Fond memories - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Durelin · 06-05-2004, 07:19 PM

No more motivation for getting straight A's...that was the only reason my parents let me take off an entire day and a half (and miss my English midterm exam!) to join the throng of people either in heavy coats or hobbit, elf, or wizard garb waiting outside the theatre on DC's fortunately large sidewalks. Everyone had three tickets in their hands, and a button on their coats, black with gold writing, worn proudly. "The Fellowship of the Ring", "The Two Towers", and "The Return of the King" could be found on the tickets, and the words "Trilogy Tuesday" on the button, three words that make sense only to the Tolkien fan movie-goer, or at least the The Lord of the Rings fan.

My dear, dear friend, a woman who works at my (now old) school, had arrived there at approximately 5:30 in the morning with a few other people. She had tickets for my friend, another woman who worked at the school, and myself, and also planned to grab seats for us, as she stood, at the most, 10th in the line. We were...well, we started counting, but gave up somewhere in the 90s. Still, we had two boxes of 'Munchkins', a blanket to sit on, and a copy of The Return of the King to study.

Soon enough, we were traveling up and down the line displaying an almost full box of our once wanted 'Munchkins' to waiters who just had to be hungry! Some gave us rather funny looks, others seemed just a bit hostile, some grabbed one or two, others grabbed a handful, and still others offered us food in return (these people were undoubtedly in hobbit garb). We gave up with about 10 of the buggers left, and then a couple came from somewhere behind us in line with the 'Great Cookie of Gondor'. A cookie pie with a White Tree neatly done in icing upon it. We declined their offer, displaying our hated doughnut holes. Next thing we knew, problem solved: they went on the tray with the Great Cookie on down the line. We should've known: the man was a Peter Jackson look alike (and in Peter Jackson atire: shorts in December, of course).

At about 12:00, I saw daylight for the last time. As I entered the theatre, I had no idea that I would not be leaving it again until 2:00 AM the next day. Between The Two Towers and The Return of the King we ate dinner. The theatre provided us with subs from a deli somewhere nearby. Why leave the theatre, our haven from reality? Gandalf was walking up and down the aisles, and there was a camera... I hid, while my friend waved and shouted, "I'm missing my English exam for this!"

Three epic, 3 1/2+ movies later, and I slept well, finally giving up and returning to school in time for lunch!

Never was that movie as good as it was at 10:30 till 2:00!

-Durelin

Kath · 06-06-2004, 05:44 AM

They never did the trilogy thing here which was seriously unfair! My friends and I had to make our own version of it by getting up at 8 am and watching almost non stop (except for meal breaks) until about 6 pm. That was a great experience though as in the privacy of our own homes we could cheer and cry and yell as much as we wanted. In fact one of my friends was crying so much that when her mum came to pick her up she thought something was really wrong with her!
But the best experience has got to be seeing RotK in the cinema for the first time. We'd had a non uniform day at school and I'd gone dressed as a hobbit (complete with hairy feet of course), so I wore my costume to the film assuming I'd be the only one but when I got there there were hordes of hobbits, elves, and even some orcs. And watching the actual film was brilliant because the whole audience got completely into it and were cheering and clapping at every point, and at the end we gave a standing ovation. The thing is that we have such a tiny cinema (only 200 odd seats) that it felt like you were sharing the film as a sort of secret with everyone else and it was great.

Fordim Hedgethistle · 06-06-2004, 09:10 AM

I'm not so sure that this qualifies as a "fond" memory, but it is one that will remain with me for a long time.

Just before the debut of FotR, I was contacted by a local company and asked if I would be willing to make a brief presentation at their Christmas party. I had just finished teaching a general interest course on LotR and the local paper had interviewed me about the book as a bit of a build up to the movie. The idea was, the company executive board was going to have a reception before the film, then go to see it, and they wanted me to talk for 20-30 minutes about the themes etc in the book, then all traipse off together to watch it.

I live in a pretty small city, so this company is a big deal, and they were able to get the movie theatre to reserve the best seats in the house for them. The upshot of this was, I got to see the movie for free AND get the best seat in the house without having to wait in line AND get paid a small honorarium for the privilege!

Yes, yes, I know -- I have heard it all before, you all hate me, that was totally unfair. . .but wait for the rest of the anecdote.

At any event, as we got closer to the date of the movie, the movie theatre management got wind of the plan and thought it would be a good idea to have me make my presentation to the entire audience in the theatre rather than just to the board at their reception. The executive thought this was a great idea, and since they were paying me, I went along with it.

You can all pretty much imagine what happened…

The night of the film, all those who had been waiting in line for the entire day got in to the theatre to see that the best seats in the house had been reserved. Just 10 minutes before the movie began, the executive – and I – came in and plunked ourselves down in the seat. And THEN at precisely 8:00, when everyone is expecting the movie to begin, the theatre manager gets on a microphone and tells them all that there is a special treat for them: a 20 minute talk by a Tolkien expert.

Oh yeah, that was a popular move.

Sensing the mood of the crowd (which wasn’t difficult) I rushed through what I had to say in about 10 minutes and then ran for my seat.

At least the movie was brilliant!

Lyta_Underhill · 06-06-2004, 09:37 AM

Poor Fordim (I think!) I can't decide whether to envy or pity you for that experience, but I imagine they all forgot pretty quick once the movie started! ( I can't imagine a typical moviegoing crowd actually being interested in a scholarly presentation!

)

My own memories that stand out as being most distinctive are those from the premiere of Return of the King, when I dressed as Frodo and went off to a larger city to attend the movie! I got a lot of strange looks and only saw a couple Elves afterwards in the parking lot. I also overheard a woman in the bathroom of the theatre referring to "some freak" dressed up all "weird" outside the bathroom. She was talking to her kids and referring to my husband, who sported a 3-minute Aragorn costume. She never saw Frodo though--I left before she emerged, and related to "Aragorn" his new celebrity status. The next time I attended, again in Frodo costume, I actually got a compliment that I was a "good Frodo" and met another person who was a big fan of Samwise and all her kids, each of whom had a different favorite character in the tales.

Another amusing memory is the middle aged woman who screamed aloud only a row behind us as Shelob stung Frodo. I had never heard that kind of yelp in a theatre before, and probably won't again! Luckily, I escaped the experience of the Legolas cheering section in the movies. Interestingly enough, I rather enjoyed the experience of getting my hands on the Extended Editions, even if I viewed them more or less alone; they opened the movies up more and made me believe them as adaptations more than the original theatrical versions. I eagerly await the Extended ROTK for this reason...

Cheers!
Lyta

Flittermouse · 09-10-2004, 03:39 PM

Good stories, guys... anybody got more?

Encaitare · 09-10-2004, 04:49 PM

My memories of FotR and TTT are nothing special, since I didn't see FotR in the theater, and only saw TTT once. But RotK... oh man, I remember being so damn excited for the whole day in school. I couldn't go to the midnight showing

but I went right after school on December 17. The first time seeing it was amazing (I dressed up, too), but not the best. The best time was when I went with a bunch of crazy friends, and we sat in the front row because there were no other seats. We had the most fun time, and we got the whole theater to clap at around 7 different points in the movie... such little instigators we are. ^ ^ Then we stayed for all the credits and screamed like madwomen for all the actors... loudest of all for Hugo Weaving, Ian McKellen, Howard Shore, and the brilliant Prof. Tolkien. I remember feeling incredibly sad to see "The End" on the screen... I couldn't imagine it drawing to a close. Very sad but wonderful... that's why I have mixed feelings about watching RotK. It's my favorite movie, but I always feel a little sad at the end because it's, well, the end.

Good times, though, good times.

Meela · 09-11-2004, 06:29 AM

Return of the King was the first of the trilogy I saw on the opening night, and so was the first time I experienced the first-night frenzy. It gave me such a buzz, seeing hundreds of Lord of the Rings fans gathered in the theater. A lot of them were in costume or wore some sort of Tolkien token. It was great to be part of something that was special to so many of us.
I remember I took a notebook and pen with me so I could take notes about the movie (details of what was included, moments I'd read about beforehand, etc), and I was furiously scribbling down random words such as "heads!" "eek!" and "Gandalf to the rescue!" through the interval.
It was a frantic rush at the start, getting decent seats, braving certain death by trampling to get candy and novelty Pepsi cartons. I don't think I breathed properly until I emerged in the foyer several hours later, my tunic crumpled and picking bits of popcorn out of my hair (yes, I wore a Gondorian tunic. Nothing else would do). The evening was an adrenaline rush; the Tolkien fanatic's alternative to four consecutive bungee jumps.

06-06-2004, 05:44 AM	#2
Kath Everlasting Whiteness Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Perusing the laminated book of dreams Posts: 4,533	They never did the trilogy thing here which was seriously unfair! My friends and I had to make our own version of it by getting up at 8 am and watching almost non stop (except for meal breaks) until about 6 pm. That was a great experience though as in the privacy of our own homes we could cheer and cry and yell as much as we wanted. In fact one of my friends was crying so much that when her mum came to pick her up she thought something was really wrong with her! But the best experience has got to be seeing RotK in the cinema for the first time. We'd had a non uniform day at school and I'd gone dressed as a hobbit (complete with hairy feet of course), so I wore my costume to the film assuming I'd be the only one but when I got there there were hordes of hobbits, elves, and even some orcs. And watching the actual film was brilliant because the whole audience got completely into it and were cheering and clapping at every point, and at the end we gave a standing ovation. The thing is that we have such a tiny cinema (only 200 odd seats) that it felt like you were sharing the film as a sort of secret with everyone else and it was great. __________________ “If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.”

06-06-2004, 09:37 AM	#4
Lyta_Underhill Haunted Halfling Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: an uncounted length of steps--floating between air molecules Posts: 841	Poor Fordim (I think!) I can't decide whether to envy or pity you for that experience, but I imagine they all forgot pretty quick once the movie started! ( I can't imagine a typical moviegoing crowd actually being interested in a scholarly presentation! ) My own memories that stand out as being most distinctive are those from the premiere of Return of the King, when I dressed as Frodo and went off to a larger city to attend the movie! I got a lot of strange looks and only saw a couple Elves afterwards in the parking lot. I also overheard a woman in the bathroom of the theatre referring to "some freak" dressed up all "weird" outside the bathroom. She was talking to her kids and referring to my husband, who sported a 3-minute Aragorn costume. She never saw Frodo though--I left before she emerged, and related to "Aragorn" his new celebrity status. The next time I attended, again in Frodo costume, I actually got a compliment that I was a "good Frodo" and met another person who was a big fan of Samwise and all her kids, each of whom had a different favorite character in the tales. Another amusing memory is the middle aged woman who screamed aloud only a row behind us as Shelob stung Frodo. I had never heard that kind of yelp in a theatre before, and probably won't again! Luckily, I escaped the experience of the Legolas cheering section in the movies. Interestingly enough, I rather enjoyed the experience of getting my hands on the Extended Editions, even if I viewed them more or less alone; they opened the movies up more and made me believe them as adaptations more than the original theatrical versions. I eagerly await the Extended ROTK for this reason... Cheers! Lyta __________________ “…she laid herself to rest upon Cerin Amroth; and there is her green grave, until the world is changed, and all the days of her life are utterly forgotten by men that come after, and elanor and niphredil bloom no more east of the Sea.”

09-11-2004, 06:29 AM	#7
Meela Denethor's True Love Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Mirkwood. With Thranduil... swoon Posts: 2,049	Meela's Magical Memory Return of the King was the first of the trilogy I saw on the opening night, and so was the first time I experienced the first-night frenzy. It gave me such a buzz, seeing hundreds of Lord of the Rings fans gathered in the theater. A lot of them were in costume or wore some sort of Tolkien token. It was great to be part of something that was special to so many of us. I remember I took a notebook and pen with me so I could take notes about the movie (details of what was included, moments I'd read about beforehand, etc), and I was furiously scribbling down random words such as "heads!" "eek!" and "Gandalf to the rescue!" through the interval. It was a frantic rush at the start, getting decent seats, braving certain death by trampling to get candy and novelty Pepsi cartons. I don't think I breathed properly until I emerged in the foyer several hours later, my tunic crumpled and picking bits of popcorn out of my hair (yes, I wore a Gondorian tunic. Nothing else would do). The evening was an adrenaline rush; the Tolkien fanatic's alternative to four consecutive bungee jumps. __________________ 'The Hobbit' 1st impressions: 1. Thorin is hot... Oh god, I fancy a dwarf. 2. Thranduil is hotter. 3. Is that... Figwit! 4. Does Elijah Wood never age? 2nd: It's all about Fili & Kili, really. 3rd: BARD! OMG, Bard.

06-05-2004, 07:19 PM	#1
Durelin Estelo dagnir, Melo ring Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 3,063	No more motivation for getting straight A's...that was the only reason my parents let me take off an entire day and a half (and miss my English midterm exam!) to join the throng of people either in heavy coats or hobbit, elf, or wizard garb waiting outside the theatre on DC's fortunately large sidewalks. Everyone had three tickets in their hands, and a button on their coats, black with gold writing, worn proudly. "The Fellowship of the Ring", "The Two Towers", and "The Return of the King" could be found on the tickets, and the words "Trilogy Tuesday" on the button, three words that make sense only to the Tolkien fan movie-goer, or at least the The Lord of the Rings fan. My dear, dear friend, a woman who works at my (now old) school, had arrived there at approximately 5:30 in the morning with a few other people. She had tickets for my friend, another woman who worked at the school, and myself, and also planned to grab seats for us, as she stood, at the most, 10th in the line. We were...well, we started counting, but gave up somewhere in the 90s. Still, we had two boxes of 'Munchkins', a blanket to sit on, and a copy of The Return of the King to study. Soon enough, we were traveling up and down the line displaying an almost full box of our once wanted 'Munchkins' to waiters who just had to be hungry! Some gave us rather funny looks, others seemed just a bit hostile, some grabbed one or two, others grabbed a handful, and still others offered us food in return (these people were undoubtedly in hobbit garb). We gave up with about 10 of the buggers left, and then a couple came from somewhere behind us in line with the 'Great Cookie of Gondor'. A cookie pie with a White Tree neatly done in icing upon it. We declined their offer, displaying our hated doughnut holes. Next thing we knew, problem solved: they went on the tray with the Great Cookie on down the line. We should've known: the man was a Peter Jackson look alike (and in Peter Jackson atire: shorts in December, of course). At about 12:00, I saw daylight for the last time. As I entered the theatre, I had no idea that I would not be leaving it again until 2:00 AM the next day. Between The Two Towers and The Return of the King we ate dinner. The theatre provided us with subs from a deli somewhere nearby. Why leave the theatre, our haven from reality? Gandalf was walking up and down the aisles, and there was a camera... I hid, while my friend waved and shouted, "I'm missing my English exam for this!" Three epic, 3 1/2+ movies later, and I slept well, finally giving up and returning to school in time for lunch! Never was that movie as good as it was at 10:30 till 2:00! -Durelin

06-06-2004, 09:10 AM	#3
Fordim Hedgethistle Gibbering Gibbet Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Beyond cloud nine Posts: 1,844	I'm not so sure that this qualifies as a "fond" memory, but it is one that will remain with me for a long time. Just before the debut of FotR, I was contacted by a local company and asked if I would be willing to make a brief presentation at their Christmas party. I had just finished teaching a general interest course on LotR and the local paper had interviewed me about the book as a bit of a build up to the movie. The idea was, the company executive board was going to have a reception before the film, then go to see it, and they wanted me to talk for 20-30 minutes about the themes etc in the book, then all traipse off together to watch it. I live in a pretty small city, so this company is a big deal, and they were able to get the movie theatre to reserve the best seats in the house for them. The upshot of this was, I got to see the movie for free AND get the best seat in the house without having to wait in line AND get paid a small honorarium for the privilege! Yes, yes, I know -- I have heard it all before, you all hate me, that was totally unfair. . .but wait for the rest of the anecdote. At any event, as we got closer to the date of the movie, the movie theatre management got wind of the plan and thought it would be a good idea to have me make my presentation to the entire audience in the theatre rather than just to the board at their reception. The executive thought this was a great idea, and since they were paying me, I went along with it. You can all pretty much imagine what happened… The night of the film, all those who had been waiting in line for the entire day got in to the theatre to see that the best seats in the house had been reserved. Just 10 minutes before the movie began, the executive – and I – came in and plunked ourselves down in the seat. And THEN at precisely 8:00, when everyone is expecting the movie to begin, the theatre manager gets on a microphone and tells them all that there is a special treat for them: a 20 minute talk by a Tolkien expert. Oh yeah, that was a popular move. Sensing the mood of the crowd (which wasn’t difficult) I rushed through what I had to say in about 10 minutes and then ran for my seat. At least the movie was brilliant!

09-10-2004, 03:39 PM	#5
Flittermouse Pile O'Bones Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 17	Good stories, guys... anybody got more?

09-10-2004, 04:49 PM	#6
Encaitare Bittersweet Symphony Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: On the jolly starship Enterprise Posts: 1,814	My memories of FotR and TTT are nothing special, since I didn't see FotR in the theater, and only saw TTT once. But RotK... oh man, I remember being so damn excited for the whole day in school. I couldn't go to the midnight showing but I went right after school on December 17. The first time seeing it was amazing (I dressed up, too), but not the best. The best time was when I went with a bunch of crazy friends, and we sat in the front row because there were no other seats. We had the most fun time, and we got the whole theater to clap at around 7 different points in the movie... such little instigators we are. ^ ^ Then we stayed for all the credits and screamed like madwomen for all the actors... loudest of all for Hugo Weaving, Ian McKellen, Howard Shore, and the brilliant Prof. Tolkien. I remember feeling incredibly sad to see "The End" on the screen... I couldn't imagine it drawing to a close. Very sad but wonderful... that's why I have mixed feelings about watching RotK. It's my favorite movie, but I always feel a little sad at the end because it's, well, the end. Good times, though, good times.