LOTR Readers

[porkchop]

O.K. at the risk of looking like an immiture imbosil I'm gonna post something here. I've kinda been wondering this. I didn't know if it was just me or what? How many of you saw the animated LOTR movies that came out in 79-80 timeframe? Now before you laugh, let me remind you that I'm 28 and when I saw these movies, I was not more than 10 or so. I was wondering who else saw them? Not only that, but did it shape your perception of the way LOTR was supposed to be? I know that sounds juvenile, but I still love those movies. They are classics to me. True, they were animated yet they were made for family veiwing and are quite good I think. It had something of an all-star cast (in that day). Orsen Beane, Casey Casum, Roddy McDowell, Theodore Bickel, Richard Boone (in The Hobbit), John Houston (Gandalf). I still love those movies, and I think in some ways, their portreyal of certain charecters is still the best. Like Richard Boone in The Hobbit is fantastic. He plays Smaug, the dragon. He probably has the best lines in the movie though he only appears for a short time. I am thrilled that they are coming out with a new movie and I'm sure with the special effects and graphics, it'll be good. I just can't seem to get past that cast in the animated series though. Like Samwise. Samwise is played by Roddy McDowell who has been in every Sci-fi movie ever made, haha!! You know, Planet of the Apes 1-23. Richard Boone (Have Gun, Will Travel, Last Dinasaur, Big Jake) John Houston (Planet of the Apes, and famous director). Anyway, I just can't see some of the new cast in this one. Kind of like the newest Star Wars movie. I enjoyed it, but without Mark Hamel and Harrison Ford, it was lacking something. Still a great movie, bu just not the same. Like the new Star Trek series' out. I can't watch if it aint Bones, Kirk and Spock. It just aint the same.

I guess I'm just reminiscing with some childhood memories.

http://cdnow.com/cgi-bin/mserver/SID=370628345/pagename=/RP/MOVIES/mv_item.html/i temid=885332

P.S. Don't let me forget about William Conrad (Ironsides, and popular narrater) who plays Denathor. One of the most commanding and recognizable voices in Hollywood even now.

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[This message has been edited by porkchop (edited May 08, 2001).]

[This message has been edited by porkchop (edited May 08, 2001).]

 

[bobstod]

Wow, that is very interesting, Chopper! You see, those of us who came to LOTR through the book first have a completely opposite viewpoint on those animated films. Or at least, I do. How about you, LTBF?

For me, the animated TV version was way too simplified. It lacked dignity. I had already read LOTR four or five times, including aloud to my son, and I had this deep respect for the book as literature. I just didn't think those movies had enough 'bottom' as they say.

Oh yes, we saw them! I doubt that anyone who had read and loved LOTR missed those movies. And they weren't bad at all. They just made my son and I wish somebody would do s serious job of bringing the book to the screen, giving it the respect it deserves.

I am hoping that the new movies will accomplish that. Using real actors was one of our definite prerequisites; along with including massive segments of the actual book dialogue. I think everything will depend on the cinematography. If they can't fuse these characters into the kind of landscapes we see so vividly through JRRTs eyes, it's going to look hokey. If it looks hokey, I might walk out in the first five minutes.

I frankly do not see how it can be done to my satisfaction. I sort of dread the day the first movie premieres. I already SEE so many of the scenes, perfectly, as if I had BEEN there! It's a risky business, making this film, when so many people know and love the books...

You know, they did a really credible job with the Hornblower movies on TV. That was no easy task, and they made it work. Lonesome Dove, too. I still have hope that these movies will be worthwhile. I'm not ready to hope that they will be great.

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[porkchop]

Obviously if you are trying to figure out the LOTR trilogy by these two movies, it would be extremely tough. Large parts and key parts are left out. For entertainment purposes, I still enjoy them though. And maybe I just have a special place in my heart for them because of when I was a kid. They really got me turned on to the books themselves.

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[LTBF]

OK, Chop, I'll admit it. I came to the book via the cartoon movies. Actually, there were two, both made by the same Japanese animators, one of The Hobbit and one of LOTR. I made fun of my sister for being a big Tolkien fan and didn't read them because I said I didn't care for fantasy!

But whenmy family and I watched []The Hobbit[/i], they had lots of questions, and I didn't have any answers. So we read the book to learn the answers. Wll, you know how it is with Tolkien. For every question answered, there are a dozen new question. So then I read LOTR, then anything else I could find. I became the acknowledged Tolkien expert at my school. Kids would come around and ask me questions about things that they didn't understand!

Actually, there was one more movie. A guy named Ralph somebody (something like Bakish, or something), made one other edition of LOTR, which was, I think, a combination of cartoon and live action. This was supposed to be a two parter, but he never made the second part. The first part ended with Helm's Deep, if I remember correctly.

I am awaiting the first part of the trilogy this December. I took my granddaughter to the movies this afternoon, and I was hoping to see the LOTR trailer, but it wasn't on.

LONG LIVE FRODO!

ROLL TIDE FOREVER!