LOTR -DVD Info

CNCRaymond · #1 August 14th, 2002, 03:57 AM

He forgets things. Just let it go. He will remeber something you told him a year ago sometime next year.

Instar · #2 August 14th, 2002, 04:38 AM

I got the precioussses DVD's...
much awesomeness

and waaaaaaaaaay OT but Tesco your pic looks like a pimp... sorry he just looks like a pimp to me
(and Ive been playing GTA3 some and now Im trained to shoot pimp looking type peoples)

Singollo · #3 August 14th, 2002, 03:18 PM

Yes, I too felt cheated by the release of a "non-extra-footage" DVD. I suppose that if I had done my homework, I would have known about the extended edition to be released in November. Oh, well, I'm a sucker for this sort of thing anyway...I own at least five different copies of the Star Wars videos.

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Yes, it's great to see so many things from Tolkien's work made into cinematic images. But it's also impossible to make proper images of many of them, and also impossible to tell the whole story without making at least six movies, not three.

The amount of material left out, and changed, is definitely a big big problem for the story. That isn't even my main objection, though. By definition--stated and implied--the material that Tolkien is writing about cannot be visualized. The act of picturing, of grasping with the physical senses, corrupts and destroys the very essence of the subject matter that makes it so powerful and beautiful. We are not supposed to "see" an Elf. We are not supposed to be able to comprehend the beauty of Arwen, or the stature of Galadriel. We are not supposed to be able to grasp the terror of the Nazgul, or the horror of the Balrog, etc., etc. The central theme to Tolkien's work is that of the fading of magic and power and beauty from the world, from the splendor of the First Age to the muted fantasy of the Third Age, to the mundane world that we live in now. The characters and events from the earlier Ages are attainable only by imagination, and by fleeting glimpses; the very idea of throwing Arwen up onto a screen, of saying "hey, this is Arwen, check her out"...it tramples upon everything that Tolkien was doing. It's repugnant.

So, yeah....complicated feelings all around. Admiration and respect for this particular movie clashes with abhorrence and deep loathing of the idea of making a movie of the story.

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Singollo, that is why I said "mostly written".

True. I'm nitpicking, I know. Still, it bears saying: not a word of what appears in The Silmarillion was written before LotR, so technically, even "mostly written" is incorrect.

geoschmo · #4 August 14th, 2002, 03:54 PM

Well, as I understand it the box set still to come has stuff that's not in the two disc package that's out now. So you would want to get both anyway, right?

Hey, you gotta spend your money on something.

Geoschmo

dogscoff · #5 August 14th, 2002, 04:00 PM

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Hey, you gotta spend your money on something.

I like your philosophy. If you're running out of things to spend your money on, spend it on me!

FWIW, I think it's a rip off releasing the two Versions like that. They're just exploiting the fact that a lot of Tolkien fans are completist types who just have to own it all.

geoschmo · #6 August 14th, 2002, 04:48 PM

[quote]Originally posted by dogscoff:

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I like your philosophy. If you're running out of things to spend your money on, spend it on me!

Uh....no.

Singollo · #7 August 14th, 2002, 05:20 PM

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Well, as I understand it the box set still to come has stuff that's not in the two disc package that's out now. So you would want to get both anyway, right?

I'm not exactly sure of everything that's in it, but I got the impression that the extended edition will have pretty much everything that's on the 2-disc set...only with lots and lots of other stuff. If so, then it's the current release that is the waste, not the extended edition. It's a pretty sharp marketing strategy, granted ("Hey, let's release an earlier Version with only some of the extra stuff, and people will buy that thinking that it has all of the bells and whistles!"), but it still kind of stinks. I would have happily waited until the extended edition was all finished; I didn't need to be "tided over" for a few months.

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Hey, you gotta spend your money on something.

Heh. Too true. I'm currently upgrading my computer now, and it's always fun picking and choosing what new computer goodies to throw my money away on. It's not enough that I waste all of my time on games, I have to throw away my paychecks too. I've just upgraded to 512MB RAM, and now I'm trying to decide if the GeForce 4 is really necessary right now. Then there's the optical mouse I want to get...ack!!