From Movie to Book

[olsonm]

This is a question for those that saw the movie first, then read the book.
How did the movie color your first reading of the book, if at all? How did your perception of the characters/story change after reading the book? What differences surprised you?

[Sween]

Well i saw the movie then read the book and there are a few diffrences. ill start with the characters. i found gandalf a bit indecisive in the book taking 19 years to work out which ring it was . Aragon is obovosly much older in the book than in the movie i read the apendix of him and awen and i love the fact he had been all over middle earth. Legolas is an Elf basically and him and gimli have a good relationship going on which is quite nice. Gimli is much better at fighting in the book whilst legolas skills are not really shown. Boromir is just an idiot in the book i didnt like him at all he seemed selffish but i think the movie character is better developed and makes more sence he just wants to save his people. Out of all the hobbits sam is the most like his character infact i dont see any real diffrence. Frodo is much more of a leader. Merry and Pippin are more well not stupid in the book they have there uses and are at least equals of sam in brains and deeds.

Of the book itself i think it is a great depition the film of the book. they have added a lot more pace to it which frankly the book needs essecially felllowship. Middle earth felt a much smaller place in the film which should be expected as there is no way of showing the passage of time without them constantally saying we been traveling for five days since the last sean or a little messegae at botom of screan saying 5 days later.

the only diffrence that surprised me were the diffrences in merry and pipins characters and i think the film is the perfect film adepatation of the book if they messed about as much as they do in the book we would still be here watching it now.

[Elbereth]

I had read the hobbit before i saw lotr...i think that merry and pippin in the movie are pretty puch indistinguishible, but in the book you can see their differences clearly. frodo was more of a leader in the book, in the movie everyone, even the other hobbits, do everything for him. i don't think they should have had arwen rescue him at the ford, but i think they played up the characters of aragorn and arwen a lot in the movie. i liked the casting, though, except that galadriel was too scary. i loved the scenery though, especially the Shire.
since i hadn't read the book the movie was a bit hard to follow, they definately left out all the explanatory parts. and of course, they left out bombodil...

[Darth Tater]

I really pitty those of you who saw the film first, it's a brilliant film, but this is the best book ever written, and your idea of it is now based on a much simpler telling of the story. I mean, I doubt anyone who saw the movie first can really appreciate Galadriel fully.

[samwiselvr2008]

the biggest diffrens was that i thought that Galadriel was evil in the movie, but in the book she was wonderfull, and a big help!

i'll continue this later b/c i have to go!

[BeardofPants]

Originally posted by Darth Tater
I mean, I doubt anyone who saw the movie first can really appreciate Galadriel fully.

Well, there is that. And there's also the fact that they won't appreciate how minor a character Legolas really is.

Redeem yourselfs you heathen latecomers, and read the Sil... (Yeah, yeah, I only read it recently myself, shame on me. )

[BeardofPants]

Originally posted by samwiselvr2008
the biggest diffrens was that i thought that Galadriel was evil in the movie, but in the book she was wonderfull, and a big help!

No, you perceived her as evil, but she wasn't supposed to be in the movie - just susceptible to the ring like every other being practically in middle earth. I think the main differences between the book and the movie, was that the book illustrated how tired (sorry, can't think of a better word) Galadriel was of middle earth, and 'though she was a powerful creature, all she wanted to do was to aid in the quest of the ring, so that she could quit middle earth. Whereas in the movie, this "tiredness" didn't really come through very well, IMHO.

*rereads post*

Ergh. I need to get some more sleep... *yawn*

[Comic Book Guy]

I'd never believe any of you "Movie to book" people if you said "When I think of Frodo, I don't think of Elijah Wood"

[samwiselvr2008]

I'd never believe any of you "Movie to book" people if you said "When I think of Frodo, I don't think of Elijah Wood"


true, my friend cept on talking about him over and over and over again, so now i think about him whene ever i read the fellowship of the ring, but not any of the other books! maybe it was allso because i saw the movie to many times?

[samwiselvr2008]

wate, i am soooooooooooooooooo sorry Sam and the rest of the charicters (exspesally Sam!) you cant see the movie to many times!!!!!!!!!!!

any ways, like i was saying, before i had to get of last time, what i ment to say about Galadriel was that i THOUGHT that she some typ of wich b/c of what Gimli said about her, and i was very shocked that she was not whene i read the book! also, i could hear the charicters vouses whene i read lines that they had spoken in both the movie and the books, i can't remember any exsampls right now (has it been out of theaters for that long? i did see it on the last day that it was in the doller theater! ) but there (the acters) voyses would say the lines in the books! i'm to tired to think of any thing else!

[IronParrot]

"I'd never believe any of you "Movie to book" people if you said "When I think of Frodo, I don't think of Elijah Wood""

Well, to be fair, I'd say that a lot of "book-to-movie" people would have a hard time not associating the character to the actor at all... (I'm not sure, because I actually haven't read LOTR cover to cover since last October, before the film came out.)

Unless you mean, "When I think of Frodo, I don't think of Elijah Wood first" - because that's a different issue entirely.

[sun-star]

I saw the film first, and I don't think of Elijah Wood at all when I read the book. The film hasn't affected my picture of the book much, but then, I don't know what my picture would be if I hadn't seen the film. I can't really judge. All I know is, I'm grateful I went to see the film or I'd have never read the book, because I couldn't get past the first sentence of the Hobbit before that. Seeing the film showed me I was an idiot. Now I've read all the Tolkien I can get my hands on - not that there's much around here - and I love all of it. I'm not sure I understand all of it, but that's not the fault of the film...
Actually, I think other books coloured my reading of Lotr more - the Narnia books, for example.

[Entlover]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Sween
[B] Middle earth felt a much smaller place in the film which should be expected as there is no way of showing the passage of time .
__________________________________________________ _-

It didn't seem that way to me -- the vast mountainous landscapes of NZ conveyed a sense of the vastness of Middle Earth to me. I felt the passage of time, when they were walking through different landscapes. ME seemed larger in the movie than the book to me.

I think the differences between Pippin and Merry will show up more later, when Pippin becomes a soldier of Gondor and Merry of Rohan. Their characters change substantially in the book.

[Rei]

Originally posted by BeardofPants
And there's also the fact that they won't appreciate how minor a character Legolas really is.

No, I think that if they would just move from the fact that he's cute and listen to his 6 lines that are usually nothing more than "Orc" or "Goblins" movie-goers would realize that he is a minor character. But, alas, PJ got what he wanted. Screaming fangirls who will pay $8.75 every week to see the elf in his tight pants...

Though I must admit, Orlando Bloom is a wonderful piece if eye-candy!

[Sween]

beard of pants you really do not like the movie do u? Legolas isnt a major character in the movie as is neither Gimli but he does a lot of stuff in the background that looks cool thats why people like him.

[BeardofPants]

Originally posted by Sween
beard of pants you really do not like the movie do u? Legolas isnt a major character in the movie as is neither Gimli but he does a lot of stuff in the background that looks cool thats why people like him.

How'd ya guess? Not so far. However, of all the books, Fellowship was probably the hardest one to adapt, in the sense that not too much happened really. I have a small part of me that remains optimistic about the next two movies. And if nothing else, PJ directs good fight sequences (Bad Taste anyone?). I'm looking forwards to Helms Deep - even if he does persist in putting elves where they don't belong...

[Sween]

Fellowship is easily the hardest to film as it is the lonest and has a lot of progression. they vist lots of places and vist lots of people the other 2 books are easier to film (well kinda theres the triple story lines which will make it a bit of a fragmented movie) but they have a clearer purpose and dont stop off and meet so many people.

He did good with Fellowship he will do better with two towers

[BeardofPants]

Originally posted by Sween
He did good with Fellowship he will do better with two towers

Yes, despite all my moaning, I do concede this. PJ did the best job he could do with what he had. At the end of the day, LOTR is a literary masterpiece, and having said that, any movie adaptation (an inferior medium at the best of times) will always come up lacking. And the Fellowship was pretty good - but I don't see what the fuss is about. It's not the greatest movie ever, and it won't make the annals for that reason. If it does, it will be because of what it is, and how if was filmed. Now all that remains to be seen, is how PJ is gonna deal with TTT & ROTK. I hope I like these ones, I really do. It will redeem the first one, and make me a little more patriotic about New Zealand...

[Entlover]

Book first is ideal, of course.

We all are aware that the LotR is really one book, divided for publisher's purposes into 3.
I wonder if in the end we'll think of the movies as one movie -- I'm looking forward to a nine hour marathon.

[Sween]

yeah i cannot wait till the day comes when i can go oh its raining outside what shall i do...... oh f*** it lets watch lord of the rings all the way thru