I haven't put something like this up for a while. For those of us who are fans of JRR Tolkien, shooting has begun on the cinematic doublet, "The Hobbit".
Peter Jackson has started a FaceBook page to keep us fans up to date on the progress of the project.
Very cool 10-minute introduction.
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I enjoyed the small video.
ReplyDeleteA return to middle-earth.
Maybe it's because I read the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy first, but "The Hobbit" didn't do much for me. In fact, I barely remember it. I don't expect to like this movie nearly so much as I did the "Rings" trilogy, which achieved cult status. I suspect a lot of folks may react the same way.
ReplyDeleteI've also heard Mr. Jackson intends to hedge his bets by having Frodo appear in this movie. As I recall, there is no Frodo in "The Hobbit." Crass commercial exploitation always wins over intellectual purity and honesty.
Do the teenie boppers still like Elijah Wood? He's in his 30s by now, isn't he?
Bummer, dude.
I merely note that it is my understanding that Jackson plans to lift several of the LOTR characters (I hadn't heard that Frodo would be one - Legolas, Gimli, and one of the other High Elves (Galadriel, maybe?) were the names I recall) and plunk them down in TH. Why, God only knows.
ReplyDeleteThe story stands pretty much on its own as what it is - a piece of semi-juvenile fiction (written by a childless Oxford don whose main interest was in inventing languages...) that serves primarily to set up the answer to the whole "WTF is a little guy with hairy feet doing with the Great Ring of Power?" question that would otherwise kibosh the whole framework of LOTR.
Enh. I'm hoping that we'll get the Jackson of LOTR and not the Jackson of "Kong". The guy's record is kind of spotty...
Jackson did take some liberties with the LOTR story ( Ents! ) and he's likely to do so with TH as well. As a whole, I was pleased with the movie trilogy.
ReplyDeleteYes, a bit of commercialism is needed to sell anything, but there are plans to incorporate some back story of both LOTR and TH from the Silmarillion into TH. I don't have any worry that the 2 movies will lose money.
Tolkien does have a family with kids still alive and he served in WW 1.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tolkien
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecAbAKDnmkY
The greater question for me than a little homunculus with a fantastic ring of power is that after thousands of years of time, culture hadn't changed beyond bows and swords.
But that's Faerie for you, although Legolas and Gimli in a Corvette and a GEO respectively would be pretty cool. ;)
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Good point by the Chief: The Hobbit merely sets the table for the big war. Maybe that's why I was kind of "bleh" on the book. I found it kind of boring, to tell the truth. Whereas I really liked the trilogy, although I must note I was drinking lots of German beer when I read it. I wouldn't read it again, but, then, I'm not a re-reader. Really liked the three movies. I doubt I'll want to go see this next one, although the wife may strong-arm me.
ReplyDeleteAs far as literary license is concerned, I don't have a problem with including elves, dwarves and other fanciful critters known to the preexisting audience. Clearly it'll help ticket sales if familiar characters are there, and since it's all made-up BS anyway, why not? My problem is with having this little guy somehow showing up to participate in his uncle's quest before he was born. The hobbits are kind of like humans, just little. They have life spans and everything. Everybody knows elves and dwarfs are magical and live forever, so shit, why not have them show up?
Basil, I can't believe you don't know that all of this shit happens in a post-apocalyptic time. Instead of Ahhhnold the Terminator or the Morlocks and the Eloi, you get all of this medieval stuff. Everybody forgot all of the neat science stuff during a dark age that lasted thousands of years.
Or something like that.
BTW, I'll bet you this isn't a very good movie.
Did anyone catch the History Channel's bio on Tolkien? It focused mainly on his WWI experiences and how that influenced his writing. The piece also mentioned some influence by Christianity and Norse legends on his writing. I thought it interesting.
ReplyDeletewourm: My understanding is that the biggest influence on LOTR (other than medieval England) was the rise of Hitler's Germany and industrialism in general. Tolkien was very much an Olde England sort of guy; the whole Shire/hobbit-peasants thing really was his ideal of English country life. Mind you, he never bothered to ask ol' Gaffer Gamgee whether the old bastard WANTED to spend his life hoeing taties, and wouldn't have believed it if the gaffer had told him he'd gladly have traded a pint of old Bag End Brown for a sweet tricked-out Lezus convertible and a pair of Ukrainian lingerie models...
ReplyDeleteFunny, I read the trilogy in college and loved the hell out of it. Went back and re-read it when the Jackson movies came out and was a little surprised at how so-so they are as literature. Lots of good writing tossed in with apalling "Lo! Many riders come like the wind!" sorts of stuff. Reminds you that the guy really wrote the stories as an excuse to invent "Elvish" as a language.
And as for the latest, I won't be as pessimistic as Publius, but I'm willing to bet that Jackson just played a blinder for three movies, and won't have that sort of luck again with this one. I think he's not nearly as good as his LOTR films make him...
Publius:
ReplyDeleteBasil, I can't believe you don't know that all of this shit happens in a post-apocalyptic time. Instead of Ahhhnold the Terminator or the
Morlocks and the Eloi, you get all of this medieval stuff. Everybody forgot all of the neat science stuff during a dark age that lasted thousands of years.
Or something like that.
BTW, I'll bet you this isn't a very good movie.
You must be still drinking beer. :D
There will be two, and what's the bet?
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You really think there will be two? Will they do it like LOTR, i.e., make all of 'em together in New Zealand or wherever?
ReplyDelete