Today's Comic: Apprehension

Dragodin

I have to say it is good to know that there is someone else out there that feels the same way I do about Film 2. It must be said that my first thoughts after hearing about it moved very quickly to, "Heresy, Witchcraft, and Mutation!" I could not believe my ears or eyes, not sure if I heard it or read it on a forum first. I wonder why they are doing this, is it for the money, or do they genuinely believe they can improve on Tolkien. The new story is being taken from whole cloth. There is no mention, that I know of, of anything of great import happening in the sixty years between The Hobbit and The Fellowship Of The Ring. There is some mention of Gandalf running around in the time line at the end of the third book but nothing that a movie could be made of.

Where will the story come from? Maybe it was some previously unknown alien invasion that Tolkien just neglected to mention and Peter Jackson and Co. found in a set of ancient scrolls unearthed from the depths of some god-forsaken pit in the middle of a dessert shine to the Lord of the Unclean Ones. That must be it.

This is not to say that I totally hate Peter Jackson now. I still love the LOTR movies and I can't wait for the Hobbit to come out. After that I think I will put my last two semesters of English history to good use by burning some people in effigy. My friends all think I am nuts, but then again they are not teh hardcorz.

So what do you, anonymous people of the internet, think?

BLASPHEMY!...burble...gurgle...BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!

or

Meh, it's just a movie, you will watch it and probably like it. Chill out, man.

Yar

Here.

But I do agree that in general the concept of an expanded universe is distasteful.

Fuzzy Cumulonimbus Cloud

I'm lighting the signal.

Quid

If the movie's well done, which I trust Jackson to do, then I don't really care either way.

Mephistopheles

As long as they don't screw with The Hobbit (ie having a cliffhanger between it and Film 2) I couldn't care less.

Although it might annoy me to see Tolkien's name on something non-canon like that, opening up the Star Wars universe definitely ended up in some great stories (and a lot of schlock of course).

MichaelLC

Jackson did a respectable job with LoTR, so I'd rather have him do this than anyone else, but why? He's got There and Back Again and Halo to do, why does he need to go making up stuff? As long as he stays the helll away from Christopher Tolkien, it might be OK.

On the bright side, maybe we'll get to see Tom Bombadil finally.

Fallingman

Well, I have faith in the two of them.

But the fact is that there's only one reason you make "F2". Money.

Dont get me wrong, I'm sure that PJ and DelToro are excited to do it, and will do a great job at whatever it turns out to be... But the fact is that the reason they are doing it is because the movie will sell, and filming two at once is a great deal more economical. I do realise that the other movies are purely there to make cash - but at least they had source material.

The Hobbit 2: Bilbo Needs a New House

So basically, creatively - I'm sure it will be worthy and I'll enjoy the hell out of it. I just think its a very cynical approach to a very beloved franchise.

LondonBridge

Quid wrote: »

If the movie's well done, which I trust Jackson to do, then I don't really care either way.

I agree. As long as they don't drink the same brain poison that George Lucas drinks then it should be fine.

Varda

When I first heard that another movie was being made, my reaction was similar to most of yours. Shortly thereafter, I recalled a passage from The Silmarillion. In some publications of the Silmarillion, a letter written by Tolkien was included in the Foreward. In this letter, Tolkien admits that the world he created was, in essence, too big. He was simply creating a backdrop, and his hope was that, one day, "other hands and other artists" would expand upon his universe. It occurs to me that Peter Jackson is only doing as Tolkien wished. If this is indeed the direction he is taking, I say good for him.

Attempting to make another movie somewhere between the Hobbit and LOTR or afterwards would probably be a mistake. However, the Silmarillion is the history of middle earth, and it contains an abundance of untapped material. If Peter Jackson wishes to fully realize a story from the Silmarillion, I say good for him. The Silmarillion is little more than the outlining of events in the long history before the Hobbit or LOTR. A couple of the stories such as Beren and Luthien or the Children of Hurin could be made into movies. All the tales in the Silmarillion are amazing. They have everything you could want in epic fantasy (even if they're a little dry in Tolkien's historical text).

However, if Peter Jackson thinks he's going to fabricate his own unique take on some story Tolkien never dreamed of, thus attempting to redirect the Tolkien universe, I'd say that would be a mistake. I, for one, will have to wait for more details before praising or dooming him.

The lack of the Old Forest, Tom Bombadill, and the Barrow Downs was disgraceful. I'm also pissed that the Hobbits escaped from a Ringwraith by THROWING A STICK! WTF? Fetch boy! Fetch! Out of all three movies, these were the things that really sucked. But overall, I thought the experience was great. There were still things that I thought Peter Jackson nailed. Gandalf speaking the tongue of Mordor in Rivendell (extended edition) was amazing. The Ents were perfect. The Balrog was perfect. The potential for great sequels is evidenced by his previous successes, but, at present, I am cautiously optimistic.

ElJeffe

Loch'd