This was my wife's and my favorite movie(s) to watch. We would travel together through Middle Earth at least 3 or 4 times a year. She passed away from cancer in November. It warms my heart to see other people enjoy the journey as much as we did and I look forward to seeing her again when my ship leaves the Grey Havens for the Undying Lands.
A dear friend of mine passed away November 30 from cancer. That was yesterday to me! (((((((Deepest condolences on the loss of your wife. I hope you know she’s with you every time you think of her.)))))))) She might need a recovery time. Just know she’s there in the tiny things. 💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌼🌼🌼
The best thing about watching these reaction vids a second time around is seeing Cassie in LOTR total convert mode...observing the joy of watching her introducing Carly to the franchise; sharing the secret, so to speak.
As a recent convert to The Lord of the Rings love myself, it’s not a secret that it was a fantastic trilogy. But that it’s such a moving and wonderful experience.
I agree, I've watched it and read it many times and enjoy seeing others watch it for the 1st time, now if I could just get my wife to watch it with me I'd be happy.
In the book it was just a reciting of the beacon locations between Gondor and Rohan. I didn't know how they would translate to film and was amazed at how they showed each one being lit. One small thing I thought the movie did better.
Especially in the mountains. And when Aragorn comes and says, "Gondor asks for aid." Theoden pauses. He is like, "Why? Did they help us?" Then he realises who is a actually asking for aid, Not Gondor, but Aragorn, Son of Arathorn, Rightful King of Gondor and most importantly, The Hero of Helm's Deep. That's when Theoden says"And Rohan will answer."
The way Eowyn was sleeping in the hall after the party is typical from maidens in meadhalls. She kept her feet out, so when the fire in the pit started to die down, the cold would wake her up, and she would put more logs and re-lit it again. Very common in Norse and Anglo-Saxon cultures ...
The city of minas tirith was a miniature, but rather enormous as miniatures go. The giant statues were made in a similar fashion along with sets like isengard and helm's deep. So yes, they did 'make' those structures but they used in-camera staging to make the minis look like huge cities and fortresses. Rivendell was mostly a big miniature and matte paintings, that's part of why it looks so picturesque: it literally is.
The Star Wars prequels and Spider-Man movies also had quite a bit of this. They were all releasing in between one another, so they helped advance the others' use of this technology. Sad we haven't seen it in recent years
The production used a big quarry and constructed the exterior sets for the Battle of Helm's Deep into the rock of the quarry. When filming for T2T was finished, they tore down Helm's Deep and constructed a similar set for Minas Tirith. They used "big-a-tures" and other techniques too. And after the filming of Minas Tirith was over, they recycled some of the scenery into the ruins of Amon Sul (Weathertop) where Frodo was stabbed by the Nazgul in FOTR (remember, filming on all three movies proceeded simultaneously). Waste not, want not...
The geekdom won't be complete until these two delightful girls read the books though. Not nearly complete ... I prefer the original version to Peter Jackson's inventions and character assassinations.
@@philippalinton5850 PJ did a good job. The only people who really suffered under his adaption were Faramir’s character and Denethor’s to an extent. They almost made him seem evil. Other than that he did quite a good job.
Every time your sister says "they didn't have to make the orcs that grotesque!" is reinforcement of exactly HOW GOOD the practical makeup fx were and how strong of an impact it makes of communicating how foul and twisted the orcs are. They SHOULD make you grimace at how repulsive they are! haha
@@kaijohnson5033 Everything in ROP looks so terrible, I honestly don't know where all the money went. I'm actually convinced that Jeff Bezos just used the project as a front to make a bunch of money disappear into some secret Cayman Islands bank account or something.
The most cute thing of this terrifying orcs are .............. in behind the scenes like: Lurtz actor have a flower on his hair chilling, a gondor's knight and an orc selfies in camera, then pair of orcs make a small orchestra fun time! 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Fun Fact: Saruman (Christopher Lee) was the only member of the production who actually met J. R. R. Tolkien. Also, that scene of Gandalf (Ian McKellen) sitting in the courtyard, after Faramir's (David Wenham) apparent death is one of the most beautiful and heart-wrenching images of the films. It's very much like a Rembrandt painting and sums up just how much Gandalf loved Faramir as his student, possibly giving him some of what Denethor failed to give as a father. I'd imagine much of the spiritual toughness and resiliency of Faramir came from learning at the knee of an angel.
Also fun fact, when Saruman gets stabbed by Grima, Peter Jackson was giving direction to Christopher Lee about how he should be more vocal, like cry out in pain from the stab, and C. Lee was like... "do you know what happens when you stab a man in the back? he doesn't cry out, he gasps as the shock of the pain hits him" and Peter Jackson was like, "um, okay, sure, you do it your way," because C. Lee actually had experience killing people like that from WWII.
My primary school teacher when I was about 6 or 7 had met JRR Tolkien. She’d studied at Oxford when he was there. I was very impressed when my mother had read the Hobbit to me and I was just starting LOTR.
Seeing Cassie in an Evenstar necklace is so touching. It's as if I'm watching your own character arc be fulfilled, from age 12 and too unsettled to watch Fellowship to now, when you adore the message of these films and are delighted to share something so marvelous with your loved ones.
Elf land is really middle earth/Arda. Valinor is just a part of the world that used to be a part of an entirely different landmass of that doesn’t exist anymore prior to the first age. The Valar brought as many to Valinor to protect them from Morgoth when he was at his peak of his destructive machinations.
@@Makkaru112 Actually, most of the elves went to Valinor before Morgoth. Many of them returned to Middle Earth after he stole the Silmarils to try to help get them back. They only started returning to Valinor after the fall of Morgoth and the breaking of the land.
13:20 This part always gets me, because Elrond has lived this already. He chose to be immortal while his brother chose not to be, and he's lived with that for thousands of years.
and not just lived with him dying, but his brother's children, and their children, all the way down the line until his great (6000 years worth of greats) grand nephew starts romancing his daughter
@@oleub23 8000 to be exact. Check out Tolkien untangled regarding Elronds epic story which even that video and his amazing mastery of prose brings the video flying even further through the goal post. The title is something like “Elronds epic character history” then the thumbnail has an epic artwork of Elrond with the caption saying “it’s a sad/tragic story”
The movies did a pretty poor job of explaining the whole "elf chooses to be mortal" thing, I don't think casual viewers understand that it's an option virtually exclusive to Luthien and Elrond's family.
@@Ghastly1 yup. Based on the movie the assumption is that all elves can do it if they give away their special necklace or something. But honestly. How does the movie explain that without bogging down or distracting from the story at hand. If Elrond says a few sentences to explain it then it might become more confusing.
In the books, Denethor was a great man and leader but he was also poisoned by the palentir. His strength was shown by the fact that he was not completely overtaken by Sauron.
The best Sauron was able to do is force Denethor to only see Saurons strength and growing armies but not anything that would give him hope. To be fair, up until a few weeks ago, Denothor would have seen his closest ally Rohan was run by a senile king under the spell of someone who was supposed to be the great expert on Saurons strengths and who betrayed Middle Earth to align with him, the Elves all fleeing to the west, the Dwarves either holed up or under siege, and even Gondors vassals not unified and the capital of his kingdom falling back into enemy hands. And his own forces exhausted by having been fighting back Mordor for years with no help. He is despairing and without hope, a wise man who sees no way to win, only dying slowly or quickly.
Yes, it’s kind of sad that his madness didn’t get a deeper explanation in the movie. It’s one of the very few times that the movie trilogy makes a character more shallow than in the book
Sauron found it easier to manipulate Saruman than Denethor. Denethor had some claim to the palantiri unlike Saruman and that means a lot in middle earth.
My favorite part about Pippin's song is that it's part of a song that Bilbo wrote, and probably taught all the younger hobbits. The implication being that, faced with all this doom and despair, Pippin decided to cope by thinking back to his childhood in the Shire, listening to "Uncle Bilbo" tell stories and sing happy songs around the fire under the Party Tree.
It was sung in a different manner in a different part of the book. And is much longer. This was beautiful but one more way they took liberties. One of the better butcheries.
Just to point out the actor that plays Faramir also played Dilios (the story teller) in 300 you recently reacted to. That guy can deliver a line of dialog like no one else!
The actor, David Wenham, first became famous in Australia for his role as 'Diver Dan' in the comedy-drama TV show Seachange. It's about a single mum with two kids who moves from a hectic city to a small coastal community and struggles to fit in. I reckon both Cassie and Carly would enjoy it, if they can find it. As an Aussie, when the LotR movies came out, I kept expecting Faramir to suddenly shout, "Bloody knew it--too much chilli!" 🤣
The only problem I have with the way Faramir was portrayed is that he was a much stronger character in the book. David Wenham did a great job, and it wasn't his fault that Faramir was given short shrift in the script.
@@YKB1966 I didn't mind the changes to Faramir in the movie (though a lot of people disliked them). They were needed to inject some more character drama and conflict. Taking the Ring to Osgiliath does cause some plot problems, though. The changes to Saruman annoyed me much more. He's a lot more interesting in the books, trying to play both sides like a corrupt politician. In the movie he's just a cardboard bad guy. 🙄
This film won 11 Academy Awards, out of 11 nominations. It is tied for the most Academy Awards of any film. It is a master class on how to make a film.
Yes and not only that, the trilogy has reaped almost 500 awards out of 800 nominations making the trilogy the most awarded films in the entire history of cinema.
17:02 The flowers growing on the fallen statue are very important in the book. They help give the hobbits hope. This scene occurs in Mordor (as opposed to earlier, here, in the film). Even 'though the orcs have chopped the head off the statue of an old king and "scrawled all over it with their nasty writing" Frodo points out to Sam that "he wears a crown once more. They cannot conquer for ever." It's actually a really beautifully written scene where the hobbits have all but lost hope and are hunkering down to eat a quick lunch before continuing their journey. If anything, the return of the crown foreshadows the actual return of the king.
What’s most amazing about that, is that while this movie is tied with “Titanic” and “Ben-Hur” for the most awards won by one film - but in this case, it was a clean sweep: this movie won every award it was nominated for.
@@meganega123 Maybe not “better” - there are cases, such as when two actors in the same movie are nominated for the same award, when a clean sweep is impossible- but it’s a nice little record to have on the books.
It's fun watching the two of you together! Theoden's line, "but we will meet them in battle nonetheless" isn't the defeatist message many viewers think. Tolkien deliberately uses this speech to connect with the old Anglo-Saxon virtue of courage in the face of overwhelming odds. In the book (which works somewhat differently than the movie), Eomer says, "Out of doubt, out of dark, to the day's rising / I came singing in the sun, sword unsheathing. / To hope's end I rode and to heart's breaking: / Now for wrath, now for ruin and a red nightfall!"
It's interesting having Cassie get the experience that usually her audience gets, getting to see someone else's first time watching. I think that's what the attraction of reaction videos is; you can only ever see something for the first time once, but you get a taste of that magic again when you see or share in someone else getting to enjoy that same experience which you so loved.
Especially the Fellowship of the Cast featurettes - but I think the ladies would really get into the creation of the bigatures and how they were filmed. I saw the Gondor bigature at an exhibition in Te Papa and it's fricken *huge*. And incredibly detailed.
@@northwestkiwi7742 Another favorite of mine is Helm’s Deep, since they built a (almost) full size model, and they’re like “Okay, you’re driving in a modern city in New Zealand, just driving on and -oh there’s a medieval fortress in the hillside there.”
Makes me happy how you guys feel for and root for Faramir! And how Cassie said that Boromir believed in him. And it's true!! Boromir is one my favorite characters because he represents how even the best of us can't be trusted with the Ring. Thank you Cassie for welcoming your sister to our fellowship of fans!
One thing that the movies left out about Denethor was that he had one of the seeing stones - similar to the one that Gandalf took from Pippin. Denethor constantly saw visions of the destruction of his own people in the seeing stone, and it drove him mad - hence the reason for his behavior.
Both Billy and Dominic have excellent singing voices. As a matter of fact, Billy wrote the beautiful little snippet of song he sings for Denethor as Pippin in the film.
That's it. This is officially the best reaction on the best movie reaction channel on UA-cam. Cassie has become so knowledgeable about LOTR in such a short amount of time, and both of you are so enthusiastic and insightful. It's amazing to watch both of you discover this amazing series, and observe a surprising amount of nuance. It's also fun to cheer with you both when good things happen. I cannot wait for Part 2. Instant click.
@@PopcornInBed It's a pleasure to have watched since your Back to the Future reactions. It's been fun to see you learn and grow, understand more and more movie references as you see more of the great films, and to see my favorite films with new eyes. I've especially enjoyed your MCU reactions! Thank you for further enriching my own appreciation of my favorite films through your new and ever evolving perspective!
Seeing you both enjoy these movies, warms my old beating heart. The fact that you remember the lore and characters is what makes these reactions so awesome. You can tell that your enjoyment is genuine. Love it.
The opening scene with Smeagol and Deagol was originally intended to be in The Two Towers, right after Frodo reminds Gollum that his name was Smeagol in the Dead Marshes. There are even a pair of vestigial lines, one in the Dead Marshes, when Gollum remembers his real name, and one at the end of the prologue scene where he says, "We even forgot our name" just before the Nazgul flies overhead.
Yet it works so well at the beginning of Return of the King, and resonates so much with what happens at the end. Seriously one of the most disturbing and tragic scenes ever.
It's a reference to the Old Testament, when Cain slew Able. Just another warning to the reader/watcher, that even in a fantasy land, if it can happen in our world, it can happen in Middle Earth.
I wouldn't mind seeing Cassie's reaction to ALL the behind the scenes. When I used to own the series, I watched every single DVD and it was epic on what Weta was able to achieve.
The part were Eowyn tells Aragorn about a great wave coming and she couldn't do anything, is actually a true concurring nightmare Tolkien himself professed to have, he called it the Atlantis syndrome because he was from the UK, an island. This line was one of the few odes to him sprinkled inside the films out of respect for his amazing legacy.
Arise, arise, riders of Théoden! Spears shall be shaken, shields shall be splintered! A sword day, a red day, ere the sun rises! Ride now! Ride now! Ride! Ride for ruin and the world’s ending! Death! Death!
Seeing Cassie explaining all the events, names, places to her sister, made me kinda proud. She has come so far :D And then an Evenstar necklace to boot :) - one of us - - one of us - :D
The scene where Gandalf rides off to Minas Tirith with Pippin is the first time in the three movies that the two Hobbits are not only separated, but not even in the same scene.
This particular film won 14 Academy Awards. There were no best actor awards due to the fact that there were too many great performances done in this but the fact that it swept the Oscars is a statement unto itself for there was never before anything fantasy oriented to ever do that before.
@@DJLtravelvids A pity, because some of those awards definitely deserved to be won multiple times, as opposed to handing them down to whichever random movies “won” them instead All the more evidence to prove just how arbitrarily political these Oscars can really be
More excellent character work from Viggo: *Hidalgo (2004)* - Held yearly for centuries, the Ocean of Fire--a 3,000 mile race across the Arabian desert--was a challenge restricted to the finest Arabian horses ever bred, the purest and noblest lines, owned by the greatest royal families. In 1890, a wealthy sheik invited an American, Frank T. Hopkins, and his horse to enter the race for the first time. During the course of his career, Hopkins was a cowboy and dispatch rider for the U.S. cavalry--and had once been billed as the greatest rider the West had ever known. The Sheik puts his claim to the test, pitting the American cowboy and his mustang, Hidalgo, against the world's greatest Arabian horses and Bedouin riders--some of whom are determined to prevent a foreigner from finishing the race. For Frank, the Ocean of Fire becomes not only a matter of pride and honor, but a race for his very survival as he and his horse attempt the impossible.
You two trying to remember the names of Faramir and Grima, is absolutely killing me right now 😆 "Fffff-a ffff-a farison". "Grammy", "Gimri" "Glimey" "Grimey" "Grimace" "Grimmy?" 🤣🤣 Absolutely fantastic reaction, guys ❤
There's a bit of background to Eowyn sleeping in the hall. She's actually sleeping with her feet toward the fire to know when it's going out. Remember, starting a fire before the invention of matches was a tedious task.
Exactly! I heat with a wood stove in the winter, and I crawl out of bed every two - three hours to add wood to the fire to keep it going. Anyone who has never had to keep a fire going for heat has never experienced the fact that it's work. And it's a lot easier when there are multiple people to take turns keeping it going. In my mind, I can see Eowyn as chatelaine of the hall, which she was, sending tired servants off to bed and taking the last few hours of the night herself to allow them to rest. The fact, by the way, that she is the chatelaine - or overseer - of the hall, is why I loathe the scene portraying her as a "bad cook" on the journey to Helms Deep. It's simply impossible. She would have been over seeing the kitchens and the food for the hall since her mother's passing, and I guarantee she could cook and manage a kitchen! So that is the one scene that falls absolutely flat for me. It does her great disservice.
We'll probably never see a movie set like these three ever again. I can't imagine what could top this in the genre. That's why I like watching people I know would never enjoy this sort of literature, see these films. It is fun, and Steve Jackson nailed it. Kept to the story and painted it as best he could.
Andy Serkis, who does the voice and body movement of Gollum/Smeagol AND is seen in the first scene of this movie as Smeagol, does the audio version of the books. And he does ALL the voices. The man is amazing.
You should def watch the behind the scenes making of featurettes for the trilogy!! There's probably 30 hours of content to watch and it's all amazing, a real masterclass on making a movie.
@@Yggdrasil42 You can either buy the extended DVDs/Blurays but a decent chunk of them are also on UA-cam, just look up 'LOTR appendices' and you'll find a playlist
“Why were they so easily corrupted?” They weren’t. That’s normal levels of corruption for the Ring. The Fellowship were all stronger in mind, but even they weren’t immune to its effects. Smeagol and Deagol show just how quickly the Ring can turn best friends against each other in a heart beat in normal circumstances.
YES!!!! It's here! I have been HAUNTING your channel waiting for the joint ROTK reaction to drop, and I am NOT disappointed! canNOT wait for part two! EXCELLENT!
One thing about Saruman that the movies didn't explicitly mention, though they tried to imply, is that his voice was very powerful, he could charm and hypnotize people simply by talking to them even without chanting spells, that's why Gandalf said he's dangerous even in defeat and there was tention when he asked peace of Theoden, who also was previously under his influence. Also the statues weren't made in the size portrayed in the film, but like many things in these movies like cities and places, miniatures were made for filming (miniatures meaning they could be several meters tall, but still not as tall as mountains), making them seem way more realistic than CGI and giving the director the chance of shooting great shots with them from whichever perspective he thought more artful.
One thing I love about LOTR is they had a whole stable of top notch crafts people that made everything from clothes to swords to whatever they needed. Some of those things were works of art.
confession time! your original LOTR reaction is my total favorite..☺️ in my book, it's the quintessential "first time 'lotr' reaction" on the platform.. 😻 so, getting a new LoTR reaction from a wizened, seasoned cinemaphile version of Cassie, _AND_ Carly's first time ever? 😲 I gotta admit, watching you guide Carley through the trilogy with your sharpened silver screen insight, warms my hardened cynical heart, 🤣 .. the enduring glow of brotherly pride.. 🥲
Fun fact: when Saruman is being stabbed, sir Christopher lee told them how someone being stabbed sounds like from his experience in war, therefore his lack of sound as a reaction of being stabbed is super realistic to how it would be in real life. Also the reason denethor is really grumpy in the books is because he had one of the seeing stones like Saruman did, and he was constantly looking at it and seeing Sauron’s plans and by the time Gandalf gets there, he is already broken and lost all hope.
Christopher Lee served with, among other people, Ian Fleming, who wrote the James Bond books. The kind of stuff he was involved in during WWII was kept secret for 50 years or more (the way no one knew about Alan Turing’s involvement in breaking Enigma until the 1990s - which brings up “The Imitation Game” - definitely worth a watch.)
I wish they hadn't left that detail out of the movies. They show how Sauron tries to manipulate the viewer (showing Aragorn a dying Arwen), I wish they had given Denethor a little more motive for his "evil" rather than just bad dad.
the seeing stones, Palantiri, are part of a set of 7 that were taken out of Numenor just before it was destroyed. one is known to have been in Sauron's control since Minas Ithil became Minas Morgul when the Nazgul took it over.
You 2 are priceless together, in your reactions. Can not wait to see part 2 (And Cassie knows the part I'm really looking forward to watching with you 2.... "My Friends.....you b.....")
I replayed several times you guys simultaneous "Yes!" in response to Rohan answering the call. Very sisterly and wholesome lol. Also, I loled at Cassie saying Grimace trying to guess Grima Wormtongue's name LOL.
I think you both will love the movie "Somewhere In Time" (1980). It stars Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour. It is a great love story with a haunting soundtrack by John Barry. It was the first music he wrote after the passing of his parents and the emotion in the music can be overpowering with the love story. This is kinda sci-fi because of the timey-whimey stuff. If you liked Superman then you should check it out for sure!
The range of emotions evoked even after so many viewings is a testament to the artists who created this trio of wonders. Thoroughly enjoyable reaction as always.
I can't tell you how much I love you both, the best sisters in the whole world, every time I'm down in the dumps, the moment I see you, all the worries disappear, love to watch you talking, reacting to the movies, the whole package is just wonderful. Keep doing what you doing and never change.
daaaang cassie getting all fangirly with the evenstar, is making me go fangirling over cassie :D ... + i love how you respect the journey of your sister and dont spoil too much for her + and i thank you for releasing the parts not too far apart from each other. gives me the feeling of respect from you, not having to wait 2 weeks in between f.o. part 2 and part 3..!!!!
I love that you noticed "young master gandalf", it's one of my favorite details in the movie. I don't think it ever mentions that Treebeard is "the oldest living being on earth"
The bit I love in the books is that when Denethor pulls the "yes, I wish that." line on Faramir, Faramir retorts with "I would ask then, that you remember who it was that sent Boromir on that fateful journey."
"You may wanna, uh, look away." 'splat' "Yeah." **heave** Seing Cassie protect little sis. And Carly already having her hands ready to cover her eyes. So very wholesome. I truly love it. (Many guys would probably be like "Oh, check this out!" regardless of the feelings of whoever they watch it with.)
Great capture of extended scenes I actually do not recall! Amazing! Gotta rewatch in full! "Bad Dad" needs to be a t-shirt. Carly calls it accurately, too! And should field lead a garrison!Zigzag, exactly!
I've watched every lord of the rings episode with these sisters and I love them so much. As a major lord of the rings fan, I find so much joy seeing people who are new to the films enjoy the epicness and beauty of them. It's so thrilling I feel like im with them with a bag of popcorn watching it all for the first time. Thanks for such amazing content on this rainy Monday morning as I sit by the fire
Theodin and Denathor are more understood when you realise they both lose sons, but rather than falling into despair Theodin fights, whereas Denathor falls deeper into despair, because he has one of those orbs (Palantir) and has looked into it and seen Frodo captured and loses all hope.
Yes, Denethor comes across as an unlikable villain, when really he was a simply a fallen man. He had been driven into despair, as you say, and the events depicted are Denethor at his wits ends after being driven to essentially madness. Sure, he gave into pride and stepped beyond his authority, and thus ensnared himself, but all men have a breaking point and his grief and fear were his downfall. I also don't like how they treated Faramir. He was one of the very few, along with Aragorn, that actually refused the Ring outright, and I paraphrase '' .. not even were I to find this thing [the Ring] by the wayside would I take it..'' And he was True to that word and let Frodo go, and did not take him to Osgiliath. It hints that there was enough Dunedain blood in Faramir as to make him worthy of Kingship.
The connection goes even deeper than that. Both have lost sons but both also have living heirs that they both do not consider to be worthy. Theodin has Eomer and Denethor had Faramir. Yes Denethor loses hope by trusting in the Palantir and this was also covered in detail in the extras. The Palantir always tell the truth but just like Galadriel's mirror they aren't to be trusted to gauge future action as they tend to lead people to the wrong conclusion. They covered this quite well with the Palantir that were still out there and what people were seeing at the time. They all saw a piece of the truth and made assumptions on that and assumed wrong every time.
@@Stubbies2003 Denethor is in much the same position as Theoden had been; Gandalf was able to drive Sarumans influence out of Theoden, but Denethor had greater pride and prestige and power and proximity to Sauron, and thus fell further into despair and Gandalf could not make him see reason. Bearing in mind Theoden had been playing mnd games directly with Sauron, as Saruman had earlier. None but the True King, Aragorn, could hope to directly contend, mind to mind, with Sauron. Fate and predestiny, and providence and all that. The chief wrong Denethor committed was overstepping his legitimate authority, and refusing to accept the legitimate king.
As my wife and I suffered through chemo together...I had Lymphoma she had breast cancer... This trilogy was one of our escapes....we watched over and over .My wife passed away from her breast cancer which was very aggressive....I survived...so far.....I still watch this trilogy at least 5 times a year..... brings me such memories
Wow! I became a patron (again) just to see all three. I was going to wait until I saw the first two with Carly joining you. Just finished FOTR but I guess the Two Towers will have to wait! 😂
That's not how Saruman dies in the books. He actually takes over the Shire for awhile until he's dispatched by Grima. This is actually a welcome change. One thing that I'd like to mention because Saruman mentioned that Aragorn will never be King of Gondor. In the films its basically implied that Aragorn doesn't want to be King, but that's not the case in the books. He has a claim but the nobles of Gondor won't recognize it. After the destruction of the Island of Numenor (The greatest Human kingdom ever, basically their Egypt, Greece, and Rome combined) the survivors went to the mainland and created the Kingdoms of Arnor and Gondor. They were ruled by the High King Elendil who you saw at the begining of the first movie when he's killed by Sauron. When he died the Kingdom of Arnor went to his son Isildur and Gondor went to Anarion. (I could be mistaken and its the other way around but i think thats right). After Isildur died Arnor and Gondor became independant from each other and thats really where the issue starts. Eventually Arnor fractured into smaller kingdoms until it crumbled but they were able to keep the royal bloodline alive , hence Aragorn. Eventually the line of Kings failed in Gondor and the rule of the country went to a noble family as Stewards. So even though Aragorn has a direct line connecting him to Isildur and his father Elendil the Stewards don't care, saying Arnor and Gondor were independant. So Aragorn couldn't just show up and say "Hey I wanna be king now!". He had to earn it, thats why reforging Narsil was so important, and his actions throughout the entire story as well. After that and the death of the last Steward Denethor, noone could deny his claim (or even want to). After the war of the ring when Aragorn is crowned and takes a new name. Elessar, the High King of Arnor and Gondor. The first one since Elendil. I simplified this as much as I could to keep it a reasonable size. So if I skiped over something thats why.
Most of the massive epic buildings, the pillars in the last movie etc are basically miniatures, except MASSIVE. They called em bigatures when making the movie (cus they're BIG miniatures)
There's nothing, really nothing, like the power of a fantastically good story..thanks to everyone..well written, well scripted, well acted, well directed..well done!😊
Yeah, Tolkien uses the actual word “tobacco” multiple times in LOTR and The Hobbit to identify the stuff. Peter Jackson was having his little fun with it and I doubt Tolkien would’ve been amused, he would’ve considered that an insult to his beloved pipe tobacco.
The statues, cities etc are a mix of large set pieces, miniatures (the statues were about as tall as a human if I remember right maybe a little smaller, and cgi. One of the things that made LoTR so great was it wasn’t full of cgi it was a perfect mix of practical effects with a small amount of cgi mixed in when necessary
All four hobbits came to town for Steel City Con, and I got to be in the panel room for theirs. It was PURE. MAGIC. Elijah Wood just sits and giggles while the others joke and tell stories. It was like being in the Green Dragon.
The steward was way more noble and mighty in the books. Not to mention he contended wills with Sauron for decades nonstop and ontop of that even now he was never broken nor could Sauron alter what Denethor would see in the palantir even then he couldn’t control what Denethor had control of which was how he chose to interpret the visions given to him. Using it all to Gondor’s advantage! ❤ he also lit the beacons and got the women and children far away from the city longer ahead of time. So the movie butchered him as well as faramir but they didn’t butcher faramir as badly thankfully. He could have been shown to give Pippen his newest order to light the beacons so then it wouldn’t change the scene much at all as presented! The story here is Faramir’s birth ended up killing his mother Finduilas which was a Numenorean woman of the Faithful which her ancestors survived the Kataklysm of Númenor by the way! He was hurt deeply by her death. But also Aragorn when he went by the name gifted to him as Thorongil Denethor’s father basically overshadowing him from his own father so he is as psychology goes: treated Boromir the same way his father treated Aragorn/Thorongil. Note that Boromir and Faramir are half Numenorean which is a big thing as far as the legendarium goes!
I love that both sisters are baffled by the strong attraction of the ring but then Aragorn appears are they are both like "My Preciousssss"
lmao
You crushed that pitch right out of the ballpark! :)
And Faramir is so poorly regarded by the ladies that they don't even remember his name at first.
@@PiraticalBob Faramir sucks, they should have kept Boromir, his character was so good & relatable + Sean Bean is a superior actor in every level
They're not sisters.
This was my wife's and my favorite movie(s) to watch. We would travel together through Middle Earth at least 3 or 4 times a year.
She passed away from cancer in November. It warms my heart to see other people enjoy the journey as much as we did and I look forward to seeing her again when my ship leaves the Grey Havens for the Undying Lands.
Condolences.
My heart goes out to you and yours. God bless.
A dear friend of mine passed away November 30 from cancer. That was yesterday to me! (((((((Deepest condolences on the loss of your wife. I hope you know she’s with you every time you think of her.))))))))
She might need a recovery time. Just know she’s there in the tiny things.
💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌼🌼🌼
Very sorry for your loss 🙏
My heartfelt condolences 💐💙
The best thing about watching these reaction vids a second time around is seeing Cassie in LOTR total convert mode...observing the joy of watching her introducing Carly to the franchise; sharing the secret, so to speak.
Look at her remembering all the names, and perfecting her pronunciations. She just needs to read the books, and she's a fan for life.
So true!
"sharing the secret"....the secret of one of the most famous trilogies of all time. Some secret.
As a recent convert to The Lord of the Rings love myself, it’s not a secret that it was a fantastic trilogy.
But that it’s such a moving and wonderful experience.
I agree, I've watched it and read it many times and enjoy seeing others watch it for the 1st time, now if I could just get my wife to watch it with me I'd be happy.
That beacon scene was absolutely mind-blowing in the theater. I will never forget it. Never.
In the book it was just a reciting of the beacon locations between Gondor and Rohan. I didn't know how they would translate to film and was amazed at how they showed each one being lit. One small thing I thought the movie did better.
Especially in the mountains.
And when Aragorn comes and says, "Gondor asks for aid."
Theoden pauses. He is like, "Why? Did they help us?"
Then he realises who is a actually asking for aid,
Not Gondor, but Aragorn, Son of Arathorn, Rightful King of Gondor and most importantly, The Hero of Helm's Deep.
That's when Theoden says"And Rohan will answer."
Absolutely. Big screen spectacular.
The way Eowyn was sleeping in the hall after the party is typical from maidens in meadhalls. She kept her feet out, so when the fire in the pit started to die down, the cold would wake her up, and she would put more logs and re-lit it again. Very common in Norse and Anglo-Saxon cultures ...
Wow. That's an amazing detail that I did not know about.
Very cool, pity you made that up.
Seems like it'd put an awful krink in her neck, the next day.
That's such a cool fact, thanks!
*Quentin Tarantino has entered the chat*
"She rides for love..." put a tear in my eye. You ladies get it.
It's kinda naughty as well😂
I see what you did there 😉😜
The city of minas tirith was a miniature, but rather enormous as miniatures go. The giant statues were made in a similar fashion along with sets like isengard and helm's deep. So yes, they did 'make' those structures but they used in-camera staging to make the minis look like huge cities and fortresses.
Rivendell was mostly a big miniature and matte paintings, that's part of why it looks so picturesque: it literally is.
The Star Wars prequels and Spider-Man movies also had quite a bit of this. They were all releasing in between one another, so they helped advance the others' use of this technology. Sad we haven't seen it in recent years
They called them 'bigatures' on the DVD docs.
The production used a big quarry and constructed the exterior sets for the Battle of Helm's Deep into the rock of the quarry. When filming for T2T was finished, they tore down Helm's Deep and constructed a similar set for Minas Tirith. They used "big-a-tures" and other techniques too. And after the filming of Minas Tirith was over, they recycled some of the scenery into the ruins of Amon Sul (Weathertop) where Frodo was stabbed by the Nazgul in FOTR (remember, filming on all three movies proceeded simultaneously). Waste not, want not...
They actually coined the term “bigature” to describe the 12-foot tall “miniature” of Minas Tirith (and Isengard, and Barad Dur).
@@liljenborg2517 some parts were built to 1/3 scale. And some alleys full scale
It warms my heart to see Cassie turning into a huge LotR geek.
The geekdom won't be complete until these two delightful girls read the books though. Not nearly complete ... I prefer the original version to Peter Jackson's inventions and character assassinations.
Don't get too crazy until she does a book review. ;)
I'd give them my copies. But they are precious to me
@@philippalinton5850 PJ did a good job. The only people who really suffered under his adaption were Faramir’s character and Denethor’s to an extent. They almost made him seem evil. Other than that he did quite a good job.
@@philippalinton5850 You don't understand how movies work as opposed to books I see.
Every time your sister says "they didn't have to make the orcs that grotesque!" is reinforcement of exactly HOW GOOD the practical makeup fx were and how strong of an impact it makes of communicating how foul and twisted the orcs are.
They SHOULD make you grimace at how repulsive they are! haha
Worth remembering that Peter Jackson got his start doing gruesome B-movie horror films.
Yup. Orcs in the Hobbit movies and ROP look absolutely abysmal by comparison. An example of why not to use CGI or cheap practical in your epic.
@@kaijohnson5033 Hobbit orcs and goblins looked like cartoonish/comic book video game characters
@@kaijohnson5033 Everything in ROP looks so terrible, I honestly don't know where all the money went. I'm actually convinced that Jeff Bezos just used the project as a front to make a bunch of money disappear into some secret Cayman Islands bank account or something.
The most cute thing of this terrifying orcs are .............. in behind the scenes like: Lurtz actor have a flower on his hair chilling, a gondor's knight and an orc selfies in camera, then pair of orcs make a small orchestra fun time! 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Fun Fact: Saruman (Christopher Lee) was the only member of the production who actually met J. R. R. Tolkien.
Also, that scene of Gandalf (Ian McKellen) sitting in the courtyard, after Faramir's (David Wenham) apparent death is one of the most beautiful and heart-wrenching images of the films. It's very much like a Rembrandt painting and sums up just how much Gandalf loved Faramir as his student, possibly giving him some of what Denethor failed to give as a father. I'd imagine much of the spiritual toughness and resiliency of Faramir came from learning at the knee of an angel.
Also fun fact, when Saruman gets stabbed by Grima, Peter Jackson was giving direction to Christopher Lee about how he should be more vocal, like cry out in pain from the stab, and C. Lee was like... "do you know what happens when you stab a man in the back? he doesn't cry out, he gasps as the shock of the pain hits him" and Peter Jackson was like, "um, okay, sure, you do it your way," because C. Lee actually had experience killing people like that from WWII.
@@blackbenetavo7715 Amazing,didn't know that fact.
Thats the mark of a great director,building trust.Beautiful.
I love that description of that scene, thank you!
My primary school teacher when I was about 6 or 7 had met JRR Tolkien. She’d studied at Oxford when he was there. I was very impressed when my mother had read the Hobbit to me and I was just starting LOTR.
Aragorn: Gondor calls for aid!
Theoden: And Rohan shall answer.
Sisters in sync: Yes!!
That was everything 😅
Seeing Cassie in an Evenstar necklace is so touching. It's as if I'm watching your own character arc be fulfilled, from age 12 and too unsettled to watch Fellowship to now, when you adore the message of these films and are delighted to share something so marvelous with your loved ones.
Cassie “It’s ok, we’re going to go to elf land soon, don’t worry”
Aww what a nice sister lol ❤
Yes I roared with laughter watching Cassie trying to protect Carly from the graphic moments.
They really are sweet sisters
🥰 👯♀️
Elf land is really middle earth/Arda. Valinor is just a part of the world that used to be a part of an entirely different landmass of that doesn’t exist anymore prior to the first age. The Valar brought as many to Valinor to protect them from Morgoth when he was at his peak of his destructive machinations.
@@Makkaru112 Actually, most of the elves went to Valinor before Morgoth. Many of them returned to Middle Earth after he stole the Silmarils to try to help get them back. They only started returning to Valinor after the fall of Morgoth and the breaking of the land.
13:20 This part always gets me, because Elrond has lived this already. He chose to be immortal while his brother chose not to be, and he's lived with that for thousands of years.
and not just lived with him dying, but his brother's children, and their children, all the way down the line until his great (6000 years worth of greats) grand nephew starts romancing his daughter
@@oleub23 8000 to be exact. Check out Tolkien untangled regarding Elronds epic story which even that video and his amazing mastery of prose brings the video flying even further through the goal post. The title is something like “Elronds epic character history” then the thumbnail has an epic artwork of Elrond with the caption saying “it’s a sad/tragic story”
The movies did a pretty poor job of explaining the whole "elf chooses to be mortal" thing, I don't think casual viewers understand that it's an option virtually exclusive to Luthien and Elrond's family.
@@Ghastly1 yup. Based on the movie the assumption is that all elves can do it if they give away their special necklace or something.
But honestly. How does the movie explain that without bogging down or distracting from the story at hand.
If Elrond says a few sentences to explain it then it might become more confusing.
@@Ghastly1 Thanks for that!
In the books, Denethor was a great man and leader but he was also poisoned by the palentir. His strength was shown by the fact that he was not completely overtaken by Sauron.
The best Sauron was able to do is force Denethor to only see Saurons strength and growing armies but not anything that would give him hope. To be fair, up until a few weeks ago, Denothor would have seen his closest ally Rohan was run by a senile king under the spell of someone who was supposed to be the great expert on Saurons strengths and who betrayed Middle Earth to align with him, the Elves all fleeing to the west, the Dwarves either holed up or under siege, and even Gondors vassals not unified and the capital of his kingdom falling back into enemy hands.
And his own forces exhausted by having been fighting back Mordor for years with no help.
He is despairing and without hope, a wise man who sees no way to win, only dying slowly or quickly.
@@MandoWookie well put
Yes, it’s kind of sad that his madness didn’t get a deeper explanation in the movie. It’s one of the very few times that the movie trilogy makes a character more shallow than in the book
Sauron found it easier to manipulate Saruman than Denethor.
Denethor had some claim to the palantiri unlike Saruman and that means a lot in middle earth.
My favorite part about Pippin's song is that it's part of a song that Bilbo wrote, and probably taught all the younger hobbits. The implication being that, faced with all this doom and despair, Pippin decided to cope by thinking back to his childhood in the Shire, listening to "Uncle Bilbo" tell stories and sing happy songs around the fire under the Party Tree.
It was sung in a different manner in a different part of the book. And is much longer. This was beautiful but one more way they took liberties. One of the better butcheries.
@@ShifuCareaga "butcheries"
@@yoslo2117 Self declared purists are never happy.
@@yoslo2117 eg. The Old Man Willow scene. Eg. The giant Dune worm. Eg. Galadriel carrying Gandalf. Eg. The Amazon nonsense.
@@ShifuCareaga None of them are butcheries, well except the Amazon crap that aint even Middle Earth, dont know what crap they tried to make
Just to point out the actor that plays Faramir also played Dilios (the story teller) in 300 you recently reacted to. That guy can deliver a line of dialog like no one else!
David Wenham is a treasure, he plays good, bad, and comedic characters all equally fantastically ❤
The actor, David Wenham, first became famous in Australia for his role as 'Diver Dan' in the comedy-drama TV show Seachange. It's about a single mum with two kids who moves from a hectic city to a small coastal community and struggles to fit in. I reckon both Cassie and Carly would enjoy it, if they can find it.
As an Aussie, when the LotR movies came out, I kept expecting Faramir to suddenly shout, "Bloody knew it--too much chilli!"
🤣
The only problem I have with the way Faramir was portrayed is that he was a much stronger character in the book. David Wenham did a great job, and it wasn't his fault that Faramir was given short shrift in the script.
@@YKB1966 I didn't mind the changes to Faramir in the movie (though a lot of people disliked them). They were needed to inject some more character drama and conflict. Taking the Ring to Osgiliath does cause some plot problems, though.
The changes to Saruman annoyed me much more. He's a lot more interesting in the books, trying to play both sides like a corrupt politician. In the movie he's just a cardboard bad guy. 🙄
He was also the narrator of the SpikeTV series "The Deadliest Warrior" and he was awesome in that.
When Theoden says, No we cannot. But we will meet them in battle nonetheless. Man..that line.....A man's man.
This film won 11 Academy Awards, out of 11 nominations. It is tied for the most Academy Awards of any film. It is a master class on how to make a film.
Yes and not only that, the trilogy has reaped almost 500 awards out of 800 nominations making the trilogy the most awarded films in the entire history of cinema.
17:02 The flowers growing on the fallen statue are very important in the book. They help give the hobbits hope. This scene occurs in Mordor (as opposed to earlier, here, in the film). Even 'though the orcs have chopped the head off the statue of an old king and "scrawled all over it with their nasty writing" Frodo points out to Sam that "he wears a crown once more. They cannot conquer for ever." It's actually a really beautifully written scene where the hobbits have all but lost hope and are hunkering down to eat a quick lunch before continuing their journey. If anything, the return of the crown foreshadows the actual return of the king.
My bad. It's close 'though.
Winner of 11 Oscars including Best Picture!
It was the last time I cared about watching the Oscars.
Only Oscar party I ever attended!
What’s most amazing about that, is that while this movie is tied with “Titanic” and “Ben-Hur” for the most awards won by one film - but in this case, it was a clean sweep: this movie won every award it was nominated for.
@@gerstelb so it's better to be nominated for 11 Oscars and winning 11 than to be nominated for 12 Oscars and winning 11?
@@meganega123 Maybe not “better” - there are cases, such as when two actors in the same movie are nominated for the same award, when a clean sweep is impossible- but it’s a nice little record to have on the books.
It's fun watching the two of you together! Theoden's line, "but we will meet them in battle nonetheless" isn't the defeatist message many viewers think. Tolkien deliberately uses this speech to connect with the old Anglo-Saxon virtue of courage in the face of overwhelming odds. In the book (which works somewhat differently than the movie), Eomer says, "Out of doubt, out of dark, to the day's rising / I came singing in the sun, sword unsheathing. / To hope's end I rode and to heart's breaking: / Now for wrath, now for ruin and a red nightfall!"
Northern Heroic Spirit: Resistance in the face of certain defeat.
It is defeatist. A righteous kind.
"For death and glory?"
"For Rohan."
They make Theoden a total glory hound in these films, it is incredibly annoying. Nobody would want to follow an officer like that.
@@Jon.A.Scholt The Vikings sure would. And Norse mythology played an enormous part in Tolkien’s vision and creation.
Fun fact, since you are surprised by Aragon's age. At the time of the War of the Ring, Legolas is almost 3000 years old.
And Galadriel is older than the sun 🌞
It's interesting having Cassie get the experience that usually her audience gets, getting to see someone else's first time watching. I think that's what the attraction of reaction videos is; you can only ever see something for the first time once, but you get a taste of that magic again when you see or share in someone else getting to enjoy that same experience which you so loved.
Well said lil bro
Exactly this, well said.
The Behind the Scenes documentaries of each movie are just as enjoyable as the movies themselves!
Especially the Fellowship of the Cast featurettes - but I think the ladies would really get into the creation of the bigatures and how they were filmed.
I saw the Gondor bigature at an exhibition in Te Papa and it's fricken *huge*. And incredibly detailed.
@@northwestkiwi7742 Another favorite of mine is Helm’s Deep, since they built a (almost) full size model, and they’re like “Okay, you’re driving in a modern city in New Zealand, just driving on and -oh there’s a medieval fortress in the hillside there.”
Makes me happy how you guys feel for and root for Faramir! And how Cassie said that Boromir believed in him. And it's true!! Boromir is one my favorite characters because he represents how even the best of us can't be trusted with the Ring. Thank you Cassie for welcoming your sister to our fellowship of fans!
One thing that the movies left out about Denethor was that he had one of the seeing stones - similar to the one that Gandalf took from Pippin. Denethor constantly saw visions of the destruction of his own people in the seeing stone, and it drove him mad - hence the reason for his behavior.
That was the correct reaction to “and Rohan will answer” 😂 that part just makes you want to cheer. Theoden is such a great character.
Both Billy and Dominic have excellent singing voices. As a matter of fact, Billy wrote the beautiful little snippet of song he sings for Denethor as Pippin in the film.
That verse is taken from a song sung by Pippin in the fellowship of the ring in the books.
That's it. This is officially the best reaction on the best movie reaction channel on UA-cam. Cassie has become so knowledgeable about LOTR in such a short amount of time, and both of you are so enthusiastic and insightful. It's amazing to watch both of you discover this amazing series, and observe a surprising amount of nuance. It's also fun to cheer with you both when good things happen. I cannot wait for Part 2. Instant click.
Wow, thank you so much for these kind words, so happy you’re here
@@PopcornInBed It's a pleasure to have watched since your Back to the Future reactions. It's been fun to see you learn and grow, understand more and more movie references as you see more of the great films, and to see my favorite films with new eyes. I've especially enjoyed your MCU reactions! Thank you for further enriching my own appreciation of my favorite films through your new and ever evolving perspective!
@@PopcornInBed Please tell Carly "Stop trying to make fetch happen" Regina George
Seeing you both enjoy these movies, warms my old beating heart. The fact that you remember the lore and characters is what makes these reactions so awesome. You can tell that your enjoyment is genuine. Love it.
The opening scene with Smeagol and Deagol was originally intended to be in The Two Towers, right after Frodo reminds Gollum that his name was Smeagol in the Dead Marshes. There are even a pair of vestigial lines, one in the Dead Marshes, when Gollum remembers his real name, and one at the end of the prologue scene where he says, "We even forgot our name" just before the Nazgul flies overhead.
Yet it works so well at the beginning of Return of the King, and resonates so much with what happens at the end. Seriously one of the most disturbing and tragic scenes ever.
It's a reference to the Old Testament, when Cain slew Able.
Just another warning to the reader/watcher, that even in a fantasy land, if it can happen in our world, it can happen in Middle Earth.
Like the story of Cain and Abel isn't fantasy 😂
Can we just take a moment to appreciate the majesty of Carly's pony tail?
I wouldn't mind seeing Cassie's reaction to ALL the behind the scenes. When I used to own the series, I watched every single DVD and it was epic on what Weta was able to achieve.
Did you watch the commentaries? I watched all of them back to back once... That was a marathon...
@@feldegast I did! I watched the behind the scenes then commentaries on the special edition versions. They deserved all the Oscars and awards.
@@AneudiD78 arnt they amazing 😃 Lord of the Rings should have got more awards! The Oscar's routinely ignores fantasy 😠
The part were Eowyn tells Aragorn about a great wave coming and she couldn't do anything, is actually a true concurring nightmare Tolkien himself professed to have, he called it the Atlantis syndrome because he was from the UK, an island. This line was one of the few odes to him sprinkled inside the films out of respect for his amazing legacy.
Arise, arise, riders of Théoden! Spears shall be shaken, shields shall be splintered! A sword day, a red day, ere the sun rises! Ride now! Ride now! Ride! Ride for ruin and the world’s ending! Death! Death!
DEAATTHHH!
Well that would be a nice thing to post … on the NEXT video.
@@Big_Tex I post it on every UA-cam video I watch.
Seeing Cassie explaining all the events, names, places to her sister, made me kinda proud. She has come so far :D And then an Evenstar necklace to boot :) - one of us - - one of us - :D
The scene where Gandalf rides off to Minas Tirith with Pippin is the first time in the three movies that the two Hobbits are not only separated, but not even in the same scene.
This particular film won 14 Academy Awards. There were no best actor awards due to the fact that there were too many great performances done in this but the fact that it swept the Oscars is a statement unto itself for there was never before anything fantasy oriented to ever do that before.
11
@@Big_Tex Oops. That what I once heard, though maybe the first 2 had some that made a total of 14 ah well thanks for the correction
The trilogy was nominated for 30 Oscars and won 17. I'm sure they just waited till the end rather than give them a clean sweep every year.
@@DJLtravelvids
A pity, because some of those awards definitely deserved to be won multiple times, as opposed to handing them down to whichever random movies “won” them instead
All the more evidence to prove just how arbitrarily political these Oscars can really be
It won 11 awards, the total it was nominated for. It swept.
Whenever something not nice comes on screen Cassie has to pat Carly’s lap and reassure her “it’s ok… we’ll go to elf land soon” 😂😂
More excellent character work from Viggo: *Hidalgo (2004)* - Held yearly for centuries, the Ocean of Fire--a 3,000 mile race across the Arabian desert--was a challenge restricted to the finest Arabian horses ever bred, the purest and noblest lines, owned by the greatest royal families. In 1890, a wealthy sheik invited an American, Frank T. Hopkins, and his horse to enter the race for the first time. During the course of his career, Hopkins was a cowboy and dispatch rider for the U.S. cavalry--and had once been billed as the greatest rider the West had ever known. The Sheik puts his claim to the test, pitting the American cowboy and his mustang, Hidalgo, against the world's greatest Arabian horses and Bedouin riders--some of whom are determined to prevent a foreigner from finishing the race. For Frank, the Ocean of Fire becomes not only a matter of pride and honor, but a race for his very survival as he and his horse attempt the impossible.
An underrated film.
You two trying to remember the names of Faramir and Grima, is absolutely killing me right now 😆
"Fffff-a ffff-a farison". "Grammy", "Gimri" "Glimey" "Grimey" "Grimace" "Grimmy?" 🤣🤣
Absolutely fantastic reaction, guys ❤
You should follow Cassie on Instagram! Here's the names edit: instagram.com/reel/CnNsp1eIelk/
I been looking forward to this for so long, I love when you two react together it's so wholesome💯👏🏾
It's hilarious seeing the two of you try to remember all the names. 😃
Well, who can forget the evil Grimace Wormtongue, that purple teller of lies?
@@Compound97 Lol you had me there!
@@Compound97 Yes. Grimace, whose heart was as cold as a triple-thick chocolate shake.
Imagine them trying to remember all of the names in the Silmarillion. Even my brain goes cross eyed with those😅
@@Compound97 Grimace Wormtongue, or 'Grimey' as he liked to be called...
There's a bit of background to Eowyn sleeping in the hall. She's actually sleeping with her feet toward the fire to know when it's going out. Remember, starting a fire before the invention of matches was a tedious task.
Exactly! I heat with a wood stove in the winter, and I crawl out of bed every two - three hours to add wood to the fire to keep it going.
Anyone who has never had to keep a fire going for heat has never experienced the fact that it's work. And it's a lot easier when there are multiple people to take turns keeping it going.
In my mind, I can see Eowyn as chatelaine of the hall, which she was, sending tired servants off to bed and taking the last few hours of the night herself to allow them to rest.
The fact, by the way, that she is the chatelaine - or overseer - of the hall, is why I loathe the scene portraying her as a "bad cook" on the journey to Helms Deep. It's simply impossible. She would have been over seeing the kitchens and the food for the hall since her mother's passing, and I guarantee she could cook and manage a kitchen!
So that is the one scene that falls absolutely flat for me. It does her great disservice.
Okay you guys. My heart is so full watching you two fall in love with LOTR. The fact that you made "Gollum!" Noises absolutely killed me 😂
best re-assurance you can give your sister: "we'll go to elf land soon"
I will still forever love the theatrical release when it comes to the scene with the ghost army. It makes the later scene so much more awesome
We'll probably never see a movie set like these three ever again. I can't imagine what could top this in the genre. That's why I like watching people I know would never enjoy this sort of literature, see these films. It is fun, and Steve Jackson nailed it. Kept to the story and painted it as best he could.
Andy Serkis, who does the voice and body movement of Gollum/Smeagol AND is seen in the first scene of this movie as Smeagol, does the audio version of the books. And he does ALL the voices. The man is amazing.
You should def watch the behind the scenes making of featurettes for the trilogy!! There's probably 30 hours of content to watch and it's all amazing, a real masterclass on making a movie.
Where can we find that?
@@Yggdrasil42 You can either buy the extended DVDs/Blurays but a decent chunk of them are also on UA-cam, just look up 'LOTR appendices' and you'll find a playlist
“Why were they so easily corrupted?”
They weren’t. That’s normal levels of corruption for the Ring. The Fellowship were all stronger in mind, but even they weren’t immune to its effects. Smeagol and Deagol show just how quickly the Ring can turn best friends against each other in a heart beat in normal circumstances.
YES!!!! It's here! I have been HAUNTING your channel waiting for the joint ROTK reaction to drop, and I am NOT disappointed! canNOT wait for part two!
EXCELLENT!
Love that you 2 are getting into this. It unexpectedly pulls everyone in. These films are jaw dropping. Glad yall enjoyed them.
fun fact when Osgiliath was attacked , the guy handing out swords as they arrived is the grand son of JRR Tolkien the author of the books
This is definitely my favorite reaction channel by far💯
I personally have watched Cassie's reactions to lotr four times now!!
One thing about Saruman that the movies didn't explicitly mention, though they tried to imply, is that his voice was very powerful, he could charm and hypnotize people simply by talking to them even without chanting spells, that's why Gandalf said he's dangerous even in defeat and there was tention when he asked peace of Theoden, who also was previously under his influence.
Also the statues weren't made in the size portrayed in the film, but like many things in these movies like cities and places, miniatures were made for filming (miniatures meaning they could be several meters tall, but still not as tall as mountains), making them seem way more realistic than CGI and giving the director the chance of shooting great shots with them from whichever perspective he thought more artful.
I absolutely adore your reactions, and have literally been laughing out loud when you're both trying to remember names... "Grimy? Grimmy?" 😆 🤣 😂
One thing I love about LOTR is they had a whole stable of top notch crafts people that made everything from clothes to swords to whatever they needed. Some of those things were works of art.
What Aragorn said to Eowyn is the kindest way to say "It's not you, it's me"
confession time! your original LOTR reaction is my total favorite..☺️ in my book, it's the quintessential "first time 'lotr' reaction" on the platform.. 😻 so, getting a new LoTR reaction from a wizened, seasoned cinemaphile version of Cassie, _AND_ Carly's first time ever? 😲 I gotta admit, watching you guide Carley through the trilogy with your sharpened silver screen insight, warms my hardened cynical heart, 🤣 .. the enduring glow of brotherly pride.. 🥲
Fun fact: when Saruman is being stabbed, sir Christopher lee told them how someone being stabbed sounds like from his experience in war, therefore his lack of sound as a reaction of being stabbed is super realistic to how it would be in real life.
Also the reason denethor is really grumpy in the books is because he had one of the seeing stones like Saruman did, and he was constantly looking at it and seeing Sauron’s plans and by the time Gandalf gets there, he is already broken and lost all hope.
He would know. He served in the RAF, in military intelligence, and in special forces.
Christopher Lee served with, among other people, Ian Fleming, who wrote the James Bond books. The kind of stuff he was involved in during WWII was kept secret for 50 years or more (the way no one knew about Alan Turing’s involvement in breaking Enigma until the 1990s - which brings up “The Imitation Game” - definitely worth a watch.)
I wish they hadn't left that detail out of the movies. They show how Sauron tries to manipulate the viewer (showing Aragorn a dying Arwen), I wish they had given Denethor a little more motive for his "evil" rather than just bad dad.
the seeing stones, Palantiri, are part of a set of 7 that were taken out of Numenor just before it was destroyed. one is known to have been in Sauron's control since Minas Ithil became Minas Morgul when the Nazgul took it over.
You 2 are priceless together, in your reactions. Can not wait to see part 2 (And Cassie knows the part I'm really looking forward to watching with you 2.... "My Friends.....you b.....")
Best line in the entire series
@@robertj2085 LOL
@@evtyler Without a doubt. I tear up every fricken time, even though, I know its coming
That line chokes me up every time. Also, "I can't carry it for you Mr. Frodo, but ...".
@@johnjames6980 THAT's a keeper too......with the music score, gads, I could sense the heat of Mount Doom, even during that scene!!
I love your "YES!" when Theoden answered to the call for help 😂
I replayed several times you guys simultaneous "Yes!" in response to Rohan answering the call. Very sisterly and wholesome lol. Also, I loled at Cassie saying Grimace trying to guess Grima Wormtongue's name LOL.
I think you both will love the movie "Somewhere In Time" (1980). It stars Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour. It is a great love story with a haunting soundtrack by John Barry. It was the first music he wrote after the passing of his parents and the emotion in the music can be overpowering with the love story. This is kinda sci-fi because of the timey-whimey stuff. If you liked Superman then you should check it out for sure!
Cassie arleady watched it
She already reacted to it.
@@A.K.4.7 I already said that
The range of emotions evoked even after so many viewings is a testament to the artists who created this trio of wonders. Thoroughly enjoyable reaction as always.
Love that you have the Evenstar and Aragorns ring!
I can't tell you how much I love you both, the best sisters in the whole world, every time I'm down in the dumps, the moment I see you, all the worries disappear, love to watch you talking, reacting to the movies, the whole package is just wonderful. Keep doing what you doing and never change.
daaaang cassie getting all fangirly with the evenstar, is making me go fangirling over cassie :D ...
+ i love how you respect the journey of your sister and dont spoil too much for her
+ and i thank you for releasing the parts not too far apart from each other. gives me the feeling of respect from you, not having to wait 2 weeks in between f.o. part 2 and part 3..!!!!
I love that you noticed "young master gandalf", it's one of my favorite details in the movie. I don't think it ever mentions that Treebeard is "the oldest living being on earth"
You two are an absolute delight 😊
It has been really heartwarming, first watching you enjoy these movies for the first time, and now sharing it with your sister.
The bit I love in the books is that when Denethor pulls the "yes, I wish that." line on Faramir, Faramir retorts with "I would ask then, that you remember who it was that sent Boromir on that fateful journey."
Let's go...Greatest movie ever made. Total masterpiece!
21:49 that was the best part and made me laugh so hard. That in unison "Yes" lol. Clip it.
"You may wanna, uh, look away." 'splat' "Yeah." **heave**
Seing Cassie protect little sis. And Carly already having her hands ready to cover her eyes. So very wholesome. I truly love it. (Many guys would probably be like "Oh, check this out!" regardless of the feelings of whoever they watch it with.)
I loved how when Arwen says "I will regret it forever" both sisters were nodding!
Glad I found this tonight before I go back to school. Glad y’all are enjoying it so far.
Smeagol & Deagol were part of a clan of Hobbits that lived along the Anduin River. they were loosely related, probably cousins.
Great capture of extended scenes I actually do not recall! Amazing! Gotta rewatch in full! "Bad Dad" needs to be a t-shirt. Carly calls it accurately, too! And should field lead a garrison!Zigzag, exactly!
I've watched every lord of the rings episode with these sisters and I love them so much. As a major lord of the rings fan, I find so much joy seeing people who are new to the films enjoy the epicness and beauty of them. It's so thrilling I feel like im with them with a bag of popcorn watching it all for the first time. Thanks for such amazing content on this rainy Monday morning as I sit by the fire
Theodin and Denathor are more understood when you realise they both lose sons, but rather than falling into despair Theodin fights, whereas Denathor falls deeper into despair, because he has one of those orbs (Palantir) and has looked into it and seen Frodo captured and loses all hope.
Yes, Denethor comes across as an unlikable villain, when really he was a simply a fallen man. He had been driven into despair, as you say, and the events depicted are Denethor at his wits ends after being driven to essentially madness.
Sure, he gave into pride and stepped beyond his authority, and thus ensnared himself, but all men have a breaking point and his grief and fear were his downfall.
I also don't like how they treated Faramir. He was one of the very few, along with Aragorn, that actually refused the Ring outright, and I paraphrase '' .. not even were I to find this thing [the Ring] by the wayside would I take it..'' And he was True to that word and let Frodo go, and did not take him to Osgiliath.
It hints that there was enough Dunedain blood in Faramir as to make him worthy of Kingship.
The connection goes even deeper than that. Both have lost sons but both also have living heirs that they both do not consider to be worthy. Theodin has Eomer and Denethor had Faramir.
Yes Denethor loses hope by trusting in the Palantir and this was also covered in detail in the extras. The Palantir always tell the truth but just like Galadriel's mirror they aren't to be trusted to gauge future action as they tend to lead people to the wrong conclusion. They covered this quite well with the Palantir that were still out there and what people were seeing at the time. They all saw a piece of the truth and made assumptions on that and assumed wrong every time.
@@Stubbies2003 Denethor is in much the same position as Theoden had been; Gandalf was able to drive Sarumans influence out of Theoden, but Denethor had greater pride and prestige and power and proximity to Sauron, and thus fell further into despair and Gandalf could not make him see reason.
Bearing in mind Theoden had been playing mnd games directly with Sauron, as Saruman had earlier.
None but the True King, Aragorn, could hope to directly contend, mind to mind, with Sauron. Fate and predestiny, and providence and all that.
The chief wrong Denethor committed was overstepping his legitimate authority, and refusing to accept the legitimate king.
Been hanging for this. What a team! I love how you forget the names sometimes (and who could blame you?) 'Grimy' got what was coming, ha ha.
the words of the song Pippin sings are from a poem of Tolkien's but the tune is Billy Boyd's own composition.
Yes! It's actually from The Fellowship of the Ring, when the four Hobbits are traveling to Bree! 🥰
As my wife and I suffered through chemo together...I had Lymphoma she had breast cancer... This trilogy was one of our escapes....we watched over and over .My wife passed away from her breast cancer which was very aggressive....I survived...so far.....I still watch this trilogy at least 5 times a year..... brings me such memories
One of Aragorn's many names is Estel; which literally translates to 'Hope'
Wow! I became a patron (again) just to see all three. I was going to wait until I saw the first two with Carly joining you. Just finished FOTR but I guess the Two Towers will have to wait! 😂
It has been years since my wife and I watched the entire series in one sitting. Got to plan on doing this again.
That's not how Saruman dies in the books. He actually takes over the Shire for awhile until he's dispatched by Grima. This is actually a welcome change. One thing that I'd like to mention because Saruman mentioned that Aragorn will never be King of Gondor.
In the films its basically implied that Aragorn doesn't want to be King, but that's not the case in the books. He has a claim but the nobles of Gondor won't recognize it.
After the destruction of the Island of Numenor (The greatest Human kingdom ever, basically their Egypt, Greece, and Rome combined) the survivors went to the mainland and created the Kingdoms of Arnor and Gondor. They were ruled by the High King Elendil who you saw at the begining of the first movie when he's killed by Sauron. When he died the Kingdom of Arnor went to his son Isildur and Gondor went to Anarion. (I could be mistaken and its the other way around but i think thats right).
After Isildur died Arnor and Gondor became independant from each other and thats really where the issue starts. Eventually Arnor fractured into smaller kingdoms until it crumbled but they were able to keep the royal bloodline alive , hence Aragorn.
Eventually the line of Kings failed in Gondor and the rule of the country went to a noble family as Stewards. So even though Aragorn has a direct line connecting him to Isildur and his father Elendil the Stewards don't care, saying Arnor and Gondor were independant.
So Aragorn couldn't just show up and say "Hey I wanna be king now!". He had to earn it, thats why reforging Narsil was so important, and his actions throughout the entire story as well. After that and the death of the last Steward Denethor, noone could deny his claim (or even want to). After the war of the ring when Aragorn is crowned and takes a new name. Elessar, the High King of Arnor and Gondor. The first one since Elendil.
I simplified this as much as I could to keep it a reasonable size. So if I skiped over something thats why.
"Mithrandir" is an Elvish name. "Mith" means gray. "Rana" means to wander. Thus, "Mithrandir" means Gray Pilgrim.
Most of the massive epic buildings, the pillars in the last movie etc are basically miniatures, except MASSIVE. They called em bigatures when making the movie (cus they're BIG miniatures)
Minas Tirith was a 1/72 scale model. Very big indeed.
There's nothing, really nothing, like the power of a fantastically good story..thanks to everyone..well written, well scripted, well acted, well directed..well done!😊
This is too awesome about an hour ago I was just thinking you guys need to put out another video
THE PIPE WEED IN THIS STORY ISNNOT FLIPPING "WEED"!!!!! Like seriously its not, pipeweed was a old term referring plainly to tobaccos!!!!
Yeah, Tolkien uses the actual word “tobacco” multiple times in LOTR and The Hobbit to identify the stuff. Peter Jackson was having his little fun with it and I doubt Tolkien would’ve been amused, he would’ve considered that an insult to his beloved pipe tobacco.
The statues, cities etc are a mix of large set pieces, miniatures (the statues were about as tall as a human if I remember right maybe a little smaller, and cgi. One of the things that made LoTR so great was it wasn’t full of cgi it was a perfect mix of practical effects with a small amount of cgi mixed in when necessary
All four hobbits came to town for Steel City Con, and I got to be in the panel room for theirs. It was PURE. MAGIC. Elijah Wood just sits and giggles while the others joke and tell stories. It was like being in the Green Dragon.
Also is that Song of Storms at the end?
21:30 Exactly like this Greeks learned that Troy has fallen 3200 years before. They called this system phryctori.
The steward was way more noble and mighty in the books. Not to mention he contended wills with Sauron for decades nonstop and ontop of that even now he was never broken nor could Sauron alter what Denethor would see in the palantir even then he couldn’t control what Denethor had control of which was how he chose to interpret the visions given to him. Using it all to Gondor’s advantage! ❤ he also lit the beacons and got the women and children far away from the city longer ahead of time. So the movie butchered him as well as faramir but they didn’t butcher faramir as badly thankfully. He could have been shown to give Pippen his newest order to light the beacons so then it wouldn’t change the scene much at all as presented! The story here is Faramir’s birth ended up killing his mother Finduilas which was a Numenorean woman of the Faithful which her ancestors survived the Kataklysm of Númenor by the way! He was hurt deeply by her death. But also Aragorn when he went by the name gifted to him as Thorongil Denethor’s father basically overshadowing him from his own father so he is as psychology goes: treated Boromir the same way his father treated Aragorn/Thorongil. Note that Boromir and Faramir are half Numenorean which is a big thing as far as the legendarium goes!