Surprise LOTR marathon
Jul. 27th, 2008 12:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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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.
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.
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Date: 2008-07-27 03:00 pm (UTC)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!!!
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Date: 2008-07-27 04:52 pm (UTC)... 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. ^_^