SonCatcher]

Did he? I read that Christopher disliked the very idea of a film adaptation and would have nothing to do with it.

There already had been film adaptations (cartoons for **The Hobbit **and Return of the King and a mixed live/animated version for **Fellowship of the Ring **and part of The Two Towers).

 

[Razanir]

It was likewise a happy coincidence that one of the LOTR films happened to be my … birthday present.

You are thinking of a different sword.

Yes, Frodo’s sword glowed, but his sword was named Sting. Glamdring (the Foe-Hammer) was Gandalf’s sword. It, along with Orcrist (the Goblin Cleaver) was discovered by Gandalf and company in the cave of the trolls early on in The Hobbit. Gandalf took Glamdring for himself and Thorin took Orcrist.

I hope he makes Glamdring and Orcrist glow this time (Sting glowing seems like a given)

 

[SonCatcher]

I hope he makes Glamdring and Orcrist glow this time (Sting glowing seems like a given)

I thought that was odd, too. According to this wiki, New Line Cinema “felt it would be confusing” for Glamdring to glow. All it takes is one line of dialog to explain that Gandalf’s sword is also Elven.

 

[TheRealJuliane]

Did he? I read that Christopher disliked the very idea of a film adaptation and would have nothing to do with it.

Well, I checked my “knowledge” and found that I was mistaken, that Christopher Tolkien had nothing to do with the Peter Jackson films. Somewhere, his name was listed as being a consultant or maybe I misread something. There is a fascinating interview which gives a lot of backstory, here.

Thanks for the correction.

 

[TheRealJuliane]

I thought that was odd, too. According to this wiki, New Line Cinema “felt it would be confusing” for Glamdring to glow. All it takes is one line of dialog to explain that Gandalf’s sword is also Elven.

There you go. There must be thousands of those decisions that completely depart from the books.

There are going to be a lot of female characters in The Hobbit that WERE NOT in the book.



We must be PC, you know. Let’s turn Middle Earth into a reflection of 21st century USA/Europa.

 

[SonCatcher]

There you go. There must be thousands of those decisions that completely depart from the books.

There are going to be a lot of female characters in The Hobbit that WERE NOT in the book.



We must be PC, you know. Let’s turn Middle Earth into a reflection of 21st century USA/Europa.

Some of the changes are necessary as the screen cannot actually reproduce everything that happens in the book. At least, however, Beorn is reported to appear in this adaptation. I read the book after seeing the cartoon and remember thinking “this guy is *cool *. How come he got left out?”

BTW - Galadriel was at least mentioned by inference in the book (the meeting of the council to deal with the Necromancer). It is a bit of a stretch to actually show the council since the meeting was not part of the story, however. Arwen could conceivably make a cameo appearance even though she is not mentioned at all since she would most likely have been at Rivendell at the time.

 

[TheRealJuliane]

Now I know who I was thinking of, not Christopher Tolkien but Alan Lee! Just a tiny mistake, hee hee…

I love Alan Lee’s illustrations of the books, especially his vision of Rivendell. That comes pretty close to my own mental illustrations. Nonetheless I will not see the movies.

 

[louisak]

I love Alan Lee’s illustrations of the books, especially his vision of Rivendell.

I love them as well! He did the only depiction of Treebeard that I like (most of them make him look too much like a tree with a face). His colors tend to be more subtle than in other artists’ illustrations of Tolkien but that is just fine with me. There is so much more to Tolkien’s world than battles and monsters. Lee often captures the more pastoral scenes and I enjoy those pictures especially.

I believe his painting of Rivendell followed Tolkien’s own pictures of it, in general layout, although of course not in details.

 

[louisak]

I thought that was odd, too. According to this wiki, New Line Cinema “felt it would be confusing” for Glamdring to glow. All it takes is one line of dialog to explain that Gandalf’s sword is also Elven.

That’s true. But one of the problems often encountered with film adaptations of popular books, is that they try to squeeze in too many details. People who have not read the books will often feel overwhelmed by all the information, and those films are usually not very successful. This was obviously a great danger with LOTR since the book is SO long and has SO MANY details of every kind - details of geography, invented languages, personal names and relationships, the histories of the various kingdoms, and so forth. Peter Jackson and his crew were clearly trying not to fall into that trap. I disagreed with many of their decisions, but I can’t fault them on that one. One may disagree whether this or that particular bit of information should have been included or left out, but on the overall principle I think they did what they needed to do, in order to make the story accessible to those who have not read the book.

 

[TheRealJuliane]

I love them as well! He did the only depiction of Treebeard that I like (most of them make him look too much like a tree with a face). His colors tend to be more subtle than in other artists’ illustrations of Tolkien but that is just fine with me. There is so much more to Tolkien’s world than battles and monsters. Lee often captures the more pastoral scenes and I enjoy those pictures especially.

I believe his painting of Rivendell followed Tolkien’s own pictures of it, in general layout, although of course not in details.

Yes, as I understand it, that is true. Tolkien’s own illustrations have their own charm, but are not as realistic as some of the artists who have tried to illustrate his world(s) for us.

When I was in high school, the Brothers Hildebrandt were putting out yearly LOTR calendars. I liked some of their illustrations, but the colors and lighting were garish and cartoon-like. As I recall, they drew a goofy-looking Treebeard, which was not the way I imagined him at all.

 

[InJesusItrust]

I liked The Hobbit as a fun tale but Lord of the Rings needed some serious editing. It is painful to read except for a few awesome moments, like the scouring of the Shire.

 

[Falco]

I always saw the Elves as French, the Orcs as German and Mordor as Russia.