Two media reviews, a few minor of spoilers, proceed at your own peril.
The Two Towers and Neverwhere.
First off, The Two Towers (Extended Edition DVD).
Wow.
Many of the criticisms I had about the movie the first time around (or the second) are dealt with here. The Faramir storyline is wonderfully fleshed out, with his relationship to his brother and father — and the motivations that extend from that — made much clearer. Over at the other end of the story, we have Orc Draughts, Ent Draughts, Huorns, and Pipeweed, and that’s all good, too.
I’m still annoyed by Gimli as comic sidekick. From an equal member of the Three Hunters, he becomes the short-legged kvetcher who can’t ride a horse. The Gimli/Legolas relationship gets a smidge more air time in the Extended Edition, but just a smidge, and even that’s ruined by some anachronism.
The whole Aragorn/Arwen thing continues to irk. There are hints in the supplemental material that there was supposed to be a lot more to her appearances this time around, but as it stands, even in the extended edition, it’s just a distraction.
The supplemental materials are interesting. I’m amazed by the amount of what we saw that was miniature work, vs. CG. Good supplementary material, if you don’t mind a peek behind the curtain.
Definitely the edition to have, even if you never go beyond the two movie discs.
And then there’s Neverwhere, the Neil Gaiman-written BBC mini-series about the mystic life of London’s homeless and London Below.
If TTT is expansive, Neverwhere is claustrophobic. If TTT is epic, Neverwhere is personal. If TTT is mythic, Neverwhere is fantastic. If TTT is a fabulously rich and expensive tapestry that recreates a world in unbelievably believable detail, Neverwhere is … um … well, what you might expect someone with a video camera and a class project to crank out, at least in terms of budget and film quality.
None of this is Gaiman’s fault; the budgetary and scripting constraints of the BBC seem to carry most of the blame (the Commentary track by Gaiman is interesting in filling in some of these details, though more as information than as accusation). Nonetheless, it definitely hurts the production, making some scenes unclear, many unrealistic. The acting is there, the writing is there, it’s just the rest that suffers.
It all, alas, has that cheesy BBC Dr. Who feel to it (something Gaiman recognizes and comments on; ironically, he thinks Paterson Joseph’s Marquis is just what he’d like to see from a new Doctor), and that robs the series of the believability that its surreal horror requires. Climactic scenes come off as cheesily cheap. Marvels and magic come across as cheap and tawdry — and not in a good way.
Gaiman was inspired by the experience to actually novelize the six-part screenplay, and the book is indeed a very fine read. If you had to take in one, I’d choose the book. Indeed, arguably you should only take the series as supplemental material to the book, and only plan on watching the former if you’ve read it or committed to reading it afterwards.
I still find TTT grinds to a halt whenever Arwen is on screen.
I haven’t finished the supplemental material, but so far, I find the “Building Middle-earth” (I think it’s called) section (which shows how they created Edoras and Fangorn and Helm’s Deep and all the other cool sets) and the section on Gollum to be fascinating.
Some folks are theorizing that about a year or more after we see the “extended” version of “Return”, we’ll see a mega-box of the three films in extended extended editions. So maybe Gimili will get his due, Arwen/Aragorn will be polished, etc.
And of course, I’ll be there, waving my money, ready to buy!
On Neverwhere–hey, I always liked the look of Dr. Who. It was part of the…uh…charm!
I’m sure we will see a Megaboxed Ulti-set Extruded Latinum Ultimate Purists Edition. It’s not clear to me how much more polished stuff there is sitting in the vaults, though, nor how much longer Jackson’s attention can be focused on this epic.
Ah, well. Even Citizen Kane had some off moments.
There was an interesting article in Newsweek a few weeks ago that spoke about the whole “attention spent on the epic” thing. Apparently, some of the minor actors are running into trouble because they are expected to keep doing promotional stuff for the trilogy, but they aren’t getting paid very much for it, and would like to move on but they can’t.
Supposedly, PJ is doing a remake of King Kong.
“I still find TTT grinds to a halt whenever Arwen is on screen.”
Yeah, me too. That’s what the “forward” button is for on my dvd controls… There was a reason Tolkien decided to put most of the Aragorn and Arwen story in the appendices: there simply wasn’t any way to fit it into the main story without ruining the forward momentum. I’m afraid that the movie stuff (save, perhaps, for the part where Arwen carries Frodo to Rivendell on her white horse — but she’s just been given Glorfindel’s part there anyway) does the same thing.
Yes, Jackson is working on a version of King Kong. I’m sure it will be popular, but I probably won’t see it since I don’t have any interest in this particular movie genre. (The Giant Ape as Stand-in for Innocence and/or Primitive Human Instinct That Must Be Destroyed genre.)
I just watched “Fellowship Extended” last night as a preliminary to watchin “Towers Extended” (and of course, this is all a preliminary for next week’s opening of “Return”).
Yes, Gimli gets the short end of the stick in “Towers”. But take a look at Sam, Merry and Pippin in “Fellowship”. Frying sausages on Weathertop, Merry and Pippin stealing food from Farmer Maggot, etc. Pretty comical stuff, overall.
But in “Towers” they all get a chance to grow up. Especially Sam, the character has gone from being a comical one to one that is starting to carry the quest (and definately help to urge Frodo) forward.
So perhaps Gimli will get his chance in “Return” (extended or unextended).
1. Ah, the perils of “typecasting” from a popular (usually genre) role.
2. I can’t imagine going to see King Kong, even a PJ production. I can imagine borrowing someone’s DVD, though.
3. Sam grows up in the story, too, so can’t credit any particular genius in PJ for making that happen. Ditto Merry & Pippin. I do hope for some good Gimli moments in RotK, but I’m not holding my breath.