This is interesting:

http://www.openculture.com/2014/06/the-hobbit-the-first-animation-film-adaptation-of-tolkiens-classic-1966.html

<<I can't believe Jackson is doing a 3 part Hobbit that still doesn't follow the books! Well at least Aragorn's actor refused a cameo out of respect for the original work instead of raking in the cash, unlike Legolas.

Arguably, Jackson has every bit of leeway to include Legolas with the wood elves...it's just when he heads on to Lake Town that things get batty!


GM Scribes

<<The movie was entertaining and visually cool, but they are now a slap in the face to Tolkien fans and it is becoming nigh impossible to achieve Suspension of Disbelief.

I hear ya, tho, this is also a movie with a giant dragon.

GM Scribes

>>If they were indeed to get into a boat and float down a river of molten gold (or any other metal), the boat would melt, but more realistically, they would have literally cooked in about 5 seconds and be dead.

It was a wheelbarrow. That was 45 seconds of him running behind a wheelbarrow, avoiding a dragon, simply so he could ride it like a boat down the river of molten gold. My friend actually walked out of the theater at this point. I was too surprised at the conclusion of that absurd scene to follow him.

"Black arrow you have never failed me"... Guess he goes hunting with a tower mounted ballista on a regular basis. Must be some big catfish in that lake.

I get it though, and I can see where it would bother you. Bard, although a decendant of kings, is still just a human who made a difference not because he had some magical sword that glows in the dark, or a special ring, but because he was stubborn, and he cared. And he did it with a plain old bow, and an old fashioned arrow that was handed down from his fathers. Same with Bilbo, it wasn't the ring that made Bilbo special, it was who he was on the inside that made him the hero of the story.

All these things were big and impressive, the trappings were cool, magic swords, and rings of power, and dragons, but what it came down to (in the book) was people. The story was about how one little Hobbit grew and changed because of his adventure. Not according to Peter Jackson, however, to him it is about the spectacle and going completely over the top. He did a pretty darned good job with LOTR, but he has really screwed the pooch with the Hobbit.

Ah, discussing Jackson's versions of Middle Earth. One of my favorite pastimes.

I only saw the second Hobbit in the theater so I don't recall it very well. But I think I disliked it so intensely I haven't even downloaded it or anything. It's true Legolas has a reasonable place, but this female elf is way off. I know Tolkien's work is sorely lacking in female characters, but I'd much have preferred if they made some of the dwarves female instead (in the Appendix of LotR, it's describe that they are difficult to distinguish from male dwarves anyhow).

The first Hobbit film has some definite value, and my main complaint is all the nonsense with Azog (who was already dead, and anyway lived in Moria). The intro sequence is pretty amazing, if not perfectly accurate.

As for casting and acting, Balin stands out so much and is quite close to how he might be in the book (except a little lack of emphasis on his being the main lookout). The actor of Thorin is fine, but there's not any clear reason he is so young, and really he needs to be much much older. Whichever dwarf they made semi-retarded with an axe stuck in his head is just...ugh.

Elrond being done by Agent Smith with a goat up his butt and apparently full Elven is just crazy. Elrond is a half-elf and everyone -- even the dwarves -- love that guy.

A weird pet peeve, but Galadriel is supposed to be about 6'4" but if I recall Gandalf is small in stature perhaps 5 and a half feet. The scene where the White Council meets in the Hobbit really makes this incorrect sizing evident. For a series of films with so much of the technology focusing on getting the stature of characters to appear correctly on the screen, this I just found extremely grating. Granted, you have to read some things in perhaps the Book of Lost Tales (I think it's in the footnotes to the Disaster at the Gladden Fields) to find out about units of measurement, the height of Numenorean, and some off-hand remark about Galadriel.

Also, why did they bring Radagast into the Hobbits when they didn't bother having him in LotR?! The early timeline in the Fellowship, namely its perception of the passage of time and the distances between things is, I think the largest bungling of the whole project of LotR though...and right where Radagast was supposed to be anyway. Though his insanity and the acting are wonderful if not really derived from anything Tolkien ever wrote which I've read. I almost use it as some inspiration for how I envision Kaldonis.

But yeah, I don't tend to like the LotR all that much (battle and love scene screen time versus pages in the books) but the Hobbit is like...man I can't tell if I'm excited or dreading the third one. But I'll go see it none the less.

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>(OOC) Rozy's player whispers to the group, "Spiiiiiderhalfling!"

>Out of no where, a ki-lin gallops in.

If Peter Jackson does the Silmarillion, how many installments will it have?

Before this last movie was made I would have totally agreed with you about wanting to see the Silmarillion, but now I'd dread how badly it could be abused.

>When the elves showed up at Helm's Deep, I pretty much had set aside my nerd rage and just roll with "This is Peter Jackson's vision....enjoy it!"

Totally feel you on the nerd rage, but actually I thought it was a nice touch. There is a nice line in the texts, where Gimli wishes for some number of armed dwarves, and Legolas says he doesn't doubt the value of some sturdy dwarves with axes, but would give much more for archers of the woodland realms. I suppose he meant Mirkwood but since at that point in the films we don't really know about Mirkwood they might as well use ones from Caras Galadhon.

But The Last Alliance is so much more compelling when it's being told be Elrond, Half-Elven. I wish they gave Gil-Galad even more than about eleven frames at 24 fps stabbing some creature with his spear in a backstory segment. Also the Lorien elves in the film are almost more hostile than in the book (where they are more following orders and custom) so it makes the strange appearance harder to imagine. Anyway, I mean to say, the elves appearing at Helm's Deep didn't bother me itself (by that time, I'd just accepted the totally crazy), but I think it's difficult to pass it off under the guise of good cinema because the internal consistency of the films is actually worse than what you can make of individual things with the texts if you know them well.

>I also decided that if someone was going to do another middle earth movie, I definitely would have wanted it to be Jackson, even if Del Toro is a mad genius himself.

Gotta gawk at this. Jackson seems to revel in abusing technology and not even doing a very good job to immerse if it's only to make a few bucks. The vision seems inconsistent, even internally analyzed, and too much about a sales pitch than a fantastic film.

Del Toro can be heard in commentary to Pan's Labyrinth complaining how the sun is behind the general in two shots when he turns around but he had to light it that way. Del Toro makes things that are so immersive and magical that you're stuck wondering about the little games he purposely hid in the film. Not wondering (like I heard on the set for LotR) if the King of the Nazgul is Sauron.

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>(OOC) Rozy's player whispers to the group, "Spiiiiiderhalfling!"

>Out of no where, a ki-lin gallops in.

<<I'm brain waving thoughts to HBO executives to pick up the Silmarillion as the next tv series once Game of Thrones concludes (2037).

And here I was hoping they'd pick up and do the Wheel of Time series as the next big thing. You know how many seasons they could make off of that?!


~Aulis
Forums Manager
QC'er

Kings dark tower is the current on my list that I like to see something done. After seeing the horrible sword of truth and dresden files shows I cringe when a book series gets a movie or show. GoT at least is being done right for the fans of the series so there is hope but still I worry.

>And here I was hoping they'd pick up and do the Wheel of Time series as the next big thing. You know how many seasons they could make off of that?!

Insurance rates for hair loss due to braid-tugging would probably be prohibitive.

--Hal