Petty's Purist LotR Edits [4]

Well, you shamed me into it, lad. Have to say I quite enjoyed that first segment - easier to do when all the stuff that makes you want to bang books against your head is taken out.

The one non-Tolkien interpolation I missed was the dwarf bet that Bilbo would not show up. I sort of enjoyed that.

I think the preview cut of "over misty mountains cold" was done better than the theatrical cut. That's the one I remember at any rate, and don't know why they went with the cut they did.

Keep the next one up, I'll soon be of mind to watch it.

{{ Cheers Halfy.
Was discussing this with Nagual last night, but that first section, though obviously as a purist much Id still like changed, is closer as it now stands to the books than the film version of the opening section of FotR is.
Most of TH opening is present- if I could change stuff it'd mainly be having the proper end to the 'good morning' conversation, as is its a joke where they left off the punchline. I'd want to change Thorin arriving seperately and his physical apprearence to older with an actual beard. And the only thing I feel they really, really screwed up in this bit is Bilbo choosing to go rather than Gandlaf shoving him out the door in a fluster. Id also have kept the storm, them losing their ponies and baggage in the flooded river crossing and then have the trolls.
But bar those things I think the Purist Edt of TH opening is otherwise fairly close to the book, and as I said closer than the FotR film is to its book oddly enough. }}

{{ Just putting links here again so folk dont have to get back a page to find them. }}

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1sv20CZ0Uf5MY5aaLXuVpP0QyGmKFpGGO

https://drive.google.com/open?id=11PxYd7mw5xg6Ni6_tyvnlQqOor8pZlvx

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1CK7kAiV4sw7UwOIxL_gph12KfgzA9-vr

Thanks Petty. I am sure you could make a silk purse out of a sows ear.

{{ I can make a sporran out a badgers arse if thats close enough }}

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1z5V5RZdRsdESd3HdcGhJPIbOC3bNkZye

{{Book 1 of LotR's.
At this point I now need either Dave to send the next parts to the barrel, or Ringo to either do likewise if he still has them, or upload them to my drive. }}

{{ Another little time thing I just noticed. In TH edit it takes 27 minutes from films start to Bilbo leaving Bag End to go on his adventure.

And in the edit of FotR it takes 40 minutes from start to Frodo leaving Bag End.

This means in the FotR edit theres only 28 minutes from leaving Bag End to Rivendell.

For TH edit its 20 minutes.

So there is only 8 more minutes in FotR than TH for all the extra content FotR contains between Bag End and Rivendell than for the limited content, ie journey plus troll encounter, TH contains.
No wonder the Bree section in PJ's is so bad. He needs most of that 28 minutes for the Black Rider attack on Bree and Weathertop, and the chase to the Ford, leaving everything else, Farmer Maggot, Crickhollow, Fatty Bolger, Old Man Willow, Tom, Barrows, Merry's walk and encounter in Bree, Barliman, Ferny even Aragorns introduction shortchanged and rushed or removed. He really left himself very little time for this section.}}

I don't think Bree felt rushed. Leaving the Old Forest and Bombadil out has been discussed before: for me it makes sense as except for the hobbit knives it doesn't connect to other things. Though it doesn't make much sense for Aragorn to give an ancient knife to a hobbit he hardly knows (with the exception of the ring bearer).

{{ I thought Barliman was rushed over and had a personality change to fit it, Aragorns intro was very shortchanged and also makes no logical sense as presented. The order of events goes- Frodo accidently puts on Ring- Aragorn grabs him and takes him aside- Sma and co burst in- Aragorn tells them they cant rely on Gandalf- cut to them all happily sleeping in his company fully trusting him to watch over them, apprently happy to just have left the conversation at that- Riders atttack- they leave the next morning- later that day they begin to actually ask if they can trust him or not and who he is. Its in the wrong order because its rushed. In order to get allthe actions scenes betweenarriving at Bree and Ford in he has to compress all the characters stuff, or remove it altogether. I prefer character stuff over the spectacle myself. }}

I'll have to go back and watch - was Gandalf's letter left out? That's a pretty crucial oversight.

{{ Entirely. As was all that glitters, the sword obviously but that change I understand, and Barlimans part in letter forgetting. Also gone from Bree Merry going for a walk and encountering a rider. And the ponies being stolen and none available bar Ferny's. And of course Sam chucking an apple at Fernys smug face on the way out of Bree.  

But yeah the film provides no reasons whatsoever for why the hobbits immediatly trust Aragorn to watch over them. Or to presumably go along with his plan to move rooms etc, or follow him into the Wild. And even more implausible in all the time they were doing the plan/room swap they never discussed among themselves if they could trust him till the next day after they were already out in the Wilds with him? }}

Dropping much of the rest of that makes sense, but dropping the letter as a reason for trusting Strider does not.

{{ Heres how it plays out in the script Halfy, Ive cut out all the non-Strider stuff like describing the ringwraiths attacking for brevity- but everything between Aragorn and hobbits is here) }}

       
                   FRODO
         Who are you?

                   STRIDER
         Are you frightened?

                   FRODO
         Yes.

                   STRIDER
         Not nearly frightened enough. I know
         what hunts you. Frodo jumps at the sound
         of a noise in the corridor. Strider
         deftly draws his sword.

The door bursts open and Sam, Merry and Pippin appear on the
doorway. Sam is Squaring off with is fists, Merry brandishes
a candlestick, and Pippin a chair.

                   SAM
             (angry)
         Let him go or I'll have you, Longshanks!

STRIDER SHEATHS his sword, a slight smile playing on his
lips.

                   STRIDER
         You have a stout heart, little Hobbit,
         but that alone won't save you...You can
         no longer wait for the Wizard, Frodo.
         They're coming.

                                                     CUT TO:

EXT. GATEHOUSE, BREE -- NIGHT

The gate keeper comes out of his Lodgings with a lantern...a
look of fear on his face. He approaches the closed gate with
great apprehension. CLOSE ON: The Gatekeeper peers out of his
Peephole.

CRASH!!

The gate crashed down on the gatekeeper...as four RINGWRAITHS
ride into Bree!

INT. STRIDER'S ROOM -- NIGHT

WIDE ON: Sam, Merry, and Pippin have been sleeping on
Strider's bed. Frodo stands next to Strider by the window,
peering out nervously as furious Ringwraith screeches echo
across the courtyard from the Hobbits room.

                   STRIDER
         They were once men
         Great Kings of men. Then Sauron the
         deceiver gave to them Nine Rings of
         Power. Blinded by their greed they took
         them without question, one by one falling
         into darkness and now they are slaves to
         his will.
         They are the Nazgul, Ringwraiths, neither
         living or dead. At all times they feel
         the presence of the ring...drawn to the
         power of the one..they will never stop
         hunting you.

                                                       CUT TO:

EXT. CHETWOOD FOREST -- DAY

                                                     ANGLE ON:

STRIDER, MERRY, PIPPIN, AND FRODO march through a gloomy,
overgrown forest. Sam follows at the read leading "Bill", a
scrawny pony, who is laden with supplies.

                   FRODO
         Where are you taking us?

                   STRIDER
         Into the wild

                   MERRY
             (whispered aside)
         How do, we know this Strider is a friend
         of Gandalf?

                   FRODO
         We have no choice but to trust him.

                   STRIDER
         But where is he leading us?

Strider stops, casts a glance back at Sam.

         To Rivendell, Master Gamgee...to the
         house of Elrond.

{{ For me it loses some important character beats- particuarly when Frodo comments that a servant of the enemy would 'feel fouler and look fairer' prompting Aragorn into rueful humour about how he feels fair but looks foul, which clearly also strikes a nerve as he has no doubt taken plenty distrust, scorn and even open hostility from the very folk he daily is protecting becuase he looks rough and unkempt. Its a lovely little character moment in the book and sadly absent from the film. This also feeds into his flash of mometarily anger and impatient at Batterbur, when he calls him a 'fat inkeeper who only remembers his name because peope shout it at him all day', we are missing those apsects of Aragorns character, the bit thats just a little sick of being treated like dirt, the flashes of fallible human under the predestined King.}}

I am worried that even an expertly edited version will make me nauseas...

Petty - I am so sorry, I completely forgot about this, I was going to check if I still had them. and I believe I did, but probably got drunk somewhere along the way. I still have the laptop they are saved on, but I’m not sure if it will start. I’ll be able to check on Monday - send me a PM here in case I forget. If I can bring it back to life somehow I’ll get a memory stick or hard drive and make a couple of copies (one for myself as well ) and mail one to you. If it doesn’t start I might know some geeks who may be able to salvage the D drive. I’ll let you know!

good to hear from you Ringo even if it's not great news.

Feeling more and more like one of the Blue Wizards these days, halfy! Staying inconspicuous, as the late great Warren Zevon put it. But still around

{{ Thanks for checking anyway Ringo- if you can ressurect them somehow might be easier to just upload them to google drive or something similarly free, rather than muck about with memory sticks.
Failing any of that however theres always the hope Dave might still have them, though given his turnip fuelled internet I think the memory stick might be back in the mix there as only option! }}

Didn’t get the chance to check yesterday as my flight got cancelled. Now it looks like there’s a good chance I won’t be getting home today either, but I’ll get around to it when I can!

Our local troll hunter seems pretty blase' about being bumped for a day. On the road quite a bit, I take it?

A bit - and in troll country I’ve come to expect it rather than be surprised or pissed (especially in winter) Had to go straight to work yesterday and today as well, but I’ve got the weekend off, so don’t give up hope yet, petty!

{{ Should I give up hope now Ringo?!! }}

Nope! Been travelling again, but last week I managed to resurrect the laptop they're on - the thing is, the battery is dead and it's about to die anyhow, but it works with the charger plugged in. I don't know how to chop the movies into smaller files for uploading, but if you could send me a guide to what you used I might try that. The alternative is getting an external HD that allows file transfers of that size (the one I had did not)

{{ If you can get it online Ringo you should be able to upload them one at a time as is without chopping (there are ways to chop but it tends to lead to sound synch issues) - set up a google drive, its got 15gig free space- I dont think any of the files will be quite that large and then you just need post the link and I can download it and reupload to my own for folk to watch, then upload next one as when you can until we get them all.


On a related note did any watch the edits of The Hobbit films yet?}}