Oh dear.  The article is not very admiring of Fringe is it?  I am sorry to think JN isn't going to be in the Hobbit II: Aragorn Boogaloo though.  What do people think about the "too old" comment?  Who would make a good younger Denethor?

IMHO, it's a bit strange, that they would probably cast many actors from LOTR for the Hobbit. I can imagine cameos of Viggo, Orlando, Hugo and Liv. But this is enough. I would like to know, why John Noble should appear in the 'Hobbit'. It makes no sense for me to show in second movie a young or elder Denethor. 

Well if the Second Hobbit, as opposed to the one with Bilbo in it, is about Aragorn's youth before LotR (which is what they said), then, if they portray the time he was in Gondor, they would have to find someone to play the young Denethor.

Ecthelion, too, at least in theory, and an older John might well play Denethor's dad there.  But no matter the actor(s), it would probably be best if they decided not to show either of the two.    I can't claim I'm very optimistic about the script regarding character portrayal anymore, thanks to PJ.

Still, what noble John said sounded somewhat evasive to me.

Yeah.   I didn't consider that. I think the Gondor bits were my least favorite parts of the movies - I felt like they didn't "get" Gondor at all.  So maybe having them stick to elves, wilderness, and Rohan would be best for the Aragorn story.

Oh pleaseohpleaseohplease, let's have no Gondor in the "young Aragorn" movie.  They've messed up the poor place enough already.  My worst nightmare is an Aragorn/Finduilas/Denethor love triangle, probably involving Finduilas being madly in love with Aragorn but forced into an arranged marriage with Denethor by her cruel parents. 

A nightmare indeed!   But you're right ... :

Heh, yeah, they've made enough of a mess out of Aragorn's love life as it is, too -- think of the utter absence of logic in the way PJ & Co. handled the Arwen and Eowyn situation. But I don't think it would work anyway...somehow, Aragorn as played by Viggo doesn't connect with the Steward's family in the right way for me (and, thanks to a recent chat with Astara, I have this hilarious picture of a toddler Bean waving to Viggo as the latter is leaving Gondor ...okay, that was silly ).

Oh dear.  I don't think I could bear any sort of love triangle involving Denethor and Aragorn.    They so completely missed Denethor's character the first time around, that I can't imagine his younger version would turn out any better.  Though baby Boromir might be cute to see - everyone likes babies.

Oh no! *covers eyes*

I had been hoping beyond hope that they'd do a better job of Gondor and perhaps show the stewards in a better light... and now you've infected me with your fears and cynicism. *sobs* Surely even they would do an... oh, I can't even say it...

I think it would have been better to simply hope for the best. You guys are cruel!

What bothers me about this whole line of thinking is...

A) Why does John Noble think he is too old? I don't necessarily unless we are talking WAY BACK

B) Why is PJ thinking there has to be a re-introduction of characters as yonger renditions? I object to this kind of story telling and find it oddly anti-Tolkien

C) How in the name of everything that is holy did the telling of the Hobbit become, the prequel to the Lord of the Rings. It isnt. It is a well put together story of its own and not a glorified trip down memory lane for The Lord of the Rings.

I get really mad when I think that the man who didn't like the end of LOTR and rewrote it, will rewrite a good story to fit films he already made. LAME!

Well there are going to be two seperate Hobbit movies.  One will be the Hobbit and the other will be the prequil to tLotR based on the appendices and will be about Aragorn's youth.  And that means that Noble (if they portray Aragorn's time in Gondor) would probably be older than needed (or more suited to play Ecthelion).

Sorry, ElvishKiwi!     But look at it this way...if you're prepared for the worst, then it's no shock if they do it, and if they don't do it, then you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Besides, I fear there's no hope for the movie Stewards, based on past record.  The publicity material for ROTK said that Gondor had become "complacent" (on the eve of the Ring War?!).  They went out of their way to insert that scene between Gandalf and Pippin--thankfully cut from the TE--in which Gandalf says Gondor has forgotten the "wisdom that came from the West" and that is now ruled by "lesser men."  The final blow, for me, was hearing the design team's comments on Denethor's costume and sword.  They went on and on about how previous generations of Stewards had decorated the Steward's official sword (which doesn't even exist in the book) until it was so encrusted with ornaments that it wasn't really a usable sword any more.  And D's costume was supposed to reveal him as consumed by personal vanity.  I had always thought the design team understood the books better than PJ/PB/FW, but when I heard that, I lost all hope.


I suspect these two things are linked.  I'm hoping that the hype about The Hobbit as LOTR prequel is mostly marketing--an attempt to woo the same audience who came to the LOTR movies but never went on to read the books.  The re-introduction of characters is perhaps a further attempt to hook those people into coming--particularly the ones who aren't Hobbit fans and won't want to go "if there aren't any hot Elves or Men to look at."

And then, as Rugi says, there's going to be the "young!Aragorn" movie, which really will be an LOTR prequel.  That's the one that scares me. 

But this article seems to suggest that if that is the way its going...some people don't know about it yet! Interesting and lots of speculation about that in my book.

Of course the article could be right but ... still.

http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Viggo-Hasn-t-Heard-Anything-About-The-Hobbit-10226.html

Although come to think of it. I remember hearing Sean hadn't heard about it eaither so maybe they didn't broadcast it to any other members?

But didn't ian know??

Well Ian would be in the first Hobbit movie (the one based on the book) which is going to begin production fairly soon, so he would have to be told pretty soon.  Aragorn isn't going to be appearing (probably) until the second movie, so anyone related to that story is probably less likely to hear anything about it.  I mean it's probably going to be years before they even bother to begin filming the youngAragorn movie.

Well, now I have been irrevocably tainted by your pessimistic ways, I guess there isn't much point in refraining from the conversation. 

I hate to go against the grain and be an optimistic light in all this doom and gloom, but actually I was rather looking forward to the Hobbit-sequel/LotR-prequel thing. The way I see it, I'd rather they invented a story of their own to mangle, rather than doing it to my beloved books. Of course, it's all Tolkien's anyway, but I really haven't seen many people exploring this particular time period - apart from in Aragorn/Legolas 'friendship' fics, of course, which I studiously avoid - and I'm curious to see what they make of it. Even if they mangle things left and right, at least they'd have had to make up so much on their own that there wouldn't really be all that much they could ruin.

The way I see it, it's just glorified fanfiction. And although PJ and his crew haven't always interpreted the canon as I'd like, at least they respect it. And they do present it beautifully.

So... I'm looking forward to seeing what they do with it, anyway.

And as Cressida pointed out, our darling stewards have been slandered and mutilated already, so they don't even have a reputation at stake. *scowls* So what have we to fear? Things can only get better from here! 


Now, see what you guys have done? I can hardly even write a proper optimistic post anymore... *grin*

There isn't much point in it anyway, as we're such a talkative lot!


Yeah, I can see what you mean...but you know, I'd probably be interested in it if it were done the way the Professor might have. I'm not courageous enough to watch someone else's version after the movies I've seen.



Wow...you really think so??

Yeah, it is rather scary. Not to mention absolutely infuriating at times. The thing is, I'm not sure if anyone - not even the professor himself, probably! - could ever make a movie all the fans would be happy with. We'd still find something to moan, about, I'm sure, even if it was whether or not Faramir had a beard...  I guess I'm just over expecting much from movie adaptions. If it's entertaining, I'll enjoy it as an interesting movie, but I'm past expecting it to live up to the books.


Yeah, I do! I'm not a movie fan by any stretch of the imagination, but I do appreciate the amount of work they poured into it. The scenery and music and detail... it was a beautifully done film, even if they did mangle my poor beloveds beyond recognition.