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» isengar - The Bagginses: An HBO Special

A mini-series based on _Lord of the Rings_? Interesting concept. In fact, since the 1st movie came out it was obvious to me that LOTR would work best as a mini-series. There’s simply too much to cover in 2 ½ hours or even 3. LOTR needs more like 6 to 10 hours if any filmmaker is to penetrate into any of the depth Tolkien breathed into his work. Either way, however, I don’t believe Bree will ever take up much screen time : it’s simply not warranted. Although this article is somewhat informative and provides an unbroken timeline concerning the important events of Eriador, there’s still little of what one craves for in Tolkien’s people and places : that is, contact with the culture and life of Bree and the nearby whereabouts. Perhaps Tolkien was unable to provide much information concerning this.

As much as I’m interested with what happened at Bree, I’m more engaged by how they lived. This is what most American writers and all of Hollywood today seem to not want to understand. To them it’s all about the WHAT, not the HOW, and so they end up cooking up spectacles that all seem to occur in a void, with a backdrop that is more often blue screen and lacking in substance, but we are not fooled. If there is an alien creature behind Hayden Christensen in _Star Wars_, we don’t want to just SEE it, we want to FEEL it with all of our senses, primarily with our INSTINCTS, and you will never get that from a digital computer-fabricated image, especially when the live actors themselves are blatantly unaware of its existence. The same applies to Peter Jackson, whom it’s safe to say is in the same game as George Lucas and the _Harry Potter_ movies (although, in my opinion, the _Harry Potter_ installments are proving themselves superior to both the others for several reasons). Nothing was more disappointing than waiting for the appearance of the Balrog at the Bridge of Khazad-dûm and when the living moment presented itself, FEELING Gandalf, as portrayed by a mismatched Ian McEllen, look at NOTHING. Nothing! There is nothing before McEllen’s eyes as he holds Gandalf’s legendary staff high in the air but a dot for eyeline purposes. You don’t need to know about “movie magic” to realize this, it’s there in his eyes—he’s looking at nothing. He is not horrified, he is not excited, he is not surging with an adrenaline rush. They should have rented a ferocious guard dog to come on the set and attack the actor, at least THEN there would’ve been a considerable bodily reaction.

That being said, it’s obvious that anyone who respects LOTR and truly wishes to bring Middle-earth (and Bree) to life on the big screen would have opted with all his might for a mini-series. There is no doubt of its success (otherwise Jackson’s film would have amounted to terrific losses simply based on the final product’s ineffectiveness). Series like _The Sopranos_ have demonstrated that you can adapt a big theme like _The Godfather_ trilogy for the TV screen on a private cable company channel like HBO and maintain its integrity, its edginess, all the qualities that make the concept work and not only shoot it on film in the aspect ratio suitable to the big screen with quality filmmakers and film crews, but even make it more intimate. If HBO can turn Tony Soprano into a sympathetic hero (or anti-hero is perhaps more suitable), what couldn’t they do with Frodo, Gandalf, Sam, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Pippin, Merry or even Boromir! After spending countless Sunday nights with them, we now know the Soprano household inside out as well as most of the places in New Jersey they inhabit like, say, the Bada-Bing strip club, despite the fact that most of these places are devoid of culture. Who wouldn’t know Bree, the Shire, Rivendell, Gondor or even Mordor and Moria inside out after spending 10 hours or more with Frodo and the gang in weekly one-hour installments, regardless of the attention spent on or the information available about most of Middle-earth’s landmarks and important places? Dwell on that, fellow Hobbits, and begin the petition.

-- posted by isengar

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» BandwagonNewbie - Re: The Bagginses: An HBO Special

In response to message posted by isengar:

I can't make up my mind as to whether the positives of the mini-series format outweigh the negatives. What do you think about the "Dune" mini-series?

-- posted by BandwagonNewbie

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» isengar - Give me a mini-series and I'll prove you wrong

In response to message posted by BandwagonNewbie:

Well, the mini-series format can be a crutch. But I am convinced that the problem more often lies with those producing mini-series rather than with the format itself. Like I said before, the quality of a program like “The Sopranos” has proven to me what is possible on the small screen if you have highly motivated people. The “Dune” mini-series is another good example. It has its cheesy moments but, all in all, it does a good job with the material. I’m strictly speaking from the filmmaking point of view on this, of course. I’ve never had the opportunity (nor an intense inclination) to read the novel, so I can’t speak of how successful an adaptation it was. I have seen the _Dune_ film of the 80’s and saw it again after viewing the mini-series to compare. The film’s starkness in the sets and costumes is very effective, but that’s thanks to that film crew’s Art department. The film itself wasn’t horrendous (although I got a kick out of seeing Sting pretend he could act) BUT you get too strong a sense of the disruption caused from skipping a lot of material in the novel and that weakens it considerably.

In turn, this becomes the strength of the mini-series : that it incorporates a lot more of the novel’s material because they have the TIME for it. The acting is actually better than in the film and pretty good for a mini-series. The production design wasn’t too bad either though it suffered much at times. So, if you can combine good acting and directing, a good budget, a scriptwriter who’s talented and well-suited for and comfortable with the TV script format AND the sort of quality production design you find in film, like in the _Dune_ film, in the case of LOTR, it would make a stellar adaptation. But it’s hard to convince the powerful in the American film and TV industry that what people want is quality, not dazzling effects and action, action, action!

-- posted by isengar

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