National Geographic documentary

Gerbil · 03-20-2002, 10:31 PM

Just bought it cos I felt like treating myself cos life is **** right now.

What a waste of money. More fool me for buying it on DVD too - £16 AAARGHHH (Around $20 to you US peeps).

Utter awful. Apart from the fact it was voiced by an american (nothing against Americans as such, but this is SUCH an english thing

, my real gripes are:

Well, everything really. It's just downright rubbish. Nothing of interest, the ever awful Liv Tyler cooing about her favourite bits of Elvish, irrelevant footage, repeating the same WW2 shots over and over, and ....... oh I'll stop now.

Just DON'T buy it.

Weirdest and worst thing about the film though - none of the footage has the proper music in it. The music they do put in it is so truly awful it's mind-boggling.

There are a few nice bits, namely:

- A few clips of the Fellowship in Lorien. 2 snippets of gift giving and one of them loading up the boats. Here's an interesting thing - in the foreground is Legolas touching up his new bow. Now in the background it seems to look like a little wee Merry is looking at his gift. Which looks like....... a sword! I'm not 100% certain, but maybe this explains how the little hobbits get their mitts on a weapon sufficient to twat the Nazgul lord? Might also explain why PJ feels he needs to put this scene back in cos he realised how stupid it was leaving it out in the first place.
- Miscellaneous battle shots. Just generally quite pleasing to the eye. Oddest bit is that CG shot of all the orcs moving from left to right over Mordor (from main trailer). Well, although they have the orcs in, there's no post-production done on it. It just looks bizarre. Plus no Mt Doom in the background.
- Aragorn riding with presumably some others of the Dunadan to war.

There are a few clips I can't place anywhere in the story to my knowledge, but the scariest one was because it had the ever-popular Arwen in it. There's her and a few other elves talking to Legolas and then they touch hands or summat. Only thing I can think of is it's at the end of war of the ring (IE Arwen + Aragorn are crowned) or it's the rumoured 'paths of the dead' bit. Or perhaps PJ thought to extend the love story element by having ARwen have a quickie fling with Legolas. Hmmmmmm.

Anyway, definately NOT worth the price and not even worth watching to my mind if it's just on TV.

If anyone is prepared to pay postage they can have my copy. It sucks that bad.

***anduin*** · 03-21-2002, 08:32 AM

Hmm, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Particularly because it gave some insight into Tolkien's life prior to writing LOTR and how the World Wars influenced his writings.

emplynx · 03-21-2002, 08:42 AM

I saw it on TV, but I will take your recomendation not to buy it. (I bought Origin of the Ring a few months ago. It was supposed to have all this LotR movie stuff, and it did, just not New Line movie stuff! It was a whole different thing!!!)

Gerbil · 03-21-2002, 09:08 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by anduin
Hmm, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Particularly because it gave some insight into Tolkien's life prior to writing LOTR and how the World Wars influenced his writings.

Thing is you can get all that information and more and better quality from lots of other places. The most interesting so far for me is the book of his letters - you get much more insight into the man from the man himself

This was just second hand rubbish and to be honest from what I've learnt of Tolkien the 'insights' and 'facts' shown in this documentary weren't really either - it's as if someone asked a researcher about Tolkien and they went 'he fought in WW1 and lived through WW2' and that was about it.

The insulting ending (comparing someone's journey through the rainforest as parallel with the story of Lord of the Rings simply because the guy who did the journey had read the book (!) was mingbogglingly irrelevant and just served to show this was basically a commercialised 1 hour advert for the National Geographic tv channel.

Kyote Fields · 03-21-2002, 01:15 PM

I'll pay for the postage, I think. It might be cheaper for me to get it here. How many pounds to get it to California?

bropous · 03-21-2002, 01:57 PM

I also saw this special, right about the time the film was released. I liked it, but ending it up by focusing on some envirofreak saving the rain forest was weak. I didn't think it gave a heck of a lot of background to Tolkien, but overall it was entertaining and worth every penny I paid for it (I saw it on the National Geographic Channel and MSNBC)! Actually wish I would have taped it.

Gerbil · 03-21-2002, 02:11 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Kyote Fields
I'll pay for the postage, I think. It might be cheaper for me to get it here. How many pounds to get it to California?

Dunno, find out and decide!
Oh and bear in mind it's a UK DVD so not sure which region that comes under - IE be sure it'll play on your system before you get it off me!

***anduin*** · 03-23-2002, 10:32 AM

True about the ending. I forgot all about that....must have been trying to forget it.

I have Letters and you are right there. But I'm a sucker for war footage. Come to think of it, I watch the History Channel more than other channels. Still I liked it a lot. I just like owning things of this nature and collecting what I can. I also have Origin of the Ring that emplynx mentioned.

To each his own I suppose.

Gerbil's right about the region. It will not play in your dvd player. UK and US are not in the same region.....at least I don't think. Gerbil, look on the back there should be a little "1" in a circle or a shield if it will work in the US.

Gerbil · 03-23-2002, 11:26 AM

Mine has a nice little 2 for it's DVD region.

I hate the companies that implemented this rubbish.

Do you know what that little number really means?
It means here in the UK we have to pay about 50% more on the price of DVDs than elsewhere in the world. GRRRRRRR.

Time to go track down an unlocker program methinks.

Cirdan · 04-14-2002, 12:54 AM

If your a Netflix user, you can rent the DVD. Has anyone seen it at a reantal store?

Cirdan · 04-20-2002, 12:05 AM

Well. I've seen it twice now and I still have mixed feelings. The relentless war footage was filler in some points. If they wanted to discuss Tolkien's war experience they should have focused on the three fiends with whom he had formed a bond. Will there ever be a historical documentary of the twentieth century without the obligatory shot of Hitler? I wasn't in the "Arwen is annoying camp" but after the pretentious elvish quote my brain hurt. It was her favorite line because it was the one she memorized. It could have been much better. And yes, what was with the rainforest guy? He read the book and Tolkien's feelings about the changes in his hometown were like the rainforest. They could have taken a few pointers from the "Making of Shrek". At least mix the history with the movie technology and set design.

03-20-2002, 10:31 PM	#1
Gerbil Elf Lord Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: London, UK Posts: 797	National Geographic documentary Just bought it cos I felt like treating myself cos life is **** right now. What a waste of money. More fool me for buying it on DVD too - £16 AAARGHHH (Around $20 to you US peeps). Utter awful. Apart from the fact it was voiced by an american (nothing against Americans as such, but this is SUCH an english thing , my real gripes are: Well, everything really. It's just downright rubbish. Nothing of interest, the ever awful Liv Tyler cooing about her favourite bits of Elvish, irrelevant footage, repeating the same WW2 shots over and over, and ....... oh I'll stop now. Just DON'T buy it. Weirdest and worst thing about the film though - none of the footage has the proper music in it. The music they do put in it is so truly awful it's mind-boggling. There are a few nice bits, namely: - A few clips of the Fellowship in Lorien. 2 snippets of gift giving and one of them loading up the boats. Here's an interesting thing - in the foreground is Legolas touching up his new bow. Now in the background it seems to look like a little wee Merry is looking at his gift. Which looks like....... a sword! I'm not 100% certain, but maybe this explains how the little hobbits get their mitts on a weapon sufficient to twat the Nazgul lord? Might also explain why PJ feels he needs to put this scene back in cos he realised how stupid it was leaving it out in the first place. - Miscellaneous battle shots. Just generally quite pleasing to the eye. Oddest bit is that CG shot of all the orcs moving from left to right over Mordor (from main trailer). Well, although they have the orcs in, there's no post-production done on it. It just looks bizarre. Plus no Mt Doom in the background. - Aragorn riding with presumably some others of the Dunadan to war. There are a few clips I can't place anywhere in the story to my knowledge, but the scariest one was because it had the ever-popular Arwen in it. There's her and a few other elves talking to Legolas and then they touch hands or summat. Only thing I can think of is it's at the end of war of the ring (IE Arwen + Aragorn are crowned) or it's the rumoured 'paths of the dead' bit. Or perhaps PJ thought to extend the love story element by having ARwen have a quickie fling with Legolas. Hmmmmmm. Anyway, definately NOT worth the price and not even worth watching to my mind if it's just on TV. If anyone is prepared to pay postage they can have my copy. It sucks that bad. __________________ Gerbil gerbil@theburrow.co.uk

03-21-2002, 01:15 PM	#5
Kyote Fields Elven Warrior Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: California Posts: 218	I'll pay for the postage, I think. It might be cheaper for me to get it here. How many pounds to get it to California? __________________ No longer posting. If you'd like to write to me I can be reached at kyote_fields@hotmail.com. It was nice knowing all of you.

03-21-2002, 01:57 PM	#6
bropous EIDRIORCQWSDAKLMED DCWWTIWOATTOPWFIO Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Littleton, CO Posts: 1,176	I also saw this special, right about the time the film was released. I liked it, but ending it up by focusing on some envirofreak saving the rain forest was weak. I didn't think it gave a heck of a lot of background to Tolkien, but overall it was entertaining and worth every penny I paid for it (I saw it on the National Geographic Channel and MSNBC)! Actually wish I would have taped it. __________________ "...[The Lord of the Rings] is to exemplify most clearly a recurrent theme: the place in 'world politics' of the unforeseen and unforeseeable acts of will, and deeds of virtue of the apparently small, ungreat, fogotten in the places of the Wise and Great (good as well as evil). A moral of the whole (after the primary symbolism of the Ring, as the will to mere power, seeking to make itself objective by physical force and mechanism, and so also inevitably by lies) is the obvious one that without the high and noble the simple and vulgar is utterly mean; and without the simple and ordinary the noble and heroic is meaningless." Letters of JRR Tolkien, page 160.

03-23-2002, 11:26 AM	#9
Gerbil Elf Lord Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: London, UK Posts: 797	Mine has a nice little 2 for it's DVD region. I hate the companies that implemented this rubbish. Do you know what that little number really means? It means here in the UK we have to pay about 50% more on the price of DVDs than elsewhere in the world. GRRRRRRR. Time to go track down an unlocker program methinks. __________________ Gerbil gerbil@theburrow.co.uk

04-14-2002, 12:54 AM	#10
Cirdan Elf Lord of the Grey Havens Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: somewhere else Posts: 2,381	If your a Netflix user, you can rent the DVD. Has anyone seen it at a reantal store? __________________ There exists a limit to the force even ther most powerful may apply without destroying themselves. Judging this limit is the true artistry of government. Misuse of power is the fatal sin. The law cannot be a tool of vengance, never a hostage, nor a fortification against the martyrs it has created. You cannot threaten any individual and escape the consequences. -Muad'dib on Law The Stilgar Commentary

03-21-2002, 08:32 AM	#2
*anduin* Entwife Join Date: Oct 1999 Location: louisville Posts: 3,718	Hmm, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Particularly because it gave some insight into Tolkien's life prior to writing LOTR and how the World Wars influenced his writings.

03-21-2002, 08:42 AM	#3
emplynx Self-Appointed Lord of the Free Peoples of the General Messages Join Date: Nov 2001 Posts: 1,214	I saw it on TV, but I will take your recomendation not to buy it. (I bought Origin of the Ring a few months ago. It was supposed to have all this LotR movie stuff, and it did, just not New Line movie stuff! It was a whole different thing!!!)

03-23-2002, 10:32 AM	#8
*anduin* Entwife Join Date: Oct 1999 Location: louisville Posts: 3,718	True about the ending. I forgot all about that....must have been trying to forget it. I have Letters and you are right there. But I'm a sucker for war footage. Come to think of it, I watch the History Channel more than other channels. Still I liked it a lot. I just like owning things of this nature and collecting what I can. I also have Origin of the Ring that emplynx mentioned. To each his own I suppose. Gerbil's right about the region. It will not play in your dvd player. UK and US are not in the same region.....at least I don't think. Gerbil, look on the back there should be a little "1" in a circle or a shield if it will work in the US.

04-20-2002, 12:05 AM	#11
Cirdan Elf Lord of the Grey Havens Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: somewhere else Posts: 2,381	Well. I've seen it twice now and I still have mixed feelings. The relentless war footage was filler in some points. If they wanted to discuss Tolkien's war experience they should have focused on the three fiends with whom he had formed a bond. Will there ever be a historical documentary of the twentieth century without the obligatory shot of Hitler? I wasn't in the "Arwen is annoying camp" but after the pretentious elvish quote my brain hurt. It was her favorite line because it was the one she memorized. It could have been much better. And yes, what was with the rainforest guy? He read the book and Tolkien's feelings about the changes in his hometown were like the rainforest. They could have taken a few pointers from the "Making of Shrek". At least mix the history with the movie technology and set design. __________________ There exists a limit to the force even ther most powerful may apply without destroying themselves. Judging this limit is the true artistry of government. Misuse of power is the fatal sin. The law cannot be a tool of vengance, never a hostage, nor a fortification against the martyrs it has created. You cannot threaten any individual and escape the consequences. -Muad'dib on Law The Stilgar Commentary

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