My name is Ben Tahl, you want something done, I need to see the money first. ((He has currently been declared dead. The circumstances surrounding said death are public knowledge. He was killed in a successful attempt to free a group of Mon Calamari children who had been taken hostage.
He is now operating under the name Ben Tahl. His hair has been cut, his beard has been shaved and he is currently working at infiltrating a slave-dealing ring whom once tried to steal and sell his friend Cleo.
The only people who know his identity as the Jedi Master are Tal the Bounty Hunter and Scout, Qui-Gon’s Padawan. ))
Magic!Anon: None
The Hobbit: A Defense
Those saying The Hobbit is too short a book to be 3 movies. In the Silmarillion, the entire LotR trilogy is given one page and 5 paragraphs which is LESS than the white council scene that we saw in The Hobbit. Puts things in some perspective for me.
Also, since I can’t let things go, these movies weren’t made for movie reviewers. They were made by a Tolkien fan FOR Tolkien fans, and it is a blessing for us whom adore Tolkien’s lore that members of the non-LotR-book reading public find them so fascinating. He put in things only LotR fans would enjoy, and I think he did so on purpose. Isn’t it a good thing that he isn’t pandering to cultural standards and telling this story his own damn way (which happens to be the right way, in my opinion)? Why should he make these movies for the public? His Fellowship of the Ring movie inspired me to read the original trilogy, because as a movie-goer I couldn’t keep Aragorn and Boromir strait. Without Peter Jackson, I would not be the person I am today, and that is no exaggeration.
No, the pacing in the Hobbit ISN’T too slow actually. The only complaints I’ve heard about the beginning ‘dragging on’ have been from people who haven’t actually read this book that is “too short to be made into a 3-part movie” but not short enough to actually read and see why it HAS to be 3 movies.
2 chapters of this novel are devoted to getting them out of the Shire. That’s a good chunk of the book, and I wager that if PJ hadn’t spent so long introducing Thorin and company, the reviewers would have complained about THAT too. It is extremely important to the movie to set in your head the idea that Bilbo is comfortable and stagnant where he sits. It is important to establish Thorin’s motivation. These are things upon which the other movies will depend.
And, in point of fact, Peter Jackson is taking some time and creative license out from this movie to show the story line about the Necromancer. Now, SPOILER ALERT, the Necromancer is Sauron. He’s trying to reform into the world and as you saw in the movie, he brought back the 9 riders from the original movies. We are being taught origins here. We are having the story expanded upon. Again…how is this bad? And again, PJ is taking a couple of pages from the Silmarillion and expanding upon them into a real part of this story.
Within the plot of The Hobbit book, Gandalf goes off and leaves the company alone and you’re not really told why. Jackson is TELLING US WHY. If you really want to know why this movie is going to be 3 3 hour movies instead of 2 4 hour ones, and if you really can’t figure out why 3 3 hour movies are better, I would be glad to tell you anytime. There’s much of the story yet to tell, and the unfolding of it isn’t something to be hurried. That’s not how Tolkien does things and I’m glad Peter has stuck to that. This movie isn’t for our era of ‘buy instantly’, it’s an epic unfolding of a tale that has been unfolding since the creation of the world Middle-Earth resides in.
Other pacing issues you will have to excuse because they are told in Tolkien’s style. They aren’t meant to be “X-Men: First Class” or “The Avengers”. These books are written in a style and from a time that isn’t like the one we live in today. Tolkien didn’t have comic books growing up. He didn’t have television. He didn’t have everything spoon fed to him by a media gone amok.
This is my defense of the movie and it’s ‘issues’. It’s fine if you didn’t like it, but perhaps you could use your ‘dislike’ as inspiration to find out WHY it was made that way, because isn’t that why you write movie reviews? Because you love movies and the craft of story telling?
I can die happy now *_*- at the Dublin Wax Museum
Light of a Fading Star
Archer forced himself to stay awake, fingertips curling in his exhaustion to press against the wounded man’s chest. To make sure he was alive. Still there. Warm. Not a corpse.
It would be difficult to be alone again. He was too used to it. Afraid of going back to whatever life he had been leading.
When Ben woke some hours later as weak as a new born and confused. “‘fresher,” he managed to mumble. He had to pee something furious and he wasn’t going to be able to make it to the restroom under his own power. It was humiliating but he was too tired and in too much pain to care.
Archer’s eyes opened wide when he heard the other’s voice. As quiet as it was, he was reassured by it. “Hey…” His own voice was equally low, though quite a bit brighter. Most of the high was gone, and he was going to be feeling the guilt over it — later. Right now? He was happy.
The Jedi tried to sit up and failed brilliantly, laying back in Archer’s lap with a groan. ”I have to…you have to help me.”
….you’re pretty stubborn about it.
I’ve got age and miles on you, Archer. I don’t give up easily.
Still don’t really see why you care…
I’ve told you why. I don’t know how you can’t understand.
No one cares ‘bout the people down there.
I do.
I don’t know. I can appreciate the beauty of a great many things.
Will you tell me what they’re for?
Protection, of a sort. [ The smile she grants him is all bared teeth and predatory amusement. ] They are meant to bind and blind, maim and kill things that are living, dead, or far beyond the realm of human comprehension.
Interesting. Tell me more.
….you’re pretty stubborn about it.
I’ve got age and miles on you, Archer. I don’t give up easily.
Still don’t really see why you care…
I’ve told you why. I don’t know how you can’t understand.
Light of a Fading Star
Archer forced himself to stay awake, fingertips curling in his exhaustion to press against the wounded man’s chest. To make sure he was alive. Still there. Warm. Not a corpse.
It would be difficult to be alone again. He was too used to it. Afraid of going back to whatever life he had been leading.
When Ben woke some hours later as week as a new born and confused. “‘fresher,” he managed to mumble. He had to pee something furious and he wasn’t going to be able to make it to the restroom under his own power. It was humiliating but he was too tired and in too much pain to care.
…it isn’t.
You’re a bounty hunter. Remember?
I’m your friend first, smart ass.
I don’t have friends.
Yes you do. I’m your friend and there’s not a god damned thing you can do about it, so I’d get used to the idea and lose the attitude.
….you’re pretty stubborn about it.
I’ve got age and miles on you, Archer. I don’t give up easily.
…it isn’t.
You’re a bounty hunter. Remember?
I’m your friend first, smart ass.
I don’t have friends.
Yes you do. I’m your friend and there’s not a god damned thing you can do about it, so I’d get used to the idea and lose the attitude.
masterquigon started following you
[ Caught in the midst of drawing what appeared to be nonsense lines in the ashes of a burned-out building, the Raven doesn’t even notice the man right away. ]
Oh. Hello.
Hello.
This is beautiful. *he indicates the drawing*
Thank you. Though I doubt you would still consider them beautiful if you knew their purpose.
I don’t know. I can appreciate the beauty of a great many things.
Will you tell me what they’re for?
