Lord of the Rings Humour: Parodies, Satires and More [4]

Noooo, I don't think Id like Billy as Tom. I imagined Tom as a Country farmer with a Cornish accent, don't know why ?

I know, I am a nerd - but this is just too hilarious not to share

Took me a while to figure out what was going on there.

Too bad Galadriel was not in that scene.

{{ Not sure if that would be the most terryfing image possible Halfy, or worryingly alluring! }}

Even Wraiths need a holiday

Ringdrotten wrote:I know, I am a nerd - but this is just too hilarious not to share

It's beautiful

Ringo

Although technically we can can find the exchange of money in Tolkien's books (for example), I like the general point made by Rothfuss there.

The "Fade to White" gag was quite good.

I like this guy.

{{ My  advice if you havent already Halfy is pick out a few films he covers, usually the worse the film the funnier, watch them to get all his catchphrases and stuff, then watch his subscribers  special, the pitch meeting for pitch meeting, which is genius. }}

I liked it too

Nobody is better qualified to do an audio book of The Hobbit.

I think I'd prefer a reader with a friendlier voice. Andy Serkis has established himself as one of the edgiest actors in the LotR cast, and I can't imagine him making scenes like Bilbo's entry into Rivendell satisfactorily light-hearted.

I'm also suspect of someone so intimately wrapped-up in the Jackson movies doing this reading: how much of the movies' influence is being read back into the Hobbit book? In this interview Serkis says that while he is trying to avoid impersonation, he is also refining some of the characterizations that came out in the movies. I'd prefer to hear a less-well-known perspective, or a fresh one.

That being said, I'm curious as to what the recording sounds like.

Towards the end of the video, when asked which character was his favourite to read, he's doing that actor thing where he gushes over how phenomenal and amazing they all are.

And he's just said something about how Bilbo's character arc includes a realization towards the end that he will "never go back". As in, he will never be able to return to the life he once knew. Bloody hell, Bilbo is not Frodo!!! "The Hobbit, or There and Back Again" is the title.

Edit: I don't blame Serkis for having all this pish-posh in his head, but he's harping on now about how the Master is basically Trump/Johnson, and how interesting Thorin's "character arc" is and how "tragic" it is when he eventually gives in to his greed and dies. All this Jackson-Hobbit-Movies influence is making me very crabbit indeed. These characters are not fleshed out enough to draw any of these conclusions from, and he's clearly understanding the book within the context of the movies.

I suppose one of the reasons why Serkis was approached to do this was to market a new audiobook by tying it in with the movies.

The Hobbit novel was written and conceived as a standalone children's fairytale for Tolkien's children (well the published version is at least..The early drafts published in The History Of The Hobbit do share a number of references to The Silmarillion which were dropped in the final story), it's a whole different tone and spirit to LOTR let alone the Jackson movies, I'm not doubting Serkis acting talents but I'd have preferred a new reader with no connections to the movies, this would have been a good opportunity to draw attention back to the book and its origins as a stand alone story.

The Hobbit became a prequel to LOTR, but it is a great stand alone story on its own terms, it shouldn't be immediately compared to its lengthier follow up or thought as merely a lesser prelude i.m.o (it was clear Peter Jackson viewed the book that way ) , I wonder how Serkis will approach narrating the story from this simpler angle, having working on Jackson's bloated expansion for years...

Bilbo definitely has a well sketched character arc in the book...Thorin has an arc but less pronounced (and it's a case of becoming less of a grumpy morally grey dick over time, rather than the oh so tragic and generically heroic bland hero he in the movies) and I don't really feel that's a problem with the book tbh. Though the extra info we get on Thorin in Unfinished Tales The LOTR Appendices and The History Of Middle Earth/History Of The Hobbit is interesting and worth looking into if you want to consider The Hobbit within the context of Tolkien's other middle earth writings.

I really must get around to reading The History of the Hobbit, but I'm still working my way through a couple of Tolkien biographies I bought last year (or was it the year before?) in anticipation of the Tolkien movie.

Thorin's arc is shaped by his attitude towards Bilbo, rightfully so: from dismissive to respectful to furious to repentant. Giving him an arc independent of Bilbo was one of the big mistakes in the movies!

Sarah Palin

I like this man

That "lost Faramir" had me in fits