Return of the King How it should have been done.
#16
Posted 25 May 2004 - 04:17 AM
And reading The Silmarillion was quite a nice change from reading The Lord of the Rings. Where The Lord of the Rings would spend 50 pages on establishing the scene, The Silmarillion would cover 500 years of history in less than half of that.
I certainly found it a lot more interesting than the Bible as well and as a writer myself, I was just awe-struck. A lot of writers, myself included (proud to say), can create believable well-fleshed out worlds. Tolkien, however, wrote a creation myth for his world - and it's so comprehensive, elaborate and complicated - that it feels like the work of hundreds of writers over a thousand year period.
It is a tragedy that he never finished it - for it was his life's work, started in the trenches of the Somme in World War I, while his friends lay dead around him. Tolkien suffered much in life and this led him very early on to ask the big questions and try to find some meaning in life.
From what I've learned, when he wrote The Hobbit, it was just intended as a children's tale, nothing more. When he wrote The Lord of the Rings, it was because his publisher had asked for a sequel to The Hobbit but as everyone knows, that sequel kind of got out of hand.
And as he wrote it, Tolkien suddenly thought of a grand idea - he would tie this novel into the mythology that he had been working on all his life... which he obviously did through the ring and Sauron. And the rest, as we so often say, is history.
I really enjoy your posts, by the way. I've been getting lazy recently and have been doing a lot of quick touch-and-go replies - so it's nice to be able to slow down occasionally and have some longer, well thought out posts.
And... people really tried to justify the use of Gimli as comic relief and Legolas as a chick magnet? That's messed-up.
#17
Posted 25 May 2004 - 10:29 AM
Does everybody remember in the book how Aragorn's fellow rangers, the Dunedain join him before he goes to the Pellenor Fields?
That would have been so powerful and would have added a lot of substance to a movie that was sorely lacking it. I was really disappointed that we didn't see this - and I suspect that we're probably not going to see it in the Extended Edition either.
#19
Posted 26 May 2004 - 03:38 AM
So you're a writer as well? I've penned three unpublished novels and I don't know how much poetry and essays. I suppose being well read is kind of a requirement for being a writer which is why so few people write well these days, they hardly bother with real literacy in the schools anymore. Which is likely one of the reasons the funny dwarf and sex elf idea was accepted. Are you also annoyed by the horrible use of Gimli and Legolas trying to outscore one another? Once was kind of cool but keeping it going into RotK was bad. And I agree, the coming of the grey company would have been sweet. It's yet another thing that tells me that they were more worried about showing Aragorn's cool army and sword than they were about showing what those things symbolized.
Alright! Three Silmarillion readers! I've only read it once because I gave my copy of the novel to my DM so he could read it and then he disappeared. (I tend to give all my novels away or at least lone them, it strikes me as wrong to let them languish on a shelf)
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#21
Posted 26 May 2004 - 08:58 AM
It sits right next to my copy of Battlefield Earth, which I also never got around to reading. and my entire Dune chronicles {which I am proud to say i completely read ebery book}
#22
Posted 26 May 2004 - 10:17 AM
Yeah, JM, I have to agree about the competition between Legolas and Gimli. You know, I enjoyed it in The Two Towers but when it carried into Return of the King, I just thought "Are you still going at this?"
It also really destroyed Legolas' elvern mystique - he had none by the end of the movie.
You sound like you write a lot more than me. I've finished some really short novels but I'm still struggling with the one I really want to finish the most - my pet project for a decade. I'd almost discard it - except I've spent so long on it already that I feel I must finish it. But of late, I've been fairly busy and when there's so many good things to do in life, it's hard to make yourself sit down in front of the computer for a while and type up a novel. Ah... one day, I'll finish it.
Maybe I could send it to a literary competition or try to get it published - get some money in return for my troubles. But so far, being an amateur writer is good enough for me. I don't have the right mind-set for getting rich from writing as I always write for an audience of one.... this average movie goer.
#23
Posted 26 May 2004 - 10:31 PM
and yes, very biblical... the storys are told in a very similar manner...
i quite like the style... it covers alot but 'zooms in' when you need alittle more.
but you need to read unfinished tales if you want a better description of some of the things that happen in it.
Also: The Chefelf.com Lord of the Rings | RoBUTZ (a primative webcomic) | KOTOR 1 NPC profiles |
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#25
Posted 27 May 2004 - 12:35 AM
i have to say, i was not much of a fan of the two towers until i saw the Extended Edition. and ROTK is even more so, going to end up that way... because they edited the shit out of it... the cinematic versions are to be ignored... they're for for the average movie goer, but no just you're average movie goer...
you've seen 3hrs and 30min of a 4hr and 15min film... there's almost an hour missing...
and Zerahsedai, i think you'll change your mind about Peter Jackson if you see Brain Dead (AKA Dead Alive), and meet the feebles.
Also: The Chefelf.com Lord of the Rings | RoBUTZ (a primative webcomic) | KOTOR 1 NPC profiles |
Music: HYPOID (industrial rock) | Spectrox Toxemia (Death Metal) | Cannibalingus (80s style thrash metal) | Wasabi Nose Bleed (Exp.Techno) | DeadfeeD (Exp.Ambient) |||(more to come)
#26
Posted 27 May 2004 - 03:31 AM
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#27
Posted 27 May 2004 - 04:47 AM
I'm hoping my next draft will do better....
#29
Posted 01 June 2004 - 11:51 AM
but is that cat giving me the finger?
Also: The Chefelf.com Lord of the Rings | RoBUTZ (a primative webcomic) | KOTOR 1 NPC profiles |
Music: HYPOID (industrial rock) | Spectrox Toxemia (Death Metal) | Cannibalingus (80s style thrash metal) | Wasabi Nose Bleed (Exp.Techno) | DeadfeeD (Exp.Ambient) |||(more to come)
#30
Posted 13 June 2004 - 01:50 AM
I noticed a couple of other things about the movie though - firstly, it takes far too long to say so little and that's a problem. It was also a problem with The Two Towers.
The next point is that it so damn bright! There is sunshine and blue sky everywhere and any supposedly dark brooding clouds are light grey at best. In Mordor even - I saw blue sky in the distance. It is really ... unappreciated.
However, I would like to also say that I noticed something really cool. It was cheeky and comical but as I didn't notice it during the first couple of viewings, I have to say that it was nicely done. Personally, despite all its probable wrong-ness, I loved it.
When everyone is in the hall of Minas Tirith, discussing their plan to distract Sauron and buy Frodo time, you'll notice that Gimli is sitting down. Watch it again and you will also notice that not only is he sitting down, but he is sitting down in the throne and everyone else is standing before him.
I take my hat off to the comical genius who thought that one up. That is fantastic!