First Time Watching The LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING

Just a bit of history, J R R Tolkien wrote these books after he served in WW1 it was his way of viewing his trauma in the trenches

Jayson Phillips

Are we going to get The Two Towers?

MotoDork

I agree they were not up to the LOTR level, but had several problems in production which didn't help. There still were some interesting expansions to the LOTR story line and several quite good performances, imho.

JIM SCHMITZ

As a (very) amateur Jungian, I doubt very much that Sam is Frodo's shadow. I've read most of Jung's collected works (decades ago, now) and cannot recall him talking about a "good" (vs. "evil?") shadow.

DJ Marquis Marc Rambeau du Tacoma

Those Hobbit movie were truly awful. As bad as LotR was good, imho.

DJ Marquis Marc Rambeau du Tacoma

(I disagree with MotoDork, above. I dig your talking, that's why I joined!) There only 3 books that I truly love. The Lord of the Rings; The Dune Series by Frank Herbert; and Sophie's Choice by William Styron. All of them have excellent movies made of them. Now, I won't preach to you, but here's a caution: A lot of people are going to recommend the 1984 David Lynch movie of Dune, and the more recent one starring Timothee Chalamet. They're wrong. Both movies suck because the books are just too involved to put into a short (or even a long) movie. It can't be done. It's like LotR, which needed 9 hours to tell effectively. (See Ralph Bakshi's attempt in 1978, a cool movie, but NOT LotR quality.) But, do not DESPAIR: Sometime in the early 2000s, the SCI-FI Channel (as it was then called, I think) created a whole MINISERIES for Dune. They did DUNE, DUNE MESSIAH, and CHILDREN OF DUNE - all wonderfully because it took hours upon hours to tell the story. That's what it requires. It stars William Hurt. Now, some will complain that there's no special effects to speak of in the miniseries version. "Too freaking bad!" I say to that nonsense. Give me a well told story over sleazy special effects any day. (But, hey, that's just me - and I'm a self-confessed weirdo!)

DJ Marquis Marc Rambeau du Tacoma

I, too, just joined only moments ago (1sep2023, midnight) after watching their reaction to Pulp Fiction. I agree with what Michael says above. Cheers!

DJ Marquis Marc Rambeau du Tacoma

Please try to refrain from so much talking and joking throughout dialog in the next two films. You missed everything Sam and Frodo said to eachother in the final scene on the boat.

MotoDork

There is nothing BUT extended editions. FAR superior to the theatrical cut.

MotoDork

Amplifying SirDalagad, above: Tolkien was a philologist and professor of Anglo-Saxon and English. He created the Middle Earth languages first and then decided to imagine a world in which they were used;.hence, "The Hobbit" and by extension, LOTR et al. You both had some very illuminating comments, very articulately presented. Loving the reaction thus far. P.S, I'm a big fan of the score. It moves me every time.

JIM SCHMITZ

Monkey D. Gaddafi

The elven language was created by Tolkien and is actually a family of languages designed to represent a core language and several historical phases and many dialects. The actors learned at least part of the elven language and speak it in the film. Hobbiton was actually created as a set and you can visit it in New Zealand where most of the movie was filmed. You are right, the music great and if you listen closely as the story progresses you will find that each faction has it's own music. I enjoyed your conversation about everyone's shadow. If Samwise represents Frodo's shadow perhaps that's why he can withstand the corruption of the ring better than men. He doesn't desire power at all. Whenever Frodo encounters someone he considers to be motivated by good but who values power he offers the ring to them as if he purely thinks they need it more than he does. Frodo doesn't trust his own shadow and tries to go alone and Sam agrees but insists that means he goes as well. You can't leave your shadow. Finally Sam admits he is glad to have his shadow Sam along, realizing that he has a good shadow after all. Gabriella talked about the bubble that Hobbits live in and their innocence. That reminded me that Tolkien's story was very much influenced by the effects of World War I on his friends. Many entered the war like it was a grand adventure that would soon be over and make heroes of them all. The realities quickly set in and some of the wounds never healed. Love the reaction. Can't wait for the other movies.

Sir_Dalagad

As you're doing watch-along with films here, I think it would be helpful to mention which version you use. I guess you did the extended version by the length but didn't hear you say so. As was noted above, there are six movies: these three and three more for "The Hobbit", a prequel. I'm hoping these reactions will boost your viewership dramatically.

JIM SCHMITZ

Hi there! I just became a member this moment, or actually a few moments ago. I saw your reaction video to pulp fiction this morning. I must say, I love you guys! Although I don't agree with your opinions or analyzes of the film necessarily, I love your refreshing honesty and openness. So here I am a brand new member, my name is Michael by the way. And I hope to enjoy the ride here. I see there's a bit of catching up I have to do. But I intend to view all the films I haven't seen or we watch the ones I haven't seen in a while and then watch the reactions. Again, I really am impressed and love you guys. You both seem to possess an emotional intelligence beyond your years, or at least most people I meet that's around your ages. So have a great day and hope to chat again with you in the future.

Michael Bisbee

For what it’s worth, Tolkien wrote LOTR with deep theological and Christological themes (something he admitted to), while keeping them much more vague, abstract, and less literal than CS Lewis did with Narnia. For example, instead of one character being typological of some biblical character, like the Lion being a type of Christ—in LOTR Aragorn, Gandolf, and Frodo are collectively a type of Christ. The most literal usage of typology is the Lembas bread which is a typological of the Eucharist. Philosophy professor and Catholic Dr Peter Kreeft (at Boston College) has a great video on YT where he discusses this more in depth. I believe he also has a book on it; though, you will want to wait until the trilogy is over before you listen to any of the commentaries as there will be many spoilers. However, this is not to suggest there aren’t psychological parallels that can’t be drawn out as well. In any case, I’m definitely looking forward to the next two films, hopefully The Two Towers yet this week! ;)

Greg

yall are gonna love the second movie

Terrance Lucas

to answer why gandalf seems "underwhelming", its because hes not allowed (by God) to use his powers,hes basically restraining himself the whole time, unless fighting a being on his level. gandalf, saruman, sauron and the balrog are a race of angelic beings, they just happen to take these forms. Tolkien also intentionally made his magic system vague, instead of saying spells, when gandalf does something, hes essentially claiming it to be so, not saying a spell.

HalfMayn

In the world of the Lord of the Rings or Middle-Earth there's thousands of years of history all the way to a world creation story. It goes deep and I leave it to you're own curiosity and youtube comments to type paragraphs of Lore for you :P A few fun things you asked I'll note, most people all are confused why no one helps gandalf hanging on the edge, in the books they set up a better picture that the orc's arrows are flying everywhere, the bridge and cave is collapsing plus theres was a big distance between the groups the movie just has to portray it a bit more fast paced and dramatic I think. Galadriel the Lady of Light also has a bunch of history to her but your right on the money about her bringing out her bad side then having her light side come back as a test of will. She utters "I have passed the test" after being offered it. Lastly you might be aware but theres a prequel series that came out more recently that covers Bilbo's journey that he writes about in his book. In it features the tale of his coming about the ring. Its good but different than these. Maybe something to pole about after if you enjoy these. Dont feel bad about taking breaks halfway too, a lot do to help swaying off. I can guarantee most of us are on this side of the screen :P

Trismegistus

Believe it or not, I had not seen this film until a few years ago. My ex-girlfriend talked me into seeing it and the other two LOTR movies and I love them. Very well done.

Jeff Mills

You haven't done a movie I have any interest in for a while but Lord of The Rings is one of the best out there. I read the books back when I was 12 for the first time and have been in love with that world ever since. Peter Jackson was able to shoot all 3 films at once so it has great continuity but it was horrible having to wait so long for each part to be released. He made some changes to the story that fans of the books didn't really like much but for the most part he captures the most important messages and moments. I'm sure you'll love it. One thing of note, Tolkien created the entire Elven language with grammar and syntax so what you hear in the movie is a real language created for the books

Stephen Knueppel

Was hoping for dark knight rises but eh, I'll just keep waiting and hoping lol LOTR was never my thing but to those who enjoy god bless 🙏

dieselbeast