The Fellowship of the Ring

There's probably too much I can say about a movie that I fell asleep in the middle of when I saw it for my first time in the theatre.  I didn't know the story as I had never read the book, but understood I was going to see a grand movie like no other before it.  It's hard to say it lived up to the hype seeing I was sleeping probably even before Frodo left the Shire, but for one reason or another, I consider this film one of top 100 I've ever seen. 

Every year or so, I have this ambitious plan to watch the whole series, extended editions and all, back to back to back on a Sunday.  I wake up.  I get the first one going by 8 or 9, which means I can have it wrapped up by 8 or 9 at night.  Yes, all three extended editions give you about 12 hours of Lord of the Rings jubilation.  It never gets completed though because it is absolutely impossible to make it through without napping.  Sure you can just skip the parts you slept through, but for one reason or another I never can.  By the time I've reached the Battle of Helm's Deep in The Two Towers, it's about 5 or 6 o'clock, I've taken countless naps and I give up.  Either that, or I throw in Return of the King, fall asleep AGAIN in the beginning, and next thing I know, some large eagle is carrying Frodo and Sam away from Mt. Doom.  Why Gandalf did you not just send them there on the eagles in the first place? 

So what else to say about one of my favorite "nappers" of all-time?  Here's a little tidbit:

More often than not, a trilogy battle ensues between this series and the original Star Wars series.  Geeks love to debate about geektacular things, and this debate is the Roe vs. Wade of Bi-Mon-Sci-Fi-Con-like conventions.  To me, it always seemed as if Lucas borrowed ideas from the original trilogy from the books by Tolkien, but when Peter Jackson made the movies, it almost seemed as if he borrowed things from George Lucas, which obviously makes little sense. 

As a fan of both, I won't say this one is better than that one, but will bring up a completely random comparison.  Perhaps the greatest similarity between the two is that they are both stories of innocent farm boys losing their innocence when they have to leave the farm.  An example of this is the first place they go when leaving their village is the nearest tavern.  Frodo has his Gandalf (whom he intends to meet) as Luke had his OB1-Kinobi (whom he was already with).  Almost right away it's easy to spot that neither of these farm boys have ever been to a big city bar before.  Luke, naïve as ever, dares to tug on the bartender to grab his attention.  Bad idea.  Frodo does the same thing, but fortunately for him, he isn't greeted by someone that doesn't like him and wants to kill him due to that distaste.  He's just greeted rudely as he should be.  In the other patron's defense, if I was ever at a bar, and someone grabbed the bartender for their attention, I would automatically dislike that person in the same manner I would if I saw someone wearing an Affliction t-shirt. 

The first time I ever went to a bar this wouldn't have crossed my mind in a million years.  Who grabs someone to get there attention?  It's almost as bad as snapping to get someone's attention.  If you snap to get my attention, you will be greeted with the cold eyes of someone who will not respect what you have to say, or grant your request which is certainly bound to follow.  Snapping should be punishable by loss of "snapped" digits in this country.