LOTR Preview: Not the Easiest Site to See
© Elizabeth Burton
For those who haven't heard, New Line Cinema has a preview trailer at the official Web site,one they've been shouting to the four corners of the Internet for better than a week. Indeed, if you're on their mailing list, you were on the receiving end of a daily countdown email complete with a cool graphic.
Unfortunately, the preview has more than a few problems. For one thing, the site apparently has a serious problem with Netscape and doesn't like AOL at all, if the reports from my various guinea pigs are any indication. First of all, you'll need QuickTime 4.0. That's the minimum requirement. Then, according to the opening page, you should have DSL or cable and a PC with a 455 MHz processor or a Mac with 350. That, according to New Line, is for optimal viewing of the full-screen version. On Friday, that was the top of four supposed viewing levels.
With Internet Explorer 5.0 and a 366, the download took half an hour even on the "medium" setting on Friday. When I went back on Saturday to check it with another, slower machine, the lower settings weren't available at all. In other words, if New Line isn't just being overly cautious, you're stuck with a format that most people aren't equipped to handle with any degree of ease, if at all. After 40 minutes of trying to get the video, I called it quits.
Assuming you can actually get the thing to your hard drive, is it worth the wait? Oh, yeah. You have to look fast, of course. New Line just wants to give you enough of a taste to whet your appetite for bigger and better things. So, you'll see quick cuts of Black Riders and Orcs and vast armies and characters that need no introduction. There are glimpses of the making of some of the F/X and brief comments from the actors-in-chief. If the actual film lives up to the sampler, The Fellowship of the Ring may just have people lined up six weeks in advance for tickets, too.
Now, granted, given the level of interest in these movies, it's probably fair to assume that some of the problems may be the end result of high traffic. Still, it would be nice if New Line and its webmasters would keep in mind that not everyone updates their computer system every time a new, faster processor comes out nor does everyone care to fork out the money for cable or DSL connections. And that people using WebTV are LOTR fans, too. Flash and bells and whistles are great, but providing access to a broad range of people who love the books and are having a hard time maintaining their patience while they wait for the first movie is better. Lots of other trailers come out that are viewable with "standard equipment" that are just as nifty as this one.
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