Tons o' Hobbit News

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Originally Posted by Tuor in Gondolin

It's dangerous to make too much from their
comments, but there seems to be some
hope that GdT is interested in being more
"faithful" to the books then PJ (especially in
TTT and ROTK). I like it that he appears to
want to keep elements/events that could have
been changed or eliminated, such as his view
of talking animals and including all of the dwarves.
Marrying his interpretations with PJ's visual success in recreating
M-E [U]could[U] lead to a quite successful interpretation.

Quite, quite... very odd to hear that from me (and I am not the last to be surprised, for sure), but I like that fella, and I may even start to like it thanks to that fella. Well, of course, still with maaany reservations (like my belief that nothing should be filmed in the first place, for more see Tolkien's On Fairy-Stories).

And someone said something about Ron Perlman? That may be another reason. If there will be actors I actually know and like (like him), then it may be a good reason to really watch the movie in the first place And I daresay he would have made a good Beorn, but whatever...

[skip spence]

Originally Posted by Legate of Amon Lanc

And someone said something about Ron Perlman? That may be another reason. If there will be actors I actually know and like (like him), then it may be a good reason to really watch the movie in the first place And I daresay he would have made a good Beorn, but whatever...

I can actually see Ron Pearlman doing a great Bombur. Imagine a fat, sullen and slightly retarded Bombur played by Pearlman. That would be a classic role for him!

[Longstaff Sixpenny]

I am intrigued by this:

WetaHost: Will the Mirkwood Elves be different from the Rivendell Elves of the LOTR trilogy?

Guillermo del Toro: That is definetly my intention but I cannot reveal anymore at the moment.

And this:

WetaHost: I would love to know how you are going to deal with goblins in the movie. Will they look like the smaller orcs in the LOTR movies or are you going to make a completely new design?Also will everything look like it did in the LOTR movies or will you be redesigning it to fit your vision?

Guillermo del Toro: This is an area in which I hope we can expand and enhance a LOT from the established designs in the Trilogy. I plan to come up with a very strong, new treatment for the Goblins.

[ArathornJax]

why you find the addition of Alan Lee and John Howe to be depressing? This might be more appropriate as a PM and feel free to return that way if you like (or ignore this as you like ) but I would be interested to hear your opinion. I have several artists outside of Lee and Howe that I find interesting and would love to hear your thoughts. Anyone else depressed or looking for new movement on this front?

[Sauron the White]

The thought of John Howe, Alan Lee, Howard Shore and many of the production crew already being on baord makes me very happy.

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by ArathornJax

why you find the addition of Alan Lee and John Howe to be depressing?

Actually, the artistic integrity of Lee and Howe were one of the things I actually appreciated about the films, as well as the stunning cinematography (minus, of course, the Great Red Eye Radio Station Beacon atop Barad-dur). The look of the movies (save, perhaps, the flouncy Elvish dress code) was spot on. My disagreements are almost entirely with the scripting.

[mark12_30]

I do have to keep reminding myself that the first movie is book-Hobbit, and the second movie is stuff like Dol Guldor and post-Battle-of-five-armies and maybe some unfinished tales...

Once reminded, I find myself very intrigued by the Second Film. It is borderline fanfiction; the sort of things fanfic writers are challenged by: "but while they were off doing that, what was so-and-so up to?" Of course, we want it to be terribly canonical. But what would YOU write?

Depending on what actors came back... what if they get some crazy unexpected combination? (say, for instance) Faramir, Boromir, Gimli, and Arwen, but NOT Viggo and NOT Orlando and NOT Elrond and not Galadriel...? I guess the options are as varied as the characters were... but we could end up with something very unexpected.

Kind of fun to imagine.

In terms of being an adult: During LOTR Aragorn is 87, right? ... In Movie terms, Frodo went east not-too-long after BIlbo's 111th birthday party, and so 111 - 50 = ummm 61, and so by THAT timeline Aragorn would have been 87 - 61 = ummmm 26. So although that's not Tolkien's original timeline for young Aragorn, it fits the PJ timeline, sort of. Using that PJ timeline, when Bilbo came eastward through Rivendell, Aragorn would have been a strapping starry-eyed 26-year-old fellow. On Bilbo's return trip he would have been 28. He met Arwen when he was twenty, so using PJ's timeline, there's room for an Aragorn-Arwen scene at Rivendell.

Remains to be seen what Del Toro will do with the timeline-- Tolkien's or PJ's?

One could also wonder whether we will be seeing Pippin and Merry's adolesence. Yeeee. And I wonder whether Tom Bombadil will make it into the second movie, if his actor comes back.

Right. Just kidding.

[Child of the 7th Age]

Once reminded, I find myself very intrigued by the Second Film. It is borderline fanfiction; the sort of things fanfic writers are challenged by: "but while they were off doing that, what was so-and-so up to?" Of course, we want it to be terribly canonical. But what would YOU write?

Helen,

I had to smile when I read this. You've hit the nail on the head. For better or worse, and many would say indubitably for worse, move #2 does seem to come perilously close to fanfiction. I have also seen more than one RPG where the "script" had to be rewritten at the last moment when an expected writer failed to materialize. My guess is that GdT would simply go for recasting rather than dumping a character, if he/she was needed.

I am looking forward to seeing these Mirkwood Elves!

[Gwathagor]

Originally Posted by Morthoron

(minus, of course, the Great Red Eye Radio Station Beacon atop Barad-dur).

Now that's interesting. I'm pretty sure they were going for the Nazi searchlight look.

[William Cloud Hicklin]

Originally Posted by Gwathagor

Now that's interesting. I'm pretty sure they were going for the Nazi searchlight look.

Well, what they got was the portrayal of the title character as a Highly Irritable Lighthouse.

[Kuruharan]

Originally Posted by ArathornJax

why you find the addition of Alan Lee and John Howe to be depressing? This might be more appropriate as a PM and feel free to return that way if you like (or ignore this as you like ) but I would be interested to hear your opinion. I have several artists outside of Lee and Howe that I find interesting and would love to hear your thoughts. Anyone else depressed or looking for new movement on this front?

Alan Lee's conception of Middle earth, in my view, could only be described as "fog-bound".

John Howe's vision of Middle earth just doesn't line up well with what Tolkien wrote. His paints his subjects in plate armor and tends to have too much of a High Medieval tone for my taste. It is probably more of a niggle for me than it should be, but I can't seem to help it. Also, his balrogs look like dobermans with bat wings.

I like Lee's clothing and armor styles better as they seem to be somewhat more in line with what Tolkien wrote...when you can see the clothing through the haze.

Did I mention that Howe's balrogs look like dobermans with *wings*?

My favorite Tolkien artist is Ted Nasmith. His landscapes are phenomenal, and while I admit that figures aren't his strongest suit, he clothes and arms them more in a manner which I believe to be consistent with what Tolkien wrote.

And his balrogs have no wings.

Did I mention that Howe's balrogs look like dobermans with *wings*?

[R.]

My personal favorite Tolkien artist even though he only did a few is Michael Kaluta although i don't know about his Legolas.



Ron

[Longstaff Sixpenny]

Anyone have a count of what creatures and landscapes in PJ's LoTR came from Howe or Lee? The Stone Trolls were essentially lifted from an illustration done by Lee, as was Orthanc. Howe's design for the Winged Beasts/Nazgul Steeds was also adopted pretty much wholesale. I wonder if the "camouflaging" Smaug will be closer to Lee's design? Here's a link to the two side-by-side:

http://fan.theonering.net/middleearthtours/dragons.html

[ArathornJax]

I have to agree with Ted Nasmith. I know that he was invited but couldn't contribute due to some personal issues when the LOTR Trilogy was made.

This website shows though Nasmith's influence on the Film Trilogy. It makes a solid case I think to his influence.

http://tednasmith.narod.ru/

BTW, I agree that Nasmith's people are lacking but his scenery is beautiful.

Though SHE may be to some more cartoonish, I really like Anke Eissman's drawings found at http://www.anke.edoras-art.de/anke_illustration.html.

[Eönwë]

Originally Posted by Longstaff Sixpenny

Anyone have a count of what creatures and landscapes in PJ's LoTR came from Howe or Lee? The Stone Trolls were essentially lifted from an illustration done by Lee, as was Orthanc. Howe's design for the Winged Beasts/Nazgul Steeds was also adopted pretty much wholesale. I wonder if the "camouflaging" Smaug will be closer to Lee's design? Here's a link to the two side-by-side:

http://fan.theonering.net/middleearthtours/dragons.html

I think the dragon will look more like the one in the movie "Sword of Xanten", but that's just me.

[mark12_30]

Originally Posted by Kuruharan

My favorite Tolkien artist is Ted Nasmith. His landscapes are phenomenal...

Indeed. Nasmith's "Last Sight of Hobbiton" has brought me to tears more than once.