The Hobbit Hole III - Journey to the Cross-roads!

[HairOfTheDog]

Welcome to The Hobbit Hole!

Journey to the Cross-roads
The Two Towers Edition

Come on! Come in! -if you would like to have some seedcakes and a pint and relax a while. (If it is a special occasion, we still have a few bottles of the old wineyards left!)

Our first thread ( New Zealander builds Hobbit hole ) reached 4,100 posts, and we thought that was big. Our second thread (The New Hobbit Hole ) held us for over 48,000 posts, and we loved it dearly. We talked about moving to a new thread for the last 38,000 posts, but we are really slow to muster! Finally, the time has come. Tomorrow (at 12:01 am, to be precise!) The Two Towers comes out, and we start a new chapter.

[Lil'freeper]

Methinks I do, too. But that's yet another departure from the story.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

This is so sad, a bunch of old...uuhh...older women sitting around lusting at a picture.

:)

Becky

[2Jedismom]

Ka-thunk...

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

LOL

Becky

[HairOfTheDog]

Viggo Mortenson bought Brego and took him home, did you know that? - He is a Grand Prix dressage horse by training. Shadowfax, an Andalusian stallion named Demero, actually has Cancer and had been retired.... A new Stallion, Blanco, his double for the original filming, was used in the filming of the pickups.

Check out my post at 48,342 It has a cool shot and my commentary about the horse training....

[2Jedismom]

The poster reminds me of the Frodo and the Ring poster at the beginning, except now it's Aragorn, the King.

[Ramius]

Darn cool.

But with all this ka-thunking going on I can't hear a thing in here.

[2Jedismom]

Yikes! The unlucky number!

[carton253]

But... and this is a big but...

Faramir isn't the star of this road show. The ring is...

If Faramir let Frodo go, well where is the drama in that... where is the conflict... where is the tension... where is the resolution. These aren't just dramatic terms... these are the nuts and bolts of story telling.

In a book, I can make everybody a star... I can give them motivations and qualms and characteristics that I can't translate into the movie.

Furthermore, Faramir in the book wasn't all that likeable. He was a severe young man who I didn't care for much.

But that aside... the only thing the audience knows of Gondor is Boromir. (I have to write the screenplay with these limitations because I can't assume everyone sitting in the movie theater has read the book at least once... unlike some people who think that Frodo really exists (the uberfan)) Boromir came to Rivendell to get the ring. He coveted that ring. That ring didn't suddenly overtake him. It overtook him because he wanted it and desired it.

Now, Faramir has it in his grips. Osgiliath is under attack. Without the background on Faramir that the books provide, do you really think that it would be legitimate that Faramir would just let it go? Just like that?

No... he does so in the book because there is much more meat on the bone storywise. But, in a three hour movie, does Jackson really want to spend time giving us background on a character who is not the main one? It would have dragged down the story.

The way Jackson told it was perfect. The ring and Frodo are in danger because they have fallen into the hands of Boromir's brother... Saurman's victory could be assured because it depends on whether men have "integrity". Galadriel's speech pretty much puts the future of Middle Earth in the hands of Faramir (this is where Tolkien puts it)

With every step Faramir took toward Gondor with the ring built tension and conflict.

Sam didn't win Frodo's freedom with his "good versus evil speech". What won Frodo's freedom is the fact that Faramir had the strength of character that Boromir lacked. The character Galadriel hoped he would have.

The book and the movie end up the same way... Faramir refusing the ring. The only difference is Jackson dragged out the suspense for a few more scenes than Tolkien did in his book.

[2Jedismom]

Gonna throw me into a dysrythmia...

[BibChr]

Way cool.

New background.

Sorry Gimli, your time will come again.

Dan

[HairOfTheDog]

Heh...

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

I don't disagree that changes needed to be made to the characters, motivations, and plot to allow for the weaknesses of the movie medium. But, I don't have to like the changes.

The more you argue the point, the more I prefer the books to the movie. :)

[Argh]

Where are the trees?

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

The only difference is Jackson dragged out the suspense for a few more scenes than Tolkien did in his book.

No, Jackson also changed the entire nature of Faramir's internal struggle. Perhaps the change needed to be made for the movie, and for today's movie-viewing audience. I still don't like it.

[HairOfTheDog]

No trees in the Paths of the Dead!

[carton253]

Well, let me stop arguing the point then...

And you are right... books are for the most part better than the movies since movies are limited in what they can show...

[HairOfTheDog]

I still don't like it.

[stomps foot]

[Argh]

I seem to remember the trees went right up to the entrance of the Paths. That is, the entrance was amongst a bunch of trees. Quibbling here...

[HairOfTheDog]

How long till you go meet Ruthy?