LotR1-FotR-Seq06

[Aiwendil]

Mister Underhill wrote:

I've never delved deeply into it, but I'm pretty sure that the subject of orcish origins and reproductive mechanisms is not all that clear-cut.

It's true that the matter of Orcish origins is an ambiguous one. The possible sources mentioned by Tolkien are, I believe, Maiar, Elves, Men, beasts, and various combinations thereof. But I think that he was consistent in holding that Orcish reproduction is just like human reproduction. After all, Maiar, Elves, Men, and beasts all reproduce the same way.

You bring up the interesting topic of Jackson's camera angles and movement. I agree that they are often rather stylized. I seem to recall that the Vertigo track/zoom is used more than once across the three movies - perhaps in RotK as they pass Minas Morgul? In any case, this is certainly something that distinguishes him from the more documentarian style of such people as Lucas and, perhaps, Spielberg. And now that I think about it, it may be one of the reasons I find the "tone" of the films to be wrong in many places.