How were you introduced to Tolkien?

I saw them all in the theaters! Not like these young whipper snappers and their vidya games!

Tinuviel wrote:Nope sorry I meant Aragorn! He was always covered in sweat in FOTR and so I called him the sweaty guy. He was filthy!  I also hated Arwen for a while because of her relationship with Aragorn... I still couldn't tell you why.

Jealousy?

bungobaggins wrote:I saw them all in the theaters! Not like these young whipper snappers and their vidya games!

I was seven when the first movie came out, so I got left at home being babysat by a cousin while my parents saw it. My dad liked the movie, but my mom (who had never read the book) fell asleep.

Eldorion wrote:

Tinuviel wrote:Nope sorry I meant Aragorn! He was always covered in sweat in FOTR and so I called him the sweaty guy. He was filthy!  I also hated Arwen for a while because of her relationship with Aragorn... I still couldn't tell you why.

Jealousy?  

Eldorion wrote:

I was seven when the first movie came out, so I got left at home being babysat by a cousin while my parents saw it. My dad liked the movie, but my mom (who had never read the book) fell asleep.

I remember having to drag my parents to the theater. I think they liked the movies. They haven't bothered about the Hobbit movies, but they have asked me if I enjoyed them.

bungobaggins wrote:I remember having to drag my parents to the theater. I think they liked the movies. They haven't bothered about the Hobbit movies, but they have asked me if I enjoyed them.

My dad went to see The Hobbit movies with me, though not on opening night (that's part of the reason I saw each of them twice in theatres).  My mom suffered through all three LOTR EEs with me a number of years ago (not all in one night) and I was grateful for that sacrifice on her part, especially since she stayed awake throughout the whole thing.  But she didn't want to go see The Hobbit. Both of them got me AUJ stuff for Christmas 2012 though. :lol;

If you were seven Eldo, I guess that makes sense. I think I was fifteen, and I went to see Fellowship on the day of premier at midnight, I'm not sure why, it wasn't even the premier, but a later showing, with a friend of mine. I then spent weeks doing little else but complain to him about the changes from the book. He rather liked the movie, but he bore with me. I guess that's what a true friend is, someone who'll stomach you complaining about a movie for weeks on end.

Eldorion wrote:But she didn't want to go see The Hobbit.

Thank God for that. Or you might have had to see it three times.

bungobaggins wrote:

Eldorion wrote:

Tinuviel wrote:Nope sorry I meant Aragorn! He was always covered in sweat in FOTR and so I called him the sweaty guy. He was filthy!  I also hated Arwen for a while because of her relationship with Aragorn... I still couldn't tell you why.

Jealousy?  

I hated Arwen too, but that was because she took Glorfindels role.

Bluebottle wrote:Thank God for that. Or you might have had to see it three times.

Good point.

Bluebottle wrote:

bungobaggins wrote:

Eldorion wrote:

Tinuviel wrote:Nope sorry I meant Aragorn! He was always covered in sweat in FOTR and so I called him the sweaty guy. He was filthy!  I also hated Arwen for a while because of her relationship with Aragorn... I still couldn't tell you why.

Jealousy?  

See I'd say that except I was 7 when this hatred started. I'm pretty sure my sole reason for latching onto Aragorn was because my sister had already latched onto Legolas. I did this alot, trying to be different for the sake of being different without opinion. But yeah I'd say I like Aragorn better still. But I think it was actually the mushy romance that made me angry. I wanted the action! I didn't care about a romantic sub plot. Plus Eowyn was right there so...

You know, this is probably why I hate what Tauriel became so much. I wanted the main story not the stupid side story. Although now I really like the Aragorn Arwen bits (except for the made up stuff in ROTK, still hate that...) probably because I know there's more to it than what's shown on screen.

What comes across as a load of B******s to me is, IF Legolas & Tauriel were the Elvish equivalent to Romeo & Juliet then why was there not one teeny weeny hint at a lost love, a smidgeon of pain ever brought up in LOTRs ?? Leggy couldnt look more virginal & a complete naive 'child' as to the workings of the world. Yet, in the hobbit hes rough tough & can take on a whole legion on his own without ruffling his hair !

I guess that's a consequense of making it up as you go along.

non of that so called romance rang true. For one thing Leggy was a po-faced plonker through out the films, never showing one second of emotion other than well..po-faced plonkerism, his acting was wooden but lacked the charm of LOTR, in LOTR he was pretty great at being a somewhat aloof Elf but underneath he seemed to care about his friends, but in the Hobbit he was just unpleasant and he never showed any warmth towards Tauriel so the thought of his unrequited love was laughable.

What are we like ? Its JRR Tolkien's Birthday today !!!

Really??  

Happy Birthday Tolkien ! And sadly as Tolkien himself is no longer here to join us, I'll also have his - in his memory of course.

Happy 124th Birthday!

I wish I could tell you thank you.

I wish I could tell him not to sell the film rights for peanuts- they are worth a bomb, and to put in two clauses- saying any fan made material based on the works is free of copyright and if a chap called Peter Jackson comes along and wants the film rights there is an automatic refusal.

Id like to see that clause tightened more than that. Peejers could use an alias ? OR a proxy ? cant have him sniffing in at any expense

IIRC the contract between Tolkien and UA that initially sold the film rights remains sealed, but in the Letters Tolkien talked about his "cash or kudos" policy and my understanding was that he had gotten the "cash" part to his satisfaction. Keeping in mind that LOTR was already a major phenomenon by 1969...

He got the cash bit right for their perceived value at the time- his main motivation was paying for his kids education- he wasn't really looking beyond that- he thought the offer was good enough to cover the costs and was as likely to be as good as it would get- but I think had he not sold them and Christopher had the rights- apart from no PJ adaptations maybe- had he sold them I reckon they would have been worth significantly more above inflation than in his fathers day- when Tolkien sold they had gotten more popular- but they werent the book voted the greatest literature of the 20th century for example.

Pettytyrant101 wrote:I wish I could tell him not to sell the film rights for peanuts- they are worth a bomb, and to put in two clauses- saying any fan made material based on the works is free of copyright and if a chap called Peter Jackson comes along and wants the film rights there is an automatic refusal.

I get where you are coming from, but from Tolkien's perspective it was probably a win-win situation, most of the previous attempts to adapt the book had fallen flat on their face quickly, Tolkien wasn't a massively rich man and considered the book unfilmable, he made a fair amount of money in a very short time and knew he'd likely be long gone without having to worry about the consequences, it's hard to say how he'd feel about fan works, his letters indicate he was a staunch defender of copyright and his story, but he also seemed like quite a humble guy faintly bemused by but very proud of how popular his books were.

Can't see him liking 'Bored Of The Rings' though...

I am of the opinion he wouldn't have been as sniffy as his son about PJ and LOTR.