I think the animated LotR was one of the (unintentionally) funniest movies i've ever seen.

I've seen the animated Hobbit. It was good. I don't really like animation much, but it helps satisfying your craving for the live-action one until it gets here,in my opinion.

I have seen the animated version of "The Hobbit" and I must say - I'm not a fan I mean, granted it was made ages ago before the kind of animation we have now, but it's kind of annoying. but I love the songs! it's so cool how they came up with the tunes for the songs!

Do their other songs sound similar to this song, or are they quite different?

I dare say there are others more qualified to answer this than I, but "Ocean Princess" has a slightly different sound than the majority of things I've heard by them. They did do at least one song for the Narnia teaser trailers, if that helps give you an idea of what they sound like.

I liked the rotoscope bits in the animated LotR. I thought that was more in keeping with how I imagined the books than the actual animation. (I suppose the actual animation was fine, it was the character designs that made me scratch my head.) It seems to me that there is a sequel to that, called The Return of the King which would explain the movie ending in Two Towers. But I never hear anyone talk about that one, really. Is there a reason for that?

Are you talking about the Rankin/Bass 1980 movie, Mel? If so, the only reason I never talk about is because there really isn't a whole lot to say. It focuses almost entirely on Frodo and Sam's journey through Mordor with some very brief interludes in Gondor. Also, in the end it was implied that Hobbits were starting to "grow bigger" and become more like humans, which was really odd. The songs were the best part: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdXQJS3Yv0Y

The songs were the best part of the animated Hobbit as well, but the story is also much better than the animated RotK. I haven't seen the animated LotR. Wasn't that one done by a production other than Rankin/Bass?

Speaking of Fili and Kili, how does everyone pronounce their names?

I say Fill-ee and Kill-ee because that's how my brother pronounced them when he read The Hobbit out loud to the rest of us.

I posted this in the Books thread, but I thought I would post in here as well so my fellow Tolkien lovers would see it. I recently picked up a copy of The Atlas of Middle Earth at a used bookstore. I have since discovered that the copy I have is the original Atlas. The author (an actual cartographer who as a student apparently had too much time on her hands), has published a revised edition which I found on Amazon. Cool, huh?

Do their other songs sound similar to this song, or are they quite different?

It depends on the song. I could name some that sound extremely similar to Ocean Princess. Others are drastically different. But if you like Ocean Princess, I'm sure there will be many other TSFH songs you'll love as well. I'll have to either PM you a list, or post it in the music thread sometime.

As for the animated movies... I've seen clips... and wasn't impressed. Some friends and I watched it for awhile when we were all in Member Chat, and we we had fun making fun of it. But other than that, it's a bit too silly for my tastes. Sam looks like he has Down Syndrome, and the Nazgul make this ghostly-moaning/creaking noise that cracked me up listening to it. Plus, have you seen Gollum in The Hobbit animated version?

By the way, TORN announced an illustrated version of The Silmarillion. That sounds fascinating. Has The Silmarillion ever been published in an illustrated form before?

~Riella

I don't even remember the whole 'Where There's a Whip, There's a Way' song and scene. I thought the animated LotR didn't go beyond half-way in The Two Towers storyline. How is it that Sam and Frodo are already disguised as orcs?

Plus, have you seen Gollum in The Hobbit animated version?

My youngest sister called him the Bald Monkey when she first saw it and thought he was funny. I actually like the animated Hobbit. The animation is laughable, but the story is decent. And the soundtrack is pretty good.

I thought the animated LotR didn't go beyond half-way in The Two Towers storyline.

It does, I think. I haven't seen it. Where There's a Whip There's a Way is from the animated Return of the King which I think was done by a different production company than LotR. It starts with Sam trying to get into the tower to rescue Frodo. Or the actual story part does, the movie really begins in Rivendell I think with the hobbits all back safe and sound and then a bard tells the tale of "Frodo of the Nine Fingers and the Ring of Doom." Honestly, the whip song is probably the best part of the whole movie.

A guy named Ralph Bakshi, famous enough in his time though i've hardly ever heard of him outside of this, directed a film called The Lord of the Rings, which only covered up to the battle of Helm's Deep. To Bakshi's credit, i understand he wanted to market it as "Part One" and later make the latter half of TTT and ROTK. Unfortunately, the producers dropped the "Part One", he had been running out of money and the movie did so poorly in the box office that a second part was never made. (Personally, i think it's just as well.)

Rankin/Bass made a production of both The Hobbit and The Return of the King. I believe both were TV specials. They couldn't get the rights to either FOTR or TTT.

I've seen all of The Lord of the Rings animated; as i said earlier, i find it one of the most (unintentionally) hilarious films i have ever seen. I've seen parts of ROTK, which i also found amusing, though probably not in the way it was intended.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077869/ <- Bakshi's
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079802/ <- Rankin/Bass ROTK

I saw part of an animated The Lord of the Rings. My mom was out of town so my dad and my four siblings and I watched it together. We only got as far as Frodo crossing the river and the Ring Wraiths trying to catch him. We didn't even get to the part where Gandalf works his magic on the river but it freaked two of my younger siblings out (they were probably 6-8 and 8-10 years old). They got really scared at the part where the Wraiths stab the beds that the Fellowship are supposed to be in.

So my dad turned it off and told us how it ended.

I don't remember much of it but that was my first introduction to the Lord of the Rings and I was hooked.

I know a lot of people weren't familiar with Luke Evans when he was cast as Bard so I thought I'd share this character poster of him from The Three Musketeers that came out a few days ago.

http://movies.yahoo.com/photos/movie-st ... lls#photo6

Costume aside, he looks kind of Bard-ish there, doesn't he? Though I anticipate him looking a bit more Aragorn-ish in the movie.

I know a lot of people weren't familiar with Luke Evans when he was cast as Bard so I thought I'd share this character poster of him from The Three Musketeers that came out a few days ago.

http://movies.yahoo.com/photos/movie-st ... lls#photo6

Costume aside, he looks kind of Bard-ish there, doesn't he? Though I anticipate him looking a bit more Aragorn-ish in the movie.

Luke Evans does indeed look quite like I imagined Bard to be. However, he seems a bit more "pretty" and less gruff than I imagined, but that might just be in this specific poster!

Am I the only one who thinks that he looks like Orlando Bloom, though? It seems like Peter Jackson has some sort of tendency to hire that sort of "look".

Sorry for hogging up my post with images, but it's solely for comparison purposes. They look so much alike!

He does look like Orlando Bloom! When I first glanced at the picture, I thought to myself, "Oh my goodness, it's Will Turner!" The whole outfit in that top picture plus the old pistol and long hair and beard and hanging onto a rope make me think of PotC.

He does look like Orlando Bloom! When I first glanced at the picture, I thought to myself, "Oh my goodness, it's Will Turner!" The whole outfit in that top picture plus the old pistol and long hair and beard and hanging onto a rope make me think of PotC.

Oh, haha! For clarification purposes, the top picture actually is Will Turner (Orlando Bloom). The bottom one is Luke Evans.

It's confusing, I know! They look very similar...

Yeah, I agree, in those pictures Luke Evans and Orlando Bloom look very much alike (have you seen the character poster of Orlando Bloom in The Three Musketeers? LOL). But the few pics I've seen of Luke Evans in real life or other movies where he's not dressed up so much, I don't think they look too terribly similar apart from the same coloring.

So is anyone besides me getting rather anxious for some more big news and/or pictures?