"As they passed the rows of houses they saw through the open doors that men were sweeping and dusting and washing dishes, while the women sat around in groups, gossiping and laughing.
"What has happened?" the Scarecrow asked a sad-looking man with a bushy beard, who wore an apron and was wheeling a baby-carriage along the sidewalk.
"Why, we've had a revolution, your Majesty -- as you ought to know very well," replied the man; "and since you went away the women have been running things to suit themselves. I'm glad you have decided to come back and restore order, for doing housework and minding the children is wearing out the strength of every man in the Emerald City."
"Hm!" said the Scarecrow, thoughtfully. "If it is such hard work as you say, how did the women manage it so easily?"
"I really do not know," replied the man, with a deep sigh. "Perhaps the women are made of cast-iron.""
- L. Frank Baum, "The Land of Oz"
Saturday, November 14, 2009
It's a cold and rainy one today. We stayed in. On a lark, I popped in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring extended cut this morning. I'm now 20 minutes into The Two Towers. Inspired me to go over to my old solo blog and re-read my thoughts on the three films and the comments under them. Good times.
The three movies as one epic are a masterpiece.
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Comments on "Accept No Substitutes":
3. Bill
- 11/15/2009 7:05 pm CST
It's been awhile since I watched those - I need to find some time and enjoy them again. I agree - it's about as good a rendering of the books to film as could have been expects.
Waiting for the Hobbit! When is that coming out?
4. nhe
- 11/15/2009 7:32 pm CST
Isn't it 13+ hours to watch all 3 extended versions of the LOTR Trilogy? I don't think I could do that all in one day even though they are excellent.....I could make it at least half way though.
I think the most I've done in one day is the whole Lonesome Dove mini-series (the first one) @ 6+ hours - which I highly recommend if you're a western geek like me........I also watched 6+ hours of the PBS Pride and Prejudice series in one sitting (enthralling)......and I'm a guy!
6. jen
- 11/16/2009 7:54 am CST
I heart Lonesome Dove!
There is no way I could manage to watch even an hour of the trilogy without being interrupted at least once. It's all we can do to keep up with minimal TV watching anymore.
7. Karl
- 11/16/2009 8:11 am CST
I love those movies. They came as close as I could have reasonably expected to capturing the trilogy but there were enough (a) unnecessary changes to plot and characters (like the change to Faramir's character, the fighting between Sam and Frodo, the scene at Weathertop turning into a mini-battle with Aragorn waving firebrands around instead of the creepy, stealthy scene of the book) and (b) necessary streamlining (the deletion of Bombadil, giving Arwen the Glorfindel role) that the movies still run a distant second behind the books for me.
In addition to watching the extended editions of the movies, we have wiled away many hours watching them with the commentaries, and also watching the extensive behind-the-scenes stuff. Love it.
9. Michele
- 11/16/2009 1:21 pm CST
Bob, I loved the books, but you have to admit, Tolkien's descriptions of terrain and fortresses can become tedious. The movies cleared a lot of these scenes up in my mind.
Also, he really brought the Merry and Pippin to life. In the books, they were a tad flatter--the movies made their characters defined and winsome.
However, I hated what they did to Glimli the Dwarf, (is that his name?) Ew, such a great actor and character reduced to swaggering comic-relief!
10. Karl
- 11/16/2009 1:36 pm CST
Michele, I agree the changes to Gimli were awful. Reducing him to comic relief complete with dwarf-tossing jokes? Tolkien would have been livid.
I posted below that I "loved" the movies. I'm still torn re. whether to own, or amend, that statement. I kind of have a love-hate relationship with them. Compared to the many ways I feared a director might botch the beloved masterpiece that is LOTR, I think PJ did a pretty darn good job overall. He did some things amazingly well, including capturing the "feel" of that world and treating the material with respect and not camping it up. I honestly enjoy watching the movies a great deal. But there were also enough maddening, unnecessary changes to characters and events that I find plenty to get me riled up, as well. PJ and the writers came close, but at certain key places they either just don't "get" Tolkien, or else they disagree with Tolkien and feel the liberty to make the story convey a moral that *they* want to convey, rather than the moral JRRT would have conveyed.
12. Bill
- 11/16/2009 6:26 pm CST
I'm with Karl all the way on this one.
Movies were about as good as can be expected, but no where near the books (I love Tolkien's writing style. Every bit of it).
Side note: It's important also to be careful with the commentary. If you want to enjoy the movies more, listen to the commentary that includes Dominic and Billy, or the producers/writers. If you want to ruin it, listen to the pseudo-intellectual artsy commentary of Elijah and Sean. Ugh.
13. Karl
- 11/17/2009 8:12 am CST
Bill has a good point about the commentaries. At times the director and writers say things that show they just "miss" Tolkien's vision in places or else just flat say that they disagreed with JRRT about some plot point and that they felt the freedom to make this "their" movie (like the change to Faramir's character, etc.), and that could be maddening. But overall their commentary is interesting and enhances the experience. Dom and Billy are hilarious, with interesting anecdotes along the way. But Sean and Elijah are so full of pompous, sophomoric, young pseudo-intellectual artsy mumbo-jumbo and pontification that it made it a lot harder for me to like them.
I laughed hard at the "easter egg" on one of the dvd's where Dom prank calls Elijah for an interview, pretending to be a German magazine writer.
14. III
- 11/21/2009 7:06 pm CST
Call me a bad person, but I thought that the movies couldn't have been much better. And before you say that I'm just a naive, non-Tolkien-nerd, sell out, I've read the whole trilogy plus the Hobbit at least four times, and the Silmarillion twice, probably, and even tried the makings of written by his son, and I think this might trump even some of you: I've read a good many of his short stories about Faerie.
But whatever was to my gain I have counted loss...
Just kidding--I won't go there. But seriously, if you watch the movies uncritically, they're phenomenal. If you expected them to be entirely free of Hollywood tampering and influence, you're plain crazy. Just watch the movies, and try to ignore the deviances, and enjoy actually seeing on screen the world that Tolkien created (or at least someone else's VERY good interpretation of it).
Or, if you can, forget that you've ever read the books and simply appreciate the epic-ness and genius of Peter Jackson's directing skillz.
Or, alternatively, keep on trying to assert your Tolkien-nerdiness by bashing how the movies were messed up and trying to point out really obscure differences to prove that you know your Middle Earth like the back of Sauruman's White Hand. Take your pick.
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you'll spend ALL DAY on that trilogy but what a way to spend the day! now i'm jealous.