Finnish LotR

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Originally Posted by Pitchwife

Just noticed that the videos davem linked to in his original post seem to have been deleted from YouTube

Hey, what a pity That's bad, it was still there a few days ago when I was looking...

(Side-note: I watched the first three episodes without the subs while they were still available, and it's marvellous how much you can understand even without knowing the language, just by knowing the story; if nothing else, I've picked up that "ring" is "sormus" in Finnish. Learn a foreign language with LotR - not a bad idea, is it?)

I can assure you it isn't a bad idea at all

[Morthoron]

Yes, I was able to finish Lord of the Rings quite handily. Good book. An easy read. In fact, I've finished reading it several times.

[Blind Guardian]

Originally Posted by Morthoron

Yes, I was able to finish Lord of the Rings quite handily. Good book. An easy read. In fact, I've finished reading it several times.

>.< You stole my words!




Except I haven't finished it. I really should. Maybe after I read Sean Astin's There And Back Again: An Actor's Tale

[Thinlómien]

This guy has uploaded and translated the whole series: link to his YouTube uploads

I didn't watch it yet so I can't guarantee the translation is good - the parts I saw were good except that he had misspelled Minas Tirith, but he had taken care to use the exact wordings of LotR when the original script was doing that, which at least is good.

Going to watch at least some of this tomorrow, so excited!

[Thinlómien]

Watched most of it today. It's really quite awesome - you can poke Legate for some impressions since he watched it with me and he hasn't seen it a gazillion times before - but the subtitles are kind of bleh. They are too big and too in the middle of the screen and sometimes the English is quite bad. Not saying that it's ununderstandable, though, and quite many lines are straight from LotR so it's ok (except take everything Tom Bombadil says which a pinch of salt 'cos the guy apparently didn't understand him at all: TB is definitely not asking the Hobbits to tell their story to their sisters or warning them against cold aspens - I'm not sure what he said exactly in the sister case but he meant that they should tell him and the thing the Hobbits should be careful with is cold wights (kylmiä haamuja) not cold aspens (kylmiä haapoja)! And also whenever the translation says "treacherous", it doesn't mean treacherous but terrible. )

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

I will second Lommy - it was an amazing way to honor the 25th March. The subtitles are unfortunate thing, just as Lommy says - too big and too in the middle and sometimes rather bad English, but I guess for a Tolkienist it is something one can withstand and in any case, the series itself is too well done for one to bother over the quality of the subtitles.

It is no Hollywoodian miracle, but I'd choose it over PJ any day. The only possible advantages of PJ's version I can think of are Saruman, Galadriel, and some of the music score (but just some. This does not have much of a music score, but in the places where it has, it is fitting and sort of "modest", which is nicely refreshing among today's epic music which starts to be a bit annyoing when being in every movie from Gladiator to Terminator).

Indeed, the sort of "modest" and also a bit "alternative" approach (I won't spoil people) is actually really nice. I like Boromir, the hobbits, Tom Bombadil (aka "shaman advice to white - and black - Americans lost in the reservation")... of the less alternative things Gandalf (who has somehow a lot more, hmm, temper, and perhaps even personality in general, than Gandalf in PJ's movie - even though I like that one too), and what is really wonderful is how the scenes are handled. At least, of course, as the movie-hater I am, I must note that THIS is how I would imagine a LotR-movie to be like: no added Arwens, no deleted Bombadils "because that'd be too long and too boring for the audience". No, instead we can cut some other parts (not going to spoil here again) - but the point is, I realise I didn't miss them at all! But even otherwise... my favourite scene is probably Frodo's attempt to "save the day" at Prancing Pony, it looks really "live" and "believable", all the people... and of course I don't even have to mention that PJ's VERY BAD "somebody runs across the room, stumbles and the ring falls on his finger" has no chance here at all.

Yes, my recommendation would be, for all those and who were displeased with PJ's version, for all those who prefer things that stick more to the canon, for friends of minimalism and creativity, for those who are not afraid of Boromir who had spend his lifetime in a Shaolin monastery - go for it. It is really worth it.