The Two Towers REACTION - Now we're cooking! This movie is what I hoped LOTR would be!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ก.พ. 2025
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When Gandalf says "Fly, you fools." he just means run away, escape, gtfo.
via Old English fleon, aka - to flee
Exactly! I hate that people assume he literally meant to fly.
Never watched a reaction were the reactor actually thinks flap your arms and fly away
Honestly never been a huge fan of the line
From old Norse: flya/flýja
(Modern Swedish: fly = Modern English: flee)
31:17 Not CGI! All of the huge buildings were reeaaally big miniatures, they called them bigatures.
The practicality of these movies were WILDLY influential and inspirational to me
Was looking for this answer. Any wide shot you see that shows an entire huge structure is probably a bigature. They did of course build pieces of the set for filming.
My favorite bit of trivia is how the tower holding the Eye was made into a bigature by one guy over a Christmas break, just for one scene in the final movie.
Gimli's actor is the one who voices Treebeard, but there are no digital tweaks to the voice. He simply spoke through a wooden megaphone, and he said he tried to speak as he breathed in, instead of breathing out.
And good observation saying Gandalf sounded like Saruman AND Gandalf. They had both actors say the same lines, and plastered them over each other to keep the illusion as long as they could before the reveal.
I would go even as far as to say it was to hammer in the "I *am* Saruman. Or Saruman as he should have been"
In the books Gandalf now has Saruman's power of voice magic so his voice does sound similar as it has gained the commanding cadences Saruman once used.
Ian and Christopher were also asked to do their best impressions of one another while doing their lines. It really muddies the water and makes it more difficult to tell which is which.
The "making of LOTR" is highly recommended for personal viewing. Thx for the series. ✌🏻
“why is Gandalf’s horse so….sexy?” 🤣🤣 i am wheezing.
In fairness, they shot that scene like a shampoo commercial.
Another reactor said, "Slap a horn on that thing and call it a unicorn".
@@oq1106 OMG THAT IS HILARIOUS! Spit my water there.
When Gandalf says, "Fly, you fools," he simply means to flee.
A flea and a fly in a flue
Were imprisoned, so what could they do?
Said the flea, "Let us fly!"
Said the fly, "Let us flee!"
So they flew through a flaw in the flue.
Nothing but applause!
You just unlocked a core memory with that poem!
never heard that before, and im 38
Encore, encore!!!
I've also never heard it but I love it.
Sam's speech at the end about the tales that mattered is my favorite
Three books, one series. The movies are named for each book.
Although, originally written as one book, split up editorially for publishing purposes
Thank you.@@maeschder
One book. Ever wondered why Boromir dies in the The Two Towers and not at the end in Fellowship, which makes sense? Because it's split.
The Two Towers doesn't even specifically refer to Barad-dur and Orthanc. Tolkien just couldn't come up with a better name for the middle book.
@arkdon477 simple to name really, you've got fellowship of the ring, the whining of gollum, the return of the king
"Hellooo. We'd like to use your mountain, please" lol XD
Just for a sec
Helms Deep was built in a quarry across from Stokes Valley, going around the harbour from Wellington, NZ. They filmed at night there for 3 months. The actors had tee shirts made which said, "I survived Helms Deep". It sounded grueling.
Ahh... night lights just outside Wellington.. I wonder if the Paranormal Unit of Wellington Police got dispatched to check it out..
I dont know if anyone has mentioned this before... you can pay attention to Smeagol's/Gollum's eyes. When his pupils are tiny, making him look more evil, that is Gollum in control. Bigger pupils are Smeagol, when he is still trying to do good.
This is kinda why we said watch the extended versions because they not only contain more info, but also alot of backstory to things like the Cloaks and the rope. When the company was in the Forest of the Lady Galadriel they were given gifts. All hobbits was given cloaks that would shield them from enemy eyes. And Sam was personally gifted the Elvish Rope to aid them in need. As you can see, bot the rope and the cloaks came in handy. Other members of the party were given other gifts aswell, personalized gifts. Those i will not reveal, that's for you to decide if you want to see the extended version or not.
Also: Gollum aka Smeagol is the same, but the ring corrupted Smeagol and sort of gave him an obsessive and survival instinctive traits to help him survive and maintain living with the corruption. It's kinda considered having 2 personalities and you can see/hear when either of them is in ''charge''. Smeagol is more soft and kind in his voice, Smeagol also will have dilated pupils. Gollum on the other hand has a more harsh Rashed voice and not dialed pupils. Smeagol used to be like a hobbit, but not a hobbit. He was a part of a group called the river people or river folk.
I trust Peter Jackson.
THe River people are proto-hobbits. the in-between of the hobbit race forming. I don't think they have the feet yet. Stoor Hobbits are probably the closest to River Folk.
Exactly. The extended versions are better to watch *especially* if you have a hard time following or remembering stuff. It explains more things and gives you more time to process the information.
It took me 5 or 6 watches to realise, but there is no gandalf magic in the cavalry charge at the end, just a big brain move of timing the charge with the rising of the sun over the ridge (sun rises in the east). The uruks, who can withstand sunlight better than regular orcs, are briefly blinded by looking right into it, enabling the charge to have maximum effect.
This comment just undid a lot of frustration I've had with so many reactions. I realized it for what it was the first time I saw it and never considered people aren't seeing it as tactical genius.
@@David-ru8tc Same. Perhaps it's a lack of attention thing.
Thankyou for checking this video out everyone, Return of the King will be coming soon!
Please be aware there is a slight issue with the Full Length Reaction on Patreon, its I'm actively trying to get fixed but its a really quirky technical issue that doesnt seem to be straight forward.
The next LOTR Reaction will not have this same issue.
Thankyou for your understanding
If anyone has expert Da Vinci Resolve skills, let me know lol
LOTR is 3 books, 1 series… The Hobbit is a single book and a prequel to LOTR series…
The actor who plays Aragorn, Viggo Mortensen, is a master horseman and bought his horse from the movies and bought the white horse that the elf lady rides with Frodo for her stunt rider.
Viggo is quite an amazing guy if you look him up.
Yes! and he's a polyglot as well. Very interesting and intelligent man.
Andy Serkis' career was made by this role.
The Lord of the Rings is technically 1 massive tome of a book broken up into 3 volumes and divided into 6 novels.
What are the 6 novels?
@@fookinaye8277 In my copy, they are simply titled Book 1, 2 , 3, 4, 5, 6. So as example, Part/Volume 1 (Being titled The Fellowship of the Ring) Book 1 starts on page 27, after the Prologue(aka Concerning Hobbits, and other matters). Book 2 begins on page 287, starting with Frodo awakening in Rivendell, and the subsequent Council of Elrond.
The other two volumes / parts similarly consist of two books of varying length.
The scene where Gollum/Smeagol talks to himself was written and directed by Fran Walsh, Peter Jacksons wife, and his favorite scene from the movie.
Another thing: "Three movies one book?" No, it's three books, but Tolkien originally wanted to publish them all as one big giant volume. They're meant to be one book but the publishers wouldn't let him for practical reasons.
They did Faramir so dirty in these movies & I'll never forgive them for that.
In the books he actually willingly refuses the Ring and is basically the opposite of his brother (Boromir). He defies his father's orders & let's Frodo and Sam go free without any conflict or anything. He was far more like Aragorn/Strider than Boromir.
I basically agree, but I looking at the vast cast of characters in the book, they didn’t really have enough “ambiguous” characters out of the ones who were essential I would say? There’s so much more nuance and history to everyone there. So I can see why they made him more conflicted. Otherwise many human characters were almost unequivocally good, apart from say WORMTONGUE (and at least one other lol).
They did this to all wise characters. Treebeard, who became this funny old tree beeing sad about a bunch of trees, wich of course he also was, but actually he is the personification of Fangorn.
Yeah as a young guy I’ll forever be grateful for the movies but I’m reading the books now and the movies can’t hold a candle to the books. Faramir, and Eromer are amazing men.
You are entiteled to your opinion of course and i get not liking big changes to characters, but i honestly never understood this take that so many people seem to have. Movie Faramir is so much more nuanced and interesting in my eyes than his book version. Might just be me and my cynical brain but i prefer seeing my heroes struggle and battle with their wants and weaknesses only to overcome them in the End and do the right thing not out of a overly idealistic inherent "goodness" (which i dont believe exists) but through selfreflection and effort. Feels much more real, earned and cathartic to me. Conflict, internal as external, makes for more interesting Stories if you ask me. Not to mention that as NoelleMar here already stated, we have SO MANY inherently good and pefect characters in this Story already, especially in the Book, so adding a bit more nuance and conflicts to alot of them is a welcome addition to me.
@@datzfatz2368
Well, for one, if you dont want inherently good characters you should not consume lotr. I know, thats not a good point, also not true for all of Tolkiens characters to be inherently good nor - more importantly - bad. But in the end, Tolkien was catholic therefore believed in a greater good. You might critique this but its also part of the unique storytelling. If you look at it like that, its a valid point for stating this decision as bad adaptation.
And second, I dont even think it emphasized his struggle in a better way. He somhow know, Frodo has the ring, by listening to Gollum, which is kind of absurd. The books are way more specific about his thought process - in general. Because after he somhow finds out about the ring, he just take Sam and Frodo with him to Osgiliath without a second thought and in Osgiliath he changes his opinion in two seconds, again, without any understandable reasoning. In the book he elaborates on the consequences of his decions. He is struggeling its just way more subtle than taking the 'wrong' path first.
I love that you caught onto the double voice that they give Gandalf the White when he's first introduced and not quite visible. They had the line recorded by both the actors and blended them hinting at the line that Gandalf says. "I am Sarumon, or Sarumon as he should be."
Saruman means "man of skill", so Gandalf is treating it as a title rather than a name.
Obligatory clarification: those aren’t dragons the Nazgûl’s are flying. Tolkien eventually describes it as a “fell beast”, hence people call them fell-beasts. The narrative speculates that they were some prehistoric creature surviving in some dark corner or brought back by the dark powers.
I always thought they are wyverns
@@farfaraway4285 so did I.
THey are probably either descendants of the First Age dragons or they were the creatures Morgoth used to create the great dragons. I suspect the latter.
Dragons are much bigger. Twice the length of a 747 and twice as wide as well.
40:11 "oh thats real rain in the real world" ...funny timing with what happends for the movie battle
Perfect timing right
My 2 cents on the extended editions, Fellowship has the most really plot-crucial, background-explaining extra footage; Two Towers extension is very good (yes, the Gondor flashback especially, but also extra Rohan scenes); RotK has some great extra scenes, but also some unnecessary bits that added nothing.
One of the greatest fandom reactions to "Look's like meat's back on the menu, boys" was, "Orcs know what menus are? Orcs. . .have restaurants???"
Christopher Lee, may he rest in peace, had a different opinion about ROTK footage, and I thoroughly agree.. When I saw this movie in the theaters I was appalled at what they left out. Also, since my 13 year old self fell in love with book Farimir and identified with book Eowyn as was pretty upset that their story was resolved literally with a mere nod.
I mean if you're not interested knowing Boromirs motivations, Sarumans fate, or added gravity to two major battles, theatrical is fine. We had to wait years for the extended scenes due to the time constraints enforced by New Line to maximize theatre screenings. It will never make sense to me that people these days aren't willing to watch an extra few minutes for a more complete story.
@@jaysinjaymesbrown7819saruman’s fate is already sealed when his army breaks against helms deep and the Ents attack Isengard, nor is his death scene crucial to the story. Boromir’s motivations were never a secret. The theatrical version has better pacing which is especially important your first time experiencing the films
@mikeham7251 it's entirely subjective and I respect your personal opinion. For me personally, it's an incredibly strange creative decision to leave Sarumans story arc without closure. With regard to Boromir, the extra scene reinforces his character as an honorable man. Without it, he is simply portrayed as just another man succumbing to the influence of the ring. It doesn't provide the full context of conflict he was dealing with. The Witch King scene in ROTK, though controversial in its treatment of Gandalf, does provide a far more dramatic lead in to the Charge of the Rohirrim than the theatrical.
My point is why watch the edition that was edited to fit the confines of a cinema screening when greater context is readily available?
@@jaysinjaymesbrown7819 ...AND you can see the restraints of Faramir's (I know not like the book) anguish and mental torture he was going through. The only family who ever gave damn about him was killed, his father hates him, and suddenly the object that his father wanted falls into his lap, maybe fixing everything.
Your recap of the first film at the beginning of this reaction was epic for a first timer, lol. Loved it. You got most of the basics and actually strung them together in a way that made sense. I first read these books in about 1980 and read them several times before the movies came out, and again either right before or right after first watching THE TWO TOWERS. And I've seen the movies multiple times myself as well as through several other reactors. So many of us long-time fans may know more details than you'd be expected to catch. Your comprehension of it all is impressive.
and yet he was confused as to why the rest of the fellowship wasnt with Frodo and Sam at the start of the movie lol^^ Not meant as an insult, that was just very comedic to me hehe^^
I agree with your plan to watch the extended clips later. They explain so much, but are not essential to know right now.
I'd argue they actively harm the next one. I had a friend show me these movies (the long version, i didn't know the difference), and I'm really greatful I saw the 3rd one on my own.
This was karl urbans first big role he was a television star before these movies
J.R.R. Tolkien actually fought in World War 1 and while I'm not sure if it is true, Sam's speech near the end this movie feels like it is Tolkien talking about what it was like to go through that war and come out the other side.
And the battle of Helms Deep is definitely among the best battles in any film.
Sam’s speech was taken from all over the books and meshed together by the screen writers with some of their own words.
i love seeing people watching Lord of The Ring
i always discover some new points of view and it's very interesting
One thing
du to the power of the Ring Gollum survived 500 years in a f*cking Cave eating raw fish bats and sometimes Goblins
The theme song of Treebeard
"The last March of the Ents" is my favorite of all music
It's so pure, with thoses vocals
Not at all necessary to understand the story but fun fact: the ‘what do your elf-eyes see’ thing is a reference to both the fact that elves have exceptionally sharp vision and also the much wilder fact that, according to lore, the world of LotR used to be flat but later became round. Since the elves were around when it was flat, they still perceive it as flat (idk how that works I’m not a tolkien scholar), so legolas can literally see past the horizon.
Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn) actually took the initiative to train with his horse do perform the scene where it kneels down and picks him up from the river. He thought it would look badass and make a great scene (he was right). The director on sight was terrified the horse would step on him and injure him, but let them do it. Viggo and his horse pulled it off and it turned out great.
@@RedundantDan this was the horse he bought after filming. Brego. I think the horse recently died.
Fun fact: the marsh Gollum leads Frodo and Sam though is actually the site of the battle we see at the beginning of fellowship, where Sauron lost the ring!
Also definitely react to the cut scenes there's some great ones from each movie that can help expand characters and lore. Personally I can think of one cut scene from each movie I would deem as essential viewing.
Nope. That battle was fought in Mordor. The dead marshes was a different battle
Yes. Different battle but same war. And in the film´s timeline maybe the same couple of days. The battle in the film's prologue occurs (in the books) after seven years of siege of Barad Dur@@MikeS309
And the dead marshes aren't in Mordor? That war took seven years, so there's a good chance that there are still some bodies and/or wights still hanging around.
Same war. Different battle. That battle happened first and the victory is what allowed them to push into Mordor to get to the battle we see at the start of the films. Also The battle was actually mostly in the planes in front of the mash with just some forces being pushed back into it. Then the mashes just slowly expanded over the rest of the battle over time. And finally, more body's were added in another battle that happened during that 3000 year time skip at the start of the movie. So we don't actually see any of the battles that caused the dead marshes to be the dead marshes in the films.
The Battle of Gladden Fields, I believe, is the one that took place outside the gates Mordor, where the Dead Marshes are now.
Gandalf and that fire beast, Sauron, and Saruman were cut from the same cloth.
They are Maiar, think tolkien angels. Immortal primordial spirits that helped create that world and allowed physical form on that world. Differences between them is most failed or gave up on their mission, Gandalf has remained true to his mission.
The Mission is to help the people of middle earth by advising and guiding in defeating Sauron forever, never to lead.
There is a lot of lore to go over, check it out.
"Fly, you fools" - "Get moving and go fast!"
I respect your decision to watch the theatrical versions. That's how I saw it, that's how we all saw it. The extended versions didn't come out for another year or two. Enjoy the series, then watch the deleted scenes. It will be a treat!
I don't know anyone who say the theatrical cut first, and we are all old enough to have seen them in the cinema.
It now how "everyone" saw it.
Tolkien didnt like industrialization, and Saruman is just that, well, Sauron too, with all the armour and weapons made... "While the wrath of the Ents at Isengard to the hyper-industrialized descriptions of Mordor, it is clear that Tolkien considers industrialization closely linked to corruption. This disdain for industrialization is matched only by a reverence for the natural world, even while acknowledging its peril"
If I remember my Latin classes correctly, the word for running and the word for flying is the same word. There's a long standing connection between flying and speed. Flying means you don't have to deal with uneven terrain and you don't have to follow different roads. You just go in a straight line so it's very fast. So telling somebody to fly would mean going as fast as you can.
I mean, it's also means to move fast and suddenly in English. There's no need to try and remember Latin, for what is a current English word!
For me it is maybe the best battlescene ever shot. You can argue with the one of the third movie, being such a huge scale, but i don't, helms deep is such a unique memory to me
The black gates were originally built to keep all of Mordor imprisoned. As Gondor got weaker and weaker, Mordor took control of the Black gate to keep things out.
Excited to see your reaction to this one! I went to see The Two Towers: Live in Concert at the Royal Albert Hall a few months ago (the whole film played with a live, full philharmonic orchestra + two choirs), and it was absolutely incredible. Probably the best live experience I've ever been to.
Not only the perfect mix of awesome venue, sheer amount of highly skilled musicians, and the incredible nostalgia for my favourite tweenage films... but I can't tell you how unexpectedly joyful it was to be laughing along with *thousands* of other people who actually understood and reacted to "meme moments" like _"THEY'RE TAKING THE HOBBITS TO ISENGARD!"_ (that's a video to watch if you haven't see it before!).
Just a bunch of nerds nerding out together ☺
Might be the only orchestra id care about seeing it sounds awesome
At 32:37, when Arwen says, "May the grace of the Valar protect you," it's the only reference to the Valar in the LOTR movies. The Valar, the Guardians of the World, are mentioned only briefly in Tolkien's book, but they play a dominant role in The Silmarillion, Tolkien's "Bible" of Middle-earth. Briefly, they act as intermediaries between Eru Iluvatar, the AllFather, and his creation; Men have called them Gods. Although he was a devout Roman Catholic, Tolkien deliberately downplayed the role of religion in LOTR, intending to create a story that all faiths could relate to.
These scenes are a way to visually present what Tolkien wrote about Arwen, that “she watched over him from afar” Galadriel and Elrond can actually communicate over a distance.
There is a lot more to the meeting of the Ents, the extended edition shows them being there for a couple hours and in that time the Ents had only saud "hello"
Also Haldir and the elves of Lorian didn't appear at Helms Deep the armies of Sauron had also attacked the North and center hitting the dwarves at The Lonely Mountain, the men at Laketown, the elves at Mirkwood and Lorian. But the Ents and Hurons did actually go to Helms Deep and killed the orcs that escaped the battle completely destroyed the army.
I’m so glad you’re finishing this series how you feel most comfortable with by watching the theatrical cuts. The extended editions are my personal favorites and I’d love those reactions too. But you should have the most fun with it in the way you want. That’s precisely what Peter Jackson aimed for :)
I remember the first time I read the Battle of Helm's Deep in 1964, in my freshman year at college. It was about 2 a.m., and I was thinking, "Boy, Tolkien has really written himself into a corner. Because there's going to have to be an even bigger battle in ROTK, and how can he top this?" I need not have worried...
When aragorn kicks the helmet and screams that's a real scream he broke his toe kicking that but never broke character
Random trivia tidbit.. When Aragorn kicks the helmet, he genuinely breaks his foot, his scream of pain is real but he remains in character!
Pretty sure it's legally required for someone to comment this every time a new person watches this movie.
@@Hyrulesavior11 True, was surprised it hadn't been exclaimed yet! 😆
Scrolled just to see which pleb commented this.
@@aidieslater8351 😆
thank you for doing our civic duty sir^^
Faramir is a very good person. The movie makes him more conflicted and ambiguous than the books. In Boromir's death scene there is a choir singing in elvish. The words are a translation of one of Faramir's lines in the book, “I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend.”
*A hint as to how great the third film in this trilogy is:* The Return of the King holds the record for the most Oscars won by a film, along with Titanic and Ben-Hur, and is the only film in history to have a clean sweep of winning every Oscars category that it was nominated in.
And Bernard Hill played an important role in two of those three movies!
@@jeandoten1510 also, in some strange way, not unsimilar roles and arcs.
For as much as the fantasy genre takes from Tolkien, he was inspired by many things, including Shakespeare, most notably Macbeth... "never be vanquished until Great Birnum wood to high Duncinane Hill shall come against him." In that story an army just broke off tree branches and used them as cover... but Tolkien actually had the trees come to Isengard against him! Another very Macbeth prophecy is in Return of the King, but I'll wait to comment on that video. 😉
The fate of Saruman was not included in the theatrical version; only in the extended edition.
"Is that little Alex Horne?" killed me lmao
Wait till you see Return of the King lol
40:08 Funny enought, it was originally planned and filmed, that Arwen would lead the Elves to Helm's Klamm. (Known with Fans as the "Xena Arwen"
But they decided it was to crazy and would not work with the rest of the Story.
In the Books, there are no Elves that help at all btw, but Eomer and his men were with the King from the beginning, as he was not banished but imprisoned.
They receive relief forces by the Commander of the Westfold, Erkenbrand, together with Gandalf and a force that he rallied.
But in the books the attackers are mostly comprised of Dunland wildlings and common orks and not 10 000 Uruks.
The Lord of the Rings is split in 3 books, and each movie was adapted from each book, with some scenes moved around in order to fit the pacing and narrative of the movie. For example, Boromir's dead occurs at the start of the Two Towers book, but they decided to put it at the end of the Fellowship of the Ring movie.
Lord of the Rings was three books (Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and Return of the King). The Hobbit was one, pretty short, book that was made into 3 movies.
I was gonna say that. It's a shame what they did with th hobbit
It was one novel, published as 3 books due to the ongoing paper shortage in England in 1954
@@qadgopthemercotan That was only one reason. The main one is when people walk into a bookstore and see a 6 inch thick tome, from a brand new genre that would cost a fortune at one go would be pretty daunting but you split that book into three volumes and get people hooked they will line up at midnight for the release of the next volume. Splitting it into three was a good decision by the publishers.
The Sam/Frodo interaction at the end of this is one of the simplest but beautiful moments in film.
"Fly you fools" = "Run away you idiots"
Just for your information, the elves showing up to aid Rohan at the battle of Helm's Deep is completely non-canon as it doesn't happen in the books, nor would word reach Elrond fast enough for him to send an elf army to Helm's Deep in time, nor does Elrond even have an elf army to send to begin with. Now, Haldir, the elf captain, is from Lothlorien, so we could assume that the elf army is from Lothlorien as well. However this doesn't solve the problem of there not being enough time for word to reach the elves and them marching an army down there, an army that in the books are busy defending their own home of Lothlorien.
But either way, regardless of whether it's possible or not for the elves to be there it does make the movie scenes more interesting I guess, so I'm not really complaining about them being there from a movie-goer perspective.
19:36 "We'd like to use your mountain, please" Cracked me up so much. Keep at it, mate!
Gandalf is a higher being, existing since before the creation of the universe and helping in it. The Balrog is also one, but corrupted. They are equally powered, that's why Gandalf had to die. He was then sent to the Creator, who decided to send him back, with increased power.
Essentially saruman was forsaken and gandalf was sent back to fill his role
@@averageman4208 As is the dominating theory, the Valars' plans in sending in Istari failed. When Gandalf died, he was sent to Eru, who decided to imbue him with much of his former Maia power, and send him back to fight both Saruman and Sauron.
Actually gandalf is a weaker beeing than the balrog.
Gandalf sacrificed a lot of his power to become a wizard. He cannot remember his power and immortality, so he doesn't betray mankind... What at the end happened to saruman.
@@SilverViper1000 Olorin was the wisest of the Maiar. But the Istari were stripped of much of their power when their were sent to Middle-Earth, true.
@@SilverViper1000 Gandalf's power was limited but it seems when faced with threats from higher beings he could power up to meet those threats but he couldn't just wave his staff and wipe out an army of orcs.
I CACKLED when you said "is it Alex Horn?"
During his centuries under the Ring's influence, he developed a sort of dissociative identity disorder: Sméagol, his "good" personality, still vaguely remembered things like friendship and love, while Gollum, his "bad" and prevailing personality, was a slave to the Ring and would kill anyone who tried to take it.
That Fresh Prince cut was too much 😂
Another fun fact the movies dont tell, at least I think they dont... Galadriel (Cate), the 'scary elf lady', is Arwen's (Liv) grandmother, Elrond's (Hugo) mother-in-law 😊
Or that Elrond's twin brother Elros chose to be a mortal man and established the line of human kings of Numinor, those making Elrond Aragorn's very distant Uncle.
36:10
To Show how they changed Faramir's Character in the Movie, here the actual Lines from the Book when Faramir finds out Frodo has the one Rind:
"What in truth this Thing is I cannot yet guess; but some heirloom of power and peril it must be. A fell weapon, perchance, devised by the Dark Lord. If it were a thing that gave advantage in battle, I can well believe that Boromir, the proud and fearless, often rash, ever anxious for the victory of Minas Tirith..., might desire such a thing and be allured by it. Alas that ever he went on that errand! I should have been chosen by my father and the elders but he put himself forward..., and he would not be stayed.
But fear no more! I would not take this thing, if it lay by the highway. Not were Minas Tirith falling in ruin and I alone could save her, so, using the weapon of the Dark Lord for her good and my glory. No, I do not wish for such triumphs, Frodo son of Drogo."
But i guess they needed some more Drama with his father on this...
The extended versions are *definitively* the way to go with the second and third movie. They leave out so much not just character development, but actually important plot points. And they're actually easier to follow because they explain more things and allow information more time to settle. I'd suggest at least looking up the extra scenes if you don't do a rewatch of the extended version on your own.
As far as Jackson goes, I'm not convinced he remembers which scenes are in the extended versions and which aren't. 😅The Hobbit moves are even worse in this regard where important scenes were left out to make room for filler in the theatrical cuts.
Nice! Glad you loved this one, cant wait for you to see the next! It turns it up to 11 lol I saw each one of these for my bday as they hit theaters and this one was when I turned 12. 9/11 was pretty recent and Saruman honestly reminded me of Osama in appearance lol plus the whole 2 towers thing. But I loved the movie so much I bought the books on my way home with my bday money and PLOWED through them in a couple months.
Omg lmao. The beard. I remember there was a petition to change the two towers name because it was “clearly” profiting off of 9/11. 😭
@@NoelleMar lol! I remember that! People calling for a title change, not realizing it's older than they are lol
Great reaction! "Fun" Facts Below (using character names for simplicity)
PLEASE watch the behind the scenes if you can get them. They're AWESOME.
Aragorn nearly drowned when floating the river (for a scene only in the extended edition), chipped his front tooth and had to be talked out of using superglue to DIY fix it, and broke his big toe (something about a helmet?.... lol)
Gimli was very allergic to the prosthetics, and as a result, much (most) of the screen time of Gimli is actually his double, Brett Beattie, who was originally brought on for horse riding stunts but ended up as a scale double and stunt double for Gimli except where there were face close ups. He was almost given co-credit for the role and, with encouragement from the rest of the fellowship actors, he wears their matching fellowship tattoo.
Legolas was running with a broken rib in some sequences. If I remember correctly, he broke it falling off a horse while filming or training.
The facades, at least, for the buildings in Rohan were constructed on site, but because it is a nationally protected area, they had limited time allowance and had to deconstruct and remove everything.
Helm's Deep was filmed using a miniature, a 1/4 scale (i think?) bigature, and full size sets. It was over 3 months of night shoots with rain machines.
The horse that got Aragorn from the river was supposed to lay down next to him, but it kept laying ON the dummy in practice so they subbed in a different horse, Uraeus, from New Zealand who had never done film work before. He ended up playing the part of Brego for the rest of the film and was purchased by Aragorn at the end of filming.
Aragorn purchased one other horse for himself from this film, the chestnut that Eomer gave him, and at the conclusion of filming, he also purchased the horse that Arwen rode in the Fellowship to get Frodo to Rivendell. He gave it to Arwen's stunt rider - who had loved him but said she couldn't afford to buy him herself.
The group of soldiers with Eomer on horseback is mostly comprised of women in beards because they couldn't get enough male riders.
Hilarious commentary! If you're not doing the extended for the last either absolutely do the most important extras later, that's a good "compromise".
Its actually 3 movies based off 3 books. Treebeard is not a tree, He is an Ent, a shepherd of the trees.
The horse that came for Aragorn is the same one he calmed in the stable. He shares a name with a Rohan king. Hence Aragorn's line, "A kingly name." The horse was saving Aragorn in turn.
“Fly” is middle-aged-speak for “run the hell away.”
Blinded by his Gandalfness! Fuck ya!😂
Viggo really loved that horse Brego. So much that he ended up convincing the studio to let him buy him. He also bought Arwyn's horse and gave it to Arwyn's stunt double who could not afford it. 😅
I love how in the scene with the Oliphaunts you can see Gollum sneaking away just after the secret signal of the rangers to coordinate the assault.
"Fly, you fools", & all of gamdalf's lines....tolkien was so poetic.
Thing about the Ents was due to tragedies in the past, every Ent marching to war in this movie was the equivalent of a old Pensioner deciding, "Right, enough of this. Time to kick some ass."
im an american who got to know karl urban from these films, & from the bonus learned he was australian....its always a joy to see the australians light up when they see, or realize that aussies are in l.o.t.r. ...both eomer & eowyn too, both aussies....love it.
Honestly the extended edition is alot for a first viewing. I personally find that the extended is better reserved for when you're more familiar with the entire world of LOTR after a few viewings.
I'm also one of the rare people who prefers the Hobbit movies to the LOTR movies lol
Hahaha LOVED the summary at the beginning, couldn't have done a better job myself :P
Viggo Mortensen formed a bond with the horse, Brego, and trained him on his own to do the pick-up on his knees, which the directors were worried about. Viggo bought the horse to keep after the filming. I always loved that.
33:09 it actually is extremly goods horse training (Vigo Mortensen bouth two of the horses he worked with afterwards)
But there are accounts of very close and companion like relations between Horses and Riders.
Just speaking of War Horses for Knights, they were extremly precious and expensive beasts. A Knight might get into a deep bond with his horse if he traines it from a young age.
For Aragorn here, i rather expect it to be his elven magic, the Horse beeing able to feel and understand him, probably gave him a much closer relationship.
In the Books, Aragorn keep Brego throughout the whole story, riding him till the end of the war and calling him a good friend.
18:56 .. no it's three books. Every movie cover one book and has exact same name.
It's book and movie trilogy.
The two towers when it was released had the biggest cinematic battle ever shown on screen. Only to be beaten by Return of the King.
"Is it little Alex Horn" had me dying! 🤣 if you know, you know
46:00 always hated that scene, according to the movie Treebeard had no idea of what was going on in his own forrest. To him the other trees can talk, even if they aren't Ents, so he definitly would have heard about it, that's why in the books Merry and Pippin were just the last push the Ents needed to go into action. They were already pissed enough at Saruman to do something.
Overall I made my peace with the different ways Jackson went and the movies are still great, but that and Elves at Helms Deep still annoy me to no end.
Re: the Hollywood horse. Viggo Mortensen wanted to make his bond with that horse so real he actually slept in the stables with it and spend hours a day bonding. At the end of shooting the movies he bought the horse and they stayed best friends until the horse passed away
"What do your elf eyes see?" Has become quite a meme in the LOTR community for being.... Just a goofy line lol..
"I don't know Aragorn, what do your human ears hear?"
LOL love your recap it made me laugh out loud a few times
28:00 omg hahaha have you never heard of friendship without any love relationships involved?😂
Frodo isn't 'the one' in a supernatural sense, it's just that to start with Hobbits are considered simple/humble enough not to be corrupted. Frodo's personality just has a bit of extra integrity/adventurousness that Gandalf thinks is good for the quest. But ultimately it's not just Frodo but the fellowship as a whole, and let's be real Sam (+ a bit of luck with gollum), that defeats the ring.
16:55 That's actually a Wyvern. Wyverns only have their back legs, dragons have 4 legs
And actually it's more of a vulture in the books.
But I really like this interpretation of them. It just leads away from their origin, of which is nothing known about.
But Nontheless, a theory of mine is, that morgoth not only made dragons, and orcs out of elves. He maybe also transformed eagles into these creatures. Would explain their vulture like appearance. What stands against this theory is, that the eagles are basically maiar and I doubt morgoth could alter those in such a way. At least not, if they didn't join him on purpose like the balrogs (which also look very different in the books)
THe Nazguls' rides are kind of giant pterodactyls -- Tolkien pretty much concedes this in Letter 211. Fans call them "fell beasts" but this is incorrect. The term appears only once, in The Breaking of the Fellowship chapter, and it refers to unspecified nasties in Mirkwood. The movie creatures remind me of the Jabberwocky drawing by Tenniel.
It is a Fell Beast.
@@pwmiles56 I don't have the text in a searchable format right now, but I'm fairly certain the term fell beast was applied to the nazgul's flying steed when it appeared to the fellowship shortly before the Falls of Rauros. However, it's not necessarily a name, just a descriptor. Basically saying "big, bad scary thing". And that undoubtedly applies.
As for the matter of whether it's a saurian flying lizard (like pterodactyls) or a draconid flying lizard (like the one depicted in the movie), I don't think the actual descriptions in the books are detailed enough to differentiate that with certainty, so I'm perfectly fine with how they are depicted here.
@rgg6383 - I guess there may be different mythologies where that is the case, but in the common one that I'm familiar with (and which is also reflected in e.g. the Wikipedia page for Wyverns) dragon is a generic term for all kinds of big lizards. Wyvern is just a subclass of that, specifically with two legs and typically acidious or venomous. So let's not overcorrect people by being more specific that the topic allows, dragon is specific and correct enough for most cases ...
@@lukasr5867I checked and in the Great River scene, it is only a "dark shape" and "a great winged creature". Tolkien Gateway gives only the quote I mentioned and another similar one in the Silmarillion (Valaquenta, to do with Orome). It is, as you say, a valid description of the things, it's just not one Tolkien used. Small point but it bugs me. I'm also fine with the film portrayal but I think it's correct, if the question is raised, to say no it's not a dragon.
Your recap was excellent. No worries about not knowing all the names. No one learns all the names the first- time round. It was eventually 3 books. And the ending to the first was even more a cliffhanger than the movie. They get separated during the Uruk-hai attack and that's it. Boromir doesn't die until the beginning of book 2. For the scene with Smeagol vs Gollum, it's actually Peter Jackson's favorite scene of the trilogy--and he didn't even direct it! "The battle at the end of this trilogy is going to be INSANE" Well, you're not wrong. 😁As far as the sets go: The city where the king of Rohan lives is actually all built there on that mountainside. For Isendgard and Helm's Deep (And most other cities) they were actually miniatures made that cgi characters and such could be added to. I definitely suggest watching some making of the movies after the fact. They went ALL OUT for this trilogy. Helm's Deep remains one of my all-time most amazing movie theater experiences.
There was a set for Helm’s Deep too, it was at a disused rock quarry in Lower Hutt just off the state highway. We drove past it a few times before they pulled it down. It looked cool but was all made from wood and polystyrene
Gollum absolutely is a junkie, and Frodo is early in realizing he's on his own fight with addiction. Part of why Frodo is so desperate to consider Gollum redeemable is because he needs to believe he himself can come back from the path he's on.
Another difference from the books is that in the books Faramir already knows Boromir is dead and from what Frodo tells him realises that it was the ring's temptation that caused his brother's death. So he decides to be the better man and lets Frodo and Sam continue their quest, rather than take them prisoner with the intent to use the ring as a weapon like in the movies.
However once again, even though this isn't canon it does make the movie better as the way Faramir realises the dangers of the ring are far more visually pleasing (especially in the extended version) than sticking to the book version would have been.
It's funny that you mentioned the Ents coming to help with the battle at Helm's Deep, because that is the way it went in the book! The forest moves to block the valley through which the enemy could escape, Gandalf is coming from the other side, and Helm's Deep is manned by the people from Rohan. The Orcs and Uruk-Hai are driven into the forest, never to be seen again. So a bit different from the movie, but I like how they gave the Ents a chance to avenge themselves on Saruman for killing the trees.
There's scene at the end of this film where orcs run to the woods and trees start moving and I don't think there were trees there before. I only watch extend now so I'm not sure if it's theatrical cut or not
i cackled when you called him Butcher... LMFAO
Diabolical lol
It is actually 3 separate books (technically there were 6 I think) but end point of each movie doesn't exactly line up to the end point of each book
*I WAS WRONG ITS ACTUALLY 1 BOOK AND 3 VOLUMES*
The Hobbit movies are the ones made from 1 book
One novel, just split into 3 volumes initially because paper was expensive in the 1950s UK. (The term “book” was used in them as dividers, just super-chapters.) Nowadays of course there are one-volume editions available, as Tolkien intended.
unfortunately in my language they use a new translation from the late 90s, made by an arrogant dickhead, who changed it so it would sound more modern, claiming in his tl notes that Tokien would have done the same if he still lived, which is such a silly idea. So everyone who really cares tries to get the old editions now. lol@@Big_Tex
So it’s not 3 movies, one book. It’s 3 movies, 3 books, of the same name, and each movie largely follow the plot of the individual plots of the books. That’s one of the many reasons, this is a perfect trilogy. It definitely excludes some content, but the heart of each movie is the same as the books.
I love the extended versions dearly, and there are a lot of really great scenes in there. But as Peter Jackson said, it's more of a cool thing for fans to see later than anything really necessary, in my opinion. I actually think the added scenes in the extended editions throw off the pacing a little bit and one scene in particular in the third movie is a little bit diminished in impact for me with the extra part added. They're worth watching and I certainly never get mad at a reactor watching them, but the theatrical version is the one we all saw 20 years ago and fell in love with. Anything else is just a bonus.
Hobbits keep to their own little corner, only a couple have ever even had adventures. Most of the rest of the world hasnt seen one, many don't even know they exist. Also, LotR was 1 book yes, but it was published in 3 volumes at seperate times.
Even sauron didn't know they exist.
At the end of FOTR, Frodo and Sam wise are on the east side of the Anduin River, heading for Mordor where the fortress of Barad-Dur (with the eye of Sauron) and the Volcano Mount Doom are.
Merry and Pippin were taken prisoner by Saruman's Uruk Hai. Strider/Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli on the west side of the river in hot pursuit of the Uruk Hai.