|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
lionoferebor
Rohan
Sep 12 2015, 11:49pm
Post #1 of 20
(2311 views)
Shortcut
|
|
The exclusion of Dol Guldur
|
Can't Post
|
|
I seem to have a thing for polls as of late. 
Over on The Hobbit Movie Board another poster has started a thread about how the trilogy would have been better without the inclusion of Dol Guldur. Personally I am not huge a fan of the DG subplot, but at the same time I don't dislike it. If there are subplots (and characters) I could think of excluding from these films, DG isn't one of them.
This said do you feel The Hobbit trilogy would've been better if one of the following subplots was excluded:
Dol Guldur
Kili/Tauriel Romance
Legolas/Bolg feud
Other (please specify)
Or do you feel the trilogy is fine the way it is? Multiple answers allowed.
(This post was edited by lionoferebor on Sep 12 2015, 11:50pm)
|
|
|
Arandiel
Grey Havens
Sep 13 2015, 12:37am
Post #2 of 20
(2262 views)
Shortcut
|
I have other quibbles (the characterizations of Radagast and Beorn - thankfully, my imagination still works fine for those) but I liked the attempt, if not quite fully the execution, to bring in the wider story of Middle Earth that Bilbo and the Dwarves were having their adventure in. So, Dol Guldur's inclusion per se doesn't bother me. I don't even mind having Tauriel around, romance with Kili and all, though I find myself wishing the relationship had been handled differently.
But the whole blood-feud thing between the Orcs and the Dwarves? A total distraction. PJ & Co proved you don't need an in-the-flesh enemy to heighten the dramatic tension in the LOTR trilogy; inserting them into TH seems like a big step backward.
And then there's the visual potty humor throughout TH. No thank you. The Trolls, Goblintown and Laketown are the primary loci for these offenses, and they're so bad, they're among the primary reasons I don't re-watch TH like I do LOTR. I suppose I should be relieved that these particular scenes tend to be the ones that get the most over-the-top dark color grading. I know it's not a subplot, more of a subtheme, but still. This is fantasy, not a slasher series.
|
|
|
Riven Delve
Tol Eressea
Sep 13 2015, 12:58pm
Post #3 of 20
(2214 views)
Shortcut
|
I actually didn't mind the Kili/Tauriel "romance" until BOTFA came along. I thought it went full bore down the cliché road at that point and diminished the respect I had for both characters. (And don't get me started on Tauriel's dialogue in BOTFA... ) I am also in the camp that insists that the heirs of Durin should die together, and the romance hampers that too.
As for Legolas/Bolg...as it turned out to be the stage for most of the OTT Legolas stuff, well, yuck. I had no problem with Legolas being in the Hobbit movies, but I thought the majority of the stunts were just too much. (Yes, I have my favorite Legolas moments--getting saved by Thorin during the barrel sequence, the climbing the falling stairs thing, shooting the Goblins/Orcs coming after Thorin on the frozen river, and of course the return of Orcrist at a certain critical juncture!)
|
|
|
Otaku-sempai
Immortal
Sep 13 2015, 2:16pm
Post #4 of 20
(2199 views)
Shortcut
|
Tauriel's interest in and concern for outsiders was legitimately interesting and Kili's fascination with Elf-maidens might have been an endearing quirk, but turning those elements into a love story was an unneeded distraction from the main plot.
|
|
|
Donry
Tol Eressea
Sep 14 2015, 1:53am
Post #5 of 20
(2145 views)
Shortcut
|
was my least favourite of these. I wouldn't miss it at all.
|
|
|
Kilidoescartwheels
Valinor
Sep 14 2015, 2:58am
Post #6 of 20
(2128 views)
Shortcut
|
Honestly don't know why we couldn't just have the Master - Stephen Fry is very talented. I voted "other." But for the most part, I think the trilogy is fine the way it is; as much as I dislike Alfrid he does serve a purpose, just like Legolas does.
|
|
|
Goldeneye
Lorien
Sep 14 2015, 4:07am
Post #7 of 20
(2121 views)
Shortcut
|
I think Dol Guldur could have worked had they approached it differently...like the original "bridge" film that PJ and Del Toro talked about way back when. Kili/Tauriel was bad fan fiction, and the Legolas/Bolg feud ruined what should have been screentime for Beorn.
|
|
|
Otaku-sempai
Immortal
Sep 14 2015, 2:40pm
Post #8 of 20
(2076 views)
Shortcut
|
Honestly don't know why we couldn't just have the Master - Stephen Fry is very talented.
I am guessing that Fry was not available for the final round of major shooting, necessitating replacing the Master with his lackey once Lake-town was destroyed.
|
|
|
Darkstone
Immortal
Sep 14 2015, 4:55pm
Post #9 of 20
(2066 views)
Shortcut
|
Enough for a multi-season "Game of Arkenstones" type adventure...quest...series..
|
|
|
CFGriffith
The Shire
Sep 14 2015, 5:13pm
Post #10 of 20
(2061 views)
Shortcut
|
I most definitely am not a fan of the "romance" (I was very disappointed they went there -- and not very well-written, sadly -- with a character I had such high hopes for and felt she was far more useful in other ways). As for "other" -- I didn't mind Legolas being in these films, but I really would have preferred less of him and similar "wasted time," and more of the actual characters from The Hobbit.
|
|
|
Annael
Immortal
Sep 14 2015, 5:34pm
Post #11 of 20
(2057 views)
Shortcut
|
I have made no secret of my dislike of PJ's tendency to supersize everything, and for me, the whole "pursuing orcs" arc was the worst example of that. It would have made much more sense to have the orcs be like the Moria orcs of FOTR - and I would have enjoyed the film a lot more without Azog, Bolg, and company.
|
|
|
Fredeghar Wayfarer
Lorien
Sep 25 2015, 5:38am
Post #13 of 20
(1757 views)
Shortcut
|
I despised this subplot. It felt so ham-handed and poorly written and was a huge departure from canon. I had no objection to Tauriel as a character, at least in theory. She seemed pretty cool and it made sense to expand the nameless captain of the guard into an actual character and a foil for Thranduil and Legolas. But shoehorning your new female character into a romance plotline is such a condescending Hollywood move.
"This movie is all swords and weird creatures and stuff. We should put a love story in it for the ladies!" As if women don't like fantasy or can't be in a fantasy movie unless they're someone's love interest. Blurgh.
To be honest, of all the new subplots Peter Jackson added to the films, Dol Guldur is the only one I actually like. Probably because it's at least based on something Tolkien wrote (albeit summarized in an appendix) rather than just seeming like pure fan fiction or Hollywood pandering.
Could it have been improved in some ways? Sure. Could have done without the ghost-from-The-Ring version of Galadriel. Saruman could have been portrayed more heroic and less arrogant and officious. And Thrain's Wilhelm scream death scene was just laughable. But I loved watching the White Council in action and finally getting to see what Gandalf was doing all those times he disappeared in the book.
|
|
|
NecromancerRising
Gondor
Sep 25 2015, 1:27pm
Post #14 of 20
(1737 views)
Shortcut
|
the Legolas/Bolg feud but i liked the Kili Tauriel and Dol Guldur subplots very much.
|
|
|
swordwhale
Tol Eressea
Sep 28 2015, 8:00pm
Post #15 of 20
(1649 views)
Shortcut
|
though I love Tauriel as a character.... that's basically who I played in all the D&D games and living history I did in the 80s and 90s.
|
|
|
Eldy
Tol Eressea
Oct 6 2015, 6:12am
Post #16 of 20
(1534 views)
Shortcut
|
I ended up voting for Dol Guldur though. I didn't like the Kili/Tauriel or Legolas/Bolg plotlines either (though Evangeline Lily did an admirable job with the material she was given), but I am okay in principle with fleshing out supporting characters to give a broader view of the events surrounding Bilbo. Given that we can't get inside Bilbo's head in a movie without narration (which, if it was coming from Bilbo himself, would also have been a change from the book), focusing so narrowly just on him might not have been as effective onscreen. However, I still think that adding the Dol Guldur and Sauron elements was a mistake and indicative of the misplaced priorities for the trilogy (making a LOTR prequel over adapting the book), and so I think cutting out Dol Guldur has to be a higher priority for me. It doesn't help that the DG subplot takes forever to go anywhere and ends with a really meager payoff.
|
|
|
RosieLass
Valinor
Oct 28 2015, 11:37pm
Post #17 of 20
(1331 views)
Shortcut
|
It didn't need any of them, and it would have been better to go smaller scale with the quieter, more intimate story that Tolkien wrote instead of trying to sex it up with flash and action.
|
|
|
Konrad S
Lorien
Oct 30 2015, 10:03am
Post #18 of 20
(1313 views)
Shortcut
|
I dont even understand why they maked that love thing the book says nothing about Kili and a random Wood elf being inlove. Well its only bad that they have that in the Movie..
|
|
|
Otaku-sempai
Immortal
Oct 30 2015, 2:20pm
Post #19 of 20
(1295 views)
Shortcut
|
There are times, Konrad, when one is adapting a story from one medium to another that the source material needs to be expanded upon. Granted, it can be argued that this is not one of those times.
|
|
|
Annael
Immortal
Nov 26 2015, 4:06pm
Post #20 of 20
(1169 views)
Shortcut
|
|
|
|
|
|
