November 25, 2003

TTT EE And... Frodo Gets Naked
Bob Praz

Ok, maybe the last part in my title didn't sound quite right, but I'll be talking about it later.

First, LOTR: TTT EE DVD (I love these acronyms)! Sorry for posting so late, but I'm pretty busy lately. For those interested, here's what I thought of the EE.
I think the entire movie makes more sense in the extended cut. I agree some things could have been left in the theatrical cut - without making it too long - to avoid confusing the audience. There's A LOT of stuff I was expecting to see in the theatrical cut that has been put back in; mainly events and lines I had heard rumours about early on. I also thought that the entire extended relationship between Aragorn and Eowyn (as well as the scene with Brego) made Aragorn's fall off the cliff and supposed death much more dramatic and ultimately less cheesy. In the theatrical cut, it seems like Aragorn is just randomly assumed dead and everyone weeps. Looking back on it now, it seemed sort of awkward. But now, not only do we understand better which horse came to rescue him (and why), but also the entire build-up of Aragorn's importance and his relation with Eowyn makes this sequence much more effective, I think it's good how we see Aragorn constantly turning back to his love for Arwen.
Otherwise, I liked the added comic relief and depth to the story.

Ok, if you've been on TORn(as always) lately, you may have seen the newly posted pictures of the LOTR Topps cards. Among them is a picture of Frodo lying in Cirith Ungol, bound and surrounded by orcs. He's got no shirt on, but we can't see if he's completely naked below the waist as well (I certainly hope not; that's just too awkward for a movie). So for those of you who were wondering about that, there you have it. Go to TORn to see it for yourself (there's some INSANE spoilers as well).

As for Merry at the Black Gate, I think I may have posted about that some time ago, but I was just speculating if so. I am no nearer to the answer now, unfortunately, and I don't even know if there is or was any evidence. It would be a change for the better, though, in my opinion.

WIDESCREEN ALL THE WAY! Yeah, well, there you have it; I'd rather have the black bars on the top and bottom than to be missing parts of the picture. The black spaces never bothered me; after all, most TVs are large black boxes, and the screen is thus framed by large black borders, so what difference does it make if there's more black on screen? (Ok, that's a lame argument, but all I'm saying is that at least you have the full picture on the screen). That's my opinion, anyhow.

Here ends another long, multi-paragraphed article in response to multiple previous posts. I have taken enough time to write this, and I must return to my school projects (very large SIGH).