Lord of the Rings Q&A

[Gurm]

Originally posted by Technoid
Gurm, are you truly obsessed with LoTR??

Yep.

- Gurm

[Gurm]

Originally posted by thop
do the ents actually have a face?

Yes. Jackson did a fairly decent job of portraying them, down to the funny walk.

- Gurm

[Gurm]

Originally posted by Topha
hehe, some of those questions will hopefully be answered later this year http://dvd.ign.com/articles/381/381227p1.html

my only question is why he only made three movies, not six 3-hour movies would have been nice

Umm... because it was a fight to get approval for 3 instead of the 2 they wanted him to do.

- Gurm

[Gurm]

Originally posted by Evildead666
he only made three movies cos there are three books.

Six. Seven if you count the appendices as a separate volume.

Secondly, i should think the people who pay for it all, would like to see some cash asap, and would like the minimum risk, ie less films.
Three films is just right. he hasn't missed anything, i think.

Gurm - Has anything from the first two books been left out in the films yet?

That's an absurd question. Of course it has, and lots of stuff rearranged - some of it quite poorly.

- Gurm

[Gurm]

Originally posted by Topha
yep, there are 6 books, but they rolled 2 into 1 3 times

and yes, there is a lot of stuff that did not make it into the movie, but there are rumours that PJ's favoured cut of the first movie is almost 5 hours, and that some of the versions of the 2nd movie he suggested for theatrical release were more than 4 hours as well.

dont know how much of that is true, but maybe we will see it on DVD when all three movies are out, or maybe even in a couple of years, like star wars special edition, only much much longer

Both first and second films had 4.5+ hours of film shot. HOWEVER, 4 hours of music and editing... trimmed to 3.5 hours for the extended editions. If we ever get ultimate kick-ass-super editions, they should be closer to 4 hours each, with another half hour of "deleted scenes" that couldn't be re-inserted into the movie without wrecking the pacing and flow.

as for the ents, i think you can actually see them rooting themselves to the ground when they flood isengard

One question for Gurm: do the elves really come to the aid of the people in helms deep, or did PJ make that one up?

Err... they did, just not quite that way. Elrond's two sons (Aragorn's adopted brothers, since Elrond adopted him) lead a "contingent" of elves AND rangers to Helm's Deep to aid Aragorn. They ride with him through the paths of the dead and continue to fight with him at Gondor and at the black gates.

Haldir certainly was not at Helm's Deep. I have NO idea why Jackson brought him there, and then KILLED him. Bleh.

- Gurm

[Gurm]

No more questions?

A clarification...

*ahem*

JRRT published two books about hobbits and suchnot in his lifetime.

One was "The Hobbit".

The other was "The Lord of the Rings".

The fact that the publisher broke up that singular volume into 3 parts is relatively irrelevant.

When asked to break it down, Tolkien did so... into 6 volumes. They are, in order:

1. The Ring Sets Out
2. The Ring Goes South
3. The Treason of Isengard
4. The Ring Goes East
5. The War of the Ring
6. The End of the Third Age

A seventh volume, appendices, was incomplete in time for publication and was hence attached to the end of the third "book" (comprising parts 6 & 7 of LOTR).

Over subsequent editions this appendix became rather large. Additional material from Tolkien's archives was added for the Millennium Edition (which is published as 7 volumes in a nice box).

What makes things even more complex is that different publishers owned the rights to the book in different venues, and every time it was typeset errors and inaccuracies were slipped in.

Of particular interest are VERY early publications of the Hobbit, where overzealous editing by publishers unused to fantasy changed the words "Elven" and "Dwarvish" to "Elfin" and "Dwarfish", respectively.

The book has also recently been published as JRRT intended - as one large volume, complete with (most) of the appendices.

As a matter of course I own both of these authoritative editions.

- Gurm

[KvHagedorn]

It's kind of unfortunate that we in the States get mainly cheesy versions of these books.. go to amazon.co.uk and look at the very nice collectors editions Harper-Collins puts out.. wish I had the cash surplus.

[knirfie]

Gurm, is this thread just a way to get to the 5000 posts as soon as possible? 9 of the 21 posts are already yours.

[Gurm]

Originally posted by knirfie
Gurm, is this thread just a way to get to the 5000 posts as soon as possible? 9 of the 21 posts are already yours.

No. (10)

- Gurm

[Gurm]

Originally posted by KvHagedorn
It's kind of unfortunate that we in the States get mainly cheesy versions of these books.. go to amazon.co.uk and look at the very nice collectors editions Harper-Collins puts out.. wish I had the cash surplus.

Well I don't know...

Here are my two sets:

Hardcover Millennium Edition boxed 7-volume:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0618037667/qid=1041779737/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/002-6701021-1071201?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

and... the deluxe leatherettes:

The Hobbit:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0395177111/qid=1041779901/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/002-6701021-1071201

Lord of the Rings:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0395193958/qid=1041779854/sr=8-4/ref=sr_8_4/002-6701021-1071201?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

I didn't notice much that was a lot nicer over in England. A couple of movie-themed editions that were good (a 7-volume paperback with movie covers...) but nothing earth-shattering.

Edit: Well ok, THIS one is very nice, although textually is the same as mine... but in real leather, and more tasteful.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0261103687/qid=1041780060/sr=1-12/ref=sr_1_2_12/202-9151202-4922231

- Gurm

[Drizzt]

Originally posted by Gurm

Ents can do that in a splitsecond. They are trees "incarnate".

- Gurm

Sorry, they are not trees

[Wombat]

Yes they are. They even become true trees sometimes.

[Drizzt]

Originally posted by Wombat
Yes they are. They even become true trees sometimes.

Nope, they are not. They are Spirits from the outer, called by the thought of Yavanna in the time of the awake of the Sons.
They are dressed as trees, but they are not trees.

[Jon P. Inghram]

I thought they were CG...

[Gurm]

I said they are trees "incarnate".

But... it isn't as clear as simply saying that they are spirits from elsewhere called by Yavanna... although that is their origin.

Trees can wake up and become Huorns. Huorns can become Ents.

And vice versa. Ents can become Huorns, and Huorns can become trees.

- Gurm