Did anyone see ROTK with a "newbie"?"

[Lobelia]

I saw the film, recently, with my brother and sister-in-law. My brother is reading the novel and had some vague notion of what was going on, but my sister-in-law had never read the book and had no idea what was going to happen. She went white-faced in the scenes between Frodo and Sam, reacted emotionally to each new experience, moaned, "Oh, no, I'm an arachnophobe!" and cringed during the Shelob scene. I found it quite touching, really, to see the film with someone for whom LOTR was a new experience. Anyone else have a story about this?

[dancing spawn of ungoliant]

At the second time I saw the film with my mother and it wasn't that good experience. She haven't read any of Tolkien's books but has seen FotR and TTT (original versions).

Well, she didn't say anything during the film but kept glancing her wrist watch. Afterwards she stated that the film was confusing and incoherent
That's what you get if you don't read the books...
Anyway, I'm glad that she liked the previous films and she said that she could watch RotK again (...if it would make more sence then).

well, almost all people in the theater really shouted "Behind you!" when Shelob was sneaking behind Frodo ready for attack. Actually, I watched ROTK on its second screening here just to survey the audiences' reaction on every scene, and it really delighted me when they, especially the newbies, react to scenes that they are suppose to react which I think makes a particular scene effective - they were all shaky when Gollum "tried" to seize the ring on top of the Stairs..laughed when Pippin & Merry where left a little behind while running with the armies in the Black Gate..clapped at Legolas' ride with the mumakil..and so much more. I really felt I was like Peter Jackson on a press preview at that time.

[TheBladeThatWasBroken]

I made my biggest mistake ever by going to The Return of the King with my cousin--who happens to be a huge huge huge Harry Potter fan who has no clue about anything concerning The Lord of the Rings.

It was painful.

Having never watched the previous two movies, she had no idea what the hell is going on in the movie and for three-fourths of the movie I had to answer her questions and repeatedly tell her to shut up with her comments of "That's so dumb", "How is this better than Harry Potter?", "I don't get it", "Wait, then does that mean....", "Is he going to die", "Oh! I know, then they're gonna...", "I think that..." blah blah blah...

I had to repay myself by going to the movie a second and third time alone... and after that, I swore never to go to another movie with her....

[peonydeepdelver]

Having never watched the previous two movies, she had no idea what the hell is going on in the movie and for three-fourths of the movie I had to answer her questions and repeatedly tell her to shut up with her comments of "That's so dumb", "How is this better than Harry Potter?", "I don't get it", "Wait, then does that mean....", "Is he going to die", "Oh! I know, then they're gonna...", "I think that..." blah blah blah...

Well I think your main problem there is that she didn't see the first two...

[Beanamir of Gondor]

I went with both of my parents, and I knew exactly what was going to happen and made it a point not to sit next to my mom.

It came to the part with Shelob, and the creepy spidery music started, and I hadn't told her anything about what was about to happen [I had already read the story billions of time and seen the movie twice] and she started moaning and going "Oh, something horrible's about to happen, I just know it...EWWWW!" The part where Pippin sang also made her cry, along with the part where Denethor was about to burn Faramir. And she totally freaked out at the part where Frodo was like 'Go home, Sam' and said "Noo! Not Sam! Sam is awesome!"

I agree. It was really nice to go with somebody who hadn't read the books or seen the movie yet.

What is this thing? -->

[Elentári_O_Most_Mighty_1]

Who knows, man...

I saw it with a lot of Newbies...very sweet, except they kept going on about threesomes with...um, let's say the lot going off to Mordor. *Shudders*. It's kinda hard to think straight then...
But they reacted well, although the audience who knew what was going on was better. They cheered when Eowyn said her bit, you see...whereas the Newbies didn't understand the significance.

[Enorëiel]

Having never watched the previous two movies, she had no idea what the hell is going on in the movie and for three-fourths of the movie I had to answer her questions and repeatedly tell her to shut up with her comments of "That's so dumb", "How is this better than Harry Potter?", "I don't get it", "Wait, then does that mean....", "Is he going to die", "Oh! I know, then they're gonna...", "I think that..." blah blah blah...

I had a somewhat similar experience only it was when I showed my mom TTT and my dad decided to watch with us. He absolutly refuses to watch the movies and yet always seems to end up watching the last hour of them, which, let me say, is a disaster because the whole time he's asking questions.

Anyways! I went to go see ROTK with two of my friends who hadn't read the books. It wasn't too horrible; they were pretty good about it. That was the first time through however. My second time watching the movie I brought along two other friends. The one kept checking her watch and asking how much longer. She wasn't very happy when I would say "oh about 2 hours" or "about an hour and half".

[Kransha]

I guess I should say I'm lucky, in a sense.

I saw the movie for the third time with my parents. My mom never read the books, and my dad did a long time ago. Luckily, their semi-movie-buffs so they were able to fully follow the plot. Yes, my mom was grossed out by the Gollum intro and freaked out by Shelob and irritated by Frodo's loss of a finger, but it wasn't all that bad.

The first time I saw it was with a bunch of friends. I'd already explained a lot of crucial things to them in advance so it went pretty well, except for the occasional stupid question.

[zb]

In the line at the cinema, I ran into an acquaintance who is a movie-fangirl. I told her, "They all die. Especially Legolas. He dies a horrible, painful death." I think she almost believed me until I added the bit about Leggy...

I saw TT with a newbie. When Aragorn "dies", she was like, "bah! They're not showing a body, so of course he's not dead."

[The Only Real Estel]

I saw TT with a newbie. When Aragorn "dies", she was like, "bah! They're not showing a body, so of course he's not dead."

I didn't see it with any newbies I knew , but 5 or so girls wanted me to sit with them to explain it if they needed me to, & when Aragorn died they said: "Yeah right, I saw him at a huge battle in the trailer, & he hasn't been there yet, so he can't have died."

P.J.'s reaction: "Oh yeah...forgot about that..." knew

[Firefoot]

I saw RotK the second time with my brother. I was really shocked that he asked no questions and had no questions because the first two movies had been so full of them I was hardly keeping up with what was happening. I was really nervous about taking him. The best part was that he was oh, three-quarters of the way through the Hobbit and when the Eagles came on the screen he said "The Eagles!". Not loudly, but it was so emphatic that I think it really struck a chord with him that he could relate to it. The other funny thing was that it was at the exact same time Pippin said it, and he didn't even realize he had said anything.

[luthien-elvenprincess]

I always go see the movies with my family members who haven't seen it yet...that way I have a good excuse to see them over and over!
But, instead of them asking me questions about the story...I was always whispering information to them about the "extra" stuff that PJ couldn't possibly have put into the film! I figured that they needed to know this stuff so they could appreciate just how incredibly rich Tolkien made the story!
More than once, my husband told me to shut up so he could just listen to the movie!!!

[dancing spawn of ungoliant]

I was always whispering information to them about the "extra" stuff that PJ couldn't possibly have put into the film!

I do that always afterwards
After FotR I talked an hour to my mom about Tolkien and the characters.

I went to see ROTK with some friends who have never read the books at all- they found it just some entertainment and thought it was really fun and exciting, but that was about it. it was kind of irritating when they asked me what was going on but as they had seen the other two movies, they had a general picture.

i was, however, dissappointed at not being able to rant about the book-movie changes to them.

[Cinderella]

I saw RotK five times... and only one of those times was with a hardcore Lord of the Rings fan.
However, my worst (worst still being awesome, but out of all of the times I went this one was insane) experience was when I went with a friend who had seen the movies and was obsessed but didn't really know what was going on and made loud comments every time Orlando Bloom was even on the screen, clung to me during Shelob, and asked me questions every 5 seconds and then made jokes during the Grey Havens while I sobbed... they also informed me that "my man" was onscreen everytime Viggo did anything, because one time I made an offhand comment (ok I was drooling a bit) that Viggo was quite attractive....
Anyhow.. it was a bit insane but still fun, at least she wasn't criticising it, she was just.. overly enthusiatic...

[Lobelia]

Haunting Spirit ... chuckle! "They all die", huh? I have a friend who says that as a matter of principle and I have to admit I was tempted this time, but my brother would not have been amused!

[Lindalirien O Lorien]

My friend and I went to Lord of the Rings with two "newbies" For one this was the only LotR movie he had seen and the other had only seen the movies and just finished Fellowship. My friend who had only seen that movie fell asleep about... three or four times (I was really surprised that he slept through the Nazgul's shrieking...) and my other friend had lots of questions about why Arwen was going to die because of the ring, what happened with Eowyn and Aragorn, and why Frodo went to the Sea. My friend who had seen the movies and read all the books was getting annoyed by all her questions but I liked explaining things I don't know I just think it's fun. Oh and I also just went to see RotK agaon last night with my step-mother who had seen the first two movies and she was getting really confused too. I spent the whole ride home explaining things to her. It was funny. Same thing happened to me Cinderella, my friend is totally obsessed with Olrando Bloom and kept asking me why he wasn't it the movie so much and how awesome he looked on the doing the Oliphany stunt. THAT was starting to annoy me. I must admit I am a Olrando Bloom fan but not so much in this movie.

[*Varda*]

Quite a few of my friends are newbies...I remember when we came out of TT, and my newbie friend was going on about Aragorn's 'death' and I had to patiently explain to her that of course it was impossible for Aragorn to die, since the title of the 3rd book was 'Return of the King'.

Her response to that was 'Aragorn's a king??'

There wasn't much I could do but shake my head sadly at the lack of Tolkien knowledge and wander off.

The 3rd time I went to see RotK, I was with my friend and her sister...I had the joy of sitting next to her sister, who kept asking questions, partly because she came in late. It didn't really bother me though, I found it quite amusing.

[Lalwendë]

I saw all the films with newbies, who, thankfully, were just as engrossed as me. When I saw TT I was sat next to a 12 year old lad who blew raspberries right the way through the trailers, and I thought 'Oh no, I'm going to have to kick him or something' - but as soon as the film started he was sitting in awed silence with his mouth hanging open. At ROTK the woman next to me fell asleep 30 minutes in and was snoring and drooling; thankfully her husband woke her up pretty quickly.

[Gorwingel]

Well I went to the Midnight ROTK showing with one of my best friends who was most definitely a newbee. I had been trying to get her to go see one of the LOTR films in the theater since fellowship. And so I had kind of said that I would be going to the midnight showing, but didn't ever expect that she would want to go. And one day she came over to me and said, "Hey my mother said I could go to the midnight showing, I'm coming with you". At that point my mouth about fell to the ground, I was so shocked. This is the girl I had asked to go with me to fellowship about 5 times and she refused. But she had seen the films on DVD (or actually I don't really remember if she had, but she most definitely didn't know the story) and had enjoyed them but had never gotten into them as much as me (which is understandable, I am very unique), and she had also gone to a RingCon with me, and I had told Craig Parker (movie Haldir) that she had no idea who he was and she became quite embarrassed. But on to the film... she surprisingly enjoyed it very much, and said she really had no trouble understanding it, but she thought the ending was kind of weird. It was a cool experience though.

[DarkRose]

My only true going-with-newbies experience was during FotR. I had already seen the movie a few times, and was running out of willing Tolkien fans to go along with me, so I took two of my good friends. Neither of them had read the books or had much interest in LOTR at all, ha.

I sat, enthralled as ever in the movie, while one of them made certain Legolas-related comments the whole time and the other sipped her drink and wondered what as going on. They were good sports, and I think they enjoyed the movie, though I expected them to be as wild about it as I was.

[Kath]

Newbies are difficult to sit through films with - my sister being a good example. She spent the entire film questioning every little thing so that she missed the next bit because she wa talking across it.
By the end of the film I had a backlog of about 20 minutes of unanswered questions.
But it's not only newbies that are the problem. I went to see it with a friend who has read all the books and had seen it before and the same thing happened!

[Lindalirien O Lorien]

I could see why your friend who read the books had questions, there are lots of changes from book to movie. I didn't ask anyone why but I also had lots of questions about certain changes but that's a different topic...

[The Perky Ent]

I saw ROTK with a couple of friends, and one of them who had never seen the series, thought it was stupid and a waste of time. But when they got to Pelenor Fields, my friend was literally in a trance. I even waved my hand in front of him. Nothing Happened. It was freaky. But cool to see someone effected by a awesome movie! Really funny moment!

[Saraphim]

Three years ago, just after the release of FotR, I had a bunch of friends (girls) ask me what happened in the next two. I told them that Legolas dies and the gross-lizard thing that was alluded to would end up with the ring.

Alright, so one was marginly true, but I had fun with the Legolas thing.

I did see all three with newbies. But with RotK, I saw it with alot of newbies. About ten of my friends went, only four (including me) of which had read the books.

Ungood. It was sad. The other six kept asking us who those people were, why there were so many characters, why it was so long, why Legolas didn't have more screen time, ect.

"they kept going on about threesomes between.....um, let's just say the lot going off to mordor..."

If they mean who I think they mean, then.......... OH DEAR GOD!!!

[Sirithheruwen]

Originally Posted by Kath

But it's not only newbies that are the problem. I went to see it with a friend who has read all the books and had seen it before and the same thing happened!

Ummm...*laughs guiltily* The truth is, by the time I saw FOTR, it had been 3 years since I read the books. I found it a little confusing. (Okay, a LOT confusing). I was asking my dad many questions throuout the movie. By the time I saw it the second time, I had read the books again, and all was clear.

However, I saw TTT with a newbie and my dad, and ROTK with a group of people and with my dad. (All separately). When I went with my dad, however, there was a group of people behind us. I swear that they looked at all of the movies playing and picked ROTK out of a hat. And of course, they sat behind us. (We seem to attract people like that.) Half-way through the movie, someone said "Who's that?" and pointed to Frodo! That really scared me. Bad experiance. Very bad experiance. *shudder* *rocks back and forth*

[Saraphim]

I too, was plagued by annoying morons sent from the Void to torment the fans.
Quote:
"Woah, that Hobbit's mackin' "

*shudder*

And another behind me, during my second time around kept asking her friend who everyone was and what was going on, because she hadn't seen the first two and had walked in late anyway.
It is sad. Why do people bother to go to RotK if they havn't seen the first two? Did they live in a cave for four years? How could they not know it is a part of a trilogy. It is mind-boggling.

[lindil]

~Opening Lake Co. showing~

I was with a newbie [my wife] who asked questions, but had to disentangle my answeres from my evergrowing repulsion at all the changes [minor, major and horrendous]. She on the other hand was becoming more and more enthralled as the movie went on.

Around me, folks seemed pretty cool.

All of PJ's adaptations were so disturbing to my delicate sensibilites [well not too delicate, most violence amongst adults I find interesting at least professionally] that the ideas of seeing it again seemed akin to voluntarily repeating a painful dental surgery. SO I can only comment on 1 showing.

I went to see it with my friends and through the entire film they asked "who is he?" "where is he going?" and "why are they going there?". only 2 of us had read the books and it wasn't a good experience but when i saw it again that was a better time.

I also went to see it with some other friends who hadn't read the books or seen the previous films. That was dire! I missed practically the whole film because I was having to explain every tiny detail. That's why this site is so great!! I am a complete LOTR Freak but none of my friends are that interested. And before you say it, yes I know they're criminally insane!!!

[The Only Real Estel]

Eriathiel: Have any of those friends you'd spoken of seen the other movies?

[Elentári_O_Most_Mighty_1]

I was, however, disappointed at not being able to rant about the book-movie changes to them.

Ahh...well, I had the opportunity to rant to the entire class about that- I did an assessed speaking and listening speech thingy on it...(although that was only on FOTR and TTT- ROTK hadn't come out yet).

Yes, Paladin Took, I'm afraid I do mean who you think I mean...

My newbies were all right- not the ever giggling one (a high pitched giggle too, for goodness' sake!), but the rest were fine. And the ones sitting closest understood it the best, because I answered all their questions- and gave them information when I felt like it.

[The_Hand]

I love seeing Lord of The Rings with people who haven't read the books... It is so funny.

On the promier I went with a whole bunch of people and I sat next to my best friend who isn't really the reading type.. When Frodo went over with Gollum she cried out. I mean really cried out and everybody (almost) gave a gasp. I remember my sister (she's read them) saying to herself:
PJ if you **** this up I'm gonna kill you!
Hehe, so funny.

During the Shelob sceen I almost fainted because I have a huge phobia for spiders.... You don't want to be sitting next to me during Loth or Harry Potter 2.

[Laitoste]

I went to see it with a newbie (my mom), a semi-newbie (my dad-he loved them in high school, hasn't read them since), and my brother, who's started RotK, and was whining about the changes more than I was! I, fortunatly, didn't have to sit next to my mom, and thus didn't have to answer her questions. I did sit next to my brother, who whined about the disappearance of Halbarad, Elladan & Elrohir, & Irmahil&Co. the entire time (kinda cute when he doesn't even like the books). Anyway, my mom did ask my dad questions, which (I believe) he was able to answer, either from whatever's left of his knowledge of the books (if you don't use it, you lose it, and he hasn't used it for about 20 years...), or from paying attention to the movie. My mom did enjoy it. She had watched the other movies a few weeks before. It was really nice to go with my whole family. It was like a family Christmas present. But now that it's in the budget theaters, I'd like to go again, alone, so that I can rethink it.

[tar-ancalime]

My husband is quite a good sport--he is not at all interested in Tolkien, but he has been to each of the movies with me more than once. He does, however, feel the need to punctuate all of Elrond's lines with "Mr. Anderson."

After waaaay too much begging, my sister and I finally got to the theater to see ROTK. (My parents really don't like LOTR and they wish we would get into something more worthwhile, they say it is a waste of time ) Anyway, I couldn't drive yet then and for some very odd reason my mom insisted to watch it with us. Anyway, the main thing was that she thought Denethor was king...and I was like, if he was king and Gondor had a king why would it be called Return of the King? And I went on to explain the whole Steward thing....i don't think she ever got it though. I also had to confront some people in the bathrooms about the ending, they said that it could have ended like halfway through the film! It wouldn't have been finished...it still isn't finished in my opinion!

[Orophin]

I went to see the Fellow ship of the ring with a couple of my friends on the first day that it came out. Neither of my friends new the first thing about LOTR so it was a totally new experience. When the movie was done both of my friends turned to me and began to ask in a distressed and urgent manner "What the heck! Why didn't they make it to the mountain yet." They of course were talking about Mt. Doom and they were under the impression that the ring was destroyed in the first movie and the others were about something different. I laughed as I explained it to them and they were kind of angry but I thought it was hilarious.

[StarJewel]

My first time seeing RotK was with a newbie...several, in fact. It wasn't bad, really. They stayed quiet during the movie, it was only after that they started bombarding me with questions. My parents were worse. My mom never read the books, and my dad barely remembers them. That was fun

[BethoHOG]

I took my best friend with me to see The Return of the King for my second time. She has never read the books, but did watch the first two films.

It wasn't that bad really, except she kept saying things like, "Does he die? He dies right?" or (referring to Aragorn), "He's so pretty!"

Oh, and I forgot to mention the fact that when I was almost crying at the point when Sam is holding and talking to Frodo outside of Mount Doom, she's laughing.