I declare January to be...

[Dr.Epic]

...Lord of the Rings month! Why? And how? Well, I decided, every day next month I will watch one of the extended films in the trilogy. On the first I'll watch the Fellowship, second Two Towers, third day of January I watch Return of the King then the next day I start the cycle over. Now, since 31 can't be divided by 3 and the result be a whole number, on the 31st I'll watch all three films. Just thought I'd share this with you all and post back with how I'm doing and if anyone has every done anything similar. Wish me luck and that I don't get tired of hours of Elijah Wood.

[Mercenary Pen]

It is required that you watch the trilogy once through in the mindset of Random Orc #76. That is all.

[Dr.Epic]

It is required that you watch the trilogy once through in the mindset of Random Orc #76. That is all.

Random Orc #76 is a annoying whining man child. Now Random Orc #356 is an awesome bad ass.

[VanBuren]

You must root for Sauron and/or the Ring in at least one playthrough.

[Felixc-91]

You must root for Sauron and/or the Ring in at least one playthrough.

agreed. props to epic and i hope you don't get board.

[Dr.Epic]

You must root for Sauron and/or the Ring in at least one playthrough.

I always root for Christopher Lee.

[Dubious Pie]

I demand you post every day immediately afterward.

[JonestheSpy]

...Peter Jackson's Movie Adaptations of Lord of the Rings month!

Fixed that for you.

Really, would it be too bold of me to suggest reading Lord of the Rings some time in January too?

[Dr.Epic]

I demand you post every day immediately afterward.

How many times do I have to re-post

-the Fellowship breaks apart
-they win the Battle of Helms Deep
-the ring is destroyed
-I've wasted so many hours of my life

[truemane]

How many times do I have to re-post

-the Fellowship breaks apart
-they win the Battle of Helms Deep
-the ring is destroyed
-I've wasted so many hours of my life

Exactly eleven times, if you keep to schedule.

You should certainly read the books this month too. That way you can see hte movies as an adaptation and gain some insights into why they made certain changes and did certain things. Watch them once each with each Commentary track to get some background info.

And maybe pick up a couple of supplemental volumes that discuss the mythos of LOTR in light of the myths and legends that Tolkien was drawing from.

If you're going to spend the whole month on LOTR, I would suggest using it to deepen your connection to it, instead of repeatedly consuming it.

Or, I mean, just get a Keg of Mountain Dew and some Cheetos and go to it. Whatever works for you.

I'd like to hear how it's going through the month, too.

[Dr.Epic]

Oh, and I'm think about making this a yearly tradition. Why? Because I'm apparently obsessive compulsive like that.

[Ranger Mattos]

Did you happen to know that J. R. R. Tolkein was born on January 3, or is this just coincidence?

[Dr.Epic]

Did you happen to know that J. R. R. Tolkein was born on January 3, or is this just coincidence?

Yeah, I wrote report on him in 12th grade.

[Leecros]

Did you happen to know that J. R. R. Tolkein was born on January 3, or is this just coincidence?

perhaps that's why he picked this month?




also i have Fellowship memorized....i almost literally never have to watch it again i can just play it through my head.
When it came out on cable....i swear it was on every weekend for the longest time...must've watched it a dozen times or more

[Xondoure]

perhaps that's why he picked this month?




also i have Fellowship memorized....i almost literally never have to watch it again i can just play it through my head.
When it came out on cable....i swear it was on every weekend for the longest time...must've watched it a dozen times or more

Council of Elrond dialogue go!

[Grumman]

Oh, and I'm think about making this a yearly tradition. Why?

Because you want to devote 1% of your life to watching the same 9 hours of movies, over and over again?

[MammonAzrael]

For different spins you can watch the extended version with all their various commentaries.

And one watch through should be to the script of DM of the Rings if you can.

[CynicalAvocado]

Council of Elrond dialogue go!

from distant lands, friends of old. You have been summoned here to answer the threat of Mordor. Middle-Earth stands upon the brink of destruction. None can escape it. You will unite or you will fall. Each race is bound to this fate, this one doom.

Bring forth the Ring, Frodo

[Temotei]

Lord of the Rings?

[dgnslyr]

I'm looking forward to a log of your endeavor. You will post the state of your sanity every day for this next month, yes?

[Mercenary Pen]

Random Orc #76 is a annoying whining man child. Now Random Orc #356 is an awesome bad ass.

Fair enough, but for that watch through, you have to want the entire fellowship dead- preferably at your hands.

[Amiel]

Are you of legal drinking age?
You could make a drinking game out of your movie marathon; any time the word Mordor, elf, orc et al is mentioned you have to raise your glass in toast and imbibe.

[CynicalAvocado]

Are you of legal drinking age?
You could make a drinking game out of your movie marathon; any time the word Mordor, elf, orc et al is mentioned you have to raise your glass in toast and imbibe.

lets hope he lives near a hospital

so legolas, where are they taking the hobbits?

[Selrahc]

So the objective here is to make yourself hate the lord of the rings movies with a burning fiery passion yeah?

[Dr.Epic]

OHMYGOD! This is the greatest movie I ever saw!

One spoiler to rule them all:

Spoiler

Show

So it starts off with this prologue. A long, long time ago in a Middle Earth far, far away...there were these three elf guys with rings. Then, there were these seven hairy guys with rings. There were dwarves. Hey, wait; seven dwarves? Why doesn't Snow White get a ring? Anyway, then these nine humans get rings. But Sauron, who's this 12 foot tall guy in spiky armor made his own ring and he's like "I can conquer everything with this ring!" So the elves and men are like "Let's go kick his ass," "Okay." So they have a huge battle with all the orcs, and finally Sauron shows up and he's blasting everyone away with his mace. But then, Isildur takes a broken sword and slices off Sauron's fingers. And Sauron's like "AAAAHHH! My fingers! My one weakness!" That's a pretty weird weakness. Could they not afford Kryptonite?

Wait? Did they just kill the main bad guy in the first five minutes? Why do people always saw these films are long? The bad guy was killed right away. This is the shortest movie ever - oh, wait there's more:

So much later Isildur takes the ring, but he's ambushed by orcs, so he puts the ring on and turns invisible. But the ring is like "Screw you!" So it leaves him and Isildur is killed by orcs. Then, like two thousand years pass and Gollum finds it. But hundreds of years later, the rings like "Screw you!" and then this bobbit finds it: Bilbo Baggins.

So years later, Ian McKellen shows up in this place called the Shire where the hobbits live. And he meets Elijah Wood who's a hobbit. And they talk and then Ian McKellen meets Bilbo and they talk. Then it's Bilbo's birthday. They dance and sing and are attacked by a fireworks dragon. But Bilbo puts on the ring and is like "Screw you guys, I'm going home." Poof. He vanishes. And back home Ian McKellen's like "Give me the ring. It's bad for you." And Biblo's like "No. Finders keepers!" And Ian McKellen's like ANGRY VOICE! So Bilbo all dramatically drops the ring. Ian McKellen gives it to Elijah Wood and leaves.

Then, months later, Ian McKellen returns and tells Elijah Wood to give him the ring. He does and Ian McKellen tosses it into the fire. What a perfectly good waste of a good ring. And Elijah Wood is like "Hey! That was my ring!" But it's okay because the ring is pure evil and has this weird glow-y text on it. So Ian McKellen tells Elijah Wood to leave the Shire, but that one kid from the Goonies overheard so he has to go with them. So they walk for days and days.

Meanwhile, Ian McKellen goes to Christopher Lee to discuss the ring. Ian McKellen's like "We must destroy the ring!" But Christopher Lee is like "HA! HA! I'm evil! We must give the ring to Sauron!" "Bastard!" So they old man fight with magic and just knock each other over several times when Christopher Lee takes Ian McKellen's staff and sends him hurling into the air.

Meanwhile, Elijah Wood and the Goonies kid are still walking when they are ambushed by two more hobbits in a field. One's that guy from Lost and the other guy isn't. So they run away from this farmer they were stealing crops from when they fall off a cliff. Then Elijah Wood's like "Quickly, let's hide!" So they hide from this cloak guy who's all in black. Then, they run from the cloak guy and Elijah Wood leaps onto a raft. ACTION SCENE!

They get to Bree. Four hobbits walk into a bar. The punchline is the aristocrats. Elijah Wood asks the bartender where's Ian McKellen and he's like "He's not here." So then the hobbits mope around and get drunk when they see a creepy guy off in the corner of the bar. Elijah Wood falls and the rings slips onto his finger. Then he see Sauron who's this big eye. "I spy with my eye a halfling!"

But the creepy guy in the corner picks up Elijah Wood and brings him into a room and it turns out to be Viggo Mortensen. And the other hobbits break into the room and are like "What's going on? Don't hurt Elijah Wood!"

So the creepy guy in the black cloak is returns and this time he brought his friends. They break into the bar and go to stab the hobbits but surprise: our hobbits are in another bar. The hobbits and Viggo Mortensen then spend more time walking. They get to this hill top place when the hobbits make bacon. Mmmm, bacon. But Elijah Wood is like "No, the cloak guys will see us!" And they do. The guys in black cloaks swarm the place and one stabs Elijah Wood. But then Viggo Mortensen goes all bad ass and fights the cloak guys away and even throws a torch into on guys face.

So Viggo Mortensen tells the hobbits that soon Elijah Wood will become a creepy black cloak guy too unless they help him. So they walk more when Liv Tyler appears and she takes Elijah Wood to Rivendell but the cloak guys pursue them but a huge wave defeats the black cloak guys. Elijah Wood passes out and when he wakes up he's in the Matrix and Agent Smith is there. "Hello Mr. Baggins." Wait, no it wasn't the Matrix but Hugo Weaving's there and he's an elf. Gandalf's there and he tells Elijah Wood Christopher Lee captured him but he told a moth to bring an eagle and that's how Ian McKellen escaped.

Ian McKellen and Hugo Weaving talk and decide they must destroy the ring. "It is purpose that drives us." So they call a council and Sean Bean, and Orlando Bloon, and Gimli - the only person hairier than ZZ Top - and more people arrive. But before the council we have scenes of Viggo Mortensen and Liv Tyler flirting. Also, there's this scene where Hugo Weaving tells Viggo Mortensen how he's destined to be king. "It is unavoidable." So at the council Hugo Weaving's like "We must destroy the ring!" And Gimli's like "Okay." So he smashes it with his axe but the axe breaks and the ring is fine. Maybe it was opposite day. And Hugo Weaving tells them it can only be destroyed in the fires of Mount Doom. But Sean Bean is like "Let's use the ring!" But Viggo Mortensen is like "No, no one can!" So everyone starts fighting when Elijah Wood is like "I'll do it." And Ian McKellen, and Viggo Mortensen, and Sean Bean, and Orlando Bloon, and Gimli, and the other hobbits are like we'll come to. And Hugo Weaving says you're the Fellowship of the Ring. Two hours into the film and we finally get a title drop.

-part two to come later

[JonestheSpy]

Well, if it's just going to be movies, you should get the Ralph Bakshi version in there somewhere - it's got some great moments, and Jackson put some clear shot-for-shot homages to it into Fellowship.

And the Rankin and Bass Return of the King was pretty cool too. Much truer to the book than Jackson's version imho, though it skipped some important chunks like the Paths of the Dead. On the other hand, it doesn't have Denethor setting himself on fire, then changing his mind about his method of suicide and dashing a few hundred yards across town while still blazing to throw himself off a cliff, so that's a plus.

[Dr.Epic]

Okay, Lord of the Rings the Fellowship of the Ring part 2 Electric Boogaloo

spoilers

Spoiler

Show

So Elijah Wood is in Rivendell and Bilbo's giving him all his gear. Then Bilbo see the ring and OH MY GOD! What the hell happened to his face? Seriously, for half a second Bilbo goes all Large Marge from Pee Wee's Big Adventure. So the fellowship Leaves Rivendell and they walk. Have you noticed there's a lot of walking in this films? They should call it Lord of the Walking the Fellowship of the Walking.

Meanwhile Christopher Lee is making an army of orcs. He grows them or something and he digs them up from underground. Orcs are grown? I want to plant some orcs! But Christopher Lee sends his birds to spy on the fellowship. So the fellowship is on this mountain now and Christopher Lee makes the mountain's dandruff fall on them. Or maybe that was just snow. So Gimli's like "We have to go through the mines!" And Ian McKellen's like "What do you think Elijah Wood?" And he's like "Yes! It's friggin' freezing out here!"

So they make it to the entrance to the mines which is hidden but then the entrance lights up like a light bright. Those dwarves must have been pretty clever to make their mine entrance a light bright. Ian McKellen's like "I don't remember the password." But Elijah Wood's like "I figured out the answer: it's friend." So the mine opens but everyone inside is dead. They try to leave but OH NO! Random encounter! A squid monster tries to eat Elijah Wood but they rescue him and flee. No xp. Now they're trapped in the mine.

So they walk more - big shock. And they reach a fork in the road. Not a literal fork because that would hurt but multiple paths. Ian McKellen's like "I forget the way." So the wait. Then Elijah Wood's like "I hear something." And Ian McKellen's like "It's Gollum." "Bilbo should have killed him!" "Not everyone deserves to die." So then Ian McKellen remembers the way and says when in doubt follow you nose. Ian McKelln is Toucan Sam. This film just got much better.

So the fellowship makes it to this room and Gimli's like "No, more dead dwarves! I'm sad!" But then Elijah Wood pulls out his sword that glows blue. Wait, glowing sword. He has a light saber. No, it just means there's orcs. So the orcs arrive and there's a fight. Elijah Wood is stabbed by this troll but it's okay because he had armor. Ian McKellen's like "There's more to this hobbit than meets the eye." What? Elijah Wood is a transformer! This movie keeps getting better! Ian McKellen's Toucan Sam, Elijah Wood is a transformer with a light saber. Maybe Gimli will turn out to be Yogi Bear. He's only slightly less hairier.

So they run some more when they're surrounded by like a bijillion orcs. But then this balrog shows up and the orcs are like "Oh crap! Run!" So the fellowship also runs when they get to his gap. Everyone leaps over and the hobbits are tossed. Viggo Mortensen tries to toss Gimli but he's like "No one tosses a dwarf!" He doesn't watch much barroom sports does he?

So they make it to a bridge but the balrog shows up. Ian McKellen's like "You shall not PASS!" and the bridge collapses. The balrog falls into the chasm. Wait, if balrogs have wings, why can't it just fly up? Oh well, it doesn't matter because he snags Ian McKellen's with his whip. He falls off too. Elijah Wood's like "NNNOOOOOOOOO!!!" Everyone's sad.

So the fellowship makes it to these woods when they're ambushed by elves. The elves take them to their city. One elf asks them "Hey, where's Ian McKellen." Awkward. So later, Elijah Wood talks to this one elf lady and she's like "Look into this water." "Okay" Holy Crap! The water shows Elijah Wood all his friends being tortured! And he's see the big eye again and the ring is like "Hey! That's me in the water! I want to go in!" But Elijah Wood stops the evil ring. What kind of crazy water is this? Then the elf is like "If I take the ring I will become terrifying and beautiful! I have passed the test." And Elijah Wood is like "I can't do this." And she's like "Shut up. Yes you can." "Okay." So they leave but the elves give them gifts like bows, swords, rope, bread, and the dwarf asks for three hairs from the elf lady. What? Gimli's hairy enough. Don't give him more hair. That's like giving a cow milk or Michael Bay explosives.

Now the fellowship is in canoes. What? No more walking? That was my favorite part! So they make camp and everyone's like "Where's Sean Bean and Elijah Wood?" Cut to Elijah Wood. Sean Bean shows up and he's like "Give me the ring!" And Elijah Wood is like "No, you're all evil now." "Give me it! I got like four feet on you." Poof. Elijah Wood vanishes, but Sean Bean is like "No! What have I done? I'm sorry!" So Elijah Wood sees the evil eye again so he takes the ring off. He then sees Viggo Mortensen and Elijah Wood is like "I have to go by myself." And Viggo Mortensen is like "Okay."

But oh no! Orcs show up and Viggo Mortensen is like "Run hobbit! Run!" So there's this horde of orcs right behind Viggo Mortensen. How'd they sneak up on him? You'd think a massive horde of large orcs in armor would be easy to see. So Viggo Mortensen fights the orcs and soon Gimli and Orlando Bloon show up and kick some ass too. Orlando Bloon even sticks his arrow in an orcs eye and uses it to shoot another orc. Awesome!

So the orcs are looking for the hobbits and they try to get the guy from Lost and that other guy but Sean Bean is like "You can not has hobbits." But this one orcs shoots him full of arrows. ARROW'D!!! And they take the hobbits. So the orc is about to kill Sean Bean when Viggo Mortensen sweeps in. They fight when finally Viggo Mortensen is like "Screw you!" DECAPITATION! Sean Bean dies anyway and they float his body down a waterfall. That wasn't too considerate.

So Elijah Wood gets in a canoe and starts to leave but the kid from the Goonies is like "I'm coming with you!" And Elijah Wood is like "No. I'm going alone." So the Goonies kid tries to swim after him but can so Elijah Wood saves him and the Goonies kid is like "I'm coming with you." "Okay." So Orlando Bloon is like "We have to go after them!" And Viggo Mortensen is like "No we don't. Let's hunt some orcs!" And Gimli's like "YES! Excessive gore!" So they run off. Meanwhile Elijah Wood and that other hobbit continue to walk.

Wow what a great movie! If you ask me though, not enough walking. I mean there were actually scenes where characters went moving there feet one in front of the other to reach a destination.

Oh, and CHANGE! You got change? Come on, help a guy out

[CynicalAvocado]

dr, that was the best reiew eer

[Dr.Epic]

dr, that was the best reiew eer

Best reiew eer? What about the best review ever? Nah, I'm joking I know what you mean. Did you get the reference or are you not a That Guy With The Glasses fan?

[CynicalAvocado]

Best reiew eer? What about the best review ever? Nah, I'm joking I know what you mean. Did you get the reference or are you not a That Guy With The Glasses fan?

can't say that i've heard of it. sorry about the v's that key is givving me trouble