Time for a marathon LOTR watch...I still do like it.

I have all three EEs ready and rearing to go any time you're ready. You have my bow, should you want to turn this into a CHUD wide event via the CHAT ROOM

Just listening to my movie music internet radio channel here at work and they just played the entire FOTR Shore musical score from ending, lasting from Frodo standing on the banks of the Anduin staring at the ring and hearing Gandalfs voice all the way through "I made a promise" and "Lets hunt some orc" to the end of "In Dreams".

Maybe it's just that these films are tattooed on my heart now so I know what each cue signifies by heart, but god damn did Shore create an operatic masterpiece with these films. By the end it was all I could do to choke back tears here at work god damn it.

I haven't watched these films in full for years. And I really don't have much desire to. But the emotional reactions I got for all three films during their theatrical runs was very genuine. Nothing will ever take that away. It's certainly a major reason I will gladly overlook the big mess that ROTK became as the film that had to wrap it all up. The major moments destroyed me and Jackson/Shore knew how to milk each and every one of them. I didn't even mind all the endings, and I still don't.

I still like to do a 12 hour day of all three extended editions back to back every few years. It's good for my soul.

I don't even think I'd be able to do a marathon of all three theatrical editions. Madness... MADNESS. Maybe with a like-minded crowd...

Nonsense. I did a marathon of the Extended Editions in the summer. Went by in the blink of an eye. They still are fantastic and they still absolutely shit on any blockbuster that's come out since.

Absolutely. Fantasy franchises STILL haven't learned much from these films beyond the superficial. They'll steal the Minas Tirith battle sequence but can't understand that's not why LOTR succeeded.

As far as marathons go, it's not that much of a commitment. Even the combined running time of the EEs is less than that of most TV seasons.

I did a marathon of all three of the extended editions a few years ago...Its time I do another one soon I think.

I guess I'm more of a sprinter when it comes to movies (I've rewatched all of the films piecemeal tons of times). Heheheh. If some friends ever wanted to go for an EE marathon, I can't say I would turn them down. As long as it was agreed that we wouldn't stop or start openly multitasking, I would perhaps go for it.

I don't mind admitting it's exhausting. Not least of which because I get rather emotional at so many of the dramatic beats throughout the dozen hours, that I'm pretty much wrung dry by the end.

The last session took me from 6am to just after 6pm with very minimal breaks for food and bathroom usage. By the end I was kind of delirious.

Then we had to go out to a dinner party. I was certainly not my usual sparkly self that night.

Anyway here's some links to other great chud LOTR discussions:

http://www.dev.chud.com/forum/showthread.php?t=64967

http://www.dev.chud.com/forum/showth...ght=Lord+Rings

And Nicks fantastic reviews:

http://www.dev.chud.com/forum/showth...ght=Lord+Rings

http://web.archive.org/web/200212211...views/ttt.php3

http://web.archive.org/web/200312170...iews/rotk.php3

I'm adding the link to Nick's review of the ROTK EE DVD which caused me to bust a gut with this exchange:


"I LOVE ROHAN'S BRUNSWICK LANES!"


"BUT NOT AS MUCH AS MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"


One of the things I continue to appreciate about these films is the way Jackson milks those sweet sweet moments to their last drop. It may have become something that has ended up hampering him now, but for the LOTR Trilogy it was fittingly glorious.

It's something I've found movies to not do anymore. The big moments are either not set up properly or completely zoomed past in a perfunctory manner. This goes into your thread about LOTR Moments, RD. My favorite sequence is also the Ride of the Rohirrim and it's in no small part to the fact that Jackson (who fully admits that the sequence was always the one he wanted to do) gives it its due amount of time.

Some might say that it's simply because Jackson was making an epic film that had plenty of runtime. I say no. Because Avatar had plenty of runtime for its much simpler tale and still had its rousing moments fall flat for me.

I guess I'm in the minority; ever since I got all three Extended Edition DVDs, I only watch LotR in a marathon session. I think of the trilogy in very much the same way Tolkien thought of his book, as a single work divided in three because of the realities of the marketplace.

Preach brother.

Same. I can't watch just one of the films, I need to keep going. It's one true epic tale.

It's why when people ask me what my favourite film in the 'trilogy' is I just look at them funny and say "but there's only one film"

I last watched the EEs at Christmas '08. I still get immersed in them, despite having seen them at least 2 or 3 times since release. Will definitely watch them again before THE HOBBIT hits cinemas.

Thanks for thread links Raindog. What's the name of the movie music internet radio channel station you were listening to? Sounds good.

Despite any nitpicks that I may have during each viewing as a fan of Tolkien's body of work (and, believe me, they are minor), these films remain to be masterpieces in fantasy filmmaking, in my opinion. From Howard Shore's operatic score, to the costumes to the sets to the performances from its all-star cast...everything is of the highest quality, and represents the little joys of filmmaking that just happen to support three blockbusters. Detractors be damned: these films deserve to endure.

Here's a question: Do people think LOTR would have been as successful if 9/11 had never happened?

The 9/11 factor wasn't present over here and it was still a monster, both critically and financially. It may have put it over the top in the US, but the movie was just that good.

I ask because I just re-read Devin's article. Even in countries not directly threatened by terrorism I would have thought there would be a sense of the threat presented by Al-Queda and a desire to see the bastards caught. LOTR was an easily translatable tale of good vs evil and anyone could relate to it, especially after seeing over 3,000 people murdered in the most horrible way possible.

Anyway, Devin was more eloquent than me:

If it had hit a few years later, in the time of the first Transformers, I also think it would have stumbled. But The Fellowship of the Ring came out right after 9/11, and the film's thematic concepts of a decent way of life being threatened by a huge, shadowy threat rang very true. I spent New Year's Eve of 2001/2002 at a late night screening of The Fellowship of the Ring with my then-girlfriend, and I remember sitting in that theater wondering if at midnight the next wave of Al Qaeda madness would come (yeah, yeah, laugh if you want but the months after 9/11 were fucking weird for those of us in New York City). That night Gandalf's response to Frodo's wish that the ring had never been found - 'So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.' - was weighted with serious meaning that Peter Jackson hadn't intended and that Tolkien had intended for another war in another decade. The unjust invasion of Iraq was still some time away and the operations in Afghanistan carried the feeling of righteousness.

I have never even thought about 9/11 in regards to LOTR. Reading Devin's words, I can see how the connection could be made, but I find it hard to fathom that the moves would have suffered much at all box office-wise if 9/11 had never happened.

And I'm telling you it wasn't a factor, being in one of these countries.

I think it's all about timing. For me as an American, 9/11 is still very present over the whole trilogy, and that couldn't have been foreseen by PJ or the others when they were making it, so yeah, it gives the films a deeper resonance that maybe they didn't earn. But so what, it makes Sam's speech at the end of TWO TOWERS even more effective. It makes the trilogy more effective as a whole. Maybe future generations will write it all off as sanctimonious bullshit, but for the time, they were made more powerful if you lived here in the States.

Also, the fact that Sauron as an enemy is this vague thing sending out his minions to fight really registers as similar to what happened back then as well. It's all in the timing.

I think I know what I'm doing on Black Friday.

Speaking of LOTR marathons. Are there any news at all about EE Blu-rays? After watching the How To Train Your Dragon Blu-ray, my excitement towards the format has multiplied.

There doesn't seem to be anything concrete yet. The Amazon entry estimates that it'll come out next year or in 2012.

I'm saving my EE marathon for the day after Xmas. Stocking up on left-over turkey sandwiches, fine red wine and some not-bad halfling leaf. Your envy is justified.

I went to NZ about 4 years back, visited the Hobbiton set (stupidly hungover) and hugged the great tree. Fantastic trip. On the flight back I had a LOTR marathon - can't remember if it was the EEs tho. It still rocked. Yis!

I do think 9/11 had a big effect on the films in the USA. The thing about the rest of the world is, certain international audiences (Particularly the lucrative European market) respond to big costume epics no matter what.

SkyFM New York - soundtracks.

I listen to it through a web window to get around proxies here.

As far as the 9-11 connection to the films initial success, I'd argue that yes, that may have helped with resonance for American audiences and even for some other westerners who felt that horrible days historical weight baring down on them, but lets not forget; one of the reasons Tolkiens Tale Of The Ring has been so beloved for so long (to the point of being voted the 'book of the century' in many western countries back in 1999) is that each new generation has been able to interpret the story in a way that makes it personally resonate for them.

From the initial post-war generations of the fifties who knew only too well the horrors of fighting a world consuming evil, to the boomer hippie generation of the 60's and 70's that could connect to both the deep underlying 'nature over industry' aspects of the story as well as connecting it to the civil and political uncertainties of a time coloured by Vietnam through on to my own generation by which time the books status as a modern classic and it's influence on modern fantasy as we knew it and popular culture in general was assured and it was able to shape the imaginations of many of generations x and y.

Even now in the post 9-11/Bush era the story's strength is in it's ability to touch on universal truths and very human issues that can be comfortably interpreted by each new generation to give it an aspect of speaking directly 'to them'. It's why the book - and to a degree most probably for the foreseeable future the films - won't be going anywhere for a long long time.

Dude, you are fucking Aragorn and Gandalf rolled into one. THANK YOU.

No probs mate. It's literally all I listen to eight hours a day, five days a week.

Between this station and that new Alison Brie gif in the COMMUNITY thread, I'm ready to hook up to the Matrix Joey Pants-style. The real world can fucking suck it.

Anyone else think the failure of the Star Wars prequels, helped The Lord of the Rings transcend into that "must see" category. I think alot of people were so eager to experience the magic the OT had again, or for the first time theatricaly, and were extremely dissapointed with the Phantom Menace, that when this trilogy hit, it was like "oh shit, now this is what I wanted" type moment.

I would not disagree with that.

I remember reading Moriarty's review of Fellowship that was basically about that sentiment.

I think Clones even made it more so. That was released between Fellowship and Towers, and really showed everyone what a quality fantasy series was, and wasn't

Maybe, but would that really have mattered if LOTR wasn't the goods?

The 9/11 attack, horrible as it was, had less impact on me emotionally than watching my government lie its way into invading Iraq. In the weeks leading up to the release of The Two Towers, I remember talking with mothers with whom I worked and hearing their dread of their sons getting drafted to serve as we embarked on a policy of preemptive war with no end in sight. I remember the gasps in the audience when the little boys on the screen were issued their armor and weapons to defend Helm's Deep.

Above all, I remember being struck at what a responsible depiction of war that movie was; how even a good war, fought truly in defense, is still a fearsome undertaking, heavy with loss and fought by children. I was so impressed that Jackson didn't pull the Spielbergian cop-out and show us those boys at the end, reuniting with their mothers, unharmed after a rollicking adventure.

yeah, what happened to the Blonde kid?

To this day, I'm still shocked that nobody made a SCARY MOVIE-style BORED OF THE RINGS with Leslie Nielson as Gandalf. It seemed like a no-brainer at the time. Would have been terrible, but it seemed like such an obvious cash-in.

Shhhhhh, erik... they are out there... watching. Don't give them ideas

And weirdly, EPIC MOVIE dodged it entirely for some reason. So I've heard, I mean it's not like I've ever seen it, even if it used to be on cable five hundred times I swear

NOOOOOOO! GOOOOODGUUUULF!!!

I don't think the satanic duo behind those 'films' were on the scene then.

I swear one of those movies had a Frodo/Gollum reference in it.

Date movie did, I beleive