10 years

Doesnt time fly

It feels even longer to me since I was about six when the first trailer came out and had never even heard of -- much less read -- LOTR then. I wouldn't be allowed to see the films for even longer because of the ratings (my parents were fairly strict about following age recommendations for movies), so I was grateful for the theatrical re-release this past summer to get to see them in theatres.

I was traumatized by FOTR when my dad took my sister and I to see it when I was six, so I didn't want to see TTT at ALL! So my dad got it for christmas (or father's day?) and when my sister told me the sweaty guy fell off a cliff, I just had to watch!

I was pretty traumatized by Gollum the first time I saw ROTK (which leads me to suspect that my parents were right not to let me see the movies even earlier than that ) so I was rather relieved when he fell off a cliff. I actually made my brother skip most of the Gollum parts, but at the end it was intercutting so quickly that we really couldn't skip them without missing the Black Gate as well. The strangest thing is that I'd read the books by then and I wasn't scared by the literary Gollum.... What can I say? I was a strange child.

I was just traumaitzed by the whole thing but for different reasons!

And to add FotR was also a bad date movie- the woman I had invited along to see it with me fell asleep halfway through out of boredom. True story.

Yes, well, that's what you get for being past your early childhood when the films came out.

When I went to the cinema to see FotR, the actual film broke just as Arwen walked into the broken sword chamber and was about to speak to Aragorn. I was offered a ticket to go into the next sitting, but went home instead. I don't even now know if I was disappointed when the film broke or a bit relieved.

Tin when you say the sweaty guy do you mean Gollum or Aragorn, because they both looked sweaty and fell off a cliff.?

Orwell I cant BELIEVE you went home, thats just sad.

Petty I hope that was the last you saw of that cultural philistine?

Not quite the last Mrs Figg. I, ahem, saw a bit more of her than that!

Whoopdewoo! I say steady on old chap!
er I hope you woke her up first though?

Eventually...

I as eard it twernt the miovie tha sent her to sleep inna first place, Ladddie. (My Scotshobbit accent is as bad in print as it is in person, though these things are impossible to measure! )


And Mrs Figg, to be honest, I was dsappointed the film broke and couldn't bear going back in for the next sitting for some reason. I don't remember now if I ever saw FotR (fully) at the cinema. Nor TT or RotK for that matter - though I guess I must have. They can't have been defining moments if I did. I remember the first time I read The Hobbit. Indeed, I remember reading it again pretty much straight away, during the same school holidays, and me but a boy of 13, and that's something like 26 or 40 years ago (depending on what birth date I use ). It's all sad when I think on it!

But why is it sad? I dont understand, the film or reading the book, I am hornswaggled

Oh on getting old and forgetful (though I don't worry about forgotten birthdays anymore). Oh - and on not having fonder memories of seeing the movies. I wish I could have fonder memories of that.

1. You will never be old, old people are sensible and mature and if you are not sensible by now its too late.
2. you can enjoy The Hobbit when it comes out in the cinema

Oh you are such a sweet and nurturing Lady, Mrs Figg! I think like a twenty year old (or perhaps several to many years younger) so therefore, I am! (That's a play on Descartes - ooh me, a quasi intellectual... 'hoo would of thought it?)

hoo indeed? Nora once asked me I was the same age as her, I told her I was old enough to be her mum, but inside in my head I was 15 tops. Cant change now no matter how much I try, the sillyness will out. Its like having a Silly Volcano in your head, if you try to dam it up it explodes all the more violently, so its best if it is not a catastrophic Silly explosion like Vesuvius, but a constant Silly dribble like Etna.

Goodness gracious me. And I thought I was the only mature (ripe) person who thought he was 15 years old in his head. Fancy there being more than one. (I thought for awhile Petty might be another young in the head guy, but then I thought maybe he was (1) Scottish, or (2) mentally deficient, or (3) both. )

Well I thought he was, 1. part Ebenezer Scrooge. 2. part Orson Wells. 3. part Fruit Bat.

I don't like fruit unless its fermented. I'm Scottish. You'll be suggesting vegatables next.

Watching that trailer made me all misty eyed. It brought back my delight in realising they were going to make the films and the enjoyment I got out of sitting in the cinema watching. For all we have talked of the issues with the films I can not deny that I did and still do enjoy sitting and watching them. The visualisations of these landscapes is fantastic and FOTR had the least disrupting changes. Made me smile all over again (not least as I have a holiday and pettys mega edit to go with it!)

Kafria wrote:For all we have talked of the issues with the films I can not deny that I did and still do enjoy sitting and watching them. The visualisations of these landscapes is fantastic and FOTR had the least disrupting changes.

Well said. Although I do also enjoy the second two films despite their flaws -- I think that the high points are correspondingly higher as well.

I still freak out whenever they're on TV, in fact, the EE of ROTK and TT were on Encore (for those who live in the US). Oddly, they switch between the theatrical and extended editions.

I don't watch a ton of cable TV so I haven't seen the films that way. I generally plan my LOTR viewings well in advance to make sure I have time, though. It's one thing to spend half an evening watching a two hour movie on a whim, but when each installment is pushing (or past) four hours it becomes harder for me to find the time. That, from a movie-fan perspective, is probably my biggest complaint about the films. Not that I mind the length, it just means it's harder to fit them in sometimes.