LoTR: Return of the King - Pictures, spy reports and spoilers thread (ongoing)

many

[HairOfTheDog]

Lord of the Rings:
Return of the King!
Pictures, spy reports and spoilers thread (ongoing)

Countdown to December!

Larger version of above image here

Beyond this point there be spoilers!

Like spoilers? – Keep reading!

Don't want spoilers? – Click HERE and don't look back!

Don't say we didn't warn you! Spoilers are what this thread is all about. So bring your rumors (substantiated or not!), spoilers, spy reports, and bones of contention about them here as the snippets of RoTK news, photos and interviews come rolling in.

I wouldn't even recommend pinging people to this thread unless you know they want to see them. There are a lot of purists out there that hate to have anything given away before the movie comes out. I, however, am not one of those.

I will start a "RoTK spoilers ping list" separate from the other Tolkien ping lists… so let me know if you want to be on the spoiler alert list!" If we use this thread for that kind of stuff, we won't shock people who don't want to see it. (though I bet they look anyway!)

Report 'em if you got 'em!

One tip….. Don't embed images from TORN (TheOneRing.Net) on this thread. If possible, load the image to another server, or just post a link to the TORN page. TORN's servers are powered by fleas I think, and are horrendously slow, particularly when they have something that is particularly good!

[HairOfTheDog]

I don't know what to think! - My mind hasn't been made up for me!

The arrow thing sounds hokey.... but on the scale of and lasting as long as the shield-boarding spectacle... In later viewings, it will make me laugh and shake my head at PJ the teenager at heart.

The action scenes and the way the battles and fighting take place aren't deal-breakers for me. I know that for whatever reason PJ felt that Sauron needed to be seen... that a "big flamin' eye" wasn't good enough. I don't know why the Witch King isn't a good enough substitute, but they didn't ask me.

What will make the movie for me is the stuff that I think will go well, the weddings and crowning, the suffering and crescendo of Frodo and Sam's journey, and the end at the Grey Havens...

So if there is some weird stuff that makes me crinkle my brow, I will be OK with it as long as the crucial monumental epic moments make me smile through tears like FoTR did.

[Maigret]

4 hours & 20 minutes? Oh frabjous day :)

And today you can preorder TTT theatrical release dvd at amazon.com!

[Corin Stormhands]

And today you can preorder TTT theatrical release dvd at amazon.com!

Maybe that's why I can't get to Amazon.com this afternoon!

[Maigret]

I'm gonna have to say I don't believe the Grima killing of Saruman scene is accurate, mainly because it takes place at Orthanc. At 4 hours+ Jackson just can't leave out the scourging of the Shire and that is where Saruman dies. Changing it to Orthanc just takes way too much liberty with the story and so far, thankfully, Jackson has shown too much respect for it to make such an eggregious change.

My two cents for what they're worth ~

[Argh]

as Hillary is mocking the seemingly inaccurate Legolas the arrow comes spiraling down straight through Hillary's skull!

Now THAT'S a movie I'd pay money to see! :^)

[HairOfTheDog]

Nice sentiment, but I am quite sure that the Scouring of the Shire is definately still out....

[Mamzelle]

I don't see how Cold Mountain can be any good. They've got Nicole Kidman playing the ingenue role of Ada--she's totally wrong. They're filming it in *Romania*--

[Mamzelle]

Aragorn vs. Sauron-- if I ran the zoo, I'd turn the Mouth of Sauron into a kind of receptacle and surrogate of the Eye...give him enough body to fight?

[maquiladora]

Oh, I'm not saying it's going to actually be any good. But it seemed to be the only heavyweight opposition to RotK this year, and now that they've pushed it back I think that even if RotK is half as good as the hype and early word suggests then it will sweep the boards.

RotK has Oscar written all over it. The scope, the emotion, the drama, the splendor, the climax. The critics will eat it up.

Not that Oscar is that important anyway but still, it's nice to have some recognition.

[maquiladora]

Nice sentiment, but I am quite sure that the Scouring of the Shire is definately still out....

Yeah, it's a shame, but hey, at least we've been let down over a few years now, it's not quite a shock anymore.

[maquiladora]

Hmmmm, well, the 4hr 20min thing has been debunked from some pretty high up people that contacted TORN today. There are still reshoots going on in New Zealand, so nobody really knows how long the final version will be. My guess is about 3 and a half hours.

I think the Saruman death at Isengard is for real, there were times when I wasn't sure, but now I feel certain, and having seen a pic of Wormtonge on top of Orthanc with a dagger....well, that confirmed it for me.

I think it might surprise everyone and be a pretty good scene, the part I'm worried about is Legolas' "magic arrow theory" (to coin a phrase), which kills Wormtongue...it just sounds too comic for such a serious moment, but who knows.

[fnord]

thanks for the continuing thread ... I love the spoilers and maybe-spoilers

when does the extended TTT come out?

[maquiladora]

The New Line Platinum Series™ The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Special Extended DVD Edition inlcudes never-before-seen footage, special features and more!

DVD 4-disc set with 43 minutes of new and extended scenes added to the film (also available on VHS)

2 bonus discs of all-new special features

Nov 18th

[fnord]

thanks but, grrrrr

Nov 18 is but a dream to me now ...

[Maigret]

Nice sentiment, but I am quite sure that the Scouring of the Shire is definately still out....

If that is true, it will definitely mar the entire LOTR film trilogy. The whole point of the story is either you do something about evil or this is what happens to your idyllic life.

[HairOfTheDog]

I believe it to be true that the scouring will not specifically be included, because it was quoted from the beginning (here on thread somewhere) that scenes and script from the scouring were never filmed. It just won't happen.

It isn't going to be told that it didn't happen in the story, it is just being left untold, for climax reasons.... The theory in PJ's words are somewhere upthread, but in essence he said the film had a nice climax and victory at Mt. Doom and Victory over Sauron, and crowning of the King, and that to have a whole new battle at the end after that climax would not 'work' on film. The story of what was lost in the fight will be told well, I believe that, because Elijah Wood and PJ describe the voice over closure description (by Galadriel) and ending scenes at the Grey Havens as being their favorite part and the most heartbreaking of the whole trilogy:

PJ on the end: Jackson has already earmarked the film's final scene, which takes place amid the sweeping landscape of the Grey Havens, as his favourite.

"To me, it's a culmination of the entire story; it represents what it is to give and what it is to lose," he says. "That scene is probably the most powerful part of the entire film."

[maquiladora]

Is this a glimpse of the type of stuff we'll see in Return Of The King?

So far the computer games have been pretty tightly based on the visuals from the movie. Looks good!

[HairOfTheDog]

Can't see the image maq!

[osagebowman]

Hair; thanks for the ping; regardless of the outcome, I know it will be wonderful. Now to start a countdown till Nov. 16, hmm just a month before ROTK if I recall.

[maquiladora]

Sorry folks! Looks like it's one of those blocked things, eh?

Try this instead!