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#1 |
Alive without breath
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: On A Cold Wind To Valhalla
Posts: 5,912
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A quick question for you, Mr Brian; were you involved in the BBC Radio adaptation of Tales from the Perilous Realm? I enjoyed those and felt that Bombadill was portrayed as well as could be expected, the voice did fit, I felt, and the performance was good. The Farmer Giles one still makes me laugh, especially Garm.
But, back to The Lord of the Rings... Where the Radio version gets interesting is in the feeling of the surroundings. You apologised earlier for the sound effects, but I felt they worked perfectly. I assume it was the Radio phonix workshop or some such, but it seemed that the background noises was exquisitely executed. Although, the only criticism I ever bring is the Nazgul's horses sound a bit weird, not sure why. The greatest achievement of the Radio production is how faithful it is. I suppose I am comparing it to the recent films (and the not so recent films), but still. I think a serial is the only way to do The Lord of the Rings justice, really. Too much material for a truly faithful film.
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I think that if you want facts, then The Downer Newspaper is probably the place to go. I know! I read it once. THE PHANTOM AND ALIEN: The Legend of the Golden Bus Ticket... |
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#2 | ||
Haunting Spirit
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: London
Posts: 54
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#3 | |
Alive without breath
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: On A Cold Wind To Valhalla
Posts: 5,912
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![]() I have always had a great fondness for the dramatised versions. Probably because they were the only audio version I had for many years while I was still not such a great reader. This doesn't mean there aren't bits that annoy me (the Eagle's song in Return of the King is one thing I always skip), but I think I'll have to give them another good listen if I can find my old tapes...
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I think that if you want facts, then The Downer Newspaper is probably the place to go. I know! I read it once. THE PHANTOM AND ALIEN: The Legend of the Golden Bus Ticket... |
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#4 |
Haunting Spirit
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: London
Posts: 54
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Yes...... I know what you mean!! Counter-tenor eagles... Strange! Maybe Jackson was right not to do talking birds; still, if he does have an involvement with 'The Hobbit'...
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#5 |
Loremaster of Annúminas
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 2,330
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One reason the BBC version is so successful for me is its willingness to make use of Tolkien's original text to as great an extent as practicable. Tolkien's prose is a significant factor in the spell he weaves, and it irks me no end that the scripts for the film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings, of all books, should have been written by people with such manifestly tin ears for Language.
Hmmmm- BTW, do you think we should invite Sauron the White to this thread, just to show him there's a 'cinderblock' we Purists do like?
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The entire plot of The Lord of the Rings could be said to turn on what Sauron didn’t know, and when he didn’t know it. |
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#6 |
Shade with a Blade
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But we're having a perfectly good party without him. Maybe we can show it to him after the fact?
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Stories and songs. |
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#7 |
Haunting Spirit
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Out West near a Big Salty Lake
Posts: 76
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Listening starting tomorrow to Disc 1
Well I am going to start listening to disc 1 tomorrow on my way to and from work. Then I'll post up what I have enjoyed, and why. I guess this thread has helped me to boost up my time table on listening to these again (though it doesn't take much prompting).
I have to agree with the singing eagle, that part I usually skip. I also enjoy listening to Treebeard on these as well as the Witch King. The part where the Nazgul are searching for the ring and news of the Shired, and come across Grima is one example of why I really like this series. |
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#8 | |
Illustrious Ulair
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: In the home of lost causes, and forsaken beliefs, and unpopular names,and impossible loyalties
Posts: 4,240
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Of course, the problem, again, is what, exactly, would an Eagle's voice sound like? Its fine to read the words on the page - you can accept a speaking/singing Eagle as easily as you accept a talking tree, but creating a convincing voice must be a real difficulty. I wonder if this isn't exactly the kind of thing Tolkien was thinking of when he said that the book was 'unsuitable for dramatic representation' - that there are things in the book which, given auditory or visual form, will not work - well, not for everybody. |
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#9 |
Princess of Skwerlz
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: where the Sea is eastwards (WtR: 6060 miles)
Posts: 7,500
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I spent a lot of time last year listening to the minor works dramatizations, and my favourite was definitely the Farmer Giles story - I thought the voices were absolutely perfect, enjoyed the accents very much, and still like to hear it, even after so many times. My least favourite was the Smith version - for some reason, I wasn't enthused about Smith's monologues, nor of the voice that spoke the part. I think they made the whole story seem too mundane to me.
I have heard (twice) a version of the BBC LotR dramatization that I enjoyed greatly - the Cambridge Society did parts of it (they had done the whole thing, with permission) in Birmingham at "Tolkien 2005" and at Oxonmoot last year. Both times, I was greatly moved by the performance, which used sound effects from the radio recording; the counter-tenor sang the Eagle's song live, quite effectively to my mind. Not all of the Cambridge voices were as good as the original, but quality can take an adaptation without significant loss.
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'Mercy!' cried Gandalf. 'If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?' 'The whole history of Middle-earth...' |
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#10 | |
Alive without breath
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: On A Cold Wind To Valhalla
Posts: 5,912
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The episode in discussion at the moment is in a good place. You have a lot of character who can discuss the surroundings. Good Tolkien phrases can be interspursed between the appropriate characters. Sometimes when you have a good piece of description or whatever, it's tempting to give it all to one character, but I think it works better distributed. Sounds more natural.
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I think that if you want facts, then The Downer Newspaper is probably the place to go. I know! I read it once. THE PHANTOM AND ALIEN: The Legend of the Golden Bus Ticket... |
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#11 | |
Haunting Spirit
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: London
Posts: 54
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I had hoped that the BBC and the Tolkien Estate might one day find a way of publishing the scripts - suitably corrected, of course! There was interest at the BBC when the films came out, but none now... Meanwhile they are, of course, on the net as transcripts - though I haven't checked their accuracy. Curiously, I know that the Cambridge folk did their OWN transcription which was, as far as I know, pretty accurate. Maybe I should try and persuade the BBC to put up a full, accurate transcription, scanned from the scripts... ![]() Trouble is, they wouldn't be prepared to pay anyone involved for the use of the material either! Despite the fact that it was for many years their best-selling audio book... It's hard to even get them concerned about the fact that the series is being uploaded in various forms all over the www... One such site currently reports 5000 downloads, which for working writers and actors represents a lot of potentially lost income. Of course, not everyone who downloads would otherwise have BOUGHT the work, but I've read many postings on forums saying thank you for saving them the cost of purchasing it... Which is a bit hard to swallow... ![]() You see, I'd love to OWN a Van Gogh but can't AFFORD one - so would that justify my stealing one? Probably not... End of rant! ![]() |
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