I read the Lord of the Rings my 1st time back around 1983, I was a sophomore in High School, I believe. I started with The Hobbit, and read thru The Lord of the Rings as well. I enjoyed them alot, but it was difficult to remember all the characters and places. I began to use the indexes, but realized it would take a 2nd reading to begin to remember them, and a 3rd reading to really enjoy it as it should be. I read thru the Lord of the Rings about 10 times before the movies came out and probably read The Hobbit 12 times or so. I used to enjoy reading them during the Fall months, probably because that was when I read them in one of my 1st three times.

I enjoyed the cartoon movies, but felt they didn't do the books justice well. I liked The Hobbit cartoon movie more. I have read other fantasy novels, but The Lord of the Rings has always been my favorite. I do not consider myself an expert by no means, but amongst my circle, I know the most about them and read them more. But the movies, showed me a mistake I had made. I had told my friends that Elrond was married to Galadriel and she was sister to the Elven King in Lothlorien. After seeing the movies a few times, I became a bit unsure of this statement so I went online to check and found out that Elrond was married to Galadriel's daughter, of whom sailed west before the books began their tale.

One thing that always bothered me about the series, is why Arwen didn't take the ship with Legolas. Legolas took Gimli with him, and he was the only dwarf to go over the sea to the west, and I believe they took Sam as well. Legolas, I believe, built the ship himself. Legolas had no intention to sail west but after he went thru the Paths of the Dead and came out by the bay and river where the enemy ships were, he heard the sea gulls and got the wander lust to leave Middle Earth. Perhaps when they left, Aragorn was still alive, and hence Arwen was still happy.

Another thing that has bothered me about the series, is the Ent wives. Treebeard asked about them. In the beginning, before the Hobbits left the Shire there was strange folk wandering the Shire. And one tale was someone had possibly seen trees walking around, and this was not in the Old Forest but in the Shire. Could have that been an Ent wife?

I really have enjoyed the movies, doubly so with the extended versions. I saw the Return of the King, for the 1st time tonite. (When I 1st wrote this site/page.) It opened yesterday.

Was there any major problems with the movies, in my opinion? No, no major ones. Several minor ones, and a couple of problems greater than minor, but nothing major.

I was sorry to see how they put Merry and Pippin in the story. I understand that telling the tale of their conspiracy to help Frodo, would have lengthened the film, but I think they could have done much better.

The 2nd somewhat big gripe I have, is the scene of the Counsel of Elrond. Why was everyone there? I know, that the scene was the longest in the movie and a long one in the book as well. But they should have added more. Gandalf hinted at Legolas's reason. Back in the Shire, Gandalf had said he had tried to find Gollum, but the enemy had found him 1st. The importance is the word: FIRST! How many that haven't read the books, noted the word first? That means Gandalf did find Gollum, so what did he do with him? Actually, Gandalf and Aragorn hunted Gollum. When they caught him and questioned him, they gave Gollum to the Wood elves as a prisoner. Legolas had come to the counsel to tell them Gollum had escaped. Why was Gimli there? He was with a relative of his, that had traveled with Bilbo. The dwarves had come because Sauron had sent a messenger to the Lonely Mountain, looking for information about Bilbo. Sauron had offered them a Dwarf Ring of Power in exchange for this info. They delayed an answer to Sauron twice and hence their reason for coming to Rivendel. We learn a bit about Boromir's reason. He said he had a vision. In the vision he saw a halfling and the halfling had some ancient item, but he didn't know what. We do see in the extended version of the Two Towers, a bit more about why Boromir left for Rivendel, but they changed the story a bit.

Perhaps my favorite scene, didn't make the movies, but half of it made the Two Towers extended version. That's where Merry and Pippin found Sauruman's cache of food and pipe weed and their meeting with Gimli, Aragorn, and Legolas. I also liked the scene where Sauruman is dealt with by Gandalf. They filmed it, but supposedly, reluctantly, had to cut it out. I believe it will be in the extended version of the Return of the King. Although they killed Sauruman off at that scene and didn't do the Scouring of the Shire, which I think was slightly important, but nothing too terribly missing.

Other minor problems was where the swords came from that Aragorn had given to the Hobbits in the 1st movie. The missing of Tom Bombadil. And the lack of Gandalf's sword having the power of Sting. Of coarse I would have liked more in the Return of the King about Merry and Pippins endings. And would have liked to have seen how Eowen and Faramir met and the 2nd scene about the herb, King's Foil. Of which may appear in the extended version.

I never was a collector of LOR stuff until after the movies. In fact I had even given away my cartoon VHS movies away years ago. But the movies were so good, that I decided to pick up a couple of action figures on sale. I had never owned action figures from anything else before either. Once I had a couple figures, I wanted some more. And soon started collecting pieces slowly and even other items that are not action figures.

To see my collection, click on the following picture:

According to the following website, some of which I have confirmed:  http://www.movie-mistakes.com/ , are some movie mistakes. I do not count continuity and minor errors, I will list the bigger ones. Some of these may be in the Extended Version of the movie. This site I stumbled across, these mistakes/site, made the news and Peter Jackson was interviewed about some of these:

 http://msnbc.msn.com/Default.aspx?id=3540652&p1=0
 

* = means I have confirmed it personally.

Fellowship of the Ring:

 http://www.movie-mistakes.com/film1778

Revealing: As the Fellowship are getting ready to leave Lothlorien, a wide shot of the boats docked at the tree shows that the top of the tree is missing, and that the beautiful tree is actually fake.
 

* Other: In the scene where Sam and Frodo are in the field with the scarecrow, you can plainly see a car cruising past in the distance, from right to left. Further comment - there are two different shots which show the car moving from right to left. One starts at the top right distance, and in a shot a few seconds later the car has traveled down the road a bit and is more easily visible. Complicating matters is that the dust thrown up by the car looks similar to smoke from a chimney in the right distance, making some people think it is just the chimney. But chimneys don't move, and the smoke from the chimney is separate from the moving vehicle. [It is deleted on the DVD, but you can still see an obvious bit of image fakery on the hill just left of the smoking chimney. One can see the hill, tree, and surrounding area move up and down and shimmer slightly where someone has done a cut and paste to cover up the auto. The "car inclusive" scene appears on the National Geographic documentary Beyond the Movie The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Also, watch the music documentary on the extended dvd - when it shows this scene the car is still in it. Bizarrely, in his commentary Peter Jackson said he never saw a car and doesn't know what people are talking about, but the production/post-production team say in their commentary that despite not thinking anyone would be able to see it, they took it out anyway.]

Revealing: This mistake is in the extended version of the movie. When Pippin falls in the Midgewater Marshes, you can see that is his Hobbit foot is half way ripped off.

Revealing: In the scene where the hobbits ask Strider where he is taking them, he answers "Into the wild." A split second later as Strider walks past the camera the bow he carries on his back bumps into the camera, nudging the screen a bit.

Visible crew/equipment: When Frodo stops rolling down the snow covered hill, just before the shot of Boromir picking up the ring, you can see the edge of the stockings that the actors wore to protect their feet since they were walking in real snow for that scene

Visible crew/equipment: After Frodo looks into the mirror and sees the destruction of the Shire, Galadriel is seen riding in the swan boat across the river. Look in the background, on the left bank, a man can been seen sitting there, very faintly. As the scene progresses he can be seen looking back and forth. He might possibly be a crew member, or even Peter Jackson making another cameo.

Visible crew/equipment: When the fellowship are in the tomb they spot the orcs coming so they lock the doors. When it does a close up from the outside you can see the shadow of the camera on the bottom left of the left door.

*Other: This mistake is in the extended version only: When Frodo and Gandalf are on the cart talking about Bilbo, and we see footage of Bilbo in Bag End, look closely at his foot. You can obviously see it bounce, showing that it is not his real foot but a prosthetic one.

Factual error: In a scene in the extended edition, Frodo asks Aragorn who he is singing about. He answers 'Tis the lay (ie. song) of Luthien, the Elf-maiden who gave her love to Beren', but the sub-titles say 'the Lady of Luthien', which is incorrect as Luthien was a person, not a place.

Revealing: I think this is just in the extended version: During the last battle, when Legolas shoots about six Orcs in a row with his arrows, and one of the last Orcs falls before the arrow hits him.

Other: When Gandalf tells Frodo to 'keep it secret, keep it safe' there is a close-up of Gandalf's face and he is wearing contact lenses.

Visible crew/equipment: In the scene in the mines of Moria where they are trying to cross the gap and the orcs are shooting at them, you can see the lines that direct the orc's arrows.

Revealing: In the scene where Arwen is trying to escape from the Nazgul on horseback with Frodo, Arwen's face scrapes a tree and gets a scratch. If you use slo-motion, you can see that she is covered by shadow, but in the instant where she gets the scratch, all of a sudden she has sunlight on her back. Also, from the frame before she gets the scratch to the very next frame, her head position changes drastically. Both mistakes revealing that the shots after she gets the scratch were edited in with the ones before she gets the scratch.
 

The Two Towers:

 http://www.moviemistakes.com/film2638

Revealing: When Eomer is mounting his horse after giving Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli the two horses, you can see his sword falling out of its sheath.

Other: In the scene where the women and children are evacuated to the glittering caves under/behind Helms Deep, in the first shot, a hooded person leans on a stalactite making it sway back and forth.

Factual error: When Faramir and his men are looking at the map of Middle-Earth in Henneth Annûn, you can see that the plain of Dagorlad is actually spelled Dagorland on the map. An odd mistake, especially considering the fact that they got it right when they spoke of it in the first movie.

Other: When the riders break out of Helm's Deep, you can see the hooves on some of the horses pass straight through the UrukHai-corpses on the bridge.

*Revealing: Right at the beginning when Frodo and Sam are climbing up a hill, look at Frodo's left foot: One time he makes a step and his Hobbit-foot vibrates when it touches the ground. Both his feet vibrate as he walks, when he has his cloak wrapped around him.

Other: In the Oliphaunt scene, when the Oliphaunt starts going mad, you can see one of its feet pass right through a little group of Southrons.

Revealing: The Battle of Helm's Deep: Just after Aragorn slices the leg off the Uruk and just before Gimli slides down between the legs of an Orc and smashes his axe into his chest, look carefully at the Elf on the left side of the screen. He arches his bow and fires, followed by a specific shooting bow sound effect, but there is no arrow.

Deliberate "mistake": In the scene after the Helm's Deep battle, when Aragorn meets Eowyn, the earlier footage of Aragorn's return to Helm's Deep is used. He has the wound on his shoulder and is dressed like he was during the 'falling' episode. The background (people in the fortress walking calmly) also indicates that this takes place before the battle. This scene should immediately follow the one where Aragorn is greeted by Gimli ("you are the most reckless man I ever knew"). Confirmed on cast commentary, extended DVD.

Revealing: At the battle of Helm's Deep, when the men of Rohan, Elves and the heroes ride out of the fort to meet the enemy, watch as the first men out of the gate kill all the Orcs on the bridge yet the men riding behind them continue to hack and slash away at thin air.

Revealing: Near the end, in Osgiliath, when Sam & Frodo are falling down the stone steps, their "hairy hobbit knee highs" are shown because their knickers ride up at the knees during their tumble.

Factual error: Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli pursued the Orcs west from the Falls of Rauros. They all entered Rohan from the east. Fangorn Forest - where Merry and Pippin escape their captors - lies to the East of Isengard. Yet when Legolas looks with his "Elven eyes," he claims that "the Orcs turn Northeast...to Isengard." Isengard lies to the Northwest.

Revealing: When Theoden, Aragorn, Legolas and the Rohirrim soldiers ride out to meet the enemy just before Gandalf's return, they charge down the ramp into the stampeding Uruk Hai. If you watch the Uruk Hai very carefully you can see that some are running in slow motion.

Other: When the men are retreating into the halls of Helm's Deep, you can see an archer in the bottom right corner repeatedly shooting his bow without an arrow on the string.

Revealing: Legolas runs down the hill to kill the Orc scout. As he is slicing the Orc's throat, in the closeup of Legolas' blade, one frame shows the position of the sharp edge right up against the Orc's throat, but the next frame shows that the sharp edge of the blade was turned away from the Orc's neck, just before the slicing, so as not to harm the Orc actor. This can only be seen frame by frame.

Visible crew/equipment: When Treebeard throws Merry and Pippin to the ground at the feet of the white wizard, look between Merry's feet and Pippin's feet as they lie there. You'll see two circular mounds of dirt - probably the marks they were standing on before they threw themselves on the ground.

Other: When Faramir has his sword tip around the chain holding the ring, the blade Faramir is holding is a dead blade i.e. it has no sharp edge.

Revealing: Just as Gandalf and the Rohirrim are riding into the UrukHai and they clash, go slowly, frame by frame. Legolas will be on the right of the screen. Keep going frame by frame. You'll soon see a few pretty clear frames of Arwen with her sword, on her white horse. She's sitting to the right of Legolas. Her long hair is pulled back into a braid. She's wearing pink sleeves. She's the only one on the screen with that color, so you can't miss it.

Deliberate "mistake": In the director's commentary, it is explained that the scene of Aragorn arriving at Helm's Deep was filmed early in the shoot, before it was decided that he would have lost the Evenstar. Consequently it had to be painted out. However, when Aragorn turns to leave Gimli a flash of silver from the jewel at his chest still remains.

Revealing: In the scene where the Ents are releasing the river, on the bottom left hand side, you can see an Orc chopping at an Ent. However, when the Ent moves, the Orc is still chopping the same place.

Revealing: When Gandalf, Aragorn, Theoden, Legolas and Gimli all ride up the hill on horses towards the end, there is a man on a horse on the left of the screen. Who is he and why is he there? He's Eomer's double and at some stage they were going to put Eomer's head on him digitally, but they never got around to it. Director's commentary, extended DVD.

Revealing: In the first close-up shot of the scene, it shows Aragorn walking and talking to 'Legolas'. Legolas' back is shown, as Aragorn is speaking to him. At a certain point, 'Legolas' turns his head to his left and it's clear to see that it's not Orlando, but his body double, Morgan. Extended DVD.

Deliberate "mistake": Faramir and his men, along with Frodo and Sam, are looking out towards Osgiliath, when someone says, "Osgiliath burns, Mordor has come." Originally, Minas Tirith is seen as well, at the base of the mountains behind Osgiliath, which is geographically correct. However, it was edited out, because it was felt that seeing Minas Tirith then would confuse some viewers, who would think that Minas Tirith was Helm's Deep. In the extended DVD, Minas Tirith was put back in order to be geographically correct. Commentary, extended DVD.
 

Return of the King:

 http://www.moviemistakes.com/film2746

*Revealing: You can see a severely wounded King Theoden lying partially under his horse on the Pelennor Fields after being attacked by the Witch King. The length of his legs are out of proportion, since you can see his waist above the horse's back, and a large part of his lower leg underneath the horse's belly.

Revealing: When everyone at Edoras is celebrating their victory you see Merry and Pippin dancing on the table. Pippin dances through a platter full of breads. Then the platter becomes full of something else - but not bread.

Revealing: When Merry and Pippin are entertaining the men and women of Rohan with their "Green Dragon" song, there is a woman at the right rear corner of the table on which the hobbits are dancing who looks at an empty spot behind Merry at the finale. No doubt the actress was looking at the spot she presumed the hobbit would be "pasted" into during editing, but she's off a few feet. This is further emphasized when she hold out both hands in a "take a look at this" gesture and again indicates the empty space behind Merry.

Audio problem: When Aragorn is talking with Elrond in Theodric's tent, a gust of wind which shakes the tent knocks over a suit of armor which makes no sound when it hits the ground.

Revealing: In the scene inside Mount Doom after Gollum bites Frodo's finger off and it appears they have both fallen into the lava, Sam looks over the edge of the cliff and sees Frodo hanging on. Sam offers his hand to help Frodo up and Frodo grabs Sam's hand and forearm with his left hand- the one with the missing finger. In the split second before the camera breaks away, you can plainly see Frodo's "missing" finger bent in half to give the appearance that it is gone, complete with the blood and gore seen just after the finger was bitten off initially.

*Visible crew/equipment: In the scene where everyone is sleeping and Pippin gets up to take a peek at the Palantir, Pippins' back is briefly to the camera and you can see a boxlike shape under his shirt at his waistline. Perhaps a wireless microphone transmitter?

Revealing: In the first scene in Edoras (the capital city of Rohan). The first pan over Edoras: You can see the pan is shown in reverse, with the smoke going into the chimney and the fire at the end is burning backwards. The flags are fluttering oddly as well.

Revealing: When The Steward of Gondor is about to burn Faramir on the pyre, Gandalf dramatically bursts through the doors on Shadowfax. Look at the rider's face - it is obviously not Gandalf, but a double.

Revealing: In the scene where Minas Tirith is being attacked by the orcs pouring from their siege towers, a pair of orcs hack their way through the human soldiers and start approaching Gandalf. One of the orcs swings his mace and strikes a nearby stone bench. The bench bounces noticeably from its place, instead of shattering or breaking.

Revealing: When Legolas is climbing up the oliphaunt during the battle of the Pelennor fields, there is a shot of him moving along the oliphaunt's side. During this shot, he pivots a bit on the rope he is holding. When he pivots towards the oliphaunts side, you can see the arrows in his quiver go through the side of the CGI oliphaunt.

Revealing: In the scene where Sam picks Frodo up on his shoulders and struggles to carry him up to the entrance of Mount Doom you can see Sam's latex hobbit foot(left) slightly peeled off from his skin.

Audio problem: When Aragorn is sleeping in his tent and wakes suddenly, grabbing his weapon and sitting up, there is a guard at the tent entrance. He speaks to Aragorn and then bows and steps back out. As he does this, he says something like "King Theoden wishes to see you, my lord." The problem is, his lips don't move at all.

Revealing: In the scene at the black gate when Sauron is talking to Aragorn, when he turns around you can tell that Gimli is the scale double, Brett.

Revealing: In scene with Frodo and company on the ledge by the Stairs of Cirith Ungol, Sam is tending to Frodo, who has collapsed after intervening in Sam's murderous attack on Gollum. As Sam's offer to "carry it for a while - share the load" echoes in voice-over, there's a close shot of Frodo's face, wherein contact lenses are visible (in the right eye in particular). They are also noticeable in the following close shot (after Sam tells Gollum to "Go away. Get out of here.") as Frodo says, "No, Sam... it's you". (Elijah Wood did not wear tinted lenses, only corrective lenses.)

Revealing: In the scene where Pippin offers his services to Denethor, he crosses in front of Gandalf. Against Gandalf's white robe, the outline of Pippin's Elvish cloak can be seen, causing this shot to look very unnatural. It is double exposed and the two of them were never actually in that shot at the same time.

Revealing: In the scene of Shelob's lair, upon seeing Shelob Frodo falls down with the light of Earendil in his hand, and the forefront foam 'rock' hops upward upon his fall.

Visible crew/equipment: Near the very end when Frodo is making his farewells to the other three hobbits, there's a close-up of Sam's face as he gives Frodo a big hug. Clearly reflected in his eyes are four bright studio lamps, forming the corners of a square array.

Revealing: At the end of the movie when the hobbits leave the Shire, there's a shot of a lake with trees in the background. The reflections of the trees don't match their actual shape.
 
 

The following list was written/posted by someone else on a Christian Forum I frequent, but have shortened the list:
 

Things to do while watching any LOTR movie

1. Block the entrance to the theater while screaming: "YOU SHALL NOT PASS!"

2. Loudly proclaim that Jar-Jar Binks was lots better than Gollum. Then when you are caught and about to be pounded into a pulp, plead: "That wasn't me! That was my evil twin!"

3. Ask everyone around you if they think Gandalf went to Hogwarts.

4. Finish off every one of Elrond's lines with "Mr. Anderson."

5. In TTT when the Ents decide to march to war, and Fangorn Forest is on the move, stand up and shout "RUN FOREST, RUN!"

6. Declare loudly, "I swear, in the book, Aragorn had six fingers on his left hand. At the end, some spaniard killed him."

7. In all your conversations, form all plurals using -ses: ticketses, chairses, and usherses.

8. Bring Brillo pads to throw in protest over the decision to leave out the scouring of the Shire.

9. As Frodo and Sam are struggling through Mordor toward Mount Doom, you ask out loud why Gandalf didn't just have one of the Eagles take Frodo to Mount Doom in the first place.

10. Sing the Tom Bombadil song and remark to your friends that you wish that segment had been left in.

11. Every time a new character appears, whisper loudly to your friends, "okay, is he the Lord of the Rings?"

12. Make a petition to change the title of the third movie stating that it's misleading to Elvis fans, and try to get signatures from people in line.

13. Spit popcorn all over the person in front of you and shout in a Gollum voice (a Donald Duck voice will do), "We can'ts eat hobbit food! We must starve!"

14. Every time there's a meaningful silence, say loudly, "Well, THIS never happened in the book!"

15. Wear "elf" ears to the movie, and while you're waiting in line, do the Vulcan "live long and prosper" sign to as many people as possible.

16. At the end, proclaim "But I thought Magneto was the BAD guy"!

17. During the big battle scenes, jump up, point, and yell, "I found Waldo."

--------

I liked:

4. Finish off every one of Elrond's lines with "Mr. Anderson."

As a Matrix fan (until the 3rd one ugh), I thought that funny.

5. In TTT when the Ents decide to march to war, and Fangorn Forest is on the move, stand up and shout "RUN FOREST, RUN!"

Just very funny!

6. Declare loudly, "I swear, in the book, Aragorn had six fingers on his left hand. At the end, some spaniard killed him."

I am a Princess Bride Fan and own the book.

9. As Frodo and Sam are struggling through Mordor toward Mount Doom, you ask out loud why Gandalf didn't just have one of the Eagles take Frodo to Mount Doom in the first place.

I never thought of that before, that's so true, and thus, funny.

13. Spit popcorn all over the person in front of you and shout in a Gollum voice (a Donald Duck voice will do), "We can'ts eat hobbit food! We must starve!"

Another comical one!
 
 
 

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