This summer's achievements

[wiseheart]

Meaning achievements of the cultural kind.

1. I actually managed to read the entire Darkangel trilogy; a feat I've been preparing myself for a decade. 30 or so years ago I read the first volume in German translation and liked it a lot. My good friend lhun_dweller gifted upon me the whole trilogy in original paperback but somehow I never got round to actually read it. Perhaps I was afraid that I wouldn't like it so much all these decades later.

Turns out, I liked the first volume just fine. The second and third one... not so much. Make that not at all. But that's often the case with sequels, isn't it? At least I've managed to read something that wasn't research-related for my own writing.

2. After having owned the DVD ever since it came out, I finally gathered my strength to watch the extended edition of The Hobbit - The Battle of the Five Armies. Mind you, I never saw the movie version. The second film already put me out of the mood. Well, the last part was everything I feared it would be - and then some. While some of the visuals were impressive and the artwork of Weta stunning, the only recognizable character (for a devoted Tolkien reader) was Bilbo... in the few moments we actually got to see him. As altariel once put it, Martin Freeman was the saving grace of all three films.

I don't say that they weren't good films as fantasy goes. They just had nigh to nothing to do with the books and the spirit that shines through Tolkien's writing. That's all. The Weta art books and the Making of extras were a lot more interesting than the films themselves... at least for me.

Comments

[spikesgirl58.livejournal.com]

I know I've seen them, but I'm in no hurry to re-watch any of them. Why did they have to bring in a female character where there was none before? It didn't bother me that there were just mostly guys in the book. It's okay, you know?

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Not today, apparently. Although I rather liked Tauriel - and they needed to produce a hopeless romance for the teenage girls while the boys enthused over the killing and monsters and gore, I guess. I was more annoyed by Legolas's presence, TBH. Orlando Bloom was never my idea of an Elf, and neither he nor Hugo Weaving (or however his name is spelled) aged very gracefully. Although I found the latter an abysmal choice for Elrond in the LotR films already. I mean, Elrond is supposed to be kind and beautiful, and none of that could be found in the filmed version.

[spikesgirl58.livejournal.com]

I am not so much a fan of the universe that I really had a hard and fast mind set for any of the characters, not even Bilbo.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Understandable. For me, though, the Tolkienverse has been my primary fandom for the last forty years or so. I tend to take these things quite personally.

[spikesgirl58.livejournal.com]

That's like me and MFU. It has been my primary for nearly as long. Of course, having been based on a TV show, it's usually characterizations that I rail against.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Characterization - or rather the lack of it - is my main complaint against the Jackson films. In all six of them, my beloved characters are basically beyond recognition. He managed to make me hate some of them whom I've loved for decades.

[spikesgirl58.livejournal.com]

That's not cool. When they did a reboot of MFU, I wanted to hate it, but couldn't. Even though they were very different from my version of Napoleon and Illya, I still found myself really liking them. Different strokes, I suspect.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

There's a difference between remakes (although I generally dislike them) and complete character assassination, like twisting a good and noble character (like Faramir or Thrainduil) into a greedy coward. Or an idiot.

I actually tried to gave the MacGyver remake a chance. I lasted about 10 minutes. The spirit of the original was completely missing. And don't even let me start on the reimagined Battlestar Galactica or JJ Abrams's so-called Star Trek films.

OTOH, I really liked most of the later Star Trek incarnations; I mean the TV series. They developed the basic idea further, without abusing beloved characters. For me, that's the way to go. Of course, it is somewhat hypocritical from me, seeing that I write lots of fanfic, so...

[spikesgirl58.livejournal.com]

Well, some people felt that both Napoleon's and Illya's characters has been assassinated, but I looked at it as a UA and didn't have any trouble at all.

I have never been a big MacGyver fan, but I did think it was wrong to remake it.

I haven't hated the ST remakes, but again, I just maintain that it's not my ST. I am a huge fan of ST:NG, though, despite having cut my teeth on ST: OS.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

The original series is my absolute favourite, although I could never stand Kirk. But Uhura, Spock, Scotty, McCoy, even Sulu and Chekov make up for enduring the captain. Actually, I like Chaptel, too.

I like TNG, although a lot of characters aren't really my cup of tea. But it has Data, and that's enough for me. ;)

[spikesgirl58.livejournal.com]

I didn't mind Kirk, but I preferred Picard. I preferred a captain who was more of a peace maker and less of a warrior.

Aside from Wesley the Magnificent, I like all the ST:NG characters just fine. I enjoyed that they were flawed and just doing their best, even when it wasn't easy or pleasant.

[adafrog.livejournal.com]

I thought Tauriel was cool just as a female. Could have done without the hopeless romance.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Me, too, although it was kind of cute... in a horribly syrupy way. Still, she was an interesting character. A lot more interesting than Legolas, actually.

[adafrog.livejournal.com]

1. Haven't read it.

2. I loved it. But I watched it as it's own thing, for the most part. The visuals were absolutely stunning. What made me cranky, actually, was the soap opera they made with Thranduil and Legolas. I ignored it as much as I could.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Legolas was completely unnecessary in these films. Just stole screen time from the actually important characters. And the whole thing made Thranduil look like an idiot, which I take very personally. He was my second love (with Elrond being the first) when I read The Hobbit back in the 1970s. I'll never forgive Jackson what he did with them.

[sallymn.livejournal.com]

I couldn't get into the Hobbit movies, but the score is lovely - several pieces are in my mood music file.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid I don't really have an ear (and a memory) for film scores. Some of the visuals were great, but most of them didn't fit with what Tolkien described in the book or what I made up for myself mentally, so I consider the films visual fanfiction when the author had an overblown ego and not enough respect for the original.