Saturday 19 September 2009

The Return of the King and some Leerdammer

15.15 The Return of the King merits undivided attention, especially after a blank 24 hours, but for some this day I will continue to function at multi levels within several dimensions. Even comparatively simple activities such as spelling testing the last version of Blog of the Day does not go well , nor did transferring to DVD, loading to Internet computer, uploading to MySpace and printing out an edition for my creative records, printing drafts for development sets. Some times there is a technical quirk in that the addition to the copy DVD does not register until I reset the internet computer which adds another 15 mins or so to close programmes and reboot. Loading My Space this occasion I find new messages and new general comments and one Blog comment. The general comment is from a friend I did not know that I had which is interesting. The Blog comment is from a friend who has been trying to find a rental copy of the extended version of the Lord of the Rings. Alas it was not created as a rental edition, at least my edition has a notice at the commencement advising that it is a private sale edition. I buy few DVD’s these days except for those given free with National Newspapers although when I first moved from the video tapes to the DVD I did look out for the special offers which meant being able to buy at a third of the original price, but several years after the release, The Lord of the Rings Extended edition was the exception with orders placed in advance of their official release such was my interest, and having already acquired the cinema theatre editions. I also saw the film on the first weekend morning of its release to a packed auditorium.

15.45 It is also football afternoon. The Boro lost 1.0 to Chelsea but from the little I saw had chances for a draw. Newcastle was losing 1.0 but also had a couple of chances to take the lead, but I turned off the commentary to watch the Cycling World Championship. I have previously written about my joy at getting the cerise bicycle, while still at school and that through use I gradually built up my leg and general body strength so that I achieved a respectable position in the annual school cross country run and was selected to represent the house in the 200 yards in my last year. In part this was due to joining a Catholic cycling club and making trips of 100 miles on a Sundays. Once I got up early to officiate as a marshal in the area of Box Hill in Surrey just after dawn but this was the closest I came to a road racing event. I was never a fan of indoor racing until the British Team commenced to win several medals at Olympic and World events but these championship everything has come together in an exceptional way so my priority this afternoon has been to watch the last day of the event where there will be a re run of the gold winning races

16.10 So far after the wake up coffee I have only felt like a couple of slices of Leerdammer cheese and the last three or four slices of salami followed by a glass of red and a few peanuts. Now I begin to think of an early evening meal of the roast pork joint which will require over an hour perhaps hour and half, so I had better do this now.
14.30 The roast is in and the potatoes will go in in half an hour. I check on the Newcastle at Spurs and amazingly they are winning not 2.1 but 3.1 with goals from Butt, Gerome and Owen. While they back ahead of us in the table I am thrilled with the result really and will watch the game on TV tonight. Martens gets the fourth to remind the away supporters of the days of Keegan’s wonderland. Although I lit the oven and set the timer for the fist half hour before putting in the potatoes I forget to put in the roast so it is another 90 minutes. Silly me.
14.35 On Friday and Saturday morning I took the story of the Return of the King through to the successful defence of Minas Tirith and the defeat of Sauron’s first army with the combined effort of the 6000 horsemen of Rohan and the several thousand Men of the Dead. Given that the six of the Fellowship have been involved in two major battles at Minas and at Helm’s Deep, with Pippin and Merry involved with the destruction of Saruman’s base and several other fights it is understandable that it was difficult to rouse enthusiasms for the battles ahead before the war could be said to have been won. After the death of the King of Rohan Aragorn assumes overall command although he is yet to be crowned King of Gondor. Some of the force are left for the continuing defence of Minas Tirith and 3000 are sent under the Rohirim with command of someone who does not appear in the Peter Jackson film to tackle another of Sauron’s armies. Aragorn suggests that they should attack Sauron’s army holding the Black Gate entrance to Mordor to distract attention from Frodo’s taking the Ring of One to Mount Doom. Aragorn has some 6000 men on foot and 1000 cavalry and the intention is to daw the main Sauron army while Frodo destroys the One Ring at Mount Doom. However when they see the extent of the army, with endless lines of Orcs after the Mouth of Sauron parades Frodo’s protective shirt pretending that he has died after suffering great torture, they become afraid as significantly outnumbered and with the power of the Ring their tasks now looks hopeless. This sin when Aragorn shows his right to be the King and inspires Legolas and Gimli, Gandalf, Merry and Pippin to charge towards their certain deaths but calling the name of Frodo as they do. It is a great moment of honour, comradeship and integrity. It represents those who have gone into battle, on land, at sea and in the air, knowing that they are likely to perish, and many do, knowing what they do is right, even if no one will know of their individual action, especially in situations where the immediately outcome is a triumph for the dark.

17.30 However this is not my most memorable scene from the three films and I join the Director in saluting the scene when the Witch King is about to end the life of Eowyn and she takes off her helmet to reveal her gender and declares, I am no man as she strikes through his face and we all celebrate his shock and terror as he is condemned to hell. On the first morning of the film’s release at Bolden I had gone first thing and succeeded in getting a ticket for a later show that morning and then spent a couple of hours having breakfast and doing some shopping at Asda. I was amazed to witness coachloads of mainly young people arriving and filling the auditoriums, as there were showings of the film on several screens throughout the day, and subsequent days, and weeks. The excited anticipation was palpable and I have not witnessed such audience participation since the days of Saturday morning children’s cinema half a century before. However the greatest cheer was for Eowyn’s strike which probably did more to convince the biologically female that their time had come than all the protesting of the previous century.

(18.00. It is time for my roast dinner which is enjoyable. We did not get that tenth cycling gold medal)

Meanwhile the action sequences of the film are cut in to follow the journey and travels of Frodo and Sam caught up in the complex machinations of Gollum whose purpose throughout is to capture the One Ring for himself. The struggle is a very Catholic one, and of Christian fundamentalism, with its commitment to all life and belief in the possibility of redemption for every soul, irrespective of all that they have done before if the remorse is genuine and the willingness and ability to change is put into immediate practice. In the film Gollum is successful in driving a wedge between Frodo and Sam by destroying food, placing crumbs on Sam’s clothing and claiming he been looking after his own welfare at the expense of Frodo. This enables Gollum to lead Frodo into the lair of the great spider and to Frodo being taken prisoner by the Orcs in a cocooned state and taken into the tower of Cirith Ungul. Sam, who at first accepts being sent home by Frodo, decides to try and find his friend and follows Frodo after his capture, taking temporary possession of the One Ring so that although Frodo is stripped of everything by the Orcs on the orders of Sauron they do not have the Ring, and which Sam restores once he has recovered and in a position to escape while the Orcs fight among themselves over the possession and the body. This however is only the end of the beginning of their ordeal as they have to make their way to Mount Doom. The irony of the situation is that Aragorn has chosen to attack the Black Gate in order to make it easier for Frodo to reach Mount Doom, but their escape is hampered by the thousands of Orcs being moved to the Black Gate and because they are wearing Orc uniform and battle dress they are thought to be stragglers at one point in the extended edition. There are 78 scenes in the extended version third film and of these about 25 are extended and 15 are new but significantly Peter decided to lave the last 10 as they are, perhaps because time ran out, There is already talk of a 21st or 25th celebration edition using existing material as the principal actors will have aged too much make pick ups difficult.

19.30 One scene has the great title I can’t carry it for you but I can carry you which although this refers to the one ring its wider significance is for all those who understand that we all have to carry our individual burdens but the help and support of others can make all the difference. As the film reaches its action climax Gollum who has survived for this moment bites the ring off the finger of Frodo and falls into the fire of Mount Doom, and in that instant the world of Sauron collapses and his armies self destruct.

20.00 The film could have ended at this point proving just the sense of the task completed and that everyone was to have a happy ending. The books, for the story of some of the characters continues after the conclusion of the Lord of the Rings, do reveal than many do have a satisfactory ends to their lives while for others their experience is bitter sweet, but what happens takes place over along period of time and a time of continuing struggle. The endings in the film begins with the reassembling of the Fellowship. Although it became eighth with the death of Boromir it became nine once more through then involvement of Faramir and shortly before their final battle with Sauron and his forces he develops a relationship with Eowyn the ward of the dead King of the Rohans and the fighting heroine of the film. She has realised that Aragorn can never be her man because of his unrequited love for Arwen the daughter of the Elf Lord of Rivendell. As the film ends we know these two will be united. The film has already revealed that Arwen has accepted all that goes with giving up immortality and when Aragon is crowned king by Gandalf, with the acclaim of his people, the Master of Rivendell is there to present his daughter to gibe away his daughter with his blessing. And the Hobbits? Frodo returns to Rivendell once more with the Hobbits and others and Bilbo who has finished his writing passes to Frodo to being his writing of then adventure. Frodo is already being affected by his injuries and the struggle to return the ring to the fire where it was forged. San is shown as the first to settle quickly and is shown as the first to catch the eye of a lass from the shire, to marry and to have family. At his wedding there is also the hint that Pippin and Merry have grown up and will follow Sam. The film ends when the time has come for the Elves to leave the world to Men and for a time to Hobbits, and they take with them Bilbo and Gandalf, and Frodo on the last ship, There may be something in the film about Gimli but I cannot remember, although his story is to continue.

21.00 There are many additional parts and stories to original published work. Aragorn makes Faramir the Steward of Gondor and a Prince of Ithilien. Aragorn and Gandalf set off to find a sapling to replace the dead White Tree of Gondor in the courtyard of the Palace at the highest level. It is Midsummer’s Eve when Elrond, Galadriel and Arwen arrive for the marriage with Aragorn. The company then ride to Rohan to bury Theoden and to celebrate his life with a great feast. They then move on to Isengard where they find that the Ents have replanted the trees but they have released Saruman and Grima Wormtongue out of pity as Sauron has been defeated. Saruman refuses to repent which is a bad omen for what is to come. Galadriel takes Gandalf and the Hobbits back to Lorien and then Gandalf and the Hobbits go to Rivendell to see Bilbo who is aging. They then return to Bree and stay at the Prancing Pony where the news that Strider is Aragorn the King of Gondor has spread and Gandalf leaves the Hobbits to go and see Tom Bombadil, who is a central character of the text whose absence from the film outraged so many fans of the books. The Hobbits return to the Shire to find all manner of trouble and Merry and Pippin help rally the good Hobbits of the Shire against the half Orcs and marauding men of Isengard who have taken over the running of the Shire. The Hobbit’s the find Saruman and Wormtongue are in control of Bag End and that the Shire has suffered much ecological damage from its industrialization created by Saruman. Saruman tries to kill Frodo who is saved by the mithril coat and it is at this point that Grima kills Saruman and Grima Wormtongue is killed by archers, as happens in the film but years after and at the doorstep of Bag End. The imprisoned Hobbits who resisted the darkness over the shire are released and Sam discovers the gift which Galadriel gave him and uses the dust in the box to replant the Shire. It is only after several years pass and Frodo begins to feel unwell that the journey begin again and everyone meets up eventually the elves, Gandalf Bilbo and Frodo set sail. We then know that contrary to what is said in the film the boar returns once more after this for Sam, who has married and has a daughter and then comes to the end of his life, so the boat returns to take him to join Frodo, and the love he showed as the most trustworthy and loyal of comrades is rewarded. Is Sam the real hero, the normal man who does the extraordinary and then gets on with normal living? This only completes nine tenths of the work!

22.00 I watch the football enjoying Newcastle’s win at Spurs and where Barton and Viduka had near miss goals and which all augurs well for the future and makes the forthcoming derby with Sunderland that much more interesting. I also enjoy supper a brown bread sandwich with slices of salami between slices of Leerdammer.

23.00 Tolkien then adds to his book lots of information and guidance giving the background to the Men of Numenor and the development of Gondor. He provides a family Tree for the Hobbits and then the Time periods and then much on Languages Spelling and the writing. Then there is the index with Songs and Verses, Persons, Beasts and Monsters, Places and Things There is also so much more to come in terms of information about what happens to individuals, the making of this final film and the series in retrospective and how participation has changed the lives of the Actors, the creative works and various crews, affected public awareness and interest in New Zealand, and why when I say final film, I mean only for now. And with the coming of the end of March I decided to finish this writing this writing around midnight but with one more day to complete the task of my homage, for now. I will listen to the audio tapes when I convert them to DVD in the future, if I am able to do so.

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