The New Hobbit Hole

[ecurbh]

Unfortunately, I will not be able to make it, as I am going to a concert tonight. Had a busy weekend with company visiting and all. I'll be around and catch up this weekend.

[HairOfTheDog]

You are sweet!

I have to get going now.... Talk to you all later!

Any of you new folk who want to hurry up and join the egroup for the chat-view tonight should freepmail one of the other moderators listed up above for directions on joining, as I will not be here till 7:00

[HairOfTheDog]

Bummer ecurbh! - Next time then?

[Paul Atreides]

LOTR news from The Digital Bits

By the way... we're also checking today on those Lord of the Rings 4-disc specs which we posted a few days ago. The specs came directly from New Line, but now we're hearing from our sources that the isolated score and isolated sound effects tracks have been dropped from the movie discs. We'll post more as soon as we have it.

[Paul Atreides]

Translation of TTT article from French edition of Premiere
October 7, 2002
Elbakin.com
Translated by Sadie
See the scans from Elbakin here

After eight weeks of supplementary filming last spring, diverse readjustments, a brief post-September 11th attempt to modify a title perhaps too symbolic, "The Two Towers" is getting ready for a world-wide release on the 18th of December.

Is it a sequel? No, sir, it's a continuation. Faithful to the mind of Tolkien, Jackson chose to pick up where "The Fellowship of the Ring" left off. "So that one day, we can watch the trilogy in its entirety", the director eagerly specifies.

After the dissapearance of Gandalf and the death of Boromir, the compagnons disperse into three groups on Middle-Earth, kept in check by hordes of Orcs and Uruk-hais, frightening cross between Orcs and Elves. Frodo and Sam are on their way to Mordor and Mount Doom, where they count on getting rid of the evil ring. Merry and Pippin, kidnapped by the Orcs, take shelter in a strange forest...searching for them, Gimli, Aragorn, and Legolas are going to help King Theoden of Rohan in his struggle against the obscure forces of Saruman and Sauron.

Since December 2000, websites dedicated to the films and books have been circulating all kinds of rumours, even before Peter Jackson finished his first montage this winter. Among the most anticipated events: the titanic battle of Helm's Deep, the return of Gandalf, and two of the most mythic characters, Treebeard, the Ent, and Gollum, the former Hobbit, already introduced in the first film- consumed by the power of the ring.

Review of details...

The loutish and inevitable scenes to introduce the first film will not be seen this time around. Peter Jackson promises, "This time we go right into the action. "The Two Towers" is the one that develops best certain aspects outlined by Tolkien. We adventure, for example, in the meanderings of Gollum's psychology, faced with Frodo and Sam." The comfortable benefits (Sadie's note: can't make much of this word) the first film allowed Peter Jackson the ultimate luxury of sizing his opus to his own mesure, adding, after scenes filmed in May-June of 2002, more than 25 minutes of film. Knowing that this gentleman, under the stroke of inspiration, is capable of laying down a dialogue over the course of breakfast that will be in the can two hours later, anything is possible. Without betraying the confidence of fans, a few minor inacuracies will be in the film, like the participation of Galadriel and Elrond in the battle of Helm's Deep, or the end of Saruman...(Sadie's note:can't make much sense of the rest of the sentence).

What to expect of the new characters
First of all, back in white: Gandalf the Grey, just escaped from the Balrog, let his white hair grow out, and is wiser. This time, he doesn't intend to botch his mission to rid Middle-Earth of the ring. "Vigourous, manicured, relieved of his past, he has become a veritable samorai, a better-trained combattant", according to Sir Ian McKellan.

Now the little news:
Theoden, the king of Rohan (Bernard Hill, the captain of the "Titanic"), bewitched be his councelor Grima, or Wormtounge, in the service of Saroman, is going to find a renewed youth in the battle against the forces of evil. To incarnate the deceitful Wormtounge, Brad Dourif (Billy Bibbit from "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest") sacrificed his eyebrows, but not his ability to elicit repulsion...

We'll get also a double dose of testosterone with the arrival of lots of men on horses: Eomer, third marshal of the Mark (Karl Urban, from Xena) and the dedicated nephew of Theoden, Faramir, brother of the late Boromir (David Wenham, seen in "Moulin Rouge"). Those who regretted the absence of a feminine touch in the first film should be satisfied: Phillippa Boyens promises a tragic development in the love story of Arwen and Aragorn. Then there's Eowyn (Astralian Miranda Otto, seen in "Apperances"), the strange pale lady of Rohan, niece of Theoden, who will (do something, but I'm not sure what) in a world of brutes.

And at last, Peter Jackson offers in this second film two of the most anticipated characters in the epic: Treebeard and Gollum are the make of the most flattering rumours. Honor to ancestors with the Ent, tree-man who speaks with a millenial wisdom: the venerable flora animatronic 5 meters tall, every bit as well garded in the special effects studios of WETA Digital as the jewels of the crown of England, found his voice in the rocky Welsh intonations of John-Rhys Davies, who we can still see under a kilo of prosthetiques as Gimli the Dwarf.

Special Effects
According to Fran Walsh who supervised the creation of creepy Gollum, the sinister and pathetic creature corrupted by the ring is a revolution in itself. In fact it's the first numeric character entirely generated from the performance of an actor. Models, motion capture, numeric images, and lots of Andy Serkis (seen in "24 Hour Party People" from Michael Winterbottom) who, between a (?) voice and feline movements, brilliantly approached his character like a drug addict. We can also subtly detect his schizophrenia in the flash-backs where he (camps ?) the Hobbit Smeagol before he becomes devoured by his passion for the ring...

WETA, already having received Oscar nods, hasn't been idle, but all that is nothing compared with the battle scenes in "The Two Towers": the siege on Helm's Deep is already considered to be one of the most extraordinary scenes in film history. Boosted by MASSIVE software, let's imagine each of the 10,000 screaming Orcs and Uruk-hais, set loose in a model the size of a rugby field and equiped with battle prowess and movements that befit them... "A stroke of pen and a couple of drops of ink for Tolkien, five years of work for us", commented Richard Taylor, supervisor of WETA... For his part, Peter Jackson filmed the forces allied with Men and Elves faced with the monstrosities of Saroman, at night and in the rain for four months in a quarry near Wellington (New Zealand). (Sadie's note: Don't understand this sentence)

Set Decoration
The director didn't let the decoration department rest: between the abundance of new locations that took shape for the film (the tower of Barad-Dur, the marshes...), he gave special attention to Edoras, capital of Rohan. "Why create on the screen what we can create in real life? Tolkien didn't live in a virtual, numeric world, me either."

After months of helicopter patrols to find it, on an almost desert island in the New Zealand archipelago, the breathtaking view described by Tolkien, the team had to erect from scratch, in four months, a midieval city inspired by Scandinavian civilisations, and then rebuild it two years later for reshoots in Stone Street studios in Wellington. The only technical higher bid: the construction of Minas Tirith during thirty-two weeks. Nothing was left to chance so that "The Two Towers" be finished in delay. And still, this is only the beginning: Peter Jackson declared that this second opus would be better than the first...but not as good as the third.

[SuziQ]

I would be interested to hear your opinion of the mini, if you haven't seen it already.

I saw some of it, but I can't explain why I didn't like it as well. Some of it wasn't suitable for our son and daughter; too overtly sexual, if I remember correctly. The movie didn't stress that, and we've watched it with them. Our son was bored because it was so long, but he was only 10 when he saw it. Our daughter was 12 at the time, and she liked it better. She's now going on 15 and is the other Tolkien geek in the family!

I think I liked the older movie better because of the visual pull of the Art Deco feel, though I'm not a real big Art Deco fan. There was just a richness about the look of it. I like the actors playing the parts; Jurgen Prochnow, Francesca Annis, the guy who played Paul who's name escapes me right now, Sian Phillips as the Reverend Mother, Linda Hunt as the housekeeper, Richard Jordan as Duncan Idaho, Patrick Stewart as Gurney Halleck, and Max von Sydow as the Geologist (and the Fremen girl's father). Kenneth McMillan as the Harkonen guy was great, too. I thought Sting's bikini was a little over the top, but his was a good, though short, portrayal of the young Harkonen.

[SuziQ]

So that one day, we can watch the trilogy in its entirety", the director eagerly specifies.

Woo Hoo! Entmoot, here we come!

[Wordsmith]

There's a guy named "Wordsmith" in NH who used to hang out here. He's a nice guy with a nice looking family, just nice, yeah nice. ;^)

Hi there! You rang? :-)

The man's been working me hard lately, so I've mostly been in lurker mode. Was thinking about the Hobbit Hole the other day though when I got my latest copy of Touchstone, a Christian magazine I subscribe to. They featured a long article from an Anglican pastor that was very critical of the movie adaptation of FOTR.

He made some good points, even though I disagree about the extent of the problem. He's a huge fan of the books. Once the article is online, I'll post it here - I'd love to hear you all respond to it.

I'll give you a taste of his main argument.

"Jackson undervalues and misrepresents Tolkien's various expressions of goodness and virtue and strength. One case in point is the character of Elrond. While Tolkien's Elf-lord is powerful, he is nothing if not courteous. He is a paragon of wisdom and almost impossible to ruffle. He may at times be stern, but he is always kind. However, the only way the movie seems to be able to portray strength is with a scowl. Jackson's Elrond has a chip on his shoulder, a 3000 year old unresolved grievance with the Man Isildur, who did not destroy the Ring when he had the chance."

He brings up some other points, missing the mark - I'd say - in his criticism of Merry and Pippen as buffoons and the Elves as too unhappy. Closer to the mark in his problem with Aragorn as too conflicted and Arwen as too (sorry) "manly".

Anyway, I'll post it when I can.

Will certainly be around much more after the release of TTT!

I love staying in touch with other New England Freepers. My family and I just recently moved to Claremont, NH, so life has been rather chaotic, but freepmail me any time you're feeling all alone up here! :)

[Wordsmith]

Ooohhh, an FR hike in New England? Sounds wonderful! Especially since we do have, after all, the most "Middle Earthian" terrain in the country!

[JenB]

Hullo! Back from school. Stopped off at the bookstore for a few hours on the way back. I have a large test tomorrow but if we're chatting I may drop in...

[JenB]

Hey, nice to see a Dune-fan around. I stopped off at the bookstore on the way home and, uh, read "The Butlerian Jihad". It was pretty good, have you read it yet? Rooting for a Harkonnen took some getting used to, but a lot of it was quite cool, IMO. And of course starting off with a line about call Salus Secundus a verdant gem of a world is a great way to catch my attention.

[Paul Atreides]

Yeah, it is definitely Rated R in some areas. I had wondered how they would approach the Baron Harkonnen. I think two of the biggest sore spots that people had with the mini were that Irulan was given a bigger role, and the design of the costumes. The painted backdrops didn't help either. I was a big critic of all of these things. Then, I saw the first installment of LOTR and realized that if they had been very faithful to the book, it would have taken the entire movie just to get them on the road! I also had to admit that I was spoiled on Star Wars special effects and fast-paced action. I would agree that, for the most part, the movie has it over the mini, visually. But, I still prefer the mini. And, I do like the actors who were in the movie. I remember not being able to take my eyes off of Francesca Annis when I first saw her as Lady Jessica!

[Paul Atreides]

I just finished The Butlerian Jihad the other night! Yeah, it was a twist of faith to have a Harkonnen as the protagonist and an Atreides as the antagonist. Now, I'll have to wait a year for the next book and a few months for the miniseries sequel. Luckily, there is the LOTR special edition coming out next month, then the Twin Towers in December! It's rough being a person with no patience.

[JenB]

I saw most of that mini-series. Very good but I thought the Fremen eyes were kinda off - ok, that's a silly complaint. The scenes with the Fremen were chilling, especially the one with all the fighters chanting "Muad'Dib! Muad'Dib!" over and over.

[Paul Atreides]

If you haven't seen the special edition of the mini, there is a great scene in which Paul confronts a Guild Agent in a bunker. Plus, I thought the Water of Life sequence was great.

[JenB]

I shall have to look into renting it then, if I can find it locally. Of course now is a good time since I did just read the latest book... they're not the quality of the original but I enjoy them so much more than the sequels. After "Dune Messiah" the series went downhill really quickly, IMHO. I read all of them but it was torture. And the original was so magnificent!

[Overtaxed]

While Tolkien's Elf-lord is powerful, he is nothing if not courteous. He is a paragon of wisdom and almost impossible to ruffle. He may at times be stern, but he is always kind. However, the only way the movie seems to be able to portray strength is with a scowl. Jackson's Elrond has a chip on his shoulder, a 3000 year old unresolved grievance with the Man Isildur, who did not destroy the Ring when he had the chance."

ElfBash!

[Wordsmith]

How about an Aragorn bash?

"Aragorn fares no better. Instead of a man gentle and strong because he knows himself, he is a conflicted and tortured victim of self-doubt... Jackson has transformed the story of a king ready to claim his crown into an adolescent "coming of age" story in which a "strong" woman keeps him from falling under the strain of the conflict within his soul."

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

I'll agree that the movie didn't convey Aragorn's age very well, IMHO. According to the Tale of Years, he's 87 at the time FOTR begins... just a year younger than Denethor and 17 years older than Theoden! Old enough to have long ago settled any "coming of age" issues!

[Overtaxed]

Yeah, I thought Aragorn was too self-doubting....but I don't have a neat Aragorn bash icon ready!