comments on ROTK:EE (delayed)
It has taken me pretty much forever to make this post, but then, I didn't want to post until I had seen a good deal of the extra material. Well, now I've seen all the documentaries and heard the actors' commentaries, and I figured, it I don't do it now it'll never happen.
My experience can be summed up thusly: The extra scenes made me happy. The actors' commentary made me giggly-happy. By the end of the documentaries, I was in tears, but not from laughter.
I doubt I was the only one. Normally I'm not much for the die-young stories, but when it's A) true and B) about someone so obviously talented, I can't help myself. Those were fucking great shorts. And it gave me a new appreciation for Into the West too (which I've previously found rather boring) so damn Peter Jackson and his manipulative ways.
Backing up to the not-so-sad parts, I was thrilled to see a bit of Houses of Healing among the new scenes. It wasn't as much as I liked, but then, I have a feeling that all of the story could have been Houses of Healing and it still wouldn't have been as much as I liked. Minas Tirith is the place for me, that's for sure. I can hardly remember the people inhabiting other places, but I know all about Ioreth and Bergil and the others. I know some people say they want to live in the Shire, but I'd much rather live in Minas Tirith - in peace time, of course.
I also much liked the Pippin and Faramir bonding scene. I must say, apart from a stubborn wish for book "purity" I can't think of a single reason why anyone would still dislike movie Faramir. He's definitely one of the most interesting, well-played and three-dimensional characters. (Not to mention the third hottest, IMO.) Of course, I have a thing for daddy issues, but still. I was a bit miffed that Dave didn't get much to say in the commentaries, though I giggled at his troubles with the horses. (I also loved how the horse guy was obviously reluctant to slag anyone's riding skills and felt forced to let "David's not a great rider be followed by "he's a great guy" so as to not sound mean.) And of course the usual Daisy jokes...
The prolonged Pippin-searching-for-Merry scene was great too, particularly with Billy and Dom commenting: "In real life, I would have looked for... hm... an hour and a half." Though the Dom/Billy classic was without a doubt their comment on how Orlando practiced his mumakil scene by climbing smaller animals first.
The only added scene I didn't like was the army of the dead and their game of "let's drown the characters in skulls." It shot my suspension of disbelief all to hell.
Still no sight of Denethor's palantir, though I was very awed by the guy in the documentaries going, "So Sauron thinks Aragorn's got the ring, Denethor thinks Sauron's got the ring, and in fact, at that moment Sam's got the ring, which nobody knows at all, except Sam." I had never thought of it like that, and it makes so much sense. Considering all that, I thought the actors' commentaries about Denethor were a bit on the nasty side, though I laughed heartily at both Bernard Hill speaking of the "wonderful idea of this flaming person with his flaming parachute behind him" and Sean Astin going, "Cuckoo. He's lost it. This puppy's gone. Denethor, hello? What's going on with you?"
I did not expect to find Lawrence Makoare utterly charming, but I did. He seemed so genuinely concerned for Miranda that I felt like writing Lawrence/Miranda, you know, if I'd been the type to write RPF at all. So sweet! And I loved his comment on the Witch King's weapon: "Some people call it a mace, some people call it a morning star. Either way, I ended up calling it damned heavy, because it was damned heavy." *giggle*
Peter does seem to have driven people nearly mad. It's good in a way, because it means I don't have to be jealous of all the people who worked on the production. Even the extras seemed to have been leaving in droves... And as for everyone else, I don't know how they did it. "The good news is that no horses were harmed during the making of these scenes. The bad news is that a lot of animators were."
Saving the best for last (you've probably noticed by now that I'm using scribbled-down quotes to remember what I loved best), there are, of course, the slashy bits, most spectacular of which was the Viggo/Billy kiss. I'm a bit surprised that there hasn't been even more squee about it over the boards, because, hello, VIGGO KISSED BILLY! Not to mention how Billy spoke about it, "I mean, like I've never been kissed before, from man or woman. And by God, I saw stars! I think I fell in love for a split second, and then I felt a bit sick."
These guys are really like a bunch of summer campers, aren't they? *grin* And Sean going, "I think Pete wants to play Rosie," and whoever it was (Dom?) claiming that covering up everything on Elijah except his eyes made him look sexy... (Though I thought the comparison between Elijah and C3PO was funnier - see? It's not all about the slashy bits.)
Well, I've run out of things to say (though if you prompt me with stuff like "how did you like..." I'm sure I can find new angles). So I'll just finish with my last quote:
"And remember, do get out of the house once in a while."
My experience can be summed up thusly: The extra scenes made me happy. The actors' commentary made me giggly-happy. By the end of the documentaries, I was in tears, but not from laughter.
I doubt I was the only one. Normally I'm not much for the die-young stories, but when it's A) true and B) about someone so obviously talented, I can't help myself. Those were fucking great shorts. And it gave me a new appreciation for Into the West too (which I've previously found rather boring) so damn Peter Jackson and his manipulative ways.
Backing up to the not-so-sad parts, I was thrilled to see a bit of Houses of Healing among the new scenes. It wasn't as much as I liked, but then, I have a feeling that all of the story could have been Houses of Healing and it still wouldn't have been as much as I liked. Minas Tirith is the place for me, that's for sure. I can hardly remember the people inhabiting other places, but I know all about Ioreth and Bergil and the others. I know some people say they want to live in the Shire, but I'd much rather live in Minas Tirith - in peace time, of course.
I also much liked the Pippin and Faramir bonding scene. I must say, apart from a stubborn wish for book "purity" I can't think of a single reason why anyone would still dislike movie Faramir. He's definitely one of the most interesting, well-played and three-dimensional characters. (Not to mention the third hottest, IMO.) Of course, I have a thing for daddy issues, but still. I was a bit miffed that Dave didn't get much to say in the commentaries, though I giggled at his troubles with the horses. (I also loved how the horse guy was obviously reluctant to slag anyone's riding skills and felt forced to let "David's not a great rider be followed by "he's a great guy" so as to not sound mean.) And of course the usual Daisy jokes...
The prolonged Pippin-searching-for-Merry scene was great too, particularly with Billy and Dom commenting: "In real life, I would have looked for... hm... an hour and a half." Though the Dom/Billy classic was without a doubt their comment on how Orlando practiced his mumakil scene by climbing smaller animals first.
The only added scene I didn't like was the army of the dead and their game of "let's drown the characters in skulls." It shot my suspension of disbelief all to hell.
Still no sight of Denethor's palantir, though I was very awed by the guy in the documentaries going, "So Sauron thinks Aragorn's got the ring, Denethor thinks Sauron's got the ring, and in fact, at that moment Sam's got the ring, which nobody knows at all, except Sam." I had never thought of it like that, and it makes so much sense. Considering all that, I thought the actors' commentaries about Denethor were a bit on the nasty side, though I laughed heartily at both Bernard Hill speaking of the "wonderful idea of this flaming person with his flaming parachute behind him" and Sean Astin going, "Cuckoo. He's lost it. This puppy's gone. Denethor, hello? What's going on with you?"
I did not expect to find Lawrence Makoare utterly charming, but I did. He seemed so genuinely concerned for Miranda that I felt like writing Lawrence/Miranda, you know, if I'd been the type to write RPF at all. So sweet! And I loved his comment on the Witch King's weapon: "Some people call it a mace, some people call it a morning star. Either way, I ended up calling it damned heavy, because it was damned heavy." *giggle*
Peter does seem to have driven people nearly mad. It's good in a way, because it means I don't have to be jealous of all the people who worked on the production. Even the extras seemed to have been leaving in droves... And as for everyone else, I don't know how they did it. "The good news is that no horses were harmed during the making of these scenes. The bad news is that a lot of animators were."
Saving the best for last (you've probably noticed by now that I'm using scribbled-down quotes to remember what I loved best), there are, of course, the slashy bits, most spectacular of which was the Viggo/Billy kiss. I'm a bit surprised that there hasn't been even more squee about it over the boards, because, hello, VIGGO KISSED BILLY! Not to mention how Billy spoke about it, "I mean, like I've never been kissed before, from man or woman. And by God, I saw stars! I think I fell in love for a split second, and then I felt a bit sick."
These guys are really like a bunch of summer campers, aren't they? *grin* And Sean going, "I think Pete wants to play Rosie," and whoever it was (Dom?) claiming that covering up everything on Elijah except his eyes made him look sexy... (Though I thought the comparison between Elijah and C3PO was funnier - see? It's not all about the slashy bits.)
Well, I've run out of things to say (though if you prompt me with stuff like "how did you like..." I'm sure I can find new angles). So I'll just finish with my last quote:
"And remember, do get out of the house once in a while."