|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Compa_Mighty
Tol Eressea
Sep 15 2008, 10:20pm
Post #1 of 24
(212 views)
Shortcut
|
My Two year TORniversary mathom!
|
Can't Post
|
|
Two years ago, on September 16, 2006, I had just finished reading The Lord of the Rings. I had just rediscovered Peter Jackson’s trilogy and was absolutely stunned with the concept of Middle Earth.
I had arrived late. I didn’t pay much attention to the movies when they were released on theaters, even though I did go see them. They had been little more than the winter blockbuster you had to go see. But now they were something else, and then, late 2006, I was immersed in everything Tolkien. I wanted more. So I went looking on-line for a community where I could talk about Tolkien with other people with the same new found passion I had. I registered at LOTR Plaza about 3 days before I did here. However, I did it with the exact same post. A post with which I arrived cautiously, but eagerly expressing my opinion of what the Hobbit should be like.
MGM’s Harry Sloan had announced a few days before that The Hobbit would be done in two parts, with Peter Jackson on the helm. Peter Jackson had just denied the fact to aintitcoolnews, but commented joyfully about what could happen if it only were true… Here I show you the link to Jackson’s interview, which I often like to quote, and the full text of my original post:
Hey everyone. First of all, I don't what the status is on this forum about liking/disliking Peter Jackson's vision of LOTR. This is my first post ever and I just wanted somewhere to share my views. I’d like to start by saying I saw the movies before I read the books. Peter Jackson did a great job in introducing a lot of people (like me) who didn't have a clue of what LOTR was, or who Tolkien was for that matter, to this wonderful "universe". Then, when I read the books I was completely blown-away. So rich and deep a story. Since then, like many people, I've been waiting for the announcement of The Hobbit movie. I want to see Smaug and Thorin Oakenshield in that same visual richness and detail that WETA, PJ, Alan Lee and John Howe managed to show us in the LOTR trilogy. I want to see Elrond and Gollum, and most importantly Gandalf the Grey the same way I met them for the first time. I wanna listen to Howard Shore's Concerning Hobbits when I go back to visit Hobbiton as Gandalf introduces himself to Bilbo. Heck, I wanna see Toybiz giving us those incredible action figure sculptures, and basically feeling like The Hobbit is part of that world I fell in love with. Part of PJ's vision if wou will. I think that if this movie is to be made every detail has to be taken care of to ensure that continuity, that same feeling. I know you'll probably be thinking by now, "But The Hobbit was different from LOTR, why should the movies feel the same?" Still you felt like of you were in Middle Earth. I know the first thing I did after reading The Hobbit and before I started reading The Fellowship of the Ring was to check exactly where Erebor was in the greater picture. I believe PJ and all his team have set the tone for fans, but most importantly of all those casual and general viewers (who broke box office records, and received the trilogy so well) to what Middle Earth looks like, to what Middle Earth sounds like. To who the characters are. For many, many people Middle Earth exists thanks to Jackson's vision. I don't think that's something to be taken lightly, beyond anything you might want to discuss: if Arwen has too much screen time, if Frodo was too young or if Faramir was nothing like in the book. Having said that, I would like to list some things that I believe would be important (even marketing wise) to make The Hobbit movie part of the LOTR experience. - Bring Jackson, repeatable cast (McKellen, Weaving, Serkis, Holm maybe?) and crew.
- Howard Shore's score.
- Noticed how everything (from action figures to the special editions) had one color for each movie? Green for the Fellowship, Red for Two Towers and Blue for Return of the King? It would be nice if the Hobbit was released in the same format, with another color. Yellow perhaps? I know this conflicts with the whole "Red Book" concept. Still, it shouldn't be overlooked.
- Getting ahead of ourselves, special extended edition in the same format.
- As I mentioned before, same merchandise producers (Toybiz for example)
Those I can think of right now. Anyway, in another note, Peter Jackson talked about the possibility of actually doing The Hobbit here: http://www.aintitcool.com/node/30085 He talks about the possibility of two movies as was announced by MGM last week. If that should happen, he mentions the possibility of exploring the (only implied on the book) White Council, having Aragorn and Legolas for some scenes, etc. (Read the link before making any judgment) Perhaps this actually is a little too much of a departure form the book, and could go either way: enriching the story in a huge way, or ruining it; but well, only time will tell. So there you are, my views on what PJ's input has been on the Middle Earth universe, the need for continuity, and the hope for a not so far away Hobbit movie.
Gramma and weaver were the first ones to answer. And there it was. I had begun a journey that was named TORn.
I registered at TORc as well, but with the passing of the months, I ultimately became installed at our wonderful community here in TORn. People here have become good friends of mine, and we have had wonderful and interesting discussions about Tolkien and almost anything else.
Throughout these couple of years each one of you has been kind enough to open yourselves a little bit and give answers to my opinions, my questions, my requests and my stories… from my talking of my beloved Mexico to my doubts about fascinating New Zealand. You have given your opinion about my HBO Silmarillion 20 chapter series and my two part Hobbit. You have answered my call to tell the community about your town, birthplace and occupation in a thread that received over 200 responses; we have talked about education in different parts of the world, and I received many answers wishing me a good school year and job search only a couple months ago. You also gave me the honor of taking a prize in the Show us your Hobbit Pride Give-away, for a short essay in which I meant every word:
Few things ever move us in the furthest corners of our souls. It is then and only then, that we are compelled to share, to learn more, to create and to dream.
A kiwi director once introduced me to an Oxford scholar. He was a visionary man, who left his talent, his ideas, passions and vast knowledge recorded in paper and ink. They were ready to be shared with the world, and to transcend time.
I was invited, and I honoured the invitation. Suddenly, I was transported to a magical realm called Middle Earth. It was a place where no matter where you were, whether it was a hole in the ground or great halls under a mountain, you actually believed it was real. And in many ways it was.
A life’s work has inspired many in as many different ways. It all started with a hobbit that went to a lonely mountain, and back again to the comfort of his hobbit-hole. It grew to be the greatest myth of our time.
Thank you for making us dream, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien. What a way to do the best with the time you were given!
And I was given the confidence of posting news on the Main Site… for all that I thank you all. It is great to feel appreciated in a community like this.
But it’s not only what you have given me, but what we have shared together over the past 2 years: we saw Peter Jackson kicked out of the production, and we read his heart-breaking letter in November 2006… we satanized poor old Bob Shaye, and years later we felt for him when he was thrown out of his own studio. We lived in Spider-Hobbit territory for a while, and we were there to see how there were conversations with Raimi, and how they fell apart because of fan pressure. We saw the press release of Jackson, Sloan, Shaye and Lynn, bringing PJ, Fran and Phillippa back on board. It was then that we started feeling hopeful again. We shared the growing rumour of Guillermo, and we shared the time someone threw his introductory thread to Off-Topic without knowing it was him. We solved Guillermo’s riddle, and we were all there live, hoping to read the announcement we had been waiting for. We saw the announcement 3 days later… we have seen del Toro become a part of the community, and we sent our questions to PJ and him back in April.
We have suffered four lawsuits: PJ’s, the Kiwis’, Saentz’s second one and Tolkien Estate vs. New Line… we still rely on Kristin Thompson and our friend Voronwë for bits of information.
We have seen the cast unite in favour of Jackson, McKellen and Serkis confirming their return, many people expressing their interest in participating, and the possibility of Daniel Radcliffe, Jack Black or James McAvoy take on the leading role of Bilbo.
We even were together for the release of Children of Húrin!
It has been a great ride, and pre-production hasn’t even started! The following months and years will bring us even more excitement than we already have had… and that’s a lot to say!
If the latest reports are correct, by my third TORniversary principal photography might just be a couple months away, we will know the cast.
Two years later, my sentiments are still the same as in my original post, but with the addition of Guillermo to the Jackson-Walsh-Boyens tandem, the prospect of something even greater than I described is in the air.
We are in for a ride, and there’s no better place to live it than here at The One Ring Dot Net.
Thank you all!
Compa_Mighty
September 15, 2008
Here's to Del Toro becoming the Irvin Kershner of Middle Earth!
Essay winner of the Show us your Hobbit Pride Giveway!
|
|
|
Aunt Dora Baggins
Immortal
Sep 15 2008, 10:24pm
Post #2 of 24
(131 views)
Shortcut
|
You are a great addition to the community. Your posts are insightful and always worth reading. Felicitaciones! (you can laugh at my Spanish now ;-) )
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"For DORA BAGGINS in memory of a LONG correspondence, with love from Bilbo; on a large wastebasket. Dora was Drogo's sister, and the eldest surviving female relative of Bilbo and Frodo; she was ninety-nine, and had written reams of good advice for more than half a century."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"A Chance Meeting at Rivendell" and other stories
leleni at hotmail dot com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(This post was edited by Aunt Dora Baggins on Sep 15 2008, 10:25pm)
|
|
|
dernwyn
Forum Admin
/ Moderator
Sep 15 2008, 11:29pm
Post #4 of 24
(124 views)
Shortcut
|
|
Many happy returns of your TORniversary, Compa!
[In reply to]
|
Can't Post
|
|
Two years already? And what a ride it's been, for you!
Your re-discovery of the LotR movies might be unique: many here read LotR a long time ago, then saw the movies, then re-discovered the texts! But glad you found your way here, and are with us for the full Hobbit ride! 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I desired dragons with a profound desire"
"It struck me last night that you might write a fearfully good romantic drama, with as much of the 'supernatural' as you cared to introduce. Have you ever thought of it?"
-Geoffrey B. Smith, letter to JRR Tolkien, 1915
|
|
|
Loresilme
Valinor
Sep 16 2008, 12:24am
Post #5 of 24
(118 views)
Shortcut
|
Thank you for sharing these thoughts and taking us back through those wonderful memories. I've yet to post a mathom because ones such as yours set the bar so high, I've never even attempted it! But yours is so inspiring, maybe I shall try one someday soon.
Happy TORniversary Compa_Mighty! I always enjoy your articulate and thoughtful posts - it's not surprising at all that you won for your essay!
_______
"We are in for a ride, and there’s no better place to live it than here at The One Ring Dot Net."
_______
So true!!
|
|
|
Silverlode
Forum Admin
/ Moderator
Sep 16 2008, 1:45am
Post #6 of 24
(129 views)
Shortcut
|
And thanks for the trip down memory lane!
Silverlode
"Of all faces those of our familiares are the ones both most difficult to play fantastic tricks with, and most difficult really to see with fresh attention. They have become like the things which once attracted us by their glitter, or their colour, or their shape, and we laid hands on them, and then locked them in our hoard, acquired them, and acquiring ceased to look at them.
Creative fantasy, because it is mainly trying to do something else [make something new], may open your hoard and let all the locked things fly away like cage-birds. The gems all turn into flowers or flames, and you will be warned that all you had (or knew) was dangerous and potent, not really effectively chained, free and wild; no more yours than they were you." -On Fairy Stories
|
|
|
silneldor
Half-elven
Sep 16 2008, 2:37am
Post #7 of 24
(114 views)
Shortcut
|
Thanks for your quite interesting in-depth mathom. And it is always interesting to hear how one wanders into the dark unknown and finds the Glittering Caves of TORn.
It is amazing how the books and the movies bring a fullness to Middle-earth huh? A 'reality' larger than life:).
Glad to have you about CM
"Tolkien, like Lewis, believed that, through story, the real world would become a more magical place, full of meaning. We see its patterns and colors in a fresh way. The recovery of a true view of the world applies both to individual things, like hills and stones, and to the cosmic - the depths of space and time itself. For in sub-creation, in Tolkien's view, there is a "survey" of space and time. Reality is captured on a miniature scale. Through stories like The Lord of the Rings, a renewed view of things is given, illuminating the homely, the spiritial, the physical, and the moral dimensions of the world."
Tolkien and C.S. Lewis- The Gift of Friendship -Duriez
After Sunset
I have an understanding with the hills
At evening, when slanted radiance fills
Their hollows, and the great winds let them be,
And they are quiet and look down at me.
Oh, then I see the patience in their eyes
Out of the centuries that made them wise.
They lend me hoarded memory, and I learn
Their thoughts of granite and their whims of fern,
And why a dream of forests must endure
Though every tree be slain; and how the pure,
Invisible beauty has a word so brief
A flower can say it, or a shaken leaf,
But few may ever snare it in a song,
Though for the quest a life is not too long.
When the blue hills grow tender, when they pull
The twilight close with gesture beautiful,
And shadows are their garments, and the air
Deepens, and the wild veery is at prayer,
Their arms are strong around me; and I know
That somehow I shall follow where you go
To the still land beyond the evening star,
Where everlasting hills and valleys are,
And silence may not hurt us any more,
And terror shall be past, and grief and war.
Grace Hazard Conkling (conclusion of a song recital from the book Lake Minnewaska by W Doughty where he says ''this is not the end of songs which we are certain will continue to rise from gifted minds and hearts in this enchanted realm where sometimes 'great mists lie' but always where 'great dreams rise' ''.) ...Reminds me particularly of the elves and the ents
May the grace of Manwë let us soar with eagle's wings!
In the air, among the clouds in the sky
Here is where the birds of Manwe fly
Looking at the land, and the water that flows
The true beauty of earth shows
With the stars of Varda lighting my way
In all the realms this is where I stay
In the realm of Manwë Súlimo
By El~Cugu
From the website: 'The Realm of Manwe'
|
|
|
Kelvarhin
Half-elven
Sep 16 2008, 3:41am
Post #10 of 24
(110 views)
Shortcut
|
Valinor, O Valinor
Andavë yányë hyarya
Tumna yá nyèna minya fëa
An Valinor, lissë Eldamar
Kelvarhin's Universe~~~~~~~Laerasea's Travelling TORn Journal
One book to rule them all
One book to find them
One book to bring them all
And in TORn bind them
In the land of TORnadoes...where the brilliant play
|
|
|
stormcrow20
Gondor
Sep 16 2008, 4:31am
Post #11 of 24
(114 views)
Shortcut
|
|
What a ride it has been, and will be....
[In reply to]
|
Can't Post
|
|
and what wonderful company with which we share that ride! Happy TORniversary, Compa_Mighty! We offer a thousand thanks for your generous and well-spoken contributions to this community! 
~~~~~~
"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind." -Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel)
Believe in the possibility of the impossible.
|
|
|
Laerasëa
Tol Eressea
Sep 16 2008, 4:53am
Post #12 of 24
(106 views)
Shortcut
|
That was actually a fascinating mathom for someone who hasn't been on TORn for that long- it was kind of like a brief history, but it was cool seeing people's names, too! (hello, gramma and weaver!)
I always enjoy reading your posts, CM, it's fun to have you on here! Happy TORniversary!
********************************
Traveling Journal Official Site
Thanks, Kel, for the amazing site!
Site Updates:
Welcome, Morrowdim, Stormcrow20, and Aunt Dora Baggins!
Guestbook and Forum
There is also a comments page- anyone can leave a comment or question, but please stick to TORn rules on posting!
The journal is in NZ!
"Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever."
- Napoleon Bonaparte
"Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted."
- Albert Einstein
"In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But in practice, there is."
- Yogi Berra
"The only difference between me and a madman is that I'm not mad."
- Salvador Dali
|
|
|
Eledhwen
Forum Admin
/ Moderator
Sep 16 2008, 5:38am
Post #13 of 24
(100 views)
Shortcut
|
Figwit Still Lives!
Calling for a Figwit cameo in The Hobbit since May 2008
|
|
|
Ainu Laire
Tol Eressea
Sep 16 2008, 7:52am
Post #14 of 24
(100 views)
Shortcut
|
Late in the coming or not, it doesn't matter, for you are still here with us!
I loved reading your first post; quite fascinating. Ah, I can't wait to see what you will be discussing 3 years from now in your posts, with the movies so close to release :)
Cheers to my neighbor to the south!
My LJ
My art site
NARF since age 8, when I refused to read the Hobbit because the cover looked boring and icky.
|
|
|
weaver
Half-elven
Sep 16 2008, 2:31pm
Post #15 of 24
(99 views)
Shortcut
|
|
Looks like you arrived precisely when you were meant to...
[In reply to]
|
Can't Post
|
|
At the start of the Third Age or Fourth, or heck I've lost track! It's great to have someone of your enthusiasm and intelligence around as things gear up for the Hobbit -- and to chime in on everything else that's still going on around here as well.
Glad you found us and stuck around! Happy TORniversary and many more!
Weaver
|
|
|
Compa_Mighty
Tol Eressea
Sep 16 2008, 5:03pm
Post #19 of 24
(92 views)
Shortcut
|
It is amazing how the books and the movies bring a fullness to Middle-earth huh? A 'reality' larger than life:).
And I'm glad you said the books and the movies... I've always said the only thing better than a great story is a beautifully illustrated great story. And that's just talking about books.
I have always thought of the movies as a vivid portrayal of what was written by Tolkien... in a way, the enhance the words, even when the words were the ones that created the imagery. Virtuous circle, one could say.
Here's to Del Toro becoming the Irvin Kershner of Middle Earth!
Essay winner of the Show us your Hobbit Pride Giveway!
|
|
|
Peredhil lover
Valinor
Sep 16 2008, 5:07pm
Post #20 of 24
(88 views)
Shortcut
|
And thanks - that was a nice mathom, to read about your first experiences with Tolkien and TORn and your first post here. It was a great way to start at TORn, no doubt!
I do not suffer from LotR obsession - I enjoy every minute of it.
|
|
|
Zmulady
Rohan
Sep 16 2008, 7:16pm
Post #21 of 24
(92 views)
Shortcut
|
and hopefully there will be many more CM!
|
|
|
entmaiden
Forum Admin
/ Moderator
Sep 17 2008, 2:40am
Post #22 of 24
(84 views)
Shortcut
|
Two years certainly fly by, don't they? Glad you found your way here.
Each cloak was fastened about the neck with a brooch like a green leaf veined with silver.
`Are these magic cloaks?' asked Pippin, looking at them with wonder.
`I do not know what you mean by that,' answered the leader of the Elves.
NARF since 1974.
Balin Bows
|
|
|
grammaboodawg
Immortal
Sep 19 2008, 12:43am
Post #23 of 24
(68 views)
Shortcut
|
Wow! You actually remember what your first day was AND have the post to prove it! *applause* BRILLIANT!
Here's to 2 more years TIMES 10!!!
*raises Ice Cream cone*
CHEERS!
"Barney Snow was here." ~Hug like a hobbit!~ "In my heaven..."
I really need these new films to take me back to, and not re-introduce me to, that magical world.
TORn's Observations Lists
|
|
|
|
|
