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[bengraven]

I was prepared to hate it.

I hated the cast (for the most part, loved the casting of the wizards), I wasn't sure of Peter Jackson's ability to do an epic fantasy, the first darkened pictures of art design looked horrible, the CGI in the first trailer looked shitty. At best I was expecting a B- trashy flick to watch every few years when it was on Cinemax while I waited for the remake by a crew and cast I actually appreciated.

I went to it alone because my girlfriend at the time agreed: "that looks fucking terrible and worse, I've only read the Hobbit and that was just okay".

So I go to it opening night just because, I mean, it's LOTR, it can't be that bad. I disliked the prologue at first, feeling it was a bit overdramatic and the CGI in the Mount Doom part is still, to this day, the weakest in the trilogy. I was worried it was setting the scene for terrible. The Frodo intro, eh, the Gandalf part, decent and sets up the relationship but kind of uncomfortable and THEN FUCKING "CONCERNING HOBBITS" KICKS IN AND THEY LOOK OVER HOBBITON AND MY EYES WELL UP WITH TEARS.

I ran out after the show. I got in my car and stumbled for my cell phone. "You have to see it," I told my girl, "You have to fucking see this movie. You have to. I...I was wrong."

I took her to it the next night because we both have, even to this day, fairly similar tastes in films.

I wasn't looking at her and her reactions. At Gandalf's last scene she hands me a tissue and I roll my eyes and give her a look of disdain, thinking she's mocking me. But when I look over, she's sobbing. "What the---you like it?" I whisper to her. "This is the most beautiful movie I've ever seen". When the film ended she stood up and screamed "that was IT?".

We bought the soundtrack that night at Walmart and played it on repeat. She said that for months afterwards I would still tear up during certain songs involuntarily.

Great film. Greatest trilogy.

 

[Harry Dresden]

You'd be better off reading the LOTR wiki, rather than the Similarion.

 

[Kud Dukan]

Since I rate the trilogy as a singular movie. And therefore the greatest movie ever made, I can pretty much say these films were life altering.

I completely agree. In my head it is just one insanely long film. If I was forced to pick a favorite though, I'd probably pick Fellowship of the Ring. There is just something magical about the first one. It might have something to do with that being my first exposure to Lord of the Rings though.

 

[bengraven]

Oh:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BS0jOvk5zYA

I completely agree. In my head it is just one insanely long film. If I was forced to pick a favorite though, I'd probably pick Fellowship of the Ring. There is just something magical about the first one. It might have something to do with that being my first exposure to Lord of the Rings though.

 

[BobDylan]

Just started reading the trilogy. A few chapters into fellowship and its like experiencing the movies for the first time all over again.

Edit: @bengraven I think concerning hobbits really set the tone how great the films were going to be. Hands down my favorite track from any movie I have ever seen. I listen to it all the time still. In fact I took acid last weekend and just played the song on repeat for a good portion of the trip, I remember thinking how fucking beautiful it was to the point where when the song ended I could have just started balling tears of joy

 

[GCX]

I remember my dad being so amazed by the film. He had the "okay kids let's go see this dumb fantasy movie" mentality but afterwards he was like "What... just happened..? I... Umm... How's that POSSIBLE?!"

 

[Veidt]

I will find no rest here. I heard her voice inside my head. She spoke of my father and the fall of Gondor. She said to me, even now, there is hope left, but I cannot see it. It is long since we had any hope. My father is a noble man, but his rule is failing, and our people lose faith. He looks to me to make things right and I would do it. I would see the glory of Gondor restored. Have you ever seen it, Aragorn? The White Tower of Ecthelion, glimmering like a spike of pearl and silver, its banners caught high in the morning breeze. Have you ever been called home by the clear ringing of silver trumpets?

Timeless.

 

[Wanace]

Loved the books, saw all the films in the theater, but at the end of RotK, my bladder was screaming at me and cursing every fake ending.

 

[bengraven]

For me the grief is still too near.

 

[Mr_Zombie]

How many here have seen the movies but not read the books?

I read the books BECAUSE I wanted to see the movies.

I knew that it would be hard for me to read them after seeing the movies (part of fun is gone if you already know the story) so I forced myself and borrow the trilogy from a friend. Great books.

 

[TCRS]

I've watched FoTR so many times, but it just never gets old. I'm going to watch all three extended versions again around Christimas.

 

[Edmond Dantès]

I really like the brief moment Bilbo and Gandalf share just before the party.

"Gandalf my old friend, this will be a night to remember".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAZpjWZRNAc

 

[`Moe Joe.]

10 years old and I still can't forget about this tripe.

I remember falling asleep in the cinema during LOTR 1

 

[Wurst]

I've never seen Fellowship in the cinema. I hated the movie just because of the melancholic Enya song that they played on the radio and on MTV. I hated it.

A year later I gave in and we watched Fellowship on DVD. The magic happened and I was the first who got tickets for Two Towers. Good times. I treasure all the great memories I have with the trilogy.

Then I went to New Zealand this year and experienced the sheer love the Kiwis have for the movies. It couldn't have been done in any other country.
Visited WETA and all the locations. I even had a glimpse at the shooting of the Hobbit.
I tell you, it was a dream come true walking through the Shire and Hobbiton with the nerdiest tour guide you'll ever encounter. NZ is breathtaking.

That said I feel really, really old. Greatest movies trilogy ever.

Spoiler

..after Star Wars 1-3

 

[Dragon]

Yeah, that's a big one too. They should've at least had ONE line saying "The Eagles...are far too proud and wild to deal with men." or something similar to explain that hole. Everyone came out of ROTK asking that one.

I thought it was more that the Eagles would get massacred by the Nazgul. They seemed to have a good enough relationship with Gandalf to be able to carry them to Mount Doom otherwise.

For me the grief is still too near.

Frodo lives!

 

[Minamu]

Had a marathon a couple of weeks back of the extended editions. It was epic

 

[The Albatross]

I started watching the second one in 2003... It's about 60% of the way through now. Hoping it finishes by 2014.

Oh look another epic battle scene with slow mo zoom ups on people's faces as they're screaming or cowering in fear

Oh hay you thought this was gonna end 20 minutes ago? nope sorry another 12 minutes. Oh wait no, another 36 minutes.

Epic battle scene with slow mo zoom ups on people's faces.

Translation: First one's pretty good, the other two are some of the most excruciatingly annoying movies I've ever watched. My dad had his hip replaced in the middle-oughts and I took the week off from work to help him get around the house when he first came home, and so we decided to watch these movies. Fucking mistake. We both read the books and enjoyed them, but trying to watch the stupid movies is like an exercise in testing your attention limits.

I've watched FoTR so many times, but it just never gets old. I'm going to watch all three extended versions again around Christimas.

Extended version?!

Listen, bro, I'll save you the time. Turn off the lights in your room/office, and just stare at these photos for 4 hours:

K, that basically summarizes LOTR 2 & 3.

 

[Boogalogist]

Greatest movies trilogy ever.

Spoiler

..after Star Wars 1-3

Would've been more credible if you said

Spoiler

4-6

instead

 

[Grisby]

For me, its the greatest trilogy ever.

Was 17 and saw it with a huge group of friends. Seriously it was like 8 or 9 people. Every year after that the same group went to see the next one. It was like our own mini fellowship.

Except for RTOK. I saw that with the group but caught a midnight showing of all 3 movies, extended editions, with my best friend. It was an all day experience and was great.

 

[Carlisle]

Wow, 10 effing years already? I remember seeing it with two highschool buddies in theaters. One of them was big into fantasy books and had read LotR several times, and he was the one dragging us along. I hadn't even heard of it before the movie trailers, and probably got it confused with Lord of the Flies or Lord of the Dance or something.

After the movie, I thought it was good. Amazing production values and music, but other than that it was ok. I didn't get all the hubbub at the time. Then out of curiosity I went back and read The Hobbit, which gave me a new angle and appreciation for Middle Earth and its inhabitants and histories. I got really into the world, got LotR on DVD and nearly wore it out. I was obsessed, and thus first in line at TT and RotK.

So fucking good. Reading The Hobbit changed everything for me. I still haven't finished the actual LotR books, but they're on my list.

 

[rogue74]

I was prepared to hate it.

I hated the cast (for the most part, loved the casting of the wizards), I wasn't sure of Peter Jackson's ability to do an epic fantasy, the first darkened pictures of art design looked horrible, the CGI in the first trailer looked shitty. At best I was expecting a B- trashy flick to watch every few years when it was on Cinemax while I waited for the remake by a crew and cast I actually appreciated.

I went to it alone because my girlfriend at the time agreed: "that looks fucking terrible and worse, I've only read the Hobbit and that was just okay".

So I go to it opening night just because, I mean, it's LOTR, it can't be that bad. I disliked the prologue at first, feeling it was a bit overdramatic and the CGI in the Mount Doom part is still, to this day, the weakest in the trilogy. I was worried it was setting the scene for terrible. The Frodo intro, eh, the Gandalf part, decent and sets up the relationship but kind of uncomfortable and THEN FUCKING "CONCERNING HOBBITS" KICKS IN AND THEY LOOK OVER HOBBITON AND MY EYES WELL UP WITH TEARS.

I ran out after the show. I got in my car and stumbled for my cell phone. "You have to see it," I told my girl, "You have to fucking see this movie. You have to. I...I was wrong."

I took her to it the next night because we both have, even to this day, fairly similar tastes in films.

I wasn't looking at her and her reactions. At Gandalf's last scene she hands me a tissue and I roll my eyes and give her a look of disdain, thinking she's mocking me. But when I look over, she's sobbing. "What the---you like it?" I whisper to her. "This is the most beautiful movie I've ever seen". When the film ended she stood up and screamed "that was IT?".

We bought the soundtrack that night at Walmart and played it on repeat. She said that for months afterwards I would still tear up during certain songs involuntarily.

Great film. Greatest trilogy.

Hold on...you didn't marry this girl?

 

[gollumsluvslave]

Tolkien uber-geek of nearly 30 years (i'm 37 and 1st read the Hobbit when I was 8)

Can't really praise PJ and co highly enough for the achievement that is the Lord of the Rings movie.

Like the book, IMO it's not technically a trilogy, but a movie in 3 volumes.

Sure, there are a couple of minor deviations from the source that upset some purists, but if I'm being honest most of the flaws of the movie are probably more attributable to the adaptation being TOO slavish to the source.

I can remember the midnight showing I went to of Fellowship like it was yesterday, my faince expected to HATE the movie but she was rivetted and loved it as well.

The Balrog especially just blew me away, it was astonishing.

So many great parts that PJ and his writing team did in terms of taking some great dialog in the book and fitting it into the movie in amazing ways - just a few:-

- 'all we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us'

Moved from Shadows of the Past in the book to Moria in the film (then re-capped beautifully in the Breaking of the Fellowship) - possibly my favourite movie moment ever.
​

- Billy Boyd's singing over Denethor's gluttony and Faramir's suicide charge in ROTK; this verse is taken from The Old Forest chapter in the Fellowship book to amazing effect.

- All the little nuances around Aragorn and Arwen taken from the Appendices; especially these

Book (Aragorn's death, and Arwen's subsequent decline):-

"Estel, Estel!" she cried, and with that even as he took her hand and kissed it, he fell into sleep. Then a great beauty was revealed in him, so that all who after came there looked on him with wonder; for they saw the grace of his youth, and the valor of his manhood, and the wisdom and majesty of his age were all blended together. And long there he lay, an image of the splendour of the Kings of Men in glory undimmed before the breaking of the world.
But Arwen went forth from the House, and the light of her eyes was quenched, and it seemed to her people that she had become cold and grey as nightfall in winter that comes without a star. Then she said farewell to Eldarion, and to her daughters, and to all whom she had loved; and she went out from the city of Minas Tirith and passed away to the land of Lórien, and dwelt there alone under the fading trees until winter came. Galadriel had passed away and Celeborn had also gone, and the land was silent.
There at last when the mallorn-leaves were falling, but spring had not yet come, she laid herself to rest upon Cerin Amroth; and there is her green grave, until the world is changed, and all the days of her life are utterly forgotten by the men that come after, and elanor and nimphredil bloom no more east of the sea.

Contrast with the sequence from The Two Towers:-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6mc3Fv7vDM
Weaving's delivery coupled with the imagery here is just goosebumps stuff for me - in the medium of film it is such a great interpretation of the book - I truly think Tolkien himself would have wept at this scene.
​

When Elrond brings Aragorn Narsil in the movie of ROTK he reminds Aragorn what his mother named him - Estel, meaning 'Hope', but it's done in Elvish and is a great little geek-moment; the translation is 'I gave hope to the Dunedain, I kee none for myself', but it's only in subtitles!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5w8yWQwHSaI
​

When Aragorn croons a snippet of the Lay of Luthien in Fellowship, Frodo asks what happened to the elf-maid; Viggo nails the response - 'She Died'. Perfect delivery.

So many great images and moments!

And Howard Shore's score is just unbelievable!

 

[Sibylus]

I don't think I'll ever grow tired of these movies.

 

[kharma45]

I've two friends who've never seen these films, couldn't believe it.

They're going the whole hog with me this week and watching the extended edition of FOTR to see if I can get them watching the rest.

 

[Edmond Dantès]

I don't think I'll ever grow tired of these movies.

Neither will I.

 

[ThatCrazyGuy]

Want to hear my story guys?

The day I first saw FOTR in 2001, somebody called in a bomb threat into our office complex. They told us to go home early. Me and my carpool partner said screw it, lets go to the movies before we go home.

Then I feel in love, with the movie. I left the theater with this magical feeling. From the movie.

Oh how I love you LOTRs.

 

[Something Wicked]

My dear Wii and 360 fans, PS3 and PSP fans, 3DS fans, and the master race... It's the 10th birthday of the Fellowship!

Alas, ten years is far too short a time to live among such excellent and admirable GAFers. I don’t know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve...

 

[PinkCrayon]

and it still looks great. cg still holds up, excellent acting. fantastic movie.

 

[Kwixotik]

So I go to it opening night just because, I mean, it's LOTR, it can't be that bad. I disliked the prologue at first, feeling it was a bit overdramatic and the CGI in the Mount Doom part is still, to this day, the weakest in the trilogy. I was worried it was setting the scene for terrible. The Frodo intro, eh, the Gandalf part, decent and sets up the relationship but kind of uncomfortable and THEN FUCKING "CONCERNING HOBBITS" KICKS IN AND THEY LOOK OVER HOBBITON AND MY EYES WELL UP WITH TEARS.

This. That song, holy Christ.

I still haven't read the trilogy, just The Hobbit. I planned on reading them and listening to the lectures at thetolkeinprofessor.com last summer. I got through the intro lectures and short stories and then some things came up just as I was about to crack open the Silmarillion and I never got started on his more well-known books.

I didn't know what LotR was when it came out. I think I was actually in the third or fourth grade. Everyone in school was talking about it, the teachers were referring to it in class lectures, I was playing with the toys, but my parents wouldn't let me see the movie because I wasn't 13. I still feel like even though I love the movies so much, I still don't really know what LotR is. I'm going to need to read it soon.

 

[LProtag]

I was starting to read the books when I found out movies were coming out, probably when I was in the beginning of middle school, so I was really excited for the movie.

Sam has always been one of my favorite fictional characters and really is the hero of the story for me.

Anyway my friend just got the bluray EE so, going to have to marathon that sometime soon.

 

[Grisby]

Great thread. Best movie of its decade. Boom.

All you have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to you.

*Music swells*
*Frodo pockets the ring and moves toward the boat*
*Sculli cries*

Every goddamn time. I love this post.

 

[bengraven]

Hold on...you didn't marry this girl?

No. The reason she didn't go with me on opening night, I later found out, was because she was on Yahoo chat meeting her future husband.

I later married a girl who watched LOTR and was bored by it, but she's a much better person.

 

[Flying_Phoenix]

Best film "series" ever created.

I did that to series because personally I literally consider all three one big film. I do think RotK is better the FotR, but FotR is easily number 2 in terms of the films released.

 

[gimmmick]

God damn I feel old, great trilogy though. Enjoyed return of the King the most. Saw everyone of them at midnight launch with my brother.

 

[PhoncipleBone]

Best film "series" ever created.

I did that to series because personally I literally consider all three one big film. I do think RotK is better the FotR, but FotR is easily number 2 in terms of the films released.

I consider them one massive film as well. I cannot honestly say which of the trilogy is the best. It is better to just think of them as a whole.

 

[LestradeTGQ]

Great thread. These movies mean so, so much to me. I can't think of another "action adventure" movie experience where I'm sobbing uncontrollably as much as I'm cheering. The post-Gandalf death mourning scene is like watching my own family die, God.

Fellowship is my favourite of the films, too; mostly because I love all the scenes in The Shire (especially in the extended version). It reminds me of home (I'm from the country). The entire first half of the movie, in fact, is pretty emotional.

 

[Kitsunebaby]

This thread made me go listen to all of the music of all three films, and goddamn is it beautiful. I think this is definitely my favorite soundtrack from a movie/series. Every single time I even think about these movies the version of the Lothlórien theme from the helm's deep scene just plays in my head non-stop. Seriously hauntingly beautiful music.

 

[Slayer-33]

10 years went by already?

Jesus fuck..

 

[wetwired]

I loathed the fantasy genre before I saw fellowship of the ring.

Mainly due to the predictable cliches I'd been introduced to by video games, I saw FOTR on opening day on boxing day that year, I was staying at my grandparents for xmas and wanted to get out of the house after several days of family, it was fairly long and there wasn't much else on I hadn't already seen so I went and saw that.

Blew me a way, I immediately went and bought the score straight away. It's still my favourite of the 3, it's pacing is perfect and I think I still have my memories of the first watching that keeps it above the other 2.

 

[markatisu]

All are awesome movies, my favorite is ROTK though

And in case anyone has not watched the Extended Editions you are doing yourself a disservice. They are incredibly well done and much closer to the books then the theatrical releases

ROTK EE >>>>>>>>> ROTK Theatrical, especially the ending latter half of the movie. Completely different meaning to the final battle, etc.

 

[FStop7]

Or how about the eagles? Unless you read the books you're probably wondering why they didn't stage some kind of plan with the eagles flying them there or at least most of the way to begin with.

Also it's not really a straight shot down into the heart of Mount Doom from the top.

 

[Flying_Phoenix]

I don't even consider the "theatrical films" a version of The Lord of the Rings. To me there's the REAL version (Extended Edition) and the trimmed release to make it more accessible to ignorant viewers (The Theatrical Cut). Like in some of the rock or metal songs where there are 4 minute versions of 14 minute songs.

I consider them one massive film as well. I cannot honestly say which of the trilogy is the best. It is better to just think of them as a whole.

The thing about these films is that unlike say Star Wars or other big adventure films, its a legitimately great movie. The writing, the character development, the cinematography, the score, all of it is fantastic and is really deserving as one of the greatest films of all-time.

Also it's not really a straight shot down into the heart of Mount Doom from the top.

Isn't it common sense that Sauron would spot them and send like hundreds of Nazgul against the small population of the eagles?

 

[vatstep]

I don't really have anything to add that hasn't already been said many times in here, but this is definitely my favorite trilogy (even though I do see them as one, very long film) ever. People older than me always talk about how Star Wars was such an event when it first came out, and how nothing else has ever been like it — for me, the LOTR trilogy has that feel, and nothing else has really come close to matching it.

I have such great memories of seeing them all on opening night, and then 2-3 additional times each in the theater (never done that with any other movies). I think the only movie since that I've anticipated nearly as much was The Dark Knight, but it still didn't come close to how hyped I was for this series.

 

[Darkgran]

This is one of my favorite scenes in Fellowship. I love how the music is a foreshadowing to ROTK.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyhIiCHJ71M

Amazing.

 

[Xcellere]

Did anyone besides myself go to "Trilogy Tuesday," when ROTK was played for the first time after the extended editions of FOTR and TT in theaters?

 

[flak57]

Let's see:

I rarely if ever went to the theaters at the time. I think I had only gone and seen some shitty Tom and Jerry movie about 10 years earlier, Prince of Egypt, and Mulan.

I had no idea what Lord of the Rings was. I vaguely remembered seeing commercials on TV, and all I recalled was some ring bouncing around in it. For all I knew it was set in modern day times, with regular people finding some expensive ring. I wasn't even interested enough to formulate in my mind what it might have been about, or to pay attention to the commercials when I had seen them.

I was disappointed to find that Harry Potter was sold out, so I had to settle for this "Lord of the Rings" as part of a family trip to the theaters. So I walked into that the theater with my head down figuratively.

So, can you imagine knowing nothing about Lord of the Rings, never going to the movies or seeing any sort of truly spectacular special effects outside Jurassic Park (on VHS), used to hearing sounds out of shitty old TV built in speakers, on a shitty 30 or less inch screen, and then seeing that opening battle scene in LOTR?

I'm not sure even Disneyland when I was 5 compared to that, and I had fantasized about Disneyland every day for an entire year. (I may be selling that experience short though, my memory is foggy)

Not even Jurassic Park, which I saw at a time when I just happened to be obsessed with dinosaurs and would draw nothing but Velociraptors 500 times a day, before I even knew about the movie.

 

[Altazor]

Isn't it common sense that Sauron would spot them and send like hundreds of Nazgul against the small population of the eagles?

there are only 9 Nazgul, so I think you mean "fell beasts" (AKA those flying reptile/dinosaurs thingies), in which case: yes.

 

[siddx]

10 years later, it's still an awful movie.

 

[TheDarkKnight774]

Has anyone ever marathoned the extended editions in a day? I did. It ain't a picnic.

I do this usually once a year around the holiday break. Its great, but exhausting. When it finishes you too feel like you've been through a pretty big quest

 

[Ramirez]

One of my favorite movies ever. I was only 15 at the time, had no idea that it was a book OR that it was a trilogy, lol.

The Boromir death scene is the highlight of the film, so good.