And Tsugumo, you don’t have to read The Hobbit first. JRRT himself said it wasn’t necessary to read TH first and I think I appreciated both TH and LOTR better by reading LOTR first. I was expecting fantastic stuff from it, and I got it. If I had read TH with those expectations, I know I would have been let down, despite getting a delightful story from it.
That’s arguable.
So, you want the movie to last, what, like 8 hours? 
Yes! The shot of the boat drifting past the foot of one of the colossi blew me away!
YES!
It will.
8 hours for all three films. What a lot of us want is 8 hours per film.
/Coil - really liked the trailer
I just saw it… What impressed me the most was probably either the Balrog (what little we see of it), or Legolas’ shooting-- Did you see how friggin’ fast he was?
Plus appendices
How did they do that? I’ve read LOTR 4 times. I have a very vivid, clear picture in my head of how everything and everyone should look. And it fits!
Seriously. The trailer brought tears to my eyes… especially with the “YOU SHALL NOT PASS!”
::shivers::
Not if you watch the trailer. Pippin is examining a moldering corpse that’s propped up by the well. As he does so, the body collapses; the skull falls in, followed by the torso. This is pretty clearly a case of curiosity, even more so than in the book – he throws a pebble down the well, to see how deep it is. (“Fool of a Took! Throw yourself in next time!”) That’s also curious, but it’s also bloody stupid.
I am SO looking forward to this, you couldn’t believe it. Hmm, on second thought, maybe you could – I know the sort of company I’m in around here. I don’t love the look of Legolas or Gimli, nor do I care for Frodo’s anime-sized Fremen-blue eyes. But these are minor quibbles. While I don’t mind an expanded role for Arwen Evensong, I do hope that segment with her at the Ford of Rivendell is only her luring the Ringwraiths in to the flood that Elrond sends.
I also like how they are still managing to keep the difference in SIZE of the characters ‘under wraps’ (in a way). At least nothing but closes up of faces and long shots. I’m looking forward to seeing the way they make John Rhys-Davies seem dwarf-like. And the ENTS!!! I can’t wait to see how they handle the Ents and the destruction of Orthanc.
So, since that’s Arwen at the Ford, do we think she’s taking the place of Glorfindel in the movie?
Reading it right now I see several characters who could easily be combined in the interest of brevity and giving each member of the Fellowship an earlier introduction to the audience.
Glorfindel could be replaced by Legolas (even though that wouldn’t strictly make sense, as Legolas was from Mirkwood and wouldn’t know the way west to meet up with Strider and the hobbits), but it looks like he’s being replaced by Arwen for the chick factor.
Gloin can be replaced by Gimli for the long conversation at Elrond’s supper table. For that matter, much of the conversation can be cut, since it’s only meaningful to people who’ve read The Hobbit.
The Dunedan, Strider and Aragorn can all be combined into the same character. In fact, I’ll be surprised if they don’t do this.
One whiny moment:
I hear they’re axing Tom Bombadil!
<whiiiiiiiine>
I like Tom Bombadil! He’s always been the single most intriguing and mysterious character in the series to me.
I know that for the purpose of the bones of the story, he’s not strictly necessary, but still.
I’m not a huge LOTR fan, and have not been salivating for the movie like many of my friends, but I must say it looks good. I’m concerned that so much of it seems so dark - I mean literally dark, as in hard-to-see. I’m hoping this won’t be one of those movies that could have saved money by being shown over a radio.
Umm, maybe it’s because I haven’t had any coffee this morning, but aren’t they in fact the same person? In terms of the storyline, Aragorn went under different names in different places and times. Perhaps this would be eliminated but I think it would be a nice plot development item for movies II and III.
Another “YOWZA!!” on watching the trailer…
As one who grew up reading the LOtR in 1981 while the BBC was doing a radio play (13 hours worth) at the same time, my imagination has been massively influenced by the BBC dramitisation. And a SUPERB reproduction it was too (in my biased opinion) - just recently released in a 14 CD set (approx £80 from Amazon).
Eagerly awaiting the real thing…
Gp
Correct. Strider and Aragorn are the same person, who happens to be a member of the group called the Dunedan (a ranger-like group). I’m sure someone (I’m looking at you, Saltire) will come along and give a brief synopsis of the history of the Dunedan.
I think that they computer enhanced Legolas to make him appear more “elf-like” – at least that was the opinion over at TORN.
Here is a shot by shot analyis of the trailer:
http://www.theonering.net/movie/preview/fotr_trailer02_01.html
(Psst, I think the Strider/Aragorn/Dunadan thing was a joke, son.)
Help.
I’ve wet my pants.
Zebra…
your wife lost it because it was a skull rather than a rock that went down the well, and she didn’t have anything to say about Arwen challenging the Nazgul?
Real Geeky nitpick. Fiver is correct. *Dunadan * is also one of Aragorn’s names. It means “Man of the West.” Bilbo uses it in the Riv ‘n’ Dell. The plural is used to refer to the group of Rangers, the remnant of the Numenoreans in the North.