Although going strictly Tolkien, Gothmog wasn't necessarily an Orc at all

What will happen first, Azog dies in the movies, or GW actually releases a figure for him?:p

Not too keen on the whole rebellious Tauriel either.

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"Mickey, my friend!"

They do like their high walkways without any railings in this part of Middle-earth; Erebor, Goblin town, and now Thranduil's caves...

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Better, though difficult, the right way to go, than wrong, though easy, where the end is woe. John Bunyan - Pilgrim's Progress

I'm a bit disappointed with Thranduil's halls really, I always imagined them to be more carven from the rock with a wooden floor and torches all around...

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'Though my memory's fading, I remember two things very clearly: I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior'
-John Newton

That's exactly how I envisioned them too. Still looks great though.

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"Mickey, my friend!"

Me too!

I love this new trailer! The Elves look great!

My take on the PJ approach to these movies is one of a realist. He is a movie director whose prime focus needs to be to bring people into cinemas to view the movies. That means getting people who have read the books and the MANY who haven't, into the cinemas. That's why the films look like they do and why the action sequences are over the top and why certain changes have to be made. He needs to recoup the big budgets and make lots of money for New Line cinema!!!

How many films out there EVER replicate the novel from which they are taken? VERY few... Does this automatically mean that they are poor? No... Does it automatically mean that they are good? No. The film makers do what they think will work best to make the story translate from book to screen. To me, most of what PJ does works really well. I love the books and I love the films thus far. Most people seem to agree, judging by the popularity of the franchise thus far!

This trailer makes me think I'll really enjoy this one too. I really enjoy anything related to the Elves so the parts relating to Thranduil, etc, in this will, I'm sure, be right up my alley!! Bring on the release date!!! (And bring on the Elf models to accompany it as well!!)

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Thank you

does anyone else think that the figure that jumps on gandalf could very well be thrain?

I think everyone suspects that by now, yes.

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"Mickey, my friend!"

Pretty clearly a dwarf, if you ask me. Looks like he has some sort of claw arm though?

This looks fantastic, can't wait to see it. It looks as though it's going to have a grandeur and stature to it that the first movie (somewhat unavoidably) lacked. And Dol Guldur... yes.



As I understand it there are two different companies supplying CGI for these movies? i know this was the case with the first one (which is why it varies from "good for CGI, we'll see how it holds up in a few years" to "dear sweet gods this is the final CGI for the actual theatrical release of the movie?!") but I'm ill-informed about the second one.

It can't really do worse than the first movie in this respect, though. Azog here looks a lot better than his previous incarnation, seems he's at least ditched the "just escaped from the cutscene of a mid-2000s video game" look.

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Talaan-u rûk-ir tor Urûk
Nauru-ir agh kragoru nûrsu grishûrz
Nork-ulu furtun agh goð
Mordor-ob bot-tuk

I agree.
The lord of the rings is possibly the closest adaptation to film for any (decent) book I've read. Possibly 1984 but so much of the internal monologues were left out. You can complain about the merits of various changes, but to complain about the very existence of changes at all is a waste of time.

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I whole heartedly agree with both statements.

I don't mind changes to the film, as long as they don't ruin the characters. Théoden in the books was a courageous old man. In the movies, he was a cowardly, and rather stupid, old man who very easily gave into despair. Faramir in the books was a brave young man who didn't let the fact that he was overshadowed by his brother and under constant pressure from his father corrupt his morals. In the movies, he was willing to throw his morals and good sense out the windows just for a chance to prove himself to his father. I don't mind the warg attack on the way to Helms Deep, I mind the fact that Théoden was merely going there (incidentally, he was leading his people TOWARDS Isengard) to sit and hide, rather than turning aside when he realized how hopeless an open battle would be.

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Yes but you're not seeing the wider picture. The characters were both given their proper name, family relations, allegiances, geography etc. In most adaptations characters are completely merged, renamed, erased or substituted. Trainspotting to pick one random example. Very little of the book makes it to the screen but the essence is perfect. To pick another which demonstrates the opposite- Never let me go; sticks to characters and plot, but the film is too obvious. LOTR manages to keep all of the main characters, the main plot in the correct running order and stay true to the tone and scope of the books.

I take back what I said earlier, looking at my dvds here Fear and Loathing in las Vegas is probably the most unchanged from the source material.

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I completely understand that, I'm merely saying that the changes to some of the characters (Théoden, Aragorn, Faramir, Frodo) were unnecessary and in some cases (particularly Frodo and Théoden) came close to ruining the characters.

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"Leave Sauron to me."
If you're in the Raleigh, NC area, let me know.

I think they work within the context of the films as a whole. Having said that there are some unnecessary things like gimli's comic relief.

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