For people who saw the movie first....

[Nessa]

Hello! I started this thread for those, like me, who saw the movie first, loved it, and had to read the books. HOW CONFUSED WERE YOU? I only half read fellowship the first time.:embarras: Everything was so different!

I only read the next two to see how they ended.... and I realized that I loved them. I immediately reread them and realized how much better the first one was than the movie. What were your reactions?

[A! Elbereth]

I read the books after the movie... but no i wasnt confused... i didnt think of the movie while reading the book (besides the way Frodo looked) I bought 2 copies of LOTR - One haveing the movie pictures on them - and one original set. of course I read the movie covered ones because every one in a while i could look at the cover of the frist book (frodo's on it)

[Nessa]

every one in a while i could look at the cover of the frist book (frodo's on it) [/B][/QUOTE] thats nice, isn't it? ;)

[Ronin]

Long devoted fan before the movies came out, but just had to ask u girls a question. Were u at all into fantasy before FOTR came out...elves and such never appeal to u?

and btw, welcome to the hoard of believers...we are a mighty throng :grin:

[Nessa]

Actually, I was not much into fantasy. I had read one fantasy series a few years before, and I don't know if this counts but I considered myself an avid Star Wars fan for a few months. I read LOTR for the first time in January and am rereading it for maybe, oh, the fifth time! So I don't really consider myself new to this, even though I am. :)

[A! Elbereth]

Oh yeah you bet I was!!!!! To tell you the truth I'm into almost any kind of movie you could name! Drama, Comedy, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Romance, etc. But there are alot of Sci/fantasy movies that i really liked b4 LOTR. I'm upset I DIDNT read the book first. All my life i knew nothing of it until last year mecry mecry

[Nessa]

*tries to console elbereth* I know. I actually owned a copy of Fotr and never bothered to read it! I saw the movie January first and started reading as soon as I got home. I still regret not reading it when I first bought the book, some months before.

[A! Elbereth]

i saw the movie on the 28th - a week after it came out.. and saw it 5 more times afterwards... *sigh* what a masterpeice! :loveyou: But maybe there were advantages with seeing it first... it lets you picture some things that you could never picture on your own

[Nessa]

Yeah, probably. And it may have allowed for less dissapointment, if you know what I mean. But I miss the familiarity with the film I might have had if I'd read it first. I'm always wondering if I would've liked the acting if I already had ideas of the charectors in my head. But I realized, I never even noticed the acting until the second time I saw it, after getting an idea of the charactors.

[RingWench]

Hmmmm.... I was moderately familiar with the books when I first saw the movies, and I had no major complaints about the acting. John Ryhs-Davies (spelling? what's spelling??) wasn't quite how I saw Gimli, a little too much hair and rough-and-tough-ness for me, I guess. And, of course, Merry and Pippin had an entirely different feel in the books. Not that I have a serious issue with that, to be honest. *grins*

I hadn't really read sci-fi before LotR, and I haven't read much since, except for Douglas Adams, Ender's Game (and the rest of that series), and now Good Omens.

You know what's weird? I never thought of LotR as sci-fi....

[Bonos-Girl]

i saw the film on the 1st day it was out...i had already strted reading it because I had enjoyed the hobbit but since i was only 9 at the time, i really didn't understand it...i read it again after the film and it didn't confuse me at all....except why the journey to rivendell was taking so long!!!!

[Nessa]

I was confused about the length of the journeys at first, too. My biggest shock reading the books was that Frodo was fifty! He looked so young in the movie! But I eventually sorted it out.

[Polly Sandybanks]

I saw the movie the day after it came out. I had seen all the trailers about it and I just knew that it would be good. I loved it, but I wanted to know right away how it would end. So I went and bought the books and read them. I read all three (I bought them as three books in paper-back) in a few weeks, over Christmas. At first I was annoyed at certain things that were different from the movie, as I loved the movie so much, but then I totally fell in love with the book just as it was. So now I love both movie and books, but separately, if you know what I mean. :)

I have often thought about whether it's best to read the book or to see the movie first!? If you see the movie first you will know what happens when you read the book, and you won't be able to create your own picture of everything that happens in the book, in the same way as you would have if you had read the book first. But if you read the book first you will usually get disappointed when you see the movie, because usually a movie can never totally live up to your own picture of the story, that you have created while reading the book. But I guess whatever you come across first. Generally though, I'd say that you should read the book first, if you can.

[A! Elbereth]

whoa... i thought Frodo was 33............ now IM CONFUSED! I could have sworn that in the book Pippin said he was 29 then was thinking about the ages of his friends... or was that someone else? Was it Merry? Or was it the narration!?!? Where does it say he's fifty? beginning?

[Nessa]

Frodo was 33 in the beginning of the books and apparently in the movies, bu there was 17 years between the party and the quest.

[A! Elbereth]

ooooooooooh!! NOW i see what you are saying.. :) both right AND wrong I was! hehe lol

And I think that maybe Frodo is just one of those youthful looking Hobbits, or its just a baggins thing... Tolkein never did talk much about the appearance of Frodo. Maybe a small bit, but not enough to supply PJ with certain ideas on how young they look. But wait a second - How could Frodo be 50 during the journey if Pippin was only 29!?!?!?!? Pippin would have to have been 12 during the Party.... and pippin definetly did NOT look 12

[Nessa]

Once again, the movies a bit different. Pippin wasn't mentioned at the party in the book, but Merry was, he must have been quite young.
Pippin didn't look like the youngest in the movie, the actor (Billy Boyd) who played him was the oldest of the four. I don't mind though, he made a darling Pippin. The accent, Oi! ;)

[A! Elbereth]

Whoa Frodo was much older! friendships can be of any age I suppose

[Pil]

Yup...i agree A! Elbereth :)

I think that Billy did a great pips too! :p

The age of the hobbits didn't really come through i suppose...but then again...NO-ONE could have told aragorn's real age from the movie! lol

[A! Elbereth]

lol yeah i supposed your right! lol

[Nessa]

Yes, that was another shocker when reading the books.... 87?!?
;)

[Polly Sandybanks]

LOL lol roflmao
:grin:

You're right. But that's just the difference between book and movie.

[A! Elbereth]

I thought there was an advantage to watching the movie first in my case - But being able to picture it as I'm reading, AND listen to the soundtrack is overpowering to me (in a good way) and I most enjoyed reading the book this way. But I am sure that having your own imagination can be just as wonderful to some people as how I read it. :)

[Nessa]

Yup.

I'm looking forward to when the next two films come out so that I can read the books the way I read fotr, you know, appreciating it as its own work and letting my imagination replace some of the less than great (imo) images in the film with my own.

I feel guilty typing this, but when I read TTT and ROTK, its pretty tough to just read it how it is and not imagining how the movie will be.

Does this make any sense to anyone?

[HobbitFriend]

yah it makes sense... i do the same thing

And i also watched the FotR before reading the book and i liked it because then i already had an image of what the characters look like. But there are still some characters that i have to imagine what they look like such as Gollum... we only saw a little of him in FotR and will see a lot more of him in TTT (hopefully).

[A! Elbereth]

Nessa I know just what you mean, when I read the books I am almost SURE what Mt. Doom will look like, and what the scenery will look like as the travel.... and what always gets me is that picture for TTT... the one where they show a river and a mountain from a far view and a huge company is walking... exaclty WHERE in TTT is that from?

[Nessa]

I'm not sure what picture you're talking about, Elbereth. Is there any way you could tell me where to find it so I could take a look?

[A! Elbereth]

lol sorry I answered it myself! Its from HELMS DEEP! How stupid of me! lol

[Melkor]

i read the first book before the movie came out and i was very dissapointed! i had finished it the day before and went and saw the day after. I was like, "Palantir? wha??? tearing down Isengard?? wha??? and most of all, why in the hell did Boromir die??"

then i read the two towers, went and saw the movie again, and now i am hooked!

[Nessa]

lol Thats another complication, Aragor-I mean Melkor ;)

A girl in the theater with me the second time I saw it (by now I had read all three) had the same problem as you....she went to peaces when Boromir died, and when Merry and Pippin were captured...when Sam started drowning she completely lost it....

roflmao

[A! Elbereth]

This hasnt to do with the subject but I'll make it short and sweet. The 4th time I went to see FOTR a girl was sitting next to me and she jumped at just about everything! The troll, The drums in Moria!! Jeez little girl get a grip... sorry lol

So your sayign you read the book before you saw the movie? and then you were confused? I dont understand!?

[Nessa]

Are you talking to Melkor? He meant he read the first book, and when things started happening that weren't in it (Boromir's death, etc.), he got confused. I can imagine!

[A! Elbereth]

ah yes I forgot that Boromir death wasnt released in FOTR. How silly of me! *slaps face and falls over*

[Rosie Gamgee]

I saw the movie first. I thought I was going to hate it and be bored, but I loved it! My bro had studdied the books at school and he was all crazy about it, but after we saw the movie, I was the fanatic and he was cool. :cool:


I think that they both rock! :thumbs:

It would be confusing to watch the movie first, but my brother was telling me all about the book as we watched the movie! I usually hate it when ppl talk during the movie, but I didnt really mind this time!


:elfqueen: **Rosie**

[A! Elbereth]

I usually always get confused, but for some strange reason, I thouroughly understood this story! Peter Jackson did a great job. hmmmmm I read FOTR in one and a half days! ;) lol

[Pil]

DEAR GOD! :elfeek:

*pil blushes* (I read The Two Towers in five hours of solid reading...it was sooooooooo gripping!) :blush: veryhappy

[Pil]

I met this guy today who said he really liked fotr...but didn't understand the storyline at first... he asked me if i had read the book...and i said yes. he seemed to be debating whether to read it or not...so i pushed him to promise to! :read: :read: :read: lol

Sorry...tad OT there! :nono:

[Daisy Gamgee]

I have to agree with Rosie - my bro reads the books like nearly every year and i have never really bothered. i though the film was good, and it made me read the books, and since then i have become hooked. watching the film for the second time i think i enjoyed it so much more

i don't think watching the film first stopped me from getting my own pictures of what it all looked like, althoguh stuff like gollum and gandalf was the same - its hard to imagine anyone but ian mckellen as gandalf!

and it wasn't until finishing the books that i became a huge aragorn fan:loveyou:

i can't wait for dec 26 and also can't wait to read the book againveryhappy

hmmm enough from me

:angel:

[Galadriel]

I think that the movie was good but I liked the book a whole lot better. I think that in the book they give some scenes more detail and also the explain things better. I mean if you haven't read the bok than at some parts in the movie you would be saying like what's going on here. Like an exmaple would be when Arwen tells Aragorn that she will become mortal so she can stay with him but in the movie they don't explain that part well. Also in the book the whole beggining is different and I like it better. They also describe Lothoiern better in the book than in the movie.

[A! Elbereth]

Whenever I don't understand a characters thoughts, feelings, or intensions, the book is always there for me when I do not understand things clearly enough... But of course, this should probably go for all, those who read it before and after the movie.

[Sindarin]

The books are always better! :read:

[Gowpon]

Yeah, there're sooo many details in there.
I remember the cast say that they read the books when they did their makeups to make sure that they didn't leave out any details! :thumbs:

[Pil]

It must have been so hard! entdraught to them!

I love chapters such as the council of elrond...cos they give an insight into the backgrounds of the races and communitites of middle earth...i think a bit too much was lost in the film... :(

[Sindarin]

Indeed, Pil. Hopefully the extended DVD will contain further insight. :)