LotR Research Project

A team of researchers at Lord of the Rings Research is going to be looking for our impressions of Peter Jackson’s films, with the questionnaire going live the day that Return of the King opens. Could be interesting…

A unique opportunity for you to record your thoughts on the final part of The Lord of the Rings. From the day the film is released, you will have the opportunity to take part in the biggest ever international research project, to find out what audiences in all countries thought of The Return of the King. What did you enjoy about it? Did anything disappoint or annoy you? Was it important to you?

(via hegemony rules)

MiddleEarth mania, week one: The Fellowship of the Ring

Saturday Prairie and I started our three-week string of Lord of the Rings movie watching with the Cinerama‘s showing of Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Extended Edition.

We started by wandering down to Westlake Center to get lunch at the Indian shop in the food court, then spent some time window shopping and trying to avoid the holiday shopping crowds. We wandered up to the Cinerama to see if there was a line a little over an hour before the show, and (no big surprise, really) one was already forming, so we hopped in and spent the next hour or so chatting and watching people line up. Thankfully it was a sunny day without too much wind — I doubt I can expect that for the next two weekends, but the wait wasn’t all that bad this weekend, and we ended up fairly close to the front of the line. After about an hour, we made it in, found great seats (dead center, about six rows back), and waited for the movie to start.

One of the things I really appreciated about this was that they didn’t waste any time. The Cinerama is already a nicer experience than many other theaters, in that they don’t have the obnoxious advertising slides projected on the screen before the show. Not only was that the case this time, but when the movie started, it started right in — no “pre-show entertainment” (commercials), not even any trailers — just a short AMC Theaters splash reel, and then we went right into the movie.

The film itself was, of course, excellent. I hadn’t watched it in about a year, since Prairie and I watched it on DVD just before going out to see The Two Towers in the theatre. Just being able to see this version of the film in the theater is such a treat. The entire audience was great, too. One of the things I noticed and liked a lot was how many families showed up for this, some with kids who couldn’t have been more than 8 or 9, and how involved they all were. Well-behaved, no fussing or whining (pretty impressive for a 3+ hour event), and even when things on screen were scary (the cave troll and the Balrog, for instance), they were obviously fun-scared, not nightmare-scared.

I do have to admit, though — while I was originally a little disappointed that I couldn’t get tickets for the full LotR marathon, after sitting in the theater through one film, I think I’m glad. I’m not sure my butt could handle 9-10 hours in a theater seat!

First LotR:TRotK review…almost

A reporter from the New Zealand Herald got to see an advance screening of Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, and has posted — well, it’s not really a review

The Return of the King is … sorry about this, but we’re not allowed to tell you what we think of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King until next Tuesday.

[…]

So we can’t actually say whether it was the single most amazing cinema experience of our recent memory or not.

Neither can we say in which bits we may or may not have got more than a little weepy, or whether we were emotionally affected at all. And we certainly couldn’t even hint at which film is clearly the best in Peter Jackson’s trilogy now that we’ve seen all three.

We probably need a second look at The Return of the King to decide for sure. Or maybe a third or a fourth…

Something tells me they liked it. ;)

In the meantime, it’s three weeks until LotR:TRotK opens here. Next weekend, I’ll be seeing the Extended Edition of LotR:TFotR at the Cinerama. The next weekend, it’ll be the Extended Edition of LotR:TTT. And finally, the weekend after that, LotR:TRotK.

My precious…

Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Special Extended Edition)

One of the many reasons I didn’t post much last week (along with training for my new job, which had my schedule bouncing all over the place — when you’re used to getting up between 9:30 and 10:00 am every day, 6:30am is really early) was that I picked up the newly-released Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Special Extended DVD Edition).

First off, and most simply, if you’re a fan of the series, there’s no question about it. This is a must-buy DVD (as is, incidentally, the extended edition of Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring). Feel free to stop reading this and just go buy it.

I haven’t even gotten into any of the special features (and there are a ton to get through) yet. All I’ve done so far is watch the new cut of the film itself, and the new cut is incredible. Around 40 minutes has been added to the movie, bringing the total run time up to a whopping 223 minutes — almost four full hours. Lest this sound like overkill, rest assured that the pacing of the movie doesn’t suffer in any way, and it only helps expand and enhance the full story. The insertions are scattered throughout the film, from quick cuts here and there that expand already-existing scenes, to entire sequences that had to be cut from the theatrical version. Every major character (and most of the minor characters) have additional bits added which do wonders for fleshing all of them out. What may be the two biggest additions (for me, at least) were a flashback sequence between Boromir, Faramir and their father Denethor which helps to flesh out their backstory (and explain why Faramir doesn’t come across as “perfect” in the films as he does in the books); and in a nod to the excising of Tom Bombadil from LotR:TFotR, the inclusion of Old Man Willow!

As was the case with LotR:TFotR, the extended edition of LotR:TTT is a far superior film (not that the theatrical release was bad at all — this version is just better). Much as I understand why they couldn’t release movies of this length to the theaters, it’s really a pity. I’m just glad that there will be limited releases of the extended versions of LotR:TFotR and LotR:TTT at the Seattle Cinerama just before LotR:TRotK is released (and that I’ve already got my tickets)!

For those of you that already have the set:

  1. Pop in Disc 1 (part one of the movie).
  2. Go to the last page of the Scene Selections.
  3. Go down to the last scene on Disc 1 (“Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit”).
  4. Press down once more, to highlight a hidden Ring.
  5. Press play.

Gollum on MTV

Sigh

As of right now — 10am on the day that tickets were available to be purchased — the Lord of the Rings Marathon at the Cinerama is sold out.

At least, that’s what I’m getting from the MovieTickets.com website. For all I know, it may be different at the theatre itself, but I don’t have time to go stand in line there.

Bummer.

Ah, well. As they’re playing the Extended versions of both TFotR and TTT in two weeks immediately prior to the release of TRotK, I went ahead and picked up tickets to the Saturday showings of each of those. Not the marathon, but this might be a little more comfortable anyway. ;)

Dec. 16: LOTR Marathon

It’s official: the Lord of the Rings Marathon will be at the Seattle Cinerama on Dec. 16th.

Leading up to the December 17 release of The Lord of The Rings: The Return of the King, the final film Peter Jackson’s epic trilogy, New Line Cinema will bring moviegoers an exclusive, One-time-only in-theater event: The Lord of the Rings Special Extended Edition Screening Engagement.

The schedule for this special theatrical screening series is as follows:

December 5-11
Special Extended Edition The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
December 12-15
Special Extended Edition The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Tuesday, December 16
One-time-only marathon of both the Extended Edition prints followed by the first screenings of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

Tickets available October 9th!

Now comes the question — am I crazy enough to do this? I think so…

Lord of the Rings Marathon

Oooooooohhhhh! According to this OneRing.net story, in the two weeks before “Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” opens, the extended versions of “LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring” and “LOTR: The Two Towers” will be released to theaters — and some theaters will have a day-long LOTR marathon with back-to-back screenings of all three films on Dec. 16^th^.

If that marathon showing is here at the Cinerama in Seattle, I am so going to be there.

(via /.)

Ten-minute Two Towers

A hilarious parody of the movie version of The Two Towers. Many thanks to d kitty for posting this!

The Ten-Minute Two Towers

Author: Molly J. Ringwraith (a.k.a. Molly Winter, Molly J. Ringle….)

Rating: PG-13

Summary: A somewhat condensed parody version of the film ‘The Two Towers.’

Disclaimer: The Tolkien characters are not of my creation.

Author’s notes: Feel free to send this to your friends, but please keep my name on it! If you want to include it in some official or semi-official publication (webzine, newsletter, periodical, press package, what have you), then please contact me first, because I think I might be entitled to a cut of the profits or something. ;)

Also: I loved this movie. Deeply, truly. Please keep that on record. But I have to write parody for everything, so here goes….

CARADHRAS

GANDALF: Isn’t it odd how we fell for about three miles, and yet we ended up on top of a mountain?

BALROG: Who cares. It’s freaking cold up here. I give up.

GANDALF: Cool. I think I’ll go buy myself something white. White is supposed to be the new black this year…

EMYN MUIL

SAM and FRODO are sitting together on a rock. SAM stretches, and drops his arm around FRODO’s shoulders.

SAM: So, sir. Finally it’s just you and me.

FRODO: “Finally”? What do you mean?

SAM: Oh, uh…nothing…

FRODO: Well, you’re wrong. We’ve got company.

GOLLUM flies out of the rocks and pounces on FRODO.

SAM: Hey! Wait your turn!

SAM and FRODO tie up GOLLUM.

GOLLUM: No! Smeagol not into ropes, nassty kinky hobbitses.

FRODO: We just want you to take us to Mordor, you sicko.

GOLLUM: Mordor? Hobbitses having little Goth phase, maybe? Very angsssty, wanting to go to Mordor, yes yes. Can Smeagol offer black eyeliner to angsssty hobbitses?

SAM: You stop talking to Mr. — hmm. (to FRODO) You know, you wouldn’t look half bad in eyeliner.

RIDDERMARK

EOMER: Hi! Okay, stop me if you’ve heard this one. An elf, a man, and a dwarf walk into the Riddermark…

LEGOLAS: Ooh! And the elf shoots arrows through this git who rides up on a horse. Yeah, I have heard it! That’s one of my favorites.

ARAGORN: Down, Legolas. Hey, have you folks seen a couple little guys, about this high…?

EOMER: Nope. Oh! Unless they were in that pile of corpses we burned.

ARAGORN: Thank you; that’s…useful…

EOMER: Yeah; my bad. Here, have some horses.

FANGORN FOREST

MERRY: Yay! We escaped the Uruk-hai!

PIPPIN: Uh, Merry? That tree is checking you out.

TREEBEARD: Hoom! Furry lawn ornaments!

TREEBEARD picks up MERRY and PIPPIN and carts them off.

FANGORN FOREST (next day)

GANDALF: Hey, kids. Miss me?

ARAGORN: Gandalf! You’re alive!

LEGOLAS: I almost had a facial expression from the joy of it!

EDORAS

MOLLY: A lot of political maneuvering takes place here. Let’s see if I can summarize in ten lines or less.

THEODEN: I have ash all over my face and cannot speak for myself.

GRIMA: That’s the way I like it.

GANDALF: Be blinded by my new robes! Recover your smooth complexion and your senses!

THEODEN: Hurrah! I am me again! But, damn, my son’s dead.

GRIMA: Hmm. I better run.

ARAGORN: Good work, sire. Now collect your people and skedaddle to Helm’s Deep.

EOWYN: Hal-lo, handsome!

ARAGORN: Hi. You handle pointy things very well.

EOWYN: Yes. My only fear is dying a virgin. Hint, hint.

ARAGORN: Okay! Well, let’s move along.

EN ROUTE TO HELM’S DEEP

LEGOLAS: Wargs!

LEGOLAS and other warriors start slinging arrows and jumping onto horses.

GIMLI: What was that God-awful noise?

LEGOLAS: I’m guessing…wargs dying.

ARAGORN: Actually, it was Legolas’s fangirl contingent, shrieking in delight at his horseback-riding tricks.

GIMLI: Ugh, that’s sickening. Ooh, Aragorn, watch out! Cliff!

ARAGORN falls off cliff.

LEGOLAS: No! This is unbearable! I almost had another facial expression!

ITHILIEN

SAM: Gollum is such a freak.

FRODO: Yeah, well, you’re a jerk.

SAM: What? He is a freak.

FRODO: Whatever, Sam. Want some cheese with your whine?

SAM: Why are you picking on me?

FRODO: I’m so sick of listening to you. It’s always nag, nag, nag. I didn’t ask you to come along, you know.

SAM: What the hell?

FRODO: Shut up. Screw you. Go away.

SAM: What happened to the magic, Mr. Frodo? We used to stay up till dawn, laughing, talking, sharing…

FRODO: Oh, spare me.

FRODO stomps off.

RIVENDELL

ARAGORN finds himself in RIVENDELL with ARWEN lying on top of him.

ARAGORN: Hmm. This must be a dream.

ARWEN: Why do you say that?

ARAGORN: Because you’re not even supposed to be in this book.

ARWEN: Don’t be mean. I’ll tell Daddy.

ARAGORN: Whatever. Wake me up, would you? Since it’s not really you licking my face, I have the awful suspicion it’s a horse. Or maybe Gimli.

HELM’S DEEP

ARAGORN arrives and collides with LEGOLAS.

LEGOLAS: Oh, good heavens. You look terrible. You are not wearing that to the battle tonight, are you? And your hair! What will we do with you?

ARAGORN: Nice to see you, too.

RIVENDELL

GALADRIEL: Hello? Is this Elrond?

ELROND: Yes, speaking.

GALADRIEL: Hi Elrond; it’s Galadriel.

ELROND: Hey, girl. Where are you?

GALADRIEL: In Lothlorien; where else would I be? Listen, I really wanted to talk to you about Frodo.

ELROND: Yeah, I’ve been wondering about him lately.

GALADRIEL: He and Aragorn have so much stuff to do.

ELROND: I know! And Aragorn’s being such a wiener, I’m not even sure I want him to marry my daughter…

GALADRIEL: Did you see his hair the other week? Hello, greaseball.

ELROND: And does he, like, only have that one shirt? Humans are so gross. Hang on; I’m getting another telepathy call.

GANDALF: Hello? Hello? Elrond?

GALADRIEL: Gandalf? Is that you?

ELROND: Gandalf! Hey buddy!

GANDALF: Do you have me on three-way telepathy calling? I hate that.

ELROND: Yeah, sorry. I was talking to Galadriel. Hey, didn’t you die or something?

GANDALF: No, you twit. Now quit gossiping and listen. There’s a war about to start at Helm’s Deep.

GALADRIEL: Yeah, and?

GANDALF: And they need your help, moron.

GALADRIEL: (exaggerated sigh) Fine, whatever. I’ll send Haldir or something. He’s expendable.

HELM’S DEEP

LEGOLAS: This is going to be most unpleasant. Hundreds of people will die.

ARAGORN: Thank you, Captain Obvious.

LEGOLAS: You’re just jealous because I’m pretty.

ARAGORN: You’re just jealous because I’m going to be king.

LEGOLAS: You can bite my ass.

ARAGORN: Hey, blow me.

(Ten minutes later)

LEGOLAS: I didn’t mean that.

ARAGORN: It’s okay. Me neither.

LEGOLAS: Kiss and make up?

ARAGORN: How about I squeeze your shoulder in a very special way?

FANGORN FOREST

PIPPIN: So we’re still riding on this tree bloke’s shoulders…

MERRY: Uh-huh. I have splinters in places you don’t even want to imagine.

ITHILIEN

SAM seasons their rabbit stew as GOLLUM watches.

GOLLUM: Ssstupid fat hobbit! Using sage in stew like thisss!

SAM: What’s your problem? Sage brings out the flavor.

GOLLUM: Smeagol would use nice mix of rosemary and lavender, yess, precious.

FRODO: Hey, you guys? Something’s out there in the forest.

SAM: Rosemary? Hm, maybe. But you know what would be good with this, is a basic bechamel sauce with some dill.

GOLLUM: Sssimple hobbit; anyone makesss bechamel. Vichyssoise much tastier and more difficult; yes…

FRODO: Hello? Guys? Seriously, someone’s coming.

SAM: Now, if you only found us some eggs, I could make crepes, wrap up the meat, drizzle the juices over it with a little bit of blackcurrant chutney…

FRODO: Hey, you guys, look! It’s Martha Stewart!

GOLLUM: Where?

SAM: Where?

FRODO: Now that I have your attention, may I point out the Oliphaunt that’s about to step on us?

FARAMIR: Look! Strange little men! Let’s take them home.

FARAMIR blindfolds SAM and FRODO and hauls them away.

HELM’S DEEP

ROHIRRIM GUARD: Sire, there are some really femmy people at the gate. They have bows.

ARAGORN: Those are Elves. Let them in.

ROHIRRIM GUARD: Oh! Elves! Wow, I didn’t expect that.

PEOPLE WHO READ THE BOOK: Neither did I…

GIMLI: Arr! I’m funny because I’m short.

LEGOLAS: I’m funny because I make fun of how short you are!

HENNETH ANNUN

FARAMIR: So, who are you, exactly?

FRODO: I’m Frodo. This is Sam.

FARAMIR: Your…image consultant?

SAM: His gardener.

FARAMIR: Ohh, like in a ‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’ kind of way?

SAM: Exactly.

FRODO: Righ—What??

HELM’S DEEP

ARAGORN: This siege is lasting forever. These poor people…

LEGOLAS: We will fight to the death. We will not fail you.

ARAGORN: Oh, not you guys — I meant the audience.

GIMLI: Aragorn! Toss me!

ARAGORN: Um, is this really the time?

GIMLI: Yes! Toss me!

ARAGORN: Look, I don’t think about you that way…

GIMLI: No, you freak, throw me onto the Orcs!

FANGORN FOREST

TREEBEARD: We have opted, hoom, not to do a damn thing.

PIPPIN: I didn’t expect that.

PEOPLE WHO HAVE READ THE BOOK: Neither did I…

MERRY: Don’t you even care? This is your planet too!

PIPPIN: You’re very handsome when you yell at trees, Merry.

MERRY: Am I? Thanks.

TREEBEARD: Hoom, don’t care. Taking you home.

PIPPIN: (to MERRY) Wait! I know. I’ll bat my eyelashes at him.

MERRY: Good plan. I know I sure can’t resist you when you do that. (winks at PIPPIN)

PIPPIN: (to TREEBEARD) Mr. Tree, sir, could you take us south, pleeeease?

TREEBEARD: Ooom…Damn it, hoom…how can I say no to those eyes.

OSGILIATH

FRODO puts on some black eyeliner, climbs to the top of a ruined building, and holds up the Ring. SAM pounces him and brings him tumbling down the stairs.

FRODO: Ow! Hey! That’s it — this time I’m cutting your throat.

SAM: But Mr. Frodo…I was saving the world…you were going to give the Ring to that Nazgul…

FRODO: No, I wasn’t. I was doing a lightning experiment.

SAM: Well, that’s pretty stupid too, now isn’t it.

FRODO: Hmm. I suppose so. Sorry, dude.

FRODO puts down the sword. SAM gets up and starts a speech.

SAM: There are good things in the world. And that’s what we’re protecting. And up there, it’s their time, but down here, it’s our time…

ISENGARD

TREEBEARD finds a field of stumps near SARUMAN’s place.

TREEBEARD: What the bloody…Ents! Attack!

MERRY: Once again, Pippin’s wily eyelashes save the world.

PIPPIN: Aww, you’re just saying that.

SAM (V.O.): …and I have a dream that my eighteen children will one day live in a Shire where they will not be judged by the color of their teeth but by the content of their character…

HELM’S DEEP

GANDALF and EOMER and a few thousand ROHIRRIM come charging down and wipe out the rest of the ORC army. EOWYN and ARAGORN and LEGOLAS and GIMLI and THEODEN all cheer.

ARAGORN: Gandalf, finally!

GANDALF: Yes, my boy, I have come back.

ARAGORN: Took you freaking long enough.

SAM (V.O.): The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced…

FRODO (V.O.): Um…Sam…

ARAGORN: You know what would have been really cool, though…

EOWYN: What?

ARAGORN: An army of flesh-eating trees to destroy the Orcs who are running away.

AUDIENCE: Yeah, that would have been cool.

ISENGARD

TREEBEARD: Hey. We’re busy flooding Isengard here. We can’t be two places at once.

OSGILIATH

SAM: …let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to —

FRODO: Sam!!

SAM: What?

FRODO: They’re letting us go. Come on.

SAM: Oh. Oh, good.

EN ROUTE TO MORDOR

SAM: They’re going to tell stories about you. Frodo the Incredibly Cute.

FRODO: Ordinarily I would tell you to stop hitting on me, but you’ve saved my life so many times now, I guess I’ll settle for being uncomfortably flattered.

SAM: Cool. Oh, and by the way?

FRODO: Yes?

SAM: The tortured look really does work for you. Very hot.

FRODO: Aww, thanks. You deserve a special shoulder-squeeze for that.

SAM: Did you learn that move from Aragorn?

FRODO: Yeah. You like it…?

GOLLUM: (mumble, mumble)…Kill…(mumble)…death to hobbits…(mumble mumble)…feed them to her…(mumble, mumble)…pain, suffering…(mumble)…make them cry…(mumble)…kill hobbitses…(mumble)…she will destroy hobbitses…

PEOPLE WHO HAVEN’T READ THE BOOK: (loudly) “She?” Did he say “she”, and “her”? Who’s “she?”

PEOPLE WHO HAVE READ THE BOOK: Shut up!

The Two Towers

Just got back from seeing Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

Oh my lord.

At this point, if Peter Jackson doesn’t get some sort of special achievement Oscar after Return of the King is released, I’ll be quite surprised and dissapointed. Fellowship of the Ring was an excellent film, and a masterful job of adapting what was for years considered an “unfilmable” literary work to the screen — but the possibility was there that that could have been a fluke. Here, Jackson had the task of following up the blockbuster success of LotR:FotR with a “middle movie” that had neither a definite beginning nor end to its story. While because of that LotR:TTT admittedly cannot stand entirely on its own as a single entity (and I would hate to be someone in the unenviable position of attempting to watch LotR:TTT without having first watched LotR:FotR), as the second chapter in an epic saga, it is far and away an absolutely incredible achievement.

More thoughts follow — not entirely spoiler-free, though, click through at your own risk….

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