WEBVTT - Weirdhouse Cinema Rewind: The Keepers 0:00:04.519 --> 0:00:09.000 Hey, welcome to Weird House Cinema rewind. This is Rob Lamb. Hey, 0:00:09.039 --> 0:00:10.879 there's a lot of Lord of the Rings in the 0:00:10.920 --> 0:00:13.239 air once more. We've got that new season of The 0:00:13.320 --> 0:00:16.360 Rings of Power out now. And for my own part, 0:00:16.640 --> 0:00:21.000 I just finished rewatching nineteen seventy eight The Lord of 0:00:21.040 --> 0:00:24.360 the Rings with my son, and we also rewatched the 0:00:24.400 --> 0:00:29.520 old animated Hobbit and the old animated Return of the King. 0:00:30.320 --> 0:00:33.880 Those are from the years nineteen seventy seven and nineteen eighty. 0:00:34.520 --> 0:00:36.959 But hey, this one is a lot of fun. This 0:00:37.000 --> 0:00:38.479 is an episode Joe and I did a while back, 0:00:38.479 --> 0:00:43.400 because we're talking about the Keepers. This is a Russian adaptation, 0:00:43.520 --> 0:00:47.240 a Russian TV adaptation of The Fellowship of the Ring 0:00:47.479 --> 0:00:51.479 from nineteen ninety one. You can find places to stream this. 0:00:52.120 --> 0:00:54.840 I'm not sure offhand of it's had a more official release, 0:00:55.560 --> 0:00:58.720 but it is out there. You can breathe it in. 0:00:59.320 --> 0:01:03.040 It is. It is fascinating because, as we'll get into, 0:01:03.160 --> 0:01:05.520 like the pacing is rather interesting. A lot of time 0:01:05.600 --> 0:01:08.320 is devoted to things like Tom Bombadil, which is great, 0:01:08.400 --> 0:01:12.080 big Tom Bombadill fans here, but at the expense of 0:01:12.080 --> 0:01:14.040 what else, I don't know. It's got some nice synth 0:01:14.080 --> 0:01:17.160 music in places, and the ring Raiths look really cool. 0:01:17.280 --> 0:01:20.440 So without further ado, let's dive right into the keepers. 0:01:23.959 --> 0:01:27.039 Welcome to stuff to blow your mind, A production of iHeartRadio. 0:01:33.880 --> 0:01:36.960 Hey, welcome to Weird House Cinema. This is Rob. 0:01:36.840 --> 0:01:40.039 Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick. And today we're doing Lord 0:01:40.080 --> 0:01:43.280 of the Rings. We're entering the Tolken verse for Weird 0:01:43.280 --> 0:01:48.000 House Cinema. Now, I assume you are immediately thinking, Okay, 0:01:47.840 --> 0:01:52.160 the Peter Jackson epic series, you know, the New Zealand Journey. 0:01:52.440 --> 0:01:54.680 Of course, that's not what we're doing, because you know, 0:01:54.840 --> 0:01:56.640 we're not going to go with that mainstream that we 0:01:56.640 --> 0:01:59.240 did recently do Deep Blue cy But no, no, no, no, 0:01:59.360 --> 0:02:01.520 we're not doing that. You know what we're doing, of course, 0:02:01.560 --> 0:02:05.120 it is the nineteen seventy eight Ralph Bakshi animated version 0:02:05.200 --> 0:02:06.600 of the Lord of the Rings. 0:02:07.000 --> 0:02:09.160 And feeling a little more obscure, right it makes sense. 0:02:09.600 --> 0:02:12.960 No, I'm just kidding. No, we're not doing that. Of course, 0:02:12.960 --> 0:02:15.880 what we're actually doing is the nineteen eighty Return of 0:02:15.919 --> 0:02:16.280 the King. 0:02:16.480 --> 0:02:18.720 Oh yeah, where there's a whip, there's a way of course. 0:02:18.800 --> 0:02:22.079 No, actually I'm kidding. We're not doing that. The adaptation 0:02:22.200 --> 0:02:24.280 of Lord of the Rings we're doing today is the 0:02:24.440 --> 0:02:30.080 nineteen ninety one Soviet made for TV production Kronatelli, which 0:02:30.120 --> 0:02:34.440 translates directly as Keepers, which was made for the Leningrad 0:02:34.520 --> 0:02:37.840 TV station in nineteen ninety one as the Soviet Union 0:02:37.960 --> 0:02:40.680 was collapsing. And wow, this is one of the most 0:02:40.720 --> 0:02:42.120 amazing films I've ever seen. 0:02:42.720 --> 0:02:48.079 It is so much fun. This what it recently emerged? Right, 0:02:48.160 --> 0:02:50.760 It seems like you've've certainly been making the rounds recently. 0:02:51.480 --> 0:02:55.600 It was thought lost for like thirty years until I 0:02:55.600 --> 0:02:58.280 think it was just earlier this year, maybe around April 0:02:58.760 --> 0:03:03.800 of twenty one, that the TV station that Leningrad TV 0:03:03.960 --> 0:03:06.480 turned into I think it's called Channel five or five 0:03:06.600 --> 0:03:10.720 TV now. I believe they were responsible for locating the 0:03:10.760 --> 0:03:13.400 originals and publishing it to the internet. I think they 0:03:13.440 --> 0:03:14.679 just put it up on YouTube. 0:03:15.000 --> 0:03:19.040 Yeah, I think I read that one of their employees 0:03:19.440 --> 0:03:23.440 wandered down into the basement and won the lost footage 0:03:23.440 --> 0:03:26.800 in a game of riddles for a subterranean creature, right. 0:03:26.880 --> 0:03:32.040 Uh huh. And so and also some beautiful Soul was 0:03:32.120 --> 0:03:35.000 kind enough to create some English subtitles, which is what 0:03:35.040 --> 0:03:36.560 we're going to have to be working off of here. 0:03:36.640 --> 0:03:40.840 The original was of course in Russian, and the best 0:03:40.880 --> 0:03:43.600 we can do is whatever these user generated subtitles are. 0:03:43.640 --> 0:03:45.440 But I don't know. I got a good feeling from them. 0:03:45.440 --> 0:03:47.400 I trust them. I feel like they're mostly accurate. 0:03:47.760 --> 0:03:50.720 Yeah, I mean, we know the source material and this 0:03:50.800 --> 0:03:53.440 film will discuss the changes, but it's mostly accurate to 0:03:53.480 --> 0:03:58.080 the source material. It's honorable to the source material, with 0:03:58.120 --> 0:04:00.920 some caveats, and you get some weird characters thrown in, 0:04:01.000 --> 0:04:04.960 like I had a lot of crucifixes thrown into my 0:04:04.520 --> 0:04:07.920 my subtitles, but it was still there were decent subtitles. 0:04:08.120 --> 0:04:10.280 So if I'll go ahead and put this out there 0:04:10.280 --> 0:04:12.680 that if you want to find these YouTube links that 0:04:12.720 --> 0:04:16.400 we're discussing here, I'll include them on the blog post 0:04:16.480 --> 0:04:19.720 for this episode at samooda music dot com. That's se 0:04:19.800 --> 0:04:22.719 m U t A m U s C dot com. 0:04:22.720 --> 0:04:24.600 That's just a blog I have, but it's the only 0:04:24.640 --> 0:04:26.840 place I can put stuff up like this right now, 0:04:27.160 --> 0:04:29.000 So go there if you want to see it, or 0:04:29.160 --> 0:04:31.159 just go look it up on YouTube. Doesn't matter to 0:04:31.200 --> 0:04:33.080 me as long as you see it and hear it 0:04:33.120 --> 0:04:33.720 and feel it. 0:04:34.480 --> 0:04:38.960 Now, if you are hoping to encounter shelob or see 0:04:38.960 --> 0:04:42.200 the battle for Minas Tirith, or see the Hobbits go 0:04:42.279 --> 0:04:45.919 into Mordoor or anything like that. Unfortunately, that is not 0:04:46.040 --> 0:04:48.400 going to happen in this part of the story because 0:04:48.400 --> 0:04:50.600 if you're familiar with the arc of Lord of the Rings, 0:04:50.839 --> 0:04:54.200 you know it was originally published as one gigantic novel, 0:04:54.279 --> 0:04:56.800 but broken into three volumes. You had Fellowship of the 0:04:56.880 --> 0:04:59.000 Ring and then The Two Towers and then Return of 0:04:59.040 --> 0:05:03.800 the King. This movie adaptation is just the first third, 0:05:03.920 --> 0:05:05.480 is just the Fellowship of the Ring. 0:05:06.279 --> 0:05:09.440 Right, And I have to say, they really, they really 0:05:09.520 --> 0:05:12.599 let it breathe. You know, they spend they spend two 0:05:12.640 --> 0:05:15.520 solid hours. They cut out some stuff that you might 0:05:15.520 --> 0:05:16.880 not expect them to cut out. 0:05:17.080 --> 0:05:20.719 Very strange choices about pacing and how to allocate the 0:05:20.720 --> 0:05:22.839 plot into the two hours they had, Right. 0:05:22.880 --> 0:05:26.240 But then they also they show a lot of love 0:05:26.320 --> 0:05:29.159 for sections of the book that are traditionally cut out 0:05:29.160 --> 0:05:31.760 of all adaptations, or at least all that I'm familiar with. 0:05:32.000 --> 0:05:34.880 Yes, so one of the most notable things about Kronatelly 0:05:35.480 --> 0:05:39.200 is that it includes Tom Bombadil and the Barrow Downs, 0:05:39.279 --> 0:05:41.040 which is so exciting to me. 0:05:41.480 --> 0:05:44.080 Yes, Yes. I was excited for this as well because 0:05:44.440 --> 0:05:48.520 I have recently my son and I have recently started 0:05:48.520 --> 0:05:51.440 listening to the audio book of the Fellowship of the 0:05:51.520 --> 0:05:54.520 Rings and we just finished this section with the Barrow 0:05:54.560 --> 0:05:57.720 Whites and Tom Bombadill, and so he's had a lot 0:05:57.720 --> 0:06:00.480 of thoughts about it, and like I was telling him 0:06:00.520 --> 0:06:02.479 about about all this, and I was like, you know, 0:06:02.600 --> 0:06:07.080 most most film adaptations cut Tom Bombadil out. And he's like, no, 0:06:07.200 --> 0:06:09.680 Tom Bombadil is an important character. I mean, not that 0:06:09.760 --> 0:06:12.800 he would know, yes, right, made it that far into 0:06:12.800 --> 0:06:15.320 the book. At this point, he seems very important because 0:06:15.320 --> 0:06:18.159 he's essentially like a nature god who showed up and 0:06:18.200 --> 0:06:19.320 saved everybody twice. 0:06:19.680 --> 0:06:22.920 I think Tom Bombadil will come off as especially essential 0:06:22.960 --> 0:06:26.080 and uncutable to people who have listened to the audiobook 0:06:26.160 --> 0:06:29.040 narrated by Rob Nglis, who does the you know, his 0:06:29.080 --> 0:06:32.080 own wonderful renditions of the songs that Tolkien only wrote 0:06:32.120 --> 0:06:34.760 the lyrics to. You know, there isn't music in the books, 0:06:35.440 --> 0:06:39.240 so but Rob Engliss's interpretation of the melodies for the 0:06:39.240 --> 0:06:43.839 Tom Bombadil songs is actually quite haunting and interesting. Yeah, Hey, 0:06:43.880 --> 0:06:45.680 dol Mary dol ring a Dingadillo. 0:06:46.320 --> 0:06:48.600 Yeah, yeah, like the lyrics are fun. 0:06:48.680 --> 0:06:48.800 Like. 0:06:49.080 --> 0:06:50.880 One of the things about reading Tolkien is, of course 0:06:51.000 --> 0:06:53.480 you get a lot of songs, and if you're reading 0:06:53.520 --> 0:06:57.240 them to yourself, you don't. I find myself kind of 0:06:57.279 --> 0:07:00.960 reading quickly through the especially the multi page song lyrics. 0:07:01.040 --> 0:07:01.280 Yeah. 0:07:01.279 --> 0:07:03.360 And then if I'm reading them aloud, say to my son, 0:07:03.600 --> 0:07:06.360 as we did with the Hobbit, I'm not I'm I'm 0:07:06.360 --> 0:07:08.760 fairly musically inclined, but not enough to wear. I can 0:07:08.800 --> 0:07:12.560 just randomly sing these lyrics to a tune. So the 0:07:12.640 --> 0:07:15.800 audiobook is is a real treasure when it comes to 0:07:15.840 --> 0:07:17.560 these songs, because he does a Yeah, he does a 0:07:17.560 --> 0:07:19.960 great job bringing them to life, and and they even 0:07:20.400 --> 0:07:23.240 you can kind of get earwormed by Tom bombadill find 0:07:23.280 --> 0:07:25.280 yourself humming this song through the rest of your day. 0:07:25.480 --> 0:07:28.120 I listened to part of these audio books on an airplane, 0:07:28.160 --> 0:07:30.760 and the next day I was wandering around London in 0:07:30.840 --> 0:07:36.080 a in a fog of jet lag, just singing no, no, no, no, 0:07:36.200 --> 0:07:39.320 He's a merry felloo. Yeah, but it was bright as 0:07:39.480 --> 0:07:41.920 jacket is and his boots are yeah hello, Yeah. 0:07:41.960 --> 0:07:44.040 A lot of lyrics about just how merry he is 0:07:44.200 --> 0:07:46.200 and what he is wearing and then. 0:07:46.200 --> 0:07:50.880 The rhythm daughter about goldberry, goldberry, Ye, fatty lumpkin, all 0:07:50.920 --> 0:07:53.400 about the ponies. Yeah, I love a song about a pony. 0:07:53.640 --> 0:07:57.120 Yeah. So it's really good stuff. And yeah, and when 0:07:57.120 --> 0:07:59.840 you're reading Lord of the Rings, it is a weird 0:07:59.840 --> 0:08:03.920 and counter because he's just this merry, godlike and mysterious character. 0:08:04.080 --> 0:08:08.360 Like there's still scholarly articles that are that are trying 0:08:08.400 --> 0:08:11.160 to tear apart exactly what Tom is and what he 0:08:12.000 --> 0:08:14.080 you know, what he descends from in you know, the 0:08:14.120 --> 0:08:18.560 actual annals of mythology. And then the barrel Whites are 0:08:18.640 --> 0:08:22.160 just super creepy as well. They are these when you 0:08:22.200 --> 0:08:23.840 get into the Morn of the lore, there are these 0:08:23.880 --> 0:08:27.600 tortured spirits that have fled the witch kingdom of Angmar 0:08:27.960 --> 0:08:30.720 and hid in the ancient bodies of human warriors that 0:08:30.760 --> 0:08:33.520 were buried during the first Age of the Sun. And 0:08:33.600 --> 0:08:37.640 so they're just like will crushing darkness. And we have 0:08:37.720 --> 0:08:40.120 that wonderful creepy scene where the Hobbits wake up in 0:08:40.160 --> 0:08:42.720 the barrow mounds and they're there, they've been laid out 0:08:42.760 --> 0:08:46.040 and covered in the gold of the dead. Its fabulous stuff. 0:08:46.360 --> 0:08:48.880 But if I were doing an adaptation where I was 0:08:48.920 --> 0:08:52.320 trying to render a barrow white, I would not have 0:08:52.480 --> 0:08:56.840 thought to dress him as a creepy clown. Yes, And 0:08:56.920 --> 0:08:59.040 so the barrel white, I think in this movie I 0:08:59.400 --> 0:09:02.319 could be missed, but I believe is played by a woman, 0:09:02.559 --> 0:09:05.320 but is voiced by like a like a raspy, deep 0:09:05.440 --> 0:09:08.760 voiced man, and the person playing the barrow white is 0:09:08.840 --> 0:09:11.760 dressed in full like mime makeup or like I don't 0:09:11.760 --> 0:09:14.080 know what you call that classic clown makeup that goes like, 0:09:14.200 --> 0:09:15.440 you know, the old style. 0:09:16.000 --> 0:09:18.840 Yeah, it is. It is not something I would have 0:09:18.920 --> 0:09:20.960 chosen for the barrow white scenes. 0:09:20.960 --> 0:09:21.800 They're very creepy. 0:09:21.960 --> 0:09:25.640 It's creepy, but in a way that is perhaps a 0:09:25.679 --> 0:09:29.600 little off brand. I don't know, But I don't know. 0:09:29.760 --> 0:09:31.600 There's just one detail in the film. There's other stuff 0:09:31.640 --> 0:09:34.760 that works a lot better, and I guess, I don't know, 0:09:34.760 --> 0:09:37.760 maybe given the budget here, this was a good choice. 0:09:37.880 --> 0:09:40.800 Hard to say, I guess one of the problems. And 0:09:41.280 --> 0:09:42.720 I'd be interested to hear if you say about this. 0:09:42.840 --> 0:09:44.959 Like one thing that I've read about the exclusion of 0:09:45.000 --> 0:09:48.120 the barrow white scene from other adaptations is that not 0:09:48.160 --> 0:09:50.160 only is there pacing issue, not only is this a 0:09:50.200 --> 0:09:54.800 whole encounter that can be easily removed. But potentially if 0:09:54.800 --> 0:09:57.640 you put the Barrel Whites on screen, they might be 0:09:57.720 --> 0:10:02.800 confused with the Black Riders, oh yeah, the nine Yeah, 0:10:02.840 --> 0:10:06.160 and or even if you're not confused with them, they 0:10:06.240 --> 0:10:09.480 might take some of the heat away from them. And 0:10:09.559 --> 0:10:12.440 so if you take them out, the Ring Raths remain 0:10:13.080 --> 0:10:16.760 the primary supernatural antagonist in this phase of the book. 0:10:17.160 --> 0:10:19.480 I can see that. I mean, the other main criticism 0:10:19.760 --> 0:10:22.360 that I've encountered, and I know we've talked about this before. 0:10:22.559 --> 0:10:24.840 I think what Peter Jackson said is the reason Tom 0:10:24.920 --> 0:10:27.400 Bombadil and the Barrow Downs and all that is not 0:10:27.600 --> 0:10:30.440 in his version of the movie at all, is that 0:10:30.559 --> 0:10:32.959 it does not advance the plot, like you can cut 0:10:33.040 --> 0:10:34.880 it out and nothing is really changed. 0:10:35.400 --> 0:10:39.520 Yeah. The only criticism I've seen of that is people say, well, 0:10:39.760 --> 0:10:42.960 this is where the Hobbits get their initial weapons from 0:10:43.080 --> 0:10:45.600 the trove of the Barrel Whites. You know, Tom Bombadil 0:10:45.640 --> 0:10:48.520 picks stuff out for them, and without that, you just 0:10:48.600 --> 0:10:52.240 have Strider randomly handing out Hobbit sized weapons later on 0:10:52.280 --> 0:10:54.079 in the film. But I don't know, I think that's 0:10:54.160 --> 0:10:57.839 that's a small, small, small point to harp on. 0:10:58.400 --> 0:11:00.600 But This is interesting because it leads to one of 0:11:00.600 --> 0:11:05.520 the major differences in storytelling structure between this adaptation of 0:11:05.559 --> 0:11:08.680 Fellowship and say Peter Jackson's. I mean, it's funny in 0:11:08.720 --> 0:11:09.760 many ways to compare them. 0:11:09.840 --> 0:11:09.960 Though. 0:11:10.080 --> 0:11:12.040 Another thing that's funny is that they only came out 0:11:12.040 --> 0:11:14.840 about ten years apart. Yeah, if you can fit that 0:11:14.920 --> 0:11:15.480 in your brain. 0:11:15.920 --> 0:11:19.720 Ten years and however many millions and millions of dollars. 0:11:19.880 --> 0:11:24.360 Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's also so. The Peter Jackson movies 0:11:24.400 --> 0:11:27.320 were a multimillion dollar production, and from what I can 0:11:27.360 --> 0:11:29.320 tell I was reading. Actually, there's a very good article 0:11:29.320 --> 0:11:33.640 in Variety about the production of Chronatelli that interviews some 0:11:33.720 --> 0:11:36.439 of the actors who were originally involved in it. They're 0:11:36.520 --> 0:11:40.000 still alive, still working. They talked to Georgi Steel, who 0:11:40.080 --> 0:11:42.640 played Bilbo Baggins in this production, who I think is 0:11:42.960 --> 0:11:46.520 like eighty nine now or something. He's still acting and 0:11:46.760 --> 0:11:48.440 he's a great actor, by the way. I mean. One 0:11:48.480 --> 0:11:51.839 of the funny things about this is, despite how threadbear 0:11:52.040 --> 0:11:54.600 the production is a lot of the actors in it 0:11:54.679 --> 0:11:58.240 are legends of the Leningrad Saint Petersburg theater scene. 0:11:58.559 --> 0:12:01.680 Yeah, and it shines through playing Bilbo is great. The 0:12:01.720 --> 0:12:06.080 actor playing Gandalf is great. Some of the others I 0:12:06.120 --> 0:12:08.720 have notes on, but those two in particular are wonderful. 0:12:08.800 --> 0:12:12.959 And yeah, don't dismiss this title on the acting love. 0:12:13.040 --> 0:12:13.240 Yeah. 0:12:13.360 --> 0:12:15.360 Yeah, some of the acting may come off a little weird, 0:12:15.440 --> 0:12:19.199 especially if you have certain expectations for some of these characters. 0:12:19.520 --> 0:12:21.800 But there are a lot of talented people involved in this. 0:12:22.080 --> 0:12:23.640 Well, I've got thoughts about that. I'm going to get 0:12:23.640 --> 0:12:26.079 two in a second, but sorry, I started to introduce 0:12:26.120 --> 0:12:28.480 this article and then I didn't fully put it out there. 0:12:28.520 --> 0:12:32.240 So it's an article in Variety by Rebecca Davis called 0:12:32.320 --> 0:12:35.480 Inside the Soviet Lord of the Rings cast details their 0:12:35.480 --> 0:12:39.040 epic TV movie Uncovered after thirty years I was published 0:12:39.040 --> 0:12:41.120 a few months ago, I think, And this is a 0:12:41.160 --> 0:12:44.080 really great article, like I said, because it manages to 0:12:44.120 --> 0:12:47.200 get a number of people who were actually involved in 0:12:47.280 --> 0:12:50.120 this obscure production on the record to explain what was 0:12:50.160 --> 0:12:52.720 going on. And so one of the things emphasized by 0:12:52.720 --> 0:12:55.280 several actors here is that this movie had essentially no 0:12:55.440 --> 0:12:59.160 budget at all. It was made I think over the 0:12:59.200 --> 0:13:03.120 course of an estimated nine hours total of shooting that 0:13:03.240 --> 0:13:06.840 took place in a few sessions in less than a week. So, 0:13:07.040 --> 0:13:09.040 you know, one of the actors was explaining that they 0:13:09.320 --> 0:13:12.000 know they'd sort of come together. They'd rehearse a scene 0:13:12.120 --> 0:13:14.320 very quickly, and then they just shoot it and they 0:13:14.360 --> 0:13:17.160 do no second takes, and then they just move on 0:13:17.240 --> 0:13:19.760 to the next thing. And like all of the stuff 0:13:19.960 --> 0:13:22.760 was sourced from just what was lying around the Leningrad 0:13:22.840 --> 0:13:26.640 TV stations. With the costumes, the sets, the props, almost 0:13:26.720 --> 0:13:29.520 all of them were just repurposed whatever they could borrow 0:13:29.640 --> 0:13:33.439 from other previous productions. I think maybe the most complex 0:13:33.520 --> 0:13:37.760 things we get in terms of filmmaking are the shots 0:13:37.800 --> 0:13:42.000 of people riding horses out in the snow, and so 0:13:42.040 --> 0:13:43.920 you get several shots of that that are supposed to 0:13:43.920 --> 0:13:47.040 be the nine the Ring Raiths who were hunting the Ring, 0:13:47.320 --> 0:13:49.360 and then you also get some shots of the Hobbits 0:13:49.440 --> 0:13:53.040 riding ponies out in the snow. And one of the actors, 0:13:53.080 --> 0:13:57.080 i think Sergei Shelganov, who played Mary brandy Buck, talks 0:13:57.120 --> 0:13:59.680 about how he'd never ridden a horse before shooting that 0:13:59.760 --> 0:14:02.720 scene and never he's never ridden a horse since, and 0:14:02.800 --> 0:14:04.400 it was the coldest he's ever been. 0:14:06.200 --> 0:14:08.400 Yeah, there is one thing we should point out about 0:14:08.400 --> 0:14:11.000 this film is that there is there is intense, an 0:14:11.040 --> 0:14:14.000 intense feeling of winter in this and in fact, there's 0:14:14.040 --> 0:14:16.000 a point in the film where Gandalf tells, I think 0:14:16.000 --> 0:14:19.400 he's telling Frodo, right, He says, Frodo, winter is coming back. 0:14:19.920 --> 0:14:22.400 Yeah. They keep saying winter is coming over and over. 0:14:22.600 --> 0:14:26.760 This also long predates the Germ and it's a it's 0:14:26.800 --> 0:14:30.480 an interesting cultural adaptation of Lord of the Rings because 0:14:30.640 --> 0:14:32.520 you know, so Lord of the Rings is very much 0:14:32.520 --> 0:14:38.040 about weather and landscape and and and traveling across the 0:14:38.120 --> 0:14:41.880 terrain and experiencing nature as you're on a hard journey, 0:14:42.400 --> 0:14:44.680 but winter and snow don't play that big of a 0:14:44.840 --> 0:14:46.440 I mean, the snow is a big part of their 0:14:46.480 --> 0:14:48.880 attempt to get over the Karadhras when they're you know, 0:14:48.920 --> 0:14:51.600 trying to go over the mountains, and then they fail 0:14:51.680 --> 0:14:53.320 doing that and have to go back down into the 0:14:53.320 --> 0:14:56.120 minds of Moria. But overall, I don't recall snow being 0:14:56.160 --> 0:14:58.840 a big part of the journey in the books. No, 0:14:59.240 --> 0:15:01.960 But hey, you know that you got to adapt to 0:15:01.960 --> 0:15:03.880 the local terrain, so if you need to shoot locally, 0:15:03.920 --> 0:15:06.400 that's what you're doing. But then the other thing is 0:15:06.480 --> 0:15:09.520 this this film actually does while it's mostly just shooting 0:15:09.600 --> 0:15:12.400 actors doing a first take of a scene on a 0:15:12.480 --> 0:15:15.360 set at this Leningrad TV station or maybe at some 0:15:15.440 --> 0:15:20.400 other locations around town. I'm not sure. They They actually 0:15:20.440 --> 0:15:22.800 do have a couple of scenes that have special effects 0:15:22.840 --> 0:15:25.360 in them. For example, there is one scene where the 0:15:25.400 --> 0:15:28.160 four Hobbits are dining at the house of Tom Bombadil 0:15:28.240 --> 0:15:33.400 and Goldberry, and they recast Bombadill and Goldberry as giants. 0:15:34.080 --> 0:15:35.920 You know that they're like not just a little bit 0:15:35.960 --> 0:15:39.080 bigger than the Hobbits, but they're like enormous compared to them. 0:15:39.360 --> 0:15:41.640 Yeah, it's which I don't think they're that big in 0:15:41.680 --> 0:15:44.240 the book there, like he's supposed to be kind of shortish, 0:15:44.320 --> 0:15:48.640 actually stout but short. But yeah, they're titans in this. 0:15:48.920 --> 0:15:50.600 But it's an impressive shot. That's pretty good. 0:15:51.960 --> 0:15:54.480 Some of the articles have not agreed with you there, 0:15:54.520 --> 0:15:56.800 but I don't know, I bought it. I was there. 0:15:56.880 --> 0:16:01.400 I mean, taking into account the zero budget. Yeah, and 0:16:01.480 --> 0:16:03.840 also just kind of the charm of the production, like 0:16:03.960 --> 0:16:08.800 there is there is this made for television like decayed 0:16:08.960 --> 0:16:12.840 quality h charm to it, and yeah, you know you 0:16:12.840 --> 0:16:14.600 don't want to see a perfect special effect in that. 0:16:14.640 --> 0:16:18.720 And then also if I'm going to be more critical there. 0:16:18.800 --> 0:16:22.400 There are far lousier special effects in this film, like 0:16:22.520 --> 0:16:24.440 that's not the one to really, that's not the hill 0:16:24.480 --> 0:16:26.840 to die on, the giant tom bomba Delf scene. 0:16:27.040 --> 0:16:29.720 Yeah, I would say on the on the worst side 0:16:29.760 --> 0:16:33.320 of the visual effects present. There's one thing where it 0:16:33.320 --> 0:16:35.400 seems like sometimes that we're trying to evoke a sense 0:16:35.400 --> 0:16:38.800 of mystery or kind of I don't know, the the 0:16:38.880 --> 0:16:42.520 general visual obscurity of fantasy and the deep past by 0:16:42.960 --> 0:16:46.560 doing what looks like smearing the camera lens with the 0:16:46.560 --> 0:16:49.320 translucent gel of some sort. Yeah. 0:16:49.400 --> 0:16:51.280 Yeah, that's something we've seen. I've seen this in other 0:16:51.280 --> 0:16:53.480 productions as well, but they're they're definitely doing it here. 0:16:53.760 --> 0:16:55.280 Oh but sorry, I wanted to come back to something 0:16:55.360 --> 0:16:57.640 we brought up a minute ago, which is that, you know, 0:16:57.680 --> 0:17:00.480 I want to be generous to this, but but I 0:17:00.520 --> 0:17:03.240 think it is clear that a lot of the performances, 0:17:03.360 --> 0:17:07.240 the acting performances in this are way off base. They're 0:17:07.280 --> 0:17:11.320 just bizarre renditions of these now well known and now 0:17:11.359 --> 0:17:14.479 beloved characters, despite the fact that a lot of the 0:17:14.560 --> 0:17:18.119 actors in this production are actually great actors of the 0:17:18.119 --> 0:17:20.359 stage at least, you know, people who have done a 0:17:20.359 --> 0:17:24.160 lot of work before and since in the Leningrad Saint 0:17:24.160 --> 0:17:28.680 Petersburg theater scene, and they're highly trained, well respected actors, 0:17:28.760 --> 0:17:31.760 So what's going on here? I think actually a lot 0:17:31.760 --> 0:17:36.679 of the bizarre performances are a result of confusion about 0:17:36.760 --> 0:17:42.200 the characterizations themselves, Like something is getting lost in translation 0:17:42.520 --> 0:17:47.400 of how to understand what these characters' personalities are and 0:17:47.440 --> 0:17:50.120 how we should feel about them. So I would say 0:17:50.119 --> 0:17:52.560 one of the big examples is, again I don't want 0:17:52.560 --> 0:17:54.400 to single him out because I think he's I think 0:17:54.400 --> 0:17:56.639 he's actually a good actor. But the actor who plays 0:17:56.680 --> 0:18:00.880 fro Do makes some really strang like in this movie, 0:18:00.920 --> 0:18:07.120 especially towards the beginning, is this insufferable alfredy Newman brat, 0:18:07.200 --> 0:18:09.240 Like he looks like he should be wearing a sailor 0:18:09.280 --> 0:18:11.240 suit and have a lollipop in his mouth. 0:18:11.720 --> 0:18:15.439 Yeah. Absolutely, they are shades of got a hint of 0:18:15.480 --> 0:18:18.560 Alan Cumming, a hint of mister Bean, Yeah, hint of 0:18:18.560 --> 0:18:19.359 pee Wee Herman. 0:18:19.720 --> 0:18:23.040 Yeah, mister Bean and Pee Wee Herman. Absolutely, but with 0:18:23.160 --> 0:18:25.760 like a red wig on and a wet mouth. 0:18:26.320 --> 0:18:31.000 Yeah he's so. I mean Frodo and Bilbo too. You know, 0:18:31.040 --> 0:18:33.320 there are certainly times where they're written and they come 0:18:33.359 --> 0:18:35.520 off as kind of, you know, wimpy and not up 0:18:35.520 --> 0:18:38.040 for the journey, and they have to overcome that. But man, 0:18:38.160 --> 0:18:40.720 this fro Do, like he has this one line where 0:18:40.720 --> 0:18:43.280 at least it was translated as he's talking to Gandolf 0:18:43.520 --> 0:18:45.760 and he says, you've spoken for so long it makes 0:18:45.800 --> 0:18:50.320 me hungry. And I was like, oh my god, you're 0:18:50.560 --> 0:18:52.439 not going to get out of the shire alive. Frodo. 0:18:52.760 --> 0:18:56.400 Yeah, I know, the worst, but yeah, yeah, what are 0:18:56.400 --> 0:19:03.280 his epithets? Frodo worst heart, Frodo, Frodo underwhelm, Frodo underwhelm, 0:19:03.320 --> 0:19:05.520 Frodo cries a lot, Frodo lollymouth. 0:19:05.840 --> 0:19:08.000 But even this actor is still around, right, Yeah. 0:19:07.840 --> 0:19:10.239 I think so. At least one of the articles I 0:19:10.240 --> 0:19:12.040 was reading about it mentioned something about him, though I 0:19:12.040 --> 0:19:14.200 don't think he was interviewed. But yeah, again, I don't 0:19:14.200 --> 0:19:16.240 want to chalk that up to like the actor being 0:19:16.280 --> 0:19:21.040 a bad actor. I would say instead, we now, I think, 0:19:21.119 --> 0:19:24.160 especially since the Peter Jackson movies, we have a more 0:19:24.280 --> 0:19:28.560 cemented idea of how each of these characters should be received. 0:19:28.640 --> 0:19:33.680 What's sort of the canon appearance and tone for their 0:19:33.720 --> 0:19:36.840 representation on screen and at the time and place this 0:19:37.000 --> 0:19:39.159 was being made. I think something was just getting lost 0:19:39.200 --> 0:19:41.840 because even though there has for a long time been 0:19:41.920 --> 0:19:45.280 great love for Tolkien's works in Russia and even in 0:19:45.320 --> 0:19:49.119 the Soviet Union, there's obviously some difficulty in the adaptation. 0:19:49.320 --> 0:19:51.880 You know, there's a translation process going on, and it's 0:19:51.880 --> 0:19:56.480 not even always a totally like a free and organic 0:19:56.520 --> 0:19:57.680 translation process. 0:19:58.480 --> 0:20:01.600 Yeah. So, on that note, let's just start with the obvious. 0:20:01.640 --> 0:20:05.920 The title Kronatelly. What does this mean? Well, I believe 0:20:06.000 --> 0:20:09.080 it translates from Russian as the keepers and as in 0:20:09.200 --> 0:20:13.240 like the keepers or the guardians of the Ring. Incidentally, 0:20:13.400 --> 0:20:16.359 this is also the translated title for the Russian release 0:20:16.400 --> 0:20:19.560 of the two thousand and nine Zack Snyder adaptation of Watchmen. 0:20:19.800 --> 0:20:21.840 Oh, Chronatellio, Okay, I see yeah yah. 0:20:21.840 --> 0:20:23.840 So if you do start doing a search for Chronatelly 0:20:23.960 --> 0:20:27.360 or for the actual cyrillic of that, you'll suddenly get 0:20:27.359 --> 0:20:30.360 all these pictures of Watchmen, and you may find yourself confused. 0:20:30.440 --> 0:20:31.960 You think I'm looking for Lord of the Rings and 0:20:32.040 --> 0:20:34.640 instead here is a you know Borshakh. 0:20:34.640 --> 0:20:36.560 Wait a minute, though, so how do so? Obviously the 0:20:36.560 --> 0:20:39.320 Peter Jackson movies, once those were made, were actually released 0:20:39.320 --> 0:20:41.240 in Russia, what do they call the Fellowship there. 0:20:42.080 --> 0:20:46.880 I believe the title in Russian is Brastavo Kortsa, which 0:20:46.920 --> 0:20:48.320 means Brotherhood of the Ring. 0:20:48.760 --> 0:20:52.040 Oh okay, that seems like a fairly faithful rendition. 0:20:52.280 --> 0:20:56.200 Yeah yeah. Now, as for Russian translations of the book itself, 0:20:56.400 --> 0:20:58.359 this is all very interesting and I think is also 0:20:58.400 --> 0:21:00.399 something to keep in mind when we're talking about like, 0:21:00.400 --> 0:21:04.280 how are these characters framed, et cetera. Fellowship of the 0:21:04.359 --> 0:21:06.680 Ring has an interesting history in Russia. It was originally 0:21:06.720 --> 0:21:09.800 published in the West, of course, in nineteen fifty four, 0:21:10.400 --> 0:21:13.840 and so you know, naturally English reading Russians could have 0:21:13.920 --> 0:21:17.640 conceivably read it as early as that, but the first 0:21:17.760 --> 0:21:22.520 Russian translation didn't occur till nineteen sixty six, a short 0:21:22.600 --> 0:21:26.000 retelling that didn't see the light of publication until nineteen ninety. 0:21:26.400 --> 0:21:28.679 And the translation we see in the film here is 0:21:29.080 --> 0:21:32.320 it's apparently based on a nineteen eighty two translation that 0:21:32.520 --> 0:21:35.439 was a bridge to comply with Soviet censorship. 0:21:36.400 --> 0:21:42.360 Okay, so what we're getting is a Leningrad TV teleplay 0:21:42.520 --> 0:21:49.240 adaptation of a censored and abridged translation of the original novel. 0:21:49.480 --> 0:21:51.879 Right right, And for a while this was there have 0:21:51.920 --> 0:21:55.240 been subsequent translations in Russian of The Lord of the Rings, 0:21:55.240 --> 0:21:57.919 but for the longest this was the only official version 0:21:57.960 --> 0:22:10.439 you could get in the r Now, according to Mark Hooker, 0:22:10.560 --> 0:22:13.760 the author of Tolkien Through Russian Eyes, cited in Alan 0:22:13.960 --> 0:22:17.399 Juhas's excellent New York Times article on this film, the 0:22:17.480 --> 0:22:21.719 major stalling points stalling, not Stalin points. The stalling points 0:22:22.480 --> 0:22:26.520 that the hang ups surrounding the original text for the 0:22:26.680 --> 0:22:31.160 Soviet censors were perceived quote religious themes or the depiction 0:22:31.400 --> 0:22:36.160 of desperate Western allies uniting against a sinister power from 0:22:36.160 --> 0:22:36.639 the east. 0:22:37.160 --> 0:22:40.320 Yeah, you can see how the Soviet censors might not 0:22:40.359 --> 0:22:42.639 have been keen on a book that's about allies coming 0:22:42.680 --> 0:22:45.119 together to fight an empire in the East. 0:22:45.200 --> 0:22:47.600 Yeah. So, I mean, so to say the least, Russia 0:22:47.680 --> 0:22:50.639 has a different history with Lord of the Rings compared 0:22:50.640 --> 0:22:53.120 to other parts of the world, certainly compared to England 0:22:53.119 --> 0:22:56.280 and America. The work itself, of course, has an appeal 0:22:56.320 --> 0:23:00.000 that defies borders and nationalities, though based in the mythology 0:23:00.200 --> 0:23:03.560 and literatures that Tolkien himself was most familiar with, and 0:23:03.640 --> 0:23:08.119 these these include mostly non Russian and Slavic influences. Apparent 0:23:08.119 --> 0:23:10.400 I was reading Tolkien had tried to learn Russian at 0:23:10.400 --> 0:23:13.280 one point and it didn't take. Here's what he had 0:23:13.280 --> 0:23:15.479 to say in one of his letters, quote, I love music, 0:23:15.520 --> 0:23:18.800 but have no aptitude for it. Slavonic languages are for 0:23:18.920 --> 0:23:21.520 me almost in the same category. I've had to go 0:23:21.560 --> 0:23:23.639 at many tongues in my time, but I am in 0:23:23.720 --> 0:23:26.400 no ordinary sense of linguist, and the time I once 0:23:26.440 --> 0:23:28.960 spent on trying to learn Serbian and Russian have left 0:23:29.000 --> 0:23:32.040 me with no practical results, only a strong impression of 0:23:32.080 --> 0:23:34.360 the structure and word aesthetic. 0:23:34.720 --> 0:23:37.520 Yeah, that seems correct. I mean, based on my experience 0:23:37.560 --> 0:23:42.080 with Tolkien, it seems like most of the language and 0:23:42.200 --> 0:23:46.119 mythology that he tends to draw from is what you 0:23:46.160 --> 0:23:48.879 would say. I think mainly like Northern Europeans, sort of 0:23:48.880 --> 0:23:51.480 like Scandinavian, Germanic and Celtic. 0:23:51.880 --> 0:23:55.520 Mm hmm. Yeah, that's my understanding as well. So we 0:23:55.600 --> 0:23:57.320 have that going on, and then we have this added 0:23:57.359 --> 0:24:01.600 layer of censorship state suspicion of the work, and it's 0:24:01.640 --> 0:24:04.960 been sieminglarly longer lasting mixes of both the rich enthusiasm 0:24:05.000 --> 0:24:08.760 for Tolkien. I was reading that Moscow has or had 0:24:08.800 --> 0:24:13.320 a Tolkien museum of sorts. The photos were not I 0:24:13.320 --> 0:24:16.160 mean they looked fun. It looked fun, but it also 0:24:16.200 --> 0:24:19.480 looked kind of small but still dedicated Tolkien Museum in Moscow. 0:24:20.040 --> 0:24:22.720 Yeah. Now, one thing that I'm sure of, though I 0:24:22.720 --> 0:24:25.399 don't know if this particular question was ever asked to him, 0:24:25.440 --> 0:24:28.119 I think other similar questions were put to him. I 0:24:28.200 --> 0:24:33.399 know that Tolkien strenuously objected to any attempt to read 0:24:33.520 --> 0:24:35.800 Lord of the Rings or any of his works as 0:24:36.000 --> 0:24:39.600 allegory for real world or historical events. In fact, he 0:24:39.960 --> 0:24:42.800 made clear that he hated allegory, and he thought that 0:24:43.600 --> 0:24:46.560 it was stupid and insulting to the audience to like 0:24:46.640 --> 0:24:49.399 write a fantasy tale that was supposed to be an 0:24:49.440 --> 0:24:51.879 allegory for I don't know, world War two, I think 0:24:51.920 --> 0:24:53.680 would be the more often thing. People would be, Oh, 0:24:53.840 --> 0:24:56.600 is Mordor supposed to be the Nazis or whatever. I 0:24:56.640 --> 0:24:59.720 think his attitude was more, No, I'm writing an original story, 0:25:00.119 --> 0:25:03.120 and you may see elements of it that make you 0:25:03.200 --> 0:25:05.320 think about things that have happened in the real world, 0:25:05.400 --> 0:25:07.639 but that's your prerogative. This is not meant to be 0:25:07.720 --> 0:25:11.720 taken as an allegory for any events past, present, or future. 0:25:12.040 --> 0:25:16.200 Yeah. Yeah, and yet once you certainly have say, state 0:25:16.280 --> 0:25:19.960 suspicion concerning the work. I guess that's kind of hard 0:25:20.000 --> 0:25:24.040 to completely eradicate, and I feel like this is probably 0:25:24.119 --> 0:25:30.120 best encapsulated in a book by Russian author kiro Eskov 0:25:30.600 --> 0:25:33.359 came out in nineteen ninety nine, at least in parts 0:25:33.400 --> 0:25:37.480 of the world in Russia, titled The Last Ring Bear, 0:25:37.680 --> 0:25:40.479 which spins the story of the Lord of the Rings 0:25:40.680 --> 0:25:44.399 by taking the view of Mordor as a state misunderstood 0:25:44.440 --> 0:25:46.440 by the victors who wrote the history. 0:25:46.800 --> 0:25:48.720 Right, So it's kind of a sequel to Lord of 0:25:48.760 --> 0:25:51.800 the Rings, but it says, Okay, you've read Lord of 0:25:51.800 --> 0:25:54.760 the Rings, but now consider this. Lord of the Rings 0:25:54.840 --> 0:25:59.360 is the version of the story you're getting from the elves, basically. 0:25:59.080 --> 0:26:02.479 Right, the idea that the elves have a grudge in 0:26:02.520 --> 0:26:04.639 all of this, and of course they're going to depict 0:26:04.680 --> 0:26:08.280 more Door as this awful, stinking, you know, death realm, 0:26:08.359 --> 0:26:11.600 as opposed to what The Last Ring Bear frames it 0:26:11.640 --> 0:26:16.119 as as the cultural and the technological center of Middle Earth. 0:26:16.600 --> 0:26:19.000 Yeah. I think the way this novel reframes it is 0:26:19.000 --> 0:26:21.840 that Mordor is a place that kind of eschewes magic 0:26:22.040 --> 0:26:26.600 and is trying to create a scientific and technological civilization 0:26:27.200 --> 0:26:30.200 and it almost casts Again, I don't know how much 0:26:30.280 --> 0:26:32.920 the author would agree with this, but just having read 0:26:32.960 --> 0:26:35.960 summaries of the plot and some of the themes in it, 0:26:35.960 --> 0:26:38.600 it seems to me almost like the Elves and Gandalf 0:26:38.680 --> 0:26:41.960 might be somewhat equivalent to the Axis powers in World 0:26:41.960 --> 0:26:45.080 War Two, and that they're, you know, trying to promote 0:26:45.080 --> 0:26:49.679 this kind of fantasy, romantic mysticism view of the world 0:26:50.040 --> 0:26:54.000 and trying to destroy the society and culture and people 0:26:54.040 --> 0:26:58.040 of Mordor before they can grow too powerful through scientific 0:26:58.040 --> 0:26:59.240 and technological means. 0:26:59.720 --> 0:27:03.560 Yeah, as a thought experience, it sounds fun taking, like 0:27:03.720 --> 0:27:10.280 essentially doing what some would accuse Tolkien of having done. 0:27:10.640 --> 0:27:12.680 But that being said, yeah, I don't think Tolkien would 0:27:12.680 --> 0:27:15.080 have approved of this, and I know the Tolkien estate 0:27:15.320 --> 0:27:16.879 would not approve of this, and that's one of the 0:27:16.920 --> 0:27:20.080 reasons you'll find no official translation of this in the 0:27:20.240 --> 0:27:21.080 US now. 0:27:21.119 --> 0:27:25.880 As for other film or TV adaptations of Tolkien's works, 0:27:25.600 --> 0:27:29.359 in the Soviet Union, I was reading, I think there 0:27:29.560 --> 0:27:32.600 was an adaptation at some point of The Hobbit that 0:27:33.000 --> 0:27:36.480 has some major plot changes but does involve Ballet. And 0:27:36.480 --> 0:27:39.199 I've never seen this, but I would like to. But 0:27:39.240 --> 0:27:41.680 I was also reading an article in The Guardian by 0:27:41.720 --> 0:27:44.600 Andrew Roth, who I think is one of their Moscow correspondents, 0:27:45.440 --> 0:27:48.439 that was about this release of chron and Telly, this 0:27:48.480 --> 0:27:52.600 adaptation of Fellowship from nineteen ninety one. And Roth notes 0:27:52.600 --> 0:27:56.040 a couple of other interesting things about the history of 0:27:56.080 --> 0:27:58.719 film adaptations of Lord of the Rings in Russia. So 0:27:58.840 --> 0:28:02.119 one of them is that he mentions there was a 0:28:02.200 --> 0:28:05.960 nineteen ninety one animated version of The Hobbit that was 0:28:06.000 --> 0:28:08.359 going to be called something like The Treasure under the 0:28:08.440 --> 0:28:11.920 Mountain that was partially animated, but it was never finished. 0:28:12.480 --> 0:28:15.120 But he links to this clip that somebody has put 0:28:15.160 --> 0:28:17.560 on the Internet of allegedly what is like six minutes 0:28:17.600 --> 0:28:20.480 of what was going to become this movie, and I 0:28:20.560 --> 0:28:22.840 checked it out, and this is gorgeous. I wish they 0:28:22.840 --> 0:28:26.119 had made this whole adaptation. I mean, it looks phenomenally 0:28:26.280 --> 0:28:27.000 beautiful to me. 0:28:27.960 --> 0:28:31.200 Yeah, it is. It does have a lot of charm 0:28:31.240 --> 0:28:34.119 to it, and in a way it makes one wonder 0:28:34.200 --> 0:28:37.360 what it will be like when, when and if? Who 0:28:37.359 --> 0:28:40.360 knows how Copyright laws could potentially change in the future, 0:28:40.400 --> 0:28:46.120 But at what point Tolkien's work becomes the you know, 0:28:46.160 --> 0:28:49.520 the property of the people at large, you know, and 0:28:50.360 --> 0:28:52.760 when you reach the point where just about anybody can 0:28:53.080 --> 0:28:55.840 can do some sort of retelling or spin on Tolkien, 0:28:56.240 --> 0:28:58.320 you know, what would it be like if you had 0:28:59.200 --> 0:29:01.280 What would a Japanese Lord of the Rings be like? 0:29:01.560 --> 0:29:03.520 What would a Mexican Lord of the Rings be like? 0:29:03.600 --> 0:29:05.080 Oh, I'd love to see that. Yeah? 0:29:05.120 --> 0:29:08.560 What would say a Minds of Maria horror film be like? 0:29:08.600 --> 0:29:10.200 I mean, there's so many different directions you could go 0:29:10.240 --> 0:29:14.680 in in Middle Earth where you know right now, certainly 0:29:15.640 --> 0:29:17.600 if you're putting out any kind of like major production, 0:29:17.680 --> 0:29:19.719 it needs to be very much in line with what 0:29:19.760 --> 0:29:22.240 the estate will approve off. I understand. 0:29:22.480 --> 0:29:24.920 There's another really funny thing noted in that article by 0:29:24.960 --> 0:29:27.840 Andrew Roth about this concern is something we were talking 0:29:27.840 --> 0:29:30.840 about earlier tone getting lost in the translation to the 0:29:30.880 --> 0:29:34.880 Russian version, which is that when the Peter Jackson Lord 0:29:34.920 --> 0:29:39.240 of the Rings movies were released in Russia, there was 0:29:39.360 --> 0:29:42.720 one version of them, one dubbed version that was popular, 0:29:42.760 --> 0:29:45.320 that was dubbed by somebody who was a translator named 0:29:45.480 --> 0:29:52.400 Dmitri Puchkov, operating under the pseudonym Goblin, and allegedly, according 0:29:52.480 --> 0:29:55.680 to Roth, I've never heard this myself. His dubbed version 0:29:55.720 --> 0:29:58.080 of Lord of the Rings was noted for being filled 0:29:58.120 --> 0:30:01.480 with profanity that was not there in the original text, 0:30:01.560 --> 0:30:04.200 and other funny things like, for example, Frodo in it 0:30:04.280 --> 0:30:10.040 is called Fiodor, and Legolas has a Baltic accent, and 0:30:10.280 --> 0:30:13.240 like aer Igorn is like yelling, like is like cussing 0:30:13.280 --> 0:30:14.120 at his troops. 0:30:15.640 --> 0:30:17.040 All right, well, I don't know if I approve of 0:30:17.080 --> 0:30:20.280 cussing in the Lord of the Rings, but that's interesting. 0:30:20.320 --> 0:30:23.360 Nonetheless, that really would change the tone for me. Yeah. 0:30:23.440 --> 0:30:26.200 Well, we don't have a trailer per se, but I 0:30:26.200 --> 0:30:28.440 think it's high time we give everyone just a little 0:30:28.480 --> 0:30:31.200 taste of the sonic wonder is to be found in 0:30:31.200 --> 0:30:31.720 this film. 0:30:31.880 --> 0:30:33.880 Oh you know what we should play is the is 0:30:33.920 --> 0:30:37.280 the opening music. We haven't even talked about the music yet, 0:30:37.320 --> 0:30:40.000 which is like the how do we go this far 0:30:40.040 --> 0:30:42.240 without the music? The music is like one of the 0:30:42.240 --> 0:30:44.360 greatest selling points of this right. 0:30:44.920 --> 0:30:47.560 The music in this film is not what you might 0:30:47.840 --> 0:30:50.080 expect from a Lord of the Rings adaptation. It is 0:30:50.080 --> 0:30:52.959 in no way traditional. It is all over the board 0:30:53.480 --> 0:30:55.880 there so I kuint of it. Something like five different 0:30:56.120 --> 0:30:59.720 genres of music used to tell the story, and I 0:30:59.760 --> 0:31:01.520 have to say, I love it. It's very liberating. You 0:31:01.560 --> 0:31:02.560 don't know what you're gonna get. 0:31:02.680 --> 0:31:05.600 Okay, let's get that opening song. That is I think 0:31:05.640 --> 0:31:08.719 that the words in this song are a Russian translation 0:31:08.920 --> 0:31:11.640 of the inscription on the ring that's in the book. 0:31:11.720 --> 0:31:14.239 So you know, seven to the dwarf floors in their 0:31:14.240 --> 0:31:16.520 halls of stone, nine immortal men doomed to die. That 0:31:16.560 --> 0:31:16.960 kind of thing. 0:31:17.000 --> 0:31:34.760 Here you go, easier. 0:31:40.400 --> 0:31:47.160 Do I love it? Russian folk rock? 0:31:47.480 --> 0:31:50.320 This movie is full of Russian folk rock also, though, 0:31:50.360 --> 0:31:53.840 I love the way that, like you said, it just 0:31:53.960 --> 0:31:57.560 pulls in every possible genre. One of my favorite musical 0:31:57.640 --> 0:32:02.760 touches is that Gandalf's wizard word powers include the ability 0:32:02.800 --> 0:32:05.120 to cast spells of folk music. 0:32:05.600 --> 0:32:08.880 Yes, yeah, that is one of the great sequences that 0:32:08.960 --> 0:32:11.520 if you don't watch the whole thing. I'll also include 0:32:11.560 --> 0:32:13.840 the highlight reel that somebody put together. I'll include that 0:32:13.880 --> 0:32:16.160 on the some moody music dot com yeah blog post 0:32:16.200 --> 0:32:18.760 for this this episode, because in that you'll see a 0:32:18.800 --> 0:32:21.120 lot of the points we're talking about here, including the 0:32:21.200 --> 0:32:23.480 funky magic of of Gandolf the Gray. 0:32:23.960 --> 0:32:26.160 Now, we would normally do a section here where we 0:32:27.120 --> 0:32:29.000 go in depth about a lot of the people involved 0:32:29.000 --> 0:32:32.240 in the production of this, especially the cast. That's going 0:32:32.320 --> 0:32:33.960 to be harder to do in this case because a 0:32:33.960 --> 0:32:36.880 lot of these people didn't do a lot of films 0:32:36.960 --> 0:32:39.280 and are more kind of in the say, Leningrad or 0:32:39.320 --> 0:32:43.920 Saint Petersburg commune theater community. And to the extent that 0:32:44.000 --> 0:32:46.680 they did do films, they're not really films that we 0:32:46.720 --> 0:32:48.960 would be that we're familiar with. There are a lot of, 0:32:49.000 --> 0:32:50.000 you know, Russian movies. 0:32:50.400 --> 0:32:52.520 Yeah, so certainly, I know we have some listeners out 0:32:52.560 --> 0:32:55.920 there who are who are who are Russian or have 0:32:55.920 --> 0:32:59.959 have a greater understanding of Russian cinema. So if if 0:33:00.000 --> 0:33:02.520 if you have any notes on people that we're mentioning 0:33:02.520 --> 0:33:05.760 here or not mentioning at all in any detail, certainly 0:33:05.800 --> 0:33:08.360 ride in and let us know. But we'll try and 0:33:08.400 --> 0:33:10.360 we'll cover some of the high points and at least 0:33:10.360 --> 0:33:13.520 a couple of the people that are connected to Western 0:33:13.560 --> 0:33:18.000 films of note or Russian films that are of note internationally. 0:33:18.280 --> 0:33:24.400 So the director was somebody named Natalia Cerebryakova, who I 0:33:24.400 --> 0:33:28.320 think she went by Natasha. Actually is Natasha like a 0:33:28.360 --> 0:33:30.880 normal and a nickname for Natalia. I'm not sure I 0:33:31.760 --> 0:33:35.320 would assume that, but she One of the main things 0:33:35.360 --> 0:33:37.080 I was reading about her was that several of these 0:33:37.160 --> 0:33:41.040 articles mentioned that she was really insistent about getting the 0:33:41.120 --> 0:33:44.600 shots of the horses riding outside to really like heighten 0:33:44.680 --> 0:33:47.200 the heighten the sense of place in the movie. And 0:33:47.240 --> 0:33:50.200 because and it's good that you did, because otherwise almost 0:33:50.240 --> 0:33:53.640 the entire thing would be shot indoors in these closed sets. 0:33:54.320 --> 0:33:56.920 Yes, yeah, I think this was a great choice on 0:33:56.960 --> 0:34:00.560 her part, because, yeah, those were some great scenes arrative. 0:34:00.440 --> 0:34:03.080 Like, well, the greatest thing about them actually is that 0:34:03.120 --> 0:34:05.400 so when you saw the nine, you know, there weren't 0:34:05.480 --> 0:34:07.600 nine of them in the production. Sometimes there'd be like 0:34:07.640 --> 0:34:10.360 two ring raids. You'd see them riding through the snow 0:34:10.400 --> 0:34:12.600 and they've got these black hoods on, and it is 0:34:12.680 --> 0:34:16.719 playing synthesizer sequencers like I think, I don't know if 0:34:16.719 --> 0:34:19.439 they're Mogus or like Moge sequencers, Like you know that 0:34:19.440 --> 0:34:24.240 that kind of like thrumbing, pulsating synthesizer music that actually, 0:34:24.760 --> 0:34:28.160 I mean, you wouldn't think normally, Yeah, yeah, put electronic 0:34:28.239 --> 0:34:30.720 synth music in Lord of the Rings. But hey, it works, 0:34:30.800 --> 0:34:31.839 it's good. I like it. 0:34:32.120 --> 0:34:35.640 I Yeah, I absolutely loved these these moments where they 0:34:35.719 --> 0:34:40.200 dropped in this ring rais synth because it has this again, 0:34:40.280 --> 0:34:44.480 this kind of like ninety early nineties TV synth vibe 0:34:44.520 --> 0:34:48.120 to it. It really gave me the warm feels and 0:34:48.160 --> 0:34:51.399 it actually reminds me of some of the sounds that 0:34:51.560 --> 0:34:54.200 Boards of Canada were using in some of their early works, 0:34:54.880 --> 0:34:58.680 some of their their their early tracks have this exact 0:34:58.719 --> 0:35:02.000 same sort of vibe. So it really got me. In fact, 0:35:02.640 --> 0:35:04.359 let's not just talk about it, let's have a quick 0:35:04.360 --> 0:35:16.879 sample of these vibes. You so good, so good. 0:35:17.400 --> 0:35:19.960 I love that. Watching a production like this, actually it 0:35:20.040 --> 0:35:24.560 makes you question things that you had not even realized 0:35:24.600 --> 0:35:28.480 were assumptions you had made, like the assumption that the 0:35:28.640 --> 0:35:33.760 proper musical aesthetic for a fantasy film is like classic 0:35:34.080 --> 0:35:37.640 is orchestral classical music basically, or you know, liv Tyler 0:35:37.760 --> 0:35:41.440 singing somber a cappella dirges for for elf kind. But 0:35:41.719 --> 0:35:43.840 it makes you actually ask the question, wait a minute, 0:35:43.960 --> 0:35:47.560 why shouldn't Lord of the Rings have electronic music? Why 0:35:47.640 --> 0:35:51.279 why shouldn't it have mode sequencers and funk bass and 0:35:51.680 --> 0:35:55.680 weird saxophone and stuff. And it makes you you say, Okay, 0:35:55.840 --> 0:35:59.320 is there a reason or is this just the received 0:35:59.320 --> 0:36:02.239 aesthetic that I never even bothered to think about. I 0:36:02.280 --> 0:36:05.440 respect the boldness of these musical choices, and I'm not 0:36:05.480 --> 0:36:08.279 even sure if the people who made this realize they 0:36:08.280 --> 0:36:11.359 were bold. Maybe they were just working without some kind 0:36:11.360 --> 0:36:14.520 of mental shackles that we've put on ourselves about fantasy here. 0:36:15.000 --> 0:36:18.640 Yeah, I mean, they were making this film without these 0:36:19.040 --> 0:36:22.959 other expectations. And I mean I'm one certainly to say, yes, 0:36:23.080 --> 0:36:25.920 any film is better off with an electronic score, even 0:36:25.960 --> 0:36:30.000 if it's not very good, it's better. But then again, 0:36:30.160 --> 0:36:34.239 like we recently talked about regarding Cannibal Apocalypse, you know, 0:36:34.320 --> 0:36:38.280 there are also certain standards within a given film culture. 0:36:38.440 --> 0:36:40.640 There are certain expectations about the music and what you 0:36:40.680 --> 0:36:43.680 can do with music. So you know, maybe that's the 0:36:43.719 --> 0:36:44.279 answer here. 0:36:44.480 --> 0:36:46.719 Oh yeah, Well, like we talked about in Cannibal Apocalypse, 0:36:47.320 --> 0:36:51.719 if you watch Italian horror thriller movies from the seventies 0:36:51.760 --> 0:36:56.200 and eighties, one thing you'll notice is that for some reason, 0:36:56.800 --> 0:37:00.520 the Italian directors seem to think that funk is scary 0:37:01.160 --> 0:37:06.239 or the disco music heightens tension, and American audiences don't 0:37:06.280 --> 0:37:09.040 seem to agree with this, like it feels incongruous, it 0:37:09.040 --> 0:37:11.200 doesn't fit, but it just kind of proves to you 0:37:11.320 --> 0:37:15.080 that the moods evoked by certain genres or sounds of 0:37:15.200 --> 0:37:18.560 music or not universal, they can be highly culturally contingent. 0:37:18.680 --> 0:37:21.759 For some reason. To the Italians, it makes sense for 0:37:21.840 --> 0:37:24.239 the funk music to kick in while somebody's creeping up 0:37:24.239 --> 0:37:27.120 with the knife. But to American audiences that sounds funny. 0:37:27.600 --> 0:37:30.520 Yeah, And perhaps for Russian audiences, or at least for 0:37:30.719 --> 0:37:35.120 the filmmakers involved here, an accordion is the appropriate instrument 0:37:35.160 --> 0:37:37.560 to play when Frodo is stabbed by a ring wraith. 0:37:37.840 --> 0:37:41.719 Oh my god? Yes, yeah that was true, wasn't it. Yeah, Well, 0:37:41.719 --> 0:37:44.360 maybe this brings us to somebody else we should definitely 0:37:44.360 --> 0:37:48.799 mention as being involved with Cronatelli. And this is Andre Romanov. 0:37:49.120 --> 0:37:52.680 I think he may have gone by Diusha, but Romanov 0:37:52.719 --> 0:37:57.799 had several roles with this film. He was a composer, 0:37:57.920 --> 0:38:00.440 so I think he did all or most of the 0:38:00.520 --> 0:38:04.120 music for the movie. I'm almost positive he did the version, 0:38:04.239 --> 0:38:07.120 the musical version that you heard earlier. That's the adaptation 0:38:07.200 --> 0:38:11.000 of the inscription on the ring that somber haunting, almost 0:38:11.080 --> 0:38:15.319 kind of like old church chant folk rock. But in 0:38:15.360 --> 0:38:18.160 this he's also the narrator of the film. This is 0:38:18.200 --> 0:38:21.600 another choice that it makes that I really like this. 0:38:21.680 --> 0:38:24.120 Lord of the Rings has a fully embodied narrator, like 0:38:24.160 --> 0:38:26.799 you know Masterpiece Theater. He just sits there and he 0:38:26.800 --> 0:38:29.239 smokes a pipe and talks into the camera telling you 0:38:29.280 --> 0:38:29.800 the story. 0:38:30.320 --> 0:38:33.280 And sometimes he does just sit there. There are times, yeah, 0:38:33.320 --> 0:38:35.960 he doesn't seem to be in a particular hurry to 0:38:36.000 --> 0:38:38.560 tell you the story of the Fellowship of the Ring. 0:38:38.800 --> 0:38:43.279 Yeah, yeah, yeah. You see Gandalf chase down Gollum and 0:38:43.400 --> 0:38:46.440 he's like, hey, stop lying to me, pal and galums squirming, 0:38:46.760 --> 0:38:48.239 and then it might cut to him and he's just 0:38:48.280 --> 0:38:50.480 sitting there packing a pipe for a couple minutes, and 0:38:50.520 --> 0:38:52.480 then he'll start telling you what happens next. 0:38:52.920 --> 0:38:53.120 Oh. 0:38:53.160 --> 0:38:55.719 But the other thing I didn't mention is that Romanov 0:38:56.080 --> 0:39:00.320 was a member of the famous Russian rock band Aquarium 0:39:00.520 --> 0:39:04.160 or Okvarium, which I think was based out of Leningrad. 0:39:04.320 --> 0:39:06.759 Was first formed in the early seventies, when I think 0:39:06.800 --> 0:39:10.080 it was tough being a rock band in the Soviet 0:39:10.160 --> 0:39:12.920 Union in the early seventies, but I think as Glasnos 0:39:13.000 --> 0:39:16.040 came on in the eighties, they had more musical freedom, 0:39:16.480 --> 0:39:19.480 and now this is one of the most famous Russian 0:39:19.560 --> 0:39:22.799 rock bands. I know they you know, they played Leningrad 0:39:22.840 --> 0:39:26.239 clubs all the time, and they've got a ton of albums. 0:39:26.440 --> 0:39:29.040 I was listening to some Akvarium while I was making 0:39:29.040 --> 0:39:31.879 my coffee this morning, and it definitely made me want 0:39:31.880 --> 0:39:35.080 to like Hugh Wood with Grandfather Mushroom. I think they've 0:39:35.080 --> 0:39:38.239 done a bunch of different genres, a kind of eclectic 0:39:38.400 --> 0:39:40.799 musical group, but a lot of it sounded basically to 0:39:40.840 --> 0:39:43.560 me like electric acoustic folk rock. 0:39:44.360 --> 0:39:45.840 It reminded me a lot, and I don't know if 0:39:45.840 --> 0:39:48.799 this is a fair comparison. Reminded me of the music 0:39:48.800 --> 0:39:50.400 of Al Stewart to a certain extent. 0:39:51.280 --> 0:39:53.120 I don't think I really know Al Stewart, so. 0:39:53.200 --> 0:39:56.719 Oh, you know, he did well, I guess ironically. He 0:39:56.760 --> 0:39:59.239 did a song called Roads to Moscow that's rather good. 0:39:59.480 --> 0:40:04.600 But he else did You're the Cat Old Admirals. Yeah. 0:40:04.640 --> 0:40:06.319 But he did a lot of tracks that had hit 0:40:06.600 --> 0:40:09.279 a track titled Nostrodamus, so he had a try a 0:40:09.280 --> 0:40:11.520 lot of number of tracks that were kind of lengthy 0:40:11.640 --> 0:40:16.040 and had historical settings to them. Good stuff. I like 0:40:16.040 --> 0:40:17.920 Al Stewart. I fire him up every now and then. 0:40:18.360 --> 0:40:21.560 Okay, well, I'll say I not only love Romanov's music 0:40:21.600 --> 0:40:23.960 in this movie, but I love him as the narrator. 0:40:24.280 --> 0:40:26.480 I really enjoy the way he makes us sit and 0:40:26.520 --> 0:40:29.000 wait for him to tell us something else. 0:40:29.239 --> 0:40:31.080 While we're talking about the music. I also want to 0:40:31.080 --> 0:40:33.799 go ahead and drop one more audio sample, and that 0:40:34.080 --> 0:40:37.120 is some of the excellent Galam music. Because the Galum 0:40:37.239 --> 0:40:40.680 music is also seemingly in a slightly different genre. It's 0:40:40.719 --> 0:40:47.840 our kind of creepy vocal reverb kind of soundscape. I 0:40:47.880 --> 0:40:49.919 don't know how you would describe this, Joe. 0:40:49.960 --> 0:40:53.880 Yeah, I don't know. It's very echoey. Gollum growls in 0:40:53.920 --> 0:40:56.640 this movie. He growls like a dog, and then Gandalf 0:40:56.719 --> 0:40:57.879 growls back at him. 0:40:58.280 --> 0:41:01.600 And it should we have to stray us. Gollum kind 0:41:01.640 --> 0:41:05.839 of dances kind of has extended dance sequences that that 0:41:05.840 --> 0:41:08.000 that should you have to see them to believe them. 0:41:08.280 --> 0:41:10.719 They're pretty wonderful. Let's have just a sample of that. 0:41:19.480 --> 0:41:21.319 Isn't it dreamy? That's one. I mean, that's almost like 0:41:21.960 --> 0:41:24.560 I'm the reminded of stuff like Nurse with wound or 0:41:25.040 --> 0:41:26.000 robbing gristle there. 0:41:26.280 --> 0:41:29.440 This movie has a number of so I watched it 0:41:29.480 --> 0:41:31.840 with Rachel and she she said that the movie was 0:41:31.920 --> 0:41:37.359 hypnotating her it does. 0:41:37.760 --> 0:41:42.279 I fell asleep once during it in a very pleasant way. 0:41:42.640 --> 0:41:45.320 The Gollumn sequence was one of the most hypnotody of 0:41:45.800 --> 0:41:46.799 the entire movie for. 0:41:46.840 --> 0:41:59.360 Me, absolutely all right. So I'm I'm not gonna really 0:41:59.520 --> 0:42:01.120 spend a lot of time on any of the other 0:42:01.200 --> 0:42:03.440 cast members, but I do want to mention two actors 0:42:03.440 --> 0:42:06.600 that are in it because they have some interesting connections. 0:42:07.280 --> 0:42:11.840 First of all, there's Sergei Parshon, who plays Tom Bombadill. 0:42:12.440 --> 0:42:15.240 He was born nineteen fifty two. I believe he's still around. 0:42:15.320 --> 0:42:17.479 I'm not sure if he's acting or not. He's known 0:42:17.520 --> 0:42:20.800 for such films, at least in Russia as The Plane 0:42:20.800 --> 0:42:23.160 Flies to Russia from ninety four the Fall of the 0:42:23.200 --> 0:42:25.920 Empire in two thousand and five, but he's been in 0:42:26.000 --> 0:42:27.960 some titles with a bunch of Western names in them 0:42:27.960 --> 0:42:31.359 as well, and these include Bernard Rose's nineteen ninety seven 0:42:31.400 --> 0:42:36.760 adaptation of Anna Karenina that stars Sophie Marceau, Sean Bean, 0:42:37.440 --> 0:42:42.360 Alfred Molina, Fiona Shaw, and Danny Houston. So this actor 0:42:42.600 --> 0:42:45.560 is our bridge, the bridge we need to connect this 0:42:45.680 --> 0:42:49.319 film to Peter Jackson's two thousand and one adaptation. 0:42:49.160 --> 0:42:52.560 That's amazing, and this reminds me so Sean Being, of course, 0:42:52.600 --> 0:42:57.880 plays Borimir, the hero of Gondor in the in the 0:42:57.920 --> 0:43:01.600 Peter Jackson adaptation, and Sean Bean absolutely wonderful in that role. 0:43:01.760 --> 0:43:05.680 You know, the best Boromir you could hope for. But 0:43:05.800 --> 0:43:08.240 there was something I think it was in that Variety article. 0:43:08.280 --> 0:43:09.640 If not, it was in one of the other ones 0:43:09.640 --> 0:43:12.880 I was reading that had an interview with the actory 0:43:12.880 --> 0:43:17.919 of Guiney Solyakov, who plays Borimir in the in Kronatelli 0:43:18.600 --> 0:43:21.520 and so Yakov apparently is a big fan of the 0:43:21.520 --> 0:43:25.160 Peter Jackson adaptations, and I think they caused him to 0:43:25.600 --> 0:43:29.520 wish that he had portrayed Borimir differently than he did. 0:43:31.040 --> 0:43:32.920 So there's I just want to read. From that article 0:43:32.920 --> 0:43:37.720 and Variety by Rebecca Davis. Here, quoting Soyakov, she writes, 0:43:37.880 --> 0:43:40.319 watching the film for the first time last month, he 0:43:40.360 --> 0:43:42.759 felt he perhaps hadn't been quite ready to take on 0:43:42.840 --> 0:43:46.200 the complexities of the flawed hero. Quote. I don't think 0:43:46.200 --> 0:43:48.480 I played the role to the fullest. I wish I 0:43:48.520 --> 0:43:50.920 hadn't been so emotional when I was trying to explain 0:43:50.960 --> 0:43:53.399 why I wanted the ring. I should have remained very 0:43:53.400 --> 0:43:56.960 composed and I think that's interesting. So seeing like actors 0:43:57.040 --> 0:44:00.600 who were in this having watched later movie at as 0:44:00.640 --> 0:44:03.560 and saying like, oh, okay, I didn't really understand the 0:44:03.680 --> 0:44:06.399 character I was supposed to be playing. But like, now 0:44:06.440 --> 0:44:09.600 that I saw the Peter Jackson adaptation, like saw Sean Bean, like, 0:44:09.640 --> 0:44:11.960 Borimir makes more sense to me, And here's how I 0:44:11.960 --> 0:44:14.279 should have done it. You know, you should have. Like 0:44:14.600 --> 0:44:16.960 one thing that's great about Borimir is you know, Borimir 0:44:17.000 --> 0:44:19.960 has a point. Borimir in a way like his heart 0:44:20.040 --> 0:44:21.640 is in the right place. He's saying, give me the 0:44:21.680 --> 0:44:23.640 weapon of the enemy, so that I may defend the 0:44:23.680 --> 0:44:24.440 world against it. 0:44:24.800 --> 0:44:25.239 M hmm. 0:44:25.400 --> 0:44:28.400 But of course in this movie, it's quite funny actually, 0:44:28.480 --> 0:44:31.279 because they're having the counsel of el Ron where everybody's 0:44:31.360 --> 0:44:32.960 you know, they're talking about what to do with the ring, 0:44:33.400 --> 0:44:36.200 and Borimir just starts going like, give me the ring, 0:44:36.320 --> 0:44:37.319 give it, give it to me. 0:44:38.960 --> 0:44:42.400 Yeah. Yeah, that doesn't doesn't work quite as well, does it. 0:44:42.640 --> 0:44:44.359 Yeah. It kind of makes you think, like, well, why'd 0:44:44.400 --> 0:44:47.080 they bring him along if in the initial meeting he's like, 0:44:47.120 --> 0:44:48.640 it must be mine. 0:44:49.760 --> 0:44:51.200 Now, I know what a lot of you are wondering. 0:44:51.440 --> 0:44:53.360 You're you're thinking to yourself. All right, you guys have 0:44:53.400 --> 0:44:55.840 been able to find an actor in this film that 0:44:55.960 --> 0:44:59.320 connects it to the cinematic universe of the Peter Jackson 0:45:00.080 --> 0:45:02.279 Order of the Rings movies. But can you connect it 0:45:02.360 --> 0:45:08.160 to the cinematic universe of Eli Roth? And yes we can. Okay, 0:45:08.719 --> 0:45:11.480 that's because we have an actor by the name of 0:45:11.560 --> 0:45:15.120 Lillian Malkina who plays I believe the matriarch of the 0:45:15.120 --> 0:45:16.279 Saxville Baggins is. 0:45:17.440 --> 0:45:18.640 The Sackville Torbens is. 0:45:18.880 --> 0:45:20.200 Oh, it's the Sackville Tourbinson's. 0:45:20.400 --> 0:45:22.600 Well, no, no, no, it's the same thing, because in 0:45:23.040 --> 0:45:28.560 this it's Bilbo Torbins and Frodo Torbins. I don't know 0:45:28.600 --> 0:45:31.200 what that change means, but they didn't go with Baggins. 0:45:32.239 --> 0:45:34.840 Well, at any rate, she's the matriarch. She has several 0:45:35.040 --> 0:45:38.759 notable scenes here standing around with Bilbo. She was in 0:45:38.880 --> 0:45:43.520 Eli Roth's hostel too, and she was in his Thanksgiving short, 0:45:43.600 --> 0:45:47.560 the fake trailer for Thanksgiving Like a Thanksgiving nineteen seventy 0:45:47.640 --> 0:45:50.120 slasher film, in which she plays the grandmother. 0:45:50.520 --> 0:45:52.880 Oh, so I think she gets murdered and then like 0:45:53.000 --> 0:45:54.080 dressed up like a turkey. 0:45:54.640 --> 0:45:57.840 I think so. Yes. Yeah, Now, another actor in this 0:45:57.960 --> 0:46:01.120 that went on to appear in some some Western productions. 0:46:01.200 --> 0:46:05.400 Galadriol is played by Elena Solive, who appeared in the 0:46:05.440 --> 0:46:09.080 Lost City of Z and also in The Sopranos. And 0:46:09.120 --> 0:46:11.120 on top of this, she won an award for Best 0:46:11.120 --> 0:46:14.719 Supporting Actress in the film Factas at the nineteen eighty 0:46:14.760 --> 0:46:17.200 one Cans Film Festival. So that's pretty cool. 0:46:17.360 --> 0:46:22.200 In The Sopranos, I believe she plays Junior's nurse, taking 0:46:22.239 --> 0:46:24.440 care of him when he's under house arrest. It's not 0:46:24.480 --> 0:46:27.520 a major role. I think she plays the cousin of 0:46:27.560 --> 0:46:29.160 one of Tony's girlfriends. 0:46:29.560 --> 0:46:31.840 But she's perhaps the only actor from the Sopranos to 0:46:31.880 --> 0:46:34.880 appear in an adaptation of The Lord of the Rings. 0:46:34.960 --> 0:46:37.000 Right, as far as I know, what if. 0:46:36.920 --> 0:46:38.880 You had to had to recast The Lord of the 0:46:38.920 --> 0:46:42.040 Rings using only actors who appeared in The Sopranos, Now 0:46:42.080 --> 0:46:43.400 there's a challenge. 0:46:43.000 --> 0:46:49.520 Okay, Robert Loja as Saar Ruman, I'm gonna go with 0:46:50.360 --> 0:46:52.719 I'm gonna go with James Gandolphini rest in peace. But 0:46:53.000 --> 0:46:57.480 assuming they're all still James Gandolfinis, Borimir perfect Bormar. 0:46:58.120 --> 0:47:01.920 You're not tempted by the Gandolphini Gandolf connection. 0:47:02.000 --> 0:47:05.239 There No, and he's not Gandalf like, but he is 0:47:05.280 --> 0:47:07.480 like Bormere. He's got that kind of that kind of 0:47:07.680 --> 0:47:12.719 reckless complexity. Hm hm oh oh oh oh. Seth just 0:47:12.800 --> 0:47:15.680 chimed in with the best possible suggestion, which of course 0:47:15.760 --> 0:47:19.439 is Steve Bushmi as Gollum. There you go. Oh man, 0:47:19.719 --> 0:47:21.200 my name's Meatl. 0:47:22.800 --> 0:47:27.200 Hello, Fellow Ring Bears. So many awesome directions you could 0:47:27.200 --> 0:47:29.239 go in. You sho't's wonderful. He would have he would 0:47:29.280 --> 0:47:30.560 have been able to nail it for sure. 0:47:30.760 --> 0:47:34.439 So good. Okay, the guy who plays Furyo, that's that's 0:47:34.480 --> 0:47:38.040 our lego less I believe. Anyway, Okay, we got to 0:47:38.040 --> 0:47:40.520 move on. I figure at this point we should just 0:47:40.640 --> 0:47:42.680 mention a few things that we took notes on while 0:47:42.719 --> 0:47:44.520 we were watching this. I mean, obviously we're not going 0:47:44.600 --> 0:47:47.880 to recap the story because you know, either you you 0:47:47.960 --> 0:47:50.400 basically know the story of Fellowship the Ring, or if 0:47:50.440 --> 0:47:53.320 you don't, you've probably stopped listening at this point already. 0:47:54.040 --> 0:47:57.400 Yeah, let's see, So we'll just touch on some things 0:47:57.440 --> 0:47:59.920 that that struck us. I will say, the Hobbit scenes, 0:48:00.160 --> 0:48:05.759 the Hobbits partying at Bilbo's birthday party, pretty great. I 0:48:05.760 --> 0:48:08.040 feel like they helped to convey the sort of universal 0:48:08.120 --> 0:48:11.000 fulkiness that is found in the Shire. You know, just 0:48:11.040 --> 0:48:14.160 about any culture can relate to that on some level, 0:48:14.480 --> 0:48:18.080 though I don't know. The Hobbits felt perhaps drunker than usual, 0:48:18.239 --> 0:48:20.720 Like there was kind of a dwarven level of drunkenness 0:48:20.760 --> 0:48:23.160 to the Hobbits. And I didn't think we had dwarves 0:48:23.200 --> 0:48:24.640 at all in this adaptation, did we? 0:48:25.440 --> 0:48:25.520 So? 0:48:25.719 --> 0:48:27.560 Dwarf and I had Gimley, we had Gimbley. 0:48:27.640 --> 0:48:28.359 Was Gimmy there? 0:48:28.800 --> 0:48:32.600 I just thought Gimley was absent? No, Gimley was Gimley Gimley. 0:48:32.600 --> 0:48:35.280 He was the guy in the Red Cape and Hood 0:48:35.960 --> 0:48:38.800 after the Fellowship formed. He has a Gimley And legalists 0:48:38.840 --> 0:48:42.759 are almost non existent in this adaptation the Fellowship. So 0:48:43.120 --> 0:48:47.240 we mentioned the strange plot structure. It crams about half 0:48:47.280 --> 0:48:50.040 of the Fellowship of the Ring into the last fifteen minutes, 0:48:50.600 --> 0:48:54.680 so the Fellowship is not formed until there are like, yeah, 0:48:54.719 --> 0:48:57.160 like fifteen minutes left to go out of this two 0:48:57.239 --> 0:49:01.359 hour production, and instead it decides to spend almost all 0:49:01.400 --> 0:49:04.320 of its time with things going on with the Hobbits 0:49:04.400 --> 0:49:07.240 at the beginning, and then Tom Bombadill and the barrel 0:49:07.280 --> 0:49:11.640 whites and explaining the story with Gandalf, and then the 0:49:11.680 --> 0:49:15.200 scenes at the ends at like Brie and with Farmer Maggot. 0:49:15.360 --> 0:49:18.040 Yeah, like they really started acting like they needed to 0:49:18.120 --> 0:49:20.640 land this thing in a hurry, which, as we know 0:49:20.719 --> 0:49:23.680 from Peter Jackson's treatment of the films, that's just not 0:49:23.719 --> 0:49:25.959 how you do Lord of the Rings, right, start acting 0:49:26.000 --> 0:49:27.480 like you're in a hurry, you're just not going to 0:49:27.600 --> 0:49:29.880 be able to tell it. So, yeah, the pace of 0:49:29.920 --> 0:49:30.919 the pacing is weird here. 0:49:31.080 --> 0:49:33.240 Well, the other thing. I was going to mention this earlier, 0:49:33.239 --> 0:49:35.120 but I guess we got sidetracked. One of the things 0:49:35.160 --> 0:49:38.520 about this is clearly that they made a choice to 0:49:38.719 --> 0:49:43.240 emphasize scenes that could be shot with people like standing 0:49:43.320 --> 0:49:47.200 around or sitting around not moving and discussing things, and 0:49:47.360 --> 0:49:53.120 any sequences that would have involved major action or movement 0:49:53.360 --> 0:49:56.600 or outdoor sets. Those things they try to skip over 0:49:56.680 --> 0:50:00.120 as lightly as they can, and so most of the 0:50:00.120 --> 0:50:03.120 stuff that gets cut is the more adventury stuff, you know, 0:50:03.200 --> 0:50:05.600 where you know, you don't get really much of anything 0:50:05.640 --> 0:50:09.640 about crossing the mountains, going through the mines, fighting the orcs. 0:50:09.680 --> 0:50:11.439 I mean, there's a little bit of fighting the orcs, 0:50:11.480 --> 0:50:14.600 but Mostly it's just they reuse some footage they shot, 0:50:14.880 --> 0:50:16.799 or maybe not even footage. I think it's just a 0:50:16.840 --> 0:50:19.839 series of still images of people in these costumes with 0:50:19.880 --> 0:50:22.920 horns on their helmets, and these are the Orcs, and 0:50:23.280 --> 0:50:25.640 you see them going ah at the camera, and then 0:50:25.680 --> 0:50:29.200 you see the actor playing Aragorn swinging a sword for 0:50:29.239 --> 0:50:30.520 a minute, and then the battle's over. 0:50:30.960 --> 0:50:32.920 Now. One thing I applaud it for is that they 0:50:33.400 --> 0:50:37.880 they made the choice to genderflip Legoless's character. Oh so 0:50:37.960 --> 0:50:41.520 Legoless is a female elf for a how do they 0:50:41.560 --> 0:50:45.600 refer to the female elves in the Hobbit prequel movies 0:50:45.600 --> 0:50:49.200 from Peter Jackson women? Else elf women something like that. 0:50:49.520 --> 0:50:52.200 At any rate, we have a female Legoleiss in this, 0:50:52.480 --> 0:50:54.279 and I feel like it was actually a pretty good choice, 0:50:54.280 --> 0:50:58.680 because otherwise you have a very male oriented tail here. 0:50:58.880 --> 0:51:01.040 Yes, a long observed about Lord of the Rings. I mean, 0:51:01.040 --> 0:51:04.719 this is a very duty story. But yeah, so I 0:51:04.880 --> 0:51:08.880 like the idea of making Legalists a woman, but Legalists 0:51:08.880 --> 0:51:11.359 and Gimley have basically I don't think either of them 0:51:11.400 --> 0:51:13.759 has any lines in this adaptation. I mean, again, they 0:51:13.760 --> 0:51:16.920 don't show up until there's like something like twenty or 0:51:16.920 --> 0:51:19.560 fifteen minutes left and then they say nothing. They just 0:51:19.680 --> 0:51:21.080 you see them standing there. Though. 0:51:21.400 --> 0:51:25.239 Yeah, I want to point something out that it took 0:51:25.239 --> 0:51:27.719 me a while to realize what I was comparing it to. 0:51:28.040 --> 0:51:31.840 But Gandolf in this looks so much like Vincent Price 0:51:32.000 --> 0:51:35.040 in The Witchfinder general. Yeah, it's like a very similar 0:51:35.160 --> 0:51:38.160 hair and facial features, and I mean also his facial feet, 0:51:38.239 --> 0:51:41.319 Like he has a very Vincent Price esque knows this. 0:51:41.280 --> 0:51:45.320 Actor very good observation. I would not have caught that myself, 0:51:45.360 --> 0:51:46.960 but you're so correct. 0:51:46.760 --> 0:51:49.160 And we've already talked about Frodo and what he looks like. 0:51:49.480 --> 0:51:52.320 Yeah, you know what, I bet that actor who plays 0:51:52.360 --> 0:51:55.920 frod is great. I'm convinced now that it was just 0:51:56.120 --> 0:51:58.800 like he had the wrong type of character in mind, 0:51:58.880 --> 0:52:00.200 and that's the problem here. 0:52:00.440 --> 0:52:05.200 I feel like casting Hobbits is probably a very difficult task. 0:52:05.280 --> 0:52:08.400 I mean they I think Peter Jackson's productions were able 0:52:08.560 --> 0:52:11.480 to pull it off, but there's so many ways it 0:52:11.520 --> 0:52:13.680 could have gone wrong, you know, if you weren't going 0:52:13.719 --> 0:52:15.919 with actors like like I mean, Ian Holm of course 0:52:16.000 --> 0:52:20.600 was terrific, but also the younger Bilbo whose name is 0:52:20.640 --> 0:52:24.840 eluding me at the moment, and also the kid playing 0:52:24.840 --> 0:52:28.120 fro Do in the actual Lord of the Rings films 0:52:28.160 --> 0:52:31.160 by Peter Jackson. They're altered, terrific, and they're able to 0:52:32.080 --> 0:52:35.319 pull off this character that I think could be mismanaged 0:52:35.320 --> 0:52:36.120 in so many ways. 0:52:36.360 --> 0:52:38.400 You mean Elijah Wood, the kid playing fro Do. 0:52:38.719 --> 0:52:40.799 Yeah, Elijah would. Oh yeah, he's great to say. 0:52:40.880 --> 0:52:42.880 Is he a kid? I think he's older than me. 0:52:43.760 --> 0:52:45.880 Well, at the time, he was younger and had a 0:52:45.960 --> 0:52:49.120 very youthful uh comparence, and technically and technically he was 0:52:49.120 --> 0:52:50.879 a hobbit though he was what thirty three at the time. 0:52:51.040 --> 0:52:53.360 Oh yeah, that's like, I don't know what for hobbits. 0:52:53.360 --> 0:52:54.799 That's like being sixteen, isn't it. 0:52:55.040 --> 0:52:57.880 Yeah, I'm maybe screwing up my hobbit math here, But 0:52:58.160 --> 0:53:00.319 at any rate, he's terrific, and of course he's gone 0:53:00.360 --> 0:53:02.279 on to produce a lot of really cool stuff as well. 0:53:02.640 --> 0:53:05.920 Well. Another thing is that it's not just fro Doo. 0:53:06.080 --> 0:53:09.239 I mean generally, other than Bilbo, the Hobbits in this 0:53:09.320 --> 0:53:15.840 movie are grotesque the whole party. This movie really deemphasizes 0:53:15.880 --> 0:53:18.719 Samwise Gamgee. He has maybe like three lines in it, 0:53:19.360 --> 0:53:21.680 but they did make the choice to give him purple hair. 0:53:21.719 --> 0:53:25.600 He has a purple ponytail, and he has additional eyebrows, 0:53:25.640 --> 0:53:28.160 so he's got his eyebrows, but then he's got big 0:53:28.280 --> 0:53:31.400 eyebrows drawn on on top of his real eyebrows. 0:53:32.280 --> 0:53:34.440 Is he which one is the one with the giant sideburns? 0:53:34.680 --> 0:53:37.000 I think, well, I think there are multiple ones with 0:53:37.080 --> 0:53:40.120 giant side But this movie is a very mutton choppy movie. 0:53:40.320 --> 0:53:44.120 Like Bilbo has mutton chops that are clearly not human hair. 0:53:44.200 --> 0:53:46.279 They're like some kind of animal fur. They look like 0:53:46.320 --> 0:53:48.360 a mink stole, but they're glued to the sides of 0:53:48.360 --> 0:53:53.400 his face. And several of the Hobbits in the Fellowship 0:53:53.440 --> 0:53:57.279 have mutton chops. Maybe they all do, except Frodo or 0:53:57.320 --> 0:54:01.279 I don't know. At least I think Took does, or 0:54:01.520 --> 0:54:02.840 as they call him in this movie. 0:54:02.840 --> 0:54:05.759 Pin have we talked about sarmon the White yet we 0:54:05.880 --> 0:54:06.359 have not. 0:54:06.600 --> 0:54:08.239 So one of the things we get in this movie is, 0:54:08.280 --> 0:54:10.719 of course, the sequence where you know it's famously in 0:54:10.760 --> 0:54:13.200 The Lord of the Rings, Gandalf disappears for a while, 0:54:13.320 --> 0:54:16.360 what's going on, and then he meets the He meets 0:54:16.400 --> 0:54:19.359 the characters back when they get to Rivendell, the Land 0:54:19.400 --> 0:54:22.360 of the Elves, and you find out what happened to Gandalf. 0:54:22.440 --> 0:54:25.080 It's that he went to talk to Sarimon the White, 0:54:25.120 --> 0:54:28.319 the great wise Wizard, the chief of his order, and 0:54:28.480 --> 0:54:32.440 Sarruman reveals a great betrayal that Sarmon has concluded that 0:54:32.520 --> 0:54:35.520 it is impossible to stand against the armies of Mordor, 0:54:35.960 --> 0:54:39.160 so you have to join them or else die. And 0:54:39.200 --> 0:54:41.080 Gandalf is like, no, I'm not going to join them 0:54:41.080 --> 0:54:43.160 with you. So Saramon's like, well, I don't like that, 0:54:43.560 --> 0:54:46.680 you know, So it's it's paying time for you, and 0:54:46.719 --> 0:54:47.280 I guess. 0:54:47.120 --> 0:54:48.120 You're going on the roof. 0:54:48.160 --> 0:54:50.440 Yeah, You're going on the roof until you change your mind. 0:54:51.640 --> 0:54:54.400 So Sarimon the White, the greatest of the Wizards, is 0:54:54.440 --> 0:54:56.879 supposed he's supposed to be like the guy you can 0:54:56.920 --> 0:54:59.719 really count on, but he is a betrayer and he 0:54:59.800 --> 0:55:02.919 join the enemy. And it's one of the great parts 0:55:02.960 --> 0:55:05.000 of the book. It's great in the it's great in 0:55:05.080 --> 0:55:07.399 the the Peter Jackson movies, of course, with Christopher Lee 0:55:07.440 --> 0:55:08.200 playing Soomon. 0:55:08.560 --> 0:55:11.279 Christopher Lee was always the Even before these films were 0:55:11.800 --> 0:55:15.759 in any way put together, I was like, Christopher Lee 0:55:15.760 --> 0:55:18.200 should play Saramon, Like this is the only person to 0:55:18.239 --> 0:55:21.440 play this role. Yeah, and he's terrific and he in 0:55:21.520 --> 0:55:23.680 him those films. He looks like so many of these 0:55:23.880 --> 0:55:27.400 classic illustrations of the character. I'm thinking about the Hildebrandt Brothers. 0:55:28.360 --> 0:55:33.400 They did a wonderful version of Soromon that I've absolutely 0:55:33.480 --> 0:55:34.600 loved for ages. 0:55:35.080 --> 0:55:38.839 In this movie, Saruman looks like he would have been 0:55:38.960 --> 0:55:41.520 Hans Gruber's Hinchman and die Hard. 0:55:42.000 --> 0:55:45.880 Yeah, he's like thirty five and is clean shaven and 0:55:45.960 --> 0:55:50.520 has kind of a kind of a manic energy to him, 0:55:50.600 --> 0:55:54.400 like a cocaine Yeah, like he should be this character 0:55:54.440 --> 0:55:57.040 should be a drug dealer in a nineties action film, 0:55:57.520 --> 0:55:59.320 Like he should be about to get his next snapped 0:55:59.320 --> 0:56:02.640 by Jean Kles That damn bizarre choice. 0:56:02.719 --> 0:56:05.520 Yeah, he's like sweaty, so he's kind of damp and 0:56:05.560 --> 0:56:10.200 he's he's freaking out. He doesn't have that Saruman composure 0:56:10.400 --> 0:56:13.640 where he's like, you know, you will join or die. Instead, 0:56:13.680 --> 0:56:15.480 he's like, oh, give me the ring. 0:56:15.920 --> 0:56:19.160 He's kind of like bora mirror is yeah, yep. 0:56:20.120 --> 0:56:23.360 Now there's another choice that I really took issue with, 0:56:23.400 --> 0:56:25.759 which we've talked many times about how much we love 0:56:25.800 --> 0:56:28.200 the weird music in this but one musical choice that 0:56:28.280 --> 0:56:30.640 was very strange to me is that Tom Bombadil does 0:56:30.680 --> 0:56:34.400 not sing. Instead, Oh yeah, he has theme music that 0:56:34.520 --> 0:56:37.640 plays every time he appears, but he doesn't sing it. 0:56:37.640 --> 0:56:40.360 It sounds like some kind of I was trying to 0:56:40.360 --> 0:56:42.640 think what band it sounded like. It's almost kind of 0:56:42.640 --> 0:56:46.320 like a nineties sound is like very Reverby on the vocals. 0:56:46.360 --> 0:56:49.440 It's got that kind of like rushing sound effect on them. 0:56:50.400 --> 0:56:53.319 It's almost a little bit like nineties U two vocals. 0:56:53.680 --> 0:56:57.040 Yeah, yeah, it's it's it's weird because Tom Bombadil finally 0:56:57.080 --> 0:56:59.960 shows up in an adaptation, you expect him to sing, 0:57:00.120 --> 0:57:03.160 because he sings a lot in the book. It's it's 0:57:03.200 --> 0:57:06.320 like this amount. Yeah, that's like that's what he does, 0:57:06.760 --> 0:57:09.239 So it is it's an interesting choice that he does 0:57:09.280 --> 0:57:12.120 not actually sing. It makes me wonder what the reasoning 0:57:12.320 --> 0:57:15.000 for that was. Was this actor not a singer? Did 0:57:15.880 --> 0:57:18.280 did it get cut for time? I don't know. I 0:57:18.320 --> 0:57:22.320 mean music is also key to his power. Tom Bombadil's like, hey, 0:57:22.320 --> 0:57:24.720 if you get into any trouble, you need to sing 0:57:24.800 --> 0:57:28.160 this song and I'll show up and I'll sing my 0:57:28.240 --> 0:57:30.120 heart out and defeat whatever is bothering you. 0:57:30.280 --> 0:57:33.320 Essentially does Frodo actually sing the song, though, I think 0:57:33.400 --> 0:57:36.000 he's just in the barrow down. He's like under the 0:57:36.000 --> 0:57:39.160 barrow and he just goes like Tom Bombadil Bombadil, and 0:57:39.200 --> 0:57:41.200 then he shows up and he's like hello. 0:57:43.160 --> 0:57:45.320 Yeah. I mean it's still great that Tom Bombadil shows 0:57:45.400 --> 0:57:47.200 up at all, yes, but but yeah, it is weird 0:57:47.200 --> 0:57:47.840 that he doesn't sing. 0:57:48.160 --> 0:57:50.840 Man, there's so much that I'm not even remembering at 0:57:50.840 --> 0:57:52.760 this point. But one of the things that I think 0:57:52.880 --> 0:57:55.320 is a very strange choice. Like I said, they really 0:57:55.520 --> 0:57:59.240 they really shorten the adventure part of the story, like 0:57:59.280 --> 0:58:01.720 once the fellows it gets together, that part's just on 0:58:02.080 --> 0:58:05.960 like fast forward to the max, jumping over everything, and 0:58:06.000 --> 0:58:09.320 they completely cut out the death of Gandalf. There's no 0:58:09.600 --> 0:58:12.320 there's no bell Rog. I think they're just they go 0:58:12.400 --> 0:58:14.880 into the minds of Maria for a minute, and we're 0:58:14.920 --> 0:58:17.360 to understand that they're fighting orcs because they show those 0:58:17.480 --> 0:58:21.640 orcs going with their horn helmets and Aragorn's swinging his sword, 0:58:22.080 --> 0:58:24.880 and then they're like leaving the minds and they say like, hey, 0:58:24.880 --> 0:58:27.280 what happened to Gandalf? He must have gotten lost somewhere 0:58:27.320 --> 0:58:30.160 back there. That's it. No Bellrog, no bridge of Kaza 0:58:30.240 --> 0:58:32.400 Doom or wait, no, there is a bridge because you 0:58:32.440 --> 0:58:35.200 see er Gordon like trying to balance on it. 0:58:35.640 --> 0:58:36.000 Yeah. 0:58:36.120 --> 0:58:38.280 Oh and Aragorn is like fourteen by the way. 0:58:38.520 --> 0:58:41.520 Oh yeah, he has a big scar on his face. Yeah. 0:58:41.560 --> 0:58:45.240 But but yeah, there's no that Gandalf doesn't doesn't die 0:58:45.280 --> 0:58:47.640 like that is That's that's an interesting choice as well, 0:58:47.640 --> 0:58:50.480 because this is one of the most emotional moments in 0:58:50.520 --> 0:58:53.960 the entire saga. Yeah, really one of the most emotional 0:58:54.000 --> 0:58:58.520 moments in I would say like like Western fantasy, like 0:58:58.600 --> 0:59:01.640 modern fantasy literature in its entirety. 0:59:01.840 --> 0:59:04.680 Yeah, it's like it's a great storytelling choice because up 0:59:04.760 --> 0:59:07.600 until then everything has been about Gandalf is the person 0:59:07.640 --> 0:59:11.360 who knows what to do. Everybody else is confused and 0:59:12.120 --> 0:59:15.000 they're scared, and Gandalf is always the person who can 0:59:15.000 --> 0:59:17.080 figure out what to do next, and so you always 0:59:17.160 --> 0:59:20.760 look to him. And then he suddenly he's dead, He's gone, 0:59:21.120 --> 0:59:23.160 and what are you supposed to do? Then it's like 0:59:23.400 --> 0:59:26.080 it's so great. It really heightens the tension of the story. 0:59:26.760 --> 0:59:29.080 And I guess he does disappear from this story, but 0:59:29.080 --> 0:59:31.640 there's only like ten minutes left when that happens, and 0:59:31.960 --> 0:59:33.880 they don't even say what happened to him. They're just like, oh, 0:59:33.880 --> 0:59:35.280 I don't know. I guess he got lost back there 0:59:35.360 --> 0:59:35.680 or something. 0:59:35.800 --> 0:59:37.920 He had to take a leak or something. That he's back. 0:59:37.960 --> 0:59:38.880 That's okay, We're good to go. 0:59:39.040 --> 0:59:41.760 And then immediately they're just in Loath. Laurian and the 0:59:42.080 --> 0:59:45.320 elves are dancing around. There's just people in like wearing 0:59:45.360 --> 0:59:49.000 garlands of flowers and wearing white robes and they're doing ballet. 0:59:49.480 --> 0:59:51.640 This is when I almost fell asleep for the second time. 0:59:51.640 --> 0:59:53.400 This is a very hypnotic sequence as well. 0:59:53.520 --> 0:59:55.560 Yeah, and then of course we do get the sequence 0:59:55.600 --> 0:59:58.520 with Galadriel being tempted by the ring and passing the test, 0:59:58.640 --> 1:00:00.800 and she does pass the test. She's a very good 1:00:00.800 --> 1:00:03.480 Elf queen. And then basically it's pretty much over. I 1:00:03.480 --> 1:00:06.480 think we very quickly get bora Mer saying again like, hey, 1:00:06.480 --> 1:00:09.560 give me the ring, and Frodo's like no, and then 1:00:09.600 --> 1:00:09.880 he will. 1:00:10.040 --> 1:00:12.880 Then we also have sorrow and uh, I mean sorry 1:00:12.880 --> 1:00:16.479 saarn himself. Oh at least the eye of sorrow on. Yes, yeah, 1:00:16.560 --> 1:00:19.760 that part shows up very funny and has exactly the 1:00:19.760 --> 1:00:22.480 same energy as all of these uh, these these these 1:00:22.560 --> 1:00:25.320 ring junkies. Because Saarron's just like you're gonna give me 1:00:25.360 --> 1:00:28.080 that ring. That's basically what he does, like this oozing 1:00:28.160 --> 1:00:31.880 eye with like purple ooze behind it. Yeah and yeah, 1:00:32.160 --> 1:00:34.320 exact same tone as everyone else who wants to ring. 1:00:34.680 --> 1:00:37.920 But it ends extremely abruptly because Borr is like, give 1:00:37.960 --> 1:00:40.800 me the ring and Frodo's like nah, and then uh 1:00:40.840 --> 1:00:42.919 and then he starts to walk off, and then Sam 1:00:42.960 --> 1:00:46.160 Wise Gamsey shows up with his purple wig and says like, hey, 1:00:46.160 --> 1:00:48.560 I gotta go with you, and Frodo's like nah. And 1:00:48.600 --> 1:00:51.520 then he says he says, well, who's gonna cook your 1:00:51.520 --> 1:00:54.160 food and light your fires for you? And Frodo's like okay, 1:00:54.560 --> 1:00:56.680 and then they're just on horses and then it's over. 1:00:57.320 --> 1:00:59.720 Yeah, this is kind of the riding off into the 1:00:59.760 --> 1:01:01.880 disc and it's kind of like the end of an 1:01:01.880 --> 1:01:06.240 incredible Hulk TV episode from the old days. Yeah, and 1:01:06.240 --> 1:01:08.320 then I think we hear the theme song again, so. 1:01:08.240 --> 1:01:10.720 I don't know in the end. Obviously, this is a 1:01:11.320 --> 1:01:14.280 you know, beyond micro budget production. I mean it's essentially 1:01:14.320 --> 1:01:18.200 a no budget production that was made you know, made 1:01:18.200 --> 1:01:21.400 on the fly, shot in less than nine hours, according 1:01:21.400 --> 1:01:24.640 to one of the actors, and given what they had 1:01:24.720 --> 1:01:28.320 and also working on source material that was through several 1:01:28.880 --> 1:01:33.520 several different filters of derangement. I got to say, obviously, 1:01:33.680 --> 1:01:36.080 like it's funny what we're looking at on the screen, 1:01:36.160 --> 1:01:37.280 but I respect their work. 1:01:37.840 --> 1:01:41.360 Yeah, yeah, and it's again just knowing they were working 1:01:41.360 --> 1:01:44.560 with no budget. I feel like they did a pretty 1:01:44.600 --> 1:01:46.919 good job. And it makes more wonder like what would 1:01:46.960 --> 1:01:51.720 have happened had had the same energy gone into this 1:01:51.760 --> 1:01:56.000 film as had gone into previous Soviet fantasy epics. Because 1:01:56.280 --> 1:01:58.720 we should of course drive home that that there are 1:01:58.760 --> 1:02:03.880 some tremendous Soviet and Russian fantasy epics that have come 1:02:03.920 --> 1:02:06.280 out in the years since, but certainly in the years 1:02:06.320 --> 1:02:13.480 before this, including the Jack Frost movie Rozoko from nineteen 1:02:13.520 --> 1:02:17.320 sixty five, but also films like Sampo or The Day 1:02:17.320 --> 1:02:20.160 of the Earth Froze, the nineteen fifty nine Soviet Finnish 1:02:20.280 --> 1:02:26.000 film that is based on the Kalevaga. Both of those films, 1:02:26.600 --> 1:02:28.760 even though you many of you might be used to 1:02:28.800 --> 1:02:32.800 sort of a decayed copy of the film that given 1:02:32.800 --> 1:02:35.200 the Mystery Science Theater three thousand treatment, if you find 1:02:36.160 --> 1:02:40.080 restored footage of these motion pictures, it's incredible. These are beautiful, 1:02:40.160 --> 1:02:44.120 high budget just beautifully rendered films. So I can't help 1:02:44.120 --> 1:02:46.680 but imagine, like, what would it have been like had 1:02:47.000 --> 1:02:51.200 the energy that went into into Frosty or into the 1:02:51.240 --> 1:02:53.800 Sampo film, what if they had gone into this into 1:02:53.840 --> 1:02:55.600 the creation of the Fellowship of the Rings. 1:02:56.040 --> 1:02:58.680 Yeah, that would have been so magical. And apparently in 1:02:59.600 --> 1:03:03.120 Russia the interest was there. Like I was reading an 1:03:03.200 --> 1:03:07.080 article for the BBC that included an interview with somebody 1:03:07.160 --> 1:03:10.920 named Irena Nazarova, who they identified as a Russian artist 1:03:10.960 --> 1:03:14.400 who saw Chronatelli on TV when it originally aired in 1:03:14.480 --> 1:03:18.760 ninety one, and they say like, well, wait a minute, 1:03:19.080 --> 1:03:21.720 Like is Tolkien a big thing in Russia anyway? Like 1:03:21.760 --> 1:03:24.480 what you know, would people have been into this? And 1:03:24.520 --> 1:03:28.160 I want to read her response, He's massive. After Jackson 1:03:28.240 --> 1:03:31.919 made his great trilogy Interests soared Back. Russia is full 1:03:31.960 --> 1:03:35.080 of fans, cosplay and everything. A friend of mine was 1:03:35.080 --> 1:03:38.320 out looking for mushrooms in the countryside near Moscow and 1:03:38.360 --> 1:03:41.440 she ran into a band of elves with bows and arrows. 1:03:42.000 --> 1:03:44.560 I know a blacksmith who makes a fairly decent living 1:03:44.600 --> 1:03:47.440 from hammering out swords and helmets, and he told me 1:03:47.520 --> 1:03:51.240 about a gangster who'd ordered gates for his mansion. Quote 1:03:51.600 --> 1:03:56.200 like in Mordor. Oh my god, so some like Russian 1:03:56.240 --> 1:03:59.880 oligarch crime lord is also a lord of the rings 1:04:00.400 --> 1:04:03.120 and has outfitted his datcha to be I don't know, 1:04:03.240 --> 1:04:04.960 the barador or something. 1:04:05.440 --> 1:04:09.600 Oh m hmm, okay. 1:04:08.560 --> 1:04:10.439 Okay, maybe we need to wrap it up there. But Rob, 1:04:10.480 --> 1:04:13.120 I have so enjoyed going on this, uh this, this, 1:04:13.120 --> 1:04:14.280 this hero's journey with you. 1:04:14.720 --> 1:04:17.080 Yeah, this has been a lot of fun and uh, 1:04:17.320 --> 1:04:20.320 you know, a chance just to discuss token adaptations in general, 1:04:20.840 --> 1:04:24.640 but also this, this particular attempt. It's it's pretty it's 1:04:24.640 --> 1:04:27.600 pretty interesting. So again I advise folks out there who 1:04:27.600 --> 1:04:29.560 are interested, even if you don't have it in you 1:04:29.640 --> 1:04:32.680 to watch the entire two hours, you should at least 1:04:32.760 --> 1:04:35.040 check out that highlight reel. Though that highlight reel is 1:04:35.080 --> 1:04:36.080 not going to give you everything. 1:04:36.360 --> 1:04:38.480 No, no, no, no, especially some of. 1:04:38.000 --> 1:04:40.120 The musical qualities we've been talking about. 1:04:40.320 --> 1:04:41.840 If you don't have it in you to watch the 1:04:41.840 --> 1:04:45.520 whole two hours, you just you're weak. You know, you 1:04:45.560 --> 1:04:49.280 don't you don't have you don't have intellectual will power, 1:04:49.440 --> 1:04:53.440 you don't have the courage the heart. Come on, if 1:04:53.560 --> 1:04:55.919 Sam and Frodo can journey across all of Middle Earth. 1:04:55.960 --> 1:04:58.520 You can watch this two hour Weirdo stage production. 1:05:00.600 --> 1:05:04.160 Absolutely so uh yeah again, I'll put I'll put embedded 1:05:04.440 --> 1:05:07.959 versions of these videos up at Samouda music dot com, 1:05:08.120 --> 1:05:10.919 along with some of the music we were talking about 1:05:10.920 --> 1:05:13.160 the aquarium music for example, so you can check that 1:05:13.240 --> 1:05:15.920 out as well. All right, well, yeah, we're gonna go 1:05:15.960 --> 1:05:17.600 and close it out then, But if you want to 1:05:17.640 --> 1:05:20.040 listen to other episodes of Weird House Cinema, it publishes 1:05:20.040 --> 1:05:22.960 every Friday in the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast feed. 1:05:23.200 --> 1:05:27.560 We're primarily a science and culture podcast. Our core episodes 1:05:27.600 --> 1:05:31.240 come out on Tuesdays and Thursdays. You'll also find an 1:05:31.320 --> 1:05:35.520 artifact episode on Wednesdays, as well as a listener mail 1:05:35.600 --> 1:05:39.040 episode on Monday. So certainly right in if you have 1:05:39.160 --> 1:05:43.760 thoughts about this particular film, if you have, especially if 1:05:43.800 --> 1:05:47.280 you say watched it on Russian television back in the day, 1:05:47.480 --> 1:05:50.240 or you have you have, I know, we heard after 1:05:50.280 --> 1:05:53.000 we watched Teens in the Universe or Children in the Universe, 1:05:53.160 --> 1:05:55.480 we heard from at least a couple of listeners who 1:05:55.840 --> 1:05:59.160 who had Russian backgrounds, and we got to learn so 1:05:59.280 --> 1:06:03.880 much about about the viewing of that film and interpretations 1:06:03.880 --> 1:06:05.800 of that film. I would love to hear what you 1:06:05.880 --> 1:06:08.080 have to say about this one as well. 1:06:08.520 --> 1:06:11.560 Huge thanks as always to our excellent audio producer, Seth 1:06:11.640 --> 1:06:13.840 Nicholas Johnson. If you would like to get in touch 1:06:13.880 --> 1:06:16.120 with us with feedback on this episode or any other, 1:06:16.200 --> 1:06:18.600 to suggest topic for the future, or just to say hello, 1:06:18.760 --> 1:06:21.320 you can email us at contact at stuff to Blow 1:06:21.360 --> 1:06:29.600 your Mind dot com. 1:06:29.720 --> 1:06:32.680 Stuff to Blow your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For 1:06:32.760 --> 1:06:35.560 more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 1:06:35.720 --> 1:06:38.920 Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.