Eambar: Off-Topic Thread

[Slacktopian]

Longbow UK

Zurgiea

We really should edit that out of the rules ninja

FALATHRIM SUCKS!

Oh noez! I'm braking teh rulez!

What Zurgiea said. xd

gonk Tis a mutiny! xd  

[Falathrim]

Why were you disappointed in RotK?  

[Zurgi]

Now, I think ROTK is a fantastic movie by itself. The main thing I'm disappointed in with it is the leaving out of the Scouring of the Shire and such. The changes from the book disappointed me.

The movie was amazing though xd I just compare with the books too much.  

[Falathrim]

And how, may I ask, would you have gone about filming the Scouring of the Shire, and still keep the thing under five hours?  

[Khorkalba]

Nienna of the Valar

Longbow UK

Zurgiea

We really should edit that out of the rules ninja

FALATHRIM SUCKS!

Oh noez! I'm braking teh rulez!

What Zurgiea said. xd

gonk Tis a mutiny! xd

Yeah, well Darth Christopher Vader Anakin Tolkien-Skywalker asked for it. xd

Falathrim

Why were you disappointed in RotK?

I don't know how to explain it really. Of all the three movies, I thought RotK was the worst for missing out important scenes. Also I was a bit disappointed with the Siege of Gondor and hated the way it was changed so the Oathbreakers just stormed the fields and citadel, winning the battle. neutral I can accept changes like the Elves at Helm's Deep as it was ideal for the target audience, but that... gonk
Also I felt the RotK didn't flow as well as the other two movies. (hard to explain.)
There are other reasons, but those are the ones that spring to mind.  

[Nimbrethil]

I was really impressed with it the first few times I saw it. Loved it. Maybe it was the novelty of the experience combined with the anticipation, but I still liked it. Plus I got to confuse my non-book-reader friends by explaining things that got left out and skimmed over.

Anywho, watched it again when it came out on video and many of the added/changed parts I ended up laughing at. Not at every part, and not at parts like Theoden's speech (you know the one) or Faramir's dialogue with Denethor that's almost verbatim from the books. But mostly at changed parts like the stupid ghost army aka the deus ex machina and Sam being all sad because he got sent away and some of the stuff before the Black Gate. There are probably other parts that I'm forgetting, because I haven't seen it in awhile.

I think my main complaint is that it felt really condensed, like it was just a summary or overview. Felt like we were getting the Reader's Digest version, and that doesn't sit well with me. I have that complaint with a lot of movies, though. Maybe that makes it more easily absurd.

So, yeah. Don't hate the movie, but the flaws really stand out for me.  

[Zurgi]

Falathrim

And how, may I ask, would you have gone about filming the Scouring of the Shire, and still keep the thing under five hours?

I'm not saying I would have been able to do it, I'm just saying I wished I could have seen it.  

[Falathrim]

Debate. Joy. smile

Scouring simply isn't possible. The Fall of Barad-dur is like the ultimate climax, and in the books we have several chapters between the Fall and the Scouring: The Steward and the King, The Field of Cormallen, Many Partings, and Homeward Bound. We have more than enough time to recover from the fall of Sauron, preparing us for the long expected Scouring.

The movies, however, gives us five-ten minutes between the Fall and the homecoming, and as it stands most people already feel as if it drags on too long. If we had set up a second conflict, one of a tremendously less importance, so soon after the Fall, and thus prolonging the ending for another 20-30 minutes, the movie-viewers would have been mutinous.

Keep in mind that PJ and crew didn't film things just for the EE. To film the Scouring just foor us loyal fans would not have been a wise move profit-wise.

Okay. Well then, moving on. They filmed the most footage for Return of the King. And they needed to condense it into a three hour film. The EE is 50 minutes longer that the TE. You can make a novel as long as you want, but nobody is going to watch a ten hour movie. Or, at least, not enough people for it to be in any way profitable. Of course some scens need to be skipped, and of course some parts are going to feel summarized. Honestly, that should have been expected before even going into the theater to watch Fellowship of the Ring.

The Dead was annoying, true, but the movies are directed to the general audience, not just us loyal fans. If you had never read LotR, how would you have reacted if Aragorn sailed up the Anduin without the army with him, after seeing him confront the king earlier? And even if they had come, but simpyl scared the Orcs away like they did the Corsairs in the books, how would the typical movie-viewer react?

I imagine it would be something like this: 'They scared the enemy away. That's ridiculous.' If you can accept the Elves at Helm's Deep due to target audience, then it's a bit odd that you won't accept any other changes for the audience. The Elves at Helm's Deep violates one of Tolkien's themes. The Dead being at the Battle of the Pellanor Fields does not.


Oh, and by the way... *makes all the mutinous people die a horrible painful death with his awesome Dark Side suffocation move*  

[Thaxul]

I did like RotK, but i was dissapointed in all the scenes they cut out. And I was annoyed aswell, that when they decided to make a diversion at the black gate, they moved from minas titrith to the black gate within minutes, they did show when they reached the crossroads, and it seemed to unrealistic, that they made it that far so fast.  

[Nimbrethil]

Stupid profits *kicks capitalism*

The books were not written for profits. As we know, however, the books have nothing to do with the movies and vice versa, so that doesn't really prove anything.

*kidney-punches capitalism and then steals its wallet*

The "summary" feeling isn't one you notice the first few times, sitting in the darkened theatre with your mouth agape and your eyes unblinking, trying to take in the spectacle projected onto the giant white screen. You notice it later, after you've got the thing on DVD and can watch it at your leisure several months later.

I thought of another absurd thing: Searchlight Sauron. xp  

[Khorkalba]

Falathrim

I imagine it would be something like this: 'They scared the enemy away. That's ridiculous.' If you can accept the Elves at Helm's Deep due to target audience, then it's a bit odd that you won't accept any other changes for the audience. The Elves at Helm's Deep violates one of Tolkien's themes. The Dead being at the Battle of the Pellanor Fields does not.

Actually, I am very tolerable when it comes to the changes Peter Jackson made (More so than a lot of Tolkien fans). I can think of at least 5 valid reasons for all of the changes. The Dead at Minas Tirith was the only one I was unsure about and the only one I've every really criticised, but I think you are right... there was no way around it really.

And what's with the change of heart Darth? I would of thought you would be one to blindly criticise the changes from book to movie. No offense meant by that, but you do take Tolkien's work very seriously.  

[Zurgi]

*raises hand* I'd watch a ten hour ROTK movie. ^_^; Of course, that would make it much harder to do a movie marathon if they were all ten hours, but still.  

[Falathrim]

Oh, I do hate the movies. I am, after all, Darth Christopher Vader Anakin Tolkien-Skywalker. Movie-hating is on my resume. smile

Okay, seriously? Its because I realized early on that the movies could not possibly follow the books to the letter. You need to decide where canon-whoring is and is not applicable, and then you need to decide whether or not you'll shun it or not. I decided that they were just too damn beautiful to shun.

Truth is, there are things I absolutely loath about the movies, but I still wasn't disappointed in a single one of them.

And I can forgive you for despising the Dark Lighthouse of Barad-dur. That was just plain cruel and unusual punishment, and in this case I CAN think of better ways to do it that would make sense to everyone.  

[Zurgi]

Searchlight Sauron makes me laugh. Someone get him some eyedrops sweatdrop  

[Nimbrethil]

Zurgiea

Searchlight Sauron makes me laugh. Someone get him some eyedrops sweatdrop

I think that would put out his flames. domokun