Return to Middle Earth

[yogi]

I know there's been rumors, but now its official! Can't Wait!

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/chi-hobbit-peter-jackson,0,1727403.story?coll=chi_news_politics_ugc

Peter Jackson signs on for 'Hobbit' films
Settlement with New Line Cinema will add two new movies to Tolkien fantasy saga

[Guest]

Wish that PJ would be directing them, but as long as he has control, I think it should be awesome.

[swerb]

Sweet.

You knew this would eventually get done, the dollars its gonna produce are just too staggering.

Two films? The Hobbit, told over five hours, in two 2.5 hour films?

Read The Hobbit For the first time 3-4 years ago. Looking forward to the films.

[Erie Warrior]

maybe it will be another homo-erotic hobbit cry fest like the last movie. jesus, that flick was like an hour too long

[FUDU]

While I loved LOTR I agree with Erie, there were times I was expecting Froto and Sahm to start making out.

I'm sorry but if your name is Froto or Sam and you're friends with a guy named the other, you are gay. No different than if your name is Jeeves, you're going to be a butler.

[Guest]

How do you know when you've ran into a Lord of the Rings fanatic?

When he bitches about someone not knowing that it's FRODO (donny!)

You can almost never find someone that has loved a particular book who is happy about the movie treatment of it.

Except for LOTR...and the wrap up after being with them for 12 hours of film (in the extended versions) was not only appropriate, it was a 100% necessity, as that is how the books were as well.

Although...I wouldn't have minded another 90 minute movie about "The Scouring of the Shire".

Infidels.

[Joens]

Cool.

got to go re-read the book

[FUDU]

When he bitches about someone not knowing that it's FRODO (donny!)

You're right, it's much gayer spelled that way.

IMO one thing that would have made any of the LOTR's even more enjoyable would have been more fighting between Sauroman and Gandolph.

Damn even the way Frodo said Gandolph drove me mad.

[Mr. MacPhisto]

Sweet.

You knew this would eventually get done, the dollars its gonna produce are just too staggering.

Two films? The Hobbit, told over five hours, in two 2.5 hour films?

Read The Hobbit For the first time 3-4 years ago. Looking forward to the films.

Probably not two films for The Hobbit. It seems like they'll make one for The Hobbit and then use extra material from Tolkien for the second film to bridge between Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.

Tolkien wrote more about the Hobbit later on. There's a piece called The Quest for Erebor that is part of The Silmarillion that goes over everything surrounding what happened during The Hobbit. It details Gandalf's worries about Sauron, for he knew at that time that the Necromancer of Mirkwood was actually Sauron returned. It also delves into Saruman's attempts to prevent the Ring from being found by the others and Saruman's work to prevent The White Council from acting against Sauron too early. Saruman was hoping leaving Sauron alone would draw out the Ring and give him a chance to get it.

My guess is we may see Gandalf in the Necromancer's prison as he encounters Thrain, Thorin's father, and gets the map and key for the Lonely Mountain while discovering that the Dwarven ring held by Thrain's line has been taken. We may see the gathering of the Nazgul, the rebuilding of Barad Dur, Sauron's tower, the gathering of The White Council. It's quite possible that they could condense things and show Gandalf, Saruman, and Radagast the Brown arriving from over the sea, sent by the Valar to help fight against the coming darkness. We may see Cirdan give Gandalf his own ring for safe keeping. We'll see the White Council throw down the Necromancer, forcing Sauron out in the open. We'll probably see Gollum exit the mountains in pursuit of Bilbo.

There's plenty there, but I expect that Bilbo's journey will only take up the first film. If you read the timeline found in the appendix of The Lord of the Rings and read The Quest for Erebor (also found in The Annotated Hobbit, a great version of the tale), you'll see plenty of additional material provided to fill in the gaps and provide some continuity between the films. I'd expect that they hope for these two to move seamlessly into Jackson's trilogy, giving us the opportunity to watch them first and transition into the darkness that follows.

Definitely exciting news. Now if they could only figure out a way to make The Silmarillion palatable to a mass audience. The Children of Hurin is a piece of that and would be more easily adaptable. It'd be amazing to see the first Dark Lord of whom Sauron was only the lieutenant. I'd also love to see the creation of middle earth. Then the large audience would realize that Gandalf and Saruman are actually equals of Sauron, all three Maiar that were there at the creation of middle earth. They're all essentially gods.

[Mr. MacPhisto]

How do you know when you've ran into a Lord of the Rings fanatic?

When he bitches about someone not knowing that it's FRODO (donny!)

You can almost never find someone that has loved a particular book who is happy about the movie treatment of it.

Except for LOTR...and the wrap up after being with them for 12 hours of film (in the extended versions) was not only appropriate, it was a 100% necessity, as that is how the books were as well.

Although...I wouldn't have minded another 90 minute movie about "The Scouring of the Shire".

Infidels.

That or add it and also add Tom Bombadil into the film. I'd have loved to see ole Tom in the film version, but he wouldn't have worked well in a movie just as the scouring of the Shire would have felt like a drag on the movie.

[Cerebral_DownTime]

One big complaint about the LotR movies is the black riders road dragons and anyone who read the books knows they road giant black birds. Smog was the last dragon killed in The Hobbit. I know its stupid but still it bugs me.

[Mr. MacPhisto]

One big complaint about the LotR movies is the black riders road dragons and anyone who read the books knows they road giant black birds. Smog was the last dragon killed in The Hobbit. I know its stupid but still it bugs me.

Well, I never saw them as riding dragons. I'm not sure what they were riding exactly in the films, but I don't think they were dragons. The were large, flying creatures.

Tolkien never called them birds in the books. He just called them "fell beasts" and said that if it was a bird that it was greater than any other with webbed wings and no feathers. He postulated that it was a creature from an ancient world, probably referring to Melkor, the first Dark Lord, and his twisted creations. I always thought they looked like flying dinosaurs, but I think Jackson didn't want to tie these things into anything we'd recognize from our world.

[municipalmutt]

Definitely exciting news. Now if they could only figure out a way to make The Silmarillion palatable to a mass audience. The Children of Hurin is a piece of that and would be more easily adaptable. It'd be amazing to see the first Dark Lord of whom Sauron was only the lieutenant. I'd also love to see the creation of middle earth. Then the large audience would realize that Gandalf and Saruman are actually equals of Sauron, all three Maiar that were there at the creation of middle earth. They're all essentially gods

Speaking of the Silmarillion, I would like to see the War of Wrath with it's massive assault on Thangorodrim on the big screen. Elves fighting dragons and balrogs. Woo hoo.