Wooaaaw. That looks stunning, jawdropping. Finally i'm going to replace my old videos (don't have them on dvd).

That is cool the EEs are available in Blu-ray, though I, too, am fine with my good ol' DVDs for now.

Okay, here's a toughie. How would you vote? I honestly cannot decide.

johobbit, that is a hard one! I would choose LWW over the hobbit though. It looks like most of the votes are in favor of the Hobbit though.

"Time for TORN fans to weigh in and enter the bracket. So get voting!"

Yeah. we're torn alright... Don't make me choose!

I voted for the Hobbit, no contest. Although I go on NW more than LOTR sites, LOTR will always be the winner between the two for me. Lewis's books were beautiful, simple, sweet stories that will always be among my very favorites. But Tolkien developed his books so much more and went so much more in depth, it causes me to get involved in his stories and characters more. It caused it to become closer to me.

~Riella

Well, Narnia is what I grew up with, so I'd have to choose LWW. Although it could have to do with the fact that LWW is one of my favorite books in general. I do love The Hobbit and I agree with Ithilwen about Tolkien's books being more in depth, which is one thing I like about his books better than the CoN. Narnia just holds a special warmth for me, though.

This is changing the subject entirely from the voting contest, but I noticed something in the FOTR movie while watching it last night. I was wondering if anyone else noticed it.

It's during the Council of Elrond. Gimli takes his ax and slams it down on The One Ring, shattering the ax. The broken pieces of ax are all on the table. Then a few minutes later, he says to Frodo "And [you have] my ax!" and raises his ax, which is still perfectly in tact. But it never shows him getting a new ax within those couple of minutes. Did anyone else notice this?

And also, I was wondering if anyone here has read/owned the book by Andy Serkis about the making of Gollum? If so, I have a couple of questions I'd like to ask them about it.

~Riella

It's during the Council of Elrond. Gimli takes his ax and slams it down on The One Ring, shattering the ax. The broken pieces of ax are all on the table. Then a few minutes later, he says to Frodo "And [you have] my ax!" and raises his ax, which is still perfectly in tact. But it never shows him getting a new ax within those couple of minutes. Did anyone else notice this?

You, ma'am, rock! I love finding a good blooper and consider it a challenge to find one in any well made film. By the same token I notice later in the film that Gimli seems to have at least two axes with him (in Moria at least) although he may have picked those up along the way. Perhaps they smelted his old axe back together just before they started officially working on Anduril.

Lucy of Narnia, at your TORn pun!

'Though I dearly love The Hobbit, I actually ended up voting LWW because it was first read to me when I was a preschooler, so it's been in my heart ten years longer than has TH. Also, the spiritual messages in Lewis' book, compared to TH are so powerful and moving. And ditto to Lady G's comment about the special warmth. But if the choice was between The Lord of the Rings and LWW, I would have had a terribly difficult time. In fact, I would not have been able to decide. No way. No how.

Ithilwen, I cannot believe in the myriad of times we have watched FotR, both on the big screen and on DVD, that we have missed this. Excellent observing on your part!

Shadowlander, I think Gimli probably picked up a few axes in the dredges of Moria, yeah.

Perhaps they smelted his old axe back together just before they started officially working on Anduril

Except they would have had to do this in those wee couple of minutes. Of course, they are Elves. Personally, I think he had another tucked in his back pocket.

And also, I was wondering if anyone here has read/owned the book by Andy Serkis about the making of Gollum? If so, I have a couple of questions I'd like to ask them about it.

Yep, I read this book a number of years ago, shortly after it came out, and own four copies at home. The reason being is that they were on sale for $5 each at Chapters (similar to your Borders or Barnes & Noble), so I picked up a few as gifts, forgot all about them, and found them again just the other day. I'm not sure how much I remember of specifics in Serkis' writing, but I know I really enjoyed it. 'Twas great fun reading of the complicated process and taxing work that brought Gollum to life through Serkis' brilliant acting. (Do you already have your own copy, Ithilwen, because I would be glad to send you one of my extras. ... Now, don't everyone ask: I need to save some for my Tolkien Smial, Wellinghall. )

It's during the Council of Elrond. Gimli takes his ax and slams it down on The One Ring, shattering the ax. The broken pieces of ax are all on the table. Then a few minutes later, he says to Frodo "And [you have] my ax!" and raises his ax, which is still perfectly in tact. But it never shows him getting a new ax within those couple of minutes. Did anyone else notice this?

This got mentioned in the writers' commentary - they made some joke about how when he says "you have my axe" he actually means his friend's axe, because his just got broke.

Riella, I didn't notice about Gimli's axe!

And I have the boom by Andy Serkis. I love it!!

Lu

Filming on the Hobbit starts tomorrow. I'm so ridiculously excited. So ready for this!

^*gasps* I knew it was supposed to start sometime in spring or something, then I heard that it was postponed- I never knew it was starting tomorrow! Yahoo!!

Oh, to be filming on a movie set in spring...*daydreams*

Lu

It's fall in New Zealand. But that doesn't keep me from wanting to be there.

Oh... Yeah, halfway around the world and all...

Hey, maybe I can skip winter and live in perpetual summer if I just move back and forth...

This is so exciting!!!! I wonder when they will reveal if Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, etc are in it...?