Some brief thoughts.
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Originally Posted by alatar
The close up shots of Shelob’s mouth, to me, aren’t as I would imagine. She seems too clean, too much like an ordinary spider of gigantic proportions.
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I had always thought of Shelob as something
more than a giant spider - something more demonic - and much of the Tolkien art represents her thusly. But, ultimately, I thought the decision to go with the giant spider representation (apparently, she is based on a funnel-web) was a good one. It makes her more real - and therefore (being an arachnaphobe) - more scary to me. Other than her size, the only difference, anatomically speaking, is the stinger, but that's from the book.
I love the shot of her creepng out, legs first, from the tunnel, as Frodo passes unsuspectingly below. Her movement is exactly that of a real spider - chilling stuff (for me, at least)!
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Originally Posted by alatar
Ever notice that when the bad guys are stalking the good guys in movies that the baddie never ever tramps on a branch, or sets a stone a tumbling, or falls within the stalkee’s peripheral vision?
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Aw, c'mon. She's an expert hunter. Frodo never stood a chance. Then again ...
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Originally Posted by alatar
And even more amazing is that the old spider knows enough and can see well enough underneath her vast bulk to miss that pretty mithril shirt.
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There's a thread on that somewhere - with a photo of a shirtless Frodo when Sam comes across in the Tower (oops, spoiler
) and much discussion of whether a particular scar was the entry point for the stinger and why the mithril coat didn't stop it.
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Originally Posted by alatar
Something approaches. Sam, armed with Sting and the Phial of Galadriel (conveniently each was stuck in the web back in the tunnel, and forgotten by Frodo – what would the poor hobbit sitting back in Rivendell think?) attacks Shelob after spouting off some lines, and the hobbit versus arachnid battle ensues.
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Is it just me, or did Sam's line put anyone else in mind of Ripley confronting the Alien Queen at the end of Alien 2: "Get away from her, you b____", or something like that?
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Originally Posted by alatar
Frodo looks like a zombie ...
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More like Michael Jackson.
That spider venom sure does wonders in cleaning away facial grime.