The Lord of the Rings...

[Maurice Colgan]

Read The Hobbit but not LOTR though I have seen the films.
"King Theoden" married our daughter's piano teacher. :-)

Bernard Hill was still a student actor when we played chess in my home in Salford UK. First saw him as "Macbeth" in Manchester circa 1971.
There's a Golem head on the west coast of Ireland.

Tried reading the LOTR books but just haven't got that kind of time to spare. :-)

[Michael]

Bernard Hill was still a student actor when we played chess in my home in Salford UK.

Did he say "Giss a job ", Maurice?

[Preston]

I watched part of the first one "The Fellowship" in Blu-Ray and, to be honest, I wasn't impressed. It didn't look much better than the DVD. I looked up reviews on it, and found that was the general opinion of most people.

Michael, unless it was in 1080p there is not too much point in watching it on Blu-Ray. If you have an 1080p HDTV and connected your Blu-Ray player using an HDMI cable then you are set. Even if you used the HD A/V cables from the Blu-Ray to the HDTV it would only be in 1080i- big difference between 1080p. The textures really come out in 1080p.

If you change the resolution on your monitor to the lowest resolution possible you will see a lack of clarity amongst the pixels. If you change your monitor resolution to the highest resolution you will see a very clear, crisp, vibrant, etc. picture, when compared to the lower resolution. The same applies to HD and SD.

This seems to be the most accurate review I have read:
http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2010...lu-ray-review/

And, it sounds good.

I hope Jackson does some work on the extended versions.

Hopefully, he will not pull a George Lucas, !

[Maurice Colgan]

Did he say "Giss a job ", Maurice?

Nopes, Michael, "Giz a job" came a few years later. Then he played, John Lennon in a TV biog!

[Chris]

Yes, Sauron is evil, I agree, quite. Though, are you saying he represents Satan?

No. The Satan figure in Tolkien's Middle Earth mythology is Melkor (also called Morgoth). He is the one who originally rebelled against God and brought others to his cause, as Satan did. Sauron was one of these. By the time The Lord of the Rings takes place, Morgoth is imprisoned outside of the world, and Sauron is the greatest threat. He is analogous not to Satan, but to a lesser demon.

It seems that seeing as the words Satan, God, etc. are not mentioned in the movie (which is all I have seen) that it would represent, Tolkiens thoughts, of what good is and what is evil, then you have the ongoing battle between man and orc- so you may see why I thought that it represented good and evil in a more general sense?

The words God and Satan are not used in the movies, no, but their analogies are present. You get only passing references to them in The Lord of the Rings, but you learn all about them in The Silmarillion. As I said, the Satan figure is called Melkor (Morgoth). God is called Eru (Illuvitar). The Ainur are angelic beings. And like the angels, there are different classes of them. The greatest of these that entered the world were called the Valar, and these were the ones who shaped and maintained the earth. Morgoth was one like these, and he was the greatest and most powerful of these (as Satan was the greatest and most powerful angel). The lesser Ainur were called the Maiar, and they were the helpers of the Valar. Gandalf and Sauron were of this order.

Yes, in ways it reminds me of The Holy Bible, in the sense, that God exists and stands for good, while, Satan exists representing evil. And, in The Bible God and Satan challenge each other with their values, concerning thought.

The Lord of the Rings is more or less a straight narrative that is based on the mythology contained in The Silmarillion. If you are truly interested in learning more about Tolkien's Middle Earth, you should read it. But it's not an easy read. It isn't a narrative like The Lord of the Rings. In fact, it is very much like reading The Bible. There are broad overviews, lineages, everyone has like three different names, and you have to make a chart to keep it all straight. And there is a lot of the Elvish language Tolkien invented. It's a fascinating book...if you have the time and patience.

[Preston]

Fascinating, absolutely fascinating- and, it seems Tolkien was quite a brilliant man. Now, thank you for the great information, Chris. Yes, I am quite fascinated by Middle Earth, especially now. What I mean is that all I know of Middle Earth is from the movies, and very light reading on Wikipedia, so, to know that Tolkien's philosophical beliefs are Middle Earth greatly intrigues me. I was pretty sure that Middle Earth was more than only a "great book and movie", though was not entirely certain. How could I really be without knowing the facts? Yes, LotR seemed to be of good philosophical beliefs, I was fairly sure, though at the same time I was not certain. I guess to my mind, I thought either it was a great story of good and evil, life, etc., or, it was a fantasy that just happened to turn out into a great movie that told a story of the battle between good and evil. Though, what can one think when they do not know?

...if you have the time and patience.

I have the time, and I have patience on certain things. Though, reading is one of my many flaws (as of now)- a truly tragic loss to my mind. I do hope to read The Silmarillion- very, very much so.

Thank you again Chris.

Also, I felt I should mention that while I do not believe in God nor Christianity- I do find a lot (well the ones I have looked into) of the Biblical concepts not only true but very moving and most of all- interesting. I felt I should say that because I did not mean or want to sound offensive towards The Holy Bible, etc.

[Sorrano]

Preston, you really should read the books. It will give you an even deeper feeling for what happens onscreen. There is much lore that does not even touch the films. Like others here, I started with The Hobbit, not realizing that there was more to it. But it was such a delight to get into the Ring, too.

[Michael]

Michael, unless it was in 1080p there is not too much point in watching it on Blu-Ray. If you have an 1080p HDTV and connected your Blu-Ray player using an HDMI cable then you are set. Even if you used the HD A/V cables from the Blu-Ray to the HDTV it would only be in 1080i- big difference between 1080p. The textures really come out in 1080p.

If you change the resolution on your monitor to the lowest resolution possible you will see a lack of clarity amongst the pixels. If you change your monitor resolution to the highest resolution you will see a very clear, crisp, vibrant, etc. picture, when compared to the lower resolution. The same applies to HD and SD.

Trust me, Preston, I have all my settings correct. The set is displaying 1080p plus 1.1 pixel mapping, with no overscan, and I have a collection of Blu-Rays that have astounding picture quality (sometimes to the detriment of everything else) but "Fellowship of the Ring" was not one of those. I believe the following two are much better but I did not watch them.
According to some reviews, the inferior quality is not due to the Blu-Ray transfer but the actual movie itself which was (in some people's opinion) technically inferior to the other two.
I am not saying it was very bad, it just didn't look like much of an improvement on the upscaled DVD. I have a big screen and maybe that showed up the faults too prominently. And again, I only watched a third of the movie.
If the extended Blu-Rays are ever available at a reasonable price (some hope at present) I will probably be tempted to invest.

[Preston]

Trust me, Preston, I have all my settings correct.

Well then the only thing I can really say is- that really is a blow for the fans.

So, hopefully PJ will do something with extended editions as you said.

[Preston]

Preston, you really should read the books. It will give you an even deeper feeling for what happens onscreen. There is much lore that does not even touch the films. Like others here, I started with The Hobbit, not realizing that there was more to it. But it was such a delight to get into the Ring, too.

Thanks. Yes, I know. I have immediate access to all of the LotR books. I bought them for a sibling of mine 1 1/2 years ago. Yes, I definitely imagine the lore in the books is far greater than that of the films. I will get to them at some point- hopefully, .

[Preston]

Preston, you really should read the books. It will give you an even deeper feeling for what happens on-screen. There is much lore that does not even touch the films. Like others here, I started with The Hobbit, not realizing that there was more to it. But it was such a delight to get into the Ring, too.

So foolish, mistaken, misplaced, etc. etc.- I have been. I have been reading a lot of solid information regarding characters, environments, etc.- a lot that I can regarding LOTR.

I have been reading passages from the book and it is quite different than movie, naturally. Though, at the same time the differences are so much, it blows my mind.

Though, I believe that the movies are good- somehow. Though, I imagine that people who have looked into the philosophy of LOTR and have a deep appreciation for it, as more than just Elves and magic (if you will)- as Chris stated in his first post, "When the Peter Jackson films came out I was rather unimpressed with them, probably since I was so attached to the books. I have warmed up to them a little since then, though." Chris, I am only starting to see what you are saying, and I imagine that people who care for the true philosophy behind LOTR feel much the same.

There are some breathtaking shots in the movies, well, a lot of shots appear to have this great meaning, imo, though I wonder if Peter Jackson intended this, so much so?

Damn stupidity! Now, if I could only read worth something.

[Chris]

Don't ruin it for your yourself by picking though them. If you like Lord of the Rings, just sit down and read the books.

[Preston]

When it comes to reading some philosophy, it might as well be read backwards, . Regarding Lord of the Rings- it is worthy enough to be read backwards, so to say- maybe, inside out, too.

[Preston]

For any of the French members (Philip) if you are a fan of the music of LotR then you are in great fortune.

http://www.onl.fr/onl_info/index.htm

[Michael]

Just watched the extended edition of all three films recently in glorious up-scaled STANDARD definition. The last two are of much higher quality than the first. I don't think I'll even bother with the Blu-Ray - unless I get a present of it.
Damn good movies anyway. They improve on re-watching.