The Hobbit has a director and a sequel

[Boss Radio]

One last shot before I quit it...

Battlefield Middle Earth by Elrond Hubbard

Thank you very much for allowing me the derail.
Now, back to the actual conversation...

[innerSpaceman]

No, please, the Boss Radio Title Show is much more entertaining. Some of those had me rolling. I'm still in tears.


But titles are more to the point than debating the merits or lack thereof in the Peter Jackson version of LotR. I hope they come up with something better than The Hobbit 2 for a film that would be much better as a LotR prequel that has really zilch to do with hobbits.


I don't suppose I can hope for anything approaching the brilliance of some of the Boss Radio titles above, but surely there can be something better than the misleading working title.

[wendybeth]

Originally Posted by Boss Radio

One last shot before I quit it...

Battlefield Middle Earth by Elrond Hubbard

Thank you very much for allowing me the derail.
Now, back to the actual conversation...

You rock.

[wendybeth]

Honestly, I thought PJ did a wonderful job and have no complaints with his films, particularly the Directors' Cuts. I think he took a very complex story that Tolkein himself thought would be impossible to make a play or film of and made it work. He had to cut things, add things and otherwise do what he could to make it within the many constraints he had (time, money, maintaining story integrity and not pissing off the hardcores too badly) and I admire him tremendously for the final product. Because of that, I forgive him the hugely disappointing 'Kong'.

Now, lets get back to the Boss Radio derail- we wants more, Boss!

[Boss Radio]

Orc and Mindy
There's Something About Merry
Bowling for Gollum-bine (I know, I know)
Frodo Night Lights

[innerSpaceman]

Ok, yeah, Gollum-bine was terrible.


But I'm surprised you had a few good ones left in you.




I won't see which of the batch really sent me into fits. They are SO SILLY.




* * * * *

Wendy, I disagree about the Director's Cuts when it comes to Fellowship of the Ring. Though I like a couple of the added scenes, the editing is atrocious. Never watch it. Comparing the two versions is practically a film class on judicious editing, pacing, suspense building, character establishment and what - good footage notwithstanding - to leave on the cutting room floor for the sake of the referenced qualities.



(The other two films were such a mess, that the relative bloatedness of the director's cuts destroys no such qualities that were never present.)

[Gemini Cricket]

I like the extended cut of Fellowship. I say watch it often. There are wonderful bits added to it.

[Chernabog]

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

Wendy, I disagree about the Director's Cuts when it comes to Fellowship of the Ring.

Actually my understanding was that the director's cuts WERE the theatrical cuts. The extended editions were done for the fans -- and to add scenes that gave additional explanations. The pacing is slower than the theatrical cuts, sure, but having just watched it again I can't say that it was particularly slow paced, not at all.

(The other two films were such a mess, that the relative bloatedness of the director's cuts destroys no such qualities that were never present.)

Actually I think that the extended editions of the last two films added a LOT to things like PJ's version of Faramir and the rationale behind his actions. Plus I liked the Saruman death sequence. I'm not usually emotionally drawn into films, and PJ's LotR has moved me so emotionally every time I've seen it that I am surprised when people say they didn't like it (either because it didn't follow some ideas/characterizations in the book, or they just don't like this genre in general). But to each his own -- I think that the work is a masterpiece and if someone else cannot appreciate it, it's no skin off my arse

[Kevy Baby]

Some day, somebody should make a Best Boy Grip cut of a movie.

[innerSpaceman]

Cherny, I don't mean the extended Fellowship is slowly paced, I mean it's badly paced.

Exhibit A is when suspense is building about the Black Riders arriving in the Shire: Moody scary scene cuts to moody scary scene in the theatrical, and the suspense-building pace is achieved through smart editing. Happy singing scenes with jokes are inserted between the moody scary scenes in the extended edition, and suspense-building is destroyed.


There are other tidbits which, while good individually, wreck the pacing of certain scenes. Stuff with Bilbo, Merry and Pippin at the birthday party; expositionary stuff about mithril in the Mines of Moria. The inserts are good stuff ... but compare them to how the scenes were masterfully paced and edited without them, and it will be apparent what flows more nicely.


Similarly, the entire reworking of Gandalf's arrival in Hobbiton is awful in the extended version. Changing the tone entirely from delightful to dangerous (a misguided introduction to Bilbo Baggins if ever there was one) was a terrible revision. And just compare the re-ordering and insertion of additional shots in this sequence for a lesson in how little but vital a difference there is between a well-constructed sequence and a poor one.


Pfft, the extended version of Fellowship is a textbook case.