Favourite Parts of The Fellowship?

[Alynna Lis Eachann]

No, where the movie went into stupidville was, having positioned Faramir as opposed to Frodo thusly, they had to find a way to get out of it somehow, before Frodo ended up in Minas Tirith. So we get the whole thing with Frodo and the Ringwraith in Osgiliath. Now, that was bad!

Thank you! I thought it was just me.

Frodo: "Hello, here's the ring, and if you can't guess where I'm taking it, then you've got to be the stupidest thing in Middle-earth."

Nazgul: "Thanks, I'll be sure to put that last part in the memo."

*Nazgul forgets to forward memo* <-- because that is the only way I'd believe Sauron didn't figure it out...

Have to agree with Lucimay about Faramir. He was my absolute favorite character in the book, and I hate what they did with him in the movie. The whole irony is that he's supposed to be ultimately stronger than Boromir, and if he'd been allowed to go in Boromir's place... my, but wouldn't that have turned out differently? Movie Faramir... he's like a shorter Boromir, and it takes him just as long to come to his senses. It's a wonder something didn't shoot him full of arrows just to highlight the parallels.

[wayfriend]

Actually, Faramir's changes did serve the story.

didn't

I bow to the power of your point.

I'd have to agree with Wayfriend here, also i belive the reason for Frodo going to Osgiliath was because of the delaying of him meeting Shelob.

Well, that. Plus we get to see Osgiliath, which is cool. But Frodo also went to Osgiliath because if Faramir covets the Ring and desires to please his father, then, well, that's what he'd do.

some hostility between the pair at first but that subsides. in the film it doesn't.

Again: in a movie, there isn't time to dither back and forth.

*Nazgul forgets to forward memo* <-- because that is the only way I'd believe Sauron didn't figure it out...

My thoughts precisely. But that's only half.

The other half if the debacle of Osgiliath is, Faramir has a change of heart for apparently no conceible reason. He utters "I think at last we understand one another, Frodo Baggins." - but what the heck does he suddenly learn about Frodo by watching him flirt with a Nazgul?

In the years since, I've developed a theory about what the scriptwriters might have intended here, but failed to execute on. Theory: Faramir witnesses Frodo lose his reason and succomb to the pull of the Ring. He imagines his Father going that route, and what that would lead to. He realizes that Frodo is right, no one should try to use the Ring, it should be destroyed. He realizes that Frodo sacrifices himself in the process. He now agrees with Frodo's position - he now thinks that they "understand one another".

Too bad it sucked.

All 3 movies, except for a few select scenes, sucked ass.

I feel bad for the fun your missing out on, HLT. It's only 5% suck ass, tops.

[High Lord Tolkien]

All 3 movies, except for a few select scenes, sucked ass.

I feel bad for the fun your missing out on, HLT. It's only 5% suck ass, tops.

No, the casting was awesome and the scenery is outstanding but the unnessesary changes in the story, like Faramir for instance, were just too painful for me to watch.
And I understand that cuts and changes had to be made but too many of the changes were just dumb.

And why was Frodo constipated the whole movie?
Was that another power of the Ring that no one mentioned?

[lucimay]

Actually, Faramir's changes did serve the story.

didn't

I bow to the power of your point.

i can be quite contrary!

[Marv]

some hostility between the pair at first but that subsides. in the film it doesn't.

Again: in a movie, there isn't time to dither back and forth.

agreed, but i think it could have been done better. at least keep the original dialogue.

the only other thing that grated for me was the seeming invincibility of Legolas and Gimli. they could have fought all the battles by themselves.

[Avatar]

No, the casting was awesome and the scenery is outstanding but the unnessesary changes in the story, like Faramir for instance, were just too painful for me to watch.
And I understand that cuts and changes had to be made but too many of the changes were just dumb.

Personally, I'm a purist when it comes to things like this, but I must agree with WayFriend that it onlly sucked 5%. Maybe 10%.

I don't think that the cuts and changes, annoying though some of them were, detracted from the story as a movie. *shrug*

--A

[Krazy Kat]

Frodo racing towards the ford with the ringing of bells from his horse's harness.

Also, when I found out that 'white horses' is a poetic way of describing the froth on top of waves, it did change the way I think about the events on the river Loudwater and the washing away of the black riders.
Almost as if the Elves had rode to the rescue.

[Avatar]

That was a great scene.

--A

[Krazy Kat]

Because of that scene, isn't it obvious that Frodo is the Lord of the Rings!
After all, it is Frodo that has the One Ring not Sauron, or anyone else.

I've yet to meet someone who would agree with this.

[Lazy Luke]

... isn't it obvious that Frodo is the Lord of the Rings!
After all, it is Frodo that has the One Ring not Sauron, or anyone else.

Interestingly, when Frodo, Sam, Pippin, and Merry, meet Gildor Inglorion:

excerpt from, Three Is Company

Away high in the East swung Remmirath, the Netted Stars, and slowly
above the mists red Borgil rose, glowing like a jewel of fire. Then by some
shift of airs all the mist was drawn away like a viel, and there leaned up,
as he climbed over the rim of the world, the Swordsman of the Sky,
Menelvagor with his shining belt. The Elves all burst into song. Suddenly
under the trees a fire sprang up with a red light.

If Menelvagor is in fact Orion, sometimes the three stars on Orion's belt go by the name, The Three Kings.
I'd like to think Tolkien is using this term to impress upon us that the Lord of the Rings had indeed come amongst them.
Unfortunately, the Hobbits got too high to remember very much of what happened that night at Gildor's party.

In addition, when reading Tolkien's language it can sometimes be like listening to a song without a lyric sheet. Words may or may not rhyme, depending on context. So if Remmirath rhymes with Remember-uth, it's highly likely that Menelvagor rhymes with Me(I)-never-forgot. This of course is fairly subjective, as one man's Lotht-lo-ring, is another's Loathe-the-rain.

[Lazy Luke]

Unfortunately, the Hobbits got too high to remember very much of what happened that night at Gildor's party.

This wasn't strictly true! Frodo stayed up late into the night talking with Gildor.

If for the sake of argument the stars Remmirath and Menelvagor are in fact Plaides and Orion, what then of Borgil?

slowly above the mists red Borgil rose, glowing like a jewel of fire

Kristine Larsen, a professor of astronomy at the Connecticut state university has written many papers on the cosmology of Tolkien's Middle Earth. Based on her literary assumptions and astronomical evidence she has argued that Borgil must be Aldebaran, the Bull's Eye, of Taurus. As Aldebaran in Arabic means "the follower of Plaides", this may well be so.

However, what if Borgil has other meaning from the Ancient Speech of the Elves? Gildor mentions that Bilbo, "said farewell to us on this very spot". This is interesting when Borgil rhymes with burgle, as in "Bilbo the Burgler" from The Hobbit.

Frodo sat, eating, drinking, and talking with delight; but his mind was
chiefly on the words spoken. He knew a little of the elf-speech and listened
eagerly. Now and again he spoke to those that served him and thanked
them in their own language. They smiled at him and said laughing:
"Here is a jewel among hobbits!"

[Lazy Luke]

Browsing the online Tolkien sites, like the Arda Encyclopedia, The Tolkien Gateway, the yahdidah, and the dumdedum, one of them suggests that Borgil is in fact Bellatrix. This seems to me like a case of join-the-dots ...

As Bellatrix being the shoulder of Orion, Gildor Inglorion (as in Ingl-orion) is suggestive of what lies ahead in Frodo's future. The Black Riders eventually catch up with Frodo on Weathertop where he is stabbed in the shoulder with a morgul-knife.
Gildor is reluctant to talk about the Black Riders, saying it is Gandalf's place to tell Frodo about them.
Also, the fact that Frodo used the Ring when confronted by the Black Riders, and of course the 'Ring' in Gildo(r Ing)lorion, could possible mean ... but no, I don't like that idea. I can't imagine the elves engaging in such a wicked betrayal.

And lastly, what I like best about the party at Woody End was Sam - "Well, sir, if I could grow apples like that, I would call myself a gardener". Was he talking about the fruits sweet as wildberries, or the fragrant draught, cool as a clear fountain, golden as a summer afternoon? I'd like to think so; at first I thought they were drinking lager, I'd now like to believe they were drinking cider.