Lord of the Rings Humour: Parodies, Satires and More [2]

Mr Figg had never read LOTR and he understood it all bless his cotton socks. I had to explain The Eye though, he called it the inflamed lady garden. Thats Italians for you.

 

But back on point, the non-book reading cinema audience didn't need to know Moria was ancient yet abandoned; the set did that for them. Given Gandalf and Aragorn's caution about Moria Gimli's expectation of a happy dwarven welcoming party did make him look a bit of an ass, but only to those who were really thinking about it. Could have been a matter of ignoring the peril of the dark journey because of looking forward to the welcome at the end.

Yes, more Tolkien sacrificed for no good reason, but the script by itself wasn't completely stupid at that point.

Whereas with Bakshi, even most people who have read the book struggle to keep track of what is happening on screen most of the time.- Eldo

I dont think thats entirely fair- its perfectly comprehensible up to the end of Fellowship-  after that its so sparse you need book knowledge to keep up I would agree.

but the script by itself wasn't completely stupid at that point.- Halfwise

I strongly disagree Halfwise- who Balin is important if your going to keep the scene around his tomb in.
And having one character seemingly contradict every other characters dialogue, and as you rightly point out all the visual evidence as well is just, well stupid. No other word for it.
Especially when the one character is the one who should know all about it.

In fact the stupid for that whole section really begins with giving Frodo, who has never heard of Moria the sole decision on wether they go there or not, and everyone just accepting that. 

agreed. For people new to the story it looked quite logical.

People just skim over it Figg- thats not the same as them thinking its logical- try asking a non book reader to explain it, see how far you get- I have tried this numerous times. No one I have ever asked knows what is supposed to be going on as soon as they stop to think about it.

Having Frodo decide really did grate on my nerves.

But all the non-book people needed to know was Balin was Gimli's cousin, and that Gandalf had been through it before when it was dangerous, thus making it clear that Balin was a recolonization expedition. I agree a sentence or two could explain all of this, but it wasn't painfully bad not to have it.

But he film doesnt tell you Balin is Gimlis cousin- he doesnt mention it once. We dont get a mention of Balin at all until his tomb and then he is just described as 'the lord of Moria'.
Which given what Gimli has been saying up till then doesnt make anything clearer- in fact it just muddies the waters even more.

I know that Gimli mentions Balin is his cousin because they use that line in one of the video games, so it's burned into my memory. In the film, it occurs right before the crebain scene. At about 2:40 into this video.



Also, dat 1080p.

It was handled just fine.

My mistake- sadly it doesnt help clear matters- as everyone and their cat obviously knows Moria is abandoned, and Gimli should know it full of orcs plus Durins Bane.
And more importantly why not dump the royal bit and just change it to "My cousin Balin went there many years ago with many of our folk, and nothing has been heard of them in all that time?" to roughly paraphrase the book from memory.
Its what- 10 seconds longer and makes the whole thing clear, and then we woudnt have Gimli gibbering on about beer and roaring fires despite the place clearly being abandoned for many years.

I think Figg you are clinging on just for the sake of it- its clearly a mess, and badly put across and constructed, and worse unnecessarily so. Its bad writing however you cut it.

and you are nit picking where nits need not pick.

If these are nits then they are huge big nits crapping all over Tolkien.
Its just poorly done- the entire section is from Frodo alone making the decison to Gimli's apprent lack of any dwarven history or knowledge from his own life. Clumsy would be too generous a word to describe it, which is why I prefer 'fucking mess'.  

totally dont agree. It was brilliant from start to finish.

Flawless no doubt Figg, without a single word out of place, perfection I am sure  

 

Something to stick up it   

naughty naughty  

I have my moments!   

Get a room, you two!

 

I dont have room Eldo I have a barrel.

But I do have a buckie jacuzzi