The Unoficial LOTR Thread

[Reply #480 on:]

Click here for new scenes from the EE, excerpts from the documentaries, comments, and orgasms.

[Reply #481 on:]

You had me at "orgasms."

[Reply #482 on:]

I've been getting into the movies recently and I have a question that's been nagging me.

Is the eye at the top of barad dur Sauron?

[Reply #483 on:]

Yep. His body got all blown up at the end of the second age.  That made him angry (well, angrier. He was already a pretty angry guy).

[Reply #484 on:]

Thanks, they usually refer to it as the great eye or something other than Sauron so it's kinda easy to get confused. I was kinda dissapointed since I thought they didn't show Sauron (this was before I saw Felloship of the Ring) in Return of the King but now that that's cleared I like it.

Another thing that's on my mind, my Mom dosen't like LOTR because there's no black people, should I let that stop me from enjoying it?

[Reply #485 on:]

It's actully the 'Eye of Sauron.' That's why they always call it 'the eye,' everyone's too scared to actually say his name.

And Middle Earth is kinda supposed to be ancient Europe. And Europe is full of Europeans. And Europeans tend to be white.

[Reply #486 on:]

Regarding Sauron's lack of a body in the films:

 

One of the oddest changes from the book is that Sauron doesn't have a body; Saruman tells Gandalf that he isn't yet able to 'take physical form'. It's hard to see how this could be true - what use would the Ring be to Sauron, if he didn't have a finger to wear it on? The book makes it very clear that he does have a physical form - 'He has only four [fingers] on the Black Hand, but they are enough', says Gollum in The Two Towers, and this is confirmed explicitly by Tolkien among his letters. Actually, this does seem to be a misinterpretation rather than a deliberate change, because Peter Jackson has himself described Sauron in at least one interview as being no more than a floating eyeball.

- from The Encyclopedia of Arda.

 

Originally posted by starone:
Another thing that's on my mind, my Mom dosen't like LOTR because there's no black people, should I let that stop me from enjoying it?

Oh my goodness!  There aren't any black people in The Seven Samurai either; and no white people for that matter.  What a racist film.

[Reply #487 on:]

So (at least in the movie) the eye is Sauron's spirit since he's unable to take pysical form but everyone calls it the Eye of Sauron, right? *wants to be certain* I guess that would be why we didn't see much of the inside of Barad dur.

[Reply #488 on:]

That's it basically. And we don't read too much about the inside of Barad-dur in the book.

[Reply #489 on:]

Bah, click Mr. Potters link for pics of the SE DVD set.

[Reply #490 on:]

So is there any official word on what scenes will be in the extended edition of ROTK?

[Reply #491 on:]

*bump*
I liked most of the new scenes, particularly the Gimli, Legolas and Aragorn ones in the Paths of the Dead: Gimli blowing away the ghostly hands, and when he looks down after Aragron telling him not to! 

There's also Saruman and Wormtongue at the start at Isenguard, Eowyn having a dream/nightmare at Edoras, Frodo and Sam getting caught in a march of Orcs inside Mordor.

There's some new bits in the siege of Minas Tirith, and I noticed they changed when Pippin finds Merry to a evening/nightime scene to accomodate Eowyns Houses of Healing bit.

I was expecting a bit with Theoden and Ghan-Buri-Ghan though, they hired someone to play him and everything... ? 

[Reply #492 on:]

I second that, all the new scenes/extensions were good. I particular liked seeing more of Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli's part. Great seeing a bit of the Battle of Pelargir (although the exit of the Path of the Dead seem to have moved several hundred miles further East), would've liked to see the Stone of Erech too.

Since Peter Jackson refused to do the Scouring of the Shire, Saruman and Wormtongue was as good as it could be, great to see more of Christopher Lee.

Nice to see some elaboration on the Merry/Eowyn relationship, and the Houses of Healing with the beginning of Eowyn and and Faramir's love.

Still would've been nice to hear a bit more about Denethor's madness and how Saron used the palantir to drive him into despair. Though the new scenes with Faramir make up for it. I liked the scene between Pippin and Faramir.

Yeah, I was surprised about the exclusion of Ghân-BuriGhân too.

[Reply #493 on:]

The Lord of the Rings series? I have all 3 DVDs collected.

[Reply #494 on:]

 

Originally posted by Teral:
I liked the scene between Pippin and Faramir.

Seconded.

mint, you rock! 

Hey, what was the extra DVD in the 1st collectors edition? All I'm missing are the Argonath statuettes and that DVD.

[Reply #495 on:]

It's a Special Edition of a National Geographic documentary on Tolkien and the Lord of the Rings. The documentary is available on stores but the Special Edition (which includes two extra segments) is only available on the Collector's Set.

[Reply #496 on:]

4 more days until I get me some hot RotK: EE action.

[Reply #497 on:]

I had wondered what happened to the orc leader during the battle, since in the theatrical version he just vanishes.

Some parts of the extended edition I didn't like. The scene with the corsairs was awkward because Aragorn stands on shore and seems to speak at a normal volume, but the corsairs out on their ships can hear him. Also, showing the Army of the Dead attacking in that scene ruins the surprise when the ships show up at Minas Tirith later.

I was disappointed with the Mouth of Sauron. The dialogue in that scene was altered, with Gandalf ordering Sauron to retreat, even though in the book it's the other way around, which makes more sense. I didn't think they should have gotten rid of him so easily; he's basically supposed to be the evil version of Aragorn, so he should have been harder to kill. (The book actually doesn't mention him being killed at all.) Also, though he looked pretty creepy, he is supposed to be an actual human being, and I always thought it would be creepier to show that one of Sauron's top lieutenants was not some monster but an ordinary-looking man.

[Reply #498 on:]

He was an ordinary man, Sauron just, for lack of a better way to say, fucked him up.

[Reply #499 on:]

He is one of the black Numenoreans in the book and has been in the service of Sauron for so long he even forgot his own name. Being that close to evil for so long would change even the bravest of men,  physically as well as mentally. I think he looked a bit weaird, but I've never had a definite image of him based on the book, so I was pretty okay with him in the movie too.

As for showing the Battle of Pelargir. Most people have already seen the theatrical version, and know the Army of the Dead will show up at Pelennor, so I see it more as an attempt to be true to the book.

[Reply #500 on:]

The Mouth of Sauron is never described in the book, but in the movie you can't really tell that he's supposed to be a human. I just thought it would've been more interesting if they'd said who and what he was.

 

Originally posted by Teral:
As for showing the Battle of Pelargir. Most people have already seen the theatrical version, and know the Army of the Dead will show up at Pelennor, so I see it more as an attempt to be true to the book.

In the book their arrival was also supposed to be a surprise, since we don't find out what happened until after they get to Minas Tirith.

[Reply #501 on:]

If they had to follow the book, we wouldn't have seen the Path of the Dead either, as I recall most of it was told in flashback by Gimli.

Anyway, just noticed something while watching the appendicies. In the section with Edmund Hillary visitng the set (Crossroads of Ithilien), Peter Jackson told Hillary is a great fan of the Lord of the Rings. Then he goes on to say: "Ironically the trilogy was released the same year Hillary climbed the Everest."

Was I the only one saying "that's not ironic, that's just coincidental!? 

[Reply #502 on:]

I didn't say that the movie should have followed the book exactly, just that the book treated the arrival as a surprise and that I thought it worked better that way.

Another extended scene that could have been better was Gandalf's encounter with the Lord of the Nazgûl. For one thing, it's edited awkwardly, and probably would have worked better if it had started with a few more seconds of Gandalf galloping along. But during their encounter, Gandalf almost seems afraid of the thing, and it's able to break his staff. Gandalf was able to break Saruman's staff because he was more powerful, but the Nazgûl isn't supposed to be more powerful than Gandalf.

"Ironically" and "coincidentally" are often used interchangably, even though they have different meanings. A lot of people just don't know what "ironic" means, as shown in "Devil's Hands."

[Reply #503 on:]

I have a few more of DVD Appendices 6 to get through, then on to the commentaries!
(Has anyone listened to all the non-director or cast commentaries? I sure haven't!)

Also, did anyone notice that Gandalf became extremely lazy at the Battle of the Black Gate?
All we saw was a few reaction shots... not a super-spell to be cast or anything... 
Also, where did he get that new staff after the Witch King pwned it at Minas Tirith?!

[Reply #504 on:]

The same place he got a new one after dropping it down the chasm at khazad-dum.

[Reply #505 on:]

I'm glad that the Mouth was in there. It sounded like a part from the book that they should not have left out. I liked how they focused only on the mouth in some of the shots and I liked that hum he had to his voice.

[Reply #506 on:]

 

Originally posted by Nixorbo:
The same place he got a new one after dropping it down the chasm at khazad-dum.

I do believe that was his Grey Limited Edition staff, his White Super Edition he probably got with his new duds in Lothlorien from the Elvies... I guess he could have gotten it on his way back to the Grey Havens.

[Reply #507 on:]

I don't know what I was thinking, Faze, what I meant to say was where he got a new one after leaving his with Saruman.

[Reply #508 on:]

... oh yeah... forgot about that.   

Wizards R' Us wasn't exactly mentioned in the Rivendell/Lothlorien bits.

[Reply #509 on:]

A while back they talked about how Hugo Weaving did a spoof of the Matrix in one scene and they were going to put the clip into the DVDs.  I watched all of the behind the scenes stuff and both easter eggs and I haven't seen it anywhere.  Did they not put it in or is there another easter egg somewhere that I missed?

[Reply #510 on:]

You're talking about the R1 DVD's?

Did the R2 ones get any easter eggs?

[Reply #511 on:]

I don't think they included that scene. Who cares about The Matrix anyways? 

Faze: I'm not sure if R2 has them, but here is where they can be found:

Gag Interview; 2004 MTV Movie Awards Skit; DVD Credits
Disc 1--Go to the Scene Selections menus, and highlight the horizontal picture of the last chapter on Disc 1. Press down on your remote control’s direction pad to highlight a ring icon. Click on the ring icon to watch a gag interview with Elijah Wood conducted by Dominica Monaghan.

Disc 2--Go to the Scene Selections menus, and highlight the horizontal picture of the last chapter on Disc 2. Press down on your remote control’s direction pad to highlight a ring icon. Click on the ring icon to watch a skit that played during the 2004 MTV Movie Awards.

Discs 3 and 4--Go to the Main Menu, and move the menu cursor to the circle icon at the bottom of the page. Click on the icon to access the DVDs’ production credits.

[Reply #512 on:]

Well once again one of my new threads has been bumped! So as i was saying my favourite moments was when Gandalf was fighting the Balroc when he was falling and when he was on teh mountain.

[Reply #513 on:]

Balrog.

The lighting of the Beacons of Minas Tirith, charge of the Rohirrim at Pellenor, the elves arriving at Helm's Deep, charge of the Rohirrim at Helm's Deep and many, many more.

[Reply #514 on:]

Here's what I really love about LotR:

We'll never make it through the mines or morriah!
*they do.
We can't defeat Saurman's Orcs!
*they do.
We can't beat the armies at Gondor!
*They do
WE'RE GOING ON A FRIKKING SUICIDE MISSION INTO MORRIDOR!  WE'RE SERIOUSLY GOING TO DIE THIS TIME!
*they don't

[Reply #515 on:]

OMFG teh spoilerage!!11one

I have to say that the ending(s) of ROTK were the most spectacular pieces of cinema I've ever seen.
Damn that Howard Shore for his emotion-inducing musicery!
Make me cry will ya? 
I'll smote your ruin on so many mountain sides!

[Reply #516 on:]

AS im scared of spiders i closed by eys at the Shelob scene, but the bit i did see! Wow! what amazing graphics!

[Reply #517 on:]

"Boarded? By you and what army?"
"This one."
::TEH DED PWNZ JOO::[/u][/i]

[Reply #518 on:]

I love The Lord of the Rings. I love the books and the movies, particularly The Return of the King. What I find interesting is how many of the best scenes in the movie are all Peter Jackson, or mostly Peter Jackson.

-The Lighting of the Beacons
-The Sacrifice of Faramir
-Shelob's Lair
-The Ride of the Rohirrim
-The Collapse of Barad-Dur.
-"For Frodo" and "You bow to no one."

All pure movie magic.

And to tie this to Futurama for a moment, I was always a bit disappointed that there were no references to the series. True, that's a very small window between Fellowship's release in Dec. 2001 and the end of Futurama's production in Feb. 2002. And I think I read somewhere that David X. Cohen doesn't particularly care for LotRs. Oh well.

[Reply #519 on:]

So Ridcully sez to the Bursar:  "Detritus can take on that Balrog and five cave trolls any day of the week."
To which the Librarian replied: "Oook!"

 I want a Mouth of Sauron mask.

I did manage to watch all three EEs back to back on Christmas weekend. Mass amounts of Earl Grey were consumed.
Now to do it with the commentaries.