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20 Years Ago Today the First Footage of The Lord of The Rings Was Released

ManaByte

Member
On April 7, 2000 New Line Cinema released a small program on the official movie site for The Lord of The Rings with the first ever footage from the movie. There was no YouTube back then, so they released the trailer via a small program you would download from the official site. There's some stuff in the trailer that is still test footage, shots of Orcs that didn't make it into Fellowship, and a shot of the Fellowship that was cut as well.


 

Werewolf Jones

Gold Member
Watching a Hobbit supercut that removes all the stupid shit and it feels super CGI heavy compared to LotR even then.

I never watched the first one in the cinema considering I was like 11. My brother brought the DVD home and I smashed it like... Every day for a month on my PS2. Good times. This movie trilogy still has a strong legacy compared to what comes out today. Also funny that Sean Bean isn't listed amongst the core actors.
 

GreyHorace

Member
To be honest I wasn't really all that hyped for this. I'd read the books (well, I quit halfway into The Two Towers because let's face it, Tolkien can be a boring writer at times) and watched the terrible cartoon versions. But I thought, 'Hmm. Maybe it'll be a good live action fantasy film at least.'

I was not prepared for how good it was when I watched it at the theater. Fucking hell, that was probably the greatest cinema experience I've ever had in my life. Many people back in the 70's gushed about watching Star Wars for the first time on the big screen and how the memory with them. Fellowship of the Ring was that experience for me. And I finally realized why Tolkien's creation was so beloved by millions. I bought the DVD as soon as it came out and the Special Edition. And I finally finished the books just before Return of the King premiered, and even read a number of Tolkien related reading material (such as Tom Shippey's excellent Tolkien: Author of the Century).

I will always be thankful for Peter Jackson and his crew for creating such an amazing trilogy of movies. I can even forgive him for the terrible Hobbit movies because it was bad situation he had no control over. He's earned his farewell from any Tolkien material.
 

chitzy

Banned
LOTR trilogy was created at the exact right point in time - when we had the CGI to create all the epicness of it, but before CGI had become a total crutch to filmmakers. If LOTR was made today the whole thing would be shot on a green screen and it would be a massive piece of shit.
 

Thaedolus

Member
LOTR trilogy was created at the exact right point in time - when we had the CGI to create all the epicness of it, but before CGI had become a total crutch to filmmakers. If LOTR was made today the whole thing would be shot on a green screen and it would be a massive piece of shit.

Yeah, and even then some of the CG and miniatures don’t hold up great, but man what a fuckin ride. My buddy and I have been holding off on doing a marathon watch for the last several years after overdoing it annually. Now it may be time...
 

GreyHorace

Member
LOTR trilogy was created at the exact right point in time - when we had the CGI to create all the epicness of it, but before CGI had become a total crutch to filmmakers. If LOTR was made today the whole thing would be shot on a green screen and it would be a massive piece of shit.
One of real tragedies of The Hobbit trilogy was the fact that they couldn't do forced perspectives anymore between the human sized characters and the hobbits and dwarves. The reason being was because they shot the movies in 3D, and forced perspective can't work on 3D film. So they shot the scenes which featured the different sized characters together onscreen separately using a greenscreen.

This was not well received by the actors especially Ian Mckellen, who felt frustrated of having no one to act against in his scenes.
 
S

Steve.1981

Unconfirmed Member
Man I was so excited before Fellowship released. I could barely believe they were actually doing it. LotR just seemed, to me at that time, a bit too weird & fantasy to be a big hit. But I grew up watching stuff like Legend.

My mate had a cool Fellowship poster. Just Frodo, against a shadowy backdrop, holding the ring in his open palm. We were so hyped going to see the film for the first time & afterwards we just raved about it for days. Smoking weed & listening to Led Zep. Such good times. We were both fucking livid with Peter Jackson after watching Two Towers as well. Happy memories.

I need to watch the trilogy again.
 

eot

Banned
Don't remember downloading some program to view the trailers, we'd stream them in quicktime from Apple's home page.

Tbh I liked the trailers more than the movies

 

Fbh

Member
Still love these and I agree, they were made at the perfect time before CG took over.
Also can't forge the Music, Howard Shore really composed a score for the ages IMO:

Maybe it's just nostalgia but to me Return of the King was the last big massively hyped up blockbuster "end of a saga" sort of movie event that actually lived up to the hype.

The end of Harry Potter was meh in both book and movie, Star Wars somehow got even worse after the prequels and Marvel almost got there with Infinity War but then dropped the ball with Endgame.
 
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Woopah

Member
Still some of my favourite movies of all time. Fully agree with the sentiment here that they were made at just the right time.
 

God Enel

Member
Watched the extended trilogy like 2 weeks ago and Frodo is still useless. Sam was the real mvp.

I have to say that the trilogy is still dope and doesn’t look outdated or bad.

Love it for sure and will watch again in the coming years
 

GreyHorace

Member
Watched the extended trilogy like 2 weeks ago and Frodo is still useless. Sam was the real mvp.

I have to say that the trilogy is still dope and doesn’t look outdated or bad.

Love it for sure and will watch again in the coming years

JRR Tolkien would agree with you. From his letters:

JRR Tolkien said:
My ‘Samwise’ is indeed (as you note) largely a reflexion of the English soldier ...the memory of the privates and my batmen that I knew in the 1914 War, and recognized as so far superior to myself.

JRR Tolkien said:
[Sam] did not think of himself as heroic or even brave, or in any way admirable – except in his service and loyalty to his master. -Letter 329.

JRR Tolkien said:
It was very kind of you to write. You can imagine my astonishment, when I saw your signature! I can only say, for your comfort I hope, that the 'Sam Gamgee' of my story is a most heroic character, now widely beloved by many readers, even though his origins are rustic. - Letter 184, replying to the sender named Samwise Gamgee
 

Rat Rage

Member
LOTR trilogy was created at the exact right point in time - when we had the CGI to create all the epicness of it, but before CGI had become a total crutch to filmmakers. If LOTR was made today the whole thing would be shot on a green screen and it would be a massive piece of shit.

100% the truth.
 

Dacon

Banned
Watching a Hobbit supercut that removes all the stupid shit and it feels super CGI heavy compared to LotR even then.

I never watched the first one in the cinema considering I was like 11. My brother brought the DVD home and I smashed it like... Every day for a month on my PS2. Good times. This movie trilogy still has a strong legacy compared to what comes out today. Also funny that Sean Bean isn't listed amongst the core actors.

I'm one of the people who actually enjoyed the Hobbit films for the most part, but I absolutely DESPISED the overabundance of cgi. Stuff that they would have use prosthetic and miniatures for in the old films was completely fake in the hobbit and imo ruined the aesthetic of the film in a lot of scenes. So many of the action scenes and sets were completely cgi and it's kind of an eyesore imo.
 

NecrosaroIII

Ask me about my terrible takes on Star Trek characters
LotR was super important to me. Fellowship of the Ring came out around the time my parents were becoming addicted to cocaine.

My parents lost everything. Their jobs. Our house. As everything was being taken away, LotR was the only thing I had. Those books and movies kept me going with their themes of hope and friendship. While we were homless, i only had my gameboy color and my copy of LotR to keep me entertained.

Thank God I had those books. Without it in would have killed myself.
 

ManaByte

Member
I'm one of the people who actually enjoyed the Hobbit films for the most part, but I absolutely DESPISED the overabundance of cgi. Stuff that they would have use prosthetic and miniatures for in the old films was completely fake in the hobbit and imo ruined the aesthetic of the film in a lot of scenes. So many of the action scenes and sets were completely cgi and it's kind of an eyesore imo.

I enjoy the Hobbit films (EEs obviously, the theatrical cut needed the funeral). But I want to throw my TV through the window when they talk about the High Fels and the Witch King's body. HE NEVER HAD A BODY. HE BECAME A WRAITH!
 
D

Deleted member 17706

Unconfirmed Member
Damn... them's some memories. I gotta do a rewatch of the trilogy soon.
 
I never been a big fan of LOTR which I guess is odd because I'm a D&D fan.

I saw all the movies except Return of the King. I find them to be ok movies but kinda dull and drawn out. I didn't like Five Armies though.

What was awesome though is a former friend with some other friends took me to Lord of the Rings In Concert. They played FotR with a live symphony orchestra playing during the film. It was the full movie but with the music live. What an amazing experience.
 
S

Steve.1981

Unconfirmed Member
Watched the extended trilogy like 2 weeks ago and Frodo is still useless. Sam was the real mvp.

I have to say that the trilogy is still dope and doesn’t look outdated or bad.

Love it for sure and will watch again in the coming years

I wouldn't say Frodo was useless. He's just not a conventional hero. He suffers a lot & stays determined to do the right thing regardless.

But yeah, Sam has always been awesome & Frodo would've failed without him. I remember it took some people quite a while to realise that when the films came out.
 

ManaByte

Member
I wouldn't say Frodo was useless. He's just not a conventional hero. He suffers a lot & stays determined to do the right thing regardless.

But yeah, Sam has always been awesome & Frodo would've failed without him. I remember it took some people quite a while to realise that when the films came out.

It took Sean Astin a while to realize that. He wrote in his book that he didn't like Sam seeming useless and Jackson had to keep telling him that he will get his moments in the third movie.
 
One of my favorite film adaptations ever; full of topics and themes, stunning cinematography, and one of the best scores in the history of cinema. Very moving films. Oh, and be sure you have seen the extended cuts.
 

Grinchy

Banned
When the first movie was coming out, the only thing I knew about LOTR was some joke on Friends about Ross liking it b/c he's a nerd or something. Maybe it was Chandler.

But my friend's mom had the DVD and a really nice home theater setup. A group of us decided to watch it for some reason one night and my teenage mind was pretty blown. Never would have watched it on my own.
 
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