The Lord of the Rings…

You’re apparently among those who prefer to neglect this material. Your choice.

Not quite I am just trying to read too many books all at the same time.

Apart from aviation and motorcycle periodicals I am also reading

The Science of Discworld 2 (Just finished part 1)

Operation Lightning Strike (a take on the X Files from a British military viewpoint, its a sort of Red Storm Rising with little green men. 🙂 )

Taliesin. (a semi historical fantasy novel involving the fabled Welsh bard and the lost continent of Atlantis)

All The Weyrs of Pern (of Anne McCaffery fame)

I have only just finnished Peter F Hamilton’s ‘Nights Dawn Trilogy’ which is a fantastic Space Saga set in the 26th century and once again written from a British viewpoint. Then I read his ‘Fallen Dragon’ novel which I have to say was even better than Nights Dawn if only because the ending was less……………….strange.

I am also in the middle of another Pratchett novel ‘Maurice and his educated rodents’ amongst others.

So my problem is one of trying to read too much at the same time
its a little habit of mine that I really must curtail. It isn’t helped by the close proximity of a little town on the Welsh border called Hay on Wye which is sometimes refered to as the second hand bookshop capital of the world. We go there at least twice a year. there is a place called ‘The pound bookshop’ because they sell new and used titles for £1 or less. The place is lethal for bookworms. My wife finds it easier, she has a photographic memory. I watched her read Raymond E Feist’s ‘The Magician’ in a matter of hours when we first met. I thought she was just speed reading but then she proceeded to quote whole paragraphs word for word from memory. Her mother reads even faster, Its a bit scary.

🙂

Have you read the whole of the Silmarillion? I’ve leterally read bits of it. Is it worth persevering with? (Please excuse spelling I think it is a symptom of mind bending boredom, I want to go home now.) 🙁

Went to see Return of the King, yes there is a lot missing and some things that don’t strictly tie in with the book but it was good, very good and the extended DVD will roll out the film a whole lot better; it did with the first two I have no doubt it will with the 3rd as well.

I have read that Pete Jackson is in negotiations with the film company about a film version of ‘The Hobbit’. So it ain’t over yet. I can’t see them doing anything else by Tolkein, the Simarilion is the kind of book that when you put it down you don’t want to pick it up again.

Still nobody said he was perfect and could do no wrong. The Simarilion is not strictly speaking ‘a bad book’ its just hard going and its difficult to see the point of it.

Re: The Lord of the Rings…

Originally posted by Saab 2000

Anyhow, great movie, I really recommend it. I can’t wait now for Jackson’s next film “King Kong,” 🙂

Working title allegedly “Lord of the Monkeys” !;)

The all-out battle sequences in the second film are a lot better, you might want to check it out.

As for things we missed in the movies…that’s what the 4-disc DVDs are for 😀

I enjoy the books. I have only seen the first segment of the movie. Overall I enjoyed it and give it high marks. I have one negative. The action segments were somewhat disappointing. Many of them were very choppy which made them very hard to follow. Why go to the expense of creating such great costumes, weapons and background and laying out great action and personal combat sequences and then waste it all with so much choppy editing and in-your-face camera work? Move the camera back a little and let us see what is going on. Based on comment made here, this has improved and I look forward to seeing both shortly.

Sauron

Saw it yesterday, it was brilliant. The battle at Minas Tirith was simply breathtaking. The Nazgul attacks, the Oliphants battle, the catapult exchange, the Army of the Dead, it was all quite unbelievable. Needless to say, the rest of the movie was great too. I thought they did Shelob really well, the scenes at Minas Morgul and the the Black Gate were exciting too.

I did miss two things though:
1. Why didn’t they mention Denethor also had a palantir? It explains a lot of his actions in the book, why he was not up to defending Gondor.
2. The Mouth of Sauron at the Black Gate, when he presents Aragorn and Gandalf with Frodo’s belongings. Would have been a nice twist right at the end.

Are u a hobbit?

“did they include the scene at the end of the book where the war is over and Saruman is being a general irritant up where the hobbits live?”

According to my brother Cristopher Lee demanded more money (ie a larger slice of the profits) for the third movie and was cut completely, so there is no chat with Saurman at Isengard and the end is actually much much shorter than in the book as the Shire has been untouched by the whole conflict.

BTW Loved the olifants…

“I thought Gary would have gotten all their autographs by now”

Actually I missed out on a chance to be in it… while they were making it they put out a desperate request for tall people to be extras… I even got and filled out the form, but I didn’t really want to have to repeat a year at University just to be an extra. (According to my sister in law it is the most boring job in the world… you get up at 5am and get finished at about 10pm and spend most of your time waiting for the lighting, the sets, and worst of all the main actors to get ready.)

I kinda regret it a little now, but I’ll get over it.

I thought Gary would have gotten all their autographs by now:D

J.R.s stuff has never been one of my top favorites, but he was a great writer and the movies are pretty good. That is what is so darn cool about the U.K. that I miss. You can’t walk 5 feet without stumbling into history. One of my favorite pubs was the Falcon in Huntington 😀 ( easy history question for SOC on the importance of the Falcon pub )

Going to go see the new movie tonight.

Yeah I prefer the extended DVDs also. One nagging question (I won’t be seeing the movie until Tuesday dammit), did they include the scene at the end of the book where the war is over and Saruman is being a general irritant up where the hobbits live?

When I went to see ‘The Two Towers’ I wasn’t dissapointed as much as a bit confused.

Because they had to fit so much into the 3 hours available an awful lot was cut out and the editing sometimes seemed a little haphazard and perhaps a little bit rushed. Not that I did not enjoy it because I did immensely and I am looking forward to seeing the Return of the King at the pictures.

So, as I did with the first film I waited for the Extended Edition DVD which comes out perhaps 5 or 6 months after the movie DVD and I was not at all dissapointed. The editing was much better and the extra footage really made the film come together better than it did with the first cinema version.

I think Tolkien would have been reasonably happy with what Pete Jackson and the rest of his team, actors and others have done.

Oh and if you are interested from the age of 3, JRR Tolkien grew up just up the road from where I work. Its a place called Sarehole Mill in Birmingham and in his day it was rural countryside and villages just to the south of the city. Today it is part of a huge conurbation and Sarehole Mill is a subburb of the City of Birmingham. The Mill and its surroundings still survive though. There is a ford crossing the river not far from the mill and it is beleived that this was the inspiration for the Brandywine river crossing in the first book.