Never in my lifetime...

Rating: 9/10 (10 February 2003)

I read Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring when I was 7 years old. I was a bright kid and though it was a long, laggy story, I was fascinated by everything especially Gandalf, Balrog and Strider. It was this whole new world that opened up to me and I was completely swept away with it.
Three years later I read Two Towers and it captivated me even more. By this time I had been playing AD&D and fantasy was my best friend. It was an escapist idea and back then things weren't nearly as bad as they are now but I loved going on that adventure. I also found out that this story was a trilogy and so read Return of the King shortly thereafter. In the 20+ years since I actually finsihed all 3 books for the first time, I have gone back and revisited Middle Earth 9 times.
Tolkien, though wordy, was an extremely brilliant writer. The research alone that he brough to these books is astounding. Not to mention creating multitudes of different civilizations, cultures and languages. It is amazing when you sit back and look it from a scholarly point of view.
Now that film is where we find the epics of today, not so much in books, it was only a matter of time before some attempted to transform this story for the screen. Ralph Bakshi is often criticized harshly for his rendering of the masterpiece, but I think that's wrong. Bakshi is a master animator and has made several amazing films. He wanted to make three 2 hour movies for each book, but lost studio backing when it was barely halfway finished.
Finally the technology and mentality has come to allow us a brilliant view of this incredible story. Thankfully Peter Jackson was as enamored with these books as the regular fan and he has done the story justice. Sure there are obvious changes to the story and some don't make sense but I'm tired of all these people moaning and griping over the tidbits. Sit back, take a deep breath and just look at what Jackson has accomplished. Certainly I never anticipated this trilogy would be made in my lifetime.
Thank you to the cast, the crew and exspecially to Peter Jackson for his fascination with the story and desire to make it. I know that Return of the King is going to be just amazing and profound as the first two and the Battle of Pelennor Field and stand at Morannon will be astounding.