Microphones vs megaphones in Middle Earth

[Pervinca Took]

Originally Posted by Mithalwen

For me one of the great triumphs of the Radio version for me was that I always find the Frodo and Sam thread hard going to read but it is one of the finest parts of the radio version. I feel Robert Stephen's Aragorn is a bit too actorly in parts and Arwen does sount rather old ladyish but otherwise the casting is superb.

Very interesting. For me, it's possibly the other way round, and for the same reason. The Frodo and Sam / Frodo, Sam and Gollum chapters, being my favourites of the chapters after the breaking of the Fellowship, I'm naturally both more drawn to and more critical of their portrayal, and of the characters in them.

I thought the BBC's Helm's Deep was masterful, and I felt the scenes with the more "traditional" heroes had a deeply Shakespearean feel to them. I love the whole book - some chapters more than others, admittedly - but I rushed through Books 3 and 5 on my first reading, and I've never loved them as much as the thread of Frodo's story. But I've always adored the way the BBC portrayed these elements of the story: Theoden, Aragorn, Eomer, et al. And it hasn't been entirely unknown for me to burst randomly into "From dark Dunharrow in the dim morning," either. Usually sotto voce, of course ....