And speaking of LotR, I just realized that I’d completely forgotten to say anything about seeing LotR:TTTEE at the Cinerama on Saturday.
As we’d done the week before, Prairie and I started by wandering downtown for some food (stopping by the Red Robin at the waterfront this week), then working our way up to the Cinerama in time to stand in line for the show. The weather wasn’t nearly as nice this week as it had been the week prior, instead treating us to wind and rain — typical Seattle winter, really, so we didn’t complain much. We did, however, stop off at Bed Bath and Beyond to pick me up a decent umbrella, and took a quick swing through Starbucks to get two large Caramel Apple Ciders.
Yes, yes, I know — friends don’t let friends drink Starbucks. But not being a coffee drinker, I didn’t get the coffee, and their Caramel Apple Ciders are truly wondrous things. So there. ;)
So, cider in hand, we wandered over to the Cinerama to start waiting for the show. When we got there, there were only two people in the line, so we elected to wait under the overhang of the building until the line started to grow. Once the line hit about ten people, we figured that was as long as we wanted it to get before jumping in — up went the umbrella, and we staked out our spot.
The next hour or so was spent attempting to stay warm and dry, and chatting with the people around us in line. The group behind us had planned a needed dental trip to Seattle to coincide with the show, and just behind them were a small group of three girls who had brought a tarp to stand underneath. Fortuitously enough, the Cinerama apparently keeps a small stash of umbrellas around for such occasions, and an employee soon came out to distribute umbrellas along the line for those who didn’t have them, provoking great glee from the group of girls when one of them got a frilly purple umbrella to use.
Eventually, we all made it in. This week was a little more exciting for Prairie and I — last week, we’d each already seen the Extended Edition of The Fellowship of the Ring on DVD, so the novelty was primarily in seeing it on the big screen. This week, while I’d already broken down and watched the Extended Edition of The Two Towers on DVD (I couldn’t wait!), Prairie had not, so much of the movie was entirely new to her (and she loved it).
Apparently, she wasn’t the only audience member who’d held out on seeing the “new bits” until they could see it in the theater. The audience for the show was great — gasping, laughing, and often applauding throughout the film. Legolas got two rounds of applause (for his vault onto the horse during the warg attack and the love-it-or-hate-it shield ride down the stairs [for the record, I think it’s goofy and a bit unnecessary, but not something I’m going to raise a huge fuss about, either]), Gandalf’s appearance at the top of the hill at the end of the battle at Helm’s Deep prompted another surge of applause, and there were a few more here and there.
The new/extended scenes got their fair share of appreciative laughs, too — especially Merry and Pippin drinking the Ent Draught in Fangorn Forest, and later discovering the larder (complete with two barrels of pipeweed) after the siege of Orthanc.
And that was that — two down, one to go. This upcoming Saturday at 7:45pm, we’ll be settling comfortably into our seats to watch the end of the trilogy. Finally!
