Surprise LOTR marathon

[annathepiper]

Courtesy of sksouth, I have recently listened to the 1981 BBC radio production of Lord of the Rings. It's notable to me for a few reasons, not the least of which is that Ian Holm is the voice of Frodo in that production. But it's also very much a BBC production by feel, including the restrained style of lines, the pacing, and the sound effects. There's this one sound effect that they use in fact, for the arrival of the Eagle Gwaihir, that makes me snicker helplessly because it sounds a lot like the sound effect for the TARDIS.

However, while I did appreciate the production well enough, it doesn't hold a candle to the movie trilogy. So today I found myself watching all three movies, back to back, while I was working on two months' worth of balancing the checkbook. That's a LOT of Tolkien, but damn, that was satisfying.

All the best bits still bring tears to my eyes: Gandalf falling into shadow in Moria and the Fellowship's reaction; the death scene of Boromir; the entire scene where Sam follows Frodo out into the lake; and "I can't carry it for you, Mister Frodo--but I can carry you!" The battle speeches still absolutely grip me: Theoden's speech right before that last charge out of Helm's Deep, just before Gandalf and Eomer and the Rohirrim show up; Theoden's speech just before he and 6,000 pissed off Rohirrim sweep down onto the Pelennor Fields; Aragorn's speech before the men of Gondor and Rohan before the Black Gate.

But y'know, the part that really grabs my heart and has me crying enough to drop tears right down off my face? Annie Lennox singing "Into the West". Damn. That song is a masterwork, finishing off a trilogy of masterpieces. It makes me want to play it on guitar. And sing it. In Quenya. Sniff.

And not only did the checkbook got finished up partway through the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, I even discovered we have quite a bit more money than I thought we did because I forgot to write in an entire paycheck. Oops. *^_^*;;

But, damn. I so love that I can come back to these movies again and again. Just like the books.

Comments

[filkermanque.livejournal.com]

It heals my heart to see thee in such bliss (alas, it does not do anything for my reaction to the movies, which was so severe that I must now carry an epipen, just in case).

We too have the BBC radio production (picked up on clearance at Joseph-Beth for a mere $17). I dislike some of the shortcuts in it that PJ also took, but I appreciate its (necessary) shunning of the slash-and-hackery that the movies sometimes fall into. I also suspect that having heard it for the first time in serial form on NPR Playhouse (25 years ago!) contributes to my continuing fondness for it.

[annathepiper]

Interesting, I actually disliked how the BBC production treated most of the battle bits. I mean, sure, very difficult to do a proper battle scene on the radio, so I cut 'em slack for that. But when all of the battle of Helm's Deep was pretty much covered by characters uttering "OH NOEZ A BATTLE IS HAPPENING" type lines, I have to admit, I got kind of bored. ;)

Heh, yeah, if you caught it in serial form, I could totally see that being a more effective experience. I went through all the episodes fairly quickly, listening to them in 2- and 3-episode chunks at work. I daresay the pacing would have worked better for me spread out across several weeks of broadcasts.

Ian Holm, however, did a bangup job as Frodo. He had a more over the top performance towards the end showing how the Ring was affecting him, but that's something I also attribute to it being a radio production--he only had his voice to work with, so that's fine. It was an interesting contrast to Elijah Wood's more understated performance in the movies.

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

That'd be a cool thing to do at a filk con, "Into the West" the way Tolkein intended it...

And, yeah, any epic like that should have an epic tune to go with it. "Luke's Theme," or "Storybook Story," or the original Alexander Courage theme from when we were but a gleam in our dad's eyes...

My favorite moment from the trilogy is Eowyn's reveal before the Nazgul king. Right up there with "Severed Dreams" for kick-ass womanhood-ness.

And, yay checkbook!!!

[annathepiper]

"Into the West" the way Tolkein intended it...

... well, if he'd known about the song, maybe. ;) It's not one of the ones he wrote in the books, although, according to its Wikipedia page, it does lift several phrases out of Return of the King's last chapter for its lyrics. Translating it into Quenya though, according to that same page, would be true to the spirit of the song: a lament sung by Galadriel.

Heh, clearly I'm way more familiar with the soundtrack of this trilogy than you are; there are, for me, any number of themes I strongly associate with it. "Into the West" is simply a mighty finale to an entire soundtrack that's awesome from the first note to the last.

And indeed, "I am no man" is one of the best parts of the entire story. ^_^

[angelina-zooma.livejournal.com]

That song also has effect on me, so much so that I have a really hard time actually listening to it now. Plus I avoid the movie a little as well, but only because it has an extra little significance for me.

Return of the King was the last movie my fiance saw in theatres, before he became really ill, and we actually played that song at his funeral. :/

That song, along with Carbon Leaf's Gloryland always bring me back to that time. GBS's Something Beautiful does as well (that well placed song came out a week after the funeral, and hit me HARD) but does in a more, peaceful way.

Sorry, dumped a lot out there. :) that was a long and emotional "I know what you mean!"

[annathepiper]

Oh, honey! *hugs*

I have the same problem with, of all things, the Bugs Bunny cartoon "Rabbit of Seville". It's a glorious masterpiece of Warner Brothers mayhem, including brilliant handling of music, and I always have a little pang watching it because it's the thing I was watching when the news was brought to me that my mother had passed away.

So, yeah. Absolutely knowing what you mean here.