They're from Return of the King, and they seem to give evidence that Jackson is going to follow the original of the third part of the story fairly closely, unlike the improvisations and "inspired by" additions that afflicted The Two Towers. How long until December? Not that long anymore. Drool, drool.
Posted by Andrea Harris at October 25, 2003 08:59 PMOh my God! Those are the greatest photos! I don't know how I can wait until Dec. 17th ...
Posted by: Kay F at October 25, 2003 at 09:35 PMexcellent pictures
I like that we're gonna get Shagrat and Gorbag's 'future plans' scene. Didn't know Shagrat was one of the black uruks--the book leads one to believe he's the more standard orc type. Still, I guess having all that armor laying arouns screams for use.
But the pictures I really want are things that might hint that the Scouring of the Shire will be done. If it's not, the movie might end like the Rankin Bass cartoon
Posted by: grsshnahg at October 27, 2003 at 04:38 PMI no longer have any hope for the third movie after seeing The Two Towers. I expect Frodo to happily pitch the ring into the crack of doom, and for that to merely weaken Sauron enough for a knock-down, drag-out fight between Sauron and Aragorn at the end. The hobbits will be cheerleaders during the fight.
Posted by: Scott at October 28, 2003 at 11:38 AMTTT took some...interesting departures--some of which the additional footage will rectify. RoTK is supposed to stick closer to the book--and there are pictures supposedly floating around that appear to show the fate of the Ring--and at least a part of how it meets that fate...correctly
But regardless of problems, a horde of rabid elves couldn't keep me away.
Posted by: grsshnahg at October 28, 2003 at 02:07 PMMovie enthusiasts seem to have an inverse relationship with knowledge of the books. I have incompletely read the first two and was unaffected by changes in Fellowship; Towers gave me a mixed reaction. The out-of-character inventions for the Ents ("They killed my friends! Nooooooooo!") were inexplicably dumb, while the elfish contingent at Helm's Deep was a welcome alteration. The warg scene was pure Hollywood, but I must say the book's expulsion of Wormtongue from the Golden Hall is really tedious. Watching Dune's Piter come within inches of Theoden's wrath was much more satisfying on the big screen. And the added lines building a friendly rivalry between Legolas and Gimli are a great twist.
I recently read a 1998 interview with Jackson, where he made clear his desire to intensify the encounter between Frodo and Faramir - it went far to explain the sort of "Boromir Lite" we saw in the last movie. All in all, these are the best medium translations we've seen in a long time. I'm looking forward to seeing the third installment.
Posted by: Michael Ubaldi at October 29, 2003 at 04:39 PM